Best Songs of 2012 You Probably Haven’t Heard

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, there's too much amazing music out there these days. You know the story: Technology is such that artists can create and disseminate songs at will, circumventing classic means of promotion and distribution -- blah, blah, blah -- and while this is a major boon for creativity, it means that even the most ardent indie rock fans are bound to miss plenty of cool tunes.

We at Diffuser don't pretend to hear everything, but with occasional breaks for showers and meals, we absorb as much as we can. As this crazy-pants year staggers into its final quarter, we thought we'd share some of our favorite sleeper tracks: the best songs of 2012 you probably haven't heard. Our friends at Spinner and Death + Taxes are doing likewise, so be sure to cycle through and check out their picks.

Admittedly, "best" is a sticky word, and this list could have been a lot longer. There at least five great '90s-inspired minimalist R&B slow jams we wish we could mention. (Check out Beacon's 'Feeling's Gone.') And don't get us started on all the sun-scorched beach-pop tunes we think you should groove to before the end of the summer. (See: Chase King's 'South Tropical Trail.') But we limited ourselves to five, and even if these aren't our absolute favorites -- ask us tomorrow, and you'll get five others -- we stand behind them. Give 'em a listen and, in the true spirit of the Internet, tell us about the 500 better ones we missed.