Writer James Greer is under the magnifying glass with new indie rock band Détective.

And here we are at the end of Reverb’s Best of Week. Wednesday we listed our favorite Colorado artists and Thursday we compiled the best songs of 2012. Now, the Reverb editors and writers bring you the best albums of 2012. The year saw some great newcomers in hip-hip and R&B, along with the debut of the Denver group, the Lumineers, who scored a few Grammy nominations and made one list here.

Robert Pollard, Smug Brothers and Motel Beds: Dayton rises (record reviews)

Album review: Guided By Voices, “Let’s Go Eat The Factory”

Live review: Maha Music Festival @ Aksarben Village in Omaha

Album reviews: Richard Buckner, “Our Blood” and Boston Spaceships, “Let it Beard”

The Pitchfork Music Festival’s first day was set against an idyllic, if hot, Chicago day in one of the city’s many parks — Union Park – on Friday. The day 1 line-up of Animal Collective, James Blake, Neko Case and more was a nice warm-up for the rest of the weekend, which includes DJ Shadow and Fleet Foxes tonight and TV on the Radio and HEALTH on Sunday.

Photos of the Northside Festival in Brooklyn with guided by voices, surfer blood, sharon van etten, wavves, deervana, titus andronicus, twin sister and more

CD reviews: Alice in Chains, Boston Spaceships, “Whip It” soundtrack

Whitney Houston, “I Look to You” (Sony BMG) Forget Stella and her groove. Let’s talk about how Whitney got her voice back. Have you heard Whitney Houston’s voice — even her speaking voice — in the decade since she’s released a decent record? It’s but a shadow of what it once was. Her frayed vocal cords sound raspier, thinner and more tortured than they did during her early- ’90s peak.