you knew it was coming...best albums of 2011

2011 is about to wrap itself up and while, personally, it was somewhat of a shitty year, musically it was fantastic.  I was originally going to try and narrow it down to just 10 albums but that seemed to be an injustice to a lot of good albums that did drop this year, so i'm doing 20 instead.

Also, I hate narrowing this down, there will be a lot of albums that will be left out that probably would have made my top ten in other years, but I've got to cut it off at some point.

Wanna know something else pretty cool? There are a ton of albums that I've heard great things about that I have still not have had the chance to listen to, so I'm sure sometime in early 2012 I'll have a post about albums that should have been somewhere on this list.

And since I never really get to use my minimal HTML skills, i decided to do that here too....no idea why.

20
Kevin Devine ~ Between the Concrete and Clouds
one of my favorite lyricist, great mood throughout the entire album

19
	Manchester Orchestra ~ Simple Math
great hooks, great lyrics, great album

18
La Dispute ~ Wildlife
the whole "talk music" thing is really hard to pull off but la dispute does it beautifully

17
	Into It. Over It ~ Proper
another great artist with a knack for great, introspective lyrics and hooks

16
Four Year Strong ~ In Some Way, Shape, or Form
i was pleasantly surprised at how great this album is when i first bought it. if you've liked any of their previous albums, you'll love it.

15
	Saves the Day ~ Daybreak
saves the day is back! the 11 minute, 4 part opener track, Daybreak, is worth the price of the album alone. also, got to hang with these dudes about a month ago and have to say they're some of the most down to earth guys i've ever met

14
Trash Talk ~ Awake EP
the best 5 songs that clock in under 9 minutes; thrash metal at its finest

13
	The Appleseed Cast ~ Middle States
it's appleseed, of course it's amazingly layered and beautiful and of course it's good.

12
I Am The Avalanche ~ Avalanche United
if you take 6 years between albums, it better be good.  and yea, this thing is beyond good. listen to "brooklyn dodgers", just an awesome song.

11
	Bayside ~ Killing Time
bayside's best album yet. it seems that every member stepped up their musicianship a few notches for this album. super proud of chris' and jack's work on this album and anthony never fails in the lyrics department.

10
The Dear Hunter ~ The Color Spectrum
spend the money and get the complete collection (all 9 EPs), worth every penny.  just the idea, to write an EP based on the feelings of each color in the spectrum, is pretty intriguing and the fact that it was pulled off so well, i find amazing. Favorite EPs? Red, Black, White and Yellow...in that order but for real, get the entire thing.

9
	The Wonder Years ~ Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
i've gotten back into pop-punk this year, after quite a few years off (minus an album here and there), and i can owe it this album.  this album reminded me of what's good about pop-punk.

8
Former Thieves ~ The Language That We Speak
I really wish I would've heard about this band back in April when this was released but I didn't know about them until the chariot show back in november but i love this album. reminds me some of the later poison the well stuff. sounds especially amazing on vinyl.

7
	Thrice ~ Major/Minor
probably the final album from thrice, which is sad but if you've gotta go out, go out on top and this is their best effort, which says a lot because i loved the alchemy index and beggars. it's one of the most honest albums that i've heard on the sad state of our society and yet is still a very hopeful/uplifting album.

6
Bon Iver ~ Bon Iver
i can't say anything about bon iver that hasn't already been said a million times over.  i find this album more beautiful every time i listen to it. i can't think of a more deserving artist to be nominated for 4 grammys.

5
	David Bazan ~ Strange Negotiations
when you've spent a career as pedro the lion, you have high expectations for every album that you drop. Bazan ignores those expectations and releases his best work since Pedro's Control.

4
Hands ~ Give Me Rest
i don't typically listen to overtly christian bands (i hate being preached to) nor sludge metal but i can't get enough of this album.  i've been listening to this album since it came out. every time i listen to it, i want to steal all of the riffs and use them in Merchants' songs.

3
	Balance and Composure ~ Separation
this was my number one at the halfway mark, back in the spring. it hasn't lost any of its luster, still an amazing album that i find on play at least once a week. it's albums like this that make the entire post-hardcore recent uprising worth paying attention to, plus they're young so i have a feeling their best work is still yet to come.

2
The Story So Far... ~ Under Soil and Dirt
if the wonder year's album restored my faith in pop-punk, this is the album that restored my faith that new/young bands could write good pop-punk songs. if i'm not mistaken, this is their first LP release and to start off this strong is impressive.  i'll keep rockin' this until LP 2 comes out, yea it's that good.

1
	O' Brother ~ Garden Window
it's not very old, especially in comparison to 2 & 3 but i'll be damned if it's not great. it's at the point were i subconsciously just put the album on when i'm in the car (and i'm always in my damn car, it seems). each song flows into the next, everything sounds connected without sounding like a regurgitation. it's impressive on a whole different scale than the other albums i've listened to this year.  there's a reason they tour with bands like Thrice, Manchester Orchestra and The Dear Hunter on a regular basis. nicely done, gentlemen, nicely done.

originally, i wanted to write a lot more about the albums but 20 albums is a bit more taunting than i originally thought it would be and free time is sparse for me these days so that's all you get.  i'll be the first to admit that there will be a lot of albums that i've missed so feel free to let me know.

Also, two more categories....

Record Label of the Year: No Sleep Records  5 of the 20 albums on the list are No Sleep bands and if I would've done a top 25, there would have been 6 or 7 of their bands (Touche Amore & Such Gold) in the list.  they continually sign good bands and their bands continually release fantastic albums.  Whatever their formula is over there, it's working.

Best New Music Site: ElectricMariachi.com Stumbled across this site looking for an album stream of some sorts and i'll be damned if they didn't have that stream (trapped under ice's new one, i remember correctly) but they have a ton of other album streams, many albums that i forgot were released and all. so yea, cool site and their player works on a mobile too.

There ya go, enjoy.  if you like my taste in music and haven't heard some of these releases, go pick it up somewhere. If you don't like my taste in music...i have no idea why you've read this, it's the internet, there are better things to read.

much love

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the classics

I've found myself listening to albums that I've grew up with a lot lately so i figured i would write up a blog on the albums i consider to be "classics" in my own collection.  there aren't many better feelings than falling back in love with an album from years ago.

Saves the Day ~ Stay What You Are

Songs ~ At Your Funeral, Nightingale 

At Your Funeral is, hands down, one of my favorite songs of all time. till this day, the ring out/vocal combination that kicks in at 0:40 gives me chills. The entire album is a top 5 album for me.  They've recently released Daybreak, which is a great and worth the 10 bucks or whatever iTunes is selling it for now, and that release reminded me to revisit Stay What You Are...haven't stopped listening to it since then. 

The MovieLife ~ 40 Hour Train Back to Penn

Songs ~ Ship to Shore, Kelly Song

There's not a lot I can say about this album except that if you've never listened to it, your life is significantly worse because of it. I Am Avalanche just released a phenomenal new album, which brought me back to the movielife, not sure how I got out of the habit of listening to them. This entire album just brings back the good days in high school of just driving around and listening to music. 

The Juliana Theory ~ Music From Another Room

Songs ~ Breathing By Wires; Piano Song

Yes, I'm aware that Emotion is Dead is the de-facto standard for anyone talking about Juliana Theory but Music From Another Room is my favorite release from the group.  Don't get me wrong, I love Emotion is Dead but every one of the songs on Music From Another Room are in my top ten from JT and there are 5 full songs on the EP...so do the math, 50% of my favorite JT songs come from this one EP. 

Brand New ~ My Favorite Weapon

Songs ~ Jude Law and a Semester Abroad; Mixtape; Shower Scene

A lot of people either don't know or just forget that Brand New's first album was a pop-punk album.  They're one of the few bands that have changed sounds on almost every album and still continue to amaze me. This album is definitely a favorite, a toss up for 2 or 3, depending on my mood, from the band (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me is my numero uno).  Whomever pissed off Lacey, I feel sorry for you. 

There are plenty of other albums I could have thrown up here, but if I didn't draw the line somewhere, I'd be here all day. Other classics to note (in case you're bored and are just looking up tunes while reading this)...

Cross My Heart ~ Cross My Heart 

The Appleseed Cast ~ End of the Ring Wars

Dashboard Confessional ~ Swiss Army Romance (judge me all you want but this is an awesome album)

Midtown ~ Save the World, Lose the Girl

No Use for A Name ~ More Betterness

If you haven't heard any of these albums, do yourself a favor and go to Spotify or GroveShark or wherever you listen to tunes and listen to them, you won't regret it. 

In other news, thanks everyone for the kind words on the By Sea / By Land album, it's much appreciated.  Obviously all of the listens/downloads have tapered off by now but if you did like it, share it with friends.  Hef told me I needed to post more about it on facebook/twitter but I'd feel like I'd be annoying buuutttt if my friends post about it, it's quite alright haha. 

Notable New Releases

 Saves the Day ~ Daybreak

I Am the Avalanche ~ Avalanche United

The Gaslight Anthem ~ iTunes Sessions (worth the price just for the Baba O'Reilly cover alone)

Trash Talk ~ Awake EP

I hope everyone is doing well, much love. 

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on the lookout & notable releases

it's been a while since i've done a post just about music so here's a long overdue update on stuff i've discovered.

i'm going to point out three singles that are currently making their way through the interwebz for albums that have yet to be released and there was a lot of really good albums released this week so i'll point those out.  hopefully give a few of you something new to listen to while drinking your morning coffee (if you don't drink coffee, no worries, you can still listen to them).

Artist: Jamie N Commons

Song: The Preacher
Album Release: No Idea

For Fans of: Murder By Death; ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

The Preacher by Jamie N Commons

Did you just listen to that? Jesus man, how does a British dude channel country better than 99% of the country bands in States? Such passion, such an awesome voice so many layers. And if you've ever wondered why I'm just now getting around to releasing my acoustic stuff, it's because of songs like this...I hear songs like this and realize I need to go back to the drawing board...too good. If the album is half as good as this song, it'll be in my top 10 of all time.

Artist:  Of Monsters and Men

Song: From Finner

Album Release: 9/20/2011 ~ My Head is An Animal

For Fans of: Mumford & Sons; Young the Giant; Edward Sharpe; Florence + The Machine

The harmonies this group pulls off are impressive and it's such a feel good song. Plus, hand claps and tons of instruments/layers will normally win me over. Listen to this and try not to tap your foot along to the bass drum...yea, you can't. 

Artist:  Trash Talk

Song: Awake

Album Release: 10/11/2011 ~ Awake

For Fans of: Ceremony; Trapped Under Ice; Municipal Waste; This is Hell

So this may very well be the greatest minute and a half song I've ever heard.  Not sure if it's the entire song or just a long glimpse to get people pumped about the EP but either way it worked. I never listened to Trash Talk before this but I've found myself going back through some of their old stuff because of how much I liked this song.  The song makes me want to punch something though (which I think is the point) so I have to keep my listens throttled a bit. And how awesome is that intro?

Ok, so there ya go, three singles for albums not yet released, i'm sure i'll buy all of these at some point so they're make their way back through, but check em out for yourself. 

Also, notable releases for this week are:

Kevin Devine: Between the Concrete and the Clouds

Blind Pilot: We Are the Tide

Polar Bear Club: Clash Battle Guilt Pride

Saves the Day: Daybreak

I bought all of those this week, they're all worth it. If you have Spotify, just listen to the albums on there a couple of times and see if you like them.  If you don't have Spotify, I believe the site allows you to request an invite and if that doesn't work, I may be able to get you an invite. 

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