This year I am going to do it a bit differently though. There isn't going to be any particular order or anything, instead I'm just going to list my favorites. The reason for this is that the releases on this list are a mix of eps, 7
inches, demos, and full length albums. To try and stack those different types of records up against each other would be to weird and difficult, it wouldn't really make sense to put the list in a specific order from 10-1.
Anyway, this year I have 15 picks for favorite records! Here we go!
for fans of: Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Street Smart Cyclist
Okay, maybe I'm a little biased because Algernon Cadwallader are probably my favorite
musical artist (aside from Kanye West and Modest Mouse), but with their new EP Algernon whip out probably the strongest songs of their career. These 3 songs are better than any song on their full length or their first EP. The band is only growing stronger with time and I can tell that their next full length is going to be even more of a masterpiece than 2008's "Some Kind of Cadwallader." Algernon Cadwallader are probably the most popular band of the current emo revival scene and with this release it is obvious why. Their songs are catchy as fuck, fun, technically impressive, and honest. There isn't really much else I look for in music and Algernon have it all.
for fans of: Black Dice, Atlas Sound, Grizzly Bear
I probably don't really need to tell you anything about this album do I? Well I'll tell you one thing - I'm sick of this fucking thing. It was hard for me to include this because I'm so sick of it (it has been out forever and I think I've heard it about 200 times, not always by choice). But then again, this album is pretty flawless, I can understand why people love it so much and why websites like Pitchfork name it the #1 album of the year. The album is catchy but also weird enough so that it's still cool to like it. Anyway, great album - let's move on.
Brave Little Abacus - Masked Dancers: concern in so many things you forget where you are
for fans of: Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Modest Mouse?
It's hard to explain the feeling that I get when I listen to Brave Little Abacus, I guess it's sort of hopeful. BLA's music is a lot of fun to listen to, it's fast, technical, catchy but it also has a sadness to it. It sort of reminds you that in a way we are all alone. I don't want to get sappy or anything but when vocalist Adam Demirjian goes on his rant in the middle of "Map of the Stars" it's impossible to ignore his honesty - this kid means everything he's saying. Musically the album is even more complex than the band's past releases; there are still the epic horn lines, video game sound effects, bleeping electronics, and moments of guitar shred genius- but the band have taken it to a whole new level. This album makes me want to play it as loudly as possible while driving or skateboarding really fast in the middle of nowhere, and it makes me want to better myself. I don't know what more I can say about it. Where the album falters is its use of short experimental interludes, yeah they are interesting and I like that the band is trying something new, but it sort of breaks the album's momentum. Some of them do work amazingly well, the use of samples in "he never existed in the first place" is perfect. I wish the music world was prepared to accept emo music back into its open arms, but unfortunately I don't know that it is. Right now there is a really strong movement all across the US, I just wish some important people would recognize it (I'm looking at you Pitchfork).
for fans of: Kanye West, Kid Cudi, The Dream
When I named Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreaks" my number one album of 2008 I said that Kanye had reinvented mainstream hip hop, and I was right. With 808s, Kanye exhibited a type of honesty yet to be seen in radio friendly hip hop and he has passed it on to his prodigies; the likes of Drake and Kid Cudi. The minimalist beats on "So Far Gone" perfectly compliment Drake's honest musings as he raps and sings his way through 17 tracks. Yeah this is a mixtape but it works better together than most albums do. While it's "Best I Ever Had" thats made Drake famous, it's tracks like "Houstatlantavegas" and "Succesful" that will keep him on the top. I said it first, but Pitchfork has also said it - we are living in a post-Kanye, post-808s world now where rappers aren't just making singles, they are making albums; albums that actually mean something. "So Far Gone" also features some great and unexpected guest spots from the likes of Peter Bjorn and John, Lykke Li, Santo Gold and the more obvious but equally awesome Lil' Wayne and Trey Songz.
for fans of: Real Estate, The Beach Boys, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Maybe I did buy into the hype, maybe not, but this album is actually super good. It has catchy melodies, great vocal harmonies (that have earned them comparisons to The Beach Boys), shimmery guitars, and a laid back vibe. The overall unifying sound is what makes this album so great, it actually sounds like an album. The band also have their own unique style of indie-surf rock and I'm sure from now on we will see tons of copy cats popping up everywhere. Whether Girls are a hype band or not it's impossible to ignore the catchyness of "Lust for Life" or the brooding "Hellhole Ratrace".
for fans of: Algernon Cadwallader, Street Smart Cyclist, Castevet
This is one release this year that I just haven't stopped listening to. Sure, it's only a 4 song demo but it's near perfect. It has tappy technical guitar and plenty of gang vocal sing alongs for everyone. I guess it's pretty obvious that I love honesty in music and these 4 songs have plenty of it, the break down in "Open Sesame" has some awesome lyrics, "Lie to me, tell me your lost loves and former glories. Lie to me, tell me every great ironic story. Oh, I'm fucking dying to know who keeps company. Cause I'm not sure if I can stay up any more." I can't recommend this album enough, just listen to it.
for fans of: The Fullblast, Four Year Strong, Set Your Goals
I do have a guilty pleasure for some good ol' pop punk music, and this year this was it. Half Hearted Hero are also a local band for me (they are from New Bedford, MA), unfortunately I haven't gotten a chance to see them yet but I'm sure their live show is fun as hell. I can tell you what makes Half Hearted Hero a good band in one word: fast. The band's music is fast and in pop-punk that's what matters. The guitarists are also really good, a couple songs on the album have some pretty crazy shred solos. I probably listen to this record way to much, but you know, whatever. If you're looking to have a good time, give "Defining. Refining" a listen. Honestly though, I was a little disappointed by the album after I heard some of the bands demos for it. Before they released the album the band put up "It's Cool, the Fullblast Already Did It," "Meter? I just Met Her!?" and "A Pathetic Attempt at an Apathetic Approach" on their myspace. These three song are the best on the album, unfortunately none of the other songs really measure up to the greatness of these three. The other tracks are good, but they could have been better.
for fans of: Kanye West, Drake, Common
At first I was sort of put off by this album, mostly because I thought it was sort of dishonest or pretentious for Kid Cudi to put out this crazy, weird ass, concept album. But I think I was wrong. Since I already mentioned it in my review of Drake's "So Far Gone" I wont go on another rant about how we live in a post-808s musical realm or how Kanye has changed hip hop forever. Anyway, it's no secret that Cudi is a disciple and friend of Mr. West. It's thanks to Mr. West that the beats on this album are so incredible, they are lush and complex and just really interesting in general. This album pretty much isn't even a hip hop record, it's some sort of weird experiment or something, which I think is pretty awesome. "Day'n'Night" was such a hit that I think Cudi was under a lot of pressure for this album and instead of putting out a bunch of singles he created this monster of an album.
for fans of: L'Antietam, Hot Cross, Ampere
What sets "Snacks" apart from many other recent screamo releases is actually its production value, this album just sounds a lot better than the lo-fi production on a lot of other modern screamo releases. Yeah, lo-fi is part of the genre's aesthetic but still, a good sounding record is nice sometimes. "Snacks" doesn't quite measure up to Kidcrash's last record, "Jokes" but it still offers really great dynamic post-hardcore and screamo. The album has a surprisingly large number of clean guitar passages on it which are really great sounding. Lots of cool layered complex guitar stuff. Good record.
for fans of: L'Antietam, Hot Cross, pg. 99
Another excellent screamo release from this year. What makes "Dark Mountain" great is its cohesiveness as an album, the sound is so fluid, I wouldn't be surprised if it was conceptual in some way. While not as technical as Kidcrash or some their contemporaries Loma Prieta create dark, atmospheric hardcore that is still much better than 90% of the hardcore and metal releases we see every year.
for fans of: The Summer We Went West, Cap'n Jazz, Street Smart Cyclist
DC band Monument have really topped their other releases with their most recent 7 inch simply named "3 Song 7 inch". It's cool to listen to some straight forward Monument songs after their last release "Florida" which featured weird instrumental segments with a bunch of samples that seemed to form some cohesive concept. That was a cool good album, but the songs on the latest Monument release are really super catchy and fun to listen to. Not as technical as some of their contemporaries, Monument still create really charming music, one can't help but smile when they suddenly stop and all shout "Get rad!" in the track "Memory and Location".
for fans of: Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer
I'd say that Nurses will probably be the hyped band of next year, or whenever they release their next album. While "Apple's Acre" is still relatively new the band is already working on new material, they played some of it when I saw them a couple months ago and it really blew me away. Nurses have evolved so much since their first record, "Hangin' Nothing But Our Hands Down". The band's use of samples and great vocal harmonies really put them in a position to be the next Animal Collective. This album has a really great overall sound to it and tracks such as "Caterpillar Playground" and "Manatarms" really showcase the bands unique vocal techniques. Be on the look out for Nurses this time next year!
for fans of: Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, The xx
This was another super popular record this year that was just so good I couldn't really leave it off the list. Hit singles "Lisztomania" and "1901" are enough to make this album great. Anyway, I'm sure most people have heard this already so I'm not gonna talk to much about, also I am getting fucking tired! This list is taking forever! I hope enough people look at it to make it worth it.
for fans of: The Dream, Chris Brown, Usher
I don't know why R. Kelly's "12th Play, 4th Quarter" was never released but that album was amazing! If it was released this year it would be at the top of my list, instead R. Kelly gives us the unusually titled, "Untitled". I actually really like the album art to this record. Anyway, this album is still super good (would you expect anything less from R. Kelly), but it isn't as good as "12th Play, 4th Quarter" would have been if it was ever released. This album features some songs that were on "4th Quarter," tracks like "Go Low" and "Whole Lotta Kisses." I wish he included some of the better songs from that record though, like "Skin" or "At the Same Time". Fortunately "Untitled" has its own share of hits, "Number One" which features Keri Hilson (who always does any amazing job in a guest spot, ex. "Knock You Down" with Kanye West and Ne-Yo). Another of my favorite tracks is "Exit" which has R. Kelly tearing it up in one of the best vocal performances of his career. "I Love the DJ" will probably show up on a lot of party play lists, I know it will be on mine. This album is great, not as great as it could have been, but I still love it.
for fans of: Street Smart Cyclist, Braid, Cap'n Jazz
The ironically titled "Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit" brings together members of emo revival greats Street Smart Cyclist and Boy Problems to play fast and fun emo rock. I listened to this record all through last summer, it is totally a summer album. The album has some truly self-confessional lyrics, in opener "Sam Rudich", "I feel nothing, like my father. He's been sleeping underground" but also plenty of fun sing-alongs with "bap, bap, bap, baps" and all that sort of good stuff. Not to sound lame but a lot of the lyrics really "spoke" to me, there's some good stuff in here! On the track "Important Things (Specter Magic), "Why do I stay up late? Just to wake up and feel lousy? If that's the thing, if that's everything, why can't I stop another empty hearted notion gone to shit?"
Welp! That's it for this year, I hope yall appreciate this I think it took me like...at least 3 and half hours including selecting the albums, zipping them, uploading them to media fire, and writing this long ass blog post.
ENJOY!
