2008 in My Head.

I've been doing this for a few years now, listing my favorite albums from each year, as well as five albums i was disappointed by. This year I've also decided to include a few other categories, such as EPs, splits, reissues and albums from 2007 that I didn't listen to until this year.

I'd also like to point out that this isn't a list of facts, but of opinion. While that should be obvious, I've gotten comments before in the past about how I was wrong.

10. Rise Against – Appeal to Reason
This may not be another Revolutions Per Minute or Siren Song, but I personally believe that this album is step up from The Sufferer and the Witness. I don’t know what it is, the album, if anything, is even more poppy than the last and Tim’s scream is notably absent. I think it is because I was so let down by The Sufferer and the Witness that I was willing to take anything. Or maybe it’s the insanely catchy choruses. Yeah, that’s it.
Favorite tracks: Long Forgotten Sons, The Dirt Whispered, Savior

09. O’Death – Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin
This was only recently added to my collection, but holy shit is it amazing. I discovered it at the radio station one day. Me and Nikki were both feeling kind of down, and the album art is just very dark and depressing, so we decided not to play it right away and saved it for later. Then we played it, and instead of the slow, depressing folk songs we expected, we were treated to Legs to Sin, a frantic rush of folk, bluegrass, punk and swing. I think that’s an accurate way to describe them. Either way, we ended up playing more of their songs and it just got better and better each time. Then I looked them up and found out they aren’t from the Midwest, but from New York. They’re kind of like Old Crow Medicine Show, but faster.
Favorite tracks: Fire On Peshtigo, Legs to Sin, Lean-To

08. Lemuria – Get Better
I admit: even though Lemuria has played at SUNY New Paltz a number of times in the past few years, I never gave them a listen. Then Get Better was released and we got a copy of it at the radio station. At first, Pants was the only song I’d really listen to, but then one day I had my library on shuffle and Buzz came on, and I really liked it. Full of infectious pop tunes, sweet vocals (Sheena anyhow, Alex sounds bored sometimes) and fun lyrics, Get Better is a pretty good debut (could stand to have maybe one more song though). I hope they aren’t too big to come back to New Paltz soon.
Favorite tracks: Pants, Buzz, Dog, Dogs

07. Ben Folds – Way to Normal/Fake
I got into the Ben Folds thing pretty late. I always just assumed that Ben Folds Five was your typical college radio rock this side of Radiohead and not worth my time. Then I spent a lot of time on Skachilles and hear people rave about his solo work and can’t wait for his new album. Then I heard it leaked, but I still didn’t check it because the leak wasn’t real. Then the album was put into rotation and I finally listened to it. I’m stupid for not listening to it sooner. Also, I decided to download the fake leak just to see how the songs compared. Cool stuff, catchy poppy stuff (what the hell happened to me? What’s with all this pop music?).
Favorite tracks: Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head), Bitch Went Nuts, Brainwascht, Effington, Brainwashed, Way to Normal, Bitch Went Nutz

06. Less Than Jake – GNV FLA
I don’t think I need to say too much about this one. It’s no secret that In With the Out Crowd was Less Than Jake’s worst album (I still enjoyed some songs from it, but it can’t really be argued that it was their weakest album). I don’t think I can say much about it that hasn’t already been said. It was the perfect way to follow up to In With the Out Crowd in every way possible.
Favorite tracks: Does The Lion City Still Roar?, Summon Monsters, Golden Age of My Negative Ways, The Space They Can’t Touch, Devil in My DNA

05. Dillinger Four – C I V I L W A R
This was the first Dillinger Four album I enjoyed all the way through. I know I’ve been into punk rock for years now, and that I’ve had more than enough time to fall in love with Midwestern Songs of the Americas, but the fact is that never happened. When my computer crashed before coming to college, most of the stuff I didn’t have on CD was never reacquired and that includes Dillinger Four. So when there was all that controversy surrounding the leaked C I V I L W A R, I had to check it out. Some songs are a bit on the mellower side, but that doesn’t stop them from being awesome (or maybe it’s my age and I just enjoy old fart music now).
Favorite tracks: Parishiltonisametaphor, Gainesville, This Classical Arrangement, The Art of Whore, Clown Cars on Cinder Blocks

04. Matt Pryor – Confidence Man
This one surprised me. A lot. I’m not even sure what inspired me to check this one out: I’m only a casual Get Up Kids fan (Something to Write Home About is the only GUK album I would consistently listen to), and I had never listened to any of the side projects formed by the band’s members (New Amsterdams, Blackpool Lights, Etc) (Okay, so I lied. I did listen to Reggie and the Full Effect). But I read about Matt Pryor’s first solo outing and decided I needed to hear it. I’m glad I did. It’s definitely more in line with the mellow stuff that I’ve been listened to lately (what the fuck is up with me?), and really relaxing to put on. Supposedly it was recorded because Mr. Pryor wanted to release a solo disc before hitting 30. Good for him. I’m actually glad he did that, because I really do enjoy this album (A little side note: 2008 has been good for Matt Pryor fans. A solo album, a new Terrible Twos album, the Get Up Kids fucking reunited. Awesome).
Favorite tracks: A Totally New Year, Still There’s a Light, Confidence Man, I Wouldn’t Change a Thing, Dear Lover

03. The Offspring – Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
My favorite thing about this album? No Pretty Fly or Original Prankster on it. No seriously, I was getting sick of every time the Offspring released a new album, the first single was always some Latin-tinged or Synth-driven song. Granted, when I first heard Hammerhead, I thought it wasn’t very good; but the more I listen to it, the more I realize how much I like it. The delivery of the final verse gives me chills when I listen to it.
My only real gripe about this album is the way that half the songs sound like songs by other bands. I know that technically you could say the same about any album of theirs (or in the genre at all), but this one pushes it. Nothingtown sounds like it could have been a Green Day song, while the semi-title track, Rise and Fall, sounds a lot like American Idiot (as well as Doublewhiskeycorenoice). Worst of all, the verse to Trust in You sounds just like Smash, the titular track from The Offspring’s own 1994 album. You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid sounds kind of like Fall Out Boy, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it was done on purpose.
Favorite tracks: You’re Gonna Go Far Kid, Hammerhead, Takes Me Nowhere, Stuff Is Messed Up, Let’s Hear It For Rock Bottom

02. Weezer – Weezer (Red)
My transformation into a complete wuss when it comes to music wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention this album. There are two types of major Weezer fans: those who think anything past Pinkerton is crap, and those who have come to accept the fact that Weezer will no longer be able to release another Blue or Pinkerton, but will enjoy the new music anyway. Then there’s the third group who doesn’t take the band too seriously and just likes Weezer songs. I fall into that third group. Also, this album was the soundtrack to my summer, so I have a lot of attachment to it.
Favorite tracks: The Greatest Man That Ever Lives (Variations on a Shaker Hymn), Pork and Beans, Everybody Get Dangerous, Thought I Knew, Cold Dark World, Automatic, Pig

01. The Gaslight Anthem – The ‘59 Sound
If you either share a room with me or look at my last.fm profile, this shouldn’t surprise you. Or if you know anything about Gaslight Anthem fans, then this shouldn’t surprise you either. Yeah, yeah, the Gaslight Anthem has had their asses kissed by almost everyone in the past two years, and as a part of the punk community, I should hate them because everyone else likes them. I guess I’m not part of the punk community, because I do like them.
Favorite tracks: The ’59 Sound, Old White Lincoln, High Lonesome, Miles Davis and the Cool, The Patient Ferris Wheel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Here’s Looking at You Kid


Honorable Mentions
Alkaline Trio – Agony and Irony
I have trouble sitting through entire Alkaline Trio albums. I think that when they write a good song, it’s a damn good song. But not all of their songs are good songs and I find myself skipping around, only listening to no more than a third of the album. This one was no exception.

Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
I had this on my old laptop and never really listened to it. Then the laptop crashed and I never thought about getting back until yesterday. There’s definitely a lot of great stuff on here, but I couldn’t bring myself to put it in the top 10 just because I haven’t listened to it as much.

Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves – Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves
If only I had discovered this release sooner. It’s more in tune with Chuck Ragan’s solo work than it is with The Draft, but not quite as folky as Chuck Ragan.

De Novo Dahl – Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound
Yet another unfortunate album that could have been in my top ten, but excluded because I lost it during the Great Crash of the Old Laptop.

The Copyrights – Learn the Hard Way
I love pop punk, and I love the Copyrights, but I could put their whole discography on shuffle and for the most part wouldn’t be able to distinguish their albums from one another.

Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Modern Life
Even Spin included this in their top 10. How fucked up (pun intended) is that?
Actually, it isn’t very. It shows that someone at Spin has good taste.

The Loved Ones – Build and Burn
When this was put into rotation I ripped it on to my computer and it just stayed there unlistened to. Then about a month ago I finally gave it a spin. Naturally, I compared it to Keep Your Heart and, more prominent in my mind, their self titled EP and didn’t find it as thrilling, but it has some really good songs on it.



Top 5 EPs
05. Against Me! – New Wave B-sides
It’s Against Me!. Come on, like I wasn’t going to enjoy this.

04. Fake Problems – Viking Wizard Eyes, Wizard Full of Lies
I’ll admit, when I first read about this I had never heard of Fake Problems and assumed that they were some band that sounded like All Time Low and did nothing but do terrible blink-182 covers on this release (for those of you not in the know, Viking Wizard Eyes, Wizard Full of Lies is hidden on the inside of the Enema of the State album, and the song titles on this EP are “Mutt” “Wendy Clear” and “Adam’s Song”). And for some reason, I still downloaded it. I was wrong, this was awesome and blink-182 covers they were not.

03. Andrew Jackson Jihad – Only God Can Judge Me
Top quality songs about favoring kittens to humans, the humanity of Jesus and the evils of human life but the good that is within.

02. The Ergs! – That’s It… Bye
It’s kind of unfair that within a year of discovering this band that they decide to break up, but at least they released one final (albeit short) collection of new songs before going out. I don’t think it would win over any new fans, but it’s pleasing to those who already love them.

01. The Gaslight Anthem – Señor and the Queen and Tom Gabel – Heart Burns
I couldn’t pick one over the other. Tom Gabel’s solo EP caught me off guard at first with the new wave (lol) sounds of the first two songs, but I’ve even come to sort of enjoy the looped drum samples. It’s the songs which involve just him and a barely distorted guitar that sold this EP for me. Cowards Sing at Night reminds me of RAR-ATEC era Against Me!, while Anna is a [Fucking] Stool Pigeon only suffers in the title, in that the word “Fucking” was removed (at least on the packaging). Harsh Realms is my favorite song Tom Gabel has written in a long time.
As for Señor and the Queen, I just think this collection of four songs is a really nice collection. It’s sing-able throughout its duration and doesn’t get dull to me. Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts has one of the best choruses I’ve ever heard, and even though I’m not that old yet, it makes me wish that once I am old enough to think back on the past I’ll think back on it like this song does on Brian Fallon’s past.




5 Disappointments
05. Hunchback – Pray for Scars
I first heard of Hunchback on the NY vs NJ Punk Rock Battle Royale compilation. They had this song on it called “Number 12 Looks Like You” and was a pop punk song with screeching vocals much like that of the band The Number 12 Looks Like You. And I thought it was really funny and good. What I failed to understand is that Hunchback is (er… was, I heard they broke up too) an artsy punk band and that their songs were all completely spastic and different. I’m sure if I were into that avant garde stuff, I would’ve liked it more. I did think their cover of Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful was fun.

04. The Matches – A Band in Hope
They need to stop with this ‘multiple producers’ gimmick. Some of their individual songs are great, but having different people produce every other song makes the transition all weird and makes me not want to listen to it. Same problem with their last album.

03. Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
Maybe I’m just growing out of my Nine Inch Nails phase, but I didn’t find myself listening to it as much as I thought I would after reading all the reviews for it. On the plus side, it was free. That was cool.

02. Chumbawamba – The Boy Bands Have Won
The songs I do like from this album are actually really good. The first single, Add Me, is hilarious and really catchy. But there’s just so much on this album that seems like filler. A lot of really short tracks that would’ve worked better as sound clips on the other songs.

01. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV
I feel like I’m just picking on NIN now, but this one did really disappoint me. It sounded so cool at first because I loved the instrumentals on The Fragile, but 36 instrumental tracks is just way too much for me.

5 Albums of 2007 I Didn’t Discover Until 2008
05. The Methadones – This Won’t Hurt…
I’ll admit, I first thought about checking this out after Mitch Clem put it in his Top 10 of 2007. I was only familiar with the name at the time, I didn’t realize Danny Vapid (of Screeching Weasel) was the frontman. That made this band all the more awesome to me and I needed to check it out.

04. The Ergs! – Upstairs/Downstairs
It’s a shame they broke up so soon after I discovered them. I think these guys were taking pop punk in the direction it desperately needs to be taken back into.

03. Flobots – Fight With Tools
I also admit that seeing the video Handlebars interested me in checking out this album. I discovered that there was more to them than just that song and I ended up listening to this album a lot more than I thought I would.

02. Paul Baribeau – Grand Ledge
Technically I did discover this in 2007, but I couldn’t ever listen to it until I finally decided to take it upon myself to convert the m4a files Monica sent me because a certain someone insisted that they couldn’t converts them into mp3s with iTunes (iTunes v.8 cannot convert to mp3, but I know for a fact that the older versions could).

01. The Gaslight Anthem – Sink or Swim
Yeah… totally my favorite band of 2008.


Compilations
The Ergs! – Hindsight is 20/20 My Friend
Even though the band is gone, the music lives on!

Social Distortion – Recordings Between Then and Now
An un-official compilation, it has a lot of acoustic versions of some of their songs and a few covers (Folsom Prison Blues, Death or Glory). It really made me appreciate Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell a lot more.

Favorite Split
The Methadones/The Copyrights Split
Not many splits that I heard this year really impressed me all that much. There’s the Under the Influence series, and even though Mustard Plug’s cover of Waiting Room is ace, Bomb the Music Industry!’s cover of Gold Soundz was… well, I didn’t like it (I don’t really like Pavement to begin with). I also wasn’t too fond of the Ergs!’s cover of Blockhead. It wasn’t terrible, I just didn’t like it that much.
The Methadones and the Copyrights though… I’m amazed they’re able to churn out as much as they do within such short periods of times. I know I mentioned how I think the Copyrights need to change up their style every so often if they’re going to release something new every 5 months, but it really works for them on here. And the Methadones continue with their brand of power-pop-punk, which doesn’t bother me at all.

Favorite Reissues
Riverdales – Phase Three (Reissue)
This was a lot better than most reissues of out-of-print albums. Rather than tacking all of the unreleased songs and demos at the end of the album, they’re just thrown everywhere, giving the album a whole new feel. Also, there’s a re-recorded version of Mental Retard, which I really enjoyed (new Riverdales in 2009!).

Flobots – Fight With Tools
I didn’t realize this was re-issued this year, but I guess with the success of Handlebars it was. Either way, like I said before, I enjoyed it a lot.

The Replacements – Tim
The Replacements – Let It Be
The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
I certainly have some great timing. It was only a year ago when I decided to check out the Replacements, and a few months later almost all their albums are reissued. I don’t consider myself a “die hard” fan, but I like them well enough to enjoy the bonus tracks tacked on.

I can order pizza online, without ever having to talk to another human being.

what a world we live in.

Christmas Eve. Finished wrapping gifts, now just killing time until tomorrow when I see the family and tell them what it's like to be an Anthropology major, how things with the band are, and quite possibly if I have a girlfriend or not (always a popular subject amongst family).

My brother got Twilight Princess. He's playing it right now. I'm jealous. I know the game has been out for a few years now, but I've never gotten around to it. I think I found a good way to kill some time for this winter break.

Speaking of ways to kill time for winter break, the show in Albany next week is no longer happening. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but from the story I was told, the show was never actually booked by the people who said they were going to book it. Very annoying stuff. But my brother is also getting Guitar Hero: World Tour, so in between that, Zelda and attempting to write more stuff on my acoustic, I should be pretty busy.

I was going through some of the songs I wrote over the summer/last winter break and a few of them have potential to continue to be played. One of them is about Lauren and I'm not sure how I feel about that one anymore. It's a pretty detailed account of my relationship with her, so it's not like I can just pretend it's about anyone. I thought about changing some of the more detailed lyrics into more general stuff, but I feel that would just kill the song. It's probably best I just leave it alone and only bring it out if necessary.

Other songs I've written though... some of them are pretty good. There's one that I'm temporarily calling dotorg, which is about a certain website that I sometimes browse through, only to notice that everyone who posts there is a douche bag. Flyswatter is about both a person who hurt a friend of mine and a fly that was pissing the hell out of me over the summer. EGAD is about scenesters and myspace whores, but I'm not sure if I enjoy that one much. There's my acoustic version of Consume with an extra verse I wrote to compliment James' lyrics, and then Just Like Them, another detailed personal song, but with a 'woah' sing along chorus. I like that one a lot.

I'm trying to do something with the discarded guitar part from the NO song Declined. It wasn't working out for us, but I still really like the part I had written, so I'm trying to write new lyrics to it and just make it my own song. I've got a verse down, but I'd like more.

Once I've finished writing these songs, I just need a drummer and bassist. Maybe a second guitar player too. There's no way I'll be sharing these songs with NO... it just doesn't fit the style. What I'd really like to do is start up a pop punk band and use these songs, but I guess I'll wait for an opportunity to come along (I'm still gonna stick with NO, but a side project would be nice).

enough of my ranting. here's a holiday gift for anyone who happens to read this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?fenynnzwin4

It's a collection of NO songs, decently recorded. It's called NO NOVEMBER because (surprise surprise) that's when we recorded it. I don't have the lyric sheets, so just use your imagination. What to expect inside:
01. Silly Billy
02. Kamikaze Vomit Comet
03. Hypocritical Hippies (formerly known as Environmental Song)
04. Leave Me Alone
05. Opposite of You
06. Torah Torah Torah (instrumental)
07. When I Dream
08. Learn to Share
09. Cut Off
10. No Hope in New Jersey
11. Consume
12. Intellectual Property is Theft
13. Diet Pills
14. Fucked Reality (Choking Victim cover)
15. Frat Party
16. Fix Me (Black Flag cover)
17. Opposite of You Too*
18. I'm a Telemarketer**

*a slightly slower version of Opposite of You, I added the "Too" on to the end of the hell of it (other potential names were Opposite of You 2 and Opposite of U2)
**Not actually recorded at the same time as these other songs, this one is fairly new.

an update?!?!

I knew I'd be awful at keeping a blog.


Today marks the beginning of winter break for me. I stayed at school for as long as possible and it paid off despite the fact that all my friends left before I did. According to my calendar, I have exactly 4 weeks before I return to New Paltz. I can deal.

NO business...

in early November we recorded another practice, but this time we experimented and put the recording mic right in between all of us and set the sensitivity to 0.0
It worked wonderfully. We finally had recordings with a bass drum. James sent me the recording session and I turned it into a collection of songs for people to listen to. I'd share it right now, but I'm too lazy to find it, so maybe tomorrow.

we also recorded a legit demo. it's still live like the last one, only the vocals are mixed in equally with the rest of the stuff. some songs are still unbalanced, but what can ya do? we've written a number of new songs. I think we have about 17 originals now. we could totally pull off an LP if we tried.

we have patches that we hope to sell, and shirts in the making. It's awesome.

we have a show at some skatepark in Albany on December 30th. I looked it up and found the name of the place, but I forgot it already. It's on our myspace:

www.myspace.com/nonewpaltz

we also have a show on January 31st at the Midway Cafe in MA. I'm looking forward to that.

and there's supposedly some talk about shows in the UMass region.



I'm going through all the albums that came out this year for my annual Top 10 list. I'm probably going to play my favorite songs from them on the radio show next semester.


I suck at blogging.