Top 30 Albums of 2009
30. Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
29. Japandroids – Post-Nothing
28. The Dear Hunter – Act III Life & Death
27. Plushgun – Pins and Panzers
26. Mansions – New Best Friends
25. Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist
24. All Time Low – Nothing Personal
23. This Time Next Year – Road Maps & Heart Attacks
22. Noah and the Whale – The First Day of Spring
21. Paramore – brand new eyes
20. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
19. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg
18. The Motorcycle Industry – Electric Education
17. O Pioneers – Neon Creeps
16. Fireworks – All I Have Is My Own Confusion
15. Passion Pit – Manners
14. P.O.S. – Never Better
13. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
12. WHY? – Eskimo Snow
11. Kevin Devine – Brother’s Blood
10. Set Your Goals – This Will Be the Death of Us
9. Chuck Ragan – Gold Country
8. Fake Problems – It’s Great to Be Alive
7. A Day To Remember – Homesick
6. Brand New – Daisy
5. Say Anything – Say Anything
4. The Dangerous Summer – Reach for The Sun
3. Kiss Kiss – The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left
2. Fun. – Aim and Ignite
1. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing
It was hard for me to pick just 30 but when I went to the top 5, it was even harder to distinguish which one was the best. Mean Everything to Nothing was a flat out great rock album dealing with God and religion with fantastic stand out moments on almost every track. Aim and Ignite was baroque pop at its finest proving that the glory of The Format is far from dead. Reach for the Sun revitalized pop-punk in a scene dominated by catering to teeny boppers with extremely profound, honest and personal lyrics with beautiful echoing guitar lines. Say Anything took the traditional sound we all know and love and meshed it with insight on religion while combining elements of doo-wop, synth-pop and spoken word, all with masterful production. Daisy took the aggression of previous albums and amplified it to the maximum proving that Brand New is not afraid to make the record they want. And The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left was just well absolutely eccentric and musically insane (in a very good way). Ultimately, I gave the honor to Mean Everything to Nothing for it’s initial “wow” factor. However, all of the albums on this list are absolutely fantastic and I suggest you check them out. It was a damn good year for music.
Honorable Mentions
These are the albums that, while not up to snuff with the top 25, are still great records.
Enter Shikari – Common Dreads
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon
mewithoutyou – it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright
The Audition – Self-Titled Album
Weatherbox – The Cosmic Drama
Dethklok – Dethalbum II
Top EPs of 2009
1. Bon Iver – Blood Bank
2. Straylight Run – About Time
3. VersaEmerge – VersaEmerge
4. Polar Bear Club – The Summer of George
5. MC Chris – Part Six Part One
Most Disappointing Albums
These are the albums that, while I didn’t hate at all, I just expected to be so much better. Whether it be the hype surrounding it, or hearing an amazing song from the album only to discover that the rest of the record isn’t on par. These are the records that turned out, in one way or another, to be a disappointment.
1. Two Tongues – Two Tongues
2. The Swell Season – Strict Joy
3. New Found Glory – Not Without A Fight
4. Dashboard Confessional – Alter the Ending
5. Animal Collective – Merriwether Post Pavillion
It was recently announced via twitter that the line-up for the 2010 Warped Tour is currently in the works. This year, the Warped Tour garnered some controversy for adding so many (and by so many, in reality like three or four out of 80) abysmal bands labeled under the new extremely unflattering genre dubbed “crunkcore”. This caused a slew of criticism for the tour for several reasons. Not only are these bands in fact make pretty horrible music and give off a bad image for the tour but the endless criticism of this newfound scene of “crunkcore” also turned off many concert-goers. Bands would interrupt their own sets to rant incessantly about how Warped Tour is dead because of the fact that a few of these “crunkcore” artists or “neon bands” were on the tour. As much as I hated this “crunkcore” trend and its appearance at Warped Tour, I also did not welcome this newfound elitism from supposedly real punk bands. So, since I really don’t want another year of awkward auto-tuned screaming or fire and brimstone speeches about how everyone is a poseur, I proposed a list of bands that not only I would personally love to see at Warped next year but would hopefully bring some sanity and credibility back the tour.
2009 was the year pop-punk resurged back into its roots with bands like This Time Next Year, Four Year Strong and of course, one of the bands leading the movement, Set Your Goals. With their aggressive hooks, positive attitude, amazing live sets and this year’s fantastic release, This Will Be The Death Of Us, 2009 is becoming a fantastic year for SYG and frankly would be a perfect heavy-hitter for Warped’s line-up.
As Kevin Lyman, Warped Tour founder, awkwardly stated in an interview, “some kids at Warped just want to dance their faces off” (whatever that means). Jokes aside, whether you like it or not, catchier and poppier at Warped is here to say, it’s what the kids listen to. But frankly some of this music can be good, damn good. Family Force 5 are an alternative christian rock band with hip hop and electronic dance music elements mixed together with an over-the-top tongue in cheek attitude. Quite simply, their catchy hooks and silly antics make them one of the best mainstream rap-rock artists out there and frankly, FF5 is the band every “neon band” wish they could be (if they weren’t terrible). Most importantly, FF5 boasts an insane live show that features a giant drum machine dubbed “The Family Force 5000″, ridiculous Power Ranger-inspired outfits and some guy who calls himself “Xanadu” with an epic beard and a silver jumpsuit freestyle dancing on stage (don’t ask).
SocialVibe