End Of The Year (2011) - Albums

2011 proved to be as impressive a year in music as I thought it would be at the end of last year.  This year saw the reunion of several of my favorite bands, as well as other bands like Blink 182.  Influential post-hardcore, early emo pioneers Braid reunited and recorded new material for the first time in over a decade.  Punk rockers Hot Water Music came together to record a 7” after spending seven years apart pursuing their own side projects.  Seminal third-wave emo band The Get Up Kids also reunited after playing a series of shows in support of the 10^th Anniversary of their groundbreaking album, Something To Write Home About.  They released their first full length in seven years.  And lastly, this year saw the reunion of the original members of Taking Back Sunday.  John Nolan and Adam Lazzarra finally patched up their grievances and the two exiles were brought back into the folder.  The album they released was impressive but complicated.  Read on for all these details and more…

Best Albums

10. Thursday - No Devolución

Thursday was one of those bands always destined to be bound to their first full length album, Full Collapse.  Like their Victory Records label mates at the time, Taking Back Sunday, they crafted such a perfect debut album that it was difficult to top.  They've found varying degrees of success (Common Existence) and failure (A City By The Light Divided) as they tried to follow their own path of musical evolution.  In the fourteen years that the band has existed, they've toured extensively (and formed bro-mances with the boys in Taking Back Sunday and Thrice), went on a hiatus first in 2004 and again this year (indefinitely, this time), and released albums on several different record labels.

Despite the ferocity of Full Collapse, the band's brand of post-hardcore has varied immensely in the years that followed.  It was at times more aggressive accompanied by lead singer Geoff Rickly's throaty howls and other times it was just simple rock.  Either way, it rarely failed to impress.  Once I began growing out of my hardcore phase filled with screaming and abrasive post-hardcore, I stopped following the band's career as closely as I had.

When No Devolución was released this year, I figured that it would be in the same vein as the band's previous work.  When I actually listened to the album, I quickly discovered my folly.  No Devolución wastes no time in deviating from the path.  The first song begins with a musically heavy intro that could have been lifted from any other album they've made before it transitions into a much more vulnerable song.  When Rickly described the album, he was quoted as saying that it was a " very atmospheric and mood oriented" album.  That's as perfect of a description as you can get.  The sonic soundscapes that follow are lush portraits painted with stripped down emotions and layers of intense instrumentation.  The band does occasionally tear out of the dark atmosphere to remind you what they're capable of.  It's an album that serves as the next logical step (as the album title translates, "no returns") while recalling elements of their early music.

It came as a sad surprise when the band announced their indefinite hiatus at the end of November - a day after their best buddies Thrice called it quits.  As sad as it is to see a talented band go their separate ways (especially in a scene with such a notable lack of talent), it allows you to listen to and interpret No Devolución in a more meaningful way - as the beautiful swan song of a band saying goodbye to their loyal fans after nearly a decade and a half. 

Recommended Tracks: "Fast To The End" and "Open Quotes"

 09. Chuck Ragan - Covering Ground

Hot Water Music scribe-turned-folk-troubadour Chuck Ragan is back with another rousing round of stripped down, country tinged folk rock.  Unlike the songs produced by his other projects, his coarse voice is the dominant instrument in this solo effort.  He accompanies himself with acoustic guitar and has a few friends providing back-up in the form of a fiddle and an upright bass.  The fiddle is provided by the illustrious Jon Gaunt, who also provided accompaniment for the entire Revival Tour.  The music is as bare bones as it gets – Ragan might as well be standing up there naked, baring his soul to the world.  He is the definition of a man’s man.  He is so manly that his beard alone could knock Chuck Norris unconscious.  His forearms are of Popeye proportions and his gruff, booming voice and earth-shattering stomps only serve to accentuate the feelings that he’s pouring onto the stage.

Songs like “Valentine” have been around in early incarnations since the 7” of the Month Club back in late 2006 and early 2007, though the improved arrangements (and the addition of female vocals) do wonders for the song.  Since his vocals take more of a front seat in these songs, the lyrics really stand out.  Lines like “Silence took me fierce and blindly and shadows became one / I found the floor with the broken boards and the grist for the mill gone. / With nothing left but a chord to stretch and a word to get on by / sometimes you reach for the bottle before the sky.” (from the opening track, “Nothing Left To Prove”) are top-notch examples of the blue collar genius and tone that pervades every song on the album.  Chuck has even brought along a few of his friends from the Revival Tour, including The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon, Audra Mae and Frank Turner.

Like some relic from history, Ragan is a legend in his own right.  He has toured for well over a decade and he has the stories to prove it.  The music will transport you into the car alongside him, watching the asphalt race by as you hum along to songs like “Nomad By Fate”.  This is the new what next – a reinvention of folk for the modern age.  Grab your duffle and a bottle of whiskey; you’re going on the road. 

Recommended Tracks: “Nothing Left To Prove” and “Meet You In The Middle”

08. Moving Mountains - Waves

When I first discovered Moving Mountains’ debut album, Pnuema, I could not get enough.  I immediately took to my blog and spread the word.  Here was this young band, almost all of whom had been in high school when Pneuma was written, creating this breathtaking blend of post-hardcore and progressive rock.  The instrumentation was beyond diverse.  Horns sparkled throughout the music as the vocals interplayed between screams and melodic singing.  Unfortunately, Pneuma eventually fell out of circulation among my record collection.  Wrong place, wrong time, perhaps.

So when I saw that the band was gearing up to release a new record this year, I figured I would give them another good listen.  I burned an mp3 disc with all of the new albums that came out this year that interested me so that I could listen in the car and get all caught up.  I had just finished listening to another album that ended up on this End of the Year list, when Waves began playing.  I had no idea what I was listening to.  Sure, I had just burned it to the disc myself a mere five days prior, but do you know how long five days is!?  So there I was, experiencing music the way I wish I could experience all music. No prejudice or bias – I literally had no idea which band I was listening to.  And I liked it.  I kept thinking that it sounded A LOT like Thrice.  Except that I had, sadly, listened to Thrice new's album, Major/Minor enough times to know that it was their worst album.  A boring, uninspired mess of wannabe grunge and failing progressive rock.  So as Waves assaulted my ears, I thought “this sounds like Thrice except much, much better.”  Finally, three songs into the album, my curiosity was killing me and I finally checked who the artist was.

But I seriously digress.  You shouldn’t listen to Moving Mountains simply because they are a far better alternative to the terrible garbage that Thrice released this year (though, now that Thrice has gone on hiatus, perhaps this IS a good alternative).  You should listen to this band because they are amazingly talented and they are coming into their own as a band.  Although 2007’s Pnuema and 2008’s Foreword were epic albums, they also dragged into exceptionally long records.  There were a ton of instrumental passages linking different parts of each song.  Much like The Receiving End of Sirens or early The Dear Hunter, brevity is something the band did not suffer from.  A fact not more poignantly pointed out by the running time of the Foreword EP (35:08) compared to the running time of this LP (40:26).  That’s only five more minutes for six more tracks.

Gone are the moody atmospherics and sparse vocals – the band has whittled down their music to the bare essentials.  Frontman Gregory Dunn’s singing has changed monumentally between their last EP and this effort.  The change in song structure has put a stronger emphasis on the vocals, which likely forced him to really challenge himself as a vocalist.  The result is simply stunning.  He transitions seamlessly between screaming and singing, which puts the perfect cap on these new succinct songs.  This is a record burning to be heard.  The title of the album encapsulates the ebb and tide of emotion and aggression that flows through the album, crashing onto the shores of your brain and heart.  If that ridiculously garish metaphor isn’t enough to entice you, then you have no hope of being saved. 

Recommended Tracks: “My Life Is A Chase Dream (And I'm Still Having Chase Dreams)” and “Full Circle”

07. Owen - Ghost Town

Awash in quirky turn-of-phrases and a recurring theme of ghosts, Mike Kinsella’s eighth album under the moniker Owen occupies an intriguing, though at times safe, place in the indie scene.  Mike Kinsella spent so many years earning his dues as a member of progenitor bands like Cap’n Jazz that now it seems that he has little left to do but settle down with his wife and their beautiful baby girl.  The tracks on Ghost Town never stray all that far from previous Owen albums – they are musically sparse indie pop songs with straight forward lyrics laced with the occasional quip or obscenity.  It is moody and, at times, still very impressive.  But altogether, it is an album that reigns in its own ambition.

It is not entirely uninspired, as no album created by Mike Kinsella could ever be.  He takes an interesting turn lyrically, as he writes more in the vein of Cursive’s Tim Kasher than his older material.  His songs have become increasingly esoteric as the years have progressed, but these songs are incredibly intimate, personal snapshots into the married life of a man just learning how to be a father and a musician.  It is a haunting narrative to listen to.  For as much romantic grief as Mike has surely suffered throughout the years, judging by songs from his back catalog, I would have hoped beyond hope that he would be happily married without a problem in the world, especially after hearing Kevin Devine recount the story of how Mike met his wife.  Unfortunately, the maudlin tone of some of these songs is just outright depressing.  After all of the heartache and longing, it seems like Mike is still fighting off his demons.

The music is still primarily based around his acoustic guitar but it isn’t as bare as it could have been – Mike litters the album with string arrangements and a cello accompaniment.  The songs are as sonically gorgeous as any of his old songs though at this point in his discography, one has to wonder when he will begin to discover new chords to play.  The album sets the mood very early on and then it meanders along, dwelling in its slow-paced, off-tempo atmosphere.

Still, songs like “An Animal” are enough to kick you out of any haze and bring your attention straight to your speakers.  It is one of the better songs to come out of the last couple of albums.  With lines like, “I keep my secrets buried beneath us / under deep soil and stones / Maybe God will save my soul / but in this world I'm an animal with clothes on / An animal with needs”, you begin to understand the spiritual crisis that affects every person at some point in their life.  Gone are the days where Owen songs just tackled love, friends, and nagging loneliness, Mike Kinsella is now dealing with the bigger issues at hand - the success of his marriage, the happiness and well-being of his daughter, and what his place is in the entirety of the universe.

  

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that there is talk of this being the last Owen album.  If that’s the case, I will choose to remember the man for songs like “Breaking Away”, “Good Deeds” and “The Ghost of What Should’ve Been” rather than dreary downers like New Leaves’ “Curtain Call” and this album’s closer, “Everyone's Asleep In The House But Me”.  It’s really good music but god damn, it can get depressing. 

Recommended Tracks:  “An Animal” and “Too Many Moons”

06. Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones

From the moment you see this skinny English man standing on the stage above you, earnestly singing lyrics like "I won't sit down, I won't shut up and most of all, I will not grow up", you begin to wonder where he has been all of your life.  In the case of Frank Turner, he spent most of his formative years fronting post-hardcore bands like Kneejerk and the more well-known Million Dead.  Though any success he may have achieved screaming his guts out pales in comparison to the attention that his unique brand of folk punk has begun to garner in the last couple of years.

My wife and I were first treated to a Frank Turner show as a part of the Revival Tour back in 2009.  Since then, he has been featured on Spin's “24 Summer Albums That Matter Most” list, alongside the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Beyonce, Red Hot Chili Peppers, OK Go, and, *swoon*, Taking Back Sunday.  England Keep My Bones even received a full page review, including a mini-interview, in Alternative Press.  I think it is amazing  that someone with songs like "Heartless Bastard Motherfucker" and lyrics like "When I was just a skinny lad on holiday by the sea / I met a girl in a Rancid shirt, and a tape she gave to me / With the Black Flag First Four Years and the Minor Threat Discography / And punk rock saved my life" has actually achieved some modicum of success.

It's not the man's increasing media profile that irks me - it's just that I hate how damn esoteric England Keep My Bones sounds.  I said that halfway through the year and I feel that way even more so now.  The title, lifted from a Shakespeare play, is not misleading in the slightest.  This record is as English as the Queen, steeped in tea and riddled with obscure, esoteric references to the motherland.  For someone who has never stepped foot into the UK, it's a bit hard to relate to songs about the English Channel.

The opening track, "Eulogy", is a short, sweet number with smile-inducing lyrics like "Not everyone was born to be a king / Not everyone can be Freddie Mercury / Everyone can raise a glass and sing" before ending with a line that sums up Frank Turner's entire existence: "But on the day I die / I'll say, at least I fucking tried / That's the only eulogy I need."  The album cleanly segues into "Peggy Sang The Blues", which is one of the standout tracks on the album.  The Peggy in question is Frank's grandmother and the lyrics obviously reside near his heart as he sings about playing poker with her after she comes down from Heaven, though it's the reaffirming chorus that will stick with you.

"I Still Believe" follows, though it remains unchanged from its debut on the Rock & Roll EP last year.  It's still a good song but at this point it's starting to feel old.  "Rivers" is the one out of place song on an otherwise solid first half.  It's an ode to English geography that might mean something to an Englishman but means absolutely nothing to me.  Thankfully, "I Am Disappeared" follows.  This is a mid-album wallop, busting out of the folk punk mold to become a rapidly galloping beast of a song.  It builds up to an outstanding and intriguing bridge that doesn't sound quite like anything that Frank has done before.

Sadly, the latter half of the album begins to drag.  It wanders around, trying to find its groove, but never really gets anywhere.  The tone is broken up slightly by the song "English Curse" even though it is more history class than the pub or a rock and roll show, the acapella style in which its delivered makes it impossible to ignore.  I have to give Frank credit for stretching outside the comfort zone of folk.  Songs like "One Foot Before The Other", while not being total successes, are a welcome contribution to his pantheon.  They add an element of pure rock and roll that doesn't always come through on his other albums.  England Keep My Bones finishes strongly with a powerful atheist anthem, "Glory Hallelujah".  As Frank said, "I have played many Christian songs on stage in my time, and have no issue with that; but one time I was singing “May the Circle Be Unbroken” onstage in Atlanta, with Chuck Ragan, and it occurred to me that it'd be nice if there was a concomitant atheist song, with the same feel, to put the other side of the argument."  Not all fans reacted positively as the song was booed at a couple of his shows and some fans expressed their disapproval to him personally.  Kudos to him for not backing down from his beliefs, even if it meant alienating a few people.

As a whole, England Keep My Bones is just way too esoteric of an album to hold a place among his best.  It is neither his most accessible nor best album and I wouldn't recommend it to first time listeners.  The standout songs are worth checking out, as individually they score pretty high, even among the rest of his impressive back catalog of songs. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Peggy Sang The Blues” and “I Am Disappeared”

 05. Maniac - Mania

When The Matches announced that they were splitting up, I was heartbroken. I had been following the band since before their record deal with Epitaph and I had enjoyed the musical evolution with each new album they released.  In the wake of their breakup, I watched frontman Shawn Harris' video singing a song with the refrain "how do you celebrate going away?" and I felt even worse.  It seemed like the band had always worked together fairly well, even with a minor lineup change in recent years.

They all went their separate ways and I failed to keep tabs on any of their new bands.  It wasn't until I saw a news post on AbsolutePunk talking about Shawn Harris' new band, Maniac, and some adventure they were embarking on called Wide Eyed And Freewheelin', that I became interested in the follow up to The Matches.  I knew nothing about the band, aside from the involvement of Shawn and someone named Jake Grigg, who was an Australian in some band called Something With Numbers.

Leaping at the opportunity to take part in such a unique and awesome musical adventure, my wife and I called the photographer/videographer documenting their adventure, a young woman named Emily Dyan Ibarra, and left a message saying that we wanted to help out/hang out.  They had specifically mentioned coming through Vegas but the timeline was up in the air.  By the time she got back to us, they had already been in town for a day or two.  We met up with the guys and Emily and treated them to dinner.  They treated us to a private show of Maniac songs, interpreted on an acoustic guitar and a ukulele.  Before the night was through, we decided we wanted to help them get to their next destination, Arizona.

The next day we set out on the open road.  We were treated to live music for the first part of the trip to Flagstaff.  Jake and Shawn had been nice enough to write down a list of our favorite songs to cover in the car.  We were also treated to several Matches songs and a good amount of rehearsal of Maniac songs.  Though we had originally planned to hand the boys off to a friend at Flagstaff, we ended up accompanying them all the way to Phoenix.  Our friend, who happened to be sans a radio, enjoyed the live music of the boys from Flagstaff to Phoenix while my wife and I enjoyed the company of Emily.  The whole thing was a once in a lifetime experience that was better than I could have possibly imagined.

When we first saw photos of Jake and Shawn, we thought Jake looked like a hobo with his crazy hair and wild eyes.  I was used to Shawn's eccentric look from the many Matches shows that I had attended.  But getting to truly meet them and spend a lot of time with them cramped in a car was incredible.  Shawn is very much the brain of Maniac - he's always been very DIY and he carries that ethic into this band.  He knows what he's doing with the merch and it seems like he makes the plans.  Jake, as scary as he may have looked in pictures, is one of the sweetest people we've ever met.  He is most definitely the heart of Maniac.  He puts the soul into the music through his compassion and his soulful voice.  And even though Emily is not technically a member of the band, she will always be associated with the guys and their wacky antics.  Getting to meet her was a real treat as well.  I knew nothing about her aside from the comments on the AbsolutePunk news article: "She's hot".  It turns out that she's also smart, funny and kind.

Hopefully this paints some kind of picture of the band and how they are to fans.  This is not the typical rock band/music fan relationship. They strive to be personal with their fans, even going so far as to send out unsolicited letters confirming your membership in a fan club that may or may not exist, depending on what you believe in.  The music is definitely not the genre that I would typically be listening to.  Both Shawn and Jake came from pop punk bands, Shawn from The Matches and Jake from Something With Numbers.  And yet the melding of their minds producing what can only be identified simply as "pop".  It is nostalgic pop that harkens back to the 80's with elements of dance, synthesizer and horns.  There is a reason that they were tapped by the Psychedelic Furs to open for them on their tour before it, sadly, fell through.  Whereas you would typically think of pop music as mindless (and lord knows it is, nowadays), both of these guys are incredibly talented musicians.   They are constantly pushing the envelope to innovate new sounds, new ways of introducing their music and new mediums for the visual representation of their art.

Their debut full length, Mania, doesn't wait to ease you into the music.  Beginning with the song "Thank Each Mistake", you are treated to an introduction of horns and a song laden with pop hooks.  From there, the album swings into full gear with the song "HooDoo", a personal favorite of mine and the standout track of the entire album.  With its call and response melodies, this song captures everything that makes Maniac the band that they are.  It's the way that Shawn's voice works with Jake's.  It's the instrumentation and the awkwardly adorable guitar solo that occurs about halfway through the song.  The album continues on with monumental hooks and clever lines - songs like "3 Kings Day", "Give It Up", and "Whatever Twirls Ya World" are incredible odes to the 80's and highlights off of the album.  "Give It Up", strangely, sounds like a modern day refresh of Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" to me.

It isn't all perfect, though.  The song "Our Darkest Hour" feels completely out of place and I'm not sure what the band was going for with that song.  But even the songs that aren't as perfect have their own beauty.  "Wild Wild Water" and "Under The GalaxSEA" both take more of a ballad route and should be heard at least once.  It's just hard to believe that Shawn Harris, who once wrote a song like "Say 18" with The Matches now has a song like "Just Say Yes", which fancies itself epic and grand, much like the band themselves.  Unafraid of being exactly what they are and finally making music that speaks to their influences. 

Recommended Tracks:  “3 Kings Day” and “HooDoo"

04. Kevin Devine - Between The Concrete & Clouds

Let's begin with the obvious - this record is just not as good as Brother's Blood.  But to be fair, Brother's Blood is probably going to end up being one of those records that Kevin will never be able to top, even with his admirable sense of striving for the best.  I can't put my finger on what it is about this album that doesn't resonate with me as much as his past work.  It could be that there doesn't seem to be a really cohesive theme.

Leading the album with "Off-Screen" was a bold choice and it works here.  It's a song that showed a lot of promise when Kevin played it for the Little Videos Sessions prior to the album's release.  Even though it doesn't have the qualities of a typical opener, I really like the feel of it.  It has transitioned well into album form and it's a good introduction.  The second track, which is ironically titled "The First Hit", falls flat on its face.  Although it flows in the same vein as the terrific "Part Of The Whole" which was released as a separate 7", it just doesn't capture that old-The Get Up Kids feel quite as well. The phrasing is awkward and the lyrics aren't as superb as others.  "Sleepwalking Through My Life", "Wait Out The Wreck", "The City Has Left You Alone" and "I Used To Be Someone" are solid tracks that capture the general direction in which his music seems to be moving, with the latter being a fantastic choice for a closer with its concluding chorus that echoes on.  What I don't like is how mellow and complacent these songs seem.  Gone is the dignified anger of songs like "Another Bag of Bones", the playfulness of songs like "Just Stay", or even the youthful vigor of songs like "Cotton Crush".

"Awake In The Dirt" is a hard song to qualify.  The melodies are just discordant enough to put you off of the song on your first listen through.  Once the tone has grown on you, then you must adjust to the lyrics.  They are as esoteric as can be, written from the perspective of Merry Levov, a fictional teenage girl who occupies the pages of the novel American Pastoral by Philip Roth.  As an aside, some have said that Between The Concrete & Clouds in its entirety is heavily inspired by American Pastoral.  I'm not so sure about that one, mainly because I'm unfamiliar with the book.  Despite all the ambiguity and obscurity, the song is actually not that bad of a song once it has grown on you.

"Between The Concrete & Clouds", much like "Brother's Blood" before it, is the perfect title track for this album.  Unfortunately, also like "Brother's Blood", Kevin mars what would otherwise be a perfect song with just a little bit too much noise and instrumentation.  If you listen to the acoustic versions of both title tracks, they are incredible all on their own.  It is just Kevin and an acoustic guitar and it bites to the bone.  Seeing Kevin play "Brother's Blood" live when it's just him is still the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience - I'm talking goosebumps every time.  But when you start adding in a ton of feedback and unnecessary background instruments, you begin to lose the essence of the song.  The words aren't as powerful and the message gets distorted.  The music needs to be distilled back to the basics.  An acoustic guitar can speak volumes over an aimless guitar solo filtered through effects pedals.

Not every song on the album suffers at the hands of additional noise.  "11.17" was already a dark and moody track when Kevin started playing it for live sessions a couple of months ago.  The album version sees the addition of effects and noise, which actually serve to amplify the dissonance of the song.  Additional instrumentation also improved songs like the closer, "I Used To Be Someone", which was unremarkable as an acoustic song.

Sadly, the album also includes "A Story, A Sneak", a song that, despite many repeated listenings, has never grown on me.  I can't call it a throwaway track but it isn't too far off.  It is bothersome that this song got included and songs like "Part Of The Whole" and "Luxembourg", both of which are unbelievably good songs, got left off of the album entirely.  But this late in the album, it's a small gripe to have.  The rest of the songs showcase Kevin Devine's talented musician and brilliant lyricism and you really can't ask for more than that. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Between The Concrete & Clouds” and “Off-Screen”

03. The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

The Dear Hunter has always been an ambitious project.  Every studio album the band had released up to this point revolved around the same concept - a young boy, known only as The Dear Hunter, who lived at the dawn of the 20th century.  We are three "acts" (albums) into a six-album story about the birth, life, and abrupt death of the aforementioned boy.  Deciding to take a break from this enduring project, frontman/producer/mastermind Casey Crescenzo announced that the band would shift their focus onto recording the even more ambitious Colors project.  Not much was known about the project except that, like Thrice's The Alchemy Index before it, each EP would be themed.  In this case, there would be nine EP's - seven EP's themed to a color in the color spectrum and two additional EP's for white and black.

I'll admit I was doubtful at first.  How could the band possibly pull this off?  How do you make music that has color as a theme (without taking illicit drugs)?  The result is beyond impressive.  It is dazzling in its complexity and stunning in its execution.  It's not so much that a certain song sounds, say, "red", it's that each color/EP has its own tone and mood.  The Black EP is heavy with electronic noise and effects.  The Red EP is straightforward indie rock.  The Orange EP is the classic rock EP that sounds like it was lifted from the 70's.  The Yellow EP is the light, poppy EP with the Beatles-esque vibe.  The Green EP is pure Americana with slide guitars and acoustic guitars.  The Blue EP is filled with ballads and slower songs about relationships and love.  The Indigo EP is an experimental EP that features more effects and electronic noise but without the melody or tone of the Black EP's songs.  The Violet EP is the one that most resembles the previous Dear Hunter albums - it features the baroque pop and strings atmosphere of those songs.  The Color Spectrum finishes with the White EP, an ethereal and uplifting set of songs.

To be fair, the number three spot on this list is going to the retail CD of The Color Spectrum, which is essentially a “best of” compilation of 11 tracks taken from the Complete Collection of 36 tracks.  I can't include the entirety of the songs because technically it would be much longer than an actual LP.  Still, you'll find my thoughts and reviews of each EP in what follows.

The CD hits hard from the start with “Filth & Squalor”, the song taken from the Black EP.  The electronic elements are used to add a touch of aggression as Casey sings about the darkness of man, "I always knew that the damned would inherit the earth / As soon as they learned to speak, we would be suffering".  As always, the band uses dynamics to their benefit as they play with crescendos and softly sung refrains.  The rest of the Black EP is also very enjoyable.  The noise never becomes too intrusive and the darkness of the lyrics (and the tone in general) really encapsulates the color black.

“Deny It All”, off of the Red EP, is absolutely my favorite track off of the retail CD.  It features guest vocals from Andy Hull, who is the frontman for Manchester Orchestra.  Manchester Orchestra played a large part in the creation of the Red EP, providing some of the featured instrumentation, as well as co-producing the EP.  Hull's voice is a welcome contribution to these four songs.  The combination of their vocals is breathtaking - it seems like such an obvious collaboration, considering both men look like grizzly bears almost all of the time.  The Red EP ended up being my favorite out of all nine.  It's the least complicated EP - it is clear-cut rock and roll that isn't cluttered with programming and keyboards.  The lyrics are top-notch and the whole thing is just excellent.  I wish that "I Couldn't Do It Alone" would have been on the retail CD rather than "Deny It All" as it's my personal favorite of all 36 tracks but I understand that it meanders a little longer than it needs to at the very end.  Still, if you're going to check out this album, download that song.

The Orange EP actually surprised me.  I'll be the first to admit that I am not really a fan of classic rock.  There are very few bands from that era that I'll listen to and an even fewer amount of songs that I enjoy.  So when I heard that the Orange EP would be a 70's classic rock EP, I figured it would be an EP to be skipped.  Boy, was I wrong.  “But There Are Wolves?” was the perfect choice to represent the color on the retail release.  It has a bass line and accompanying guitar riff that are just marvelous and the guitar solo doesn't feel out of place or uncomfortable at all.  The same could be said for the rest of the EP.  The solos are seamless and the tone is perfect.

The Yellow EP with its recurring melodies and poppy atmosphere is enjoyable but I didn't find myself going back to it very much.  "She's Always Singing" was another great choice for the retail album.  It sums up the EP very succinctly.  "Things That Hide Away" and "The Canopy", off of the Green EP, and "Trapdoor" off of the Blue EP also capture the essence of their respective EP's.  While listening to the Complete Collection, I found the middle section to drag every single time.  When you combine the folksy music of the Green EP with the ballads on the Blue EP, it just slows to a crawl.  So it's impressive that the band actually picked three songs from those two EP's and it doesn't slow down the retail version all that much.  The tempo definitely changes from the quicker, more upbeat first couple of EP's, but it doesn't kill the cadence.  I have no particular gripe against either EP but I think I'm at a different place musically nowadays.  That's one of the great things about this project - there is sure to be at least one EP that appeals to everyone out there.

"What Time Taught Us", the song off of the Indigo EP, is easily the best of its color.  Unfortunately, that's not saying much.  It's the weakest song on the entire retail album, which makes perfect sense as the Indigo EP in its entirety is a throwaway EP.  Whatever theme the band was going for just doesn't work.  The EP is aimless, repetitive and boring.  Thankfully, the Spectrum picks back up with the Violet EP.  They selected the song "Lillian" as a representative of this color even though it's a much slower song than most of the EP.  I probably would have gone with the song "Mr. Malum" but they are all good choices and the entire EP harks back to the band's earlier work.

The retail CD closes with two white songs, "Home" and "Fall and Flee".  The White EP is a hard one to summarize - the songs all revolve around death and dying and yet, it's the most optimistic and uplifting EP of the lot.  Even songs like "No God" are affirmations of feeling at peace without needing God and his followers to tell you what is right and wrong.  The ambiance of these songs make them the perfect closing tracks for both the "best of" CD and the Complete Collection in its entirety.

Bravo, Casey.  You have once again proven that your ambition and musician have no bounds. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Deny It All (Red)" [and "I Couldn’t Do It Alone (Red)”] and “But There Are Wolves? (Orange)"

02. Taking Back Sunday - Taking Back Sunday

I don't have no doubt in my mind that Taking Back Sunday recorded a number one album.  But they did not release a number one album.  Somewhere in the tracklisting, the band included too many tracks that should have been b-sides and they excluded b-sides that should have been on the album.  It seems that this year goes down much like the controversial decision of 2009 - substance versus infectiousness.  That year, I elected to give the Album of the Year spot to Say Anything's eponymous effort instead of Kevin Devine's Brother's Blood.  To this day, that decision is still up in the air for me.  Brother's Blood is a masterpiece and ranks among my favorite albums of all time.  But god damn Say Anything is still a really fun album to listen to.  This year, I vacillated at first between Simple Math (read below) and Taking Back Sunday's reunion effort.  It didn't last long.  Simple Math was simply too good and Taking Back Sunday, the album, fell just a bit short.

My first gripe is perhaps every older fan's complaint.  When I  initially heard that the band was revisiting the never-before-recorded "I'm Not Gay (I Just Wish I Were)" (aka "Baby Your Beard Hurts"), I was beyond excited.  It was one of the few relics surviving from the early days of the band (if you need a more complete history, see my older blog post).  Even when I found out that the re-recording, entitled "You Should Have Waited", wasn't going to make it onto the album, I was still excited because it still meant that they had recorded it.  In a teaser video that the band posted on YouTube (entitled "damnhands"), they put the finished recording as the backing music.  It featured the massive guitar riff that was held onto from the original version and the updated lyrics that the band had changed out.  In short, it was fucking perfect.  The band even started playing it at shows, with the guitar riff intact.  And then when they actually released the song as a bonus track on the iTunes version and Deluxe Edition of the album, they had butchered it. The riff was completely gone from the song.  In the commentary that came with the Deluxe Edition, lead singer Adam Lazzara said that the song had been cut from the album because it was too similar to the song "You Got Me".  He also said that fans are just "going to complain how [they] like the original version better" even though, according to Adam, the original version was "shittier" and "the only reason they're saying that is because they are going for some kind of cred."  Well, Adam, I don't give two flying fucks about any "cred", I'm not in high school.  I just wish that you had actually released the song as it was teased to us and as you played it at EVERY SINGLE SHOW.  The commentary also hints that they might revisit the song at some point to finish it, and I hope that they do.  But for now, I edited the intro from the "damnhands" video onto the official product and it works much better for me.

Apologies for the previous paragraph.  It's something that I take very personally.  Onwards to the rest of the album...

The band picked "El Paso" to lead the album, which is a ballsy choice because it sounds nothing like a TBS song.  It lives up to its characterization of "the hardest song" the band has ever written.  I know a lot of fans didn't care for the song but I actually liked it.  It was quick and aggressive and launched you into the album before you had a chance to say no.  The album continued with the lead single, "Faith (When I Let You Down)".  At first, this song didn't impress me.  It sounds exactly like the generic rock that you'd expect to hear on the radio.  That is still completely true - it's one of the more generic songs on the album but it has grown on me.  The (still) strangely titled "Best Places To Be A Mom" is easily one of the best songs on the album, if not THE best.  This song perfectly captures the progression that you think the band would make after having all of the original members reunite a decade later.  This is one of the songs that really demonstrates that the dynamic between Adam and John is still alive and kicking.

The middle of the album definitely falters a bit.  There are aspects of the song "Sad Savior" that I really enjoy but the chorus ("You don't have to pretend to be an orphan anymore / You don't have to pretend to be important anymore") is absurdly lame.  It ruins what would otherwise be a decent song.  The album picks up a little bit of steam with "Who Are You Anyway?" before plowing straight into a brick wall also known as the song "Money (Let It Go)".  There is no other word to describe this song aside from "horrible".  My Chemical Romance attempted the whole "synth-pop, dance groove, dub-step" garbage with their album last year and it also failed miserably.  So it's no surprise that when TBS does the same thing with a song they originally claimed "has this James Bond, kind of spy/surf-y vibe", they completely derail the album.  The chorus is not understandable at first listen, so the "had to laugh" screamed line sounds more like "avalanche" or "ambulance" and that pretty much sums up the song.  It ranks up there as one of the worst songs they've ever made, alongside the likes of "Miami" and "Lonely, Lonely".

They are only able to bring the album back from the dead with a song like "This Is All Now", which is a beautiful representation of the new TBS.  It has the same energy and beguiling charm of old school TBS songs except with the addition of new found talents that the band has honed in the decade they've been apart from each other.  Mainly, John Nolan's incorporation of the piano into many of these songs really contributes to a whole new sound for the band.  "This Is All Now" is another top-notch song that cements its place as one of the best in their discography.

The latter part of the album comprising the songs "It Doesn't Feel A Thing Like Falling", "Since You're Gone" and "You Got Me" is very satisfying though it just seems to hint at what the band is capable of creating.  "Since You're Gone" suffers from the same high school lyricism that plagues way too many bands nowadays.  With a chorus of "I'm sorry / I'm sorry / Come back / Come back", I get the distinct impression that the band didn't really push themselves all that hard when they wrote this song.  It's a small blemish on an otherwise fulfilling second half. 

The band has a history of having really great closing tracks.  Tell All Your Friends had "Head Club", with its guest vocals and the "don't call my name out your window, I'm leaving" refrain at the end.  The band has since called it their least favorite song of their entire career, but it was the perfect ending to that album.  By their sophomore album Where You Want To Be, John and Shaun had already left the band but only after they had begun writing the song "...Slowdance On The Inside".  The new line-up of TBS took the song and re-worked it to create the closing track.  It was a slower tempo track that featured some of the best lyrics on the album.  For their third album, the band chose "I'll Let You Live" as the closing song, which was another great choice.  It was an aggressive and epic song that left a wonderful sound in your ears even as the CD stopped playing.  For New Again, Adam dug into the depths of his soul and wrote "Everything Must Go", an intimate look at his feelings about his former fiancé and her mindless devotion to religion.  To this day, it's the only song off of New Again that everyone in the band likes and will still play.  The trend continues onto this eponymous album.  "Call Me In The Morning" is unlike any of the other songs.  They trade in the upbeat, energetic and frantic rock for a mellow, acoustic guitar based closer.  It stands as a testament to the band's maturity and enduring chemistry.

As I mentioned earlier, what kills me about this album are the songs that got included while other songs were left off.  Songs like "Sad Savior" and "Money (Let It Go)" should have been abandoned in favor of songs like "You Should Have Waited" and "You Were Right", both of which were relinquished to demos and b-sides.  Even the demo "Morning Sickness", which was later adapted into the album track "You Got Me", makes for a really intriguing listen.  It's a shame it couldn't have been included without turning the whole album into a concept album revolving around Adam's significant other's pregnancy.  In fact, any of the songs from the Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc (including "Not Going Anywhere" and "Mackey Sasser & Steve Balboni Ride Again") would have made suitable replacements for the weaker songs on the album.

Despite some errors in picking the tracklisting, the band still created an album that shows resounding promise of what's to come.  Some of these songs are the strongest of the band's career and get me jazzed for the next piece of music that these guys will put out. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Best Places To Be A Mom” and “This Is All Now”

01. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

And here we are.  This is the most surprising release of the year, by far.  It fills me with a minuscule amount of anger that this album is SO good.  It was so unexpected and yet repeated listenings have revealed that the album just keeps getting better and growing stronger.  It still kicks my teeth in every time I put it on for a spin.

Manchester Orchestra was always a band that existed in the periphery of my world.  They were associated with the bands that I listened to, like Brand New and Kevin Devine, but I could never get into them.  I checked out Mean Everything To Nothing, which had catapulted the band into the college radio spotlight.  At the time, it didn't really grow on me.  I even saw the band live and was not able to appreciate their music.  In time, I found myself giving Mean Everything To Nothing a second chance.  It still hasn't gripped me to the point that I can't ignore it, though admittedly songs like "Shake It Out" and "I've Got Friends" are fantastic and have remained in my various playlists ever since.  As good as the songs are, they tend to wander towards the middle and end, introducing a lot of unnecessary instrumentation that drags out what would otherwise be a concise and worthy effort.

Somewhere in the last two years, the band honed their craft to an extreme degree.  These songs have been put through the most strenuous training imaginable - the fat has been trimmed, the music has been shaved down, leaned up, and sounds muscular as hell.  In short, this record is absolute brilliance.

The album comprises so many different emotions that it is hard to even understand them all.  It is at times joyful and at other times heart rending.  It is simultaneously intimate and epic.  It is wonderful, enjoyable, and ridiculously sad.  As only frontman Andy Hull can explain, "It's a story about a 23-year old who questions everything from marriage to love to religion to sex. Sometimes even for myself, it’s difficult to decipher which one I’m actually talking to. Everything I’ve written in the past has been about those things. This album is the most realized form of my questioning.”

The opening number is misleading.  "Deer" is not the typical Manchester Orchestra song, nor is it representative of what's in store for the rest of the album.  In hushed tones, Andy Hull begins pouring his insides out.  His confession begins with an admission that he's been an asshole to those he loves and that the band is still surprised by how fans have stuck by them.  The next track tears into your head without missing a beat.  "Mighty" is an appropriate title as the muscular guitar riffs chug along to the sound of Hull's earnest wailing.  It's on this song that the band's newly recruited string section makes its debut.

The strings weave seamlessly in and out of the abrasive indie rock, putting poignant exclamation points on melodies and harmonies.  The strings end up showing up through most of the songs on Simple Math and they make a very welcome addition.  Rather than sounding trite, stale and out-of-place, the orchestral arrangements inject a fresh sound into the music and add another layer without ever overwhelming the rock and roll in the foreground.  They serve as the grand adhesive binding the album together.

The band takes the momentum and runs with it, launching into "Pensacola", one of my favorite songs on the album.  It is a upbeat mover with a pop vibe and seemingly light-hearted tone.  It just might be one of the catchiest songs that the band has ever written and yet it still touches on the existential problems of the entire album ("It feels like 37 years and I am nothing but a bank / If we could build our credit score / "Incredible," they'll surely say / But I can credit only one to focus all the fame").  It builds into its refrain, punctuated with horns, before ending with a coda that will gnaw at the lovely parts of your brain for days.

"April Fool" is also a standout track.  Its driving guitars plow forward with unyielding audacity as Hull narrates with his confident vocals and the drummer smashes his kit to smithereens.  The song thrashes about as it rolls around in passion and swagger.  The album then transitions into the slower "Pale Black Eye", with its stop-and-start rhythms and jerky melodies that recall Braid's brand of math rock.

What comes next will literally stop you in your tracks.  "Virgin" is the centerpiece of this magnificent showing of talent.  It is a brooding hymn, complete with an all-too-creepy children's choir, that bristles with a burning intensity.  The riffs are ominous as they build up into an explosion of electronic artifacts and spine-tingling mantras.  This song had me covered in goosebumps the first time I ever heard it.

The tempo change doesn't affect the power of the music as Virgin transitions into the title track, "Simple Math".  This is a slow burning track that finds Hull exploring a new side of his voice, beginning with an earnest falsetto before it evolves into a soulful and, dare I say, sexy expression of existential angst.  The song, much to your aural delight, never leaves the slow and steady groove that it begins with.  The string arrangements also reside in the groove and assist the song as it builds into a massive climax.  Any simplicity of lyrics or melodies aids in the delivery of the emotion as Hull "achingly croons" the chorus, "Simple math / It's how our bodies even got here / Sinful math / The ebb and flow to multiply."

It's not until the last three songs that the album's legs start to wobble underneath it as it begins to bear the burden of precociousness and ambition.  "Leave It Alone" takes just a little bit too long to reach its peak.  Once it finally kicks in, it features another beautiful string accompaniment and a strong ending.  "Apprehension" also goes the slow route, which is appropriate given that the song crosses the threshold of intimacy as Andy ruminates on a miscarriage.  It's a heavy and heartfelt song that packs quite the emotional punch.

The album ends with a seven minute long opus entitled "Leaky Breaks".  These last couple of songs don't carry the same level of energy as the first half of the album.  But rather than fizzling out, the album draws inwards towards contemplation.  It's a sorrowful resignation as the distorted guitars flicker throughout the closing track.  The string section remains absent from the final track as if knowing that it wouldn't belong.  Instead we are left with Andy Hull softly singing the sleepy refrain "It's way too late for calling anyways / I guess I'll doze off" amidst drunken confessions of hurtful accusations and utter confusion.  The album ends on a whimper, in the best possible way.

Simple Math is an album that not only deserves to be at the top of this year's list - it will remain in my list of the greatest albums of all time.  Manchester Orchestra managed to trump all of their past efforts and release a tour de force that is every bit as impressive the 100th time through as it was the very first time. 

Recommended Tracks:  “Pensacola” and “Virgin”

The Worst Albums Of The Year (in one sentence)

1.  Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
Boring, slow, uninspired, simplistic, repetitive and ultimately disappointing.

2.  Thrice – Major/Minor
Surprisingly bad progressive grunge mush from a band that has produced album after amazing album.
 

3.  New Found Glory - Radiosurgery
These stalwarts of pop punk (and those responsible for getting me into this kind of music) made an album that tries way too hard to be poppy and Ramones-like while forgetting the maturity and lyrical quality of past works like Coming Home.

4.  The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules
Seriously not what I was expecting at all - a few standout tracks but then a lot of noise and electronic programming.

5.  Weatherbox - Follow The Rattle Of The Afghan Guitar
Brian Warren - I've already heard two of the six songs because you released them years ago and they sound no different here; the rest of the songs are boring and uninspired, please give up or reform Weatherbox with the amazing line up that produced American Art.

Most Anticipated of 2012

1.  Cursive - I Am Gemini

Cursive is one of those bands that, no matter how hard they might try, can really do no wrong.  Even their last effort Mama, I'm Swollen, while not being my favorite album of theirs, has definitely grown on me in the years since its release.  2012 will see the release of yet another concept album from the indie rockers.

As the press release says, "I Am Gemini is the surreal and powerful musical tale of Cassius and Pollock, twin brothers separated at birth.  One good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul, played out with a cast of supporting characters that includes a chorus of angels and devils, and twin sisters conjoined at the head.”

The press release goes on to describe the record as "moody and playfully sinister...I Am Gemini is Cursive's musically heaviest in years, with alternately muscular and angular guitars, pounding drums and driving bass."

Yeah, the concept sounds absolutely bizarre.  But if there's anything I've learned about Tim Kasher's songwriting, it's that he can pull together any concept and make it a cohesive album.  I imagine that I Am Gemini will be tackling issues of morality and faith, which has been a success every time that the band has approached those issues before.

And the heaviest music they've done in years?  Sweeeeeeet.  My introduction to Cursive was through Domestica, which I still think is the heaviest music they've done.  The rest of the adjectives all sound like they'd apply to Domestica as well - muscular and angular guitars, pounding drums and driving bass.  I cannot wait.

2.  Say Anything - Anarchy, My Dear

I really liked Say Anything's self-titled album.  It still remains in heavy rotation several years later.  I think the band is moving in a good direction and is constantly improving.  Anarchy, My Dear should be excellent.  I'm not expecting "Is A Real Boy, Part 2" so I think I should definitely be satisfied with the result, which promises to be a little more raw than their last couple of albums.

3.  Look Mexico
I'm really hoping...

4.  Hot Water Music 
I'm loving their new sound and I want more.

5.  Against Me!

6.  The Gaslight Anthem

7.  Brand New

Can it be any more terrible than Daisy was?  The band said they are tired of writing sad and angry music so they are taking their time to create a more uplifting album.

8.  The Ataris

Yeah, I'm sick of putting it on this list too.

Well, that will wrap it up for this year's lists.  I'm not going to include things like video games (Dead Island), movies (Harry Potter!) or books because lord knows I write way too much as is.  I also did not include Honorable Mentions this year, mainly for the same reason (my lack of brevity) and the fact that there were so many honorable mentions and I refuse to do a Top 30 list.  If you managed to get all the way through this, virtual high five to you.  It puts you in an elite group of people with either too much free time, an overabundance of patience or an unexplainable affinity for my writing.  Either way, you get to live in my world for another year.  Thank you for reading!  It is very much appreciated.