To start us off, here's an appetizer of fifteen albums that didn't quite make the cut, but still received some consideration for the top 15 albums of the year. They are:
Eminem- Recovery
B.o.B- The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Tokyo Police Club- Champ
Envy on the Coast- Lowcountry
Neon Trees- Habits
Minus the Bear- OMNI
Hellogoobye- Would It Kill You?
Mumford & Sons- Sigh No More
Coheed & Cambria- Year of the Black Rainbow
Motion City Soundtrack- My Dinosaur Life
Anberlin- Dark is the Way, Light is a Place
Foxy Shazam- Foxy Shazam
Emarosa- Emarosa
Man Overboard- Real Talk
The Gaslight Anthem- American Slang
And with that, after eleven previous releases, about fifteen weekly recommendations, six or seven concert recaps, and anything else posted on this blog, we've arrived to the fifteen albums that will define 2010 in music. Below you'll see fifteen releases that you should definitely check out if you haven't already, and my personal justification for each album's excellence. Enjoy it!
With the success of Senses Fail's debut full-length Let it Enfold You, the band launched themselves to the tippy-top of the emo scene, but their efforts afterwards, while each produced a great song or two, failed to live up to the lofty expectations the band made for themselves after Let it Enfold You. However, The Fire brings fans who stayed loyal to the band over the years back to the band's glory days, as frontman Buddy Neilson offers up some of his most personal lyrics yet, and delivers his strongest vocals in his career. To some, Senses Fail may never live up to Let it Enfold You, but on The Fire, they at least prove they're capable of making good, and sometimes great music.
Fans held their collective breath when red-headed drummer boy Aaron Gillespie, the last remaining member of Underoath, announced his departure from the band early in 2010. However, the band decided to press on, and with Disambiguation, they have released their heaviest release to date. Now freed from the pop-minded Gillespie's token catchy part of UO's songs, Spencer Chamberlain is thrust into the limelight as the band's lone vocalist, and he takes the responsibility on well, as his lyrics are as self-degrading and honest as they've ever been, and his choice in deliveries throughout the album are impeccible. UO may look and sound a whole lot different than they did when they wrote the scene-classic (They're Only Chasing Safety), but Disambiguation shows that the band have grown as musicians, a collective group, and are now putting out their overall best work.
No one could have predicted the magnitude Homesick would have had on the music scene not even A Day to Remember. However, the band seem ready to handle the spotlight, and What Separates Me from You is not only the proof that ADTR are ready to make the jump to a more mainstream audience, but its also their best work yet. The addition of Kevin Skaff more than makes up for the charisma lost by Tom Denney's departure by adding a more technical approach to the guitars on the album, a far departure from the often same-sounding breakdowns the band seemed too attached to, and the overall musicianship of the band received a major overhaul. In addition, Jeremy McKinnon continues to expand his vocal talents with each release, as his screams are more brutal (can't believe I just used that word), and his clean vocals sound as if they're ready to be sang to an arena full of people right now. If you're looking for the biggest "statement record" of 2010, look no further than What Separates Me from You.
After recording their Self-Titled Album in the Glamour Kills warehouse (and having it sound like they did), The Audition were on the cusp of falling into obscurity just two full-lengths into their careers. However, the band emerged from the rubble with a more mature sound, and that is quite evident on Great Danger. Despite every song having the potential to be the soundtrack to a break-up (and an ugly one at that), the band were able to present the anatomy of a break-up in a variety of ways, all while producing their best musical output of their careers, which they saved with Great Danger.
By now, you know the story: Chiodos were tired of all the side projects prolific frontman Craig Owens was constantly starting and touring behind, and made the seemingly unbelievable decision to boot Owens from the band, and choosing to replace him with the seemingly unknown Brendan Bolmer of Yesterday's Rising. Thanks to a few ignorant fans (myself included) who abandoned the band thinking Owens was the only reason they were any good, the band felt little pressure going into the studio, and the result is Illuminaudio, the band's statement that they're here to stay. Bolmer's vocal performance will unfortunately always be compared to the work the band did with Owens, but he still manages to hold his own. Known more for his screaming in Yesterday's Rising, Bolmer focuses more on his clean vocals, and it pays off in big dividends, as "Caves" and "Notes in Constellation" are poised to be monster singles. Bolmer also takes a different approach in his lyrics than Owens, using more imagery than the one-liner-minded Owens, and creating strong songs throughout, rather than creating the great (albeit few) moments Owens created. Overall, the band will likely never outgrow their shadow cast with Owens in the band, but Illumindaudio should serve as proof that the band was always more than Owens, and will continue to prove that in the future.
After the slightly underwhelming Chase This Light, Jimmy Eat World saw their career almost come to end. However, with Invented dropping in 2010, the band have cemented their place in modern rock, and add another album of theirs to the debate of which is their best. Invented moves through many moods, from the uplifting ("Heart is Hard to Find") to the energetic ("My Best Theory") the heartache ("Stop") and jaded ("Coffee and Cigarrettes"), and keep the same JEW-style lyrics that fans always find a way to relate to. Invented is Jimmy Eat World's sixth release, and when every one of those releases can be considered their best, it would have been easy for the band to experiment with different styles, but the band to choose to instead stay true to who they are, and the dividends will continue to pay off for the band as fans continue to pour their devotion to the band into their everyday lives.
As I received the new Bring Me the Horizon album, I was ready to fully despise the album and tear it apart on this very blog. However, I gave the album a chance, and I've been spinning it regularly ever since. The once immature scene kings are now all grown up, and they aren't just singing about parties anymore. Oli Sykes gets deep and personal on There is a Hell..., exploring his own struggles ("Crucify Me"), missing loved ones while on tour ("Fuck," which is a lot better than its title may suggest), and provides a fitting rally call for his fans ("Anthem") in the process as well. There's way more to this album than breakdowns (which you can't exactly say about the band's previous work), as the guitar and drums provide originality in a scene generally lacking that word, and the band will likely win over many of those who disregarded their previous work, making There is a Hell... one of the biggest breakout albums of the year.
Known as one of the more progressive-thinking post-hardcore bands in the scene, The Sleeping took a big chance on The Big Deep, choosing a more structured, refined approach instead of their raw, emotional, scream-driven previous work was. That risk paid off very well, as frontman Douglas Robinson's dark, moody lyrics come across better on his clean vocals, as songs like "Beautiful Gloom" and "Young Vibes... Don't Run Away from Me" stand out for being some of his best vocal and lyrical outputs yet. The band's music sense has never been better, as they create walls of atmospheric sounds for Robinson to croon over, and the frenetic drumming laid down paces every song wonderfully. With The Big Deep, The Sleeping have finally found their niche in the post-hardcore scene, and continue to improve by leaps and bounds with each of their releases.
"I'm not sad anymore" is all you really have to say to get a reaction about The Wonder Years these days. Dan "Soupy" Campbell delivered the line of the year in the first song off The Upsides, "My Last Semester," and the album never lets down the strong foundation laid out on the opening line. There isn't anything too overwhelming from the vocals or musicianship, but the true soul of The Upsides comes from Campbell's lyrics, which seem to be a rallying cry for the hopeless (how fitting that they're on Hopeless Records), as the album is able to span many different emotions that thousands can relate to. The gang vocals are used in the best of places without feeling overdone, and The Upsides becomes the best glance of what pop-punk should be: easy to relate to, not too difficult to understand, and so much fun to see live.
After the lukewarm reception their 90s pop covers experiment Explains it All, FYS saw their momentum from their excellent debut Rise or Die Trying die down significantly. However, that momentum was regained with interest on Enemy of the World, a much darker and guitar-driven than the synth-laiden Rise or Die Trying, but with all the big hooks and choruses fans have come to expect from Four Year Strong. While the band still keep their upbeat lyrics ("It Must Really Suck to be Four Year Strong Right Now"), they also get a little nostalgic on us ("Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)"), and even gets a little emo as well ("One Step at a Time"), showing they have the kind of versatility in their songwriting to be a mainstay in the pop-punk scene in the years to come, and with such originality and inventiveness with only two of their own albums under their belt, FYS will be a welcome change of pace in the oversaturated pop-punk scene.
The last three albums in Norma Jean's discography (Bless the Martyr, Kiss the Child, Redeemer, and The Anti-Mother) were all over the map, as the band went from a harder, more aggressive approach (Martyr) to a more melodic flair (Redeemer) to an experimental endeavor completely out of left field (The Anti Mother). While the three albums each had their high points, fans were left with a strange yearning for more with each release, and the band delivered on the request for more with Meridional, the band's shining contribution to Christian metal. Meridional spans the high points of each of the three albums before it, from the spastic and aggressive ("Anthem of the Angry Brides," "Bastardizer"), to the melodic and brooding ("Deathbed Atheist," "Leaderless and Self-Enlisted") and the experimental ("Falling from the Sky: Day Seven"), all while turning in their darkest, most open lyrics yet. Cory Brennan's vocals span straight-up screams, cleaner vocals, a hoarse yell, and everything in between, making Meridional the best metal album of the year.
No one could have predicted the overwhelming success of Valencia's sophomore full-length We All Need a Reason to Believe. However, after returning to Roadrunner Records, it was equally unpredictable that Valencia could back up Believe with another stellar pop-punk album, but the band manage just that on Dancing With a Ghost. On Ghost, Valencia find themselves expanding their musical horizons, as the horn and string arrangements on songs like "Friday Night" and "Spinning Out" add a powerful shine to the band's musical prowess and heart-on-sleeve lyrics, showing that Valencia could break out onto radio at any time. Despite the perils of a band on the brink of getting huge, the band are able to keep the heart and emotion showed on Believe in a big way, as shown on the title track and "Somewhere I Belong." Now three albums into their career, Valencia have seen a lot of bands fall to the wayside, but their honesty and creativity appears to combine into an unstoppable combination, showing that the band's best is still in front of them,
We get it: you hate Kanye West. You hate his ego, his "racism," his antics at awards shows, his tweets, everything about him. Except his music. Say what you want about Kanye West as a person, but there isn't another artist in music today who is more committed to his craft than 'Ye. If his previous work 808s and Heartbreak were to be any indication of how his future work would be, West proved he could use his emotion in a positive way, as he created an album straight from the heart. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sees West using not on the heart on 808s, but the mind that crafted Late Registration, the balls that challenged (and beat) 50 Cent on Graduation, and the soul he bared to the world on his debut The College Dropout, and melding them all into one experience that the listener will feel changed by come album's end. From monster single "Runaway," and the Chris Rock interlude on "Blame Game" to the multi-artist endeavors "Monster" and "All of the Lights," Fantasy sees West taking risks many artists would never even think to take, and pulling them all off. Songs like "POWER" and "Monster" show Kanye still raps as well as anyone in the game, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is West's assertion that no matter how much controversy he may stir up, Kanye West is irreplaceable in today's hip hop game, and he isn't going anywhere for a long time.
You, Me and Everyone We Know serve up the "upset special" of the year, as the widely unknown band come from out of nowhere to release the best full-length debut of the year. After self-releasing two EPs, the band finally saw fit to sign with a label and formally introduce themselves to the scene, and do so in a big way on Some Things Don't Wash Out. Serving as the ringleader of the traveling circus that is YMAEWK, Ben Leibsch is ready to take his place as one of the most honest lyricists in the scene today, spanning his lyrical horizons from his frustration with labels ("Shock and Awe," "I'm Losing Weight for You") reflecting on his own flaws ("Some Things Don't Wash Out," "The Puzzle") to finding a glimmer of hope in it all ("Bootstraps," "A Bigger Point of Pride") and even throwing in a song about leaving for tour ("Moon, Roll Me Away") for good measure. The band behind Leibsch deserve a ton of credit as well, as lead guitarist Augustine Rampolla provides an excellent lead guitar throughout the album, and multi-instrumentalist John Farrell adds trumpets, keys, and a little acoustic guitar at the right times, creating an album that sounds like its a band's third or fourth release, yet it's only YMAEWK's first foray into the full-length world, showing that there is no ceiling for the band so long as they continue to push their creative boundaries as well as they do on Some Things Don't Wash Out.
I listened to Blue Sky Noise for the first time in April, and after a second listen through that same day, I declared it my album of the year, despite eight months of albums yet to come. As bold a statement as I made, I was right: no album stood up to Circa Survive's third full-length for the rest of the year. I'm not even sure where to begin with how much I love this album. I could start by saying I didn't think the band could top On Letting Go, I could say that the long wait for the album (On Letting Go was released in 2007) scared me, I could even say I didn't know if Anthony Green's solo work would have a negative effect on the band. Thankfully, none of that happened; Blue Sky Noise sees Circa Survive pushing their creative boundaries further than anyone could have expected, creating songs that no one expected. The album makes plenty of statements, but perhaps the biggest statement made is that the band are more than Green's vocals and lyrics. This is never more evident than on "Compendium," the instrumental track, and "Spirit of the Stairwell," an acoustic guitar-driven song where the instrumentation compliments Green's heartfelt vocals perfectly, and outshines him at times. Blue Sky Noise also finds the band using more structured songs, where their previous work was much more experimental. There are a ton of big choruses on the album (see "Imaginary Enemy" and "I Felt Free" for proof), and Green's vocals continue to shock listeners (as seen on "Get Out" and "Glass Arrows"), creating a swirl of music that was not matched by any band/artist this year. With Blue Sky Noise, Circa Survive haven't pushed the boundaries of their genre; instead, they have broken right through the boundaries and released an album that will be remembered long down the road as the best album released in 2010.
Now that it's all over, I want to thank those of you who stuck with me through this "12 Days of Christmas" feature. 2010 was an incredible year for music, movies, TV, and a ton of other things in my life, and it has been awesome looking back at it and enjoying the year that was. As always, if there's an album I missed, leave it in the comments, and here's hoping 2011 is just has good as 2010 was.
No comments:
Post a Comment