Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog post! I know we haven't been the most active blog, (okay, maybe that's an understatement) but between finals week, a period of inactivity for our weekly radio show, and the holiday season, the blog has sort of fallen by the wayside. No fear, faithful reader. We will be back in 2013 with more great content, some more biased reviews, interviews with your/our favorite bands, and, hopefully, more GIFs. It's gonna be a great year for music (Look out for a Most Anticipated 2013 feature that I will be putting up next year!) and Keep Calm will be there covering it every step of the way.
With that, I would like to offer up my Album of The Year List for last year. Although, 2012 was maybe not quite as strong as 2011, the top of my list still features some of my all time favorite records, and standout albums from some of my favorite bands. Without further ado, I present to you my personal top 15:
1.
The Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten
Deciding what album to give the title of
“Album of The Year” to is never a cut and dry debate. It always involves
careful deliberation. You don’t want to claim as album of the year, only to
have it fall off in the following year and have you regretting your decision.
With that said, I feel confident in saying that this is the most consistent,
most likely to stick, most cohesive album on this entire list, and for that
reason, it is my personal album of the year. Going in, I wasn’t sure if The
Gaslight Anthem were going to be able to top The 59 Sound. But in every
conceivable way, from the thundering drum performance, to the vastly improved
guitar work of Alex Rosimilla, to the always incredible lyrics of Brian Fallon,
The Gaslight Anthem have put together their definitive album. And that is
something truly special.
2.
Anberlin- Vital
Depending on who you ask, before Vital came
out, Anberlin fans were split on what the band’s best album was. Never Take
Friendship Personal, the band’s debut album, was my personal favorite, fans who
picked up the band when “The Feel Good Drag” blew up are likely to say New
Surrender is the band’s pinnacle, while a majority of fans felt that Cities was
the band’s magnum opus. However, the way I see it, every one of those people
should be saying that Vital is Anberlin’s peak performance. The title seems to
be a tremendous indicator of what fans were in store for from the first seconds
of Vital until the final seconds of the haunting “God, Drugs, And Sex” fade
out. Everything about this album seems full of life, so full of that signature
Anberlin Swagger, that it really couldn’t have been titled anything different.
3.
Fun- Some Nights
What a year the little pop-rock
band that could has had. A number one song on the Hot 100, another top 3 track,
6 Grammy nominations, a Gold record, and now, no doubt the biggest honor of
all, a top 3 spot on my personal Top Albums list. At this point, everyone knows
about the successes of “We Are Young” and “Some Nights”, but this album is so
much more than those two songs. Some Nights is a truly magnificent example of
how to write incredible pop songs, one that I’m praying to God every other
artist on the radio today take note of. This album, as incredible as this is,
ending up being far and away my most played album of the year (it also helped
that it came out in February).
4.
The Early November- In Currents
Just as Adrian Peterson has the NFL
Comeback Player of the Year Award all but locked up this season, The Early
November has the Comeback Band of the Year Award completely. The band must
really love being productive, to go from being on a 4-year-hiatus to releasing
an album of the caliber of In Currents and going on not one but 2 headlining
tours this year. Ace Enders puts in the best vocal performance of his already
prolific career, and The Early November easilt blow the rest of their material
out of the water (no pun intended).
5.
The Menzingers- On The Impossible Past
“I’ve been having a horrible time,
pulling myself together, I’ve been closing my eyes to find, the old familiar
failures,” begins The Menzinger’s third full-length On The Impossible Past, and
the brutal, heart-on-sleeve honesty doesn’t change much from there on out.
Moving in and out of different genres that
scratch the surface of punk rock, The Menzingers find their own aesthetic while
tapping just enough into the songwriting style of their contemporaries (most
specifically The Gaslight Anthem).
But
most importantly, who hasn’t screamed along to the chorus of “The Obituaries”
at full volume in their car (I know I have).
6.
Circa Survive- Violent Waves
I don’t think there was a more
important release to another band on this list than
Violent Waves was to Circa
Survive. Self-produced, funded and released, Violent Waves needed to be a
success for Circa Survive. And was it ever? Between closing and ending the
album with 7-minute jams (with the emphasis on jams) and Geoff Rickly’s guest
vocals on “The Lottery” it seemed like everything Circa Survive did on “Violent
Waves” met expectations.
7.
Go Radio- Close The Distance
By far the most shocking album of the year
for me personally. I was not expecting to like Close the Distance, in fact I
was expecting to mostly dislike it. But upon my first listen I was taken aback
by just how good it was. And then on subsequent listens I noticed something
even more amazing: This album was one of the biggest growers of the year. Between
Jason Lancaster’s heavy accent that takes some getting used to and the little
piano inflections thrown into the background of songs, this is an album that is
even better on the 20th listen than it is on the first. Truly
special.
8.
Further Seems Forever- Penny Black
It’s too bad for Further Seems
Forever that The Early November existed this year, or else the Chris
Carabba-led band would have a bead on that Comeback Band of the Year award. By
the way, did I mention that Chris Carabba was in Further Seems Forever. The
Dashboard Confessional singer puts in a vocal performance much more intense
than his usual solo project material. And his vocal tracks have the benefit of
playing overtop a rip-roaring bit of rock instrumental performance.
9.
Enter Shikari- A Flash Flood Of Colour
I tried any way I could to leave
this album out of my top 10 for my fellow reviewer’s sanity. Unfortunately for
Don, I could not find any way that I could in conscience leave
A Flash Flood of Colour off this list. I
absolutely adore this release from the British hardcore outfit, a release in
which they upped the punx, the political commentary, and, yes, the weirdness to
all new heights for themselves.
10.
Title Fight- Floral Green
There are some bands out there
today that pretty much just do whatever the hell they want, just because they
like having the freedom to do said whatever. Muse wrote a dubstep song (not the
best use of freedom), Brand New is terrifying everyone with this “Shone” viral
marketing (if it is actually them), and Title Fight made it’s “Secret Society”
music video. Enough Said? Maybe not. Essentially Floral Green is a diverse,
consistent, mature set of songs by a band that is truly growing into its own.
And, boy, is it fun to watch.
11.
Silversun Pickups- Neck of the Woods
In a shocking development,
Silversun Pickups released an album in 2012 and it was really good. If you
didn’t get the sarcasm in that last sentence, I quit. But if you did then you
know that Silversun Pickups are by far one of the most consistent bands in the alternative
rock world, and that continued on Neck of the Woods, with the band keeping
their signature sound while aknolwedging and drawing from new influences that
haven’t been previously seen before in their works (like the electronic drum
beat on “The Pit” or the new wave-y groove of “Here We Are (Chancer).”
12.
The Forecast- Everybody Left
Devoted followers of this blog will
know that this album was my mid-year #1 album of the year. While it obviously
didn’t end up anywhere near that marker ( not to mention the 4 albums that were
right behind it on that list all passed it) but that doesn’t make it a bad
album. It is still a great album that was chock full of infectious chorus and
great harmonies. The problem is that while many albums that came around at the same
time as this album grew on me, Everybody Left faded after the summer nights
cooled down and I could no longer scream “We should talk in the morning, with
clear eyes” out my window at full volume.
13.
Yellowcard- Southern Air
Speaking of fading after the weather
cooled down, Southern Air never completely capitalized on my initial hype and
excitement upon my first full listen through. It is undoubtedly a Yellowcard
album, and it contains several of the band’s best songs to date, among them the
ulitimate summer jam “Always Summer,” but as a cohesive album, I just don’t
believe it stacks up to the albums that ended up in my personal top 10.
14.
Make Do And Mend- Everything You Ever Loved
This year I had the pleasure of
attending two Warped Tour dates. The first was Holmdel, the second being
Hartford, Connecticut. In Connecticut, I was able to catch not one but two sets
from hometown heroes Make Do And Mend. Not only was the crowd chaotic in
showing support for the band, but the band seemed genuinely excited themselves
to be up on that stage. The energy with which each band member of MDAM played
with that day impressed the heck out of me. I know that doesn’t convey how
great I thought Everything You Ever Loved truly was, but it does show that this
is a band with incredible potential, potential that was at least partially
realized on Everything You Ever Loved. I can’t wait to see where they go from
here.
15.
All Time Low- Don’t Panic
It’s 2012 and I have an All Time
Low album in my top 15 albums of the year. Are you sure the Mayans missed the
boat on killing us off? But seriously, before you ridicule me for picking this
album in this spot, listen to it. Digest it. Listen to it again. If you still
think it doesn’t belong here, then you either A) hate incredible well-crafted pop-rock
music
or B) don’t have ears. It’s one of
those two options. Choose wisely.
I hope you enjoyed my top 15 of 2012. Let me know if you agreed or disagreed with my list in the comments, and be on the lookout for Don's own personal list later this week.
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