Wow, it's been a while. This is my
first post in several months on the blog and it feels really good to be back.
Thanks for sticking with us through our busy schedules. Content will be coming
much more often from here on out, so keep an eye out for that.
Right now though, in light of our Top
20 Albums of 2013 countdown show being so soon (Tonight, Friday the 6th at 9-11
PM! Listen live at www.wtsr.org, or on 91.3FM) I thought it would be fun to
take a look at my all-time Top 10 Albums, and explain why those albums have
stood the test of time for me. The rest of the gang will be adding their lists
here as well in the upcoming days or weeks. And then a little bit later in the
month we will be posting our top 20's of 2013 and the compiled Top 20 for the
show. But for now, enjoy my list and leave your comments or your own list
below.
1)
Lydia- Illuminate
I’m going to put this as simply as I possibly can. To me, there will
never be a more perfect album released than Lydia’s sophomore full-length album
Illuminate. If I had known back in the Spring of 2009 that the CD I was handed
for free by a random band at the Bamboozle Festival would turn out to be my
favorite album I have ever listened to, I would’ve giving each band member a
hug on the spot and thanked them for the inpact they’ve had on my life.
Everything about this release hits me so directly in the feels every time I
listen that it’s a wonder I can even pick myself up off the mat after the last
notes of “And Now the One You Once Loved Is Leaving”. Even today, there are still
things that amaze me about Illuminate: The chorus of “Fate” still give me
chills each and every time I hear it, the swelling climax of “One More Day” is
one of the most wonderfully crafted crescendos I’ve heard, and the dense
layering of harmonies on “Hospital” and “This is Twice Now” that so perfectly
complement vocalist Leighton Antelman’s unique vocal delivery. Illuminate at
once the most devastating, heartbreaking, and beautiful album I have ever been
blessed to listen to.
2)
Relient K- Forget and Not Slow Down
There are some albums that just come at the perfect time in a person’s
life that just define who a person is and who they will become. That record for
me is Relient K’s Forget and Not Slow Down- my favorite album from one of my
all-time favorite bands. The album came
out in October of 09 and not long after that I went through a rough breakup
with my first real girlfriend. I thought for certain that Matt Theissen was
speaking directly to me with lines such as “I don’t need a soul, no I don’t
need a soul to hold. Without you I’m still whole.” In a lifetime of angsty
breakup albums, this was one of the angstiest, and also possibly the best one.
3)
Moving Mountains- Pneuma
Having just seen Moving Mountains play one of their last shows before
their hiatus, I can without a doubt say that they are the most underrated band
I have ever come across. Each of their releases takes a completely different
sonic style, yet the band still maintains a cohesiveness and phenomenal
songwriting throughout each and every release. Their debut album, Pneuma, is
the record which got me into the band however, and for that reason it is my
favorite. The blending of post-rock elements, such as the crescendo in 8105,
and the post-hardcore screams seen in their later album Waves makes this one of
the most unique and emotional records to come out of the scene.
4)
Taking Back Sunday- Tell All Your Friends
Just the memories of sitting in my
best friends car, blasting Cute Without the ‘E’ and singing the dueling vocal
parts back and forth would be enough to cement Taking Back Sunday’s debut album’s
spot in my top 10. But it’s the consistently great songwriting throughout and
the great collection of singles which locks in Tell All Your Friends’ Place in
my top 5. This is also the first album on my top 10 that I was able to see live
in its entirety, a gift I’m thankful to say I’ve been able to experience twice
now. It was truly incredible to see both times.
5)
The Spill Canvas- Sunsets and Car Crashes
This album, to me, is the perfect epitome of . Yes, the lyrics are dripping
in sentiment at times (“Black Dresses” is the biggest offender: “Take this
razor and cut your palms, I’ll do the same, until the river of crimson begins
to flow.”) But the overwhelming
sincerity of it all and Nick Thomas majestic voice not only saves it, it helps
The Spill Canvas create not just the best album of their career, but perhaps
one of the best emo albums of the 2000s. Who, after hearing this album, hasn’t
absolutely screamed along to the words of All Hail The Heartbreak at the top of
their lungs, cried throughout the entirety of The Tide, or pondered their life
during the title track. I know I definitely have.
6)
Anberlin- Cities
My two favorite bands on Earth are
Anberlin and Motion City Soundtrack. If you have been following so far with my
top 10, you may notice that neither of these bands has been represented yet.
There is a good reason for that. The reason is that I had absolutely no clue
which albums to put as my favorite albums from those bands. For Anberlin, I
could make the case for the band’s sophomore album Never Take Friendship
Personal, an album that I have absolutely loved and actually consider their
most consistent release, or I could go with the band’s most recent album, 2012’s
Vital, which features what is perhaps the band’s best song “Self-Starter.” But
instead I chose Cities, the first album I ever heard from the band and the
album that pretty much encapsulated my music tastes in 2007. Oh and it also has
a little song at the end of it called “Fin” which I heard was pretty special.
7)
Motion City Soundtrack- My Dinosaur Life
Upset special! For a long while, I
had Commit this to Memory, the first album I ever heard from Motion City
Soundtrack, in this spot. Then I decided to switch it up after realizing that
my two favorite Motion City Soundtrack Songs “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”
and “The Weakends” both come from My Dinosaur Life, which was my Album of the
Year 2010 (over really strong contenders such has Dancing With a Ghost by
Valencia).
8)
Balance and Composure- Separation
If only I could go back in time and change my
2011 Album of the Year list. The top 3 would probably be entirely different now
than it was then. Back then it was 1) The Wonder Years-Suburbia… 2) Transit-
Listen and Forgive 3) Taking Back Sunday- S/T. Now, the only one that might
still be in my top 3 is Transit, but I don’t think even that has help up as
well as Balance and Composure’s crushing debut album Separation. The standard
by which I will measure all albums in the “emo” genre against going forward,
Balance and Composure managed to create something truly remarkable with this
release. (By the way, if I had to re-rank my albums of the year for that year,
it probably goes 1) Balance and Composure- Separation, 2) Charlie Simpson-Young
Pilgrim, 3) Transit-Listen and Forgive with an honorable mention to The Front
Bottoms’ self-titled)
9)
The Gaslight Anthem- The 59 Sound
If you want to know just how great an album The 59 Sound is, all I have
to say is this: It is the best album from a band that also released 2012’s
Handwritten. New Jersey’s own Gaslight
Anthem have made a name for themselves by crafting blending punk with Americana
and rock music, and then adding that concoction to songwriting and storytelling
that would make even Bruce Springsteen (who they are incessantly compared too)
wish he had written. And the 59 Sound is the height of that, with the music
creating an almost nostalgic, longing feeling for days gone by.
10)
Brand New-Deja Entendu
I know, I know. The Devil and God are Raging
Inside of Me is a “better album,” but that title at the top says “Craig’s Top
10 Favorite Albums” and I personally
like Deja Entendu more. It contains one of my all-time top 5 songs (in “Quiet
Things That No One Ever Knows”) and to me is a near-perfect emo album. My
co-host Donald Wagenblast is sure to be furious with me when he reads this.
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