Mid-Year Top 10- Craig's list

Seeing the calendar roll over to July is a shock to the system. It feels like not too long ago we were celebrating the ball dropping in Times Square. Even so, the last 6 months has seen some phenomenal album releases. It’s about time we take a step back at this halfway point and discuss some of the albums we’ve loved so far this year. Don will be posting his list later this week. Leave a comment below if you think there are albums I missed, or you want to discuss some of your favorites or my own.

1. The Forecast- Everybody Left

The use of bandcamp puts added pressure on a band. The expectations is that if the fans are funding the album, it better be the best album possible for the fans to get their money’s worth. The Forecast’s Everybody Left is worth every penny donated by the fans and more. The Forecast made their perfect album, the album that will define the rest of their career. This album features not only the song of the year for me currently, “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts,” but also the catchiest song I have heard in years, “Like a Habit.” “You’re more like a habit, but I can’t let you go” sing Shannon Burns and Dustin Addis on the latter, and the habit I can’t seem to let go is putting this album on in the car, rolling own the windows and belting every word along with the Peoria, Illinois group. The only thing that I think isn’t perfect about this album is its length. Coming in at just over 34 minutes and ten tracks, the album is just simply too short; I wish could go on listening to Addis and Burns trade harmonies all day long.

2. Silversun Pickups- Neck of the Woods

When I was beginning to listen to Neck of the Woods, I had in my mind that there was no way that Silversun Pickups could top their second full length album Swoon, which was one of the best albums of 2009. But I genuinely believe that they have accomplished just that with this album. As my good friend Tom Taylor of The Mike and Tom Awesome Show has said about this album, “it’s not as epic sounding as Swoon”, but I think the difference between this album and Swoon is that the band has written better, more cohesive songs. Some of the songs on Swoon unfortunately don’t stack up as well as other on that album, but every song on Neck of the Woods is consistently good, and many of them reach incredible levels. One song in particular that comes to mind is “Mean Spirits”, which I think is the best song the band has ever written

3. The Menzingers- On The Impossible Past

I don’t think any vocalist this year than the vocalist of The Menzingers, Greg Barnett, who on “The Obituaries” sings, “I will fuck this up, I fucking know it.” It’s the band’s heart on the sleeve sincerity that makes On The Impossible Past so endearing. The punk band is singing about topics that the average listener feels like they are a part of. The opening track “Good Things” features more of the same, but also features an all-out energy that few albums this year have yet exerted, with Barnett screaming “I’ve been closing my eyes to find, why all good things should fall apart.”

4. Fun.- Some Nights

Who could have seen this coming? Fun., a band who went relatively unnoticed to the general public just 7 months ago, released this gem of an album on February 21. And they only way to describe the resulting publicity it garnered is “absolutely mindblowing”. Even if not factoring in the massive explosion of lead single “We Are Young”, Some Nights was great in every conceivable way. It combines a massively produced, hip—hop infused sound (due to the production of My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted, Fantasy producer Jeff Bhasker) and some of Nate Ruess’ best songwriting in his long, and often underrated career, into a pop tour de force. Everyone knows who fun. is now, and that’s the way it should be.

5. Enter Shikari- A Flash Flood of Colour

After spending much of the first 6 months of the year at the top of my AOTY list, Enter Shikari has now dropped down to the number five spot at the half way point of the year. This is partly a factor of how long ago the album came out (early January) and partly a factor of the album’s staying power. “A Flash Flood of Colour” is a delightful bit of political metalcore (or as I like to call it Shikari-core) and it is probably the band’s best album yet, but albums in this genre very rarely maintain constant rotation in my music library, thus necessitating it’s drop to the midway point of this top 10. 

6. Make Do and Mend- Everything You Ever Loved

What a shock this album was to my system. I had listened to Make Do And Mend’s 2010 debut album End Measured Mile, and wasn’t completely impressed by it. But no band has made bigger strides this year than MDAM. Everything You Ever Loved is an absolutely phenomenal rock record. It’s an album that the very tumult of the tracks shakes you to your core. Vocalist James Carroll absolutely carries this album, sounding like a young Dave Grohl at points. Though that may be the most overused comparison ever, listen to “Disassemble” and see what I mean. While you’re at it, listen to the entire album, it’s worth it.

7. Motion City Soundtrack- Go

I honestly said it best in my review: “I have been able to count on a few facts in my life. The fact that the sun is still there when I wake up, the fact that I am able to breathe without thinking about it, and the fact that Motion City Soundtrack does not disappoint whenever they release an album. Okay, maybe that’s a little drastic, but it’s not far off from the truth.” Another album by Motion City Soundtrack, another probable top 15 year end appearance by one of my favorite bands.

8. Bruce Springsteen- Wrecking Ball

So this was my one wildcard pick. I love Bruce Springsteen. I have already written about my love for Bruce Springsteen on this blog (you can read that post here). And I love Bruce Springsteen’s new album Wrecking Ball. Coming off the by all accounts disappoint album Working On a Dream, Springsteen cpould have released another sub-par album and I don’t think people would have really blamed him much for it, considering he is now 62 years old. Instead, he released his best album since at least 2002’s The Rising and possibly even earlier than that. Bruce is back in a big way, and rock and roll music is better for it.

9. Athletics- Who You Are is Not Enough

The most recent album to have been released is also the best post-rock album released this year so far. I debated including Athletics’ friends, Gates, on this list, but I decided that Athletics was more deserving of the top spot as the five track album/EP is an absolutely outstanding piece of art. Though the album features morose lyrics and a disturbing conclusion (Sample lyrics: “My love died with you. I should have died with you. I would have died for you.”), the musicianship in the album gives the listener some hope that the pain may fade with time. It’s a truly beautifully arranged album.

10. Misser- Everyday I Tell Myself I’m Going to Be a Better Person

And the award for the longest album title goes to… All kidding aside though, this album is as great as the hosts of this show expected it to be, considering the people behind it. Transit’s Tim Landers and This Time Next Year’s Brad Wiseman are the creators of this pop-punk/emo/whatever you wanna call it masterpeice that is equal parts angst and disillusionment. This album is likely to land higher up on this list than I have initially put it here, as I have not given it a chance to fully digest and receive constant rotation yet. I do know that it features two of the year’s best tracks in “Stay Asleep” and “Time Capsule.”

Most Anticipated for the remainder of the year: The Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten, Anberlin- Vital, Relient K- TBA, Circa Survive- Violent Waves, Yellowcard- Southern Air