IAceI's Top 20 Albums

[Turbo Yannis]

DIOFYY

[IAceI]

AND IN THIRTEENTH PLACE ON THE TOP 20 LIST…

13. PLANET OF ICE by MINUS THE BEAR (****) [2007]

Minus the Bear are one of those bands that could probably have just been decent, if not sometimes forgotten indie band if they wanted to be, but they sort of took things a little bit further and added a beautiful experimental edge to their sound and as such produce some fantastic work. While I feel compelled to say that “Pachuca Sunrise” off Menos El Oso is my favourite song by them, this album as a whole is just much more striking and captivating for me. Bearing in mind this album was my first exposure to this band (which will be a running theme in this list, let me assure you) I didn’t really know what I was expecting. I was told to download it, but I’m told to download a lot of things and they’re always varying. “Burying Luck” is the opening track and it has a really bizarre opening and I really didn’t know what I was into, but then the main song kicks in and immediately I was taken aback and thought ‘You know, this sounds good. This will be a good album.’ Just one of those little inklings that you’re in for something good, and I was. Burying Luck is a phenomenal start to the album, and then opening 4 maybe 5 tracks really rope you in to the album and their differing styles. I’d venture to say “White Mystery” is my favourite song on a very, very good all round album bringing some fantastic guitar work with it. If anything though what really captures me for this album is the phenomenal vocal work, it really gains your attention without being overly obvious and it just fits in with the songs as a whole really well. “Dr. L’ling” has a bit of a heavier edge to the stuff earlier in the album, once again combining some amazing guitar work with fitting drum fills that all seem to mesh together just really, really well. I’m sure a lot of you are aware of this album or the band in some form and have probably heard them so there isn’t really need to go into massive detail about what they’re like. “Double Vision Quest” may possibly be one of the more underrated songs on this album though, it’s fucking epic.

My Favourites: “White Mystery”, “Double Vision Quest”, “Burying Luck”

*****

Running out of these little tidbits I have to say. So, there was a lot of commotion when Funeral for a Friend first burst onto the scene. They seemed a little bit fresh, something new, and had a really distinct sound. A kinda take it or leave it sort of thing. Now I’ll be the first to admit, they’re getting a lot fucking worse but if you go back to their beginnings and listen to Casually Dressed (Stressed ) & Deep In Conversation you get an insight to a pretty fucking awesome album. It’s kinda mainstream, something the Kerrang! Kids could latch onto and claim as their own but they can go Eat a Bag of Dick because this is just a downright awesome album with some awesome songs on it. “Escape Artists Never Die” and “Bend Your Arms To Look Like Wings” are fucking awesome early songs. Especially the “On battlefields (We push and pull apart)” bit on BYATLLW, which is just something, I remember from my very first listen to the album. I can actually recall when I first heard them, I was going to France with the school and had my CD walkman in tow (dragging the massive thing with both arms no less) and one of the lads had the FFAF album with him. He didn’t get it back for the 5 days we were away, it was absolutely terrific. I loved it, couldn’t get enough. Some awesome songs. As I got older and appreciated more of it, I began to love “She Drove Me To Day Time TV” and “Storytelling” and “Novella” and just everything a bit more. Top fucking album. And I quite liked some songs on Hours, and then “Oblivion” but now they’re just getting a bit shit. Will still always love this album though.

12 next! Another departure in musical tastes as trumpets, saxophones and other brass instruments make their debut on the list, with a nice punkish influence as well and a band with a rival in their odd music scene. Till then!

[IAceI]

AAAAT TWELTH…

12. SOMEWHERE IN THE BETWEEN by STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO (****) [2007]

Oh my word, an album that wasn’t the first I heard by the band. And even then it’s probably still something of a controversial choice over “Everything Went Numb” oh well, you can fuck off. My first exposure to Streetlight Manifesto was the single ‘Everything Went Numb’ followed by the album ‘Keasbey Nights’ then this album, then I went back and got their first. Now for me this is just ska at it’s finest, punk-ska or whatever you want to call it, let’s not get bogged down in genres as that’d just be fighting an unwinnable war. At just 10 songs it’s a pretty compact listen but the songs are usually around 4 minutes in length at least so it’s not a short listen as such. It opens with the phenomenal and main song “We Will Fall Together” which has a weird as fuck video accompanying it and has a pretty heavy and crunching feel to it and the angsty vocals make it all sound a bit sinister which you just wouldn’t expect from trumpets and the like. The second song was one of the first I heard (this and Watch It Crash both pre-album) it has a lovely little start “Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Café” and without a doubt this song pretty much sums what I love about this album. Just the way without realising you’re drawn in and can’t help but subconsciously tap your foot along to the album. It may be because this is somewhat of a grey genre for me, I admit I know pretty much nothing about it so maybe that affects what I think of this album, if I was more into this type of music I wonder if this album would seem less great to me. I doubt it I have to say as the catchiness of the whole thing is just really contagious and you just have to keep listening to the whole thing. Given this strong start to the album, you’d imagine it’d be quite hard to sustain but it isn’t, if anything it gets better almost. There’s just so much fucking good stuff on this it’s hard to keep track of it all, the explosive speed of “One Foot On The Gas, One Foot In The Grave” gives a new edge to the album, “Somewhere In The Between” seems a bit more anthemic with the backing vocals and long, drawn out part in the middle but for a furious finish to cap it off. Then the penultimate song pretty much is the barnstormer that the album needs to just put it this high on the list, “The Receiving End Of It All” is just a song that uses its fantastic lyrics to make everyone fall in love with it. And without doubt people will have seen the words “We used to be in love (MY LOVE!), but now we’re just in like” in random places over the forum. Great album, must get for anyone who likes to diversify their musical tastes.

My Favourites: “Somewhere In The Between, We Will Fall Together, The Receiving End Of It All”

*****

In eleventh, we re explore the punk sound that I love so much. A phenomenal album from what seem like a fun loving band, but somewhat of a controversial choice of album as I’m pretty sure it’s not the widely accepted “best album”. Guess it boils down to which I heard first and stuff like that… still no way around it though, it’s a great album.

[IAceI]

NARROWLY MISSING OUT THE TOP 10… PLACING AT ELEVEN…

11. RUINER by A WILHELM SCREAM (****) [2005]

So, slightly controversial choice having this over ‘Mute Print’? I don’t think there’s any doubt that this album is better than their latest effort ‘Career Suicide’ but I can imagine A Wilhelm Scream fans will be slightly bemused picking this over Mute Print? Ah well, I guess this is where the list truly does boil down to preference and idiosyncrasies. With a band like A Wilhelm Scream who have probably done quite a bit to help shape my musical tastes especially in the punk scene when the first stuff you hear of them is “Ruiner” then it always sticks with you, and maybe you become slightly biased in favour of it. At the same time I don’t want to make it sound like I don’t absolutely love this album because I really do, it’s number eleven for fucks sake.

So the actual album itself? Well, one of my favourite opening tracks of all; “The King Is Dead” which has a long little guitar intro before at 40 seconds the drums and Nuno’s distinct vocals kick in and your just drawn in. It’s fast and it’s probably akin to being punched in the face in musical format, it’s just gritty and dirty and everything that punk rock like this should be. It’s got some phenomenal lyrics, but it’s not all about that for me, not this sort of stuff. I don’t want to take away from their lyrical ability but I love this to hear the pounding drums and crunching guitars and savour the little lyrical moments “The king is dead, fuck, the kind is dead, woah!” Stuff like that. “Killing It” shows off the great musical work of the band, especially on the guitars and the short and concise and brilliantly named “Me Vs. Morrissey In The Pretentious Contest (The Ladder Match)” is the first ever AWS song I ever heard and it just had me wanting more. “Congratulations” is even shorter and opens with the heart warming lyrics of “There’s a waiting list to the bottom, under you. Ex-husbands, romantics and perverts and masochists. I’m gonna be there too.” For an extremely short, it’s so memorable “Must have broken every bone in your wrist, how romantic of you. We both got this sickness, goddamn it’s addictive. It’s got me bleeding for two.” Just some epic stuff in there that you can’t help me love. The lovely named “The Kids Can Eat A Bag of Dicks” and for me the great late song of “Less Bright Eyes, More Decide” which is more lyrical and less heavy by AWS’ standards. “The numbers have been crunched, yes we’re all fuck.” Still a fucking quality song though.

For me there’s no doubt that this is my favourite album of theirs regardless of what anyone says otherwise. It’s just full of fantastic moments, and one of those that maybe you sometimes forget just how awesome it is until you give it another little listen over and then you realise just how amazing it is.

My Favourites: “The King Is Dead”, “Me vs. Morrissey In The Pretentious Contest (The Ladder Match)”, “Congratulations”, “Less Bright Eyes, More Decide”

*****

Top 10 next. Unforgettable Canadian band (and therefore the best thing since sliced bread if you are actually Canadian) with their first effort from two amazing albums and their second effort could probably have easily placed in the top 20 if I was to redo this list another time I’d imagine. This one is just a bit better with more memorable stuff on it for me. Awesome, awesome band though. Very distinct.

[IAceI]

WE INTERRUPT THIS LIST TO BRING TO YOU… THE INTERMISSION AWARDS!… SPONSORED BY POWERGEN

FIRST UP IS THE “POWERGEN WOMAN WHO IS MUSICALLY TALENTED AWARD”… AND THE WINNER IS…

JENNY LEWIS

Jenny Lewis is…without question… fucking banging. And like, proper banging. For a girl with “Viking Sunset” hair, she’s absolutely fit. She’s like one of those girls who for pretty much everyone is just a pipedream, beautiful and musically talented, and not just musically talented but plays the sort of music you love. Most of you will know her music, and probably of her beauty but few of you know that for years and years she was romantically linked with Ben Gibbard, but then apparently settled for fashionably skinny with silly hair – Jonathan Rice. Did Ben Gibbard mope? No. He only went and started banging Zooey fucking Deschanel and then convinced her to marry him. Take that Jenny Lewis! I think that’s pretty much her only flaw, having fronted “Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins” and currently doing very well with current band “Rilo Kiley” she is also popular for work with “The Postal Service”, doing solo work and appearing on the “DnTel” album with the great “Roll On.”

As a tribute to this phenomenal looking lady and musically gifted Goddess, here’s some pictures for you to look at.

1. Big Tits and a Bottle In Hand - http://swaggernotstyle.files.wordpress.com...lewis-sings.jpg

2. In hat - http://www.border.se/Press/Jenny%20Lewis/Jenny%20Lewis4.jpg

3. In hat again - http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl0/1/1.../jennylewis.jpg

SECOND AWARD IS THE “POWERGEN SERVICES TO MUSIC AWARD” THIS AWARD GOES TO A SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS MADE MY MUSICAL LIFE A WHOLE LOT BETTER, AND THE WINNER IS…

JOEY CAPE! (SPAWN OF JOEY CAPE DOES NOT RECEIVE AWARD ALSO)

How fucking awesome is Joey Cape? I mean he truly is a fucking legend. He’s been part of some phenomenal bands and is just a truly amazingly talented musician in general. He is lead vocalist of 7-album Lagwagon, played guitar and was lead vocals for Bad Astronaut who disbanded after Derrick Plourde took his life. He’s played guitar in cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and is also a member of the Playing Favourites, acting as lead vocalist there. Not to mention he recently put out his own fantastic solo acoustic album and just seems like genuinely a guy who loves his music. It seems that no matter what kind of music you like, there will be something by this man that will appeal to you and as such that is why he is the worthy winner of the “Powergen Services to Music Award.”

Below are some youtube links for you to bask in his phenomenal talent and so you can share the fantastic work by a phenomenal musician with me.

1. Errands – Solo Acoustic Album - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Tg35TN0WM...feature=related

2. Another Dead Romance – Bad Astronaut, Album: Houston, We Have A Drinking Problem -

3. Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah – Me First and the Gimme Gimmes -

[IAceI]

THE LIST SO FAR…

20. “Deja Entendu” Brand New

19. “Unicornography” The Falcon

18. “In A Million Pieces” The Draft

17. “Love, Ire & Song” Frank Turner

16. “Four One Five Two” Sundowner

15. “Gorillaz” Gorillaz

14. “You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into” Does It Offend You, Yeah?

13. “Planet of Ice” Minus The Bear

12. “Somewhere In The Between” Streetlight Manifesto

11. “Ruiner” A Wilhelm Scream

EDGING IN AT NUMBER 10 IS…

11. BILLY TALENT by BILLY TALENT (****) [2003]

With their third album release looming it’s fitting that we pay tribute to this fantastic band hailing from Canada. Their first album under the Billy Talent moniker and this effort is what catapulted them into stardom, held in high regard amongst many an online music fan their unique sounding front man Benjamin Kowalewicz gives them that added dimension that many bands lack and keep them held down in the bland and average territory. It’s not just his high-pitched screams though, it’s the penmanship of some fantastic songs that ensures that this album is a stellar effort from start to end. Beginning with the catchy and punchy “How It Goes” really gets you straight into Billy Talent’s sound, there are no airs and graces about it – no deceiving intro songs, no mishmash of sounds, it’s just immediately one-hundred-perfect pure Billy Talent through and through. “Try Honesty” is a bit of a step away from the deafening screams (although they do feature midway through) and more of a straight up rock and roll song incorporating band backing vocals provided by Kowalewicz and also Ian D’Sa and Jonathan Gallant. “The Ex” explores a pretty dark and sinister side to Billy Talent, something they show in flashes throughout and particularly on their second album with “Devil In A Midnight Mask”. I’m going to take an educated gamble and assume that the song is to do with an ex-girlfriend, and as such this paves the way for the hate filled lyrics; “Why would she put me through such torture? I would have given my life for her, she was the one that knocked me over, now I’m alone sitting on the corner.” Track 7 is probably their most universally known, “River Below” is what put this band in the spotlight in the first place and is a brilliant starting point for any new fan as it sums up their sound pretty much perfectly with catchy, crunching guitar riffs, impeccable lyrics, a right mix of screaming and normal vocals, and if you listen closely enough you’ll probably also hear the hi-hat being abused. This great album closes out with probably my favourite Billy Talent song of all, the fast and furious “Voice of Violence” which has just every ingredient needed for a fantastic song. Short and sharp vocals litter the beginning, the unmatchable screeching of “Broken dagger, southern swagger” complimenting the lines of “We’ll take it back… voices of violence, voices of violence” and just like it starts, the album ends in a cloud of noise being pumped out by 4 quite angry Canadians. And we all love them for it.

My Favourites: “Voice of Violence”, “Standing in the Rain”, “Try Honesty”, “How It Goes”

No clues for the remainder of the list, I want to remain an element of surprise for when you read the list. Some of it you’ll agree with, some you’ll disagree with and some may just flat out surprise you and that’s what we need for a successful music list. Till then!

[YI]

"Planet Of Ice" is fucking epic, brilliant album, top notch stuff. Probably wouldn't be anywhere near that high for me, but it's still a bloody brilliant album.

BOOOOO!!!! No "Casually Stressed" on here? Absolutely fucking brilliant album, not a poor song on there. The follow up, was quite solid too, the next couple have been proper shit though.

"Somewhere In The Between" = Seriously one of the best bands I have ever seen live, I was bruised for the best part of a week afterwards, so much fun, even as a solo gig. Fuck epic album, a band that just keeps getting better and better. The songs sound like sea shanties, it's epic.

AWS. But "Ruiner"...hmmmm. At the minute, "Ruiner" is probably my least favourite AWS album. I mean, "The Kids Can Eat A Bag Of Dick", "Congratulations", "The King Is Dead" etc. yeah so many EPIC songs, it just feels like it's a little too long. Still, all of their stuff is fucking amazing, even if "Mute Print" does rule the roost for me. Again, absolutely fucking insane live band, can't wait for new material this year, and hopefully another UK tour.

Jenny Jenny And why didn't you use the one of her in the yellow 'dress'....

Joey ...awwww, look at the baby. Joey!!!

Billy Talent are cool, again great live band, only seen them at Give It A Name, but given the size of the place they really rocked it. Again, I prefer the 2nd album, but the 1st still has some brilliant tracks.

Edited January 27, 2009 by YI

[IAceI]

ROCKING IN AT A RESPECTABLE NUMBER NINE IS…

11. OH! CALCUTTA! by THE LAWRENCE ARMS (****) [2006]

Now I know YI will disagree with this being placed so high, as he’s already told me he does but I just love this album something rotten. I didn’t actually pick it up until early 2007 when I saw it on his “Best of 2006 List” placed in at about 94 or something disgustingly low but they were a band I’d always been meaning to check out for a while and I can see why now. Clocking in at little over a half hour it’s a perfect true punk listen with contrasting lyrics from the snarly Brendan Kelly and the more casual Chris McCaughan line for line as opposed to one doing a whole song for themselves. I’d like to think this is a major part of why I like this album so much, it’s not a case of a lead vocalist and someone acting as back up – while Kelly is probably the main vocalist, McCaughan gets his fair share of lines as well and their styles really work well together.

Opening up with the steely bass line to “The Devil’s Takin’ Names” you’re immediately thrown into what can only be describe as pretty much pure punk rock music. Emphasising on the words rather than complex musical work you can easily get lost in this album. “Cut It Up”, for me, is possibly their finest song on this album. It’s fast, it’s furious and it’s pretty much everything I want in a song of this style, I don’t want a 6 minute epic with phenomenal guitar wankery I just want a straight up punk sounding track like this that comes in little over two minutes. The start of the album is massively fast and truly awesome, with “Recovering The Opposable Thumb” including the fantastic ‘Recover, recover, recover’ part followed by a small instrumental part… we’re then thrown back into the song with Kelly’s elongated scream and then given; “Toby Keith’s horses and Toby Keith’s men finally put us all into place…” which just makes me want to rock the fuck out. “Are You There Yet Margaret? It’s Me, God” showcases the alternating vocals at it’s best, starting off pretty casual and slower – the chorus speeds up a bit but for me this song’s best moment is once again a single line… after a bit of a vocal break we come back with a quick drum fill and then musical silence and Kelly yelps “And you told me that you loved me!” Which from live videos I’ve seen online looks not only amazing but Kelly seems to leave that line to the crowd who will no doubt sing it back in full force. “Lose Your Illusion 1”, alluding to the wankery that is Guns ‘n’ Roses, is pretty much Chris McCaughan’s track to himself as he leads the vocals and Kelly adopts the roll as back up vocalist for most of the track. “Requiem Revisted” features the amazingly fast chorus of just “These hands beat red with this mercy killing, God eye, Dead man, You hit your mark again.” For now I can only dream but I imagine this band would be insanely fun live, with or without Brendan Kelly face-planting himself into a crash symbol. Sans the hidden track, the album finished with “Like A Record Player” which sums up the lifestyle of Brendan Kelly quite superbly as he sings “I’m like a record player, I keep going round with a needle in my arm making someone else’s sound. And lately I’ve been dreaming of blue and empty skies, but nothing like that ever crosses red and weary eyes. I’ve been travelling with bottles, working close with cans, sitting up for hours with my best friends in a band.” In only a way Brendan Kelly does, he makes that lifestyle look glamorous to the rest of us.

My Favourites: “Cut It Up”, “Recovering The Opposable Thumb”, “Are You There Yet Margaret? It’s Me, God”, “Requiem Revisted”, “Key To The City”

We’re making our way through this list nicely now, up next… number 8 and the inclusion of one of my favourite bands. Till then!

[IAceI]

PLACING AT EIGHTH IN THE TOP 20 LIST IS…

8.PLANS by DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE (****) [2005]

I know, I know, how mainstream of me to pick Plans as my favourite Death Cab For Cutie album. I’m just like every 14-year-old teenage girl who thinks they’re different because they like Death Cab For Cutie aren’t I? Well, maybe. Transatlanticism and Narrow Stairs both narrowly missed out on the top 20 list, but this one was never in doubt, this was always a top 10 album for me. It sort of breaks the mould as well, because the first song I heard by Death Cab was “Sound of Settling” and followed by the album of Transatlanticism. However I just feel Plans has the better songs on it and therefore is the better album, but it’s all a bit of ridiculous – because as a band they are absolutely phenomenal and Ben Gibbard is just a great musician. The album pretty much serves as my dog walking music, whenever I give the walk a good hour-long walk or so, this album usually gets a full spin because as a whole it’s so solid I just don’t need to change songs constantly.

It opens with the serene and beautiful “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, one of my favoured Death Cab songs. Being the opener to the album I’m interested to know how many people listen to this album having heard the name “Death Cab For Cutie” expect the worst and then realise the music is absolutely nothing like they had imagined. With the repetitive guitar and drums in the back the whole song rests on Gibbard’s shoulders as we hear first hand his beautiful lyrics and vocals; “Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole, just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound.” It’s just a taste of things to come in what I think is a fantastic album. “Soul Meets Body” is a bit more of a whole band effort, we hear more from the guitars of Chris Walla and slightly more on the drumming side than the first song offers. “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” is perhaps the best known song off the album, on the 22nd January 2009, Jimmy Carr was filling in for Zane Lowe on Radio 1 and claimed that this was “his favourite song in the world, ever” but then he did call it “I Will Follow You Into The Night” so I’m not sure how accurate that is. Armed with just a guitar, Gibbard gives us some massively depressing yet at the same time gloriously beautiful lyrics that you just can’t help but sit and be amazed by. “Crooked Teeth” is their more poppy song, I sort of have bad connotations with this song because the day I was really falling in love with it, I was coming back from a tennis tournament and we broke down just outside Newcastle. So we spent an hour waiting, and about an hour being towed home by Green Flag. Still a fucking awesome song, then I went and saw England lose in the Rugby World Cup Final and bitched about “the try that wasn’t given but was clearly a try” despite not knowing anything about rugby and thinking it is for closet gays mainly. The poppy style song writing doesn’t last long as “What Sarah Said” is a piano based and very depressing song, and if you’ve seen the video that doesn’t help get rid of the notion that it’s all very depressing.

Despite being an all round depressing band it seems, you can’t help but love them. A massive following of fans all over the globe and one of those bands that are more accessible to the mainstream than a lot of stuff people will listen to. I wonder if any of Death Cabs newer efforts will be more happy given that Ben Gibbard is fucking and marrying Zooey Deschanel. You’d imagine he’d be fucking delirious in his song writing from now on.

My Favourites: “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”, “Crooked Teeth”, “What Sarah Said”, “Brothers On A Hotel Bed”

Number 7 next. We’re closing in! Another of my favourite bands feature next with a fantastic album that really altered my perceptions in probably what I called my favourite genre (alongside Death Cab For Cutie) and added a little bit more dimension to me than just “punk rock” and the like. Phenomenal album by a phenomenal band. Till then!

[YI]

AEROPLANE!!! AEROPLANE!!! DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!!! COS I'M OUT HERE ALL BY MYSELF AND I AIN'T GOT NO PLACE TO SLEEP!!!!

"Oh! Calcutta!" is a solid, but nothing particularly ground breaking, album. In fact, I don't really love Lawrence Arms all that much, which kind of saddens me as I'm a massive fan of all three members, and it's 'their main band', but to me there'll be nothing more than a 'good band'. Kelly's vocals are fabulous as always, but I just find Lawrence Arms a little 'generic', I mean, when it kicks in, it's swarmed with Kelly awesome'ness, but I just think Kelly works better worth the more GRRRRRR'ness of The Falcon than the 'poppyness' (Alk3 like-sound) of Lawrence Arms......ness. However, I will agree, there's some quality tunes on here. "Lose Your Illusion 1", "Are You There Margaret, It's Me God!", "Like A Record Player" and "Cut It Up" are brilliant.

I love Kelly's wiki entry;

Brendan Kelly (born September 8, 1976) is the bassist/vocalist of Chicago-based punk band The Lawrence Arms, as well as guitarist/lead vocalist in The Falcon. Kelly's former bands include Slapstick and The Broadways. He is often known for his raspy vocals and drunken demeanor.

Brilliant! His blog is absolutely fucking fantastic/hilarious too, the only blog I actually read ( http://badsandwichchronicles.blogspot.com/ ).

"Plans" being on here was a bit of a surprise, but a really nice surprise. IMO, it's an album that got a lot of unnecessary flack from fans. Yes, it's softer and more pop orientated, but at the end of the day the tunes are absolutely glorious, the run of "Crooked Teeth" -> "What Sarah Said" -> " Brothers On A Hotel Bed" is just breathtaking. The first time I saw them, and they did those three in order, it was totally insane. I mean, I think I rank it better than "Narrow Stairs", once the 'new album gloss' came off "...Stairs", but I still wouldn't put it in the same level as "Trans..." or "We Have The Facts...", an album that gets a bad rep, for a reason I have no idea (Well, I do, I mean, it was their first mainstream album and they went for a softer sound, but after "Trans..." ANY mainstream album, regardless of content, would have people bitching about it).

[METALMAN]

I love Plans but it's still nowhere near my favourite Death Cab album. My opinions of their albums are:

We Have The Facts > Transatlanticism > The Photo Album > Narrow Stairs > Plans > Something About Airplanes

Still a very good album though.

[IAceI]

PLACING AT SEVEN…

7. RECONSTRUCTION SITE by THE WEAKERTHANS (****) [2003]

We live in a world, and post on a message board, where it feels like common courtesy to claim “such and such is probably the best album of the year” when we all know it’s not even close. Or that “so and so is the best musician of the past decade” when we all know they’re no that good really. So you can probably be excused if you’re thinking that this is just another one of those types of comments, but for me it’s not. John Kristjan Samson may possibly be the most talented lyricist I have ever heard. Yeah sure you could pass him off as obscure to the point it just sounds good, but if anyone wanted to write songs from the points of view he does then others would be just as good. But I would have to disagree with that. Samson is just truly phenomenal and he makes the Weakerthans that special something that, without him, they wouldn’t be.

Let me just point something out, Samson writes lyrics in a way that seem they would never fit. It’s not conventional song writing but it all just works so brilliantly, “(Manifest)” , “(Hospital Vespers)” and “(Past-Due)” are at the start, middle and end of the album. What some people may not realise is that the melody in the three songs is the same and they are written as sonnets by Samson. Sonnets! In between them are phenomenally written songs that explore all sorts of weird and wonderful notions, depressed owner’s cats, Antarctica explorers dining with Michael Foucault in Paris, 1961. On their latest effort “Reunion Tour” there’s even a song about a women’s curling tournament. It’s just so surreal and bizarre but at the same time so beautiful and graceful. I don’t want to take anything away from the rest of the band, as I’m sure that’s how it’s coming off. The music is perfectly fine, fits brilliantly, but lets be serious – this band to me is just Samson showcasing his brilliance. “Reconstruction Site” being possibly my favourite song of theirs, just so beautiful with the fabulous lyrics “Buy me a shiny new machine, that runs on lies and gasoline, and all those batteries we stole from smoke alarms.” There’s just something about it that strikes a chord with me, it’s like being in love in musical form and it just puts so many artists to shame with their poor and manufactured lyrics. We have Britney prancing around for 3 minutes saying little else than “womaniser all womanising” over and over and everyone thinks it’s the greatest comeback since Lazarus. Then we have this band consistently producing amazing songs that I could just relax to, close my eyes and lose myself in and barely anyone gives a damn. “One Great City!” looks at Samsons apparent love-hate relationship with his hometown of Winnipeg, although it seems to be more a hate-hate relationship to me. All verses and choruses and everything punctuated with the final lines of “I. Hate. Winnipeg.” as we hear about all the weird and wonderful happenings that make Winnipeg what it is to Samson. Regardless of this though, I can’t help but love the city for giving us this great, great band. It’s a must listen to, they just seem pretty impossible to dislike, it’s just phenomenal as a whole.

My Favourites: “Reconstruction Site”, “Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michael Foucault In Paris, 1961)”, “One Great City!”, “Benediction”, “The Presence of Dawn”

Next is number 6. Can’t really say much about them without getting a hard on so we’ll leave it there. Till then!

[IAceI]

JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP FIVE, PLACING AT SIX…

6. THE ’59 SOUND by THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM (*****) [2008]

Yeah, this was inevitable to be fair. It’s not very rare that an album strikes me as something amazing when I first listen, but it’s a lot more rare that when that “new album gloss rubs off” that I’m still in awe at an album. I won’t hide away from it, I absolutely adore The Gaslight Anthem. I became aware of them about pre-Sink or Swim and I’ve been a massive fan since then, as have many people as this band go from strength to strength. You open up the sound of a record being placed and started and then kick into the rhythmic and catchy “Great Expectations” which initially was my favourite song on this album. It’s just a great opening to this sophomore effort from the New Jersey folk who explore a more mainstream rock sound than their first album. Drum heavy and littered with striking lyrics you can’t help but rock out to the immense chorus of; “I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my first wife, Everybody leaves and I’d expect as much from you…”. I think my love for the band comes down to the fact that I knew pretty much every song word for word before any lyrics even became available on the internet, it was just repeated and repeated. In my house, in my car, in my head, everywhere, it was always on my brain and that’s what music should be. You should start humming the bridge to “Great Expectations” without realising it, or randomly break into song from “Meet Me By The Rivers Edge” while walking down in the middle of town and not notice people looking at you funnily. It’s what music is about and it’s what this album does so well.

The title song and lead single “The ’59 Sound” really grew on me something special. I always enjoyed it, but later on through listening to the album I just kept listening and listening and it just became better and better with each listen; a nice little casual guitar opening before the drums explode in full force but then it all calms down again as the serene vocals of one Mr. Brian Fallon grace the speakers. The choruses are catchy, yet soul searching, and just very, very sing able. I’m not going to explain why every song is awesome and I’m sure by now you’ve all heard the album and know what makes it so special. “The Patient Ferris Wheel” could be about as close to ‘punk’ as this album comes, the memorable lyrics at the chorus of; “I’ve never felt so strange, standing in the Jersey rain, thinking about what an old man said, and maybe I should call me an ambulance.” Track 8 is possibly my current favourite track on the album, “Casanova, Baby!” starting with an infectious guitar riff and looping drum fill before the chorus just makes you want to jump and not dance, but sway. Yes, sway. The closing tracks of the album feature all the name dropping you’ve come to expect from the band and features the beautiful and impeccable “Here’s Looking At You, Kid”, my only gripe with the album is just I can’t seem to get into “The Backseat” like I have their other songs. But it’s still a phenomenal album and well worth it’s place on the list.

My Favourites: “Great Expectations”, “The ’59 Sound”, “High Lonesome”, “The Patient Ferris Wheel”, “Casanova, Baby!”, “Meet Me By The Rivers Edge”, “Here’s Looking At You, Kid”

Next is one of my favourite bands with their latest album. Not the album most people would pick but it goes back to what I heard first and what I associate with the band when I think about them, and this album fits that description. Till then!

[METALMAN]

Whenever there is a song called "The Backseat" you know it's going to be the worst song on the album. Think Funeral by Arcade Fire.

Anyway I love the '59 Sound. For me it was one of those records that I really got into after seeing it played live. Despite me liking it lots before, it was that that made it one of my favourites of last year.

[IAceI]

STARTING OFF OUR TOP 5… IN FIFTH…

5. WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK by MODEST MOUSE (*****) [2007]

Ooh, slightly controversial I believe. You’ll generally be pretty hard pressed to find a Modest Mouse fan who will claim this to be the best of their albums on offer. You’ll generally be pointed in the direction of “The Moon & Antarctica” or “The Lonesome Crowded West” but for whatever reason, this album just strikes a chord with me more so than the others have. It may be that whole reasoning that this was the first album of theirs that I heard or something like that, but I just think that this is a better collection of songs from the band.

The first real song to strike you up is the infectious “Dashboard” with its catchy guitar riff and the probing lyrics of a certain Mr. Isaac Brock. For years this song was my mobile phone text tone and I just became synonymous with it, everyone would ask what the song was based off the opening 15 seconds, who the band was, what the song was, anything about it. It’s that kind of song, it makes you want to keep listening. One thing I’ve noticed with Modest Mouse is people seem to really underestimate Brock’s angriness. His mother ran off with his uncle when he was a kid, he lived in a flooded house on his own and he’s been wrongfully imprisoned for rape. The guy’s got a bit of a right to be an angry bastard but like so many bands, it’s not enough to be a vocalist with some writing ability, it seems you need to have that special something to your voice and Brock has that. He seems to be able to sound like a different guy on each song, much like each song seems uncannily different to the rest. My favourite song from the album I’d imagine would be “We’ve Got Everything”, I used it to the describe Dashboard and I’ll use it to describe this song too, infectious. It has that awesome little guitar riff and the brilliant lyrics, the changes in musical styles and all sorts. It’s just a really, really amazing song. It’s not obnoxiously long, it’s not too short, it has everything it needs to and the choruses, or the closest things in this song that resemble a chorus, are just really fun to listen to with the backing vocals and it all seems to come full circle with the “We’ve tried everything half assed and as liars… and that’s how we got everything”. The album, and the band as a whole are just really adept at throwing in these subtle little bits to their lyrics that really strike a chord with you and it’s because of that which is what makes me love this album and band so much. The album also has what can only be called an “epic ending” with the funky little “Steam Engenius” which is a song that has grown on me more than you can imagine. It’s not something that I really took too on my first listen of the album, but over many listens it’s just become a firm favourite of mine. This is followed by “Spitting Venom” and eight and a half minute marathon song that doesn’t seem nearly as long as it is, maybe you just get lost in the song, I don’t know. It starts with Brock armed with just an acoustic guitar and at 1:30 we go into a full band song, and it flits between these two for the duration of the song. The penultimate song is the awesome “People As Places As People” with Brock sounding incredibly distressed throughout the entire song and it just really plays on me, but as soon as it finished you’re thrown into the build up and explosive riff of “Invisible” which seems like a massive contrast in styles and lets the album go out on a high with the insane sound of the band which just perfectly sums up a great, great, amazingly album.

My Favourites: “Dashboard”, “We’ve Got Everything”, “Steam Engenius”, “Spitting Venom”, “People As Places As People”, “Invisible”

Up next… 4th favourite album and a must have album by any pop-punk band. Legendary band where everyone, like them or hate them, has heard their music multiple times. Till then!

[METALMAN]

A very good album there. Probably also my favourite Modest Mouse album because there isn't a single bad tune on it.

[IAceI]

ROCKING UP IN FOURTH ON THE TOP 20 LIST…

4. ENEMA OF THE STATE by BLINK 182 (*****) [1999]

You have no idea how bad ass I felt as a 9 year old listening to this album. It was like the greatest thing ever, my sister bought it and I promptly stole it. Not even as a 9 year old was I bothered about the giant titted woman on the front, nor did I know what the fuck an enema was. I just thought the album was amazing from when I heard it. Whether I wanted to feel like a little big man listening to this sort of music at that age, nearly 10 years later and here I am listening to the album right now and still loving it. Let’s be brutal for a moment here, it’s far from a complex or intricate album, it’s pretty much the same chords and half the time they couldn’t be arsed to rearrange them. Travis is a fantastic drummer mind, but the music is far from unique, and the lyrics aren’t really troubling John K Samson or Isaac Brock as anything profound, but it’s just, as a whole – really fucking good. It’s a bit cheesy, it’s a bit tacky, it’s childish and it’s not really big or clever, but ignoring all that they are one of the most successful pop-punk-rockish type of bands of their time and this album alone has shifted over twelve-million copies. That’s a few. As a 9 year old boy, I loved “What’s My Age Again?”, “All The Small Things” and “Aliens Exist”. I would put the album in my walkman or open up my hi-fi – cleaning out the cobwebs and dust and shooing away the moths in the process – and stick it on just to listen to those songs on repeat. As an 18 year old, and I won’t say man as I’m just a big kid to be honest, I find myself in love with nearly every song. Opening with possibly my favourite of the lot, “Dumpweed” – ‘she’s a dove, she’s a fucking nightmare, unpredictable, it was my mistake to stay here, on the go and it’s way too late to play, I need a girl that I can train’. Like I said, it’s nothing overly profound, I dare say with a few hours a bit of whiskey and a pen and I could come up with something pretty similar – and I’m shit with lyrics, but for whatever reason the whole simplicity pays off and proves that a 9 minute guitar solo with rockets flying out of the stage and all geared up in spandex isn’t necessarily better than a basic chord progression and some samey lyrics about pining for a girl. Its just music and it comes in so many different forms.

So here I am, 18 years old and I can appreciate the album as a whole: the ferocious speed, the changes in genres from song to song, the split vocals between DeLonge and Hoppus, the angst, the joy, the stupidity and everything in between. And I won’t shy away from it, I was generally gutted that a band that had a massive effect on me growing up musically came to such a sad and to be honest, pathetic, demise. I’m not going to say it’s true – because I can’t say for certain – but it is legitimately possibly that had I not stole this album off my sister and fell in love with it, I’d still be listening to Savage Garden and 5ive and Eiffel 65 and stuff like that (all of who are still awesome before you say anything :@) and never really have come down the path that I came down. I’m not saying that it would be like that, but I like to think that this album had an affect on my musical tastes as I grow up, and the fact I still listen to this album to this day is probably testament to that.

My Favourites: “Dumpweed”, “Aliens Exist”, “What’s My Age Again?”, “Going Away To College”, “All The Small Things”, “The Party Song”, “Mutt”, “Wendy Clear”

Up next… and even older album! The oldest on the list as we venture into my top 3 albums, think you know the order, or will something possibly surprise you? I can’t say for definite, but there might be a little twist to it all. Till then!

[YI]

I KNOW YOU MIGHT ROLL YOUR EYES AT THIS!!!! BUT I'M SO GLAD THAT YOU EXIST!!!!

Man, I've got a lot of catching up to do. The Weakerthans, an absolutely phenomenal band. Quite probably the best live show I have seen. My favourite album by them literally changes daily, they're all absolutely phenomenal. Samson is hands down my favourite lyricist on the go at the minute. The only downside is at his own admission, it takes him a lot longer to write tunes/songs than 'normal people'.

Gaslight Anthem, are fucking epic. And you 'became aware of them' pre-"Sink Or Swim"...oh, yeah, because I put "I'Da Called You..." on the first 'punk rock playlist' (gaylist) thing. I'm firmly in the "Sink Or Swim" camp, don't get me wrong, "The '59 Sound" is a bloody good album, but not a patch on "Sink Or Swim". "Great Expectations" is an epic opening tune.

Modest Mouse are great, I don't love them as much as some people do, I tend to find that their albums could do with a few songs being cut here and there, but "We Were Dead..." was absolutely fucking amazing. "We've Got Everything", "Little Motel", "Steam Engenius", "Spitting Venom" are epic tracks.

ENEMA!!!!!! WHAT A FUCKING ALBUM!!!

And #3 better be STWB or shit will be kicking off!!! There has never been, and never will be, a punk-rock song as FUCKING AWESOME as "Gear Box".

Edited February 3, 2009 by YI

[IAceI]

FINISHING IN THIRD...

3. SUBURBAN TEENAGE WASTELAND BLUES by STRUNG OUT (*****) [1996]

Oooh, retro. For me at least. Good albums are common, great albums are probably slightly less common, amazing albums are a rarity. Amazing albums with fantastic openers and closing songs are even more rare. And amazing albums with fantastic openers and closing songs and brilliant songs all the way in between are pretty much non-existent. But look here, I’ve found one. “Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues” is the quintessential piece for any person’s collection who claims to like ferocious and fast tech punk rock music like this. You can’t claim to know jack about this sort of genre if you don’t own this piece of the puzzle.

We’re treat to a phenomenal opener in “Firecracker” which gets straight to business and essentially says about the album; ‘this is how we’re going to do our album, it’s going to be a lot like this song here, and it’s going to be fucking awesome.’ And it is. No questions necessary. “Solitaire” holds some fond memories for me, part of my soundtrack to walk to school with, I think if you took a cross section of how many kids would listen to that song repeatedly on the walk to school I would be in a very small minority, and I’m not ashamed that when I knew no one else was near me on the park I walked across to get to school, I would sing along. Quiet, loud, sometimes even throw in a little dance as I went a long. Not ashamed to say I did that in the slightest, it’s just awesome. “Gear Box” sounds a bit less poppy in its characteristics and a bit more sombre, heavy and gritty and they do the transition. You can’t help but hear the abuse the hi-hat takes in turn, and if you haven’t heard it already you’ll then quickly be drawn to just how insane Jordan Burns is when it comes to drumming. The casual fan pinnacle comes slap-bang in the middle of the record as we’re given “Bring Out Your Dead” and it’s not no pop-rock ‘Bring out your dead, and put them on the side where the dead go…’ oh-no this is deadly serious stuff. You know from the beginning that it’s going to be all epic, but it takes just 10 seconds for you to be thrown into the whirlwind riffs as you can’t help but visualise the videos people have used this song with, car crashes, snowboarding, all out assault and everything in between. There’s no respite, it just goes and goes, faster and faster, more insane each time until you get the ‘calm bit’ Cruz’s vocals at their peak before your launched back into a ferocious ending. This album doesn’t make me angry, it makes me want to stab everything and everyone, puppies, kittens, anything. For me though, the peak comes at the end of the album – shock horror Strung Out have an album that goes out in style. No surprise there, no band has been able to consistently producing finishing tracks like these lot, the penultimate may be my favourite. “Speed Ball” which features the lyrics of ‘Step right up and get your fix, come back to your crucifix, we’re burning the world down tonight.’ The speed of the song as a whole just captures me, what makes it so great is the fact that it just seems impossible to comprehend. It’s not like songs you hear now where you need to know 3-4 chords and on beat on the drums and you’re sorted. It carries over into “Wrong Side of the Tracks” as well, the chords, the drumming speed and the fills, it just also seems incomprehensible to the point you probably can’t even air drum at the same speed as this guy. In the 30 minutes this album lasts, Strung Out fit more in than many bands have in a 7-album discography. It’s got everything you need and from beginning to end you’re hooked and there’s no two ways around it. Fucking amazing album.

My Favourites: “Firecracker”, “Solitaire”, “Gear Box”, “Bring Out Your Dead”, “Speed Ball”, “Wrong Side of the Tracks”

Next, number 2 and a second appearance for one beloved band to many of us. Till then!

Edited February 4, 2009 by IAceI

[YI]

I will say it again;

"There has never been, and never will be, a punk-rock song as FUCKING AWESOME as "Gear Box"."

I mean, it's not the catchiest song by definition (especially in comparison to some of the other tunes on here), it feels a little choppy at times (like when it goes to the instrumental bits), but that's all in its charm, and despite all that it feels so perfect. It's just one of those tunes you just want to scream the fuck along to, the speed of the thing is fucking insane, the ending, man, the ending, how can you not love? There's not another punk-rock song like it, ever. The bass riff is fucking sexual as well.

STWB is basically THE album that kick started the whole 'tech-punk' ideals. It's fast, it's brutal, the most insane blend of pop-punk and metal you have heard. Without this album, it could be argued, that you wouldn't be seeing the likes of A Wilhelm Scream, Protest The Hero, the current incarnation of Propagandhi etc. Strung Out, along with Lagwagon really helped redefine what punk-rock could be. At the time there was those phasing out the 'older' sound like Screeching Weasel, you have the poppier sounds of NOFX and the more straight up stuff of Pennywise and Bad Religion. After ADIP, which to me would be filed more in the 'phasing out of the older sound' stuff, if you'd heard this at the time, you would not have been expecting it. The guitar work, while not up to the standard of the band these days technically, it's insane, purely for the speed at which they are playing. Jordan really comes into his own as a drummer, some nuts stuff. The tunes on here are just so fucking insane. The greatest punk-rock album that's ever been penned. I mean, I absolutely adore the rest of their stuff (as Ace more than anyone will know), but I cannot even hold any of that, with maybe the exception of "The Element Of Sonic Defiance" in the same breath as STWB.

STWB also has the weirdest fucking guitar tones I have EVER heard on an album...so much so that Jake absolutely despises the recording (loves the songs). Shame they only did 2 tunes ("Firecracker", whcih was nuts, and "Bring Out Your Dead") when I saw them.

And BWAHAHAHAHAAH!!! FOOLPROOF!!!! reference!! What a fucking band! Strangely I actually found out they'd reformed when I saw a new live video (of "Paper House", reckon they actually only had/have one song?) on the youtube profile of that guy who posts a shitload of Strung Out live vids.

Fuck it, I can't have been the only person to remember this song, it is actually fucking epic, from about 5 year ago, it got a lot of play on both MTV2 and Kerrang, because they were part of some MTV documentary/competition about bands trying to get a record deal -

I also remember it had The Holiday Plan in too, who were FUCKING EPIC and had a few singles -

Edited February 5, 2009 by YI