TK
12-26-2005, 06:33 PM
I did this in my LJ 'cause I'm like that, and I thought it would be fun to make a thread for it. You don't have to do it all official-like how I did, but I think it would be fun if you do! So, GO!
#5: Eyeliners - No Apologies
Maybe it's just my crush on this band that forced me to give them a place in the top, but the fact is that even though I didn't know what to make of this album at first, I got more enjoyment out of it than I did any of their previous material. The Eyeliners have typically just done really popped out, cute punk songs about boys, partying, and zombies, and that was great. Normally it's risky business when a band supposedly "branches out," and I think this case was no exception, but in the end it was a gamble that paid off. The girls stayed true to their roots, but more importantly, they took the branching out as a genuine growth, rather than an excuse to try to get on MTV. They really did go out in all directions. There are tracks on this album that are more straight-up punk than anything they've done in the past, and then there are tunes so out and out pop that you get cavities just by listening to them. It all ties in seamlessly. It had to grow on me, but once it did, I was in love. I hope to see this continue.
#4: Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits
This most definitely deserves recognition, even if it were just for the sheer feat of an album like this. It is a flawlessly executed blend of punk, metal, and even a hint of pop, that is dripping with passion, fury, and pain in every chord change. At one point I almost thought I was listening to Slayer for a second, and later I could have sworn it was Pretty Girls Make Graves. The guys seem to have totally abandoned the traditional lyrical method; they appear to have either written prose and then created music to put behind it, or the other way around. Either way, there are no verses, choruses, bridges, or rhyme structures here, just impassioned and highly thought provoking words. If there were anything in the world that could convince me to be a vegan, this would be it.
#3: Fingers-Cut, Megamachine - Pipe Dreams
Yeah, the self-titled album came out this year, and it was amazing, but it doesn't quite appear on this list (it almost definitely would have been #6 if I was going that far.) Pipe Dreams goes beyond its predecessor, factoring in new instruments and new musical visions, not to mention new band members. It may only be six songs, but they're more beautiful than anything Mr. Williams has come up with since Idle Will Kill itself (I still don't think even he is ever going to top that album.) From catchy to mellow to downright melancholy (the aptly titled Mud Hands being the extreme in that direction). If the speed with which new stuff is coming from this band is any indication, this lovingly crafted EP may only be a little taste of what's to come. I am licking my lips.
#2: Eisley - Room Noises
Many months ago, if somebody had suggested to me that a Radiohead-influenced alternative band on Warner Bros. who writes songs primarily about fantasy and wild dreams was going to produce my second favorite album of the year, I'd have laughed at them. Well, the truth is stranger than fiction (except maybe for some of the fiction crafted in Eisley songs), so here it is. When I was first directed to this band by my stellar pal Alisha, I took one look at them and thought, "Uh-oh. She wants me to listen to some band who looks like they are trying to be 'indie.' I'm not going to like this." But I listened, and I strove to do so as open-mindedly as possible. Sometimes it pays to try to approach stuff you think you won't like with an open mind, I told myself. So that's what I did. And I didn't like it. For some reason I couldn't begin to comprehend, though, the next day I felt a bizarre urge to go back and listen to those songs they had on their web site again. So I gave in, thinking maybe there was something to it. That was when I heard Marvelous Things, track five on this work of brilliance, and realized there was a little more to the band. The next song I started to like was Golly Sandra (probably because it's disturbingly similar in style to something John K. Samson might write, and I am not the only one who has observed this), and from there I started to love Telescope Eyes, and pretty soon I'd ordered the album from the local record store, much to the confusion of the good fellow who runs it. After an excruciating wait, it arrived, and I truly fell in love. This album takes you on quite a ride, but it doesn't feel drug-induced (and even better, it isn't)—quite the contrary, actually. It feels like the girls writing these songs never grew up—just like they proclaim they never shall in Brightly Wound—and they've used all the imagination-based games they played as children to fuel their creativity. It doesn't make sense that I like this: I hate all their influences, I hate the other bands that people associate with them, and half the time I loathe the way they dress (the other half of the time I love it.) But I'm in love with their music. And I'm in love with Sherri. Sherri, will you marry me?
#1: Teenage Bottlerocket - Total
This should not come as a surprise to anybody who reads my livejournal or speaks to me, ever. I am obsessed with this band. I like them more than The Unlovables, more than Dirt Bike Annie. Sometimes I start to wonder if I like them more than the Ramones and then I stop thinking about it because I'm afraid I'm going to bring the apocalypse. This is the most universally awesome, non-stop romp of pop-punk fury I have ever had the priviledge of hearing, and I will be shocked if I ever love anything more. Since I discovered the band early this year, I've hardly stopped listening to them. Total has been in my CD player constantly no matter where I am; school, home, driving to work, it doesn't matter. I sing like an absolute madman to these songs. They have got the power, the sense of pop catchiness, and the deliciously off-beat lyrics that made the early Ramones so brilliant, and they've updated it so that it's the perfect midway point between the classics and the contemporaries. The vocals are huge and energetic, crying, grunting, wailing, but always belting it out. Plenty of "whoah ohs," "bah bahs," and "let's gos" to go around. If anything will ever bring the true pop-punk scene out of the pathetically few tiny places it exists in the states, this band is it: The savior of the near-dead legacy of the Ramones. Spread the word.
#5: Eyeliners - No Apologies
Maybe it's just my crush on this band that forced me to give them a place in the top, but the fact is that even though I didn't know what to make of this album at first, I got more enjoyment out of it than I did any of their previous material. The Eyeliners have typically just done really popped out, cute punk songs about boys, partying, and zombies, and that was great. Normally it's risky business when a band supposedly "branches out," and I think this case was no exception, but in the end it was a gamble that paid off. The girls stayed true to their roots, but more importantly, they took the branching out as a genuine growth, rather than an excuse to try to get on MTV. They really did go out in all directions. There are tracks on this album that are more straight-up punk than anything they've done in the past, and then there are tunes so out and out pop that you get cavities just by listening to them. It all ties in seamlessly. It had to grow on me, but once it did, I was in love. I hope to see this continue.
#4: Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits
This most definitely deserves recognition, even if it were just for the sheer feat of an album like this. It is a flawlessly executed blend of punk, metal, and even a hint of pop, that is dripping with passion, fury, and pain in every chord change. At one point I almost thought I was listening to Slayer for a second, and later I could have sworn it was Pretty Girls Make Graves. The guys seem to have totally abandoned the traditional lyrical method; they appear to have either written prose and then created music to put behind it, or the other way around. Either way, there are no verses, choruses, bridges, or rhyme structures here, just impassioned and highly thought provoking words. If there were anything in the world that could convince me to be a vegan, this would be it.
#3: Fingers-Cut, Megamachine - Pipe Dreams
Yeah, the self-titled album came out this year, and it was amazing, but it doesn't quite appear on this list (it almost definitely would have been #6 if I was going that far.) Pipe Dreams goes beyond its predecessor, factoring in new instruments and new musical visions, not to mention new band members. It may only be six songs, but they're more beautiful than anything Mr. Williams has come up with since Idle Will Kill itself (I still don't think even he is ever going to top that album.) From catchy to mellow to downright melancholy (the aptly titled Mud Hands being the extreme in that direction). If the speed with which new stuff is coming from this band is any indication, this lovingly crafted EP may only be a little taste of what's to come. I am licking my lips.
#2: Eisley - Room Noises
Many months ago, if somebody had suggested to me that a Radiohead-influenced alternative band on Warner Bros. who writes songs primarily about fantasy and wild dreams was going to produce my second favorite album of the year, I'd have laughed at them. Well, the truth is stranger than fiction (except maybe for some of the fiction crafted in Eisley songs), so here it is. When I was first directed to this band by my stellar pal Alisha, I took one look at them and thought, "Uh-oh. She wants me to listen to some band who looks like they are trying to be 'indie.' I'm not going to like this." But I listened, and I strove to do so as open-mindedly as possible. Sometimes it pays to try to approach stuff you think you won't like with an open mind, I told myself. So that's what I did. And I didn't like it. For some reason I couldn't begin to comprehend, though, the next day I felt a bizarre urge to go back and listen to those songs they had on their web site again. So I gave in, thinking maybe there was something to it. That was when I heard Marvelous Things, track five on this work of brilliance, and realized there was a little more to the band. The next song I started to like was Golly Sandra (probably because it's disturbingly similar in style to something John K. Samson might write, and I am not the only one who has observed this), and from there I started to love Telescope Eyes, and pretty soon I'd ordered the album from the local record store, much to the confusion of the good fellow who runs it. After an excruciating wait, it arrived, and I truly fell in love. This album takes you on quite a ride, but it doesn't feel drug-induced (and even better, it isn't)—quite the contrary, actually. It feels like the girls writing these songs never grew up—just like they proclaim they never shall in Brightly Wound—and they've used all the imagination-based games they played as children to fuel their creativity. It doesn't make sense that I like this: I hate all their influences, I hate the other bands that people associate with them, and half the time I loathe the way they dress (the other half of the time I love it.) But I'm in love with their music. And I'm in love with Sherri. Sherri, will you marry me?
#1: Teenage Bottlerocket - Total
This should not come as a surprise to anybody who reads my livejournal or speaks to me, ever. I am obsessed with this band. I like them more than The Unlovables, more than Dirt Bike Annie. Sometimes I start to wonder if I like them more than the Ramones and then I stop thinking about it because I'm afraid I'm going to bring the apocalypse. This is the most universally awesome, non-stop romp of pop-punk fury I have ever had the priviledge of hearing, and I will be shocked if I ever love anything more. Since I discovered the band early this year, I've hardly stopped listening to them. Total has been in my CD player constantly no matter where I am; school, home, driving to work, it doesn't matter. I sing like an absolute madman to these songs. They have got the power, the sense of pop catchiness, and the deliciously off-beat lyrics that made the early Ramones so brilliant, and they've updated it so that it's the perfect midway point between the classics and the contemporaries. The vocals are huge and energetic, crying, grunting, wailing, but always belting it out. Plenty of "whoah ohs," "bah bahs," and "let's gos" to go around. If anything will ever bring the true pop-punk scene out of the pathetically few tiny places it exists in the states, this band is it: The savior of the near-dead legacy of the Ramones. Spread the word.
