End of the Year Lists

The end of 2009 is approaching and I've decided that rather than do more revision, I'd make some lists. I'll probably come back and add more to them over the next couple of days...

20. The Devil Wears Prada - With Roots Above and Branches Below
19. We Came As Romans - To Plant A Seed
18. Imogen Heap - Ellipse
17. Anchor & Braille - Felt
16. 30 Seconds To Mars - This Is War
15. Thrice - Beggars
14. Regina Spektor - Far
13. Deas Vail - Birds & Cages
12.Silversun Pickups- Swoon
11. Barcelona - Absolutes
10. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
9. The Swell Season - Strict Joy
8. Falling Up - Fangs!
7. There For Tomorrow - A Little Faster
6. Caspian - Tertia
5. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane
4. Emery - ...In Shallow Seas We Sail
3. Brand New - Daisy
2. Relient K - Forget And Not Slow Down
1. The Dangerous Summer - Reach For The Sun


Very Notable mentions: (In hindsight, I can't help but feel that some of these should really be in the Top 20. Ah well)

As Cities Burn - Hell or High Water
Blessthefall - Witness
The Glorious Unseen- The Hope That Lies In You
mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False!...
Mutemath - Armisitice
Owl City - Ocean Eyes



Awesome EPs:

City Escape - Avalanches
The Republic of Wolves - His Old Branches
The Word Alive - Empires



Albums that were generally pretty good: (but were still not as good as they could/should have been. Or just failed to capture my full appreciation)

Oh, Sleeper - Son Of The Morning
All Time Low - Nothing Personal
Saosin - In Search of Solid Ground
Fightstar - Be Human
Taking Back Sunday - New Again


Disappointments of 2009:

Can't really think of any haha . Arguably Saosin should be in here because I had such massive expectations. ISOSG is a decent rock album not really what I was hoping for. May come back to this at a later date. Other than that,I heard an Of Machines song prior to the release of their album and thought they might put out a good album. However when I heard it, musical immaturity, baaad mixing (so compressed) and my ever decreasing fascination with the sing/scream formula meant it wasn't a hit in my books.Enter Shikari probably belong on here too. Whilst Common Dreads is not a bad album (albeit, there are some rocky moments on there), it's not what I was hoping for.

"I'm not afraid to watch you change me anymore"

I don't think any album's lyrics (possibly with the exception of Underoath's Define the Great Line) has hit me as hard as The Dangerous Summer's Reach For The Sun. This album is definitely my favourite album of the 2009. Musically, it's pretty good. The drummer is immense. Some real clever snare work in places. Guitars and bass are decent enough. Some ingenious lead parts are buried far too much by the production. Vocally, I love it. AJ hasn't got the best voice in the world. I make no qualms about that. But it's a normal male voice with a normal male vocal range. I can sing every song without destroying my vocal chords, stretching for insanely high notes. Pretty nice!

However, lyrically, the album is stunning. There isn't much in complex imagery (but where it does appear, it appears brilliantly). It's more about the emotional impact behind the words. It really hits me hard. AJ has clearly been through a lot - he writes about his mum's death, nearly every aspect of relationships and all the problems he's faced being in a band struggling to make a living.

Tonight, whilst I sit in the kitchen on my larry, working on a Ancient History presentation, it's the perfect accompaniment. Whilst almost everyone seems to be out getting wasted and dancing the night away, I'm sat here cosily having my feelings sang back to me from my laptop speakers.

And they sound good. Go listen and then go buy!

The Dangerous Summer – Reach For The Sun


Go check it out!


I promise to blog on the rest of my life very soon. Maybe later tonight. Promise!