FALL OUT BOY / from under the cork tree
IDIOT PILOT / strange we should meet here
GYM CLASS HEROES / the papercut chronicles
KEVIN DEVINE / split the country, split the street
METRIC / live it out
# 10. NEIL DIAMOND / 12 songs
I'm not too familiar with Neil Diamond's career other than the fact that he's responsible for that joyous tune, "Sweet Caroline", and made a cameo in the movie "Saving Silverman". So, with all that in mind I would have never have imagined that I would actually enjoy one of his albums to the extent that it has been played many around my house. “12 songs” has Diamond climb out of the shadows of novelty Americana and deliver a brand new perspective on the man and the songs he sings.
The bulk of 12 Songs are somber, reflective, and stripped to its bare bones giving off an eerie calmness and timelessness. All of which is coupled with Diamonds’ strangely yet soothing baritone vocals which is nicely accompanied by softly picked acoustic guitars, unobtrusive strings, and organs to utter delight. This the type of album that makes me love music as its just a man and his guitar spitting forth words so nicely placed together that it tells a story, be it emotional or otherwise. And isn’t that what music is all about, to provoke a certain emotion? If that notion is to hold any truth, this album would be a fine example. Note, the break-up ballad “Evermore” begins with an illusion of intimacy then glides into an arrangement of rhythm, hitting its climax with an onslaught of stings and horns, then slowly fades with goose bumps of a desperate crooner. “Oh Mary” and “Delirious Love” are two of the albums highlights with the former being sweet and haunting, while the latter just begs you to brush off those dancing shoes.
Although, I do still feel a sense of novelty whenever I tell someone that "I Like that new Neil Diamond record" (which is always then accompanied by a series of laughs). I would just like to urge people to just give this album a listen, I'm sure you'll find something you like. If not, just head over to your local bar, hit the jukebox up to "Sweet Caroline", and let the good times roll.
# 9. BEN FOLDS / songs for silverman
Ben Folds makes wearing glasses and playing piano cooler than being cool. And with “Songs for Silverman” Folds ups the ante of coolness even more so than the amount of times I can use the word cool in this opening sentence of this here cool spew of words. Just pop this album into your CD player (I’m out-dating myself) make that your mp3 player and be swooned away into world of tongue-and-cheek lyrics backed by a glaring piano that sneers at you with youthful expressions, keeping you at a distance then escalating your body into a never ending barrage of taping toes and nodding heads.
The music here is neatly placed to compose and ease. The track “late” is about Elliott Smith and it’s a touching tribute to one of the greatest and promising souls to have ever picked up a guitar. "Landed", is as catchy as catchy can be and is as cool as the amount of times I can use the word cool throughout this write up. The song “takes off” (pun intended) with a bitchin' piano riff that will surely be implanted in the recesses of your mind to only be hummed later in an impromptu moment of coolness. And you can’t go with out saying that this song has one of the coolest piano heavy breakdowns, ever. Also worth the note is the charming song “Gracie” about a father’ endearment over his child, it’s sweet and sentimental. In the end, “Songs for Silverman” and Ben Folds will forever in my eyes be etched with an approval of coolness far greater than a 1000+ ice cubes shipped in from the deep dark caves of Antarctica.
# 8. THE NATIONAL / alligator
If The National were to be the long lost son of a certain memorable influential band, that band would have to be Joy Division. Out of all the bands thriving be like said influential band, Joy Division, whom are all dishing out that piano synth-heavy, techno-esque, somber vocal one-two punch, The National is the closest to it. Even Matt Berninger's dry baritone deadpan eerily resembles the late great Ian Curtis. I'm not saying this is bad thing, because I feel their album, alligator, is a fine achievement and transcends over Joy Division into something prevalent and now.
Alligator is well-textured, featuring a mix of arrangements that neatly outlines a sense of rhythmic consistency. The song “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” is an endearing sentiment about a man apologizing for everything that has happened, and everything that’s ever happened that he could not control. There lies an odd honesty in the song with the lyric “I’m so sorry for everything” repeating itself over and over backed with swirling violins and rolling guitars. It’s profound and touching. With the song “Karen” the band offers up some piano-driven death-pop, while “Abel” delivers a conglomerate of raspy thundering vocals that cater to a new world anthem of rock and roll. All the songs here are thriving, crashing into the walls of amusement, it satisfies and engages.
# 7. RYAN ADAMS / cold roses
Ryan Adams is the hardest working musician of 2005. He has put out three albums within the year and one of which was a double disc, he has also toured mercifully - That’s what makes him the hardest working musician of 2005. Out of the three albums he dropped, the one that had the most startling affect on me was Cold Roses. The album sees Adams trudging back to his country roots, turning up the twang, and transforming his frantic yawps into star-fed cries.
"Magnolia Mountain" is comforting and melancholy with Adams' trademark guitar scrapes and sandpapered howls. The song "Let It Ride" bounces, proudly shuffling through a laundry-list of country music clichés, but its Adams' coaxing vocals that are undeniable, charmingly sincere and innocent, while "How Do You Keep Love Alive" mopes along, wearied and oddly pretty, half-sung over a languishing piano line. Cold Roses is clever, listenable, and modest and cautiously confessional, an album to stay on your bed side, in arm length, ready for you to whist away.
# 6. JAMISONPARKER / sleepwalker
I’m an old school Jamison Parker enthusiast; I knew them when they were known as Jamison Parker Alex. I knew them when they were known simply as Jamison. The band has gone through many changes and progressions, but through it all, have maintained the ingenious lyrical phonology that captures the beautiful and the emotional. “Sleepwalker” is the climatic opus in the story of Mr. Jamison Covington and Mr. Parker Case, as they have most recently decided to part ways. The album is a treasure of a debut and a splendor of a goodbye.
“Sleepwalker” is simple and easy to listen to. It manages to create a sound all on its own, the music is sparing and haunting, the lyrics painting a story of beautiful imagery, bitter angst, and sorrow filled emotion. Its love without the pain, and the pain without the hurt – with the tracks “Here’s everything I’ve always meant to say” and “I should mean more” catering to that very notion.
It seems like whenever the word "emo" is spoken to describe a song or band, there lies this undying stigma - there can never be an "emo" album anymore without a band trying to fit into a certain scenester label like screamo or metalcore or any of those other hipster lingo cool kids like to use. Instead of forcing screams into their album, or randomly throwing a cliché to please a certain group, Jamison Parker have recognized their place in music and have written a well-focused album packed full of clever sounds and melodies. “Sleepwalker” was just a small taste of what Jamison Parker could have been.
# 5. SUFJAN STEVENS / illinois
Remarkable, unique, intimate, and poignant, are just some of the words that can best describe both Sufjan Stevens and his latest offering “Illinois”. On its first listen, the album will exude a grand impact on your psyche, as it will invoke one of two distinct opinions – you will either fall to your knees and bow down to its greatness or falter away in the hopes to never again let your ears listen to such musical babble. For me, the former is where I stand. The album is a skewed journey into a poignant narrative, telling a story of a landscape, making it distinct, all the while changing the views of the general norm of today’s musical soundscape. The chirping vocals and copious orchestration chimes in like a glorious ride into the glaring sunset and lends itself to the notion of a changing musical world.
The album is about the state of Illinois, telling its history so colorful and appeasing. He sings about the people - the boy crying in a van, a girl with bone cancer, stepmothers, parades, bandstands, presidents, UFOs, cream of wheat, trains after dark, a serial killer, and Bible study. It’s a prolong story, painted beautifully, yet so strange and lush, its excessive and challenging with conversational song titles. Stevens has equipped himself with an arsenal of perhaps every instrument imaginable and by doing so creates some of the most surreal and melodic music ever penned and played, while his vocals quiver generously and warm.
"Casimir Pulaski Day" is a heartbreaking story of late winter death, bravely sung over a rich banjo. "Decatur" features an undeniable melody, while "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." traces, with alarming accuracy, the pathology of Illinois' most infamous serial killer. It’s told over a hazy swirl of acoustic guitar and piano – it’s a hunting song and highlights Stevens' literary prowess. Illinois is s seventy-four minute musical opus that transcends the boundaries of originality into something so enjoyable that it’s unclear whether or not to grab ones dancing shoes or a box of tissue.
# 4. BECK / guero
“Guero” is an all out attack on every nerve, blood vessel, muscle, bone, vein, gland, nail, hair, skin, and every other part of the human anatomy. Its mission is to aid in the effort of prolonging your dancing until your at a state of tranquility, peering out from a very tall mountain, screaming out to the world until the echo of your scream comes crashing back towards you, which then face plants you back into reality to continue to impress with those sick dance moves.
The song "E-Pro" kicks everything off and is heavy in guitar-driven riff-loops and drowsy talking-blues delivery. It’s a crash course in boom box over the shoulder, walking into a room filled with authority, and proclaiming to everyone in said room to watch, look, and listen. Head nodding and fist clenching galore. I want to get into a fight while this song plays loudly in the background. “Earthquake Weather” plays with the picks of an acoustic guitar, the scratches of a turntable, and a chorus so nicely composed its really hard not to high five the person sitting next to you. Sonar blips, harmonica, and Christina Ricci make up the grand anomaly that is “Hell Yes”. "Girl" uses an NES symphony of sounds to later give way to a soothing tenderness envisioned while walking down a street with the sun beating down on you while you look for that intrusive vixen. All in all, Guero is an appeasing listen that will most definitely tingle up your spine and have you moving by albums end.
# 3. BRIGHT EYES / i'm wide awake it's morning
Connor Oberst sends shivers down my spine. He’s an albatross, an enigma, a rubrics cube. He’s a person that wields power with just pen and a pad of paper - the straight-from-the-diary lyrics, the sudden screams and his hiccupping vibrato is all sparingly profound to listen to. It’s these types of qualities that make Mr. Oberst raw and real. He has the power to compel, to shower your ears with such poetic words, so much so that your ears start to bleed scripture. In 2005, Oberst dropped two albums - “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn” and “I’m Wide Awake, Its Morning”, with the latter being the more profound of the two.
Oberst has made I'm Wide Awake, its Morning to encompass the meaning – artistically astonishing. It perfectly captures a place and time, chronicles memories, shares thoughts, and peers into Oberst’s life so honestly that it’s picturesque and awe inspiring. He sings about chemical dependency and the endless pains of love, while the backdrop of a build-up foreign war swings behind curtains. Oberst has an uncanny ability to weave the personal and the political with ease - all the songs still give me chills with every listen.
This is the type of album that makes music relevant, that gives music power it once had - the power move, the power to invoke a worthwhile sensation of satisfaction and a dire self expression of importance. The music isn’t here to cash in on the latest trends, to populate the media, to warp young minds to incite violence – it’s here to change the world, to open minds, to send out a glaring statement to the world, proclaiming what words and music can accomplish.
# 2. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE / plans
Plans, sees Death Cab make the jump into the large and diverse audiences that consume music today. It sees Death Cab grow as a band both lyrically and musically. It sees Death Cab come in to its own to produce some of the finest music which is sure to become a highlighted achievement within their catalogue - "I will follow you into the dark" is the album's quiet centerpiece, its just Gibbard and his acoustic guitar. It’s fragile, simple, and unexpected. It takes you on a lyrical road of fear and the lost of a lover. It’s affectionate and sweet. It’s personal, dwells on the afterlife, and the notion of an undying love. "Different Names for the Same Thing" is an overly melodramatic track; it’s an odyssey of an oracle. The texture is rich, sleek, and haunting. “What Sarah Said” is the albums most profound offering. Its sorrow sweeping in under the cover - touching, emotional, passionate, and with its lingering end lyric of “so, who’s going to watch you die” it’s unforgettable. In whole, the album is comforting, good and gracious. - Read my full review here.
# 1. NIGHTMARE OF YOU / nightmare of you
Steven Patrick Morrissey meet Robert Smith, Robert Smith meet Steven Patrick Morrissey, Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Smith meet Brandon Reilly your super hybrid clone from an alternate reality - Nightmare of You was formed out of the ashes of the now-defunct band The Movielife, as Brandon Reilly (Movielife’ guitarist) assembled a team of grandios musicians to form said band and rule the world with an iron fist. Nightmare of You can be best described by the meeting of the great musical minds told just a few lines above. The band is a super hybrid of The Smiths and The Cure – harmonious, haunting, and filled an assault of lyrical conundrums.
I'll cut right to the chase. This album is number one for reason, its infectious, its moody; it’s an all around arousing journey that seduces with its blinking eye and alluring speech. It’s an album that warrants a fuck, and when it grabs you by your waist and throws down onto the dirty old mattress in a dirty old motel room – it pulls down your pants and fucks you fast and hard as you smile uncontrollably, so happy and glad. It then slows down and snuggles with you under the now stained comforters as you whisper into its ears asking for – “more”.
“Thumbelina” is interesting with lyrics that can rival those of one Mr. Morrissey - its so bizarre, yet beautiful? Its imaginative, and begs you to laugh and or take it seriously - either way, it's awesome. “In the bathroom is where I want you” is my favorite song on the album, its sweet, enjoyable, and about sex (Personal Note: I was listening to this very song, when writing that dirty motel sex description of the album seen above). The most important and most cure-esque song on the album is “Heaven Runs on Oil” – think the cure’s “Love cats” but about the war on oil. It’s a song with a message, profound with its impact.
I’ll end all this by saying the album is a masterpiece. Its pretty, sweet, catchy, soothing, stylish, enjoyable, lush, pleasant, melodic, promising, satisfying, wonderful, gifted, beguiling, captivating, tuneful, vibrant, pulsating, beautiful, burgeoning, worthwhile, gracious, haunting, fascinating, memorizing, striking, and a whole stadium full of other flattering adjectives. The album shines it is grand lyrical vocabulary and harmonious melodies. Nightmare of You has put out a grandiosely of an introductory album.