I’ve been really slacking on posting links to video game stuff lately. I figure at this point 90% of the hits I get are from people who read my stuff on Ripten, so it has gotten kind of redundant. I did get an e-mail asking if I was still writing about video games though, so I guess not everyone who comes here keeps track of the Daily Gavin Updates, so I promise I’ll start being better with links to my stuff in other places.

He heard the noise come closer, the rhythmic pounding of excited footfalls. Feet thudding briskly against the floor with enthusiasm that only children could ever wish to harness.

“Grandpa! Grandpa” they yelled.

“Aye, aye. Calm down children. Your grandpa is too old and slow now to be going anywhere, you can be patient.” He chuckled and tousled the youngest’s hair. “What has gotten into you all to greet a common man like me with such a welcome fit for a king?”

Sometimes I wish writers still used quills and parchment. Acting frustrated over a blank word document just isn’t as dramatic an image. You end up looking less like an artist struggling with his vision and more like a dude who is slightly uncomfortable with his game of spider solitaire. I say this because the last two weeks have been brutal for my creativity. At first it was because I was sick, but now I feel like being sick somehow burnt out the part of my brain that converts ideas to words. There is nothing more frustrating to me than having ideas but not being happy with how they are being conveyed. One of the reasons I picked up video game journalism was because I needed a creative outlet for when my mind wouldn’t let me get any writing done and, as the moderate success I’ve had with that whole deal shows, it has been a pretty good formula. Recently however, I have found myself with an increasingly strong desire to do more with what little talent I actually possess. Yet I haven’t been happy with a single thing I’ve put to text in a month. I seemed to accidentally disengage the part of me that does video game journalism from the part of me that wants to make word-art. This isn’t to say I don’t like writing about games, I love it, and I still think my reviews and style are creative and original within the industry, but it is no longer filling my artistic coffers. I need to write- really write- more. I have pages upon pages of ideas I think are fantastic, and I have even more swirling around in my brain, but I just have no motivation/muse/morale and am having the hardest time getting things down.

My brain is weird though. When I’m in a creative lull like this and the artistic process isn’t coming easy to me, I get incredibly jealous of people with artistic ability they can convey in more visually and aurally pleasing ways. Painters, musicians, photographers, et al. Maybe it is just because I’m a basket case about my writing, with my hangups and superstitions and all, but I get jealous because in typical “grass is always greener” fashion it just seems easier for musicians or performance artists to get feedback on their work. Which, in turn, makes it easier to create it. It isn’t necessarily a confidence thing, I know my writing is good, but it just seems more frustrating for a writer. Hell, I’ve had people even say that I can’t call myself an artist because artists “draw or paint” which just struck me as so offensive. I always feel an artist is someone with a desire to create, regardless of what medium they use. I understand where those people come from though, because a painter or a musician can make art that appeals to people at a base level. A good painter creates a painting that people can look at and discuss easily. A performance artist puts themselves into a piece and people can view it and be moved by it. A musician plays a song and people hear it and acknowledge it. They do this with amazing visuals or pleasing audio. What I do looks like a bank statement no matter what. The only people that see beauty in words are other writers.

That is why I wish we used parchment and quill pens still. That was the only time a writers plight could be made a visual and easily understandable thing. If I visit a friend who plays an instrument and they are having a hard time doing something, it is noticeable. You can commiserate easily. Same with an “real” artist who like draws or paints. Go to their house during a creatively frustrating time and see crumpled sketches, half-finished canvas, and eraser shavings sprinkled on their desk like snow. Back in the day it would be the same thing with a writer. The mental image of a struggling writer with paper strewn about and their head hanging in their hands is a powerful one, and one that kind of gets lost nowadays. When I get frustrated with my writing what do I do? I hit backspace a bunch of times or open up a new word document. There simply isn’t enough dramatics there for me. I know it sounds kind of ridiculous, but it goes back to that comment about writers “not being real artists” that bothered me so much.

Luckily my jealousy of other artists is only a superficial jealousy. Because the irony is that I find people who do express their vision and do it uncompromisingly to be the most stabelizing thing during times like this. It seems that anytime I have trouble creating I tend to find inspiration in other artists. I can kind of track my creative periods by this. For example, when I finished my first still unpublished novel I did it during a time when I got into the incredibly underrated Ryan Armand’s comics- especially minus which you may have seen me talk about here before. I use inspiration here in a different sense then usually expected though. The novel I finished during that creative high point didn’t reflect his work at all. It was just the sheer fact that someone as talented as him was doing what he wanted and making a living by following his creative vision. You can always tell the difference between somebody that does something because they want to make money doing it, and somebody who does something whether or not they make money doing it at all. It is that latter category that helps give me inspiration. So I’ve found that usually when my respect for an artist reaches its peak is when I’m most motivated and find it easiest to focus on conveying things. The positive of this is that I’ve recently rediscovered Amanda Fucking Palmer. I say rediscovered because I think it is a prerequisite that every artsy current/ex-goth kid in the North East have at least a passing enjoyment of The Dresden Dolls. But after they went on their hiatus, I kind of put them out of memory. Then last year I got a copy of Who Killed Amanda Palmer and never really gave it more than a cursory listen, it was enjoyable but didn’t really register for various inexplicable reasons. Now that I’m in a creative lull, however, I had been churning through my Neil Gaiman collection (another thing I do when I am lacking motivation/inspiration/focus) and checked to see if anything new was coming down the pipeline. This lead me to reading something about him getting engaged to Miss Amanda Palmer. I figured, hey, if my authorial idol, one of the most brilliant writers in existence, fell in love with the broad the least I could do is listen to her album again.

So as I warm up and realize what a creative powerhouse she is, and more importantly how dedicated to her art she is, maybe a switch will go off in my head like it did when I first discovered minus or the first time I picked up a Sandman comic and decided that was what I wanted to do with my life. If so I guess I’ll send her a fruit basket.

Honorable Mentions 50-46 45-41 40-36 35-31 30-26 25-21 20-16 15-11 10-06 05-01

I figured for those of you who like clicking as little as possible and would like to avoid anything else I post here, placing all the links to my album list in one spot would be convenient. Also, because I am a benevolent blogger, I have taken one song from each album on this list and put them into a four disc set that you can download in order to peruse and see if there is anything you are interested. Although we all have a billion gigs of storage now so you really should just download every album on this list without even reading anything. That is how they would have done it in the Wild West.

Anyway, here are the four mixes. Be warned; they are terrible mixes. There was no way to really make them flow so I just kept them in order of appearance which leads to some pretty bizarre transitions.

Posted under Music, Music Features

Honorable Mentions
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05

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

Like a mad scientist, Mumford & Sons have patched together many different genres into a cohesive, shambling, and impressive monster. Mumford’s monster seems to be more content with playing the banjo then drowning little girls accidentally. Bluegrass instrumentation, indie structuring, pop sensibilities, and folk ideals equals one hell of a debut CD. There isn’t a single song on this album that misses, and each one seems to have a hook in it that forces you to rewind it a bit and listen to it again just to make sure it was as awesome as you thought it was. Don’t listen to the Arcade Fire or Fleet Foxes comparisons, this is way beyond those two bands.

04

Eleventh He Reaches London – Hollow Be My Name

Another interesting mix of genres. Eleventh He Reaches London put out an underrated release in 2005 with The Good Fight For Harmony, and it is nice to see this one getting attention now; especially because it leaves their previous album in the dust. This is post-hardcore played through a filter made out of post-rock, actual emo, and 90s alternative rock. Loud and abrasive at the same time it is melodic and catchy, the loathing and resentment the band explores using the concept of colonial Australia becomes an instrument almost in itself. I’m also a sucker for well written lyrics, especially when they do a lot of blaspheming- and there is a lot of  blaspheming here.

03

From Monument to Masses – On Little Known Frequencies

Not only is this a top 3 album for this year, this is one of the best post-rock recordings ever put to disc. I’ve always thought From Monument to Masses was criminally underrated. They are all the best parts of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky swirled into one jar. If I had to get somebody into this genre, On Little Known Frequencies would be the example I use 100% of the time.

02

Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect

If you don’t like Between the Buried and Me and have attempted to explain your dislike of them by saying some sort of variation of the statement “They just play a bunch of parts” then do me a favor- get the fuck out of my office, you are the worst kind of person. I get that they apparently have musical ADD, as opposed to AD&D where they would change back and forth between different rulesets, but considering every “part” they play is memorable I don’t really get the complaint. Once again, like the Kalisia CD I had on here, this is one that goes a lot better when listened to as a single track. They have come a long way from Shevanel, and I still love the more metalcore stuff that got me into them all those years ago when I was seeing them play before Nine Will Die (Happy Birthday xWOLFMANx!) and A Life Once Lost, but this and Colors are just a different beast entirely. This might be the best thing they’ve done since they turned the Cynic worship up to 11.

01

Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer

And here it is. I’m fairly confident that if my musical taste were a professional wrestling league, instead of Flair, Blanchard, Arn, and Ole the Four Horsemen would have been Crow, Kinsella, Kasher, and Krug. I feel like every year for as long as I can remember liking music, one of those four guys has contributed to my favorite album of that year. This is as creative as you would expect from a band that has connections to Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes, Swan Lake, and Pony Up! The weird part is that, as strange as one would expect Krug to be, this is the most focused album that Sunset Rubdown has put out. Normally when a band that has built its foundation on being difficult and artistically experimental puts out something more accessible that equals a misstep, but Dragonslayer might actually end up being Sunset Rubdown’s best album and is unquestionably my favorite album this year. Just because it got a little bit more straight forward doesn’t eliminate any of its subtlety or challenge. Plus the little winks and nods from Swan Lake’s Enemy Mine to this are fun for those who are paying attention.

Honorable Mentions
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25-21
20-16
15-11

10

Towers – Full Circle

Philadelphia “represent.” Towers plays such a frantic, layered, and progressive type of mathcore/screamo what have you that they stand head and shoulders above the pack. Full Circle stays so rough and aggressive but, by some grace of god, does it without being repetitive or making the listener lose interest. Not many bands can pull that off anymore and, honestly, every genre has been getting the “prog” sticker slapped onto it this year but Full Circle is probably the only album in this one that rightly progresses. Absolutely awesome live too.

09

Kylesa – Static Tensions

I hate sludge/stoner metal. I find it to be the dullest, most uninteresting trend in music that I could possibly imagine. It is essentially my musical kryptonite. Kylesa is the only band that has even a hint of sludge that I can get into, and I guess it says something that they are so highly ranked despite that. I guess I am into it because the sludge bits, which are actually interesting, are balanced well with the hardcore bits. I like my bits in perfect harmony.

08

The Antlers – Hospice

This is the most soul crushingly depressing album ever made. Hospice is seasonal affective disorder in musical form. You better make sure you surround yourself with colorful stuffed animals and good memories, because this CD will devastate you. It is also one of the most brilliant albums released in this decade. There is a lot of slowcore influence here, and the concept of the album makes For Emma, Forever Ago and Domestica both seem like they were about about skipping through dandelions and holding hands, but you will find yourself absolutely floored if you are brave enough to face the devastating loneliness and depression that Peter Silberman so easily evokes with his fantastic orchestration and songwriting. Top 10 of 2009 and the potential to go down as a classic.

07

Kalisia – Cybion

Someone has finally done it. If you know me, and you knew anything about this album, you knew this was going to be on the list whether it sucked or not. Thankfully, it doesn’t suck no matter what your definition of suck is. This is what cyberpunk would be if it were a musical genre. I don’t even know how to recommend this to somebody. Listening to each of the tracks individually or skipping around probably won’t do too much for you, but taken as one single track/concept it is mind blowing. This is a sci-fi epic. The story is surprisingly interesting and the musical ability is just over the top. Prog-metal at its finest, and the fact I can listen to it while I read Neuromancer for the hundredth time doesn’t hurt either. Somehow they are unsigned too, which effectively makes them the best unsigned band in known reality.

06

IWrestledABearOnce – It’s All Happening

Suck on it Username: xJimCorex. The band that I get the most shit in the history of getting shit for liking- and I own a HORSE the band t-shirt. I get ragged on for being entertained by iwrestledabearonce so often that I can’t even mention music on a message board that will remain nameless without somebody referencing my enjoyment of them as a way to negate my opinion. I would rather listen to a girl doing squeals and ridiculous drum machine breakdowns than 20 minutes of the same riff being drilled into my head until I don’t even want to do drugs anymore, or some limey stripped down glorified glitch DJ making noises you can “totally dance to while drinking a Pabst” or whatever people consider to be acceptable. I will defend this band to the grave. Note; I said I will defend this BAND to the grave, their image and fan base are everything that is wrong with this world and can in no way be defended logically. Still, suck it Username: xJimCorex.

Honorable Mentions
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15

Insomnium – Across the Dark

Into the top 15 we go. Insomnium is the exact opposite of soulless melodeath. When people complain about bands that are technically proficient but don’t put much heart or soul into their music, they should immediately go out and get an Insomnium CD to cleanse their pallet. As technically proficient as any band out there, but with a much stronger grasp on melodies and just general heartfelt music making. This is epic death metal its absolute best. The harsh parts are balanced almost perfectly with the less harsh parts. Really just a fantastic album.

14

St. Vincent – Actor

St. Vincent, or as I prefer- “Annie Clark Will You Please Marry Me At Your Earliest Convenience” is the music moniker used for the most talented lady singer-songwriter on this earth, Annie Clark. I’ve seen her referred to as the thinking persons Lady Gaga, which used to confuse me but I kind of see the comparison. Annie Clark is a genius with an incredibly strong, and sometimes strange, artistic vision that she refuses to compromise. She just chooses absolutely gorgeous indie and folk arrangements as opposed to looking like an acid freaks sequin nightmare. This is what people who salivate over relatively prepackaged stuff like Regina Spektor should be getting into.

13

Converge – Axe to Fall

Honestly, probably Converge’s best album since Jane Doe. Chaotic as they ever were, Axe to Fall punishes you into brain submission with ridiculousness. Probably the most straight up aggressive hardcore assault this year. You should go to jail for something this heavy.

12

Diablo Swing Orchestra – Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious

Does the idea of hot goth chicks swing dancing turn you on? Because it probably should, and this is the band that can provide that. Diablo Swing Orchestra are… jeez I don’t even know. Nobody knows how to label this yet. Death Swing? Prog goth dance metal? Riot Opera? I got nothing. Weird, dark, operatic, and absolutely impossible to resist.

11

Vektor – Black Future

This is pretty awesome, at first it sneaks up on you as a ridiculously great thrash album. In 2010, which is just not something you expect. Then as you listen to it you realize that they meld all kinds of influences in here. It even gets pretty psychedelic. Yes. A psychedelic thrash album. Vektor woke up one morning and decided to bridge the gap between Pink Floyd and Slayer. This CD rips, tears, and shreds its way into your brain. Then blows your head up like Scanners.

Honorable Mentions
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20

The Builders and the Butchers – Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well

I’m really getting into this goth country/folk thing. I think the darker songwriting and arrangements really give bands that do it an extra punch. The Builders and the Butchers get compared to The Decemberists a lot, but I have to assume that is just because of geography. This band isn’t nearly as steeped in pretention as the Decemberists are. The vocals are similar, but the content and songwriting is drastically different. This is whiskey in a dark corner music. The Decemberists are pretending to know and like wine music.

19

Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

If you would have told me after Fur and Gold came out that, two years later, I would be putting a Bat for Lashes CD on my top album list I would have made this face at you :| but I guess never say never. I thought the first CD was such an art pop mess. I heard somebody at National Mechanics call it “folktronica” once. I had to go to the doctors to get a perscription for my douche chills after that. I really didn’t understand the hype at all. Luckily, this release has actual songs on it, mind blowing I know. Not only that, but the songs are pretty damn great. Kind of sounds like if electronica, indie pop, and Tori Amos all had a crazy lesbian baby. Plus, seriously, what a freakin’ voice.

18

Be’lakor – Stone’s Reach

I don’t even know. Monolith Deathcult meets Insomnium? Awesome meets Kick ass? This is melodeath at its absolute finest. And I should point out, once again, that I love the pun in calling it melodeath. This is the catchiest death metal is ever going to be, and Be’lakor pulls it off without compromising any of the deathy bits. One of my favorite CDs in this genre.

17

Loma Prieta – Dark Mountain

I don’t know if I would even have this CD on the list if I didn’t accidentally stumble upon them playing a show a few years ago. The live show is a site to behold, and it transfers to the CDs well. Chaotic, discordant, frenzied, all the good adjectives. They get in and get out in about 15 minutes, but the length doesn’t hurt it. Like all your ex girlfriends have always said to comfort you- “it isn’t the length, it is how you use it, now stop crying and get the fuck out.”

16

Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing

This band is going to blow the fuck up. I don’t mean an explosion, I mean they are going to make a trillion dollars soon. These guys just might be the most intense indie band out there, and there songwriting skills absolutely shine. The Jesus thing is a little bit of a turn off, but I figure if I like power metal bands who sing about dragons and magic, I can tolerate an absolutely fantastic indie band that also happens to sing about something entirely made up too.

Honorable Mentions
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25

i not dance – So You Think You Can Stop Me And Spit In My Eyes

What a debut. I know absolutely nothing about this band, but this is one hell of a screamo album. Very groove oriented with the type of harsh vocals we all know and love. I think like eight people know about this band, and half of them are in the band, so get in on the ground floor.

24

Daïtro – Y

Daïtro of the French genus “soft-loudicus” offer up one of the best screamo experiences around. Melodic and engaging, they remind me of all the other powerhouses of the genre that I really don’t need to name. I always thought of them as the French Hot Cross and I think this CD really displays that, once again proving me right.

23

Sounds Like Violence – The Devil On Nobel Street

Post-everything meets The Cult. There are some dancey parts in there too. They keep themselves from falling into the indie-pop territory by having a rough edge to their songs. It all combines to be a pretty epic brand of indie. Thanks Sweden! I bet these dudes are good as hell at hockey too.

22

Týr – By the Light of the Northern Star

Look at that fucking album art. You know exactly what this is, and it is awesome.

21

Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic

Still spastic and loyal to the Every Time I Die sound, but just different enough to stand out and be their best CD since Hot Damn. They seem to reinvent themselves ever so slightly every album. The southern grooves are still here, but they are replaced a bit with some straightforward hardcore bits. Actually might be their most consistent release.

Honorable Mentions
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30

Long Distance Calling – Avoid the Light

This is one of my favorite post-rock CDs now. Long Distance Calling really pushes the genre dangerously close to prog territory. This is one of the heaviest and most aggressive releases in this genre that I can think of off the top of my head. Then again my memory is like a colander so that might not be saying too much.

29

Strike Anywhere – Iron Front

This is the best thing Strike Anywhere has done since Change is a Sound, and it might even be a little better in ways. That is pretty high praise considering I had almost no excitement for this album when it came out. I don’t know why they are so pissed off still, I mean the government is just awesome and everything is going so good right now. Sigh.

28

Ulcerate – Everything Is Fire

Probably one of if not the heaviest album of the year. This is just crushing. If you put headphones around a lump of coal while this album is playing, in a day you will have a diamond the size of your fist. Ulcerate is going to single-handily fix the world economy. I would say this is the best thing to ever come from New Zealand but I can’t for the life of me think of anything else from New Zealand.

27

Forever in Terror – The End

You know, I’m kind of surprising myself with the amount of metalcore I have on this list. Maybe the genre isn’t as dead as I thought. Either that or these bands are the only ones left that are interesting. Although I guess this is technically deathcore if you want to be one of those people. Forever in Terror does it with solos AND breakdowns. I like solos. I like breakdowns. I like this.

26

Ensiferum – From Afar

Awesome Finnish power/viking metal. I have such a weakspot for this stuff. If you don’t grow a full beard at 2:52 of the second track, you should see a doctor immediately. You are deficient in something important.

Honorable Mentions
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35

The Casualties – We Are All We Have

Pretty much anybody I know that got into punk got into The Casualties at some point, but then I guess people got real jobs and shaved their head or something because I don’t really hear anybody in my monkeysphere ever talk about them anymore. Sloppy, fast, punk as fuck. Kind of sums it up. It is weird to think that these guys have been together and making music for almost 20 years now. I wonder if they have mortgages. Can you still be punk rock if you have a mortgage?

34

It Prevails – Capture and Embrace

Like Oh, Sleeper who I mentioned earlier, It Prevails is another melodic metalcore band that still actually puts out a decent album. If you aren’t bored with the genre yet, you will love this. And if you are bored with the genre, there is still plenty of stuff here to be into it. They also harken back to that “Opposite of December” era and do it well. Be warned though, they might be Christian- any post you read about them online talks about how “deep and meaningful” they are and acts like nobody else does music like this, that is usually a good key sign that you are dealing with dorky christian music fans.

33

Centaurus-A – Side Effects Expected

Super technical death metal, and more brutal than the morning after a bottle of Wild Turkey. Some people complain that it is pretty soulless and just some dudes playing instruments, but I disagree since it is some dudes playing their instruments and making awesome songs. I guess if you don’t like talented musicians playing awesome death metal I can understand the complaint.

32

Karmella’s Game – You’ll Be Sorry

From death metal to Karmella’s Game. If anything, at least my list is diverse. Karmella’s Game remind me a lot of a super peppy version of The Anniversary. Same intelligent sensibilities with their songwriting and keyboards, although the lyrics are generally “cuter” and bubblegum- not that the Anniversary was channeling Kerouac or anything. They have gotten better with every release. As a matter of fact, even this CD gets better as it goes on. Every year that goes by without this band blowing up perplexes me. Karmella’s Game isn’t hugely known outside of Orioles country, but you put techno breakdowns and foil shirts in a band and you’ve got a sensation. Get into this band and you could save the world.

31

Touche Amore – …To the Beat of a Dead Horse

This is screamo in its loosest form. Harsh, raw, and powerful, Touche Amore found the perfect balance to bring some hardcore back into the genre. They fit a lot of moving parts into these short songs, and even though the CD is over and done with in about 20 minutes, you’ll find it staying with you.

Sorry about the delay and the lack of anything vidja game writing wise lately. Last couple days have seen me getting my ass absolutely kicked by some sort of tropical weapon grade illness or something. I’m finally back to te world of the living though, so let us continue!

Honorable Mentions
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40

Nile – Those Whom the Gods Detest

Heavier than the fucking pyramids. Nothing says death metal like Egyptian deity worship from South Carolinian dudes. Technical, full of thrash, and dark as all hell. Nile has never really gone wrong, maybe one CD wasn’t very good but the rest were killer. This CD is more metal than Pete’s Moms head.

39

The Fall of Troy – In the Unlikely Event

This is another example of me apparently liking a band backwards. I was never into The Fall of Troy, they had a couple songs I was into, but not a whole CDs worth. Oddly enough, while I couldn’t stand their full lengths, all their EPs are great. I figured maybe this band just couldn’t do full lengths. Thats fine I guess. But then they came out with this, which I thought was fantastic, and apparently I’m horribly wrong. Their fans hate this album so much they could create diamonds with their clenched fists due to how angry they are it is on a Top 50 list. I don’t get it. It’s definitely the best album they’ve ever done.

38

Iron Age – The Sleeping Eye

“Constant Struggle” was an awesome hardcore album, but Iron Age clearly wasn’t content with that. I was super surprised by the direction they took, because this is almost straight thrash. There are still hardcore breakdowns and you can still hear their original influence, but Christ. This is as good a thrash album as “Constant Struggle” was a hardcore album. Honestly, it is better. I think I like Iron Age with the thrash worship more than I liked them before.

37

Oh, Sleeper – Son of the Morning

I didn’t expect to like this at all- I had heard it described as pretty by the numbers metalcore and, I had assumed, I would be fairly tired of that genre by now. Apparently not. Oh, Sleeper figures out how to keep it interesting. They remind me a little bit of a heavier Hopesfall, but a heavier good Hopesfall from like 8 years ago. They do some spacey stuff, and the Between the Buried and Me influence is pretty noticeable, so it definitely isn’t as generic as it was made out to be. It sounds more like what the genre would be if we just skipped everything between “Opposite of December” and now.

36

Archives – Decline

Ah here we go, it took me a while but here is the first post-rock/screamo hybrid to make the list. Archives heavier than most bands who started getting post-rock in their screamo and screamo in their post-rock. They remind me a lot of Envy if Envy was Scottish. At least I think Archives is Scottish, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information about them anywhere. So get on this on the ground floor and then act cool when you don’t like the next album!

Honorable Mentions
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45

Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster

No comment.

44

Kaospilot – Shadows

I really dig Kaospilot, they didn’t put out an album for six years and then they drop something that I think is even better than what they left on. They like to filter screamo through a really dissonant and noisy filter and do it great. Brooding and heavy but still containing the off-kilter structures and frenzied vocals of the genre. The guitar work is pretty fun too. Lots of Converge influence. Oh and they were on Level Plane, so you really know what to expect.

43

Grammatics – Grammatics

This band takes some chances and cashes in on it. Arcade Fire meets Radiohead but only takes the good parts of each band instead of the annoying bits? They put together a hell of a catchy song and still make it unique which is impressive. I like bands that have something about them that makes it easy to pick them out of a crowd anytime you hear it. Its roots are in indie rock but Grammatics take it in some interesting directions. Reminds me a bit of Forward Russia too.

42

Kidcrash – Snacks

Kidcrash abandons a lot of their screamo sound here and get more math rocky, but it hits the mark. They noodle a bit, which isn’t a favorite of mine, but it seems to fit well enough. Very good musicians who decided to show it, luckily it still keeps a good amount of its edge. If you like dudez gettin’ sweaty and playin guitarz you will be into this.

41

August Burns Red – Constellations

I’m certainly not the biggest fan of this band. I’ve always understood the appeal and was never as offended by their brand of metalcore as most musical elitist weirdos seemed to be, but they just didn’t stand out for me. However, “Constellations” is a couple steps above anything else they’ve done before and I’m not afraid to admit I may have been wrong for writing them off just due to their huge marketshare of the genre and frustratingly generic fanbase. If they had been making albums of this quality the whole time I think I would have begrudgingly admitted to liking them longer ago then now.

Here is the list from last year for those of you who are curious.

2009 Honorable Mentions

50

Metric – Fantasies

Metric is a fun band. Picture a more peppy version of Stars with a heavier electronic/synth influence and you’ve pretty much nailed what to expect. Although Stars doesn’t have Emily Haines so that helps to put some distance between this and all the stuff that made me go “eh” this year. “Help I’m Alive” is also one of the best singles of the year. Indie bands with pop sensibilities aren’t a rare thing anymore, but it is nice when bands hit the formula just right and make something like this. This one only falters for not being consistent.

49

Persefone – Shin-ken

Depending on how positively you view 2009, it is either the year everybody doing death metal or deathcore got prog or the year all the shitty kids in neon playing horrible metalcore got synthesizers. Persefone is in the former camp, and is also the best progressive metal band in Andorra. I have no idea where Andorra is, but if they have other bands like Persefone we should blame 9-11 on them and invade in order to bolster our technical death metal crops. It’s melodeath in a way, but it is interesting melodeath. I think it might be a concept album too, but I won’t take away from it for that.

48

The Paper Chase – Someday This Could All Be Yours, Vol. 1

The Paper Chase is one of those rare bands that you can always pick out of a lineup. Whether it be the strained vocals, the disturbing guitar riffs, or the piano that is either possessed or in need of a dire tuneup, the Paper Chase blazes their own musical trail- and they might blaze it through your nightmares. John Congleton writes some of the best lyrics out there and it helps contribute to the feeling of malaise and rot the Paper Chase exudes. This is the soundtrack to making your skin crawl, and I mean that in such a positive way. O’Death kind of took the wind out of their sails for me when it comes to being the darkest band that doesn’t play a genre that is inherently evil, but where as O’Death can be called “goth folk” or whatever, the Paper Chase kind of avoids any real classification. Symphonic What The Fuck is close.

47

Blut aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars

This is some super dense black metal. You can practically feel this CD crushing you from all sides.  Dark, foreboding, and yet strangely soaring. This doesn’t go the typical direction most black metal releases go. It ends up being a pretty symphonic, albeit symphonically (is that even a word?) heavy, release. Blut Aus Nord really know how to set up a good atmosphere.

46

Amber Daybreak – Sentinels

Hey look at you Belgium, getting involved in the great European screamo war. Very Suis La Lune-like sound here. More melodic than a lot of the genre and they don’t screw around with the post-rock influence as much as most seem to be getting into, which is a plus in their case. Some pretty super drumming and nice frenzied vocals really get this one flying out of the gate. It is easy to listen to the whole thing in one sitting and not even realize you did, it is so seamless and well put together. Consider this is Amber Daybreak’s first album and it is even more impressive. can’t wait to see where they go from here. Plus I bet they make a mean waffle.

Sometimes things happen on TV that are so purely magical they defy explanation. Here is a video of one of those such things. Jimmy Kimmel was on Leno’s abortion of a television program, and… I don’t even need to say anything. This is one of the most amazing and impossible to watch videos. The pure awkwardness is absolutely palpable, thick enough you could wrap it around yourself like a Tauntaun, and Kimmel does not give a shit. He just plows right through it like a linebacker.

You know the world has to be ending, this is actually going up at a fairly relevant time. Considering I finished my top albums of 2008 in November of 2009, I’m rather happy with myself. Anyway, as anyone who knows me has had to have realized by now, my musical taste is a bit… lets just say strange. I’m sure many of my friends and internet buddies have different and more colorful words for it, but I’ll stick with strange. The reason is that I’m a music pack rat. Regardless of what the genre or opinion of the public/hipsters actually is, I’ll give it a shot. This leads to me downloading or getting an enormous amount of music, like more music than anyone actually has any use for. On top of that, it makes it absolutely impossible for me to ever put my mp3 player on shuffle. Either way, my taste is terrible eclectic enough that pretty much anyone is going to be able to find something here they probably want to listen to. I’m also pretty fucking horrible when it comes to writing about music, which is kind of ironic since the first freelance gigs I ever got oh so long ago were music stuff, but at least I’m well aware I have no talent when it comes to describing aural sensations. So keep the flaming to a minimum- I do this all for you, kind readers!

Without further ado;

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

This is my favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, but I guess that doesn’t mean much since I met their previous ones with scorn and dislike. They did, eventually, grow on me slightly, but I still wouldn’t have considered I would ever hear something by them I found enjoyable. I know it is super cliche of me to find the most enjoyment out of their most mature and cohesive effort, but this is by far the only thing they’ve done that shows these people can write interesting songs. I’m actually halfway curious to see what happens from here. I still won’t ever see them live though, they probably still play Maps. Terrible.

The Casting Out – Go Crazy! Throw Fireworks!

This might be a bit of a nostalgia pick for me, but so what. It is super great to hear a band with Boysetsfire members in it that isn’t the last couple Boysetsfire albums. There is a little bit much Alkaline Trio worship here, and I’ve had too many exgirlfriends ruin Alkaline Trio for me to even remotely find them entertaining, but this sounds so good I don’t care. The production is great, the band is polished, and the type of pop/punk/post hardcore they play is also great. It really does sound like what BSF would have been if they didn’t take themselves serious. If you are morally opposed to nodding your head in time to music and being in a good mood, this probably isn’t for you.

Mew – No More Stories / Are Told Today / I’m Sorry / They Washed Away // No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I’m Tired / Let’s Wash Away

I figured I would get the ridiculously long album title out of the way early this year, which was made easy by the fact Marnie Stern didn’t have an album out to top “This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That” this year. Mew has been playing very dreamy indie pop for a while now, and they do it well enough to have earned a pretty large following. “No More Stories” is no different. You get the feeling that they kind of want a chunk of the Animal Collective fame but would also rather, you know, play music instead of just drown themselves in pretentious garbage. So instead of nonsense, you get a very pretty, albeit predictable, dream pop album. One of the better ones this year though.

Mission of Burma – The Sound the Speed the Light

I was always pleasantly surprised with the material Mission of Burma came out with after their long hiatus. They were such a fantastic product of the 80s and their innovation for post punk and eventually post hardcore (before it became whatever the fuck it is today) is pretty amazing. I don’t think “VS” has ever left my proverbial turntable for more than a couple of days at a time since I can remember. They put a lot of themselves into the music, and they don’t half ass a single thing. These guys are all like a million years old and have more energy in their songs than 90% of what is out there now. This is the weakest of their return releases, but it is still head and shoulders above a lot of stuff. It is super refreshing to hear a band that disappeared for so long still making music that sounds like they did when they left. Yeah, I’m fucking looking at you Lifetime. Take note of this and stop hanging out with Pete Wentz.

Swan Lake – Enemy Mine

While I constantly make sure anyone within earshot knows I feel that Krug, Mercer, and Bejar’s first album as Swan Lake, Beast Moans, was a misunderstood masterpiece, I also understand it was a difficult listen to a lot of people. It was steeped in experimentation and general strangeness that ended up working so well it created a dark, haunting, genius album that pushed indie into the point of being “indie” with ironic quotation marks. Enemy Mine is more accessible of an album, but I don’t find it as creatively engaging as the original. Still, what is here is pretty fantastic and it shows how impossible it is to hide the talent of these dudes. Still weird, still quirky, and still smart as hell.

Posted under Music, Music Features

The weird thing about St. Vincent, and inherently Annie Clark, is that something gets a little lost in translation from her performances to her albums. This isn’t a new thing in music, lots of groups and musicians have that issue, but with her it is a bit… different. Her albums are pretty brilliant pieces of indie pop, and her songwriting is second to none in that genre. Whether it is how amazing her voice is or how creative her guitar playing is, she just sets herself apart. But, I can’t help but always be disappointed with her actual recordings in a way. It isn’t that they are bad, it is just that I’ve had the luck to see St. Vincent live in its most stripped down form and it is absolutely beautiful. While the production and the creative choices Miss Clark makes on the albums are great, the most amazing thing about her is when it is just her and her guitar. I make it quite known that I find very few things more attractive than someone who is devoted to their art and is also incredibly good at it, and Annie Clark is both. I would punch children in the face to marry this girl, and I think commitment is the dumbest thing in the world so you know that says a lot about her musical ability.

This has been one of my favorite music videos on Youtube for ages now, and while doing my top albums of 2009 list I was reminded that I never found an excuse to post it. So here we go. If you don’t find this amazing, I don’t even know what is wrong with you. You should definitely go to a doctor and have them check it out though.

Wrasslin’ time! I’ve got to wonder how foreign seeing me posting wrestling videos is to everyone who comes here solely because I write nonsense on the internet about video games. Meh. VINTAGE ME!

Dragon is so god damn over for a guy three quarters of the “WWE Universe” should have no idea who he is. Which is a tragedy, but this is ridiculous. You can actually hear some pretty loud “Let’s Go Dragon” chants despite how shitty the sound quality of the video is, and I think I almost pee’d myself when you hear more than a couple people yell “HE HAS TIL 5″ near the end. No Cattle Mutliation, or elbows, so I don’t really know what they are going to do about his finisher, but this match makes it super clear that Dragon is going to be wrestling a MMA style, which he should be. I can honestly see him getting really, really over.

You can tell he is a bit rusty though, so it makes sense he would want to go down to FCW for a little while to get back firing on all cylinders, but this single match finished any reservations I have about Dragon succeeding in the WWE. Enjoy before the WEEEEEEE takes it down from youtube.

So, a friend said I should do a post about the Leno/Conan debacle. I don’t know why, since I’m an absolute nobody and everybody in the world is weighing in on the debacle. So here is my eloquent and well formed opinion-

Jay Leno is an enormous piece of shit, and is the fucking selfish Hulk Hogan of the comedy world. And by comedy I mean generic shit old people laugh at. The only positive in this is, and I hope somehow Conan is reading this, is that there is a possibility that Conan is going to absolutely blast off the comedy button to space on this. The envelope should get pushed so fucking far that it isn’t even on the table anymore.

Instead of me talking about it since my opinion doesn’t matter on comedy, I’ll let Patton Oswalt do it.

If my review of WET was any indication to you all, I love exploitation films. Ms. 45, Lady Snowblood, Man from Deep River, I don’t care what era its from or what country its from, I’ll watch it if its a campy exploitation film. In America, we stopped making those for some reason. And, no, before you try and say it- that bullshit that Eli Roth makes is not exploitation. Torture porn is what the exploitation genre would have looked like with no talent and lots of budget. Japan, however, has no qualms putting out some fantastic gore, and last years Machine Girl was kind of a rejuvenation of the genre to me. Low budget, astronomically gory, absolutely impossible to turn away from.

If you liked Machine Girl, or any gore based exploitation nonsense ever, do yourself a favor and watch this. After you do, go buy the DVD and watch that. Because it is amazing. Oh, you want to know the plot? What the hell is wrong with you?

There is a special art within the world of creating video games that doesn’t enough respect. It is an art form even beyond me, something requiring so much craft and so much effort that it is almost too much for a simple video game journalist to tackle with only a column about making a perfect game.