Most Anticipated Albums of 2011

New music!  Here is 11 on my radar for 2011:

1. Rise Against Endgame
Easily the most anticipated album.  Can't wait, as these guys just keep getting better.
2. The Get Up Kids There Are Rules
Though what they've released/I've heard so far is different, they're too good not to be...well, good.
3. Face To Face
Duh.
4. Taking Back Sunday
Back with John Nolan and Shaun Cooper (at the demise of Straylight Run - easy trade there though), back to the Tell All Your Friends line-up.
5. Stateless Matilda(?)
If you heard the last album, you'd know why.
6.Alkaline Trio Acoustic Album/Skiba Record/The Emergency Room
Acoustic A3? Cool. Skiba solo studio album? Cool. Something from Danny's side? Cool.
7. Head Automatica Swan Damage(?)
Always interested in Darryl Palumbo's work, and the last Head A album was great.  Wonder if they'll keep the same style this go'round.
8. Thursday
Thursday songs are hit or miss with me (unlike everyone?), but their good is really good.
9. Neverending White Lights
Bring on the dark theatric (or maudlin) sound.
10. The Cure
Again, duh.
11. Unwritten Law Swan
I'm ready for some So-Cal party rock.

Best Bowls -or- Welcome to Chili 'N Such, can I scoop for you?

It's bowl season, so Best Bowls.  A Listlet.

-Cereal
-Sticky Icky
-Super, Rose, and Lingerie
-Lloyd Christmas's hair
-Backside of Vail
-186 at Lucky Strike, age 11



Worst Bowls: Still a tie between KFC Famous Bowls and Hillary (ha! gotcha years later you fucking hag)

2010 Favorite Music: Top 40 Tunes

Here's what blew up the 2010 NSDE Charts:

Ed. Note: 40-11 are listed in order of number plays on the ol' computebox.  Top 10 are ranked. Got some iTunes credits burning a hole in your digital pocket?  Pick up a few of these.

40. "Opinion Versus The Sun" - Stars (vs The Album Leaf) from The Séance EP
39. "Everything Must Go" - Taking Back Sunday from Live From Orensanz
38. "Play That Dirty Girl" - Atomic Tom from The Moment
37. "In The Flicker" - Sundowner from We Chase The Waves
36. "Far From Home" - Raising Theos from Falling Behind EP
35. "Conversation 16" - The National from High Violet
34. "My Lady Dominate" - William Control from Noir
33. "The Five Ghosts" - Stars from The Séance EP
32. "He Dreams He's Awake" - Stars from The Five Ghosts
31. "Dancing On My Own" - Robyn from Body Talk, Pt. 1
30. "Diamond Eyes" - Deftones from Diamond Eyes
29. "Like The Sun" - The Bouncing Souls from Ghosts On The Boardwalk
28. "Effortless Amnesiac" - The Swingin' Utters from Taking The Long Way EP
27. "I Died So I Could Haunt You" - Stars from The Five Ghosts
26. "Necrotism" - Brendan Kelly from Wasted Potential Split
25. "Wasted Daylight" - Stars from The Five Ghosts
24. "Afraid Of Everyone" - The National from High Violet
23. "Abandoned Driveways" - Hawthorne Heights from Skeletons
22. "The Diamond St. Church Choir" - The Gaslight Anthem from American Slang
21. "The Middle Distance" - The Riot Before from Rebellion
20. "Sextape" - Deftones from Diamond Eyes
19. "My Best Theory" - Jimmy Eat World from Invented
18. "Spanish Moss" - Against Me! from White Crosses
17. "The Queen Of Lower Chelsea" - The Gaslight Anthem from American Slang
16. "Time Tables" - The Menzingers from Chamberlain Waits
15. "Deep Sleep" - The Menzingers from Chamberlain Waits
14. "Your Heart" - Attention from Through The Wire
13. "Get Out" - Circa Survive from Blue Sky Noise
12. "Bring It On" - The Gaslight Anthem from American Slang
11. "Dead On The Floor" - Alkaline Trio from This Addiction

(sits up, cracks knuckles)

10. "So It Goes" - The Menzingers from Chamberlain Waits
Fast, and I dig the little guitar bendy-build up before the chorus.  And you get BK screeching in the background.

9. "This Addiction" - Alkaline Trio from This Addiction
Title track from the record, and it's pretty basic A3 newer rockin' to an older-style song.  They've just become good at their craft.  There's nothing wrong with that.

8. "Bamboo Bones" - Against Me! from White Crosses
I like how the guitars kind of slide back and forth, in an affect that makes me think of Florida swamps...I'm reaching, but I dig this tune.

7. "Ache With Me" - Against Me! from White Crosses
Chika-ahh...Forget the haters.

6. "We Did It When We Were Young" - The Gaslight Anthem from American Slang
An epilogue of sorts for the album American Slang.  Soft, simple, beautiful.

5. "Ready To Start" - Arcade Fire from The Suburbs
Sweeping song that takes you along for the ride.

4. "At Night We Live" - Far from At Night We Live
So happy these guys are back, doing music together.  Huge song that makes me feel nostalgic and young at once.

3. "Fine" - Alkaline Trio from This Addiction
Amazing song from Danny and the boys.  I adore this song.

2. "Kiss The Bottle (Jawbreaker Cover)" - Brendan Kelly from Wasted Potential Split
Arguably Jawbreaker's best (or most popular) song, but I'd argue that BK's version is the way it should be sung.  He seems honest and vulnerable, wearing the lyrics on his sleeve, yet oddly comforting.  Very well done.

1. "Terrible Love (Alternate Version)" - The National from High Violet (Deluxe Edition)
Done.  They've perfected it.  Everyone else can just stop trying at this point.  Amazing song, that gets better and better each second.


Well, this is what you get when you don't listen to terrible FM radio and don't go to shitty clubs.  What blew up your Zune this year?

2010 Favorite Music: Top 10 Albums

Been catching up on various outlets' Best Of lists, and seeing if there are any albums I missed over the year and/or re-listening to albums that didn't blow-up my skirt first time through.  As usual, plenty I disagree with, with the pop-hipster media - Rolling Stone, Spin, Alt Press, Punknews, etc - but that's to be expected from those...starfuckers.  As Johnny C has commented a few times, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy should lose points for both title and cover art, and I found it less than stellar (Kanye:his albums::Vince Vaughn:his movies).  Lotta love for Black Keys...eh (still) don't get it.  And outright pop music continues to be 100% soulless and completely devoid of sincerity (the world's been Bieber'd).  BUT, there was plenty of good stuff, and this list isn't about necessarily disagreeing with so-called experts, as their job is to make those lists on something so very subjective...they're just wrong (heh).  So here's my favorite albums of 2010 in as close to a ranking as I could agree with:

10. Fire Works - The Sainte Catherines
A punk band out of Montreal with definite (alt-)country leanings.  A surprisingly good collection of catchy bar rockers with clean-coarse vocals (if that's possible). 
Checkout: "Reinventing Ron Hextall"

9. Chamberlain Waits - The Menzingers
This band continues to get better with each release, and this albums seems like the tip of good things to keep coming. 
Checkout: "Deep Sleep," "Time Tables," and "So It Goes"

8. Special Moves - Mogwai
This is why Mogwai is great.  A live record, with next to no vocals (they're primarily an instrumental, prog-rock band) that is epic.  It's live! 
Checkout: Start with track 1, "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead" and go from there.

7. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Well, the critics and I don't disagree on everything.  Arcade Fire is starting to operate on another plane, like Sigur Ros...really great, subtle albums.  And The Suburbs was a positive step back from Neon Bible. "Now the music divides us into tribes/You choose your side, I'll choose my side" [from "Suburban War"].
Checkout: "Ready To Start" is amazing.

6. Live From Orensanz - Taking Back Sunday
An unplugged album that caught me by surprise.  Really strong while keeping the original emotion intact.
Checkout: "Everything Must Go"

5. This Addiction - Alkaline Trio
My least favorite A3 full-length, and easily the most listened to record of 2010.  It's the Trio after all.
Checkout: "This Addiction," "Dead On The Floor," and "Fine"

4. White Crosses - Against Me!
AM! gets a lot of flak with each new record that sounds less like their previous efforts.  Well fuck that, I think they keep getting stronger. 
Checkout: "Ache With Me,""Spanish Moss," and "Bamboo Bones"

A quick programming note:  It became very apparent that the best albums were a 3-horse race, each distancing the competition (it's not a competition).

3. The Five Ghosts (+ The Séance EP) - Stars
Finally the stars aligned for...well, Stars.  An amazing album of macabre pop, taking all their best elements from previous albums, and forming a cohesive effort.  Catchy and haunting, and The Séance EP may be, pound-for-pound, better than anything else this year. 
Checkout: "Wasted Daylight," "I Died So I Could Haunt You," "We Don't Want Your Body," and the rest of them!

2. American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem
Now this is what The Gaslight Anthem sounds like.  A diverse record, that manages to make their sound more whole in my opinion, and hopefully shedding the Bruce-knockoff title - a complete record.  Great weekend music to dance with your lady. 
Checkout: "Bring It On," "The Diamond Church Street Choir," "The Queen Of Lower Chelsea," "Orphans," and the very powerful "We Did It When We Were Young"

1. High Violet - The National
It's no secret I'm a BIG National fan, and when I sat down to think about albums of the year, this one's strong points kept rising to the top.  Beautiful, and the alternate version of "Terrible Love" is even more amazing.  In the end, The National's good songs are just better (to mine ears).  And, yes, this has topped a lot of the lists I previously cast-off (blind squirrels, nuts, look it up).
Checkout: it's my favorite album of the past year...all of them.



So what were your favorite albums of the last year?  Had to leave off some good to so-so efforts from heavy hitters (Jimmy Eat World, Interpol, Circa Survive, Deftones, Sundowner, Blackpool Lights new EP, and BK's half of Wasted Potential), but them's the breaks!

In the category of best album title: Bring Me The Horizon's There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret. Unfortunately, I'm not as in to their punishing style of screaming.

Now it's gone because you left it in the sun...

8 Great Songs Over 8 Minutes Long



1. "Goodbye Sky Harbor" - Jimmy Eat World

2. "Those Who Left" - Murder By Death

3. "While We Were Hunting Rabbits" - Matthew Good

4. "Blue Skies Over Badlands" - Matthew Good

5. "As Little Things Go" - The Appleseed Cast

6. "Velvet Waltz" - Built To Spill

7. "You Always Say Goodnight, Goodnight" - The Juliana Theory

8. "Untitled #8 from ( )" - Sigur Ros

I always got to tell you to put pants on when somebody comes over...

11 Things Learned From Airheads

1. Lemmy is God.

2. The Clydesdale Scale - Sure we've always wondered how many Clydesdale horses it would take to tear various girls' faces off, but now we know the term for it...wait, is that a Budweiser reference?

3. Joe Mantegna can play someone that's cool (apparently).

4. Militant black men have huge dongs (OK, maybe we're just re-affirming that one).

5. The last name Arquette = movie career.  If only we knew then...

6. Ask the LAPD for anything, they can get it - in a timely manner too!

7. Music execs are dickhead yuppies.  Radio station managers are yuppie dickheads.

8. Steve Buscemi is one of the most dependably-great actors.

9. Reagan Youth is both hair metal and West coast (nope - "Degenerated" is a song originally by a punk band [the aforementioned Reagan Youth] and from the East coast).

10. Rodney King is that guy.

11. SWAT captains don't wipe well.

List compiled by Crooks and Johnny C

1 last thing:

The joke about the pluralizing of The Lone Ranger is not a joke at all.  That's what band names are, for the most part.  That would be like saying The Decemberists should only play in December or Brand New should have changed their name for the second album, forward.  That's weak aiming for the middle.