My Favorite Albums of 2013

Yes, I’m still alive. Sorry about the unplanned hiatus, but I got promoted at work (yay!) and my new position has been keeping me busy. Then there’s Christmas shopping and all those holiday parties, so I haven’t had much free time lately.

But the end of the year is approaching, so I had to create my list of favorite albums from 2013. Usually, this is a fun recap for me to look back on the past 12 months and reflect on all the great music that has come out. But as I assembled this year’s list, I felt mostly depressed at the pathetic number of albums I had to work with. Granted, I really did love all the music that I put on this list, but there weren’t nearly as many of them as there usually are. Did I miss lots of incredible releases, or were my favorite artists just slacking this year? Maybe I need to check in with my fellow music bloggers for recommendations.

Anyway, I’m going to assume that I loved the following albums so much that I just couldn’t bear to stop listening to them to find more new music. Here it goes:

Sons of the Sea - Sons of the Sea
I didn’t put this list in any particular order, but if I had to choose a number one record, I’d go with Brandon Boyd’s latest effort. I blog about him all the time, so you all know how obsessed I am with everything he does. Sons of the Sea sounds like summer, and it’s been keeping me warm all through the fall.

Such Hot Blood - The Airborne Toxic Event
This album grew on me a lot. And the bonus track, “The Way Home” is simply gorgeous.

The Hurry and the Harm - City and Colour
This summer, I saw Dallas Green perform outdoors in Central Park. It was a perfect setting for such beautiful music.

Burials - AFI 
Sing the Sorrow (the first AFI album I got into) turned 10 this year. Yup, a decade later and I’m still worshipping Davey Havok.

The Pop Underground EP - Andrew McMahon 
Also back in 2003, Something Corporate was the opener at my very first concert. Listening to Andrew McMahon’s solo work takes me on a magical journey back to that night. (Plus, these four songs are just so catchy!)

Guilty Pleas EP - Night Terrors of 1927 
I still miss The Honorary Title so much, but this EP helped fill the Jarrod Gorbel-shaped hole in my heart.

Paramore - Paramore 
I never really got into the band’s last release, brand new eyes, but the new self-titled album made me fall in love with Paramore all over again.

Save Rock and Roll - Fall Out Boy 
Similar to Paramore, I never really spent much time with the last few Fall Out Boy records. That’s not because I’m a snob -- I never bother to hide how much I love a good pop-punk tune. I was always more attached to the earlier albums that I listened to non-stop in high school. But this new album makes me want to start a dance party in my cubicle every time I listen to it at work.

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action - Franz Ferdinand
Oh Franz Ferdinand, it’s been too long. I’m so glad you boys have returned.

What were your favorite albums this year?

My most anticipated spring albums

Every spring, I start assembling playlists of music that feels perfect for the upcoming warm weather. Some music just feels like it was meant for a sunny day. Last year, the best example was All At Once by The Airborne Toxic Event - it came out right when the weather was starting to get nice, and I listened to it quite often in the beginning of the summer. In fact, it began to embody summer so much in my mind that when I tried to listen to it this winter, it just made me want to burrow up under a comforter and bawl because spring was still months away. But that's a story for another time.

A lot of the music that is going to make up my summer playlists hasn't been released yet, but I already know what it's going to be. There are three particular albums coming out in the next few weeks that I am psyched about.

Kids In The Street - The All-American Rejects


So I won't get any street cred for this one, but I just really love AAR. They are one of the only bands that I love all of their albums pretty much equally - usually one of them at least has to be a flop. Not these guys. They are masters of catchy, feel-good pop-rock, and they know it. Plus, just check out that trailer above. Early reviews are saying this is their best and most ambitious album yet. And besides, few acts make music as perfect for summer as AAR. I can't wait and I have no shame.
The Lumineers - The Lumineers

Okay, I confess: I watch some embarrassing TV shows. But the thing is, some of them have such great soundtracks (that's the only reason I watch, I swear.) I found The Lumineers through one of these shows that will remain nameless. I immediately loved the song (the stomping, folky first single "Ho Hey") but could not find any other recorded songs from the band. Thankfully, that's all about to change on April 3rd, when the band's debut comes out. You can stream the whole album now though here.
My Head Is An Animal - Of Monsters and Men

I already raved about this album a few months ago, and now it is officially being released in the U.S. (on the same day as The Lumineers as well!) I'm psyched. I love this band and I cannot wait to see them in April. 
There you have it. I'm sure once these come out, I'll be posting full-length reviews/rambling about how much I love them. 
Honorable mention: this will cost me even more scene points (like I had any to begin with, c'mon) but that new Flo Rida song featuring Sia, "Wild Ones," is just so CATCHY. Anyone who enjoys a summery pop song should check it out.
Now that I'm actually recommending Flo Rida songs on my blog, I think it's time to end the post. Happy spring, everyone!

Favorite Albums of 2011

In no particular order.

2011 was truly a great year for my music collection. A bunch of my favorite bands released new material, and almost all of it actually lived up to my ridiculously high expectations. I also fell in love with some new acts that I stumbled across. Last year, I couldn't even come up with a top ten list; this year, I can't keep it to ten, so I had to expand to twelve. Here they are, along with links to any reviews I wrote earlier.

Incubus - If Not Now, When?: If I had to choose a favorite album of the year, it would probably be this one. So many critics and fans disliked this album, leaving me to wonder if the rest of the world is crazy. This album is just gorgeous. It reawakened my obsession with Incubus and I ended up spending a combined total of approximately four months listening only to their music.
The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once: I was originally disappointed in this album, but turns out I just needed some time to let it grow on me. TATE has to be one of the most hard-working bands I listen to, and also one of the most fun to see live.
Hard-Fi - Killer Sounds: I dare you to resist busting a move while listening to this.
Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials: I do still find a few songs to be a little boring, but when these songs are good, they are great. Florence Welch is a goddess.
Midnight Youth - World Comes Calling: My only complaint about this album is that it is too short. These songs are so epic and catchy that I simply am not satisfied with only ten.
City and Colour - Little Hell: City and Colour always puts out staggeringly beautiful music, and this latest effort is no exception.
The Black Keys - El Camino: This band blew up for a reason. The album just came out so I'm still getting acquainted with it, but I knew on the first spin that this one would be constantly on repeat.
Jack's Mannequin - People and Things: This album makes me both desperately sad and insanely happy. Damn you Andrew McMahon for manipulating my emotions.
Movits! - Ut Ur Min Skalle (Out Of My Head): If you're looking for a Swedish hip-hop swing jazz band that will make you dance like you're in an old school iPod commercial, Movits! is the band for you.
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light: You know, I never really listened to the Foo Fighters before this year, despite my great admiration for Dave Grohl. So I can't claim to be a loyal fan, but I do love this album.

U.S. Royalty - Mirrors: This was my soundtrack to summer this year.
The Chevin - Champion EP: This band, formerly known as Your Vegas, did not make it easy to get this EP. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.

It's been real, 2011.

Bring it on, BBC.

Today may only be December 2nd, but I have already come up with my New Year's Resolution. I know, I know - sometimes I am so prepared, I scare myself.

You see, there is a list of books floating around the internet, and supposedly the BBC says most people will only read 6 of the 100 titles named. Now, I can't actually find a record of the BBC saying that, and this list is a little messed up in places, as you will soon see. So I'm not so sure about the legitimacy of this list but let's just skip over that minor detail for the time being.

The point is, here are a bunch of classic books, many of which I've been meaning to read anyway. I spend about 20 hours a week commuting on the bus to and from my job, so I am always looking for more reading material. Now that this list of beloved novels has entered my life, I feel a sense of purpose. That's right, challenge accepted. I am going to read all of these books.

I'm not giving myself any deadlines, because I want plenty of time to savor these books at my own pace. But some day, I'm going to be able to look at this meme and say "Yeah, I've read ALL of those. How you like me now, BBC?"

I've noticed the list is a little repetitive in places and there are more than 100 books on it (Hello, Harry Potter is seven books, you can't count that as one, fools). So I reserve the right to edit this list as need be. But, without further ado, here is the list of books, with the ones I've already read in bold:

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible (Well, I've read a bunch of it throughout my childhood anyway, so I'm counting it).
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Cheaters, this is way more than one book!)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (Why is this book listed separately from the Chronicles of Narnia?)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafo
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery (Ugh horrible memories of high school French class.)
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare (Why is this listed separately from the Shakespeare collection?)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

I've got about a quarter of the list covered already. Not too shabby.

Any suggestions for the book I should kick off this madness with? I'm thinking Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," since it's that time of year and all. I hope you will all support me on my journey to becoming a well-read individual, even if I don't complete it until I'm 80 years old.

Watch out, Boston Public Library, because I'm comin' for you.

Soundtrack for Autumn

Autumn is always my favorite season, and it is especially beautiful in my beloved New Hampshire. So naturally, I need a soundtrack to accompany all the apple picking, pumpkin carving and jumping into piles of leaves. Don't worry, I'm not going to suggest "Monster Mash" songs (although who am I kidding? That song is awesome).

1. Halloween - AFI
Self-explanatory. The goth/punk/rock quartet's Misfits cover is the perfect way to get in the spooky mood.
2. Blood, Sex and Booze - Green Day
I know, I know - this is from the Green Day album that nobody liked. But I happen to love Warning, and for some reason, it always reminds me of fall. This may be because of the bright orange disc or maybe just because I used to listen to it while running for my high school field hockey team. But no matter the reason, give Warning a listen, because it is under appreciated for sure.
3. All I Ever Wanted (live) - The Airborne Toxic Event
I already reviewed The Airborne Toxic Event's brand new live album here. Long story short: it's beautiful. Do yourself a favor and listen to it now.
4. Cut - Jimmy Eat World
This song is fresh off the band's new album, Invented. I was a little confused about Jim Adkins singing about a boy at first, although in this Absolute Punk interview, he says he wrote from other peoples' perspectives. The one thing I do know is that I adore this song.
5. Bird of the Summer - A Fine Frenzy

I live in the prettiest place ever.

I know "summer" is in the title, but don't worry. The entire album (Bomb in a Birdcage) is actually perfect for fall, but this one has lyrics like "The leaves changed their colors and the schoolyards were filled / My coat with the patches barely keeps out the chill." See also: "Elements" and "Happier" and pretty much every AFF song ever.
6. Roslyn - Bon Iver
Yeah okay, this song was on the latest Twilight soundtrack. Damn those movies for having great music! But the haunting melody and soft vocals will linger long past the end of the song, and you'll be glad you gave it a chance.
7. Dust Bowl Dance - Mumford and Sons
Another album chock full of great fall songs. Set up a bonfire and get folky with these Brits.
8. Read My Mind - Amory Sivertson
My friend Amory makes lovely music. I reviewed her CD a few months ago, and you should check it out because it will have you frolicking about in no time.
9. Summer Skin - Death Cab for Cutie
Another song with "summer" in the title, but it's actually about summer ending. Yeah, it's a little depressing but it's pretty, and that's all that matters.
10. Autumn Shade - The Vines
I totally forgot The Vines existed until I did a search for "autumn" in my iTunes. Good jam though.
11. Just For Once - Midnight Youth
I adore this band and not just because they are from New Zealand (although I will admit, being a Kiwi automatically makes me like you a little more). This is their brand new single and I was planning to promote it before I even heard it. So how convenient that they sing about the "first sign of autumn leaves." Thanks, guys.
12. Under The Milky Way - The Church
I first discovered this song via the Donnie Darko soundtrack. The movie takes place throughout the month of October and climaxes on Halloween night. Seems appropriate. It's also just a slightly spooky classic 80s song.
13. Red Star - Third Eye Blind
Every mix I make has a 3eb song on it. Get over it.

When I'm not busy rockin' out, I'm making awesome pumpkins like this.