I'm Not Gonna Drop Out Of Being For One Bad Year That Was Just Leaving

Full Lengths:

14. Moneen- The World I Want To Leave Behind

I was never really into Moneen. They are obviously really good friends with alexisonfire, who I guess are sort of big in the States, but absolutely monstrously huge in Canada. As a result of that a lot of posers started liking Moneen. It’s hard to give a band a chance when they have fans like that. I went to see them this year mainly for the opening band, Sights and Sounds, and to see some friends. I stuck around to check them out and they absolutely blew my mind. Their live performance was easily one of the best five I’ve ever seen in my life. The energy and atmosphere surrounding the performance was just unbelievable. It gave me that feeling “Why haven’t I been listening to this band my whole life?” So naturally following that set I checked out their new album. It’s definitely not the same as seeing them live, but still incredible. It’s slower than their other stuff, but that doesn’t mean worse. Soundtrack to studying for finals.

13. The Swellers- Ups and Downsizing

“My Everest” really was a huge album for me. It hit me really hard when I got it and I barely listened to anything else. The combo of “Keep Looking Where Your Eyes Are Looking Now” and “Skoots” is probably one my favourite songs ever. When I first heard that the Swellers were recording a new album I was excited and it was expected as “My Everest” came out in 2007. The more I thought about it, the more I thought “Man, how are they going to top My Everest?” They signed to Fuelled By Ramen, which I found pretty odd, but they liked the label, so I guess everything worked out for them. With their new bigger label they got a lot more exposure and press. With all the new hype about the band I was scared for the worst case scenario that’s happened way too many times before: Great band signs to bigger label and puts out album that falls below their abilities. Even though they’re capable of way better and the album isn’t their best, all the press and their new fans jump all over them (*cough* Big D and The Kids Table *cough*). And at first this is what I thought happened. I was a little late on getting the album because I waited until their show in November. The sound is changed a little bit. Not every song is super fast like before and there’s way less shredding by Nick. “2009” is a wicked opener and a great skate-punk jam but the CD doesn’t match that intensity for the rest of the disc. One day I listened to it all the way through and realized that it isn’t as bad as I first made it out to be. It is good, just not as good as “My Everest” in my opinion. There’s is always the paradox with bands of making the same album over and over again or trying to evolve. The Swellers did try to evolve; I don’t think it worked out as well as it could have, but oh well. I’m just being cranky.

12. Teenage Bottlerocket- They Came From the Shadows

Teenage Bottlerocket plays pop-punk really well. Blah blah blah sound like Ramones blah blah blah. All of their albums are really good and this one has a great song about skateboarding. Put on some tight jeans, a leather jacket and have some fun.

11. NoFX- Coaster

NoFX hands down changed my life. They’re really the band that got me onto this whole punk rock thing. Having been around for such a long time, they’ve reach a point in their careers where tweaking their sound is an effort in futility. They get knocked for “putting out the same record” but people seem to forget that half the punk bands formed in the 90’s after the members heard “Linoleum” for the first time. Plus the band has a good sense of humour about it, just look at the title. The album has the most reggae/ska they’ve done in a while and they poke fun at Jesus a lot, what’s not to like? NoFX rules and if you don’t think so you should get over yourself.

10. New Found Glory- Not Without a Fight

It's sort of their comeback album after leaving Geffen. They aren’t reinventing the wheel but come on. It’s New Found Glory; do you want them to put out a progressive rock album? Like every New Found album there are a few duds, but also songs that will be in the set list from now on. Another chapter in the story of New Found Glory.

9. Strike Anywhere- Iron Front

Strike Anywhere is a band that I really like a lot. I forget it sometimes and they kind of fall out of rotation, but they really are one of my favourites. Super fast melodic hardcore mixed with an upbeat political message that’s easy to get behind. This was a release that at first I was very excited about but then just sort of forgot about and wrote off. Then I heard the single they released before the album came out and immediately remembered why I love the band so much. They’ve never experimented wildly with their sound, but why bother if you rule so much? Every album has been great so far and this one is just adding to their already stellar reputation.

8. Propagandhi- Supporting Caste

Prepare to have your mind blown: I am Canadian. I enjoy punk music. I also enjoy hardcore music. There are also some metal and thrash bands that strike my fancy. I wouldn’t consider myself very politically active but I do have views on a bunch of things and most of the time they tend to be left-wing. Taking all of this into account, I only got into Propagandhi this year. I realize that may seem like the biggest paradox in the world. I don’t know what it was but every time I had tried to listen to them before they just didn’t do it for me. Everyone in the punk community sucks this bands dick so hard that you’d have to expect it to come back and bite them in the ass eventually (*ahem, Against Me!*ahem), but there is never anything but undying love for them. So even though “Less Talk, More Rock” didn’t do anything for me when I bought it, I made myself buy “Supporting Caste” because there was nothing but serious love going around for the band. At first I thought “Meh” but after each listen it really started to appeal to me more. I’m all for people have ideas and those ideas being different, but when someone starts to preach a lot it really pisses me off. Propagandhi can come off that way at first, or at least did to me. But the guys really do know their shit and practice what they preach. I mean the liner notes for this album are essentially only included to educate the listener and include recommendations for further reading. So yea, I’m finally on the Propagandhi train. Oh and this album thrashes super hard and has some gnarly-ass riffs. Yea.

7. Bangarang!- Frozen Over, First in Line

Bangarang! was a band that I completely missed the boat on. I only heard about them after they had broken up. Luckily, like many bands are doing these days, they put up their music for free after they ended, so it was readily available to me. I definitely get a Daggermouth vibe from them, but that’s not to say that they’re a carbon copy of the band. It’s full of really fast songs that are equal parts hardcore a la Bane and Comeback and super catchy pop-punk. Rather than the usual crystal-clear vocals in most pop-punk bands he goes for a hardcore-influenced shout. A bunch of great pop-punk songs and a sweet NoFX cover.

6. Barnaby Jones- Self Titled

I think that if the whole world started listening to Kid Dynamite, the world would be a better place. Barnaby Jones seems to agree with me. I downloaded this CD off a whim when Quote Unquote Records put it up for free because of the description. I liked it a lot immediately and it got a bunch of plays during the summer. Songs that are really quick and thrashy but have a catchy edge to them, but don’t beat you over the head by using that same “pop-punk T” that everyone has heard a million times before. The vocals are very gruff. I know this sounds like I’m describing a certain band from Philadelphia, but you know what? Kid Dynamite rules and so do Barnaby Jones. A point I’ve noticed a lot of people making while discussing the band is their song titles. That’s because each one is really funny. “Walker Texas Anger” and “Bill Murray Demands A Circle Pit” are my personal favourites. More bands should do that.

5. Every Time I Die- New Junk Aesthetic

For a hardcore kid, I am ashamedly new to the Every Time I Die camp. I don’t know what it was, but they just didn’t really appeal to me. Everyone constantly praised “Hot Damn!” as a metalcore classic, but I just couldn’t feel it. I did try to get into them a lot and then one day it just clicked. We kind of got into them for a while in my house this year and I really realized how wicked they are. Obviously for a metalcore band, the riffs are a central component to the sound. Here they’re punishing and brutal. They’re catchy, obviously not in a poppy way, but you replay them a bunch in your head after the song is over. They still have that awesome Southern-Rock style that is ETID’s signature as well. One thing that I like a bunch that might get lost with the band is their lyrics. For their type of band, they are really good. Tons of themes about self doubt and all that jazz. Great album.

4. This Time Next Year- Road Maps and Heart Attacks

I’ll admit it, I really didn’t expect much from this album. I had a song from a comp but it seemed to me that this band was too cookie-cutter and was destined to fade into obscurity soon with all the other pop-core bands that formed after Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong started getting bigger. Eventually, “Alex In Wonderland” and “New Sensation” started to grow on me some. They put out the album for free, so I figured that giving it a chance would be a good idea. I was pretty stunned that they put out a CD this good. I really didn’t think that they had it in them. I guess what it kind of boils down to is some kids who grew up in the early 2000’s getting their New Found on, but they do put their own twist on it. There are catchy lines and hooks aplenty, but that’s to be expected. But every now and then over the course of the CD they drop a line where it just makes me think “Oh, fuck yea”, you know where it just grabs you? You know what else? Too many “pop-punk” bands around today focus on kind of mid-tempo songs that are just way too full of useless breakdowns. This band still plays fast and if you can’t tell by this list, I really like that.

3. Shook Ones- The Unquotable AMH

I had heard the Shook Ones name tossed around a little bit as being one of the few bands who were doing the pop-punk thing right these days. I got one of their songs on a Fest comp and immediately thought “Well, how is this pop-punk?” because that was a while ago and knew next to nothing about what “real” pop-punk was. I mean that’s back when I thought Lifetime wasn’t catchy. I know, that time in my life actually existed. I’m ashamed of it. But anyways, fast-forward a few years and I’ve corrected my ways and started listening to Kid Dynamite, obviously Shook Ones appeal to me a lot more. Checking them out live seemed like a good idea, especially since they were playing with We Are The Union and Make Do and Mend. They were incredible live. Their set was the most fun I’ve had at a concert in a long time. You could tell everyone else felt the same way because they had a grin a mile wide on their faces for the entire set. Plus they did a wicked awesome cover of “Tired of Sex” by Weezer. Picked up the album at the show and it’s incredible. Catchy as hell, with really rough but melodic vocals. It’s compact, 11 great songs of fast poppy-hardcoreish goodness. “Middle Name: Justice” has to be the best opening track of any album this year. Each time I hear it, it puts me in a good mood no matter what. Scott should be the vocalist for every band that forms from now on. For real.

2. Bomb The Music Industry!- Scrambles

It’s starting to get ridiculous how good Jeff Rosenstock is at putting together Bomb The Music Industry! albums. Each one has a distinct sound that is different from the ones before it. While their older stuff focused more on kind of synthy-sort of ska-stuff, the last two albums have moved more towards straight-ahead punk sound, though I would say with a heavy influence from (the good) 90’s alternative bands. This release definitely has the most slow jams of any of their albums. While their older ones had one or two acoustic songs and usually a huge closer, this one is chocked full of gigantic epic songs that just make you want to scream along. As always, the lyrics are incredible. I don’t know about everybody else, but his songs make me feel like he hung out with me for a day and then went home and wrote an album about my problems. They always give me that feeling where I think “Fuck man, I wish I wrote that.” He’s put out five albums and two EP’s with this band in 5 years and all of them are goddamn incredible. If he isn’t the best song writer in the world I’ll lick a turd.

1. Rehasher- High Speed Access to My Brain

Rehasher is one of the best kept secrets in the punk community. They’re a side project formed by Roger from Less Than Jake and some guys from other kickass bands in Florida. Being in a band the size of Less Than Jake obviously doesn’t leave much time for anything else because of touring, so these guys rarely play shows, let alone leave Florida. But just because they don’t play very much doesn’t mean that the quality is lacking. First off, they sound nothing like Less Than Jake. Roger’s vocals are immediately recognizable, but Rehasher plays catchy melodic punk a million-miles-an-hour. Since Vinnie writes all of LTJ’s lyrics, this gives Roger a chance to flex his song writing muscles, which works out pretty well. It’s mostly personal stuff, relationships, problems with yourself, but that’s my bag so it’s awesome. All the songs are full of hooks and have that x-factor that just makes you want to jump around every time it comes on. The CD is one of those albums where every time one of the songs comes on during shuffle, you have to stop and listen to the whole thing, no filler. Their first album was just ten tracks of all around pop-punk goodness (not hating on it at all, don’t worry, I love it) with the only sort of curve ball being the Bowie cover at the end. This one shows some experimentation with the slower “Finish What I Started” at the end. It really builds into huge jam and is the perfect way to finish the album. Definitely one of the best songs from this year from what I think is the best album from this year.

EPs:

10. Bomb The Music Industry!/Laura Stevenson and the Cans

Jeff Rosenstock can do no wrong. He’s just not physically capable of it. Another original song that goes places he hasn’t gone musically before and contains more of the best lyrics in the whole world. The BMTI! cover by Laura Stevenson is really great too.

9. Bane- 6:58 Boston

Bane is definitely up there as my favourite hardcore band. It was kind of my initiation into the scene when I saw them live for the first time and I’ve loved them ever since. They are just an unstoppable force live and it’s not the same recorded, but you can say that about pretty much any hardcore band. This one is like a lot of other releases that came out this year. It’s from a long-standing band that has a signature sound. They aren’t breaking new ground, but it rules too hard to care. Plus on this release all the songs are named after day-time soap operas, which I think rules.

8. This Is Hell- Warbirds

This Is Hell really has to be mentioned when you talk about the best hardcore bands doing it right now, in my opinion. They’ve been tweaking their sound, adding some more metal elements since their first album. It hasn’t gone over well with everyone (side note: people knock on hardcore bands for “doing the same thing over and over”, but then call TIH dumb for experimenting with their sound. Kind of hypocritical, no?) but I still really enjoy the band. To me the only real difference is that every now and then they throw in some pretty sweet metal-style guitar solos. And to me that rules.

7. The Flatliners- Cynics

The Flats will always have a special place in my heart. I’ve grown up with the band and watch them mature and change from the hotshot ska-punks who headlined every local ska show to being one of the best and most respected bands on Fat Wreck Chords. Their musical evolution has mirrored my own in a weird kind of way, going from a ska-dork to a fan of really gruff hardcore influenced pop-punk. This EP is another collection of wicked songs in the same style that the “Great Awake” was in. I fucking love you guys, you don’t even understand.

6.Kudrow- Lando

I know I’ve beaten everyone over the head with this already, but Jeff Rosenstock makes my world go ‘round. He described it as “...being influenced by all the bands from the 90’s that I should have been listening to already”. Other people said it sounds like Superchunk, I’m down with that. I find it sounds like BTMI! just without the crazy instrumentation that’s in the other band. “Brooklyn Pool” is definitely one of the hugest jams ever made and I think that if you don’t relate to it heavily, then you aren’t listening close enough. Jeff <3 .="" p="">

5.The Flatliners/The Snips- Split

Yea it’s only two songs, but it’s two songs from two of my favourite Canadian bands. The bands came up with the idea for the EP while they were all high. For each song the bands would write about 5 really short songs and then roll them into one really long one. The Flatliners one especially, is hands down one of the best songs that came out this year and definitely up there as one of the best they’ve ever done.

4.Kids Can’t Fly- Strength In Numbers

I’m assuming this band found me through We Are The Union on MySpace, because they have pretty similar sounds. They play the pop-punk/hardcore that’s getting pretty popular now, but put their own twist on it by putting some sweet-ass horn lines on top of it. At first, I thought “Meh” but after they put out the EP for free and I got my hands on it, my opinion changed. The vocal melodies get in your head and stay there and the instrumentation makes you want to jump up and down. It’s poppy as hell, but I don’t give a fuck. Absolutely great EP.

3.A Wilhelm Scream- Self Titled

Pretty much everyone in the punk community knows A Wilhelm Scream by now. They’ve put out a succession of three REALLY good albums. Their lyrics are really great. They play FAST. They SHRED. They have the best bass player in punk right now. They’re a really unique band. They can put very technical and intricate riffs and leads onto a song (no matter what instrument, not just guitar) and still make it thrash so hard you want to rip someone’s face off but at the same fill it with loads and loads of melody. It keeps getting to the point where you think “Man, they are going to have to put out a bad album soon. They can’t keep going at this pace.” And then they don’t. While each album has a sound that you can immediately recognize as A Wilhelm Scream, they also little differences that set them apart from each other. On this EP, they have the first mid-tempo song they’ve done in a while, “Fun Time” and probably their most metal song, “Bulletproof Tiger”. The opening bass riff on “Skid Rock” is so good that it almost makes me want to quit playing because I can’t shred that hard. Even if the EP was just any one of the songs it would still be up there. They really are just one of the best bands in the world right now in every way.

2.Nix86- Demo

I follow a dude on twitter that used to play in a band I really like. After he left he began to talk about some new projects, but they were so new they were impossible to check out. Eventually some tunes got put up under the name Nix86. As soon as I heard the opening horn riff on “Peter Pan Syndrome” I knew I would absolutely adore the band. It has former members of High School Football Heroes, Edna’s Goldfish, We Are The Union, Flaming Tsunamis and Bomb The Music Industry! If you are asking for more from a new ska band, then you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Probably my favourite aspect of the band is that is has George from High School Football Heroes, who writes some of my favourite lyrics. His old bands stuff is really some of my favourite and I’m so happy that he’s doing it again. The music sounds like emo-pop-punk stuff like later Jimmy Eat World or The Starting Line mixed up with the good type of poppy 3^rd wave ska that came out in the 90’s like the Hippos. There are not enough good ska bands around today but these guys are carrying the torch. It is only a three song demo, but the songs are all just way too good and the production is surprisingly alright for being made in a basement. It definitely has some of the best lyrics from this year. Poppy ska songs about girls? You had me at hello

1. We Are The Union- The Gun Show Must Go On

In my opinion, We Are The Union are the best band making music right now. I mean I do have my favourite bands that rank higher than them, but they are either broken up or getting on in their careers. These guys are right at the top of their game right now. Everything just rules about them. I’m huge on ska. I’m also huge on the whole pop-punk/hardcore scene. These guys came out and combined those two very different styles in an incredible way. Their first album, “Who We Are” is incredible and this EP is an extension of that sound. More guitar work, more horn riffs and the vocal melodies stay in your head. Go listen to this band right now because they are better than anyone else doing it right now.

The Hottest Jams of 2009

Rehasher- Finish What I Started
Kids Can’t Fly- She Called Shotgun
Bomb The Music Industry!- 25!
Propagandhi- Dear Coaches Corner
Nix86- Peter Pan Syndrome
We Are The Union- Rearranging Deck Chairs on The Titanic
The Flatliners- Run Like Hell
A Wilhelm Scream- Skid Rock
Strike Anywhere- I’m Your Opposite Number
This Time Next Year- Rise and Fall, Curtain Call
The Swellers- 2009
Every Time I Die- The Marvellous Slut
Moneen- The Way
NoFX- Best God In Show
Teenage Bottlerocket- Skate or Die
Barnaby Jones- Good News From The Egg Council
New Found Glory- Listen To Your Friends
Bane- The Bold and The Beautiful
Kudrow- Brooklyn Pool

Many of the bands put out their albums for free this year. If you are so inclined you can find them here:

www.quoteunquoterecords.com
http://thistimenextyear.bandcamp.com/
www.myspace.com/thenix86
www.redhandrecording.com/bangarang/

Finally, I do not download music illegally unless it is the hardest ever to find in stores or the band is broken up, won’t be touring and thus it becomes impossible to find. So if there are glaring omissions it is most likely because the band didn’t come near me this year on tour and their label isn’t carried by the stores near me. Plus I don’t have a credit card so buying music online doesn’t happen. Aight?