Best of 2010 - #1

The Gaslight Anthem are a band from New Jersey. On their first two full length albums, you could hear the influences of the rock patron of Jersey, Bruce Springsteen, covered up in punk rock. On American Slang, the band relaxes / grows up (take your pick) and fully embraces their influences, creating incredible music that recalls but never apes the best rock Springsteen ever put out. Listening to this album for the first time for me was what I can only imagine it was like hearing Born To Run on its initial release. This is music to blast in your car stereo while flying down backroads with the windows open or top down, singing along to each song at the top of your voice, banging your hands on the steering wheel, keeping time with the beat. I can't tell you how good this album is. The first listen is great. The next and all subsequent listens are what cements these songs in your head. I can't recommend this highly enough.

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Album Rating - 4.50 Stars

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

5 Star Tracks:

2. Stay Lucky
3. Bring It On
4. Diamond Church Street Choir
6. Orphans
7. Boxer
9. The Spirit Of Jazz

4 Star Tracks:

1. American Slang
5. The Queen Of Lower Chelsea
8. Old Haunts

Best of 2010 - #2

I considered writing up my own review on this one, but the listing on AllMusic.com is pretty perfect. So here it is:
Superchunk never broke up officially after the release of 2001’s Here’s to Shutting Up album. They played the occasional live show, put out compilations and bootlegs, contributed to soundtracks, and released a couple singles and an EP, but no albums until 2010’s Majesty Shredding. Since they were never really gone, it’s hard to call the album a true comeback, but it is an impressive return to the spotlight as well as a heartwarming return to form. The album casts aside almost all of the experiments the band tried on the last couple albums and forgoes outside contributors, orchestration, and production tricks. Apart from the horns on “Digging for Something” and a viola on “Fractures in Plaster,” the record is just the four members of Superchunk bashing out trademark high-quality indie rock bolstered by loud drums, a thrilling twin-guitar attack, and Mac’s always impassioned vocals. It’s like they traveled back to a time before they started to tire of their sound and began looking for new ways to put the songs across -- back to Here’s Where the Strings Come In, but with songs about kids, nostalgia, and growing old mixed in with the usual anxiety and heartache. They may have planned it or it may have been a happy accident; either way it was a great move to revisit their classic sound. Usually a band fails when trying this, because it feels like a ploy or a marketing decision, but in the case of Majesty Shredding it sounds completely organic thanks to the energy the band invests in the music. Plus, Mac delivered a batch of straightforward songs that lend themselves well to being thrashed out by the group. The moments of calm between the rockers are fine too, never sounding tired or rote, but always spilling over with emotion and real feeling. Just like they always have over the band’s 20-plus years. There are songs here that stand with the best the band has done (“Learned to Surf,” “Crossed Wires,” “Winter Games”), songs that will break your heart with their minute details on human frailty (“Fractures in Plaster”), songs that you’ll want to sing along to at top volume (“My Gap Feels Weird”), and songs that sound exactly how you want Superchunk to sound (“Slow Drip,” “Digging for Something”). They may not be the hippest band around in 2010 but they sound as fresh and important as they did in 1990, 1995, or 2001, and Majesty Shredding is the kind of album that’ll make you glad to be a fan of indie rock.

Not a dud on the album. This is a great album in any year.

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

Album Rating - 4.45 Stars

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

5 Star Tracks:

1. Digging For Something
2. My Gap Feels Weird
4. Crossed Wires
7. Learned To Surf
9. Rope Light

4 Star Tracks:

3. Rosemarie
5. Slow Drip
6. Fractures In Plaster
8. Winter Games
10. Hot Tubes
11. Everything At Once

Best of 2010 - #3

Ben Foster (aka Ben Weasel) and Dan Schafer (aka Danny Vapid) from Screeching Weasel put together the Riverdales back in 1995. The goal was to take the Ramones model and crank out punk rock. The band went on hiatus for years and came roaring back in 2009 with Invasion USA and this year with Tarantula. The band still carries the Ramones sound but really expands upon it with this release, their heaviest and catchiest to date. With Foster and Schafer bouncing back and forth with lead vocal duties, the songs scream by, with the full 14 tracks clocking in at just under 30 minutes. Lyrically the songs carry on the Ramones tradition of sci-fi, girls and minutia and the music and vocals impress. This is one of the best punk albums in years.

Riverdales - Tarantula

Album Rating - 4.36 Stars

Riverdales - Tarantula

5 Star Tracks:

2. The Beginning Of The End
3. Infection
4. Diabolik
5. Volcano
9. 12 To The Moon
11. Stranded In Space
12. I Don't Wanna Live Forever

4 Star Tracks:

1. Bad Seed Baby
6. The Girl In Lover's Lane
10. Crash Of The Moons
13. Master Ninja
14. Time Chaser

Best of 2010 - #4

Ok, I'm a sucker for great harmonies. I'm an even bigger sucker when it comes to boy / girl harmonies. Now you have two guys and two girls throwing down insane harmonies on great songs and ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. This is the fourth album from Little Big Town and their strongest yet. Four 5 star tracks and six 4 star tracks make this one enjoyable from beginning to end. This group should be absolutely huge. If you like harmonies like I do, definitely check this one out.

Little Big Town - The Reason Why

Album Rating - 4.17 Stars

Little Big Town - The Reason Why

5 Star Tracks:

1. The Reason Why
8. All The Way Down
9. All Over Again
11. Life Rolls On

4 Star Tracks:

2. Runaway Train
3. Kiss Goodbye
5. Why, Oh Why
6. Little White Church
7. You Can't Have Everything
10. Rain On A Tin Roof

Best of 2010 - #5

WOW. This is pop-punk at it's absolute finest. Rufio has put out an album that recalls the absolute best of bands like Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, and has all of it on one album. Its like a greatest hits album, but just songs you haven't heard before. The songs are all that sugary pop harmony / hooks, screaming fast drums, wailing guitars. You know, all the things that make pop-punk so much fun.

Rufio - Anybody Out There

Album Rating - 4.17 Stars

Rufio - Anybody Out There

5 Star Tracks:

1. Little World
2. Drunk In Love
7. Anybody Out There

4 Star Tracks:

3. Under 18
4. What You Wanna Here
5. Deep End
6. Gold And Silver
8. All That Lasts
9. This I Swear
10. The Loneliest
11. Run

Best of 2010 - #6

Pete Yorn left Columbia Records for his fifth album, landing with indie label Vagrant. He also found a producer in Frank Black (Pixies) that pushed his sound to its (relatively) hardest rocking yet. Pete is still writing his straight ahead roots songs, but now they are wrapped with rock guitars and big beats. That's not to say that acoustic guitars don't show up on the album. They are used very effectively on songs like Rock Crowd, as each verse is primarily the acoustic guitar and Pete's voice, still full of emotion, and then swelling up (and pepping up) as you drive into the chorus. In my mind, this is THE Pete Yorn Album to own. If you've heard him previously and liked him, get it. If you haven't tried him out yet, you should.

Pete Yorn - Pete Yorn

Album Rating - 4.09 Stars

Pete Yorn - Pete Yorn

5 Star Tracks:

1. Precious Stone
3. Velcro Shoes
8. Always

4 Star Tracks:

2. Rock Crowd
4. Paradise Cove I
5. Badman
6. The Chase
9. Stronger Than
10. Future Life

Best of 2010 - #7

Alkaline Trio writes songs about dark subjects. Death, break ups, suicide, poisoning, drug addiction, etc. With such dark subjects, it is absolutely amazing that the music is so much fun. Every song has choruses that will get stuck in your head and you'll find yourself humming along with some lyrics that are pitch black. Alkaline Trio had kinda lost their vibe on the last few albums, but this one brings them roaring back. The deluxe edition is well worth your time, adding two great originals, four acoustic takes and a DVD of a live performance.

Alkaline Trio - This Addiction [Deluxe Edition]

Album Rating - 4.06 Stars

Alkaline Trio - This Addiction (Deluxe CD + DVD)

5 Star Tracks:

5. The American Scream
6. Off The Map
9. Piss And Vinegar
13. Those Lungs

4 Star Tracks:

1. This Addiction
2. Dine, Dine My Darling
3. Lead Poisoning
4. Dead On The Floor
8. Eating Me Alive
10. Dorothy
11. Fine
12. Kick Rocks
14. This Addiction [Acoustic]
15. Dine, Dine My Darling [Acoustic]