It's that time of year again. Time for me to write in length about the albums that came out this year that I loved for no one to read.
This year was incredibly frustrating at first when making this list. Partly because for awhile I felt like there were a bunch of albums that I liked but none that really made a huge impact on me. But also because I wound up making two lists, one for this here blog (which was also shared with the Pop Punk / Rock / Alternative / Emo blog), and one for DyingScene. There's a lot of overlap on the two lists (both in albums and my write ups), but the DyingScene one only goes to ten entries, while this one goes to sixteen. My DyingScene list also covers more of the punk albums that I liked from this year, while this list expands outward a bit more.
Anywho, here's my list of my sixteen favorite albums of 2012:
16. Masked Intruder – Masked Intruder
What a fine pop punk album this is! Masked Intruder is one of the few
bands with a gimmick that translates really well into the studio
recordings. My biggest problem with this album (re: my only problem with
this album) is that five of the thirteen tracks had already been
previously released, four of which were released earlier just this year
on the First Offense EP and the band’s split with The Turkletons.
Despite that, this is still a fantastic bubblegum pop infused with punk
album. Not many pop punk bands can get away with putting this much
emphasis on the pop element and still be widely accepted in punk
circles, but these boys are on to something.
15. Aspiga – Every Last Piece
From the harsh snarls to the fast musicianship to the
heart-on-sleeve self deprecation, these guys remind me a lot of Jawbreaker and
early(ish) Saves the Day. As I said in my review: “Think 24 Hour Revenge Therapy meets
Through Being Cool.” In other words: really good. Every Last Piece is a little on the short side, to the point that I
think this might technically be an EP, but isn’t being straight to the point
what punk is all about?
14. Hostage Calm – Please Remain Calm
You know those bands that you always read or hear about but
you just never remember to check out? Hostage Calm was one of those bands for
me. But from the moment I put on Please
Remain Calm I became hooked. Their blending of 60’s orchestral pop, 70’s
rock anthem verses, and lyrical themes of modern day despair and uncertainty
was so weird and off-putting to me at first that I just had to keep listening.
Next thing I knew, I was listening to the album every day for three weeks
straight.
13. Cheap Girls – Giant Orange
Apathetic college rock makes its return! Ironically, Giant Orange is probably the band’s most
energetic album yet, as well as their best. Ian Graham’s vocals still have that
kind of bored tone to them, but he’s never sounded better than he does on this
album (I think I once described the band as having an unmatched apathetic
energy). Laura Jane Grace’s production on the album helps it to sound slick,
but still appropriate for a band of their pedigree.
12. The Sidekicks – Awkward Breeds
The Sidekicks have pretty much dropped all pretenses of
being a punk band. But you know what? If that means that we get to have an
album like Awkward Breeds because of it, then there’s no reason to be upset. It’s
like a mix of Pinkerton, Third Eye Blind, and New Miserable Experience for a new
generation.
11. The Evens – The Odds
Arguably more aggressive than the band’s first two albums, The Odds finds The Evens proving that
punk rockers can slow down with dignity and grace. Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina play
off each other incredibly well, from MacKaye’s Fugazi-esque chops showing off
on his baritone guitar and Farina’s oddball drumming style. As vocalists both
members also shine, although Farina’s vocal performance in particular stands
out. Maybe I just never listened to The
Evens or Get Evens as much as I
thought I had, but her voice sounds more powerful than ever all throughout The Odds.
10. Various Artists - The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore
Quick, name some bands that immediately come to mind when
you think of pop punk in 2012? If you didn’t list any of the bands that appear
on this comp, you’re wrong. Handpicked by Lookout Records founder Larry
Livermore, the compilation collects 15 of the best modern pop punk bands (and
Night Birds) from across North America. To make things even better, each song
was written exclusively for this comp, making it the only place you can get
these songs (at least until any of the bands put together a rarities
collection).
09. Classics of Love – Classics of Love
These days it seems like less and less high school kids talk
about Operation Ivy. Do kids still go through their ska-punk phase, or is that
not a thing anymore? Either way, it doesn’t matter because Jesse Michaels (and
his backing band Hard Girls) just released the best album of his career so far.
Classics of Love is a rapid,
hard-hitting punk album bordering on the lines of classic hardcore. And there’s
kind of some ska on it, but not really.
08. Matt Pryor - May Day
Matt Pryor released his solo debut, Confidence Man, back in 2008. In the four years between then and
now, Matt has clearly gone through a lot that has angered him. Musically, May Day is on par with Confidence Man, although in terms of
lyrical subject Pryor takes a much darker approach. He’s no longer singing
about having his heartbroken emotionally by girls, but Pryor hasn’t been this
bitter and angry since the early days of The Get Up Kids. Yeah, that’s how good
it is.
07. Brendan Kelly & The Wandering Birds – I’d Rather Die Than Live Forever
I love this whole “frontman going solo” thing that’s been
happening in punk, but sometimes it gets a little boring when it’s just a guy
and an acoustic guitar. I mean, I love seeing it live, but only so much can be done
with that set up in a studio recording. So when a solo project takes on a full
band sound, even if the songs will only ever be performed with an acoustic
guitar, I think it’s really cool because then it creates something special and
new. Just like Dave Hause and Dan Andriano before him, Brendan Kelly has
created a collection of songs packed with full band recordings that may never
be performed live exactly as they sound on the album. His various singing
styles also give I’d Rather Die Than Live
Forever even more of a full band feel to it, which is pretty rad to me.
06. The Dopamines – Vices
The Dopamines have done it again. Clocking in at 21 minutes,
Vices tones down from the slick
sounds of production of 2010’s Expect the
Worst, and it comes off as sounding like a much more proper follow up to
the band’s self titled debut. Either way, The Dopamines have still crafted an
excellent album for those who miss the pop punk of the early 1990’s.
05. The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten
The punk influences in The Gaslight Anthem’s music have all
but vanished since their inception, but in spite of that the band is (oddly)
still widely accepted by the punk community. Handwritten is the band’s heaviest album to date (Sink or Swim is their loudest but it’s
not really “heavy”… there’s a
difference). The guitars are crunchier, the songs aren’t always fixated around
50’s nostalgia, and Maria is nowhere to be found, but at its core Handwritten is still a Gaslight Anthem
album.
/ 
After spending the better part of the last decade trying out
rock operas and “mature” sounds, Green Day has finally taken things down a
notch. Picking up from where they left off with 2000’s Warning, Green Day’s trilogy takes multiple steps back from the over
scale grandness of 21st
Century Breakdown, resulting in a massive collection of old and new sounds.
Between the three discs, ¡Uno! and ¡Tré! are the more “typical” Green
Day-sounding albums, taking the huge riffs of the bands rock operas and
applying them to 3-minute power pop tunes. ¡Dos!
experiments with more straight forward garage riffs more commonly associated
with Foxboro Hot Tubs. Of course not every track is a winner (“Oh Love” is big
and dumb; “Nightlife” tries its hand at combining dirty rock with rapped verses
and loses; “The Forgotten” is another boring, string-laden ballad), but when
you’ve got thirty-seven tracks to choose from the few duds aren’t really going
to distract much.
03. Teenage Bottlerocket – Freak Out!
Sometimes bands never need to change their sound. Teenage
Bottlerocket is one of those bands. Freak
Out!, the band’s fifth full length album, follows the exact same formula
that the band has been using since their inception. Given that it’s been three
years since They Came From the Shadows was
released, it would’ve been nice to have 14 entirely new songs instead of 12 new
songs and two being recycled from last year’s Mutilate Me EP. But beggars can’t be choosers, right? And when the
songs are this good, it doesn’t really matter.
02. Mixtapes – Even on the Worst Nights
There’s absolutely no reason for me to actually like
Mixtapes. In fact, I think I should hate them. They’re obnoxious, one of the
vocalists sounds like a second-rate Fat Mike, and they just generally talk a
lot of shit both in their lyrics and on their social media presence. Yet
they’ve still put together one of the finest pop punk albums I’ve had the
pleasure of listening to. Even on the
Worst Nights bridges the gap between the two factions of pop punk by
featuring guest spots by both Grath Madden (The Steinways, House Boat) and Dan
“Soupy” Campbell (The Wonder Years). Not that I expect to see Dear Landlord and
The Story So Far on a bill together anytime soon, but if Mixtapes continues on
this path that could very well be a reality one day.
01. The Menzingers – On the Impossible Past
What Handwritten
lacks in nostalgic songs about a blue-collar lifestyle, On the Impossible Past makes up for in numbers. Perhaps it’s my
secret desire to want to be old enough to feel nostalgic, or perhaps it’s
because I recently started living a blue-collar lifestyle, but there’s
something about The Menzingers’ third disc that kept me listening all year
long.
I also have a list of EPs coming soon. Ish. Let's see if I can get it up within a week.
Thanks for reading!
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