Rob's Best: #11: Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

Released: July 18, 2001

Over the years, this album has continually served as safe place to return to when I'm feeling lost; it's like an old friend that serves as a reminder of what friends are for.  It's got the full spectrum of emotion, from happy to sad, angry to melancholy, and it's there to show that you'll live through it all and be alright.  Even if you're stuck in the middle... Ha.  Ha.  I love this band for being wonderfully melodic and for the constant layer of overdubs and harmonies that ring out cheerfully on every record.  They do what they do and they do it well.

Rob's Best: #12: Between The Buried And Me - Alaska

Released: September 6, 2005

This is my favorite Between The Buried And Me record, and that's saying something because they have released several phenomenal ones.  At this point, they're still writing individual songs, rather than basically one long song with varied movements like on Colors, which I tend to prefer.  Between The Buried And Me can seem, at times, like two very separate bands in one since they worship two disparate musical styles: tech metal and prog rock.  But these guys pull it off because they are some of the most talented musicians I've ever seen; just listen to the song "Selkies: The Endless Obsession."  That song is the epitome of all that is Between The Buried And Me: it begins with keyboards that are quickly joined by several harmonizing guitar lines which builds into a soft sung vocal line over a slightly menacing chord progression... and then the metal happens.  Twisting time signatures, angular guitar riffing, solid double bass, and guttural howls.  After this, the keyboards kick back in, with a gentle repeated guitar melody and layered sung vocals... and then the guitar solo happens.  And happens for the rest of the song.  And it's worth it.  This guitar solo rivals "Master Of Puppets" by Metallica.  It's got sweep picking like I ain't never heard before.  It's beautiful.  It's Between The Buried And Me.

Rob's Best: #13: Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works

Released: November 13, 2007.

Dillinger Escape Plan are an absolute force of nature.  They practically invented grindcore with their debut album Calculating Infinity, and since then they've proceeded to expand vastly on their musical palette with each album to the delight (or chagrin) of their long time fans.  Ire Works in particular was polarizing among fans because there was (gasp) even more singing on it, or because that singing is heavily inspired by Mike Patton of Faith No More.  Personally, I think Ire Works is the perfect mix of everything Dillinger has done before.  While there aren't really that many jazzy moments like those from Calculating or Miss Machine, there are still blasts of technical fury in "Nong Eye Gong" or "Fix Your Face" (which even features original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis), poppier structures on "Black Bubblegum", proggier experimentation on "Mouth of Ghosts", Metallica tributes on "82588" (...And Justice For All was released August 25, 1988), and two of the most kick ass tracks of the decade in "Horse Hunter" and "Milk Lizard".  Everything about "Milk Lizard" is awesome, big band horns overtop old school metal guitar runs?  Yes, please!

Not only that, but Dillinger Escape Plan are The Best Live Band Ever.  They put absolutely everything into their stage performance and it is breathtaking to behold.  They throw themselves into a frenzy of motion, yet somehow still maintain a frightening technical accuracy; actually, they tend to be not only accurate but sped up as well.  Plus, the singer, Greg Puciato, is built like a goddamned tank.  The last time I saw them, during the breakdown for "Sunshine The Werewolf" he stormed from the back of the stage to the front, literally picking up and throwing two monitors out of his way and then just fucking attacked the crowd screaming "destroyer...".

Rob's Best: #14: With Honor - Heart Means Everything

Released: June 8, 2004

This is the first hardcore band I ever loved.  I saw them play when they were touring for this album with another young band who were touring on their first record as well called Comeback Kid.  It was one of the first hardcore shows with legit touring hardcore bands I had ever seen and it legit kicked my high school ass.  On the surface, Heart Means Everything is just bad ass with some of the best gang vocals ever recorded and heavy/awesome breakdowns.  And once I started reading the lyrics, they were all about positivity and strength and I could really identify aesthetically with it.  With Honor were to hardcore, for me, what Blink 182 were to punk music; they opened doors I didn't know existed and made me believe in dragons.

Rob's Best: #15: Sinking Ships - Disconnecting

Released: March 20, 2007

Sinking Ships were a Seattle-based melodic hardcore band.  Disconnecting is their second and final full length, and it's full of great sing-a-longs, interesting arrangements, and poignant lyricism.  I mean, the album's first "chorus" is a repeated refrain of a quote from an American Revolution era pamphlet: "These are the times that try [our] souls."  Some of the songs on this album still catch me with their pure evocation of images or emotions, and I would easily consider them among the best songs of the decade regardless of genre.  The only reason this album isn't higher on my list is that the second half of the album is noticeably weaker than the first, and it's not that they're bad by any means, but they just can't compare with the standouts like "The Next Time I Go," "Auburn," or "The Days You've Come To Fear."  Not to mention the sadly beautiful "Ghost Story":

And it scares me to death to know that one day I won't be haunted by your ghost.

Stay with me.

That one day I'll lay awake and struggle to remember your face

Stay with me.

'It will be lost,' I'll breathe.  Remembering that I won't remember anything

Stay with me.

It never stops.

Trystan's Best #11: Brand New - Deja Entendu

Released: June 17th, 2003

Brand New's second album Deja Entendu is a bitter, bitter collection of songs, and that's ok because they are also some of the best pop-punk songs put to plastic this decade. Jumping between terribly catchy, hook-driven songs like "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" and "Ok I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't" and the more introverted, often acoustic tracks "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" and "Play Crack The Sky", Brand New never lets the listener get comfortable with one kind song. While this can sometimes be jarring in the hands of a lesser group, Brand New weaves through these songs perfectly. At one point you will be pumping your fist, another you'll be reaching for your lighter (or cellphone as the case may be), and all throughout you will never be confused of the honest and uncontrived emotion to be found here.

Rob's Best: #16: Latterman - No Matter Where We Go...

Released: August 9, 2005.

This is music to shout along to in a sweaty basement with all of your friends when for a few brief moments none of the shit outside matters, just being together and knowing that life is made of beautiful moments where everything is loud, everything is fun, and everything means something. 

Rob's Best: #17: Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

Released: November 20, 2006

I didn't know what to make of this album the first time I heard it.  I only knew of the band by reputation and this is definitely not what I was expecting from a band whose peers are bands like Taking Back Sunday and Thrice.  This is a bold exposition of layered sound that grows more powerful upon each successive listen.  The first song that hooked me is by far the most straightforward, "The Archer's Bows Have Broken" is catchy and similar in style to Brand New's previous albums.  Exploring the rest of the album has been an ongoing adventure that has been exceptionally rewarding and exhilarating like riding waves of dynamic emotion through still and storm.

Trystan's Best #12: Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming

Released: May 2nd, 2006

Spencer Krug has the most interesting voice in music today, and he uses it to great effect on Shut Up I Am Dreaming. Krug yelps and cries his way across ten songs of indie-pop wonder, from the grand opener "Stadiums and Shrines II" to the slow-burn-to-explosion closer "Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of Places Where Lovers Have Wings". It's often confusing and difficult to decipher just what some of these songs are about, but Krug's mastery of language and rhyme makes for such interesting lyrics you can often and just sit back and enjoy them, no matter what they're about. Like most good music, the voice carries the emotion here, and Krug's paints such a vivid picture, deciphering the meaning behind the words becomes unnecessary.

Trystan's Best #13: The Wooden Sky - When Lost At Sea

Released: January 24th, 2007

The best country music is the stuff not on CMT or at the Merritt Mountain Music Fest (R.I.P.), but in the smallest venues in North America, in front of small groups of passionate, plaid-ed fans. The best of these bands, in this humble writer's opinion, is The Wooden Sky. When Lost At Sea is a tight, precise collection of woodsy and heart-felt songs of heartache, sorrow, nostalgia, and all the other good things country music used to be about. Singer Gavin Gardiner has just the right amount of quiver and shake in his voice to give his songs complete legitimacy, and at a moments notice, he can pull a trigger on that voice and turn a sad song into a testament. Amen, boys.

Trystan's Best #14: The Chariot - The Fiancee

Released: April 3rd, 2007

The Chariot's sophomore effort, "The Fiancee" is music that can barely be contained by its own parameters. Josh Scogin and co. take this ephemeral beast on a spiraling and destructive journey, almost careening out of control at times, but never losing sight of their goal: making truly passionate metal music. Each song is imbued with the band's own personal insights on faith and life and with it, enough badass fucking riffs and guttural singing to make you forget this is even a christian metal band. Standouts are "And Shot Each Other" and "Came To Kill", but the whole album is a complete experience by a band making wholly original music.

Trystan's Best #15: Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles

Released September 2nd, 2008

Angles has enough wit and scathing observation for every MC in the business to take some, and it would still be the best hip-hop album of the decade. Annihilated by some pretentious asshole at Pitchfork, this album never really got the recognition it deserved. It opens with a clip of voice-man Scroobius Pip dropping some slams on an unsuspecting audience and then segues into "The Beat That My Heart Skips" by way of Dan Le Sac's frenetic, bouncing beats. There are too many good songs to mention here. "Thou Shalt Always Kill", where Pip lays out his rules on life music, and everything else, and "Angles", a more somber track about the effects of one's actions on others. Almost no one is left unscathed in Pip's poetic crosshairs, but he and Dan Le Sac do it in such a booty-bumping way, you might not care. Download it, burn it to a CD, and blast it in your car. You'll know what I mean.

Trystan's Best #16: Have Heart - The Things We Carry

Released: August 4th, 2006

Not that I'm an authority on the genre or anything, but I think it's safe to say that Have Heart's The Things We Carry is the best hardcore album of the decade. In a scene that can at times be diluted with bands that all sound the same (although, what scene isn't?), Have Heart dole out breakdowns and hooks that make you feel like you're listening to hardcore for the first time again. Patrick Flynn's vocals are ferocious and desperate all at once, and his lyrics are unmatched by anyone in his field except maybe that dude in Bane. This is music to get back on your feet to, if you don't believe me, just listen to closer "Watch Me Rise".

Trystan's Best #17: Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Released: August 11th, 2009

Funny without being overtly comic and energetic without being brazen, Dan Mangan's Nice, Nice, Very Nice is an album for everyone. It begins with the driving (no pun intended) "Road Regrets" where Mangan immediately lays out his very slam-inspired style of lyrics and pacing. This song is followed by "Robots" which has a sing-a-long at the end that just screams "play me at the end of your show for a most epic time!"
Most of the time Mangan dabbles in the lighthearted, while punching in little moments of biting commentary (See: "Some People"), but when he chooses go for the heart he hits the target, especially on the heart-swelling "Basket". Dan Mangan is on course to becoming one of Canada's purest and most effective songwriters.

Rob's Best: #18: The Bronx II

Released: July 18, 2006

This shit is punk rock gold!  These LA dudes know how to make fast, grooving, southern California punk rock and roll, and make it sound like sex in your ears, in the best way possible! 

Trystan's Best #18: Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows

Released: June 24th, 2008

Folk-Rock is a weird thing. How can something be simultaneously acoustic & mellow and electric & rockin? I mean, Bob Dylan's electric stuff, although labeled folk-rock, was simply rock music by a formerly folk artist. So does folk-rock exist? Certainly. It was willed to life by a trio of Canadians, in a band called Elliott Brood.
Mountain Meadows roars to life with the driving opener "Fingers And Tongues" and doesn't let up for almost nine whole songs. Their heavy, working-man riffs are crafted out of small, acoustic blues-guitars run through a distortion pedal. Who'da thought, right!? And while you're pumping your fist to "Write It All Down For You" or singing along to the all-too singalongable closer "Miss You Now" you will know this is folk-rock. Mean enough to start a mosh pit, and down to earth enough to know you don't need to.

Trystan's Best #19: Handsome Furs - Face Control

Released: March 10th, 2009

Handsome Furs' debut, Plague Park, was an endearing, albeit less-than-groundbreaking, collection of songs. Nonetheless, you could tell Dan Boeckner and then-fiance-now-wife Alexei Perry were onto something. With Face Control, the two assert not only that they're the real deal, but that they might just be the sexiest couple in rock'n'roll. Boeckner barks through a cigarette-smoke lined throat and doles out lightning-strike guitar hooks while Perry pumps out some industrial beats stolen right out of an East-German disco. Boeckner manages to make somewhat cliche lines seem as new as ever, particularly on standout "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything". The blood gets pumping early with the deadly "Evangeline" and the thumping "Talking Hotel Arabat Blues". The album hits a major peak with Boeckner's guitar wailing on "I'm Confused", but the Berlin Wall love-story closer "Radio Kaliningrad" just can't be forgotten.

Rob's Best: #19: Tegan & Sara - The Con

Released: July 24, 2007

If any of you know me, you probably already know that I have a love affair with these two women.  They're probably the only band that turns my brain into that of a prepubescent girl.  The Con is their best album.  It is quirky, fun, and catchy as all get out.  The whole album flows wonderfully, with a really strong and upbeat introduction from the off-beat opener combo of "I Was Married" and "Relief Next To Me" through the flagship song "The Con" and into the lead single "Back In Your Head".  While the last half of the album is filled with the emotional highpoints "Nineteen", "Dark Come Soon," and "Call It Off."  This might seem like needless namedropping to fill up space, but I would likely kick myself later if I didn't mention each one because all of them are amazing and delightful and gosh they're neat!

Rob's Best: #20: The World / Inferno Friendship Society - Addicted To Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century

Released: September 11, 2007

The World / Inferno Friendship Society is a punk rock cabaret collective led by the unfailingly entertaining Jack Terricloth.  Addicted To Bad Ideas is a concept album based upon the life and works of actor Peter Lorre that begins in true classical fashion with an overture of soft, plucked cello that quickly grows into a bombastic serenade with more strings, clarinet, piccolo, and a horn section.  Then the drums kick in and the show begins in all of its sensational, over-the-top, rock and roll / klezmer fusion glory.  This album never fails to make me happy to be alive when I listen to it, especially the song "Ich Erinnere Mich An Die Weimarer Republik."  You listen to that song and I dare you to try and not start dancing. 

Rob's Best: #21: The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Released: May 15, 2007

This is probably the sexiest folk album of the decade.  This album is filled with, you guessed it, emotional highs and lows.  From the opening porch stomper "Die Die Die" and "Will You Return?" to the simple, quiet beauty of "The Ballad of Love and Hate", this album will take you on a journey through stories of love, betrayal, and heartache.  Brothers Seth and Scott Avett will sing their way right up to your heart, and will set up shop with their guitar and their banjo and just croon the night away.