The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The... A bunch of mid-tempo pop/rockers, a ballad, and a pop punk number - the common thread throughout the album is the songs are all catchy, easy, memorable, and clean. From what I gather they've got a "fake indie"/flavor of the month thing going on, but I've yet to tire of these 11 songs since March.




Low - C'mon Continuation of their slowwwly evolving sound. Love the songwriting, and the fact that the pop is there despite the pace is still at a snail's crawl. Music that both sounds and feels good.




Night Birds - The Other Side of Darkness Pretty much the perfect storm of punk. My favorite guitarist Mike Hunchback and my favorite bassist Joe Keller in the same band. 80s-inspired, surf-rooted, horror themed. Scary good and much preferred to any old school punk band reuniting.




Copyrights - North Sentinel Island Midwest sing-along pop punk. All band members chanting the chorus seemed kinda gimmicky at first, until you realize it sounds better that way. One of those bands that doesn't change their formula too much, and yet still can keep coming up with infectious songs that you want to hear on that road trip or at that show. This band cannot play a bad set.

no one cares? awesome! here's a few more.


Sloan Peterson - Why Go Out One of those smart punk bands that's able to write energetic pop punk stuff without devolving into Ramonescore or some other uber-derivative shit. Once the ball got rolling, I liked this album more each listen, and the love continues to grow. Not sure if the album was actually released (yet). The band seems kaput at the moment. Stream or d/l the album here: http://sloanepeterson.bandcamp.com/releases


Fishboy - Classic Creeps I posted a small bit about this in the "Hear this 2011" thread. It's a story/concept album, and a strange one at that (hello rocketship, time travel, and friends!). Songs are so good though, easily the best nerd rock album I've heard since I don't know when.



La Sera - La Sera One of the Vivian Girls doing a side thing. IMO much better than what the band does. Songs are tighter, production is cleaner, and even though it makes me sound like a hipster backlash douche dude, I like it simply because it isn't that "lo-fi on purpose garage pop" shit that a lot of other bands ruined into the ground the past two years. I'm a sucker for cute girl vocals and easy melodies, sue me! Reminds me of Dear Nora/Katy Davidson, one of my fav indie pop girls of the early 00s.

Note - video may be nsfw (fake gore and stuff)



Battles - Gloss Drop I prefer this new one to the old one, and I think many others here feel the opposite. Oh well. To my ears it's a lot more accessible while still brimming with creativity. Also, I think the guest stars here are amazing and appropriate - totally add a boost to the album rather than weigh it down with gimmicks. Matias Aguayo, Gary Numan, Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino, and the Boredoms' Yamantaka Eye all make some awesome collab material.

Ok, throwing this out to put this shit to bed!

Rounding out the top 10:
09. Jonny - Jonny
10. Sheepdogs - Learn And Burn

Best EPs/Singles/Demo
01. Gooningtons - Welcome To Goonington Beach
02. Revolver - Parallel Lives
03. Built To Spill - Ripple
04. Army Coach - Daydream
05. Masked Intruder - Demo

Best Soundtrack
01. The Muppets (DUH!)

Best Compilation That's Not Really A Compilation
01. David's Town: 11 Original Hits From Byrdsdale Spa, UK

Bottom 20:
11. Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
12. Yep - Once
13. Akron Family - S/T II
14. Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams
15. House Boat - The Thorns Of Life
16. Lola Kite - Lights
17. Tune Yards - Whokill
18. Title Tracks - In Blank
19. Wild Flag - S/T
20. Lemuria - Pebble

Best Songs By Bands That Aren't On My Top Lists:
01. Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Even In Dreams
02. Kassidy - I Don't Know
03. Tenement - Simple Things (Can Seem So Involved)

Post Break Up Sex off that Vaccines album is just a great song. Night Birds is good and has gotten play around here. Still meaning to spin that Copyrights, but they do get pretty samey for me.

I see a lot of people liking that Battles, I should probably at least check out a track sometime, sometime when I am not somewhere those videos are blocked anyway.

We have a little overlap this year - Low, Battles, and Tune-Yards are all in good top 30-ish spots on my list.

Kinda slept on the Wild Flag album, but I think I'll like it if I spend some time with it. Never been a S-K fan, but the other elements at work here seem to make this better.

Yeah in my opinion Wild Flag takes the dreamy vocals and guitar jamminess of Helium and mixes it with the raw energy/direct rock of S-K. The arty/wanky stuff of Helium is reigned in, and S-K finds some melodies. It's the best of both groups without the flaws.

I am gonna check out almost everything on your list!

I agree the Battles' Gloss Drop is more interesting than the last one. They really sound like no one else.

I generally disagree with anyone who thinks that the absence of Tyondai Braxton really hurts this album. Especially considering that I don't think his last solo album is really all that good.

But somehow it just didn't hit me like Mirrors did, even though I like this one a lot.

I also like Gloss Drop but strongly prefer Mirrored. Don't think it's a Tyondai thing.

The Vaccines record just didn't take for me.