Top Ten Releases of 2009!

I might as well do something this stupid, right? It's the end of 2009, and I'm going to shoot right out of the gates and say that this year was the year of the 7". Punk Rock has always been known for having a very close relationship with limited edition, colored vinyl, but this year had a slew of EP's, as well as some plain old full lengths. Here's MY top ten releases of 2009.

10. Paint It Black-"Surrender" (Fat Wreck Chords).
This year, Paint It Black went into the studio with Kurt Ballou of Converge and cranked out 9 tracks to be released on two 7" records on two separate labels. The first of which was "Amnesia," the follow-up being "Surrender." Now, don't get me wrong; this is a GOOD record. It's four songs were short enough to fit on a 45, but ferocious to fit nicely into Paint It Black's celebrated catalog. As good of a record as this was, I feel it was lacking a lot of the melody of the band's previous efforts and was trying too hard to be a "raw" hardcore record. "Amnesia" was better by far.

That should be a pretty good transition to our number 9...

9. Paint It Black-"Amnesia" (Bridge Nine).
This was a good record. I felt it captured everything that you could expect from Paint It Black: Slight Aggression, lots of political/social commentary, and a ton of sing-along-worthy melody. I feel that "Bliss" may be the band's best song yet.

8. Snowing-"Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit"
Technical 90s-style Emo at it's best. These guys know what the hell their doing and the influence of Braid, Cap'n Jazz and the like is ever apparent. I think this band has a lot ahead of them, and I'm excited to hear more from them. It's available as a free download on Ifyoumakeit.com, and there should be a link to the vinyl as well.

7. Comadre-A Wolf Ticket.
Do I need to say anything here? Comadre delivers loud, fast, chaotic hardcore that reminds me of a lot of earlier Screamo like Saetia, Hot Cross, and Funeral Diner. Certainly a must-listen album.

6. Nightmares For a Week-"A Flood Tomorrow" (Music For End Times/Broken English).
Sense I first stumbled across this band on Myspace, I've been hooked. They're absolutely amazing. They mixed together so many different sounds and put them all into a wonderful Punk Rock record. I can't wait for a full length.

5. Big D and The Kids Table-Fluent In Stroll (Side One Dummy)
Ok, I'll admit, I hated this album at first. I thought it was horrible, and completely abandoned their old sound. After a while, I accepted this album as a great evolution for the band. It's still got a lot of Big D's classic Ska sound, just with less Punk influence. This isn't a terrible album after all.

4. Andrew Jackson Jihad-Can't Maintain (Asian Man)
Andrew Jackson Jihad is a wonderful band. Their brand of funny, catchy Folk Punk has had me hooked for a while. Can't Maintain is pretty much what you'd expect from AJJ with the addition of electric instruments. A very lovable record.

3. Banner Pilot-Collapser (Fat Wreck Chords)
Banner Pilot are becoming one of my favorite bands. They're undeniably catchy, and add enough grit that they can appeal to just about everyone. Think Kid Dynamite meets None More Black meets Jawbreaker meets Hot Water Music and you get the wonderful Punk outfit known as Banner Pilot.

2. Polar Bear Club-Chasing Hamburg (Bridge Nine)
Oooooh, Polar Bear Club.

1. Kudrow-"Lando" (Quote Unquote/Ernest Jenning/If You Make It)
This EP only came out a couple weeks ago, but we've been waiting for it for what feels like a year now. Kudrow is really taking a lot of 90's pop/indie/alternative influence and putting it into some solid Punk/Pop Punk tunes. Kudrow is going to be another band worth watching in 2010, as they are better than all the other bands the individual members participate in.

Ok, that's it. Happy New Year.