propertyofzack:

We posted a PropertyOfZack Friday Discussion on The Best Album Openers last week, so we’re following it up this week with The Best Album Closers. Album closers have the ability to leave a truly emotional mark on the listener, and we’ve experienced quite a few memorable ones over the years in our scene. We put the closers together in an Rdio Playlist to listen to as you read the Discussion as well. Check out our list below and feel free to reblog with some of your favorite album closers!

 

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I love topics like these, here are some of my favorite album closers (in no particular order):

• Jimmy Eat World - 23
• Alkaline Trio - Blue In the Face
• Thrice - Beggars
• Anberlin - *fin
• Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
• Taking Back Sunday - Everything Must Go
• blink-182 - Anthem
• Against Me! - Cavalier Eternal
• My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
• Finch - Ender
• Third Eye Blind - God of Wine
• Atmosphere - In Her Music Box
• Emarosa - We Are Life
• Murder By Death - The Devil Drives

This list seems way too small though, I’m sure I’ve forgotten quite a few.

1. Dance Gavin Dance (17)
2. The Weeknd (15)
3. Nine Inch Nails (15)
4. Taking Back Sunday (14)
5. blink-182 (12)

I went and saw Dance Gavin Dance last week for the opening show of their tour at the Glass House in Pomona. It had been announced a couple days before that Jonny Craig would not be available due to usual Jonny Craig Drama. Since A Lot Like Birds was already on tour Kurt Travis would be doing some of his old songs and Matt Geise (ex-Lower Definition) would be handling Jonny’s songs.

I was actually looking forward to it; I never got a chance to see them play with Kurt and my old band had played a few shows with Lower Definition so it would be cool to see Matt Geise sing again. The Kurt-era songs were amazing. He was spot on and you could tell that he was really enjoying himself singing his old songs. Unfortunately Matt, on the other hand, was a pretty solid disappointment. I can imagine it would be hard to fill Jonny’s shoes but it was hard to listen to. He hit most of the notes but the vocal strength was severely lacking.

Anyways, after the concert I felt the need to listen to the songs how they should have sounded; hence DGD being at the top of the list this week. As a side note, I don’t really even remember listening to Taking Back Sunday this week. Weird.

Music

2011 was an awesome year for music. There were a ton of great releases, including a few reunion albums. The year also brought a large amount of disappointing albums for me, personally. And to cap it off it will also see the end of two of my favorite bands, Thursday and Thrice. Anyways, here are my favorites, let me know what I missed (and don’t say Black Keys, Foster the People, or Florence and the Machine, I will internet punch you for suggesting any of those).

Best Albums 

1. Foo Fighters, Wasting Light - I know it’s been said way too much, but it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s true; Foo Fighters have not sounded this good since The Colour and the Shape. In the past, their albums have been plagued with “filler” tracks, but this one can be played from start to finish, on repeat, forever. And while it still may not be as good as Colour, it’s by far the best album of the year, and probably the best straight up Rock album in recent memory.
2. Thursday, No Devolucion - It looks like they will end with their best album. They managed to fuse the usual heavy stuff with their softer, more melodic, tendencies perfectly. I haven’t really liked much of their output since War All the Time, but this release delivers. The songs are all epic sounding while keeping an almost poppy vibe during a lot of it. Geoff channels his inner Thom Yorke on the vocals. On other albums, his voice is almost jarring a lot of times, which has always been part of their thing, but he changed it up and it blends in beautifully with the rest of the music on this set of songs.
3. Dance Gavin Dance, Downtown Battle Mountain II - Yes, Jonny Craig is a shitty person, and yes, they probably have some of the worst lyrics ever written by a band, but everything else is awesome. Their music is completely unpredictable, from hip hop grooves and jazzy bridges, to thrash beats and sweeping guitar solos. Jonny has one of the best voices in the scene and manages to be coherent enough, in between drug induced highs, to write some amazing vocal melodies. As many faults as this album has, I found myself listening to it very often.
4. Taking Back Sunday, Self Titled - The return of the original lineup didn’t quite live up to expectations, but I don’t think anything they could have put out would have. The album is still great though and contains my favorite song of the year, “This Is All Now”. The emotion and energy that has been absent from the last couple releases is definitely back. My hope is that this was a warming up; their The Bends, and their next release will be an OK Computer.
5. blink-182, Neighborhoods - Another album that had huge expectations, and it almost delivered. It’s a solid set of songs, but nothing epic, and definitely not close to what these guys are actually capable of. Also, for the first time I think I like Tom’s songs better than Mark’s, specifically “Wishing Well” and “Even If She Falls”. Here’s hoping to a better follow up.
6. Polar Bear Club, Clash Battle Guilt Pride - Riley Breckinridge (Thrice) has been talking about these guys for years. On this release I finally listened, and I’m glad I did. The album is a solid, straight up, distorted guitar driven rock album. Nothing fancy but they do it well. 
7. Childish Gambino, Camp - I wasn’t even aware Donald Glover had a hip hop alter ego until about a month or so ago when he performed on Conan. His style is kind of all over the place; sometimes a little Kanye, sometimes a little Lil Wayne. His non-typical lyrics are where he shines though, complete with Invader Zim and Mumford and Sons references. The songs are catchy and the production might be my favorite on any hip hop album that I’ve heard this year.
8. Jay-Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne - Enough has been said about this one. It’s good, and “N***** in Paris” is amazing, I had it on repeat as soon as I heard it.
9. Fucked Up, David Comes to Life - I’ve always been a fan of these guys but haven’t always had their albums in heavy rotation until this one. They switched up the music to a more pop rock sound and it works well with Damian’s screaming vocals.
10. Glassjaw, Our Color Green and Coloring Book EP’s - Glassjaw recorded more music! And this time it did live up to expectations. The songs are extremely technical but still groove. Hundreds of vocalists try and emulate Daryl but there is only one and he definitely keeps proving it on these two releases. I hope this isn’t it for them and they keep pumping out more new music, I think everyone is over Head Automatica.

Worth Mentioning

Thrice’s release, Major/Minor, was good not great. I like it but after putting out an album like Beggars it just didn’t resonate with me at all. Angels and Airwaves almost made my top 10 with Love Part 2. Tom toned down the space battle soundtrack feeling of previous albums and really focused the songs to make an actual good album, a first in my opinion. D.R.U.G.S.’s debut album was solid and I definitely listened to it a lot, but for some reason I didn’t feel it was up there with the rest. I would still recommend it though. I didn’t get Lupe Fiasco’s new album until two weeks ago so I haven’t had enough time to really listen to it yet. From what I heard though, it probably would have had a good chance at being somewhere on here. Mayer Hawthorne’s album How Do You Do isn’t anything special, but the Motown sounding songs are nice to listen to whenever.

Also, there are two albums I wish I had discovered last year when they were released, Mumford & Sons and Death in the Park. Everyone knows who Mumford is, but Death in the Park is Hot Rod Circuit vocalist Andy’s side project. It gas less country tinge to it than Hot Rod, but still signature Andy songwriting and one of my favorite albums that I discovered this year.

Biggest Disappointments

• Patrick Stump, Soul Punk and Truant Wave EP - I think I’ve said enough about him here. I do actually like the song “Spotlight” though.
• Get Up Kids, There are Rules - I’m not sure if they were trying to distance themselves from the extremely poppy Guilt Show (which was awesome), but this album was a pile of crap. And the fuzz on every instrument didn’t help things.
• Radiohead, King of Limbs - I think a lot of people came to the same conclusion after the initial I-have-to-worship-this-album-since-everything-Radiohead-release-is-God feeling wore off. Although maybe it’s just because it can’t help but be compared to In Rainbows, their best since OK Computer.
• Unwritten Law, Lil Wayne, Death Cab For Cutie - Don’t feel like even writing words for these, they sucked.

Top 10 Listened to Albums in 2011 (According to Last.FM)

1. Taking Back Sunday, Self Titled
2. Dance Gavin Dance, Downtown Battle Mountain II
3. Foo Fighters, Wasting Light
4. blink-182, Neighborhoods
5. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, D.R.U.G.S.
6. Thrice, Major/Minor
7. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
8. Thursday, No Devolucion
9. Fucked Up, David Comes to Life
10. Mayer Hawthorne, How Do You Do

Favorite Songs

1. Taking Back Sunday - “This Is All Now” 
2. Dance Gavin Dance - “Elder Goose”
3. Polar Bear Club - “Pawner”
4. D.R.U.G.S. - “My Swagger Has a First Name”
5. Childish Gambino - “Heartbeat”
6. Jay-Z & Kanye West - “N***** In Paris”
7. Foo Fighters - “Arlandria”
8. Thrice - “Promises”
9. blink-182 - “Wishing Well”
10. Yellowcard - “For You, and Your Denial”

Film

I failed hard when it comes to movies this year; I wasn’t able to see nearly enough of them. I’ll list my favorites, but there will definitely be more than a few that are missing from it.

Best Films

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - Even without seeing everything I wanted to, I know for a fact that this would still be on top. It was the perfect ending to the biggest franchise in film. It more than delivered on the (predictable) incompleteness of part 1. I still can’t believe that this is it for the series though; I (and everyone else) want more!
2. Hugo - I finally was able to see this last night and it was amazing, especially if you are familiar with film history at all. It’s kind of hard to describe what the film/story is about because there are so many things going on. It’s so much more than a kids adventure story while being a tribute to early film creators. The 3D was pretty great as well. Because of the setting (A train station in early 20th century France), there are no sprawling flying scenes like Avatar or How to Train Your Dragon, but Scorsese’s shot composition make the 3D elements really breathe and come to life. This would easily have topped my list if I wasn’t such a Harry Potter super-fan.
3. Thor - This was just a great action movie. The plot was interesting enough to enhance all the action and explosions, while never seeming over the top (which is quite a feat with the subject matter). The casting, and in turn the acting, was perfect for the film. 
4. Drive - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an actor exude such intensity as Ryan Gosling does in this film. It’s one of those movies where you’re on the edge of your seat the whole time but not quite sure why… until Gosling has to smash a guy’s head in. 
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I have never empathized with a CG character as much as I did with Caesar. Most of that is probably due to the amazing motion capture acting that Andy Serkis (also Gollum in LOTR) does. I would say there should be an Academy Award for what he does, but he would just win it every year. It was also refreshing to have a good Planet of the Apes film since there hasn’t been one since the original.

Honorable Mentions

Source Code, X-Men: First Class, Bridemaids, Moneyball, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Worst Films

1. Sucker Punch - I can’t write enough hate for this movie. It is probably on my list of worst movies of all time. At least some bad movies acknowledge what they are and embrace it. It’s just sad when one tries to be epic and fails miserably. The story tries to make the whole setting a metaphor and everything is a symbol for something else but doesn’t attempt to explain what or even provide a reason of why the audience should actually care. The fact that the main plot revolves around the girls trying to find a few, specific, arbitrary items (that could easily be substituted for literally hundreds of things) in order to escape their “prison” is a testament to how weak everything about this film is. Stick to making other people’s comics into movies Zack Snyder, please.
2. Green Lantern - Thank you for shitting all over my favorite superhero. That’s all I have to say about that.

Still Need to See

The Lincoln Lawyer, Midnight In Paris, Super 8, Horrible Bosses, Friends With Benefits, Crazy Stupid Love, Fright Night, 50/50, The Ides of March, The Rum Diary, Tower Heist, The Muppets, The Descendants, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

TV

Best TV Shows

1. Game of Thrones (HBO) - I’m not sure how I didn’t even know about George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series until this year (I’m losing nerd points), but I’m glad HBO decided to make it into a series. As soon as I heard about it, I blazed through all of the books and waited in anticipation for the shows. They were awesome. It managed to capture everything great about the book while trimming away things that were not that important. I can’t wait for season 2 next year.
2. The League (FX) - If you like sitcoms (or funny things in general) and are not watching this show, you are failing. It is the funniest thing on TV right now. Don’t let the Fantasy Football theme drive you off, that’s just a jumping off point.
3. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - One of the few sitcoms that manages to be consistently funny, helped in no small part by the hilarious Neil Patrick Harris.
4. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) -Everyone knows about this show. Larry David is amazing.
5. Young Justice (Cartoon Network) -I miss the old DC animated series (Batman, Superman, Justice League), and while not quite the same, it’s pretty close.

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Obviously music plays a major role in my life as well as many others. It’s fun for me to think about the first time I heard a specific song or band, or the moment a band you had heard before “clicks” with you and pulls you in. So I looked at my Last.FM top 10 overall artists and re-remembered those moments.

1. NOFX - The very first song I heard from them I was hooked. It was “Kids of the K-Hole” on the compilation Punk-O-Rama 4. I hadn’t listened to any of the Fat Wreck/Epitaph punk bands at this point in my life and that compilation and song directed a good portion of my future musical taste. The intro bass line is still one of my favorites and so is the song.
2. Foo Fighters - Even though I was in 4th or 5th grade at the time, I was aware of Foo Fighters when they debuted after the tragic end of Nirvana. However, I wasn’t really into them until a couple years later when the film Varsity Blues came out. It sounds cheesy, but there was a trailer for it that was basically a typical sports movie cliche, but it was set to the song “My Hero”. The combination of the two was goosebumps worthy. The drum intro to that song is now an instantly recognizable and iconic piece of drumming in my opinion. 
3. blink-182 - One of the bands that I can actually thank the radio for. “Dammit” came out right after a middle school breakup, so of course it was my theme song for the few days before the next week long “relationship”. Also, I feel like I discovered them again the first time I heard “What’s My Age Again?” on the radio. It was a revelation at the time that punk music could be poppy as well. Bonus fact: Before MP3’s, I had bought Dude Ranch about three or four times because my mom kept throwing it away for the questionable content. Apparently parents don’t like songs about voyeurism, bongs, streaking, masturbating, prison rape, etc. Who knew?
4. Alkaline Trio - Another revelation in pop-punk; lyrics could be dark, but fun, unlike self-important corporate rock. It was fun to actually listen to every word that Dan and Matt sang because you never would expect what would accompany the catchy guitar riffs and vocal melodies. The first song I heard from them was “Stupid Kid,” because the guitarist of my band at the time was concerned that it sounded too much like one of our songs. He was right, we unknowingly were playing almost the exact same intro guitar riff. Unintentional plagiarism has its upsides if you can discover new music I guess.
5. Nine Inch Nails - Another band I was aware of long before I became a fan (pretty sure everyone know’s the song “Closer”). By 2005, I had become a Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters superfan and I had read that he had recorded drums on With Teeth. I loved the album and so I then went back and started working my way through the rest of their discography and have been a fan ever since. It also helped that Josh Freese, another of my favorite drummers, took over drumming duties after With Teeth came out.
6. Atmosphere - I actually don’t remember the first time hearing them, but I guarantee it was while working in Circuit City Car Electronics on the shop stereo. And it was probably my coworkers-at-the-time/friends-now Mikey or Chris who put it on. Atmosphere was also the gateway drug for me discovering a lot of other indie hip-hop artists, and up to that point I had pretty much stayed away from any kind of rap or hip-hop.
7. Minus the Bear - Another band that I love where I don’t remember the exact discovery moment, but it feels like I’ve been listening to them forever. My guess is that my friend Brandt showed them to me, since he is usually the one who shows me bands that I generally would not find on my own.
8. The Beatles - The Yellow Submarine was one of my favorite movies as a kid, thanks to my grandparents, but two things made me actually start listening to the Beatles later in life: the fascinating stories on the Anthology DVD’s, and hearing Sgt. Pepper for the first time. My good buddy Quinn (and his dad) can take credit for both of those events.
9. Against Me! - When I worked at Circuit City, the XM punk music channel Fungus (R.I.P.) was always on and this band had regular plays. I didn’t particularly like them so much until I had a chance to go see them live, specifically, hearing the epic last section of the song “Turn Those Clapping Hands Into Angry Balled Fists” for the first time. Their energy on stage makes you hear their songs on the album in a whole new light.
10. Taking Back Sunday - I actually didn’t like them at first. This was probably due to the fact I was trying to be cool by thinking “emo” was lame and all bands even remotely related sucked (whatever “emo” was/is). But there are only so many times you can hear those choruses coming through your car speakers before you can’t stop yourself from singing along at the top of your longs and invite funny looks from the people in the cars next to you. Also, pretty sure any high schooler can relate to most of those over-dramatic-at-times lyrics.

I’ve been listening to the new album stream *ahem* for the last day and my excitement is building for the concert on Tuesday, so here are my fanboy favorite songs (not including stuff off the new one)… categorized because there are too many good ones.

Favorite Album Opener - “Set Phasers to Stun”

It’s really close between this song and “You Know How I do,” but something about the cutting guitar intro stands out to me and the former might be one of the only times that I don’t like what Mark is playing on the drums. This song also features one of my favorite lyrical one liners, “I’m comfortably confused.”

Favorite Album Closer - “Everything Must Go”

Not sure where all the hate for New Again comes from, but I love it. TBS are kings of loud/quiet dynamics in their music and this song pretty much epitomizes that.

Favorite Lyrics (Besides There’s No “I” In Team) - “You’re So Last Summer”

Adam and John had a way with painting a graphic picture with the lyrics on Tell All Your Friends and this song is no exception. Also, bonus points for having Flavor Flav sing them in the video.

Favorite B-Side - “Brooklyn (If You See Something, Say Something)”

This should have made the Louder Now album cut, it’s a way better song than at least a few of the ones that made it.

Top 3 Songs (In No Particular Order Because There Really Are Too Damn Many)

1. “Sink Into Me” - Quite possibly their catchiest song and the best lyrics on New Again in my opinion.
2. “One-Eighty By Summer” - I like to think this song was started before the big split because it definitely sounds like it should have been on Tell All Your Friends.
3. “Liar (It Takes One To Know One)” - The awesome music video probably influenced this choice.

*The song “This Is All Now” could possibly be my new favorite but it may just be the newness of it. The video for that one is a couple posts back.