Andy Gapin

It’s a Christmas miracle! I got my top 10 albums of the year list done! I kept forgetting about this and putting it off so much that I didn’t think I’d have it done by Christmas, but I buckled down and made it happen.

In years past, I’ve done bigger lists and/or had honorable mentions and all that jazz. Mostly this was fueled by hosting The Playlist, but without having a radio show to host a top albums of the year countdown on now, I had less drive to make a list that I could fill an hour (or two) with.

This was an odd year for me, I barely spent any time listening to music. Even though I still hosted the radio show up until September, I felt less connected to the music than I used to. I think this is a temporary thing, but I really found myself never listening to music at home and listening much, much less at work. I’m putting the blame on trying to do too much and having too much going on. It used to be that the biggest thing in my life was the radio station. Most of what I did was connected to that so I was surrounded by music. Before that, I ran a venue. Before that, I did little besides going to shows. So up until recently, most of my time and hobbies were music  related. That’s changed a lot this year, I spend more time doing non-music related things now. It’s changed a lot for me, but I think things will even out sooner or later. I hope at least.

Because of all that, I think I missed out on a lot of music this year and even stuff that I did check out, didn’t get the time that it deserved. Making a list this year was hard, but I’m pretty happy with it.

So here it is, the albums I was most into for 2010…

It’s a position I never thought that I’d find myself it, but with The Playlist coming to an end after next week’s show, I’ve realized that I don’t know how to keep up with new music on my own anymore. It’s actually kind of interesting when I think about it.

For the last seven years, I’ve hosted a radio show dedicated entirely to new music, so you’d think that I’d know all about digging up new music. Unfortunately for me, that’s not true at all. Being at a college radio station gives such amazing access to new music that you really don’t even have to try at all, it’s just there for you. Seven years ago, I took over the position of Head Music Director at 90.3 The Core and it was awesome. Even though I had been a DJ there for two years already, I had no idea just how much music the station received on a weekly basis. We’re talking 60-100 new albums a week. That’s a lot. Even with ten other people working under me in the department, I still had to be reviewing at least 30-35 of those albums each week myself just for the department to be able to keep up. I had no choice, all this new music was shoved in my face. I would complain every once in a while about not having the time to listen to the music I wanted to anymore, but in hindsight, that was probably one of the best problems anyone could ever have.

After a while, I had gotten so used to this that I didn’t look for new music on my own anymore. I would find out about a few bands here and there from friends or the indie music message board that I spent way too much time on, but I never had to actively look for new music. When I stepped down from the position as Head Music Director after two years–I wasn’t a student anymore and didn’t think it’d be right to keep the position–I still had access to all of the music. Since then, I’ve shown up a few hours early to every show just hang out and check out new music. Again, no effort. And one of the best things about this was that I had access to the full albums for free.

That’s all over now.

In the couple years before all of that, most of the music I found out about was from friends, going to shows, and from running a small venue for a while. None of this really took any effort either, there was still a ton of music just being pushed in my direction.

The last time I had to actually put effort into finding out about new music was before people did this via the Internet. It was the late 90s when most people still didn’t go online regularly. I would actually have to go to the CD store and take a risk buying something I knew only by name. I would check out the bands listed in the thank you section of the liner notes for albums. I would check out bands that I saw on show flyers for shows I didn’t even go to. I would actually ask people what they were listening to and go through the CDs they had in their backpacks. This was real work! Even once Napster hit the scene, you still needed to have an idea of what you were trying to listen to.

Over the course of the last ten years, everything changed. People don’t need to do that kind of work anymore. The Internet took over and made it super easy to find out about tons of new music and download it for free to at least check it out (totally not suggesting that people shouldn’t make sure the artists get some money in their pockets). I missed out on a lot of that. I don’t even know what sites to read and where to download music anymore. I really don’t. I didn’t need it, so I didn’t pay attention to much of it. Now I need it and I don’t know where to go.

Even though I’m a pretty big tech geek that spends a lot of time keeping up with technology, I feel like some clueless old dude who was just told he needs to use online banking for everything now, but has never actually used a computer before. What the hell do I do?!?

What are the credible sites to read for finding new music? Where do people download stuff these days? Beyond subscribing to the RSS feeds for Punknews and Absolute Punk and looking at what people are listening to on Last.fm, I’ve got nothing. I don’t have time to read any new sites or message boards. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to do this when I actually have to work for it and it’s not just all right there for me.

I guess I knew this day would come at some point, but that doesn’t make this any easier.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

Jimmy Eat World is streaming the first single from their upcoming album, Invented, on their site right now. It’s called “My Best Theory” and it serves as proof that not even Mark Trombino can bring these guys back from the land of mediocrity that they’ve fallen into in the last ten years.

This band seems to get an endless number of chances from old fans that have been around pre-Bleed American. With each release since Bleed American, I hear the same thing about how the previous album wasn’t that great but this new one coming out is going to be so much better and serve as a “return to form” for the band. There’s always some good enough sounding reason behind this too. I always buy into it, but it never pans out. This time around, Mark Trombino was supposed to be their savior. I was willing to give it chance, what he’s done with them before was strong, there’s no denying that. But the truth is, despite what they graced us with in the second half of the ’90s, this band is just mediocre. Many of us “indie” kids still have a very soft spot in our hearts for Jimmy Eat World, but I think it’s time to give up hope. Let’s just walk away with Static Prevails and Clarity and be happy that we got those two incredible records from them. With two-thirds of their albums just being alright and their new single giving little hope for their seventh album, I think it’s time, guys. I’m sorry to be the one to say it.

To quote Gaslight Anthem, “those days are gone and you should just let them go.”

Okay, so Against Me! and She & Him are not two bands that you’d normally talk about together, but they’re two of my favorite bands and they both have records coming out.

Against Me!’s new record will be called White Crosses and is due out in the beginning of June, but it’s already leaked. No, I don’t have a link for you, the one I used is dead already, sorry. Tom Gabel doesn’t really seem to care too much, he said there was “no drama” and even posted all the lyrics on his blog. I’ve only listened to it once so far and to be honest, I’m not really impressed. Like many people, one of my favorite things about Against Me! is that everything they do is a progression over where they’ve been. They don’t stick with anything too long and always push forward. I really love that about them. But, I’m not quite sure that I like this push. When they signed to Sire and worked with Butch Vig for New Wave I don’t think anyone really knew what to think, but the product was stellar and really exceeded a lot of expectations. But this time around, I feel like everything I feared was going to happen with New Wave did happen. White Crosses feels very polished and major labely. I’m not going to say that that’s inherently a bad thing, but I’m not sure that it’s what I want in an Against Me! album. However, Against Me! is one of the few bands that I have learned not to judge too quickly. I hated Searching For A Former Clarity when it first came out, I thought it was going to kill them for me. It wasn’t until shortly after its release when I saw them at a party at CMJ that I feel in love with the record. Based on that, I’m willing to give White Crosses some time, but that first listen was horribly disappointing.

On the opposite end of the expectation fulfillment spectrum is She & Him’s Volume Two. This record comes out next week, but it’s currently streaming in its entirety over at NPR. This album is everything I could have hoped for in a sophomore release from She & Him. They pick up right where they left off with Volume One, yet avoid regurgitating the same songs back to us again. There are thirteen songs and, this time, only two covers. Each of the songs is cute and sweet and Zooey Deschanel’s vocals continue to the best by any female singer out there. Friends and long time readers of this blog know my obsession with her–my fiance refers to her as my girlfriend–so I am pretty biased, but if you can listen to this record and not fall in love with her voice like I have, then you’ve got no business listening to music at all. You’re going to want to pick this one up.

In the meantime, check out the video for the first single, “In The Sun.” It’s pretty much the cutest thing you’ll watch this month.

I played this album a bunch on my show, but it just really hit me this week. I’ve gotten super hooked on it. The Bridges are pretty much a few cute girls and some dude doing what I would expect to happen if Zooey Deschanel and Eisley teamed up to do a country-pop album. And since I like Ms. Deschanel, Eisley and country-pop, I’m sold.

Also on the cute girl making music front, if you’re into ’90s alt-rock, New Brunswick area band Blindspot (though, I hear that name is going to change soon) just recorded a demo that can be heard on their MySpace page.

I’ve been listening to this album a whole lot over the last week. I really wanted to make sure that when I reviewed it, I had done my homework.

After the first 30 seconds of the first listen, my immediate reaction was “what the hell is going on with the production here?!?!” I know that they were purposely producing it to sound live and to have a really strong Springsteen sound. There’s nothing wrong with being influenced by Springsteen, he’s an amazing artist. However, it’s one thing to be influenced by him and another to try and be him. I really feel that the production on this album is a bit too Springsteeny. It really does sound like they’re trying to be him instead of just sounding a bit like him.

The songwriting on the album is great though. The songs are really good and they sound exactly like where this band should be and needs to be right now. Even though there isn’t a lot of differentiation between many of them, they’re catchy. And there is some obvious some growth over Sink Or Swim in them, but the songs still keep a very Gaslight Anthem sound.

I love all of the references to other bands in the lyrics. Counting Crows, The Boss (obviously), Tom Petty, Otis Redding, Miles Davis. It’s kind of an explicit way to define who their influences are and as a listener it’s really awesome when you catch one of them and you’re like “wow, that’s such a random reference. I never would have expected that.”

I also love the consistency of the lyrics over the past couple albums and how some seem to reference others. I really like the whole “Maria” thing too. I’m glad that they keep doing that. I always wondered if every time he uses the name Maria, he’s talking about the same girl. But with the the lyric “call every girl we ever meet Maria” on the Senor And The Queen EP, I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s not always the same girl.

Despite the production, I really love this album. I loved the way the vocals sounded on Sink or Swim and I wish they sounded the same on The ’59 Sound, but other than that, I think this is a pretty solid follow-up. Any fan should be able to dig this.

As you may have heard, the new Hold Steady record, Stay Positive, is now streaming on their MySpace page. I got some mp3s of it over the weekend though so I’ve listened to it a few times by now.

I have been quoted as saying that if they made an entire record that sounded as good as “Sequestered In Memphis,” then they’d be the first band I can think of to put out two completely perfect albums in a row. That’s a lot to live up to. Boys And Girls In America was an absolutely incredible album. Flawless from beginning to end. Following up a record like that is not an easy task.

Unfortunately, Stay Positive falls a bit short. It is a great album. Without a doubt, it’ll be on my top 25 for 2008 list, but it just can’t quite touch Boys And Girls In America. There are some really great songs on it and Craig Finn’s storytelling and vocals are exactly where you’d expect and want them to be. The music gets a little weird at times though. I swear that when the third track, “One For Cutters,” came on, I thought that I had just crashed my car through a renaissance fair. It’s not bad, it’s just…unexpected and a bit different. And “Navy Sheets,” has some weird, almost carnival-like, almost The Anniversary-like, keyboards going on. It makes the song stand out and they give you something to grab onto, but it definitely hits you awkwardly the first time you hear it.

I think that this album will grow on me a bit more, but I can’t see it ever measuring up to Boys And Girls In America.

Check it out though. When it’s released, it’ll definitely be worth a purchase.

I love this album.

I had forgotten about it until about a week and a half ago, but a random Bodyjar song that someone sent me reminded me of Crumb. They only put out two albums and there’s almost zero information on them online, but if you can snag a copy of this album from somewhere you won’t regret it.

I’ve been listening to it almost constantly since then and I feel like I’m in high school again, but unlike Nothing Gold Can Stay, I’m not ashamed of this one. It’s fun, poppy indie rock that anyone should be able to get behind.

I love this album.

I had forgotten about it until about a week and a half ago, but a random Bodyjar song that someone sent me reminded me of Crumb. They only put out two albums and there’s almost zero information on them online, but if you can snag a copy of this album from somewhere you won’t regret it.

I’ve been listening to it almost constantly since then and I feel like I’m in high school again, but unlike Nothing Gold Can Stay, I’m not ashamed of this one. It’s fun, poppy indie rock that anyone should be able to get behind.

Over the weekend, I was going through some files on my computer and came across New Found Glory’s first album, Nothing Gold Can Stay. This is an album that I hadn’t listened to in about seven years and a band whose very existence after that time kind of made me fear for the future of music. However, in high school, this album was awesome. It was one of those albums that you listen to all the time and rock out to while driving. You know all the words and sing them as loud as you can. Nothing mind blowing musically, just fun songs.

So I thought it’d be fun to throw it on my iPod for later that night. I told my girlfriend that I had a surprise record to put on in the car that I knew for a fact she knew all of the words to. I refused to tell her what it was until it was time to put it on.

I have to say, as embarrassing as this is going to be–I’ll understand if you never want to listen to me talk about music again after this–it was so much fun! We both still knew all the words and we sang them all as loud as we could. Full on rocking out. It was really a good time and all week we’ve been texting and emailing each other random lyrics from it in response to stuff.

I can’t believe I’m even blogging about this, but if you loved this album years back, throw it on while driving this Spring/Summer with the windows down and let yourself have fun.