Top 10, Part I

This is going to take a while and I'm gonna have to come up with more categories and top things, so I'm gonna split it all up into a few posts that will last a couple of days. First and foremost, top 10 albums, I guess. This is going to be difficult.

1. Propagandhi - Supporting Caste
2. Dead to Me - African Elephants
3. American Steel - Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts
4. Banner Pillot - Collapser
5. Teenage Bottlerocket - They Came From the Shadows
6. Cobra Skulls - American Rubicon
7. Anti-Flag - The People or the Gun
8. Big D and the Kids Table - Fluent in Stroll
9. The Lawrence Arms - Buttsweat and Tears
10. Paint It Black - Amensia and Surrender

Some of those could be switched, but that's a good list of new albums I dug this year. Here's a list of other albums I really dig that I've recently found and that aren't new (at least, I don't think any of them are) OR new albums that didn't make my top 10 simply because I didn't think of them and stuff:

• The Creepshow - Sell Your Soul
• Billy Talent - Billy Talent II
• The Draft - In a Million Pieces
• Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) - What It Takes to Move Forward
• The Dwarves - The Dwarves Must Die
• Dear Landlord - Dream Homes
• The Flatliners - Cynics
• Weezer - Raditude
• Frenzal Rhomb - Forever Malcolm Young
• The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
• Smoking Popes - Stay Down
• The Living End - Modern Artillery
• Millencolin - Kingwood
• The Menzingers - Hold On Dodge and A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology
• One Man Army - Rumors and Headlines
• Only Crime - Virulence
• Paint It Black - everything they've made
• Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
• The Adolescents - The Adolescents
• 7 Seconds - Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over!

There has been a lot of new music I've been discovering in the past year, as you can tell. And those are just ones that really stuck out to me. I know I have to be forgetting stuff just when I make that. This was also the year that I saw some awesome bands. Truly. So here's a top ten of best performances I've seen:

1. Alkaline Trio - flawless performance, great spirits, best set list on earth. Best BAND on earth. AND they're totally the nicest guys ever.
   
2. Dillinger Four - for that Baby Batman joke and for being hilarious and fun as shit.
   
3. The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) - for Mike Ski and Chachi. Mike Ski is funny as shit and has the most charisma I've ever seen in a singer. He also did some great jumps and Chachi is a fun drummer to watch. The whole band works great together.
   
4. Propagandhi - for being Propagandhi and being able to play those songs flawlessly. And also for Dan Yemin from Paint It Black singing "Fuck the Border." I will never forget that.
   
5. Paint It Black - for being the best hardcore band on earth and proving it on stage.
   
6. No Doubt - for a very well choreographed show and that awesome way of introducing the band members and for that solo the guitarist did on that classical guitar that just sat in the middle of the stage.
   
7. blink-182 - for coming back and kicking some ass and being as hilarious as on any album.
   
8. Rise Against - for playing a really great setlist regardless of the new songs and for having so much energy. Also for Tim taking me back to Paint It Black when he sang "State of the Union."
   
9. Billy Talent - this could be solely for "Red Flag" and "Fallen Leaves." Excellent band. Just as good live.
   
10. Saves the Day - totally blew me away with "What Went Wrong." Also, their black bassist was fun to watch, though he and their left-handed drummer very recently quit. Also a great band.
    

I'm a little biased for some of them, but that Alkaline Trio show blew my mind. Honorable mention goes to Paramore for that guy flipping over top of that other guy while they both had guitars on. Also, Weezer was great. I may have liked Weezer better if Pat Wilson would have drummed more.

And here's a list of my favorite I Forget moments of the year:

1. Playing the FYE show to 600 or so people.
2. Playing at a completely packed Warren a few weeks ago.
3. Trying to record the stutter in "Great Smile."
4. Bringing Brandon over to rehearse at Jason's.
5. Writing new songs with lead parts.
6. Playing at Tuscarora Ruritan and having people mosh to "You Suck."
7. Playing with The Sheckies and having Andy Social sing "The Monster Mash" with us.
8. Playing with Freaky J and the Bears and watching them progress.
9. Playing with The Vankills and laughing and singing "Leave It Alone" with them.
10. Denny's.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'll talk about some movies I enjoyed and shit later. Maybe some all-time favorite moments of the year. Who knows?! If you want to comment, I'll take suggestions!

love,
Kyle