Andrew's Best Albums of the Decade

So apparently the decade is ending. Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Time Magazine says the 2000's were "the decade from hell." That's very rude of them! Shame on you, Time Magazine. I mean, the last 10 years gave us some pretty horrible things that were just the pits (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Lady Gaga) but hey, I liked this decade a lot! I've really only been alive for two whole decades and just a smidge of a third, so the Naughty Aughties were definitely the best out of all the decades. I am very qualified to make such a statement. Moral of the story? You're a Negative Nancy, Time Magazine.

But more importantly, I made a list of my 50 favorite albums from the last ten years. Rather than painstakingly write about each one (that's what the forthcoming Best Of '09 list is for), I decided to try a little something different. Twist! I thought I'd let the artists talk about their albums themselves. It was really hard to get a hold of most of those dudes, though, so I had to do this in the form of their own lyrics. I picked my favorite lines that sum up each album's significance to me. Disclaimer: Because 10 years is a very long time, my tastes have changed tremendously since the start of the decade. But I still thought it was entirely appropriate to include albums that I dug eight, nine years ago. Even though I might not be into a few of these anymore, they meant a lot to me at the time, so that's why you'll find a few questionable choices. So enjoy this, because I did, and because it's kind of like looking through a SCRAP BOOK OF MY LIFE! Plus, lots of YouTubes. The list begins after the jump.

1. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002, Nonesuch)

"All my lies are always wishes / I know I would die if I could come back new."

2. Brand New: Deja Entendu (2003, Triple Crown)

"You are calm and reposed/ let your beauty unfold / Pale white like the skin stretched over your bones / Spring keeps you ever close / You are second hand smoke."

3. The Strokes: Is This It (2001, RCA)

"You say you wanna stand by my side / Darling your head's not right / You see alone we stand, together we fall apart / Yeah I think i'll be alright / I'm working so I won't have to try so hard / Tables they turn sometimes."

4. The Format: Dog Problems (2006, Nettwerk)

"Sometimes, when sailors are sailing / they think twice, about where they're anchoring / and I think, I could make better use of my time on land."

5. Radiohead: Kid A (2000, Capitol)

"You can try the best you can / if you try the best you can / the best you can is good enough."

6. Jack's Mannequin: Everything In Transit (2005, Maverick)

"Maybe we were made for each other / is it possible for the world to look this way forever?"

7. Relient K: Mmhmm (2004, Gotee/ Capitol)

"I've thrown away / so many things that could've been much more / and I just pray / my problems go away if they're ignored / but that's not the way it works."

8. Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American (2001, Dreamworks)

"If you were with me tonight / I'd sing to you just one more time / a song for a heart so big / God wouldn't let it live."

9. Nightmare Of You: Self Titled (2005, The Bevonshire Label)

"But I'm yours if you want it / I can be yours to spend your life with / I can be yours / we'll hide indoors / petrified of the world."

10. Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism (2003, Barsuk)

"All I find are souvenirs from better times / before the gleam of your taillights fading east / to find yourself a better life."

11. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Pershing (2008, Polyvinyl)

"Do people, when they're older / see distances on maps get smaller / and promises of happiness stalled? / I wanna see you again."

12. My Morning Jacket: Z (2005, ATO)

"Truly, truly we have become / hated and feared for something that we don't want / listen, listen / most of us believe that this is wrong."

13. Motion City Soundtrack: Commit This To Memory (2005, Epitaph)

"These are the things I think about / when I'm alone without you / I wonder of your whereabouts / and hope like hell / you're happy where you are."

14. The Postal Service: Give Up (2003, Sub Pop)

"I want so badly to believe / that there is truth, that love is real / and I want life in every word / to the extent that it's absurd."

15. Frightened Rabbit: Midnight Organ Fight (2008, Fatcat)

"When my blood stops / someone else's will not / when my head rolls off / someone else's will turn / and while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to Earth."

16. Saves The Day: In Reverie (2003, Dreamworks)

"To the sunlight shining on my cheeks / and the wind sweeping me away / far away from every memory / with your face in the frame / that'll be the day."

17. Brand New: The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me (2006, Tiny Evil/Interscope)

"Is it in you now? / to better hear the truth that you have spoken / twisted up by knaves / to make a trap for fools. / Is it in you now? / to watch the things you gave your life to, broken / and then stoop and build them up / with worn out tools?"

18. Say Anything: Is A Real Boy (2004, Doghouse)

"So now i'm forging ahead / past all the plutocrats who sold me out /go sob in your bed / if life is twice as pretty once you're dead / then send me a card / I'm still the optimist, though it is hard / when all you want to be is in a dream."

19. The Weakerthans: Reunion Tour (2007, Anti-)

"I see you suddenly alive / and nearly smiling / I stop and hold my breath / and watch the way you used to be."

20. Limbeck: Hi, Everything’s Great (2003, Doghouse)

"And if my fingers should start to crack or blister / I guess that's just what happens / don't you forget the things you're leaving."

21. Radiohead: In Rainbows (2007, Self-released)

"I am a moth who just wants to share your light / I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night / I only stick with you because there are no others."

22. Days Away: Mapping an Invisible World (2006, Fueled By Ramen/Lava)

"Now you've got me thinking I'm amazing / cause I've built this all on my own / go on, tell me what you think before you fake it / and I might believe you."

23. Dr. Dog: Fate (2008, Park the Van)

"Cause love that never leaves is never ever welcome back / and i'm running out of skin thick enough to hide in."

24. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009, Domino)

"Sometimes the sun will shine / yes I am just doing fine / sometimes I'm not aware / where I am or what I care / sometimes I'm well-to-do / but I don't know what to do / sometimes I don't agree / with my thoughts on being free."

25. Green Day: American Idiot (2004, Reprise)

"And in the darkest / if my memory serves me right / I'll never turn back time / forgetting you / but not the time."

26. Why?: Alopecia (2008, Anticon)

"I'm lucky to be under / this same sky that held / the exhale from your first breath / like a ring on a pillow of clouds / by you my tongue may stutter / but my gift heart screams clear and swells / to burst between the wrapped lengths / of its bowed ribbon cell."

27. The Avett Brothers: I And Love And You (2009, American)

"I wanna fit in to the perfect space / feel natural and safe in a volatile place / and I wanna grow old without the pain / give my body back to the earth and not complain."

28. The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow (2003, Sub Pop)

"Mercy's eyes are blue / and when she places them in front of you / nothing holds a Roman candle / to the solemn warmth you feel."

29. Cursive: The Ugly Organ (2003, Saddle Creek)

"Oh, please don't barrage me with the questions / to all those ugly answers / my ego's like my stomach / it keeps shitting what I feed it."

30. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006, Domino)

"Anticipation has a habit to set you up / for disappointment in evening entertainment but / tonight there'll be some love / tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah / regardless of what's gone before."

31. Kanye West: Late Registration (2005, Roc-A-Fella)

"Before you ask me to go get a job today / can I at least get a raise on the minimum wage? / And I know the government administered aids / So I guess we just pray like the minister say."

32. Down to Earth Approach: Come Back To You (2007, Vagrant)

"Don't be so forgetful / and just let yourself be happy for a minute / be forever grateful / that she changed your mind to a warm home from a prison."

33. Fleet Foxes: Self Titled (2008, Sub Pop)

"The world is alive now / in and outside our home / you run through the forest / settle before the sun / darling, I can barely remember you beside me / you should come back home / back on your own now."

34. Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers (2003, Virgin)

"And here is your reflection / in a building uptown / a ghost inside some Madison Avenue display / like water under bridges / you're slowly passing by / as you sail between the rooftops and the sky."

35. The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America (2006, Vagrant)

"I feel Jesus in the clumsiness / of young and awkward lovers / I feel Judas in the long odds / of the rackets on the corners / I feel Jesus in the tenements / of honest, nervous lovers / I feel Judas in the pistols and the pagers / that come with all the powders."

36. Ben Folds: Rockin the Suburbs (2001, Epic)

"Next door there's an old man / who lived to his nineties / and one day passed away / in his sleep / and his wife, she stayed / for a couple of days / and passed away / I'm sorry / I know that's a strange way to tell you / that I know we belong."

37. Northstar: Pollyanna (2004, Triple Crown)

"And there's God / there's me / there's Saturn / there's me / and forget everything in between."

38. Punchline: Action (2004, Fueled By Ramen)

"With the world in my hands / could I change it if I want? / and who are you to answer that for me / if by chance, or a cheater/ I'd leave it up to neither / confidence rules present tense / and it could shatter all my dreams."

39. Wilco: A Ghost Is Born (2004, Nonesuch)

"And the sun gets passed from tree to tree / silently, and back to me / with the breeze blown through / pushed up against the sea / finally back to me."

40. Midtown: Save The World, Lose The Girl (2000, Drive-Thru)

"Regrets are worthless / they misconstrue the past in sight and sound / and as lines recede / no one speaks a word of his lust / a word of dreams that've been left to rust / the TV's on and everyone stays calm."

41. Blink-182: Self Titled (2003, Geffen)

"My head is made up of memories / most of them useless delusions / this room is bored of rehearsal / and sick of the boundaries / I miss you so much."

42. Ryan Adams: Gold (2001, Lost Highway)

"Well, everybody wants to go on forever / I just wanna burn up hard and bright / I just wanna be your firecracker / and maybe be your baby tonight."

43. Rufus Wainwright: Poses (2001, Dreamworks)

"Can't expect the world to be your Raggedy Andy / while running on empty / you little old doll with a frown."

44. Vampire Weekend: Self Titled (2008, XL)

"Oh your collegiate grief / has left you dowdy in sweatshirts / absolute horror!"

45. Taking Back Sunday: Tell All Your Friends (2002, Victory)

"Think of all the fun you've had / the finest line divides a night well spent / from a waste of time / and think of all the days you spent / alone with just your TV set / and I / well I can barely smile."

46. John Mayer: Room for Squares (2001, Aware/Columbia)

"Friday evening we've been drinking / 2 AM I swear I might propose / but we close the tab / split a cab / and call each other up / when we get home / falling asleep / to the sound of sirens."

47. New Found Glory: Self Titled (2000, Drive-Thru/MCA)

"Here's to us fools / that have no meaning / I tip my glass to you / let's toast the night away to friends / and forget about tomorrow."

48. Audio Recording Club: In the End, We Are All Light (2007, Self-released)

"Doing 80 / down the highway / as Jim Adkins sings the lullabies into my head / he swears he’s one small instrument / and every car I pass along / is one more car closer to home / to everything I know and love / cause that’s all I’ve been thinking of."

49. Fall Out Boy: Take This To Your Grave (2003, Fueled By Ramen)

"My smile's an open wound without you / And my hands are tied to pages inked to bring you back / Tonight the headphones will deliver you / the words that I can't say."

50. Race The Sun: The Rest of Our Lives is Tonight (2004, Fidelity)

"Farewell pleasant town / hope you sleep well tonight / again we'll race back to you / fight to get lost in your streets / cheat toll booths as locals / engrave our names in park benches / we'll find an alias."

Brand New Played The Biggest Show Ever, We Were There

While you indie dudes were turning a blind eye to any band from Long Island that used a "post-" prefix to describe their sound earlier this decade, Brand New became a very big and important band for kids like me and our in-house photographer, Karp. When we unveil our best-of lists later this month for the decade and the year, you'll find a slew of this band's albums planted firmly in the top regions of mine. Anywho, those seeking proof of just how much Jesse Lacey and Co. have meant to people like us over the years needn't look further than the massive gig the band played at Nassau Coliseum last Saturday. Billed as a triumphant hometown show, the Levittown quintet brought its closest friends along for the ride: Glassjaw, Manchester Orchestra, Kevin Devine and Thrice. (The 2003 me just came.) For a band whose sound gets increasingly challenging and has never had a radio hit or much mainstream press at all, selling out a storied 18,000-seat arena is mind boggling. Go Brand New! Confession: I wasn't at this show, but Karp was, and I bet it was pretty darn great. Let's live vicariously through her photos, shall we?

Brand New and Manchester Orchestra Are Best Buds

[YouTube stream] Brand New: "At the Bottom"
[Video] Manchester Orchestra: "Shake It Out"

Brand New and Manchester Orchestra are touring together, but they always tour together, so the news of them touring together, while indeed great news, is not really stop-the-presses news. Both bands are insane in the membrane live, but together, they're Ron-stoppable. Actually, as a longtime giant fanboy of both these bands, I'm :( that the Manchester dudes won't be on the Philly show. But I've already seen all these guys wreak havoc with each other on stage before, so I guess it's only fair that West Coasters get their chance. Did you guys ask for dates? (You did not ask for dates. Here are dates.)

10/1 Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Amp
10/2 Detroit, MI The Fillmore
10/3 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
10/4 St. Paul, MN Myth Nightclub
10/6 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
10/7 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
10/8 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
10/9 Salt Lake City, UT Salt Palace Conv. Center
10/13 Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
10/15 Bakersfield, CA Rabobank Arena
10/16 San Jose, CA Event Center at San Jose State
10/17 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
10/20 San Diego, CA House of Blues
10/21 San Diego, CA House of Blues
10/22 Mesa, AZ Mesa Amp
10/23 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
11/28 Long Island, NY Nassau Coliseum w/ Brand New and Glassjaw

Anyway, there are lots of exciting things going on in both bands' camps. You've already seen me gush my brains out over Manchester's Mean Everything to Nothing. I called it the best album of 2009 back in March. I realize that was kinda premature, but it's still a definite top fiver in September. They've got a new single to ride called "Shake It Out," and if it brings them half the success on rock radio that "I've Got Friends" did - it peaked at No. 8 two weeks ago - then these guys will have had a hell of a year.

You haven't seen me gush my brains out over Brand New very much throughout the history of this blog, but that's because this blog is barely two years old and the 'Newbies haven't released a record - or done much of anything - since '06. So, sorry for the lack of gushing. But Brand New means more to me than just about any other band on this planet, so expect THE MOST GUSHING around these parts over the next few weeks, because OMGZ NEW RECORD HYSTERIA !!111!!1. Daisy hits stores Sept. 22. It will be brilliant, because Brand New has a brilliant track record and completely sheds its skin every three years. Evolution, you guys. You can hear the first single, "At The Bottom," via a HQ YouTube stream above.

Today's Lunch Hour: Shut Up, I Love Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind - Don't Believe A Word from Sneak Attack on Vimeo.

THOUGHTS FROM MY LUNCH HOUR by Andrew Daniels

Another lunch hour, more tasty treats for you to snack on. Welcome to the second installment of Thoughts from My Lunch Hour. Today I'm chowing down on turkey and cheddar and scoping the brand new video from 90's alt-rock heroes Third Eye Blind. Shut up, I love 90's alt-rock heroes Third Eye Blind. They get unfairly labeled as one hit/album wonders (97's self-titled, the "doot-doot-doot" song) but in reality wrote three really great LP's of honest, confrontational and uncoventional pop music and still amass a larger-than-cult following. I think they've got a fourth great record in them with the impending release of Ursa Major, which finally hits stores August 18 after a five-year layoff. Here's the pretty cool new video for lead single "Don't Believe A Word," which despite its political bend is the band's most accessible song in years. (Even if the bridge is kinda laughable.) Stephan Jenkins may or may not be a douchebag, and I may or may not be interviewing him in a few weeks, but dude can pen some choice words and melodies. Yeah, the stop-motion-happy clip is above, you guys. More assorted thoughts after the jump.

So remember when I told you yesterday that the title of Brand New's new one was And One Head Can Never Die and we were all perplexed together? Now AbsolutePunk is reporting that the band decided to change its mind and has re-named the disc Daisy. I mean, whatever. The name is just fine. They could call it Shit Sandwich and I'd still be ALL OVER IT. Good band is good band. Check back tomorrow for the album's new title, I'm sure. Still is out 9/22.

OH. On September 29, Anti- is releasing The Swell Season's Strict Joy. You know, the pushing-40-Irish man (that would be Glen Hansard of The Frames) and the much younger maybe-not-even-20 Czech beauty (Marketa Irglova) who used to date and star in the Oscar-winning indie darling "Once" but then broke up and now just make gorgeous music again. Those guys. I am officially stoked on it.

Hey PR folks: Did you read the letter that lovable asshole Bob Lefsetz sent yesterday? It was an interesting piece in which the industry guru declared his contempt for press releases. As usual, some parts of his diatribe are spot on and others are way off base, but it's certainly an interesting read. I wonder how many press releases he got following the e-mail. Read it here.

Just found out that I get to attend (and live tweet) the Bob Dylan show at Coca Cola Park in Allentown next Tuesday on behalf of my newspaper. Pretty sweet. I forget who it was - maybe Vince? - who once said that seeing Dylan is like seeing the Dalai Lama. You don't really enjoy it, and you can't really understand it, but it's basically a rite of passage. Who's seen Dylan? Anything I should watch out for?

Another blog shoutout: The Singles Jukebox. Basically a collection of great writers discussing the merits of new singles pervading the undergound and mainstream. Sometimes the focus is too much on R&B and hip hop, but I dig a lot of what these cats have to say.

Head P4K honcho Scott Plagenhoef reviewed the new Discovery LP today - gave it a 6.8 - and he's pretty much dead on. That record is very top-heavy. Starts out with undeniably strong summer jams and then entirely falls apart midway through. Still, it's got a couple of certified iPod bangers, and that's good enough for a carefree side project.

Ok, I'm outies, but here's a last plea to Vote Victorino! Get the Flyin' Hawaiian into the All Star Game. One hour left, sports fans. I'm off to enjoy a three-day weekend in Ithaca, NY. It's gorges.

Thoughts From My Lunch Hour

Hello there,

For those of you who may have been wondering where in the hell I, your wonderful editor Andrew Daniels, have been around these parts as of late, I apologize. I've been 9-to-5-ing it as an entertainment reporter at The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, and the job hardly leaves me any time for Stark. Fortunately, the blog is left in the great hands of my two fellow editors who are smarter than me for figuring out how to juggle two things at once. Time management!

Anyway, the only time I seem to ever have to dedicate to our baby is during this, my lunch hour. So I figured that the least I can do to contribute is to offer little bits and pieces of goodness that I stumble across throughout the day - mostly via Twitter - and compile them here, with the more-than-occasional misguided musing about my irrelevant topic of choice. Let's call it Thoughts From My Lunch Hour. You can actually call it whatever you want. Today's inaugural edition begins after the jump with a surprise!

Okay, so first item of business is a good one. Thanks for following me after the jump. Your reward is a new mp3 from The Duke & The King, the folky new project from Simone Felice of the Felice Brothers. It's called "The Morning That I Get To Hell," and it's pretty much great. The band's album, Nothing Gold Can Stay hits stores August 4 via Ramseur, and I can't wait for it. Grab it: "The Morning That I Get To Hell."

Twitter told me that The Dodos' new one, Time to Die, leaked. Bummer. It's not due until September 15, so I hope the early leak doesn't hurt them. In terms of popularity, they're not quite on par with bands like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, whose recent albums both saw leaks month before their release but still put up great opening week sales.

My most anticipated record of the year finally has a release date and title. Brand New's fourth LP will be called And One Head Can Never Die (?!?) and is out September 22 on Interscope. Don't know what the title is in reference to, but it's appropriate for a band whose last one was titled The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me. Really can't wait. These guys change pretty drastically with every album, so I have no idea what this will sound like.

I have to give a shoutout to my favorite blog as of late: Intensities In Ten Suburbs. Former Stylus writer Andrew Unterberger has been counting down his top 200 singles of the last decade every day. The whole thing is superbly written, and has made me see afterthought pop songs - like Matchbox 20's "Bent", yesterday's pick - in an entirely different light thanks to excellent analysis and reflection.

...Shit. It's 3 p.m. already. That's it for me today. Back to Vince and Matt's regularly scheduled programming.