list of the Year

well well well....
it's about that time of the year again.

what made your lists?

unlike 08', 09 left me digging through piles of records, racking my brain as to who made the illustrious list, that no one cares about.

i find myself pretty shocked by the number of good releases, and from those, the selections that made it onto my list.


top 10 records:

tied for first:
1. the life and times - Tragic Boogie
2. the dear hunter - act III

.....the rest, in no order......
3. dredg - "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion"
4. oceansize - home and minor
5. thrice - beggars
6. shelflife - shelflife
7. mastodon - crack the skye
8. Actors and Actresses - Arrows
9. national skyline - bliss & death
AND - the bloom EP
10. the auxiliary list spot. i just had TOO many good records to listen to....so this spot will be divided amongst a few who earned a spot.

sights and sounds monolith
caspian - tertia
baroness - blue record
the appleseed cast -Sagarmatha
russian circles - geneva


biggest disappointment:
cave in - planets of old
what's worse than a great band going on hiatus?
when they come back with a totally mediocre record. ugh.

the mars volta - octahedron
jesus. i guess the only thing worse than the 40 minute drug induced musical themes from the mars volta are the SOBER 40 minute musical interludes. just stop making music.

killswitch engage -
they shows such great potential with alive or breathing / end of heartache....but since then have become a band that is using like B & C side scraps.
break the mold and push forward guys. your sound is played out.

poison the well - Ep's and Lp.
A for effort, just boring releases.

as cities burn - hell or high water
previous record (come now sleep) was a top 10 lister.....the followup is a piece of crap.
what a bummer.

thursday - common existence.
crap. i should have known better. their next release will not make it to my ears.

muse- the resistance.
much like thursday, i should have known better.
these guys have been in a downward spiral for awhile....


honorable mention:
constants - The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension
-- some decent songs--but nothing wowed me here. in fact, i'd say they took a step back from the production of their split w/ caspian.
THAT is how they should always sound, so this is a bit of a regression.

pelican - what we all come to need
--- it's not a bad record, and probably better than city of echoes....but it's just not great. especially in comparison to the other releases of 09.

mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind
meh. not bad. not great.

isis - wavering radiant
meh. not bad.

what i'm looking forward to in 2010?
minus the bear
oceansize full length
jatun!

Non 2009 records that got the most play
oceansize - frames / effloresce
shiner - the egg
riddle of steel - python
cave in - jupiter
swervedriver - mezcalhead