My Top 250 Albums (201-210)

201. TRASH BOAT – NOTHING I WRITE YOU CAN CHANGE WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH
(2016 – T10 G7 B3 UB0)

Terrible name. I can’t stop calling them Thrash Boat. Also they are English and we don’t really use the word trash. Not even Tex-Phil. It’s also got a terribly wordy album title, so we’re not off to a good start. This is their debut album and the 2nd was out last year (too fresh for the chart though). This is good but could have been better. Their staple is to do the skate punk fast drumming and vary it from there. I like that to some extent but prefer a little more variation or breakdowns. Sometimes they hit the right stuff in the latter parts of songs, such as “Eleven” and “You Know, You Know, You Know”. Opener “Stranger” also peaks at the end with guest vocals from the Wonder Years front man. His appearance only highlights the singers limitations though. Can only feel this album would be better with more prominent 2nd vocals. Still its a good album, but could be so much better, based on initial listens to their 2nd album, not much has changed either.

202. THE ROCKET SUMMER – HELLO GOOD FRIEND
(2005 – T13 G9 B3 UB0)

The Rocket Summer is the solo project of Bryce Avary, where he plays every instrument and produces the record himself also (or so legend has it). He has 6 albums, with the earlier stuff being the better, the first 2 make the list. To describe the sound, its like a white Michael Jackson (oh hang on?!) who picked up a guitar and piano (not literally) and based out some proper happy tunes (sometimes sad ones but they still sound happy). (way too many brackets in that sentence). My enjoyment of his music is very much dependent on my mood and prevailing weather conditions. On a sunny day this could be way higher up the list, top 80 even, then sometimes I’m like this is way to cheesy. To be honest he should have more albums in my list and this should be higher. Its not going to be for everyone, its not remotely cool, it makes you feel like an honorary member of the disney club, but I can’t help enjoy the music. “Brat Pack” is a joy of a song and “goodbyes waves and driveways”, takes emo-pop upto 12!

203. UNDEROATH – DEFINE THE GREAT LINE
(2006 – T10 G6 B3 UB1)

Underoath are what I guess would be classed as “scr-emo” but they have had much more conventional heavier moments. I am more into their more melodic stuff in the mid 00s. This is their 3rd of 6 albums and 2 make my list. The other is very high up indeed. This album took the style developed on “They’re Only Chasing Safety” and in general removed the catchier choruses, as a result its a lot harsher. The singles are my favourite songs on the album as they are closer in sound to “They’re Only Chasing Safety”. “A Moment Suspended In Time” is a belter and may be about someone getting caught up in an office based active-shooter event, or thats my interpretation (lyrics aren’t my strong point). Drummer/clean/scream vocalist Aaron Gillespie has had decent sucess on his own also in The Almost (which ironically almost made the top 250), and under his own name. This work is more openly god-bothery though, which is fine as long as not too blatant.

204. THE SPILL CANVAS – ONE FELL SWOOP
(2005 – T13 G7 B4 UB1)

This is the 2nd Spill Canvas album on the list and their 2nd album overall. No more make the cut though. They moved away from acoustic more on this album and in general it’s a lot better, though there are still some more skipable songs. The best 2 songs though are pure acoustic in “Dutch courage” about a drunk and “self conclusion” which I adore. It’s a song which tells a story about a girl about to jump off a building who is talked down by someone you find out at the end was doing the exact same thing just before but didn’t jump. Tonight’s album would have been a different album but due to one track jumping to a banger it’s jumped about 40 places. This shows how much this part of the chart is all very tightly rated. 2moros album is very much at a different end of the noise scale.

This is also the 2nd album in a row to not be on Spotify. shocking

205. AUTOPILOT OFF – MAKE A SOUND
(2004 – T12 G10 B2 UB0)

Autopilot Off had a short career, they released a dodgy recording quality debut which weren’t much good and then did a pretty good ep, before releasing their 2nd and last album “Make A Sound”. Its fairly standard punk pop but done well. “Blessed By A Nightmare” being my favourite song on there, its not trying to be clever or anything it just straight up races along. there’s a couple of nice acoustic songs on there too to mix it up. The only video I could find is for “what I want” which isn’t a great example, “Nothing Frequency” off their EP was a pop punk joy and its a shame it wasn’t on the album

206. AUDIO KARATE – SPACE CAMP
(2000 – T12 G7 B2 UB2)

We’ve already seen the follow up to the album from Audio Karate and their debut. It is dominated by the 2 absolute bangers (which i realise is probably a better term than ultimate bangers) in “Nintendo 89” and “Halfway Decent”. I love the noodly lead guitar on the latter especially. the rest of the album is much of a muchness and this album could have easily found itself outside of the chart if one or 2 of them dropped off the good list. The next few albums in the list are a bit like that and probably not solidly in their position but thats were we find them for now.

207. SENSES FAIL – STILL SEARCHING
(2006 – T12 G8 B2 UB1)

This is the 2nd Senses Fail album to appear on the list and the highest. Given time it may slip out of favour but for now its hanging on. The album has some heavier songs more along the lines of their other album “Renacer” which made the list. It also has some attempts at anthem style big chorus songs in the form of “Can’t Be Saved” and “the Priest and the Matador”. the Senses Fail i prefer though is the heavier faster variety with “Shark Attack” qualifying as an ultimate banger. A great moment in an otherwise mess of a song occurs in the badly named “All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” but love the riff that kicks off about 2:30 in.

208. ANBERLIN – BLUEPRINTS FOR THE BLACK MARKET
(2003 – T11 G9 B2 UB0)

Anberlin have always been a band I’ve liked and never really loved. I find I like their music but little things hold them back from being right up there. Sometimes songs are over produced, sometimes its the vocals slight Morrissey/Cher twinge, sometimes the lyrics, live they were too perfect they may as well have played the CD. Having said that I have all 7 of their albums and 4 of them make the top 250. This is their debut album and kicks off with “Ready Fuels” which has always been a fave, but until yesterday I had no idea there was a video for it (which hasn’t aged overly well). My other favourite song on the album “Love song” also happens to be a cover of a Cure song which I didn’t know till quite a long time after having the album. Other faves include “Change the World” but as mentioned, the way the singer says “Lost” (lowwwest) is a tad annoying. Still I do like the album, despite me mainly slagging it off just now. PS I absolutely hate “Foreign Language”, unbearably cheesy in lyrics and sound, such an odd choice to follow the opener.

209. THRICE – MAJOR/MINOR
(2011 – T11 G9 B2 UB0)

This band appear on my chart, not once, not twice, but Thrice!! The other 2 albums are much higher up. They have done 10 overall and all have their moments, but only 3 make my list. This one represented a return to “form” (“form” being my liking of the album, the few before were more critically acclaimed but it all went a bit too much clicks and whistles for me, as I stated initially, i’m not that classy). The follow up to this, after a short hiatus, “To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere” was just outside my top 250. This album is mostly mid paced (and a long way from their earlier punk-post hardcore stuff) but has its big moments like the chorus of “Treading Paper” and it kicks off with a dirty riff on “Yellow Belly”. Given more listens this may climb my chart but it came out in a time in my life when listening to new music had gone on the back burner (for no obvious reason), its only recently I’ve found how much stuff I missed being released around then. Thanks to Spotify’s release radar, that will happen no more, probably hear too much stuff now.

210. THE FRONT BOTTOMS – GOING GREY
(2017 – T11 G9 B2 UB0)

 

Oooo Front Bottoms, a naughty name, the type you’d associate with a generally crap low level punk band. These sound nothing like that however, on wiki they are described as folk, but I don’t here that one. To me they sound like a modern They Might Be Giants (of “Birdhouse In Your Soul” fame), with nearly spoken word singing in parts. This is their 4th album and I’m yet to properly check out their earlier stuff but a few tracks I already like. Each song on the album has its own character from the horns during the chorus of “Vacation Town” which stick in your head to the more upbeat “Bae” and the synth lead “Trampoline”. I’m liking it, its odd and it grows on me each listen.