My Top 250 Albums (131-140)

131. DOWN TO EARTH APPROACH – ANOTHER INTERVENTION
(2004 – T11 G9 B4 UB0)

I can’t remember how I heard of Down To Earth Approach, cos at first they could be listened to and easily ignored, but the more I heard their debut album the more I liked it. They have a 2nd which has some good tracks on too but its not as good as this. The first 4 tracks are all bangers for me which have overtime grown on me despite not doing anything fancy or clever, or noteworthy.... its just good. The album does drift off into a bit of sameness but individually they are all good but can get lost when listened to in one listen. If I had to describe them they sound like an american My Awesome Compilation, but they are also a rare band to hear of, but they do sound like them minus the keyboards. It’s not a bold new frontier in music but I like it.

 

132. EVER WE FALL – WE ARE BUT HUMAN

(2006 – T11 G9 B4 UB0)

Ever We Fall are a 3some out of Portland, Oregan, a place where its citizens proudly want to “Keep Portland Weird”. Now Ever We Fall are not weird but they do have a kinda unique sound, but its difficult to put a finger on why it’s unique. Its a very-emo pop sound with cleaner sounding guitars for the most part with strong melodic lead guitar and sometimes but all with kind of a dancy kinda feel to it. They only ever did this album and an EP which was a bit more the usual emo/post hardore sound before they developed their own feel. “No Sleep For Dreaming” is the most standard emo style song on the album with some of those great guitar melodies played over the top. “No Words to Describe” is another highlight which last 9 minutes as it gradually builds in volume and merges into “Great Day For An Airstrike” which is another 6 mins leading into an instrumental which gradually adds drum n bass beats into it. Yet all the while sounding something close to Saves The Day’s lighter moments. It’s a great shame they didn’t get to develop beyond this album but thems the breaks. There aren’t any videos of songs for this available in the UK for some reason, so below is the best I could find (the vocals sound a lot better on record). There’s the spotify playlist you can check them out on too of course.

 

 

 

133. ‘A’ – ‘A’ VS MONKEY KONG

(1999 – T13 G8 B4 UB2)

This is A’s 2nd album to appear on the list and their 2nd album of their career, their debut is still to come. This album is very much like the grand old Duke of Yorks army as in when they are up they are up (good they are great) and when they are down they are down (as in not make my good list).It almost goes great song to meh song to great song to meh song as you work through the album. Tracks 2 4 6 8 11 and 13 are all great where as the ones between them are either very skippable or just alright. The song simply titled “A” for example is just a bit of a waste. “Old Folks” was the main single and took on new meaning when I recently saw them and it was dedicated to anyone who knew someone old. Deep stuff. The best songs are the flowing “Miles Away” and “Monkey Kong” which adds to the 80s theme with clips from a legendary kids toy the speak and spell or speak and maths, or something along those lines (I never knew there was a vid for it until today either). “Summer on the Underground” still brings memories of a school trip to London on which I believe I bought the single. Cant help but get that underground hot air smell in my head when I hear it. ‘A”s fun but unique pop-punk might not be for everyone but if you like them and when at their best you love them

 

134. COMEBACK KID – SYMPTOMS + CURES
(2010 – T11 G11 B3 UB1)

Canadian hardcore crew Comeback Kid have released 6 albums over the years, the first 2 with a different singer and being slightly more melodic. Their later releases are more riff based and stick to the screamy vocal without any clean vocals pretty much. This album is their 4th and the prior 2 can be found higher up the list. This one does have the best opening track through. “Do Yourself A Favour” is a frantic rant with nice chuggy breakdowns, which is more like the album “Broadcasting” released prior to this. The rest of the album is all solid stuff and possibly this is the first album we’ve seen so far where all the songs have made the good list cut. “Crooked Floors” has that classic hardcore drum and guitar sound with some awesome riffage 2/3rds the way in. “Balance” is about as melodic as the guitars get. Its a album that makes its 40 mins seem to fly by despite the high tempo. Can’t help but think Comeback Kid is a name that doesn’t really suit the music.

 

135. THE WANNADIES – YEAH
(1999 – T13 G12 B3 UB1)

Probably the most northerly band on my list, the Wannadies from northern Sweden appear 3 times in the top 250. The 3 albums are their main 3 which made up the core of their career. This being the last of those 3 released in 1999. It conjures very specific memories for me as it was a regular on my minidisc (yes minidisc) player for train rides to and from Birmingham Uni everyday. In particular the song “String Song” which if the start happened to time with the train leaving a station, Lea Hall, for example (one for train fans there) it timmed perfectly with the train speeding up. The best run for this would be if it happened on the long run between Berkswell and Hampton-In-Arden (what the biscuits am I on about now?! is anyone still reading?, does anyone care?!). erm. wannadies. yeah. “String Song” is amazing and contains a lot of strings as does “Low Enough”. “Big Fan”, “No Holiday” and “Idiot Boy” are classic fun wannadies songs. Its a great album but they had dropped off the mainstream radar by this point as the Shine/Brit-pop (despite being swedish) scene had disappeared behind a load of Ibiza chart pop crap.

 

136. MALLORY KNOX – SIGNALS
(2013 – T11 G10 B3 UB1)

Mallory Knox are a modern brit-post-hardcore band, one of a group of similar bands with Deaf Havana (when they were good), We Are The Ocean and Lower Than Atlantis who all hit the semi-limelight at the same time. They have done 3 albums so far and are due a 4th this year though it will be without the strong vocals of their lead singer as he left the band last year. Each album has got progressively better for me so it will be interesting to see how they survive this transition. This is their debut album and kicks off very strongly with 3 singles; “Lighthouse” being the strongest especially with its layered vocals at the crescendo and sweeping guitars throughout. “1949” is one of the softer songs on the album and stands out from a series of tracks that do sorta merge together a bit but are still enjoyable. “Hello” has another big ending which again gives that sweeping sorta feeling. (ie sounds great on a summer country drive!). Overall Mallory Knox are one of my favourite bands to emerge in the last 10 years. 2 more albums to come on the list.

 

137. THE EARLY NOVEMBER – THE MOTHER, THE MECHANIC AND THE PATH
(2006 – T11 G10 B3 UB1)

Named perfectly for their genre, the Early November, are pure emo-rock-pop, They’ve made 4 albums so far with a 5th expected this year. This is the only one of those 4 to make the list, the other 3 hover around outside it. Their debut EP “For All Of This” was probably their best work, but cannot be included. “The M, The M and the P” is their 2nd full length and is actually a triple disc record with the album split into the Mechanic (disc 1, the primary release which is the only part I have taken into account), The Mother (disc 2, the mainly acoustic part) and The Path (disc 3, which is plain odd and mainly just a conversation between a psychiatrist and his patient with some acoustic music backing it and short songs filling in the gaps). Anyway the main record is not breaking any moulds but with its lazy flowing vocals of Ace Enders (awesome name) and nod along niceness of the tunes make it their best album for me. The album kicks off with the slightly out of key sounding “Money In His Hand” before 2 of the best songs “The Rest Of My Life” which shows off the lazy vocal sound I mention, before “Decoration”‘s simple chorus mind melds into your subconscious. My other fave is the possibly cheesy sounding but nice “Long Talks” before closing with the repetative builder of “Figure it Out”. On the 2nd disc “1000 Times A Day” is gloriously simple and tells a near 6 minute close to spoken word story of romance.

 

138. FOUR YEAR STRONG – ENEMY OF THE WORLD
(2010 – T11 G10 B3 UB1)

Four Year Strong do a sorta pop-hardcore, like a heavier New Found Glory. They’ve done 4 proper albums (ignoring a covers one (which is actually pretty good and way better than Weezers one) and re-imagining of old tracks one) and this is the only one to make it to the top 250. I can see having listened to it again during this process that its more likely to fall out of it than it is to stick around. It’s the kinda stuff I’m finding less appealing, but for now it’s there. The opener “It Really Must Suck To Be Four Year Strong Now” was the song that grabbed my attention onto them, I just love the “riff” and head nodding vibe of the chorus and the breakdown 2/3rds the way through. It’s not complicated stuff, but it just works for me and scratches my pop-punk itch. All the songs whip along at pace with plenty of stabby palm muted riffs and feel like they have about 4 singers. When in the right mood I can love this, then other days, its meh. As I say enjoy, ignore or endure, it wont be the serious connoisseur’s cup of tea but its fun. It also ranked on Rock Sounds Top 250 list of albums since it started in 1999 at number 58, with pretty much the same description I just gave.

 

139. THE DANGEROUS SUMMER – WAR PAINT
(2011 – T11 G10 B3 UB1)

We first saw The Dangerous Summer at number 227 and at the time I admitted I was failry new to their music and it had the potential to grow on me a lot and so it has. That album which was their most recent is now at #152 but for the purposes of this it stays at #227. “War Paint” is their 2nd album and again I can tell it’s gonna be a grower, rather than a shower. The thing I most like about The Dangerous Summer is the guitar melody parts and the 2 songs with the strongest of these “No One’s Gonna Need You More” and “Parachute” are my favourite. Their style always reminds me of Hot Rod Circuit at their best and the singers slightly gravelly voice is different enough to give them a more unique sound. One thing that may stop their albums climbing to the true heights on the list is the lack of big finale’s to songs, but its still great stuff.

 

140. MIDGET – ALCO-POP!
(1997 – T9 G8 B3 UB1)

All the way back to when I was 16/17 and just discovering alternative music. Midget were a small band “pun intended” who actually made it massive in Japan. they did 4 albums over their 7 years, one of which was the last and only released in Japan, though I’ve managed to get a copy. Most of their stuff overall was a bit disappointing bar a few quality tracks but their first effort was gloriously pop-punk-indie-pop alco-pop infused ace-ness. They were in a group of bands emerging at that time along with Snug, Symposium, A and Silver Sun, who did kind of innocent, not trying to be cool britrock. The album kicks off with the spiky “Kylie And Jason” and shortly after comes the evening session favourite “Camoflage” which was the song that got me into them and was a prominent feature on “Now Thats What I Call A Good Quality Tape #7”. “Silly Little Rich Girl” introduces a big ending full of a brass section and noodly guitars, before “Welcome Home Jellybean” gets what you could class a bit of a riff for such a poppy band. The song also has an immense solo in it2/3rds of the way through. Classic sugary glory.