Quinn Brabender

I could not narrow this down to just 10 albums, and after reading Riley Breckenridge’s top 12, I figured I’m allowed to break the “rules”, too. I had an original 12, but realized I forgot about two more of my favorites, and had to give a couple the boot. This has taken me a couple days to really figure out where I think things stack up. Here are my 12 favorite albums, in order from the best to the fucking best thing ever.

12. MuteMath – Odd Soul

I’ve been a MuteMath fan since their self-titled, which was probably my first jump into atmospheric, instrumental music. I was increasingly appalled by how great the drum tracks were, and once I saw them in 2006 I was sold on the band. Odd Soul, the follow up to, in my opinion, a disappointing Armistice, restored a lot of my faith in MuteMath. It goes a completely different direction: the album is easily the funkiest, grooviest thing I’ve listened to all year. Somehow though, MuteMath have found out how to perfect simplicity, and the album is very well crafted from start to finish, especially with the last track, “In No Time”, an incredible eerie ballad with an awesome build-up, reminiscent of the self-titled.

11. Aficionado – Aficionado

After watching Aficionado at Bled Fest 2011, I immediately found something appealing about them. At first I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that they were such an eclectic group of people…they all appear to come from different background. They even have a girl playing flute (not something you’d expect for a rock band) and singing, and she’s awesome (not sure of her name). Their self-titled album, however, shows you how well they work together. The lyrics are very open, easily interpreted, but well-intentioned. There is a ton of honesty in this band, and it shows. The album is fun. Fun to listen to, front to back. It’s upbeat, and the lyrics are brutally frank. I love it.

10. A.A. Bondy – Believers

I don’t know much about A.A. Bondy. Honestly, I was just turned on to him by Greg from Moving Mountains, who praised Bondy on his Tumblr. I check it out, and I, in turn fell in love. Believers is an album for dark, late nights, driving alone on empty city streets. The music in itself is simplistic, repetitive, but often haunting. Every track feels like it should be in a film. Bondy’s smooth, laid back voice is unique enough to grab your attention, but it never overtakes the song. It’s clear to me that Believers is an album for anyone who has lost anything. Your love, your dog, your keys. Dim the lights and buy Believers. Seriously.

9. Into It. Over It. – Proper

Evan Weiss is awesome to watch. For some reason, he’s just one of those solo acts that demands your attention through the entire set. On Proper, Weiss took the full band route and it paid off. His album 52 Weeks rendered hit or miss for me. Some songs are great, and some seem thrown together (how could they not, writing one song a week?!).  But with Proper, Weiss hits the nail on the head with every song. The album flows together so well, and he doesn’t shed any artistic integrity with any of it. His lyrics are sarcastic, pessimistic story-telling at its best. I really enjoy listening to Weiss’ tracks: he takes little things, little conflicts, and makes them into bigger, larger stories with much larger consequences.

8. Former Thieves – The Language That We Speak

                Looking back on it, it seems like I’ve been listening to The Language That We Speak for way over a year. The heavy rhythm carried throughout the album is incredibly hard to forget. The guitar tone is great, and each song has an incredible repeating riff, an ostinato, if you will. This sort of repetition is so well done that it doesn’t become boring, it becomes a bridge throughout the album. In a world saturated with bands who nearly ALWAYS have two guitarists, Former Thieves do incredibly well with just one. Plus, Matt’s vocals are some of my favorite of any hardcore act.  This has been a go-to album for me throughout the year, I’ve always relied on it because it’s so incredibly solid. Can’t wait to see them in Wichita.

7. Thrice – Major/Minor

Oh boy. Thrice is at the top of my favorite bands at the moment. So, you’re probably wondering why Major/Minor isn’t higher on my list. It seems almost unfair, even to me, to place the album at a mere 7, but the fact of the matter is, so many INCREDIBLE albums came out this year. Albums that opened my head to new music and ideas. Albums that were so emotionally infused, they remain unforgettable. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Major/Minor. It is perfectly Thrice. It marks a logical progression for the band: I hear remnants of heavy guitar parts from Fire, I hear the simply rock tendencies of Beggars, and at the slow parts, the vocals are easily reminiscent of Earth or Air. The main point here is that Thrice, after 8 albums, did not disappoint me at all. They didn’t push the musical envelope, rather, they perfected their style. And now they’re breaking up. *Sigh*

6. Moving Mountains – Waves

I’ve never been terribly into post-rock. I rely too much of vocals to sell me on a band or song, and for that, I tread lightly over instrumental projects. However, when I heard Moving Mountains, I knew they were going somewhere really great. Listening to Pneuma, I was hoping they’d bring the vocals in a bit more. And with Waves, that’s exactly what they did. The album is 10 songs of incredible rhythmic pounding on the drums accompanied by often faint guitar noodlings in the background. Greg’s voice is so incredibly similar to Dustin Kensrue’s, how could I not fall in love? When they go into the “breakdown” of the first track, “Alleviate”, Greg’s yell is so awesome. Love singing and yelling along to this album in the car. Perfect driving music.

5.  Touche Amore – Parting The Sea Between Brightness and Me

                It took me so long to get into Touche. When first listening to them, Jeremy’s voice was so difficult to get used to. I didn’t have any of their albums, and had only heard what I could via singles on the web. Once I saw them live at The Jackpot in Lawrence, my mind was immediately changed. All of a sudden, I fucking loved Touche Amore. Perhaps its Jeremy’s awesome attitude up on stage, you can often catch him smiling at kids in the crowd as he gives them the mic to scream into. Their performances are for everyone. If you’re there watching, expect that whole band to include you in their set. I bought …to the beat of a dead horse at that show and had it on repeat in my car stereo for weeks. Then, I bought Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, and I couldn’t believe how solid it was. Many will argue with me on this, but Parting… is clear evidence of the bands progression. Perhaps it was their production with Ed Rose that really nailed it. The album is a short 21 minutes long, but every song is so beautifully energetic it’s hard not to love each one. Touche Amore has essentially stripped all the bullshit that other bands cling to. The short songs are perfect little vignettes of Jeremy’s psyche. It’s an awesome album to connect to, if you can.

4. O’ Brother – Garden Window

                I’d heard about O’Brother back when they were touring with Circa Survive, but never got the chance to go to a show. This past October, when they were on the road with Thrice, Moving Mountains, and La Dispute, they were the only band who I wasn’t fully in love with. Yet. I downloaded The Death of Day and absolutely fell in love with the EP. Only 5 songs, but an incredible 32 minutes long, it features some beautiful crooning by Tanner Merritt, who also, luckily enough, has an grumbling yell. Once I was able to see them live, I was absolutely blow apart. The guitar tone is literally the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard in a live setting. I thought my heart was going to rattle down to my feet, and I loved it. O’ Brother are so incredibly slow and massively epic: if you massaged Thrice’s Alchemy Index with a full orchestra, O’ Brother would pop up. Garden Window is just their better progression. It’s awesome to have a full LP by these guys. Just listen to the guitar’s ring out on the opening track “Malum” and tell me you’re not at least SEMI-interested in where it’s going to go next. Support these guys, they’re gunna be big.

3. La Dispute – Wildlife

I didn’t think La Dispute could out-do Somewhere at the bottom of the river… I was apparently incorrect. It’s not that Wildlife is “better” than Somewhere…, it’s just not a rehash, or similar to really anything before it. This band is so completely devoted to making their music well-thought through and cinematic that it’s impossible not to feel the honesty in it. Split between two separate storyline, Wildlife follows, at first, the aftermath of Dreyer’s relationship that was so intrinsically described in Somewhere… It follows the coping, and the acceptance of a pain that might never quite cease to be. The second storyline entails a few different tragic occurrences: the loss of a once thriving church, the story of an old man whose son is schizophrenic, and, without revealing too much, the story of a drive-by shooting gone awry, which ends in a blazing, loud and vacant vocal chant that brought tears to my eyes. There is a revival within Wildlife. It makes you feel something again, especially in a time when so many people are so apathetic about everything. Buy this fucking album.

2. Defeater – Empty Days & Sleepless Nights 

                If there’s one album that told stories even better (in my opinion) than Wildlife, it would be Empty Days & Sleepless Nights. Chronicling the tragic life of a soldier’s son and a drug-addict mother placed in post-WWII. He kills his drunken, abusive father, and heads to the streets, where his brother searches for him in hopes of enacting revenge. The album begins with a haunting, striking, “Dear God, what have you done?!” From that point forward, I was convinced I was in for an incredibly cinematic ride through the album. There is something in every song that is beautifully reminiscent of the world of post-war America. The blatant empty patriarchal nuclear families, a thriving economy right beside a mentally and psychologically bruised America. No recent album paints a perfect picture of a time period better than Empty Days & Sleepless Nights.

1. Balance and Composure – Separation

                Separation comes in 1^st on my list because, honestly, I listened to it more than any other album this year. There was a period of about 2 months where I’d listen to this album at least once each day. Bailey’s drum parts are so beautifully simple, they are absolutely necessary and not flashy. The whole album drones on gorgeously, creating this feeling of immense weight. Jon sings raucously on  “Quake”, yelling “I can’t take the way you look at me, those eyes could never lie.” Separation, to me, is an album about memories. The way things were, and looking back and not knowing why things failed or why you’re where you are. That’s a feeling I struggled with a lot through 2011, which is why I think the album resonates so deeply with me. It’s about fighting off your demons, about attempting to take your life in your own hands. It’s an album of change. And, oh, the music is fucking good, too.

Today, Thrice announced that they will be going on temporary hiatus.

All I can say is that I’m glad I went fucking nuts at their show here. I’d never seen them, and had speculated that this would be the last time I’d be able to see them. I’m actually even grateful that I wasn’t able to shoot the show. I ultimately had a better time in the pit screaming “TO! AWAKE! AND! AVENGE THE DEAD!”.

That said, wherever the Spring Tour goes, wherever is closest, I will be attending. I just hope the go out with some other good bands, as well.

My insides are crying.

Had a great weekend. We played a show Friday night at The Replay and tons of people watched us (even the parent of an old elementary school friend, weird.)

Saw o’brother, Moving Mountains, La Dispute, and Thrice on Saturday. I was trying to shoot some of it but since it was a show set up by another booking company, they wouldn’t let me. That’s so frustrating, especially when none of the bands’ booking or management companies will email you back because you’re too much of a “little fish” for them to care.

I suppose I can understand that Thrice would have more strict management about video production, photos, etc. But you’d think that management for “smaller” bands like O’b, LD and MovMou would jump at the opportunity to have their bands promoted for free! My only goal is to share the energy of a live performance with people who didn’t have the $20 to spend to be there themselves. These bands deserve to be seen and heard, they deserve to be promoted. I just wish it were easier to get permission to do things like that. So many people are hesitant about letting you do something for them because free often means cheap, or lame. You charge people for something and they immediately find validation and assume you must know what you’re doing. But they still can’t afford it, so they still say no.

The upside was that I was able to fully take in o’brother (for the first time) and really dig movmou’s show again. Then I was able to go all out for LD and Thrice. Really wish I couldve gone to another date on this tour…so many great bands filled with great people.

Spent my Sunday with my girl and my family.

Here’s to hoping for a productive week.