Hey guys,
Since my last post, my grandparents (who live in Louisiana) came up to my town to visit, so I got my Christmas present from them early! As it turned out, I got a Webkinz Turkey and Llama! I name the turkey Rivers (after Rivers Cuomo of Weezer) and the llama Tina (after the llama from Napoleon Dynamite). I built an outdoor garden for Rivers and Tina got a nice, modern room with the music Superbed. I don’t have any pics right now, however. Okay, on to the next feature!
Normally I don’t do this and this is primarily a Webkinz blog, but this year I have listened to more music than ever and I’d like to share with you my favorite albums of 2009!
1. Maudlin of the Well – Part the Second
This album has everything; beautiful orchestras, haunting vocals, killer guitars and brilliant pianos. It’s really hard to name highlights on this, as it’s better taken as a coherent whole than a collection of songs. To me, albums like this are all the more stronger because of it. It’s refreshing to get an album where all the parts work together as a whole and make the album just that much better because of it. I highly recommend this to everyone, but it is an album that will no doubt need time to grow on you. After several listens, however, I found myself in love with it. It is probably my favorite album that I have listened to this year. 10/10 all around.
2. AFI – Crash Love
I have to say, I was expecting this to dissapoint. I mean, for one thing, take the album name and art as an example. A little cheesy right? I thought so. However, when it was finally released I realized what I was hearing wasn’t the sound of a band falling apart at the seams, it was completely the opposite. There is not one bad song on the CD, though the highlights are lead single “Medicate” and “Okay, I Feel Better Now,” the latter of which has a really epic, alternative rock type sound, and the first of which is just AFI playing straight up rock ‘n’ roll and doing what they do best. This album continues to stun me three months after release, and I would unconditionally recommend this to anyone. A rock solid 9/10.
3. Daitro – Y
Now this band is something else. They are a French screamo band from Lyon, France, formed in 2002. I have to say I am particularly wowed by this record. Most of the time, I resent albums in other languages because to me there is virtually no meaning to what they are saying. With this band though, the vocalist pours so much emotion in to his cathartic scream and voice that it does not bother me at all. In many of the songs, there are also calm instrumental breaks, the perfect contrast to the blistering screams that they do most of the time. One of the songs, I believe, is entirely instrumental, but both the song and album didn’t bore me once. Y is like The Raging Bull at Six Flags; a brutal roller coaster ride that you’ll want to experience again and again. 9/10
