New Year has never been anything particularly special to me in the past, but the one thing I consistently love each year is watching "Top-10" or "Best Of..." lists. Whether it's the best in the years' sports clip, plays, music, movies, or car accidents, I love to see how certain things are categorized. It's probably because I've got a knack for things that're organized and listed. So, as I do every year, here is my Top 5 albums, movies, and websites of the year. Enjoy.
“With Arrows, With Poise” by The Myriad – about half the songs from this album are on my iPod’s “Most Played” playlist. I saw them open for David Crowder in New York and they blew me away and stole the show (imo). Fantastic sound and some great grooves & textures.
“The Alchemy Index: Vol. I-IV (Fire, Water, Air, Earth)” by Thrice – this 4-volume manifesto explores music that reflects the four elements; fire, water, air, and earth. Each elements uniquely defines and shapes teh music. In Volume I (Fire), Thrice burn it up and show where they’ve come from with some heavy/loud/fiery songs while Volume II (Water) shows Thrice’s penchant for the digital & organic side of music. (“Digital Sea” may be one of my favorite songs in a long time). Vol. III (Air) takes you on a musical flight and takes your breath away with textured sound-scapes while Earth sees the band get down-to-earth with an acoustic and scaled-down audiophoria.
“New Surrender” by Anberlin – although Anberlin has become less hard-rock, lyrically and musically they’ve become much more defined and exploratory while keeping a lot of their post-punk/post-hardcore beginnings. This is a great follow-up to their previous album, “Cities”.
“Where the Light Is: Live in L.A.” by John Mayer – I’ve never been shy to promote my love for John’s music. Although I think he’s a bit full of himself in reality, this live show gives him a million reasons to be. He does 3 different sets in this concert (acoustic, blues trio, and full-band) and there’re gems in each one. John’s virtuoso tag takes off with plenty of solos & band jams, as well as some great renditions of his Grammy-award winning songs like Daughters (which, sounds fantastic with Robbie McIntosh’s slide/resonator guitar playing).
“Hello Love” by Chris Tomlin – there weren’t many fantastic worship albums that came out this year, but Tomlin’s Hello Love topped them all on my list. Yes, most songs are carbon copies of Tomlin’s previous church anthems, but there are a few songs on this album that really have hymn-like and traditional vibes to them. I feel Tomlin turned it up a bit on this album and it pays off.
On the bubble:
“The Bright Sadness” by Charlie Hall – not worshippy, but great writing, arranging, and producing
“Play: The Guitar Album” by Brad Paisley – I don’t like country enough to fully enjoy this album, but some of the best guitar work I’ve seen ina long time.
“Viva La Vida (Death and All His Friends)” by Coldplay – this might have made my Top 5 list if Coldplay hadn’t ripped off Joe Satriani’s song “If I could Fly” for their hit-single “Vida la Vida”. Satriani is now suing Coldplay for their stealing his art & creativity. Click here to read more about the lawsuit. Also, click here to hear the difference/similarities in the two songs.
Disappointed:
“Kingdom of Comfort” by Delirious – not their worst effort, but what’s most disappointing about this album was that it was their last record before officially disbanding.
“Death Magnetic” by Metallica – yes, it was an improvement from “t Anger”, but it’s obvious that ‘tallica tried far too hard to go back to their metal roots.
“Drastic Fantastic” by KT Tunstall – there’re some great songs on the album, but aren’t as strong as the songs from her folk-rock gem “Eye to the Telescope”
The Dark Knight – everybody and their dog loved this movie. Heath Ledger’s posthumous role aside, the directing, cinematography, and writing are all fantastic. It was a non-stop roller-coaster ride leaving you wanting more. The only down-side of this movie is Christian Bale’s “voice” as Batman; he sounds like he has throat cancer.
Iron Man – even as comic-geek when I was growing up, I’m surprised my top 2 movies of the year are both super-hero movies. Iron Man far exceeded my expectations and I liked this movie a lot. Lots of action, great story (with enough background and pre-text to dismiss any terrible prequels), and great casting.
Wall-E – when I went to the theater to see The Dark Knight for the third time, the only seats that were left were front row. I can’t watch a movie from the front-row, I don’t care how good it is. So, when we decided to go see something else, the Pixar-animated “Wall-E” was the only thing yet to play. Surprisingly, I absolutely loved it and thought Pixar’s take on global warming & materialism in a child’s animated feature was outstanding. This is a buyer for me and will go beside “The Incredibles” on my DVD shelf.
Cloverfield – I may get some flack from some, but since I was a faithful follower of all the Internet hoopla & build-up for this movie, so it made it all the more special for me. I loved Monster movies growing up, and this is a well-crafted take on a Godzilla movie taking place in NYC. The constantly-moving camera took some getting used to, but the large movie screen helped. I loved this movie and bought it the day it came out on DVD. Sure, the acting wasn’t fantastic, but the story and efx were great and it’s really entertaining.
Street Kings – ok, so this is a Keanu Reeves movie, but although it wasn’t a block-buster in the theaters, it made for a great rental and kept me really entertained. It wasn’t the caliber of Scorsese’s “The Departed”, but it was a great dirty-cop/internal affairs movie that kept you guessing.
On the Bubble:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – I haven’t seen this yet, but I imagine it’ll be great and garner some Oscar nods.
Step Brothers – because of it’s crass & tasteless jokes, constant innuendo, and dirty language, I couldn’t put myself up to putting this on my Top 5 list. But, it was freakin’ hilarious. Funnier than most recent Farrell movies, but the story was kinda weak. But funny.
Disappointed:
007: Quantum of Solace – this wasn’t a bad movie at all, but it was a bit disappointing since it didn’t live up to Casino Royale’s hype. It was a bit confusing, especially if you don’t recap Casino Royale before-hand. Less gadgets, less girls, and less cars makes James a dull boy.
www.stuffchristianslike.net - Jon is a fantastic wirter and blogger. He's got something interesting, funny, and spirtually fulfilling everyday.
www.hockeybuzz.com - the internet's best place for hockey rumors and stories
www.facebook.com - Facebook overpowers MySpace now. Although, I'm sure, Facebook will fizzle out in 2009, I will create the next best networking site: FaceSpace.
www.blogger.com - I raelly got into blogging this past year. Ienjoy reading them as much as I do writing them.
www.tsn.ca/nhl - I've become particularly enthralled with hockey these past two years. This is where I go for all my scores, news, and highlights.
3 comments:
I love 'year in review' and 'top lists.' The Thrice albums were amazing. I'm glad they made your list. Such an incredible change from their early days.
You turned me onto Mute Math, so I'm giving The Myriad a shot. Just bought their album on itunes for $8.
The Myriad are similar to MuteMath, but have a different vibe. They're not so "busy" but have similar structure & noise.
The Mryiad are far more "pop" on most efforts, bt $8 is certanily worth the listen.
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