Best Of 2010

As I get older, I experience more and more that time has 2 polar opposite angles of looking back at it. No matter what, it always seems like its gone by slow, and at the same time, as quick as someone on speed riding a roller coaster. This year, like the past 5, feels like it took forever, and 2009 still feels like it was just yesterday. In the last year, I've fallen in love, out of love, and nearly in love again. I've done the least traveling I've ever done probably my whole life. I've anticipated all year on moving somewhere. That somewhere was almost Savannah, GA last spring. Finally 3 weeks ago, my best friend and I moved to Baltimore. I'm learning how to be grounded in one city, how to be responsible and pay rent, and I may have to get a... dare I say it, real job. I don't have any expectations of liking this new lifestyle anymore than my former, but I'm accepting the fact that its inevitably going to happen someday, and I'm willing to give the benefits a shot for a little while. In the mean time, I plan on being more active in the music community, with booking shows, hosting bands, putting out records, starting bands, touring when I can... etc And frankly, as old and bitter and jaded I've gotten with everything including and even especially punk rock music, I feel like the amount of quality music released in the past year is not only refreshing, but maybe even inspiring. And with that said, here is my Best Of lists for 2010. Lets hope 2011 can keep it coming. Next year is the end of the world after all, lets go out with a bang.

(a number of these albums have been posted, but I'll try to get the rest of them up within the next month.)
Top 20 LPs
20. Jim Bryson And The Weakerthans - The Falcon Lake Incident
19. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
18. After The Fall - Eradication
17. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Young Blood Blues
16. Big Spirit - Alive But Still
15. Longitude - The Last Anniversary
14. Paul Baribeau - Unbearable
13. Run, Forever - The Devil And Death And Me
12. Into It. Over It. / Koji - IIOI/KOJI
11. Run With The Hunted - Run With The Hunted
10. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
9. Cower - Land Before Time
8. Dark Dark Dark - Wild Go
7. Mountain Man - One
6. RVIVR - RVIVR
5. Ef - Mounring Golden Morning
4. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
3. Drake - Thank Me Later
2. Make Do And Mend - End Measured Mile
1. Sundowner - We Chase The Waves

TOP 10 EPs and Splits
10. John K Samson - Provincial Road 222
9. Make Do And Mend / Touche Amore Split
8. Such Gold - Pedestals
7. Good Luck - Demonstration
6. Into It Over It / Everyone Everywhere Split
5. RVIVR - Dirty Water
4. Mindset - Time And Pressure
3. Mixtapes - Maps
2. Dark Dark Dark - Bright Bright Bright
1. Touche Amore / La Dispute Split

Top 10 Live Shows

October 23rd
Defeater, After The Fall, Make Do And Mend, All Teeth, Coughing Fit, Legit
@ Valentines in Albany, NY

August 19th - 22nd
Propagandhi, Algernon Cadwallader, Sundials and others
@ Best Friends Day in Richmond, VA

September 13th
Defiance, Ohio, Wood Spider, Mutiny Amongst Friends
@ The Stood at SUNY Purchase, NY

January 17th
Algernon Cadwallader, Summer People, Longitude
@ The Death Trap in Endicott, NY

September 27th
Touche Amore, My Heart To Joy, Zona Mexicana
@ The Co-Op at SUNY Purchase, NY

October 18th
Such Gold, Into It. Over It., Former Thieves
@ The Westcott Community Center in Syracuse, NY

October 17th
Dark Dark Dark, The Act Of Estimating As Worthless
@ The Stood at SUNY Purchase, NY

October 16th
Lightning Bolt
@ OUTSIDE on Campus SUNY Purchase, NY

September 10th
Paul Baribeau, Busman's Holiday
@ The Co-Op at SUNY Purchase, NY

August 2nd
Snowing, Into It. Over It., My Heart To Joy
@ Hole In The Sky in Washington, DC



Anticipating in 2011
New records from the following bands:
Propagandhi?
Defeater
Small Brown Bike
Touche Amore
Moving Mountains
Algernon Cadwallader
Prawn