| 5.0 classic |
| Attalus Into the Sea |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Becoming Who We Are |
| Instrumentally, creatively, and lyrically the best piece of Christian music I've ever heard. Tracks like "Grace Alone" and "139" communicate such intimacy and nearness to God yet remain thoroughly Scriptural. Worshipfulness is ever-present. |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Beyond Control |
| This one is heavy. I feel Gardner's struggle with assurance, control, and devotion, rwrestling to keep his eyes on God. There is an earnestness, a unrestrained pleading in it rthat portrays genuineness and honesty. But he always leads his listeners to the solution--rthe faithfulness of God who has already provided for all his needs: "All my running your rredemption retraced. At your cross held my exhausted embrace. Now I wander in your rglorious maze. Lost in grace, lost in grace." David did the very same, writing Psalms that rebb and flow with trouble and hope as he fought for solace amidst painful circumstances. rIts refreshing, and its speaks to me amidst my own failure. |
| Least of These Change Will Come |
| mewithoutYou Brother, Sister |
| My Epic Yet |
| Radiohead In Rainbows |
| I think there is actually a simplicity about this album. And yet, it just sounds so good. The production is exquisite--every member's part sounds as if he is playing the most important role. It can hear it all. Every note. Every drum beat. It's simply memorizing. |
| Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz |
| Entirely captivating--emotionally engaging, musically elaborate. And it doesn't seem like something that should work. Sufjan, the soft-spoken indie-folk singer-songwriter record a sprawling electronic album? Yeah, my intuition was wrong about that one. |
| The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt |
| Matsson sounds as comfortable and natural as could be. He just does his thing. He picks his guitar like nothing else and sings a melodic tune in that nasally voice of his. And the result is not exactly conventional, but its far from foreign. Its honestly a little bit like the dark-roast coffee I have every morning. It was an acquired taste, but now its a loveable friend and hard not to appreciate. |
| 4.5 superb |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave |
| Arcade Fire Funeral |
| Athletics Who You Are Is Not Enough |
| Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were |
| Built to Spill Perfect from Now On |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise |
| Citizens and Saints Citizens |
| Dinosaur Jr. Farm |
| Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Asaph's Arrows |
| They arrange hymns brilliantly. Esp. "Come Thou Font" and "Jesus Paid It All." The only thing that keeps this from being a 5 is that "In Christ Alone" isn't as strong as the others. |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Zeal |
| Lyrically its more difficult to connect with--his faith seems to be put in less concrete terms? And yet, some of the catchiest, freshest tracks he has made ("Aimless Knight," "Same Blood," "Little Bit of Faith"). |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair |
| La Dispute Wildlife |
| Mayday Parade A Lesson In Romantics |
| mewithoutYou Catch For Us the Foxes |
| mewithoutYou Pale Horses |
| My Epic I Am Undone |
| My Epic Broken Voice |
| My Epic Behold |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon |
| Radiohead Kid A |
| Radiohead OK Computer |
| Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool |
| Relient K Forget and Not Slow Down |
| Saosin Saosin |
| Many will probably disagree with me on this point, but I can't help but see this album as pop-punk. Admittedly, the instrumentation doesn't match the genre well, but the I can't escape the categorization. Its probably those vocals. I love the combination of the post-hardcore guitar/drum sound with those pop-punk feely vocal hooks. Its like a Silverstein album minus the screaming and better instrumentation. I mean, those drums on Voices and Follow and Feel though. Woah. That's good stuff. And You're Not Alone is a HECK of great anthem. |
| Silverstein This Is How the Wind Shifts |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois |
| Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell |
| The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading |
| The Oh Hellos Through The Deep, Dark Valley |
| The Receiving End of Sirens Between the Heart and the Synapse |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow |
| The Shins Oh, Inverted World |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Gish |
| The Strokes Is This It |
| Typhoon (USA-OR) White Lighter |
