Top 10 Albums:
1. The Gaslight Anthem
2. The Hold Steady
3. The Whigs
4. The Bronx
5. Spiritualized
6. Murder By Death
7. My Morning Jacket
8. Tom Gabel
9. Tokyo Police Club
10. Death Cab For Cutie
The Bronx rocked 2008 because:
The Bronx rocked soooo hard in 2008. After leaving a major label, the band went through a bit of a lineup change and focused their efforts in to a sharp audio bitch-slap. From the album’s opener “Knifeman” containing one of the best opening verses of the of the year, hitting many topics of 2008 on the head, “I wanna be original, I wanna be surrounded by art! / But everything is digital, the formulas are falling apart!/ They riot in the streets because there’s not enough money to share / Is the burden of fame just a universal cross we can bare?” as we get a huge, heavy-as-fuck riff dropped on our asses not heard since the band’s debut LP. The Bronx are a stellar band, and with their third LP they managed to remind us just how bombastic they can be while simultaneously leveling the current lineup of neon-wannabe “punk” rockers.
Favorite thing of 2008: It probably sounds cliched at this point but the presidential race of 2008 has to be one of the highs of the year. Beyond political beliefs, it was the first time the young generation collectively figured out that if they got out and flexed their influence they could determine the outcome of any election. Also as someone who’s online constantly, witnessing political candidates fully embrace the power of the internet was pretty amazing.
What did you wish you did more of in 2008? Some people would say “haircuts” but those people would be wrong. The correct answer is “bacon”, it’s always “bacon”.
What are you looking forward to in 2009? Someone wasn’t paying attention to the answer of the last question. But if you need an answer, I’d say becoming a member of the “Dirty 30″ and maybe perhaps trying to save myself a few bucks like they say “responsible” people do. Those are the same people that don’t live and die by TiVo HD, but to each their own.