The Syndicate Blog

Top 10 Albums
1. Clutch – From Beale Street To Oblivion
2. Funeral For A Friend – Tales Don’t Tell Themselves
3. Greg Giraldo – Good Day to Cross A River
4. Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
5. Minus The Bear – Planet of Ice
6. Mustache! – Babes Say The Hottest Things
7. Shadows Fall – Threads Of Life
8. Sherwood – A Different Light
9. The End – Elementary
10. Thursday – Kill The House Lights

Greg Giraldo rocked 2007 because:
I wish I had the ability to harness my anger into a money making scheme like telling jokes. Unfortunately I would sound just like Greg. So I’ll let him take the glory while I go back to inventing a cake the blows itself out.

Favorite thing of the year? BRAWNDO! Its what plants crave!!!!!!!

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? While impersonating Will Smith, rob a small bank in a ghost town. While escaping in a bright orange Studebaker, pick up a pack of hitch hiking alpacas on their way to Pakistan for purple pancake syrup. Upon completing the mission, use the money to Free Willy and take him out to a full meal at Willy’s California style burritos and eat a Willy Wonka chocolate bar for dessert. Once our bellies were full, I would drop him off at the hotel of his choosing and carry on with my mission to create a time machine. Upon completion return to the dawn of time where I will make a movie predicting the first ice age thus beating Al Gore to the Nobel Peace Prize. When I return to the current time, I will use the rest of the money to melt the remaining polar ice caps to fund the first global completely organic snocone distribution company serving flavors whose are best described by their actual name, like orange.

What are you looking forward to in 2008? Using a Delorean instead of the Studebaker. Might as well kill 2 cars with one stone.

Top 10 Albums: (In no particular order)
1. Shadows Fall – Threads Of Life
2. Thursday – Kill The House Lights
3. The End – Elementary
4. The Showdown – Temptation Come My Way
5. Clutch – From Beale St To Oblivion
6. Funeral For A Friend – Tales Don’t Tell Themselves
7. Every Time I Die – The Big Dirty
8. TI – TI Vs. TIP
9. Sherwood – A Different Light
10. The Pack – Based Boys

The Showdown rocked 2007 because:
This album came out of nowhere to me and was a pleasant surprise. The same can be said about The End’s Elementary.

Favorite thing of the year? Getting a new blackberry with one letter per key.

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Spend more time off the internets.

What are you looking forward to in 2008? Getting a haircut.

Top 10 Albums
1. Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
2. Poison The Well – Versions
3. Porcupine Tree – Fear Of A Blank Planet
4. Pelican – City Of Echoes
5. The End – Elementary
6. Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster – II
7. Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
8. A Life Once Lost – Iron Gag
9. Battles – Mirrored
10. Throwdown – Venom & Tears

Poison The Well rocked 2007 because:
Poison the Well took a genre they helped create (a genre that quickly deviated from its roots) and completely turned it upside down with Versions. After the band dropped off the radar for four years, Versions could have easily been a throw-away album from a band that seemed to be in its death throws. Instead we got a fresh, powerful and wildly inventive and fearless opus. Recorded in Sweden with the same team that produced Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come, the album is deep and vast; it perfectly paints the bitter, cold darkness of its recording location and depicted in its artwork. With instrumentation you’ll never see coming (steel lap guitar and horns on a hardcore record?) and little nuggets of sound hidden deep in the mix, you’ll discover something new with each listen.

Favorite thing of the year? Same as my favorite thing in 2005, and 2006 – my Xbox 360. It continues to truly be a next-generation centerpiece for a home theater, with amazingly deep networking features, video streaming/downloading, access from the web and tons of other features (Xbox.com and Bungie.net have incredibly detailed features). Xbox Live continues to be a revolutionary service, and consistently adds great features and updates that you can tell came from their passion for listening to their customers. The concept of seamlessly playing co-op and competitively with my friends and new people and being able to shut it down with the click of a button (and not have to clean up their empty beer cans) still blows my mind. The system has had no shortage of A-list titles either, with Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Rainbow Six Vegas, Rock Band/Guitar Hero and countless other games dominating my late-nights in 2007 – and I haven’t even had been able to get around to playing critically acclaimed blockbusters Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed!

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Hit the gym. I mean, I look good, but 32nd place in the national bodybuilding championships just doesn’t cut it for me.

What are you looking forward to in 2008? The Dark Knight. Period. End. Can’t wait to see what Chris Nolan will do to follow up the fantastic Batman Begins.

Top 10 Albums:
1. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
2. Various Artists – The Brit Box: UK Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-Pop Gems
3. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
4. Dane Cook – Rough Around The Edges
5. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Sigur Ros – Hvarf/Heim
7. The Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night
8. Dave Holmes – Ocean’s Thirteen Soundtrack
9. Nick Swardson – Party
10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81

The Brit Box rocked 2007 because:
This set encompasses the musical genres I would deem my favorite, without a doubt. These bands changed me and defined my years in college, so of course it’s going to stand out on my list this year. It’s awesome that Rhino took the time to wrap up the early 90’s UK indie scene into a box set some 15-17 years after the style was born. I still listen to many of these bands and I’m always eager to hear emerging artists who are influenced by the shoegazers.

Favorite thing of the year? Geeking out and joining my first fantasy baseball league (ended up # 4 out of 11).

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Spent even more time with my family.

What are you looking forward to in 2008? My Bloody Valentine reuniting (finally) and MLB’s All Star Game in the Bronx.

Top 10 Albums:
1. Against Me! – New Wave
2. Explosions In The Sky – All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
3. Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
4. Gallows – Orchestra Of Wolves
5. Ryan Ferguson – Only Trying To Help
6. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
7. Minus the Bear – Planet Of Ice
8. Gaslight Anthem – Sink Or Swim
9. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
10. Anberlin – Cities

Against Me! rocked 2007 because:
Against Me!’s New Wave is 10 songs of pure punk perfection (clichéd album review statement, I know). Clocking in at 33 minutes and 36 seconds, the record is enough to satisfy your appetite for Tom Gabel’s self-realized and politically conscious lyrics while still begging to be played one more time because it was so short you couldn’t get enough of it. Don’t let superstar producer Butch Vig and major label Sire throw you off – while the songs may be more concise and skew more towards “pop” rock songs, every song retains the heart, grit and urgency that made you fall in love with AM!’s As The Eternal Cowboy and Searching For A Former Clarity. The record is so good it inspired Ben Lee to cover every song front to back (Ben Lee Sings Against Me: New Wave) – an artist I traditionally never liked but gave another shot simply because he covered my favorite album of this year (still don’t like him all that much, but hey, he did a pretty solid job). Lastly, Tom’s drawing of the panther on the cover? BADASS. “There is an Ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve.”

Favorite thing of the year? The Nintendo Wii. Absolutely, 100%. I watched my grandmother school EVERYONE while playing Wii Bowling at my housewarming party (it literally went like this: strike, strike, spare, strike, strike, strike, spare…), created a Mii that looks EXACTLY like me, revisited the joys of Lego Star Wars and got to play again as one of the greatest Nintendo characters of all time, Link. Some may say video games are a waste of time, but hours spent playing Wii are just as important as getting a good night’s rest in my book.

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Relaxed! I feel like this year was a whirlwind year with so many changes – all for the better of course, but could definitely used more down time.

What are you looking forward to in 2008?Lego Indiana Jones. That’s going to be pretty rad. (Hopefully) going away to another country to celebrate my wife’s 30th birthday. Good times, good times.

Top 10 Albums:
1. Gaslight Anthem – Sink Or Swim
2. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
3. Shadows Fall – Threads Of Life
4. Against Me! – New Wave
5. Manchester Orchestra – I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child
6. Jose Gonzalez – In Our Nature
7. Ryan Ferguson – Only Trying To Help
8. Mustache! – Babes Say The Hottest Things
9. Minus The Bear – Planet Of Ice
10. The Showdown – Temptation Come My Way

The Gaslight Anthem rocked 2007 because:
This album completely caught me off guard, just hadn’t heard a “new” band hit me this hard in a while. Sonically it’s Bruce Springsteen (think “Atlantic City”), Mike Ness & Jersey Angst all thrown in a blender of awesome. The lyrics are smart and with each listen I’m more blown away.

Favorite thing of the year? Buying XBOX 360, specially playing NHL ‘08 & Madden ‘08.

What did you wish you did more of in 2007? Exercise and/or Jazzercize

What are you looking forward to in 2008? Let’s Go Yankees!

Top 10 Albums Of The Year (In no particular order)
1. Good Life – Help Wanted Nights
2. Against Me! – New Wave
3. Patton Oswalt – Werewolves And Lollipops
4. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
5. Minus The Bear – Planet Of Ice
6. Chuck Ragan – Feast Or Famine
7. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends
8. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
9. Baroness – The Red Album
10. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away

Les Savy Fav rocked 2007 because:
It has the best song ever composed about partying in a castle.

What are you looking forward to in 2008? The Hot Water Music Reunion show! Plus new albums from Polar Bear Club, Death Cab for Cutie, Man Man, Paint it Black, The Sword, Lemuria, Thursday and the new Batman movie.