You know how it goes. Here we go again.

10. Justice – Audio, Video, Disco

Justice is back. Finally. And they’re a lot funkier. Newlands is my favorite on this one.

9. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes

I am in love with Lykke Li. She croons all over the place on this record, and she covered Rick Ross’s “Hustlin’” once. She gets an A in my book, as does this record. Also, check out the Beck remix of Get Some.

8. Tally Hall – Good & Evil

Tally Hall is a cutesy dorky indie pop band from Michigan. If you want some silly music to make ya smile a little bit, check this band out. I’ve liked them since my sophomore year in high school and had been waiting for their follow-up to their first album. Here it is.

7. Washed Out – Within and Without

Ernesto. Doing what he does. On Sub Pop. It’s more produced. I’d say it has a thicker sound. I’m a fan.

6. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.

MOGWAI IS LIKE REALLY REALLY DOPE AND SO IS THIS RECORD.

5. Drake – Take Care

As much as I make fun of Drake, I like this record. Even with the stupid hook to “Make Me Proud”, and the weird vocal inflections on the pre-chorus to “Underground Kings”, it’s this high up on my list. I’m going to give most of the credit to Drake’s producer, 40. If we could just remove the Birdman outro and the Lil’ Wayne hook on HYFR it might be better.

4. Childish Gambino – Camp

It’s no secret that I really like Childish Gambino/Donald Glover. I wanna see a music video to every song on this record. Speaking of music videos on this record, check out the “Bonfire” music video if you haven’t yet. The end of “That Power” is really well written and performed. I’m also a fan of the ‘suite’ of “All the Shine”/”Letter Home”. Suck it Pitchfork. Give Drake a Best New Music and not even give Childish Gambino a 2.0?

Alright.

3. Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math

It’s not as bold as Mean Everything to Nothing. It’s a little overproduced. But everyone knows I’m a sucker for some strings. Yes. There is an orchestra on a Manchester Orchestra record. Am I the only one who found that funny? Anyway, I love it. I know there were some naysayers, but I love it. I want the next record to be more raw, but I def can still listen to this record  from front to back at least once a week.

2. Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne

DUH. OF COURSE THIS WOULD BE ON MY LIST. KANYESUS AND HOVA. Apparently there’s going to be a Watch the Throne 2. UHOH. Also, Drake and Lil’ Wayne said they couldn’t release a collab record because everyone would compare it to Watch the Throne. Please. They can’t hold a candle to Jay and Ye.

1. Toro y Moi – Underneath the Pine

Yup. I did it. Disagree? This record is awesome. Just listen to it (if you haven’t already).

Also Notable:

Patrick Stump – Soul Punk

Panda Bear – Tomboy

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s a Corporate World

Balkans – Balkans

LOCAL RELEASES!

10. Modern Man – Walk Away

First saw Modern Man at El Burrito for a WUSC show. They blew my mind. Check this band out.

9. Risky Business – Walt Risky

Taylor’s best release so far. Risky won the USC Battle of the Bands this year and opened for Sequoyah at Homecoming. Can you imagine being Sequoyah Technical Institute drunk while being Risky Business drunk? Apparently he broke contract and started cursing as soon as the show started. That’s my boy.

8. Baby Baby – Money

Met these guys back in March. Awesome. Atlanta. A little far out for local, but give me a break. They’re awesome. When asked about their genre, I call them Party Rock. And then the damn LMFAO song came out. So now I don’t know what to call them. The last song on this record is money…ha.

7. Marshall Brown – The Blue Shades EP

Marshall lives behind me. He writes good ass tunes. He has an amazing voice. If you haven’t heard his music or seen him live, you’re messing up.

6. Say Brother – All I Got Is Time

I saw Tripp at Earth Fare yesterday. He told me his Christmas consisted of naps and tequila shots every time he woke up from one. He’s a champion. This band is really damn amazing. I have an instant great mood every time I see them play. Another must see live in Soda City.

5. Toro y Moi – Freaking Out

Y so freak out Chaz? Lovin the dancy disco feel. Feels like some tastes of old Toro. I can play this EP over and over and over. Took me forever to get past the first two tracks, because I’d just keep playing them over and over again.

4. Clever Words – Nothing Ever Stays the Same, But People Never Change

Clever Words really stepped it up. This EP is leaps and bounds from where this band was last year. Dudes are kickin it up a notch. “Christy Said It Was Raining” is legitimately my favorite local song of the year.

3. Rejectioneers – 25 EP

BEN WALKER BEN WALKER BEN WALKER! So stoked for a full-length after this EP. It’s killer. Ben’s sexy voice just drips all over these tracks. Hear the magic.

2. Coma Cinema – Blue Suicide

Mickey dropped a fresh one on us. This record is a really really good listen. It just has great continuity. I don’t know how to write. It flows real good, y’all. Also check out that Elvis Depressedly stuff. You will not be sorry.

1. All Get Out – The Season

Finally. Also, I say it was worth the wait. The first time I heard this record straight through, my eyes kept widening more and more and more. The transition between “Let Me Go” and “Come and Gone” is one of the best transitions I have ever heard in recorded music. The production is amazing. The use of strings on this record is beautiful. But it’s loud. And that’s the main thing I wanted from this record. I got it. I’m happy. Write me another one.

Also Notable:

Ramphastos – Full Moon

Madi Diaz – Far From Things That We Know EP

The Sea Wolf Mutiny – The Last Season

You know your band has made it these days when you have a song on an Apple commercial. You could say they are pretty good at picking songs that will be stuck in your head for days, so it only seems fitting that their latest iPad commercial features a Grouplove song.

Grouplove have been on the fast track since becoming a band in 2009. Their first self titled EP came out last year on Canvasback Records and paved the way for their first album, which carried over some of the best songs of that EP.

Never Trust A Happy Song isn’t a consistent album on the first couple of listens. It seems scattered with different vocals, different instruments and at times they sound like a different band from song to song.  The fact that they can’t be nailed down is what really makes this album great. One moment you’re hearing something intoxicatingly fun, light hearted and poppy liked “Naked Kids” or “Tongue Tied,” and the next your in the middle of the slow moving aptly titled “Slow” or the banjo driven “Cruel and Beautiful World.” Whatever the case they have each song perfected and have woven them together with purpose.

It’s hard to trust something that is one dimensional.  Grouplove have made it possible to trust a happy song because they show you that they aren’t one dimensional at all. They can counter “Naked Kids” and the sha-la-la’s of “Lovely Cup” with something equally as catchy and less on the happy pop side with “Betty’s a Bombshell.” It’s all about the counterbalance. The savory to the sweet and Grouplove have it all under control on this album.

Relax, kick back your feet and listen to Owen.  Look out a window. Maybe snow is falling outside and you are being kept warm. You’re relaxed, carefree and have no where to be.  These are some of the feelings you might feel while listening to Ghost Town, the latest record from Mike Kensella’s solo project Owen.

Just like on past records Owen remains consistent in song structure and over all sound.  Intricate guitar leads over dreamy melodic backdrops. The backdrops change like scenes from song to song and flow gently from one into another. Rhythm sections built from shakers, guitar strums or stripped down drums sets. They all are dreamscapes for vocals that never are pushed to their limit, but could have been recorded in a bedroom while someone close by was sleeping.

This album fits best with rainy or snowy days. Maybe a cool fall drive, or whenever you’ll need to feel most relaxed. It’s also great background music for a day at the office.  You choose your setting, but it’s worth the listen.

People and Things is the first Jacks Mannequin’s that has had the opportunity to break free from constraints and be itself. Everything in Transit stepped out of the shadow of Something Corporate, carrying with it most of the Something Corporate fan base.  While on tour to drum up support for Everything In Transit, Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with Leukemia. His journey was documented and later released as the documentary Dear Jack. After his recovery Jacks Mannequin released their sophomore album The Glass Passenger. It was the album that proved McMahon was back and at the top of his songwriting game. He wrote what he knew, and that was about his struggle and sickness.

Three years later yet again, we have People and Things. The new album carries all of the pop sensibilities that have always been Jacks Mannequin, but has lost a little magic somewhere in the mix. This album is built around hooks and choruses.  And they are big at times. Tracks like “Television” clearly channels U2 and “Hey Hey Hey (We’re All Gonna Die)” has a huge swaying sing along chorus. It makes for an album that is enjoyable to listen to, but fails to make that last emotional connection to the listener that gives it the staying power found on their first two albums.

All Get Out’s debut full length The Season has been years in the making.  To fans, it has been a myth, a rumor and something that has been much anticipated.  The band went from playing hundreds of shows in 2008, 2009, and 2010 to regional one off dates for much of 2011.  They had started to become a staple at SXSW, but in 2011 were absent.  They rode hard their first, much beloved Spitting EP, and then re-released it as self titled on Favorite Gentlemen Records.  Self titled records are saved for when a band finds its true sound.  Had All Get Out found it’s true sound before it ever released a full length?

There are more questions surrounding this record than there are visible answers.  Recorded in the heart of Winter in early 2010, the album features some songs that were fresh at the time and others that had become familiar fan favorites over the years.

The Season opens up with the pedal to the floor with “My Friends.”  A song that All Get Out has opened up with at live shows consistently over the years.  Only 10 seconds into the album we have our first “Wooh”, and you think you are in for a fast ride.  What you don’t expect are the horns and organ that seemingly come out of nowhere to the forefront from a band that is better known for loud guitars and grungy distortion.  Years ago we labeled them as “Southern Grunge” based more on their live performance, but this album takes All Get Out to a new more polished sound.

Songs like “Lucky Bastard” and “The Season” are sure fan pleasers, but take a backseat to three songs.  “Son of Mine”, “Let Me Go” and “Come and Gone” are a three part personal story that have been in waiting for Nathan Hussey’s first full length for years. Performed live, “Let Me Go” brings crowded rooms to an eery silence. Those chills have finally been captured masterfully on record, something that wasn’t easy to do.

The Season is proof of versatility.  A band known for leaving a trail of spit, broken guitars, and cymbals in its’ wake have made a beautiful record. The Smashing Pumpkinsesque “Tonight, Tonight” outro to “Come and Gone” is not only a precious gift from Kopecky Family Band, but a soft fade to an album that opened with aggression and is sprinkled with angst.

Is the “back 9″ finally here?  Only time will tell, but now you have the tools to make it happen.

All Get Out will release their record this Saturday, September 24 at New Brookland Tavern.

The Front Bottoms new self titled album dropped today and is streaming in full over at AOL Spinner as part of their online listening party series.

We’ve been huge fans of the album for a couple of weeks now and are excited to be bringing them to Columbia October 29 for a Halloween show at Bey’s.

As someone who writes about music you keep a mental record of the key words that come to mind when you’re listening to an album.  I’ve had minutia, The Mountain Goats, stream of conscious and coming of age.  Once I did some reading up on The Front Bottoms all of these were taken.  So either, I needed to write about them sooner, I can tippy toe around all of these, or I can just get knee deep and double up on the comparisons.

The Front Bottoms are a power acoustic duo featuring drums and acoustic guitar.  That stands out in the forefront, but the entire album is filled with everything from horns, synth, pianos, whatever compliments the songs best.  Lyrically and melodically they flow straight from the head unfiltered.  Honest like a child saying the first thing that comes to mind.  Not every two lines go together back to back.  Sometimes you just have to step back and look at the songs as a whole to see the picture.  Remember that exercise to cure writers block where you just write and don’t think, then you go back and read what you wrote and it’s just all there.  Yeah, that’s The Front Bottoms, and it’s really great and refreshing. Singing along with every word of every song would be a serious task, but there are times where you will shout lyrics because you can’t help it.  There are songs that you won’t be able to get out of your head. They’re catchy, fun, intense, relatable and in your face.

So yeah, this album is about the minutia of life.  But not that excruciating minutia made famous by Elaine Benes.

There seems to be a new sound trending that isn’t exactly a new sound.  The disciples of Springsteen, Dylan and Petty are finding their way back into the mainstream.  Gaslight Anthem has been carrying the flag, The War on Drugs is chilling in Philadelphia’s back seat and now We are Augustines is making their statement with their new album Rise Ye Sunken Ships.  Don’t forget about Empires, they might have the best live show of any of the Blue Collar bands.

We are Augustines released their new record Tuesday and the Brooklyn band holds their own when it comes to writing an album that sounds like American rock at heart.  The songs are about struggles in life, with intense imagery throughout every song.  “Book of James” starts off with a loose out front snare that hits home like a steady heart beat in what is one of the most meaningful songs on the album. “Philadelphia” and other songs have those same steady chord progressions that you’re used to hearing from The Boss and Tom Petty, backed by out front steady snare and kick beats that wrap you in a blanket.  Add in a working mans voice that sounds straight off the dock after a pack of Marlboro Reds and you have Augustines.

Give it a listen if you’re into Empires, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Gaslight Anthem, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen etc

Hot Lava Monster-Some Call It Hell

Hot Lava Monster is back, and they brought their huge… erm, guitars, with them.

That’s right, it’s the first loud and in your face release from Columbia’s classic rock gurus since their Live record, and man is it good.  The 4 song EP is the long awaited release of their group’s Weed sessions.  No, not smoking weed, Weed, California (maybe a little of both?).

For those with short memories when it comes to awesome local rock music, the band took a pilgrimage out that way oh, well it was long enough ago that I covered the trip for Scene SC, and I’m pretty sure it was before most of Scene SC’s current staff was born.  The point is, way back when the band recorded this EP with producer Sylvia Massey (Tool, other people not as cool as Tool) and they have finally decided to release it to the masses.

And thank Heavens they did.

The four tracks are four of the band’s best work yet.  They are raw, loud, passionate, and dang if they don’t sound great.  Fans will recognize the tracks from their epic live shows, but this is the first time we’ve heard them in their full studio glory.

Where past Hot Lava Monster recordings have showcased a layered, more produced feel, this one captures the band in it’s live element.  There are very few overdubs, allowing the instrumentalists to shine.  Andy Dumiak and Wes Pellerin give a solid rhythm base for the classic rock shenanigans, filling out the sound with all the tightness you’ve come to expect.  Hot Lava Mike is ever present, content to show the world that he can both shred and deliver fantastic rhythm lines.

This EP though, I have to say, is Patrick Baxley’s moment.  The sexy man with the big voice has always fronted the band with the utmost confidence, but this recording captures him at his best vocally.  Channeling Plant, Mercury, and a bevy of hair metal singers, he delivers every vocal line with the conviction of a man who knows these are some of his band’s best songs to date.

And that, in fact, is what these are.  Hot Lava Monster has always been a great band with an incredible live show, but this time, it is the songs that come through more than anything else.  They are complete, exciting, and captured in their best form – raw and ballsy.

Great work guys, now don’t make us wait so long for next time.

By Gavin Brown:

Solid. It’s the only word that comes to mind when I try to describe The Sea Wolf Mutiny’s First EP, The Last Season. It’s funny, the definition of “solid” is a near perfect description of the band’s eight song EP: “not hollow or containing gaps” and “strongly built or made of strong material.”

The title for the record gives the intent of the band, to create music that is a reflection on the past seasons of their lives.

Our desire is to see the world from the ground up,” says Lead Vocalist Bobby Hatfield. “We have our heads in the clouds a lot, and the record is our attempt to return to ground level.”

From the opening track, Fear and Trembling, the band journeys through frustration, revelation, failure, and ultimately a place of reflection and new direction.

When you know the history of the band (Drummer Phillip Kearse and Bassist Dave Ohlman had never played their instruments prior to joining the band) and the growth and maturity of each member, the musicality that is displayed is almost unbelievable. To top it off, this may be the best work by producer/engineer Kenny McWilliams I’ve heard to date.

Almost all the songs are in the same key, D to be exact. For the listener, you lose track of the song numbers or titles. Instead the record flows from track to track with the grace that Hatfield sings about, either in his chilling low register on the fifth track Over, Around, Under and Through, or his impressive use of falsetto notes on Watery Grave. Guitarist Danny Oakes mixture of swells and drive build around Hatfield’s piano that sometimes hints to a classical influence. To top this off, the bands tight rhythm section blends perfectly in the mix, never overpowering or flashy. And for a studio record, it sounds just like their live show.

To the listener, The Last Season is a record saying, “This is where we’ve come from, and now we move forward.”

“We achieved more than we hoped for,” says Hatfield. “I guess we can be proud of that.”

 The Sea Wolf Mutiny releases their EP, The Last Season, Friday August 12 at New Brookland Tavern along with Foley and The Rejectioneers.

Rejectioneers-Murderers

For more than half a decade the 25 EP has been in the works. It’s the first official Rejectioneers release after years of playing live in Columbia.  For Ben Walker, this is the first time the recording quality has matched the quality of the songs.

The reason Ben Walker has always had such a core following locally is not only because people love him as a positive influence on the music scene, but because his songs are an open diary that make the listener feel something. What makes this album stand out is the musicianship that Walker has surrounded himself with within Rejectioneers.  Christian Tyler’s lead guitar parts consistently compliment the songs without being overbearing, and more often than not the rhythm and drums drive these songs home. These 5 songs wear their influences from the last 30 years of music on it’s sleeve.  From Tom Petty moments, to the opening of “Wake Up’ that has a classic U2 feel.  What you end up with is a rock n roll record that will stand the test of time, because it’s sound encompasses influences from the 80′s, 90′s and 2000′s.

“Get So Mad’ was the most downloaded song on the 2010 SceneSC sampler showing peoples anxiousness for new material from Ben Walker.  That song is on 25, but now has a pre chorus that might throw people off that are used to the SceneSC version.  On the first couple of listenens it seemed evasive, but now it doesn’t seem anything but necessary to the song.

For fans, this album is exactly what they’ve been waiting for and has the ability to keep growing Rejectioneers fan base.  The real question is where is the second half of the album?  Will I be 37 before I hear the LP?

Rejectioneers will release their new EP this Friday August 12, 2011 at New Brookland Tavern.