Twenty One Pilots Trench Twenty One Pilots raised the bar on this one. This is not just a collection of good songs, it’s so much deeper than that. Trench is everything I look for in a good album.   The songs are memorable, all of the songs. There are no skippable tracks on this one….

Brandi Carlile By The Way, I Forgive You The dark horse of the Grammy’s. Has Brandi Carlile finally become mainstream? After her six Grammy nominations including the top categories of Album, Song and Record of the Year she has to be. It’s no surprise to me, I’m just wondering why it took six albums to finally get…

Amy Shark Love Monster I didn’t realize how much I’ve been missing Alanis Morrisette until I listened to this album. Amy Shark more than fills the gap. Song after song of infectious melodies and hooks. Every listen to this album I loved it more and more. I’m really surprised that this album didn’t blow up…

Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness Upside Down Flowers I was first introduced to this band when they were the opening act for the Weezer/Panic! Tour a couple years ago. I was immediately impressed with them. Last year they released a new album and it landed at #2 on my list. I was surprised to find…

The Wonder Years Sister Cities I was first introduced to The Wonder Years vocalist Dan “Soupy” Campbell back in 2014 when his side project landed at #2 on my list that year. The next year he was back with his full time band and put out an incredible album that landed at #10 on my…

The Struts Young & Dangerous I have a feeling that if Freddie Mercury was still with us making music with Queen it would sound a lot like this album. It’s flamboyant glam rock with arena sized anthems. Just watch the video for Primadonna Like Me and you will see what I mean. Every song on…

Brian Fallon Sleepwalkers Brian Fallon has been on my list twice over the years (#1 in 2010 and #6 in 2014) with his band The Gaslight Anthem. This is the second solo record from lead singer Brian Fallon. His solo stuff is not really a departure from what he was doing with his band. It…

Black Foxxes REIðI Black Foxxes first album blew me away back in 2016 which put them on my list at #7 that year. This year they continued with another raw grunge emotional masterpiece. There is just something about Mark Holley’s voice that draws me in. He puts so much raw emotion into these songs that…

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Tearing at the Seams The Night Sweats are Americana Rock and Roll at its best. Led by the bluesy soulful voice of Nathaniel Rateliff who is just a joy to listen to. This is a collection of feel good songs that make you want to groove along with. This…

Ghost Prequelle To appreciate Ghost you need to understand what Ghost is. They are a highly theatrical Occult-Rock band made up of the lead vocalist Tobias Forge and a backing band of nameless ghouls. Forge plays a character know as Cardinal Copia who is actually the fourth character played by Forge throughout the bands existence….

Basement Beside Myself I openly regard the nineties as the greatest decade for music. There were so many stand out acts across so many genres. So many breakthrough artists and so many game changers. The list of classic albums from the nineties is probably over a mile long. I actually worked on making a top…

All Get Out No Bouquet Near the end of the year I tend to get burned out in trying to discover new music. It’s a lot of work but by October I just want to listen to things I already know. I usually have a handful of anticipated albums I am waiting on but delving…

With Confidence Love And Loathing With Confidence broke onto the scene with an amazing debut album that made my list at #9 in 2016. This year they picked up right where they left off. More perfectly crafted straight forward pop punk tunes. Their ability to craft such catchy and hook filled songs amazes me. Songs…

Dashboard Confessional Crooked Shadows I was so excited when I heard Dashboard Confessional was working on new music. I’ve been a huge fan since I picked up their MTV Unplugged album after hearing a lot of talk about it. They introduced me to Emo and have been my favorite band of the genre since.  …

AWOLNATION Here Come The Runts I listened to this album simply because they were announced as the opening act for a show I was going to. I wanted to familiarize myself with some of their stuff. I came out of it a full on fan.   Just simply a catchy alternative album with great melodies…

Fall Out Boy M A  N   I    A I’ve come to the realization that Fall Out Boy is one of my all-time favorite bands. I get so into everything they put out, it all hits the right chords with me. I was so happy to be able to experience the tour for this…

Post Malone Beerbongs & Bentleys This album was a surprise for me, I normally don’t follow hip hop rap artists but my son urged me to check it out. I was immediately drawn in to his crossover ability to rap and sing. There are some down right brilliant songs on this album. Rockstar, Over Now,…

Panic! At The Disco Pray For The Wicked Panic! At The Disco had the tough job of following up an album that was probably their best and most successful ever. Not an easy task but Brendan Urie did a very respectable job. Blending styles and eras to create some great anthemic songs like “Roaring 20s”…

Story Untold Waves I’m a sucker for a good straight forward Pop Punk record. This one hits on all the marks, infectious melodies, great hooks, tight driving music and relatable lyrics. Songs with campy lyrics like on the song “Delete” where he sings “Now you’re just a photo on my iPhone screen, and I don’t…