Thursday

Here's the perfect band to start off a jet black new year. They've been consistently requested over the years, which makes sense considering the massive amount of influence they've have on some bands on here, while still being a very well-known band in their own right.

Thursday were a six-piece post-hardcore band from New Brunswick, New Jersey that formed in 1997 and came to an end in 2011. They emerged just as popular post-hardcore/emo/alternative acts such as Taking Back Sunday, Thrice, and Alexisonfire hit it big in the early 2000's, a wave they became front-runners of very quickly. After releasing their debut album Waiting in 1999, their breakthrough album came in 2001 with Full Collapse, which spawned a ton of songs that have become staples of the band, such as "Understanding In A Car Crash", "Cross Out The Eyes", "Paris In Flames", and "Standing On The Edge Of Summer". They continued this success on their follow-up War All The Time, which was their heaviest material to date. It also showed a glimpse of them becoming the overtly political force they later would, in addition to the deeply personal lyrics they had gotten their start with. A City By The Light Divided showcased a band continue to experiment, but with a lot more melody this time around. On Common Existence they again did a double-take and released some of their most aggressive and straight-forward material. Their sixth and final album No Devolución broke apart from their origins by including tons of atmospheric and post-rock influence, which isn't surprising considering their collaboration with Envy a few years later and a staggering Sigur Rós cover even earlier on in their career.

As aforementioned, Thursday took a break in 2011. Their hiatus was officially declared as a breakup in 2013, though the band's future is still in the air. Vocalist Geoff Rickly remains quite active, most notably as a member of United Nations, who got their start in the middle of Thursday's career. He also started another band called No Devotion, which released their debut album last year. Regardless, it's Thursday's legacy we're talking about here, so below is their discography. Let me know if you have anything I'm missing by them, and enjoy.

1999 Summer Tour EP (1999)

1. Ian Curtis

2. Porcelain

3. This Side of Brightness

4. Wind-Up

5. Dying In New Brunswick

6. Mass As Shadows

Waiting (1999)

1. Porcelain

2. This Side Of Brightness

3. Ian Curtis

4. Introduction

5. Streaks In The Sky

6. In Transmission

7. Dying In New Brunswick

8. The Dotted Line

9. Where The Circle Ends

Full Collapse (2001)

1. A0001

2. Understanding In A Car Crash

3. Concealer

4. Autobiography Of A Nation

5. A Hole In The World

6. Cross Out The Eyes

7. Paris in Flames

8. I Am The Killer

9. Standing On The Edge of Summer

10. Wind-Up

11. How Long Is The Night?

Five Stories Falling (2002)

1. Autobiography Of A Nation (Live)

2. Understanding In A Car Crash (Live)

3. Standing On The Edge of Summer (Live)

4. Paris In Flames (Live)

5. Jet Black New Year

War All The Time (2003)

1. For The Workforce, Drowning

2. Between Rupture and Rapture

3. Division St.

4. Signals Over The Air

5. Marches And Maneuvers

6. Asleep In The Chapel

7. This Song Brought To You By A Falling Bomb

8. Steps Ascending

9. War All The Time

10. M. Shepard

11. Tomorrow I'll Be You

12. Ný Batterí (Sigur Rós cover) [Japanese Bonus Track]

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland Soundtrack (2005)

12. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) [The Buzzcocks cover]

A City By The Light Divided (2006)

1. The Other Side Of The Crash/Over And Out (Of Control)

2. Counting 5-4-3-2-1

3. Sugar In The Sacrament

4. At This Velocity

5. We Will Overcome

6. Arc-Lamps, Signal Flares, A Shower Of White (The Light)

7. Running From The Rain

8. Telegraph Avenue Kiss

9. The Lovesong Writer

10. Into The Blinding Light

11. Autumn Leaves Revisited

Kill The House Lights (2007)

1. Ladies And Gentlemen: My Brother, The Failure

2. Dead Songs

3. Voices On A String

4. Signals Over The Air (Live At Starland Ballroom)

5. How Long Is The Night (Original Intro)

6. A Sketch For Time's Arrow

7. Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City

8. The Roar Of Far Off Black Jets

9. Paris In Flames (Demo)

10. Telegraph Avenue Kiss (Rich Costey Mix)

11. Wind Up (Demo)

12. Music From Kill The House Lights (Demo)

Thursday/Envy (2008)

1. Thursday - As He Climbed The Dark Mountain

2. Thursday - In Silence

3. Thursday - An Absurd And Unrealistic Dream Of Peace

4. Thursday - Appeared And Was Gone

5. Envy - An Umbrella Fallen Into Fiction

6. Envy - Isolation Of A Light Source

7. Envy - Pure Birth And Loneliness

Common Existence (2009)

1. Resuscitation Of A Dead Man

2. Last Call

3. As He Climbed The Dark Mountain

4. Friends In The Armed Forces

5. Beyond The Visible Spectrum

6. Times Arrow

7. Unintended Long Term Effects

8. Circuits Of Fever

9. Subway Funeral

10. Love Has Led Us Astray

11. You Were The Cancer

No Devolución (2011)

1. Fast To The End

2. No Answers

3. A Darker Forest

4. Sparks Against The Sun

5. Open Quotes

6. Past And Future Ruins

7. Magnets Caught in A Metal Heart

8. Empty Glass

9. A Gun In The First Act

10. Millimeter

11. Turnpike Divides

12. Stay True

In Utero, In Tribute, In Entirety (2014)

4. Rape Me (Nirvana cover)

Note: Full comp here

Off Minor

I was trying to think of bands that I could not go into 2016 without having on the blog, and though there are many, many, many bands that could fit the bill, I had to settle on one. And Off Minor just seemed fitting, a band I've been meaning to do since Day 1, and an absolute essential for anyone into the screamier side of things on this blog. Not to mention, who can turn down the enticing (albeit stupid and simplified) description of "jazz skramz"? Nobody, that's right.

However much Off Minor stand as their own band, it's inevitable that the band that spawned them must be mentioned. As Saetia began to come to an end in 1999 (though officially broke up in 2000), three of its members had begun rehearsing as a new band. These three were Jamie Behar (guitar in Saetia, guitar/vocals in Off Minor), Steve Roche (bass in Saetia, drums/vocals in Off Minor) , and Matt Smith (bass at Saetia's last performance as well as in Off Minor). After Saetia ended, Off Minor took off as their main project. Smith only lasted for a short while before joining Hot Cross as their bassist, the band that also formed upon the demise of Saetia that included Billy Werner on vocals and Greg Drudy on drums. In addition to Behar, those were the only other two members of Saetia to last throughout its entire existence.

With their three-piece solidified, they proceeded to release some of the best music of their decade. From right out of the gate, their first song on their first release, "Problematic Courtship" establishes them as a force to be reckoned with, and only continued to prove that. From the rest of the songs on that EP, to their next handful of splits, all throughout three full-lengths, Off Minor made themselves known as one of the best emo/screamo/hardcore bands ever to exist. They perfected irregular timings, off-kilter rhythms, technically intricate clean passages, and then exploding into an all-out catharsis of distortion and alternating screams. This is some of the most tight and impressive musicianship that can still be referred to as "chaotic". And of course, the best kind of bands are always the paradoxical ones.

Off Minor have been inactive since 2008, though their legacy is still going strong. They've been insanely influential, and it's almost guaranteed that any "screamo" band going strong today is a massive fan of them. They put out some amazing music that I can't help but be in awe of, and I'm positive a lot of people share in that sentiment. Enjoy your New Years, and I'll see you in 2016.

Off Minor/I Am The Resurrection (2000)

1. Off Minor - Problematic Courtship

2. Off Minor - My Recovery

3. Off Minor - Farewell Ne'er Do Well

4. Off Minor - Willow Weep For Me

5. Off Minor - Remainder

6. Off Minor - Perfect Strangers

7. I Am The Resurrection - Gauges

8. I Am The Resurrection - Spliced Film Smiles

9. I Am The Resurrection - This New Broom Sweeps Clean

10. I Am The Resurrection - Short, Fast, And Oh So Stylish

11. I Am The Resurrection - Came Home Pushed Full Of Pins

12. I Am The Resurrection - The New Apostles

13. I Am The Resurrection - The Fall And Rise Of Cameron Hodge

Problematic Courtship (2002)

1. Problematic Courtship

2. My Recovery

3. Farewell Ne'er Do Well

4. Willow Weep For Me

5. Remainder

6. Perfect Strangers

7. Problematic Courtship [Live]

8. Farewell Ne'er Do Well [Live]

9. Perfect Strangers [Live]

10. A Transient [Live]

Note: The first 6 songs also appear on the split with I Am The Resurrection. This album is often sometimes just self-titled, and the exact years of release between this and the split is a little unclear, since every source seems to cite something different. Either way, they were released between 2000 and 2002, not sure which came first but either way this is some of Off Minor's best stuff.

The Heat Death Of The Universe (2003)

1. The Heat Death of the Universe

2. This Is A Hostage Situation

3. It's A Beauty

4. Punch for Punch

5. The Transient

6. Staring Down The Barrel of Limited Options

7. Spartan

8. Monday Morning Quarterbacks

9. Off Minor

Innominate (2004)

1. Cadaveric

2. Killed For Less

3. Inadequate In Absence Of You

4. Demolition Heuristic

5. In SL

6. Devil Ether

7. Allele

8. Family Circus

9. Staring Down The Barrel Of Limited Options

Off Minor/St. Alban's Kids (2004)

1. Off Minor - In SL

2. Off Minor - My Father's Dreams

3. St. Alban's Kids - Dissthentic Penetration

4. St. Alban's Kids - When We Are Just Days Away From Illiteracy

Off Minor/My Disco (2005)

1. Off Minor - Some Clown

2. My Disco - Troubled Receiver

Off Minor/Ampere (2008)

1. Off Minor - Abattoir

2. Ampere - Conquest Success

Off Minor/Killie (2005)

1. Off Minor - Some Clown

2. Off Minor - Abbatoir

3. Off Minor - Everything Explicit

4. Killie - 体脂肪と戦う

5. Killie - 脳死が俺の側に

Some Blood (2008)

1. Neologist

2. Some Blood

3. Everything Explicit

4. To An Ex

5. No Conversationalist I

6. Practice Absence

Best Of 2015

As promised, here's the list of my 50 favourite albums of 2015. Despite the title, these aren't really an objective "best", but a purely personal list of albums I enjoyed this year. However, some of them are pretty indisputable "bests" (see: #2). Regardless, I hope you enjoy, and give some a try if you haven't heard them. I didn't include links here because some of them are a copyright claim waiting to happen, though a good chunk of them do appear on the blog already. Enjoy, and please feel free to share your favourites of the year, I'm really curious to know. 

Honourable Mentions:

Petal - Shame
Harm's Way - Rust
Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
Spraynard - Mable
Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon

50 

Wilco - Star Wars

49 

Envy - Atheist's Cornea

48 

Sun Kil Moon - Universal Themes

47

The Armed - Untitled

46

Sorority Noise - Joy, Departed

45

Foxing - Dealer

44

Desaparecidos - Payola

43

METZ - II

42

Black Breath - Slaves Beyond Death

41

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside

40

mewithoutYou - Pale Horses

39

Chvrches - Every Open Eye

38

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress

37

Night Birds - Mutiny At Muscle Beach

36

Self Defense Family - Heaven is Earth

35

Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us

34

The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Harmlessness

33

Shizune - Le Voyageur Imprudent

32

Beach House - Depression Cherry

31

Blacklisted - When People Grow, People Go

30

Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp

29

Cult Leader - Lightless Walk

28

Death Grips - The Powers That B

27

Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin' Down

26

Frank Turner - Positive Songs For Negative People

25

Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool?

24

the Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ

23

The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness

22

Vince Staples - Summertime '06

21

Hop Along - Painted Shut

20

Loma Prieta - Self Portrait

19

The Tallest Man On Earth - Dark Bird Is Home

18

Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

17

The Saddest Landscape - Darkness Forgives

16

Title Fight - Hyperview

15

Napalm Death - Apex Predator -- Easy Meat

14

Viet Cong - Viet Cong

13

Grimes - Art Angels

12

The Front Bottoms - Back On Top

11

Björk - Vulnicura

10

Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife

9

Joanna Newsom - Divers

8


Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late

7

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

6

Jamie xx - In Colour

5


Deafheaven - New Bermuda

4

Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

3

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

2

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

1

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear