I almost decided not to make a list this year. It would be the first time in a decade of considering myself a serious music fan and occasional amateur critic that I didn’t cap the year with a retrospective post about my favorite albums, songs, and more. Every time I opened up my “All 2015” playlist in iTunes, I felt hopelessly behind on new music. There was too much there, and at the same time there wasn’t enough. I was more conscious than ever of what I wasn’t listening to. There’s just no way to give every critically and culturally significant album a fair shake in one year, but that’s okay (and if I’m being honest, I can’t complain – I spent a precious half hour of my life listening to the Lil Bub album). In the end, I decided that it was still worth it to take a little time at the end of the year to collect my thoughts on a few of my favorite releases. I’m not going to pretend this is a definitive best-of list. It’s just ten records I loved this year, and I hope you love them too.

My Favorite Albums of 2015

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

I like to call Beach Slang “the best band in the world.” I know it’s a ridiculous statement, but when I’m immersed in this album, I genuinely believe it. It’s an urgent, electrifying ode to the present tense, to the importance of being alive right now.

mewithoutYou – Pale Horses

While the band is in top form as always, Aaron Weiss’s lyrics are the true highlight – a beautiful tapestry of religious philosophy, literary allusions, and personal anecdotes in which the intimate and the apocalyptic are addressed in equal measure.

Desaparecidos – Payola

Political firebrand has always been my favorite of Conor Oberst’s many modes, and his biting indictments of Wall Street executives, racist cops, and more on Payola are an ideal match for the band’s raucous guitar work.

Laura Stevenson – Cocksure

Wheel is a tough record to follow. Cocksure lacks the gravitas of Stevenson’s 2013 masterpiece, but it charts new territory as her most rock and roll album yet while maintaining the wordplay that makes her songwriting so great.

The Wonder Years – No Closer To Heaven

I have more negative things to say about No Closer To Heaven than any other album on this list. The muddy mix buries the vocals in a wash of guitars and cymbals. The three-act structure makes for strong theme building, but the divisions between the acts are so sharp that I wish it had been a series of three EPs. And I won’t even start on Jason Butler’s guest spot. Despite all that, I still listened to this album more than anything else this year. The guitar and drum work is great, and Dan Campbell remains the best vocalist and lyricist in the scene.

The Island of Misfit Toys – I Made You Something

I recently watched The Island of Misfit Toys play this album in full for the release show at Lincoln Hall. I’ve never seen a band more visibly proud and triumphant on stage. It was a joyful experience.

The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Harmlessness

Harmlessness is sprawling in the best way, expanding outward from emo in all directions and taking cues from post-rock, folk, and elsewhere. It also has the best drum sound I’ve heard all year.

Jeff Rosenstock – We Cool?

Jeff Rosenstock may have retired the Bomb the Music Industry! name, but We Cool?“ still feels like a natural successor to Adults! and Vacation.

Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free

My growing interest in country music is almost entirely due to Jason Isbell’s Southeastern. The same vivid storytelling that drew me into that album returns on Something More Than Free, and Isbell’s stellar backing band takes a more prominent role without upstaging the songwriting.

Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit

Courtney Barnett is the only artist on my list that I hadn’t listened to before 2015. I think it was the title that initially caught my attention, but her clever lyrics and crunchy guitar riffs kept the album in rotation throughout the year.

Honorable Mentions

Here are some of my favorite songs from albums that almost made this list.

• Noah Gundersen – “Topless Dancer”
• Dawes – “All Your Favorite Bands”
• Butch Walker – “21+”
• Sorority Noise – “Using”
• Tobias Jesso Jr. – “Hollywood”
• Speedy Ortiz – “The Graduates”

I’ve had a hard time boiling my year in music down to a couple paragraphs. It’s not because I don’t feel as strongly about the albums on this list as I have in years past – the opposite, in fact. I think this year saw some of the most powerful pieces of art to come out of the punk/emo world in years. And it’s not because I didn’t have awesome musical experiences in 2014. I went on my first tour, released my first full-length album, and I saw Jimmy Eat World play “23” on my twenty-third birthday. It really doesn’t get better than that.

What I realized in the process of making this list was that my 2014 was defined less by what I was listening to and more by what I did. This was a better year than the one before it because I made it that way. I forced myself to step out of my comfort zone, to take chances, to have new experiences. Some of those were small, like eating new kinds of food that I wouldn’t have touched in the past, and others were much, much bigger, like the aforementioned first tour, a nine day trek around the midwest with City Mouth and Mighty Ships. Most importantly, 2014 was the year I finally left my hometown. Moving to Chicago has been the biggest step I’ve taken in adult life so far and huge source of personal growth. Compared to this time last year, I’m more confident, I’m happier, and I’m downright excited about what’s to come.

Albums:

1. The Hotelier – Home, Like NoPlace Is There
2. Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – We Don’t Have Each Other
3. Counting Crows – Somewhere Under Wonderland
4. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
5. Copeland – Ixora
6. Fireworks – Oh, Common Life
7. Bleachers – Strange Desire
8. Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) – You Will Eventually Be Forgotten
9. Hostage Calm – Die On Stage
10. La Dispute – Rooms of the House
11. Antarctigo Vespucci – Soulmate Stuff
12. The Menzingers – Rented World
13. Seahaven – Reverie Lagoon (Music For Escapism Only)
14. Braid – No Coast
15. Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness – Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness
16. The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt
17. You Blew It! – Keep Doing What You’re Doing
18. Restorations – LP3
19. Noah Gundersen – Ledges
20. Chris Farren – Like a Gift From God Or Whatever

EPs:

1. Beach Slang – Who Would Ever Want Anything So Broken?
2. AM Taxi – King of the Pond
3. Beach Slang – Cheap Thrills On a Dead End Street
4. The Appreciation Post – Slip Away
5. Hailey, It Happens – Under the Brilliant Lights

Shows:

1. Mineral – Double Door – 9/13
2. The Wonder Years – Castle Theatre – 10/1
3. Beach Slang – Township – 10/10
4. Guster – World’s Largest Block Party – 9/13
5. Jimmy Eat World – Castle Theatre – 10/11

Music is important. That was the idea I kept coming back to while I was in the process of making my end of the year list for 2012. I was thinking about my own music, and how important and even essential the creative process feels to me, and I was thinking about my peers (and, in increasing numbers, friends) who get in vans and take their music as far as they can. I was thinking about the three million or so copies of "Some Nights" that Fun. sold this year, and how strange it feels that at least three million people besides myself found enough value in that song to spend money on it. I was thinking about Ghost Key shows in coffee shops and pizza places and how Austin O’Brien pouring his heart into those songs convinced me to take a chance on a genre of music to which I hadn’t previously given much thought. I was thinking about a Joie de Vivre show in Kyle Rotta’s living room where my PA wasn’t powerful enough to make the vocals audible, but that it hardly mattered anyway because everyone there was singing so loud, and I was thinking about a Wonder Years show in the middle of the afternoon in Chicago where Rachel Branson and I got to watch a record that we loved and bonded over and wrote letters about to each other performed from front to back. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was raw emotion of the whole thing, but there are parts of that set that I swear I have no memory of because I was so focused on that moment, and as the last notes of "And Now I’m Nothing" rang out, I knew I might never feel anything like that again.

But also knew that I had to keep looking. You can’t close yourself off and assume that nothing is ever going to be as good as it used to be. There are great new records being written every day. There is a burgeoning new scene to replace the one that felt so dead for the last few years. There is always something more to feel and experience and hope for. It’s a lesson I’m learning every day: "My best years may still be ahead of me."

This has been my 2012.

My Twenty Favorite Albums of 2012

1. The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten
2. The Menzingers – On the Impossible Past
3. Joie de Vivre – We’re All Better Than This
4. The Tower and the Fool – How Long
5. Fun. – Some Nights
6. John K. Samson – Provincial
7. Forever Came Calling – Contender
8. Swear and Shake – Maple Ridge
9. Hostage Calm – Please Remain Calm
10. Daytrader – Twelve Years
11. Basement – Colourmeinkindness
12. With the Punches – Seams and Stitches
13. Masked Intruder – Masked Intruder
14. Mixtapes – Even On the Worst Nights
15. Major League – Hard Feelings
16. Make Do and Mend – Everything You Ever Loved
17. Alex and the XO’s – North To the Future
18. The Forecast – Everybody Left
19. Sharks – No Gods
20. Hold Tight! – Blizzard of ’96

Honorable Mention

• No Trigger – Tycoon
• Pentimento – Pentimento
• Title Fight – Floral Green
• Misser – Every Day I Tell Myself I’m Going To Be a Better Person
• Handguns – Angst

My Five Favorite EPs of 2012

1. Real Friends – Everyone That Dragged You Here
2. The Swellers – Running Out of Places To Go
3. The Menzingers – On the Possible Past
4. The Wonder Years/Stay Ahead of the Weather – Punk Is Dead. Get a Job.
5. Candy Hearts – The Best Ways To Disappear

Honorable Mention

• I Call Fives – Someone That’s Not You
• Dowsing/Parker – Dowsing/Parker

My Thirty Favorite Songs of 2012

1. The Wonder Years – Me Vs. the Highway
2. Fun. – Some Nights
3. The Menzingers – Casey
4. Real Friends – Home For Fall
5. Joie de Vivre – High School Me Would Have Been Pumped
6. The Tower and the Fool – Dive Bar
7. The Gaslight Anthem – Biloxi Parish
8. Daytrader – Letter To a Former Lover
9. Swear and Shake – Marbles
10. John K. Samson – When I Write My Master’s Thesis
11. Hot Water Music – Drag My Body
12. Parker – Make It Home Safely
13. No Trigger – Maple Boy
14. The Swellers – Running Out of Places To Go
15. Hostage Calm – On Both Eyes
16. Motion City Soundtrack – Timelines
17. Sharks – Able Moving Hearts
18. The Forecast – Everybody Left
19. Close Only Counts – Carpet Doritos
20. Make Do and Mend – Desert Lily
21. Into It. Over It. – Don’t Let Me Cave In
22. I Can See Mountains – Hey Man
23. Candy Hearts – Miles and Interstates
24. I Call Fives – Someone That’s Not You
25. Alex and the XO’s – Meddling, Mellowing
26. Late In the Playoffs – The Wayside
27. Handguns – Long October
28. Basement – Pine
29. Forever Came Calling – Contender
30. Hawthorne Heights – New Winter

Honorable Mention

• Cheap Girls – Gone All Summer
• Empires – Hard Times
• With the Punches – Cags

The Five Best Shows I Attended In 2012

1. The Wonder Years – The Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL – 3/17/2012 (Early show, Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing performed in full)
2. Joie de Vivre – The Marilyn Mansion, Normal, IL – 10/15/2012
3. Real Friends – The Step Back House, Normal, IL – 5/18/2012
4. Swear and Shake – Tommy’s, Bloomington, IL – 10/4/2012
5. The Front Bottoms – The Firehouse, Normal, IL – 11/9/2012
6. The Story So Far – Bradley University Quad, Peoria, IL – 9/14/2012

2011 was a great year for music. At least in the scenes and genres that interest me, the sheer number of records released this year is astounding. There was a three week stretch in late September and early October that saw the release of eight or ten of my most anticipated albums. It was one of the most exciting and energetic times I can remember since becoming seriously interested in music. What made it even better was that, for the most part, the excitement culminated in something other than a huge letdown. Nearly all of those albums were good or great (La Dispute, Transit, and Man Overboard’s releases all made my top ten list, and Into It. Over It.’s Proper was a strong contender). And that happened for the entire year. It was probably the best 52 weeks I could have asked for as a fan, although it would have been nice if the Graduate didn’t break up and Thursday wasn’t on hiatus.

The idea of an end-of-the-year list is, I guess, to present what I see as the best records or songs or whatever of the year. But whenever I make something like this, I tend to wonder why I’m making it. My list certainly isn’t significant in any way, and most of the albums listed here aren’t particularly significant outside of the lives of myself and a select few of my peers. There’s no cultural phenomena soundtrack here, no Bon Iver or Adele or whatever it is that has moved the most units this year, because that just isn’t the music that affects me. But the Wonder Years do. Hostage Calm does. And I want other people to experience those bands in the same way that I have. So here’s a bunch of records I like that happened to come out in 2011. Listen to them. Buy a physical copy. Read the lyrics and the liner notes while you listen. Go to a show. Learn an instrument. Write songs.

Sing along.

My Ten Favorite Records of 2011

1. The Wonder Years – Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing
2. The Dangerous Summer – War Paint
3. Fireworks – Gospel
4. Transit – Listen and Forgive
5. Laura Stevenson and the Cans – Sit Resist
6. Aficionado – Aficionado
7. The Swellers – Good For Me
8. La Dispute – Wildlife
9. Crucial Dudes – 61 Penn
10. Man Overboard – Man Overboard

Honorable Mentions

• Candy Hearts – Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy
• The Get Up Kids – There Are Rules
• The Horrible Crowes – Elsie
• Pianos Become the Teeth – The Lack Long After
• Waxahatchee – American Weekend

My Five Favorite EPs of 2011

1. Mixtapes – How To Throw a Successful Party
2. Mixtapes – Hope Is For People
3. Daytrader – Last Days of Rome
4. Transit – Promise Nothing
5. Late In the Playoffs – Everything I Know

Honorable Mention

• Dowsing – All I Could Find Was You

My Fifteen Favorite Songs of 2011

1. Hostage Calm – The "M" Word
2. The Wonder Years – Local Man Ruins Everything
3. The Dangerous Summer – Siren
4. Mixtapes – Hope Is For People
5. Rise Against – Architects
6. The Hotel Year – An Ode To the Nite Ratz Club
7. Red City Radio – Spinning In Circles Is a Gateway Drug
8. The Horrible Crowes – I Witnessed a Crime
9. Thursday – Stay True
10. Transit – Long Lost Friends
11. Balance and Composure – I Tore You Apart In My Head
12. I Am the Avalanche – Brooklyn Dodgers
13. Junior Battles – Seventeen
14. Man Overboard – Rare
15. Polar Bear Club – I’ll Never Leave New York

Honorable Mentions:

• Candy Hearts – Good Enough
• Laura Stevenson and the Cans – Red Clay Roots
• Warren Franklin – You’ve Never Heard "My Aim Is True"

The Five Best Shows I Attended in 2011

• All three times I saw the Wonder Years (The House Cafe, Warped Tour, the Egyptian Theater)
• Against Me! at the Castle Theatre
• Warren Franklin and the Island of Misfit Toys at a skate shop at Middlewest Fest

Honorable Mention

• The Dangerous Summer at Warped Tour

Albums

1. The Wonder Years – The Upsides
2. Fake Problems – Real Ghosts Caught On Tape
3. The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
4. Against Me! – White Crosses
5. Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
6. Vampire Weekend – Contra
7. Jimmy Eat World – Invented
8. The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
9. Transit – Keep This To Yourself
10. Hellogoodbye – Would It Kill You?

Honorable Mentions

• The Graduate – Only Every Time
• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• The Forecast – The Forecast
• AM Taxi – We Don’t Stand a Chance

EPs

1. Bright and Early – Louder Than Words
2. Stay Ahead of the Weather – We Better Get Goin’ If We’re Gonna
3. Joie de Vivre – You Ruined Everything That Was Ever Good
4. The Appreciation Post – Work/Sleep
5. Treaty of Paris – Currents

Honorable Mentions

• Banquets – This Is Our Concern, Dude
• Bomb the Music Industry! – Adults!!!

Songs

1. The Gaslight Anthem – The Diamond Church Street Choir
2. Bright and Early – Something Personal
3. Against Me! – Bamboo Bones
4. The Wonder Years – Washington Square Park
5. The Graduate – Permanent Tourists
6. Fireworks – I Grew Up In a Legion Hall
7. Transit – A Living Diary
8. Anberlin – Art of War
9. Banquets – Eleanor, I Need a Garden
10. The Hold Steady – We can Get Together
11. Joie de Vivre – You Ruined Everything That Was Ever Good
12. A Day To Remember – All Signs Point To Lauderdale
13. Handguns – Anywhere But Home
14. Stay Ahead of the Weather – Sorority Social Suicide
15. The Appreciation Post – Doom and Gloom

Best Shows

1. Fireworks at the Morton American Legion Hall
2. Movies About Animals covering Tell All Your Friends at Jeff’s house.
3. Playing with the Kings of Olde and This Is My Suitcase at Coffee Nation

Best New Artist

• News From Verona

Most Anticipated for 2011

• The Wonder Years
• The Get Up Kids
• Fireworks
• Polar Bear Club

Top 10 albums of the year

1. Fireworks – All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion
2. Deas Vail – Birds and Cages
3. Relient K – Forget and Not Slow Down
4. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg
5. Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely Estate) – What It Takes To Move Forward
6. As Cities Burn – Hell or High Water
7. Broadway Calls – Good Views, Bad News
8. Set Your Goals – This Will Be the Death of Us
9. Gasoline Heart – Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be
10. Thursday – Common Existence

Honorable Mentions

• mewithoutYou – It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright!
• This Is My Suitcase – The Keys To Cat Heaven
• A Day To Remember – Homesick
• Paramore – Brand New Eyes

Best EPs

• Danger Is My Middle Name – Sink or Swim
• Mark Rose – The Greatest Lakes

Albums that might have made the list if I had been able to give them more listens

• Thrice – Beggars
• Fun – Aim and Ignite
• Person L – The Positives

Best shows

• Relient K at Cornerstone
• La Dispute in Jake’s basement
• The Get Up Kids at the Metro

1. The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound
2. La Dispute – Somewhere At the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair
3. Harder To Fall – It All Becomes So Clear
4. The Injured List – There’s Always Next Year
5. The Matches – A Band In Hope
6. Children 18:3 – Children 18:3
7. Fall Out Boy – Folie a Deux
8. Tall Tale – Pirate Ship
9. Underoath – Lost In the Sound of Separation
10. Less Than Jake – GNV FLA

I didn’t include EPs, but my favorite EPs of the year were What Your Children Dream Of by Beast From Sea and White Lights by Deas Vail.