So this is kind of a ridiculous thing to even try to do, but I figured I’d give it a shot.  I feel like it’s exceptionally difficult right now, because the last ten years have been the most influential in my adult life.  I don’t even really know who I was ten years ago.

I was 19, in my second semester of my sophomore year in college, and I was listening to an odd mixture of celtic music, punk rock, and utterly disgraceful pop music.  I was overworking the hell out of myself to try to finish two completely unlike degrees in 4 years (something my advisor had said would not be possible).  That’s when I first learned how to turn my brain to turbo, something that would allow me to finish college at an unbelievable clip, but has since been a skill I wish I didn’t have, as now I don’t know how to slow my brain down and just relax.

10 years ago I had no debt.  What a remarkable thing to think about.  10 years ago I had written a small handful of songs, and had no intentions of continuing in music.  10 years ago I was doubtful of my abilities, bitter about love, knew I had a lot to offer the world, and was hopeful for the future.  I guess some things never change.

So I wanted to list some sort of “best of the decade” list, and really the only one I can try to do is albums.  Asking me what my favorite movies of the decade were is basically like asking what are my favorite movies of all time.  So I’m going to attempt to list my top 21 albums of the decade.  These are not the albums that I think were the best made, they were just the ones that meant the most to me.  So judge accordingly.

1) Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight

I can’t think of another album that had the same emotional impact on me this whole decade than this one.  And I just listened through it again a few days ago, and it still destroys me every time (in the best possible way).

2)  Anberlin – Cities

When I first purchased this album, I popped it in my CD player while I was cooking dinner, and I couldn’t stop until it was over.  It was like a spiritual experience, and I still remember the feeling of the chorus on Dismantle, Repair coming in, and the way that I felt like my chest had physically opened up.  Also, it’ll be hard for a song to beat out Godspeed as my “Power Song.”

3)  Postal Service – Give Up

This CD has some of the most elegant yet heartfelt songwriting of the entire decade, and was another example of Ben Gibbard’s brilliance.  Unfortunately, I think it was probably a one time thing, but I still dream of seeing a new Postal Service album come out.

4)  Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism

And I’ll just follow it up with another Ben Gibbard album.  I still remember blasting Transatlanticism (the song) followed by Passenger Seat in my car with the windows down, and feeling like my soul was transported somewhere else.

5)  Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise

Predatory Wasps … is probably one of my favorite songs of all time, and the rest of this album has such a timelessness to it, and yet really feels like Illinois too.  Top to bottom it’s an incredible record, and I don’t disagree with anyone who rates it the #1 of the decade.  I and many others beg Sufjan to keep the states project going.  Please!

6)  Rise Against – The Sufferer & the Witness

Many of you may know that I’m a huge fan of Bad Religion, and of punk music in general.  So I was absolutely ecstatic when my good friend Zach told me about Rise Against, as I had basically found a young Bad Religion.  Their songwriting is powerful, their musicality is heart pounding, and overall it just kicks ass.  ”With hope in our hearts and bricks in our hands, we sing for change”  Amazing stuff.

7)  Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

And in a COMPLETELY different direction, this album will forever mean “January” to me.  The beauty, rawness, and bleakness of this album are just amazing.  I love that at the very end of the album, you can actually hear him get up and turn off the recording.  It’s about as personal sounding of an album as you can get.

 Motion City Soundtrack - Commit this to Memory

I discovered MCS randomly with their first album, I Am the Movie, and I was excited for this album to come out.  I then purchased it at Best Buy, and started driving home, I stopped driving home about an hour later when the CD finished playing.  My drive home is actually about 5 minutes, but I just couldn’t stop listening to this album.  It’s a little on the emo side, but it absolutely spoke to exactly where I was in my life at that exact moment.

9)  David Crowder Band – A Collision or (3+4 = 7)

DCB continues to be my favorite “Praise and Worship” type band (in that they are distinctly Christian), but with this album, they stepped over the line in my head between being a really good Christian band and being a really good band.  The album is intricate, interesting, catchy, and uplifting all at once.  I think a lot of Christian bands get forced into a lot of cookie-cutter type albums, and DCB totally broke away from that with this album.

10)  Frou Frou – Details

Like many people, I discovered Frou Frou and Imogen Heap thanks to Garden State, and this album has been far more lasting for me than that movie.  It continues to be an album I never tire of listening to, and it was one of those where every time I listened through, I had a new favorite song.  Must be Dreaming continues to be my overall favorite, but it was hard for me to rate any song on this less than 5 stars in iTunes.

11)  The Jealous Sound – Kill them with Kindness

Another emo-ish band that completely spoke to me where I was at the time.  A friend of mine I was working with introduced me to them, and I didn’t stop listening to this album for about a year.  Recovery Room still kills me every time.

12)  Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers

It makes perfect sense for this to be right after The Jealous Sound, as I was totally obsessed with these two CDs at the same time.  This album is such a collection of wonderful pop rock songs, and I dare you to listen through it and not have something stuck in your head for the next week.

13)  Bad Religion – The Process of Belief

This was the first album in which Mr. Bret returned into the mix, and the difference was unbelievably noticeable.  After three or so albums in a row that were kind of duds, this album just pounded Bad Religion back into relevance (in my opinion).  Bad Religion is the most edgy intelligent music you’ll ever hear, and that is all encapsulated in this album for me.

14)  Sigur Ros –  Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

This was the album that made me fall in love with Sigur Ros, and realize how late to that bandwagon I was.  Not much else to say.  I just love this album.

15)  Paper Route – Absence

Well I just recently talked about why I love this album, so I’ll refrain from repeating myself.  Myself.

16)  Covenant – Northern Light

I had a “techno bands” phase this decade, and this was one of the reasons why.  Top to bottom, this album is just excellently crafted, and tremendously catchy.  Just like Paper Route, this is another great CD to blast in your car when you’re driving through a thunderstorm.

17)  The Weepies – Say I Am You

There was a while there this decade where I only listened to pretty epic or hard sounding stuff, and this album was one of the key things that broke me out of that.  There’s a certain wonderful poppiness to the Weepies, but the great lyrics, and gentle beauty of this album are timeless and wonderful.  ”World Spins Madly On” is one of the best songs ever written.

18)  The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

Tons of people listed The Hold Steady’s first album Boys and Girls in America in their top decade lists, and though I do love that album, this was the one that truly hammered home their brilliance.  Craig Finn of Hold Steady and Greg Graffin of Bad Religion are very similar, not just in being prolific songwriters, but also in their live performances, both sing as if they have something really important to tell you.  Also, The Hold Steady is one of the most infectiously joyous bands to watch.  It’s inspiring.

19)  The Swell Season – The Swell Season

It’s hard to not recognize the impact Glen Hansard has had on me personally as a songwriter, and though there are a few different CDs I could attribute to that, the best songs are pretty much all summed up on this album.  Take this sinking boat, and point it home, we’ve still got time.  Might be the theme song of my decade.

20)  Yasunori Mitsuda – Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

I had a “video game soundtracks” phase very early in the decade, and this album pretty much sums it all up.  The melodies and beauty of this whole soundtrack go far beyond a simple video game, and it’s still one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.  Considering I also covered a song off of it at a concert one time, including having a friend help me translate it from Japanese, it’s hard for me not to list this as one of my favorites of the decade.

21)  Death Cab for Cutie – Plans

And to finish off the list, I feel like I need to list Ben Gibbard one more time.  All the songs on Plans are so heartbreaking and so beautiful, I just had to list this album as well.  What Sarah Said is so beautiful and so heartbreaking, it just destroys me every time, not to mention Marching Bands of Manhattan or Brothers on a Hotel Bed.  And pretty much every other track.

Honorable Mentions

David Crowder Band – Illuminate
Underoath – They’re Only Chasing Safety
Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High
Jimmy Eat World – Jimmy Eat World
Bad Religion – The Empire Strikes First
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

So there’s my favorite albums of the decade.  It doesn’t mean much, but I do love making lists, and this was probably the most challenging and fun one to make yet.  Stick around for my decade mix that I’m also in the process of constructing.

Happy 2010-2020 everyone!

So I totally forgot this last year too, but a couple quick things to add to my year in review post from a couple weeks ago:

The Fleet Foxes Award

This is a (sort of) new category this year and I give it to the band that I think is ok (I even own their CD and listen to it occasionally), but everyone else seems to think is amazingly brilliant, and I just don’t understand why. So just to reiterate, if I list a band here, it doesn’t mean I think they’re bad, I just don’t get what all the fuss is about (aka Fleet Foxes).

So this year there were several artists I could have picked: Andrew Bird, The xx, M Ward, and several others, but my pick for this hands down goes to Animal Collective.

Most Disappointing Album of the Year

This is a tough one for 2009, as I wasn’t completely disappointed by any albums, but there also weren’t many that I was just dying for when they came out. So even though I don’t hate this album, my pick for this year is:

Imogen Heap - Ellipse

Worst Movie Seen

As you may know, I do enjoy taking in some terrible movies, particularly horror ones, and while I could easily list Saw V here, which I did in fact see in 2009, hands down I have to list The Room, which my friends Lee and Rebecca introduced me to. Words cannot describe how terrible this movie is. It’s so terrible, that it’s tremendously entertaining. So if you enjoy terrible art sometimes, I would actually highly recommend seeing it sometime.

Just wanted to quick add those things to my year in review. Stay tuned, cuz I’m actually going to do a decade in review either later today or tomorrow.

So I’m a little late on this, but Charley has been chomping at the bit, so I’ll finally post this.

Two of my favorite things in the world are reminiscing and making lists, so it’s no surprise that every year I like to sum it up by doing just that.  If you’d like to review my previous years, here’s some links:

2008

2007

2006

2005

It’s kind of fascinating to look at the previous years.  Blogs and journals can be so odd to read sometimes.  I look at my previous years and remember everything so well, yet at the same time it seems so distant.  But I’m reading words that I wrote when those circumstances were still very fresh, and in a way it almost feels like I’m reading someone else’s words.  Who was this Morgan that wrote about these things?  How different is he than this Morgan?  And with each passing year, I hope that the Morgan who reads this the following year will continue to grow and be a better version of himself.

So to the Morgan who reads this next year, let me remind you of the things that happened this past year.  Your country nominated its first African-American president (who you voted for!).  That was pretty much the best political moment of the year, as the rest of the year was filled with frustration, recession, and political and economic depression.

However, you had some pretty key things happen that were great, and it seems like you were kind of lucky, because a lot of people hated 2009.  However, in 2009 you started dating a really amazing girl, and then you went and fell in love with her.  You didn’t think you could did you?  And at least at the time I’m writing this, you haven’t even scared her off yet!  So if you read this in a year, I hope you didn’t screw it up.

Also, the company you work for took you back on full time.  So you were one of the first people really affected by the recession, and then in the midst of everyone else still losing their job, you managed to get yours back.  You also went to Hawaii, New York, and Michigan too many times to count.  Your family is still amazing, your friends are still amazing, and your band just keeps chugging along (and appears to be the only real Grand Rapids band left).  I hope that when you read this in a year, your band is still together, and that you never give up.  The music biz at this point is still exhausting and immensely frustrating, but there’s still something inside of you that just knows this is what you’re supposed to be doing.  If this is no longer true for you in a year, that would make 2009 Morgan very sad.

Oh and by the way, here were a few of your favorite things from 2009 (as you’ll notice, you were big into electronic-y sounding music this year for some reason):

Top 5 Albums

1) Paper Route – Absence

This was a no-brainer for me.  This album is so wonderfully darkly epic, making it about the most perfect album to listen to in a rainstorm ever, with rich and meaningful lyrics, and some fantastic electronica and hip hop elements.  Are We All Forgotten easily became my song of the year (and is the closest thing to “our song” that Corinne and I have, which is odd considering the main line of the chorus is “Don’t you break my heart again”).  But the main thing that put them over the top was seeing them live on my birthday.  I was immensely impressed by the heart and the passion they have when performing live, but then they also decided to have an acoustic set in their trailer, where they SANG ME HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Once they did that, it was really hard not to be head over heels for them.

2) Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

This is the one album this year I really have not grown tired of listening to.  Everytime I listen through it it seems like I have a different favorite song.  It’s one of the catchiest and most fun records you could ever own.  It may be in a honda commercial, but do yourself a favor and the next time you’re driving, put on 1901 and just sing your heart out.  I’ve done that about 75 times this year.

3)  Passion Pit – Manners

I first heard them on the Paste sampler back in the spring, and I loved them immediately.  In the same vain as Phoenix, this album is about as catchy and fun as you can get, and if you feel like stretching out your falsetto, it’s also a blast to sing along to.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of Folds in Your Hands and Little Secrets.

4)  Kiss Kiss – The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left

At this point in the list, I think I have about 8 albums I could have easily put 4th or 5th, so the honorable mentions that I put after these could just as easily have been #4 or 5.  This is one of the more unusual albums that I fell in love with this year.  I’ve described it as the music of pure chaos, and upon first listen that’s exactly what it is.  The song structures are unusual, chaotic, slow and beautiful at times, and just wildly entertaining.  Even now when I listen through it, I’m surprised every time, and just cannot figure out where it’s going to go.  A very strong and unique sophomore effort from this band.  I would really like to see them live.

5) Sneaky Sound System – 2

This was probably the most obscure band I discovered this year.  They played a random show that a friend of mine went to in town, and he said I should check them out.  So I figured what the heck, and I just loved them.  Another electronica band on my list (which was sort of the theme for this year, apparently), and this one is probably the purest electronic band.  And they’re Australian, so that’s fun too.  :)

Honorable Mentions – The Swell Season – Strict Joy, Loney Dear – Dear John, Derek Nelson – Something Obscure, Manchester Orchestra – Everything to Nothing, Mew – No More Stories…., Mika – The Boy Who Knew Too Much, Muse – The Resistance, Regina Spektor – Far

Should Have Been Into Them Last Year

I’m adding this as a new category this year, as there’s so much music that comes out in a given year, it’s impossible for me to get into all of it in the same year.  So there’s always some bands that deserve some sort of mention, but doesn’t seem right to list in my top albums, since they didn’t actually come out this year.  So I want to mention the albums that I loved this past year, that I should have been into last year:

1) Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (no doubt this is #1)
2) Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
3) Annuals – Such Fun
4) Mates of State – The Re-Arranger
5) The Hold Steady – Stay Positive  (this was an honorable mention, but I didn’t realize just how brilliant it was until this year)

Favorite Movie of the Year

To be honest, I don’t feel like I saw all that many movies this year.  So I’ll just say District 9 because I did enjoy that one quite a bit.  But while I didn’t watch many movies, I watched a lot of TV, and there were some GREAT new shows this year:

Favorite New TV Shows

1)  Community
2)  Modern Family
3)  Bored to Death

Theme Song of the Year

I kind of already mentioned it, but it would certainly be Paper Route’s Are We All Forgotten, not because of lyric content, but because it reminds of falling in love with Corinne, which has clearly been the highlight of the year.

So while 2009 was certainly a crappy one for a lot of people, I had a couple key things that made mine pretty great.  I hope that doesn’t mean I’m due for a horrible 2010.

So cheers everyone to 2009!  For those of you who had a pretty terrible year, I wish you a happy and healthy 2010!  I love you all.  And to future Morgan, I hope you’ve learned from your mistakes, and you’ve cherished all your wonderful friends, families, and lovers (well, just one of those).