Here we go, back at it again with long-winded treatises on my favorite tracks from this year! With throwbacks, covers, and a lot of appearances from the members of the Get Up Kids, these were the tracks I loved jamming to this year. I had fewer tracks overall, so this year’s list is only four days and then I’ll do my albums of the year on New Year’s Eve. Thanks for reading!
1. Fall Out Boy – “Lake Effect Kid”
How did Fall Out Boy manage to make one of their best songs in half a decade? Easy, they finally did a proper recording of a ten year old demo. This track originally appeared as a demo on a pre-Folie a Deux “mixtape” called “Welcome to the New Administration” with a bunch of other demos and stuff from other artists to get people hyped for the album. So, they finally did a proper recording of it this year, but unfortunately, it did little to erase the taste of MANIA.
2. All Get Out – “However Long”
I got wayyyyy into All Get Out’s The Season a couple years after it came out, but it quickly became one of my favorite albums ever. Their previous effort, 2016’s Nobody Likes a Quitter was good, but it lost a bit of the fire they had previously. With this release, not only did the band hit their mark again, they did it on a bigger label, Equal Vision Records. Songs like “However Long” and “Survive” took the maturation of their sound they tried with Nobody Likes a Quitter and dragged it through the dirt to get some of The Season‘s grit on it. The end result is a much better album overall, and this track is one of the standouts.
3. Radar State – “Strays”
Radar State’s debut EP was one of my biggest surprises last year, and one of the jams I rocked the most as well. This is Midwest emo tried and true, from some of the genre’s finest. I’ve been looking forward to the full-length quite a bit, and have been thoroughly enjoying the lead single from the album. Don’t be surprised if they go for a three-peat next year.
4. Reggie and the Full Effect – “The Horrible Year”
Did I intentionally put two tracks from TGUK members back to back? No, but now that we’re here I’ll acknowledge it. When this album was released, I gave it one listen and then forgot about it. When I came back to it in late November, I was surprised I managed to overlook it. This is easily Reggie’s most mature and complex effort – many of the songs were written after losing several family members and friends within the span of a year. James brings forth a new slate of emotions to the Reggie persona with songs like “New Year’s Day”, but the album is weighed down by his commitment to skits and bits, like the intro or Common Denominator and Fluxtuation tracks. Like, I enjoy the fact that the album cover is a dig at Adele’s 21, but I wish he had dropped the jokey stuff and went all in on just putting together great Reggie tracks – that’s what I come to these albums for.
5. Neck Deep – “Torn”
This is the first cover on my list this year. This track was the lead single from the Songs That Saved My Life compilation. As the title implies, each artist contributed a track that helped them at a dark time. The original version of “Torn” is a jam in its own right, and this cover is equally fantastic. The music video is even a nod to the original. I really enjoyed this, because it channeled everything about the song, and added the emotion that makes Neck Deep’s brand of pop-punk really shine.
Thanks for reading, come on back tomorrow!
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