Long Break, any good albums?

Okie-dokie, I haven't posted jack in a long while. I think I was going to post late summer, but if I remember correctly I typed outside the textbox, thought I messed up and hit backspace, thus deleting the half-written entry and any hope of finishing.

Today I started cleaning out the garage. My god, there's alot of shit there. I usually won't write the word 'shit' as a synonym for 'unspecified junk' but here it fits the description. I thought I'd have the garage done today and the basement cleaned tomorrow, but that's not looking very far. My dad has way too much junk, including a engine stand. Seriously, we used that a few times five years ago, and it's been collecting dust since. And just for clarification, while a paint pan looks like a place to hold sockets and wrenches, it's not quite the best place to put them. And all day today, I did not find one 1/2" socket. Not one.

I've been drinking Lipton's cheap black tea recently. Topher turned me onto it, and since then I'll go on tea rushes. Like last night, I drank some about 10 PM, then another one, and another one. Next you know, I've got about 5 bags in me, it's 4 PM, and I'm snacking with my dog on the bed with sausage and crackers. Yeah, might need to hold back on that.

I've also been listening to old school music too. By 'old school', I mean all that junk that I listened to junior/senior years of high school and even some from freshman year of college. You know, all that good music such as The F-Ups, Offspring, AFI, New Found Glory. Hell, listening to Green Day's American Idiot still gives me the chills down my spine. Man, good times. Good, angsty times. Damn, I was an angsty teenager. If you want more on that, I would recommend looking up past blogs from 2004-2005. Fun stuff.

Which reminds me. Albums from 2009. Much like this year's CocaCola 500, started out boring as balls, but produced some good shit in the late middle and even through the end (if by end you mean October).

Panic at the Disco (remember, they took out their exclamation point, which was retarded) produced an album that my mom says is 'ghey' or homosexual. Alkaline Trio produced a killer album, Agony and Irony, somewhat reminicent of Crimson but with some new style that doesn't overkill or 'ghey' it up.

The Offspring produced an album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, that was pretty good. It opens up with a couple good songs, kinda mislead a couple songs, but overall comparable to Splinter or Conspiracy of One.

Hawthorne Heights produced an 'alright' album in August, Fragile Future. As most of us know, they lost their lead screamer and rhythm guitarist last August. I'll be honest, they have a couple good songs like "The Business of Paper Stars" and "Rescue Me". But I think they lost alot of that spark that you see in Everything in Black and White. When I started listening to the new album, it rolled out quite fast, but then it just slowed down like a boulder through a swamp. An example? "Sugar in the Engine", "231", and "Disaster".

But what came out that same day was Faciinatiion by The Faint. I only started listening to The Faint back in April, but I was hooked on it. It was like VCR all over again, except they are still touring! In a way, they are like VCR in the use of synthesizers and spooky rhythms. They revolve their themes around sex, psychosis, and other great things in life. Their newest album actually sounds much different from their other material, but in a good, dark, creepy way. I actually fixed my bass in my car this break so I can listen to them hardcore.

I had the priviledge to attend one of their concerts in Chapel Hill's Cat's Cradle, about a week after their album released. Holy cow, it was an awesome show. All I needed was E and glowsticks and I'd be bouncing all over that place. I also saw Gogol Bordello in June. That was sick show. The encore lasted 45 minutes, at least. In fact, it was more of an intermission. But yeah, folk music and punk go well together.

Final album of the year was a great one. Senses Fail distributed Life is Not a Waiting Room. It was not a disappointment at all! It's a great album that centered around broken hearts, alcoholism, and dreadfulness. It styled around their last album, Still Searching, which in itself diverges from Let It Enfold You. It still relays those themes though, and the instrumentation was magnificent.

That's pretty much what I've been up to recently. Cleaning, tea, music. Good stuff. I can't remember who comes out with a new album soon, maybe New Found Glory? I know they should be expecting something to pop out soon.