Gabe Gross

[Gabe Gross]

Best Albums of 2005:
25. Cartel – Chroma
24. Imogen Heap – Speak For Yourself
23. Minus The Bear - Menos El Oso
22. Iron & Wine and Calexico - In The Reins
21. As I Lay Dying – Shadows Are Security
20. Every Time I Die – Gutter Phenomenon
19. Against Me! - Searching For A Former Clarity
18. Copeland – In Motion
17. Coldplay – X & Y
16. August Burns Red - Thrillseeker
15. Armor for Sleep – What To Do When You Are Dead
14. Gatsby's American Dream - Volcano
13. Acceptance – Phantoms
12. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
11. Emery – The Question
10. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
9. Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
8. Mae – The Everglow
7. Bayside – s/t
6. The Silent Type - Of Writing/Of Violence
5. The Starting Line – Based on a True Story
4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
3. Sigur Ros - Takk
2. Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness
1. Thrice – Vheissu

Honorable Mentions:
Animal Collective - Feels
Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Circa Survive – Juturna
Paint By Numbers – Plastic
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart
Rufio – Comfort of Home
Nada Surf – The Weight is a Gift
Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
Nightmare of You - Nightmare Of You
Boys Night Out - Trainwreck
Paint It Black – Paradise
Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine
Idiot Pilot – Strange We Should Meet Here


Best EPs of 2005:
4. Jimmy Eat World – Stay By My Side Tonight EP
3. The Pacific Pale - Rules Are Predictable
2. Iron & Wine and Calexico - In The Reins
1. Action Reaction – s/t

Best New Band of 2005:
Cartel

Best Compilation of 2005:
Just about every CD/DVD put out by Paste Magazine

Best Lyrics of 2005:
Kenny Vasoli – The Starting Line
“I’m gonna tear your ass up like we just got married”

Best Live Show of 2005:
The Used, UnderOATH and Alexisonfire together at PNE Forum in Vancouver, BC


Biggest Album Letdown in 2005:
Story of The Year – IN The Wake of Determination


Best Record Label of 2005:
Solid State Records

Most Overrated Bands in 2005:
mewithoutYou
Scaring Kids Scaring Kids
Secret Lives of Freemasons


Most Underrated Bands in 2005:
The Silent Type
Deerhoof

Bands AP.net Most Overreacted To IN 2005:
tie – Thrice and The Spill Canvas


Best Music Videos of 2005:
Kings of Convenience – “I’d Rather Dance With You”
OK Go – “A Million Ways”
Coheed And Cambria – “Welcome Home”


Best Movies of 2005:
Crash
I <3 Huckabees
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Millions

Best TV Show of 2005:
Arrested Development
Lost
Family Guy
Curb Your Enthusiasm

The Next Big Thing(s) of 2006:
Forgive Durden
Starbucks Coffee
Dear Whoever
Cartel
Panic! At The Disco
Not Popping Your Collar

Most Anticipated For 2006
Murder By Death
The Lawrence Arms
Brand New
Thursday

Best Print Magazines:
Alternative Press
Paste
Risen
Relevant

Best Online Zine:
PastePunk.com

Best AP.net Staff Member to Vent to:
Garett Press

Best AP.net Staff Member to Play Online Scrabble and Billiards With:
Darren McLoed

Best AP.net Forum Member to Make Fun of Me In a Forum:
Boekebong


Note: I don’t need no effing disclaimer. I’m pretty sure you’re smart enough to understand these are the opinions of AP.net Staff Members. My opinion doesn’t mean squat.

[Grybo]

hell yes for animal collective

[patrickhowell]

Mannnnnnnnnnnnn

mwY is under-rated if anything.

[Scott Weber]

mewithoutYou overrated? only a fool would say that! haha (p.s. i said that last year before i realized i was retarded and it was the best release of 04)

[preppyak]

The Next Big Thing(s) of 2006:
Forgive Durden
Cartel
Not Popping Your Collar


Yes, Yes, and god let's hope so.

[patrickhowell]

Yeah, Forgive Durden is definitely what's up for '06

[Blake Solomon]

I like to see the Bayside album so high on your list, that is a solid release that should get some love...

[loveofliberty]

Haha, mewithoutyou...overrated? Right. You strike me as another one of those people who hear a friend raving about their beauty and so you give it a try and just don't get why he is pretty much talk-yelling his poetry. I have a good amount of friends whose defense for just not getting mwY was that they are "overrated"...meanwhile, the band receives very little major press coverage and is only occasionally mentioned on this website. Overrated? I'd like to know how. We can discuss Co&Ca and then discuss the possibility of "overrated"-ness.

[truestar1015]

I like your choice for best lyrics. I was wondering if I was the only one who liked that line.

[Russ Hockenbury]

"Best Online Zine:
PastePunk.com"


Someone is forgetting their roots...

[Gabe Gross]

Haha, mewithoutyou...overrated? Right. You strike me as another one of those people who hear a friend raving about their beauty and so you give it a try and just don't get why he is pretty much talk-yelling his poetry. I have a good amount of friends whose defense for just not getting mwY was that they are "overrated"...meanwhile, the band receives very little major press coverage and is only occasionally mentioned on this website. Overrated? I'd like to know how. We can discuss Co&Ca and then discuss the possibility of "overrated"-ness.

I can't stand their music. Their lyrics are pretty damn good if you want the honest truth. But I seriously cannot stand the flack I get for not liking them almost everytime I log on here in the forums. If you want to talk about it, go get my screen name and we can. I have no problem about that. And as far as the Coheed album goes, when you are such a big fan of a band your far-sightedness is sometimes blurred even worse and I will admit my favor towards them will create a larger granduer for how great I think they are.

But lets hear it for not popping your collar and starbucks coffee.

[Garett Press]

Gabe, you expose my soft side on the internet? You bastard! Hahaha, no it's been ethereal talking to you this year, and you know you always got my ear, even if you're outside of the wrong classroom hahaaaa

Love brotha

[loveofliberty]

I respect your opinion, Gabe. Well said. I honestly did not expect such a reasonable defense. I apologize if I seemed to be attacking you. I suppose I am just sort of tired of dealing with the people I've met at shows where mwY opened for bands like Co&Ca and were received with boos and lots of idiotic comments from the crowd full of 14-year olds and frat "jam band" guys. I respect your disliking of mewithoutYou because of the fact that you've given it an open try and just could not get into it. I know music taste is of relativity, so I don't believe the entire world has to like mwY. I just hate hearing people dismiss some of the music I find to be deeper just because it seems unconventional or strange to them. My apologies again. I jumped the gun and expected your disliking of them to be like the closed-minded disliking I've seen way too many times from my peers.

Cheers.

[Emopunkthrice]

mwY fans attack

[Gabe Gross]

I respect your opinion, Gabe. Well said. I honestly did not expect such a reasonable defense. I apologize if I seemed to be attacking you. I suppose I am just sort of tired of dealing with the people I've met at shows where mwY opened for bands like Co&Ca and were received with boos and lots of idiotic comments from the crowd full of 14-year olds and frat "jam band" guys. I respect your disliking of mewithoutYou because of the fact that you've given it an open try and just could not get into it. I know music taste is of relativity, so I don't believe the entire world has to like mwY. I just hate hearing people dismiss some of the music I find to be deeper just because it seems unconventional or strange to them. My apologies again. I jumped the gun and expected your disliking of them to be like the closed-minded disliking I've seen way too many times from my peers.

Cheers.

First and foremost can I throw my hands up in exaltation for actually having a respectable conversation with someone I disagreed with? Honestly man, I wish I could display this conversation so that everyone else can see how it's done.

Next, I totally understand where you're coming from with the disrespect thing. For me, it's not a matter of disrespect. I actually own the album. And Scott Weber has encouraged me to take different abgles in respecting them. But for my ear, I just dont think they cut it (even though Scott says he recognizes the same reactions in me as in him a year ago..evidentally I will come around to them). And I have endured plenty of shows at El Corazon in Seattle and the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver where I have wished the bars would open up shows to these guys so the kids could stay home with their FOB records (and for the record I enjoy FOB), but there is a time for those shenanigans and that's why MTV has TRL....pwn! But back to my main point, I am getting to enjoy the way these guys craft a song through their words. Since I can't play a lick on a single musical instrument, I tend to lean towards the lyrical side of an album and see how well the music plays off the words (is that a weakness or a strength for a reviewer? you tell me).

Finally, Merry Christmas. If all forum members were like you, then I would spend more time online, indulging relevant and intelligent conversation. Cheers.

[Scott Weber]

Next, I totally understand where you're coming from with the disrespect thing. For me, it's not a matter of disrespect. I actually own the album. And Scott Weber has encouraged me to take different abgles in respecting them. But for my ear, I just dont think they cut it (even though Scott says he recognizes the same reactions in me as in him a year ago..evidentally I will come around to them).
True true! Give him some slack. I said the same thing about this band in 04, this is not an easy band to get into, and for months and months I couldn't get into it. Then one day, it just clicked. I know regard it as the best release of 04...and yes Gabe, you'll come around ;)

[earlynovemberX]

i seriously hope your best lyrics were a joke.

[boekebong]

Three words: Broken Social Scene.

And thanks for putting me on the list. You're a good apple.

[GlassyLight]

I have to agree with Gabe on this one. I was given "Catch For Us The Foxes" as a late birthday gift last year, and I just can't get into it. The music itself I find tolerable, but the vocals irritate me to no end. Perhaps I'll break it out tonight and give it another listen.

And thank god someone else put Coheed that high on a list. It seems that everyone else is not taking to this album because it's not like IKSOSE:3 or as "epic" as that one. There is, in fact, a good reason for it.

A) If the album sounded JUST like IKSOSE:3, everyone (Myself included) would be bashing it for milking a cash cow. I, for one, would rather have them put out a terrible album that was different than put out a good one that was exactly the same stylistically

B) The album SHOULD NOT sound as 'epic' as IKSOSE:3. The styles of the albums definitely correspond to what's happening in the story line. Por ejemplo:

-SSTB is an album that deals with finding out horrible truths, paranoia, and slaughtering one's children. The songs tend to follow the feelings of either hope that things aren't as bad as they really are, despair, and giving up. I think Claudio K dealing with finding his slaughtered sister in the kitchen fits those.

-IKSOSE:3 deals with the beginning of a war and Al the Killer. In the beginning, we have the 'epic' call to arms in the title track, and the songs that have a jumpy, adrenalinized feel. When Al shows up, we see the screwball latin/creep-ballad/whacked-out metal of the CV trilogy. It's weird and all over the place because those characteristics fit Al.

-Good Apollo finds the Writer flipping out for most of the album, and the climax of the war. It shouldn't sound epic, it should sound apocalyptic. He's going to blow a world straight to hell. If that ain't apocalyptic, I don't know what is.


I don't know what else to say,