Nate Hennon writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2012 (Nathan Hennon)

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its members’ top albums of 2012. Our next list is from volunteer Nathan Hennon.

1. The White Wires - WWIII (Dirtnap)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   The White Wires are a Canadian garage rock band from Ontario, Canada. This album and The White Wires for the most part, blends old school Ramones-era punk rock with pop, but calling them a pop-punk band is a misnomer. All 14 tracks are evenly balanced, and incredibly re-playable, with fun/energetic bass lines and smooth lyrics of nostalgia and girls.
2. Tig Notaro - Live (Self-Released)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Tig Notaro is hilarious and super goofy, but this album is much serious in nature. This album was recorded weeks after Tig was a slew of personal tragedies, including a death in the family, a virus, a break-up and cancer. I know these topics sound like a rough listen, but Tig’s comic timing and ability overshadow the seriousness and some of the best comedy to date.
3. Mean Jeans - Mean Jeans on Mars (Dirtnap)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Mean Jeans are awesome, plain and simple. This band is one of the fastest, loudest and most insane live bands I have ever seen. This album and the Mean Jeans sound harkens back to the time of Ramones punk rock but with the attitude of Andrew W.K. Even though, their party persona is mellower on this album than their prior work, this album still has balls.
4. NOFX - Self Entitled (Fat Wreck Chords)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   NOFX is one of my favorite bands of all time! This creates a problem every time they release a new album because I will always compare their new stuff to that first time I heard them when I was 12 years old. That said, this album is one of NOFX’s most serious records to date. The album harkens back to their Epitaph-era rather than what they have produce on Fat Wreck Chords.
5. The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten (Mercury)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   I only started listening The Gaslight Anthem this year. After hearing the first single off of Handwritten, “45”, I was hooked and found one of my favorite album of the year. The Gaslight Anthem are what Bruce Springstein would have sounded like if he started playing with Lou Reed prior to be influenced by Woody Guthrie. The sound is folksy but nostalgic. The album continues to impress with each listen and will stay in my album rotation for the rest of the year.
6. Allister - Life Behind Machines (Universal J)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   Allister is one of a small number of bands that made me want to live in Chicago. This album is a slight departure from their previous work in the early 2000s, but it does not lose any it’s ‘Allister-ness’. Normally the incorporation of keys and synth to a band that never had this sound in the past is a disappointment, but I did not mind it too much on this album.
7. The Yolks - Songs The Yolks Taught Themselves, Vol. 1 (Self- Released)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   The Yolks are an awesome live band to see. Their live shows are full of enthusiastic Hipster Chicagoans pogo-ing and head banging to some of the best jazz, blues, doo-wop, lo-fi punk fusion out there (they are probably the only band to do this to be honest). This album is full of cover sings that are staples of their live set. It does not capture them perfectly, but very good listen during your morning commute.
8. Title Fight - Floral Green (Side One Dummy)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   The album hits hard but with a soft underbelly. The songs are gritty and highly driven by drums and bass, but the guitars add a harmonic balance with ‘high of the neck’ riffs that stick out, in a good way. The vocals are abrasive without being obscene. The overall sound on this album is very reminiscent of The Movielife’s Forty-Hour Train Back To Penn.
9. Reptar - Body Faucet (Vagrant)
   BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
   The group’s infectious and always-danceable music has earned them opening spots for Foster the People and other notable acts over the past couple of years, and Body Faucet provides plenty of justification for these honors and others surely to be given in the future. Their album has a modern island sound, similar to Vampire Weekend’s debut, with balanced snare drum rolls and slow moving bass that is complimented by their plucky guitar riffs create a natural warm sound.
10. Kevin Seconds - Don’t Let Me Lose Ya (Asian Man)
    BUY: Reckless / Permanent / Insound / iTunes / eMusic
    Probably best known as the front man and namesake to the '80s Hardcore band 7 Seconds, Kevin Seconds is one of the best lyricists and singer-songwriters to be under recognized in the current music industry. His lo-fi approach to his solo work brings a sense of comfort for an aging punk rocker who does not want to think they are losing their edge. The sounds is soft yet powerful, mainly due to Seconds’s vocal presence and lyrical charisma.