Well, it’s been some time, with finals and holiday vacation getting in the way of internets and whatnot, but here I am again! I’m sitting in Gibbons getting my oil changed [yes I take my computer everywhere, who are you to judge me?!] and I figured this was a lovely time to write a journal entry.

First thing’s first: Top 5 Albums of 2008. I am quite the music lover, although I never listen to new music because I love my music too much, so if a band has made it on here, assume they were worth the listen! Also, if I get wordy, you’ll have to forgive me. I wrote reviews for my high school paper and I write reviews for The Paladin, so sometimes I tend to lean toward journalism.

Valencia – We All Need A Reason To Believe
This album is 100% my number one album of 2008. I’ve been a fan of Valencia for about 3 years now, and that whole time I never imagined them topping their first album, This Could be A Possibility. WRONG. I absolutely never get tired of listening to this album. I listen to it when I run, when I walk to class, in the car, in the room when I’m cleaning up, EVERYWHERE. There’s not a single song I don’t like on the whole thing. It makes me proud to be a fan!

Less Than Jake – GNV FLA
As much as I talk about Valencia, people are surprised to learn that Less Than Jake is my favorite band. Well, they are and probably always will be, and I am so happy with what they’ve done with their newest album. In 2006, they put out In With The Out Crowd, which I LOVED, but you could tell it wasn’t Less Than Jake. Even they didn’t like it; they never play many songs from it live and even talk openly about how they think it wasn’t too great. But since then, they left their record label and started their own, and you can tell that they’re much happier with this album, as am I! It’s very much like old Less Than Jake, but not so much that it seems like the same old album again.

Driving East – The Future Of The Free World Is Riding On This One
It baffles me that this band is not bigger. They came to my hometown [COLUMBIA, WOO WOO!] in the summer of 2008 and actually had to cancel the show because they weren’t making enough money from the tour. I was fairly heartbroken, so two days later my friend and I drove four hours to Raleigh, NC to see the same show and it ended up going on as planned. But…there were, like, fourteen people there, and my friend and I were the only ones who knew Driving East. It pains me, because this album is so…fun. It’s a fun, sing along in the car with the windows down album, and nobody knows that! WHY?! Well I’m begging you, LISTEN TO THIS BAND. THEY ARE REALLY, REALLY GOOD. The end.

The Cab – Whisper War
I hate to say it, but this band is so talented. During March/April/May, my friend and I followed Valencia around for a few shows and ended up seeing them 6 times. They were on tour with The Cab, so we ALSO ended up seeing The Cab 6 times. We tried so hard to fight loving them, because they’re honestly a boy band that plays their own music…but it’s AWESOME. They’ve been described as a mix between Fall Out boy and *NSYNC, and they take that as a compliment. This CD is seriously just fun.

Forgive Durden – Razia’s Shadow: A Musical
Dude. This thing absolutely rules. It’s an actual musical; there are characters and there’s a plot and drama. I actually cried at the end, I could not make this crap up. I never get to listen to it because I can’t just listen to one song at a time, I have to listen to the whole thing [do you just read three pages out of Harry Potter then put it down? I think not], but when I do listen to it I fall in love with it all over again. It’s so incredible that Thomas even THOUGHT of this, not to mention actually pulled it off without it being lame.

And there you are. Feel free to share yours!