Madison’s Top 5 For November

Posted: by The Editor

We’ve made it to November and are ringing some of the last releases of 2015. Time to start thinking of your Album of the Year lists, which might have been rocked within the last few weeks due to some incredible late-year releases.  For this month’s picks, I am looking at big November releases of year’s past that were bound to mess up your AOTY rankings. 

1. PVRIS – White Noise (November 4, 2014)

At the end of 2014, PVRIS exploded onto the scene with their debut LP White Noise, released on Rise Records.  In May of that year, I saw them play the Ernie Ball stage, the smallest stage at Warped Tour, to roughly 20 people on their short run.  Exactly one year later, they played the main stage all summer long to THOUSANDS of people in a single day.  The sudden influx on attention is well-deserved as vocalist Lynn Gunn offers catchy, biting lyrics over their industrial pop rock instruments for fans to sing along to and bang their head.

2. Mansions  – Doom Loop (November 12, 2013)

From the opening riff in “Climbers,” Mansion’s Doom Loop hits hard with loud, crunchy alt emo and keeps you sucked in for nearly 40 minutes.  The cool lo-fi tones paired with Christopher Browder’s exhausted yet frantic vocals creates an urgent sense of cool.   While some may be partial to the album’s predecessor Digging Up The Dead, this release deals with more mature ideas and themes, ideal for anyone finding it harder to relate to their favorite bands from high school.

3. From Indian Lakes – Able Bodies (November 13, 2012)

Although it was From Indian Lake’s second full-length on Triple Crown Records that hooked a larger fan base, their self-released first LP Able Bodies should not be ignored.  Joey Vannuchi delivers conflicting emotions through vulnerable, smooth croons in tracks like “Anything” and “Paintings,” before belting out tough, sometimes desperate screams in “Breaking My Bones” and “Stay Outside.”  These louder parts were ditched for the second release Absent Sounds to create an overall more polished feel, yet it is the raw chaos counteracting the gentleness in Able Bodies that makes it one of my favorite albums of all time.

4. La Dispute – Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair (November, 11, 2008)

La Dispute’s Somewhere at the Bottom of the River could be one of the most defining album of its genre.  In the last seven years, bands like Touche Amore, Hotel Books, and Being As An Ocean have put out incredible releases that combine post-hardcore with spoken word.  However, those bands probably would not be as innovative or inspired without La Dispute’s barrier-shattering album.  Tracks like “New Storms for Old Lovers,” “Andria,” and “The Last Lost Continent” are staples in the genre and have withheld the test of time.

Brand New – The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me (November 21, 2006)

An album that needs no introduction or explanation. This is one of the best emo albums of all time, but I am sure you already knew that.