My Top 20 Favorite Bands: 2000 to Present

I fully acknowledge it's weird that after spending so many years touting new music, my list of all-time favorite bands is still comprised almost entirely of artists from the '70s. So I got an idea: what if I wrote a massive list of my all-time favorite bands and then deleted everything that was pre year 2000? What would that look like? It was an easier exercise than I expected. I had no trouble coming up with a long list of bands from the present century that I totally love and still listen to on a regular basis. For bands that were active prior to 2000, I only considered their post-2000 output. For more recent bands, I had to factor in that their recordings may have not yet been subjected to the "test of time". With all of that in mind, here we go! 

20. Phone Jerks
I know what you're thinking. "Didn't their first album just come out?!" Fair enough. But in a world without Teengenerate and Loli and the Chones, Phone Jerks are the next best thing. Plus there was no way I could write a list like this and not represent multiple bands from Canada.


19. The Cry!
First album is a bona fide power pop classic. Second one isn't bad either! I anticipate we will finally get a new album from this band in 2019.

 
18. Something Fierce 
Don't Be So Cruel still sounds like the best album that the 1980s Clash never made. Rumor has it that Something Fierce is now on the verge of releasing new music for the first time in eight years. 

 
17. The Dahlmanns 
I've reviewed this band on seven occasions. It actually seems like more than that! The gold standard for the marriage of pop and punk. 

  
16. Sugar Stems
Super underrated extra awesome power pop group. I highly recommend all three of their albums. Does pop music get any better than "Love You To Pieces"? 


15. The Figgs - As the '90s turned over into the 2000s, The Figgs were at the top of their game. I probably listen to Sucking In Stereo as much as I listen to any Figgs album. Badger is my favorite Figgs EP by far. The early stuff gets all the love, but this band's post 2000 output is no less impressive.


14. The Unlovables
Crush * Boyfriend * Heartbreak is one of the greatest pop-punk albums ever made.


13. Nato Coles and the Blue Diamond Band
Promises To Deliver is my most most listened-to album of this current decade. 


12. The Kidnappers 
A decade before it was fashionable, The Kidnappers concocted a peanut butter cup mashup of garage punk and power pop, peaking with the "Spanish Girls" single and Neon Signs LP. I have enjoyed the twins' more recent outfit Küken, but I must admit I still miss The Kidnappers!  


11. Night Birds 
For my money, this is the best punk group of the last ten years. Favorite album: Born To Die In Suburbia. Second favorite: Mutiny at Muscle Beach. If you like old school hardcore punk with brilliant lyrics and a ton of melody, you need to own this band's entire discography. Little-known fact: I have consciously inserted a Seinfeld or Larry David reference into four different Night Birds reviews. I'm saving "These pretzels are making me thirsty" for the next full-length.


10. Bobbyteens
This band would have ranked higher if I'd allowed myself to consider its early singles and debut album from the late '90s. Still, top ten ain't too shabby! 2000's Not So Sweet is my favorite of the band's albums - a definitive mixture of the Ramones, girl groups, and power pop.


9. Midnite Snaxxx 
Is there any punk musician of the last 25 years more under-appreciated than Dulcinea Gonzalez?


8. The Connection
I've referred to The Connection as "America's best rock n' roll band", and I think that sums it up pretty well. 


 7. Beach Patrol
 I've been a huge fan of this Green Bay outfit since 2006, when I named its full-length debut my album of the year. Over time, the band has only gotten better. Domenic has become one of our finest songwriters. The recent Levity is, in my opinion, the best album he's ever written.


6. Pale Lips
It seems like only yesterday that I was hearing this band for the very first time. It was actually four years ago! Pale Lips' debut LP was officially listed as my #2 album of 2016, and the band's latest is almost certain to be my #1 for 2019. Definitely my favorite active band.


5. Exploding Hearts 
I don't think much explanation is required here.


4. Kung Fu Monkeys
The creation of a Kung Fu Monkeys Bandcamp page officially remains the best thing to ever happen to The Internet. I recently decided to put on School's Out, Surf's Up, Let's Fall in Love to see if it still holds up after 18 years plus. Boy, does it ever! There's never been another album quite like this. It's like pop-punk meets twee meets meets surf meets kiddie pop meets bubblegum meets '60s teenage dance party, propelled by James Cahill's seemingly impossible vocal range and a rhythm section that plays as if it's hopped up on Pixy Stix. Music more joyful than this has never been produced by humans. The early 2000s saw the band moving into its "mature" phase, which produced several less punky yet still totally delightful 7" releases. More recently, 2012's Son Of... The Incredibly Strange Case Of The Mysterious Mystery 7" arrived seemingly out of nowhere and delighted longtime fans with some gorgeous and masterful baroque pop. 

  
3. Stiletto Boys
Yeah, I know this band had a home field advantage. But I would have been a fan even if they'd been from thousands of miles away. It's funny how time changes your impressions of things. When the Stiletto Boys made their first album, I was like, "I love it, but I kind of miss the rawness of the singles". When their second album came out, I was like, "I love it, but I kind of miss the rawness of the last album". Looking back all of these years later, I am awed by the way the Stiletto Boys pushed themselves to get better and better with each new release. I can still put on A Company of Wolves and find myself stunned by its greatness. Sean Wolfe was so driven to make Liberator perfect that he was willing to scrap a completed album and start over. It ended up being 13 years between albums. And it was worth it. Liberator (2013) proved to be the band's masterpiece - a must-own for fans of power pop influenced punk rock with insightful and intensely personal lyrics. If you lost track of the Stiletto Boys after the year 2000, you've got some serious catching up to do. R.I.P. Sean.


2. The Ergs 
If you want to see me when I'm angry, call the Ergs a generic pop-punk band. Sure, they were Descendents fans. They were also into hardcore, jazz, and obscure indie rock. They were unabashed music and book geeks, which I related to on a personal level. They fully understood that Dirty Work is one of the true cinematic masterpieces of our time. How can you not appreciate a band that releases a single called "Blue" and backs it with a cover of "Blew" by Nirvana? Only a person well-versed in the road signage of northeastern Pennsylvania interstates can appreciate the humor in writing a song called "Ashley Sugarnotch". Most importantly, the music still holds up. Dorkrockcorkrod is an all-time top five pop-punk album in my book. f'n remains one of the most impressive demo tapes I've ever heard. And don't even get me started on the singles. On my Mt Rushmore of New Jersey rock, I have The Boss, The Shirelles, Dramarama, and The Ergs!


1. Dimestore Haloes
The Haloes coming in at #1 will surprise no one. Granted, I had to remove their first two albums from consideration. But their last two albums are actually their best, in my humble opinion. The Ghosts of Saturday Night was the perfect transition between what the Haloes had been and what The Cheap Cassettes would later become. Wait, you don't own it yet?! Get on over to Bandcamp and rectify that immediately!


So there you have it. There were quite a few other bands that just missed the cut (too many to mention, in fact). But I'm pretty satisfied with this list, and I plan on updating every year!

-L.R.