BEST OF THE DECADE

5. Cursive-The Ugly Organ (2003)

When I first heard this record, it was unlike anything I had been listening to at the time. It was well into the large success of bands like Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, and Dashboard Confessional. This is what the "media" was selling as emo. I was buying into it until my cousin told me about Cursive. I gave this record a listen and something about it just connected with me instantly. I think it might have been Tim Kasher's amazing story telling. That seems to be the number one selling point of Cursive, at least for me. The music isn't exactly post-hardcore, but it isn't exactly indie either. It is however "emo" in the greatest sense of the word, but Kasher seems invoke real emotion into this wonderful tales of lost love and artistic integrity. The eerie cello of Gretta Cohn is what really made the record for me. The atmosphere is dark and brooding leaving you with the feeling that you just listened to an entire scary movie. The Ugly Organ feels so much like a movie, that there is only a slightly happy ending with the repetition of "the worst is over" in the last track "Staying Alive." Not only is this album a great full length, but it is also an amazing concept album which set me on a path of only being album to write concept albums. Damn you Tim Kasher.