Fueled By Ramen on Fueled By Ramen: Label employees pick their favorite releases

From September 7-9, Terminal 5 in New York City will be devoted to all things Fueled By Ramen, as the label celebrates its 15th birthday. To mark the occasion, we thought we’d ask those closest to the music—FBR employees—to share some of their favorites from the label’s history. Here’s what they came up with.

The Academy Is…
Almost Here
Released: February 8, 2005
People say choosing a favorite record is like choosing a favorite child. How do you possibly pick which child is your favorite? Easy: You pick the best one, idiot. For me, the best record FBR has released is Almost Here by The Academy Is… This is the record that put the band on the map. At the time, there were very few well-written records coming out of the “pop-punk scene,” and every band was adding horrendous screaming into their songs to try to stand out. TAI took the other path and relied on clever lyrics, melodies and hard-hitting choruses. They dug in, locked themselves in my apartment for six months and wrote one of the catchiest, hook-ridden records I've ever fallen in love with. It's a record that truly speaks to me lyrically, and brings back some of the best memories of my life. Every song on the record could truly be a single. I think every fan of the band has a different favorite song from the record. That, to me, is the truest evidence of appreciation. “Our time is almost, our time is almost here.”

Johnny Minardi
A&R for Fueled By Ramen
Twitter: @johnnyminardijr

Fall Out Boy
Take This To Your Grave
Released: May 6, 2003
I lived in Gainesville, Florida, from 1998 to 2003 and was very much in the music scene there.  So even though I didn’t officially start working for FBR until 2004, I’ve been around the label, bands and employees for most of its existence.  Although I have many personal favorite FBR records (i.e., Punchline’s Action, Whippersnapper’s Appearances Wear Thin, The Academy Is…’s Almost Here and Santi), Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave is just one of those albums that stands the test of pop-punk time.  The production on it can still really hold up against a lot of records in this similar scene coming out today.  Being a drummer myself, I love the drum sounds on this record, especially the bell on the ride on “Grand Theft Autumn.” This is just one of those blueprint albums for emo/pop-punk for that time that influenced so many bands for years after.  

Erick Charles 
Director of Street Marketing

Phantom Planet
Raise The Dead
Released: April 15, 2008
It was so hard to pick one favorite out of every Fueled By Ramen release, but this album is still a favorite of mine to this day. I loved Phantom Planet in the early ‘00s, around the time “California” was big, and fell in love with them. When I heard FBR was going to be working with them on a new album I was so excited. Raise The Dead is a solid album from start to finish, although “Do The Panic” and “Geronimo” are my favorites. I had the privilege of seeing Phantom Planet play a few times in support of this album. They were incredible live, and it was inspiring to have such a talented and multi-faceted band in the FBR family. Not to mention the album cover art, which was singer Alex Greenwald duct-taped to a wall. Genius!

Katie Robinson
Senior Marketing Director
Twitter: @katieramen

Blueline Medic
The Apology Wars
Released: July 16, 2001
By the time The Apology Wars came out, Blueline Medic had already won me over with their EP, A Working Title In Green, and the demos we had in the office, but I had no idea they were capable of something quite so good. The Apology Wars is a great album from start to finish that sounds like it could have easily been what Blake Schwarzenbach would have done between Jawbreaker and Jets To Brazil if he was Australian. I remember being completely amazed the first time I heard it over 10 years ago in the old Gainesville office. There aren't many first listens to an album that have ever stuck with me like that, and the album still holds up today.

Unfortunately, a lot of people missed out on Blueline Medic—and especially this album—since the band wasn't able to tour much in the U.S. (There's a good chance I would have been included in that group if I wasn't lucky enough to be part of the label when it came out.) The Apology Wars never got the widespread exposure and acclaim it deserved, but it is hands-down my favorite release from the FBR discography.

Jason Russum
Director, New Media

The Stereo
Three Hundred
Released: 1999
There are few albums that still resonate with me as much in 2011 as they did when I first heard them over 10 years ago like the Stereo's first album, Three Hundred. When I was introduced to the Stereo via two MP3s that Fueled By Ramen posted before the album was released, I was instantly hooked by the band's blend of pop, punk and rock. I played the title track on repeat for hours and ordered the album as soon as it was available.

I had become a big fan of the Impossibles after discovering them on the Mailorder Is Fun compilation that Asian Man Records released just after the band's break-up, and I was excited to hear their singer Rory [Phillips] would be starting a new band with Jamie [Woolford] from Animal Chin. I had only heard one Animal Chin song at that point and was curious to hear what Jamie would bring to the table with the album.

Three Hundred kicks off with “Devotion,” a witty love song with Jamie singing the lead and a ripping guitar solo. The second song continues with more Jamie before Rory takes the lead on the title track. The album starts off so strongly with four quick, energetic songs all clocking in under three minutes.

To balance the power-pop of most of the album, “Please Try To Understand” introduces the slower, piano-based style that later appears on “Problems” and “Divine.” These songs really add to the dynamics of the album and give both singers the opportunity to step out of their usual style on the rest of the album.

One of my favorite aspects of Three Hundred is that contrast between Jamie and Rory's vocals and their styles of writing. While it's great to hear the songs where one of them takes the lead, it's awesome to hear both voices and styles come together on “There Goes My Mouth Again.” Like so many of my favorite bands (Alkaline Trio, Rancid, Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music), the Stereo has two distinct singers that are as strong together as they are on their own. Jamie's songs bring to mind pure, clean pop that reminds me of the crunch guitars and vocal melodies of Cheap Trick and Jimmy Eat World. Rory's songs are a bit more relaxed and bring to mind Weezer much like the Impossibles did. But as they both play on every song and both provide vocals on most, the album is an excellent mix of two amazing songwriters and performers.

The only disappointing thing about this album is that Rory and Jamie were never able to make a follow-up. While I'm still a big fan of their later music, there's something special that happens when they work together. In 1999, Three Hundred stood out from its contemporaries and influenced a whole generation of bands and music fans. The excitement surrounding the announcement that Jamie and Rory would be playing together again is a testament to that fact and how incredible this album was—and still is—12 years later.

Adam Samiljan
Senior Director, New Media