Somebody punch me for beating a dead horse. You all know Jeromes Dream. Well those that listen to screamo.
Jeromes Dream is an odd phenomena. They most likely paved the way for bands like Bucket Full of Teeth, Me and Him Call it Us, and Letters in Binary. The sound is very scary. In early recordings, the vocals are spoken. In later recordings, the vocals are screeched. The guitars and drums work together, dealing devastating blows to your ears. Many people would find this group plain annoying. But in that lies the meaning behind Jeromes Dream.
I am positive that there are songs by the band that not even they like, but only play for the fun of playing them. That's the essence behind punk music, if it don't sound good, fuck it.
Jeromes Dream was also obviously a vent for Jeff Smith, the vocalist, who chose not to use a microphone during shows. Instead, screamed over the amplifiers, resulting in a throat so hoarse the dude was throwing up blood at the end of a 10 minute set. The suffering through his delivery reflects his emotional meaning in his songs. For example:
The (very brief) lyrics to Just Down the Hall from Room 526:
I miss you when you say goodbye. I miss you more when you don't. The stare is on my back. I'm getting smaller or larger. It all depends on where you stand.
Given, the music sounds terrible, but Jeromes Dream had an incredible impact on the screamo generation of it's time. I have been able to listen to it over and over again because of the meaning and the emotional drive.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Electronic: Boys Noize - Power
The only two Electronic artists that had anything in common in my data were Justice and Digitalism. The combined distortion and steady beats prompted me to secure Power by Boys Noize.
The first track on this album, Gax, sounds quite like something The Flashbulb would produce. It sure is pretty.
The album takes a turn with with a heavier distortion and beats in Kontact Me. Robotic vocals repeat back and forth, similar to Benni Bennasi's Satisfaction. After a minute and a half of listening, this song is worth deletion. In the time it took me to type that last sentence, a build-up occurred but the breakdown could not save the song from my opinion.
Starter, the third track, gives me a little hope. It's a bit rock influenced, and very reminiscent to Justice's Waters of Nazareth. It's a cool sound, but after a minute and a half of listening it's just tiring to listen to.
Jeffer reveals the side of Boys Noize that sounds like Digitalism. Here's a track that's actually an interesting listen and not boringly long.
It's during the fifth track, Transmission, that I decide sitting through the rest of this album is just a waste of my time. I've been a bad reviewer, letting my first impression get the best of me. Oh well. My summary: maybe some of these songs would sound cool in a mix or remixed, but this whole album is just an electro artist's attempt at making a full 12 track release like Digitalism's Idealism or Justice's Cross.
The first track on this album, Gax, sounds quite like something The Flashbulb would produce. It sure is pretty.
The album takes a turn with with a heavier distortion and beats in Kontact Me. Robotic vocals repeat back and forth, similar to Benni Bennasi's Satisfaction. After a minute and a half of listening, this song is worth deletion. In the time it took me to type that last sentence, a build-up occurred but the breakdown could not save the song from my opinion.
Starter, the third track, gives me a little hope. It's a bit rock influenced, and very reminiscent to Justice's Waters of Nazareth. It's a cool sound, but after a minute and a half of listening it's just tiring to listen to.
Jeffer reveals the side of Boys Noize that sounds like Digitalism. Here's a track that's actually an interesting listen and not boringly long.
It's during the fifth track, Transmission, that I decide sitting through the rest of this album is just a waste of my time. I've been a bad reviewer, letting my first impression get the best of me. Oh well. My summary: maybe some of these songs would sound cool in a mix or remixed, but this whole album is just an electro artist's attempt at making a full 12 track release like Digitalism's Idealism or Justice's Cross.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Screamo: Storm the Bastille - Dismantled
Today's review is of Dismantled by Storm the Bastille. I chose this album in review of Coffin Dancer. Coffin Dancer is quite post-metal, sludgy stonery, guttural, emotional, etc. and is most commonly known for their split with Kidcrash (hence the screamo relation.) But this isn't about Coffin Dancer, although they are good.
I have experienced Storm the Bastille before, I had their split with In First Person a while back and favored In First Person, but this 6-track album just kills. The style they play is very reminiscent of Neil Perry and other chaotic early screamo. The rhythm is very compelling and speedy, although there is something that will always keep you rooted to the ground. However, the way they play their instruments is something completely different.
For instance, the guitars will go on their own separate journey, one tempo. The drums will come and go as they please, but always will come back. The drummer never fails to keep things interesting. There are fills galore that can compare to Who Calls So Loud and Coffin Dancer.
The guitars are often very clean, but by the drums cue, the distortion comes on and the house falls down with it.
Storm the Bastille also features something that I love to hear in a hard-hitting band: dual vocals. If more than one person is on the mic, it shows that the band is in unison about their message. I always liked that about Boy Problems (first band that came to mind, completely unrelated.) Storm the Bastille does vocals the right way. It's not all screaming. It's not all singing. They flow well with the songs, they drop from a scream to a yell when the beat falls off a cliff, and you can hear the doppler effect at the end of the song.
Storm the Bastille has it together. They are a good, solid listen. The tracks on Dismantled are a little lengthy by punk standards, but keep you in your seat.
I have experienced Storm the Bastille before, I had their split with In First Person a while back and favored In First Person, but this 6-track album just kills. The style they play is very reminiscent of Neil Perry and other chaotic early screamo. The rhythm is very compelling and speedy, although there is something that will always keep you rooted to the ground. However, the way they play their instruments is something completely different.
For instance, the guitars will go on their own separate journey, one tempo. The drums will come and go as they please, but always will come back. The drummer never fails to keep things interesting. There are fills galore that can compare to Who Calls So Loud and Coffin Dancer.
The guitars are often very clean, but by the drums cue, the distortion comes on and the house falls down with it.
Storm the Bastille also features something that I love to hear in a hard-hitting band: dual vocals. If more than one person is on the mic, it shows that the band is in unison about their message. I always liked that about Boy Problems (first band that came to mind, completely unrelated.) Storm the Bastille does vocals the right way. It's not all screaming. It's not all singing. They flow well with the songs, they drop from a scream to a yell when the beat falls off a cliff, and you can hear the doppler effect at the end of the song.
Storm the Bastille has it together. They are a good, solid listen. The tracks on Dismantled are a little lengthy by punk standards, but keep you in your seat.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Post-Hardcore: The Catalyst - Swallow Your Teeth
I picked this band to review because it was at the top of my post-hardcore recommendation list, which is only influenced by two artists. The Catalyst is closely tied with Brainworms.
Frankly, I'm surprised Last.fm's most common tag for The Catalyst is post-hardcore. There is enough about them to convince me that they are current-hardcore. Is that a pun? Anyways, this is just straight punk stuff. I love it. This is like Ultra Dolphins, except instead of psychedelic narcotics they favor alcohol and marijuana.
The album opens up with distortion, just like a lot of punk albums do. It seems to never get old. After that it's just throbbing hardcore. Most of the songs aren't fast enough to mosh, but it's good stomping music.
There is a... well I don't even know what I should call it. In track 3, Assholier Than Thou (some of the titles are quite clever,) the song goes great until some kind of sloppy guitar solo occurs. I can excuse it just because it's a minor imperfection in a good album, but it's just thrown in there at a random time and just doesn't sound good. Luckily, it's not very long, and the song goes on back to it's original greatness.
In Small Town, Big Mouth (track 5,) the tempo is fast enough to do some fun moshing, given the crowd is up to it. You know there's always some dude that brought their girlfriend to the show and doesn't want to go home and bang a girl with a black eye. Don't be that guy.
The next song, Werewolves of Washington, is much slower, and the guitars even have delay on them. There's another guitar solo-type-thing, except it fits in this song and sounds cool. It's a total stoner song.
42012 is an instrumental adventure, opening up for the last two tracks of the CD. I'm not normally a fan of these, but this one's not too bad. Making it shorter couldn't hurt though.
The last two tracks are rather uneventful though, but this album really is some good music. It will stay on my mp3 player, and I will listen to it while cycling.
Frankly, I'm surprised Last.fm's most common tag for The Catalyst is post-hardcore. There is enough about them to convince me that they are current-hardcore. Is that a pun? Anyways, this is just straight punk stuff. I love it. This is like Ultra Dolphins, except instead of psychedelic narcotics they favor alcohol and marijuana.
The album opens up with distortion, just like a lot of punk albums do. It seems to never get old. After that it's just throbbing hardcore. Most of the songs aren't fast enough to mosh, but it's good stomping music.
There is a... well I don't even know what I should call it. In track 3, Assholier Than Thou (some of the titles are quite clever,) the song goes great until some kind of sloppy guitar solo occurs. I can excuse it just because it's a minor imperfection in a good album, but it's just thrown in there at a random time and just doesn't sound good. Luckily, it's not very long, and the song goes on back to it's original greatness.
In Small Town, Big Mouth (track 5,) the tempo is fast enough to do some fun moshing, given the crowd is up to it. You know there's always some dude that brought their girlfriend to the show and doesn't want to go home and bang a girl with a black eye. Don't be that guy.
The next song, Werewolves of Washington, is much slower, and the guitars even have delay on them. There's another guitar solo-type-thing, except it fits in this song and sounds cool. It's a total stoner song.
42012 is an instrumental adventure, opening up for the last two tracks of the CD. I'm not normally a fan of these, but this one's not too bad. Making it shorter couldn't hurt though.
The last two tracks are rather uneventful though, but this album really is some good music. It will stay on my mp3 player, and I will listen to it while cycling.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Indie: The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Pardon my tardiness. I actually had this album on my mp3 player for about to weeks, but it is now that I have actual time to write my review for it.
This album, Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins, was chosen by common recommendations for Band of Horses, Modest Mouse, and Yo La Tengo. The other two artists I have in my database listed as indie are Kickball and The Smiths, but they seemed not to have much in common with the other three.
Chutes Too Narrow begins kind of boring, to be honest. It sounds pleasant, but there's not too much that stands out in the first two tracks. I had heard The Shins music before and it was not nearly as acoustic as these two songs. I was hoping that the rest of the album wouldn't be so focused on acoustics, and my wish came true.
So Says I (Track 3) is when the electricity and rock n' roll decide to show up. The entire song is hyped up and fun to listen to, with Band of Horses-like vocals. However this style of music lasts shortly.
As soon as Young Pilgrims comes on it's back to acoustic chords and boring progression, an alright country-style guitar solo comes in at 2 minutes in, and the lyrics are ok from what I can tell.
Saint Simon sounds like an oldie. I'm not a fan of it. Skip.
Ahh, Fighting In a Sack! Finally something fast again! The sixth track saved this album from impending deletion. That's not really a good thing, but this song has a harmonica! And a good use of it, too. Maybe I'll stick around for another song...
Sticking around was a mistake. Pink Bullets is acoustic, and boring. I don't have anything wrong with acoustic guitars or playing them, I promise. It's just whenever people pull out their acoustic in the studio making an indie rock album, it's like the only way to play is slow and with chords. Don't be afraid, shred on that acoustic just like you would on electric! Here, I will site my evidence.
Track 8 sounds pretty familiar. Turn a Square uses a generic electric guitar plucking progression with an acoustic chord progression background and is quite melodic. I would be interested in it if the second verse didn't sound exactly like the first.
Gone for Good. Is this really a country slide guitar? I like it. It's perfectly in place. Where did that harmonica go? Bring that bad boy back and we'll have a mountain man hipster ho-down! I think more indie bands should try a slide guitar. It would work so well with Modest Mouse's vocalist, for instance.
The final track, Those to Come, is even slower than the other acoustic "jams", and yet evades the classification of lullaby. This is common in a conclusive track.
In conclusion, if all The Shins albums are like this, you might want to just rip the good songs off of FrostWire. I wrote this nice little guide for you to use. I will NOT be adding this artist to the database.
Good songs: So Says I, Fighting in a Sack, and Gone for Good.
This album, Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins, was chosen by common recommendations for Band of Horses, Modest Mouse, and Yo La Tengo. The other two artists I have in my database listed as indie are Kickball and The Smiths, but they seemed not to have much in common with the other three.
Chutes Too Narrow begins kind of boring, to be honest. It sounds pleasant, but there's not too much that stands out in the first two tracks. I had heard The Shins music before and it was not nearly as acoustic as these two songs. I was hoping that the rest of the album wouldn't be so focused on acoustics, and my wish came true.
So Says I (Track 3) is when the electricity and rock n' roll decide to show up. The entire song is hyped up and fun to listen to, with Band of Horses-like vocals. However this style of music lasts shortly.
As soon as Young Pilgrims comes on it's back to acoustic chords and boring progression, an alright country-style guitar solo comes in at 2 minutes in, and the lyrics are ok from what I can tell.
Saint Simon sounds like an oldie. I'm not a fan of it. Skip.
Ahh, Fighting In a Sack! Finally something fast again! The sixth track saved this album from impending deletion. That's not really a good thing, but this song has a harmonica! And a good use of it, too. Maybe I'll stick around for another song...
Sticking around was a mistake. Pink Bullets is acoustic, and boring. I don't have anything wrong with acoustic guitars or playing them, I promise. It's just whenever people pull out their acoustic in the studio making an indie rock album, it's like the only way to play is slow and with chords. Don't be afraid, shred on that acoustic just like you would on electric! Here, I will site my evidence.
Track 8 sounds pretty familiar. Turn a Square uses a generic electric guitar plucking progression with an acoustic chord progression background and is quite melodic. I would be interested in it if the second verse didn't sound exactly like the first.
Gone for Good. Is this really a country slide guitar? I like it. It's perfectly in place. Where did that harmonica go? Bring that bad boy back and we'll have a mountain man hipster ho-down! I think more indie bands should try a slide guitar. It would work so well with Modest Mouse's vocalist, for instance.
The final track, Those to Come, is even slower than the other acoustic "jams", and yet evades the classification of lullaby. This is common in a conclusive track.
In conclusion, if all The Shins albums are like this, you might want to just rip the good songs off of FrostWire. I wrote this nice little guide for you to use. I will NOT be adding this artist to the database.
Good songs: So Says I, Fighting in a Sack, and Gone for Good.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Screamo: Ampere - The First Five Years
It was not hard deciding which Screamo album to acquire. There were many artists to draw influence from, and one band was common with almost all of them. Ampere is a New Hampshire band that plays like the hardcore kids but is passionate like the emo kids.
This album starts off fast and ends fast. Each songs begins with guitar distortion and ends with guitar distortion, blending into the next. It is an unending assault of speed and urgency. On a more unimportant note, these guys and gal can play their instruments quite well, especially for the speed they play.
After their own material, the album contains covers by bands that obviously influenced Ampere. Born Against, DRI, Antioch Arrow, Bad Brains, and Wire. They're awesome covers, some of which I rather would hear from Ampere than their original writers.
And after the covers are 5 live songs that sound no different from their recorded versions. Flawless.
My attitude towards screamo is that as long as your passionate about the music you're playing, it doesn't matter how good you sound. This philosophy remains ungrasped by people that dislike punk rock, sadly. Sure Underoath and Bring Me the Horizon can play good music, but there's no feeling in it. It's all just a display of talent. Ampere writes about the abuse of policy and the deaths of close ones, and they don't make it sound whiny. They are truly pissed and sad about it. Fuck the kids that don't like the way they sound.
This album starts off fast and ends fast. Each songs begins with guitar distortion and ends with guitar distortion, blending into the next. It is an unending assault of speed and urgency. On a more unimportant note, these guys and gal can play their instruments quite well, especially for the speed they play.
After their own material, the album contains covers by bands that obviously influenced Ampere. Born Against, DRI, Antioch Arrow, Bad Brains, and Wire. They're awesome covers, some of which I rather would hear from Ampere than their original writers.
And after the covers are 5 live songs that sound no different from their recorded versions. Flawless.
My attitude towards screamo is that as long as your passionate about the music you're playing, it doesn't matter how good you sound. This philosophy remains ungrasped by people that dislike punk rock, sadly. Sure Underoath and Bring Me the Horizon can play good music, but there's no feeling in it. It's all just a display of talent. Ampere writes about the abuse of policy and the deaths of close ones, and they don't make it sound whiny. They are truly pissed and sad about it. Fuck the kids that don't like the way they sound.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Hip-Hop: Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance
Today I worked on my Hip-Hop collection. The three influences that made my suggestion were Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and the Wu-Tang Clan. Aesop Rock and Atmosphere are quite common and Wu-Tang Clan was pretty much a third wheel. While Wu-Tang Clan's suggestions were added to the database I have for Hip-Hop, the artist I selected was Sage Francis.
"Paul "Sage" Francis is a hip-hop artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. Sage Francis' style blends a varying tone and delivery with subject matter that focuses on intricate sequences of widely varying imagery, metaphors, the occasional pun, absurdism, and pop culture references, while including touchstones of traditional hip hop such as storytelling and self-promotion."
The album I chose is Human the Death Dance. The intro is an intro just like any other, but the second track, Underground For Dummies opens up with some awesome lyrics talking about DIY culture, breaking stereotypes, and other things that fit the title. It becomes evident that Sage Francis is very similar to Atmosphere during the song Civil Disobedience, however Atmosphere often tells stories about scenarios, Sage Francis raps about the way things are for most people that live with a DIY attitude. I love DIY. This is a great album for the rapping alone, but the producing is also a work of art. The beats are refreshing, they are not repetitive and sometimes have a jazzy backbone to them.
"Paul "Sage" Francis is a hip-hop artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. Sage Francis' style blends a varying tone and delivery with subject matter that focuses on intricate sequences of widely varying imagery, metaphors, the occasional pun, absurdism, and pop culture references, while including touchstones of traditional hip hop such as storytelling and self-promotion."
The album I chose is Human the Death Dance. The intro is an intro just like any other, but the second track, Underground For Dummies opens up with some awesome lyrics talking about DIY culture, breaking stereotypes, and other things that fit the title. It becomes evident that Sage Francis is very similar to Atmosphere during the song Civil Disobedience, however Atmosphere often tells stories about scenarios, Sage Francis raps about the way things are for most people that live with a DIY attitude. I love DIY. This is a great album for the rapping alone, but the producing is also a work of art. The beats are refreshing, they are not repetitive and sometimes have a jazzy backbone to them.
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