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.

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.

Currently

These are the artists that my media library consists of.

Hip-Hop:
Aesop Rock
Atmosphere
Wu-Tang Clan

Emo:
Algernon Cadwallader
Snowing
Street Smart Cyclist
Football, Etc
Midwest Pen Pals
Spy Versus Spy

Screamo:
Boy Problems
Stop It!!
Bucket Full of Teeth
Neil Perry
Pg. 99
Phoenix Bodies
Funeral Diner
...Who Calls So Loud
L'Antietam
Loma Prieta
The Kidcrash
Louise Cyphre
I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism in Your Yearbook
Pianos Become the Teeth
Pyramids
Sohns
The Caution Children
Trifle Tower
The New Yorker
Welcome the Plague Year

Indie:
Band of Horses
Kickball
Modest Mouse
The Smiths
Yo La Tengo

Electronic:
Boards of Canada
Justice
Digitalism
Röyksopp

Post-Hardcore:
Brainworms
Meet Me in St. Louis

Hardcore:
Ceremony
Trash Talk

Post-Metal:
Coffin Dancer

Lo-Fi:
Flashlights

Dubstep:
Gritt
Nero

Folk:
Hop Along, Queen Ansleis

Drum and Bass:
J Majik

Math Rock:
Loose Lips Sink Ships

Post-Rock:
Moving Mountains
Sigur Ros
The Six Parts Seven
Tristeza

Punk:
Teenage Cool Kids
The Clash

IDM:
Telefon Tel Aviv
The Flashbulb

Rock:
Weezer

I will use this data to compile a suggested artist to review using last.fm. The method I use is quite complex, so I will spare the details. I plan to post reviews of each album I acquire through this method. I will also post reviews of materials I obtain at shows and add them to my data.