it’s winter/spring 2010, so maybe posting Age Sixteen’s summer 2009 demo is a bit overdue? or maybe it will catapult us into summer 2010? I don’t know. I’m posting either way. if you have heard this band before, from this blog or otherwise, I trust that you know what to expect, both in terms of style and in terms of quality. if you are not familiar with this band, I guess I have to pull out the American Suis La Lune card again. because they really do sound a lot like Suis La Lune with the clean guitars and screaming. but thankfully, they add their own touches. they’re not completely ripping off SLL; they are merely wearing their influence proudly on their sleeves. while this demo doesn’t even come close to the full length album posted below when it comes to recording quality, it does certainly get its point across. the vocals benefit from being low in the mix, thus forcing the screams to be louder than loud to be heard. the guitars throw in a great deal of feedback, and the somewhat distorted sound makes everything sound rawer and perhaps even more intense than it would sound cleanly recorded. either way, this just gives you everything it has to give, thus claiming the right to be heard. hear this! you will not regret it. buy it from their MySpace, along with their other records. it only costs like $2.
archive for January, 2010
Age Sixteen – Summer 2009 Demo
Friday, January 15th, 2010Casting Curses – Heartificial
Thursday, January 14th, 2010everyone who has ever reviewed this EP has commented on its length, exploiting the shortness to make some stupid pun or even make the little over five minutes the very foundation of their reviews – and I’m not going to be any better in my little write-up. so: if you’re going to be brief, you better not suck. you can’t afford to be boring in the course of five minutes. Casting Curses aren’t. somewhat comparable to The Promise, this is heavy ’90s hardcore influenced modern hardcore. you know, the one with melodic guitars, groovy rhythms, shouting and yelling. it’s passionate and no frills hardcore that’s still very creative and creating. Casting Curses efficiently borrow from each and every one of the best modern hardcore bands and strive to make up their own interesting style of aggressive and relevant hardcore. check it out. good stuff.
She Notes the Chariots – Discography
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010though never particularly successful in their time together, She Notes the Chariots sure recorded a lot of awesome songs. I can’t comment on their live show, but if it’s even the slightest bit close to being as interesting as their discography, I would definitely go see this band. with their multiple vocalists and totally awesome guitars (similar to Oh, Apollo!’s first album sans the metalcore), these guys shred. hard. and the tracks are unusual compositions, with no clear pattern or anything. they seem mostly to aim for a dark atmospheric and aggressive setting in which total destruction of everything takes place. sort of. they are sort of what I like to call fairly modern screamo… however looking at the calendar, I realise that this is 5-10 years old, and so is most of the other “modern screamo” I listen to, so I guess I’m old and this type of screamo is old. anyway it’s sort of comparable to Saetia, Noisy Sins of the Insect and Oh, Apollo! though completely unique in their style, and well worth listening to. so download this. check it outtttt.
Bad Vibe – Dark City
Monday, January 11th, 2010Bad Vibe give me good vibes. they play hardcore with a sort of groove metal touch. they’re not that far away from Method of Groove, posted below. there’s a somewhat bleak outlook on life evident in their lyrics, which claims that life is a war and that life is pain. the lyrics seem to mostly deal with losing control and things gone wrong. this isn’t for the faint hearted, I guess. but it’s hardcore so what did you expect. you get what you’re supposed to get. thrashing guitars, rapid drumming and shouting. what sets Bad Vibe apart from the other hardcore bands on this blog is their touches of groove metal, the unique vocals, the complete and utter awesomeness that is the last half minute of this record. so get ittttt. check it out.
Henry Bemis is a Superhero – Five Love Songs to Kill Yourself To
Sunday, January 10th, 2010more lo-fi emo-tinged country/folk from Ethan of The Sky Looks Pissed and The Loneliest Cowgirls. similar to the acoustic sessions by Die! Emperor, Die! this album consists of (ironically enough) six heartbroken and suicidal acoustic jams about a girl. «I hate him! and I hate you! and I hate every song that I wrote about you» – well I love the songs you wrote about her, Ethan! thanks for being in pain, so I can enjoy your recordings. this is essentially acoustic screamo. wtf? download it. it’s amazing.
Beneva vs. Clark Nova – Dramadadatic
Friday, January 8th, 2010this band consists of the atmospheric mastermind Benjamin Finger and the laid back and poppy Rudi Simmons, both of which have albums posted on this blog. and these guys are every bit as great together as they are apart! though vastly different than their solo counterparts. this is mostly upbeat, insanely catchy and soothing electronica with hints of idm and glitch music. Beneva vs. Clark Nova produce distinct and concrete melodies with a huge crush on the vague and abstract. the album is all killer, no filler. it’s filled with highlights, and never wastes time. this is every bit as atmospheric as those really downbeat Sigur Rós and Múm songs, not only the calm parts, but even when running at full speed down a flight of stairs, Beneva vs. Clark Nova is an atmospheric – as well as joyful affair. though you might frequently be puzzled as to what the hell is going on in this art expo of an electronica album, it’s still very enjoyable, despite the confusion. this is a fantastic album, magnificently building up and keeping suspense whilst being very soothing at the same time. download it! then buy it from http://howisannierecords.com – it’s worth it. the cover is the great photograph “The Greenhouse” by Sandy Skoglund, and it’s a very pretty looking digipack that’s well worth the money.
Jimmy Eat World – Jimmy Eat World
Thursday, January 7th, 2010this is the second and last Jimmy Eat World post. in this album they start experimenting a bit more. the guitars get way more melodic and the overall sound gets a bit more depth to it. in every album post this one, it is my honest opinion that they get boring and too soft. on this s/t album they have the perfect mix of rawness and harmony (the harmony being most apparent on the seven minute epic “Scientific”). later on they take it too far and go all out pop music. sure they have the occasional awesome tune (although most of those are either on indie splits or compilations), but it’s very hit or miss, and mostly miss. this album on the other hand is hit, hit and hit. it’s kind of like what Small Brown Bike would do later. not only because they hit every time, but because it’s a pleasant mix of emo and the more raw straightforward punk rock on 1234. also somewhat reminiscent of early Propagandhi. emotive vocals, incredibly catchy chord progressions and a fantastic upbeat and simple take on rock music, though with substance and depth to be found for an attentive listener. anyway, the sheer intensity, raw energy and bold passion are all vital ingredients in this power package of an emo record. GET IT!
Jimmy Eat World – One, Two, Three, Four
Thursday, January 7th, 2010okay so this might have been an unexpected post to see on this blog. I generally do not promote major label artists like Jimmy Eat World. but I’m going to do it anyway. while I’m generally not a fan of anything this band did after getting signed to a major (musically or otherwise), I am a big fan of their two first albums – and they happen to be available for free download. thus they will be posted here. if you don’t know who Jimmy Eat World is, they were this punk band in the ’90s that did what the other bands did: played every show they could. then they went major label, and somehow still managed to salvage some “indie cred”. this way they got to keep partaking in indie splits and compilations, and gained fans in both indie and non-indie milieus. an odd situation indeed. later on the band blew up commercially with an album called Bleed American and blah blah blah, but that’s another story. this post is about their fir
st release: 1234, which along with the other album I will post shortly was released on Wooden Blue records, who put out Christie Front Drive as well. 1234 basically consists of four ferocious punk rock songs with high tempo and lots of energy. while there’s definitely a hint of that melodic pop sensibility that characterise their latter work, this is uncomplicated, straightforward punk rock. the title track sounds like a secret agent song. there’s not much else to say about this release, but that’s the best thing about it. it does the talking itself.
The Trigger Quintet – Discography
Thursday, January 7th, 2010if you liked Die, Emperor! Die!, then you’ll be pleased to know that here’s more semi-obscure ’90s emo from Texas. though perhaps more accurately compared to Parades End and Three Letter Engagement, The Trigger Quintet are highly interesting however you look at it. emotive howling vocals and octave chords galore. there’s also a great deal of explosions consisting of melodic riffing in unison, with upbeat drumming and soft bass lines, then suddenly stop; twinkling guitars; then it explodes again. it’s basically very pleasant on the ears. this is everything that ’90s emo should be. there’s an element of chaos, yet melodic sensibilities. as a result, “Slept for Seven Days” sounds like a prototype for modern screamo. this is a very short (just barely over fifteen minutes long), though very impressing discography that you can’t go wrong with if you like any form of emo.