if you enjoyed Guidelines’ demo, then rejoice. for there’s more. this is their EP, Rules of the Sife. it has four of the five songs on the demo in a re-recorded format, with a much higher recording quality. there are also four brand new songs on here, all of which fit nicely into the repertoire. this sounds sort of similar to Age Sixteen and The Kidcrash(‘s newer material), and when they shout «NOTHING/HOLDS US/FOREVER/NEVER/NOTHING/NO/THING», you can’t help not getting into it. this is actually mad good and then some. this is fucking cool. this band makes one and two minute songs sound like epic mammoth songs. I’m not too fond of the kick drum. it has some sort of muffled quality that makes it sounds like someone is having a party next door. there. that’s the only negative thing I can think of. and I didn’t even notice it properly until the last track. the rest is skram perfection. listen to it!
archive for November, 2010
Guidelines – Rules of the Sife
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010Guidelines – Demo
Monday, November 29th, 2010out of Montclair, New Jersey come Guidelines. they started out as a side project for the members who were all active in other bands. but after a while, Guidelines ended up being their main priority. the band is on a hiatus as of right now due to one member moving away from New Jersey, but as far as I know they will be back together next summer to play shows. this is in any event their first demo. and it’s rocking. the soaring guitars, punchy drumming and heartfelt screams sort of remind me of Age Sixteen, even. the only downside of this demo is that the vocals are quite inaudible due to the not all too good recording quality. but it’s thankfully not super bass-y, or just howling sounds like they put a toy microphone outside during winter. you *can* hear what’s going on. which is nice, ‘course. the lyrics are kind of hard to get, seeing as you only hear the occasional word clearly. so head over to http://www.myspace.com/guidelinesongs to read them. and download this, because it’s a refreshing new screamo band for sure. they are by all means just that, a modern screamo band. but they are not tediously bland or instantly forgettable. instead they manage to impress me. so definitely keep an eye out for Guidelines.
Cage Match – Cave Math
Saturday, November 27th, 2010Cage Match are hard to not get excited about. they are however ironically enough also quite hard to describe. there’s some sort of folk rock tinged math rock thing going on, I guess? it’s a really pleasant listen no matter what ’tis. everything has a really appealing sound to it. something about Cage Match just makes it extremely cool. I have no idea what though. there are soft and noodle-y guitars, comfy mid-paced drums and vocal harmonies. oh and the occasional (very welcome) ukelele. kind of comparable to Perfect Future. on the last track, comparisons to Joie de Vivre’s The North End aren’t entirely out of order either. I really can’t think of anything more worthwhile to say about Cage Match. and trust me, it’s not ’cause this is a bland or bad band. I just honestly do not know what makes this so fucking amazing. download it, please. buy the CD that’s in the link as well.
TUMBLEWEAVE – DEMON SQUEEZE
Friday, November 26th, 2010curious TUMBLEWEAVE are back with another curious effort. this time an album, which you can buy on a really nice looking CD-R (more details in the link). this is supersonic noise electronica. really weird, but really interesting. TUMBLEWEAVE are sometimes reminiscent of uplifting and positive energy chiptunes, but sometimes just too surrealistic to compare to anything else. from the jazz-y opening track to the dark “Pure Moat”, to the droning “Rumbleweave” (which is along with “Mystery Lunch” re-recorded from the demo), to the psychedelic monster of a last track – TUMBLEWEAVE are definitely back, with songs that are more densely layered than ever. they also have a sort of darker and thicker sound to them, compared to the already more than dark and thick demo. this album is *packed* with sounds. there are just so many of them, that they can’t be processed all at once. and that’s without even taking into account that it sort of sounds like there are fifty genres or so being “tumbleweaved” together, to come off as a whole new sound. this is a mammoth. get it.
Phasma Phasmatis – Phasma Phasmatis
Saturday, November 20th, 2010here is a particularly dark and depressing screamo band from Miami. Miami, Oklahoma actually. they toured with She Notes the Chariots, a band that also can be downloaded from that’s punk if you “look around”. with track titles such as “an infinite static universe”, one could not accuse Phasma Phasmatis of not aiming high. there’s a brilliance here, as well as a sense of doom being on your doorstep. two bands that I don’t find entirely weird comparing Phasma Phasmatis to are The Spirit of Versailles and Jeromes Dream. there’s an acute sense of apocalypse in the guitars – like with Jeromes Dream, and there’s a sense of high pitched madness in the vocals – like with The Spirit of Versailles. they play at a slower tempo than Jeromes Dream, but the start-stop rhythms are there, and the distorted guitars sound remarkably like Jeromes Dream’s. in any event, this is a really cool album, that’s well worth checking out. so get it!
Polina – EP
Thursday, November 18th, 2010Polina are a math screamo band from Canada. they remind me of Tera Melos, though with screaming and less tempo shifts, and probably a little less dexterity as well. this is definitely cunningly technical though. these guys are very much apt at playing their respective instruments. they use this very much to their advantage, cramming a lot of clever stuff into very few minutes. it is also well worth mentioning that they manage this without the EP sounding rushed or like a cut and paste project. it all fits together nicely. so if you are feeling in the mood for well crafted and clever screamo, get this!
A Shadow of Doubt – Demo
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010if you are into thrashy 31G screamo with awesome sounding snare drums, then A Shadow of Doubt are for you. some keywords include screaming, distortion, feedback and hammering. this demo contains five songs that finish in 8:45. and though there are some calmer parts – the apocalyptic devastation on the last track being the part most worthy of mention, the bigger portion of this is extremely rapid. somewhere in between Swing Kids and (a more fast and less heavy) Rue Morgue, we have this great band. get this!