it’s been a busy summer. and I’m supposed to be refreshing a deep and secret corner of my mind – the one that deals with matrices and trigonometry. but instead I’m updating that’s punk for once. it needs this update. come August, I’ll hopefully have way more time to post here, so I can shorten that damned queue. anyway… this is a new Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) song. new as in new to this blog and maybe to you, but not as in newly released. if you know e! e! you’ve already pressed the download button and don’t give a shit about my opinion about this track. if you haven’t heard e! e! before, you should probably consider hitting that download button straight away, because this is golden. e! e! are at heart an unashamed Mineral worship band. but a body needs more than a heart to function, so there’s plenty of other organs dedicated to make e! e! an interesting band in their own right. albeit an interesting band highly comparable to Mineral. is that such a bad thing? shamelessly ripping off Mineral is a good thing in my book. because that means brooding compositions with lots of feedback, pretty and imaginative guitar twinkling, off-key emotive vocals, creative drumming and bass lines that are increasingly rewarding to devote attention to, and melancholic and cleverly brooding and delivered lyrics. there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be like Mineral if you are a good band, and e! e! are a *really* good band. this song will wash over you again and again.
archive for the ‘softcore emo’ category
Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) – SXSW Promo
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011My Own Pine Box – Discography
Friday, May 27th, 2011this is a band I should I have posted *ages* ago. (back when I posted Agna Moraine’s Autobiography.) My Own Pine Box are a quite unique band. despite not being popular at all back in the day, they play a sort of mellow and pretty emo that everyone loves nowadays. it’s generally quite upbeat with intricate guitar work and vocal harmonies. essentially this is a very common style of emo that has been played to death, and there are hundreds of bands doing it. however, few of them do it with such poising grace as My Own Pine Box. unlike, let’s say, Cap’n Jazz, they are a poignant, and have a uniform motion. but they still have a floating quality, and are generally very chest-tap-friendly. most songs are around two minutes long. they go very well together, but have definite unique qualities. if I had to compare them to any other bands I might pick Agna Moraine’s Autiobiography. they sound quite like a much more mellow continuation of that stuff. in any event My Own Pine Box has a fairly unique take on the emo genre, one that I find difficult to pinpoint. just check it out for yourself.
Traluma – Discography
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Traluma were a relatively obscure band that existed from 1995 and up until their bassist’s death in 1999. they are sort of hard to describe, which is quite fitting, since it’s fairly difficult to really pick up and justly appreciate just how awesome some of the stuff that’s going on with this band is. they’re not like everyone else. they’re not like *anyone* else. Traluma sort of have two “bottom layers”. one is sort of dexterous math rock with twinkly guitars and an eerie feeling comparable to maybe the more hypnotic tracks by Owls, Fugazi and Lungfish. the other is like Gauge or Still Life’s From Angry Heads With Skyward Eyes. a raw emo sound with distorted punk rock riffs and raspy vocals. these two starting points often mend together as well. and like that Still Life record does, Traluma break habit to give way for some of the most beautiful music you’ve ever heard, completely transcending the eerie math rock hypnosis, or the the forceful punk rock drive, or the whatever, to let their devastatingly honest self shine at its most vulnerable, creating some absolutely magic moments in the process. and they do this like Still Life, Indian Summer, Jeromes Dream et. al. do it. i.e. they do not overuse their vulnerable qualities. a lot of bands do this and end up coming off as formulaic at best, contrived at worst. these truly inspirational moments work best when saved for just the right time. this discography consists of three seven inches (one of which a split with a really cool band called Nobuhjest) and one twelve inch. this is everything Traluma ever released, and it’s perfect. absolutely perfect.
The Whoopass Girls – The Whoopass Girls
Monday, February 7th, 2011The Whoopass Girls have grown up a bit, leaving most of their carefree insanity behind, adopting a much more nuanced and sensitive sound. and while their first release was enjoyable in its own right, this is another story completely. melancholic and minor-driven ’90s emo like Christie Front Drive, September and Cap’n Jazz. while less experimental and unpredictably insane, this release is just as interesting in its own way. this release has seven songs, and is a little more than twenty-five minutes of emo greatness. passionate and hypnotic and *highly* recommended.
Snowing – I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
Sunday, February 6th, 2011I know I’m a little late, so if you’ve already gotten this album, you have probably made up your mind about it, so just ignore this, I guess. the rest of you may however proceed promptly. Snowing are a band you should be at least vaguely familiar with though, due to me posting their other stuff here. if you aren’t – go check those posts out. if you are – go on yet some more. I’m going to be completely honest about this album. initially I was disappointed. I found the songs too same-y, and generally deemed it underwhelming. because of these things, I am sure glad I haven’t put it up until now. because now I get it. now I see what this shit is all about. I’ve had a ginormous “oic what u did thurr” moment, and now I can fully appreciate and get behind «SOMETIMES I GET DRUNK AT NIGHT». at first I didn’t think Snowing really “worked” in a longer medium. welp… that was completely wrong. Snowing are *better* in album format. John Galm goes all the fucking way. this album is the equivalent of drunken rambling and hungover remorse all at once. furthermore, this is one of the more personal records you’ll ever hear. there is nothing pretentious about this. it’s a guy spilling his guts to some real happening rock music. where American Football are nostalgic in its depression, Snowing are just fucking depressing. yet there’s something oddly comforting about a man willing to blurt out his personal life and all of his perceived shortcomings on a rock album. there’s something beautiful about the realisation that even though your dad died, and his dad died, and you’re eventually gonna die – you’re alive. that is the essence of this album – to me. no one wants to be alone, no one wants to die, no one wants to suffer. Snowing, I think, reflect that perfectly. I get it John. thanks. you can order this here: http://countyourluckystars.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-snowing or here: http://squareofopposition.bigcartel.com/product/snowing-i-could-do-whatever-lp-preorder – if you have the necessary funds ($10).
rest of my life – what we lack in size, we make up for in devotion
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011after a shake-up in staff and a change in label (to RhinoProd), rest of my life is back. imagine The Appleseed Cast mixed with Explosions in the Sky, with a hint of The Shyness Clinic. now eliminate any dead space in the tracks, make the highlights endlessly more gigantic – and you might have the faintest idea what this record sounds like. this is the closest I have ever gotten to A Bunny’s Caravan’s Draining Puddles, Retrieving Treasures. rest of my life have created a genuinely compelling album that is intriguing from start to finish. it floods you with emotion and overwhelms you with its intellectuality. rest of my life truly prove to be equal amounts heart and brain, with songs that are so precise and delicate one would think they were carefully plotted by maths geniuses – except that they are at all times just about ready to burst with emotion, often lead by the cascading climaxes of washing guitars. all instruments are in perfect harmony, and the mix does extraordinary at making this devastatingly clear to the listener. the washing guitars wrap in a drummer’s dexterous and forceful command, and everything is emphasized by the imaginative and pleasantly soft yet appropriately present bass lines. this delightful mix go on to crescendo into the most heart-warming heartbreaks as often as they fall to their knees, hinting modesty and humbleness in between all their ambition and taste for glory. as a consequence of the exploring and unafraid nature of rest of my life, they have forged an album that becomes properly well-rounded and thus an exciting listen from start to finish. overall, this is something as rare as a perfect record. it’s marvellously intelligent – and let me tell you, it is well refreshing for an album to be genuinely intelligent, as opposed to just quirky – and emotionally charged to the brims. lyrically the album parallels itself musically. the lyrics are questioning, seeking and critical, «gaining brains [while] maintaining heart», further enhancing the well-roundedness of the album. it would seem like rest of my life have been heading in this direction; carefully working their way towards this album. if this is their climax, I can’t do anything but applaud them. if there is more to come, I hope my heart can take it. you can buy this from http://www.cdon.eu if you like it, and I would strongly suggest getting the CD. it has a lovely cover that goes well with the feel of the album itself. p.s. this album features a new version of the glorious Manual Circuit song “Bohemen”!
Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson – lost songs
Friday, December 31st, 2010the guys in Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson found an old pc with some old songs on. what better way to end the year, than with a post with this. Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson came into my life several years ago and blew my mind. and though they never disappeared from my life, new recordings didn’t surface. this made me a little sad. then earlier this year came their gloriously triumphant second album. I never imagined they could follow up their début with an album that was equally as amazing. my mind was blown all over again. and though equally amazing as the début, it was wonderfully refreshing and new. the two albums have the same qualities, but different sounds. so while I was overjoyed to hear the new album, at the same time I was a bit saddened that they had buried their old sound. but that’s only natural. they couldn’t make another album like the first. it would be really boring. and you can’t put a leash on creative minds anyway. so what I got was what I got. a wonderful *new* album. it pleases me, then, to no end to present to you these lost songs. they are in that wonderful “How Is Annie” sound I fell in love with. bands like Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson themselves, A Bunny’s Caravan, that second rest of my life record, Manual Circuit, Twist About Fireplace, Monzano, and Build Nest, Sleep. they all had something magical in common. something “How Is Annie”. since then, both How Is Annie and Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson have grown. I do not in any way resent this. I applaud it. diversity makes it that much more interesting. and I would still say that How Is Annie has a special sound to it, albeit not as obvious as it were. but this is the sound I initially fell in love with. this is what grabbed me and refused to let go. this is sentimentally valuable to me. it takes me back to when I was first exploring all of these bands. these lost songs are the sound of nostalgia to me. to you, they might be the sound of something else entirely. nonetheless, this is how I choose to conclude the year. and it’s most satisfying.
Brendan Stephens – The “For Kim” EP
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010for those not familiar with Brendan, I can mention that Brendan started Perfect Future (and had even written the songs for the album before starting the band), which faithful that’s punk users will remember as awesome. they are downloadable a little bit further down. this is however an entirely different story. this is Brendan’s EP for his sister Kimberley, who got in a near fatal car crash while Brendan was on tour. there is more to the story than that, which can be read in the download link. this is essentially Brendan’s apology for being on tour when this incident occurred, and deciding to keep pressing on with the tour instead of going home. he has never forgiven himself for this. as you’d probably reckoned by now, this is a very close and personal record. Brendan spends a little over twenty minutes on ripping his heart out. it’s no secret that a lot of great art comes from pain, and the pain and honesty alone makes this record well worth listening to. however, the music itself is also well worth listening to. it’s confrontational and emotional dark miserablemo comparable to The Gloria Record’s first EP and Mineral, but with a lot of folk rock influence. especially the grandiosity and howling guitars of “Phone Call” brings The Gloria Records/Mineral comparisons. on “Morphine Overdose” one could say the same about the guitars, but the marching band drums makes it more comparable to instrumental progressive rock bands such as 1099. Brendan has made five truly beautiful songs, and this EP is a gem in every which way. get it.
Snowing – Summer Tour Tape
Sunday, November 14th, 2010if you weren’t saturated by the demo, here is a tour tape by Snowing. the recording quality is unfortunately more than noticeably worse. luckily, the quality of the songs make up for the lack of recording quality. Snowing disappoint no one with two new memorable jams. the second one is almost six minutes long, and has a nothing short of epic instrumental part with really intense riffs. hearing these two songs gets me so pumped for a full length, you have no idea. Snowing is fucking great. get this.
Snowing – Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit
Saturday, November 13th, 2010fans of Street Smart Cyclist and Audio Recording Club among others are probably overjoyed with the arrival of Snowing, which is another band in this family. they have every right to be so. because this is more of what I previously dubbed sugarrushcore. however this is “next-level” and then some. the upbeat parts sound like a mix of Audio Recording Club and The Promise Ring. and when the guitars are at their most dexterous, it sounds a bit like Monument and Algernon Cadwallader. but – what really sets them a million miles apart from “Kinsella-worship bands” is the diversity. Snowing do the whole “go mad” thing that Street Smart Cyclist did. but they also do amazing blistering Four Minute Mile parts. and they also have grand and epic tendencies that push to the surface sporadically throughout this demo, in which the guitars become a flood of distortion. (think Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate)’s “An Idea Is a Greater Monument Than a Cathedral”, The Pine’s “Running on Empty”, or any Cerulean song ever.) this is most obvious on “Important Things (Specter Magic)” and “Pump Fake”, the two best tracks, in my humble opinion. they mix a lot of extremely different styles with such ease and elegance, it’s almost unbelievable. add Audio Recording Club-esque lyrics with a spotless delivery – by vocals that are absolutely fucking perfect, and quite reminiscent of I Hate Myself at times – to the already more than promising mix, and you’ve got yourself a band that will stand the test of time. Snowing is completely unique, and must be heard.