Side Project

Check this, I'm trying out tumblr.

http://maythemusessmileuponyou.tumblr.com/

We'll see if it's more of a success than this?

Photos from the best Youthie Gig ever.

Two New Ones.

I'm trying to space this out a little. I've had a massive few days with exams and all, so I'm sorry if anybody actually reads this.

The Destruction of Small Ideas by 65daysofstatic: Ever heard an album for the first time and immediately love it to bits? Well, that's how I felt. Last year I got heavily into post-rock for the first time, and I'd never really gotten around to checking out these guys. I'm an idiot. This is well and truly some of the most unique manifestation of post-rock that I've ever come across in my three years of listening to 'real music'. As much as I hate borrowing opinions, particularly from last.fm, I'm going to have to mention the industrial sound these guys have got. It's truly idiosyncratic. They have dense instrumentation that comes off as gritty, coarse and marvelously textured. I've got their entire discography in my library now, and I can promise you that this will be a band that'll stay with me for a long, long time. I feel privileged to listen to it. 5/5.

Landscapes by To The North: I rarely enjoy Australian bands. Maybe I'm just pretentious, well no, I AM pretentious, but this band got me excited. I found them through word-of-mouth after hearing that they'd toured with La Dispute (see past blog) mid-last year. I'm also disappointed that I missed them. This is only an EP, but yet I could sense an incredibly high level of sincerity. Many bands of this mathy-screamo hybrid type genre come off as highly sentimental, attempting to cling to their fleeting youth. To The North aren't like that. Heavily confessional lyrics with "we try these waters / It makes me weak" in tracks such as "Drift Away" that truly redefine as to what it's like to "drift away" top sincere math jams. 3.5/5.

New Bands

I'll get straight into it this time.

Rockets Red Glare by Rockets Red Glare: I stumbled on this by complete chance on a blog which I wish I'd followed, but now I've lost it. Drats. Rockets Red Glare is a surprisingly minimalist approach to 'hardcore'. Well, they describe themselves as a hardcore band, but it really seems to be more post-punk with pronounced math elements with tracks such as 'Backwards Masking' and 'Trance Nation'. All in all, I enjoyed it. 3.5/5.

The View From This Tower by Faraquet: Upon first listen, I was immediately entranced. The sustained density of the album is truly to be praised. I'm certain that I'll be playing this for quite some time to come. For a purist math rock fan. 4/5.

Everything Goes Wrong by Vivian Girls: It's good, but somewhat limited by the vocalist's range. She seems to be able to only sing in one monotonous tone without venturing or exploring her limits. Shame. Lyrically the album stands out with themes that bind the album together. Each song seems to reflect a chapter. To take anything from it, you've really got to listen to the whole thing in one sitting.

I've got some stuff to do, so that's all for now. There's tons more.

Also, I should mention that I'm heading down to Sydney in a week so I'll be aiming for 5+ gigs. Should be good. YES! Also +1, The Dillinger Escape Plan (my FAVOURITE mathcore band), are coming to Australia! I've never seen them before, so I'm definitely going to be getting in early on the tickets.

La Dispute

So, yet again, I've changed my philosophy. This seems to be a frequent occurrence, yet I still feel like reviewing bands. I'm not very good at it, but the process of analysis and articulation of thoughts sets me in good stead for school related work

So screw you, I'ma non-conformist. Ya'll dig?

Now that I've permanently tarnished any self respect remaining, I shall continue.

Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair by La Dispute: I've been holding this sparkling gem back for quite a while, four months to be exact, and to be perfectly honest - it's easily one of the best damn albums I've ever heard. La Dispute, a five-piece post-hardcore band from Grand Rapids, Michigan are truly the unsung pioneers of post-hardcore. In this endeavour, they've aimed high with a debut full length album that centres around themes of love and loss. Apparently, they've stated that Somewhere... attempts to "prompt discussion regarding the aspects of ourselves that prevent us from maintaining our happiness as people by documenting both their own experiences in the matter and the experiences of those around them". I honestly couldn't pick up these themes in the work, but seriously, don't let that fool you. This lyricist is one of the finest poets I've ever heard, they've managed to forge energetic tracks such as "New Storms for Older Lovers" with angular riffs and complimentary vocals offering an outpour of emotion that their post-hardcore contemporaries would cut their fringe for. Truly a fine album that you need to have.

As a side note, La Dispute had actually toured Australia six months prior to my discovery, while I was even in Sydney. I am so devastated about that. I'm actually planning a trip to the US at the end of next year during my gap year, before I head off to the wonders of University and I'm definitely going out of my way to visit these guys multiple times. It'd be worth it.

Here's a few tracks off the album performed live that truly encompass the magic that is La Dispute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NiXY2VO3ng - "Said the King to the River"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm2Kqvubc3w - "New Storms for Older Lovers"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLCfcUSNCzQ - "Damaged Goods"

And this one isn't off the album, but rather an EP entitled Vancouver that is one of my all-time favourite videos in the internet. Amazing show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYpDuHMBgKQ - "Future Wars"

Weekend Gigs: Exhaustion

As expected, there wasn't much to take from the heavier gig. The sets were sloppy and more emphasis seemed to be placed to attempts at brutality.

Ha.

There was this one kid that kept trying to make a circle pit and was constantly flicking me in the face with his head banging. What did I do? I jumped in the pit and messed him up good. I hadn't been in a 'pit' for quite sometime, even though this one was fairly sedate.

I can still hear Intentions playing in my ears, just a continuation of ringing.

Well, I must say that was the craziest night I've ever seen at the Youthie. Absolute brilliance. Here's how it went down:

First up was We Caught the Craken, a mathcore band from Tamworth. The set was too short to be enjoyed - 2 songs - so I really couldn't take much out of it. It seemed tightly composed with technicality to boot.

The crowd wasn't as big as I'd anticipated for it to be, so that was a bit of a disappointment. I reflected on this as Romeros took to the stage in yet another ridiculously short set. I couldn't get into it. As much as I love them, this was the worst set I've ever seen them play. Lyrics were forgotten, the cover wasn't performed correctly, parts were out of time and there was far too much sweat in the crowd. Ha. I'm just a little old man I guess.

I'd been looking forward to seeing Crouching 80s Hidden Acronym, mainly because I've really only just got around to listening to their EP. I'm planning on writing about it soon, I just need to give it a few more listens. Their set was excellent, fast paced and packed with energy. Although I was upset that they didn't cover Holiday in Cambodia by Dead Kennedys, but oh well I guess At the Drive-In will suffice. Ha. It seemed a little awkward though with various members jumping off the stage and joining the crowd. Maybe there's one member too many in that band? Anyway, I highly enjoyed it.

Surprisingly, The Spontaneous Kevin Costner were excellent tonight. I almost considered leaving just for their set because of how shitty they were last night, but I was so pleased. I even bought their demo, which I am yet to hear. They pack so much enjoyment into their performance that seeps through into the audience. A great experience. Although the vocalist annoys me endlessly with his eccentric dancing and hand movements that seem to be reminiscent of Oli Sykes from Bring Me the Horizon. I managed to block that out and I throughly enjoyed their set. Once major setback was the bassist's foul mouth. Seriously, I don't need to hear the 'c-bomb' whenever I go to a gig. It detracted from their performance.

Intentions. Wow. What a band. I discovered them right at the beginning of this year and I have a digital copy of their 3-track demo. To be honest, I really didn't hear anything special in it at first. I've really only started to appreciate it more and more in the last month. Excellent timing, huh? They played my favourite track - Abdicate, which was truly the highlight of the night. I haven't been to a gig in a long, long time in which a band performs on the floor. It provides such an intimate experience. I had a brief chat to their drummer about Anthrax and he seems like a really nice guy. To help them out a little, I bought a t-shirt which I am still wearing. They topped off a perfect gig.

Tonight's show was by far the best Youthie gig I have ever been to, and perhaps the 2nd best Tamworth show as well. Intentions made the night for me. I was stoked.

Forthcoming gigs and the usual

In about two hours I'll be at the Youthie. I'm not sure how it'll go, it'd be cool to see The Spontaneous Kevin Costner since I've never seen them, but other than that...meh. It'll be interesting to see Your Name on a Toe-Tag 'cause I haven't seen them in about 8 months, even if the lead singer is a douche.

It is a heavier gig and they haven't particularly been enjoyable. Maybe this one might change things. I hope so.

BUUUT! The best gig ever to hit Tamworth is happening tomorrow night! Stay tuned for that.

Now for the listening:

Broom by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Quite easily the best indie-pop band I've come across this year so far. I love how they aren't pissy little tweens unlike their counterparts. There's some really sincere and profound music to be enjoyed here. I suggest you oblige. They've also got another album, Perishing, that I also enjoyed.

Few new bands.

School work has been monumental of late, so here's a quick little summary of what I've been listening to.

La fine non è la fine by La Quiete - Fantastic screamo/emo violence band from Italy. It seems that Italy has a thriving screamo scene, which functions as a breath of fresh air into a stale genre, dominated by Bring Me the Horizon type bands. Even though I could not understand a word of it, it was a great experience.

Carry Me Home by Loss of a Child: Amazing to say the least. It's hard to quantify down to a specific genre, but more or less post-rock with pronounced math rock and classical influences. I really loved this album. It is entirely instrumental, so if you like that kind of thing, I advise you strongly to check them out. Another cool thing about them is that all of their releases are under Creative Commons, meaning you can download them for free and its perfectly legal. Here's a link:

http://lostchildrennetlabel.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/loss-of-a-child-carry-me-home/

Blue Record - Baroness: I discovered this band by complete chance - by planning to attend Soundwave (and of course, not going). Perhaps this offsets all my disappointment from missing an amazing lineup. It's really hard for me to find a sludge metal band that I can take an instant liking to, but Baroness have done it with pounding riffs, wails and screams that put my pretentious nature to shame. Great album.

I'm going to two local gigs this weekend, so stay tuned.

House Gigs

Last night was a friend's eighteenth and I went.

Shock horror.

I thought was a unique experience, since my social engagements are somewhat limited, but I did enjoy it.

A band made up of other friends played as well, Romeros. I've got to say it was fantastic for the entertainment value. They played about five songs, with Singstar microphone, and various members of the audience joining in for hearty singing in the middle of surburbia. I bet the neighbours were pissed.

I normally wouldn't enjoy this kind of thing, but I strangely did. They were at times a little bit messy, but it didn't matter - everyone was having a great time. i'm now starting to view music as something that isn't conceited; that is inclusive, all encompassing without bigotry.

...Yeah, it makes me feel all mooshy inside too.

Music.

There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.
~Lord Byron

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die. ~Paul Simon

Oh my, you've got Bright Eyes...

I've been listening to so much of Connor Oberst's work lately, I've been listening to him for at least a year now, but moreso of late because I've just been feeling really angsty and terrible. DON'T LET THAT PUT YOU OFF! - the man is incredible. In this post I'm not planning on offering opinions on various albums, in fact I don't think I will do that anymore. I'd rather keep my thoughts to myself. If I were someone else reading this, I wouldn't want someone else's opinion being rammed down my throat. It just seems so conceited. Anyway, I will list the albums that I've loved:

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes

Letting Off The Happiness by Bright Eyes

Read Music/Speak Spanish by Desaparecidos

I love the confessional nature of his music, it's like he can just completely unfold and let loose with his music being his medium. Maybe my great interest in him is because I can relate, but I don't want to get all touchy and emotional 'bout it.

Oh, and as a side note - you need to make up your own opinion; that's why I'm no longer 'reviewing' or what not. My opinion is my opinion, nobody else's. With that being said, I doubt anyone actually cares what I think, but yeah, just check him (and the others that I post) out.