Cuz I Can Dish It Out

Brand New!

For some reason I feel like I've been on a kick of "non-metal" type music. But you know what, it all balances out.

So Brand New is one of those bands that jumps to mind when you think of sad-sounding pop/indie/emo kids who actually probably have a pretty comfortable life with parents who love them, fans who adore them, and a dog that they probably got in college thinking it'd be cool to have a pet, and if they didn't wind up having to tour all the time, they'd actually probably take care of the little fuzzball and be known to their friends as "that guy who always brings his dog along to bbqs and the beach and stuff". And you know what, that's okay. Because they write some pretty decent music. Even though the lyrics are fraught with (at times) ultra-sad heartbreak imagery, it seems obvious that desperation is their inspiration...as the Bronx would say... Of course, that being said, Brand New is one of the few bands I'll actually pay attention to, and take note of, the lyrics. Usually I'll just listen to the melody/rhythm of the singer, but vocalist Jesse Lacey has a really interesting (if not dark) way about his lyricism. For example, the song "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" tells a tale of a young man's loss of innocence at the hands of the girl he loves who sees their relationship (physical and otherwise) as purely a means to an end rather than the sunshine, lollipops, unicorns, and puppy dogs the boy had hoped for. Of course Lacey has a more subtle, tricky way of painting this picture. Sure there are heavy themes of sadness, desperation, heartbreak, and general woe...but isn't that what drives most decent artists anyway? Van Gogh cut off his ear. I'm just saying...

Okay, so apart from the lyrics, Brand New has really come to sonically carve out a little niche in my music library...musbrary if you will...libric? No. Musbrary. I'm not sure who in the band does most of the song writing and composing, but they've got a very, very delicate way of layering their songs. I can best relate this by taking you through the song "Jesus Christ" (you can hear it at http://www.purevolume.com/brandnew). So come, take a journey with me...this way:

VERY reverbed out guitar playing solo
Intro lick comes in, also very verb'd out (gives a very roomy, spaced out, ambient feel)
note: on top of the ambient, clean tones of the guitars, the melodies they're playing are very repetitive and sing-songy...well before the song is a minute old, you're already zoned out lost in the "space" they've created by the simplicity of the riff and the roomy tone of the guitars.
Then drums, bass, and vocals all come in.
The drums are playing in a very simple, straight 4/4 time
The bass is clean and sounds finger picked (because you can't hear the attack of a pick or ANY distortion or fuzz to speak of)
The vocals almost sound like he's singing at a talking volume. He's barely projecting. All these elements keep the feeling of the song very intimate and ambient...accentuated by the weird little harmonics happening here'n'there and the breathiness of his singing.
Throughout this bit there are weird noises happening in the background that space out this beginning part of the song even more. It's all adding to the ambiance they're creating which will be contrasted as the song peaks.
As an end to this establishment of the mood of the music, the intro riff comes back. I feel like this punctuates the beginning of the "rising action" of the song.
Now you'll be able to hear things VERY slowly start to build.
Right when that intro lick ends, you can barely hear two things happen:
Another guitar starts strumming chords over that melody that's been playing the whole song. This guitar will gain in volume and gain (heh) over the next few bars. As it becomes more of a presence the song will begin to gain in intensity.
Also, there's a very faint keyboard playing a little melody in the background. This adds to the space of the song. Combined with everything else that's going on, things start sounding very full.
At this point, the vocals and drums pick up as well.
First, there are small background vocals added in...be it single lines behind the main vocal line or specific harmonized lines. Then the singer starts projecting a little more and more until he's all but yelling the lyrics. It's a slow progression, and most times I don't realize it's happened until he's already belting it out.
While vocals are picking up, the drums follow this rising and eventual climax in the song. The drummer picks up from single snare hits to doubling up. As things start peaking he moves up from quarter notes on the hi-hat to eighth notes. He in essence picks the pace of the song up from a walking to a running pace that ends on that last note that things die out on.

Now, the coolest part of the song. Everything peters out. What comes back is the simple riff that the song started out at...which, if you weren't listening to the song note-for-note, you completely missed the fact that it built from such a soft, slow, delicate melody to a more "frantic" drum beat, a big fuzzed out guitar strumming chords over everything, and the singer all but yelling. It's SUUUUCH a subtle change, and they point it out by directly contrasting where the song is to where it started.

So awesome. There aren't many bands that I've heard that are capable of that level of subtlety and I really enjoy that. And I hope you did too.

I'm Back On The Wagon

Dear trusty reader(s?),

I fell off the wagon this past week. But it was with just cause. It was my birthday. I was...busy. But all is not for naught. I've come up with the following thing for your amusement:

Protest the Hero...and Misery Signals...are going on tour...together!

Yesssssss. If you've read at least any two of the last ?? posts I've posted (note the blatant refusal to use the word "blog") you've noticed my over exuberance regarding nearly ANYthing regarding either of these two bands. They. Are. Awesome! So so awesome. If there were a song written ABOUT these two bands, it'd be titled "Awesome" and would sound totally awesome.

So that being said, I recommend anybody reading this run to your local myspace page for either of these two bands (www.myspace.com/protestthehero or www.myspace.com/miserysignals) and find the nearest town on their tour schedule and go to that show. I know they're playing April 23rd at Slims in San Francisco, the 24th at the Knitting Factory in LA, 25th at Soma in San Diego, and the 26th at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. I can't wait. Neither can you. I'm pretty confident in saying that on your behalf trusty reader(s?).

That's all for now. More next week, and I promise not to disappoint.

Comedy = Music?

I've been thinking about this one for a little while and figured I'd go ahead and throw it out there.

I think stand up comedy is a lot like music.

A good joke, like a good song, progresses from an introduction, through the rising action/setup (verse/chorus/verse), to a punchline (climax), while periodically being punctuated by tangents/rants (bridge/breakdowns). And just like in music, there can be really really bad jokes whose structures are nonsensical or maybe some that just plain don't make sense. Trying to make a connection between these kind of "bad" jokes/comedians, I wonder if the fact that bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan, August Burns Red, and Norma Jean (old-good NJ, not new-bad NJ) can make discordant, caustic music sound good, there is some sort of unseen brilliance behind comedians that make these bad-according-to-the-definition-of-popular-comedy type jokes. Maybe it's a little more deliberate than I would initially think.

I'll tell you what, I'll give this some good hard thinking and get back to you on this one. Unfortunately, that's all I've really got for you this week.

Soooo...here's to a poor excuse for a posting! More later.

A Steady Eye To The Future

I'm excited. Let me tell you why.

New stuff, yo! There's been a bit of a dry spell recently in the way of new metal/hardcore coming out and finally there's land on the horizon!

Darkest Hour is back in the studio with their new guitar player (replacing Kris Norris). They've put up a couple pictures on their myspace site of the recording process which, to gear junkies and all around nutjobs like myself, is very exciting. From what I can garner from what few pictures they've got up, they're still holed up in a practice studio somewhere writing. I'll be interested to know who they wind up having produce the record, I can only hope it'll be Devin Townshend again, but I've got a feeling they're gonna want to try someone else. More on that as it comes...

August Burns Red is also in the studio recording with Jason Suecoff turning the knobs. Nooooot too sure how I feel about this. As excited as I am for new ABR, Jason Suecoff (Trivium, All That Remains) seems to be pushing the whole radio-friendly thing too hard...which is one of the things about this band that appealed most to me. If the band lets Suecoff push them, I'm guessing this record will sonically sound great, but will be heavy on straight forward rhythms (less of the awesome August Burns Red mathiness), more singing, and more guitar solo passages. In my opinion, the LACK of all three of those things was what I thought put the wind in that bands' sails. Either way, I'll hold judgement till I hear it. After all, I have been wrong before...sparingly...

Protest the Hero and As I Lay Dying have live DVDs in the works...both are AWESOME live bands and I hope to all hell the energy and cohesiveness of their performances are appropriately captured! Oh man...ya...these bands play concerts in my head all the time and I'm definitely stoked for you all to see/hear what I see/hear while spacing out...at work...

Every Time I Die just got signed to Epitaph too! That's a HUUUUGE move for those guys, the music they play, and the scene they represent. Epitaph is still an indie label I guess, but they're definitely one of the bigger ones. It's owned/operated by one of the guys from Bad Religion and is REALLY heavy on the idea of leaving music making in the hands of those making it. By all accounts they treat their bands well, and have the budget to do huge things with their bands. Also, maybe an ETID/Parkway Drive label-mate tour could be on the horizon? God I hope that happens... Anyway, under this label, ETID is going back into the studio with Steve Evetts in April. So I'm thinking new music in Fall '09? Sweetnuts!

Poison the Well are also in the studio...ironically enough with Steve Evetts... I expect nothing but good things from this...although I really liked their work with those two Swedish dudes (don't feel like looking up their names, but I think one of them is Pelle something or other and the other's last name starts with H?) I've got trust that Poison the Well won't disappoint. Plus I've got the third installment of their limited edition records that I can't listen to to look forward to!

So all this is good and nice...but in all honesty, what's really got me all antsy in my pantsy is...new Alexisonfire! Yowza! Boom! Yes! Probably the undisputed champs of fun-time-Canadian-indie-hardcore, Alexisonfire is back in the studio (I think they're at about day 4 of tracking) with the same dude who did their last record, Crisis. I can all but guarantee that this new disk is gonna sound freakin' sweeeeeeeeet. Vintage in tone, progressive in arrangement. Wrap your noodle around THAT tasty gem! I highly recommend any one who doesn't own Crisis to run out and pick it up. It's genre hopping, energetic, melodic, caustic, it's everything! It's probably what a Canadian version of Versions by Poison the Well would sound like...but a little bit more silly. Do this: go to their myspace every day. www.myspace.com/alexisonfire They're posting blogs/videos/pictures every day they record. You can witness the slow onset of the insanity that never fails to permeate a control room. Back in my glory days with the Awakend, I damn near lost my mind after 4 days of tracking/mixing...Imagine what fun will develop over several weeks?! In Canada!? In a studio down the road from a brewery no less... Let the hilarity, and fantastic tunage, ensue. View this video and understand why I can't wait: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52921041

Get excited yo! I am!

Melody And A Break

For no good explicable reason, I've been on a bit of a non-metal kick. Maybe it's all this rainy weather that's got my desire to run around a flower laden meadow stomping on daisies while cranking Bleeding Through on the ole iPod in check...either way, I've been exploring some different bands and opening my eyes and ears to a little something different. And this is what I've found:

Melody and rhythm are appealing across genres.

Ya, that's my revelation for the week. Of the purchases I've made recently (which include Brand New and The Gaslight Anthem as well) I've picked up the newest Kings of Leon disc, Only By The Night. All kidding aside, I'm kinda impressed by it. I swear I haven't lost my edge. What wound up jumping out at me are the rhythm and melody of the songs on this record. I wouldn't go as far as to say that their songs are overly complex or delicate. In fact, there really isn't a lot going on behind the vocals, guitars, and drums...save some very understated synthesizers...but all in all it's pretty straight forward.

I had a good listen to the CD in traffic on my way back from Hell-A. With the windows up and the CD playing loud as all hell I was trying to figure out what exactly appealed to me about the record. There really aren't any totally bitchin' guitar tones going on. The drums sound kinda like drums...surprise. I mean, there weren't any crazy room sounds, snare tunings, drum tones that blew me out of the water. Sometimes the vocals got a little too grainy (in effect, not his actual voice) for me to particularly enjoy. I guess there might be one or two parts that had an interesting bass tone. I mean, it obviously sounds like a well produced CD, but it's production value wasn't what I was enjoying.

There was no epiphany or booming kick tone or something that made me fall out of my chair or anything...I just slowly realized that the beauty in the songs was their familiarity or comfort. The structure and rhythmic textures of the songs made sense and kept it interesting. Beyond that, the melodies in the songs were really comfortable.

No matter what genre, there will always be times where you catch a passage and think, "oh hey, that was cool!" I was playing some Slipknot for my mom once and in a particularly brutal passage she pipes up with "Ooh! Syncopation! That was neat!" So I suppose what I've got to say is that whereas Kings of Leon aren't a band I would have normally sought out, I'm glad I picked them up. They're entertaining to listen to. There's enough going on in its composition for me to stay interested but its different enough from my normal sonic-brain-pounding to be a nice breath of fresh air.


Don't worry though, I've been sure to balance this new found softitude with plenty of Bring Me The Horizon, Underoath, Darkest Hour, and Poison the Well...of course. I've still got the metal in me.

The New Old

I'm not totally sure if this has always been around and I haven't been a party to it until now, but I've recently been listening to a lot of music that I will hereby deem "throwback" music. There are bands I've stumbled upon that are making new music that sounds like old music. And I mean this in the best possible way.

Sometimes it gets tedious listening to all this envelope pushing, avant guarding, forward fashioned music that I enjoy subjecting myself to. My brain literally gets tired trying to untangle the rhythms, chord progressions, and song structures. Its like trying to read Chaucer for fun...it wears a guy OUT! Ya...you know.

So somewhat accidentally I stumbled across the most recent release from a band called The Bronx. They're a rough and tumble powerchord driven rock-and-damn-roll band! And I love it! Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus. Man...the simplicity is beautiful! And the fact that they can get me all goon'n'riled up in under two and a half minutes makes me happy. They're an awesome blend of simple drumming, fast down-picked powerchorded guitars, and spastic front man. They've managed to pick up where the raucous punk movement of the late 80s and early 90s petered out, modernize the sound a bit, and reintroduce good old fashioned punk rock and roll to the young masses...without reinventing the wheel.

Bands like The Bronx are bridging a vital gap between more mainstream rock (I'm thinking Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, etc) and the hardcore/metal scene that isn't quite radio-friendly. They straddle the line of listener friendly and edgy by playing a recognizable sounding style but roughing up the edges enough to make it not only appeal, but acceptable to different musical scenes. I can only hope that this barrier will fall allowing the proper acclaim to be brought to the endless sea of unrealized talent that exists in the hardcore/metal world. And I mean that with the utmost sincerity. It kills me every time little Miss Spears releases a chart topping turd while beautiful minds like Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, the Buckley brothers of Every Time I Die, and Adam D (to name a few) go all too widely unnoticed. Well, I can only trust in the system and hope that those who deserve it get it...whatever it may be.


As a quick aside, it's eerie how familiar songs by The Bronx are...check their myspace (www.myspace.com/thebronx) and listen to "Knifeman" and "Young Bloods" and tell me that you don't get some strange pang down inside your belly that makes you feel like somewhere...you don't know where...you've heard these songs before...That happened to me and I'm still trying to figure it out.

Awesomest & Opposite of Awesomest of 2008

I may be a little late to the list-party, but I wanted to add my two cents before it's obnoxiously too late. There was a good amount of music released in 2008 and some of them were diamonds in the rough while others were unanimous turds...epic failures if you will. So I'm sitting at my desk surrounded by literal stacks of CDs and have sorted through them to pull out the ones from 08 and after spending TENS of minutes digging through liner notes looking for copyright/release dates I've come to the following conclusion:

2007 was way better.

2007 saw the release of some of my favorite CDs. Poison the Well released Versions which proved to be, in my own humble opinion, one of the most progressive records to hit the "hardcore" scene since its inception. There was also Silent Treatment by The Bled, a monument to hardcore that only The Bled can create. Wolfbiker by Evergreen Terrace...don't have to say anything more about that one... The newest edition of the Adam D wave of face-bashing-metal, Horizons by Parkway Drive which in my brother's words, "sounds just like everything else, and I love it." Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape plan came out too. You have to have a beautiful mind to understand that one, but once you figure it out, it's like the first time you taste Mexican food. Man...who else had outstanding records come out...Foo Fighters, August Burns Red, Underminded, Darkest Hour, As I Lay Dying, Every Time I Die.

Welp, no use dwelling on the past. On to 2008...which has also come to pass...

So even though 07 seemed to be more consistently good, there were a few CLUTCH records from this past year. In no order with the exception of numero uno, my top five for 2008 are (band - record title - song of note):

The Bronx - The Bronx (III) - "Knifeman" - This cd, well, this band, is a bit of a throwback to days of a simpler format of music. 2 distorted guitars, 1 bass with some fuzz, drums, and a spastic frontman-singer. I'll be posting something about these guys in the coming months...but long story short, they are some rock and damn roll! It's hard not to want to sing along with these songs. It's eerie how familiar these songs sound without ever having heard them before. www.myspace.com/thebronx

Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure - "Chorus of the Dissimilar" - On their first release after signing to Metal Blade (a significant metal indie label), Shai Hulud proved to be quite the little quartet of mathematicians. This CD is just stupidly complex, fast, intense, and heavy. I pretty much laughed my way through the first five tracks because it was like getting sucker-punched by Popeye. It kinda hurts at first, but then you realize how funny his squinty little eyes and corncob pipe are. The tone of the record is pretty nuts too. The drums are VERY up front as the rhythm drives much of their music. Whatever mix of amps they used for the guitars gave the sweetest, cleanest sounding distortion...if that makes sense...the note definition is not lost to distortion. This allows the mathiness of the songs to come out. Plus they have three guys named Matt in their band and that's just plain silly. www.myspace.com/profoundhatred

Bleeding Through - Declaration - "Declaration" - Hell ya Devin Townshend! Definitely a post on this genius coming up in the very near future. He's the mad scientist who produced/engineered/mixed this disk. Unbelievable. Bleeding Through is kind of a typical angry sounding metal band, but their keyboardist, Marta, really stepped it up on this record. She doesn't necessarily piano-shred so much as the compose the various orchestra, choir, and scary-noise parts...they added a rad dimension to this CD that set it apart from a lot of the other releases in this genre. www.myspace.com/bleedingthrough

Protest the Hero - Fortress - "Sequoia Throne" - The sophomore release for these Canadians turns my mind inside out. Apparently, if you're snowed in for like, 7 months of the year, and all you do is sit around and play guitar, play dungeons and dragons, and roll around in free healthcare this is what happens. Their bass player makes 4-finger-bass-tapping look stupidly easy (it's not), their guitar players' fingers move faster than I can think, and how their drummer keeps their mathed-out structure straight blows my mind. Then there's Rody, their singer...he's...well, Canadian. It's really worth listening to...I have trouble putting into words the things these guys do with their instruments... www.myspace.com/protestthehero

AAAAnd number one of 2008 would have to go to Misery Signals - Controller - "Parallels" - First, the tone. The guitars are equally crunchy and delicate. They're right in your face and ambient at the same time. It's a damn anomaly. The drums have the perfect amount of attack and resonance. The cymbals are glassy but not washed out and the room sound fills out the mix. Misery Signals combine heaviness with an ambient/spacey element that separates them from everyone else. Just past a minute into "Parallels" the song contrasts the heaviness by breaking into an acoustic passage that seamlessly blends right back into the forcefulness that began the song. Beyond being able to switch between these polar sounds, they blend the two. Controller is an incredible record that sounds like it was made just for me...sigh…they understand me. www.myspace.com/miserysignals

So that’s that. Although I’ve gotta give an honorable mention to Chromeo for Fancy Footwork. Buy this CD…now...and start a dance revolution.

Oh ya…and Guns’n’Roses new CD is terrible.