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I'm turning over a new leaf. Music news, reviews, and recommendations. I could add some snarky comment, but nah.

yes it does involve shaking your ass

Twenty years ago, Superchunk helped pave the indie scene by releasing their only hit: Slack Motherfucker. It was about working for a, er, slack motherfucker, and a high-energy, fast-paced anthem for losers everywhere. After that they vanished from the spotlight, but were far from over. They released eight albums before they taking a semi-hiatus in 2001, only to sporadically release rarity compilations and do live shows.

They recently released Majesty Shredding, their first full album in nine years, but that's a different story. I want to talk about their 2001 masterpiece Here's to Shutting Up. It's a perfect mix of "fuck yeah" fast-paced jams and chill songs. It sort of has an emo vibe, and the third track Phone Sex takes a brilliant venture into country. As you get into the second half the songs get calmer and feel sort of lonely, which makes it a perfect album for rainy days; if you don't feel like talking to anyone, this is a great album to put on. I suggest you listen to it much more that that though.

A track-by-track analysis of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West is somewhat of a tortured soul. We all live in his world, but he has trouble running it. He's a genius idiot. With all of the controversy surrounding him, he releases a self-analytical album that invites you to the depth of his soul. I invite you to a track-by-track analysis of his magnum-opus.

Dark Fantasy: Kanye's dark fantasy includes waking up in Sleepy Hollow, Nicki Minaj, and a backing chorus of chipmunks. Glorious.

Gorgeous - He's still mad at South Park, how-I WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER LET YOU LIVE THIS DOOOWN DOOOWN DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN.

POWER - Ah, the King Crimson sample. In this song, Kanye says "So what if I'm egotistical? I am a fucking God. [Note: from now on, Kanye will be referred to as God, and God will be referred to as Matt]" YA NIGGAS GOT TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD.

All Of the Lights (Interlude) - Thunder before the storm? Bracing.

All Of the Lights - Oh my god those horns. Shit just took surreal to a new level. So, God slaps his girl because "MJ GONE, OUR NIGGA DEAD." C-c-c-custody battle! He's a good guy, he just made a mistake. His baby aint going to no ghetto university.

Monster - Possible response to all of the hate God gets (surprise, surprise.) Media turns me into a muthafuckin' monster? Well guess what, I AM a muthafuckin' monster. Fellatio metaphors using a pharaoh and sarcophagus. Oh shit, who dese vampires suckin' my blood?

So Appalled - LIFE CAN BE SOMETIMES REDIKULUS. God claims he would be on Matt's playlist, and continues to pat himself on the back. God's high as united, 30,000 feet and you're not invited. I guess it means "If you want to make me into an asshole, fine. I am so above you anyways."

Devil in a New Dress - God falls in love and will do anything to make dis honey happy.

Runaway - Easily the greatest song on he album. God finally grows frustrated with the image us mere mortals cast upon him and runs away from it all. Also has a 35-minute music-video counterpart.

Hell of a Life - The chorus goes to the tune of 21st Century Schizoid Man. Pussy and religion is all God needs, and he'll live one hell of a liiiiife. After he marries a porn star, of course.

Blame Game - Were the lyrics slightly altered, this could be a very potent track about the death of God's mother. God has no time for reflection though. He has more important things to do like teaching a bitch how to reupholster her pussy. God taught well.

Lost In the World - The one with Bon Iver. Everything's crashing down. Vocals collide. God feels lost in the world, so he builds his own city. Meanwhile...

Who Will Survive in America - History lesson with African bongos that gets progressively faster. Ends appropriately with applause. God knows that he's God, and sanity is restored for now.

i got so lucky witchu

The title False Priest is a little misleading. Instead of a shitty Green Day-esque rock opera against religion, it's mainly about sex. And dating hipsters. It's great though - trust me. Feedback for False Priest has been mainly so-so, but I think it's a great fusion of funk and the ridiculous brand of indie-pop of Montreal is known for. I know their next album will probably be completely different, but I like this mindless fun. Definitely a contender for album of the year.

wavin' my dick in the wind

Ah, the ocean. What is it about her that's so alluring? I puff my vintage pipe as I type this, by the way.

But really, all of that marine shit intrigues me. It's calming and strangely nostalgic, and Ween seems to capture those feelings. But for every profound statement I make, there's a retarded cousin to it. In this case, I found out about Ween from Spongebob Squarepants. 'Ocean Man' [SPOILER ALERT: Probably the best song on the album] was used for the closing track of the Spongebob movie, and I knew Ween had to be hot shit. While The Mollusk isn't consistently good, I still find myself coming back to it. I know this sounds fucking stupid, but if I in a submarine thousands of feet underwater, this is the only album I'd want to play.

because

I recently started watching an anime entitled Pico to Chico, and all I can say is... Wow. Unlike so many modern shows that stumble over every excruciating minutia of their characters, Pico to Chico tastefully crafts a story and leaves the characters to mystery (only a fool would dare call the character development "shallow"). Post-modern existentialism is the soup of the day as we progress through their adventure, only to find that materialism is the only thing that keeps us living, but it's not in a pompous, pseudo-intellectual style that implies that's a recent phenomena; it's handled delicately but will impact you in a way that leaves you asking "Why?" Unlike our hack-ridden film industry, Pico to Chico uses metaphors in an excruciatingly subtle way. Sharp-eyed spectators should be able to spot the humanistic properties Chico's sister displays. Just when you think all of the questions raised will be answered, the film comes to a halt, leaving you, the viewer, left to ponder the hidden questions scholars have kept to themselves up to their untimely deaths.

I don't think this film justifies an arbitrary rating of stars; it's much better than that. It deserves a place among the highest modern philosophical works of our world. Nietzsche, thy name is Pico.

songz 4 da sad kidz

Get your big-kid pants on

taking it to the streets

I'm no sucker for dad-rock, and I don't think I ever will be. It just seems like the majority of it is overrated yet pretentious, and this is coming from a Radiohead fan. The Doobie Brothers have always been one of my dad's favorite bands, and I'm just now starting to appreciate them. Their "Best Of" album is probably their best-selling (deal with it, hippie), and if it were a normal album and not just a showcase of their best jams, it would be damn well near perfect. The Doobies have a great mix of funk and rock, meaning that you can sing along to their songs while driving down the highway (presumably in a car. Don't be an asshole and get a motorcycle). Their music is also reminiscent of those "black meets white" '70s TV specials that had black people in afros dancing with white Magnum P.I. look-alikes and relatively attract women. Maybe it's cheesy, but you could use a break from journeying into the depths of your mind and listen to some fucking cowbells.

'twas a dinosaur act

Post-rock, overall, is pretty okay, I guess. Some people can sit in their own filth and misery while listening to dreamy whispers over ominous static, others can't. I fall into the latter. The fuel to depressing music, in my opinion, needs a little more substance. That's why I can sit in my own filth and misery to Red House Painters much better than, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Despite my little schpiel on post-rock, I rediscovered Things We Lost in the Fire by Low recently, and I really enjoy it. I'm a sucker for female and male vocals combined, so maybe that's what's doing the trick. I still can't see the appeal of Justin Bieber, though.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN

It's funny because he's a man-lady. Haha. Anyways, Low's whispery-soft female delivery with the solid-yet-light tone of the male's really hooks me in, along with the chimes and acoustic guitar. It's so soothing that they can ask "What is a whore?" (in the aptly-named track 'Whore') and make it sound gospelesque. The lack of synth is also very refreshing from what I've been listening to lately. I think minimalism that can still express heavy anger or sadness is miles more advanced than "LOL WE ADD SYNTH AND SING ABOUT MY HEART EXCEPT IT'S A TICKING CLOCK WAITING 4 U." 'Like a Forest' portrays the former experience. Low really does a good job of crafting a unique experience that feels uneasy yet melancholic.

where's my sex!?

Folks, it's time we accepted the fact that there will never be another Pinkerton. I realize a lot of you accepted this a while ago, but I think that, even if Cuomo consciously decided to emulate Pinkerton, it would just sound like a 40 year-old trying to make another confessional, you know? With that kept in mind, Hurley is pretty not-that-bad. Maybe, perhaps, good? Now, I'm aware that Rivers Cuomo could be riding in his solid-gold jetpack right now laughing as he chews on his solid-gold cigar thinking "Those plebeians actually like that shit!" I mean, this is the man who referred to his fans as "little bitches" back in 2002(ish). In his defense though, it would be pretty annoying if your fans kept on requesting you to go back to your old sounds instead of treading new grounds. Then again, "old sounds" kind of meant "actually good." *pause for laughter and cheering* But I digress. Hurley goes back to the power-pop sound of 1994's Blue Album but pumps up the "power." Track one, 'Memories,' starts with a cheesy intro, but then it's followed by a wall of sound. By the time you're questioning whether this is an Arcade Fire-good "wall of sound" or Nickelback-shit "wall of sound," the catchy synth kicks in and it doesn't really matter. So far this is definitely better than a rap-rendition of 'Can't Stop Partying' (I'm still sore over that.) The rest of the album is kind of samey, but it's an okay kind of samey. One of the more memorable moments in Hurley is the song 'Where's My Sex?,' a title that I find genuinely funny. That kind of ridiculousness is classic Weezer, in my opinion. I find that Weezer is trying a little too hard to be edgy though, proven by the fact that this is the first album to be released on an indie label (Epitaph.) Overall, Hurley is an enjoyable (if cheesy) throwback to power-pop, and a positive look into the future. I wouldn't find myself relistening to it on a roughly tri-yearly basis as I do with 2008's Red Album, but it's a step up from my "never-relistening to" basis of Raditude. Just ignore the bonus tracks, unless you want to hear a cover of a Coldplay song (that's great and all, but why bother covering something from 2008?)

In related news, Weezer has announced that Pinkerton is going to be reissued on November 4, along with a collection of out-takes from Blue to Raditude that have, to my knowledge, been rerecorded (it's entitled- I shit you not -Death to False Metal). In a Rolling Stone interview, Rivers Cuomo also stated that he started working on the next Weezer album "this morning," which I assume was sometime in late August.

Oh, and there's a Blue/Pinkerton tour in the works. Just a heads-up.

u r the ocean

I was reading Spin (the U.S. equivalent of NME) recently and, much to my surprise, Phantogram was featured on their summer mix-tape. I downloaded their debut album Eyelid Movies a few months back, so I decided to give them another go. It's very chilled trip-hop that switches from male to female vocals on a track-to-track basis, but to be honest I prefer the female vocals. Almost every melody is super-catchy, and if you aren't humming along to it you're probably sleeping, which is something Eyelid Movies is pretty good for if you're in the mood (though I wouldn't call it ambient). The synth is nice and distorted, while the drum beats are comfortably familiar. Oh, and is that some electric guitar? It meshes together well and creates a spacey atmosphere that hipsters crave.

So kiddos, you heard it here first: Phantogram is the next Crystal Castles [EDIT: Except it's good]. Hop trends before it's too late!

i want...to be...abraham lincoln, embarassingly tall!...

My knowledge of bands that have an animal in the name is...above average? I don't know about that, but I do know that oh my god elephant is on of my favorite one-shot bands. They released their first (and only) EP in 2007, but they never caught on the way, say, Algernon Cadwallader did. It's a shame too, because oh my god elephant is the greatest emo/math-rock fusion this side of Snowing has seen. All five tracks are complex melodramatic tunes being primitively shouted over, and I like that contrast. The occasional back-up vocals and stingy synth really set the mood. The odd acoustic jams also add to the overall variety, while the drumming is consistently amazing. omg elephant later changed their name to Rainbow Tornadoes and released a full-length LP, but, sadly, it was surprisingly lackluster. Still, with these five quality tracks, oh my god elephant can last you forever.

Speakers speakin' speakin' speakin' speakin' in code

You know how some albums are just okay on the first play, but when you relisten to them they give you a total hard-on? That's the case with me and Summerteeth. It went from "okay," to "good," to "awesome," to "orgasmic." I actually enjoy it more than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Coming out three years prior, Summerteeth definitely has more pop sensibilities than its successor, and I really enjoy Wilco's pop side. Jeff Tweedy's stream-of-consciousness lyricism shines on She's A Jar (which might just be the greatest song ever), while other songs have cohesive themes (How to Fight Loneliness, A Shot In the Arm, We're Just Friends, et al.) Pieholden Suite is a personal favorite of mine, mainly because the first half is very melodramatic, while the second half is a cheery instrumental that sounds like something out of a Harvest Moon video game. Summer Teeth and ELT do a splendid job of show-casing Wilco's alt. country roots from Being There (and Uncle Tupelo, Tweedy's former band), but, in the same vein as the rest of album, in a much poppier sound. With autumn creeping in on us, it's the perfect time to give Summerteeth a spin.

the subtle brilliance of j-biebz

Justin Bieber haters are lone wolves fighting the mainstream.

After posting that I thought Baby is a good song, I was called a "fag" approximately twelve times. But I stand by my word, Baby truly is a wonderful song, and I think the social impact it has on girls is very misguided. While some think it's just another song about an underage slut; girls think it's a cheery song, which makes it so great. Like Britney Spears, Bieber is the same person casting many different personas: to black people and males above the age of 8, he's just a wigger. Younger and older girls view him as an understated heartthrob. Parents view him as a flash-in-the-pan. Rock magazines see him as just another popstar. If you examine Baby, you can see that it's really a song about heartbreak, as Justin Bieber learns that a large amount of the female population hates him. It's this unobtainable beauty that haunts him, and he realizes this at the age of sixteen, no less. His obsession overtakes him, spiraling him into a deep depression when he realizes that his name will always be hollow. This self-actualization lulls him into a state of deep depression, but the cheerful synthline is still there, constantly reminding him that the one girl he only really loved is practically dead. "I'm going down, down, down, dooown," he sings. This is a clever double entendre, and both meanings aren't relevant to any tween. His agony can only be healed by anti-depressants, but at the same time the only thing that makes him feel better is killing him, as he falls "down, down, down" on the floor, the result of his suicide. Also notice that the music video for "Baby" takes place at a bowling alley, where one fuck-up will totally ruin your spare/strike. Think about it.

Pictured above: alleged genius

Bieber exists to fill the holes in our hearts. Young girls have a new idol they can vent their unnatural, Disney Channel sexuality over, younger men have a new twat to vent their anger towards, the RIAA, of course, has a new cash-cow, journalists and tabloid writers now have more to write about/talk about at cocktail parties, and older men and women have a manifestation of how much the next generation will fail (a flawed argument, but a popular one.) He's here until some other teen dream comes to steal the hearts of eight year-olds.

And that's why Justin Bieber is a martyr.

needs more bleeding vaginas

So, Pitchfork gave Zaireeka a 0/10. This struck me as odd, mainly because it's by the Flaming Lips. See the juxtaposition? But I'm not going to dwell on Pitchfork's abortion of a review. I like to think I'm better than that. The "hook" of Zaireeka is that it comes with four CDs, with eight tracks on each, every disc having an alteration of each song. With a physical copy, you could mix and match discs to see what variation suited you. When all four CDs are played in harmony, weird shit goes down. "Weird shit" as in "beauty". Everything is so fantastically surreal in this album; it's kind of like the disorientation experienced when you get up too quick and blood rushes from your head. Whether it's the means of transportation in the year 2025 or bleeding vaginas, Zaireeka will always keep you engaged with its lyrical content. Distorted guitars, strong drums, and high frequencies will have you a) Brain-washed and b) Coming back for more.

I'm going to mix things up a little bit. Instead of sharing a new album, I'm going to compile a list of my top ten favorite songs ever. I'm hoping that by doing this I can recalibrate my music taste, which is like a vague, unorganized cloud of vapor right now. I've limited myself to one song per artist, so don't worry about 80% of this being Elliott Smith songs (seriously, I would totally do that.)

10. Modest Mouse -Custom Concern (This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About, 1996) Runner-up: Trailer Trash
This song perfectly wraps up my feelings on my existence ("Gotta go to work, gotta go to work, gotta have a job"). Why #10, then? My existence is profoundly dull.

9. Pixies - Gigantic (Surfer Rosa, 1988)
Apparently this is the reason Kim Deal didn't get to contribute that much (lyrically) to the Pixies. I can't see how her sexy, mysterious voice could be considered a bad thing. Okay, so it's pretty much a song about banging a black dude, but... Fuck man, that bass!

8. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity (Clarity, 1999) Runner-up: Drugs or Me
A bunch of people imply that Clarity was the only good Jimmy Eat World album. Apparently it had more depth than songs like 'The Middle'. Bullshit. Jimmy Eat World has always been about simple angst, which is why I love them so much. Clarity just seems more fresh.

7. Cap'n Jazz - Tokyo (Analphabetpolothogy, 1998)
Far be it from me to give Cap'n Jazz anymore credit than they already deserve. I like them, I just think they're grossly overrated. Tokyo is the one of the reasons I love them so much. I found myself thinking "Damn, that kid sounds like he has a stuffy nose. Someone should give him some chicken-noodle soup" when I first heard it, but the raw voice is probably one of it's best aspects. Oh, and the reference to Christopher Cross's 'Arthur's Theme'? /swoon

6. David Bowie - Space Oddity (Space Oddity, 1969)
Sci-fi, quasi-folk, free-form jazz, death, and David Bowie. Sounds like a total winner to me. Space Oddity is one of the grimmest, most melodramatic pop songs I've heard. It's an about an astronaut (Major Tom, but I don't see how an astronaut could be a "major." Maybe he slept with his employer) getting lost in space, the worst death imaginable. David Bowie would go on to dress in drag and sing about "ch-ch-ch-changes" roughly three years after Space Oddity's release. Huh.

5. Sunny Day Real Estate - The Shark's Own Private Fuck (How it Feels to Be Something On, 1997) Runner-up: Seven
You had me at the bass intro. Jeremy Enigk squeezes so much bottled-up anger in this track, yet it's not as heavy as, say, Seven.

4. Beck - Where It's At (Odelay, 1996) Runner-up: Teenage Wastebasket
When my friends ask me what music I listen to, I usually just play some Beck for them. "Oh, you know, folk and sadcore" just isn't as appealing to my peers as "That was a good drum-break". Usually (relatively) happy songs make me more depressed, but Where It's At is pure fun.

3. The Get Up Kids - Campfire Kansas (On a Wire, 2002) Runner-up: Washington Square Park
A song about camping with friends. Not suicide or hopelessness; a campfire. This is how I want my teenage life to be like (i.e., having friends that I would want to spend time with)

2. Elliott Smith - King's Crossing (From a Basement On the Hill, 2004) Runner-up: Last Call
"I am going to stab myself in the chest." That could've been the message of this song, because the whole thing sounds like a suicide note (and the lyric "Because I took my own insides out"). In the context of Elliott Smith's 2004 suicide where he actually stabbed himself in the chest, this manages to get even more depressing. I still get chills when the synth kicks in. This could only be topped by...

1. Wilco - Jesus, Etc. (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002)
Listening to this song is the best explanation there is.

like a friend you dont want to see

A great thing about bands like Radiohead and Wilco is that the songs can have a different meaning to them. Did you get laid to She's a Jar? Bam, that song becomes happy (over time). Was Kid A playing when your love left you? Bam, that song becomes sad (over time). Sometimes with bands like the Killers and Jimmy Eat World I ask myself "Do I like the song or do I like the context?" This is not the case with Red House Painters. I guess you can't expect anything worthy of a "Rockin' Road Trip" mix-tape or happy memories from a genre called sadcore. Not like that's a bad thing; their minimalistic opening track '24' is very fresh and keeps your attention. 'Medicine Bottle' is considerably heavier than '24' and is almost like a suicide note. The title track is epic - at 11 minutes it still manages to stay consistent instead of starting out strong and then haphazardly dragging on. 'Japanese to English' is a personal favorite, and has a hopeless vibe to it. Maybe it's a little cliche ("It's not that simple, this dictionary/It never has a word for the way I'm feeling"); but I like it that way. 'Lord Kill the Pain' has a decidedly alt-country tone, and is a breath of fresh air due to its relative fastness. 'Michael' is the grand finale, and wraps the album together nicely. It's similar to the title-track, but a tad dreamier.

ATTENTION ALL JAPANESE WOMEN: NEVER GET NEAR RIVERS CUOMO

The Japanese are good at a variety of things; porn, professional eating, arbitrary censoring, developing video-games, getting stereotyped and participating in weird-ass gameshows. When it comes to music, they only seem to succeed in "visual kei" (Japanese scenesters trying too hard to revive bullshit glam-metal wankery), but then I found out about MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, an awesome shoegaze trio (another thing about Japanese music: Bands are almost always referred to in ALL CAPS or all lowercase.) By the first track of their newest album, Zero Comma, Irotoridori no Sekai, I knew I was in for something. By the last track, I found my album of the year. As expected, the guitars are heavily distorted, but the drumming is fucking insane, and the (female) vocals are very J-popesque. If you've ever played a Katamari Damacy game (if you haven't, I suggest you do sometime soon), MotFD sounds like something from the soundtrack, only more serious. Not convinced yet? Track four (RAT) sounds like a goddamn boss battle from Megaman. ONE DAY is very dreamy, and will most likely make you feel lonely, even if you don't know what the fuck they're singing. Zero Comma, Irotoridori no Sekai is amazing overall, and there are about five other releases from MotFD, so there's plenty more where that came from.

you snooki!

Protip: Don't look up "You Slut!" on Google Images without safesearch on. Don't type it in on MediaFire either; one of the results that pop up is "Post-Abortion Slut Fuck", a phrase that, unfortunately, has been engraved in my mind. And I thought I masturbated to some weird shit...

ANYWAYS, You Slut! is a math-rock band hailing from the land of Queen Elizabeth (whom, incidentally, is also a slut.) They debuted in 2006 with a six song EP, but their first LP, Critical Meat, was released in 2008. Interestingly, Critical Meat was released in Japan in 2007, and 2008 in the UK. So what about the album itself? Pretty god-damn impressive. The opening track has some of the greatest cowbell playing this side of Electioneering has seen. The beats are choppy, and snares are applied sparingly (yet effectively). What kind of guitar-wizardry do all eight tracks use? I don't know, but I'm afraid to question it. To quote fellow wigger and douchebag Shaggy 2 Dope: "This shit'll blow your motherfuckin' mind!!!"

its getting late but i dont mind

If you like your emo subtle, get out now (but follow the blog and refresh a few times so my hit counter will go up.) Penfold is some whiny-ass shit, which is why I like it. I'm not deluding myself. Some voices are just good for whining. This brings me to Penfold's second release, Amateurs and Professionals. I stumbled upon it while looking up artists similar to the Promise Ring on Last.fm (!) The first track, "June", starts out with a marching-bandesque drum-beat and gives you a good idea of what's to come: Heavy angst. The feel of the album is comparable to staring out the car window when it's raining hard. Great shtuff.

livin' like a bug aint easy

Home Movies is awesome. Basically it's a poorly animated cartoon about three grade-schoolers that make really kitschy movies, but much of the script is improv. The result is a bunch of 8-year-olds with awkward adult speech-patterns and some of the funniest shit you've ever seen. The soundtrack itself is really good, mainly because it's a mix of 0ver-the-top glam ballads and instrumentals that are actually pretty sad. I've been searching for this for a while, and my life is complete now that I've found it. I honestly can't recommend this any harder.
GET IT

season one, episode one
septopus
trust yourself

its a great year to be a hipster

I'm a little late to the party, aren't I? Interpol's new album (self-titled) recently leaked while I was on a 20-hour road trip to Missouri. This marks the fourth 2010 leak I've presented to you, the loving readers (Realism and Congratulations and Simple Science EP being the other three). The album itself is great compared to their 2007 album Our Love to Admire. It wasn't bad, per se, but it was significantly lacking compared to its parent albums. On its own, Interpol 2010 sounds like a mix of Turn on the Bright Lights ambiance and Antic's punk sound. To be honest, it's not as good as the first two, but you can't really top perfection, can you? This marks the last album made before the bassist, Carlos Dengler, left the band (going on to other, shall I say, antics?), so it'll be interesting if Interpol can find a new bassist that's just as good as him. This is recommended listening all the way, but it might not be the best place to start with Interpol if you aren't familiar with them. Oh, and they drop the f-bomb in Try it On. That's always a bonus with the children, right?

Next up for 2010: Jimmy Eat World, Brandon Flowers, and Radiohead. I'm really stoked for the new Jimmy Eat World album. Deal with it, bitch.

Reclamation! Reclamation!

I was reading an article not too long ago about the Real World. At one point the author mentioned that college was one of the most interesting points in his life. He mentioned that he knew a gay born-again Christian that was a Vikings fan and a Fugazi expert. Obviously that was just a minor detail, but it got me thinking "Damn, I should listen to Fugazi again." So, here I am, banging away at my keyboard telling you about these dudes. Today "hardcore" means having anime-esque hair with purple streaks, an ironic love for Hello Kitty, crunkcore, and Ring-Pop candy on at least two fingers. In other words: "scene." Fugazi represent classic hardcore. They have a relatively famous picture in which the lead singer is hanging on a basketball hoop by his legs and screaming into the mic (also, he was shirtless). I guess that's that's the most accurate description of their sound - a bunch of shouting rapscallions having a good time. And shirtless.

Like Merriweather Post Pavillion, except it's good

Most people know that noise is caused from vibrations in the air. At least, that's what the Magic Schoolbus taught me. So, if you want to be a pretentious asswad, just go around telling everyone that music is just organized vibrations. Noise-pop bands seem to be aware of this, as they base their material off of organized chaos. I mean, hell, Merzbow made 248 albums by shitting on a Speak'n'Spell.

All joking aside, noise-pop can be pretty good. Ribbons and Bows proves this by releasing the White Light 7", a two-track record sampling what's to come by Rs&Bs. The titular track starts out with a crunchy beat, and an extremely lo-fi guitar lick separates the transition from beat-and-lyrics to full band. TV has an insane drumbeat, but starts out with a somewhat smooth techno beat (though still crazy. Think of something from Bomberman.) And then: SQUEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAVUYCVIYTGCYDCUTRXUTRXAYUYWDUYWDGCVCV~~~
The vocalist proceeds to chant "CHAOS" over and over again.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY DO I LOVE IT SO MUCH?

Calling all plucky artists!

Do you have a band or solo project that needs a little publicity? I'll listen to it! Send me a MediaFire link to your EP, LP, demo - whatever - on last.fm. Just private message my account. You can also contact me on FaceBook. I have about five bands that sent submissions, but I'm always ready to accept more. Reviews will be on an every-other-day basis, but I might do some daily. Yes, I'm still going to post-actual-release albums, but this keeps things fresh.

she took the oldsmobile out past condor avenue

I'm listening to From a Basement On the Hill as I type this, so I guess that makes me somewhat of a hypocrite (since I can't play what I want when I want.) Roman Candle is the 1994 debut of the great Elliott Smith, an uber-depressed, quasi-folk singer. Here he keeps the majority of the material acoustic, and he strikes gold. The title/opening track is a soft-toned but vicious "ode" to an abusive boyfriend of an acquaintance. Condor Avenue is probably the best track; you can hear Smith's multilayered harmonies really shine. Also included are four "No Name" tracks (the smooth No Name #1 and harmonica-sprinkled No Name #2 being the best) that would later be followed up by No Name #5 on Either/Or. Everything is really mood, and his refusal to shout only makes it moodier. Some of the tension is relieved by the conclusion of the album, an instrumental country melody strangely entitled "Kiwi Mad Dog 20/20." Having listened to Roman Candle for the first time in physics months back, it really cemented my respect for Elliott Smith. He quickly replaced Beck as my favorite solo-artist and is probably one of the most genuinely depressing figures in rock.

Blog Resurrection 3: Eclectic Boogaloo

Last update was May 30th. Oh wow! School has been out for a good while, giving me plenty of time to masturbate and play Fire Emblem. And Phoenix Wright. Anywho, American Football has been dominating my summer playlist as of late, and you've probably heard me and Adam (may he rest in peace) wank over it (he's posted their discography before). Okay, I've been listening to Stay Home and the One With the Wurlitzer more than any other of the tracks, but the whole album is great shit. The jazzy trumpets, toned-down guitars and subtle whining make this a great emo album for people who hate emo.

Back from the dead!

Four Minute Mile has been dominating my last.fm charts and, basically, my life. I fucking love this album, and rediscovered its brilliance in he middle of the week. It's the grand (album) debut of the Get Up Kids and it's awesome beyond belief. There's just so much energy put into it that you want to punch a dumpster and pump your fists. Or get an abortion.

OR FLY TO THE FUCKING MOON

So, yeah. This is some good shit. The bass and synth are placed perfectly, the guitar is bitchin', the vocals are raw, and the drums are, dare I say, rad? Not a bad track on this one. Essential for all you pretentious emo types.

This post is really fucking lame!

Adam jumped ship about a week ago, in case you haven't noticed. Don't worry; he's off to bigger and better things, like puffin' down cigs like a h4rdc0r3 muthrfukkr. Stay classy.

So, yeah. This post is pretty fucking lame because I'm plugging in my solo career blog.



See? Told you it was lame. Fear not though¹, I'm still going to reccomend my shitty musical findings here, but the other blog is going to be, basically, everything that isn't music recomendations. That means I can still talk about music, which is kind of pathetic because there's not much else to write about; but I'll find stuff, dammit!

So, without further ado, my shitty new blog:


¹As if leaving would be significant to anyone

Indie? A GENRE? Controversy!

Once upon a time there was a delightful little genre called "alternative." Bands stripped off the excess noise of 80s metal and turned what was left into, you know, not shit. Leather pants were replaced with faded denim, Gibsons with Fenders¹, glam-locks with five o'clock shadow, etc. etc. When R.E.M's single "The One I Love" made it on the Billboard 100 in 1987, America went fucknuts. By the mid 90s, "alternative" could pretty much describe anything that wasn't rap or metal. In 2010, alternative is the new rock, indie is the new alternative, and rock is the new...hard-rock? You get my point though. Alt. went places, good (Weezer's first two albums, The Bends, Beck) and bad (Weezer's post-Green Album works², Nickelback, Coldplay, etc.)


In the late 80s, a couple of masterminds were creating what would go on to be known as the "indie sound." These rambunctious lil' scamps were known as the Pixies. In 1987, Steve Albini helped produced their 1988 debut Surfer Rosa, the follow up to their 1987 EP Come On Pilgrim. It was fucking awesome. Drums, vocals³, bass, guitar - everything was epic. While their 1989 album Doolittle⁴ usually gets more credit, Surfer Rosa is still a classic and cited by a fuckton of musicians as an inspiration⁵. Oh, and the album cover has titties. Fucking awesome.

(How wonderful. At the time of writing this, MediaFires decides to break down. I'll put the link up ASAP, folks.)

1. This is speculative
2. Okay, the Red Album was pretty fucking good.
3. Have you ever masturbated to Kim Deal's voice? Feels good, man.
4. Listen to this as well
5. Kurt Cobain said that Smells Like Teen Spirit was basically his attempt at a Pixies song. CUZ IT'S NOT A RIP-OFF IF YOU ADMIT IT, AMIRIGHT????//?///?

open your parachute and grab your gun

Elliott Smith will make you sad. Not "high school" sad, like the Get Up Kids or the Promise Ring; but real sad. This is due to the fact that Smith doesn't write about being a depressed teen; he writes about being a depressed human. From a Basement On the Hill was released on the same year of his suicide (2004), and it's his sixth studio album, just posthumously released. It's mainly a mix of his original works intended to be on the album, but some B-sides have been added in.

From a Basement On the Hill is one of the few albums that's sadder than Hospice. King's Crossing is probably one of the saddest songs ever made; it's also one of the greatest. When you put it into context of his suicide, it's really tragic. "Give me one good reason not to do it/So do it" is pretty overt about suicide, but the lyrics in general paint a picture of someone that doesn't want to go on living. Even Elliott Smith's interviews are depressing. I recall an interview on MTV Live where Elliott Smith is sitting on a stool, hugging his guitar while he's being questioned about his song Miss Misery (of Good Will Hunting fame.) He's not some glamorized asshole like Kurt Cobain; he's just a dude, and maybe that's why his music is so fucking good. He's singing about something that's got him so miserable, but it's hard to say what it is. So we're left to look at the details of his fucked up life and conjure up guesses as to why he stabbed himself to death.

More nice indie-folk :)

Do you like bands that sound nice?
I'm guessing you probably, and i plan to work on this assumption throughout the rest of this post.

So anyways, i've been enjoying a rather nice sounding band as of late called Hop along, Queen Ansleis who are an American indie-folk outfit as twee as they come. Well maybe with the exception of Watercolour paintings, but it's close. So anyways, HA,QA fronted by female American songwriter Frances Quinlan are a juicy explosion of uplifting folk with a melee of instruments and a love it or hate it voice. I personally can't get enough of it! So yeah, i'm posting the link to their album "Freshman year" from 2005, which is according to last.fm their "most solid album to date". It's good stuff, like heroin or grave looting, if that's the sort of stuff you're into. So enough of me rambling about it here's the download.

You see right through meee; I see right through youuuu

Hot off the heels of The Moon and Antarctica, Modest Mouse had to release something that would seem at least decent compared to it. Interestingly enough, they decided to release the album that was originally going to be their debut - Sad Sappy Sucker. Originally set for a 1994 release, SSS was delayed for reasons my sources (i.e., Wikipedia) don't know. But, in my humble opinion, it would have been one of the best fucking debuts ever. It is, for the most part, consistently ace; and there's 24 tacks. Only The Lonesome Crowded West could top this behemoth.

[Best Tracks: Four-Fingered Fisherman, Classy Plastic Plumber, From Point A to Point B, Dukes Up]

indie folk wizards of oz

It's strange how some scenes that have been around for a long time can suddenly gain so much popularity in such a short time. Take Dubstep for example, it had been around since the early 00's, and only now has it sky-rocketed in terms of popularity. Well, while that sensation is burning away on the dance music side of thnigs, on the other side of the music chasm, a suddenly popular folk/indie hybrid is turning a lot of heads. Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons and Johnny Flynn appear to be getting a lot more coverage than they used to, and quite frankly, it's brilliant. Now folk bands can become superstars! And The Middle East ought to be no exception. After playing an incredible set at SXSW, there is a ton of buzz around them and they even got a full page spread in NME's Radar section. And it's all deserved.

There is something so beautiful about the music that The Middle East are making that really does leave you a little dumbstruck after listening, from their EP "The recordings of the middle east" opening track The darkest side is so soothing it could calm down an enraged BNP supporter had a mosque been built next door to his house. The vocals really are that sweet. Underlay all of this with vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars and a dash of other twee instruments and you do get folk perfection. The Middle East really are incredible and are capable of creating vast soundscapes as heard in the EP's closing track Tsietsi, which sounds very post-rock, sweeping violins included. Of course, it's nothing to dance to or put on at a party, but if you want to sit back and relax on a sunday afternoon with a cup of tea, it's actual perfection. I can find nothing bad to say about the Middle East and I will be eagerly awaiting the release of a full LP sometime. Until then, the EP will certainly make do. Make sure you listen to Blood, it really is amazing.

The Middle East have announced a small UK tour this June/July playing the following dates:

Manchester - 25th June
Dublin - 26th June
Brighton - 28th June
London - 13th July
*Sadly the Manchester and Dublin dates are 18+ :(

Anyway, here is a link to the EP

Three pills each day, etc.

How the fuck am I supposed to play Monster Hunter 3 and blog at the same time?

If there's one thing Sunny Day Real Estate has taught me, it's that all women are skanks that will do anything to fuck you over. Seriously, every song off of How it Feels to be Something On [incidentally their best album] was about how Jeremy Enigk's girlfriend stabbed him in the back, yeah? So post-hardcore emo + girl problems = awesome. This brings me to Reality vs. the Optimist, which perfectly fits the former sentence. Kiss Kiss can simply be described as post-hardcore electric violin orchestrations (played by a female, so I guess Freud* was right when he said all women are naturally masochistic**.) If the track "Shits in Suits" is anything to go on, they're pretty pissed too. So if you just got out of a relationship and hate the spiteful bitch who broke up with you, this is the album to go to (alternately, if you still like the spiteful bitch that broke up with you I suggest listening to some Hospice).

*I think it was Freud.
**To the female readers: Freud's words; not mine.

Are you ready for the album of the year?

It happens only too often that when a band release their debut album whislt covered in gratuitous amounts of hype, that it turns out to be, well, shit. See Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, Hadouken and Frankmusik for proof. Well Foals were a band who managed to live up to the Hype releasing a debut album that gave us a well needed break from the "landfill indie" that was unrelentlessly rotting away on every advert, radio station and tv program.
The difficult second album was always going to be a tough one for Foals, what with the first being so fantastic and all, but by god have they risen to the challange. Total Life Forever, out in just over two weeks from now is little short of godly. Total life forever is everything antidotes was but more grown up, and this is in no way a bad thing. The songs still bounce along with all the enthusiasm of before only now, with a much richer sounding texture, warm synths aplenty. Opening track Blue Blood seems a little slow and tentative builds up and swells like a beast, and then we hear the bouncing bass and intricate guitar riffery that shaped antidotes. There seems to be a slightly more post-rock feel to the 7 minute Spanish Sahara which is followed by the anthemic and shorter track, This Orient and Miami, the albums strongest track bursts into life with an insanely catchy chorus that is bound to set the festival audiences this summer alight. The album is a delicate mix of songs that are calm and collective and songs that are enough to get you dancing. End track, What remains pounds on, with crashing cymbals and a striding bass that brings a fantastic album to a fantastic end. Foals are moving British "indie" music forward and with an album as perfect as this, the new bands on the scene have a lot to contend with.

9/10, here you go boys and girls.

JJ

JJ are a band that despite having one album out already have only seem to come to more widespread attention upon the arrival of their 2nd album, confusingly enough named "no.3"


JJ are essentially a dreamy sounding indie duo from Sweden who make hazy sounding music fusing together the airy vocals of female vocalist Elin Kastlander with an array of smooth synths, acoustic guitars and a large amound lot of echos.


No.3 is indeed an advancement on No.2 and it is clear why they are getting so much media coverage at the moment because they are actually bloody amazing! "Let go", the first single from the album is indeed one of the highlights, a song with a chorus filled with warming synths and an intensly catchy melody is deffinatly worth a listen.


If last year was the year of the darker more moody XX, than JJ could well be 2010's much lighter answer to that.

So without further ado, here's the download link!

fun. - Live At Fingerprints (Record Store Day exclusive)

fun. - Live At Fingerprints (2010)

Download - V0

Tracklisting:
Intro
Walking The Dog
All The Pretty Girls
Interlude
The Gambler
Atleast I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)
Take Your Time (Coming Home)

I was surprised at how well they perfomed 'Atleast I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)', since it's generally considered to be the worse song on the album by most people. Also the female member of the band sounds incredibly cyoot on that track :3

fun. are really funny guys and put on a great show, I really recommend this if you're a fan of Aim & Ignite.

Slingshot Dakota

Slingshot Dakota play upbeat pop-punk sorta stuff (I still need to improve on my genres). Their mix of guitar and synth reminds me of The Get Up Kids later work alot, only with female vocals and less, well... 'rocky' and 'emoey', a terrible way of describing it but I'm sure you get what I mean.

Keener Sighs  - Download
V2

Their Dreams are Dead, But Ours is The Golden Ghost!- Download
V0

Okay, I fucked up on my first post. It's pretty fucking stupid to describe albums you allegedly love in one or two sentences when you have no restrictions. Also, I "wittily" cringed when I mentioned indie, yet I felt fine using the phrase "guilty pleasure". I was a really wretched person. But that's the past, hopefully I don't suck as much as I did in my first post. So, with that out of the way, let's move on.

The Adventures of Pete and Pete is the greatest show that has, and ever will, appear on Nickelodeon (though Rocko's Modern Life is a pretty close second, followed by SpongeBob Squarepants [this is debatable.]) Of course, that's why it was doomed to three seasons. But anways, Pete and Pete was great. What was most notable was the spacey background music. The producers wanted to use Pixies songs originally, but that was way out of their budget. Instead, they used the works of Yes, The Magnetic Fields, and Polaris. While the lack of Pixies is a shame, Polaris is probably the finest indie-pop you'll ever find. They're actually the side-project of Miracle Legion frontman Mark Mulcahay, and they've only released one album: a compilation of the songs they made for Pete & Pete. If you've seen the show this will make vomit rainbows of nostalgia. If you haven't (get on YouTube right now), you'll still appreciate this fine one-time effort.

Woohoo

V0 download
320kbps download
Simple Science came out vinyl and digital download yesterday, and in 13 days it will come out on CD. There's something like 2000 (vinyl) copies pressed, so if you really want this you should hurry up and get it. I ordered it today; marble-green coloured vinyl, bitch. So, Simple Science. It's not a bad, but it's not a perfect either. It's sort of a mix of every album they've made. I guess the roots are something like:

10% Four Minute Mile

45% Something to Write Home About

25% On a Wire

20% Guilt Show

The vocal effects are pretty over-produced on some tracks. It doesn't ruin them , but it doesn't help them. It's just kind of there. So I would place Simple Science less than or equal to On a Wire, and greater than Guilt Show. It might take some time to warm up on you but it's a great start to their reunion and assures that the new Get Up Kids don't suck. I have a feeling their new album will be unlike anything else they've done before, and I'm all for that.

Dreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeams!

Dream-pop, for me, is hit-or-miss. It seems that I get either an hour of ominous static crap or provocative sounds that turn the room around me into outer-space. Dreamend's Maybe We're Making God Sad and Lonely falls into the latter category.

You are greeted by a humble-yet-awesome opening track of spacey guitars and chimes syncing perfectly, and swooped into the second track: An old lady (quite obviously from the South) reciting the events of an old ghost story with almost triumphant-sounding music being dreamily played in the background. This goes on for five minutes, but it intrigues me (you might not feel the same way.) It's not until the third track do we hear real vocals, and they're very refreshing. Imagine Thom Yorke's voice, but deeper. The next track is basically "I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaake up, yesterrrrrrrrrrrrrrdaaaaay" over and over again with, yup, more dreamy guitars. Mary Cogswell and Fred Vaillancourt is a girl's nervous breakdown set to music. Think about that. The last track (New Zealand) pales in comparison to the former five, but it can still stand up by itself. I'm awful at writing conclusions. This is awkward. Go away.

Joshua Fit For Battle

Joshua Fit For Battle - Bring Out Your Dead

Download - V0

Joshua Fit For Battle are a crazy good screamo band, kinda like taking Native Nod's instruments, taking away a lot of the spoken word and putting screams in there. Really energetic hardcore that never fails to get old.

Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) & Football, etc split.

Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate)/Football, etc

Download - V0

Buy it (UK link) Buy it (US link)

This one is really worth the £3 or so that it is, two great bands that both deserve your money for these two tracks. As always E!E! have given us some great, slow twinkly emo that we love them oh so much for, and Football, etc's song is a bit more melancholic than what we got from them on the EP, as always good shit.

Manchester scene report.

When you think of Manchester in terms of music, most people immidiatly think of bands like Oasis, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Stone Roses and other dead bands. Not a great deal of epic seems to be oozing out of the city as it once did in the Madchester era. There may be no factory records now, but the scene is by no means a dead one.

Now that the landfill indie crusade of the mid 00's is over, Manchester is a hotspot for new exciting music at the moment. Egyptian Hip Hop are just one of many new Manchester bands at the forefront of what could well be the beginning for a second coming of Manchester. Stand out song Rad Pitt is so simplistic yet manages to keep you listening over and over again with it's catchy dreamy guitar hook and rough edged vocals. A band deffinatly worth giving a listen, this time next year they could well be massive.

Wu Lyf are another band that seem to be setting the underground alight in Manchester, with their spacey lo-fi sound being a refreshing break from the lad rock sounds of the Courteeners and Oasis. Listen to concrete gold, it's brilliant.

Delphic are a more upbeat sounding indie/electro band that recieved a lot of hype last year and the debut release "acolyte" delivered some fantastic singles and as an album on the whole is a great listen. Doubt is one of the albums highlights, skittery synths a plenty and a fantastic voice to boot. If you liked them then be sure to check out may68 purverors of slick indie electro with male and female vocals, they are certainly something for Manchester to be proud of, single my way is out now.

The Answering Machine however are quite the opposite to the likes of delphic and such in that they play straight up indie, upbeat and fun of course! Similar sounding to the band Polytechnic with similar vocal styles, they play a more intelligent sounding kind of indie to the likes of super boring Oasis suck ups twisted wheel. Obviously cold makes for a great listen if you don't mind straight up no synths or any of that other nonsense style indie.

Manchester is still very much alive and a musical rennaissance could happen any time soon and i'm not even twistin' your melon man.

Sorry guys, but better late than never, eh?

Admittedly, I wasn't too fond of the Promise Ring on first listen. "Eh, this isn't anything I haven't heard before." I stand by my statement - the Promise Ring doesn't bring anything new to the table. Does that mean they aren't good? 'Course not. Nothing Feels Good is very pop-punky, meaning you won't get the same kind of emo in the sense of, say, Sunny Day Real Estate, but this makes it much more nostalgic. More so than even Four Minute Mile, perhaps. This album is absolute gold, just give it one or two good play-throughs. Then go down to Texaco and get a Fresca and some Sixlets. Good times for all

hurr durr derrpp

So remember this post on Midwest Pen Pals a while back? Turns out there is an mp3 version, I was too much of a dumbass to check what.cd...

So yeah, if you're looking for an mp3 version here you go:

 linklinklinklink

And if you don't know who Midwest Pen Pals are then read that original post and download the EP now.

Just a catch up, I 'spose.

We haven't posted in forever because we're lazy, this tends to happen quite often. I figured we needed a catch up sesh (by we I mean me), I completely lost track of all my favourite bands and I've spent the afternoon finding out what they've been up to and what they're currently doing, looks like 2010 is going to be a fuckwin year.

Chalk Talk: Myspace

-  Released a split cassette with Black Churches in January

- They played a show for the release, they're planning to release a song from each band that played on cassette or something like that. Algernon Cadwallader said they would so

Sounds good, right?

- Split 7" with Ape Up! in the winter (can't fucking wait for that).

- Split 7" with Zona Mexicana (no date given)

- Their own 7" (no date given)

Midwest Pen Pals: Myspace

- "not dead anymore; writing new stuff once mships finishes their ep/split." Source: last.fm

Merchant Ships: Myspace

- Tape Split with Acres. (June 2010 on Bastard Sloth records)

- 7" EP (August 2010) 

- They're going to be on a big ass tour soon, check out the dates at their myspace.

Ape Up!: Myspace

- "Upcoming Releases!:
Something! "

These guys are useless for information :33

Palmkite: Myspace

- "In response to a few questions/comments, we are "in the middle" of making a full-length.  Two songs have been written and we can start doing work on it again in...May.  Yeah, it'll be a while but it's happening.  With any amount of luck, it'll be done this summer.  Anyway, we're all really excited to get back to that." 

"We are planning on doing a summer tour with our good friends, For Serious This Time.  We are trying to get this all set asap and it'll all be posted when we get it together a little more."

Source: Myspace blog

- Adam