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August Reviews Artist of the Month: Statistics Statistics’ Denver Dalley is getting closer and closer to realizing his potential with each subsequent release as sweetly established across the nine songs on his latest, Often Lie. While we may poo-poo the dumb title-moniker play, we can’t deny that the songs on Often Lie are the most rocking and catchy that Dalley has produced. Although people are less familiar with specifically who Dalley is, many people are aware of his first band, Desaparecidos. The reason for this knowledge is that wunderkind Conor Oberst was the voice to Desa while Dalley laid the guitars. Yet, Dalley’s Statistics project has grown and grown since his debut EP on Jade Tree. That short EP had about two songs that smoked and some filler. Dalley followed it up with the full-length Leave Your Name which was filled with laptop blips and considerably more filler. In both previous releases it was clear that when Dalley focused on rock songs, and not esoteric instrumentals, he could create pop-drenched indie rock. On Often Lie, Dalley leaves the junk behind and goes at the rock songs with a clear songwriter attack. In fact, the only instrumental number “10.22” closes out the record and comes across like a lost Explosions in the Sky number; which is awesome. From the start Dalley throws down the gauntlet with standout songs coming from “Final Broadcast,” which sounds entirely comfortable, familiar as well as refreshing. It is if Dalley was able to muster and concentrate his pop prowess for previous records into a singular form. Although “Final Broadcast” is strong, the follower “Nobody Knows Your Name” is far superior. Beginning slow with Dalley’s vocals and light electronics, items begin to build and stretch out when finally you are smoked by a full band chorus. “Say You Will” draws you in with fast guitars that move with constant direction, while “A Forward” drops a harder sound on your head. If you didn’t know before this midway point, it should be clear that the Statistics’ and Dalley’s ace is pleasant, though not flashy guitars, with electronic ambience floating onward. “Begging to be Heard” starts off with light underlying guitar and Dalley’s soft vocals and carries through the catchiness throughout. Far and away, this is the best Statistics record to date and given the quality trajectory whenever Dalley gets around to another full-length it should be the best record of the year. Coming off a massive tour with Maria Taylor, hope for Dalley to unleash his tallness and talent in your town soon.
A Burning Water Spending several years to get their feet underneath them, Santa Cruz’s A Burning Water attack the eleven tracks on We Can See the Sky From Here with a post-hardcore amalgam that fits well with a melodic EVR crowd. Since many of the songs only reach three minutes or so, there is more of a melodic punk sheath placed over the hardcore edge and that suits the band well. That is, when A Burning Water decide to employ screams over actual singing such as on “Out in the Dark,” “Retract” and “This Is a Test” their appeal drops off to being a second-rate metal-core outfit. The four-piece are clearly better suited for the more melodic songs where the vocals match the guitars and harmoniously collect the California punk sound. Such gems comes from “Missiles and Markers,” “These Ruins” and “A Passing Wish.” The screaming helps to differentiate A Burning Water in one respect, but it also hints that its inclusion is simply a temporal thing to match the ‘sounds’ of today. The problem with the melodic songs is that they aren’t very different from the lot of melodic punk bands including several bands on NPR. Still, focusing on the melodic parts may lead to more impressive future recordings from A Burning Water. If nothing else, having a band and living in Santa Cruz ain’t a half bad life.
A Perfect Murder As A Perfect Murder’s second full-length, the Montreal-based collective unleashes eleven songs of tough guy metalcore on Strength Through Vengeance. Originally formed in 2000, the band went through some changes before finalizing their current lineup including Tennessee-based vocalist Kevin Randel. Last year’s debut for Victory, Unbroken, really put APM on the hardcore map allowing them more leverage with the need for 9 to 5ers. Despite some sweet artwork, the eleven songs on Strength Through Vengeance don’t really impress save for a tremendous melding of the various hardcore sounds that Victory have put out over the years. Specifically, Randel’s vocals are tough guy screams, Carl Bouchard’s and Dom Poisson’s guitars often wail solos, and along with Dave B’s bass and Yan Chausse’s drumming APM also go for low-end off-key distortion. It is as if APM rolled Hatebreed vocals, mid-career Earth Crisis constructions and Darkest Hour solos into one singular product. This might sound like it would be awesome, but it comes out rather drab. The songs literally sound like a rehashing of what’s come before with APM not being able to take on the top metalcore bands of day; a sound that they are on the edge of. Save for terrible testosterone moments on songs like “Wake Up and Die,” Strength Through Vengeance ain’t a bad listen, but I would just spend my time with more technical outfits. Chances are if you enjoyed last year’s Unbroken then you will shit your pants to this latest from A Perfect Murder.
At the Drive-In With little doubt, At the Drive-In drove at the front of punk during the late 90s and 2000 with a slew of releases on Fearless. El Paso’s ATDI took off with the release of Relationship of Command in 2000 on the now defunct Beastie Boy label Grand Royal. That record placed ATDI on the international scene, but would also be the last of the band. Shortly after, ATDI broke up and lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez went on to form the now super rock band Mars Volta. Along with Tony Hajjar on drums, Paul Hinojos on bass and Jim Ward on guitars and keys, ATDI’s string of yearly releases – Acrobatic Tenement (1997), In/Casino/Out (1998), Vaya (1999) – provides music fans with a treasure trove of punk gems and a clear lineage to the space rock of Mars Volta. Concerning This Station Is Non-Operational, the band picked out eighteen tracks compiling album favorites, b-sides, remixes and covers. How much of the band participated in creating this collection isn’t entirely clear since in my perspective many of the album tracks here don’t qualify as ‘greatest hits.’ But, what the band likes and what the listener enjoys often varies. Still you find solid inclusions of “Picket Fence Cartel” from El Gran Orgo, “Lopsided” and “Napoleon Solo” from In/Casino/Out and “One Armed Scissor” from Relationship of Command. The previously hard to locate songs include “Doorman’s Placebo” from a split with Aasee Lake, a remix of “Rascuache” from a Murder City Devils split, “Autorelocator” from a Sunshine split and “Incetardis” from the One Armed Scissor single. ATDI cover the Smiths’ “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” to medium success, as well as Pink Floyd’s “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk” from a BBC session. For your viewing pleasure, This Station Is Non-Operational includes a second DVD disc with videos for “One Armed Scissor,” “Invalid Litter Dept.” and “Metronome Arthritis.” Without doubt the video (not to mention the song) for “Invalid Litter Dept.” is both brilliant and intense, where ATDI relay the lives and deaths of poor Mexican women working in maquiladoras on the border. There is also sort of a press kit with interviews and a discography. Obviously, there will be a lot of takers on this anthology from both fans of ATDI and fans of Mars Volta who are looking for grounding in their origin. While a strong offering, some diehards might wish for something more from the once amazing ATDI.
Bear vs. Shark Initially viewed by some as the heir-apparent to the punk-post-hardcore mantle of Hot Water Music, the Michigan-based Bear vs. Shark have flown slightly under the radar since their 2003 debut full-length Right Now You’re In the Best of Hands…. On Terrorhawk, the five-piece utilizes their influences and spitting view of punk to fit fifteen songs into a tight space. While it is natural to draw comparisons between BVS and Fugazi, because of any one of the number of guitars angular attack, the differentiating point comes from the brilliantly aggressive and mature vocals of Marc Paffi. Paffi’s vocals can be gruff, which is refreshing, but he also instills an American rock-flavor of Springsteen or Mellencamp. A more contemporary parallel comes between Paffi and the Constantines or any Stephen Pedersen endeavor. A number of groups having been aping the Fugazi influences, but there is little way to confuse BVS with these less inspired outfits. The only downside to Terrorhawk is that you want every song to blister and rock, but there some drop offs were BVS seem a bit lost in the forest. Still you’ll crap your pants to the opener “Catamaran,” which starts reserved before things pick up and Paffi powers through, the follower “5, 6 Kids,” “Entrance of the Elected,” and the closer “Rich People Say Yeah Hey Hey.” Bear vs. Shark tour relentlessly and with more exposure from such events as Diesel-U-Music competition, BVS will not be under the radar for much longer.
The Black Halos The Black Halos flaunt the fact that they are near-dead looking, heroin-chic and play snotty 70s glam punk. What is less endearing is that the band, which formed more than a decade ago, only got back together recently when they saw the resurgence of stripped-down punk in the mainstream consciousness. Going for a Dead Boys’/New York Dolls’ sound, the Black Halos are tight, consistent and strong if not extremely repetitive. This is seen on songs like “Alive Without Control” and “Darkest Corners” where the riffs are brimming and the choruses are catchy, but the songs tend to just continue on forever. This can cause you to wish death by falling glass on the Black Halos as particularly illustrated on “Studio Suffering.” When the vocals are overemphasized snotty and dramatic it only adds to the deathwish. While the Black Halos are generally stronger than most newcomers, their comeback is mildly questionable. Most specifically, you wonder if the band is going to disappear again if Alive Without Control fails. Not that you can blame them, but you wish the guys would play for themselves and not for the times and stop trying to look the part of ‘rock stars.’ If you are into snotty punk, of old and the newer wave, you will likely get down to the Black Halos.
Blue Monday When a Bridge Nine Records’ package arrives you know exactly what to expect – which is both a good and bad thing. The good is that most of the bands are competent, tight and consistent; the bad is many of the bands simply sound like resurrected 80s hardcore bands. Like labelmates Champion, Blue Monday come out of the Northwest – here, Vancouver. Also like Champion – and as you might imagine being on Bridge Nine – Blue Monday tackle their music with old school hardcore flair in small packaged and hard-hitting songs. With an enhanced aggressive/tough guy edge, Blue Monday excel when they are pumping youth crew influences with an array of gang vocals. As many know, this can create an awesome local show atmosphere with all the kids screaming and what not. With less knowledgeable crowds, such a reliance on these vocals can lead to awkward moments. Having never been to the Northwest, I don’t picture the area with the same angry, tough attitude that a band like Blue Monday gives off; though I know there are scores of anarchists. Anyway, if Bridge Nine records have done you right in the past, then you will surely enjoy Blue Monday’s latest.
Broken Spindles For Broken Spindles’ third full-length, Joel Peterson sketched out the songs while on tour with the Faint and Beep Beep. You see in order for Peterson to keep up with his uber-productive labelmates on Saddle Creek, he needs to have his own hands in a hundred cookie jars. The difference is that Peterson plays significant roles as bassist in the juggernaut the Faint and upstarts Beep Beep, and Broken Spindles is entirely his own endeavor. This keeps him rather busy; a fact that is reflected by the short (26 minute), ten track offering. Relative to past releases, Inside/Absent is considerably more sparse and simple with a continuing allegiance to minimalist electronics and simple rock. At the same time, Inside/Absent is rather unfulfilling as many numbers seem like quick side thoughts and not fully developed. This may be a function of recording Inside/Absent on his own without the assistance of a producer or someone who could flush things out better. One appreciative angle of the record is Peterson hardy fascination with haunting piano as on the opener “Inward” and “Desaturated.” Given the shortness of the record, Peterson might have done better by focusing on a tight EP rather than a quasi-full-length. Unfortunately, Inside/Absent is not the record that will get Peterson and his Broken Spindles noticed outside of Saddle Creek diehards.
Caliban vs. Heaven Shall Burn The name Caliban has battered my ears for the past few years, but until now I’ve had only limited experience with the German metal juggernaut. I can count on even less experience with another German metal export, Heaven Shall Burn. As a follow-up to the two bands 2000 split on Lifeforce Records, the two bands offer a handful of songs compiling rearrangements, covers and new numbers. Heaven Shall Burn kicks off the affair with “Unleash Enlightment” and unfolds four more until their turn ends with “Destroy Fascism.” HSB’s ball-ripping guitars on “Unleash Enlightment” immediately establish the band’s place among the top metalcore bands in the world. While they follow standard metal riffing, HSB shape their sound with speaking vocals breakdowns and slight melodic guitars in choruses and bridges. Signed to the massive metal label Century Media Records, I’m surprised that Heaven Shall Burn hasn’t received more attention in the U.S. While leaning more to the metal side of the core, they still could smoke any band like Atreyu. Caliban’s five numbers begin on “The Revenge” and illustrate a band more attuned to the melodic vocal inclusion among the ravishing. Yet, Caliban do not carry this through to other songs like “Arena of Concealment” and “One Day,” even though they are clearly suited to melodic breakdowns to mix up their rather ordinary metal. I was surprised that I generally preferred Heaven Shall Burn’s offerings to the more familiar Caliban. Either way, those interested in technical metalcore will absolutely love this split between two German heavyweights.
Champion Somewhat oddly, Time Slips Away compiles two EPs that Champion released on Bridge Nine a few years ago. The first EP was 2002’s Count Our Numbers and the second comes from the band’s re-release in 2003 of Come Out Swinging. It is odd because it has only been a few years since the originals, but Bridge Nine argues that the reason for the compiled release is that the EPs are “long out of print.” How can something be long out of print when they only came out a couple of years ago? More likely is that Bridge Nine is hoping to piggyback on the band’s solid full-length from last year entitled Promises Kept. Either way, this Seattle-based five-piece follow the old school hardcore line of the past two decades with marginal deviation from the original. Seemingly to be really into Champion you either have to absolutely love old school or are new to the scene. Although Champion are competent and fairly tight, it is frustrating that they sound exactly like 80s hardcore just with better equipment. If you are interested in Champion than picking up Time Slips Away is wise financial move as it folds releases into one.
Dropkick Murphys At first listen or so, I thought that the Warrior’s Code fell a bit from the 2003’s Blackout and the songs were too insular to Boston and friends. Yet, several listens in, I finally succumbed to the brilliant Irish punk love thrown up by the continuously punishing seven-piece. With shortened time and longer playlists, the Warrior’s Code has been one of the few records to quickly grow on me after an initial ho-hum feeling. One fear of any DK fan is the wildly spinning success of the band of the past few years will lead to a possible watering down of the product. This includes getting playing a Boston Bruins game, coming up with an theme for last year’s Boston Red Sox (“Tessie” featured here as a bonus track), among other endeavors. Yet, the Warrior’s Code may be the band’s most solid record, even if doesn’t contain ‘the’ best song of the band. Seriously, when you hear bagpipes accompanying perfectly-pitched punk songs how can you not love that? Songs that instill and force a sense of pride to brim to the surface? While there are a number of songs written specifically about/for Boston locals, there is enough outside appeal to reel anyone in. Check out highlights from the opener “Your Spirit’s Alive,” the title track, the traditional Irish “Captain Kelly’s Kitchen,” the odd pop chorus on “Sunshine Highway,” “Wicked Sensitive Crew,” “Take It And Run,” “The Auld Triangle” and “Last Letter Home” revolving around true letters from and between soldiers in Iraq and their families, including one who died and had wanted a DK song played at his funeral. As the Dropkick Murphys make their way towards the top of the music world, their honesty, pride and hardworking appeal seems as solid as ever on the Warrior’s Code.
Fear My Thoughts Coming at their first release for Lifeforce Fear My Thoughts offer twelve tracks of high-tempo, close-knit metal drawn from the cloth of a bit too many metal outfits. Acknowledging their tightness and moderately conscious inclusion of slight melodics, FMT seem too constrained by those that have come before on Hell Sweet Hell. The machine-gun, speed guitars on songs like “In the Hourglass” and “Dying Eyes” are fairly rad, but there is little here that hasn’t been done before and you don’t find any riffs to come back to. Adding to the melding hodge-podge and sense of sameness is that the songs are nearly all the identical and FMT don’t try to vary their metal attack. For instance, there are very few serious breakdowns with most simply comprising slightly different guitars and drawn out lines (e.g., “The Masters Call”). Save for the nearly requisite quasi-ballad “…Trying to Feel” at the end of Hell Sweet Hell, the only song to sweeten the pot and bring in outside influences is “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” About a minute into “Satisfaction Guaranteed” a keyboard provides a breakpoint eventually leading to high-on-harmonics moment and the most significant breakdown on the album. While developing every song in such a manner would reduce the novelty, more songs drawn from the ilk of “Satisfaction Guaranteed” would guaranteed a much better record. For those really desiring to love Fear My Thoughts my advice is to turn up the bass and blast it loud.
The Finale Coming out of central Pennsylvania, this is the Finale’s first full-length for Blackout and the band’s first toward their goal of worldwide punk domination. The problem is that the Finale sound like only slightly mature teenagers trying to ape and steal the melodic punk, but without any real ability. One part Blink and one part emo, the Finale’s songs contain solid and strong guitar work, but the vocals and lyrics leave something seriously to be desired. Given their pop appeal it is clear why they could be seen as a local favorite among the punk kids. The opening “A New Year Summer” actually starts with the impression that the Finale aren’t half-bad, but the following “My Living Will” is the first inclination that your ears are going to bleed due to off-key vocals. The drop-off continues through the rest of Things Can Still Get Better including missteps from “Alright With Me” and its gang vocals “Marco To Your Polo,” “Enough,” “Bottled Water and Vicodin” and the terrible closer “The Opposite of Hate.” If I was sixteen and there was really the only thing going in my town, I can imagine being enamored by the Finale and their pop punk. But that is not the case and we’ve all seen and heard much better things than the Finale. With cleaner vocals and better lyrics, the Finale might be worth talking about in the future.
The Junior Varsity Unlike another central Illinois band who recently released a record for Victory (the Forecast), Bloomington, IL’s the Junior Varsity are literally playing in the minors by simply paralleling and lifting the innovative melodic punk already done by better groups. After a full-length on British Records and a bunch of tours, the Junior Varsity were picked up by Victory to further fill out their increasing melodic lineup; though it is not clear why Victory needs another band like the JV. One of the more interesting plot lines to Wide Eyed is a series of equipment and merch robberies that occurred while the band recorded in Maryland; I must wonder whether there are criminals who specialize in robbing bands in Maryland and Virginia as I overwhelmingly hear robberies occurring in those locations. Getting back to the record, Wide Eyed opens on “Get Comfortable” where the JV makes the most usage of keyboardist Nick Dobson – something that is often hidden among the following ten songs. Without trying to make the JV sound like a new wave band or something, they could have stuck out by more consciously utilizing Dobson. There is some effort to blend in space guitars as on “When We Meet Aliens…” and further pushing may lead the band to Circa Survive sound. There is little doubt that Wide Eyed and its production job by Matt Squire creates a strong and solid collection of songs, but those of us looking for something more than just another quality melodic punk album will be disappointed. The lack of powerful, mind grabbing songs only increases the JV’s blending into the monotony of the scores of other melodic bands.
Just Surrender Does Just Surrender play convincing melodic punk that establishes them as force to be reckoned with in the near future? Is the Pope named Joey Ratz? (that is a yes). Does the four-piece do anything to differentiate themselves in the morass of other melodic punk bands that have formed over the past few years? Sort of. After an EP and a bunch of touring, Just Surrender holed up with producer John Naclerio to record their debut full-length. The result is tight, well-written songs with strong harmonies and just enough production flair to make them different from other bands. This includes slight effects and, more importantly, all on-key vocals even though they are flying from every direction. Yet, the vocal cadences and interplay sound so much like every other band, or at least every other good band, not the least of which is Taking Back Sunday. So you have impressive but heavily overused cadences that wind up distracting you from really enjoying the ten songs. Sometimes vocals hiccups are not a problem if the instrumentation is good, but the vocal weaves and layers are so integral to Just Surrender’s sound that it hard to ignore their implementation. This increasingly crops up on otherwise great songs like “Tell Me Everything,” “I Can Barely Breathe” and “She Broke My Heart So I Broke His Jaw.” If you can look through or even embrace the TBS’ style vocals then If These Streets Could Talk could become your favorite new record of the year.
Kite Operations There is something oddly annoying about Kite Operations and I can’t exactly put my finger on it. It is like an air of pretentiousness that simmers just below the surface and spurts forth on tracks like “Senses Are Next,” “Washing Out” and “Play Undo.” Besides from this rather weird ambience, NYC’s Kite Operations focus on pop-noise done by a well-trained instrumental rock band. Formed out of Theselah, Kite Operations includes Joseph Kim on guitars/vocals/piano, David Yang on guitars/vocals, Jie Whoon Kang on bass and Sung Shin on drums. On songs like “Effervescence” and “Tracing Paths,” Kite Operations channel Elliott Smith through a lens of Sonic Youth guitars. One could easily characterize Kite Operations as engaging in beautiful, wistful lullabies constrained by the need to inject noise in varying sections. It seems that the band has the potential to go in so many different directions that it will be interesting to see how Kite Operations unfold in the coming months and years. Will they go for acoustic-focused compositions, noise guitars, winding instrumentals or what? They excel at all as established on the opening three tracks, but with more focus they could become exceptional.
Laymen Terms Save for some super rad artwork, this incredibly long full-length from Laymen Terms is rather boring. Initially released in September of 2004, Laymen Terms’ drummer left the band right after, thus putting off the leg work on working the record. Colorado Springs’ Laymen Terms live somewhere off of Moneen and prefer five-to-six minute compositions that often leave much to be desired. It is not that twelve songs are bad or anything, they are just stretched out so much that you consistently wonder how good the songs could be if they took all the good parts and condensed them, while throwing out the junk. For instance, “Verity” is chock full of boring guitar-only sections and Laymen Terms don’t have enough variance to carry the eight-and-a-half minute “Nothing Will Change.” Similar examples abound – where Laymen Terms have the right pieces, but they are just scattered around. What Laymen Terms are capable of with only relying on guitars is seen in the middle of the instrumental number “Cabin Fever.” A good strategy for the band would be to concentrate hard on four or five songs for an EP – material that can really get them on the map. Right now, Laymen Terms are treading water too deep.
Life In Your Way Apparently my dad recorded this latest from Connecticut’s Life In Your Way; ask me about it later. Apart from this oddity, LIYW’s second full-length is secretly awesome with a full assault of metal, hardcore and melodic punk. In the parallel with a tone-downed Shai Hulud, the ten tracks on Ignite and Rebuild all brim with riffs, complex constructions and variance across vocal styles. It is easy to poo-poo LIYW as another ‘screamo’ amalgam, but their cornering and vocal progression are quite natural between screams, melodic vocals and traditional speaking. Particularly with the implementation of riffs and speaking on songs such as the mind-numbing “Light in Mine,” LITW brings back images of early Cave In – something that is sorely missing in today’s musical hodge-podge. While songs like “Light in Mine” won’t rip your ass off like “Crossbearer” or “Flypaper,” they are some of the best attempts heard in long time. Other gems come in the form of “Threads of Sincerity,” “This, the Midnight Express” and “More Than Effects.” The one downside to Ignite and Rebuild is the often and strange use of gang vocals on songs like the closer “The Change” – LIYW get so much done without gang vocals they should leave them out in the future. In a staid world where bands are just mixing shit together to sound different and only accomplish sounding like everyone else, Life In Your Way is a refreshing treatise on how to do it right, make it natural and smooth out the awkward edges. And if nothing else, Life In Your Way seems a band that could produce goosebumps galore during a live set.
Longwave As Longwave’s latest for RCA, the five-piece lace their twelve songs with magical pop bliss always keeping an eye towards melodies and inspiring the rock sound with guitar and keyboard effects. You get a much better image of Brooklyn’s Longwave simply with the knowledge that did a few years of self-promotion before getting picked up by RCA in 2002. This is simply because you hate it when bands get signed by majors before really working and their score is based on potential; and most of those bands flame out anyway. While Longwave didn’t do a ton of pre-RCA work – 2001’s Endsongs (on LunaSea Records) and self-promoted tours – one believes that if RCA dumps them due to financial reasons they can survive without their support. Given the quality of There’s A Fire, I’m surprised that I haven’t heard more from their first record or their two on RCA – 2002’s The Strangest Thing and 2004’s EP Life of the Party. Of course, I don’t really keep an ear to the major label rock rosters. Yet, the pop appeal of There’s A Fire is undeniable. The record kicks off with the title track where Longwave put forth their best ‘rock’ song of the album. “Underworld” introduces the listener to the softer, keyboard-based side of Longwave and “River (Depot Source)” brings in heavy guitar effects to mid-tempo rock. This split between rock and softer keys-orientated songs defines much of There’s A Fire. “The Flood” slowly moves with bass drum, piano and echoed vocals, but “Tell Me I’m Wrong” ushers back the upbeat pop and one of the better choruses on the record. “Heart Attack” is more detached closely in scope to a pop Radiohead and after the short instrumental “Dancing in the Light” Longwave attack you with riff-rock garage rock on “We’re Not Gonna Crack.” “Down In Here” is just electronic nonsense, while “Fall In Every Whim” again showcases the pop rock that Longwave is best at. There’s A Fire closes out with “Next Plateau” and “Underneath You Knew the Names.” “Next Plateau” has a more British singer-songwriter edge with slight parallels to Belle and Sebastian, mostly in how the vocal are changed. “Underneath You Knew the Names” hitches on American rock and lays a pop blanket on top of it. Along with “There’s A Fire,” “Tell Me I’m Wrong” and “Next Plateau,” “Underneath You Knew the Names” is one of the better tracks on the record. With the release of There’s A Fire Longwave should have little problem making themselves household names and allow them to move out of dingy Brooklyn.
Motion City Soundtrack While not containing as obvious a breakthrough smash pop hit as “The Future Freaks Me Out” from their last record I Am the Movie, the overall quality of the twelve songs on Motion City Soundtrack’s Commit This To Memory far surpasses previous efforts. As the first production job for Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus, Commit This To Memory constantly brims with the most appealing melodic punk going these days. While MCS may be more a pop band than any type of punk outfit, their harmonies and melodies are undeniably catchy and make you want to dance. Helped in some respects on their pop appeal for I Am the Movie by producer Ed Rose, MCS have realized that they needed to keep the momentum moving to whatever was next. The first implication of this carryover comes on the first single “Everything Is Alright.” With similar flavor to “The Future Freaks Me Out,” MCS enlisted Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stumph and Rob MacLean and Patrick Carrie from the underappreciated Limbeck to fill out the vocals on “Everything Is Alright.” Besides from a fabulous chorus, “Everything Is Alright” includes some of the most visible OCD lyrics in pop music. But the show doesn’t end their as demonstrated by the exceptional followers “Feel Like Rain,” “Make Out Kids” (with a reference to the now-forgotten Ned’s Atomic Dustin Grey Cell Green), “Time Turned Exceptional” and “Better Open the Door.” On a side note, a song like “Together We’ll Ring In the New Year” establishes a clearer link with the Smoking Popes than I ever previously realized. Commit This To Memory is one of the better sophomore albums from any contemporary band in awhile. Don’t be surprised if Motion City Soundtrack reach all new heights in the coming year.
NearMiss/Reeve Oliver/The Matches Taking the split 7” to the 21st century comes Takeover Records’ latest 3-way split between NearMiss (Takeover Records), The Matches (Epitaph Records) and Reeve Oliver (The Militia Group). All in the melodic punk world, NearMiss kicks off the affair with three quick hitting numbers that show several sides to the band. One, as on “Number 7,” is that NearMiss can play balls-out fast punk. Another, as established on “Now Rectify,” is that NearMiss can also knock heads with the best catchy punk bands going. Reeve Oliver follows with their own catchy punk songs. After the ho-hum “Summer,” Reeve Oliver offer two of the better numbers here – “I Play the Sensitive Songwriter Card” and “We’re All Gonna Die.” Consistent with Reeve Oliver’s previous record, the band has a pop sound that either you are going love or you are going to wish death upon the three-piece. The Matches crap out on the finale of the split with three terrible songs. There is some sense on their first track “A Girl I Know,” but the two acoustic songs “Sick Little Suicide” and “Shoot Me” totally suck. It is rather amusing that the band on the biggest label drops the biggest dump. If I was Takeover, I’d make Epitaph cover the costs of the Matches’ monstrosity. Still, if you are a fan of NearMiss or Reeve Oliver, this is worthwhile pick.
The Rise Within thirty seconds of the opening track “Durational Expectancy,” you are cued in to the fact that Austin’s the Rise are not your average band. Creating a hodge-podge melting pot of hardcore, punk and indie, the Rise can blast you while maintaining a harmonious core. Thankfully, even though the main vocals may be characterized as slight screaming, the back-and-forth with melodic tongues doesn’t create a forced soft-hard sound image. Part of the Rise’s allure comes from the inclusion of synths and electronics underlying their hard sound as first established on “The Most Intensive Second Guessing.” At other times, the Rise take advantage of electronics and move towards electro-clash love, as on the opening to “Rosenburg Requiem…” and “An Engineered Message,” as well as short instrumentals like “In the 800th Lifetime.” While certainly echoing contemporaries like Refused, songs like “The Strategy of Social Futurism” and somewhat “Time & Change” comes closer to Linkin Park on the chorus – so, Linkin Park-like harmonies, but not the bad rapping thing. Negative in some respects, the parallels on “The Strategy of Social Futurism” may actually get the Rise some more play by stations. A slam dunk live show by the Rise could allow them to accelerate rapidly into people’s consciousness. The power of Reclamation Process has induced me to pay attention to any future endeavors from the Rise.
Rufio Rufio is one of the few punk bands that can smoke you during a live show even without extensive knowledge of their catalog. That is what happened to me a couple of years ago when Rufio opened for some band that I can’t even remember any more that is probably buried already. Marginally familiar with their 2003 full-length MCMLXXXV and with the experience of their live show, I was expected a lot from The Comfort of Home. Instead, the album falls beneath expectations and comes off like punk songs trying to be so slightly different from the melodic scene but creating a rather boring product. Even with the injection of odd 80s guitar riffs (that were keyboards in the 80s) on “A Simple Line,” Rufio fails to inspire the listener or ingrain songs in your memory. It seems that Rufio may be trying to slowly transition to a more rock sound and come across less like another Cal punk outfit. In the one sheet, the band admits that after MCMLXXXV they got together and scratched a bunch of songs that were similar to previous endeavors in their poppiness and catchiness. Rufio then focused on developing a more mature sound and lyrics – specifically songs that lyrically meant more to the band. That’s cool and all, but Rufio forgot to write songs that you wanted to hit repeat on. A couple get close including “Out of Control,” “Mental Games,” “Walk Don’t Run” and the pop “Drowning,” but none can bring it home. Based on The Comfort of Home it appears that Rufio is transitioning to a more mature sound, but they haven’t managed to figure out exactly what the shape they want yet.
Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff is all about one song; one song that is fucking unbelievable good. That song is the heart-stomper and opener “The Comeback.” “The Comeback” starts with some beeps and then the full band kicks in with a very straight indie rock progression that blows up into pop-blitz, new wave perfection. Part of the appeal is the gorgeous simple instruments, but it mostly draws from the incredibly perfect creaking vocals from lead singer Adam Olenius. You come away from such a three-minute introduction to Sweden’s Shout Out Louds thinking this may be the best record and band to scorch planet Earth in sometime. Your hopes are not dashed on the solid follower “Very Loud,” where the Shout Out Louds punch out pop rock with Springsteen tinges and parallels to Canada’s the Constantines. Yet, after these two absolute dazzlers, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff begins the slippery slide to mediocre. It is not as if the five-piece drop away into oblivion, it is just that the new wave indie rock is not infused with same attention to strong song structures and catchy lyrics. You shed a tear for a lost opportunity. If you are a Cure fan then your tear might turn to rage listening to “100 [degrees]”. I scanned the liner notes to see where the Shout Out Louds cite the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” for the central riff to “100 [degrees],” but it is nowhere to be found. It is such a rip-off that it rivals the “Ice Ice Baby” job. It is probably best just to skip past the song in order to relax the nerves. A couple of other songs to take note of include the clapping “Hurry Up Let’s Go” and “Shut Your Eyes.” Look, just put “The Comeback” on repeat and every once in awhile play “Very Loud” and you will satisfy your thirst for catchy rock. The potential for the Shout Out Louds is phenomenal, so let’s hope that the future brings good things and realization of lollipop and sunshine choruses.
Sleeping People I do believe that this latest from San Diego’s Sleeping People proves that Kenseth Thibideau has too much time on his hands and should pick up ultramarathoning or something instead of releasing records with instrumental bands of all sorts. Seriously, though, this debut full-length by Sleeping People offers seven tracks and thirty-five minutes of pulsating, intertwining guitars and drums. Besides from Thibideau’s impact, Sleeping People are rounded out by Kasey Boekhold, Joileah Maddock and Brandon Relf. In describing the sound, the one sheet might do it best paralleling Sleeping People’s sound to the feeling of being chased by the cops. A better description might be being chased by random people in an old-school Nintendo game. Not as hauntingly enticing as Explosions in the Sky or Mono nor as random as other instrumental bands, Sleeping People finds a happy median between repetitive guitar rock and more esoteric pursuits. The only place where you feel the random shit element creeping in is on the seven-minute “Fripp for Girls.” Given the number of cookie jars the members of Sleeping People have been exploring it may some time before another record.
So They Say Maybe I should lay off a band from my future hometown of St. Louis, but young bands like So They Say tend to get on my nerves. The reason is that So They Say stick with mind-numbing ordinary harmonies, melodies and song constructions. The only slight change is that the guitars can move in non-preordained directions and offer a little to sink you teeth into across the EP’s six songs. This is found in moments on the opener “Goodbye Goodbye” and the breakdown on “Midwest Island.” But how So They Say ape the mainline melodic punk sound, particularly on the vocals, can be quite frustrating. The band is still young, so hopefully they can find their own foundation to stand on instead of trying to stand on the shoulders of midgets. Opinions may change with likely live exposure to So They Say in STL, so stay tuned.
Syd Matters Slowly but surely French singer-songwriter Syd Matters is searching for world-wide dominance when this double record is released by V2. A part of a two-disc set by V2, A Whisper and a Sigh is Matters for first record (so it is being reissued) and Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles is his latest; a pretty good deal depending on the price. Both records illustrate Matters’ penchant for an acoustic guitar core fleshed out by electronic minimalism that is rather Euro. Drawing from the Beatles as well as contemporaries like Sondre Lerche, there is a lot to enjoy within the twenty-four song, two-hour affair. There is hardly drop off in quality between songs or albums, but there is also not necessarily a slam-dunk single that could quickly cement Matters in the minds of the American audience – although songs like “To All of You” do take a good shot. The real difference between records is that Someday flushes with more attention to 60s pop than A Whisper as illustrated on the string of songs “To All of You,” “I Care” and “Someday Sometimes.” Although A Whisper is a bedroom solo recording, you can hardly notice a difference between the two records in terms of quality, though Someday has a slightly thicker sound. Depending on the promotion V2 gives Matters in the U.S. he could quite well here. Those into the Euro rock bands on Astralwerks will enjoy Syd Matters and you get a double score if this release is priced normally.
Throw Rag Originally coming from tweaker paradise near the Salton Sea in the desert of California (but now in the LA-area), the Throw Rag of today is a drunken, dirty punkabilly affair that functions on harmonies within classically structured punk songs. Throw Rag enhances up the increasingly strange, mostly LA-based, punk lineup of the ever transforming BYO Records. Previous incarnations of the band were wilder, destructive assaults that focused more on attacks of the senses than whether the songs were compelling. Throw Rag is certainly still wild, but they have placed more emphasis on writing solid punk songs than just partying. While Throw Rag is probably not the best thing you’ve heard, particularly on temporarily annoying tracks like “Sad Girl” and “Trouble,” if you once fascinated about making love to the Rev. Horton Heat and his cronies, then you will love Throw Rag. Songs that will make you move your feet include “Bobby Wayne,” “Rotten Me,” the poppy “The Promise” and “Swingset Superman.” If nothing else, you know you are doing something right when you can get Lemmy from Motorhead and Jello Biafra to lend their vocals to your record. Look for Throw Rag to get off the Left Coast in the near future.
V/A If nothing else, you have to give Wind-up kudos for moving away from Marvel soundtracks encompassed entirely of their artists or artists that sound incredibly like one another. While you get a healthy dose of the Wind-up’s present roster on the FF soundtrack – including Megan McCauley, Submersed, Breaking Point, Omnisoul – there are also numbers from Taking Back Sunday, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Lloyd Banks Chingy and Joss Stone. With last year’s ridiculously successful record, Taking Back Sunday getting a song on this comp officially makes them rock stars – unfortunately their number “Error Operator” is average at best. Sum 41’s “Noots” follows closely to their last record, while Simple Plan rounds out the punk offerings with a cover of “Surrender.” Apart from these, other tracks to take note of include Miri Ben-Ari’s (feat. Phardahe Monch) “New World Symphony,” the super group T.F.F.’s “I’ll Take You Down” (T.F.F. is composed of Chris Cester of Jet, Brody Dalle of the Distillers, Dolf de Datsun of the Datsuns and Nick Zinner of YYYs), Lloyd Banks’ “On Fire” (possibly the best track here) and fans of Alter Bridge will be taken by “Shed My Skin.” This twenty track soundtrack falls perfectly into Wind-up’s previous Marvel movie soundtracks like Daredevil and Punisher. While, the artists are from more different corners than previous soundtracks there is nothing really here to knock you pants off.
V/A After a several year hiatus, KRS offers another video collection of live performances, videos and (unrelated) short films from their current crop of artists as well as masters from the past. Live performances come from Unwound, the Gossip, xbxrx, Quix*o*tic Born Against and Sleater-Kinney. Notable among this set are Unwound’s “Valentine Card” from 2002, the live show collection for xbxrx and Sleater-Kinney’s “Turn It On.” The few short films are basically just artistic junk that should be avoided. The rest of DVD is comprised of fifteen videos from various KRS groups. Videos that standout from the rest include Die Matrosen’s Kleenex/LiLiPUT (which actually is just music set to unreleased footage of the group), Xiu Xiu’s “20000 Deaths for Eidelyn Gonzales, 20000 Deaths for Jamie Peterson,” Deerhoof’s short video of “Dog On the Sidewalk,” Gravy Trains’ “Ghost Boobs,” Stereo Total’s “Liebe Zue Dritt,” the pAper chAse’s “Said the Spider to the Fly,” Mae Shi’s “Vampire Beats” and the Decemberists’ “The Soldiering Life.” Essentially if you are fan of KRS and their lineup then you will love this latest video collection.
V/A As the latest offering by Fearless into a theme album comes a bunch of punk bands covering hits from the 1980s. Consistent with almost any cover album there is a wide variance across song quality – either due to the band or due to the original number. Listening to this fifteen song record immediately brings up the debate of whether covers are better if they invigorate, but keep the original structure, or if the cover is best when it is only a fraction of the original. The latter strategy when done successfully can be mind-blowing. The former is the safest way to go and the easiest for a band to just knock out – and possibly the more enjoyable on a daily basis. For the most part, the fifteen bands on Punk Goes 80s simply replay the originals with minimal changes. The clearest winner among this set is the opener, Reliant K’s “Manic Monday.” Others to look out for include Motion City Soundtrack’s “Pop Song 89,” Amber Pacific’s “Video Killed the Radio Star” (though I prefer the Weston cover from their Splitsville record), Hidden In Plain View’s version of “I Ran” and “Wrapped Around You Finger” from Brazil. The record also includes other standards that past mustard, but aren’t tremendously enlivening including Sugarcult’s “I Melt With You,” Rufio’s “Don’t You Forget About Me” and “Just Like Heaven” from Gatsby’s American Dream. The best audience for Punk Goes 80s is youngsters who are into these upper echelon bands of the melodic punk scene. Others will get a pump from several songs, but may find the overall image not a love fest.
Vanilla Sky For whatever reason, Italy has been able to produce a number of American audience-acceptable pop and melodic punk bands over the past decade. It seems that each area of Europe is known for different styles of music on this side of the Atlantic. For instance, Britain gets the plug for moody indie pop and Scandinavia for every variant death metal (and more recently garage punk). But, Italy continues to be defined by strong punk bands. One of the latest to our ears is Rome’s Vanilla Sky. Following the SoCal melodic punk line, Vanilla Sky will make Warped Tour fans scream as they locate another member to their collection. Coming off like Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard and others, you can knock Vanilla Sky for having a mildly generic sound and for a potentially badly referenced moniker. But for whatever reason, it is not as bothersome as it might be. Is it due to the slightly accented English vocals or the occasional inclusion of strings and piano? I’m not sure, but the twelve songs give you something to sink your teeth into. Having extensively toured Europe and Japan, Vanilla Sky is now setting their sights on the U.S. Probably the first task is to get a hot opening slot for a band like Yellowcard, which would instantly give the cred amongst the American kids.
Veda With little doubt the appeal of Veda comes from chanteuse Kristen May’s sweeping and grandiose vocals. Coming off not unlike the regrettably deceased Denali, May leads Veda through the thirteen-track, fifty-minute The Weight of an Empty Room. Coming from Kansas City and having pop-drenched indie rock sound, one should not be surprised that the wizard of Kansas Ed Rose produced the record. One interesting counterpoint to the Denali comparison is that May’s vocals could equally be suited for a Evanescence-styled effort or a quasi-goth band that sings about vampires and stuff; so, at the very least May can have other areas to explore if Veda ever dissolves. Oddly, the first single (or video) “The Falling Kind” is hardly the best song on The Weight, with immediately better songs coming from openers “Trade This Fear” and “Song for a Friend.” On a song like “Lover’s Lie,” Veda strings and mellows things out with May sounding like an early 90s indie pop star. Other songs to take note of include “It’s All Happening on Broadway,” “Safe” and “Still Standing.” With all thirteen songs in the three to four-and-a-half minute range, a listener can become overcome with a feeling that the record will never end. Without discounting the quality of the songs, Veda may have done well do to more with song length and tempo. Although Veda have received good attention from shows and tours with the Get Up Kids and Copeland, they may have a wider audience outside of melodic punk world.
Wolf Parade Essentially this is just a four-song teaser in order to get us ready for a surely dynamite full-length entitled Apologies to the Queen Mary to be released in September by Montreal’s Wolf Parade. In that respect, the first two songs “Shine a Light” and “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son” will actually be on full-length, which sort of sucks. The four-piece are a well-connected bunch, with friends in Arcade Fire and Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, who channel core indie rock in similar thoughts to country and label mates Constantines, but with more artsy panache. Wolf Parade add to their sound underlying keyboards which helps to differentiate and provides an intermittent dance feel as on “Disco Sheets.” The obvious standout number on EP is the opener “Shine a Light.” Smartly directed and focused, “Shine a Light” is a sure hit single with pulsing bass and guitars and humming keys. While “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son” is average, “Lousy Pictures” returns Wolf Parade to more of the straight ahead rock. This EP clearly fulfills its job as a teaser, thus causing a tapping anticipation for Apologies to the Queen Mary. You may also want to hold off to the full-length as well.
xbxrx After a five-year hiatus from a full-length, the Bay Area’s xbxrx are back with an eighteen-song effort for Polyvinyl. It is not that xbxrx have been doing nothing since their debut full-length so long ago. In the meantime, the group has done a bunch of 7”s and tours and sought to spread their tight spazz noise to the rest of America. But one can question why xbxrx wouldn’t do more full-lengths since the eighteen songs here average only slightly over a minute and are not exactly epic compositions. This question is maybe more pertinent given similar-minded groups – the 3.1.G. crowd – unleashing scores of records over the past few years. Two things are immediately clear about Sixth in Sixes. First, xbxrx are not nearly as annoying as most noise bands and demonstrate a bit more tact in their one-minute orgies. Second, without doubt xbxrx are a band to be experience live than to be loved recorded. That is, you see the band live and then listen to the record and relive the show. Though not as tight and intense as say the Locust, xbxrx do put on a good show. Look for the experience in your town soon.
Yellowcard Experience Yellowcard before they became the massively popular pop-punk juggernaut of today on the reissue of Where We Stand. Originally released in 1999 when the band was still in high school, this version of the band featured Ben Dobson on vocals and was the first to employ Sean Mackin’s violin. While Mackin’s violin mostly plays the role of another guitar, the ten songs on Where We Stand are very parallel to the Fat Wreck beat with clear comparisons to a grittier NOFX. The speed muting of guitarist Todd Clary obviously creates this comparison, but within the subset of punk bands aping this sound, early Yellowcard ain’t half bad. The difference with present-day Yellowcard is marked, but the speed riffs, shouting vocals and high-tempo drums make this version quite enjoyable. I have colossal penchant for guitar-muting breakdowns, so songs like “Sue” bring smiles to the kid in me. Other songs to take note of include the standout opener “Lesson Learned,” the Slapstick-like “Kids” and the closer “On the Brink.” Takeover has enhanced the CD with a video and there is thick new booklet to go along with the original. You should pick this up if you a big Yellowcard fan or if you love the 90s Fat Wreck sound and want another addition to your lineup. copyright exoduster.com 2005 |