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March Reviews Artist of the Month: The Shins The expectations for the Shins’ third record, Wincing the Night Away, were ginormous. People far and wide were fixating and betting on the outcome like drunken tourists who’ve been up for two days trying to win back their life fortunes in Vegas. Add to that, everyone you know now has at least heard of the Shins – you may have to mention the scene in Garden State for them to pick up on it – and so you had a group of disinterested folks waiting to diss on the band if Wincing sucked. Thankfully, and with a bit of work, the eleven songs here serve as a treat and have the ability to both keep and win some fans. Wincing the Night Away begins with haunting and strangeness on “Sleeping Lessons.” Floating, stoned keyboards and Mercer’s vocals lead the way slowly to the full on indie rock that creeps in halfway through and then slams the table. The Shins it is! If you, like me, are an uber-fan of the Shins’ warm 60s indie pop goosebump producers, there’s enough here for your fix. How about the fantastic follower “Australia”? Or, the brilliantly catchy “Phantom Limb,” which indeed rolls on like “New Slang” and lyric-wise is reportedly about two lesbian high schoolers? And on this last note, I realize now that content wise, the Shins could be singing about beating baby seals over the head, but as long as they did with the pop sheen, I would love it. It’s probably a bad thing not to search for meaning, but you simply get entranced here. Other songs to catch the classic Shins’ sound are “Turn On Me,” the simply scored “Girl Sailor,” and the more toned-down closer “A Comet Appears” that includes a Simon and Garfunkel vocal cadence. However, the Shins also include a series of songs that buck the “Shins’ sound” and help establish new, impressive directions. This includes the slight hip-hop drum beat driven “Sealegs,” where Mercer extends his vocal range and psych keys are added near the end; some call it a Morrissey-like expansion, but I don’t hear it unless you stretch the parallel. The follower “Red Rabbits,” with the assistant of Chris Funk from the Decemberists, slinks lightly past and includes a whimsical Charlotte’s Web-patterned vocal bridge. “Black Wave” and “Split Needles” also are deviations for the Shins, where the first is more haunting and the latter includes a variety of synthesizers and samples to enliven the sound. We already know that people love Wincing the Night Away given that it came out in late January and it was number 2 on the Billboard charts in its first week. Yes, people like it. And with a correct dose of 60s indie pop and sound twists, you should too.
Aspen It Is Kicking things off in a non-starting manner with dullard opener “Welcome to Warp Zone,” NJ’s Aspen It Is soon make up for the mistake with the cresdenoing intro to “Pipe Dreams” and lyrics like ‘we grew up on Nintendo, Fraggle Rock and GI Joe….” While “Pipe Dreams” doesn’t slam dunk its potential, it does suggest there is more to listen for on Aspen It Is’s twelve-track Release Me! Through the record, Aspen It Is likes to move all over their basic melodic indie punk foundation with tempo shifting, mood changes, and various instruments included – sometimes with strong results and other times leaving something lacking. Happiness inducers include the uptempo poppy “The Blue Arm of the Black Tuxedo,” the excellent quick “Back to the Future Part IV,” “She’s Dead, We’re All Dead,” and bits of “A Journey to the Home of the Blue Hens” (which would be the University of Delaware?). If nothing else, Aspen It Is serves as a substantial outlet from the guys’ ordinary lives.
Blood Brothers The Blood Brothers have had a recent string of bad luck. First, many in the indie intelligentsia poo-pooed the fifteen-song Young Machetes for some reason…more on that in a second. Then, Blood Brothers’ label V2 shut it North American doors and put Blood Brothers out in the snow – though it should take about five seconds for a new deal to be struck somewhere. Back to the album. Following the band members’ various side projects over the past couple of years, Jordan Blilie, Mark Gajadhar, Morgan Henderson, Cody Votolato, and Johnny Whitney, unleash one of the band’s most wide flinging, balls-out, interesting records of their existence. Possibly the guys’ work in other outfits brought new energy and innovativeness to their crazed, noisy hardcore punk, but whatever the reason Young Machetes is smoking. Opening the album yelling “fire, fire, fire” on “Set Fire to the Face on Fire,” Blood Brothers rocks through such stunners as the synth-driven and multiple vocal “Laser Life,” the strange billion sectioned “Camouflage, Camouflage,” the thumping throwback “Spit Shine Your Black Clouds,” the hard angular “Johnny Ripper,” the odd pop of “Street Wars/Exotic Foxholes,” and the wild closer “Giant Swan.” The only possible knock on Young Machetes is that fifteen songs at fifty-one minutes might be too much Blood Brothers at once for anyone.
Bloodlined Calligraphy Remove yourself from the novelty aspect of Bloodlined Calligraphy and the eleven-track Ypsilanti still pounds in your skull with brutal metalcore. Non-stop smashing beats, plunking bass, and furious metal riffs meet well-tempered controlled screams for a sound that is massively impressive. Now for the novelty part of BC – the lead singer is Ally French. That’s right a woman throwing down, along with help from her male counterparts. A rarity indeed in metalcore, but let’s hope that it doesn’t overshadow how good BC actually is. Ypsilanti should and hopefully will propel Bloodlined Calligraphy to top exposure and ripping thrashing tours.
Cobra Starship Cobra Starship first entered the musical community’s consciousness by providing music for the phantom hit Snakes on a Plane. Add to that the temporary supergroup formed around the soundtrack song “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)” featuring Maja Ivarsson from the Sounds and Nick Wheeler from the All-American Rejects, among others, and this release had mass anticipation from the rock world. At the front of Cobra Starship and the man behind the scenes is Gabe Saporta, and he is aided by a core backing band and various guests include Ivarsson and Wheeler. Initially many folks were disappointed in While the City Sleeps, as they were searching for the next musical messiah. Another thing that annoyed some is the cloakness surrounding the existence of the band – like exactly who is in the band, what’s the deal with the snakes, and is it all a conspiracy by the indie music elites. And while Cobra Starship are not the second coming, the eleven songs here do pump the blood with an array of catchy, uptempo pop rock. Among the dazzlers are “Send My Love to the Dance Floor…,” “The Church of Hot Addiction,” the aforementioned “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)” that mostly sticks thanks to a magical chorus, and the quasi-tongue-in-cheek “Pop-Punk Is Soooo ’05.”
Copeland These veteran indie pop rockers offer up their third full-length Eat, Sleep, Repeat and move further and further into the dreamy Radiohead music motif. After Copeland’s strong sophomore record “In Motion,” many have anticipated Eat, Sleep, Repeat as a means to keep Copeland at the top of the emo indie pop world. Offering more ambient backgroundscapes, Copeland channel melodic brooding lullabies coupled with appealing requisite choruses. And thus, you shouldn’t listen to Copeland when trying to stay awake particularly if you’re driving. But as a relaxation inducer, the eleven songs on Eat, Sleep, Repeat serve the job. While some songs standout, like “Where’s My Head?,” the title track, “Control Freak,” “I’m Safer In An Airplane,” and “I’m A Sucker for a Kind Word,” the downside to the record is the difficulty in truly differentiating song from song. You put the record in, spin it, and it all sounds of similar pop songs. With regard to presenting a sweet melodic soundscape, it’s brilliant, but if you want to pick and choose amongst the songs it is relatively futile. Nevertheless, Eat, Sleep, Repeat will continue to allow Copeland to lull young women into their gaze.
Damsel Damsel are roughly an one-off random jazz fuck nut and display as such on these four songs. Should you be surprised that Zach Hill is part of this outfit? Hell, no! As discussed in our review of Holy Smokes, the UN recently passed a resolution that any noise jazz collaboration must include Hill in some way or form. Joining Hill in this recording is avant guitarist Nels Cline, and production help from Jonathan Hischke and Matt Zivich. Should be also be surprised that Distressed was recorded in one day? A triple hell no! The improv sound of Distressed says ‘done in one day’ all over it. In general, I prefer recordings that I couldn’t write, perform, and record in an afternoon.
According to the press kit, Destroy the Runner write “well-constructed, catchier-than-a-cold” songs. What the press kit doesn’t tell you (conveniently, or not) is that only bad things are catchier than a cold, such as Ebola or metal bands that fill their music with “hope, positivity, and light.” Yes, these songs will stay with you for days (much like a cold), but ask yourself—is that a good thing? The music here is not bad per se, but the emo-core element to the vocals brings an unfortunate association (for me) with re-makes of classic horror movies that always have generic metalish bands play over the ending credits (remember the Dawn of the Dead remake?). That is to say that Destroy the Runner can be easily associated with disappointment, but I’ll qualify that by adding it’s a disappointment that’s uplifting and spiritual. Largely forgettable, but young evangelical Christians could probably use this as background music while playing ultra-violent video games like Gears Of War. Did you catch what I just did there? (- Andrew Pryor)
Dmonstrations It should be enough information that Dmonstrations split their time between Tokyo and SoCal and are on GSL to get a grasp of the band’s sound and direction. And on Dmonstrations’ ten-track debut for GSL, they pretty much stick to that stereotype in their guttural noise punk and with high-pitched whining and screaming vocals. Nothing here will blow you away nor is there anything that will make you wish death on them. In that respect, Dmonstrations may have a leg up on others in this visceral genre.
The Drugstore Cowboys Chapter 3006… begins promisingly enough drawing you in with electro-noise, but soon the whole thing goes to fucking hell. The two-piece of Jeff Scott and Philippe Grenade jumple up mass electronic programming and match it by laying vocals over top. You’ve heard and seen the general image way before – know as every other band from art school. Again, the opening few songs are intriguing and moderately enjoyable, but then Scott and Grenade think they are next coming of Cex. As they say, it is just their desire to meld every style of sound into one big party – but the problem is they’re not good at all of it. The horrificness begins with a Patton-vocal throwback at the end of “Mind of a Sales Man” and then gets further filled with holes on such travesties as “Coyote Confessions,” “Pornographic Fruitstands,” and “Eulogy to a Friendly Foe.” FEW AND THE PROUD The Few And The Proud hails from Chicago and delivers straight edged, unadulterated punk. Positive, but not in an obvious way, Few And The Proud play it safe and for the most part this works. Although there are no huge risks being taken here (and likewise no huge payoffs), the songs on Stampede crash and burn in all the right places. Listening to the Few And The Proud make sonic waves of power chords slam against crash heavy drums and clanging bass, behind good old fashioned shouted vocals, gives one the feeling that this would be a great live band. Label mates Regret, on the other hand, raise the stakes a bit. This band actually sounds dangerous (musically speaking) and the lyrics are actually affective for what’s going on instrumentally. Yes, sometimes “we are better off alone.” Yes, we do need “to get the fuck out of this town.” Regret show a keen sense for knowing when to let the songs grind along propelled with feedback before picking up into siren pummeling mayhem. This push-pull tension goes a long way for making the songs on Misery Brigade engaging. Album openers “Nineteen Sixty-Eight” and “Welcome To The New Year” are particularly nice with some excellent drum breaks and effectively layered/textured guitars, and in the case of the former, the refrain: “Because if you’re nailed to the cross, we’ll tear you down.” Now those are fighting words. Good stuff. (- AP)
Goodbye Tomorrow If you think that bands like Copeland don’t influence young up-and-coming bands all you have to do is take a quick listen of Phoenix’s Goodbye Tomorrow EP. Of course, if they remind you of Copeland then they naturally remind you of older Radiohead, and that point is enthusiastically hammered home of the opener “Tragedienne.” The soft, pop indie continues slowly throughout the other two songs here, “Carouseling” and “A Verspertine Haunting.” Goodbye Tomorrow are good at their craft, but it just makes me want to take a nap; so, listen up all you insomniacs.
Have Heart Churning in the Boston hardcore scene since 2002, Have Heart only now release their debut full-length; thanks to the members separate times getting through college. Like many Bridge 9 bands, Have Heart carry a straight edge message and try to mix things up in the lyrics, but since they are being shouted/screamed by Patrick Flynn you’d have no idea unless you went through the liner. HH follow the traditional hardcore punk sound and add enough small twists and turns not to sound exactly like a band from the 80s. That’s refreshing in this world. The band’s main fault is their odd penchant for slowing the flow down to a crawl where it becomes clear that they aren’t (nor are most) tremendous musicians. Check out Have Heart live for a more legit experience.
I believe that somewhere there is a law written that any collaborative noise-type outfit must include Zach Hill. Holy Smokes is such a collaboration and includes Hill along with six other folks including members of Pinback, the Advantage, and the Flying Luttenbachers. Possibly it’s this specific collection of musicians, but thankfully Holy Smokes is not a side-note, fuck-off job consisting of random noise. Sure there are some fuck-off moments, but across the sixteen-track, near hour-long album there are also a number of songs that will appeal to varying listeners. Such on the up and up include the extended “Universe’s N.A.R.C.” replete with compelling vocals and background free jazz drumming, the relative rocking “Young Accent” and “Too Many Wives (All You Need is Blood),” “Don’t Squab on God’s Tracks,” and seven-minute “Quantum Leaper of Los Angeles County.”
Justin Beckler Justin Beckler possesses that unusual ability to cut through and be noticed in the overcrowded field of commonplace rock singer-songwriters. Backed by a three-piece band, Beckler offers his own vision of Americana, bluesy, countrified rock, and manages a handful of impressive songs. These include the terrific opener “This Mountain” where instruments, hand clapping, and vocals all continually intensify; the uptempo “Shadow Bag (Troubled Mind)”; the catchy and poppy “Everything You Say Is True”; and the strong “In My Hands.” As long as Beckler doesn’t overdo the ‘serious’ singer-songwriter and keep things even-keeled, he should do well; almost like a more rock Sam Beam.
Les Georges Leningrad Part of the mentally disturbed, drug-fueled electro punk noise wave, this Montreal three-piece pulse better than most on their third release. Possibly due to having a female vocal chanteuse, Les Georges Leningrad don’t go down the route of screaming nonsense implanted in walls of sound. Instead, the band tramps down rhythmically spaced punk where heavy fuzz underlies the progression. In fact, some songs like “Mammal Beats,” the excellent “Skulls in the Closet,” and “Mange Avec Tes Doigts” utilize quite conventional rock structures. In good noise form, though, Les Georges opens (“Sangue Puro”) and closes (“The Future For Less”) Sangue Puro with extended noise and packs one in the middle with an ode to “Ennio Morricone.”
Lordz If you ever wondered where the ethereal punk hip-hop sound went off to, well it’s strongly alive with Brooklyn’s Lordz – a location that the band loves to keep repeating and reminding you of just in case you wouldn’t give them enough respect, word. And like hip-hop records, Lordz rely on an array of guests including Tim Armstrong, Everlast, Bedouin Soundclash, and Jaret Reddick. Armstrong is massively exploited by Lordz on “Outlaw” where Armstrong sings the chorus hook. Not surprisingly, “Outlaw” is the first single released by Lordz and the label off The Brooklyn Way. The other guests aren’t nearly as sticking. The rest of record is broken up between slow, mellow hip-hop rock tracks including the title track, “Soundboy,” and hard rockers like “It’s Alright,” the actually poppy catchy chorus of “Runaway,” “New York Groove,” and the strong “Uh Oh.” The Brooklyn Way is the perfect soundtrack for summer bbq’s by tough guys wearing wife beaters and swilling beer.
The Modern Day Saint Massachusetts’ The Modern Day Saint are several songs away from offering a timeless punk record on the eleven-track …And Tomorrow We Will Have Nothing. Starting off on the opener “Always Keep Your Head Up” and sprinkled throughout the album, The Modern Day Saint offer an updated balls-out Hot Water Music parallel. Happily, the band recorded And Tomorrow independently and then afterwards got picked up by Eyeball, which makes sense as Modern Day Saint fits the label well. When the band nails this brilliant sound, you get incredibly creeping chills and you just want rock out to your new anthem for your life – witness the death-defying “Solutions,” a song that will instantly make converts with raspy vocal layering, powerful crescendos, and slight breakdowns with pianos and violin. Other songs that instill such intensity are “(Reverse) Alchemy,” “Shine Some Light on the Situation,” and the closer “The Learning Process.” Yet, when the band moves towards differentiating songs to mix things up, for instance “On My Stereo” and “Greeting From Aberdeen,” the magic gets lost and you are stunted wondering what happened. Due to Daniel Lang-Gunn’s unfortunate arrhythmia the vocals you here on the record are now headed by guitarist Adam DiMuzio; some proceeds from this record are going to help Lang-Gunn out. The Modern Day Saint is persevering and hopefully their music will continue to help other folks to do the same.
Motion Commotion On Motion Commotion’s debut EP, which is more like an ambulette, the technically trained four-piece shimmer down seven richly composed indie rock numbers. Often concentrating on a piano foundation and filled out by the ordinary set plus instruments like the violin and accordion, Motion Commotion is one of those bands that are clearly talented but are lacking that something special to tie it all together. Maybe it’s all the mild tempo songs that seem to drag on (e.g., “Make Love”). Or, that there are a lack of hooks to draw you in and make you set up shop awhile. Without such enhancements, Motion Commotion come off more like an indie rock version of a lounge act. Most unfortunate, after the solid opener “BBC Sue,” the rest of the EP just slowly falls apart.
On A Warpath Instead of a regular review, here are the lyrics for the opening track entitled, apropos, “Intro”: What the fuck’s up? On a Warpath is back again. Still rolling with the motherfucking punches. We turn the bullshit into strength and make the fakes look like bitches. So the ones that we love, the one’s keeping it real, this is for you. The rest? –Your time’s up. Let the war begin. We seethe with generic rage. Yeah that’s right, we are badasses and we’re going to bring the pain on songs like “Knuckle Up” and “Fuck All Y’all.” Seriously, this is not hyperbole motherfucker, and if you think otherwise then you’re nothing more than a little bitch. Yeaah... MOOOOOOTTTHHERFUCKERS! Fear this shit, cowards. Suicide crew. Our guitars are fairly heavy in a generic way but we don’t fuck around with our lyrics, bitches. (Note: if you cannot tell where the real lyrics end and my adlibbed lyrics begin, then you should buy this CD) (- AP)
Park It took us so long to review Park’s latest record that the band couldn’t take it and wound up breaking up in the meantime. While various parts of the statement aren’t true, it is true that these melodic punk veterans have called it quits recently and are fixing on one last show. After Park’s strong previous releases on Lobster, No Signal and It Won’t Snow Where You’re Going, Building a Better ten songs are a solid display of mid-tempo, harmony-driven pop punk. The production on Building a Better helps smooth over all the rough spots that the band often displays live; or not exactly rough spots as just not vastly impressively. Among the standouts, and ones by now you’ve probably already come across, are “Mississippi Burning,” the excellent and defining “Who Is Aliandra,” “Chica Chica,” and “Hide and Seek.” Though Park may be coming to an end, you can be assured that the members will likely branch out to other musical endeavors – as it’s difficult to be in this game that long and not continue the action in some way afterwards.
Plain White T’s It continually amazes me that Plain White T’s have the audience and fan base that they do. For years now PWT’s shtick has been emotional pop punk albums with one or two uber-catchy singles with the power to draw listeners in. Fooled in to buying their records, these folks figure they have to become fans post-buying. And among PWT releases, the twelve-song Every Second Counts stands out as the worst. With no magic panacea this time, the band just traipses long with the same tired compositions, song structures, harmonies, and lyrical content. I say all of this even though I’m easily susceptible to being sucked in by the uber-catchy – which would allow several mulligans. Searching Every Second Counts for songs that are both catchy and whose lyrics don’t make you want to rip out your fingernails, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Dial Drunk,” the opener “Out Time Now,” and “Figure It Out” come close. If you don’t want your ears to bleed completely avoid “Making a Memory,” the acoustic “Write You a Song,” and the closer “Let Me Take You There.”
Reel Big Fish As you may or may not know, 90s ska-pop kings Reel Big Fish are trying to reinvigorate their careers, pounding the pavement with national tours and releasing new music. Whether they will be successful is still up for debate and we’ll take a wait and see approach. Part of the rise up is this massive double CD and DVD collection of live material. Released from their major label (which is now Jive after several name changes), RBF are glad to finally release their own live record. RBF have always been an extremely tight and slick sounding live band, and so this disc is fairly impressive sound wise. Among the thirty-five songs on the double CD culled from various recent live shows include their hits “I Want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend Too,” “Beer,” “Turn the Radio Off,” “Sell Out,” new material, as well as covers of Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution,” the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” and Ah-Ha’s “Take on Me.” The DVD includes twenty songs and the band’s quirky banter from an April 2006 show at the Alley in Fullerton, CA. This live record is for hardcore fans and those who may want to relive the 90s ska wave.
Seemless I prayed to God that Seemless’ debut for EVR a couple years back was simply an aberration and that this follow-up record with the full blooded inclusion of vocalist Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage) would change things for the better. Instead, Seemless continue to sound like Wind-up wannabes somehow on EVR. In the best light, you can fit Seemless in with the heavy riff hardcore bands of days of yore, but that only holds as long as Leach isn’t singing. What you have on these new ten songs is slimy groove metal and shouting manly vocals; both of which combine to make you vomit out shards of your liver. I could go on about how horrific What We Have Become is, but that would take too much time out of my already short life.
Triple Threat Everything about Triple Threat from the album art, font, motivation, and sound is old school hardcore punk – and that’s on purpose. I’m surprised this release isn’t only available on vinyl. Fronted by Tim McMahon on vocals, Ed McKirdy on guitar, Tim Kriependorf on bass, and Jason Jammer on drums, TT power through thirteen songs of straightedge positive hardcore purely in the vein of Youth of Today. TT also dirties things up a bit by adding thrashing punk of SST lineage including Black Flag et al. Into the Darkness comes off somewhat less impressive than their debut EP A New Chapter on Livewire Records, but still I prefer the original bands. Kids into the new school oldschool scene will probably love this.
War of Ages Why can’t musically brilliant metalcore bands these days just be content sounding evil? Why do they need to all be hardcore Christians with lyrics that when read makes you want to vomit? The song content of Pride of the Wicked all revolves around themes of Jesus Christ dying so man can be saved, how that’s the greatest thing in the world (like for real!), and that the members of War of Ages are ready to battle with demons in the eternal battle for man’s soul. Ignoring all that crap, War of Ages are one of the most talented musicians in the underground heavy music scene. The ten songs here are intricately composed with shifting tempos and some of the best guitar work I’ve heard in awhile. The guitars are a near perfect combination of machine guns, metal solos, and metal harmonics – typically all nested within single song structures. I’m going to try to put the lyrics out of mind and simply concentrate on the playing.
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