Classic Album

The Weakerthans- Left and Leaving

It's been a rainy day. Certain music is for certain occasions, The Weakerthans have always been rainy day music to me. Don't get me wrong, I love their other three albums but this one is the superior album to me. This is a band that absolutely avoided a "sophomore slump", release it three years or so after their debut, Fallow.  To me, this album near perfectly illustrates the melancholy of growing from a young adult into getting your shit together, at least a little. You can infer this with the first track, "Everything Must Go". It starts out with just drums playing a beat on the toms then a warm guitar comes in. Next John K. Samson mutters the words "Garage sale Saturday, I need to pay my hearts outstanding bills" it becomes clearer that he's selling all the things from his youth, "sense of discovery, only partially used". It is with that the album's main theme is stated. "Aside" is a faster song and almost contrary to the subject manner. It talks of becoming comfortable  with being lonely but yet he stated "I'm so much better then I used to be". One of my personal favorite lines is "In love with love and losey poetry". Another one of the faster songs is "Watermark", he exclaims "I've got this store bought of saying I'm okay". It's a song about a love affair in which both parties are becoming bitter and cynical with age. "Pamphleteer" is a personal favorite of mine, it just sounds so personal. It touches on the nervousness with liking someone "How I don't know what to do with my hands when I talk to you, how you don't know where you should look, so you look at my hands". "This is a Fire Door Please Leave Open" describes nostalgia in a relationship for a more simple time that felt more flowery, or "tender". On "Without Mythologies" the toms are the main instrument with a very quite guitar in the background, almost buried in the mix. The title track is nothing short of an epic. It is everything form a satire on the state of his hometown to how he always ends up in the same situation with the same person, "I'm back with scars to show.

Back with the streets I know." And discusses finally leaving the situation behind him with lines like "Who's left and who's leaving" and "New words for old desires and every birthday card I threw away". "Elegy for Elsabet" is sort of about seasons but more importantly how things change, "Winter dies the same way every spring. As the sky tries on its uniform of turned off t.v. grey, and the way we watched her watch us walks away, let every rain clatter down at groaning streets." The next two songs are stories about everyday people. The first, "History of the Defeated" is a about a depressed "mechanic school drop-out". The second, "Exiles Among You" is about a black sheep of a family, a women who shop lifts Christmas presents and lives pay check to pay check. "My Favourite Chords" is arguably the best song in The Weakerthans discography. This song is a satire on John's hometown, a tale of a relationship of some sort, and an explanation on how to hold on to a little hope and youth. "Slips and Tangles", the closer is a song that was originally on a John K. Samson solo release. Despite this, it fits in well on Left and Leaving, and as acts as a sort of overview, briefly touching on most of the themes discussed on the album. This album is a kind of country-tinged, folk/ indie/ punk rock with incredibly descriptive and ironic lyrics. John describes feels that don't really have words. 

For Fans of: The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas // Wilco// Ted Leo

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Album Review

Old Gods-S/T

Music is so much more interesting when it has elements of all different genres. Take for example, the classic album The Shape of Punk to Come. The reason it's held in such high regard is the ambition of it through mashing all different kinds of unexpected elements of music into Punk music (in whatever sub-genre). There is no "genres" only elements that are familiar to make up "genres". Now, I'm not reviewing The Shape of Punk to Come(yet) but it's a good jump off point for this album. It was recorded in 2011 but wasn't brought to my attention until recently, this is a band out of Detroit. When I'm listening to this album the first thing that comes to mind is Loma Prieta's latest effort I.V., it's an aggressive collection of songs that are made even heavier by employing a shit-ton of elements from noise rock. A wall of distortion and dischord as long as The Great Wall of China collide with Fugazi-esque chords (Especially in "Snakeoil Painting 1), some metalcore heaviness (ETID minus southern vibe) and few good old fashioned breakdowns tastefully thrown into the mix is what you can expect form this LP. While this album isn't as heavy as I.V. (no Power Violence influence) I think that it succeeds taking all different ideas and smashing them together, leaving you to just deal with it. Personal favorites include "Snakeoil Painting 1", "Shock Corridor" and "Snuff Reels". Don't sleep on this, it's free on their bandcamp.

For Fans of: ETID, Loma Prieta, Noise  

Classic Album

Brand New- The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

I'm going to be reviewing my favorite albums a few times a week and labeling them as "Classics" because to me they are, and yes I know that is completely arguable and subjective but bare with me. I'm not scoring them because if I consider it a "classic" then it's a 10/10.

There are few albums like this. I don't really know how to accurately describe it but I'll do the best I can. This album sounds like crashing into rock bottom quite frankly. The way this album makes me feel.... it makes me feel like finding out someone I know has used hard drugs for the first time, that deep deep sour feeling in the pit of my stomach. This album still after three years of me enjoying it, makes my neck hair stand up at some moments.This is a disclaimer before you dive into this album. There's no hope, no joy, no nothing..just a barren landscape of nothingness. Now that word "enjoying" I wouldn't say anyone enjoys this album, not in a conventional sense anyway. The feeling.... the word for ingesting this album is more complex then that. But for the sake of this review, sure I'll say I "enjoyed" this album.

With the opening of the first track (Sowing Season) you can recognize some of Brand New's trademark elements from the genre defining Deja Entendu, the first being the music going from dark to light sounds, this gives the music a very contained spastic feel to it. And the second being the very thick vocals, except this time around they're a little less Morrissey-like. Instead these are some of the most haunting yells one can imagine, they truly encapsulate agony at it's best. They sound like reaching into an endless well of disappointment in yourself and bathing in it. These vocals sound like Jesse Lacey is so frustrated at times that he's torn between killing himself or killing everyone around him. The second track (Milestone) has some of very interesting guitar work that kind of resemble sirens if you listen hard enough in the first verse, that is sort of Radiohead-esque. That is probably also one of the more accessible songs on the album. Milestone is about growing up and being disappointed in the person you've become. "Jesus" was the only radio single spawned from this album and I think that's rightfully so as it has some of the softest vocals on the album (with the exception of "Handcuffs") and has a guitar line that is almost Modest Mouse-esque. It's easily the least offensive track on the album to mainstream listeners. "Degausser" starts out slow and quietly then turns into a huge groove that drives the whole song. In this song  and "Not The Sun" (track 8) we see the return of the awesome bass work that was done on Deja. On "Degausser" there is a noticeable echo on the vocals, I think it's supposed to create the illusion of coming out of something empty and hallow. "Limousine" has some really quiet yet disturbing vocals and come really fantastic Neutral Milk Hotel-like horns towards the end. It's also sort of an epic, clocking in at 7:42. "You Won't Know" is a sort of center piece for this album is often played last at shows. It's a song about how he's not sure he's good enough to get into heaven and how his lover won't know he's dead. "Welcome to Bangkok" is an instrumental track that I can best describe as sounding like an on coming storm. Both "Luca" and "Archers" resemble Deja quite a bit. "Luca" has one the most blood curdling yells I've ever heard. The last track "Handcuffs" is arguably the best of Brand New's career. Jesse Lacey utters a line that even his mentor Morrissey would be jealous of  "I'd drown all these crying babies if I knew that their mothers wouldn't cry. I'd hold them down and I'd squeeze real soft to let a piece of myself die".

For fans of: As Cities Burn Come Now, Sleep// Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea// Balance & Composure

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Album Review

Big K.R.IT.-4Eva N A Day

I picked this up about a week ago after seeing The Needle Drop's review of it. Big K.R.I.T. has been on a row, three mix tapes and every one better then the next, building anticipation for his Def Jam debut later on this year. Big is bringing back some class and sophistication to southern rap that has been missing for quite some time. This is by far my favorite of his mixtapes and has the potential to be my hip-hop AOTY, depending on how much more I warm up to it. This one is noticeably darker and more introspective then his previous releases. You can hear it in everything including the production, which he does himself. That's right he's the trifecta- He raps, sings, and produces his own music and does all these things very well. Big has some musicians come in a play live instrumentals to capture a certain aesthetic there is live saxophone played on "Wake Up"   and live guitar played on "Me and My Old School" and "Insomnia". On the introspective side of things the songs that cut the deepest are "Boobie Miles", "Red Eye", "Package Store", "Handwriting"  and "The Alarm". This of course balanced out with a few party tracks here and there. "Me and My Old School", "1986", "Down and Out", these are all extremely solid party tracks. I could honestly see "4Eva N A Day (Theme)" being radio friendly. The only track I could really do without is "Yesterday", it just seems kinda repetitive to me. 

8.8/10 

For Fans of: Outkast, Kid Cudi, Kanye West  (Maybe)

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Show Review

The End of The Ocean /Xerxes/ Pianos Become The Teeth

It's 2am in Columbus, OH. I'm at a BP gas station filling up my gas tank for the three and a half hour drive back to Michigan. I smelled like spilled, stale beer and sweat. My shirt is ripped, my hair a mess, and my clothes are all stretched. And I feel good, in fact, I feel the best I've felt in a long time. Rewind to a few hours before. I'm coming from a house show that The Story So Far headlined (not my thing, but the energy of the live show was entertaining) who played a half pipe, Good Charlotte style. It was insanity. I'm trying to find this place called the Carabar. It's the reason I'm in Ohio. I get there to catch the tale end of the openers set. They were a post-rock band named The End of The Ocean and they ruled. Next was the co-headlining band, Xerxes. I reviewed their new album earlier this month. Their set was pure intensity. This was punk rock of any sub genre at it's best just fast and beautiful and uncompromising. I was particularly impressed with the vocalists ability to be heard over the music even without the microphone at all at some moments. Pianos Become The Teeth were up to bat, you could feel the anticipation mounting as people gathered in from of the stage, it was a full house. This band is special to a lot of people. People are sharing stories of why it is that some of them drove vast distances for this occasion. They opened with "I'll Be Damned" and the crowd erupts right out of the gates. I yelled the lyrics so hard that after the first song I felt like I was going to be sick. This band sounds even better live then on record. Their tone is on point to the tee. Kyle's ultra-emotional vocal style shines through as it paints a picture of pure agony.  They continued  to play "Cripples Can't Shiver" "Spine" "Such Confidence" "Filial" "Liquid Courage" "Shared Bodies" and of course the emotional behemoth that is "I'll Get By". This song is vulnerability embodied in every single way. It was gorgeous in a gritty way. Towards the end of "I'll Get By" about ten or fifteen fans grabbed the microphone and we scream "There's no proper way to feel, no mirth, no levity no amazing grace, just a flame on a lake floating away. I can't let you lay, I want you to know, I'm learning patience against my will, I want you to know, I'll get by, always barely scraping with just a hunger, with just a heart apart. It's a hell of a thing. It's a hell of a thing."

Everyone make an AP.net account and listen to the new exclusive song from Jowls (ex-Victor! Fix The Sun, ex-Cloudkicker) because it seriously shreds dicks.

For Fans of: Funeral Diner//Coalesce//Raein

Single Mothers-S/T

Jeremy from Touche Amore recently signed this band to his Deathwish Inc. backed label "Secret Voice". That's great and all but I'm not really sure how to feel about this release.  Don't get me wrong this a fun punk rock album, I look at it the same way I do Joyce Manor, in that it's not supposed to be music that takes itself super seriously. The recording on this is quite fuzzy and and lo-fi at times, I would guess to build an old fashioned punk aesthetic. Most of the lyrics are about partying, girls, and stereotypes and cliches that most of us that like this style of music fall victim to. " All the girls at this party, they're into drama and Ginesburg and lemon-lime Bacardi. They're into Elliott Smith and trying to get know everybody" is a good example of this being kind of being a satire, if I can throw that word around loosely. This all before he calls himself a "Bukowski drunk" and saying he's "Falling over" part of me cringes at this and part of me knows this is accurate in most cases. That's the first half of this EP. The other is songs about girls, one talking about a one night stand saying he's "just looking for a good time". And the other is about leaving his hometown with a girl. This album has some cool southern rock guitar parts but other then that nothing really stands out. You'll like if you just for something a little fun.

7.5

For Fans Of: Touche Amore// Joyce Manor// Sloppy Punk Rock