23 might actually be one of the greatest songs ever written. 2 more days…
]]>
I’ve watched @anberlin grow from energetic up-and-comers to a full fledged rock staple. Vital is beautiful, stunning, and polished to a perfect sheen. (Taken with Instagram)
]]>
i’ll post my other warped tour pics later. but for now, here’s one from my phone.. MEMPHIS MAY FIRE’s MATTY MULLINS tearing faces off.
i’ve seen dozens of warped tour pictures now, and time and again matty mullins is probably one of the most iconic silhouettes of the tour, with his dope combover and perpetual sunglasses.
i’d only heard a little of their stuff prior to seeing them in auburn on saturday, but…WOW. live is amazing. i spent most of today with Challenger on in the car. again, completely and utterly blown away. this may be a contender for best hard rock album of 2012 so far, and possibly even a contender for best album of the year. Handwritten’s previously almost certain crown may now be in danger.
going back to listen to challenger some more.
cheers,
]]>
okay: confide, easily one of the most underrated bands of the genre. and they’re already gone.. bummer. i know their cover of Such Great Heights was a bit divisive, but overall confide was an extremely talented young band. i know joel piper’s got his own thing going [and a ton of love for it too!] but i’m not sure what’s up with the rest of the guys.
regardless, Recover is a great album. good vocals, decent musicianship, great lyrics, and unforgettable hooks. i find more and more that heavy music relies on hooks just as much the breakdowns. in some cases, more.
cheers,
]]>
finally. FINALLY. you don’t want to know/won’t believe how many stores i had to go to to freaking get my hands on this. i’m also disappointed by how many store employees had no idea what i was asking for.
cheers,
]]>
fifteen [FIFTEEN!] years into their career, yellowcard still has it, and has it in SPADES. great new song Always Summer off the august 14th LP, Southern Air. previously the band had released a lyric video, but they premiered an actual music video today, and it gives me chills how much i want to be somewhere sunny.
i also don’t really have words for how happy i am to see sean mackin still so energetic in the video. he’s been battling cancer for the last half year, and it sounds like he’s doing pretty well. yellowcard really wouldn’t be the same without him, and honestly i think he brings a sort of sincere energy that has a flavor a little different from ryan’s.
check the video here: http://hopelessrecords.com/yellowcard/
and preorder the new album. i’m definitely going to.
cheers,
]]>
of mice & men’s new track from the upcoming 2-disc The Flood Reissue is below.
i’m a little torn about austin carlile. i can’t deny that he’s a great screamer, and he’s decidedly magnetic. people are drawn to him like they are craig owens… but carlile has a bit of baggage. he’s been kicked out of a few bands, and he just has too many questionable rumors going for him for me to really enjoy his work. i dunno. i don’t have a solid opinion on him i guess.
i first heard carlile at creation NW two years ago, where one of the event booths was cranking attack attack. i walked past the booth with my friends, then backtracked because the 10 seconds of stick stickly was so catchy i had to ask. but that was a long time ago.
but anyways. the video is here. the song is pretty solid.
]]>
#1 band that needs to get back together and do something big: @saosin.
for most, saosin was first famous because living legend anthony green was in it. this was before circa survive, obviously, and at the time the five-piece was something along the lines of post-hardcore: moderate amounts of high screaming, but primarily a hard rock sensibility paired with green’s unbelievable voice.
green left in 2004, either to start circa or because saosin signed to a major label, and cove reber stepped in. he was and continues to be a GOOD vocalist with a strong voice and stage presence, but the parts written for/by him seemed out of his range. it’s evident in their live shows that reber had to fight to hit some of the high notes, and near the end of his time with the band there were rumors that he needed autotune to even be presentable on stage.
whether by choice or by circumstance, however, once green left, there effectively ceased to be screaming in any saosin tracks. in my mind, this took saosin out from the middle of the already super crowded post-hardcore genre and propelled reber, guitarists justin shekoski [lead] and beau burchell [rhythm], bassist chris sorenson, and wunderkind drummer alex rodriguez straight to the forefront of modern rock.
2006’s self titled LP, Saosin, turned out to be one of the most rock-solid rock albums i’ve ever laid ears on, especially with the unforgettable single, Voices . the musical arrangements are first rate, with little in the way of needless experimentation. in short: saosin knew what they were good at, capitalized on it, and delivered a knockout rock album.
the follow up LP, In Search of Solid Ground, was then a disappointment. It is a strong album in many ways, but it seemed that saosin had lost its edge where it counted: musicianship. solid ground lost the driving powerhouse drums rodriguez should have been generously doling out, and the seamlessly coordinated solos between burchell and shekoski were almost completely eliminated. reber still had hard parts to sing though, and after years of smoking and drinking, his voice had more or less left him. reber was asked to leave the band in 2010.
saosin went dark for about a year, with each band member tending to their own lives and writing and practicing here and there. there are rumors that tilian pearson, formerly of tides of man, will be on a forthcoming saosin album, but there have been so many rumors of new vocalists and new lineups since reber left that i’ll just wait and see.
for now, voices, an excellent single from the self-titled LP:
http://bit.ly/nPrLoJ
you can find a copy of the self-titled NEW on amazon starting at 2.86! “solid ground” starts at around $10 new.
cheers,
]]>steady my heart, from kari jobe’s brand new album, where i find You.
i’ve loved kari jobe for a long time. revelation song? come on. this new track is strangely taylor swift-esque with a touch of Jesus take the wheel, i think. i also think it’s awesome that there is a rise in well-known, strong female worship leaders like her and kim walker-smith. the gals need role models too.
she’s got a great voice and personality, a decent stage presence [i saw her at creation 2010. excellent] and is just generally adorable. num.
cheers.
]]>
a few thoughts on skrillex’s new EP, bangarang.
i was iffy on it at first, but it’s really growing on me. i put skrillex’s ‘more monsters and nice sprites EP’ on my list of ‘2011 must haves’ as a runner up, simply because it wasn’t a real album and barely an EP in its own right. more monsters had 3 new songs [2 of which were pretty much the same. i’m looking at you, ruffneck] and 3 MORE remixes of scary monsters & nice sprites, which honestly weren’t getting any better than the original or the scary monsters EP reworkings by genre champs noisia and zedd.
it’s easily apparent that sonny moore has been pushing and twisting genres since the name skrillex made it big. there are those [myself included] who think that skrillex has a foot in dubstep, but is moving right out of that and into something new, brostep. brostep is known for being more aggressive and pushy than its older brother, with an emphasis on the mids as opposed to the subtler bass focus found in dubstep.
back to bangarang. very solid set of 7 NEW songs. no more outside remixes, no more remixes of himself. i know these songs have been floating around on youtube in some shape or form, but the ones found on bangarang are polished, mature in all senses of the word, and show growth in the best possible way out of his previous work.
as far as stronger tracks, bangarang ft. sirah and kyoto ft. sirah are easily my favorites, while the more relaxed summit ft [my girl] ellie goulding more or less holds the spot that ‘with you friends [long drive]’ held in the original scary monsters EP. kyoto is hyper aggressive [and pretty graphic, so look out haha]. i don’t know who sirah is, but she brings a pretty sweet element to the EP, and in a way takes the place of foreign beggars in ‘scatta’.
right in, right on time and devil’s den are all solid, maybe a little more dance geared and certainly more standard skrillex . devil’s den has…some pretty jarring straight noise, and i think probably has some secretly graphic lyrics like ‘kill everyone’ [a la i want to eat your heart]. right on time is not for those who don’t like trance or house. read: more or less the same thing over and over.
this leads me to the weakest track, breakn’ a sweat. the beat, wobbles, and general instrumental aspect is awesome, featuring some truly unique and original sounds not usually found in this kind of music. my but is that the song’s one lyric gets old after the first repeat. unfortunately it goes on for just over 4 minutes. don’t bother with this track if you hate repetition, but easily the saving grace here is the ridiculous dubstep/brostep aspect of it. truly musical noise.
i’m looking forward to a full-length release sometime soon. whoever stole his computer and his hard drive holding all his raw material and years’ worth of unfinished and unreleased tracks, freaking return it. you stole from modern art.
no cheers, thief.
anthony
]]>