Musicurious

Short Reviews: I Kill Giants - Self-titled

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:45:00 -0400

This shit is gold. Pop-rock post-punk? It’s bright and sunny and rowdy and so raw it’s still cold in the center. Like running through a meadow of wildflowers with a tambourine, screaming out your lungs. And then there’s “Pigskin”, the sweet This Town Needs Guns-down. There’s even handclaps on “Collector”. Any album with both screams and handclaps straight-up requires a listen.

"Pizza math" exists.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:12:06 -0400

straightedgejose:

I hope this is a new screamo sub genre

Someone put some Pizza math in my Submissions box right meow.

Short Reviews: Strawberry Girls - French Ghetto

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:01:00 -0400

I’m 30 seconds into track 1 and I can’t wait to stick my dick into the tiny hole in the middle of the cd when it ships to me, if that’s any indication of how it sounds.

First listen: My First Castle - Everything, All at Once

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:11:00 -0400

I’m super jazzed to have the ignominy/honor of getting an early listen to Everything, All at Once by My First Castle (formerly Sinatra). While the only two original members from the Lost in Hyrule lineup are guitarists Zach and Chris, I’m most interested to hear how their new vocalist Eddie Rorls stacks up. And what kind of sound the band has settled into these days. I thought I’d put down my initial responses and reactions to a single listen tonight before I cozy up to this album and get nice and intimate when I do the review proper. So let’s kick this shit off with “I’d Like a Peking Duck on the Rocks.”

Immediate mid-career Dance Gavin Dance vibes. Both in song structure and in the rich guitar tone. Eddie sounds pretty fantastic, has a nice scream and pretty solid cleans. Seems to be able to switch between them and blend them nicely. Suddenly a breakdown. A noodly math rock breakdown. I didn’t know those existed.

Next up is “Repellers Pelican,” which I’ve heard. Guitar tones are just fantastic. I keep getting these little spikes of bass, too. Michael Feldmann is no slouch on his fills. The gangs chorus is a nice touch. I like how the band manages to walk the line between slick and messy.

“Hive Fives Through Walls of Tigers” is a fantastic title for a track. And living up to that title, the song is immediately batshit insane, exploding out the gate at like double tempo. But then we get a chill, groovy breakout from there. Shrieky, chaotic, a little technical. Very different feel here, which is good.

Following that track title we’ve got “The Elusive South Penguin of King Georgia.” Man we are getting to Chiodos territory with these track titles now. Delay-riffic opening, but with such little instrument noise, Eddie’s vocals are out on their own and are a little pitchy. Nothing irredeemable. This song is viciously Dance Gavin Dance and groovy as fuck. Pretty sweet I Kill Giants bridge going on in the second half, though. Vocals are emotive enough to shred your throat by just hearing them.

Oooh. “New Fragments” is all purty and powerballady. Eddie’s gotta lean on his cleans again, but is pretty flawless here. Wondering if the other shoe is going to drop soon and this song is going to explode, or if it’s gonna smolder like this the whole time. Woah Eddie huge voice out of nowhere. Mad props. But does a slow song like this in the middle of a decidedly not-slow album kill the energy? Personally, I think Eddie’s performance was enough.

Onto “Two Graves, One Body,” because suddenly we’re naming our shit like My Chemical Romance. Abrasive as hell opening. Quick Invalids guitar section around :45 is so good. Staccato guitar spikes here really highlight how solid Feldmann is on the bass. Guitar line around 1:40 is delicious. And it’s carrying on through the song. I am in love. I want the D. Aw yeah dual screams/cleans section. Huge tremolo to carry the song home. That song felt good.

“Mantis Toboggan” opens with an instrument that isn’t a guitar and I’m immediately confused. Now there are electric drums and I am afraid. (Actually this sounds awesome and I am 100% okay with it.) This is another time when I’d ask how much this song fits amongst these other tracks, and what kind of impact it has on the overall energy. It’s awesome, but it’s also an idiosyncrasy.

And now, “Matt and Phil the Werewolf” closes the album. The guitar around :40 is fantastically weird and perfectly restrained, and Eddie’s vocals bridge the instrumentation gaps perfectly. Really fucking digging how this song is working. Very different. Suddenly a breakdown with some sweet Tera Melos noise. Fucking fantastic. A total surprise. No, wait, it’s a repeating breakdown composed of progressively slower sections, The Fall of Troy style. It sounds like my headphones are just outputting chunky static and earthquake. All I can hear is cymbals and destruction and pain. Well fuck. That’s how you end a fucking album.

So let me fucking immediately put track 1 back on again while I close this out. I’m impressed with Everything, All at Once. While the band leans on a couple genre conventions (never not allowed), the musicianship is downright daring. I know I kept tapping DGD, but over the past eight tracks, I heard some shit I’ve never encountered before. Good show, dudes. Proud of ya.

fuckyeahhipsterblackmetal: Band: Clouds CollideAlbum: Until the...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:47:35 -0500

fuckyeahhipsterblackmetal:

Band: Clouds Collide
Album: Until the Wind Stops Blowing…
Year: 2013
Type: Full-length
Genre(s): Atmospheric Post-Black Metal / Post-Rock / Shoegaze
Label: Self-released
Country: USA
Size: 87,8 Mb

1. As if a Dead Leaf - 05:02
2. Endless Silence - 10:01
3. Glaciate - 11:48
4. Epoch of Ice - 06:32
5. Deathless - 02:29
6. The Way the Wind Blew - 07:58
7. Et je m’en vais au vent mauvais - 05:23

Total playing time: 49:13

[Buy] [Download] [Last.fm] [Metal Archives]

Yo dawgs if you like Taylor Swift PUMP DIS

thespeedofsoundinseawater: damienverrett: Here’s a video of me...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:06:34 -0500

thespeedofsoundinseawater:

damienverrett:

Here’s a video of me playing “Abandoned Hospital Island” for BeatCastTV in London.

Hey, y’all. Here’s a video of Damien performing as “So Much Light” for BeatCastTV in London.

So Periphery shared Decoy's Top Ten of 2012

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:20:08 -0500

and broke the site. All those potential readers and views, gone. Herp derp server.

My 2012 Top Ten over at Decoy Music.

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:12:11 -0500

My 2012 Top Ten over at Decoy Music.:

Click through for write-ups. And hey, check out everyone else’s Top Tens while you’re there.

1. Invalids - Eunoia
2. Periphery - Periphery II
3. Between the Buried and Me - Parallax II
4. Coheed and Cambria - Afterman: Ascension
5. Circa Survive - Violent Waves
6. Hot Water Music - Exister
7. Katatonia - Dead End Kings
8. Hands Like Houses - Ground Dweller
9. Murder by Death - Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
10. Hail the Sun - Elephantitis

Honorable Mentions

Night Verses - Out of the Sky
Athletics - Who You Are is Not Enough
Mumford and Sons - Babel
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora’s Piñata
Foxy Shazam - The Church Of Rock And Roll

Review | Carson - Leap

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:01:10 -0500

Review | Carson - Leap

Review | Invalids - Eunoia

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:00:59 -0500

Review | Invalids - Eunoia

Automotive High School | Demo

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:23:33 -0500

Released on 5 November 2012
They’re from Brooklyn
Sounds like bright, happy sunshine playing garage rock.
Hear it at bandcamp.

_______________________________________________

Another great band pops up as a submission! Automotive High School definitely aren’t a band I would have sought out on my own. Keep sending me stuff, dudes and dudettes.

This 3-song demo has a lot of promise. I’m hearing The Strokes, a little Indian School, and some Beatles, of course. It’s effortless, unadorned, optimistic indie rock, plain and simple. The big guitar line toward the end of the opener “Look. It’s Gone.” gave me a moment of pause— another band flashed in my mind for a moment.

Then “Wonder Sings” started. Fang Island! I shouted to nobody in particular. From one sunny, riffy indie rock band to another, Automotive High School are developing an easygoing, infectious, summer-album sort of sound.

This gets my stamp of approval, and I can’t wait to hear what they do next.

Review | Just Like Vinyl - Black Mass

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:16:00 -0500

Review | Just Like Vinyl - Black Mass

Exclusive interview with Jose Perez of Ghost Cat:

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:20:11 -0500

ZR | So Jose, what’s the new EP gonna sound like?

JP | “14 versions of marshmallow teeth.”

ZR | Hells yeah.

algernon-catwallader: Ghost Cat | Invisibility? Check! I...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:16:14 -0500

algernon-catwallader:

Ghost Cat | Invisibility? Check!

I reviewed both of these guys’ EPs and you need to listen to them immediately if you haven’t.

Review | Prize Fighter Inferno - Half Measures EP

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 01:03:32 -0500

Review | Prize Fighter Inferno - Half Measures EP

Insomnia = More reviews!

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 05:28:30 -0500

Just finished up my take on Ma Jolie’s debut …Compared to Giants. Check out their new songs, too! These guys are gonna get huge. I can taste it.

Got my Vuvuzela review done, too.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 04:12:44 -0500

Surriously. Buy Vuvuzela’s The Hollow Choir. I’m asking them to put it up on Bandcamp and not just iTunes. It has quickly become one of my top albums of the year. No stream, but you can sample lead single “Rings and Things” and the absolutely manic and insane “Like a Lion,” at least.

Wrote up reviews for Prize Fighter Inferno and Just Like Vinyl.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:57:00 -0500

I dug PFI’s full-length, but I’m enough of a Coheed fanboy to look past the flaws. “Elm Street Lover Boy” is a crazy-good song though.

My review for Just Like Vinyl was surprisingly positive. I’ve been hard of Thomas Erak and his voice for years, but he’s in a good place with it now.

They’ll both be up over at Decoymusic sometime this week, I think.

This is a new Coheed and Cambria track “The Hard...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:56:00 -0500

This is a new Coheed and Cambria track “The Hard Sell” off of the second-half of their double album, The Afterman: Descension.

I dug Ascension a lot.

themathrockblog: This Town Needs Guns - Left Aligned Our dudes...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:48:57 -0500

themathrockblog:

This Town Needs Guns - Left Aligned

Our dudes in This Town Needs Guns have released yet another track from their forthcoming album 13.0.0.0.0!

We’ve heard this track before in a live setting from previous videos, but it’s great to finally hear this in its perfectly mixed form.

After hearing this and Cat Fantastic, we can safely assume that the new album is going to rule!

Available everywhere on January 22nd 2013.