The old Dr Dre and Eminem stuff is bad-ass as balls.
Tuesday 30 April 2013
About My Posting
I'm sorry that my posting's been a bit infrequent in the last fortnight or so, but I've been up to a lot of stuff. I'm busy until 9pm on Tuesdays, and my AS exams are coming up so I have to spend time working towards those. However, I should have more free time for proper posts towards the end of May, although I'll fit them in as soon as possible, if I have the time.
Thank youuuu
Also, your comments are always appreciated unless you're trolling.
Thank youuuu
Also, your comments are always appreciated unless you're trolling.
Monday 29 April 2013
Bring Me The 'Horizon - Academy 2, Manchester
I'll be posting the link to the post I'm doing for Louder Than War, because it's through them I got to go to this gig, but let me tell you, it was fucking amazing. Too awesome for any concert fear. I'll do a proper update tomorrow when I have time.
Saturday 27 April 2013
Fuck Off
a playlist for when you feel like slapping everybody who looks at you.
Leathermouth - 5th Period Massacre
Bring Me The Horizon - Antivist
Slipknot - Duality
The Blackout - Fashion Conscious Suicide
Sleeping With Sirens - With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear
My Chemical Romance - This Is How I Disappear
Of Mice & Men - I'm A Monster
Fall Out Boy - XO
You Me At Six feat. Oli Sykes - Bite My Tongue
Leathermouth - 5th Period Massacre
Bring Me The Horizon - Antivist
Slipknot - Duality
The Blackout - Fashion Conscious Suicide
Sleeping With Sirens - With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear
My Chemical Romance - This Is How I Disappear
Of Mice & Men - I'm A Monster
Fall Out Boy - XO
You Me At Six feat. Oli Sykes - Bite My Tongue
Thursday 25 April 2013
Soundtrack To My Youth
I wasn't feeling especially nostalgic, but I thought it would be mildly interesting, to me at least, to look at the various songs I remember from growing up.
Blur - Song 2
This is one of the first songs I remember full-stop, and it's the first song I remember liking; it was my favourite song when I was about four. Still pretty awesome now.
Sugababes - Round Round
I was mad into Sugababes back in their Mutya+Keisha+Heidi phase (I wasn't old enough to properly experience the original one). I still have their Angels With Dirty Faces album, it's brilliant.
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
I remember seeing the video for this on television when I was about six, and I loved the song for years before I knew the name or who it was by, and it's because of this song that I got into Gorillaz in the first place.
Busta Rhymes feat. Mariah Carey - I Know What You Want
Do not ask why because I really don't know, but when I was about six or seven I really loved Busta Rhymes, and I remember making my mum play this tape of his stuff while we were out in her car.
Busted - Air Hostess
Busted. Everybody's childhood favourite band. I think one of my first crushes was on the guy that's not got the black hair or the massive eyebrows. Another of my nostalgia albums is A Present For Everyone, I've never been able to throw it out.
Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again
This sonnggg. I also loved Britney Spears years ago, I had her album with this on it.
Hard-Fi - Living For The Weekend
This is from when I was about nine. I remember this because I got their Stars Of CCTV album off my dad for some reason, and I listened to it all day on repeat for about three weeks straight. This was at the same time as I was reading Jaws, so now this song reminds me of sharks and violent deaths.
Blur - Song 2
This is one of the first songs I remember full-stop, and it's the first song I remember liking; it was my favourite song when I was about four. Still pretty awesome now.
Sugababes - Round Round
I was mad into Sugababes back in their Mutya+Keisha+Heidi phase (I wasn't old enough to properly experience the original one). I still have their Angels With Dirty Faces album, it's brilliant.
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
I remember seeing the video for this on television when I was about six, and I loved the song for years before I knew the name or who it was by, and it's because of this song that I got into Gorillaz in the first place.
Busta Rhymes feat. Mariah Carey - I Know What You Want
Do not ask why because I really don't know, but when I was about six or seven I really loved Busta Rhymes, and I remember making my mum play this tape of his stuff while we were out in her car.
Busted - Air Hostess
Busted. Everybody's childhood favourite band. I think one of my first crushes was on the guy that's not got the black hair or the massive eyebrows. Another of my nostalgia albums is A Present For Everyone, I've never been able to throw it out.
Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again
This sonnggg. I also loved Britney Spears years ago, I had her album with this on it.
Hard-Fi - Living For The Weekend
This is from when I was about nine. I remember this because I got their Stars Of CCTV album off my dad for some reason, and I listened to it all day on repeat for about three weeks straight. This was at the same time as I was reading Jaws, so now this song reminds me of sharks and violent deaths.
Wednesday 24 April 2013
Playing Catch Up: Muse - The 2nd Law
I've been a Muse fan for years. Not necessarily as hardcore as some other bands I like, but I've retained an interest in them and I saw them at Fuji Rock Festival 2010 (just sayin' . . .). They were one of the first rock bands that I actually properly listened to, so I have them to thank for preparing me to enter the world of music that I am in now. However, I have always been a bit wary of the things Matt Bellamy does when you let him compose music - I'm talking about that clarinet solo in I Belong To You (+ Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix) - so I was apprehensive about their latest album, The 2nd Law, when it came out. I heard Madness a few times, and to be honest, it disappointed me, so I neglected to give the album a proper listen.
Time has passed since then, though, and I'm feeling that I should at least give the album one try, especially since Supremacy sounds so badass.
Supremacy
I love how this starts off. You can tell it's building up to something awesome, and the riff makes me nearly wet myself. The vocals get a bit boring, because they're so slow, but Matt's voice is always so powerful, and then that high-pitched bit is jaw-dropping. I like the Western-style bit at the very end.
Madness
This one . . . it's the 'ma-ma-ma' thing that gets to me. This song makes me constantly feel like it's going to kick off into some awesome crazy chorus, and it just doesn't. There's the guitar solo, yes, but I want the whole thing to go faster, not just Matt's guitar. It's more of a stadium one, this. Maybe the effect of the song isn't best felt in a small bedroom.
Panic Station
Bass. Funky bass. This is really quite cool. Wow, I like this one, it sounds kind of eighties. Wow. Wowwww. I am all over this. I have no idea what's going on here, but this is fucking awesome. I believe I have indeed arrived at Panic Station. Matt seems to be having a lot of fun singing this, too. It reminds me of The Cure a bit, vaguely similar to Hot Hot Hot! Duuuudde this is my favourite song on the album, I think.
Prelude
Why is this the fourth track? Oh, what a surprise, it's a piano one. What a bloody surprise. Muse just lives in a piano, don't they? Can we not just give Matt Bellamy an orchestra for his birthday?
Survival
This sounds like the start of a musical. What's going on here? Yeah, it sounds a lot like the start of a musical, the powerful main diva's solo number. Actually kind of reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West. Oh, the guitar is awesome, yes yes yes. I get the feeling that sometimes his wife wakes up in the middle of the night because he's crept downstairs and just started playing this in the living room, and she has to drag him off to bed with him still shouting "I'M GONNA WIN!". Jesus Christ, he can hit high notes.
Follow Me
This is the one with his son's heartbeat in, isn't it? That beating thing sounds like a heart. His son's going to be so creeped out when he hears this song when he's older. Ooh, I like this. This is promising. Ooh, dubstep, and well-applied dubstep at that. Yes, this is good. I was hoping for guitars, but I think it's better like this. I like this one, but I think it'll grow on me even more, given time.
Animals
Sounds very faintly similar to New Born at the very beginning. It's quite quiet, but it sounds like it's hiding something. So far, this sounds the most similar to their older stuff. It definitely sounds more familiar than the others.
Explorers
Gentle piano stuff, kind of dreamy, like a lullaby. Very chilled out. Is this what he plays for his son at night? It's kind of freaking me out a bit though.
Big Freeze
Oooh, this sounds like the theme to Bugs Life! Ooh, I like this. Very uplifting and cool-sounding. I like the use of backing vocals on this album.
Save Me
This is not Matt singing. What is this? What's going on here? I'm not sure about this one. It's venturing too far into the realm of powdery clouds and unicorns, even for this album. It drags a bit, this one.
Liquid State
Oh, now this sounds good. Dark and badass, and I like dark and badass. Sounds like the older stuff as well. This is a vast improvement on Save Me. Yes, this one's good.
The Second Law: Unsustainable
Aah. This sounds like some crazy evil villain's soundtrack. This is the one with the Earl of Lemongrab (from Adventure Time) version, I think - yes, it's here. Oh god, they've actually put the second law of thermodynamics into this, I thought that this was a joke when I saw it on tumblr. This is the most interesting physics I've ever heard. Wow, that was good.
The Second Law: Isolated System
Piano again. What is this? The isolated system was mentioned in Unsustainable. Oh god, it's like the news is attacking. This is good, but I feel like it's kind of unnecessary after Unsustainable. They could have finished the album there and we wouldn't have lost out on anything major.
It's a better album than I originally thought it would be. Not amazing, as there's a few too many tracks that don't quite cut it, or just seem to be the band resting on their laurels, but then there's a fair few amazing ones in there as well that really stand out. I'm glad I listened to this at last.
Time has passed since then, though, and I'm feeling that I should at least give the album one try, especially since Supremacy sounds so badass.
Supremacy
I love how this starts off. You can tell it's building up to something awesome, and the riff makes me nearly wet myself. The vocals get a bit boring, because they're so slow, but Matt's voice is always so powerful, and then that high-pitched bit is jaw-dropping. I like the Western-style bit at the very end.
Madness
This one . . . it's the 'ma-ma-ma' thing that gets to me. This song makes me constantly feel like it's going to kick off into some awesome crazy chorus, and it just doesn't. There's the guitar solo, yes, but I want the whole thing to go faster, not just Matt's guitar. It's more of a stadium one, this. Maybe the effect of the song isn't best felt in a small bedroom.
Panic Station
Bass. Funky bass. This is really quite cool. Wow, I like this one, it sounds kind of eighties. Wow. Wowwww. I am all over this. I have no idea what's going on here, but this is fucking awesome. I believe I have indeed arrived at Panic Station. Matt seems to be having a lot of fun singing this, too. It reminds me of The Cure a bit, vaguely similar to Hot Hot Hot! Duuuudde this is my favourite song on the album, I think.
Prelude
Why is this the fourth track? Oh, what a surprise, it's a piano one. What a bloody surprise. Muse just lives in a piano, don't they? Can we not just give Matt Bellamy an orchestra for his birthday?
Survival
This sounds like the start of a musical. What's going on here? Yeah, it sounds a lot like the start of a musical, the powerful main diva's solo number. Actually kind of reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West. Oh, the guitar is awesome, yes yes yes. I get the feeling that sometimes his wife wakes up in the middle of the night because he's crept downstairs and just started playing this in the living room, and she has to drag him off to bed with him still shouting "I'M GONNA WIN!". Jesus Christ, he can hit high notes.
Follow Me
This is the one with his son's heartbeat in, isn't it? That beating thing sounds like a heart. His son's going to be so creeped out when he hears this song when he's older. Ooh, I like this. This is promising. Ooh, dubstep, and well-applied dubstep at that. Yes, this is good. I was hoping for guitars, but I think it's better like this. I like this one, but I think it'll grow on me even more, given time.
Animals
Sounds very faintly similar to New Born at the very beginning. It's quite quiet, but it sounds like it's hiding something. So far, this sounds the most similar to their older stuff. It definitely sounds more familiar than the others.
Explorers
Gentle piano stuff, kind of dreamy, like a lullaby. Very chilled out. Is this what he plays for his son at night? It's kind of freaking me out a bit though.
Big Freeze
Oooh, this sounds like the theme to Bugs Life! Ooh, I like this. Very uplifting and cool-sounding. I like the use of backing vocals on this album.
Save Me
This is not Matt singing. What is this? What's going on here? I'm not sure about this one. It's venturing too far into the realm of powdery clouds and unicorns, even for this album. It drags a bit, this one.
Liquid State
Oh, now this sounds good. Dark and badass, and I like dark and badass. Sounds like the older stuff as well. This is a vast improvement on Save Me. Yes, this one's good.
The Second Law: Unsustainable
Aah. This sounds like some crazy evil villain's soundtrack. This is the one with the Earl of Lemongrab (from Adventure Time) version, I think - yes, it's here. Oh god, they've actually put the second law of thermodynamics into this, I thought that this was a joke when I saw it on tumblr. This is the most interesting physics I've ever heard. Wow, that was good.
The Second Law: Isolated System
Piano again. What is this? The isolated system was mentioned in Unsustainable. Oh god, it's like the news is attacking. This is good, but I feel like it's kind of unnecessary after Unsustainable. They could have finished the album there and we wouldn't have lost out on anything major.
It's a better album than I originally thought it would be. Not amazing, as there's a few too many tracks that don't quite cut it, or just seem to be the band resting on their laurels, but then there's a fair few amazing ones in there as well that really stand out. I'm glad I listened to this at last.
Tuesday 23 April 2013
(NEW SONG) Sleeping With Sirens - Low
It's a new track off Sleeping With Sirens! It's off their forthcoming album, Feel, which will be out on June 4th.
Monday 22 April 2013
Happy 100th Post!
I am celebrating this because, not only is it an anniversary, it's a testament to my concentration. There's very little I can keep up with that takes as much effort as this blog does, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. So, to celebrate, we're having an internet party. To have a party, you need music. Because it's my party, we're having my music. I was going to do my top 100 songs ever, but that would just be me linking you to the My Chemical Romance back catalogue. I want to be a bit fairer than that, and also stick to something I'm actually capable of finishing. So what I'm doing here for our little party is an A to Z (zed, not zee, we're British here) of artists, and an awesome song by each. Not necessarily my favourite song, because you see enough of those, but other songs they've done that I also think are great. That way it's fair on the bands, and we get a little bit of variety in here. I'll also stick them in a youtube playlist if, for some bizarre reason, you want to hear them all at once.
A - All Time Low - Remembering Sunday
I'm still sort of going through the initial 'wow' phase of liking All Time Low, so I haven't settled on a favourite song yet, but at the moment I'm really liking this one. I'm learning it on guitar, too.
B - Bring Me The Horizon - Hospital For Souls
One of the best tracks off Sempiternal. You'd be able to feel the flames even if they weren't mentioned in the chorus.
C - The Cribs - I'm A Realist
I just really love the guitars in this, and the lyrics. Yeah . . .
D - Deaf Havana - Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life
This is the first song by Deaf Havana that I heard, and it's the song that convinced me to keep listening.
E - Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Everybody knows this one. I remember seeing this one all the time on MTV when I was about seven. It also belongs on the soundtrack to my youth.
F - Fall Out Boy - Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy)
It's such an emo song, but it's also awesome, and one of my favourites by the band.
G - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
This was my favourite song from the age of about 9 until I discovered My Chemical Romance. Although apparently the bass is actually synth (broke my heart), still . . . baaasssss . . .
H- Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi
Because we needed a bit of J-rock in this playlist.
I - Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
I was struggling to find an artist for this letter, but I really like this song, so there you go.
J - Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Big Pimpin'/Papercut
I am just marvelling that this actually works, and why this happened in the first place.
K - The Killers - Mr Brightside
I don't even know why I'm writing an explanation for this one, because it really doesn't need any. Everybody loves this song. Everything loves this song. Play it in a laboratory and use an electron microscope, you'll see viruses dancing and singing along. It is science.
L - Lostalone - Do You Get What You Pray For?
This song is so badasssss, I remember why I was listening to them all the time last year.
M - My Chemical Romance - The Kids From Yesterday
I couldn't really decide for this one, because I love every single MCR track. But I decided this one because it was a perfect ending song to Danger Days, the prologue that is Vampire Money notwithstanding, and seeing as Danger Days was the last proper album of new material that they released, a perfect end to their career as a band.
N - New Order - Blue Monday
I don't even know.
O - Of Mice And Men - They Don't Call It The South For Nothing
I SAID I'D FIGHT BACK. I DIDN'T SAY THAT I'D FIGHT FAIR.
P - Pierce The Veil - Currents Convulsive
Most people forget about the other songs on A Flair For The Dramatic because of Chemical Kids . . . and Yeah Boy . . . but this track's possibly my favourite on the whole album, and really needs more attention from people.
Q - Queens Of The Stone Age - Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
I don't listen to QOTSA much, but I like this one. It's the guitars at the beginning.
R - Rise Against - Make It Stop (September's Children)
The song's awesome, and the video is really emotive about bullying. It makes me want to hunt people down and fight them.
S - Sleeping With Sirens - With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear
LIAAAARR YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR SSIIIINNNSSSS
T - Taking Back Sunday - Make Damn Sure
One of the first TBS songs I heard, while I was working in this shop, and it's what made me look them up properly.
U - The Used - The Bird And The Worm
I just love the contrast between the creepy little verses and the massive chorus.
V - The Vaccines - Post Break-Up Sex
I dunno, man, I just like this one.
W - Without A Face - Republicratic Gang
This was another difficult one, because all of WAF's songs are great. But I've put this one because it's off his amazing Oh, Great, An Election EP, which came before the even better American Scheme album. It's the first I've seen of WAF suddenly getting very cynical and political, and he does it very well. The video's also great.
X - Xiaolin Showdown Theme
Not going to lie, I struggled to find anything for X, but then I remembered this, and really . . . it's my favourite thing beginning with X.
Y - You Me At Six - Crash
I'd heard other You Me At Six songs before this, but this is the one that really got me into them. There's so much emotion in it.
Z - The Zutons - Valerie
We wouldn't have the Amy Winehouse version if it wasn't for this, and the original's not that bad anyway.
A - All Time Low - Remembering Sunday
I'm still sort of going through the initial 'wow' phase of liking All Time Low, so I haven't settled on a favourite song yet, but at the moment I'm really liking this one. I'm learning it on guitar, too.
B - Bring Me The Horizon - Hospital For Souls
One of the best tracks off Sempiternal. You'd be able to feel the flames even if they weren't mentioned in the chorus.
C - The Cribs - I'm A Realist
I just really love the guitars in this, and the lyrics. Yeah . . .
D - Deaf Havana - Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life
This is the first song by Deaf Havana that I heard, and it's the song that convinced me to keep listening.
E - Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Everybody knows this one. I remember seeing this one all the time on MTV when I was about seven. It also belongs on the soundtrack to my youth.
F - Fall Out Boy - Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy)
It's such an emo song, but it's also awesome, and one of my favourites by the band.
G - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
This was my favourite song from the age of about 9 until I discovered My Chemical Romance. Although apparently the bass is actually synth (broke my heart), still . . . baaasssss . . .
H- Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi
Because we needed a bit of J-rock in this playlist.
I - Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
I was struggling to find an artist for this letter, but I really like this song, so there you go.
J - Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Big Pimpin'/Papercut
I am just marvelling that this actually works, and why this happened in the first place.
K - The Killers - Mr Brightside
I don't even know why I'm writing an explanation for this one, because it really doesn't need any. Everybody loves this song. Everything loves this song. Play it in a laboratory and use an electron microscope, you'll see viruses dancing and singing along. It is science.
L - Lostalone - Do You Get What You Pray For?
This song is so badasssss, I remember why I was listening to them all the time last year.
M - My Chemical Romance - The Kids From Yesterday
I couldn't really decide for this one, because I love every single MCR track. But I decided this one because it was a perfect ending song to Danger Days, the prologue that is Vampire Money notwithstanding, and seeing as Danger Days was the last proper album of new material that they released, a perfect end to their career as a band.
N - New Order - Blue Monday
I don't even know.
O - Of Mice And Men - They Don't Call It The South For Nothing
I SAID I'D FIGHT BACK. I DIDN'T SAY THAT I'D FIGHT FAIR.
P - Pierce The Veil - Currents Convulsive
Most people forget about the other songs on A Flair For The Dramatic because of Chemical Kids . . . and Yeah Boy . . . but this track's possibly my favourite on the whole album, and really needs more attention from people.
Q - Queens Of The Stone Age - Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
I don't listen to QOTSA much, but I like this one. It's the guitars at the beginning.
R - Rise Against - Make It Stop (September's Children)
The song's awesome, and the video is really emotive about bullying. It makes me want to hunt people down and fight them.
S - Sleeping With Sirens - With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear
LIAAAARR YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR SSIIIINNNSSSS
T - Taking Back Sunday - Make Damn Sure
One of the first TBS songs I heard, while I was working in this shop, and it's what made me look them up properly.
U - The Used - The Bird And The Worm
I just love the contrast between the creepy little verses and the massive chorus.
V - The Vaccines - Post Break-Up Sex
I dunno, man, I just like this one.
W - Without A Face - Republicratic Gang
This was another difficult one, because all of WAF's songs are great. But I've put this one because it's off his amazing Oh, Great, An Election EP, which came before the even better American Scheme album. It's the first I've seen of WAF suddenly getting very cynical and political, and he does it very well. The video's also great.
X - Xiaolin Showdown Theme
Not going to lie, I struggled to find anything for X, but then I remembered this, and really . . . it's my favourite thing beginning with X.
Y - You Me At Six - Crash
I'd heard other You Me At Six songs before this, but this is the one that really got me into them. There's so much emotion in it.
Z - The Zutons - Valerie
We wouldn't have the Amy Winehouse version if it wasn't for this, and the original's not that bad anyway.
Sunday 21 April 2013
Friday 19 April 2013
Is It Good For Bands To Explode?
Obviously not in the literal sense. I wouldn't joke about spontaneous combustion, it's a serious issue and we need to get our shit together and find out how to cure it before we have an epidemic.
What I mean by 'explode', is how fast some bands appear on the music scene. Some bands will have worked up slowly and have one or two or even three albums by the time they really hit the big time, but others will just suddenly appear out of nowhere and people will be wearing their merch before you even know they exist.
This isn't going to be an in-depth essay on it, I don't think, because I don't really have the expertise in the music industry for that. It's merely some food for thought.
I've been considering this idea because, earlier in the day I was thinking about the band We Are The In Crowd. I've not listened to them myself and I'm kind of apprehensive about it, but the reason why they're relevant to this is because they've been around only since 2009, and they've got one album and an EP. And yet somehow, they're everywhere. I don't remember any slow emergence of the band, I just remember everyone suddenly going 'WATIC OMG TAY JARDINE OMG'. Let me repeat this for some emphasis - I'm not having a go at them or anything, I'm just trying to point out how quickly they've appeared - they've got one album and they've toured internationally with All Time Low. They've played Warped Tour twice. The first I knew of them was when I walked into Pulp to buy clothes and there was this huge sign on the wall saying they were coming in for a signing. When I was at the Pulp Party on the 2nd of April, there was a signed WATIC t-shirt on offer as a prize, and people went absolutely mental.
But then on the other end of the spectrum, you've got, for example, Without A Face (I was going to use MCR, because they didn't go absolutely collosal till TBP and that took like six years, but I decided an extreme was needed for this). WAF is awesome, he makes great music and has been doing so for over ten years, whether he's doing a daft song or a serious one. He's got a small core of fans who support him in a lot of things and will sit up until four in the morning watching his online concerts and talking with him. He's got three albums and two EPs out, and he tours generally within Texas, from what I can tell. But he's not massive. He's not huge, he's not doing Warped Tour or a massive stage at SXSW.
What I was thinking with this is; is it healthy for a band to get so big so fast? Sure, it gets them out and touring and gets them enough money to get by on pretty fast and reduces the scraggy homeless musician stage, but long-term? What about the hardcore fans who follow their favourite bands to every misty pub halfway up a mountain that's let them play a couple of songs? If you're going from nothing straight to, if not everything then quite a lot of things, sure you'll get a lot of people who love you, and a lot of others who'll get swept up in the novelty that is your band. But you won't get those old veterans who've watched all your godawful gigs that you hope nobody ever sees again, the ones where your singer was too drunk to remember the lyrics and all the instruments broke and you had no way to repair them, the ones where you got heckled off after two songs. The ones who accept that sometimes you're absolutely terrible, but they will endure because they have known you and loved you for so long that it would be impossible not to be. That's a different kind of love for a band than the kind you get when you just fall out of the sky. It's the kind of love and support for a band that makes people go out and buy CDs instead of just downloading, and going to every single gig and not necessarily raving about them, but leaving nobody in any doubt who their favourite band is.
That's the kind of support that makes bands keep on coming back until they have absolutely nothing more. The Greeks call it Agape, I think. That's the kind of love and support you need to just keep on coming back again and again, even if you've disappeared for years and you've come back and the media's doubting if you've still got what it takes. The other excitable kind can wane easier, or be distracted by other bands, and can eventually disappear altogether. I'm not saying that if that's how you've gotten into a band you're not as much of a fan, but I'm saying that often it can just be a case of infatuation, and not real love for a band. So if an exploding band just disappears for ages, when they come back, can they count on anybody to still be waiting for them? Can they count on the enthusiasm they had at the start continuing enough for them to viably carry on working as a band?
That's just what I was thinking about today.
What I mean by 'explode', is how fast some bands appear on the music scene. Some bands will have worked up slowly and have one or two or even three albums by the time they really hit the big time, but others will just suddenly appear out of nowhere and people will be wearing their merch before you even know they exist.
This isn't going to be an in-depth essay on it, I don't think, because I don't really have the expertise in the music industry for that. It's merely some food for thought.
I've been considering this idea because, earlier in the day I was thinking about the band We Are The In Crowd. I've not listened to them myself and I'm kind of apprehensive about it, but the reason why they're relevant to this is because they've been around only since 2009, and they've got one album and an EP. And yet somehow, they're everywhere. I don't remember any slow emergence of the band, I just remember everyone suddenly going 'WATIC OMG TAY JARDINE OMG'. Let me repeat this for some emphasis - I'm not having a go at them or anything, I'm just trying to point out how quickly they've appeared - they've got one album and they've toured internationally with All Time Low. They've played Warped Tour twice. The first I knew of them was when I walked into Pulp to buy clothes and there was this huge sign on the wall saying they were coming in for a signing. When I was at the Pulp Party on the 2nd of April, there was a signed WATIC t-shirt on offer as a prize, and people went absolutely mental.
But then on the other end of the spectrum, you've got, for example, Without A Face (I was going to use MCR, because they didn't go absolutely collosal till TBP and that took like six years, but I decided an extreme was needed for this). WAF is awesome, he makes great music and has been doing so for over ten years, whether he's doing a daft song or a serious one. He's got a small core of fans who support him in a lot of things and will sit up until four in the morning watching his online concerts and talking with him. He's got three albums and two EPs out, and he tours generally within Texas, from what I can tell. But he's not massive. He's not huge, he's not doing Warped Tour or a massive stage at SXSW.
What I was thinking with this is; is it healthy for a band to get so big so fast? Sure, it gets them out and touring and gets them enough money to get by on pretty fast and reduces the scraggy homeless musician stage, but long-term? What about the hardcore fans who follow their favourite bands to every misty pub halfway up a mountain that's let them play a couple of songs? If you're going from nothing straight to, if not everything then quite a lot of things, sure you'll get a lot of people who love you, and a lot of others who'll get swept up in the novelty that is your band. But you won't get those old veterans who've watched all your godawful gigs that you hope nobody ever sees again, the ones where your singer was too drunk to remember the lyrics and all the instruments broke and you had no way to repair them, the ones where you got heckled off after two songs. The ones who accept that sometimes you're absolutely terrible, but they will endure because they have known you and loved you for so long that it would be impossible not to be. That's a different kind of love for a band than the kind you get when you just fall out of the sky. It's the kind of love and support for a band that makes people go out and buy CDs instead of just downloading, and going to every single gig and not necessarily raving about them, but leaving nobody in any doubt who their favourite band is.
That's the kind of support that makes bands keep on coming back until they have absolutely nothing more. The Greeks call it Agape, I think. That's the kind of love and support you need to just keep on coming back again and again, even if you've disappeared for years and you've come back and the media's doubting if you've still got what it takes. The other excitable kind can wane easier, or be distracted by other bands, and can eventually disappear altogether. I'm not saying that if that's how you've gotten into a band you're not as much of a fan, but I'm saying that often it can just be a case of infatuation, and not real love for a band. So if an exploding band just disappears for ages, when they come back, can they count on anybody to still be waiting for them? Can they count on the enthusiasm they had at the start continuing enough for them to viably carry on working as a band?
That's just what I was thinking about today.
Thursday 18 April 2013
Heavy Music For Small Children
So about a year or two ago, I made my little sister Lily a mix CD to try and introduce her to the kind of music I like. I don't remember what was on it specifically, but it obviously involved a bit of My Chemical Romance, The Blackout and Good Charlotte because I was listening to them at the time. I'm thinking that, now I know Lily likes My Chem, it's time to ease her further into the weird milkshake of pop punk, alt rock and metal that is my musical taste. If I teach her nothing else, it will be which bands are good. Here's my selection. Please excuse my lack of commentary; I took a nap in the daytime because I barely slept last night and school made me run like a mile this afternoon, so now I'm really confused and I feel like I might throw up. Just producing a post is my priority here.
My Chemical Romance - Thank You For The Venom
You Me At Six - Underdog
Fall Out Boy - America's Suitehearts
Deaf Havana - Little White Lies
The Blackout - Hope (Scream It Out Loud)
Bring Me The Horizon - Shadow Moses
The Cribs - Housewife
Pierce The Veil - Bulletproof Love
My Chemical Romance - Headfirst For Halos
Panic! At The Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage
Green Day - Basket Case
Rise Against - Saviour
My Chemical Romance - The World Is Ugly
My Chemical Romance - Thank You For The Venom
You Me At Six - Underdog
Fall Out Boy - America's Suitehearts
Deaf Havana - Little White Lies
The Blackout - Hope (Scream It Out Loud)
Bring Me The Horizon - Shadow Moses
The Cribs - Housewife
Pierce The Veil - Bulletproof Love
My Chemical Romance - Headfirst For Halos
Panic! At The Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage
Green Day - Basket Case
Rise Against - Saviour
My Chemical Romance - The World Is Ugly
Monday 15 April 2013
Look, A Band - Follow You Home
Just going to say this as a starting point: it makes everything so much easier to find when a band has a site, whether developed, or a facebook page or just a list of places where you can find their music and get hold of tickets. There's been so many bands where I've tried to have a look at them and given up because they make it into a scavenger hunt and, to be honest, if they're some band that I've never heard of before, there's no incentive to go through with it.
So what a relief it is that Follow You Home actually have a website, especially since I need to squeeze this review in between a whole lot of revision stuff that I should have done a while ago.
Who are Follow You Home, then? They're a five-piece made up of "pink-haired uber-vixen" Kayley Busby (vocals), Rich Davis (bass), Nick Ayre (guitar/vocals), Mikey Davis (guitar - and why are there so many bands involving brothers called Mikey . . . ?), and Tom Bradshaw (drums), hailing from Derby, near to, as they call it, "the spiritual home of rock that is Castle Donington". They claim to make something akin to punk, with references to bands such as Alkaline Trio and Brand New, and with a repeated emphasis on being honest and telling it how it is. We shall see. . .
Save Yourself starts off with awesome guitary stuff (I will learn proper words for this soon). I tend to be a bit skeptical of female singers, because they usually end up being very shrill and annoying as opposed to actually singing, but Kayley's good, although her voice sounds more suited to pop music than rock and punk. I'm not complaining about her using it for punk though, it works perfectly fine here. I actually really like this song, it's very thrashy-about-y.
The next song on their site is Playing With Fire, which starts off with similar awesome guitar stuff, but sounds a bit more bad-ass. In this one, though, I feel like the singing's sort of been squashed into a box, like it's not being allowed the space needed for Kayley to sound really really awesome, which you can tell just by listening that she's capable of.
Anywhere But Home starts much calmer, with just gentle guitars. This one's probably my favourite one so far - all the different parts of the band seem to come together much better in this song. Yes, this is brilliant; I love how it suddenly explodes into guitars and drums and stuff, this is good, yes yes yes. Definitely listening to these guys again. I'm kind of annoyed that I've just missed their tour - apparently they were in soundcontrol back in March.
Facebook / Twitter / Merchandise
So what a relief it is that Follow You Home actually have a website, especially since I need to squeeze this review in between a whole lot of revision stuff that I should have done a while ago.
Who are Follow You Home, then? They're a five-piece made up of "pink-haired uber-vixen" Kayley Busby (vocals), Rich Davis (bass), Nick Ayre (guitar/vocals), Mikey Davis (guitar - and why are there so many bands involving brothers called Mikey . . . ?), and Tom Bradshaw (drums), hailing from Derby, near to, as they call it, "the spiritual home of rock that is Castle Donington". They claim to make something akin to punk, with references to bands such as Alkaline Trio and Brand New, and with a repeated emphasis on being honest and telling it how it is. We shall see. . .
Save Yourself starts off with awesome guitary stuff (I will learn proper words for this soon). I tend to be a bit skeptical of female singers, because they usually end up being very shrill and annoying as opposed to actually singing, but Kayley's good, although her voice sounds more suited to pop music than rock and punk. I'm not complaining about her using it for punk though, it works perfectly fine here. I actually really like this song, it's very thrashy-about-y.
The next song on their site is Playing With Fire, which starts off with similar awesome guitar stuff, but sounds a bit more bad-ass. In this one, though, I feel like the singing's sort of been squashed into a box, like it's not being allowed the space needed for Kayley to sound really really awesome, which you can tell just by listening that she's capable of.
Anywhere But Home starts much calmer, with just gentle guitars. This one's probably my favourite one so far - all the different parts of the band seem to come together much better in this song. Yes, this is brilliant; I love how it suddenly explodes into guitars and drums and stuff, this is good, yes yes yes. Definitely listening to these guys again. I'm kind of annoyed that I've just missed their tour - apparently they were in soundcontrol back in March.
Facebook / Twitter / Merchandise
Sunday 14 April 2013
Riding The Low
or: Isobel's Procrastination Through The Medium Of Twitter Leads To A Startling And Hopefully Beneficial Musical Discovery.
So I was lounging about on twitter, talking to Cari, who also happens to run a music blog, when I noticed that in my suggested section it had brought up Paddy Considine. Paddy Considine is hands down my favourite actor - so far I have yet to find someone who can do menacing as well as him, not to mention the whole spectrum of other things he can do. Seriously, just watch Dead Man's Shoes. I checked to see if it was legitimately his profile, and in his bio he happened to mention that he's in a band. I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but
I LIKE BANDS A LOT
so naturally, I was very excited. Obviously, I'm going to give them a listen. They're called Riding The Low, as you might have guessed. Considine sings, while Chris Baldwin and Dan Baker play guitar, Justin Chambers plays drums, and Rich Eaton plays bass. They describe themselves as "rock with the fat cut out". I have no idea what that means, but it's high time I found out.
They have one EP available that I can find, called They Will Rob You Of Your Gifts
Easy On Our Own starts off pretty simply, and sounds kind of like what you would expect of a new band practicing in their garage -but a band that has some idea what they're doing. It's like lazy indie music - not the kind of song you could necessarily use to get a crowd whipped up into a frenzy unless they're rabid fans, but still a good one.
The next song is Eightball. Ooh, I like this one. It's a bit faster, sounds slightly like Oasis (although don't take my word for that, I'm not exactly a 90s Brit-rock aficionado). Definitely like this one.
Eightball is followed by Skull On Concrete, another very chilled out song. It's the kind of music you'd put on on a Sunday afternoon to chill out to.
Catch You When You Go sounds more melancholy than the others, but still has the same chilled-out atmosphere to it, although they've done more with the guitars on this than the others. This one's probably my favourite. Yes, definitely.
There are a few other videos knocking about on youtube, mostly from the band's set at Burtfest 2012 (I have never heard of this festival before in my life). They're of varying quality, but I have found their soundcloud (or someone's pretty legit-looking impersonation) which appears to be mostly demos. They're pretty good demos though, more developed and faster and, to be honest, more interesting than the EP.
But yeah, this is a pleasant surprise and one I intend to keep an eye on, because they look promising.
So I was lounging about on twitter, talking to Cari, who also happens to run a music blog, when I noticed that in my suggested section it had brought up Paddy Considine. Paddy Considine is hands down my favourite actor - so far I have yet to find someone who can do menacing as well as him, not to mention the whole spectrum of other things he can do. Seriously, just watch Dead Man's Shoes. I checked to see if it was legitimately his profile, and in his bio he happened to mention that he's in a band. I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but
I LIKE BANDS A LOT
so naturally, I was very excited. Obviously, I'm going to give them a listen. They're called Riding The Low, as you might have guessed. Considine sings, while Chris Baldwin and Dan Baker play guitar, Justin Chambers plays drums, and Rich Eaton plays bass. They describe themselves as "rock with the fat cut out". I have no idea what that means, but it's high time I found out.
They have one EP available that I can find, called They Will Rob You Of Your Gifts
Easy On Our Own starts off pretty simply, and sounds kind of like what you would expect of a new band practicing in their garage -but a band that has some idea what they're doing. It's like lazy indie music - not the kind of song you could necessarily use to get a crowd whipped up into a frenzy unless they're rabid fans, but still a good one.
The next song is Eightball. Ooh, I like this one. It's a bit faster, sounds slightly like Oasis (although don't take my word for that, I'm not exactly a 90s Brit-rock aficionado). Definitely like this one.
Eightball is followed by Skull On Concrete, another very chilled out song. It's the kind of music you'd put on on a Sunday afternoon to chill out to.
Catch You When You Go sounds more melancholy than the others, but still has the same chilled-out atmosphere to it, although they've done more with the guitars on this than the others. This one's probably my favourite. Yes, definitely.
There are a few other videos knocking about on youtube, mostly from the band's set at Burtfest 2012 (I have never heard of this festival before in my life). They're of varying quality, but I have found their soundcloud (or someone's pretty legit-looking impersonation) which appears to be mostly demos. They're pretty good demos though, more developed and faster and, to be honest, more interesting than the EP.
But yeah, this is a pleasant surprise and one I intend to keep an eye on, because they look promising.
Saturday 13 April 2013
Fall Out Boy - Where Did The Party Go
My favourite track off the upcoming Save Rock And Roll album by Fall Out Boy.
My Chemical Romance (Guest Blog by Lily)
About a year or so ago, I decided to show my 10-year-old sister Lily the album Danger Days by, obviously, My Chemical Romance. She loved it (obviously), and has retained an interest in MCR since then, which I have fanned by showing her bits and pieces of their other stuff - with discretion, because I think she's maybe not quite at the stage where she could appreciate a lot of the meanings behind the stuff in Bullets . . . and also, y'know, would you show You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison to a child? - like the Conventional Weapons releases.
For her birthday, I got her The Black Parade, and I asked her if she'd do a little review of it, seeing as it's not that often that people really talk to kids about music, and it was just something to do. I've edited the grammar a bit, but below is her opinion.
~
My Chemical Romance
by Lily, age 10
I like listening to My Chemical Romance because I don't really jump at the idea of listening to tonnes of squeally pop music, nor do I enjoy hearing the ongoing blare of yelling goth music, so when my sister Izzy introduced My Chemical Romance, which is a mix of both genres, I instantly clicked.
Favourite parts:
My favourite song in the album The Black Parade, which my sister gave me for my 10th birthday, is Teenagers because I like the beat. My second and third favourite songs are Dead! and The End.
Rating:
I would recommend this album to anyone who wants to listen to something slightly darker than pop and I would rate it 9/10!
Friday 12 April 2013
My Favourite Songs From Musicals
I'm not what you'd call a musical aficionado, but there are a fair few out there that I like. I needed something to post today, as well, and conveniently enough someone's made me re-listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack again.
The Wizard Of Oz - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
You'd think with Margaret Thatcher being dead, I'd join the ranks of people getting Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead to number one. I nearly did, but to be honest I love this song so much more. The Wizard of Oz is apparently the first film I was able to watch all the way through, simply because it's so weird.
The Nightmare Before Christmas - Jack's Lament
This is one of my favourite films full stop. I liked it way back when it was on VHS, before it was relaunched and all the posers got in on it -_- (/hipster). But it's so amazing, the way it switches back and forth between angry and frustrated, and just sad.
Mulan - I'll Make A Man Out Of You
This song is so bloody motivational. I dare you not to feel like fighting someone after listening to this - if it trained the entire army to fight against the Huns, it'll work on you. Just . . . ugh . . . CATCHY SONG.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
I am scared shitless by this film. It's the Oompa Loompas, they're so creepy. And the music as well, even when it's cheery. The music on the start of this song, before Gene Wilder starts singing, it sounds more like The Twilight Zone than a cheery kids' film. But it's still a brilliant song.
The Producers - Springtime For Hitler
I've only seen this film once, and that was the remake, which is a shame - originals are usually better, and it's good to see them just to compare them with the remakes as well. But this song appears on my iPod with very uncanny timing, like when I was in Berlin of New Year's with my family and we were taking a tour of the Reichstag.
The Wizard Of Oz - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
You'd think with Margaret Thatcher being dead, I'd join the ranks of people getting Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead to number one. I nearly did, but to be honest I love this song so much more. The Wizard of Oz is apparently the first film I was able to watch all the way through, simply because it's so weird.
The Nightmare Before Christmas - Jack's Lament
This is one of my favourite films full stop. I liked it way back when it was on VHS, before it was relaunched and all the posers got in on it -_- (/hipster). But it's so amazing, the way it switches back and forth between angry and frustrated, and just sad.
Mulan - I'll Make A Man Out Of You
This song is so bloody motivational. I dare you not to feel like fighting someone after listening to this - if it trained the entire army to fight against the Huns, it'll work on you. Just . . . ugh . . . CATCHY SONG.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
I am scared shitless by this film. It's the Oompa Loompas, they're so creepy. And the music as well, even when it's cheery. The music on the start of this song, before Gene Wilder starts singing, it sounds more like The Twilight Zone than a cheery kids' film. But it's still a brilliant song.
The Producers - Springtime For Hitler
I've only seen this film once, and that was the remake, which is a shame - originals are usually better, and it's good to see them just to compare them with the remakes as well. But this song appears on my iPod with very uncanny timing, like when I was in Berlin of New Year's with my family and we were taking a tour of the Reichstag.
Thursday 11 April 2013
My Terrible Fan Art Edition 3 - Of Mice And Men
I think The Flood is going to have to go down as one of my favourite albums ever. But yeah, this one I'm quite pleased with because of the 3D aspect to it. It's slightly based on The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.
Wednesday 10 April 2013
Why I Love Pierce The Veil
Well, first of all, who are they?
Pierce The Veil are my favourite active band. I found them through Youtube last August when I heard King For A Day (featuring Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens) and went mental. They're Vic and Mike Fuentes, Jaime Preciado and Tony Perry, and they make post-hardcore music, according to Wikipedia. Really, if it's a band I like, you can be almost certain that 'post hardcore' is going to pop up somewhere.
But why do I like them? Well firstly because their songs sound great. Even before you get onto lyrics, purely on how they sound alone, so many of the songs are amazing-sounding, especially on their first album A Flair For The Dramatic, which has an amazing mix between twinkly little delicate bits, piano and then BANG MASSIVE GUITARS AND SHIT. It really is a very beautiful-sounding first album, especially The Balcony Scene and Currents Convulsive.
Lyrically they're brilliant as well. I love a good song lyric, and the ones Pierce The Veil come up with are wonderful. They tend to be quite literal, especially if you know the context - for instance "She sits up high, surrounded by the sun/One million branches and she loves every one/Mom and Dad, did you search for me?/I've been up here so long, I'm going crazy," in the song Hold On Till May off their most recent album, Collide With The Sky, is referring to a friend of Vic's who was neglected by her parents to the point that she would climb nearby trees and wait for them to notice she was missing - and very honest and cleverly written. It's not so much clever plays on words and stuff like you'd expect with a band like Fall Out Boy; PTV are more no-nonsense, getting-right-down-to-it kind of people with lyrics. But that's good when you need something to express yourself with. There's no ambiguity in what each song's about, either you can tell, or you can relate it to a very specific part of your own life.
Take Caraphernelia, for example - fans trying to invent some kind of lovelorn meaning for the title aside (it's just a word-like sound with no real meaning) - it doesn't mess you about. It's got Jeremy McKinnon from A Day To Remember in the chorus, screaming "What if I can't forget you? I'll burn your name into my throat, I'll be the fire that'll catch you?" followed by Vic's, "What's so good about picking up the pieces?" Best break-up song I've ever heard, and it's very therapeutic to stamp about your bedroom to, as well.
I also love their dedication to the fans, and how much stuff actually matters to them. Most fans who've done their research know about this one. Olivia Penpraze. She was an Australian girl, and a Pierce The Veil fan. Last year, however, after a long history of bullying and various other problems, she killed herself (honestly, the people who think it's ok to tell people they're better off dead sicken me more than anything else). When Pierce The Veil found out, it led to the creation of the song Bulls In The Bronx.
At concerts, Vic tends to ask at some point if music has ever saved anyone's life. As you can imagine, the crowd goes crazy. It saved Vic, too; he had a history of self-harm, but got himself together and now is an inspiration to many.
On a lighter note, I will end with this video, which I think sums it all up, really:
Pierce The Veil are my favourite active band. I found them through Youtube last August when I heard King For A Day (featuring Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens) and went mental. They're Vic and Mike Fuentes, Jaime Preciado and Tony Perry, and they make post-hardcore music, according to Wikipedia. Really, if it's a band I like, you can be almost certain that 'post hardcore' is going to pop up somewhere.
But why do I like them? Well firstly because their songs sound great. Even before you get onto lyrics, purely on how they sound alone, so many of the songs are amazing-sounding, especially on their first album A Flair For The Dramatic, which has an amazing mix between twinkly little delicate bits, piano and then BANG MASSIVE GUITARS AND SHIT. It really is a very beautiful-sounding first album, especially The Balcony Scene and Currents Convulsive.
Lyrically they're brilliant as well. I love a good song lyric, and the ones Pierce The Veil come up with are wonderful. They tend to be quite literal, especially if you know the context - for instance "She sits up high, surrounded by the sun/One million branches and she loves every one/Mom and Dad, did you search for me?/I've been up here so long, I'm going crazy," in the song Hold On Till May off their most recent album, Collide With The Sky, is referring to a friend of Vic's who was neglected by her parents to the point that she would climb nearby trees and wait for them to notice she was missing - and very honest and cleverly written. It's not so much clever plays on words and stuff like you'd expect with a band like Fall Out Boy; PTV are more no-nonsense, getting-right-down-to-it kind of people with lyrics. But that's good when you need something to express yourself with. There's no ambiguity in what each song's about, either you can tell, or you can relate it to a very specific part of your own life.
Take Caraphernelia, for example - fans trying to invent some kind of lovelorn meaning for the title aside (it's just a word-like sound with no real meaning) - it doesn't mess you about. It's got Jeremy McKinnon from A Day To Remember in the chorus, screaming "What if I can't forget you? I'll burn your name into my throat, I'll be the fire that'll catch you?" followed by Vic's, "What's so good about picking up the pieces?" Best break-up song I've ever heard, and it's very therapeutic to stamp about your bedroom to, as well.
I also love their dedication to the fans, and how much stuff actually matters to them. Most fans who've done their research know about this one. Olivia Penpraze. She was an Australian girl, and a Pierce The Veil fan. Last year, however, after a long history of bullying and various other problems, she killed herself (honestly, the people who think it's ok to tell people they're better off dead sicken me more than anything else). When Pierce The Veil found out, it led to the creation of the song Bulls In The Bronx.
At concerts, Vic tends to ask at some point if music has ever saved anyone's life. As you can imagine, the crowd goes crazy. It saved Vic, too; he had a history of self-harm, but got himself together and now is an inspiration to many.
On a lighter note, I will end with this video, which I think sums it all up, really:
Tuesday 9 April 2013
An Experiment - Asking Alexandria, Stand Up And Scream
I'm sure a lot of you are aware of Asking Alexandria. They're that band with the crazy people, apparently bigger in the U.S. than over here, but still pretty formidable anyway. As I'm sure many of you have, I heard of them first through Kerrang! I've not listened to them before, but they look like something I might like, so I'm going to have a listen to their Stand Up And Scream album from 2009. Let's do it.
Alerion
It starts off with a girl calling someone in the rain, and now there's sort of dance music-y noises, and guitars. It sounds alright, but I'm not really excited yet . . . oh now there's screaming. I like it, but it's kind of . . . it doesn't feel like they're doing it right.
The Final Episode (Let's Change The Channel)
Guitars. This sounds better, but I'm still not sure. It's good, but it's not interesting me at all. It doesn't feel like a song that I need to listen to, like I could completely forget I'm listening to it if I wasn't writing this right now. It just sounds like someone doing a quick impression of metal. The singing in the chorus is good though. I like it more as the song goes on. I just feel like they're doing a lot of that sort of jerky guitar stuff as opposed to actually using some kind of riff for it or a real rhythm. Nooo, actually. Changed my mind. Don't like this one, and I'm kind of pissed off that I've committed to listening to this album all the way through.
A Candlelit Dinner With Inamorta
They're doing it again; ignoring creating a guitar riff and just going for the jerky stuff and screaming because they can. I'm not feeling this at all, the songs feel really empty. Like, normally with a good song you can feel some kind of story or feeling there even without looking at the lyrics, but these just feel flat. Why is there a dance music bit in this too? It's not even good dance, it's like the shitty Eurotrash stuff. It doesn't fit in at all, it's like they've just decided to stick it in because they've run out of ideas. It's actually kind of depressing me, I was hoping I'd be discovering a new band to listen to here.
Nobody Don't Dance No More
I can't tell the difference between this and the previous three songs. If there hadn't been a pause at the end I'd have thought it was just one really long song . . . god I'm bored. How long's left of this? What a surprise, there's random dance music type stuff inserted in this one, too.
Hey There Mr. Brooks
Eight songs left after this. I don't think I can keep listening, they're making my mood plummet and I really can't handle that, I'm bad enough without help. Fast-forwarding.
Hiatus
FOR FUCKS SAKE STOP USING DANCE MUSIC, IT DIDNT WORK THE FIRST FIVE TIMES, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO WORK NOW?
If You Can't Ride Two Horses At Once . . . You Should Get Out Of The Circus
please stop. Reading about Ed Gein to pass the time until this nightmare's over. This song's boring me to death.
A Single Moment Of Sincerity
Ugh. The only skill I'm seeing so far is their ability to make 3 minutes and 51 seconds last longer than I would have previously thought possible.
Not The American Average
this sounds slightly different, enough for me to pay attention. I kind of liked it, but now it's gone boring again. This is painful to listen to.
I Used To Have A Best Friend (But Then He Gave Me An STD)
I can actually feel this having a negative effect on my mental health. It's just . . . so boring and shabby, there's no effort at all in this. It's just a one-dimensional impression of metal.
A Prophecy
Bored. Out. Of. My. Mind.
I Was Once, Maybe, Perhaps A Cowboy King
I've said this before, but really all that's possible to say about this is that it sounds exactly the same as every other song on the album. I was really, really hoping Asking Alexandria would be a band I could like, and I'm so disappointed. The way people go on about them, I thought they'd be good.
When Everyday's The Weekend
Finally, it's over. Well, after this last one. It's like if Katy Perry did metal instead of pop. You could just put the same song on an album 14 times and release that, and nobody would realise anything was unusual about it.
Never ever listening to these guys again. Definitely not in the foreseeable future, anyway. Wow, my ears feel damaged after that. They put more effort into the song titles than the songs themselves.
Alerion
It starts off with a girl calling someone in the rain, and now there's sort of dance music-y noises, and guitars. It sounds alright, but I'm not really excited yet . . . oh now there's screaming. I like it, but it's kind of . . . it doesn't feel like they're doing it right.
The Final Episode (Let's Change The Channel)
Guitars. This sounds better, but I'm still not sure. It's good, but it's not interesting me at all. It doesn't feel like a song that I need to listen to, like I could completely forget I'm listening to it if I wasn't writing this right now. It just sounds like someone doing a quick impression of metal. The singing in the chorus is good though. I like it more as the song goes on. I just feel like they're doing a lot of that sort of jerky guitar stuff as opposed to actually using some kind of riff for it or a real rhythm. Nooo, actually. Changed my mind. Don't like this one, and I'm kind of pissed off that I've committed to listening to this album all the way through.
A Candlelit Dinner With Inamorta
They're doing it again; ignoring creating a guitar riff and just going for the jerky stuff and screaming because they can. I'm not feeling this at all, the songs feel really empty. Like, normally with a good song you can feel some kind of story or feeling there even without looking at the lyrics, but these just feel flat. Why is there a dance music bit in this too? It's not even good dance, it's like the shitty Eurotrash stuff. It doesn't fit in at all, it's like they've just decided to stick it in because they've run out of ideas. It's actually kind of depressing me, I was hoping I'd be discovering a new band to listen to here.
Nobody Don't Dance No More
I can't tell the difference between this and the previous three songs. If there hadn't been a pause at the end I'd have thought it was just one really long song . . . god I'm bored. How long's left of this? What a surprise, there's random dance music type stuff inserted in this one, too.
Hey There Mr. Brooks
Eight songs left after this. I don't think I can keep listening, they're making my mood plummet and I really can't handle that, I'm bad enough without help. Fast-forwarding.
Hiatus
FOR FUCKS SAKE STOP USING DANCE MUSIC, IT DIDNT WORK THE FIRST FIVE TIMES, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO WORK NOW?
If You Can't Ride Two Horses At Once . . . You Should Get Out Of The Circus
please stop. Reading about Ed Gein to pass the time until this nightmare's over. This song's boring me to death.
A Single Moment Of Sincerity
Ugh. The only skill I'm seeing so far is their ability to make 3 minutes and 51 seconds last longer than I would have previously thought possible.
Not The American Average
this sounds slightly different, enough for me to pay attention. I kind of liked it, but now it's gone boring again. This is painful to listen to.
I Used To Have A Best Friend (But Then He Gave Me An STD)
I can actually feel this having a negative effect on my mental health. It's just . . . so boring and shabby, there's no effort at all in this. It's just a one-dimensional impression of metal.
A Prophecy
Bored. Out. Of. My. Mind.
I Was Once, Maybe, Perhaps A Cowboy King
I've said this before, but really all that's possible to say about this is that it sounds exactly the same as every other song on the album. I was really, really hoping Asking Alexandria would be a band I could like, and I'm so disappointed. The way people go on about them, I thought they'd be good.
When Everyday's The Weekend
Finally, it's over. Well, after this last one. It's like if Katy Perry did metal instead of pop. You could just put the same song on an album 14 times and release that, and nobody would realise anything was unusual about it.
Never ever listening to these guys again. Definitely not in the foreseeable future, anyway. Wow, my ears feel damaged after that. They put more effort into the song titles than the songs themselves.
Monday 8 April 2013
Fall Out Boy - Save Rock And Roll
'Cause Fall Out Boy are lovely, lovely people and their new image for their return appears to be "Just when you thought you knew the definition of absolute sweethearts who don't really give a shit about the money and just want to make fans happy . . .", they've streamed their upcoming album, Save Rock And Roll, online here.
Conveniently enough, I was looking for something to blog about this evening, and what better to talk about than this AMAAIZZZINNGGG AAALLBBUUIMMMM. Sorry. I listened to it once before and it blew my head off.
It's eleven tracks that sound like being punched in the face with magic, but like magic that came out of Patrick's mouth and Courtney Love's and Elton John's (they feature on the album) too, and then they stirred it with drum sticks and guitars and stuff and then grabbed all the Fall Out Boy fans and poured the gunge all over them, like the Kid's Choice Awards (that's where they do that, isn't it? Obviously I'm far too mature for such banal 'entertainment').
It starts off with the second single of the three they've released so far, The Phoenix. You (should) all know it by now. The big tension music at the beginning, Patrick being angry and rallying us to fight for something, presumably rock and roll, but using bleepy noises and something a little bit like dance music but not quite. Ugh, I love The Phoenix.
Then we go onto single number one, the one with the mysterious video signalling their return, My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark. That's like the first thing I blogged about on here, that song, and my love for it has only grown since then. It's this big massive chorus and craziness and FIYAAAAAHHH.
After that you get the first of the album tracks, the unreleased ones. Can they do it? Are the rest of the songs as good as the singles they've released, or are they a smokescreen for a mediocre return? It's the former. It's got a poppy start, and then kicks in with massive drums and guitars and it sounds like the kind of thing I should be marching to, not typing to, but I think the volume it's blasting out of my laptop at is already causing sufficient disturbance to the people upstairs. It's definitely different to their older stuff, but it's still so obviously Fall Out Boy. They've marked it. They've weed on it and left their special scenekid scent markers.
Where Did The Party Go. It has baaassssss. It's also got 'nanana'. It's got cynical lyrics that clash in a very nice way with the cheerful sound of the song. It is definitely the kind of thing you'd play at a party, it's very sort of flashy and not too fast to dance to, but not too slow to be interesting. It's got yet another chorus that just demands to be sung along to. I think this one's actually my favourite on the album.
Just One Yesterday (feat. Foxes) is different. There's not much to say about the start, but the chorus is another nice, big one. However, I can't find much to say about it. I don't know, I think it's definitely a grower, and it sounds great, but it's not really creating a picture in my mind like the others. The lyrics are great, but yeah, this one doesn't have quite the instant impact as the others.
The Mighty Fall starts off with what sounds sleigh bells, but it sounds a bit too badass to be Christmassy. It sounds more angry, and bitter, like an angry ex after being used and abused and dropped by someone, regretting it ever happened. I like the play on words in the rap though; "hell yeah I'm a dick, I'm addicted to you". Very clever.
I reeeaaaaallly like Miss Missing You. It sounds kind of like Dancing On My Own by Robyn at the start. The lyrics sound like the epilogue to The Mighty Fall, the low moments when you remember how lonely you are and the times when the person you were with wasn't a complete arsehole, and it's got a chorus that's going to get stuck into your head no matter what you do, so don't even try to ignore it.
Oooh yes, Death Valley picks up with a bit of fight to counteract the melancholy of the previous song. It's wild, it's about animals. It's got awesome drums, it's got a very Fall Out Boy chorus and awesome riffs. It's another song you will definitely try to sing along to, but you won't be able to keep up with Patrick's amazing singing, especially not while stamping up and down the room and kicking and punching things like I am. It has an unexpected dubsteppy bit in the middle, too, which I like. Everyone's doing dubstep these days, aren't they?
Young Volcanoes is the third released single. It's the kind of song you'd sing while dancing round a bonfire on a beach. In contrast to the big guitars and slamming choruses on the rest of the album, this is more acoustic. It's the hopeful song, and it sounds more personal. Lots of people are going to be quoting the lyrics from this for a while, I bet.
Rat A Tat's got Courtney Love on it, and there is no way you can avoid the fact, because of the furious shouting at the start. If you weren't paying attention, you are now. I'm not sure about this song though. I like it, but I dunno, not quite as much as the others. It's growing on me as it goes on though. I definitely like the bass. I always like bass.
The final song, Save Rock And Roll, starts quiet. It's got Elton John on it, and where Elton goes, piano follows. It seems like the What A Catch, Donnie of this album. It sounds kind of like Patrick's Soul Punk stuff. It's a cool, emotional sounding song, the perfect one to finish the album with. It's even got violins, what is this? I'm a bit dubious about Elton's input though. I don't feel like his voice is right for Fall Out Boy stuff. It doesn't sound quite right on this. Still, it doesn't sound massively wrong either. This is still a great song.
Altogether, this is an amazing album, and I don't think it would have been possible to come off hiatus with a better one without incorporating some kind of black magic. When I have the money, I am getting hold of this and annoying the neighbours with it - or possibly converting them, one of them's apparently a DJ.
Conveniently enough, I was looking for something to blog about this evening, and what better to talk about than this AMAAIZZZINNGGG AAALLBBUUIMMMM. Sorry. I listened to it once before and it blew my head off.
It's eleven tracks that sound like being punched in the face with magic, but like magic that came out of Patrick's mouth and Courtney Love's and Elton John's (they feature on the album) too, and then they stirred it with drum sticks and guitars and stuff and then grabbed all the Fall Out Boy fans and poured the gunge all over them, like the Kid's Choice Awards (that's where they do that, isn't it? Obviously I'm far too mature for such banal 'entertainment').
It starts off with the second single of the three they've released so far, The Phoenix. You (should) all know it by now. The big tension music at the beginning, Patrick being angry and rallying us to fight for something, presumably rock and roll, but using bleepy noises and something a little bit like dance music but not quite. Ugh, I love The Phoenix.
Then we go onto single number one, the one with the mysterious video signalling their return, My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark. That's like the first thing I blogged about on here, that song, and my love for it has only grown since then. It's this big massive chorus and craziness and FIYAAAAAHHH.
After that you get the first of the album tracks, the unreleased ones. Can they do it? Are the rest of the songs as good as the singles they've released, or are they a smokescreen for a mediocre return? It's the former. It's got a poppy start, and then kicks in with massive drums and guitars and it sounds like the kind of thing I should be marching to, not typing to, but I think the volume it's blasting out of my laptop at is already causing sufficient disturbance to the people upstairs. It's definitely different to their older stuff, but it's still so obviously Fall Out Boy. They've marked it. They've weed on it and left their special scenekid scent markers.
Where Did The Party Go. It has baaassssss. It's also got 'nanana'. It's got cynical lyrics that clash in a very nice way with the cheerful sound of the song. It is definitely the kind of thing you'd play at a party, it's very sort of flashy and not too fast to dance to, but not too slow to be interesting. It's got yet another chorus that just demands to be sung along to. I think this one's actually my favourite on the album.
Just One Yesterday (feat. Foxes) is different. There's not much to say about the start, but the chorus is another nice, big one. However, I can't find much to say about it. I don't know, I think it's definitely a grower, and it sounds great, but it's not really creating a picture in my mind like the others. The lyrics are great, but yeah, this one doesn't have quite the instant impact as the others.
The Mighty Fall starts off with what sounds sleigh bells, but it sounds a bit too badass to be Christmassy. It sounds more angry, and bitter, like an angry ex after being used and abused and dropped by someone, regretting it ever happened. I like the play on words in the rap though; "hell yeah I'm a dick, I'm addicted to you". Very clever.
I reeeaaaaallly like Miss Missing You. It sounds kind of like Dancing On My Own by Robyn at the start. The lyrics sound like the epilogue to The Mighty Fall, the low moments when you remember how lonely you are and the times when the person you were with wasn't a complete arsehole, and it's got a chorus that's going to get stuck into your head no matter what you do, so don't even try to ignore it.
Oooh yes, Death Valley picks up with a bit of fight to counteract the melancholy of the previous song. It's wild, it's about animals. It's got awesome drums, it's got a very Fall Out Boy chorus and awesome riffs. It's another song you will definitely try to sing along to, but you won't be able to keep up with Patrick's amazing singing, especially not while stamping up and down the room and kicking and punching things like I am. It has an unexpected dubsteppy bit in the middle, too, which I like. Everyone's doing dubstep these days, aren't they?
Young Volcanoes is the third released single. It's the kind of song you'd sing while dancing round a bonfire on a beach. In contrast to the big guitars and slamming choruses on the rest of the album, this is more acoustic. It's the hopeful song, and it sounds more personal. Lots of people are going to be quoting the lyrics from this for a while, I bet.
Rat A Tat's got Courtney Love on it, and there is no way you can avoid the fact, because of the furious shouting at the start. If you weren't paying attention, you are now. I'm not sure about this song though. I like it, but I dunno, not quite as much as the others. It's growing on me as it goes on though. I definitely like the bass. I always like bass.
The final song, Save Rock And Roll, starts quiet. It's got Elton John on it, and where Elton goes, piano follows. It seems like the What A Catch, Donnie of this album. It sounds kind of like Patrick's Soul Punk stuff. It's a cool, emotional sounding song, the perfect one to finish the album with. It's even got violins, what is this? I'm a bit dubious about Elton's input though. I don't feel like his voice is right for Fall Out Boy stuff. It doesn't sound quite right on this. Still, it doesn't sound massively wrong either. This is still a great song.
Altogether, this is an amazing album, and I don't think it would have been possible to come off hiatus with a better one without incorporating some kind of black magic. When I have the money, I am getting hold of this and annoying the neighbours with it - or possibly converting them, one of them's apparently a DJ.
Tuesday 2 April 2013
Pulp Party 2013 - Sound Control, Manchester
As you might guess, I found about this when I was in Pulp. I was in there to give them my CV, and was so scared of talking to the sop assistants that I needed the excuse of spending £20 on a The Blackout t-shirt to get me near one. They mentioned this party thing as I was checking out, and it slipped to the back of my mind for a while.
Then, last month, I remembered it again for some reason. Fortunately, it was at such a convenient time that I managed to buy my friend Alix a ticket as well, as her birthday present. It looked good - at Sound Control, a small venue in central Manchester near the Ritz, the Palace Theatre, and the Cornerhouse Cinema (the pornerhouse if you've ever actually watched anything in there. I saw El Piel Que Habito, and it's scarred me for life) - and had a promising line-up; two small bands, Leopards and Lacey, with a DJ set by Sean Smith and Matthew Davies of The Blackout.
We turned up quite early, when there was just a small queue, which was lucky, because after about ten minutes The Scenekids turned up. I'm not saying I'm not one, because I do have some traits that undeniably are part of the whole erm . . . scene . . . but these guys were hardcore. Rainbows, tutus, neon facepaint, cat whiskers, lots of jumping on each other and having pretend orgies. You know the ones. Harmless, but a bit alarming. They're something to look at anyway, and fascinating in the way that they seem to multiply out of thin air, like wet Mogwai from Gremlins.
I was a bit confused as to why the downstairs was used for this evening, because of the pillars in the middle of the room that made it a bit dangerous if you were, say, me, who seemed to be expected to withstand the full force of a growing mosh pit while having my head knocked against one of said pillars. However, for the first two sets they died out pretty quickly because of a spate of mysterious disappearances - one guy's glasses disappeared right off his face and all we found was one lens.
The first set was the five-piece, Leopards. The sound needed to be sorted a bit because there was more bass than vocals (according to a bassist friend of mine, that's how it's supposed to sound), but otherwise it was good. Loud and thrashy and angry stuff, made better by the fact that Jenna (vocals) had a signed We Are The In Crowd t-shirt to give to the person she decided had gone craziest, which of course sent a large portion of the crowd into overdrive. I wanted to join in and get the t-shirt too, just to say I had - I don't even listen to WATIC, I'm just a spiteful and competitive person. The one thing that unnerved me a bit was the extreme confidence that Leopards showed - they really really went for it, which worried me a bit because of the cramped space we were in, and because I'm only used to that kind of brazenness from really big bands. But I suppose you need confidence to get out there and perform, so at the very least they've got that right.
Then came Lacey, from Nottingham as they informed us, followed by "don't go there, it's a shithole". They were good, too, and did a cover of that high-pitched, really annoying Ellie Goulding song (sorry, that just means all of them - I think I'm referring specifically to the song Anything Could Happen) but actually made it enjoyable. Their special prize for the performing monkeys at the front was a signed A Day To Remember t-shirt, which I was going to get as well but didn't because I was hiding from the mosh pit.
At some point, Sean and Matt turned up. Alix and I had been trying to work out how they'd get in without being mobbed, and I was running with the idea that they had just been hiding under the covered table in the corner all day and they'd just crawl out. I still don't know if that's actually what happened, but I do know that, as cool as I thought I might be about finally being near a Big Band Person, from the moment I saw the red hair I was stood behind Alix, hissing,
"THEY ACTUALLY EXIST. BAND PEOPLE EXIST OFFSTAGE. LOOK AT HIS HAIR. THIS IS THE CLOSEST I'VE BEEN TO A COOL PERSON."
But I kind of got that under control.
Sean and Matt's set was, as I suspected, full of songs we'd know - at one point I wasn't sure if they were playing the Kerrang! Rock 100 or not, but that's not a massive problem. Rollin', Last Resort, Weightless . . . it's all music I like, and everyone was enjoying themselves. I spent the first half an hour stood really close to them, trying to get some photos but failing because I have a terrible camera that doesn't understand that night mode means it's supposed to put the flash on, until this lovely girl offered to time her photos with mine so that her flash would light them up enough for me to get proper photos. Thank you, mystery flasher girl.
Me and Alix wanted photos with, at the very least, Sean, but obviously so did everyone else, which meant there was quite a crowd around them. I managed to get us through to the side of the table and hold back a few people that tried to push past (don't get in the way of me and my fucking band people, I will snap your arm off and beat out your teeth with it). However, then came the challenge of Talking To Strangers, which I really struggle with, even more so when I'm asking for something off them, because what if they say no?
But of course Sean didn't, he was lovely, and he said thank you to us after we'd taken our pictures. I'm still buzzing off it. Excuse my creepiness in this post, but I have touched Sean Smith. He is the person that makes me wish I could do screaming. Aaaaahhhhhhhhh.
Mission accomplished, it was a lot easier to relax. I found myself dancing and singing to Misery Business by Paramore, which is something I never thought I'd do. I sang along a lot, went a bit mental when they played I'm Not Okay (I Promise), and I experienced for the first time the phenomenon that is the Harlem Shake. They just started playing it, and everyone joined in - I feel like it's not just music, it's some kind of hypnotism. I don't remember deciding to do whatever it was I did at all. Twas fun though, as was the whole evening.
Then, last month, I remembered it again for some reason. Fortunately, it was at such a convenient time that I managed to buy my friend Alix a ticket as well, as her birthday present. It looked good - at Sound Control, a small venue in central Manchester near the Ritz, the Palace Theatre, and the Cornerhouse Cinema (the pornerhouse if you've ever actually watched anything in there. I saw El Piel Que Habito, and it's scarred me for life) - and had a promising line-up; two small bands, Leopards and Lacey, with a DJ set by Sean Smith and Matthew Davies of The Blackout.
We turned up quite early, when there was just a small queue, which was lucky, because after about ten minutes The Scenekids turned up. I'm not saying I'm not one, because I do have some traits that undeniably are part of the whole erm . . . scene . . . but these guys were hardcore. Rainbows, tutus, neon facepaint, cat whiskers, lots of jumping on each other and having pretend orgies. You know the ones. Harmless, but a bit alarming. They're something to look at anyway, and fascinating in the way that they seem to multiply out of thin air, like wet Mogwai from Gremlins.
I was a bit confused as to why the downstairs was used for this evening, because of the pillars in the middle of the room that made it a bit dangerous if you were, say, me, who seemed to be expected to withstand the full force of a growing mosh pit while having my head knocked against one of said pillars. However, for the first two sets they died out pretty quickly because of a spate of mysterious disappearances - one guy's glasses disappeared right off his face and all we found was one lens.
The first set was the five-piece, Leopards. The sound needed to be sorted a bit because there was more bass than vocals (according to a bassist friend of mine, that's how it's supposed to sound), but otherwise it was good. Loud and thrashy and angry stuff, made better by the fact that Jenna (vocals) had a signed We Are The In Crowd t-shirt to give to the person she decided had gone craziest, which of course sent a large portion of the crowd into overdrive. I wanted to join in and get the t-shirt too, just to say I had - I don't even listen to WATIC, I'm just a spiteful and competitive person. The one thing that unnerved me a bit was the extreme confidence that Leopards showed - they really really went for it, which worried me a bit because of the cramped space we were in, and because I'm only used to that kind of brazenness from really big bands. But I suppose you need confidence to get out there and perform, so at the very least they've got that right.
Then came Lacey, from Nottingham as they informed us, followed by "don't go there, it's a shithole". They were good, too, and did a cover of that high-pitched, really annoying Ellie Goulding song (sorry, that just means all of them - I think I'm referring specifically to the song Anything Could Happen) but actually made it enjoyable. Their special prize for the performing monkeys at the front was a signed A Day To Remember t-shirt, which I was going to get as well but didn't because I was hiding from the mosh pit.
At some point, Sean and Matt turned up. Alix and I had been trying to work out how they'd get in without being mobbed, and I was running with the idea that they had just been hiding under the covered table in the corner all day and they'd just crawl out. I still don't know if that's actually what happened, but I do know that, as cool as I thought I might be about finally being near a Big Band Person, from the moment I saw the red hair I was stood behind Alix, hissing,
"THEY ACTUALLY EXIST. BAND PEOPLE EXIST OFFSTAGE. LOOK AT HIS HAIR. THIS IS THE CLOSEST I'VE BEEN TO A COOL PERSON."
But I kind of got that under control.
Sean and Matt's set was, as I suspected, full of songs we'd know - at one point I wasn't sure if they were playing the Kerrang! Rock 100 or not, but that's not a massive problem. Rollin', Last Resort, Weightless . . . it's all music I like, and everyone was enjoying themselves. I spent the first half an hour stood really close to them, trying to get some photos but failing because I have a terrible camera that doesn't understand that night mode means it's supposed to put the flash on, until this lovely girl offered to time her photos with mine so that her flash would light them up enough for me to get proper photos. Thank you, mystery flasher girl.
Me and Alix wanted photos with, at the very least, Sean, but obviously so did everyone else, which meant there was quite a crowd around them. I managed to get us through to the side of the table and hold back a few people that tried to push past (don't get in the way of me and my fucking band people, I will snap your arm off and beat out your teeth with it). However, then came the challenge of Talking To Strangers, which I really struggle with, even more so when I'm asking for something off them, because what if they say no?
But of course Sean didn't, he was lovely, and he said thank you to us after we'd taken our pictures. I'm still buzzing off it. Excuse my creepiness in this post, but I have touched Sean Smith. He is the person that makes me wish I could do screaming. Aaaaahhhhhhhhh.
Mission accomplished, it was a lot easier to relax. I found myself dancing and singing to Misery Business by Paramore, which is something I never thought I'd do. I sang along a lot, went a bit mental when they played I'm Not Okay (I Promise), and I experienced for the first time the phenomenon that is the Harlem Shake. They just started playing it, and everyone joined in - I feel like it's not just music, it's some kind of hypnotism. I don't remember deciding to do whatever it was I did at all. Twas fun though, as was the whole evening.
Monday 1 April 2013
Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
I haven't been listening to Bring Me The Horizon for that long, and it took me a while to decide that I liked them. But of recent, I've decided they're definitely brilliant, and the reason for that is their newest album, Sempiternal - or Sempiturtle, if you prefer.
"Sempiternal" is an actual word, it turns out; "an archaic English word denoting the concept of 'everlasting time' that can never actually come to pass . . . from the Latin word 'sempiternus'." (Wikipedia, obviously). What I've heard about the meaning behind the album so far is that it's supposed to be a collection of different stories and meanings, and it definitely sounds like that to me. I've been listening to it a lot. A LOT. A STUPID AMOUNT. It would be an understatement to say that I really like it. I like it so much that I need to say a lot of stuff about it, and I wasn't sure what. But then I remembered that I have this blog and it'd be pretty good to put on here.
Anyway, to the album!
It kicks off with one of my favourite songs off the whole album, Can You Feel My Heart. The creepy beeping at the start, and the echoes are amazing. Then the beat kicks in and it just gets amazing. And then on top of that, you get Oli's vocals and they're just wonderful, and they sound so raw and real. I love the line "I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim". Excuse me for a second while I turn this up to eleven.
The next song, The House Of Wolves, has some awesome guitars, and changes the previous mood of loneliness and isolation for this vicious fury and growling - appropriate when you consider the song title. It sounds like being on the hunt. I don't know if it's because of the Shadow Moses video, but the whole album reminds me of snow. This song reminds me of these huskies I saw when I was on a skiing holiday in Bulgaria. I went on a sled ride and they were pulling me along, and there was this absolutely crazy one that kept biting at the snow as it ran, and this is like its theme tune.
Then we get onto Empire (Let Them Sing). It starts with Oli giving this frantic, paranoid warning as the music builds up behind him, and then kicks in, and it's like a battle song. "The deeper you dig, the darker it gets . . . the wolves are at my door . . . are we truly alone?" It's like a conspiracy theory set to music. Again with the wolves. BMTH like wolves, don't they?
Sleepwalking's another of my favourites. It starts off with that spacey video-game sort of noise, and then (trying so hard to not say 'it kicks in'). Well. It sounds like panicking, and being trapped inside your own head, and trying to break out. I know that feel. "Should I sink or swim? Or simply disappear?" I like how it sort of morphs between the aggressiveness of the main song, and the sort of spacey, disoriented bits. Makes me wish I could sing properly so I could join in with this properly.
Next is Go To Hell, For Heaven's Sake. It sounds like hatred to me. All the horrible things you think about people when they do something and your view of them is just shattered and trodden into the dirt, and you're so repulsed that you're trying to get as far away from them as possible. Hatred and betrayal.
Now it's time for Shadow Moses. This is the first released single off the album, and it's been a massive success - it's made it to number one on the Kerrang! Rock 100, a position last held by Welcome To The Black Parade, of My Chemical Romance fame. It sounds very desolate and alone and resigned. It starts with that ghost-like murmuring, and then Oli's, "Can you tell from the look in our eyes? (We're going nowhere)" and then some fucking bad-ass guitars. Wow. Just wow. I really really want to sing along to this, but I'm playing it through my headphones, and I think the neighbours might object to me smashing things and shouting "THIS. IS. SEMPITERNAL." at five past one in the morning. (I'd put the video in here, but the only available link to it is the one that's apparently unavailable for UK residents . . . FFS, they're from Sheffield)
After that awesomeness comes And The Snakes Start To Sing, with a quiet and solemn start. Oli's a very good singer. So far it's making me think of some kind of dark Victorian alleyway at night, full of murder and evil deeds. It's quieter than Shadow Moses, and provides the necessary cooldown from it while still being just as powerful and emotional. The lyrics read like a plea for help, sat in the bottom of a very dark pit and calling out for someone to save you from yourself, but also like the people you need to save you are the very people drinking the blood from your veins. In the last minute it becomes drastic and dramatic and even better than before. This might be my favourite track on the album, I think. Wow.
Seen It All Before comes afterwards. Sad and lonely, it sounds like losing love. Like looking at someone and just feeling a blank void where there used to be an emotion, and having to come to terms with it being there instead of living a lie. I don't know, this is just what it sounds like to me. I've stayed away from interviews so that my impressions aren't tainted by trying to fit what I see into what the band have said about the meanings behind the songs.
Right back in with the anger on Antivist. It feels like the lyrics are practically being spat at me in frustration. It's a defiant song, quite literally "middle fingers up if you don't give a fuck", a call to arms to stop just keeping your head down and obeying The Man, to not just do stuff because someone higher up has told you to, to stop just pleasing everyone else all the time, and also swearing a lot.
Crooked Young starts off very dramatically with the (I'm presuming here) violions. That was a typo, but I'm sticking by it, 'cause this song's got claws (hahaha, thank you very much, I'm here forever). A very religious song - or at least, a song about being deserted by religion, or it never being there at all. "Fuck yourself, the faceless won't save you, the clouds won't hear your fucking prayers". I don't know anything about the band's religious beliefs, but it doesn't sound like they're massively pleased with God. This song's sarcastic, and so venomous towards religion and that expectation that if you just get on your knees and close your eyes, you'll be saved.
And now, the final song. Hospital For Souls starts with Oli Sykes talking over more ghosty noises that gradually grow and intensify, and then BOOM the guitars and the drums, and the high-pitched siren noise, like some sort of air raid. Then a pause, a calm in the storm for Oli to start singing. It sounds like the kind of song a ghost might sing. But not a happy ghost. "Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die". It sounds like a person who felt too desperate to wait long enough to queue up for Heaven, and has ended up in Hell instead. It's constantly switching back and forth between the anger and fury and flames, and this even darker quietness. It's like someone who's given up.
It's not an album you might want to listen to if you're in a fantastically wonderful mood, but if you like dark, dystopian stuff like me, then this should be right up your street. Lucky for you, it's out now, so you can go and buy it straight away.
Of The Bands I've Seen So Far . . .
I have that problem that you get when you like so many bands that you can't possibly remember them all, and this is bad enough with the big popular bands that I like - the amount of times I've forgotten to mention Fall Out Boy on lists of my favourite bands, and they're like in the top five (My Chemical Romance, Pierce The Veil, Fall Out Boy, Of Mice & Men, The Blackout).
But since I've started this blog, I've found a whole load of other, small bands that are just as awesome, and I really should listen to a lot more. Finding time is the problem. So here, I'm making time. I am in no way finished with looking at new bands (probably never will be), but of the bands I've seen so far, here is a list of my favourite song from each one - let this serve as a reminder for any of the rest of you who liked them but forgot to carry on listening as well . . . (coherency may vary as I've been living off a 95% chocolate diet for the past 48 hours)
Aspirations - Remember When
To be fair, there's not many songs to choose from for these guys at the moment, but this would probably still be my favourite song by them anyway. I like the screaming, it sounds like a mad person talking to themselves. I also thought that the line "no more hardship" was "no more horseshit".
Bring Home Ohio - The Way It Goes
Because of the awesome guitar at the start, obviously.
Cobalt And The Hired Guns -You Left Your Sweater
It's so happy and clappy, and heartwarming montage-y. It's so lovely, and let us hope it never gets ruined by being used in an iPod advert.
Liar Liar - High'N'Low
I really can't decide properly, because I am all over all of the songs on their He Said, She Said EP, but I'm picking this one because awesomeness and sing-a-long-ability.
Messenger Down - Die Sehnsucht
I don't know what my favourite MD song was before, but I love this one. It's all lonely and really shows off the singing.
Silver Story - My Empire
It's so quiet and chilled at the beginning, and then kicks in and it's all wow. I think I remember the last time I wrote about this one, and I said it sounds like the kind of song you'd use in a film for where they're being romantic in the rain.
Nobody Takes Vegas - Midnight In Nagoya
I like the beginning, how it builds up. It reminds me of those 20 minutes where I tried to play Mirror's Edge or whatever it's called, and I gave up cause I couldn't run across the tight rope fast enough.
Owls In The Attic - Big Fire
This one, yes. Yes yes yes. As usual, the contrast between clean vocals and screaming is really well done, and it sounds like a storm.
But since I've started this blog, I've found a whole load of other, small bands that are just as awesome, and I really should listen to a lot more. Finding time is the problem. So here, I'm making time. I am in no way finished with looking at new bands (probably never will be), but of the bands I've seen so far, here is a list of my favourite song from each one - let this serve as a reminder for any of the rest of you who liked them but forgot to carry on listening as well . . . (coherency may vary as I've been living off a 95% chocolate diet for the past 48 hours)
Aspirations - Remember When
To be fair, there's not many songs to choose from for these guys at the moment, but this would probably still be my favourite song by them anyway. I like the screaming, it sounds like a mad person talking to themselves. I also thought that the line "no more hardship" was "no more horseshit".
Bring Home Ohio - The Way It Goes
Because of the awesome guitar at the start, obviously.
Cobalt And The Hired Guns -You Left Your Sweater
It's so happy and clappy, and heartwarming montage-y. It's so lovely, and let us hope it never gets ruined by being used in an iPod advert.
Liar Liar - High'N'Low
I really can't decide properly, because I am all over all of the songs on their He Said, She Said EP, but I'm picking this one because awesomeness and sing-a-long-ability.
Messenger Down - Die Sehnsucht
I don't know what my favourite MD song was before, but I love this one. It's all lonely and really shows off the singing.
Silver Story - My Empire
It's so quiet and chilled at the beginning, and then kicks in and it's all wow. I think I remember the last time I wrote about this one, and I said it sounds like the kind of song you'd use in a film for where they're being romantic in the rain.
Nobody Takes Vegas - Midnight In Nagoya
I like the beginning, how it builds up. It reminds me of those 20 minutes where I tried to play Mirror's Edge or whatever it's called, and I gave up cause I couldn't run across the tight rope fast enough.
Owls In The Attic - Big Fire
This one, yes. Yes yes yes. As usual, the contrast between clean vocals and screaming is really well done, and it sounds like a storm.
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