I Will Fight Every Last One Of You (A Punk Playlist)

I blame Pax Am Days for this. I got Save Rock And Roll for Christmas off one of my aunts, but in a bizarre stroke of genius, she got me the Pax Am Days re-release version. Normal Fall Out Boy is pop punk, but in Pax, they're so amazingly punk that I have trouble not sitting there quietly screaming whenever I listen to it. It reminded me that, if I'm anything, I'd like to consider myself at least a little bit punk. My tastes may stray to other things, but punk always calls me back eventually. Of course, there may be some of you out there who scoff at what I consider punk - consider that your elitist categorising and pigeon-holing of music is really not punk, and therefore I win. You're just a servant of The Man.
In this spirit, I have created a bit of a punk playlist that I wrote in that cool way people do on tumblr. Some of it's 'proper' punk, some of it's hardcore, some of it's pop punk, some of it might be a little bit metal if it suits. It is, as the title is supposed to suggest, get you up, about and motivated. Please don't necessarily fight anyone. If need be, crumble them to dust with your words, but don't get me for inciting violence. There's fighting The Man and then there's being an arse.

My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell, Kid
Fall Out Boy - We Were Doomed From The Start (The King Is Dead)
Green Day - Letterbomb
All Time Low feat. Vic Fuentes - A Love Like War
Good Charlotte - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
Leathermouth - Murder Was The Case That They Gave Me
The Story So Far - The Glass
Blink-182 - The Rock Show
Black Flag - Rise Above
Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down
The Used - Put Me Out

ARE YOU READY FOR LEEDS YET?!

(I got onto a computer! Crazy, isn't it. Mine's still broken though, which makes posting regularly very annoyingly difficult)

On Friday, this very Friday, begins the 2013 Leeds Festival. I am going to this festival. I am so excited that I have been having trouble sleeping, which is somewhat troublesome because I should probably get the rest now seeing as I'll be up and about pretty much all day every day when I get there.
This year has an amazing line-up, the best line-up you could hope for after 2011 featured My Chemical Romance. We've got Bring Me The Horizon, Green Day, Deaf Havana, and - most importantly for a fair amount of people, I think, because until this year all the newer fans like myself thought we'd never get to see them perform live - Fall Out Boy. Stoked does not cut it.
So, to try and help work through my own excitement enough that I can sleep tonight, and also help any of you who are somewhat unsure who to go and see at Leeds this year, here are the songs by my favourite bands and artists that will be there that I am most excited to see. (apologies for the breakdown in my ability to express myself as the post goes on, I was getting more and more excited)

Leeds 2013

Your Favourite Drummer (Day 6 of 30)

Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy, because Andy is aaawweessoommeeeeeeeee. He's just great, and made of greatness.
Here's Tiffany Blews:

5 Songs: O

My Chemical Romance - Our Lady Of Sorrows

Pierce The Veil - One Hundred Sleepless Nights

Of Mice & Men - O.G. Loko

Fall Out Boy - Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued

Green Day - Oh Love

5 Songs: M

Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum

The Cribs - Men's Needs

Fall Out Boy feat. Big Sean - The Mighty Fall

The Pretty Reckless - Miss Nothing

Muse - MK Ultra

The songs that have occupied my week

I've not been posting on here as much as I should do, for a lot of very different reasons (Netflix being only the reason why I didn't do anything yesterday - I just found out that we had it, and decided to watch the entire first series of Life On Mars in one go). That is not to say, however, that I haven't been listening to music. If I hadn't been listening to music, I would be dead.
I thought, so as to get back into the habit of posting, I would show you the songs that have been occupying my time recently. There's no particular theme running through them, but they're all songs that I think - if you're a regular reader of this blog (hahaha) you should check out - as with all music I post on here.

Fall Out Boy - Tiffany Blews
I am just all over the lyrics to this song, before you even get onto the sound, that's so very Folie A Deux (very under-appreciated album). Interesting fact: it's got Lil Wayne in it.

Duck Sauce - aNYway
I don't know, man, it's just awesome and really catchy.

Miike Snow - Paddling Out
I heard this song somewhere a while ago and thought it was great but forgot about it. Then I've been hearing it again because of the Budweiser ads, and looked it up.

Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky
Because cool.

The Deranged Hermit Student Exercise Playlist

Picture this. The sun is shining brightly outside, and the sky is clear for once. Kids run past, screaming wildly and kicking footballs. It's probably pretty warm out, even in the slight breeze.
But you wouldn't know. You're not outside. You're sat inside, on the sofa, where you've been since you got up at mid-day for nearly six hours straight. You haven't washed. You've given up on the usual Western traditional eating times and are eating meals that would look weird, even to the average pothead. Your pupils are dilated from sitting in half-darkness, staring at a screen and writing notes, or more likely drafting blog posts to keep you from actually getting anything done. You're refusing to pay attention to anything, lest you give in to the voice in your head that says you're definitely going to fail your exam tomorrow because you don't have enough examples of Judicial Reviews in action, and, to be honest, you don't even know what that is in the first place.
You need a break. A break from the procrastinating, a break from the sitting and stewing. You need to get something else done so that you use up enough energy to sleep tonight instead of sitting reading until 5 am. Hopefully this will help a bit.

Fall Out Boy - Rat A Tat (feat. Courtney Love)

My Chemical Romance - House of Wolves

Lostprophets - A Town Called Hypocrisy

Green Day - Basket Case

Pierce The Veil - Caraphernelia (feat. Jeremy McKinnon)

A Day To Remember - I'm Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?

Bring Me The Horizon - Chelsea Smile

Slipknot - Before I Forget

Heaven's Basement - I Am Electric

Muse - Supremacy

All Time Low - Weightless

The Blackout - The Fire

Sleeping With Sirens - Low

Florence + The Machine - You Got The Love

The Strokes - Reptilia

5 Songs: D

this is all for my own amusement, none of you are that bothered really, are you? Or you'd actually comment
-_-

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

Gram Rabbit - Dirty Horse

Fall Out Boy - Death Valley

Of Mice & Men - The Depths

My Chemical Romance - Desert Song

5 Songs: C

Bring Me The Horizon - Can You Feel My Heart

My Chemical Romance - Cemetery Drive

Fall Out Boy - (Coffee's For Closers)

Pierce The Veil - Caraphernelia

The Blackout - Children Of The Night

5 Songs: A

I've decided, as a quick thing to fill time until I have enough spare time to write proper things for the blog again, I'm going to do this. Five songs for each letter of the alphabet. Today, obviously, is A.

Sleeping With Sirens - A Trophy Father's Trophy Son
It's, as is usual for SWS, one of those songs that you really want to sing along to, but can only do it justice if you can keep up with all the different parts of the chorus and Kellin's impressive vocal range.

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
As with the rest of Hot Fuss, it's a beautiful song.

Fall Out Boy - America's Suitehearts
It's so over-the-top, but still manages to be quite clever about celebrity culture and somehow involves Patrick wearing a yellow top hat.

Deaf Havana - Anemophobia
I thought anemophobia would be something to do with blood (because in my head everything is to do with blood) because it sounds like anaemia, but I looked it up and apparently it's actually a phobia of wind. Technically, the song is actually a bit about wind.

My Chemical Romance - Ambulance
Off Conventional Weapons. It took me a while to let this one grow on me, because it sounds so different to their other stuff, and is terrifying when it randomly appears on shuffle, but I really like it now.

Let's Shuffle

I needed to think of a post, and because I'm currently not exactly drowning in free time, I thought I'd do the age-old facebook/tumblr/insert other social network here pastime of putting my iPod on shuffle and giving you the first 25 songs that come up.

Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun
Deaf Havana - Little White Lies
System Of A Down - Deer Dance
Hole - Celebrity Skin
You Me At Six - Loverboy
The Killers - My List
Green Day - Pulling Teeth
The Cure - Last Dance
Rammstein - Sonne
Muse - Resistance
My Chemical Romance - The Only Hope For Me Is You
Fall Out Boy - Golden
Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse - Valerie (Zutons cover)
The Cribs - Butterflies
My Chemical Romance - I Don't Love You
Pierce The Veil - I'm Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket
Arctic Monkeys - If You Were There, Beware
Pierce The Veil - Bulls In The Bronx
Funeral For A Friend - Bullet Theory
Flight Of The Conchords - You Don't Have To Be A Prostitute
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
My Chemical Romance - Dead!
My Chemical Romance - Disenchanted
The Killers - Bones
Leathermouth - My Lovenote Has Gone Flat

Fall Out Boy feat. Courtney Love - Rat A Tat

This one took a while to grow on me, because I wasn't sure about Courtney's part at first, but it's really grown on me and I've found myself mumbling the lyrics a lot over the past few days.

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

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.

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

Fall Out Boy - Where Did The Party Go

My favourite track off the upcoming Save Rock And Roll album by Fall Out Boy.

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.

Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix

let's get over this dark spell then, with Fall Out Boy's next single off their forthcoming album, Save Rock And Roll. It's pop punk - more pop than punk this time - and I gather it's getting some mixed reviews, but I love it. They sound happy with what they've done, and to be honest I just want all the bands I like to be happy at the moment.

Fall Out Boy - Tiffany Blews

Fall Out Boy have a lot more songs than you'd think they have, and because their released singles are so mindcrushingly awesome, I generally get too distracted by them to properly appreciate the unreleased ones. This one, off their most recent album (excluding Believers Never Die), Folie A Deux, crept up on me today and I realised just how amazing it is. Especially that bass bit near the beginning (it is bass, right? I get really worried I've made a complete misunderstanding of things) - nice work, Pete.