skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I couldn't find a legitimate cover for this album because this band was pretty small and then they broke up. It's still a good EP though.Personally, I come from the school where if a song is longer than five minutes, it had better be good. I'm also a fan of lulzy song titles. Score One For Safety's "Put On Firebird Baby, 'Cause We're Gonna Do It For 14 Minutes" fulfills both these requirements. This song is a mixture of lo-fi screamy screams and borderline ambient guitar work. When combined, these mix with the drums to create a track that does a really good job of mastering the hard/soft movement that has been happening in emo music lately. The other songs on here ain't bad either, and "Kid Vs Comet" is actually really good as well.I know I didn't write a lot, but I have to get up early tomorrow. I mean, I'm updating again and that should be enough. :|
After missing Mountain Asleep multiple times when they've been in Columbus, I finally got my chance to see them at Berea Fest IV this July. Right before Mountain Asleep played, Slingshot Dakota played. Right before Slingshot Dakota, The Max Levine Ensemble played. Needless to say, by the time Mountain Asleep started to set up, I was feeling kind of punked out. I powered through, however, and almost immediately after Slingshot Dakota finished, I had planted myself firmly in the front row. Almost immediately after I secured my spot, any tiredness I had within me left when Mountain Asleep's singer/yelper Jake Snider walked up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said "I really hope I don't throw up during this". In short, my very first live experience with Mountain Asleep was being told there was a chance of getting thrown up on during their set. I was stoked.When their set started, I discovered I had good reason to be excited. Right when the band started playing, the group of about 10 kids closest to the stage (me included) started moshing our collective asses off. Matching our stomping and thrashing to the band's off-beat time signatures and screaming our lungs out, this living, writhing mass of people soon became covered in sweat. In this slimy, sticky mass of people, everything was perfect. Everyone was dancing to music they loved, Jake (who stayed in the pit the entire set and didn't throw up) yelled his heart out and ripped his throat raw with the sheer emotion given off by the band. Band members would periodically wander into the pit, all while playing perfectly. By the time it was over, everyone was sweaty and exhausted, but most of all, everyone was happy.I know I haven't even talked much about the album, but you should download it anyway. Dance to it. Learn every word and scream them at the top of your lungs. Then, see this band live. They bring so much energy with them and they're not afraid of getting in the thick of things and becoming one with the entity that is punk rock.
The band at Monster House, one of the 17 million times I missed them play.
As I sit here, eating a late-night bowl of Lucky Charms, I am reminded of simpler times. Eighth grade times, to be exact. Waking up early enough to eat breakfast, riding the bus, and pop-punk. Eighth grade being the year I discovered pop-punk, or what I defined as pop-punk (maybe probably even punk, the point is, it wasn't). Flash forward to 2009, the year I discovered the Max Levine Ensemble. Even with all the catchiness contained within, I feel bad for calling this pop-punk, lest you group it with bands like Sum 41 and New Found Glory. But, I mean, this is such an assault of catchy hooks, bodacious beats, and Spoonboy's voice that it can't really be considered anything else. If you put this on at a party, you can probably expect everyone there to be dancing by the time 'Aren't All Songs Political? Aren't All Songs Vaugely Self-Referential?' comes on. If they aren't, check their pulses.
When I talked to Toby Foster at a show and asked his permission to upload this album, he told me that I could on the condition that I didn't talk shit about the band. Condition met.
At the time of this recording, Arkansas? was officially a two-piece consisting of Toby Foster and Victor Vieira-Branco. Both guys sing on this release, with Toby taking a bulk of the songs. The album opener is 'Facebook', a song about Facebook breakups that actually happened to my friend Zach. A few songs later, '45' provides the album with an awesome track that has never failed to make me smile. In fact, this album has never really failed to make me smile. The playful guitars, combined with the excellent drumming really give this album a solid pop-punk foundation to dance upon, and I'm not talking metaphorically about the music. This album is 100% danceable, no matter if you're dancing to forget the bruises these songs remind you of or if you're just dancing from the sheer optimism this album puts out. Songs like 'Hash Browns' give off great vibes while not sacrificing musical integrity or sounding too corny. I really almost feel like I'm doing this album a disservice by writing about it, because that probably means you, the reader, aren't listening to it and you don't feel happy as I do when I listen to it. If you want to buy it (which you really should do because it's awesome and so is the 1/3 of this band that I've met), you can go to Arkansas?'s MySpace. It's on there.P.S. On the song 'Dance Moves', Toby mentions that he stole dance moves from a guy named Evan Gornik. Evan Gornik and Toby Foster recently put out a split 12" that will probably wind up being one of my favorite albums of 2009. There's not a bad song from either artist on there, seriously. You can get it here if there are any copies left, or from a show maybe. Trust me, it's great.
This is band solidarity.
Over the years, many scholars (read: Internet dudes) have debated long and hard over what Jawbreaker's best album was. Being a 90s punk band, this question is of the utmost importance. After all the debates have raged for years, after all the evidence has been presented, after all the little intricacies have been listened to, these scholars were ready to present their pick for Best Jawbreaker Album. Right before they were about to announce the decision, I decided that I simply didn't care (this being the internet and all) and picked, for myself, Bivouac. Bivouac is Jawbreaker's second album, and it's the album that took me the longest to get into. This proved to be well worth the effort, however. Starting out listening to the pop-punk-flavored 'Chesterfield King', I eventually moved onto 'Shield Your Eyes'. I was fully content listening to these two songs for a while, but then I heard talk of 'Tour Song'. Eager to check it out for myself, I listened, and fell in love with the song. After 'Tour Song', the band launches into another high-energy song ('You Don't Know...', a Joan Jett cover). 'You Don't Know...' is followed by 'Pack It Up', a song that deals with the band's back catalog, and 'Parabola', which the band called their "angry song". The final song on the album is what I consider to be one of the best songs ever written. 'Bivouac' doesn't start out seeming like much, but over the course of the song, it builds on itself, eventually reaching the climax where singer and guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach screams 'BIVOUAC!' and the band launches into what can almost be described as a dirge. Powerful blasts of noise attack the listener from all sides, and the band pours everything they have into these last few minutes. However, everything I've said is moot if you remember what I said earlier ("this being the internet and all"), and the only way to really experience the glory of this album for yourself is to download it.
I just stumbled upon this album recently myself, but it's good. Formed in early 90s Seattle, this band really took the West Coast punk sound and ran with it. Think a popper Jawbreaker with irreverent lyrics that involve Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, Carl Sagan, and "gettin' drunk offa sunshine". This doesn't mean you should like it any less, however. This music is carefree and fun. It's totally danceable and just has a genuine feel to it. Some songs are good music for riding bikes, while some songs are good music for skateboarding. This album kind of epitomises the "nerd rock" side of punk at the time. It's a shame these guys didn't get bigger, because many of their contemporaries did and Sicko opened for some pretty big bands at the time. Basically, I feel like this album is the album my teenage soul would write if my teenage soul lived in Seattle in the early 90s. Plus, the guy in the middle of the picture totally kind of looks like Bradford Cox of Deerhunter.
Fast, dancy, loud punk from New York. I saw these guys a few days ago in a nasty bar in the 614. Most of the band ended up playing on the floor and running into the crowd at random points. This meant that most of the crowd, including myself, was really getting into it. Throughout the show, I danced aimlessly throughout the crowd, concerned only with having fun. It seemed like everyone else that was dancing had the exact same mindset. Try it out, and I hope you have as much fun as I did. Plus, these guys are all super nice.
MySpace
