Dance Gavin Dance - (2009) Happiness

sound: Punk Rock/Screamo
length: 10 songs, 36.9 minutes
myspace
01. Tree Village ( 3:22)
02. NASA ( 3:35)
03. I'm Down With Brown Town ( 3:01)
04. Carl Barker ( 5:13)
05. Happiness ( 3:30)
06. Self-Trepanation ( 3:13)
07. Strawberry Swisher Pt. I ( 3:28)
08. Don't Tell Dave ( 3:17)
09. Strawberry Swisher Pt. II ( 3:06)
10. Powder to the People ( 5:11)

Im not gonna lie, i thought Downtown Battle Mountain was the worst piece of shit garbage record i had heard in a while. But not for lack of talent or trying, because the guitars were interesting, but needed some direction and the drummer was pretty  good, but their singer* sounded like absolute shit. It was like all this directionless unnecessary screaming being drowned out by some asshole trying to harmonize or find this one certain elusive note. Needless to say, when this record came out i was not, fucking, interested, at, all.
But my friend Brenden told me they got a new vocalist, and some other new band mates so i gave the track Tree Village a chance. This was like listening to a completely different band. The guitar effects and rifts suddenly had purpose, the vocals were enjoyable and not grating, and damn if the song isn't actually catchy. The drums are quite a few degrees above the slightly better then novice level of the two previous albums. This record is considerably far more impressive  then anything this band name has ever been associated with in the past. Also quite a few interesting instrumental tracks littered  through out the album. It's a confusing, ambitious and innovative press, if this  is a first step in re inventing the band, i am all for it. Cheers to these guys, i hadn't even realized i had  been starving for a complete and polished record from this band.

sounds like: later Fear Before, Vanna, Closure in Moscow, Seven Story Fall, Silverstein

bump.

* sidebar: if you are a fan of Jonny Craig and i have offended you... i don't  really give a shit it's my fucking blog and i'll say what i want. Also Kurt Travis sounds way better, and is the best thing to happen to this band, ever, period.

Saosin - (2003) Translating The Name

sound: Post Hardcore/ Progressive Rock
length:7 songs, 21.3 minutes
myspace, click on the song translating the name
1. Seven Years (3:12)
2. Translating The Name (3:26)
3. 3rd Measurement In C (2:38)
4. Lost Symphonies (2:55)
5. They Perched On Their Stilts, Pointing And Daring Me To Break Custom (2:51)
6.3rd Measure in C (acoustic)
7. Seven Years (acoustic)


Ok, so for about ten minutes today i thought i might be a Saosin fan. But then i took a deep breath counted to ten and came to my senses. It turned out i was actually just still an Anthony Green fan because the man is a musician worthy of praise, and a vocalists capable of  amazing feats most men would not dare. Besides that hes capable of  conveying a great deal of emotion and managing to some how command  your attention over the music. Not to mention he is a prolific fucking lyricist.....but that's enough hand jobbing  Anthony Green for one post.
When really i just want to talk about the fucking drummer. Pat McGrath, a drummer Saosin pulled in for this single EP, a man who had never played a single show with them live. They simply asked him to emulate the voracious sound of This Day Forward. Well, he pretty much took that direction and blew it out of the fucking water. Honestly if they'd managed to keep  these two this band would have been fucking outrageous, possibly way too fucking talented. Maybe its better for the universe that Green went on to Circa Survive, who boasts another great drummer by the by.  And as for Pat Mcgrath, well he went back to the fucking Underworld from whence he came, where he shall remain, until he is whole once again.
This EP is a constant battle between these two very talented musicians putting on one hell of a fucking show over 4 tracks. If you are a Circa Survive fan do not skim over this, it is an absolute treasure.

sounds like: Circa Survive, This Day Forward

bump.

A City Safe From Sea - (2009) Throw Me Through Walls

sound:Indie/Funk/Progressive

length: 9 songs, 37.6 minutes

myspace

1. you and all your friends

2. understudies

3. well dressed at the hospital

4. french architecture

5. worcester cinema north

6. little white shelves

7. soft duels

8. two twin telephones

9. we can turn around, but i can't take you back

What i gathered from this record was a handful of catchy tracks filled with fast high hat hits and continual wandering guitars.  Lots of overdrive and pedal effects stopping just seconds before your eardrum starts spewing blood all over your skull candies. Think the Dartz only slightly heavier. Who doesn't want to hear songs about dead friends, and shitty girlfriends?

sounds like: So Many Dynamos, Dartz, White Denim

bump.

Taking Back Sunday - (2001) Tell All Your Friends

sound: Punk Rock
length: 10 songs, 33.8 minutes
myspace
01 : You Know How I Do : 03:21
02 : Bike Scene : 03:35
03 : Cute Without The 'E' (Cut From The Team) : 03:31
04 : There's No 'I' In Team : 03:48
05 : Great Romances Of The 20th Century : 03:35
06 : Ghost Man On Third : 03:59
07 : Timberwolves At New Jersey : 03:23
08 : The Blue Channel : 02:30
09 : You're So Last Summer : 02:59
10 : Head Club : 03:02

It seems like prior to a few years ago, which is to say when i was young and a great deal more naive about things like love, sex, betrayal etc, i listened to music with much more of a writers ear. Which is a lot of posturing so that i can say i used to be more lyrically motivated to listen to records. Where the fuck am i going with this you might ask?
It's simple, if you haven't been under a rock you've heard what ever it is you've heard about this band, and I, gumpy, am not going to try and change what you've heard about this band. I don't care what shitty shit shit you've heard about Adam Lazar or fucking people leaving the band or what an MTV whore the record Louder Now was. Also don't fucking look at this post and think the words "scene" or "scene kids" because i will come to your fucking house and cut your fucking heart out. This band was around before the media and myspace and other fucktards coined "scene" to describe fans or shitty ass genres of music.

However, beyond everything i just said i am going to tell you despite it being a sort of messy, young, throaty, overly emotional and unpolished first press, this record has a multitude of poetic value. Boasting lyrics like:

hoping for the best just hoping nothing happened
a thousand clever lines unread in clever napkins
i will never ask if you dont ever tell me
i know you well enough to know you never loved me

or

you never knew cus i never told you
that everything i know about breaking hearts
i learned from you its true
ive never done it with the style and grace you have
but i've made long term plans
based of this mistake

It takes a lot of fucking guts to write that honest and to get on stage and bare your soul like that. I saw this band live when i was 17, it was a very impressive and emotionally draining show for everyone involved. I don't care what you've heard about this band, or what they sound like now. If you just look at this one record, and allow yourself to feel something other then food hunger or the need for masturbation you just might find that you like it. And if you don't then seriously, and honestly, please believe me when i say "FUCK YOU CHARLES!"
Hey im just kidding, but seriously go fuck yourself.

sounds like: Punk Rock motherfucker

Bang.

Gumptube: AOF Born & Raised (official video)

Alexisonfire once again proves why they are the onlybandever.com. This band has no shortage of creative music videos and this video is no exception. Lets be serious what's more visually entertaining then giant colorful Chinese Dragons?

If you don't know who this band is then check this blog and start downloading, i fucking love this band they are fantastic. And if you would like to read the least masturbatory description of how this band came to be then read this by George Pettit. Cheers.

Finch - (2008) S/T

sound: Punk Rock/Post Hardcore
length: 4 songs, 19.3 minutes
myspace
01. Daylight ( 4:16)
02. Famine Or Disease ( 3:56)
03. From Hell ( 3:38)
04. Chinese Organ Thieves ( 7:28)




If you liked What It Is To Burn you will not be disappointed, however if you were expecting Insomniac Meat you might be. I think the song Daylight could be the song stuck in my head most often last year, simply because its so damn hard. Check this shit out.

sounds like: Scary Kids Scaring Kids, From First To Last, The Messenger

Bump.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - (2007) Isis EP

sound: Indie/Funk/Poolhall
length: 5 songs, 17.45 minutes
myspace
1. Rockers to Swallow
2. Down Boy
3. Kiss Kiss
4. Isis
5. 10x10

Im going to start this post by saying i'm not a huge fan of the new album, and truly half of A Fever To Tell has to catch me on a good day unless im listening to Maps because... well its Maps . That being said i fucking love this EP. It's just five straight songs that are damn catchy, each boasting their own version of scratchy guitars and punchy vocals. This EP commands your attention from foot tapping Rockers to Swallow to the steady drumbeat of Kiss Kiss. People like to get lazy and lump them together with Pretty Girls Make Graves because they're both women fronted. This is the only complete record by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that can hang with PGMG, and that's high praise on this blog. It's good stuff, check it out.

sounds like: We Are Scientists, Band of Skulls, Blood Red Shoes

*Link taken down by BAND REQUEST.
However i cannot control people posting it anonymously in the comments.

Finch - (2002) What It Is To Burn

sound: Punk Rock/Post Hardcore
length: 13 songs, 1 hour
myspace
01 4:01 New Beginnings
02 3:19 Letters To You
03 2:50 Post Script
04 2:39 Grey Matter
05 3:09 Perfection Through Silence
06 4:48 Awake
07 4:10 Without You Here
08 4:02 Stay With Me
09 5:19 Project Mayhem
10 4:13 Untitled
11 4:38 Three Simple Words
12 13:28 Ender
13 4:51 (Bonus Track) What It Is To Burn

My sophomore year of High School i stumbled across this in a store, and purchased it on a whim simply because it was being put out by Drive-Thru Records. Possibly the best random purchase of my young life. At the time, a very unique punk band that used its rock influence and blended it with electronic mixing, screaming lines, and heavy guitar riffs to fill young hearts with blood. When your 16 you find yourself a little susceptible to emotionally charged lyrics, angry guitars, and star crossed songs about love gone wrong. Finch might have been the soundtrack to my high school years, but who didn't suffer for love at that age? So to those who can look back and remember the one that got away, or got busy, or just should have got stabbed THIS RECORD IS FOR YOU MY FRIEND!
Granted, now in the year 2009 this record has been made and remade by a million bands boasting the names that start with Boys Liking Something or Other and The Anything Anybody's. BUT this record will always have my vote of confidence, simply because for me they did it first.

sounds like: From First to Last, The Messenger, Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Bump.

If These Trees Could Talk - (2009) Above the Earth, Below the Sky

sound: Instrumental/Post Hardcore
length: 10 songs, 44.9 minutes
myspace
1. From Roots to Needles
2. What's in the Ground Belongs to You
3. Terra Incognita
4. Above the Earth
5. Below the Sky
6. The Sun is in the North
7. Thirty-Six Silos
8. The Flames of Herostratus
9. Rebuilding the Temple of Artemis
10. Deus Ex Machina

Simply put this is a great record. The guitar work is far from simplistic, however finding nonplus riffs will be hard on this album. Each song seems to have had a great deal of time and effort put into them, perfecting just the right amount of all elements. The musicianship is tremendous, enjoy.

sounds like: Dawn Chorus Ignites, Caspain

Krunch.

Emery - (2009) While Broken Hearts Prevail EP

sound: Rock/Post Hardcore/Screamo
length: 7 songs, 37.48 minutes
myspace
1. The Smile, The Face 2:45
2. Edge of the World 3:50
3. Say The Things (You Want) 3:03
4. Ten Talents 3:26
5. Always Depends 3:40
6. Thoughtlife 3:46
7. Do The Things (You Want) 3:52

Let me premise this by saying right now:
I fucking LOVE this band.
I have a ton of their merch, i have every demo, every unreleased track, and ton of live shows. I have a fucking Emery sticker on two of my goddamn guitars Including the one i use on stage. They would be the band i have seen live most if it wasn't for Minus the Bear, and i repeat Emery's live show is Out of Fucking Control.

But im not going to lie to you guys their previous album I'm Only a Man was like this weird divulge into some Alternative bullshit and it was terrible. The feel of the record was off, musically it was absolute fucking Garbage. I mean, im pretty sure i would rather have listened to a pile of the bands actual shit then ever hear that record again.

OK, now that being said this EP right here, is a honorable revisit to everything that makes this band SO FUCKING AWESOME. Back to basics ladies and gents, we're talking all the raw energy that makes up their live shows pouring through the speakers. The introspective lyrics that are so specific, but emotionally universal laid over and under a rock steady chorus and beautiful harmonic breakdowns. The odd mix of acoustics in heavier songs is an innovative touch, adding personality to some of the more substantial would be "screamo" tracks.
Best part of this album is the bands maturity in their admission to fans over I'm Only A Man with lyrics like "Let's write the songs that they want/I thought they'd love us but they don't." Previous fans of Emery will get a kick out of the old demo Always Depends remastered. These guys still got it, Cheers.

sounds like: Hopesfall, City of Ships, He is Legend

Bump.