Top 100 of '09

This was hard. After a lot of whittling down and changing around, these are my top 100 albums of 2009. There are some albums I really enjoyed that didn't make the cut and a couple (New efforts from 30 Seconds to Mars and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones) that I haven't heard yet (They come out the 8th), but these are the 100 albums I personally enjoyed the most this year. Cue the unfounded hate.

1. P.O.S. – Never Better
2. Brand New – Daisy
3. Gallows – Grey Britain
4. Say Anything – Self Titled
5. The Sleeping – What It Takes
6. A Day to Remember – Homesick
7. Thursday – Common Existence
8. Two Tongues – Self Titled
9. New Found Glory – Not Without A Fight
10. Set Your Goals – This Will Be the Death Of Us
11. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
12. Silverstein – A Shipwreck In the Sand
13. Fireworks – All I Have to Offer Is My Own Confusion
14. The Blackout – The Best In Town
15. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
16. Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
17. Weezer – Raditude
18. The Used – Artwork
19. Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major
20. Poison the Well – The Tropic Rot
21. Queen City Station – Self Titled
22. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg
23. Them Crooked Vultures – Self Titled
24. Ace Enders & A Million Different People – When I Hit the Ground
25. Dashboard Confessional – Alter the Ending
26. Cage – Depart From Me
27. Converge – Axe to Fall
28. The Almost – Monster Monster
29. Ruiner – Hell Is Empty
30. Paramore – Brand New Eyes
31. AFI – Crash Love
32. Thrice – Beggars
33. The Chariot – Wars & Rumors of Wars
34. The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate
35. Anti-Flag – The People or the Gun
36. NOFX – Coaster
37. Despised Icon – Day of Mourning
38. Title Fight – The Last Thing You Forget
39. Trapped Under Ice – Secrets of the World
40. Dead Swans – Sleepwalkers
41. Billy Talent – III
42. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
43. Morrissey – Years of Refusal
44. Ben Nichols – The Last Pale Light In the West
45. Alexisonfire – Old Crows/Young Cardinals
46. Rancid – Let the Dominoes Fall
47. Reign Supreme – Testing the Limits of Infinite
48. Oceano – Depths
49. Young Love – One of Us
50. Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed
51. Strike Anywhere – Iron Front
52. Taking Back Sunday – New Again
53. Doomriders – Darkness Comes Alive
54. Jonny Craig – A Dream Is A Question You Don’t Know How to Answer
55. Baroness – Blue Record
56. Maylene & the Sons of Disaster – III
57. Aiden – Knives
58. Dance Gavin Dance – Happiness
59. Hatebreed – Self Titled
60. Lewd Acts – Black Eye Blues
61. Soul Control – Cycles
62. The Red Chord – Fed Through the Teeth Machine
63. Marilyn Manson – The High End of Low
64. Struck By Lightning – Serpents
65. Lamb of God – Wrath
66. Darkest Hour – The Eternal Return
67. Job For A Cowboy – Ruination
68. Winds of Plague – The Great Stone War
69. Cobra Starship – Hot Mess
70. Conor Oberst – Outer South
71. Nightmare of You – Infomaniac
72. Iwrestledabearonce – It’s All Happening
73. Vanna – A New Hope
74. Earth Crisis – To the Death
75. Coalesce – OX
76. August Burns Red – Constellations
77. Placebo – Battle For the Sun
78. The Red Shore – Unconsecrated
79. The Color of Violence – Youthanize
80. The Devil Wears Prada – With Roots Above & Branches Below
81. Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
82. Born of Osiris – A Higher Place
83. City of Ships – Look What God Did to Us
84. Heartsounds – Until We Surrender
85. Killswitch Engage – Self Titled
86. Victims – Killer
87. Evergreen Terrace – Almost Home
88. Emmure – Felony
89. Between the Buried & Me – The Great Misdirect
90. He Is Legend – It Hates You
91. Leathermouth – XO
92. Miss May I – Apologies Are For the Weak
93. Shadows Fall – Retribution
94. Last Lights – No Past No Present No Future
95. Drop Dead Gorgeous – The Hot N’ Heavy
96. War From A Harlots Mouth – In Shoals
97. Atreyu – Congregation of the Damned
98. Architects – Hollow Crown
99. Wretched – the Exodus of Autonomy
100. Hull – Sole Lord

Eve 6 Interview

I had the chance to sit down with some childhood heroes, Max Collins and Tony Fagenson from Eve 6 a couple weeks ago. They were super nice dudes and I'm very thankful for the oppurtunity. Check it out.


BK: So if you could just say your name and what you do for the band. So Max on my left.
MC: I’m Max and I’m the singer and the bass player.
TF: I’m Tony, drummer and percussionist.
BK: The two original members of Eve 6 here, Matt being the new addition.
TF: Correct
BK: How’d you guys hook up with him?
MC: He’s been a good friend of ours for a long time, his old band Band Camp opened for us on a show that we did on long island in 2003.
BK: He’s a New Yorker?
TF: Long Islander, to be exact.
BK: Long way from you guys.
MC: He now lives in L.A.
BK: Oh cool, that makes things less awkward travel-wise.
MC: The majority of the time he’s been playing with us he’s lived there, but we made it work.
TF: We’d fly in and meet each other half way basically. Two years ago when Max and I were deciding to start playing as Eve 6 again, at the time we needed a guitar player, we were on the beach with some friends and Matt happened to be visiting L.A., and that was Labor Day 2007, and we’d just booked our first show back at a college in Virginia which was like, October of that year and we still didn’t have a guitar player but we’d booked the show a couple days before, so we were on the beach and the waves were coming in and it was a nice day and we were like “Matt, you wanna play a show with us?” and he said “sure” and that was it, and here we are 110 shows later.
BK: Is that really how many shows you guys have played since you got back together?
TF: Might be like 107, but we just crossed 100 like a couple months back.
BK: So this is your second time in New Hampshire, right? Because I saw you at a ski resort down the road last year.
TF: We’ve played up here a couple times. We played another college in Manchester earlier this year.
BK: Oh, Southern New Hampshire?
TF: I don’t even know, to be honest with you, we’ve played a lot in this area. Which is cool, we like it up here.
BK: So you two were also the Sugi Tap?
MC: Soo-gi Tap!
BK: Soo-gi Tap! OK. Named after a Japanese comic book?
MC: Yes, Battle Royale.
BK: Are you a comic book guy?
MC: Nope. We needed a name, but we loved the movie.
TF: We loved the movie, which is where the comic book came from and a friend of ours introduced us to the movie and gave Max a series of the comic books for Christmas or something, because he knew he loved the movie and we kind of breezed through them, we didn’t read them very carefully, but we were looking for a name and it popped up.
BK: So are those, because I know you guys are playing “Pick Up the Pieces”, which is a Sugi Tap song, are those Sugi Tap songs being absorbed by the new Eve 6?
MC: They have been, the good ones! Because some of those songs we really liked and we want our fans to hear them and we love playing them as Eve 6 and it’s working out. We’ve been playing a couple of those songs live like we did tonight and they’ll definitely be on the next Eve 6 record.
BK: That’s cool. I really liked the first new song you guys played tonight, “Little Tiny Everything”, which I don’t think you guys played last year. It’s got a great, old school Eve 6 vibe to it.
TF: Cool!
BK: My favorite record of yours is actually “It’s All In Your Head”, which I feel like is your “Pinkerton”.
TF: Haha, That’s awesome!
MC: That’s awesome, really cool to hear.
BK: I’ve bought all of your albums at least twice.
MC: That’s the highest compliment because I’ve bought all of my favorite albums at least twice.
BK: Yeah, I had the self titled on cassette and then bought it on CD.
TF: It probably sounded even better on cassette.
BK: I played it under it sounded like it was being played underwater.
TF: (Tony makes gurgling sound)Haha, yeah.
BK: So Don Gilmore did those first two records. Are you guys still in contact with him? I read that he had something to do with the Sugi Tap?
MC: A little bit. Yeah, Tony actually kind of stayed in touch with him. I was kind of doing this other thing when the band first broke up, wrote a few songs, these really rough demos.
BK: Is that the Brotherhood of the Lost Dogs that you’re talking about?
MC: Yeah, and he heard some of those songs and thought they were great. He thought, maybe this would be good if you got back together with Tony. So that’s kind of when we started working together again and as time went by we kind of, you know, it dawned on us that we’re Eve 6 and we’re calling ourselves the Sugi Tap, why is this?
TF: Don didn’t have anything directly to do with the Sugi Tap, a little, I mean, we’d come up with demos and send them to him and he’d be like “Awesome!” and just kind of support the idea of us getting back together. Because it was kind of hard, the idea, at first, it was like “we stopped being this band and we’ve taken and year off” and we were kind of just dipping our toe in the water but he didn’t produce anything. But he has remained a great friend and he’s a great producer and a great musician.
BK: Yeah he’s done some awesome records, some big albums. Didn’t he do a Linkin Park record?
TF: Two!
BK: What was the Catalyst for you guys wanting to play as Eve 6 again, you just missed the songs?
MC: Yeah, and I think, like I said, it was like “This is who we are, really.” What’s so vastly different about it? It’s a couple years later, we’re writing songs again, and we want people to hear them and the best way to do that is to be the band that we feel like we are anyway and start writing songs and once we did it just validated all of that.
BK: Are there any songs like, after all this time that you hate? Like “If I play ‘Inside Out’ one more time I’m gonna lose it.”
MC: All the songs have their nights. You know? Sometimes one song will feel amazing and then maybe the next night or a few nights later it feels terrible. So it’s not really about “I’m sick of this song” it’s just kind of how we execute every night.
BK: You guys have never really cut anything out f your sets. Like Green Day stopped playing “When I Come Around” and Third Eye Blind, when they started touring again they stopped playing “Semi-Charmed Life.” And you guys have never done that, which is awesome.
TF: Well those bands had a few more hits than we did.
BK: Well, not Third Eye Blind really.
TF: Either way, there are a few songs that as a fan of music , as a fan of songs, when I see a band and they don’t play the songs that a lot of people wanna see in addition to the rest of the collection, but some bands have a couple songs that fans wanna see.
MC: We find it slightly obnoxious when bands don’t play the songs people want to hear. We feel obliged to deliver that. The familiar songs are fun for us to play too. It’s fun to get the reaction.
TF: You know as we move forward and put out more albums and have a bigger catalog hopefully there will be a few more songs that people recognize and we’ll be able to take a few of those liberties. But for now we just try to do the best songs from every album that we feel have lasted the test of time
BK: Are ”Ttiny Little Everything” and “Black and Red”…..
MC: (Laughs) We were just joking about those titles because it’s easy to switch he around. It’s actually “Little Tiny Everything” and “Red & Black.”
BK: Oh, no and I’ve had a picture on my phone of the setlist I’ve been looking at all night.
MC: Dude, no worries. People closer to the band than you get it wrong all the time. Sorry, what was the question?
BK: Are those songs a good indication of the direction you guys are heading in with the new material?
MC: Some songs rock a little bit more.
TF: Those two are actually what you would call on the mellower end
BK: So more like “Horrorscope” than “Its All in Your Head”?
MC: Yeah, we’ve got one song that’s like a disco rock explosion as well that hearkens back to “Horrorscope” and takes a little bit of what we started with that and just kind of turned it up.
BK: So in the brief time hat I’ve been doing this, I haven’t talked to anybody that’s got like a platinum record or anything……
MC: You’re very good at it by the way.
TF: Yeah, totally.
BK: Well, that’s all I do is listen to music, and I’ve been listening to you guys since the self titled came out. 1998. So this is a question that I’ve been asking a lot and I’ve never talked to, like I said, a band like this that’s been on a major label or anything like that before, and you guys have had that experience, so how do you feel about where music is going? Do you need a label anymore, with the internet?
MC: I’m gonna give this one to Tony.
BK: Is that important to you?
TF: Well, for us and where our band is right now, we feel like we want some sort of a team around us. That can fall under a couple different categories now, because there’s the traditional record label but there are other people getting into the music business because there are all these possibilities. You’ve got things like, there are the big corporations, like Pearl Jam just put out their new record exclusively through Target, and that’s Pearl Jam. So the doors are wide open. But for where we are we do want some sort of a business moving around us that can help market I and help promote it, and all that kind of stuff. But the cool thing about today with iTunes and the promotional arms of YouTube and MySpace and things like that is that the traditional way of doing things is kind of going away, you know, CDs are becoming obsolete. I mean, in 5 years, who’s going to buy a CD at all? For us, we’d like to have some sort of a team around us, but we could put a record out, luckily we still have a fan base that keep coming to shows and stuff so there is a possibility of us doing it that way. But right now we’re keeping our options open.
BK: Is a physical release something that you need to do or do you care that much about? Would you do a digital only release?
TF: I think we’ll do both. I think there are still people that buy cd’s. we’re right on the cusp, we’re in the middle of a transition and we’re not totally over it yet, as in the music business we’re certainly not stuck in the past. SO I think you do both, maybe a limited run of CD’s, most kids are going to get stuff from iTunes and things like that.
BK: Would you ever go back to a major or are you looking more indie?
TF: We’re gonna see, the labels are kind of in an interesting spot right now, where we’re literally right now, next month, in the process of figuring out how we’re gonna get our music out. We can’t say right now if it’s gonna be on a major, or on an indie, on something totally different or even doing it ourselves but we’re not ruling anything out.

David Andrew Smith

A couple nights ago I got to check out a guy from Baltimore named David Andrew Smith in Plymouth. His set was awesome (I actually enjoyed his originals more than his covers) and a real shot of life for the usually downer Acoustic Cafe shows. I got to talk to David for a little bit after his set and found he was a really awesome, down to earth dude. Here are some highlights from our chat.

I see you’ve got a band, so this is like an extension of your day job. Is the band what you normally do?

Well, I’ve always been in bands but I started to do solo stuff like 5 years ago. I moved over near Baltimore because before I was from Ocean City, Maryland. When I got out of college, I started playing music for a living so the only way I could do that was to play solo shows. Because like on Tuesday or Wednesday night most places don’t want to hire a band. So I started to try to get more college gigs and stuff. So I’ve been in bands for a while but the band I’m in now,the newest band, has been going for like 2 years.

And that’s the David Andrew Smith band?

Well, it’s a really long story. A lot of the rooms we play didn’t want to use that name, because we do some original gigs and we do some cover gigs to pay the bills. The original gigs, unless they’re college gigs, they don’t really pay. I lose money on those. So I was doing name changes with the agent I book with and I was trying to figure out a way to sell the David Andrew Smith merchandise under a different name so I split it up into David And Rew Smith, like two people. So the band is now Rew Smith.
The songs with the band are more distorted, kind of Foo Fighters rockfish stuff. Well, some stuff is like that and some isn’t. For a while I thought I could lump it all together. So I’ve been trying to separate it more and keep the band more distorted and rockin’, and keep the solo stuff acoustic.

Right, like the second you opened your mouth iwas like “90’s rock!” Who does this dude sound like? And I had narrowed it down to Ed Kowalczyk of Live and Steven Page from the Barenaked Ladies. I determined you are a combination of the two.

(Laughs) Oh really? That’s funny because I’m definitely influenced by Live but the Barenaked Ladies…..

Not crazy about the Barenaked Ladies?

It’s not that I’m not crazy about the Barenaked Ladies, I’m just not influenced by them. I like some of their stuff but I’ve never been like a crazy fan. That is funny though because I’ve gotten that before. Other people have said artists that I never listen to. Like some people say Martin Sexton.

Really? I didn’t get that at all. So what were you listening to when you first started playing music?

Well, Nirvana got me to start playing guitar and I really got into the Pumpkins. I really love the Pumpkins. Well, like their earlier stuff. I heard a guy talking on the radio about the Pumpkins today and he was really bashing their new stuff.

Yeah, and now Billy Corgan’s talking about how he wants to do some like 40 song collection? Bring back Zwan!

Yeah, Zwan wasn’t that bad relative to what he’s doing now.

So when you say Pumpkins you’re talking, like, Siamese Dream?

Yeah, like the first four albums. Especially Siamese Dream

Cut yourself off before Adore?

Adore grew on me. Machina I thought was awful. Adore, some of the songs weren’t that bad. It wasn’t their best but it grew on me. Mellon Collie was awesome. That was before he started to sing differently, you know? He sort of reminded me of a rat. Whereas he used to sing real breathy and pretty. But I understand why he did it, because if you watch the live footage from the Siamese Dream era he sang like he sings from Mellon Collie onward.

You played my favorite Crows’ song off my favorite Crows’ record tonight . (“Round Here”)

That album is amazing. That thing is a masterpiece. That first album is awesome.

So I’m really stoked to hear you band now that you toss Foo Fighters in there.

Yeah, well the distorted stuff, that’ what I get compared to the most.

Like a Jimmy Eat World kind of thing?

Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, in that vein. I love both those bands. It’s funny because a lot of the songs I play acoustic are meant to be played on electric you know? But to make a living I’ve forced myself to get into the acoustic vein. Not that I didn’t like it, but I never pictured myself as this being my main thing. Like, me by myself without the band. So I have a band now, but its definitely a different situation than it was back in the day. My band now is mainly hired guns. Like I used to be in a band with a bunch of friends and it was our band, but over time I got tired of doing all the work. You know, like people wouldn’t show up for practice on time or they had drug problems or responsibility issues. One bass player I had we had to drag him to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. So eventually I got tired of the drama and I was just like I’m gonna do my own thing and do all the work, but I’ll get more money for doing all the work and I’ll just pay people to come play with me. I mean I have regular guys, but it’s my thing.

Are the guys listed in the credits for your CD part of your band or were they studio musicians?

Well, that took 3 years to make because I could only afford to go into the studio once every 3 months or so. I don’t think any of those guys are in the band anymore, but when I finished that CD was when I was starting my new band. So now I’ve kind of found better players over time. That CD was pieced together with studio people. I would play just the acoustic guitar or the drums or the other musicians would come in on a different day and we’d piece it together. On my next CD I wanna do it all live. I want to capture the full band. There’s something to be said about that. I mean I can hear on (the old album) that it wasn’t a full band in the studio together.

Do you want to multi-track instruments or do it all live?

I wanna do as much of it as possible live to try and capture that, but I don’t mind going in and overdubbing harmonies or whatever. I’d like to try to get at least two guitars, bass, drums and hopefully vocals all together live.

I see you’re crazy about that looping pedal.

Yeah, well I use that live because I get bored. I’d rather actually have other musicians with me. So it does the job for what I’m going for. It’s a little gimmicky too I guess.

Baltimore is such a beautiful, cool city. Does it seep into your writing at all? Has it changed since you moved there?

My writing has definitely changed since I moved over there. The thing is I live in a suburb, it’s different than living in the city. I’d love to live in the city but a lot of shows I have to bring my own P.A. so it’s in my car and I don’t feel comfortable living in the city with a bunch of expensive equipment. I’ve already had my car broken into one like 5 years ago and I lost thousands of dollars worth of stuff, so that’s why I kind of stick to my suburban bubble. But I’m in Baltimore a lot. I grew up more in the country, very flat land with lots of corn fields. I’ve definitely noticed a change in my writing since I moved from the country to the city.

What is your writing process like? Lyrics first or do you sit down and play guitar?

I usually end up just sitting down and messing around on guitar and come up with something cool and try to sing over it. That was my model, but I rarely get to write anymore because I’m always so busy. Since I started doing music for a living I have to work like 60 or 80 hour weeks and then drive for 20 or 30 hours on top of that, it’s insane. So I haven’t written in over 5 or 6 months which sucks, because that’s what I’m in this to do. When I do get to write, nowadays it’s usually when I’m in my car driving and a melody comes in my head so I write it down and I write the chords in my head down on top of it and work it out that way. Usually the stuff I write like that is poppier. So much of the poppier stuff I have comes from those melodies in my head. A lot of times when I sit down with a guitar the songs come out darker, it’s interesting. I don’t know why that is.

So you’re not on a label. Is that a concern to you or do you feel like the way the music business is now and the way the internet works you don’t even need a label?

I still would like to be signed to a label at some point I guess there’s a level of legitimacy that comes with that but also there’s a level of distribution that comes with that that I don’t know how I’d get otherwise. Even if it wasn’t a label, even if it was just somebody with a lot of money to front. Because that’s what it is, it’s talent but it’s also a lot of money to help get your music out there. I’m definitely not opposed to it. My dream is to ultimately be touring the world and have people come out to hear the originals.

So what’s the next recording step? Is it a band thing or is it you with an acoustic guitar?

Actually, I want to do full lengths but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford it. So it’ll probably be two EP’s, one Rew Smith EP and one David Andrew Smith EP, and the David Andrew Smith EP would be acoustic, darker and mellow and the Rew Smith would be more rocking and upbeat. The thing is the last CD I did I’m still going to be paying off the loan for that for at least like another year. So the only way I can think of to record soon is fan financing, which I’m looking into doing. Something like, if you pay this much, we’ll play a house concert for you.

What do you think about illegal downloading? Someone like you who works so hard to record something, and then someone downloads it or they rip it off your MySpace. Does that bum you out?

Well, I usually try to give away like a CD a night anyway. So instead of getting ticked off about people downloading stuff for free, I mean, it’s gonna happen, so I’m trying to find a way to turn it into marketing. So hopefully if I give a CD away for free, maybe they’ll like it and they’ll buy a ticket to a show or buy something else.

Were your parents into music? What was playing around the house when you were growing up?

Well when I was growing up we were mainly only allowed to listen to Christian stuff, you know? But my Dad would play some kind of old jazz standards and stuff on piano. He still plays a little but, he doesn’t play that much anymore. He’d sing and stuff too. So it was that, and my sister is 10 years older than me so in the 80’s she used to listen to Bruce Springsteen and Journey so I was catching some of that.

I’m a Springsteen fanatic.

Oh yeah? I love Bruce Springsteen.

My parents used to play the Born to Run record all the time around the house.

Yeah, he’s definitely up there for me in terms of people I look up to and the kind of career I aspire to have.

I wish David the absolute best of luck! If you see his name on a marquee I recommend you check him out. The guy is super talented and you might be getting in on the ground floor of something big. Look out for a review of his EP "Sweet Sweet Nothing" which I will be posting soon.

Check out David's solo stuff at:

http://www.myspace.com/davidandrewsmith

And check out his band at

http://www.rewsmith.com/

And if you like what you hear, please please support David by purchasing something from here:

http://www.davidandrewsmith.com/store.html

Light Week

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
Strike Anywhere - Iron Front

That's it.

Brand New - Daisy

Long Island’s Brand New have spent the better part of the last decade making a name for themselves as one of the most polarizing, enigmatic bands in modern alternative rock. The band: drummer Brian Lane, bassist Garrett Tierney, guitarist Vin Accardi and singer/guitarist Jesse Lacey, are among the most loved and hated bands currently producing rock n’ roll, for which there is ample reason. The band began in the early part of the millennium as a cornerstone of the Long Island emo movement which also brought us Taking Back Sunday, From Autumn to Ashes, Glassjaw and the Movielife. Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon was a glorious collection of pop punk gems about girls, parties and their very public feud with Taking Back Sunday that served as the soundtrack to many a high schooler’s life in 2002. Critics fawned over the band’s sprawling, arsty follow up Deja Entendu in 2004, praising the band for their stylistic departure to a more “mature” sound. Deja was certified Gold on the strength of the singles “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” and “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades”. However, this is when things got strange in the Brand New camp. The once affable Lacey became withdrawn, rarely participating in interviews or photo shoots and seemingly distancing himself from his fans. Rumors of depression and drug abuse plagued Lacey into the making of the band’s third record, The Devil & God Are Raging Inside of Me. For those who thought Brand New had expanded their sound on Deja Entendu, they may have thought they picked up the wrong CD upon first listen to Devil & God. The album was a dark, hopeless opus that featured less melody and more dynamic instrumentation. Devil & God became a cult classic and Brand New toured the world, selling out arenas and garnering a massive following. All the while Lacey was walking around with a target painted on his head for his strange behavior. While the drug rumors continued, critics pointed out his band’s growing likeness to indie rock heroes Modest Mouse, among other bands, and Brand New cut all old songs out of their live set, playing only songs from Devil & God. They feuded with Alternative Press writer Scott Heisel and forewent fan interaction of any kind. It seemed Brand New were doing everything in their power to lose fans, but were only gaining them.
So with their popularity and egos at all time highs, Brand New give us Daisy. Perhaps the most anticipated rock album of 2009, Daisy does not disappoint. This record is not background noise: it is a disturbing, creepy trip through Jesse Lacey’s odd mind. This is the most bleak, hopeless, dark album you’ll hear for a very long time. There are no rays of sunshine here. The first track, “Vices”, begins with an eerie old time sample of a woman singing which somehow segues into a loud, meandering jam. These weird samples continue at random throughout the record. Throwing a curveball right off the bat, Brand New go from the chaotic ending of “Vices” to the contemplative slow song “Bed”, which features an excellent guitar driven outro and Lacey whispering the refrain “laid her on the bed, lie to all your friends” as if he’s trying to put the listener in a trance. The third track and the album’s first single, “At the Bottom” certainly won’t help the band escape those Modest Mouse comparisons, specifically Lacey’s comparison to Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock, whose’ aimless warble he is clearly channeling here. Brian Lane absolutely pounds the drums on this one, matching each hit with the accentuated vocals in the chorus. The anthemic tune is really the album’s only evidence the Brand New of old ever existed. “At the Bottom” is followed by a couple excellent songs and a strange intermission, before the album’s high point “Sink”. “Sink” is like no song Brand New have ever written and serves as the climax for the album, with Lacey pouring every ounce of his soul into the throat shredding chorus. This song really catches the listener off guard. Those used to Lacey’s passionate croon will be pleasantly excited that he actually screams his head off on this one. The song’s chorus of “If you call I’m coming to get you, if you call I’m coming out” is nothing short of goose bump inducing. The title track, “Daisy”, also begins with a creepy sample. This is the lyrical high point of the album. Taking into consideration Lacey’s battles with the spotlight, the lyrics “I’m a sun that doesn’t burn hot, I’m a moon that never shows its’ face, I’m a word that no one ever wants to say” seem all the more revealing about the man behind the voice. In summation, this is a difficult album to wrap your head around. It would really be hard to give an honest, informed opinion about Daisy without sitting on it for a year or so. Brand New are kind of the Quentin Tarantino of rock. In the same way the famous director borrows pieces from the filmmakers who came before him, improves upon them and collects his awards, Brand New select pieces from the bands they idolize, craft albums out of the shards and sit back and collect five star reviews. Daisy will not convert anyone who hated Devil & God. It will not bring back the kids who only enjoyed the first two albums, either. Shortly before Daisy’s release, Jesse Lacey told online music blog Drowned In Sound “Some of the kids just don’t get the new stuff and that’s ok because they enjoyed what they enjoyed. We’re happy with it. I can understand why other people don’t love the things I listen to and I like that. I make music for myself and if everyone else likes it then that’s just a bonus.” This album is truly just an example of a modern musician flexing his ego for 11 songs. It won’t make anyone like Jesse Lacey or forgive his arrogance and it won’t uncover the shroud of mystery that surrounds him. Daisy is oversaturated, self-indulgent, pretentious and devoid of any real radio singles or hope of any kind. It’s also probably the best album of 2009.

Weekly Shopping List

AFI - Crash Love
Hatebreed - Self Titled
Evergreen Terrace - Almost Home
Lovehatehero - America Undererwater

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

Here's the shopping list:

Brand New - Daisy
Billy Talent - III
Despised Icon - Day of Mourning
Ruiner - Hell Is Empty

Stoked.

If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It?

Last week Buffalo bruisers Every Time I Die released their highly anticipated 5th full length album “New Junk Aesthetic” to rave reviews and impressive sales, but is the latest offering from everybody’s favorite metalcore jokesters really all it’s cracked up to be? Of course it is. Sure, ETID don’t exactly stray too far from their tried and true formula of crunchy southern fried hardcore dipped in metal sauce, but they still manage to make it sound fresh. Hey, Bad Religion have been making the same album for 25 years and they’re still one of the best punk rock bands on the planet. The recipe to ETID’s rock lies within their three core members, guitarist Andy Williams and brothers Keith and Jordan Buckley, who play guitar and sing, respectively. Williams and Jordan create a dirty, down-tuned wall of noise with their guitars, and Keith spray paints witty prose on top. Keith especially has a certain charm to him. He sounds like your older, smarter brother that happens to be in an awesome metal band. The elder Buckley oscillates between a throaty roar and a borderline sensual croon, all the while spouting lyrics about the end of the world and other such metal topics. “There is nothing to see here and nothing gazes back at me” he laments on “Who Invited the Russian Soldier?” Buckley’s extensive vocabulary and increasingly excellent singing voice have made Every Time I Die the darlings of the metalcore movement over the last couple years, and it definitely seems they deserve it. Their last two albums, “The Big Dirty” and “Gutter Phenomenon” racked up so many five star reviews and album of the year list appearances it’s hard to imagine “New Junk Aesthetic” not carrying through with the accolades as well. Unsurprisingly, NJA starts crushing skulls right off the bat, when opening track “Roman Holiday” elbows you in the throat with some serious feedback and a heavy helping of Buckley’s cigarette and beer soaked howl. The unsung hero of the album however, is new bassist Josh Newton. Newton, a former member of the now legendary From Autumn to Ashes and fantastic Kansas City noise rock band Shiner, brings a hefty and refreshing thump and rumble to the ETID rhythm section. The album’s first single, “Wanderlust” is a catchy romp through hell which finds Buckley throwing down some of the best lyrics he’s penned. When he sings “I can’t say where I’ve been and only God knows where I’ll be, but there must be a place for a wretch like me”, you can’t help but wonder if Keith might be one of the better lyricists of our time. “New Junk Aesthetic” is just one awesome, bone snapping dirge after another. So Every Time I Die aren’t undergoing any kind of identity crisis, but what they do works, and that’s more than most bands can say. “New Junk Aesthetic” is on sale at Best Buy this month for $9.99, and is worth the price if only for the hilarious DVD and awesome artwork that accompany the album.

SYG Get By WIth A Little Help From Their Friends

Bay Area sextet Set Your Goals finally managed to release a follow up to their genre defining debut album “Mutiny” this summer. It was a long wait, but for the most part it was worth it. “This Will Be the Death of Us” is an excellent album; these guys have really nailed down the perfect hybrid of hardcore and pop punk. These San Franciscans took their favorite hardcore bands and combined them with their unabashed love for New Found Glory and the Movielife, and they have come up with a sound that is all their own. Vocalists Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown deftly trade lyrics back and forth in a way that at times feels like hip hop. “This Will Be the Death of Us” is a dangerously catchy record with a ton of sugary hooks and catchy guitar lines. These are definitely the kind of songs you hum while you’re walking to class. The album kicks off with the title track, one of the heavier songs on the album. It features an awesome guest vocal from former Movielife/current I Am the Avalanche vocalist Vinnie Caruana. Anyone who knows anything about either of Vinnie’s bands knows that his passionate voice can stop you dead in your tracks, and he manages to do so here even on another band’s album. The song is followed by a rather pointless interlude which segues into the excellent sing along “Look Closer” and the aptly named “Summer Jam”, which sounds like the perfect Warped Tour barbecue song. “Summer Jam” is also special because Wilson and Brown actually recount the band’s entire history in the song’s lyrics, which is a unique topic to tackle. The album really picks up speed in the middle. The one-two punch of “The Fallen” and “The Few That Remain” absolutely make the album what it is. “The Fallen” is the “youth anthem” song stereotypically found on hardcore albums, but Set Your Goals manage to make a stale topic sound like an absolute battle cry. “I can’t stop feeling love, for this place we both came from, may I never lose my youth and if I do may I be forgettable” Brown sings. The only thing that really hurts Set Your Goals is their high profile guests. In addition to Caruana, New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert adds some excellent screaming and Paramore’s Hayley Williams absolutely runs away with her cameo on “the Few That Remain.” While entertaining, the guest appearances take away from the performance of the band as a whole. All told, this is an extremely impressive album. Set Your Goals are a very important band right now. In a music scene where garbage like Lady GaGa wins Best New Artist awards and Three Days Grace top the charts, Set Your Goals bring music with heart and conviction to the table. They are part of the last line of defense between music that actually moves people and music generated by pop star robots, songwriting teams and pitch correction software.

Happy Fuckin' Tuesday.

Really stoked about this one. Lots of cool shit going on. Here's my shopping list.

Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic
The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
Shadows Fall - Retribution
Thrice - Beggars


Also kind of contemplating the Kid Cudi record. Anybody heard the whole thing? yay or nay?

New York Hardcore Dudes Get (More) Sentimental

Upstate New York’s Polar Bear Club are one of the bands leading the charge in the recent revival of earnest, emotion evoking punk rock that has been permeating the underground music scene as of late. Last year they released their debut full length “Sometimes Things Just Disappear” on Red Leader Records to rave reviews and toured the world with bands like the Gaslight Anthem and Ruiner, gathering up a slew of new fans along the way. The album blended the passion punk of bands like Gaslight and 90’s Epitaph Records stalwarts Hot Water Music with the song craft of alternative rockers Far, and just a little touch of east coast hardcore thrown in for good measure. Songs like “Convinced I’m Wrong” and “Burned Out In A Jar” became sweaty sing along scene staples, and all of a sudden Polar Bear Club found themselves on respected Boston hardcore label Bridge 9, with a deadline for their follow up record approaching and big name producer Matt Bayles behind the boards. It was make or break time for Polar Bear Club, and I’d say they have definitely beaten the sophomore slump.
PBC emerged from Bayles’ Seattle studio with “Chasing Hamburg”, ten well rounded pop-hardcore songs about life on the road. While “Sometimes” was so well received because of its’ scrappy charm and lead singer Jimmy Stadt’s raw throated hollering, “Hamburg” is special for its’ cleaner, more refined sound. Stadt seems to hold back a lot more, opting for more delicate harmonizing in songs like “Take Me to the Town” and “The Old Fisher Burial Ground”, where he sounds more like Bayside’s Anthony Raneri than Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan. Bayles adds his own touch as well, most noticeably in the guitars of Nate Morris and Chris Browne. The producer, famous for his work with heavier bands like Norma Jean, the Deftones and Mastodon, brings a little of that hardcore buzzsaw sound to the background of the songs, which nicely offset Stadt’s newfound croon.
Stadt has stepped up his lyrics on this album as well. He has clearly been inspired by all the traveling he’s done in the last year. In the song “Light of Local Eyes”, he laments “There was a time, when this city shined, the lights in the parking lots would lead us through the night and to sunrise.” There is something very poetic about his tales from the road. This is the kind of album that makes kids want to start bands and tour.The album’s crowning achievement however, is the closing title track. Stadt really lays his heart out on this song. This is a fitting ending to a true road record; you can almost hear the band’s van humming along the highway in the background. The album ends with all five members of Polar Bear Club harmonizing “There is no more room for love!” together as the instruments fade out and all that’s left is their tired, road weary voices.

British Boys Come Through With the Debut Album of the Summer

One of the most pleasant surprises of the summer came in the form of album “The Best In Town”, the new album from Welsh emo metal band The Blackout. “The Best In Town” is The Blackout’s second album, but their first to be available in the United States thanks to their signing with American indie powerhouse Epitaph Records. For those of us who remember the early days of the Used and bands like Finch and Glassjaw, the Blackout will be a welcome throwback to the beginning of the decade, before brutally screamed verses and beautifully sang choruses were a dime a dozen.. The best way to describe the band’s sound is that they sound like the perfect love child of St. Louis emo dudes Story of the Year and California metalcore band A Static Lullaby. The Blackout utilize two vocalists: screamer Sean Smith, who howls just like ASL’s Dan Brown, and singer Gavin Butler, whose soulful voice echoes that of SOTY front man Dan Marsala. If you like either of those two bands, it’s a pretty safe bet you’ll enjoy “The Best In Town”.
The wonderful thing about the Blackout is the fact that they are clearly not blazing any new trails, and they are perfectly aware and comfortable with this. There’s no use in painting this record as something it’s not: you have heard the sing/scream/repeat formula a thousand times before. However, the Blackout do it particularly well. They throw in just enough bells and whistles to stand out from the pack, like the chorus of young kids in lead single “Children of the Night” and the infectious radio-ballad-out-of-nowhere “Silent.” Not to mention that while Butler’s singing voice is certainly more than competent, Smith sounds like an absolute demon on songs like “We’re going to Hell, So Bring the Sunblock.” There are enough curveballs on this record to keep even the most jaded music fan interested.
The album’s standout track is it’s fourth song “The Fire.” This one is a monster. If you listen to one song on this album, make it this one. The band tears through the verses and slows the pace just long enough for you to learn the words to the sing along chorus. Then they segue into what could possibly be the breakdown of the year, with Smith bellowing “I am the fire!” at the top of his lungs. Throw in an excellent guitar solo and you’ve got yourself one hell of a rock n’ roll song. “The Fire” also features the album’s greatest moment, where Smith is screaming his lungs out during the breakdown and the entire song stops dead in its’ tracks. Smith inhales deeply and desperately and then launches back into his assault on your eardrums.It is impossible to get bored listening to this album, which is really saying something in 2009. In the age of singles it’s great to see a band put out such a cohesive body of songs.. Nobody experiences music anymore. The Blackout are here to change that.

Happy Tuesday!

Light day today, here's what I'm grabbing.

Lovehatehero - Fight Or Flight
Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg


What did you pick up?

The Return of the Mark, Tom & Travis Show

Finally. On August 29, 2009 at the New England Dodge Music Center in Hartford Conn., 30,000 filed into their assigned seats to witness the return of the kings of pop punk. Blink-182 had been gone a long time, but they were back and ready to rock Hartford. Rumours had been swirling all summer about the band: naysayers said the band had reformed strictly for money, that members weren’t fully committed to the reunion and that the band members were traveling in separate buses and using separate dressing rooms. Despite all the drama, the kids came. They came in droves. It was a strange scene gazing out into the sea of faces; there were grizzled Blink veterans, parents and kids, high schoolers, frat dudes, punks and jocks all gathered under a cloudy New England sky. Yes, tonight was going to be amazing. But tonight almost never happened.
Just over 24 hours before the doors opened, it had been announced that popular DJ and close Blink friend Adam Goldstein, aka DJ-AM, had been found dead in his apartment. Would the show go on, or would the bereaved band cancel their scheduled appearance?
Opening acts Taking Back Sunday and Weezer left a little to be desired. The once great Taking Back Sunday appeared as a shadow of the band that burst onto the scene so many years ago. It’s hard to believe watching today that they were once the must see band of the moment. There were three of the members who crafted Tell All Your Friends all those years ago, standing with two hired hands and going to through the motions. Only new guitarist Matt Fazzi shows any sign of gusto, as bloated frontman Adam Lazzara struts around halfheartedly singing songs he’s so disconnected with it’s probably hard for him to believe he wrote them. As the band has put out increasingly poor records over the last few years, Lazzara’s ego seems to have grown. He treats the crowd as if they are blessed to be in the presence of his greatness, and no one seems terribly upset when they make their exit.
Weezer were a slightly better experience, taking the sage in matching fluorescent yellow hazmat suits and blowing through an hour of greatest hits. It seemed a little trite however, as frontman Rivers Cuomo opted out of playing guitar in favor of being a free roaming lead. Everything was tight and sounded excellent, but with drummer Patrick Wilson playing drums instead of guitar, it didn’t feel like an authentic Weezer set but more like Rivers Cuomo fronting a Weezer karaoke cover band. Their set went over well with the enthusiastic crowd, however, and 15 year old songs like “Say It Ain’t So” and “The Sweater Song” sounded as fresh as they did back then. The addition of a new single and a strange one man version of “Island In the Sun” slowed the pace of the set a little, but all in all it was an enjoyable precursor to Blink.
After what seemed like eternity,Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, all present and accounted for, finally took the stage. The band wasted no time ripping through “Dumpweed” and “Feeling This”, and the crowd went insane. Delonge was clearly stepping into the role of lead singer for the evening, covering for the grieving Hoppus. When all was said and done, Delonge sang lead on 14 of the 18 songs played, strange for a band famous for splitting time equally between two singers.
The set was pretty evenly spread throughout Blink’s six studio albums, including songs from each. The greatest hits, like “What’s My Age Again?” and “All the Small Things” were played with great energy, and a few more obscure cuts like the b-side “Not Now” and “Violence” were peppered in as well. Hoppus pogoed around like he was 27 instead of 37, and Barker pounded his drums furiously, adding extra fills here and there. Delonge raced back and forth strumming and swaying, often dropping to his knees in a song’s climax. As expected, Delonge handled most of the in between song banter for his saddened bandmates. It was painfully obvious to everyone that Blink-182 did not want to be in Hartford that night, but they were pulling through and playing to the best of their ability for their fans and DJ-AM. Delonge tried his best to keep the mood light, making jokes about Oprah and Brad Pitt and spontaneously breaking into dance. However, at one point Hoppus asked that the lights be brought down so he could say a few words. He struggled to tell the crowd what a horrible day yesterday had been, and much Goldstein had meant to he and Barker. “He was an innovator, and he was a genius, and above all, he was a great friend” Hoppus told a near silent crowd before bursting into tears. A moment of silence was held, and a kind of eerie, uncomfortable feeling settled over the crowd. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that performers are people too, and it’s hard to imagine performing for 30,000 people the day after the loss of a close friend. Hoppus dedicated “Down” in Goldstein’s honor. Blink’s famous anti-suicide anthem, coincidentally titled “Adam’s Song”, was noticeably absent from the set.
The trio closed their set with 2001’s “Anthem Part 2” before retreating backstage for a few minutes. They returned for a two song encore, “Carousel” and the perpetual closer and fan favorite “Dammit” off of 1997’s Dude Ranch. All in all, it was a triumphant, if painful, return to Connecticut for the band. After all the harsh words and time apart, after all the rumors of strained friendships and money earned, there was a moment that said it all. Returning for the encore, a visibly shaken Barker seated himself behind his drum kit and wiped away the tears that were streaming down his face. Delonge walked back to the drums from his side of the stage and lightly rubbed Barker’s arm, saying something to his bandmate. Barker looked up woefully and nodded, and Delonge walked back to his side of the stage. It was quick, the whole thing took maybe 10 seconds. No one knows exactly what was said between those two, and probably no one ever will. But some things are just better left between friends.

The Used - Artwork

Wow, that was a fucking terrible summer with no internet. Fuck my life. Back at it. Let's bitch about some music. Here we go.

Utah based rock band the used have spent the last seven years cranking out consistently strange and abrasive bursts of blood curdling screamo and radio ready grunge punk sing-along’s like “The Taste of Ink” and “Take It Away”. Their first two stellar releases, 2002’s The Used and 2004’s In Love And Death became genre defining milestones for the recent crop of Warped Tour standouts they left inspired in their wake. However, 2007’s Lies For the Liars (the only Used album to sell less than 500,000 copies), while certainly an excellent album, seemed a little to experimental for some Used diehards, and as a result the band has fallen off the map a little bit in recent years. Fast forward to 2009: The Used have released Artwork, a definite return to form and the most cohesive body of music the band have released since their debut. Part of the credit should certainly be placed on producer Matt Squire, as this is the first time the band have worked with anyone other than Goldfinger front-man John Feldmann manning the boards. Squire, mostly known for his work with pop punk acts like Panic At the Disco and All Time Low, injects a little Top 40 cleanliness into the usual rasp-and-howl of lead singer Bert McCracken. Yes, McCracken has certainly made strides in the last few years, as he now sounds like a singer, instead of a screamer trying to be a singer. The album’s lead single “Blood On My Hands” is perhaps the best vocal performance McCracken’s well worn pipes have ever produced, and “Meant to Die” would definitely not be out of place on a pop radio station. The Most Improved Band Member award however, goes to guitarist Quinn Allman. Allman’s axe work has taken a back seat on previous records, but his distorted, noodling crunch singlehandedly forms the backbone of Artwork. For once, all eyes are not on McCracken. The album’s second track, “Empty Without You”, with its’ intricate, electronic sounding picking sounds like Allman has been taking guitar lessons from AFI’s Jade Puget, while “Born to Quit” features one of the best opening riffs of 2009. If you’ve loved anything the Used have put out before, you will enjoy this album immensely. Artwork showcases a band that has finally found their sound after years of soul searching, and oh, what a sweet sound it is.

Nick Brooks of Queen City Station

We all know how much I love this band, so I'll get right to it. Queen City Station singer Nick Brooks was kind enough to answer some some questions for me, which I will post below. They have a record coming out real soon and the release show for that album is on June 26 in Buffalo, New York so if you live near there: Get to that show. Awesome band, super nice dude, here you go:

BK: First of all, the million dollar question: Why leave It Dies Today, seemingly a band on the rise, for QCS?

NB: Well, i didnt necessarily leave, and i wasnt necessarily fired. Basically there had been talks about finding a temporary replacement for me on some tours while i got my shit together, as i had been in a pretty bad way on the last few tours i did with those guys. That said i said they should find a permanent replacement, and convinced Zak to move home and start QCS with me. Honestly it was probably the best decision i've made and continue to be friends with all the IDT guys including jason, theyre all great dudes.

BK: What kind of music did you listen to growing up, and which of them influenced you to join a heavier band and which of them influenced you to start QCS?

NB: I grew up on rock n roll ie the stones, neil young, beach boys springsteen, rod stewart, then got into punk, which brought me to hardcore, which brought me full circle back to rock haha.

BK: Would you like QCS to have the backing of a label, or do you feel with the state of the music industry that your band is better left to its' own devices?

NB: It might help but we're doing fine on our own right now. we had some label interest but right now we're working out a distribution deal that will get our record in stores and we get all the profit not a label so meh, i dont feel like being in debt to anyone again.

BK: What is the Buffalo scene like? Who are some notable bands from the area we should check out?

NB: Buffalo is pretty awesome, people should check out: rooftops, unwelcome guests, rust belt lights, get back up, the failures union, lemuria, Roger bryan lots more i cant think of right now.

BK: Any plans for extensive touring?

NB: Lots of weekends this fall, we all work right now so we cant do this full time just yet.

BK: How did Queen City Station form and where did the name come from?

NB: The name came from zak and i getting drunk and thinking it sounded cool. ive known zak since i was 13 everyone else either answered and internet add or we've just known for years.

BK: Your singing voice sounds excellent on the QCS songs. How old were you when you discovered you could sing, and what interested you in pursuing a career in music?

NB: I've been in bands since i was 13, im almost 25 haha not most lucrative life decision but i love it.

BK: What is the Queen City Station writing process like?

NB: I'll come up with the base of a song, zak will make it better, then ill write some lyrics and there you go.

BK: What inspires your lyrics? Do you have lyrics all ready to fit to songs or do you have to hear the music first?

NB: Most of the lyrics come together at the last second, but they are all either stories i make up about seedy people, or just personal stuff.

BK:Anything you'd like to say to fans of your band or even to those who haven't heard you guys yet?

NB: Come to our shows, get rowdy, check out our record. thanks so much for the interview.

Thanks Nick!

90's Band You Need to Know

Fig Dish was a fantastic, short lived pop rock band from Chicago. They only managed to squeak out 2 albums ("That's What Love Songs Often Do" and "When Shove Goes Back to Push") on major label Polydor before folding and splintering of into different groups. Download the song "Seeds" or just buy both albums because they're both excellent and you can probably find them pretty cheap. Fig Dish is an often overlooked band that really nailed that midwest mid 90's sound and never really got a lot of credit for it, so pick up their CD's and pay tribute to one of the 90's many great unsung heroes.

Finally, Finally, Finally

What do you do when you leave a promising metalcore band on a big indie label at the height of its' popularity after making a record with a high profile producer? If you're former It Dies Today singer Nick Brooks, you move back home to Buffalo and start a full on country punk juggernaut called Queen City Station. I was a big It Dies Today fan, so when Nick split I followed him over to a myspace page with about 12 friends on it, touting the arrival of this new band. I watched the songs develop and saw that they had started playing shows and I thought to myself "Wow, good for him. He's got some real shit going on here." I was absolutely blown away by the songs themselves. All out Lucero-esque rockers like "California" and "Carnivale" were the soundtrack to an entire summer for me. I have never loved a band so much that didn't have a record deal, or even a CD out. I mean, I became really fiery passionate about this band. It is still a complete mystery to me why they aren't not only signed, but a huge band. After a long, long wait,QCS will release their debut full length on June 16. It will undoubtedly be one of the best bodies of music you will hear all year. I'm going to give you one more chance to jump on this train before it really gets moving: go to Queen City Station's myspace and give it a serious listen (I reccoment "Glen City Falls") before this band gets big. They have not posted one second of less than amazing country fried alt rock since they formed, and I have really, really high hopes for this album. I can't say enough good things about this band. Here's to hoping they make their way to New Hampshire sometime soon. Perhaps a little show at Plymouth State? GO LISTEN TO THIS BAND IMMEDIATELY AND BUY THEIR CD ON JUNE 16th.

Don't Sleep On This One

New York's The Sleeping have always been a band that I've liked, but never a band that I've loved. I've always thought that they were a cool band anchored by Doug Robinson's unique, desperate yelp , tight drums and intricate guitar licks. Hey, they were better than most of the swill Victory Records kicks out month after month. Their last album, Questions & Answers, was a catchy, borderline forgettable slice of post-something-core that ended up on a video game soundtrack and got the band on a Warped Tour and earned them a headlining run with I Am the Avalanche and A Day to Remember (that's right kids, I saw A Day to Remember open for the Sleeping. I must be old.) and moderate national recognition. There were a few strong tracks on that album, most noticably "Don't Hold Back", "Loud & Clear" and their tribute to fallen Bayside drummer John Holohan, "Heart Beatz". Questions & Answers was good enough for me to buy and file for future reference. However, after a few members changes and couple years, I wasn't sure I still cared when I heard about What It Takes, their new album that found its' way onto store shelves on February 17. Well, I was already at the record store that day (new Thursday/new Morrissey) and I had some extra change, so I figured why not, I'll grab the new Sleeping and give it a spin. This ended up being the best impulse purchase I have made in a long time. What It Takes absolutely explodes with passion and energy, right from the guitar intro of "You'll Be A Corpse Before Your Time" and doesn't let up until the closing notes of "Deadbeast", the album's last song. This really is an unbelievable record. Lead single "Bomb the World" is easily the best song the band have ever written, and I would say "He Only Sees Where He Walks", the album's 8th track, takes second place with its' infectious chorus of "Yeah, leave that girl alone". The guitars sound crisper, the organ-esque synths sound absolutely spot on and are a perfect addition to the band's sound and most importantly, Robinson has established himself as part of the upper echelon of emo frontmen. His confident wail is at times Geoff Rickley, at times "Illusion of Safety" era Thrice, but it is always captivating and always infectious. Unlike a lot of the bands you hear walking around Warped Tour and garnering reviews on scene websites, this guy can really, really sing. Robinson and company have truly hit their stride on What It Takes, an album that roars from beginning to end with emo-funk intensity and melodic bombast. This is one of the few 10 out of 10 albums to surface so far this year so do yourself a favor and head to the store and pick this up. It's the best $13 you'll spend for a while.

In All Seriousness

When I opened my copy of this month's REVOLVER Magazine I was excited to see a brief (yet informative) blip on the progress of the new Despised Icon album. The Montreal death-metallers are scheduled to have a new album out in September! According to vocalist (the dude who doesn't pig squeal) Alex Erian the band are playing "faster and heavier without so many breakdowns. To me, it's more like modern death metal." Sad to see less breakdowns, because I think DI do them better than anyone on the planet, but it sounds good to me. Here's to hoping they can top The Ills of Modern Man, which is no easy task. Really stoked for this.

Hell's Summer

This is going to be an awesome summer. There will be a ton of sunny days, great shows and of course, Tuesdays chock full of great releases. One of my most anticipated releases of the summer comes from Brooklyn rapper Cage. Cage is an immense talent wo has garnered more attention lately due to his friendship woth Shia Labeouf than for his actual rhyming skills. Coming down the pike is Depart From Me, the Cardboard City wordsmith's follow up to his critically worshipped 2005 dark art masterpiece Hell's Winter. Cage is one of very, very few hip hop artists in the world (P.O.S., Aesop Rock and Lupe Fiasco also make this list) who I feel really treat hip hop as a legitimate form of art instead of just beats and hooks and songs about girls and drugs. Cage hurts, and you can tell he really means it when he raps. I heard 5 songs from Depart From Me this morning and I can tell you it's going to be his best work yet. I am so excited for this record, and I hope you go check out his new Shia-directed video for the single "I Never Knew You", and pick up Depart From Me on July 7th; it's going to be the hip hop release of the summer.

90's Band You Need to Know

Aaaaahhhhhh, Seaweed. These Seattle 90's Alterna-Emo Dudes just reformed last year and are supposedly hard at work on new material. Looks like it's time for you to check them out. In my opinion, their album Spanaway is their finest work. Start with "Start With" (Haha!), and work your way through the album. It's truly a wonderful record and you can hear bits and pieces of bands they influenced all through it. Go find that shit on ebay or amazon and enjoy!

Hopefully You Already Own This, But...

The Chariot have made a career or crafting chaotic metalcore praising the Good Lord, and they seem to have carved their own niche in the scene. There really doesn't seem to be any other band that sounds like the Chariot, and they continue to seperate themselves from the pack by doing weird tours (They are currently out with French death metallers Gojira) and playing insane live shows. It's quite an experience to witness the Chariot live in full force; it's not uncommon to see lead screamer Josh Scogin hanging from something suspended above the stage. The artwork of their albums is also interesting. For their newest effort, Wars and Rumors of Wars, The Chariot chose to stamp the artwork on each one of the 25,000 copies pressed. They are also hand signed and numbered (I am proud owner of copy #7547). Oh yeah, and the music is awesome too. Every single one of the 10 tracks on this album are pure, unbridled skull crushing southern metal fury. Does that sound awesome? Yeah, it does. Add something cool and personal to your collection and buy this record.

Don't Give Up Hope

Growing up in New England, hardcore has always been really special to me. Ever since the first time I heard Bane and American Nightmare I’ve been interested in this subgenre. Punk’s dirty, unkempt little brother is pretty popular where I’m from, to say the least. Just a couple hours from where I’m sitting right now is the Worcester Palladium; my favorite venue and the site of the annual Metal and Hardcore Festival: the biggest gathering of heavy music on the east coast. In recent years, hardcore has seen a major resurgence in New England, spurred by increasingly impressive rosters from Deathwish Inc. (owned by Converge frontman Jacob Bannon) and Bridge 9 Records. Two of the bands that emerged from that scene and spearheaded the aforementioned movement are Boston straight edge warriors Have Heart and Providence political dudes Verse. Verse and Have Heart collectively released 5 of the greatest hardcore albums in recent memory and toured all over the world, often times together. Unfortunately, now both of these bands have broken up and there is some talk of who will go on to carry the flag for our 6 states. Here are my candidates for the future of New England Hardcore:
I will start off in my own home state. Salem, New Hampshire's Trap Them have released 2 full lengths and one EP full of blistering sludge infused grindcore, most recently 2008's Seizures In Barren Praise. The band features former Backstabbers Inc. vocalist Ryan McKenney and former Unearth drummer Mike Justian. They are currently on tour opening for Napalm Death. For those just getting into TT, I would recommend the Seance Prime EP, out now on Deathwish.

Next up is Massachusetts' own Shipwreck A.D. The band is known around the area for their adrenaline infused live shows and their mysterious connection to Vitamin Water. These guys are like old school tough guy hardcore with thinking man's lyrics. Right now you can pick up their full length, Abyss, on Deathwish, and Shipwreck are currently hard at work looking ot bring you another full length by the end of 2009.

Cruel Hand are probably the best band to ever come out of the state of Maine. They signed to Bridge 9 last year and released their second album, Prying Eyes, on the Boston based label. Cruel Hand have been touring a lot lately so it shouldn't be too long before they come through your town. I suggest you pick up a copy of Prying Eyes and head down to the show.

Another excellent Massacusetts band on Deathwish, The Carrier, are te most enigmatic band on this list. They have released one out of print full lenght, One Year Later, and one excellent 7-inch, No Love Can Save Me, in the last year. This is a band that doesn't tour that much and I'm not sure when they're planning on getting out another record, but they are AWESOME and everyone should head over to www.myspace.com/thecarrierhc and take a listen to "Hello Uncertainty".

Last but not least, we have Defeater, Formed from the ashes of Masscore band Sluts, Defeater feature producer turned vocalist Jay Maas on the bands Bridge 9 debut, Travels. Travels is an absolute masterpiece of an album, chronicling the life of a man from birth to death. Halfway through the album there is a straight up Conor Oberst acoustic guitar ditty. No joke. Buy Travels, because Defeater are the future of hardcore. Maas knows his way around the genre: he's produced albums for Cruel Hand, Shipwreck A.D. and Verse.

Of course, New England isn't the only place in the world with cool hardcore. Check out Philadelpia's Reign Supreme and Baltimore's Ruiner, in addition to these 5 fine bands above. Hardcore still lives!

Why's Everybody Always Picking On Me?

OK, I get it. Their singer wears makeup and capitalizes random letters in his name. They have weird looking, pudgy guitarists. Their album covers are really weird. The imagery surrounding Seattle goth-punks Aiden is certainly worthy of the occassional jab, but really, why does everyone hate this band so much? I think they do a perfectly good Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge era My Chemical Romance impression, and i thoroughly enjoyed their 2005 album Nightmare Anatomy. 2007's Conviction lacked a little in the energy department, which was a dissapointment because it's energy they do so well. Last year frontman wiL Francis put out an excellent solo album under the name William Control, and that just about brings us up to speed. That brings us to Knives, released on May 12, it is Aiden's 4th full length, and in my opinion, a nice little slab of gothic horror punk that should appeal to fans of later era AFI and HIM, and maybe even some Placebo nuts. Knives carries with it all the cliches Aiden have spent the last 5 years being blasted for (bad lyrics about death and blood, mostly), but you just can't get past the fact that these are good, catchy songs. Album opener "Killing Machine" moves along at breakneck speed, with Francis crooning his heart out over jagged guitars and galloping drums. The second track, "Let the Right One In" is my favorite on the album. It's just super catchy and i really like wiL's voice. The single "Scavengers of the Damned" is also excellent. It's a shame everyone hates Aiden so much for what they look like that they won't even give their music a chance. So come on; close your eyes, forget what you know about this band and give Knives a spin. Maybe you'll even like it.

The Kings Have Returned

At midnight tonight, Blink-182 played their first show in almost 5 years in L.A. to a select crowd of friends and industry insiders. My favorite band of all time is back for good. Time to get excited, kids, it's gonna be a fun summer.

Happy Green Day Day!

Ah yes, the time has come for a new Green Day record. The new album 21st Century Breakdown hits stores today and I am anxious to pick it up. My Aunt Cassie passed me a cassette of Dookie when I was much too young to be listening to Green Day, passing on the message "Don't let your Mom hear this" and I have been a fan ever since. Here's to a band that has never faltered, never wavered in their beliefs, never balked at how popular they've gotten, never put out a bad record or even written a bad song and most importantly: done whatever the fuck they wanted since 1989. Cheers to you Green Day, I'm sure this album is another stellar addition to your impressive catalog. I'll be thinking of my Dad when I upload this to my iPod, as he and I caught the American Idiot tour a few times and we both fell head over heels for that album. Here's to another 20 years, boys. The godfathers of pop punk have returned.

I Wish You Would Take My Radio to Bathe With You...

Last week my girlfriend Cait, my friend Joe and I got a chance to catch a pretty awesome show at the Worcester Palladium. I'll give you the rundown.

First off, we were dissapointed by the absence of Death In the Park, a band formed from the ashes of unsung early 2000's emo heroes Hot Rod Circuit. Since we're all big HRC fans, we were excited to see Andy Jackson back on the stage and even mor excited to hear some songs from that excellent EP they put out last year. It was not to be however, as DItP were no shows.

After that brie disappointment, we were excited to catch Nightmare of You. NoY singer Brandon Reilly was the lead guitarist in a Long Island emo band called the Movielife, who broke up a few years ago. From the demise of the Movielife 2 great bands formed, those bands being Reilly's Nightmare of You and Movielife singer Vin Caruana's I Am the Avalanche. I enjoy both bands immensely (Although I like IATA better), so I was stoked to see NoY live. Reilly didn't speak much throughout the set, but did well to keep the crowd entertained with some reworked versions of songs that appeared on their self titled debut. Set highlights included "My Name Is Trouble", "The Days Go By Oh So Slow" and the single "I Want to Be Buried In Your Backyard". The new song, "Amsterdam" also went over quite well. Funny, I Am the Avalanche also have a new song called "Amsterdam". Anyway, aside from set closer "Heaven Runs On Oil", which ran on a little too long, Nightmare of You but on an excellent (and loud!) Cure tinged set of indie rock. We had a chance to speak to Brandon after their set as well and he was extremely gracious. Check out his brother Travis' band This Is Hell, if you haven't heard them, as they are excellent as well.

Next up was Saves the Day. Now, StD are a band that I have enjoyed since the Through Being Cool days, and needless to say I was excited to see them. However, their set felt pretty flat to me. First of all, they are pretty much The Chris Conley Band now, as the aforementioned singer remains their only original member. Joe and I debated on the way home whether or not after founding member and guitarist David Soloway departed earlier this year if Conley should have given up the band name Saves the Day. Anyway, Conley sounded very good but the band was boring to watch and their set was low on the rock and heavy on the snooze, as some of their songs tend to be. Staples like "Freakish", "Radio" and "Shoulder to the Wheel" sounded excellent, as boring as they were to watch, and brought me back to the halcyon days when I first picked up the band's CD because I had seen Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 fame sporting one of their shirts. I hate to be That Guy, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bummed not to hear "At Your Funeral" and "Third Engine", as those were the two songs that got me into the band.

All bummer moods were soon forgotten, because shortly after Saves the Day let us, the kings returned. Alkaline Trio is a band that I have a very deep relationship with. Everyone has a few of those bands that just effect them differently from the plethora o other musicians that pass through their eardrums, and the Trio have just always struck a chord with me, especially singer/guitarist Matt Skiba. Skiba has always seemed to have the uncanny ability to write songs about my life; songs that pushed me through to the next day. I can't even begin to count how many of his lyrics I have scrawled in a notebook or sung to myself at night, when that last breakup just wouldn't leave my head. I have always held a deep admiration for him and seen him as the approachable poet with every day guy problems. Over the course of the last 6 years I have seen the band 8 times, and had yet to meet Mr. Skiba, despite waiting outside venues or untold hours. Would my luck change tonight? I'll get to that in a minute. First, the show.

Alkaline came out firing on all cylinders, opening with an old classic "My Friend Peter", which the crowd responded well to. The set was heavy on latter day material from 2005's Crimson and 2003's Good Mourning, but they were playing so well it didn't really bother me much. They threw in a couple more oldies like "Cooking Wine" and "Cringe", and only played two songs of last year's Agony & Irony. Set highlights included the fast paced "Fatally Yours" and "Donner Party", and set closer "This Could Be Love", during which Skiba implored the crowd to sing along, and they certainly did. One big, awesome surprise was the inclusion of "Sadie", Skiba's retelling of Manson Family killer Sadie Glutz's role in the Sharon Tate murder. I had never seen them play it before, but they pulled it off wonderfully and it just sounded amazing. They even kept in the recording of Sadie's testimony, which played over Derek Grant's thunderous drumming. The encore was a little short ("Every Thug Needs A Lady" and of course "Radio), but all in all it was an excellent set from an excellent band.

And did I meet Skiba? Yes, after a couple hours of waiting (Thanks Cait and Joe) I was able to procure autographs from all three members and shake Matt's hand. He was super nice, just like I'd hoped, and I think I even muttered something stupid about it being an honor to meet him. Isn't it great when your heroes don't let you down?

Let's get one thing straight. I find myself part of a generation of kids, the "iTunes Generation", if you will, that are under the impression that music is free. They grew up with Napster, Limewire, and other means of procuring music without paying for it that have sapped the kids of their will to own CD's, and the bands of their will to write consistent records. We live in the age o the single. Gone are the days of the Springsteens and the Pettys who would write an entire album that was enjoyable all the way through. These albums are rarities today. In the past few years not many front-to-back gems are brought to mind. Personally, Say Anything's debut masterpiece Is A Real Boy, Former Something Corporate frontman Andrew McMahon's first turn as Jack's Mannequin, Everything In Transit, Former Movielife frontman Vinnie Caruana's newest work I Am the Avalanche and Rhode Island political hardcore dudes Verse's Aggression come to mind. But on August 19th of last year, a true masterpiece was bestowed upon us, the listeners. New Jersey E Street punkers The Gaslight Anthem crafted a true gleaming masterpiece of jagged Telecasters and crackling microphones fit for Giants Stadium in 1975. This album is honestly the best cohesive body of music i have heard in the last 5 years, and it will surely cement itself as a true landmark in the future. This is it: the makeout record, the road trip record, the best friends record. It's for rainy days and summer days. Top down or windows up. I love it, my friends love it and my parents love it. Lead singer Brian Fallon has THE greatest voice in Rock N' Roll right now, I swear to you. If you do not own this Springsteen meets The Cure meets the Bouncing Souls, 10 out of 10 masterpiece, please go buy it. OWN it. Listen to it over and over again. "Here's Looking at You Kid" will break your heart and "Great Expectations" will sew it back otgether again. The Gaslight Anthem are trying their hardest to bring back the age of the album, so do your part and pick this up.

Greetings.

Hello. My name is Ben. I am a junior at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Music consumes the entirety of my being, and this blog will serve to accommodate some of the music related thoughts and opinions one garners along the way. I'll do some reviews, some bitching, some praise, and (fingers crossed) some interviews. Let's get started.