Anthony Greens been in more bands then most bands have albums, how many? Let's see, there's his Solo work, Circa Survive, The Sounds of Animals Fighting, Saosin, High and Driving, Zoloft the Rock and Roll Destroyer, Audience of One, and last but far from least, Jeer at Rome. That's 8 bands total... Before Anthony Green became renowned across the scenedom as the man with the golden voice, before he even graduated high school, he was shredding his vocal chords to pieces as the frontman of Jeer at Rome.
This band had some serious potential. I really wish they had kept with this band rather than stopping after recording only 4 songs, I can't help but imagine how different the scene would have been if THIS was the band that took off rather than Saosin . Think about how many bands have imitated the formula of one Falsetto clean singer and one screamer, would those bands have even existed? Makes you wonder...
So Enter Shikari's released a track off of their upcoming album. I know there are a lot of people out there bashing on these guys right now for their zealous use of that Korg synth, but what else would you expect from them? That's just what they do, saying you think they're using too much synth in their songs is like saying you think there's too much bass in dubstep. All you haters can keep on hating if you want but I can't WAIT for the next Enter Shikari album.
I was going to make an Abbot and Costello style joke about this song, but decided that would be just...terrible. Here's Enter Shikari - Enter Shikari
Let me start off by saying two things: First, I think the term 'Trancecore' is the most retarded concept for a genre I've ever heard, and anyone who uses this term seriously needs to be bitch slapped. Second, just because a band uses synths doesn't automatically make them Nintendocore, I'm tired of looking up nintendocore and seeing Enter Shikari and Skyeatsairplane at the top of the list. The term nintendocore started off as a joke by HORSE the Band, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but now there are a handful of bands who took the term to heart and have gone all out with it. They've tried to legitimize the term by writing songs directly influenced by old school games and culture, all of which have key similarties to them that make it practical to group them together with a label. I use the term loosely to describe any band that uses the kinds of synths found in nintendocore on this blog because I figured people who are interested in that kind of music would also be interested in those bands. It's not to necessary to make a sub-genre everytime a band comes around that has a slightly different sound to them. Sure Enter Shikari have a unique (borderline gimmicky) style, but it really only works because it's a sound synonymous with the name Enter Shikari. If there were dozens of other bands out there doing something similar it would get old real, real fast. There are already a ton of shitty bands like Attack Attack and I See Stars trying to imitate them already, we shouldn't be encouraging them by giving them a label to assign themselves.
That being said, I love Enter Shikari. Take to the Skies is definitely my favorite release to date, I love the style these songs were written in and how they went about producing the record. They layer well written emocore over short, repeating, spacey synth lines that play off each other perfectly to bring out the best in each other. This CD is top notch listening material, but it's incomparable to the experience of seeing it in person. Enter Shikari's live show is definitely one of the best I've ever seen, their music has incredibly high energy and the repitition of the synth creates an atmosphere that is easy to lose yourself in. You'll just be standing there waiting for them to go on stage, then they start playing and before you know it the entire crowd has become completely immersed in the music. It's an experience completely unlike any other show I've ever been to. Imagine seeing your all time favorite band live, think about how into every song you'd get and the energy that you would have. Seeing Enter Shikari live is kind of like that, only every single person in the crowd is hyped to that level. They might not be my favorite band of all time, but I'd never pass up a chance to see these guys live.
Oh Shit Smack that ass ma! Move it like a gypsy, stop, whoa! Back it up, now let me see your hips SWING!
There was a point in time a few years back when every single scene band was posting covers of Hip Hop songs to their myspace pages. 99% of them were terrible, rather than try and change a song to fit their own style we ended up with song after song that sounded more like scene kid karaoke than actual bands making music. There was one band though that managed to make a cover that actually sounded original. Now I don't particularly care for Miss May I's music, but their cover of Savage's Swing has managed to stay in constant rotation in my library since I found it a year ago. It's just a really fun song to listen to, I cant help but grin every time I hear the band chant "Now let me see you hips swing!"
I lovee me some Genghis Tron. Part Grindcore, part Experimental Electronica, and all amazing, Cloak of Love is the definition of the word 'unique'. Songs will go from blast beats and math riffs to hip hop beats and ambient electronica and back again in a way that makes it seem like it's the most natural thing in the world. If you savvy yourself a fan of Grindcore you need to give this a listen. If you like electronic music but aren't that fond of spasticly fast drums or screaming vocals I would still say you should give this a shot. The Grindcore is what carries the EP, but it's done in such a way that's not as overly abrasive as you would expect it to be. Genghis Tron is one of the very few heavy bands thats just avant-garde enough to have a fan base in the Hipster crowd as well as among Grindcore fans...that's saying something right there.
While I'm on the topic of relaxing music I should review my all time favorite album for when I when I want to mellow out. Telefon Tel Aviv's debut album Fahrenheit Fair Enough is by far the chillest music in my entire library. It's combonation of soothing, almost ambient melodies and super hi fi electronic sounds makes for a listening experience unlike anything else I've heard in my entire life. It's one of those albums that works perfectly as the background soundtrack to any chill sesh, but also good enough to keep your full attention if you were to sit down and give it a listen through. I would call this album a must have for every music collection. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying it.
Enjoy My Favorite Track off the album "4182333461...Dance!"
There's nothing better than some nice instrumental Math Rock when you just want to relax and take a load off your mind. Auto?Automatic?? (Formerly Auto!Automatic!!) is the perfect 'Chillout' band. Their songs are upbeat and energetic for the most part, but the tambre of their instruments creates a sort of calming atmosphere. These songs are really well put together and seem to be able to mold themselves to whatever mood or situation your in. The same song can feel either uplifting and cheerful or sombre and sad, depending on the mood of the listener. Another Round Won't Get Us Down is a great addition to any music library, put it on when you wanna relax or if you've got a lot on your mind and see if it doesn't make you feel better.
To Prove the Point I'm Going To Make In My Review, here is "Can't Let Up" off of "The Word Alive EP"
Now Here is it redone on "Empire EP" now called "Inviting Eyes"
There's a difference between BETTER Producing and OVER Producing -_-
Two years ago something suddenly dawned on me. "I haven't been to a show in forever" I thought to myself, and suddenly I was itching to go see live music. I started to look for upcoming shows and I wasn't being picky, as long as I knew the band I was going to see them. I noticed skyeatsairplane was playing a show soon, so I bought my tickets and checked to see who was opening: In fear and Faith, Eyes Set to Kill, and The Word Alive. I had no idea who any of them were, so I started looking for albums to download to check them out, In fear and faith and Eyes Set to Kill were simple searches, but I could not find shit on The Word Alive. So I researched it a little bit and found out that they had yet to officially release anything yet. At that time I did a lot of my listening either while driving or on break at my job, so I needed something downloadable to get familiar with these guys. I ended up finding a zip file on mediafire labeled "The Word Alive Myspace", and it had the five songs from the bands page. That 'demo' quickly became one of my favorite CDs, it was a refreshing take on the metalcore genre. These songs had a good flow, they were up tempo and intense and flowed in and out of breakdowns seemlessly, whereas with the other bands they felt forced. In short they were just well written songs played with a lot of energy and intensity.
Compared to this, Empire EP was a huge, HUGE, disapointment. It was overproduced as balls, they sucked the life out of the songs. Inviting Eyes was called Can't Let Up on the original demo, they lowered the bass, increased the keyboards presence, cleaned the guitar and cleaned the screams up, they took away all the things that made The Word Alive unique. The Empire EP was just a release from another cookie cutter Emo/metalcore band. Deceiver was better, but still overproduced as balls. I'm glad I got to see them when I did and that I was able to find this demo so I can show yall how good these guys were before they let the scene producers change them into more of the same.
What do Ozzy Osbourne, The Ramones, Missy Eliot, Ludacris, and California Swag District all have in common? They're all sampled on track one of the new Girl Talk album! If you don't know what Girl Talk's about then try and picture this: you know all those top 20 songs you hear on the radio or on mtv all the time? You know, the ones you say you don't like but catch yourself singing at the strangest times? Okay, now how about all those classic 80s/90s songs that you don't know who sings or even what theyre names are, but have been in every movie/commercial/tv show you've ever seen? Okay, now how about all those 'alternative' bands that you hear playing whenever you walk into the apple store, barnes and nobles, or any store in your mall that sells guys' skinny jeans? Well take all of those and throw them in a blender and puree them until it becomes one smooth, uniform mix. That's basically what Girl Talk sounds like. He takes all the catchy parts from songs you already know (whether your willing to admit it or not) and mixes them together into something that sounds 100x better than the originals. "But if I don't like the original songs why would I like them all at once?" you might be asking yourself, but let me assure you, even if you hate all radio music, even if you consider yourself too 'Hardcore' to listen to anything but Grindcore and Thrash, you'll still like Girl Talk. It's just one of those things that everyone likes (except maybe mashup snobs, but they're just kidding themselves). Honestly it's not something you can understand until you've actually heard it, which you should have considering I posted a song at the top of this blog, if you haven't do yourself a favor and check it out, you wont be disappointed, swearsies.
I know a lot of you out there aren't gonna download an album from a band you've never heard of just cause I told you to, so check out Track 2: 'Transitions' and see for yourself why you should never doubt anything I say ever again.
Usually when I download new music I do it in bulk. Once an album finishes downloading I listen to a song or two off it while I continue my search for more to download, not paying it all that much mind, just enough to get the gist of it and see what it's all about. When All of the Above Finished downloading I loaded it to iTunes, started the first song, minimized iTunes, and went back to Last.fm to search for more music. 2 minutes later my internet browser was closed and I was intently listening to every note on the record. With one song I was so impressed with this EP I had to stop everything I was doing so I could give this album my undivided attention, and as soon as it was finished I was so pumped about it I had to immediately begin writing a review for it…so here it is:
Structures is a Progressive Metalcore/Deathcore band the likes of which I've never seen. Before I start, let me say that usually I can't get into Deathcore at all, in my opinion the whole genre feels shallow and insincere. First off, I don't see how anyone could be expected to take these bands seriously with names like 'Decrepit Birth' or 'Carnifex'. It's like they purposely choose names that make people think 'these guys are scary' so they can feel cool/tough when in reality they're just a bunch of bitchasses. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Deathcore seems to be more about 'intimidation' than it is about anything else, I guess to people who listen to heavy music because they want to be feel tough or 'hardcore' than it suits them perfectly, but that's not why I listen to heavy music…at all. With that being said, lets continue with the review….
As far as the Deathcore aspect of their music is concerned Structures has all their bases covered; there's downtuned guitars with plenty of dissonance, chugging riffs with breakdowns to match, and bass drops so big they make your entire body shake. Without a doubt these guys are as 'brutal' as any other Deathcore band out there, but unlike so many other bands, Structures understands that there's more to making good music than just breakdowns and dissonance. Whether it be airy guitar melodies akin to Misery Signals, super-fast upbeat Math Rock riffs ala Tera Melos, even taking cues from bands like Emarosa or Broadway, All of the Above is constantly incorporating concepts from a huge range of influences to give each song its own personality and adds a much needed layer of depth to the Deathcore formula. And while that formula may be at the core (no pun intended) of each song, it's the addition of all these different influences that will have you coming back to this EP over and over again. Structures is definitely a name to look out for, if they can expand on what they've done here on their next release they'll become a colossal force.
Listen to My Favorite Track Off The Album "For The Record" While Given This A Read/Waiting for the Download To Finish.
If Rock and Roll existed in Ancient Greece then Everytime I Die would be the gods they prayed to. If you don't know Everytime I Die by now, what the fuck are you doing man? For the last 10 years these guys have been tearing shit up with their own brand of Hardcore infused with the Spirit of Rock and Roll. They take all the brutalness of hardcore and give it just enough personality to make it stand miles apart from the rest of the bunch. If you're into heavy music, listen to all their albums, they're all top notch. New Junk Aesthetic is no exception, while it may be a tad less heavy than previous releases, it's still a great release and perfectly captures what Everytime I Die is all about.
