My Dead Girlfriend - Underdrawing for Three Forms of Unhappiness at the State of Existence

I've been searching for shoegaze that I like for a while now. Some things work and some don't. Loveless isn't what my heart desires, but the harshest parts at the center of Deathconsciousness are basically my dreams come true. Some of my favorite garage rock bands have released amazing shoegaze albums. Jesu aren't bad, and last year three real great albums came out under the genre title: one of them, Iroha's self titled debut LP, was a side project of Jesu front man. The other two were Yuck's debut, a 90's throwback album with some shoegazing and some punk rocking and some real generic shitting about, and The Joy Formidable's first album, which was also a lot alike to Yuck's.

Here's something though. After a few pandering releases (Looking at you, Whirr), the pedal heavy, melody light genre has welcomed me back home with My Dead Girlfriend's debut mini-LP. The title and band concept seems depressing, but the music behind it is hopeful and inspiring, and the vocals are twinkly as fuck. This is about as close as I've gotten to real hard punk shoegaze, you know, the type I really want. Each track punches hard, not despite but because there are only six of them. The band members took all of their energy and shoved it into making six thick, amazing tracks.

It feels like everything leads from the strong opener/title track, as if it was a delta, straight into the tip of the river, which ends up being a split between Nasty Mayor's Daughter - the strongest track here by miles, and one which I promise will have tears down your cheeks - and closing track Aki no Hachiouji, which shuts the book with a real positive note.
This album is basically a fizzy anime. I foresee it staying with me for a long while.
Tier: 2 [Playlist]
[fork on plate]

The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet

I've been a Volta fan for quite some time now. All things considered, my musically conscious life has been a bit longer than a year, and I've been listening to Omar's whittling and Ced's howling for about a year now. It's flown by, probably the fastest year I've ever lived, and for quite a few reasons, not just The Mars Volta.
I'll spare any readers a write up on the bands past and get straight to it: this is one strong album. By the time I get to the first single it feels as if I've already listened to one full album, and I'm only halfway done. And I don't think that's a bad thing. I love it. Noctourniquet fills me whenever I'm starving for something real good. The album is strong across the board.
"The Whip Hand" is a magnificent opener, full of filthy synth-guitar and some really cool vocals (I am a landmiiiine). "Aegis" and "Dyslexicon" manage to keep the cool, electronic vibe and the future-punk genre aesthetic steady, however after them I come upon the first real snag in the album. "Empty Vessels" is more of a feels song than a hears song. It's got a real sentimental sound, and it really drags it out. For some it's a tear jerker, but for me, more often than usual it's a snore fest. Luckily, lead single "The Malkin Jewel" follows, and it brings me back up to speed.
"In Absentia" is an island in the track listing - a major change up, an amazing song, stranded between two mediocre ones ("Lapochka", "Imago"). To be fair, both of those mediocre songs bring that funk hard, but they manage just well enough to become more of a breather or a "time to get a snack" in the album than anything, akin to the boring scene in a summer blockbuster. The real trouble in the album begins here, though, I'm afraid. I've thought about the rest of the tracks on this album real hard. Upon release, they confused me quite a bit but I think I've got 'em down now:
"Molochwalker" is a very typical and yet still a very exciting song. Across the whole album, the chorus of every song has been the big deal, and if by this track you haven't noticed then you probably wouldn't find a bard if it was stuck on the bridge of your nose.
"Trinkets Pale of Moon" is a special track to me. It was the first from the album I had heard, and I enjoy the live version very much, but the studio version is such a chore. It's a very quiet track, and it really shouldn't be the one to follow "Molochwalker". It's chorus is very typical of Volta - spooky. In fact, the whole song is a bit to cliche for my taste.
"Vedamalady" is everything that the album tries to be. It's a real great ride, a funky, groovy, electronic thing, with this amazing chorus that outdoes any song before it except maybe "In Absentia". Luckily, "Vedamalady" is followed by the title track, "Noctourniquet", which is the only track here to really outdo it. These two tracks are yet another island.
The closer, "Zed and Two Naughts" is likely the most talked about track on the album. Volta have always offered, possibly among all else, powerful closers - something melodramatic and over the top. I just wish I wasn't so tired of it, so ready for something new from them. "Zed" has the most derivative everything on this album. The instrument parts are all a bore, and the chorus is really just weak. This is the one track I really can't stand on the whole album. Which is a bit disappointing, all things considered.
Still, this is a mighty listen. Noctourniquet is satisfying despite it's flaws. It might not be another Amputechture, but it's still something from the modern prog rock greats, and I still enjoy much of it.
Tier: 3 [Good Shit]
[Don't Step on Me]

Ancestors - In Dreams & Time

Ancestors are a psychedelic metal band hailing from L. A., and In Dreams & Time is their third record. I've received some questions about these guys since I started sharing them, namely, "psychedelic metal? That exists?" People seem pretty excited to sum Ancestors tag up as progressive metal because psych metal can't possibly be a thing. It's happened to me a few times now.
But here's the thing: Ancestors are a mix of doom metal, gothica, stoner rock, psychedelic rock and a lot of other things. Their previous albums have their own place, but something about In Dreams & Time strikes me as an amazing, stealthy, really strong release.
Where it starts, with "Whispers", a straight up psych doom opener with this amazing, sprawling, destructive bridge, the album flows straight into "The Last Return", a piano led gothica-type thematic interlude, full on with female lead vocals. Afterwards comes the bulk of the album. The following three tracks are all just like the opener, "Whispers", except stronger.
"Corryvecan" stresses a mellow, riding guitar riff with a heavy synth right behind it, all accompanied by the return of singers with beards. "On the Wind" combines the interluding gothic pianos and female vocals with the heavy, full guitars to create something totally opposite the rest of the album thus far: an uplifting song. Or, sort of. The track is uplifting, but so unsure of itself. Well enough, "Running in Circles" follows, and it brings that uncertainty with it, and turns it into an amazing, well planned out jam fest, as well as the strongest hook across the whole album. When it comes, you'll hear it, and you'll scream along. Of course, all of this comes together on the closer, "First Light", a twenty minute epic, as per any band with "psychedelic" and "metal" in it's genre tags.

Tier: 1 [Album of the Year material]
[strap your beard on]

Sigh - In Somniphobia

Sigh are a Japanese extreme metal band. Most of their lyrics are English, if that matters to you. They had their start in the black metal scene (though, I don't know how hardcore the bm scene in Japan ever was) and since then they've tried their best to be something different, and to much success. Their latest release, In Somniphobia, enforces many bits totally unrelated to what we commonly group black metal into. In fact, Sigh's more recent material has all been closer to avant-garde metal than anything - unExpect and Akphaeyza. They've brought up melodies by way of piano, saxophone, and plenty of other things as well.
The unfortunate truth about all bands mentioned though, is that upon hearing them the first time I am surprised and amazed and I go crazy for them, and every listen after that less so. As well, it takes a very specific mood, which is only available in a very small window, for me to really enjoy this type of extreme metal to the best of my ability. This is a really cool release and I like it a lot, but it just isn't consistently enjoyable, or practical.
Tier: 3 [Good Shit]
[call the crazy police]

Cursive - I Am Gemini

Cursive have, to me, never been post hardcore. Ever since The Ugly Organ in 2002, I've heard people label them as such but I've never heard it in their sound. Domestica might have been post hardcore, I could see that. The songs were raw, the lyrics were emotional and were screamed as often as sung. Since Domestica though, Cursive have strayed further and further from that genre. Organ saw Cursive doing their best to keep things fresh, and people applaud the album because at the time they had a cellist in tow, but at the same time they've been almost lauded ever since because after the cellist left they refused to replace her, instead opting to adopt a brass ensemble. To be honest, which I tend to be, Cursive have become a better band with almost each new release in my eyes. Domestica and Organ struck me as spotty and gimmicky, as well as poorly planned, though they do both have exemplary tracks. Happy Hollow has been a favorite of mine for a while - it's like a melting pot of nasty riffs and picking on Tim Kasher's part - who, by the way, happens to have one of the best voices (and sexiest beards) in the industry - alongside a brass ensemble that just seems to push the knobs to over eleven or twelve. It was one of those first albums that really made me feel like time was rushing past me. 44 minutes felt like 20 in 14 tracks. Mama, I'm Swollen managed to keep me impressed and intrigued, and it's also a great album, but it just barely doesn't beat it's direct predecessor. What was interesting about Mama was watching Cursive advance as a group again - this time not by growing by numbers, but instead by growing by ideas and shrinking by numbers.
Another three years have passed and Cursive have released their most bare bones record yet, I Am Gemini, but it's also their most well thought out. Gemini is the first time Kasher has made a concept album on purpose. If you would note, every other Cursive album since Domestica has been a concept album, but not necessarily by purpose. The situations in the lyrics were always told from separate characters views, and the subject was always only the same because it was something that Kasher felt passionate about himself, so much so that it was all he felt the need to write about (or, that's my assumption). Following his divorce, Kasher wrote two albums based around the during and aftermath. Being raised in a catholic school, Kasher then wrote two albums about religion. I Am Gemini isn't about religion, or divorce, or anything that we, as listeners and viewers, can see apparently from the basic details of Kasher's life. The concept is, instead, a story that was thought through from the very start to finish, and it makes sense that this would be the next step for Cursive, especially since now that Kasher has got the adolescence out of his veins he can seriously broach an idea, as we've seen from the other screenplays he's written the past few years.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? I Am Gemini comes as a playbill. As in, it was written for the god damn stage. If you don't know yet, the album follows twin brothers Cassius and Pollock - one an ex-con trying to run from the past, the other a recluse, who has been left undiscovered his entire life. There are quite a few twists and turns in the story and I won't be the guy to spoil it, but here's what I will say: the story is filling, just like the rest of the album.
However, upon starting my first listen of I Am Gemini, I actually found myself quite disappointed. I don't know why, but none of the songs caught my attention at first. It took me a months time to calm down and remember that bands develop for the better to really come back to it and appreciate that Cursive's new release is actually their best yet. A fully thought out concept, and that along side the songs - which grow (This House Alive, Eulogy for No Name), which are tense (Warmer, Warmer, The Cat and Mouse, Wowow), which are destructive (A Birthday Bash), which are hoppin' (The Sun and the Moon, Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton) and which are fierce (Drunken Birds, Double Dead, Gemini). The album is all around surprising, especially in how Cursive have grown as musicians, and how they've developed their dynamic on song writing. Kasher manages to pick on be insane on most songs while bassist Matt Maginn - who shows how truly badass he is on this release - syncs up with percussionist Cully Symington to bash the fuck out of every song as if they together were a blunt object. I do really applaud their musician ship. I haven't heard a bass and drum duo so well thought out and so in tune with eachother since Morgan Henderson and Mark Gajadhar of The Blood Brothers - who happen to be a post hardcore band. And all of this while rhythm and keyboardist Ted Stevens acts as the centerpiece - providing the themes and really, sort of connecting all the pieces to each song.
That's right. After years of intense conceptual pieces, yelling but not screaming, and being god damn catchy, Cursive have managed to piece together what I can truly call a post hardcore album. And it does the genre justice. These ideas are classic, and yet they are unique. I feel familiar with them, and yet my body wants to dance how it has never danced before. Cursive have proven once more that they are a band whom posses more character, more creativity and more excellence than most bands applauded in the scene today, and for that I thank them. I thank them dearly, for being consistently surprising and different and new while at the same time not terrible. I thank them dearly for being themselves, and for fucks sake, I thank them for thinking.
Tier: 2 [Playlist]
[Gotta get those forty winks]
[Introducing: Cursive's I Am Gemini, starring Cassius and Pollock]

Consent - Conception

There's not much to say about this except that it's loud, and the vocalist is kind of poor. Fortunately, some very well placed and well thought out riffage saves this album from being terribly poor. It's only ten minutes, so if you really are interested, take a peak.
Tier: 5 [Deleted]
[fuck this guys voice though]

Children of Nova - Impossible Landscape

I'll get to the Mars Volta. Don't worry. For now, though, I think it's appropriate that I share some lesser known and yet impossibly talented bands first. Children of Nova are a lot like The Mars Volta and The Dear Hunter. They're a modern progressive rock group, and they're also quite well associated with the post-hardcore scene. The difference is that both Volta and Dear Hunter had their roots in post-hardcore because they were birthed from it - those groups At the Drive-In and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were good for a reason - while Children of Nova are a bit backwards. Children, instead of being either one genre or the other, basically just pushed both of them into each other, seeing as though they're so alike.
From the start you can hear it. Erratic houses some great opening "wake the fuck up" shredding, and introduces us to our vocalist - who, along with the atmosphere the band puts off, will definitely remind you of other groups, like Casey Crescenzo and Claudio Sanchez. This might be their debut album, but Children of Nova pulled out all the stops. They're out to really perfect sounds that we've already heard. "Moments of Clarity" feels like a perfect Muse song. "First Signs" is the song you put on when you're driving in a space ship towards the sun in a last wise guy attempt to save the world from a meteor that you just left Bruce Willis and a bomb on and your fiance is crying in a space station in NASA, but just before you run into the sun, you dawn your master chief armor and jump out the back with a bomb in tow, then you just figure, "fuck it" and point yourself like a needle towards Earth. And it works.
If at any one time a track doesn't keep the flow moving, it's "Silhouette". This song basically just kind of falls in on itself. Every album needs a soft song, I guess. Even if it just brings the flow of the album to a dead stop and makes us forget why we liked anything in the first place. However, something great about modern prog rock is that our bands today really know how to close an album - just look anywhere. Porcupine Tree and The Volta have been doing it for decades now, and Children of Nova are no exception. On "It's Just a Ride" they pound back into your skull that they are fucking. bad. ass.
Tier: 3 [Good Shit]
[the Russians have got nothing on this]

The Hickey Underworld - I'm Under the House, I'm Dying

This is all I've been listening to all week.
Since I got it, this album is the only thing I've really wanted to hear. And is that any surprise? In 2009, when Hickey released their self titled debut album, I was completely in the dark. It would be a year until a friend would give me a mix tape featuring "Blonde Fire", among other things, and I would search the Earth until I found the debut record on amazon and bought it for the low low price of twenty USD with overseas shipping.
Now, two years later, I've become even more familiar with music. In fact, since then, it's become a real hobby for me, and I blame that a lot on Hickey really opening up the world of music to me with that debut album. It made me want to go out and find more music, which I have
The Hickey Underworld, of course, are a Belgium rock act, and they won the Hugo Rock Rally in 2006, a competition in Belgium that happens every two years, made solely to exploit their huge underground garage rock scene.
Their newest effort is titled "I'm Under the House, I'm Dying", and I've been freaking for it since they announced it was coming back in December. Finally, I would have another set of songs just as catchy, as gritty, as downright magnificent as the first ten were. I had a hell of a time getting the album when it did eventually release, and maybe sometime I could get into that, but I'm so sick of talking about my little adventure these past few days: all you need to know is that I've got the album, I'm waiting for my LP to ship, I'm saving money for a copy of the CD for my car rides, and I'm shipping this shit HARD.
The new songs -there's eleven of them - are poppier, and they always have a more uplifting end in comparison to the old stuff, which ended in a depressing spot as often as not. Each track is rewarding in it's own way, from the opening "UNTITLED", which introduced us to the new guitar style that'll be demonstrated over the rest of the album - and along with tracks like "Thierry", "Space Barrio" and "Overfiend", "UNTITLED" is a sort of track that helps the fluency of the album. All of these tracks are shorter, quicker, fun, and they really keep the energy going for the bigger efforts, which might take more of your patience, such as "Cold Embrace" - a catchy riff and fast as fuck paced chaotic track surrounded by wind chimes - and "Martians Cave" - a haunting melodic track that actually manages to be the only real disappointment in that it doesn't ever rise to a huge climax like it has the potential to, but instead just fades out.
The real heavy hitters here are all fantastic. "Year of the Rat" is the track you put on when you're about to walk away from an explosion on the set of a Guy Ritchie film being shot. It just makes you feel like the coolest mother fucker. "Pure Hearts in Mud" has three different moods depending on your setting, and so you can listen to it three times as often. And, finally, the title track, "I'm Under the House, I'm Dying" pulls back zero punches - it blasts psychedelic riffs better than any of the other tracks, turns into a second song half way through, and manages itself well enough to be the grand finale Hickey's second effort deserves.
I want you to listen to this record, and when you're done and you love it, I want you to spend a lot of money paying for it. I really want you to support this artist the way I do. Maybe this review will help you understand how much love really is involved here. Get this shit and listen to it and fall for it. This is my current album of the year. There's not much chance of anything beating it.
Tier: 1 [Album of the Year Material]
[plays pretty for baby]

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

So, it's finally here. The second part to Earth's double LP, "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light".
I'm not that familiar with Earth. I'm a huge fan of drone and doom and their predecessors, and I've heard "Earth 2", but that's about it.
What Earth have done with their sound though kind of surprises me. I've always held highly a group that could evolve with eachother and change their sound as they went - I figure them frontrunners of our time, musical pioneers. Earth aren't necessarily high up on my list of innovators, but they are on it.
They've managed to take these ghastly negative genres usually riddled with feedback, and they've turned it into something clean, atmospheric, wandering. This album gives you feelings, it puts you out in a setting. If you ever find yourself playing a Fallout game, this is the album to listen to.
the only thing that I'm really bugged by about "Angels" is that it comes a bit short of the first installment, at only a basic 45 minutes - but that's nothing to complain about. This is a full album, and each track is haunting, and western. And forward thinking.
Tier: 3 [Good Shit]
[heading out west?]

Pulled Apart by Horses - Tough Love

When Pulled Apart by Horses released their debut self titled LP in 2010 I missed them. However, plenty of friends compared them to The Blood Brothers, who have released some of my favorite albums ever.I don't really see the likeness on their sophomore LP, Tough Love, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. Pulled Apart by Horses don't have two screamers, and their one vocalist doesn't have a squeaky croon a la Johnny Whitney, nor does he have a buttery twiggy kid swag voice such as Jordan Blilie's. What he does have, however, is a strength which stands on it's own and in a unique way. I would even dare to say that Tom Hudson's chords are what dictate the overall sound of the band - the way they can take glam rock sort of pedals and effects and make it sound like something new from a genre that isn't very new at all. This is innovation.
And I appreciate it. These guys seem to be really down for getting on the ground and performing some real rock and roll, the way the kings made it. Classic techniques, formulas and all. And the catchiest parts of the album - the chorus to Epic Myth and the general being of Night of the Living - make this not only the first post hardcore release of the year, but the first album of 2012 that I find myself really moshing out too.
And Tough Love only tires when those dire cries and rockin' chords become a bit less various and a bit less filling - everything between Night of the Living and Degeneration Game could do with better hooks and maybe a revamp of sound and energy to keep the album going, to keep it fresh. Even then, though, the album finishes with a bang. I can see myself nine months down the road still rocking to this stuff.
Tier: 2 [Playlist]
[what does V.E.N.O.M. stand for, anyway?]

Burn Idols - Theodicy

Burn Idols are this hardcore band from Long Beach I guess. Theodicy is this album and it starts off with a great instrumental track. It's really calm and relaxes you. The atmosphere teetering along the edge in the background of the actual progression of music also kind of prepares you for the rest of the album - a fast paced screaming craziness that could be called hardcore, but could also bring you back to your first black metal album.
And that's the thing. Some of these songs are really short. Some are a decent length. None of them overstay their welcome. They're all chaotic apart from the opener, so when the second track starts you get surprise attacked at the bum. There are riffs sticking up around here that might also fit well on a stoner rock album, even. The influences here are from your favorite metal genres, but the overall sound is hardcore, and it really does rock.
Technically, Theodicy released late in 2011. So late, in fact, that I couldn't get to it then and it was promised to my 2012 chart. As most people who follow the year work, I consider December an interim of the year it belongs to and the year that follows it. Anything after the fifteenth or so is technically up for grabs in my opinion.
And I'm glad because Burn Idols' new album is one of those types that you can enjoy under half an hour and get on with what you were doing. It's also perfect if you ever want to tear apart a room or break something.
Tier: 4 [Can't Feel]
[future home wrecker]

Pop. 1280 - The Horror

Pop. 1280 are a relatively new noisy no-wave - and self proclaimed "cyberpunk" - band from New York, and this matters because one of my new favorite record labels, the very on the rise Sacred Bones Records, also hail from New York. In fact, Pop. 1280 are on that record label, and The Horror is their first long play release on that label.
The Horror is the sort of album that may catch you off guard, actually. My head was definitely spinning when opener "Burn the Worm" took the first few steps of the journey, and it didn't have me dizzied just because I had been listening to some extremely soft music just before.
Burn the Worm is abrasive. It's so loud that you might think to yourself that 1280 are a pretty messy band, but as you get further and further in you'll realize that these songs are technical. The songs are offset by electronic bass effects and melodies are often made by synthesizers. Everything about The Horror is mechanical in nature, and yet I can't help but feel as if I'm covered in dirt.
In fact, we've had this feeling before. Sort of. Do you remember it? It's actually called Filth, and it's a gem out of the early eighties by the legendary Michael Gira's Swans. The difference, however, is that Gira's voice has been taken out, replaced by someone younger and with more range, alongside electronic components, and, actually, somewhat less filthy lyrical subjects.
And because of these updates, The Horror might also tend to sound closer to a more modern Swans release - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky - instead of Filth. That it is constantly being compared to albums by the only popular no wave band is only a curse of the genre, however. Pop. 1280 stand well on their own, and their influences aren't nearly as strong as we might make them out to be. "Crime Time" and "Bodies in the Dunes" are entirely their own songs, entirely their own ideas. Damn good ones, at that.
I'm loving this album. It's the soundtrack to my afternoons, my jogs - though I don't dare try to sleep during it. It makes me dance and it makes me laugh and it makes me a bit disturbed. Top of my list so far.
Tier: 3 [Good Shit]
[sort of curious]

Foxy Shazam - The Church of Rock and Roll

So I'm going to be shortening reviews and putting albums up more often.
We'll start here, at Foxy Shazam's The Church of Rock and Roll.
Foxy have released three solid albums in the past, and as time has gone on, they've become less "Foxy Shazam" and more "Freddy Mercury". 2010's self titled LP, "Foxy Shazam" managed that perfect blend of Queen copy pasta, and it's own "secret sauce" sort of flavor. Tracks like "Killin' It" and "The Only Way to My Heart" gave, lyrically, a modern Freddy attitude, and by composition they were catchy, and fun. Some tracks were even more Queen than others.
Here, however, on Church, Foxy have forgotten their unique taste and have gone straight for the bottom of the barrel. I wouldn't be surprised if Eric Sean Nally traded in his freckles for an overbite, and knowing that makes me really depressed, because honestly expected something so much more from a group that aspired to be the best band in the world.
The opener, a title track with "Welcome" tacked onto the front (think Plastic Beach) is the catchiest, and most unique The Church of Rock and Roll actually gets - and it's only two minutes long. Many of the other songs - "I Like It", and "The Temple" - also take a few numbers out of Jimmy Page's book.
If you're a fan of Foxy, you'll either be disappointed or content. If you're a fan of Queen or Zeppelin - or any of the oldies, really - you'll either be offended or nostalgic.
Tier: 4 [Can't Feel]
[Hit me with your best shot]

goreshit - gnb

goreshit is a UK-based electronic music maker, most renown for his large output of lolicore in it's hay days. Lolicore isn't all he makes, however - not by a long shot. goreshit's discography is a pepper party, a rainbow of electronic colors - though most of those colors are in the same spectrum, of sorts: breakbeat, speedcore, kawaii uguu~~~, and that sort.
However, with the last few LP releases, he's started to turn a bit to the side, and as time goes on, the music has become less kawaii and more uguu~~~...<3. In fact, of the work I've heard, goreshit's newest release, gnb, is my favorite thus far. Sure, some of his earlier work is less predictable, and definitely more unique, but none of them are quite as satisfying in their pure consistency, and catchy-ness.
The album opens with nature samples hidden behind a dreamy synth and the start of an opening sample - which most of the songs have - all mixed together in a sort of way that might make you think that this album does in fact match it's cover. "fine night", so it's called, is a strong opener, not only in it's catchy vocal loop, but also in the instrumental pieces, as you might expect from such an expert musician. The beats on the opening song are only a taste of what's to come in the following four tracks - a talented mix of technical and aesthetically pleasing sounds.
Every track is about twice as fast as it rightfully needs to be, but the last two, "hold my hand" and "unnatural" take a slower sounding turn - they trade in high pitched noises for softer ones, and though they're not much longer (or shorter) than the previous tracks, they take a bit longer to shell out vocal samples, or in the final track's case, real catches. These two closing tracks are songs that progress though, and just as much as this album does as a whole being, they show progressive and independent thinking from Mr. goreshit, who is stepping out of the box he's prior confined himself to, and for the better.
goreshit's gnb is, for me at least, the first honestly good - or more like, satisfying - release of the year, and I'll be sure to remember that come December.
Tier: 2 [Playlist]
Give it a shot

New The Hickey Underworld

The Hickey Underworld's self-titled debut won my AOTY circa 2009, and they're coming back in 2012 with their sophomore LP titled "I'm Under the House, I'm Dying". You can find a trailer of the album here: http://soundcloud.com/thehickeyunderworld

Subrosa - No Help for the Mighty Ones

While listening to this album, every riff, every minute, every single note the vocalist sings hits me with such velocity that I actually stagger backward a couple steps and require a moment to recollect myself. Subrosa is just supposed to be some stoner metal, right? Then why is it that under the hazy guitar and pedals I can hear what seems to be a horn? Why is there emotion popping out of the notes, this overwhelming feeling trying to explode from my chest - one which I usually only feel while watching a particularly gripping episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit?

I still don't understand it. But one listen of "Stonecarver" and I knew I had to have this album. "No Help for the Mighty Ones" isn't just a stoner metal album. I'm not going to lay in my bed after a quick toke and space out. In fact, I might consider it anything but stoner metal, because during the course, Subrosa demands your attention. "No time for tripping," they tell me, "we have to show you how technical we can get without actually playing technically advanced music."

I don't know a lot about this beasts background, however. They've got three vocalists, and I wish I could tell you definitively which is the female if not all, but as far as I've found using reliable sources, they've all got stage names, which sort of sucks. I did pick up one little funny tidbit though: the members of Subrosa seem to think they sound somewhat - at all - like PJ Harvey. With "Let England Shake" in mind, I can say with confidence that they do not.

Akin to any other album, "No Help for the Mighty Ones" has it's shortcomings. Out of eight tracks, I think I could have done without three minutes of just talking. Granted, these chicks are doing their best to take me back to Salem during the witch trials with all of the themes, crazy manipulations and vocals on all of these songs, but I didn't press play so I could hear them cast spells.

I wish there was more to say about this album. I think it's necessary to note that I was done posting for the day when I listened to this again and thought it so good I should write this post right now and post it as soon as possible, because another second wasted without this up on my blog would have made me cringe. Subrosa's "No Help for the Mighty Ones" is easily my favorite metal release of the year. With harmonies, riffs, violin tacks and - probably horns but maybe synths - sneaking around in the very back of this organized mess, I couldn't ignore a single track here. Whatever you do, though, reader, do not, I repeat: DO NOT miss out on "Stonecarver". It is not a song you trip out to, because if you don't pay attention, it's a song you'll trip on, and miss.

9.4

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EDIT: they are all girls. hot.

The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

The Dear Hunter are, according to wikipedia, an indie rock group. I'd just like to note that. Wikipedia thinks The Dear Hunter are indie rock. I'm smart enough to know that they are actually modern progressive rock - and a project that came out of the ashes of Casey Creszenzo's previous band, post hardcore act, The Receiving End of Sirens. Though, with "The Color Spectrum", I'm not so sure of their genre tags anymore. This collection of nine EP's characterized by colors (and two shades!) ranges emotions in accordance to their themes based on corresponding color.

For instance, Red is angry (or rather maximal and larger than life), Yellow and, to a lesser extent, Green are happy, and both folky, while Blue and White are sad and et cetera. The well informed music-goer is most likely painfully aware of the existence and background of the genre-bending release, as fans have been going crazy over it. In fact, because I'm about four months late to the party, I no longer have the option to buy "The Color Spectrum" on vinyl.

And that hurts.

I just don't really know what to say. Thirty-six tracks featuring some amazing performances, and I'll never physically own it, be able to spin it. At the height, songs like "This Body", "Trapdoor", "Misplaced Devotion", and most importantly, "Crow and Cackle" get me at my most emotional state, whether it be angry, sad, or - is the word - nostalgic? They range various places, and yet remain at a consistent pace that I can keep up with.

Sometimes, I might run a bit ahead. Most notably, the songs on Orange, which feel less an emotion and more an episode of Rawhide, seemed to be the lowest point across the whole two hours and twenty minutes.

And each EP, even those that stand well by themselves, have some low points. Aside from Orange, White and Red almost feel like they're filler. Almost. The songs don't seem to be doing anything too different or risky, but they also aren't actively trying to bring you out of the atmosphere.

I like this, and for a reason. There's something difficult to describe about an album, but I like to call it highs and lows. Basically, the best albums I've ever heard have high points, and then low dips, and when all is over and done with they keep you interested through unpredictability and/or frustration, while managing to make your perspective more bright than it might be if the stronger tracks were next to eachother instead of being spaced across the album evenly.

The Dear Hunter pull this off brilliantly. Which is why this release is most definitely one of my favorites of the year. There are a million other things I could say about "The Color Spectrum" still, but I feel this review is already getting a bit long. Just one last thing: Casey's voice is better than it's ever been, and that by itself is worth the score.

9.6

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Patrick Stump - Soul Punk

Disclaimer: I recited all dates from memory. Let it be noted that they are unreliable. For instance, Sump did not announce his album until 2010, and Fall Out Boy did not go on hiatus until 2009.

Some people might frown upon me, a serious listener, even trying this album out, let alone reviewing it. However, I grew up with Fall Out Boy in my life, and sure, there were good and bad parts of their career, but I still think "20 Dollar Nosebleed" is a good god damn song. In fact, Folie A Deux was a good god damn album...except for maybe America's Suitehearts. In any case, my point is that I like Patrick Stump and most of what Fall Out Boy was/is, and sometimes it's important to let go and just indulge in some purely shallow music, so on with it:

In 2008 Fall Out Boy officially went on hiatus, and almost immediately Patrick Stump made promise of his own solo album with a snazzy video of him playing some instruments and looking cool. This, I think, brought plenty of surprise for plenty of reasons: for one, sure, he might have been wearing the same old sailor shirt, but Stump suddenly had more hair and less fat. I was worried, of course, because he was suddenly not only attractive in talent (multi-intrsumentalist with the best voice a fourteen year old girl has ever heard plus production skills that made all of her favorite bands happen? An itch downstairs she might feel.) but also in physical being, which meant that his label - which he pretty much owns anyways - could sell him the same way they had sold Wentz in 2007.

For two, after about half a year had passed and we hadn't seen a solo album (which had been set to release that summer, supposedly) videos started popping up on youtube. Videos of Stump playing new songs. They weren't what I expected, especially after prior mentioned snazzfest preview circa summer '08. We could find him up on a stage picking at his guitar, making little sound, and singing along to it, while someone played a very quiet and basic drum pattern. This isn't to say I was disappointed with what would eventually become the "Truant Wave EP", just surprised, and more or less curious. I am, and always have been, confident in Stump's ability to create accessible pop music, so I was definitely interested in what direction these live performances would go.

The real surprise, and subsequent disappointment, came when a solo album didn't. 2010 passed, Stumpless, without any real set in stone word of a release. My suspicion is that Stump dropped the album, took the scraps, formed "Truant Wave" and began work on a new project, which would eventually become "Soul Punk".

Which brings us to now, more than three years since the album was announced, and it's finally released. Am I disappointed? Not in the slightest. Underwhelmed? Not at all. "Soul Punk" is exactly what I expected, except in a different package. A better package actually. Patrick Stump's solo debut is, and most likely always has been, meant for night life. Tracks such as "Allie" and "The 'I' in Lie" have me thinking back to Kanye West's "Graduation" - "Flashing Lights" and most definitely "Big Brother", for instance.

Musically, this album is a solid pop release. I can see almost any of these songs on the radio, or at the club, or even on my late night playlist. I'm actually pretty sure I'll find myself listening to "Run Dry (X Heart X Fingers)" quite often.

The problems with this album are just as apparent as the best parts, however: Stump can't write lyrics to save his life, and the theme/style/whatever of the packaging and promotion is clown shoes. Besides that, the first two tracks might set any listener off of the rest of the release: mostly because they suck.

The pros do outweigh the cons, I think. Just getting to listen to Stump show off his voice like he really never has is, in itself, worth listening to "Soul Punk". And besides that, there are a couple basslines ("Run Dry", looking at you) that might throw Daft Punk fans back to their "Discovery" days. There's also a heavy amount of synths floating around the whole endeavor, and without them, there wouldn't really be that night life atmosphere. There are even a couple good riffs hidden, and when you fall into them, if you're anything like me, you might blink twice. Stump said when he had first announced the album that he was mostly doing all of this so he could play the drums again - and I can see why. If that's him across this whole album, he's got amazing swagger.

So, in the end, I guess maybe this album isn't going to be one of those I recommend to all of my friends, but I am going to be listening to it quite often. I mean, there isn't anything wrong with indulgent pop music every now and then, and Pat seems to be the king of our bubblegum stations sometime between 9 and 1 p.m..

8.3

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Pianos Become the Teeth - The Lack Long After

I am a fan of post hardcore. I have been a fan of post hardcore ever since I first heard "Crimes". I'm actually listening to "Yes! Yes! Yes!" by Foxy Shazam while I write this review.

Aside from this, though, I have never been terribly impressed by Pianos Become the Teeth's releases. I felt sort of let down after hearing how good Old Pride was and being just plainly let down when I first listened to it. And that's a normal feeling - I was also let down all this year by my first listening of both of La Disputes albums. The only reason I've ever found for me to dislike a post hardcore album, really, is that nothing is different, or changing. They remain at a constant pace, no change, and the exact thing I'm hearing is always some same chord progression, or gimmick that I heard on the very last album I put on.

This is why I initially thought I would be pretty disappointed with Pianos newest album, "The Lack Long After". I wasn't hearing a lot of difference in the songs - neither lyrics or performance were really strikingly well played, which is normal for bands of this genre, and they seemed to be playing at constant, angry, numbing pieces.

The difference, however, is in the little things. In each track I can hear layer of playing - especially prevalent on songs such as "I'll Be Damned" and "Spine". Pianos Become the Teeth have learned to do a lot with a little. They make you appreciate every note, every change. The best part is that it's a consistent release, with every song playing at the same level, making you revel in the whole thirty-eight minutes that you listen, and when you've finished, take a big breath of air and nod to yourself - and possibly to them - in acceptance. Or maybe even say, "Wow."

I can't really call any track weaker than another, but a big problem this album has actually comes from it's consistency: deciding on only eight tracks. I'm sure this meant the album was more of a serious endeavor, and that there was less room to disappoint, but it also means the songs are all very long strung, which is okay, except for when I'm looking for something to listen to and enjoy on the go, like I can Touche Amore's "Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me", another release from just earlier this year.

But I'd take a consistent album that's good for sitting down and just listening to over something quick any day. With strong riffs, real emotive vocals (though they may have risked diction getting there) and enough variation to make eight long tracks seem like nine short ones, Pianos Become the Teeth's "The Lack Long After" has given me a few good reasons to order it.

9.1

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Thomas Giles - Pulse

Thomas Giles is the frontman for progressive metal group Between the Buried and Me. I say "progressive metal" because I've yet to actually hear them, and don't know what they sound like, or else I'd be throwing in some larger words that might give them justice. Probably.

In any case, "Pulse" is Thomas Giles solo debut. It mixes his affinity for clean and not clean vocals with his knack for melodramatic dubstep-like synthesizers. Upon hearing this album the first time, I had not known of Giles' background. I actually had been very much dreading listening to this album. It might have been that all I knew about the album was that it was defined as "singer-songwriter", a tag I very much dislike, but for whatever reason, I had put this album off for about a month and a half.

It was immediately that the album caught me off guard of course. I had expected poppy, accessible songs lacking real content, or that didn't really mesh with me. That's what it's been like for the other singer-songwriter albums I've heard this year - PJ Harvey, Feist, St. Vincent. I blinked, though, when the opening track, "Sleep Shake", started up. It was maximal and dramatic and I could swear I heard screams in the background at one point.

Through the course of the album I was surprised and let down plenty. "Reverb Island", the second track, ended up being my favorite - there's just something about the tense acoustic strumming mixed with vocoders, something that I heard first in "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" by Porcupine Tree, that really hits me where it's most catchy most immediately.

Though, some of the tracks, like I said, didn't really catch on so quick, or at all. "Mr. Bird" has the potential to be really cool, seeing as though the first two tracks on "Pulse" prove that Giles has the potential to really put the rock drama into something with a piano, but I can't help it that the whole song sounds like something from Chiodos - specifically their "Bone Palace Ballet" era stuff - and it sometimes you might sigh when it comes on. Other times, you might be totally up for it.

"Mr. Bird" isn't the huge hump to climb, however. No, that would be songs such as "Catch and Release", which is just dancefloor synths mixed with Giles screaming. It lasts over three minutes when it could easily stop at one or even two without testing nerves. "Reject Falicon" is alike to this in that it's very little and last much too long. The difference, however, is that it's actually much quieter, though that doesn't make it any better. Both of these songs make me, personally, feel as if Giles is trying to appeal to a younger market more interested in scenecore and electronic or dare I say: dubstep.

"Medic" almost confirms these fears with a nice pile of chords slapped on top of screaming and little else. The album makes a bit of a comeback, though, with it's closer, "Hypoxia", which gives a real nice, dreamy atmosphere, and climaxes pretty perfectly, if not predictably, and it fades out at a great spot, leaving you to really reflect on the album as a whole. I'd say if you're a fan of progressive rock, of art rock, or of the sample I left below, definitely check this out, but I wouldn't expect "Pulse" to appear on any top ten or fifteen lists at the end of the year.

Maybe top thirty.

6.7

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