Thrice-the Illusion of Safety

Thrice are a band i've known about for quite a long time, but have never really gotten into until now. i am an idiot; this band rules. "The Illusion of Safety" is the first album i purchased from this band, and it's a good place to start. At this point, the band was still "post-hardcore" or whatever genre they were. Basically, they were heavy, but not, ya know, Slayer or Converge. Heavy with melodic and catchy elements.

This album starts out with the incredible "Kill Me Quickly," which exemplifies the band's mix of heaviness and melody, their technicality, and their songwriting ability.  Other highlights for me include "Deadbolt," "Where Idols Once Stood," "Trust," and "The Beltsville Crucible." 

i ordered this album from a seller on Amazon and wound up with black vinyl, which i'm assuming is the most common variant. i believe the album is also available on gold vinyl, and perhaps other colors, as well. This album, along with "Identity Crisis" and "Beggars," are Thrice's most common, and thus, a good place to start your vinyl collection. "Vheissu," "the Artist in the Ambulance," and "The Alchemy Index" are out of print, so keep your eyes peeled for deals on these albums.

Soundtrack to 2010

This is not a Best-Of. This is a list of albums i discovered/re-discovered/enjoyed over the course of the past year. Feel free to post your soundtrack to the year, either songs or albums, in the “Comments” area.

Converge – Axe to Fall:  i've been a fan of Converge since Jane Doe and this album continues the lineage of excellent albums released by Converge. This band is worthy of the hype and the praise they receive. They sound unlike any other band in the bloated metalcore/hardcore/whatever the heck genre they want to be.

Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come: i have to confess that i had not heard this album until early this year, and boy was i dumb to sleep on this. A legendary album in the punk/hardcore genres, and for good reason. Refused bring in jazzy and electronic  influences and meld them with punk beats and hardcore attitude to create a masterpiece that influenced your favorite band.

Between the Buried and Me – Colors/the Great Misdirect: i can’t pick between these two albums; both are incredible examples of progressive metal/every-damn-genre of music melded together to create an excellent piece of art. Colors plays as one long, complex piece of music, and the Great Misdirect just slays.

Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown: Although not the band’s best album, it is still much better than most other contemporary pop/rock bands. Just a fun, emotional American rock and roll album.


Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness: Worlds apart from the party rock of Kings of Leon, we have a funeral rock album here. One long, slow, sludgy song with depressing lyrics and dirty guitars, start-stop drumming, and straight-from-the-gut moan vocals. A must hear.

Jimmy Eat World – Clarity: The pinnacle in independent guitar rock albums, this collection still holds up after all these years. Hear it if you haven’t yet.

mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes: Thanks to Gilead Media’s vinyl re-press of this album, i was finally able to listen to my favorite album by my favorite band on wax. Brimming with songs of spiritual and emotional turmoil, longing for GOD and love, and more literary allusions than your college literature class, this album is another example of a must-hear, if only because it doesn’t sound like anything else.

Thrice – Illusion of Safety: My friend once called Thrice “the most talented band,” and this album tends to back up his claims. This is post-hardcore/punk/whatever the kids call it done very well. The band mixes heaviness with catchiness and technicality better than most. Thoughtful lyrics and themes only add to the beauty and power of this album.

Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde: My favorite album from Dylan; legendary for a reason.

the Smiths – the Queen is Dead: You could really put any Smiths/Morrissey album here, as i love everything they’ve done. Another example of incredible lyrics and songcraft. Emotional, humorous, depressing, beautiful.

Other bands i'm digging lately:
Between the Buried and Me
the Number Twelve Looks Like You
Fear Before the March of Flames
the Chariot
Copeland
Thrice

Baroness-First/Second Re-press

Baroness is a band that is unique in the heavy music scene. They are sludgy, metallic, and have obscure lyrics, but i can't really say that they fit into any sort of genre very easily. They have the sludge elements, but aren't as heavy as Harvey Milk, Salome, or Electric Wizard. They have speedy, technical parts, but don't sound like Atheist, Cynic, or BTBAM. They have a singer who does all the artwork, but so does Converge. They're from Georgia but they don't sound like Mastodon, Norma Jean, or Kylesa (well, maybe Kylesa and Baroness sound a bit similar). Anyways, i dig this band, despite the inability of their music to be easily categorized. And whose idea was it to use words to describe music in the first place? We have adjectives and adverbs and an abundance of both, but at the end of the day, one still has to listen to the album or band in question in order to know how he or she feels about the style and substance of a band or artist.

So, after all that verbage, we have Baroness, a band whose name serves to exemplify the large, heavy, and expansive style of music that they play (see, here i go with those words again). To my trained ear, these albums sound heavier and fuller than their later "Red" and "Blue" records. John's vocals are more guttural and raw than the restrained screaming (?) he does on the band's later albums. And the songs are all heavy. There are no acoustic interludes as there are on the full-lengths. Perhaps this is due to the fact that these were originally two EPs which were combined on this Hyperrealist re-press. Of the two individual EPs, i think i slightly prefer "Second," but again, both are worth repeated listens. i think that my favorite track of the compilation is the opener to the second side, "Red Sky."
 
The vinyl and packaging are beautiful. John Baizley's art is sehr gut, and the gatefold looks top notch. The release was (is?) available in either olive green or red vinyl. i went with the green, which looks incredible. Marble accents in the vinyl finish off an astounding layout design for this release. If you didn't listen to this album at all, it'd still be a nice piece of art to own.

Of course, records are for music, dummy, and the music here is astounding. It's Baroness, numbskull; of course it's good! Pick this up now through Hyperrealist or kick yourself later.

the Chariot-Long Live

If i were tasked with reviewing each album by the Chariot in the number of words contained within the album's title, an attempt might run as follows:

Everything is Alive, Everything is Breathing, Nothing is Dead, Nothing is Bleeding: Feedback; double-bass drumming; chaotic metalcore; killer debut album; better than most.

Unsung EP: Pretty OK

The Fiancee: Weird; excellent.

Wars and Rumors of Wars: Songwriting is better; heavier; grand.

Long Live: Their best.

i have not been tasked with this job, though. Instead, i could ramble on about Long Live. Brevity, however, has been a hallmark of this band from their beginning. Heck, their entire discography  would clock in under 3 hours for four albums and an EP. Still, after this album, i hope the Chariot stays around for a long time.

i like to think that this album, Long Live, contains the best elements of their previous work, refines them, and produces a messy, beautiful, weird, emotional, and heavy album which is a unique listen to say the least. We have the feedback and chaos of Everything, the weird instrumental/interlude parts which were featured heavily on Fiancee, and the songwriting of Wars. Still, Long Live is its own beauty and beast.

Some of my favorite tracks include "The City," "Andy Sundwall,"  "David De la Hoz," "The Heavens," and "Robert Rios." Of course, each track is incredible in its own right. To my ear, Josh has really improved his lyrics, the band have improved as musicians, and the random snippets of sounds serve to elevate the songs, not just to be weird for the sake of it.

Overall, i cannot claim to be unbiased; i have been a fan of the Chariot since the debut album. Many people will simply write the band off as unorganized noise. When one looks beyond the initially grating and perhaps unpleasant (to some) style of music this band plays, however, one can find great art.

Long Live is to be released on November 23, 2010. Unfortunately, no vinyl release is planned at this time. However, the band has mentioned that they are working on songs for a 7", so hopefully we can get them on wax at some point in the near future.

Bob Dylan Collection

Top, left to right: Another Side of Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde 2xLP
Blonde on Blonde CD
Blood on the Tracks
Middle, left to right: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Modern Times 2xLP
Slow Train Coming
Bottom, left to right: Bringing it all Back Home
Desire
the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
I'm Not There Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

As i mentioned in my last post, Bob Dylan is one of my favorite artists of all-time. Again, as is the case for a lot of the bands i listen to, i was into the artist before i was into vinyl (really, before i had a turntable), so much of my collection is on CD. Once i started getting into vinyl, one of the first purchases i made was Bob's "Greatest Hits" LP for $3. Good purchase. After that, i bought a bunch of CDs with a gift card i received last Christmas. Then came "Another Side" and "Blonde on Blonde" and on and on. Of course, Mr. Dylan is one of the most prolific artists of all time, and collecting all of his official releases (not to mention bootlegs, live shows, etc.) is quite a hefty task. Perhaps one day in the future i'll have the privilege of having them all. For now, i can listen to "Blonde on Blonde," "Blood on the Tracks," and "Another Side..." until the grooves wear flat and produce nothing more than muffled tones of poetry and still be content. Picking a favorite album will still be difficult, though. 

Bob Dylan Show Review

November 6, 2010

Gordon Field House- Rochester Institute of Technology

 

Set List

Although i attended RIT (don't even ask me about it; the school is terrible, but somehow has a good reputation), i never went to a show there (still kicking myself about missing the mewithoutYou, Thrice, and Brand New show a few years back, but alas...). i should mention that i have grown weary of going to shows, as i find the crowds more and more annoying. i tire of people pushing their way to the front, blocking your view, pushing and shoving, fighting in the pit, etc. It's just not as fun now that i am a little bit older. Thus, i have only been to four shows this year: Coheed and Cambria (2x), Maylene and the Sons of Disaster (with Saosin?!), and now Bob Dylan. i think my girlfriend and i may have seen Lovedrug, too, but we left early due to boredom. i can't remember which year that was, honestly.

 

My girlfriend purchased a pair of tickets to see Bob Dylan for my birthday, which was a pleasant treat. Mr. Dylan is one of my favorite artists, and GOD willing, i will post a picture of my collection of his recordings soon. 

 

The line outside the venue was long (much bigger than i had anticipated, but it IS Bob Dylan, so i guess i should have expected it). It was also very cold; jackets would have been a good idea, as November in New York is always crappy and this night was no exception. So, we stood in line and waited with some friends for a good twenty minutes, but the lines did move relatively fast. Once inside, we found an awesome spot to stand along the walkways, such that we had a direct and elevated view of the stage. i didn't feel like going into the "pit," as we were seeing Bob Dylan, not Converge; there would be no moshing.

Once the show started out with a rendition of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," i knew we would be in for a good night. i'm not a great fan of that particular song, but i love "Blonde on Blonde," so i was hoping he'd play more material from that album; he did not. He did, however, play my favorite song, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," albeit in a re-arranged form which made it hard to recognize. In fact, he played quite a bit of material from "Highway 61 Revisited," another favorite album of mine. One thing that was immediately apparent, however: this was not to be simply a recital of the album versions of his songs. Instead, every song took on a new life and sound of its own this evening. Having never seen Bob, i've heard this is one of the draws of seeing him: hearing how old familiars will be re-invigorated by a man who's been writing music for over 40 years. 

 

Bob and his band played a good mix of old and new material, which was a nice surprise. i'll admit i am not too familiar with Mr. Dylan's more recent work, although i do listen to "Modern Times" (and "Christmas in the Heart!") fairly often. One criticism of Mr. Dylan these days is that his voice is gravelly, weathered, and worn. However, i find it to be quite unique and an honest representation of emotion and passion. Of course, i like mewithoutYou and Harvey Milk, so apparently i don't care if your singer can even sing; i just like the lyrics.

 

The crowd for this event was quite boring, but i don't really know how they should have reacted to the performance. Again, it is not metal or hardcore where there would be moshing, nor is it rap or dance where there would be dancing; it is folky, rocky, Americana. i did see a few couples dancing along to the more-upbeat numbers, which was nice, but other than that, we all just sort of stood around.

 

After the last song, "Ballad of a Thin Man," the crowd began chanting for an encore, and Mr. Dylan returned to play "Jolene" and the obligatory "Like a Rolling Stone." Overall, it was a fun night of remembering the past triumphs of a great musician and writer, and of celebrating his continued relevancy and passion for performing, one that is nearly unrivaled, even among his peers who are less than half his age or even younger. He is a man who has seen it all, written about it, warned us about it, and whose voice is still as important today as when it was singing those politically-charged songs in the early 1960s. GOD bless you, good sir. 

MP3 Download Codes are a Good Idea

As someone who works in an office for eight hours a day, five days a week behind a desk and a computer, i have a lot of time to listen to music. Due to the nature of my work (data entry/analysis), i spend a lot of time alone and need to focus intently, and i find that music helps me to do so. Now, even though i have a large collection of CDs (113 at last count), i still would like to listen to the nearly 200+ vinyl albums at work. Now, as a pseudo-neo-Luddite (?), i would be fine dragging in a turntable and slamming that onto my desk to enjoy a record or two at work, but i feel as though this move would not go over well. Thus, i am left to enjoy my records as mp3s played in Windows Media Player at work. Although i love the sound quality of vinyl and generally avoid mp3s as a general rule, i do enjoy being able to hear the records i paid $20 or more for outside the comfort of my cozy living room and its turntable, albeit in an inherently inferior form. i am of the opinion that muffled, scratchy, poor-quality music is still better than silence.

This being said, i quite enjoy it when a record company understands this and includes a coupon for a free download of the vinyl record you purchase. Deathwish and Saddle Creek are two labels that seem to include these coupons with all of their releases, wish is very, very awesome. The best download offer came with my copy of Minus the Bear's "They Make Beer Commercials Like This," which included 3 free downloads!
Unfortunately, the majority of the releases i purchase are either too old to even have seen the arrival of mp3s, leaving me to go without while on the job or to seek out an illegal mp3 copy of the album through the powers of the internet. i have mixed feelings about this manner, as it is still illegal, but i did purchase the album, so i feel as though i should have the right to hear it whenever i want to, but that is probably just my materialistic sense of entitlement as a result of living in America all of my life rearing its head. i don't know. i could also purchase a USB turntable, but i am opposed to doing so, mostly because i am cheap and like to use my dad's 30 year-old Technics table. Perhaps one day. For now, hand over the oil-burning lantern and the hand-pushed plow and get out the vinyl, baby.