Underappreciated Albums 1: Into The Unknown

I don't get why fans or artists shun certain albums, saying they've "progressed past that" or whatever. I think they should, if not embrace it, at least accept it as a period in their history and not be ashamed of it.
This is the first in a series of albums I deem great or good, even though the artist or fans don't. Today: Into the Unknown by Bad Religion.


This is a marked shift from their debut album, a hardcore punk album, Into the Unknown is a progressive rock album.
I'm gonna list the negative right from the beginning: It's badly produced. That's a big factor, it sounds worse than some local artist's albums.
Apart form that, this album is rock solid. Every song is solid, if completely different form Bad Religion's normal sound. There is loads of acoustic guitar strumming, keyboard melodies, and the sng lengths are markedly different from the hardcore punk songs they played before.
My favourite song on the album is probably Billy Gnosis, it's a real strong, catchy, rockin' song.

Overall, this is a solid album, I don't think BR should have done any more prog stuff after this though, they seemed to have exhausted their ideas and effort on this album, and were done with it.

Late lazy post: Mexican town and youtube

Mmmm, mexican town restaurant. I barely finished half my plate it was soo filling.
Went there with Mom, Ian, and my mom's friend Carl and his wife, no pictures taken, but trust me, it was a damn good time.
Some choice quotes from Carl:
"If a city counselor's lips are moving, he's lying."
"Mexican coffee is jet fuel."

Also, I posted some youtube videos recently of my guitar playing and singing. It's by no means great audio, but it's an example of how much I suck for ya'll.





Should hve a proper post later this week, love ya'll!

William Shatner's "Has Been": Novelty or Notable?

William Shatner's musical career has long been a joke amongst the musical community, except those people have never listened to his album Has Been.
Has Been was produced by Ben Folds, and features appearances by Brad Paisley, Henry Rollins, Adrian Belew, and more. There is only one cover, and the music to exact song is in no possible way cheesy.
Of course, Shatner's signature vocal stylings are the main focus of this album, taking his poety/spoken word pieces, and setting them to soft, jazzy background music by Folds and various guest musicians on the album. The whole album stands out to me, but I can't ignore what is most definitely my favourite track on the album.
"I Can't Get Behind That" is a frantic, loud track, featuring Henry Rollins and Kirk, erm, Shatner, going back and forth on...well...things they can't "get behind". It also features Adrian Belew on guitar, and listening to the track, you hear these sounds, these crazy, scary sounds, and that's the guitar playing. But this isn't a review of Adrian Belew's guitar playing.
Anther track I feel is quite strong is "Ideal Woman" a song about all the things he loves about this woman except.."not that, that doesn't work." It brings a smile to your face, and it always
ends happily with Shatner explaining "I want you to be you."

All in all, I feel this is an album worth checking out, Shatner's lyricism is very poignant, and it lets you take a look at how he feels inside about his life. It's by no means a novelty album, and I lke to think this is his debut album, and forget the other one.

Local Artist: The Afterparty

I decided to feature another local artist, although I've gotta tell you, this one is gonna be a bit of a different tone than the last.

The Afterparty, listed on Myspace as Rock/Pop/Indie seem to be fairly popular, and seem to play the local bar, Peppers kind of often, I guess I should check them out, let's listen to the five songs up on their page.
"Lucky": Okay, starts off like any old pop-rock song, wait, what the fuck is he singing about? "I think I'm getting lucky tonight...Shes had a few drinks and my hopes are high"? This song is about...getting laid by a drunk chick from a bar. Way to set your standards high, guys. kudos. "I don't need to know her name" Great role models, way to dumb down the free love movement into banging drunk chicks. Okay, next song...
"Dizzy": nice cute acoustic intro, breaks into distorted guitar, again, pop-rock stuff. Wait, is he rapping now? Oh, now I know what this is, it's a crappy tribute to Third Eye Blind, but instead of having lyrics written by someone who's had lots of life troubles, it's about middle-class kids getting drunk and how it's "my life" riight. NEXT!
"Easy E" ANOTHER ACOUSTIC INTRO? Christ guys, oh shit, auto-tune/vocoder, rapping, wah guitar, this sounds like if RATM sang bout bitchez and were suburban white kids. I'm done, no point listening to the other songs, this is done, these guys suck, and are douchebags to boot, why do I say that? I've met them.

(Oh god he just said "straight up fellate me" in a non-joking manner, seriously, this shit stinks worse than [insert smelly thing here])

Featured Artist: Derek Miller

Today's Featured Artist is Ontario's own Derek Miller. I don't know why this guy is under the radar so much, he's even signed to Arbor Records and EMI Canada. His tunes are radio friendly and rockin as hell, with a blues guitar sensibility delivered by Mr. Miller himself.
My friend Dean introduced me to Derek Miller, and was kind enough to provide me with a must listen package of songs to get acquainted with his music for ya'll. With tracks from two studio albums and a live recordings, this was a promising package. Ifeel the strong urge to purchase his music now.
I started off with three tracks from his most recent album, The Dirty Looks, with two rockin' numbers and a slow, mournful tune sandwich'd between, it was a good start, with a bigger rock influence than what was yet to come.
I then began the five live tracks, and was instantly brought into a new world, shown the true bluesman's heart inside this rocker's body, yes this is what I liked, sweet overdriven guitar tone, soft, soulful playing, and a rock solid rhythm section backing him up. Not to say this is not a rocking album, you get some real rocking slide action in Throw The Hammer Down, combining the best of the rocking and blusey halves, and it holds up as one hell of a track. One last thing about the live tracks, thisguy can really fucking play the guitar, he's got soul, and chops, and warpped it all up in one rootsy bluesy rockin' package.
Finally I got to the tracks from his debut release, Music Is The Medicine. One complaint, for the first two minutes of the song Heaven, I hear really soft pretty soulful guitar, but with a backing of overly processed drums, after the two minute mark, the real set came in, but I coldn't focus on anything but those damn processed drums for two minutes, that kind of brought points down, but these tracks are anything but lacking. I got to hear a studio version of a track I heard earlier in the live tracks, needless to say, I prefer the live version, though the studio version is much more calming and sweet.
If you call yourself a rock enthusiast, or you like rock artists to have musical integrity,you owe it to yourself to check out Derek Miller, even for just a little bit. There's gotta be something in his range of playing you like.

Blast From The Past - Pink Floyd's Animals

Well this is the first of hopefully many "Blast From The Past" editions of this blog, let me know what you think of the idea in the comments section.

The album for today is Pink Floyd's Animals a wonderful 5-track epic based on Orwell's Animal Farm. This album marks the end of an era where the band would perform songs live, and develop them from there, as the next album The Wall was worked out in basic by Roger Waters and then finished in the studio with David Gilmour.
The entire album is filled with Pink Floyd's signature space rock sound, and every track, including the two short songs that bookend the album, are epic in every sense of that word. The end solo in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" as well as the use of a talk box closer to the middle of the song. But I could go on forever about David Gilmour, or I could give light to another member of the band, Richard Wright, their keyboardist.
I've always loved the way he filled in the gaps in the music that Gilmour and Waters left for him to fill, even though he didn't have much clout in writing on this album, his playing is nothing less than spectacular, as I always find it to be.
I feel this album is essential for Pink Floyd fans, it's a very easy listen, although if you tire of long songs...you should give it a miss.

That's all for now, hope you enjoy.

-Jawn Dee

Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next review

A new EP about by Modest Mouse, No One's First and You're Next is a collection of b-sides and unreleased tracks from their last two albums. As a casual listener of this band, I can confidently say that I enjoyed this album quite a bit.

Sure, MM may have broken into the mainstream with "Float On" but their sound has pretty much stayed spacey and indie, and this record proves that fact. Songs like "The Whale Song" have beautiful, lush backgrounds, with a squacking guitar imitating the call of...well a whale, cresending into a more agressive, but still lush blend of loud guitar and frantic drumming.
Then there's the drunken cabaret sound of "Perpetual Motion Machine" that makes this band as fun as it is.
As a b-side and demo and etc junkie, I consider this record a must have for any audiophile interested in good quality non-album tracks.

Album Review: Cold Megan's Katzengesang

Cold Megan kicks ass. the brain child of Kitten Skullfuck, Cold Megan is a high energy punk rock outfit, bent on taking over the world and posting Kittens and goatse all over the place. Their roots lie in classic punk outfits like the Dead Boys, and horror punks the Misifts. What you end up with, is a giant wall of guitar, and the frantic drumming of percussionist, Bareback Stiv Wallace. Now, Mr Skulf's vocal delivery is othing short of unique, I've never heard so much snarling on one track in my entire life. I love it,
Now that you knwo a bit about the band, let's go on to the album. It kicks off with the masterpiece Riot In Toyland,after a somewhat slow intro, the guitars kick back in and the snarling commences. The album motors along at full pace, with songs such as Skullworms, Oi! Ruling Man and Ploughing the Dead.
Around the halfway mark, my favourite track kicks in, Kitten Without A Home, a song influenced by Oliver and Company, it's just so catchy and makes you want to pogo and bounce around with the crowd.
The album officially ends with cold Megan's magnum opus, More Tea, Gloria? With an almost indeciferable "One, Two, Three, Four!" to kick off, this is just the epitome of the energy and twisted vocal and guitar delivery that is Cold Megan, there could never be a better closing song.
But the CD doesn't end there, there are a bonus 5 tracks, all covers. They start off with a cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen". with an elongated intro guitar solo, the song already starts off well, it's a faithful cover, but it's most definitely CM.
There's a change of pace with a cover of Eleanor Ribgy, by the Beatles. This one is most definitely a CM song, it's a punked up, high energy song, no frills.
Next there are covers of the Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders, and Lower Class Brats, but hell, I'm not gonna listen to the album for you!

Go to www.myspace.com/coldmegan and check out the tracks on the myspace, or buy a CD, they'll send it anywhere in the world, within understandable means.

Deathmøle

Some may call this a lazy post but I don't care.

Deathmøle are a virtual-post-metal-indie-something-or-other band created by Jeph Jacques, a web comic artist who honestly, if you don't know, you really should. His webcomic QuestionableContent is "the shit" and you should really effing check it out.

Deathmøle is comprised of characters from the webcomic, and has

actual music recorded by Jeph, and it's really good.

It's very dense, instrumental art-metal type music, but with a very

lighthearted approach, becase really, most indie-art bands sometimes need to loosen up.

I promise I'll have a better post coming up soon, I'm currently waiting

for my CD to arrive in the mail from the homeland of my overlords,

England.

Vacation post + The Album Leaf / Black Mountain

Phew. Sorry about the unannounced break. I took a "vacation" up to Pinery national park, camping. I have deduced I am most definitely a city boy, and proud. The outdoors is not my friend, I and covered in bug bites and sunburns and I'm allergic to the max. I went on the trip with C-rad, the other member of my burgeoning indie-spaz-electro band, Rainbow Vending Machines. (www.myspace.com/rainbowvend) He has a fairly good taste in indie rock, and introduced me to a couple bands which I shal talk about breifly, right about....now.

Firstly, the Album Leaf, they are nice and soft, mostly vocal-less, ambient indie goodness. The recordings are uncut, you can hear the producers and musician talking back and forth on some songs, which gives a feeling of an almost live performance. This is very incense-friendly music, it can play in the background while your doing almost anything, and it doesn't intrude into your head very much which is quite a blessing if you're trying to write a blog on time.

Secondly, and lastly, there is Black Mountain. Another indie-rock collective band, but this time with actual listenability. (I'm looking at you, Animal Collective). Black Mountain has a very retro-rock sound somewhere in the mix, which is awesome if you're getting bored of the other retro-rock bands popping up, reasling a hit single, and fading back into the mix. I can't tell you alot more about these bands other than I already have, other than to check them out! I will provide myspace links, and hope that this will satisfy your taste while i take another couple days to compose myself.

www.myspace.com/thealbumleaf


http://www.myspace.com/blackmountain

Against Me! - The Original Cowboy

A collection of demos recorded before As The Eternal Cowboy, The Original Cowboy caught my attention because I'm a geek for demos, I find them much more alluring, energetic and raw than the "real" versions of the song.

I've never been a big Against Me fan, I liked the raw acoustic solo recordings that were their early releases, but I lost interest when he brought in a full band, much in the vein of my losing interest in Dashboard Confessional. So I've never heard the album on which these songs were "originally" released on. But I do believe that this is a better version of those songs are on, as it is most definitely not "demo" sounding, these are polished recordings that have the energy and rawness of a band playing a live show. I wish AM! had this much energy live, alas, they don't.

With a somewhat short run time of just over 22 minutes, and 8 tracks, this could have made an amazing EP instead of being reduced to "demo" status.

I highly recommend this record to anyone who like high-energy punk rock, regardless of their opinions of Against Me! You may be suprised. I know I was.

Gallows - Grey Britain

I didn't see Gallows when they were at Warped Tour, but everyone there told me to. So I decided to check out their album, see if they were any good.

Long story short, yeah, they are. Energetic hardcore punk, with a modern tinge, but no energy whatsoever was lost.

They're not the band of the decade by far, but they do what they do very well, and that's more than a lot of modern bands, not naming any names.

My favourite song would probably be Black Eyes. It got me pumped up pretty well, and well, what's hardcore if it doesn't do that for you?

If you like heavy, fast punk, check these guys out, it won't hurt you at all.

http://www.myspace.com/gallows

- Jawn

Sorry!

Gahh, I've had a busy week. Drivers ed for four days, then went to Warped Tour on Friday.
I got to see the Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion, Aiden, Streetlight Manifesto, and Less than Jake.

If you don't know these bands, check them out, except for LTJ, I just don't like them, but thought I'd mention them regardless.

As it was in Detroit, I used my Canadian "identity" to score points with the ladies. And score I did, not just these lovely hug-givers, but a multitude of Michigan ladies came to get a peck on the cheek or a liplock with yours truly.




If you can't read it, the sign says "Kiss Me, I'm Canadian =) <3"

I didn't have as much luck with my first sign.


If you can't see it, it says "Looking 4 Loose Girls (I'm Canadian)"

But back to the music.
Bouncing Souls were pure Jersey punk goodness, the crowd loved them, and were going nuts all the while.
Bad Religion stole the show for me though, Hetson and Baker were just ON the entire show, and Graffin's vocals never faltered for a nanosecond. Here's where I'd complain about the crowd, and I shall. The crowd was huge and great fun, except for this little asshole with his girlfriend behind me, he kept his arms around her and his knuckles out so that if I got a foot near her (which was all the time as I was packed in, this is a Bad Religion crowd, buddy, I can't move) then his knuckles would dig into my back. So I'm still in pain from that, but I could've been alot worse.

I got a free Bhagavad Gita, got some Bad Religion stickers that the city of Detroit determined unsuitable to sell, and a bouncing souls and bad religion t-shirt.

Next week I promise I'll have some new band for ya'll to check out.

While you're waiting, I have a small favour to ask those who read this. My band needs a replacement drummer for a small amount of time while our usual drummer takes some personal time off. Just contact me through here or at johnd_34@hotmail.com if you know anything.

-Jawn Dee

Victory Records

Yeah, no update in like a week, I haven't checked out any indie bands lately because I've been asleep or...asleep. Any way, I'm back, baby, with a band that is super awesome but aren't signed, and that's atrocious.

They're called Victory Records, and yes they formed with the intent of constantly taking the piss out of the worst record label around.
Their guitarist played bass for Bayside on their first album, but the music here doesn't remind me much of them, it's alot happier, poppy and fun.

It's in the vein of newer pop-punk in the post-90s style, think Saves the Day, happier.

www.myspace.com/victoryrecordsny

There's a link, enjoy.

Phog Phest '09

I was a phree attendee to the local Phog Phest, a music festival filled with indie bands that play the Phog Lounge and others.

Holy Fuck were headlining, which is pretty darn awesome. I got there late in, it went from 1pm-1am, and i woke up at 1pm, so I went there around 7, right before Holy Fuck went on.

http://www.windsorvisuals.com/visuals/PhogPhestPano2.swf

There's a panorama shot of the fest while Holy Fuck were playing, you can see me if you scroll right just a bit, red and black cabbie hat, more or less foreground.

The music was...alright, nothing too spectacular other than Holy Fuck, but I'm not complaining. Here are the links to most of the bands that played, because I'm a nice guy like that. I'll point out the ones I'm a fan of, so that you can ignore those ones because my music taste is apparently horrid.

Holy Fuck (Awesome electronica-rock)

Arkells
Green Go
The Pack A.D.
The Kramdens
The Locusts Have No King
Yellow Wood (Shoegazey indie-pop with some synthy stuff, I have a button and t-shirt)
Michou (Folky indie-rock that is cute and catchy)
Orphan Choir (Punky indie rock, with emphasis on the punk and rock)
Field Assembly (Yummy folky indie rock, very Kevin Devine-esque)
Ron Leary & Kelly Hoppe (Awesome folk & awesome bluegrass)
The Eric Welton Band
Peace Leeches
Pat Robitaille (Acoustic experimental indie rock/pop solo project)
What Seas, What Shores
(WH)Y.M.E.(??)
Fjord Rowboat
Citywide Vacuum
James O-L and The Villains
Square Root of Margaret
Tara Watts
Another Saturday Knight
Megan Hamilton and The Volunteer Canola

I hope this quenches your musical thirst for a bit.

Assassinate the Following

Yes, it's that time. I am plugging a local band.

...Wait, where are you going? No, these guys are good! They're signed and everything!

Alrighty, now that I have you back. This is Assassinate the Following, a thrash influenced metalcore band. They're signed to CDN Records, and are releasing their album Massacre of the North on July 25th.

I know the vocalist/lead guitarist from my high school, and he's a very sweet, talented individual, even if metalcore isn't your thing (like me) give these guys a chance. The older stuff has a very large Protest the Hero influence, with a bit of BTBAM mixed in there. The guitars are very thrashy, and keep getting more and more technical, maintaining an air of melody one sometimes misses in thrash.

Carpenter

They were my favourite band last week, and the week before that, these guys are amazing. I bought their album Law of the Land at a record store, and it's one of my favourite things ever.

It's bluegrass/folk influenced indie punk stuff. They appear to have a healthy obession with John Cougar, as evidenced by their myspace url:

http://www.myspace.com/johncougarisgod

There's not a whole lot more I can say about this band other than pure, unbridled passion. That is what makes their music resonate with me so much, identifying with a band, not by song lyrics, but by just feeling the pure passion they put into their music. To use an oft-said phrase, their record doesn't serve their live show justice. There were high kicks, inviting us to sing onstage, inviting us to dance on the bar, they really thrived in the live environment, even with the lack of their lead guitarist.

I knew this blog would get off-topic and personal sooner or later.

I'm 17 and have my whole life ahead of me, but that doesn't matter when life now makes no sense. I look too deep into things and end up seeing things I don't want to see.

Life seems like an easy thing in my head, eat, sleep, be nice to others, rinse and repeat. Why is it so hard when put into practice?

I'm afraid of making decisions, so I rely on what friends I have at the moment to help me out. That doesn't work out too well, because they don't give a shit about what I do or don't do, and really, why should they? It's just me, nothing special, I just have more neuroses and crazies than them, which makes me think doing things is harder than it is.

This blog has no point, geat, I've gone off topic and rambled about nothing all in one fell swoop, you're welcome internet. Back with some music stuff later today or tomorrow (hopefully).

-Jawn

Amanda Palmer / The Dresden Dolls

I'm currently obsessed with Amanda Palmer and the Dresden Dolls. This isn't the best way to start off my blog with you music folks, as I know her and her band get a lot of unnecessary flak for their songs. I absolutely am in love with her songwriting, both in Dresden Dolls and on her solo album.

For those who are unaware of this person and band, I shall provide linkz.

http://www.myspace.com/whokilledamandapalmer

http://www.myspace.com/dresdendolls

The music is always intense piano-driven rock, with a really cool cabaret-punk sound. The ballads are intense in their haunting spaces in the music, and Amanda's very unique, very anti-pop voice.

I highly recommend this artist to anyone looking for something outside the norm of what they're listening to at the time, but if you're a very easily offended person...maybe you should give this stuff a pass.

First!

Well then, first post of my blog. I'm afraid this will not turn out so well, but here's hoping. This will be a blog mostly about music, but as I like to off on tangents, it may sometimes go off topic.

First things first, to get this out of the way, I love Blake Schwarzenbach with my life. Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, and even Thorns of Life. I'm obsessed, No way around it. I will talk about those bands as much as I want.

Secondly, I will try to update this blog at least once a week, hopefully more, I need to learn responsibility, and something like this will help me with that. Send me angry emails if I'm getting lazy.

-Jawn