Free Music Friday: Map - Pistols and Pearls

Map is a beautiful indie pop/shoegazey band that's been putting out great record after great record on Velvet Blue Music for the last 10 years. Josh Dooley has worked with Richard Swift and Frank Lenz, as well as had stints playing in Starflyer 59 (Leave Here a Stranger and My Island). I've had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with Josh and he's a cool dude. Map even played live in my basement.

Josh has now released a personal best of for free called Pistols and Pearls. I wish there had been another song or two added to the album but it's a great compilation of his work from 2000-2009 and for those who have never listened to Map, a great introduction to an underrated and largely unknown band.

You can download Pistols and Pearls here. http://lonelinessisdangerous.bandcamp.com/

Hope for the Dying - Dissimulation

I think too much has been made of Hope for the Dying being a metal band. I don't want to say that in a negative way but I think the promotion of the band might turn some people away. Comparisons to bands like Iron Maiden and Queensryche seem to be completely out of line and I feel it's going to be a turn off for a lot of people who will like this record.

Hope for the Dying are a metal band through and through and that's great. But it's not any sort of old school vibe or power metal type deal. Fans of War of Ages, For Today, and other Facedown acts will still love Hope for the Dying, even though the bands brad of metal more closely follows that of Between the Buried and Me.

All of that to say I love Dissimulation! Its metal! Not metalcore, just metal. No breakdowns, lots of guitar solos! And I love guitar solos. Like a deathcore kid likes breakdowns and two stepping, I love guitar solos. There can never be too many and Hope for the Dying delivers!

Dissimulation starts off with killer artwork. It's awesome. As for actually music, after a kind of bland intro Vacillation kicks in with a rifftastic solo. Great track. Orison kicks in with a very BTBAM style intro. The songs never go into the technical/porgy stylings of BTBAM but the guitar work in on par.

The vocals are outstanding. The screams fit perfectly and even the clean vocals are placed nicely and aren't so obvious and formulaic that they become boring. And as a guy who normally hates clean vocals on metal records, that's a huge compliment.

As a metal fan I love this record and as someone who tires of the core records (Seriously, how many breakdowns can one listen to?) Dissimulation is a fresh record. Hope for the Dying has stepped up their game and made a great record. I liked their debut but it didn't leave a lasting impression. Dissimulation is one of the best records I've heard this year and is an instant favorite.

If you're a metal fan you must check out this album. It's worth your time and money.

Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Explosions in the Sky haven't always been a favorite of mine but 2007's All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone really got me into the band. It was more epic, more centered and themed then the band's previous work. EITS went from a band I liked to a band I love.

Four years later the band has returned with Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, an album that will please fans who weren't thrilled with All of the Sudden. On Take Care the band went back to writing individual songs, not an album that plays as a singular track. And while I'm a little disappointed in this fact, the album is still beautiful. Take Care still has the rich lush sound that All of the Sudden had.

The album kicks off with Last Known Surroundings, a track that is classic EITS but still has a similar vibe to All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone. Human Qualities is just guitar for the first 7 minutes before a mild crescendo. Trembling Hands is a great song. My favorite on the album. A great driving song with tons of movement.

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is a good record. It's not Explosions in the Sky's best record but it's a solid post rock album. There are a lot of quiet moments which had me messing with the volume on my speakers far too often. The album's closing track, Let Me In, doesn't end the album on the strongest note and it just left me wanting more. Maybe my hopes were too high.

Overall a good post rock record and fan of EITS will ultimately probably like this record.

The Meltdown 27

New music from Believer, The Famine, and Between the Buried and Me. Plus classic tracks from Converge and the Dillinger Escape Plan.

Cool Hand Luke - Of Man

Cool Hand Luke has been hit or miss for me. I've always liked their music but there are two different bands here. There's the post-hardcore band who used t play with their back to the crowd (So Far, I Fought Against Myself) and the indie rock band (Wake Up, O Sleeper and Fires of Life). Cool Hand Luke really won me back over with the Sleeping House. It maintained their indie rock sensibilities but it had the passion and intensity that I thought was missing from Wake Up and Fire of Life.

The band's final outing, Of Man, is really a solo record for Cool Hand Luke front man Mark Nicks. Described as a record about Jesus' final days from the prespective of those around him, it creates for an interesting concept from a band that's always provided great lyrics.

Of Man is not a dark record but its dark sounding for a Cool Hand Luke record. Almost what the Fires of Life should have sounded like. Hosanna is a nice intro that dives into the piano riff on Are You Coming. Are You Coming has a similar vibe to the Sleeping House. The album is mostly low key, very piano and cello heavy. Goodbye for Now, The Last Supper, Silver, and A Garden in the Dark are all low key, drawing attention to lyrics without being distracting. The issue with all these songs have a similar vibe is there is no dynamic range and the albums starts to drag.

His Eyes is a constant build that holds your attention until it explodes, the drums playing as a constant shifting energy, creating this great sense of tension. Excellent song with a cool post rock feel. The Burial is a nice little instrumental break that actually plays nicely despite the constant piano songs.

Of Man is a good record and die hard Cool Hand Luke fans will love this album. It's a great record to end their career on. But on its own, the album is missing something. It does play like a solo record more then a collective band effort, and yes, I know that's what it is. There are moments where Of Man is really epic and great, but a lot of the tracks tend to run together and are just to similar to leave a lasting impact on me.

Classic Album: Bloodshed - The Soft Spoken Words of Fallbrook/Bloodshed EP

.

I'm giving you guys two eps this week. 8 songs. The entire Bloodshed discography. Both eps were released in the summer of 96 but each one has a different vibe.

The band's self-titled debut is 5 songs of melodic hardcore. Not quite on par with bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace, but similar in post-hardcore/emocore feel. Less punk and more hardcore then the early DC emocore scene but the ep is along those lines. The Scarlet Letter is fantastic kick off song and a great instant introduction to Bloodshed. Outside is a great hardcore song. A very chunky riff with some metal guitar squeals.

The Soft Spoken Words of Fallbrook plays more on the emo side of Bloodshed's sounds. 3 songs of early emocore. Words for the First Time has more of the screaming vocals but the music is less hardcore, more structured song writing almost. Sweets for a Child is a straight up emo. All hardcore elements have vanished. Signs of Earth could directly be the source of inspiration for Hopesfall's debut album. Great clean guitar work that interchanges with the drums and hardcore elements to create, at the time, an unique blending of styles.

Both of theses eps are great and a nice time piece into the early days of Tooth and Nail and early emocore in general.

Free Music Friday: Humble Beast Records

I don't cover a lot of hip-hop but the truth is I do in fact love rap music. More to the point, I'm big on the production side. I love a great beat.

I recently discovered Humble Beast Records, a label that offers free downloads of all their albums. I downloaded every record they had to offer and no lie, they were all good. It's a killer hip-hop label and the music is free. Alert's Red Opus .45 and Propaganda and Odd Thomas' Art Ambidextrous are my favorites.

You can check out Humble Beast here: http://humblebeast.com/downloads/

Classic Album: The OC Supertones - Adventures of the OC Supertones

If you're like me and have a music obsession you can probably pinpoint that one album that started you down that path. For me it was the Supertones debut record.

I already liked music and you could say I loved music at this point in my life. Forefront Records was releasing a steady stream of quality alternative rock that was the play list to my preteen years. But the Supertones changed the game. The very first time I watched Real Videos on TBN (anyone else remember this?) brand new Tooth and Nail artist the Supertones were being interviewed by Crystal Lewis and talking about ska. I wasn't super interested until they debuted their video for Adonai. In that very interest I had a new favorite band and a new favorite style of music. Ska, and the Supertones in particular, had just changed my 12-year-old life.

Listening to Adventures of the OC Supertones today you notice a couple things. The production is rough. Compared to their smash album, Supertones Strike Back, Adventures sounds like a debut from new band on a small indie label, and that's what it was. You also notice that the smooth horn sound from later albums is missing. Supertones Strike Back saw the addition of Dan Spencer on trombone, which was the driving horn instrument for the band from that album on. Just trumpet and sax on Adventures gives the horn section a harsher sound.

The songs are still great. I can put on Adventures and still skank around my room from start to finish. Some tracks obviously hold up better then others. He Will Always Be There, OC Supertones, Unknown, Never Wanna Fall are all still killer tracks. The lyrics were never the Supertones strongest asset, and 15 years later they come across as cheesy at points.

While my love for the Supertones didn't last very long, by Chase the Sun I had moved on to punk and hardcore, The Adventures of the OC Supertones is a record that changed my life. I probably enjoy listening to the Supertones more today then I did back in 96/97 and while Adventures wasn't the bands big break, it was a game changer in my life.

Free Music Friday: Deep Elm Postrockology

So this weeks free music Friday is abreak from the hardcore and metal I've been giving you. This week I have a free compilation from Deep Elm Records, most known for the Emo Diaries series. While Postrockology doesn't actually feature a lot of what people in the music scene would identify as post rock, the compilation features some great shoegaze and indie rock tracks from bands like the Appleseed Cast, Race Car Riot, and Moonlit Sailor.

You can download this album here: http://deepelmdigital.com/album/postrockology

Also, from Deep Elm that you might want to check out is their Discover Deep Elm sampler. 34 tracks from 34 bands. It's a wide selection and features great new and old bands like Benton Falls, Clair De Lune, Desoto Jones, and Public Radio. My issue is that it's not full songs. Each track is 3 or 4 snippets from the bands. A good way to discover new music if you're interested.

You can download that here:
http://deepelmdigital.com/album/sample-our-bands

Thursday - No Devolucion

I've always thought that Thursday was a fairly consistent band. 2009's Common Existence was a great return for Thursday and I thought it captured the intensity of Full Collapse. So I was looking forward to new music from the band. I hadn't listened to any of the tracks released or read anything about the record before giving No Devolucion a spin.

No Devolucion is all Thursday and yet not at all what expected. Well I would still call it a post hardcore record; it's a departure from the sound Thursday fans have become accustomed to hearing.

I don't want to make the cheap Deftones comparison which comes up anytime a heavy band adds an atmospheric element to their sound. But the Deftones are the band that came to mind my first spin through No Devolucion. The album doesn't sound like the Deftones in any fashion but the general ambience is similar to that of Saturday Night Wrist.

Fast to End kicks things off in standard Thursday fashion. A nice guitar riff over blazing drums before Geoff Rickly's vocals come swooping in, drenched in reverb (an effect used through the entire album). The song is clearly Thursday but even in their normal post hardcore outings (and there are a handful on this record) you can tell that the band has grown and expanded their sound in new ways.

No Answers changes things up instantly, as a synth pad intro leads the song into a more subdued, lighter side of Thursday. A Darker Forest continues Thursday's new low key approach.

Open Quotes, Millimeter, and Turnpike Divides will please Thursday fans that aren't happy with the quieter, ambient songs but even when Thursday is rocking out, the songs aren't quite blazing with post hardcore glory. Sparks Against the Sun and A Gun in the First Act provide a new wave element that's pretty cool. While songs like Empty Glass and Stay True are more focused on lyrical content and less on big bombastic sounds.

Thursday has provided another great record and I loved it after one listen. Four spins later I still enjoy the record and overtime, with repeated listens, I imagine No Devolucion will become one of my favorite records of the year. But it is different and enough of a departure from what Thursday has always been to make me a little hesitant to proclaim this as an album of the year candidate. Solid release, just not standard Thursday.

R.I.P. The Famine

I don't normally write these postmortem pieces but I feel compelled to today. The Famine have called it quits and it sucks. The Architects of Guilt was an amazing record and I think the band could have been huge. From vocalist Nick Nowell

“THE FAMINE never should have existed. I don’t mean that like when a jealous brother screams, ‘I wish you were never born!’ at his little sister. What I mean is that we came together as a group of married thirty-somethings with kids and small businesses. Our singer lived on the other side of the country. It was a cumbersome proposition, but we made it work.”

“Most of you are familiar with the fire that claimed most of our equipment and the departure of our vocalist about a year ago. We should have never been able to make our last record, but we did. This brings us to the present day.”

“As of this past Saturday, THE FAMINE is no more.”

“In my mind, bands break up because Courtney Love kills their singer or because they can’t stand each other. Neither of those circumstances is descriptive of our situation. For us, life simply got in the way, as it often does. There is a medical emergency in my family, and I’ll be moving to Los Angeles in August to care for a loved one in his final days. Mark [Garza, drums] and Andy [Andrew Godwin, guitar] both have families for which they are the breadwinners, and Jon [Richardson, bass] has been putting off going to graduate school. Instead of trying to simultaneously satiate Mark‘s drive and Andy‘s inability to tour and my distance from the band and Jon‘s webbed toes (sorry, Jon), we came together and decided as a group that it is time to lay THE FAMINE to rest.”

“Words cannot express how thankful we all are to have had these experiences, and without those of you who are reading this right now, none of this would have been possible. So, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you for the support and kindness you have shown us for the past four years. Thank you for allowing us in to your lives, and for giving us the opportunity to connect, even though most of us have never met. You’ll see us around. You might not see the same faces or the same names, but I know that music means too much to all of us to let it die with this moniker. So, this is goodbye for now.”


I'm not surprised though. When I read that drummer Mark Garza had quit the band it felt like the beginning of the end to me. That even if the Famine didn't break-up, eventually the band would become a rotating cast of musicians supporting Nick Nowell and I'm glad to see the band end it then become a shadow of what they were. They produced two killer records and while it's sad to see them go I'm glad we got the Architects of Guilt before the band called it a day.

The Famine will be missed.

Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

It's not a secret that I'm a fan of prog-metal and I love Between the Buried and Me. Ever since Alaska I've loved the band. Anytime there's new music from BTBAM, it's a good thing.

Their new ep, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, is an epic 3 song, 30 minute musical exploration. Specular Reflection starts off with a frantic piano running to and fro before BTBAM hits you with an assault of metal that the band is known for. It's hard to capture in words 3 songs, each with an average length of 10 minutes, and I won't try.

I will say Between the Buried and Me, as always, have delievered an incredible metal record and while it's only 3 songs, there's more movement in each track that these 3 songs are better then most metal albums being released today. It feels like there's more then 3 songs going on and that's a testament to BTBAM's ability to write creative and interesting music.

There's nothing negative to say about this ep. Great stuff from Between the Buried and Me.

Believer - Transhuman

Believer has been a tough band for me over the years. I love what they do musically, but like many metal bands over the years, Kurt Bachman's vocals have been tough to swallow. Sanity Obscure is a classic Christian thrash record but Bachman's vocals really hurt that album for me. I didn't even give Gabriel, Believer's comeback record, a real listen.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I hit play on Transhuman. Would I be getting more classic thrash metal or something more experimental?

When Lie Awake kicked in all I could say was wow. I can't even believe I'm listening to Believer. It's more progressive then anything Believer has ever put out. And Bachman's vocals are something completely different. The solo on the song still has that weird Beliver scale fans are used to (if you've listened to Believer before, you'll know it when you hear it).

G.U.T. is more of a standard Believer song, with Bachman's familar screech assaulting your ears. But all is quickly forgotten when Multiverse comes in and just like Lie Awake, I find myself just listening in awe and saying wow. The chorus has me blown away by how great Bachman's vocals sound. It's a catchy hook and while the song might not be the heaviest, most metal song in the universe, it's such a good song that it doesn't matter.

Transhuman is an epic prog-metal masterpiece and it might throw off some old school Believer fans but it's also a good balance of that old school sound. I think it's their best work to date. While songs have similarities, Transhuman manages to never get repetitive or boring. I wish Bachman's vocals would have been more consistent but the back and forth between his new found vocal style and his classic thrash screech.

I wish there were more guitar solos on the album but that's a personal love of mine. There's some nice subtle keyboard work that compliments the songs. I'm a fan of the more prog-styled songs and most of the record follows that but the back and forth on Bachman's vocals take me in and out of songs.

Transhuman is in my opinion the best Believer record to date and one of the best records I've heard this year.

The Meltdown 26

New music from Ironwill, Emery, Gideon, Anberlin, and Becoming the Archetype.

Classic Album: The Blamed - Isolated Incident

The Blamed are one of those bands that don't get the credit I think they deserve. I don't know why that is. The Blamed did play a brand of post hardcore that was never really popular in the Christian scene and always floated between the punk and hardcore scenes. It really took the Blamed a while, in my opinion, to really hit their stride and find their sound. The band's early records treaded on the hardcore side and while Germany saw the bands sound change, I don't think it was until Isolated Incident that the Blamed really hit their stride.

Maybe it's because I'm DC and post hardcore/post punk was the scene was the thing here but I always though the Blamed were a great band and when Isolated Incident came out in 2001 I was sold.

The opening riff on At the Moment that kicks off the album really sets the tone for the record. Short of a Miracle and At Least We Have Each Other are two killer songs that show a more melodic side to the Blamed. Isolated Incident is pure punk energy and was a positive next step for the Blamed.

If you've never picked up Isolated Incident or even listened to the Blamed, you should pick this album up. Fans of Fugazi, and DC punk in general, will enjoy this album. The Blamed ranks as one of the ten most underrated bands in the Christian underground and I don't know why. Isolated Incident is a fantastic post punk record and is definitely worth your time.

Free Music Friday - Unashamed Discography

This is the best free music Friday yet and you are not reading the headline wrong. You can down both the Unashamed records, Silence and Reflection for free! If you're just getting into Christian hardcore or have been living under a rock you need to pick up these albums! Both are classic and Reflection features the great cover of Rich Mullins' Awesome God.

Both records are available for download here.

The Meltdown 25

New Music from Onward to Olympas, Eisley, Emery, and Abandon Kansas.

Fallstar - Reconciler. Refiner. Igniter

I have a love/hate thing with Come & Live Records. I love the label and what they stand for. I love that they offer their music for free and I hate picking on them or saying negative things because they do great work as a label and Chad Johnson did run my favorite label, Takehold Records.

But unlike Takehold, which released nothing but killer music, Come & Live is hit or miss with me. And hit or miss is how'd I'd describe the label's latest band Fallstar's debut full-length.

It's not fair to call Fallstar just another metalcore band. There just aren't enough "metal" influences in the bands sound. Not to say that Fallstar doesn't have it's heavy moments but they always seem to be hardcore influenced or some some variation on the Devil Wears Prada.

Side note: I understand that older music fans will argue that this is metalcore. I understand that Fallstar (as well as the Devil Wears Prada) fall under the genre more commonly refered to as Screamo but anything that is a hybrid variation on Underoath I'm calling metalcore. Zao is no longer the metalcore standard. It's sad but true.

The album starts with Hunters, a track that had my interested briefly as the guitar intro led into a meaty breakdown with some solid hardcore vocals. But I was quickly turned away as the clean vocals came in (ruining my hope for a hardcore record). What strikes me as odd is the interplay between the clean and screamed vocals. On Hunters the clean vocals sweep in very reminiscint of As Cities Burn, but the hardcore growls that came before the clean vocals really create an odd balance.

Which is probably my biggest issue with the album. The screamed vocals are so inconsistent and directionless that it makes it hard to listen to. Chris Ratzlaff's vocals are all over the place. Early in the record he's pretty consistent with the deep gutteral growls but at times he goes for the hight pitched screams, that don't really work, and there are moments when he goes for a Daniel Weyandt type sound.

That's not to say Reconciler. Refiner. Igniter is all bad. Black Clouds and Drunkaholics Anonymous are solid songs. ANd I can admit that I'm not Fallstar's target audience. If you're a fan of TDWP or Rise Records bands, this is an album to check out. It's a decent debut but the band is playing in a scene that's already over crowded and I don't know if Fallstar stands out enough to make a splash. They don't for my ears.

You can download the record for free at http://comeandlive.com/downloads/

Classic Album: Every Day Life - American Standard

In an article I wrote last year I mentioned that rapcore was my gateway into heavy music, and I think that was probably the case for a lot of Christian music fans who listened to hardcore.

American Standard was EDL's second album and it had a different dimension then Disgruntled. It was less angry, more fun. But at the same time, the songs are more aggressive and heavier (at times).

American Standard rips right in with the title track and the Pushing, both coming at you with a punk aggression. Salt Circles with a smooth groove guitar riff. Birth Right is a fun track that gets your head bobbing. The hook is super catchy and infectious. Just a fun track.

And that's where the comedic side of EDL comes out. 5 tracks in, EDL has a "hidden" track. A fake motocross ad/song comes blaring onto your stereo taking you by surprise. It's so funny and so oddly placed that one can't help but question what the band was thinking.

Transcend is my favorite EDL song. A nice mix of heavy and melodic. Residence is Every Day Life's softer side. A nice ballad near the end of the album.

I know rapcore is a turnoff for a lot of people and most people talking about rapcore as something they used to listen to when they were younger and didn't know better. But American Standard isn't a record to ignore. The songs are strong. The rhymes aren't cheesy and the guitar riffs are strong. Tedd Cookerly had one of the best screams in music. This isn't a record to overlook.

Ironwill - Unturned

I mentioned last week when I pimped the new free Blood and Ink Sampler (here) that the label would probably quickly become a new favorite of mine and I would cover their bands because I enjoyed their sampler. So Ironwill is the newest band to the Blood and Ink roster and their debut, Unturned, is a thing of hardcore beauty.

There is nothing inovative or original about Ironwill and I don't care one bit! While I love Facedown and Solid State Records and both labels produce great music, the general genre of good Christian hardcore is kind of dead. Metalcore/deathcore/screamo or whatever have taken over the Christian loud music scene. So it's good to hear bands keeping away from trends and just being heavy.

Unturned reminds me at times of Shai Hulud and Strongarm but their sound doesn't quite fit that late 90's Florida hardcore sound. What reminds me of those two bands is Ironwill's ability to incorporate melodic guitar lines while never losing their intensity. I Am the Clay is a fantastic hardcore song that has one of the best melodic guitar riffs I've heard in hardcore. It ins't emo like Hopesfall used to do. It's just real pretty and super intense.

Unturned might be the best hardcore album released this year, thus far. I wish it were longer but the album is so good that I don't mind hitting the play button again when the albums done. Great album!

Note: I didn't mean to say that Ironwill is an unoriginal band. What I mean was the band plays old school hardcore. They might not be reinventing the wheel but they do it justice. Check this album out.

Becoming the Archetype - Celestial Completion

Dichotomy was the record where I noticed Becoming the Archetype. Terminate Damnation and the Physics of Fire just weren't doing anything for me. But Dichotomy was different. So I was looking forward to Celestial Completion. Where was Becoming the Archetype going to go on this record?

Celestial Completion has been a difficult record for me to wrap my head around. I like the record... At moments.

After an orchestral metal intro, flute and choir lead, The Magnetic Sky kicks in with a standard deathcore/metalcore riff that takes me by surprise, as it's the last thing you'd expect to hear from BTA. It's a weird song for me right out of the gate. Maybe it's more prog-metal then I was expecting. The clean vocals on the hook are nice and the song is excellent. But it's more Mastodon (whom I love) then the death metal I was hoping for.

Internal Illumination is more of what I was expecting to hear from BTA. Hard hitting metal. But then Path of the Beam starts in a similar deathcore fashion that the Magnetic Sky did. The song is a mix between BTA death metal, deathcore, and prog-metal. Elemental Wrath and Xenosynthesis are both solid metal songs. The guitar solos are killer on both tracks.

Cardiac Rebellion is a track that leaves me scratching my head. Every time I hear the song I think "Why the hell is there a skacore song in the middle of this album?" It doesn't make sense and completely draws me out of the album.

There are moments on Celestial Completion that are great and a nice follow up to Dichotomy, without every sounding like Dichotomy. And I will give props to Becoming the Archetype for trying new things and expand their sound. It's not proggy enough to be their Crack the Skye but the prog elements are good enough that BTA could expand on them with their next record and really blow fans away with a killer album.

The good does outweigh the bad on Celestial Completion. I just wish there weren't so many head scratching moments.

Free Music Friday - Facedown Fest Sampler

Facedown Records is offering a new sampler free in honor of the upcoming Facedown Fest. Great stuff from what was favorite favorite label last year. Music from Your Memorial, Gideon, For Today, War of Ages, Saving Grace, and tons more.

You can download it for free here: http://www.amazon.com/Facedown-Records-Fest-2011-Sampler/dp/B004SLCYRO