The Grammatrain reunion has been one with a lot less fanfare then I would think. Flying was a big record when it came out and I don't know it's because the band has kept it quiet or if because Pete Stewart isn't a christian anymore that people don't care. Whatever the reason, Grammatrain has been keeping a low profile. So low that I had no idea they put out a new record. So of course I downloaded it.
Imperium is actually pretty good. While it's not Flying or Lonely House, Grammatrain was still able to write a good hard rock record. The album tends to fall into the category of your generic radio hard rock at times but I find myself being a little more forgiving because Pete Stewart's vocals keep me thinking that this is Grammatrain. All 4 songs from Kneeling Between Shields are on Imperium, which is fine. I didn't listen to their 09 ep enough to notice the songs (minus Damaged).
The album kicks off with Damaged, a solid rock song. It's heavier then any of Grammatrain's previous work. Not more intense, just heavier. It's clear from the start that this band has evolved. Forever, With My Hands, Firing Lines, and Straight Down all have really chunky, heavy guitar riffs, something that wasn't in Grammatrain's sound back in 1998. The Hive has the same feel as Spiderweb from Flying. It's very much a classic type song. Controlling Me and Child of Angels are really low key tracks. On this record where you have so many hard hitting riffs and heavy rock songs, the acoustic tracks are a welcome breathe of fresh air. Enemy is the best hook on the album. It would be a rock radio gem. Very catchy, very nice. The last song on the album, Atmosphere, while not a direct throwback or old school sounding song, sounds like an updated version of Grammatrain. It's what you'd imagine the band would have sounded like if they had never broken up.
While its a good record, I think the nostalgia of listening to Grammatrain keeps me more interested in the record then if it were any band on the radio. It's nothing groundbreaking but it's a good purchase for fans of the band.
Sometimes an artist needs to make changes in their music for their own sanity. It's understandable that bands and artists want to break out of their mold and try something different. Sometimes it's a successful venture. Sometimes it's a tragedy. Sufjan Steven's latest confuses me.
I liked most of the All Delighted People ep he released earlier this year. The experimental and more electronic pieces weren't my favorite and didn't make a ton of sense at the time but they weren't bad. I'm starting to wonder if All Delighted People was released to get fans used to an electronic version of Sufjan.
The Age of Adz has all the makings of an excellent Sufjan Stevens record. The songwriting is the same and you can hear how the songs should sound. But instead of the great lush instrumentation that we're used to hearing from Sufjan Stevens, we get a mostly electronic record. Where banjos, guitars, and rich horn sections would've filled the stereo we now get a cold synth sound. Wherever there is live instrumentation, it's overtop these drum machines and synth bass lines.
While the songs are fine in and of themselves, the instrumentation really throws me for a loop. I really would love to hear these songs given the normal Sufjan treatment. This album could've been amazing and a record of the year contender but Sufjan was his own worst enemy on The Age Adz.
When I first heard Insomniac Daze I fell in love with Envy. Their combination of hardcore and post rock was so beautiful. I quickly downloaded the rest of their discography and listened to their transformation from chaotic hardcore band to beautiful post metal band. Their latest, Recitation, is a continuation in the exploration of post rock. While leaving some of the hardcore elements behind, Envy has created an absolutely beautiful record.
Recitation starts with Guidance,a simple piano and female spoken word, which moves into Last Hours of Eternity. Last Hours starts more like a song you'd hear on a Mono record then Envy as the first 4 and half minutes set a beautiful tone that explodes when the vocals kick in. Musically it's Mono with screaming. The trend continues as the more upbeat and moving Rain Clouds Running in a Holy Night starts.
The album is a post rock album. If you stripped the vocals one wouldn't think they were listening to Envy at all. Dreams Coming to An End and A Breath Clad in Happiness are the exceptions but even moments of those songs are so beautifully played out that it doesn't feel like a hardcore record.
Recitation has more genre crossover appeal then Insomniac Daze had, and post rock fans loved that album. Envy is no longer a hardcore band. They have moved and matured into a great post rock band with screaming vocals. Recitation is an absolutely beautiful record. The music ebbs and flows in so many directions with so many crescendos and beautiful guitar parts that it takes numerous listens to capture everything that's happening on this record. It's a beautiful record that I don't see myself getting tired of anytime soon. Even if you're not a fan of hardcore music, check this record out. I bet you'll enjoy it.
Despite the tilt of most of the music reviewed on this blog there was a three year span where I had fallen out of love with heavy music and listened to mostly indie rock. Velvet Blue Music is a label run by Jeff Cloud, formerly of both Joy Electric and Starflyer 59. Velvet Blue Music has quietly and consistently put out the best independent music I’ve heard. These are my top ten favorite records from the label.
Honorable Mention: Richard Swift - The Novelist The Novelist gets to be an honorable mention because it was released and rerelease so many times that it's not really a VBM release, but at one point VBM did put out the Novelist. The Novelist is 19 minutes of 1930's throwback music. It's one of the most original pieces of music one will ever hear.
10. Suffering and the Hideous Thieves – Real Panic Formed Jeff Suffering was already a punk rock legend when Suffering and the Hideous Thieves hit the scene. He had fronted Ninety Pound Wuss and the controversial Raft Of Dead Monkeys. Real Panic Formed had all the punk rock attitude but was tuned down. Taking a not from the like’s of Nick Cave, Suffering and the Hideous Thieves unveiled their slow, brooding orchestral punk rock on the masses. The opening track, All My Friends Are on Prozac, set the album off on the right foot. The Other Side of the Moon and Sex is Dead are other stand out tracks.
9. Denison Marrs – World Renown for Romance The first record I ever got from Velvet Blue Music was the Stavesacre/Denison Marrs split ep. Which of course moved me to get World Renown for Romance. Like I said in the Top 10 Emo records post, this is just a beautiful record. Great songs.
8. LN – Dirt Floor Hotel 1 Gary Murray already had a reputation for being a great songwriter and LN’s Dirt Floor Hotel took his song writing to a new level. While the two ep’s before Dirt Floor Hotel had shown a shift in LN musically, it wasn’t until Dirt Floor Hotel’s release that the more acoustic, singer songwriter side on LN would full emerge. The opening track, Nerves Left Exposed, is just one in a long list of absolutely beautiful songs that Murray has written. It gives me chills. The album top to bottom is full of indie folk gems.
7. Ghoti Hook – Self-titled Ghoti Hook had one last batch of songs in them after they left Tooth and Nail. Their final outing was an ep that was the next progression from Two Years To Never. The ep is full on Arena Rock. If Drop Dead doesn’t get you on your feet with your fist pounding the sky, then nothing will. Six great songs and a great way to end your musical career.
6. The John Wilkes Kissing Booth – A Threat in the Broadcast Before Derrick Brown was a poet I loved, he fronted The John Wilkes Kissing Booth. A Threat in the Broadcast has something likeable about it. It’s just a good rock record. It’s never to complex but never boring. Derrick Brown’s poetic side shines through on the lyrics and music has almost a DC feel to it. Gogirlkillswitch, The Voyeur and The Black Sea, My Most Hated Love Song, and Dons Turf Motel carry the middle of the album and are the meat of the record.
5. Lassie Foundation – California Lassie Foundation was born out of the break-up of the Prayer Chain and although it seems wrong to say, The Prayer Chain breaking up was a great thing for music. The Lassie Foundation debut ep, California is a shoegaze dream. It’s just fuzz rock at it’s best. I Can Be Her Man is still my favorite Lassie Foundation song. California has the best version of I’m Stealing To Be Your One in A Million (I don’t know why they ever rerecorded the song). Only 5 songs on California but it’s just a tremendous shoegaze record.
4. Pony Express – Becoming What You Hate Besides running Velvet Blue Music, being in Joy Electric and Starflyer 59, Jeff Cloud also had his own musical project, Pony Express. Pony Express was a quirky little indie pop outfit. Their first couple of eps normally featured fuzzed out guitars to Jeff Cloud’s less then pitch perfect vocals. Becoming What You Hate was less fuzzed out, more polished musically. It featured the talents of Frank Lenz, Jason Martin, and Richard Swift, with songs written by all four. Becoming What You Hate is full of great pop songs. There’s something slightly offbeat about Becoming What You Hate but that’s what makes it such a charming album.
3. Map – Secrets By the Highway If you’re an indie band the key to success is working with Richard Swift and Frank Lenz. Josh Dooley did and turned out the beautiful Secrets by the Highway. Great songs of lost loves and friends. Secrets By the High is Map’s best record and it’s was the most commercially sounding record VBM had released at the time. Great, great pop songs. I know Dooley went instrumental with Map’s last full-length but I hope he can get back to putting out fantastic pop music.
2. Frank Lenz – Conquest Slaughter Although Lenz has admitted to not being completely thrilled with Conquest Slaughter, fans agreed that it was a hit. Frank Lenz put together a fantastic batch of songs. Conquest Slaughter is full of catchy hooks and standard 4/4 rock songs but also has a splash on weird arrangements and instrumentation to keep one guessing. It’s a lo-fi masterpiece.
1. LN – Novel Slo-core, dream pop, or shoegaze,. Whatever you want to call LN’s Novel genre wise, you won’t argue that it’s a true beauty. Whether it’s songs like Cars Must Burn where Murray sings in a whisper over lush guitar tracks or And the Angels where he belts out over an acoustic guitar, Novel is hauntingly beautiful. It was Cloud’s favorite record when he put it out and I think it still might be. For years he would offer Novel for free with another purchase. The cover of Softly and Tenderly at the end of the record sends chills up my spine. A great album.
Tooth and Nail's Happy Christmas compilations have been hit or miss. Volume 2 was the best of the bunch, while the rest good songs, just not great as a whole. So 5 years since Volume 4 was released, the Nail has given us a 5th Volume of new and old christmas songs.
Hawk Nelson kicks off the album with their take on The Chipmunk Song, making it a nice compact pop punk song. Demon Hunter's "The Wind" doesn't have your standard christmas feel but it is a fantastic ballad for DH. Fans who were looking for more ballads on The World is a Thorn should give this track a listen. Ivoryline and Copeland run into the same problem. Ivoryline's version of O' Holy Night is nice but Seven Day Jesus' version from the first Happy Christmas compilation is still the hands down best version of that song. Copeland, who ends the album with Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas , while putting their own weird spin on the song, they don't match the simplicity or beauty that Starflyer 59 had when they did the song.
Thousand Foot Krutch takes on Heat Miser from A Year Without Santa Claus. Their alter ego FM Static does Snow Miser. Heat Miser is although a standard rapcore track it's so upbeat and fun that I found myself bobbing my head and enjoying the track. Snow Miser is a low key piano track that's done so nice. August Burns Red delivers another metal instrumental track, O Come O Come Emmanuel, that makes me continue to want a full length christmas album from ABR. Emery's track musically is nice but a little forgetable, but lyrically it's one of the best songs Emery's ever written.
Family Force Five is the biggest surprise on the album. Their track, It's Christmas Day, I liked so much that I hit replay instantly when the song was done and was shocked to see it was Family Force Five. Just a beautifully great song. Bon Voyage gives us a nice little indie pop song and Sent by Ravens does a nice job with Happy Christmas (War is Over), although their version doesn't make me like the song.
The quirky songs have always been the best part of the Happy Christmas Compilations and volume 5 doesn't disappoint. Queens Clubs puts an amazing dance spin on You're A Mean One Mr Grinch. It's so good. Then Neon Horse, an already eccentric band, delivers on Zat You Santa Claus.
Happy Christmas Volume 5 is a solid outputting of quality Christmas music. The mix of classic Christmas songs that everyone knows and brand new tracks written for this album are nice. If you're looking for some new Christmas music, Happy Christmas Volume 5 is a good album to get.
While the genre of emo has (almost) always come with a stigma, there was a moment before Fall Out Boy and emo as the latest teen MTV craze. While all these records may or may not fall under what people think of emo as, each of these has a connection to the scene and a time when emo was a big thing in my life.
10. Dashboard Confessional – Swiss Army Romance Before MTV unplugged and huge success and even before leaving Further Seems Forever, Chris Carrabba released Swiss Army Romance, the Dashboard Confessional debut album. It’s the most simple of all the DC records, just Chris and a guitar. The songs aren’t as bitter as The Places You Have to Come to Fear the Most, and Chris’s heartbreak hadn’t consumed Dashboard Confessional. The songs are light, the songwriting is great and while the album is on the shorter side, it’s a nice hint at how good Chris was going to be.
9. Brandtson – Fallen Star Collection Brandtson formed out of the ashes of Christian hardcore band Six Feet Deep. Fallen Star Collection was Brandtson second full-length. Fallen Star Collection still maintains some of the rawness that the band’s debut, Letterbox, had but the melodies, harmonies, and hooks were so far improved. While the first 3 songs on Fallen Star Collection are nice, it’s not until Things Look Brighter that the really catchy and memorable songs start. Summer in St Claire is such a beautiful song and really showed the potential that the band would hit on their next ep, Trying to Figure Each Other Out. The Fallen Star Collection walks the line between beauty and heartache so well. There is a pain in the vocals that ring true to the listener. Fallen Star Collection is one of those records that really shows what emo used to be about.
8. Elliot – False Cathedrals While US Songs is looked on as an emo classic, it’s Elliot’s False Cathedrals that I’ve always loved. False Cathedrals was more polished, more piano based then US Songs. False Cathedrals has moments of being super catchy (Calm Americans, Drive Onto Me) but it’s the dark undertones that make it such a great record. It’s almost stereotypical with so many quiet to loud moments that used to define the emo genre. I heard Superstitions in Travel on mp3.com and fell in love. The record is emo in the year 2000.
7. Denison Marrs – World Renown for Romance World Renown for Romance put Denison Marrs on the map. A very small indie map but a map nonetheless. Released right after their split with Stavesacre, that split gave the band more exposure and Denison Marrs had some small radio play. World Renown for Romance was catchy and poppier then Denison Marrs’ debut. It’s a love record. The songs are great. The New Droan, Love and It’s Grand Scheme, Let’s Dance, Twilight:Eyelight. It’s a fantastic record.
6. Further Seems Forever – The Moon Is Down It seems wrong that The Moon is Down is only number 6 on this list. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen so head over heels in love with a band and a record then I did with Further Seems Forever’s debut. The Moon is Down has been called Strongarm’s melodic next step and it’s might not be that far a cry. Steve Kleisath drumming is intricate on each song. Nothing is stuck in standard patterns. The Moon is Down never falls into strict song patterns. There’s no consistent verse/chorus/verse/chorus progression. Chris Carrabba’s vocals never sounded better and the songwriting, although never as personal as his Dashboard Confessional work, is some of his best. Shortly after the albums release, Carrabba left the band to do Dashboard Confessional full time and the bands second album, How to Start to Fire, had me fall right out of love them. The Moon is Down is a classic record and I’m glad the guys have reunited with Chris.
5. Thursday – Full Collapse I didn’t love Full Collapse when it came out. Although I thought Understanding in a Crash was a great song, the song didn’t click with me for a while, but there’s something charming about Full Collapse that has endeared me to this record as time as gone by. It’s a great post hardcore record. It’s truly a record of the New Jersey underground that had no business being as popular as it got. The success of Full Collapse brought Thursday a major label deal and that’s a testament to the record. Full Collapse isn’t perfect. Geoff Rickly’s vocal sing out of perfection on every song but that realness captured the hearts of everyone who heard the record. Paris In Flames is such a killer song. Full Collapse might not be recognized over time for being a great record but it was something special when it came out.
4. TwoThirtyEight – Regulate the Chemicals I don’t remember what made me pick up Regulate the Chemicals. It was probably an album I got just because I had become obsessed with Takehold Records. Regulate The Chemicals is a quirky little album. It’s not the most pop based album in the world but the songs are still fantastic. While songs like Hands of Men and Coin Laundry Loser are stellar songs with great hooks, the album has more of a post hardcore kick. There Is No Dana and Songs Will Write The Words are just killer sing-a-longs that were awesome live. This Town Will Eat You is such a heartfelt song. Tooth and Nail re-released this album with 2 new songs added on but I never picked up the re-release and have still never heard the two extra songs. Regulate the Chemicals broke free from poppier emo of the bands first two records and created a truly unique sound and album.
3. Jimmy Eat World – Clarity The first time I heard Clarity was driving back from a youth group retreat. I was in Mike Garcia’s car and he introduced me to Jimmy Eat World. You want to talk about an emo classic. Clarity is so good. From Table For Glasses to Goodbye Sky Harbor, the record is great. Jimmy Eat World’s always been great at crafting memorable songs and Clarity is by far their most memorable record. So many great songs; Lucky Denver Mint, Just Watch the Fireworks, For Me This is Heaven, Clarity. Jimmy Eat World has written great songs and released awesome records since but nothings been as perfect as Calrity.
2. Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary Another emo classic. If you’ve ever looked on wikipedia or read any book on the genre of emo eventually you come across Sunny Day Real Estate’s classic Diary. It’s the album the band is known for. Jeremy Enigk wrote some of the most poetic lyrics on Diary. It’s just an outstanding record all the way around. Although Enigk had yet to find his perfect falsetto yet, his almost straining to sing is what makes Diary hit emotionally and what gave it it’s emo status.
1. The Juliana Theory – Emotion is Dead I can thank Napster for Emotion is Dead. After Brett Detar left Zao he formed The Juliana Theory. While Understand This Is Just a Dream was a nice record, it wasn’t Zao and thus I wasn’t super thrilled with it. Thanks to Napster I was able to download Emotion is Dead and give it a listen before spending my money on the album. And one listen through Emotion is Dead I went out and bought it. Emotion is Dead is the perfect balance of rock fury and pop sensibility. You Always Say Goodnight, Goodnight hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard the song and still today that song kills me. Everything from the band name, the album name, and even the cover screams emo. Emotion is Dead might be the most emo record of all time and it’s by far my favorite.
