The Meltdown 30

New music from Blindside and Moving Mountains

Swimming with Dolphins - Water Colours

When I first read that Tooth and Nail had signed Swimming with Dolphins, my only thought was that T&N was trying to capitalize off of the popularity of Owl City. Finding out that Adam Young was once in Swimming with Dolphins only confirmed my belief. Now I enjoy Owl City and I like the Postal Service. It's not like I don't like electronic pop music. But my expectations for Water Colours were low. And when I heard the album's first single, Sleep to Dream, they remained low.

Water Colours is better then I had expected... At least to start the record. Holiday is a great opening track. Super upbeat and catchy with a great hook. Just a really infectious song. Easy has a nice synth line but there's not a lot to song that grabs you and makes you want to listen. Sleep to Dream has grown on me a little but its super 80's lead synth intro just doesn't make sense to me. Diplomat is upbeat and makes me think of sunshine and skipping through the park but in the end, the hook just isn't catchy enough.

The rest of Water Colours is pretty forgettable. And that's the problem with Swimming with Dolphins, they're forgettable. Minus Holiday, there are no great hooks on this album. A couple of decent melodies but the songs are empty and just don't have that charm or poppiness needed to make Water Colours a good record.

David Bazan - Strange Negotiations

Curse Your Branches was a great album. Bazan's return to personal, storytelling lyrics was great. His chronicled struggle with faith and his ultimate "break-up" with God was really refreshing. And even if you struggled with the lyrical content and with what Bazan was saying, as a long a long time Pedro the Fan, it was an honest album and a sot of getting back to what made Bazan a great songwriter.

I only saw last week that David Bazan was back with his follow-up to Curse Your Branches and I was excited and curious to see what lyrical route Bazan would take on his new record.

Wolves at the Door is biting and has a hint of anger. As Bazan sings "You're a goddamn fool and I love", you start to wonder what the song is actually about. The song ends and the listener is engaged and drawn in, waiting for what's next.

But Wolves at the Door is the high point on the record and nothing else on Strange Negotiations comes close to being that engaging.

Level With Yourself sounds like a Pedro the Lion track from Achilles Heel. Lyrically Bazan is still addressing his lack of faith and trying to reconcile that with those he loves but still have their faith in tack. People seems like Bazan is taking a shot at Christians and how the church doesn't act like what Bazan believes the bible says they should be. It's an interesting song lyrically. Eating Paper is Bazan addressing fans and people who want to talk about his walking away from his faith. It's an angry song, an annoyed song.

Strange Negotiations is a little all over the place musically. It sounds more like a Pedro the Lion record then Bazan previous solo efforts. It's not bad, but nothing is super catchy or compelling outside of Wolves at the Door. There are moments in songs but not whole songs.

And with Bazan the focus is the lyrics and Bazan does a good job at keeping things pretty cryptic. I would love to get Bazan’s personal explanation for each song.

It’s a good record but after Cures Your Branches I was hoping for more.

Wolves At The Door by David Bazan

Classic Album: P.O.D. - The Fundamental Elements of Southtown

It's been twelve years since Southtown was released... TWELVE YEARS!!! I remember waiting and waiting for this record to come out. I know a lot of fans have a connection with Brown, and that Satellite was P.O.D.'s biggest album (which turns ten in September...wow). But The Fundamental Elements of Southtown was an album that exploded P.O.D. in the spotlight.


Southtown is an incredible record and an important record for Christian music. P.O.D. was the first band to really break through and rise above being just a "Christian band".

But outside of what the record did for P.O.D. and Christian music, the record flat out destroys. Yes, the interludes slow things down at times, but the every song is solid.

As Sonny screams "You'll never get the best of me" on the end of Hollywood, you know you're listening to something special. When Southtown kicks in and P.O.D. explodes, my world was rocked. Rock the Party is a super fun song and it's no wonder why it was the first rock video to ever hit number one on TRL. Lie Down doesn't get the praise it deserves. By far my song on the album. The change of pace on Set Your Eyes to Zion is a nice break in the record. The cover of Bullet the Blue Sky puts U2's version to shame. And the record ends with Outkast... Again, one of the strongest tracks on the album and all around killer song.

Not even taking into account the major impact the record had, the Fundamental Elements of Southtown is so solid a record from start to finish that it deserves all the praise it got and probably more. Southtown was P.O.D.'s coming out party and they delivered.

Free Music Friday: The Silent Ballet Compilations

The Silent Ballet is a site whose main focus is post rock, ambient, and electronic artists. For the last 4 years they've released compilations as free downloads and they're great. Through these compilations I've discovered great artists like Caspian, Magyar Posse, Gifts From Enola, pg.Lost, Signal Hill, Arms and Sleepers and tons more.

There are 16 Silent Ballet Compilations that you can check out here. http://www.thesilentballet.com/dnn/Compilations/tabid/53/Default.aspx

Moving Mountains - Waves

There are moments when an album captures your attention and begs for you to just stop and listen to it. When the music is beautiful and so compelling that you're instantly in love with it. Moving Mountains' Waves is that record.

In short I would say Waves is an ambient version of Thrice. I could leave it at that. While guitar lines and song structures at times remind me Thursday but Moving Mountains is so similar in sound to Thrice that the comparison is easy. But it's not so simple. I've never been so moved or compelled by Thrice to a point where I get lost in the music and am so enraptured and in love with a sound.... Moving Mountains have released something special.

The album starts with My Life is Like a Chase Dream (And I'm Still Having Chase Dreams) and it flat out rocks. A nice, dance style vibe on the verse but the chorus is so big that when the song ends, I don't even remember the verse. Where Two Bodies Lie doesn't have the greatest start. Its very Thursday esque and honestly, your standard post hardcore/emocore thing going on. But the end of the song, again, makes you forget the first half of the track.

Big, huge, open choruses flood Waves. The guitars move from ambient intros, to mathy riffs, into huge open chord choruses. Each song explodes onto your stereo and the dynamic range and shifts between the nice ambient quiet layers, to the loud, screamed choruses make for an enjoyable listening experience. The band claims Appleseed Cast as an influence and that comes out on The Cascade. But the tracks like Alleviate sound like the Thrice themselves could've preformed the song.

From start to finish Waves is an incredible record and Moving Mountains should be proud. They've created something really great.

Blindside - With Shivering Hearts We Wait

It's been 6 years since Blindside's last full-length, The Great Depression, and 4 years since the band's last ep, The Black Rose. Fans have been waiting years for word on what Blindside was up to. Well this year, the much anticipated new album, With Shivering Hearts We Wait was unleashed on fans.

Pre-orders of the album came with an early download and I'm glad I pre-ordered this record. Waiting another month for an official release was going to be too long.

With Shivering Hearts We Wait was my second most anticipated new album of 2011 and it doesn't disappoint. Fans of the band since Silence should be excited about this record. While almost all post-hardcore elements have vanished from the bands sound (minus a few screams here and there), the album is Blindside through and through.

The opening guitar riff on There Must Be Something In the Water is similar to the guitar work on the Great Depression but the quality of the recording is so much better. My Heart Escapes is really the framework in which WSHWW plays. Blindside playing rock music. Just like Silence and About a Burning Fire, great vocals on a down verse into a high energy chorus. Fans weren't thrilled with the premiere of Monster on the Radio but in the context of the album the song works wonderfully. While lyrically it might be a tad on the cheesy side, the band is clearly singing about past major label experience and there's nothing wrong with the song.

It's All I Have is a sort new of sound for Blindside. A big bombastic rock and roll song but Christian's vocals never let the band stray far from who they are. Our Love Saves Us is my favorite track on the record. A little more dancey and electronic then we're used to hearing from Blindside but the song is freaking amazing. For those hoping for a heavy song, you are in luck. Bring Out Your Dead is a full throttle, full throat; scream your lungs out song. Withering isn't a ballad but it might be the "ballad" of the album. It's got a beautiful chorus.

With Shivering Hearts We Wait is amazing and Blindside fans shouldn't be disappointed. Yes, their sound has moved farther away from their hardcore roots, but Blindside might be an even better rock band then they were hardcore band. This is another most own record.