Shits boring, i know….

So I know I haven’t updated in a reeeeeeally long time but to be honest I’m quite lazy when it comes to posting ( like you haven’t noticed) and seeing as how I’m all about doing unoriginal things I’m going to go ahead and copy what youngpilotastray did and post a link to my other writings at my day job(?). So here’s a movie review I did a couple weeks ago in lieu of a new music post. But I will be posting regular stuff soon. Swearzies.

Irrelevant Movie Review

Swamp Thing

I’ll just get into it here. If you don’t listen to Swamp Thing you my friend are fucking blowin it. Violent, intense, thrashy hardcore that will leave you fantasizing about their live shows. 2009’s In Shame was one of my top ten albums of the year. Gritty, angry and full of a pleasurable kind of hate (if there is such a thing) Shame is sure to satisfy any 80s hardcore desires you may have. Hopefully they’ll be posting their fuckin California tour dates so I can give a show review but until then just go listen to their shit. And let the circle-pit commence.

Again, I know.

Yup, here we go again. Just bare with me here. The other night I was reminded of why. Why I go to shows, why I love music, why this blog needs to thrive for a little while longer. Last night my good friend Trisha Bui informed me of a show that was to occur in a nice little vintage clothing shop down in Laguna Beach. The band in want was Tomorrows Tulips; side-project of Japanese Motors frontman Al Knost and his pretentious hipster-ass girlfriend. Needless to say the hipsterometer was going crazy before we had even arrived. Well as the billing above shows our anxiety to see Tomorrows Tulips had to withstand two other bands. As we arrived around 7 to TrashPretty (yeah i know) the “venue” of the show. Upon arrival it seemed that Dirtdress had already played. Oh darn. As you can see from the flyer above we were about to be subjected to a band known as Mars and The Mess. As they came together and introduced themselves I couldn’t help but be struck by how young they looked. None of them looked over 20. As soon as they started playing I was taken aback by multiple things. They had a certain stage presence that definitely went beyond their years. And though their sound wasn’t quite refined it was actually quite enjoyable. I know I’m half-assing a show review right now but there’s more to this post. I discovered a wordpress application for my iPod touch. So now I’ll be blogging all the fuckin time! Stay stoked people. I’m on my iPod more than my cellphone. Good for you,……well maybe not. But whatever. Long live StR

Disinterest

Its the name of the game friends. I’ve grown tired of blogging just about music. I know, i know. Then why did you start a music blog jack-ass? Well faithful follower of mine lemme tell ya, I don’t really dig for music as much as others on the blogosphere and while I love music dearly this does come as a problem when your output is pretty much an album every 2 months. So i’ve made up my mind and will be abandoning something to remember. For the time being anyway. I feel like a life blog would be far more appropriate as i can offer much more content than simply music that you all hate anyway. Will i return? Its possible. I wont be deleting the blog, simply leaving it as is incase someone suddenly finds a desire to seek out some info on signal to noise, the modern day saint or even hiretsukan. All the rest is stuff that not so elusive. So heres to the new year. New beginnings and new endings. Who knows. Maybe i can over come my laziness and actually start posting consistently. Or even just starting a new blog all together. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?

#9 Brand New – Daisy

What? What?!?! I fucking love Brand New. And given the oppurtunity would totally fellate Jesse Lacey. So it only makes sense that Daisy would be on my top list of releases this year. Leaps and bounds. Thats what Brand New has done here. Daisy enters a new chapter in the lives of these Long Islanders. More abrasive than their last few albums but still using that vulnerability that Lacey’s vocals are so famous for, Daisy is as much grunge as it is indie. Songs like “Vices” and “At the Bottom” feel reminicent of 2006’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me. Yet the hold a harder more grunge tinged edge than what was found on TDAGARIM. Then you have a song like Be Gone. One of my favorite tracks on the album simply because of its country twanged melody and chopped up vocals. Fascinating to say the least, on this release Brand New experimenting certainly paid off. Still catchy minus the usual poppiness, Daisy came through for those of us waiting for another Brand New CD. High-fives for Jesse Lacey and the crew are in order.

# 10 Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion

Shocking, I know. I’m just going to go ahead and assume everybody already has this album and cut to the chase. Odds are good that MPP is going to hit the #1 spot for alot of critics this year, as it certainly has been labeled the best album Animal Collective has put out to date. Creatively, the album has alot going on for it and each song holds up quite well individually or played one after another. But i’m not going to lie to you folks, I could care less about Animal Collective. Yeah sure they make some fine music and all have really wacky aliases but whatever. The only reason I even bothered to download this album is because of two people: Jason Dill and Jake Johnson. Did you watch’em? I’ll admit In The Flowers is pretty epic even without Dill’s wild style, insane trick selection, crazy personality and distinctive. But it is because of Dill that this song gives me goosebumps. That wallie feeble, those trashcan ollies, oh and that ender. So good bra. Then you have amateur Jake Johnson. Now when him and Grant Taylor (who skates to a fuckin awesome Dinosaur Jr. song) got on Alien Workshop I wondered who they were. Now after seeing much more coverage and AWS’s video this year (Mindfield, which I urge you too see all the way through) I was sold. Jake Johnson’s smooth stylish steeziness (alliterations anybody?) flows perfectly with the mellow bounce of My Girls. Switch wallrides abound, Mr. Johnson killed and definitely made it ok for Animal Collective to be blasted at your local skatepark. So there you go. Is it blasphemy that I didn’t really care for the rest of Merriweather Post Pavillion? I’ll leave that up to you. But I can tell you that In The Flowers is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time now. So yeah. Yay for Animal Collective.

#9 on its way…..

Yeah I know……

So I may have lied when I said I was going to have more consistency on this blog. I could list a number of excuses (and in my defense its a big list) of why this blog has taken backseat in the bus that is my life, but really, the only people who even bother reading this thing are already filled in on the could-be-on-tv melodrama that is my life. As for the rest you probably couldn’t give two shits. But anyway, on to why i’m posting this. Towards the end of the year people often like to list off their top ten albums of the year. I plan to follow suit in this tradition of yearly musical predictability. So over the next few weeks i’ll be posting write-ups and links to my favorite albums of the year. I can inform you right now that a certain collective of animals is on the list, but not exactly for the same reason that other bloggers may put. Also i’m going by albums that i’ve heard this year as well as albums that were released this year. Seeing as how i’m not as musically as savvy as some i didn’t exactly find alot of albums made this year that really blew me away. Don’t worry though, there will be albums released with an 09 tag on them. So stay tuned for my 2009 top ten album picks. Some may surprise, some may not and some may cause you too lose faith in me entirely. We’ll just have to see won’t we?

Bayside

I really couldn’t explain it to you. I mean i could try, but it won’t matter. Most people make up their minds before they really give anything a chance. So i’m going to make this short. Read on or write it off. Your choice. What I am posting is Bayside’s self-titled. This was their second LP released on Victory Records (blech) in 2005. I discovered this record fittingly, in a record store while visiting family in New York. When i was finally home and able to listen to the album it blew me away. Its definitely one of those right band/ right album/ right time scenarios. I can still listen to this album all the way through and love like i did in high school. I, like probably thousands of other kids, can and will say that Bayside saved my life. Sure it’s a cliche that you’ll often hear from diehard fans of whatever band, but in complete honesty this album protected me from myself. Nights of self loathing were spent instead listening to “They Looked Like Strong Hands” or “Blame It On Bad Luck”. And i’ll admit when I first heard Dear Tragedy, I cried pretty hard. All that anger, sadness, depression, catharsis all vocalized in this album. This album is certainly one of my favorite albums of all time. Sure Bayside’s become (or to some always was) just another shitty emo punk band. They’re last two albums really let me down. But again it had to have been the timing for me. Or just maybe it could be that this truly is an emo-punk masterpiece. I’m not shouting Jawbreaker kids. I’m just saying sometimes you look back to find something to look forward to. So I present to you for your listening pleasure Bayside.

Dead Man’s Bones

Oh Ryan Gosling, you crazy bastard. So if haven’t heard the word, RyGos and bromantic interest Zach Shields have already been jacked off by Pitchfork Music (yawn), and have already released their debut cd aptly titled, Dead Man’s Bones. Now before you write these dudes off as another actor trying-their-hand-at-music attempt, an actual listen through provides enough evidence that this is actually some good stuff here. Inspired by childhood nonsense and Disney’s haunted mansion the album definitely jumps around a bit in musical styling but still holds together cohesively. The overall theme of death and the afterlife mixed with some surprisingly good lyrics certainly lays a solid foundation for DMB’s to build off of. Luckily, my good friend informed me of these boys sometime ago (being a huge fan for sometime) and we had the pleasure of seeing them perform a special show at Bob Baker’s Marionette Theatre in the lovely city of Los Angeles. Needless to say DMB’s mix of the gothic, folky, dance music stylings thrown in with an actual storyline involving specially made marionettes was pretty fuckin rad. And did i mention there’s a childrens choir? Oh yes. Mr. Gosling and Mr. Shields enlisted the help of the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir to complete their creep-tastic musical experiment. And what’s creepier than small children singing? Not much. The childrens choir lends more to the album than you think. They provide excellent chorus and give the whole records innocent-experimentation feel much legitimacy. This album’s on the steam train towards an album of the year nomination so hop on board before its uncool to like this shit.

P.S. I included some early leaked versions of a couple songs so you can see the difference. The earlier version were quite promising. And the album definitely flipped a 180 on me. Which is better? You be the judge.

Back Again

I was gonna make a post about how awesome the Graf Orlock show that I went to last night was. But seeing as how I’m too lazy for such things i’ll just take a moment to say we’re back and this time no breaks. I can’t promise major output but i’ll guarantee atleast an album a week. My musical diet is coming from others as opposed to discoveries i’ve made. So unless something kicks real ass (like these dudes) then this blog will be crawling all snail like. I am trying to recruit my friend who has become a never ending fountain of music in the past couple years. So keep a sharp eye out you fags and jags. We’re here to stay. Just don’t call it a comeback. Woh woh wohhhhhhh