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Fresh and Sad Blood: three days of snoring and shushing.

Last week I went on a small weekender with my band Fresh and our friends in Sad Blood. There were going to be 5 of us in total, because instead of going with our usual bassist and drummer, we’d decided to have George and Daniel from Sad Blood do double duty and play for us. This was mainly because it’s a lot cheaper to rent a 7 seater than a 9 seater “van”.

#freshuk #sad blood #tour diary

Back On Top by The Front Bottoms (Album Review) 18th September 2015

Although comparing this release to the band’s past endeavours is a bit counter-productive, any Front Bottoms fan that fell in love with the intense emotion and witty lyricism of releases such as Talon Of the Hawk and their self titled will probably be a little bit disappointed. Back On Top has its moments of amazing lyrical content in HELP, The Plan (Fuck, jobs) and Historic Cemetery, yet this side is let down by the one or two songs - such as Summer Shandy and Motorcycle - that are downright juvenile in a lyrical and musical sense; resorting to worn clichés and clumsy melodies. However, the instance where this occurs is in the minority when looking at the entire album.

The Front Bottoms have always been cagey about practically everything they do, whether that be if they smoke weed, or what Brian’s real name actually is (although it isn’t at all important, they do in fact blaze it, and Brian’s name is probably Brian). The naming of their new album as Back (Front) On Top (Bottoms) made me smile because it’s so typically them. It’s nice to be able to have these in-jokes for the fans to compliment the change of the album’s sound because, yes, Back On Top is quite drastically different-sounding to any other TFB release. This could be in part due to the addition of Ciaran O’Donnell on trumpet/guitar and Tom Warren on bass as official members. Now, no longer a quirky indie duo, this band has evolved into a four-piece. This is reflected in the full rock feel of some of some of the louder songs, the pointed lack of Brian Sella’s trademark acoustic guitar and the band’s decision to co-write some songs (such as Summer Shandy) which results in the Sella’s freeform lyrical style getting a little lost in all the chaos.

I noticed this transformation most positively on 2YL and HELP. As the leaves on the trees outside are steadily turning orange, 2YL especially is a summer anthem that reminds me of one of those 70s stoner rock tunes that talks about partying in states like California and Alabama a lot. The song takes the adolescent subject content of beer and sex – something the band is decidedly qualified to write about – and gives it the simplicity it deserves. It’s not a four minute exhaustive inner monologue like Flashlight or Swimming Pool, and nor should it be. Unlike some of the songs on the album that sound slightly over-produced, 2YL is a refreshingly visceral track with the novelty of a full electric sound and the familiarity of Sella’s frank, honest writing.

In Back On Top, it’s the blunt, straightforward lyrics that resonate with me. I don’t feel particularly enamoured with the jokey banter in Summer Shandy, but I love the chorus of “this is what I want, motherfucker make it happen for me” in HELP. I don’t really like the synth heavy line in Motorcycle (”sometimes you gotta close your eyes, to truly see the light”) but when it’s softly repeated in Laugh Till I Cry, I love it. It’s songs like 2YL, Historic Cemetery, and The Plan (Fuck Jobs) that really save the album for me. I love the soft instrumentation on Cough It Out, and I like the theme of partying and camaraderie in Motorcycle, but these songs sound too contained and polished to be really enjoyable, and tend to suck the air out of the rest of the album.

It’s a relief to listen to the snarkiness of The Plan (Fuck, Jobs) because they’re honest and real, whereas even in the torrent of “like I said, on the brink of eruption!” in West Virginia, it feels like the band are holding back. Historic Cemetery, on the other hand, is proof that a good TFB song doesn’t necessarily entail retaining their familiar music style. GDP’s spoken word/rap part in the closing piano break is something I have grown to really enjoy, and just gives us as listeners another way to digest the concept of the song.

I’ve been a huge fan of The Front Bottoms for almost two years. It’s been unreal to see them play in 200 cap venues, and to now have tickets to their 1,100 strong show in February. For reasons that are entirely personal, The Front Bottoms won’t ever top Talon Of the Hawk or their Self Titled for me, but Back On Top has kept me confident that the band aren’t going to succumb to the evil, corporate major labels anytime soon.

#the front bottoms #tfb #Back On Top #album review #fueled by ramen #historic cemetery #west virginia #cought it out #2yl #the plan (fuck jobs)

Listen/purchase: Daytrader Stadium by Emperor X

Interview with Chad Matheny of Emperor X - September 5th 2015

If you’re the kind of person who loves music that makes your brain whir a mile a minute, then you’re probably already acquainted with Chad Matheny/Emperor X and his intelligent, politically conscious indie speed folk. Sometimes techy and electronic, and sometimes traditional acoustic, Chad very nicely showed me around the best falafel places of Berlin to discuss Orlando Sentinel the cultural stagnation of music and why it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

How has your day been? I woke up late, and I watched the second half of a Star Trek episode that I started watching last night and fell asleep to. Then I cleaned my apartment and a friend of mine came over and helped me hang curtains, then I came down here to have falafel...I’d say that’s a pretty good day! So qualitatively, my day was great.

You’ve lived in places all over the United States, and now Berlin. Where would you consider “home” to be? You’re not allowed to call Berlin “home” unless you’ve lived here for like, five years. I mean, I’m from Florida, and I’ll always be from Florida. When I go to America I don’t feel like I’m visiting from Europe, I feel like I’m coming home.

Is there a country you haven’t visited yet, but you really want to/need to? Brazil. It’s multicultural in a really interesting way. There’s something special about Brazil and their music is incredible. I definitely want to go to Brasília, the city. Have you ever read about this? They basically, in the 50s, bulldozed a bunch of rainforest and built this hyper-modernist [city]. It looks like a space-port in the middle of the jungle. They turned it into their capital and now it’s a pretty big city. It’s one of the largest cities on earth that didn’t exist seventy years ago!

A few years ago, you said that “In America, [a musician] is basically like a second-class citizen at best, and I get the idea that it’s a little bit different [in Europe]...I’m looking forward to see if that’s true” have any follow-up on that? Now that you’ve assimilated so much into European culture? Yeah, it’s better! No question. Ask any American band who tours here and then tours in the states. I mean, of course you have a lot of the same problems but...I don’t know. Part of the reason why Americans say that is because, by the time you get to the point where you can tour in Europe, you’re already at the point where things are getting a little easier for you. But I definitely know people who, in America, are treated like garbage and come over here and...you know, it’s not like hundreds of people come to their shows or anything but, when 15 people come to your shows here you still get a couple hundred Euros. People are really nice and supportive.

I wonder why that is though... I’ve thought about that way too much, and I never get tired of thinking about it. It’s undeniable that England and America produced a lot of the most compelling pop music in the late twentieth century, and they’re also two of the places where it’s hardest to be a pop musician. So, I think there’s something to be said for adversity putting people in a cauldron where it’s not easy to succeed so you’re trying really hard.

But I’ll address your question directly by saying that it’s just easier to make ends meet when you’re touring over here. People cover more things; people feed you better... in Berlin I help run a venue. It’s called Donau115. We never charge admission, we pass the can. If there are 30 people, invariably, like on a bad night, we’ll make 100 Euros. And people don’t have to, They want to! I think there’s more of a sense of social responsibility here [in Berlin]. That’s more hardwired into the culture than it is in the states. Do you feel like a musician has a political responsibility? Yeah, for sure. More and more. The reason we’re able to be musicians in the first place is because there is some kind of lucky affluence that happened in our life that created the space to be able to screw around enough to make music. So I think particularly for privileged folk, such as myself, being white and male and not poor, you owe it to everybody to be political, or to at least address these things. I don’t think overtly political art tends to be very good. It’s rare that you can pull it off.

You have a responsibility to it but as an artist first and foremost you have a responsibility to making good art which is different than being a party mouth-piece. Art ought to be a thing that activates you mind not a thing that reinforces something you already think. There is a self-congratulatory, preaching-to-the-choir kind of uselessness in people that get up on stage who’re like “how many people support refugees?!!!” well, everyone in the crowd! Like, you’re not being heroic.

It’s a thin line to tread. If you get it right, you really get it right. I agree. I think it’s very important for people to at least try. The worst case-scenario is that you offend part of your audience: that’s pretty much it. I’ve offended people on occasion. I was performing in Israel last year and a handful of people on twitter were like “you jerk! You shouldn’t even go there!” And when I got to Israel and played the songs, everyone was like “you jerk! You shouldn’t play Allahu Akbar here!” I think if you’re offending both sides then you’re probably doing okay.

But that older song, Allahu Akbar, it cleared the room in Tel Aviv. There were a couple of IDF guys there who were loving it. I played that song and they were gone. I played it a few nights later in Jerusalem and - it could have been a coincidence - but immediately when I started playing, a bunch of cops came in and said “it’s too loud.” And the bar across the street from us was being way louder. And they didn’t shut them down. So maybe I’m being over-sensitive and too self-congratulatory, but I think there was something going on there.

I once saw somebody online speaking against a blog (whose content was about dealing with depression) for posting Allahu Akbar. If I remember correctly, the person saying they didn’t like the song was Muslim. That’s really interesting, because that song’s much more about fighting depression than it is about fighting theocratic Islam. But, I mean, I’m really upset when I offend people. I don’t mean to do that, but you also can’t think about that. I mean, it’s weird that a white, raised-Christian dude wrote a song called Allahu Akbar. I rarely respond to YouTube comments, because if you go down that road you’re just gonna spend all of your time on YouTube, but this guy posted like, a comment on an upload of Allahu Akbar, going like “this is really awesome, I’m glad that singer/songwriters are finally standing up to Islam!” I was like “noooo!” I wrote a rather long reply, maybe two or three hundred words saying “you don’t get it. You missed the point.” That’s about as close as I get to being overtly political: that song. That’s how I wanna do it. Your job as an artist is to start a conversation; you don’t end them.

That initiation of conversation has been so important in discussing the real issues. Like all the problems we have in our scene about sexual harassment of young female fans, just the treatment of women in music in general... I don’t deserve to call myself a feminist, I’m a man. But I know way too many feminists who are depressed because it’s so sad but like, this is the first time in my life when I’ve seen it actually going in the right way...

Comparing punk to pop in terms of representation, we’re years behind. Hell yeah. Some strong women in pop. But I think a lot of what’s going on in this scene right now is definitely biasing more equally than it used to. It’s still not gone as far as it used to, but I think it’s getting better. There’s a new awareness. But definitely if you’re running a label you need to make sure you’re doing something close to 50-50. As in, female-fronted vs male-fronted. I think there also needs to be an awareness of colour privilege too, like looking at the demographics of where you are. And that’s hard. It means that you’re going to have to turn down some bands that are really good if they’re white and male. And I am the first one to wave the flag and say “let’s do it”

You once called Erica-Western Teleport one of the most “shallow songs I’ve ever written” I think you were being a bit hard on yourself! [laughs] I was trying to be mean to myself, but um, I think a better word would have been transparent. That sounds so funny because everybody has a specific idea of what that song’s about, and they’re all wrong! People who’ve heard that song respond to it and they’ll say “hey man, I just wanted to say that, I don’t know how but our lives must be identical!” Then they’ll tell their story, and it’s nothing like what I was going through or what the other person who wrote to say that was going through. It’s infinitely manipulatable.

Then is it really transparent? The emotion behind it really is. It’s hard to justify, it would be “sad-bro” but the important distinction is that there’s no blame being passed in that song. Really what was going on with that is that I screwed up. I didn’t know how to be there for somebody and as a result the relationship fell apart and I was really regretting that.

But also, some of the scenes, or the specific details mentioned in the song never actually happened. I was just closing my eyes and thinking about it and singing, like free-styling- lyrics basically. I write lyrics as I freestyle and when it sounds good I lift that part and write it down, and then try to make everything else make sense around it. I think a lot of people write that way nowadays. So I don’t think that it’s shallow in that it was poorly thought-out or anything, because I definitely spent forever on the lyrics... but I think it was obvious. But you know, I don’t regret the song. People definitely care about that song, which is really nice. It’s nice when people respond.

I like how accessible that song is to someone who isn’t used to the electronic, speed-folky side of things. It’s like a rung on a ladder. It’s a way in, and I think that the next thing I’m working on...I’ve got a couple new songs, I got some new equipment, I got a new tape machine to record it with. I think what’s weird about this record is that it’s gonna be like, really heavily ambient and then like interspersed with like, there are a couple of straight-up punk songs on it. I haven’t done that in ages. It’s been since my second or third album that I’ve been so aggressive and straight ahead. I recorded it here in Berlin in this basement with the full power trio and I was like “guys, basically I wanna make English speed. I wanna sound like dubbed out ska. And it came out hardcore. It worked fine.

There’s way too much categorising of bands. Like, putting them in boxes. Genre should be in a state of upheaval right now and it’s not. I see all the signs of it getting to be stagnant pretty soon. I’m 36; I’ve seen music do this three times now. Like “music’s great! Music sucks! Music’s great!” I’ve seen that wave happen three times and everything right now looks like a “music sucks” phase, and then it’s gonna get weird real soon in a really exciting way. Culture in general seems stagnant. Do you know how? If we were dressed this way forty years ago, no one would bat an eye. The way people dress hasn’t changed in decades. This is more related to late-capitalism and cultural stagnation and there’s some Marxist thought on this that makes a lot of sense...but if there’s going to be anything inventive things coming from anywhere it’ll be coming from a scene like this and god bless it, that’s awesome. I don’t think we have to wear different clothes or anything to do it, but we definitely need to be thinking about why we play the genres we play and why we lionize the eras we lionize.

But I’ve always had the problem of not being either punk, or songwriter or electronic. I’m this weird thing in the middle. So I can’t play the sweater-beard songwriter fest, and I can’t play the hardcore fest because I would weird the beard boys out, I would bore the punks and I would bore the electronic music people so there’s a weird little thing that I have to ride. It’s always been my hope to do something that doesn’t exist yet. And I think that’s every artists hope.

Would self-releasing music be an aim for you? Not necessarily. I really like working with other people that release the music. Just because I’m so hyper-focused on the sounds and on the process of being a writer and a composer and a performer that I’m just not that good at some of the practical things.

I think we’re still in a phase where people take you more seriously if somebody else put your stuff out too. It’s really just practical. But it’s much more important than that. It’s community. There are a bunch of labels, like Tiny Engines and Topshelf, where I really respect the stuff that they’re putting out. It’s like a vouching thing. To move forward it has to not involve physical products because, yeah, people are buying vinyl and tapes more than ever, and that’s cool, but I don’t think we can build a movement around the production of goods. That’s precisely the kind of capitalist model that needs to be checked. I don’t think that’s gonna save us.

#emperor x #tfb #the front bottoms #the hotelier #interview #speed folk #berlin #topshelf #topshelf records #tiny engines

The Front Bottoms release HELP! and announce a new album

HELP gets off to an unsure start for me, because I wasn’t too sure about the all-electric intro. The big difference for me concerning HELP is that, unlike with West Virginia and Cough it Out, this song didn’t have to grow on me. After a couple of listens I realised that I was hooked on the chorus and the cool attitude of the line “this is what I want/motherfucker, make it happen for me”.

As the song progresses, Brian Sella’s lyrics start to sound more and more like a B side from their self-titled, but with smoother production and a more prominent electric guitar. The last chorus really hits me hard, because the lines “Help, I was focusing on the wrong things…then the wrong things become everything” really stay true to why I love Brian Sella’s writing so much. This line is intimate to the point of being a confession. In West Virginia and especially Cough It Out, I felt like Sella was hiding behind the good production and melody of the song. Not here.

The breakdown lyrics of “thank you for letting me borrow your jacket/it kept me warm in a cold place” were the ultimate reassurance that The Front Bottoms are doing what any good band does: expanding musically. Like any of my favourite Front Bottoms songs, HELP is full of hook lyrics that both strike an emotional chord and promise some good live sing-a-longs.

So to conclude, I’ll be sitting on the edge of my seat until the 18th of September comes around, because from what these three songs have allowed us to glimpse of the new record, Back On Top is shaping up to be a great release.

Back On Top Tracklist:

1. Motorcycle

2. Summer Shandy

3. Cough It Out

4. HELP

5. Laugh Till I Cry

6. Historic Cemetery

7. The Plan (Fuck Jobs)

8. Ginger

9. 2YL

10. West Virginia

11. Plastic Flowers

Tracklist and Album Art info come from Pupfresh.com

#tfb #the front bottoms #back on top #west virginia #HELP #cought it out #fuck jobs #fueled by ramen #top #21p #brian sella #mat uychich

Payola by Desaparecidos (Album Review)

I first became acquainted with Conor Oberst, like most people, through Bright Eyes, and so the contrast between the singer-songwriter, folky project and this screaming punk rock are chasms apart. Desaparecidos really impressed me with their debut album because it was so rage-fuelled and I’d been listening to a lot of mellow indie beforehand. I’d been really missing the punch of punk rock, and so the thundering opening riff to Mañana and MariKKKopa reeled me right in.

The Left is Right is a fabulous album opener, with it’s swelling guitars that have a dramatic, orchestral feel. This feels like Oberts’ manifesto for the politics of the rest of the record. The censorship shown in the album art definitely conveys the paranoia of Payola that bears a strong resemblance to the suburban creepiness of Read Music/Speak Spanish. This time, the corporate overloads have manifested themselves into personal racial prejudice and the imperialism of centuries before.

City on the Hill brings the theme of American arrogance to the forefront of the record by the third track, only to demolish it by MariKKKopa and the last few songs on the record. 10 Steps Behind, for example, has a wonderful guitar solo that reminds me a bit of Queen but knowing Oberst, this to is done as a send up of any kind of showy music style. Payola scorns materialism and hero-whorship, as seen in Von Maur Massacre in the words “tearing down the posters from the wall.”

There’s the scorchingly ironic track MariKKKopa, which is in my opinion the best track because of Oberst’s vocal performance; you can almost see the veins in his neck standing out as he screams the verses. Whether this song is troublesome in content is another question, because no matter how “ironic” the song was intended to be, you definitely can’t sing along to the chorus without feeling like a neo-nazi. Is it Oberst’s place to write from that perspective? Then again, you’ve got the justification of freedom of speech.

Despite some eye-rolls, this record resonates. Admittedly, I’m a far greater fan of Desaparecidos’ melodic thumping punk than their actual lyrics, though sometimes a line will really hit me and make the song all the better. Maybe it’s because I’m not an American, and I don’t truly understand the farce of a country that promises total democracy and freedom. Anyway, the rampant police brutality and cover-ups that have occurred just this year have certainly justified the release as a voice of dissatisfaction and hard-hitting truth.

#payola #desaparecidos #desa #albumreview #bright eyes #conor oberst #read music/speak Spanish

chorusfm

The Front Bottoms To Release "Back on Top" in September?

A release from The Front Bottoms called “Back On Top” is listed on Bull Moose for release on September 18th. Read More →

listentomyband

As a Front Bottoms fan, I'm beyond excited to hear this. But I'm also taking it with a pinch of salt, because they've been pretty cagey over new album details so far.

#the front bottoms #tfb #fueled by ramen #FBR #cough it out #West Virginia #absolute punk

Listen/purchase: Kingfisher by Prawn

Interview with Tony, Jamie and Ryan from Prawn - July 13th 2015.

I’ve been hooked on Prawn’s music since I saw them on their tour supporting Gnarwolves last December. I caught up with them at The Old Blue Last to talk about Kingfisher, touring and writing technique. if you didn’t know that Prawn are from New Jersey, you’d assume that this final date on their extensive European Tour was a hometown show in the way that the venue was packed full of people singing along. Hindsights and Brightr added to the fun and made it a pretty unforgettable time. A big thanks to Prawn for being so generous with their time!

Tony Clark - Guitar/ Vocals Jamie Houghton- Drums Ryan McKenna - Bass

How has your day been? Tony: Lots and lots of traffic, but good. Last day of tour, so you really can’t complain!

Prawn really seems to be a fusion of musical technique. Kyle brings a punky feel to First as Tragedy through drums and Ryan plays bass in Sorority Noise. How does that lend itself to writing and recording? Does everybody get an opportunity to bring new stuff to the table?

Tony: Yeah, we all contribute. Lyrically it is mostly me. Jamie helps out sometimes. Jamie: with a word or two. Tony: Ryan joined Sorority Noise after Kingfisher so he was mainly there for the entire writing process. He was still studying so we have four different touring bassists, but Ryan’s our main guy. Kyle and I wrote First as Tragedy kind of as a side-project band, and then we both just really liked it so we brought it to the table and Jamie tweaked it around and wrote his drums to it.

It caught me by surprise when I first heard it, because it’s got that fast, punk feel. Tony: Yeah, our side project was much more punky so that’s why. And then we decided to just scrap that and focus on Prawn.

I noticed your references to Camus and Marx in titling the songs off of Kingfisher (Absurd Walls and First as Tragedy). What does this say about the album? Does this make it a concept record? Tony: I don’t know if Kingfisher really has a theme per se. Maybe it does, and I’m just a bit removed from it now, because it’s nearly a year later. I studied philosophy in university, and so I just read a lot of that material. That just kind of comes out in my lyrics, I guess. I wrote 90% of the lyrics on a sail boat in Greece reading Camus, so that’s where the idea of the absurd comes from. I was just kind of floating around on a boat thinking about life.

How important do you think it is for writer/writers to get into an independent headspace when crafting lyrics? Tony: I think it’s super important. That’s the only way I can do it.

I ask because a lot of writers write from people or events directly around them. But I’d say your stuff is more removed, in a way. Tony: Yeah. The best way I’ve described it in the past is that I like to write lyrics that are more metaphorical and allegorical rather than literal personal experiences. Most of the bands I listen to are writing about personal experiences, and I think they’re great lyricists, but for me there’s always that disconnect with them because they’re talking about their own life rather than a more metaphorical analogous approach in which everybody who listens can relate to a little bit more. And it’s more open-ended so you can relate to an experience which might not be specific. I like the idea of twenty people relating to one lyric, but all twenty of those people each have a different meaning attached to it.

You mentioned previously that Dialect Of…lyrically pulls back a lot to Laki. When you sit down to write a release, do you look at everything you’ve written before and incorporate that or do you treat it as a blank slate? Tony: Well, I have no idea about the next stuff is going to be. With Kingfisher it definitely was the latter, because You Can Just Leave It All was kind of teenage-y break-up stuff; a little immature. I don’t want to demean it, though. Then I kind of matured a little bit, so Ships was getting there and then Kingfisher saw the whole dynamic of the band shift with a guitarist leaving. With that it felt like we could be who we wanted to be…that sounds so corny! But it was a good opportunity to shift stuff around.

So what do you do when people request the older stuff at shows? Tony: I don’t know. I appreciate it!

Do you feel like a band always has a duty to play to the audience, so to speak? Ryan: on a grand scale, maybe. It’s important to be conscious of what’s relevant at the time. But in any given moment, at pretty much every show, somebody calls out for Nightmares… Tony: which we wrote when we were about 18… Jamie: I’ll just say that we don’t remember how to play it, which is the truth! Tony: I can understand it if you’re a giant band like Coldplay… Imagine playing Yellow every night. But for us it’s almost as if we’re a different band now. We’ve had line-up changes, and those songs came out seven years ago. Every year I feel like the band evolves, in what you put in your set and how you want to play and how you present yourselves. It’s just a natural progression.

Do you feel that generally, in today’s music culture, there is more pressure on a band when recording to just get an album out there and tour with it instead of really getting into their creative ideal? Tony: I think there’s always the pressure to tour, just because for bands like us that’s how you can make money. Also I think it’s good in keeping the will of the band going. If you write a record and then sit around on it you’re almost a studio musician. You get so much experience through touring and you grow as a band and as people. Jamie: I think with the modern age and how accessible music is, people are looking for other ways to interact with it, because it’s so easy to get music and so people will want to see you live to get another experience.

What advice would you give to a smaller band touring overseas for the first time? Tony: I would say number one, logistically, get a work permit before you book. We’ve heard horror stories about bands that’ve had entire tours booked, and then they get turned away. It’s a little expensive but you’re guaranteed automatic entry as a band. Ryan: just having all your ducks in a row on all fronts, so to speak. Jamie: keep a close eye on flight prices. Tony: definitely come over during winter. It’s much cheaper.

How did you know that Prawn was ready to come to the uk when you first did in 2012? Tony: 2012 was an interesting one. We had just finished writing Ships and we were all in college then. A promoter hit us up like “would you guys want to come to Europe to tour for the summer?” we were all like twenty one and we just said “yeah, definitely!” I would say that we came over too early. It was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had, but as a band and being professionals about it, it was not a good move. The shows weren’t very good and we lost money.

I’m in a band and I’m going into university. How do you juggle studying and being in a touring band? Ryan: you have to have the faculty on your side. You need to make friends in Deans and whatnot and then they’ll essentially pull the necessary stings. Tony: Ryan was a special case. We just always saw university as a number one priority and the band as secondary when we were going through college because you’re paying money to study, it’s a safety net, it’s a good thing to do and who knows how the music scene is going to pan out. Ryan: It comes down to the forethought of not failing classes so you don’t have to take them again and making sure there’s space in your schedule. It’s all micro-management. That’s what it all came down to. Tony: Ryan did a wonderful job of it, though. He took time off for the Gnarwolves tour. Ryan: It was the second half of my second-to-last semester. It managed to work out even with my laptop getting stolen on that tour and everything. It was the second day and I was supposed to be working on a project the whole time. But that’s where having professors who are understanding and on your side came into it. They were very much in the stance of “we’ll deal with it when you come back, and don’t worry about it.”

You’ve been affiliated with Topshelf since 2011. How has the label helped you expand? Tony: Immeasurably. They’ve just had our back, and we’ve had theirs. We were talking to them before this tour, and I think we’re the oldest band that’s stayed with them on their roster. Topshelf was really cool because they were before the “Emo Revival” and that whole publicity onslaught. Before all that, Topshelf was just putting out bands’ records that they really liked. Along with Run for Cover and No Sleep and those others. Without those labels I don’t think anyone would be around. Their main concern is the artist. They’re not jaded. Their bottom line isn’t money. It’s really all about helping the bands that they work with. Ryan: they were pretty much like the conduit to involve loads of bands and also the distribution side of it, like their samplers.

Would you say that a label is necessary for touring overseas? Jamie: well, they sure as hell make it a lot easier to get your vinyl and merchandise over. Tony: for merchandise, yeah. I think you can do it DIY style without a label. That’s a good question, but we haven’t had that experience so I can’t really speak that much, you know?

What’s next for Prawn? Jamie: We’ve recorded two songs that’ll be coming out soon. Tony: On a split. Can’t tell who, though. We’ve got that coming out November-ish. We’re going on a week tour with Braid right after this. Then this fall, I think we’re just going to take a break. We’ve been touring a lot. Then, if we want to start writing music again we’ll start writing. We’re just gonna take it easy. Jamie: we’ve been really busy since April. Tony: we’ve been busy for the last two years!

What music are you currently listening to? Any reccommendations?

Jamie: I’ve been listening to a lot of Tycho. They’re like post-rock, electronic driving music. Ryan: It’s always just such a smattering, and the average is pretty much what we play. Tony: I really like the new Death Cab record, Kintsugi. That’s the last album I bought on iTunes. It’s really good! Jamie: It’s crazy because there are nine of us in the van right now, so there’s a blur of different music all the time. Ryan: One band I keep going back to is Chon. It’s super noodley, math-rocky music. Real groovy, snarky stuff. Tony: I did start listening to a couple of jazz records, which is fun. Before I left for this tour I got really sick of music in general. I was just in one of those moods. But then I would be cleaning or cooking or bored like “I don’t want to watch TV” and I just went to my mom’s drawer where she keeps her CDs and I put some Ella Fitzgerald in. Classic 101 Jazz. That’s been really nice. It’s completely a different take on things.

Cool. Thanks very much!

#Prawn #topshelf records #kingfisher #scud running #absurd walls #glass irony #prawnmusic #prawnband #hindsights #brightr #you can just leave it all #ships #interview

Listen/download: Frendz by More Amor Thanks? by More Amor - This last one is cheating a little, because Thanks? is a five song EP and not an album. Back in the day (and by “the day” I mean two years ago) I was a big fan of Panic! At The Disco. Ryan Ross featured in a song by More Amor called Beach Bones that I absolutely loved, and so I naturally checked out the band and downloaded this EP.

First of all, it should be said that this release is very much in the Walk The Moon camp. It’s sickly sweet alt. pop that helps you escape your awful life for a 20 minutes, and in the year 2013 when I was transistioning from year 11 to a new sisth form, that uplifitng bubblegum alt pop was much needed.

The year of 2013 was, in general, incredible for me, because I traveled a lot. I got back from Hong Kong in April, and got ready to go to New York with my family for the end of May. I had been to The United States before, but I was way to young to remember anything of it. This time, to be sixteen years old and a huge music fan, New York was so exciting to me that the actual time I spent there was surreal.

I was also incredibly lucky to go to see Fall Out Boy play the venue Terminal Five. I think it was their first NY show after announcing their reunion. I made loads of friends at the show, some of whom I still talk to today. The lyric All my friends, they never take it easy/ And it’s keeping me up late resonated with me, because New York really was so much more chaotic than London. The neon onslaught of Times Square was a world away from the dark, sloping streets of Covent Garden, even in rush hour.

The whole American concert experience was cool; for example, I had never had my hands "X'd" by venue security before, because we don't do that in England. I'd watched Home Alone: Lost In New York a lot as a child and so I always pictured New York as being very snowy, but it was boiling hot the week or so we were there.

We walked all day, every day doing touristy stuff, and I nearly always had at least one earphone in, with Thanks? Playing on loop. More Amor never seemed tog et the recognition they deserved wth this EP, as it has everythign you want. From the neon dance tracks of Frendz and Miss Martyr to carefree indie songs Sloppy Little Kisses and Young Hollywood. If there’s any five songs you need to provide a soundtrack to your beach escapades this summer, then it’s definitley Thanks?

#more amor #thanks?#frendz #like monday #miss martyr #sloppy little kisses #young hollywood #beach bones #ryan ross #albumreview #series #mine

Mid-year list

2015 is already 50% up, and the releases so far have been just incredible. A large part of me is panicking that I only have 6 months left to listen to all the upcoming releases and catch up on the ones I’ve missed. Then again, my rational senses are reminding me that having too much good music to listen to is a great problem, and that this list is a good way of getting my thoughts down on paper (or rather, cyberspace). These are all vaguely ranked, but that shouldn’t be paid too much attention to.

My end-of-year list could be not very different, or drastically changed. These lists are fun, but they never reflect the true musical sense of the year accurately.

(To clarify, Strange Desires and Broken Thrills, while released in America last year, were only released recently in England where I live. So I’m fashioning the list by UK release date.)

Beat The Champ by The Mountain Goats

Liberty And Prosperity by The Front Bottoms and GDP

Broken Thrills by Beach Slang

Peripheral vision by Turnover

Joy Departed by Sorority Noise

Strange Desires by Bleachers

Painted Shut by Hop Along

Payola by desaparecidos

I’m anticipating new albums from The Wonder Years, Motion City Soundtrack and (fingers crossed) The Front Bottoms. I never want to speak definitively about these things but 2015 is looking to be a very good year of music indeed.

#beach slang #broken thrills #the mountain goats #beat the champ #the wonder years #motion city soundtrack #the front bottoms #hop along #desaparecidos #payola #painted shut #bleachers #strange desires #turnover #peripheral vision #sorority noise #joy departed

The Front Bottoms - Cough It Out

Cough It Out was released earlier in the week, hot on the heels of West Virginia. Both songs have a lot in common – the most notable being that they both start the same way. Cough It Out and West Virginia both start out using just single acoustic chords and vocals, and then gain traction and introduce drums, electric guitar and backing vocals.

Oddly, the biggest bone I have to pick with Cough It Out is that it has a strange electronic vibe to it, and the vocals are over-produced. The first thing my friend said after hearing it was that it reminded her of Owl City. I like The Front Bottoms because of their originality with how they basically put freeform poetry to music, and construct music to fit their lyrics instead of just trying to come up with a catchy chorus or whatever. They’re a band that doesn’t conform to a sub-genre, and I really don’t like the idea of them being likened to Owl City. It’s an unavoidable comparison though. The drum parts aren’t interesting, and the female backing vocals layered against that of Brian Sellas almost make it sound like they’re using auto-tune.

Whereas the plunge into the thumping refrain of love of my life/gone forever on West Virginia was exciting, and reminded me of some of the songs from Talon of the Hawk (the album where The Front Bottoms really discovered their talent for retaining lyrical sentiment and still playing fast and loud) Cough It Out seems a bit muted by comparison. There is none of the dramatic flair that I’ve grown used to seeing in this band. Songs like Twin Size Mattress struck a chord in so many people because of the raw energy in the closing, deafening refrain of she hopes I’m cursed forever. In comparison, Cough it Out is like staring into a void; you know that something is missing.

West Virginia reminded me of Au Revior (Adios) in terms of its energy and knack for coining a phrase to emulate the music supporting it, but Cough it Out remained pretty neutral in tempo and volume throughout. Admittedly, the lyrics are better. I like the soft refrain of I am delusional with love and later, the line It’s getting harder and harder and harder and harder for me to call you a friend. I was really getting into the song, and able to cast out any thoughts of possible auto-tune, but then the line wave your hands in the air, like you just don’t care really made me wince. I really hope that the album won’t resort to as many lyrical clichés. I think that it would kill me a little bit, as I know how well Brian Sella can write.

#the front bottoms #tfb #cought it out #west virginia #fbr #fueled by ramen #song review

Joy Departed by Sorority Noise (25th of June 2015)

I was genuinely worried when Sorority Noise announced that they would be releasing Joy Departed earlier in the year. I marked June the 16th on my calendar and waited. My biggest fear was that the album would be nowhere near as good as Forgettable, a record that I had placed at the top of my 2014 album list.

I’d already heard Art School Wannabe as their single, and liked it. I was primarily afraid that Sorority Noise would cast off what they were most good at – blasting the proverbial bedroom door down with intelligent emo-indie punk. This isn’t to say that Joy Departed is stagnant in comparison; in fact, one initial run-through of this album put my worries at rest. Sorority Noise’s latest record is just as admirable as Forgettable in terms of the candid feeling that the band pour into their songs, and perhaps more so musically. What really got me hooked on Joy Departed were not only the tracks that emulated the loud pop punk I’m familiar with, but the sweet, slow feel to the record that was only glimpsed on previous albums and EPs. This really made the album feel like a step forward into better music for Sorority Noise. I connected to Forgettable on a personal level, but even I could see how these songs are just that little bit more thoughtful and structured, with the quiet dreamy beginning of Blissth and Florescent Black leading up to Using and Noisey.

Joy Departed, like Forgettable, is deeply personal and focused in on a microcosm of one person’s experiences, and isn’t afraid to be up-front about it. I was primarily afraid that Joy Departed would take it too far, and that the extended nature of songs like Your Soft Blood and When I See You (Timberwolf) would come across as sprawling and lose the interest of the listener. Instead, I personally like these extended tracks, especially When I See You. This is coming from somebody who favours the Joyce Manor technique of having songs that barely make the minute mark. Sorority Noise manages to keep When I See You interesting with the change up halfway in, and the poignant lyrics “you smell like hospitals, and bad news/and if God is real, then I hope he has a plan for you.” These lyrics are also quickly becoming some of my favourite off of the entire album.

Using is a song that really stands out to me simply because of its incredible melody. The first line of “started using again” with a chunky, muted guitar is very reminiscent of the band’s more raucous or “pop-punk” side. I’ve always loved Sorority Noise’s technique of contrasting serious or “heavy” lyrics hidden under an uplifting melody, and I’m glad that they’ve decided to keep this aspect of their previous musical identity. There are also a lot of lyrical contrasts and comparisons to be found. In Dirty Ickles Cameron Boucher sings “I’ve learnt to love myself more than I ever loved you” and the same sentiment is expressed in Using in the chorus “I stopped wishing I was dead/Learnt to love myself more than anyone else.” Ever since I first got into this band, I’ve been wishing that I could see them live, and now I really really need to see Sorority Noise in concert, because these lyrics were born to be screamed out in a crowd.

The hazy, pastel album art colours of soft yellow, coupled with a swing set and leafy tree, fits so aptly with the mellow opening and closing melodies of this album. I’m very fond of an album that puts some thought into every aspect of the record, and makes an effort to link the cover art, opener, closer and lyric couplets together. In this way, Joy Departed felt just as much of a clever, conceptual album as Forgettable did. It’s clear that the band didn’t just record ten songs, but instead made a real record. And that’s all you can really ask of a band.

#Sorority Noise #topshelf records #sororitynoise #albumreview #modern baseball #forgettable #using #art school wannabe

“Summer Records” aka the albums that shaped me as a person (Part 7 - El Camino by The Black Keys)

El Camino by The Black Keys - Again, this one was a “school-album.” I was fourteen or so when I burned El Camino into my iTunes, and that part of my music-psyche that likes Queen (thanks mum and dad) kicked in.

The Black Keys is what I would now call “dad rock,” but that isn’t a bad thing. They’re not a particularly interesting band, and their fans are probably 30 year old male somethings with trimmed beards and skinny jeans, but can they ever bang out a rock tune. Looking back on this album, I definitely wouldn’t like it now if I was listening to it for the first time.

I’m including it on the list because it influenced my playing style and was so influential as an album in my school. Firstly, everybody in my year group liked a) The Black Keys and b) The Vaccines. Indie Rock was something you all had in common, and then you split off into complicated little factions such as “chart pop” “underground R&B” “whiny american pop punk” or “Bombay Bicycle Club”.

Being 15 and hearing the polished, radio-friendly sliding intro to “Gold On The Ceiling” was a moment that stands out for me: rolling up your uniform sleeves and staring out of the window with your iPod in your ears instead of revising for your maths GCSE.

I was so obsessed with this album that I made my guitar teacher teach me every track, and then accompany me on the drum kit. Now, I would say that the glossy production ruins the album: the music itself is great but you really want some fuzz. The Black Keys aren’t that popular anymore, but their blues Rock And Roll defined a whole May for me, so it makes the list.

#the black keys #albumreview #el camino

The Front Bottoms - West Virginia

West Virginia by The Front Bottoms was released earlier this week; just when I thought I couldn't be more excited for their elusive next album.

The first thing we hear is a rainstick, and this directly support the opening lyric is it raining where you are? And sets the scene of us as listeners. The Front Bottoms have always been creative in terms of immersing the listener into the scenario of the song, and this epitomises that.

There's a lot about West Virginia that reminds me of the band's older stuff - the opening two acoustic chords are the same as that of Mountain, and the thumping, electric beat of the chorus reminds me of Burn Harvard Burn. At first I didn't like the song speeding up, and I would have rather kept it to the intro of acoustic guitar chords strummed with Brian Sella's melancholy vocals.

Then, the screaming backing vocals - like I said, on the brink of eruption really strikes a chord in me and effectively saves the song. The lyrics still remain patchy to me in some places, but it could be that I'm all too used to the intricate, detailed descriptions of people and actions that The Front Bottoms have been very partial to in the past.

West Virginia is certainly more beat-driven that most of their material, and this works so well on the verse of I wish I may/I wish I might/ One day live life/like a person in paradise.

This song probably won't end up in my top five TFB songs, but it definitley isn't filler-material or a song that I'd skip - West Virginia has done it's job (that is, stirring up more excitement for the new album) and given me something great to jam to for the next month; when I really do feel like I'm on the brink of eruption with these exams.

#the front bottoms #tfb #west virginia #song review

“Summer Records” aka the albums that shaped me as a person (Part 6 - Self Titled by Walk The Moon)

[Self Titled] by Walk The Moon - This album became known to me due to the trend at my old school whereby, if you bought a CD, you were obbliged to pass it around your yeargroup so that 150 different girls could burn it onto their itunes.

Someone lent me Walk The Moon’s (at the time) latest album and, despite the fact that I was oh so very punk, I gave it a listen. Sometimes, it takes time for a record to grown on you. I didn’t have any strong feelings about the album until I heard it in my best friend’s bedroom.

For the duration of the five years that I went to that school, I spent a lot of time at my friend’s house, partly because it was one of those house that always has lots of food in the fridge, and partly because she lived a 10 minute walk from the school gates. Sometimes a group of us would go and lay about in her bedroom, and it was in that room that I first heard My Chemical Romance properly.

This time, she put on Quesadilla by Walk The Moon. Now, each time I listen to the album I think of Hammersmith on a summer’s day. I firmly believe that your teenage years are the only times you can be as idealistic as you want, and basically go about your business like its a coming-of-age film.

Last year, I got together with my first serious boyfriend. I Can Lift A Car became my landmark song of those early, too-good-to-be-true days. Basically, Walk The Moon are just good pop, with intelligent lyrics that help somebody as emo(!) as me unwind and cheer the fuck up.

#walk the moon #albumreview #series #I can lift a car #album review

“Summer Records” aka the albums that shaped me as a person (Part 5 - Reverie Lagoon by Seahaven)

Reverie Lagoon: Music For Escapism Only by Seahaven - This is the only album that I associate solely with a particular memory from my current school. It was late June last year, and we went on a three day trip to some adventure activity centre in Kent. It was actually a pretty miserable three days: The heat reached 30 degrees and we all got sunburnt.

A couple of days ago, I was discussing this album with my ex-boyfriend, and how it became so personally entrenched into this one miniscule period of summer for both of us, and he said that, for him, this album has allowed him to look back on that weekend away with rose-tinted glasses and romanticise it a bit, as tends to happen with any kind of “punk” or “emo” music, as they have such a heavy affiliation with nostalgia.

I started playing Reverie Lagoon primarily because of the whimsical summery artwork, and I was not disappointed. The music perfectly captures the lethargy of a summer’s day, with sensuous, languid vocals and shimmery guitars. It’s really long at just over 50 minutes, but even that encapsulates the seemingly endless days you spend during the summer just laying about, or being forced onto a coach with no air conditioning for hours at a time, as with that disastrous school trip.

I have friends who think I’m strange for exclusively playing an album only when it’s really hot or really cold, or at a certain time of the year. But, I really feel like Reverie Lagoon is justified as a “summer album” and if anybody wants to while away some baking hot hours, they should give this one a spin.

#seahaven #reverie lagoon #reverie lagoon music for escapism only #pop punk #albumreview #series #emo

Interview with Kyle O’Neil from Fireworks - 19th May 2015

I caught up with Kyle O’Neil, bassist of Fireworks, in an old bathroom stall/turned storage room, right after their explosive show at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston. We discussed Oh, Common Life!, genres and what’s in store for them next as a band. Thanks to Kyle for being so cool!

How has your day been? It’s been very long. We had to go and get all our equipment, and get all our merch. I feel like I haven’t slept in, like, three days, but last night I got a good solid eight hours. We flew on Sunday night and got here at six in the morning on Monday, and then we couldn’t check into our hotel until two. Even when we did I couldn’t fall asleep, because I had stuff to sort out and jet-lag. And then today was just running errands. But now I’m good! The show was great!

It was amazing!

Thank you.

How did the absence of Bill Clinton’s sax skills impact the recording of Oh! Common Life?

This is my first interview I’ve done since that came out. I was kind of disappointed that that never happened. I had this fantasy oh him coming in… playing…

Coming out onto the stage!

Well, not even coming onto the stage, but coming into the studio and then I’d call my dad, fly him in. We’d all go to dinner, and then my dad and Bill would become good friends because they both have the same ideals, and they would talk about stuff, and my dad would become the president and I would be the first son.

That’s the dream.

So, Bill…help me!

Oh! Common Life really brings some historical or cultural themes to the listener’s attention that is fascinating to me. I remember a quick frame of a bin specifically for US flags in the Run brother Run video.

We filmed it in an American Legion hall, and that’s just kind of the way of life there.

It’s hard to comprehend for someone here in England.

Yeah, everyone there who’s part of the Legion is very patriotic and proud. But the reason we filmed it there was because, before we were touring and on a label or anything, we used to throw our own shows. We rented out the hall (the VFW Hall or the American legion Hall) and we’d just throw shows and pack all of our friends in. It came out of the little scene in Michigan based around going to Hall shows and we’d go to a hall a week, and that’s where we spent a lot of our time as a young band.

Like a Community Centre.

Yeah! But so, we hadn’t played one in years. So that was kind of just a throwback.

Glowing Crosses refers to the Detroit riots of the late 60s. You’ve also got an older song about the Space Shuttle Challenger: has history always been a way of prompting song writing/introspection for you?

Me personally, I’ve always been in to history, and as a collective, Chris too… all of us in general. You know, the past is important; that’s the only thing you can learn from. We always like to throw little references in there. I titled that song (We’re Still Pioneers). Chris wrote the lyrics and then I found a quote from Ronald Reagan that said “we’re still pioneers”.

I know that one! They “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”

Yeah!

I also heard that the version of “Woods” on the record took you about 15 years to fully write, and the weight of the song really conveys that to me. How did you know that the time was right to release it?

Well, that was a very personal song, obviously. Chris wrote the lyrics to that. It was about a friend who we all knew. Chris and Brett were best friends with him. I was friends with his older brother and my brother was really good friends with him. Chris came to the table with lyrics and it was very organic and – I guess I can’t really speak for him [Chris] and whether it was the time to write it but, when I heard it for the first time I had to leave the room. It was pretty crazy.

By now you’re regulars to Banquet Records, what keeps you coming back?

They’ve just all been so awesome. The first time we came here in 2009 was the first show we ever played in the UK. They’ve just always taken good care of us and they’re such good friends. We’ve always stayed in touch. Our first record was on Hassle Records, and then they weren’t able to put out Gospel and we didn’t know what we were going to do in the UK. So, I was emailing Dave and he was like “you know we are a label, right?” and I was like “Oh, yeah!”

I’ve been coming to shows for about a year.

It’s a really special thing, and the shows are always awesome.

I like how you can pay, like, £7 for a ticket and get a CD along with it.

Yeah, I think Jon and Banquet really are more than a label, more than a record shop…

I think that’s their tagline.

There you go! Exactly.

This is the first date of a short but by all means intensive tour.

Yes. I mean, it’s short in the sense of the UK but we don’t fly home. We fly to Philadelphia and start a tour in the states.

What adjustments do you make to your show or set when playing to 150 people tonight, compared to the tens of thousands there’ll be at Slam Dunk? The biggest thing is that our time slot for the sets is more limited at Slam Dunk than it would be here: a little more controlled. On top of that, today we could have a sound-check, we had time to relax and made sure everything sounded good. I kind of prefer that. Festivals are fun too, though. Slam Dunk has always been cool. There are pros and cons to each. We definitely have a little more freedom here [The Fighting Cocks] though, and I like being close with people. I feel like it’s just a better experience for everyone. The festivals are awesome because you’re playing for a lot of people and that feels great. But at the same time, most of the people have never heard you or don’t care.

It’s more about just getting your name out.

Yeah, which is cool to do, but when we’re in a small room like this [gestures to the Fighting Cocks stage] everyone wants to see us and it’s incredible.

What do you think the label “pop punk” means today as a genre description?

I don’t even know. It’s something that’s just…I don’t really think we are [a pop punk band]. I think that genres and genre titles just kind of limit people to listen to what they already listen to, and kind of pigeon-hole bands so it’s harder for them to grow. We’ve always had issues with that. It’s also hard for music fans to really enjoy music, because they don’t have a reference point or a wide variety to draw from. It’s something that I’ve thought about a lot. It’s a little frustrating that people just stick to one thing and they think that one thing is this or…

Especially with pop-punk. It becomes so insular.

Yeah, and then people equate a certain lifestyle with that. When I was a kid, I’d be like “I love pop punk”. But my “pop-punk” then was like Green Day, The Descendents and Screeching Weasel...The Buzzcocks.

You’ll find now that they call those bands “Punk Rock”

The thing is, I did at the time too. Pop Punk was the same thing as Punk Rock. All the bands were kind of together. But now it’s so divided like: “oh, it’s weird that that band is playing with a pop-punk band” or whatever. I just don’t think people need to cling to that.

It must have served a technical purpose at some point.

Y’know, it did. It started as something cool and then it just got watered down; like everything else that’s cool. Maybe it’s me being old and jaded.

No, I’m eighteen and I agree.

Well, there you go!

What stuff are you listening to right now?

The new Turnover record is just great – Peripheral Vision. We’re actually starting a tour with them, Sorority Noise and some others this Wednesday.

I love both of those bands. I’m so jealous.

It’s gonna be great! What else? I listened to the new Father John Misty record today – you should check that out.

I will.

Um, and I love that new Bleachers record…I guess it’s the only Bleachers record…

Strange Desires?

Yeah!… I’m trying to think of what else. It’s always hard…

I’m kind of putting you on the spot. But that’s three solid recommendations in there! So, you announced that you’re taking a break from Fireworks – a sort of hiatus- and that you’re going to peruse some other music projects?

I think everyone will be involved in music still, and I can’t say what everyone’s going to do. But we’ve just kind of been doing this for a long time…almost 10 years, and it’s not even that we don’t want to play shows, and we’re all still good friends. The only reason we really mentioned anything is just to be fair to people to like our band.

I think it would be worse for those fans if you suddenly just went “well, we’re not playing for another x amount of time.”

Right. It’s just because we don’t know when we’re going to be back to certain cities that are far from us, so…

I’d much prefer that a band go on hiatus for, like, three years than, say, produce a bad album.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay. That’s it!

That was great. Thanks!

#fireworks #fireworksband #turnover #sorority noise #triple crown records #interview #oh common life #gospel #wearefireworks #bed sores #run brother run #the woods #arrows #the wild bunch

“Summer Records” aka the albums that shaped me as a person. (Part 4 - A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park)

A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park - My dad took me to the supermarket and bought me this album when I was 14, and I remember looking at the new Foo Fighters record, and the new Linkin Park CD, and randomly choosing Linkin Park because I could only have one.

I wouldn’t classify Linkin Park as a band I really like, but I still have an attachment to this album, and in my opinion it’s the best piece of work the band ever produced. I took this album with me on my iPod nano to Spain a week or so later, and loved it. There’s something so fitting about sitting in the back of an air conditioned car in the dead of night, cruising along curved winding roads with only the light from the car headlights and the ethereal, down-right spooky sound that A Thousand Suns boasts.

The unnatural opening refrain of God save us, everyone, will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns? and the random interjections of Hindu scripture made the records sound foreign and fascinating to me. When this album came out I didn’t follow music criticism or press like I do now, but it still seems to me like A Thousand Suns is more than a little bit underrated. It’s a creepy, existential and extremely accessible album that needs to be played through, in order, from start to finish.

I’m including it on my “summer list” not only because I personally listened to it non-stop in that particular season, but also because it balances out the care-free summer vibez most other recommendations. Fuck pop punk albums about getting drunk with you friends: lie in the pitch back dark in the stifling heat and jump out of your skin at every iridescent shadow you see.

#linkin park #a thousand suns #albumreview

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