otheradrian

23 | dog dad | human of planet earth

[otheradrian]

Hey.

It’s been a while since I’ve written in this space and I want to explain why. For the last five years or so I used writing as a way to describe my feelings, a way to figure out what was going on in my life, and as a way to feel better about myself.

For the past two months I’ve been doing more and reminiscing less. I’ve also started a new job and a new relationship, so things have been going very well.

I’ve been reading everything. Articles, books, columns, warning labels, short stories, nutritional labels, billboards; you name it. I’ve just been thinking of other ways to write. Not everyone wants to read about some sorry guy’s life and the connection he feels with pop-punk music.

That’s why I’ve taken a break – the only writing I’ve kept up with lately is my journal on Day One.

I know there’s a few of you who look towards my music posts, so don’t worry those posts will be back in some capacity.

Below are some albums I’ve been listening to over the past couple months.

Sorority Noise - It Kindly Stopped For Me Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack Parquet Courts - Human Performance Tancred - Out of the Garden Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing Andrew Bird - Are You Serious Day Wave - Hard to Read EP

[foxingtheband-deactivated201612]

[otheradrian]

What a beautiful short film 

[otheradrian]

Ten Albums, Last Fifteen Years

Over at AbsolutePunk.net, on the podcast Encore, Jason and Thomas brought forth the question: So what are your ten favorite albums of the last fifteen years?

In the podcast embedded on that page you can listen to them talk about the ten albums that made an impact on their lives over the last fifteen years. Or you can just scroll down on that page to find their lists.

Over the past two weeks I’ve thought about and listened to over 50 albums that I love and can put on at any moment.

This list was difficult for me because there have definitely been more than ten albums that have made an impact on my life spanning multiple genres as I discover more music. Therefore, I’ve included a list of other albums deemed Honorable (but very sad) Mentions.

Here are my favorite ten albums of the last fifteen years in alphabetical order.

1. Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (2006) 2. The Format - Dog Problems (2006) 3. The Front Bottoms - The Front Bottoms (2011) 4. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - You’re Always On My Mind (2013) 5. Jimmy Eat World - Futures (2004) 6. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) 7. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing (2009) 8. Say Anything - …Is a Real Boy (2004) 9. Touché Amoré - Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (2011) 10. The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation (2013)

Stepping back and looking at my list, there’s not much variation. If you know a couple of these artists, there’s a very good chance you know them all. And the list doesn’t reflect the broad types of music I enjoy now. But, what’s important to me is that all these albums laid down the groundwork for me to shape the music I enjoy.

Below I go in-depth on each album, how I came across it, and what it means to me. I’ve also included my favorite lyric from each album.

Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (2006) I will always remember the first time I listened to The Devil and God… I was sitting at my computer having just downloaded it from Limewire (sorry). Since you had to download individual songs from Limewire I had the tracklist open in another window. The first track was ‘Sowing Season (Yeah)’. I pressed play. It clicked. This was like nothing I’ve listened to before. The Devil and God… is heavy, aggressive, dark, and emotional. To a kid trying to find his place during his freshman year of high school this album was his soundtrack. Ten years later to a man trying to find his place in the world, this album is his soundtrack.

Lyric: “We’ll never have to buy adjacent plots of earth. We’ll never have to rot together underneath dirt. I’ll never have to lose my baby in the crowd. I should be laughing right now.” (Limousine)

The Format - Dog Problems (2006) If I was writing about my favorite album covers this would be number one, without question. 10 years later I have a T-shirt featuring the same cover. It wasn’t until after The Format broke up (hiatus?) in 2008 that I was introduced to them by my girlfriend at the time. So, unlike the other artists on this list, The Format is the only one I haven’t seen live. Dog Problems makes me happy, it always reminds me of a relationship that was strong, growing, and there was no sight of a slow down. Listening to the album reminds me of going to a circus; the horns, piano, strings, and vocals paint the picture in my head. If you’re unfamiliar with The Format, the former lead singer is Nate Ruess, the lead singer of fun., think ‘We Are Young’ but looser, risky, and less produced.

Lyric: “I love love, I love being in love, I don’t care what it does to me.” (Inches and Falling)

The Front Bottoms - The Front Bottoms (2011) Ah, something from this decade! I heard about The Front Bottoms through a SXSW showcase that I was supposed to attend. They were one of the openers so I listened to a couple songs from their self-titled release. The first track I listened to was ‘Flashlight’. 5 minutes later I knew I had to attend this showcase because this band was something special. Ended up not being able to attend the showcase, broken legs are no fun, but this started my obsession with The Front Bottoms. This album is fun as hell to sing along to, the lyrics are accessible and every time I sing along I mimic Brian Sella’s nasally vocals. What always keeps me coming back to this album, and The Front Bottoms in general is that they don’t take themselves too seriously, the music isn’t sophisticated, but at the same time their songwriting tells stories, and listening to each song gives you an idea of the emotions going through Sella’s head.

Lyric: “She says you’ve gotta promise not to break. No matter how far you are bent. She says I’ve gotta shift my position and try to get comfortable again.” (Rhode Island)

A Great Big Pile of Leaves - You’re Always On My Mind (2013) I always love sharing my story of how I got into A Great Big Pile of Leaves. They were the openers on a phenomenal tour with Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, and Saves The Day. I had never heard of them so I didn’t know what to expect, but if they were on tour with three of my favorite bands, they had to be good, right? They were. In fact, they blew my brother, girlfriend at the time, and me away. They put on the best performance of the night even without knowing any of their songs. You’re Always On My Mind is AGBPOL’s sophomore album released via Topshelf Records. When it came out it quickly played a big role in my life. At a weird time in my relationship with my ex-girlfriend we had a joint love for this album and played it all the time. It was also around the time I started realizing that I had social anxiety and felt out of place around people - so songs like ‘Ambiversion’ with lyrics like “And when everyone is dressing up and going out, I’m feeling a little off” or “I’m never feeling quite myself, head is always somewhere else.” really resinated with me. One of my favorite things about this album is that it’s so versatile, while I associate many albums with specific times or seasons, I feel like I can play You’re Always On My Mind at any time of the year even though a lot of the lyrics are set around the summer time. Since the album played a big role between my ex and I, after we broke up I really held onto every lyric. Here’s a few lyrics that really stood out to me at the time: from ‘Locus of Control’, “Feeling like you’ve gone a bit crazy, can’t seem to find the things that used to make you happy.” or the song that will always make me cry ‘Back to School’, with “But where did the summer go? I’m not ready for it to be over, I’m not ready for you to go.”

This album and band will always be in the top 3 for me, they both played a huge part in a difficult and weird time of my life. While I have a huge connection with the lyrical elements of the album that doesn’t downplay the instrumentals, this is a very solid record that even if it didn’t have meaning to me, I would still very much have this record on this list.

Lyric: “I get so extroverted only when no one else is looking.” (Ambiversion)

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (2004) I always remember listening to Green Day’s Dookie in middle school at a time when my favorite bands were System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, and Korn, and thinking how much I liked Green Day’s style, but I never really got into or understood pop-punk until Jimmy Eat World’s Futures. The first song I heard off the album was ‘Pain’ in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2. While Jimmy Eat World had big singles before this record (The Middle, Sweetness), they were never enough for me to check out a full album. But there was something about ‘Pain’ that made me download Futures. My love for this album created a gateway to later pop-punk/emo records starting with My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Hawthorne Heights.

Lyric: “If only you could see the stranger next to me. You promise, you promise that you’re done, but I can’t tell you from the drugs.” (Drugs or Me)

Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) This is the album that, most recently, got me back into hip-hop. Before I listened to this album in 2013 the most recent hip-hop album I enjoyed was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. My first exposure to good kid, m.A.A.d city, like most, was ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’. And honestly, at first, I didn’t really enjoy it. I thought it was overplayed. But a friend of mine told me to listen through the entire album once, to give it a shot, so I did. I don’t listen to as much hip-hop as a should but when I really love an album my favorite place to play it is in my car. This album is perfect for the car, the perfect scenario is late at night driving on the highway with the windows down listening to ‘Backseat Freestyle’, The Art of Peer Pressure’, ‘Money Trees’, then ‘Poetic Justice’. This album is a concept album of a 16-year-old Kendrick Lamar living in Compton, and it doesn’t glorify anything, it’s straightforward, and poetic.

Lyric: “Back to reality, we poor, ya bish. Another casualty of war, ya bish. Two bullets in my Uncle Tony head, he said one day I’ll be on tour, ya bish. That Louis Burger never be the same, a louis belt will never ease that pain.” (Money Trees)

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing (2009) I knew I needed a Manchester Orchestra album on here. It was difficult deciding between Mean Everything to Nothing and I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child but I decided to go with the former because while they’re both emotionally stacked, Mean Everything to Nothing doesn’t make me sad. I listen to this album loud, every single time. I truly believe it’s the only way to listen to this album. I wish my car’s steering wheel had some sort of drum counter because this album would hold the lead in steering wheel drumming. I remember I used to listen to this album a lot after leaving my girlfriend at the time’s house. It was quite the drive, about 30 minutes, and almost every single time (when I didn’t get stuck behind a train) the drive would end on ‘I Can Feel a Hot One’, a beautifully haunting track that if you haven’t listened to before, I highly recommend it.

Another reason this album means so much to me is because the first time I saw Manchester Orchestra they were touring to support this album, and I had a broken leg. I was on crutches, leg fully in a cast, and security at Stubb’s in Austin didn’t want to risk me going into the crowd so I got the VIP treatment off to the side of the stage for the night. Since I wasn’t a part of the crowd I got to witness everything, people screaming lyrics to Andy Hull, Andy Hull screaming them back, bodies flying, and smiles everywhere. It was a great experience.

Lyric: “And I felt love again.” (I Can Feel a Hot One)

Say Anything - …Is a Real Boy (2004) I’ve already written a lot about this album. It’s definitely a weird one for me but it always seems to follow me everywhere. The way I heard of Say Anything was through a weird catfish-style affair between friends of mine that I probably shouldn’t go into. A friend of mine pretending that friends of her’s were actually Say Anything. Good thing Google was around, it brought my introduction to Say Anything’s …Is a Real Boy. This album is insane, all over the place, and perfect. There is no song on this record that deserves a pass, from the leading single ‘Alive With the Glory of Love’, a song about two lovers getting separated during the Holocaust, to my personal favorite ‘Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat’, a song seemingly about two cats but really is about apathy and laziness, someone seeing the things going on around them but unwilling to change or stop them because it would be too difficult. …Is a Real Boy is Say Anything at it’s best, listen to ‘Admit It!!!’ to get the full effect.

Lyric: “Here I am, laid bare, at the end of my rope. I’ve lost all hope. So long! Molly Connolly just broke up with me over the revealing nature of the songs. You goddamn kids had best be gracious with the march money you spend, ‘cause for you I won’t ever have rough sex with Molly Connolly again.” (Every Man Has a Molly)

Touché Amoré - Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (2011) I found this album a short time after breaking up with an ex-girlfriend. I was in a very bad state, and this album echoed every thought in my head. Here’s an example from ‘Crutch’ “I don’t know how to get myself up, your pressure is bending my crutch. If this ting breaks, it’s the end of us both, but I like the sound of that.”

Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me is quick, heavy, cathartic, and raw. You can feel the pain of every word that comes out of Jeremy Bolm. Touché Amoré held nothing back with this album. There’s 13 tracks and the run time is only 20 minutes but every song runs into the other beautifully and it feels so cohesive. So like the album, I’ll keep this write-up short. Listen to it.

Lyric: “These days I just try to keep to myself. Well aware I’ve lost touch with everyone else. I understand that I’m fading, I understand that I’m fading away.” (Method Act)

The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation (2013) The Wonder Years are labeled as a pop-punk band, and generally speaking, sure, they’re pop-punk. But The Greatest Generation showed that they were more than pop-punk. The album is dense, packs a punch, and like other albums on this list, is emotional.  There’s not a song dedicated to a failed relationship, or about a college party. This collection of songs is about finding out who you are, coming to that realization, and then figuring out what you can do to become a better person. And like a couple other albums on this list, I first listened to this record after my last failed relationship, grasping onto Dan Campbell’s lyrical narrative throughout The Greatest Generation.

Lyric: “Jesus Christ. I’m 26. All the people I graduated with, all have kids, all have wives, all the people who care if they come home at night. Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?” (Passing Through A Screen Door)

Honorable (but very sad) Mentions

The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place Is There Jack’s Mannequin - Everything In Transit The Gaslight Anthem - The ’59 Sound Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue Brand New - Deja Entendu Underoath - Define The Great Line As Cities Burn - Come Now Sleep My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge Silverstein - Discovering the Waterfront New Found Glory - Not Without A Fight Midtown - Forget What You Know Relient K - mmhmm Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree Turnover - Perphieral Vision Copeland - You Are My Sunshine The Postal Service - Give Up Valencia - This Could Be a Possibility Wilco - Yankee Foxtrot Hotel Spraynard - Mable Hop Along - Painted Shut Grouplove - Never Trust a Happy Song Armor For Sleep - What To Do When You Are Dead Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE Box Car Racer - s/t Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory Bleachers - Strange Desire The National - Trouble Will Find Me Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion

I can’t wait to do this in another fifteen years. Sometimes I feel like all the reasons I’ve connected to these albums, songs, and lyrics above are stupid, trivial, and won’t matter in the future. But, I know it’s cliche to say, that without the above albums I wouldn’t be here in this form. I wouldn’t have the mindset that I do now. I wouldn’t be able to understand my emotions, my thought process, and my needs. I do hope these albums stick with me through the years. But I just can’t even imagine listening to The Front Bottoms in 15 years. Maybe these songs were only meant to live in this period for me, maybe they won’t carry the same weight in the future. 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. See you in another 15 years. 

Adrian

[otheradrian]

Yeaaaaaaaah boi.

Free Throw – Pallet Town

If you haven’t listened to their 2014 record Those Days Are Gone do yourself a fav.

[otheradrian]

Song of the Month, February 2016: The Shins - It’s Only Life

At some point in my sophomore year of high school I watched the movie Garden State. Garden State, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is a movie written and directed by Zach Braff, starring him, and Natalie Portman. I won’t share the plot of the movie, you’ll have to find that out for yourself. However, what I will share is why I’m bringing this up. Zach Braff hand picked the Garden State Soundtrack; a 13-track compilation of indie outfits, songs that Braff felt that these songs captured the time in his life while he was writing the screenplay. This was my introduction to indie music. Featured on the soundtrack were The Shins, with two songs, ‘Caring Is Creepy’ and ‘New Slang’, both from the wonderful album Oh, Inverted World.

This started my love affair with The Shins. I remember nights in bed unable to sleep listening to ‘Sleeping Lessons’ on repeat. At 16 I never knew how to interpret the lyrics, I just loved the way the song sounded.

When I look back now, my romance with The Shins was short-lived. I’ve hardly revisited their albums. Like I said, The Shins were the beginning of indie music for me. After that it was a waterfall of discovering other artists. Animal Collective, Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Wilco, Elliot Smith, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, there was so much out there.

Therefore, I think it’s okay that I just overlooked The Shins’ 2012 album, Port of Morrow. I think it may have been that when I first listened to The Shins I was going through a very rough patch in my life. I may have attached The Shins with that period.

This month I finally sat down and listened to Port of Morrow. Even though it was only released in 2012, I feel like most of the music I listen to now is less than a year old. I’ve been trying to revisit older records.

The song that stood out to me and the one that I want to talk about is ‘It’s Only Life’. The song is very straightforward. The speaker is talking to someone else going through troubles in their life. The speaker wants to let the listener know that they’ve been down the same road, that they don’t have to be alone in this, and that together, they can turn it back around.

To me, this song seems to be directed towards a certain person, someone the speaker may have had a romantic relationship with. The interpretation of that relationship is open to your imagination. But when the speaker says “But did you really think I’d shut an open door? / The future’s calling and imma answer / The wheel’s in motion, I never drank the potion / And I know it breaks your heart.” I think it’s clear that there’s been some tension that this person has been trying to hold back the speaker, but the speaker will not let that happen.

If I listened to this song when it came out I would have instantly put myself in the shoes of the listener. I was in the dark, alone, and in a free fall. However, at this moment, I feel much stronger. I’ve been through that before, it’s made me a better person, and if an opportunity arises, I will take it.

[otheradrian]

February 26: I like it when I eat pizza, for I am so beautiful yet so unaware of the caloric intake

Hi. I hope you had another great week! This week’s post has a review of The 1975′s new album, sharing Modern Baseball’s new teaser, and my thoughts on going to my first Emo Night. Here’s to the weekend!

The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it

I’ve really been loving the way The 1975 has come to find their place in music. The band, known for a black and white aesthetic, went really cryptic in June of last year. They disappeared from social media, sparking rumors of a break up, but quickly came back with a new shift, pink. At the time, people didn’t know this change would be the first move in the strategic push to the release of their sophomore album I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it.

I was reading through an AbsolutePunk forum thread about the album and people listening through it for the first time last night. My favorite comment came from user stpadraig who said “My main problem with this album is that I want to be listening to all of it at the same time.” It was my favorite comment because I felt exactly the same way.

Over the past 5 years I’ve had this internal struggle accepting just how much I love pop music. Maybe I’ll go in-depth on that in a blog post in the future but yes, if you’re unfamiliar with The 1975, they’re a pop band from England.

I’m going to refer to the album as I like it when you sleep because it’s such a long name and the acronym ILIWYSFYASBYSUOI is equally hilarious. I like it when you sleep features 17 tracks, including an intro and three interludes. There is so much to take in during the close to 75 minute album I almost don’t want to write about it so soon after only listening to the entire album three times. I like it when you sleep is an emotional ride. Some of my favorite albums are ones that have songs that connect with each other, whether it’s lyrics or the instrumentals, this album has both, and does both very well. While the bulk of the album is pop, The 1975 dip into many genres and come out with a cohesive piece.

One of the last singles released before the album came out was “Somebody Else”. If I was in a predicament where I could only listen to one song for the rest of my life, it would be “Somebody Else”. I don’t know how to explain it but the song is hypnotic, but devastating at the same time. It opens slowly with “So I heard you found somebody else / And at first I thought it was a lie / I took all my things that make sounds / The rest I can do without.” The instrumentation picks up into a spacey beat as singer Matty Healy digs into your heart with his lower vocals delivering “I don’t want your body / But I hate to think about you with somebody else / Our love has gone cold / You’re intertwining your soul with somebody else.” The atmospheric vibe of this track makes me feel like I’m floating in space going through a wavelength of emotions. I won’t even get into how perfect of a transition “Somebody Else” has to the next track “Loving Someone”.

There’s this bridge starting from track 6 “If I Believe You” to track 12 “I like it when you sleep…” which incorporates the 3 interludes that make those 38 minutes a musical trance. Each song flows so well with the next. It’s my favorite section of the album.

After that section is “The Sound”, a 80s-influenced track featuring a catchy, repeated chorus of “Well I know when you’re around / Cause I know the sound / I know the sound of your heart.” The 1975 have been pushing “The Sound” as their single leading up to the album’s release, performing it on SNL and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and even releasing a music video for it last night. You can watch the music video here.

The record ends on a gloomy note with the tracks “Paris”, “Nana”, and “She Lays Down”. “Nana” being a moving song about Healy’s grandmother passing. “Made in my room, this simple tune / Will always keep me close to you / The crowds will sing their voices ring / And it’s like you never left.” It’s just an example of how expressive The 1975 can be. A lot of people are already overlooking I like it when you sleep because of it’s pop elements, but I just think there’s so much more to it. It’s cohesive, it spans genres, and it’s emotional; it’s an experience.

Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost Teaser Earlier this week Modern Baseball officially announced Holy Ghost to be released via Run for Cover Records May 13. The album will feature 11 songs. Accompanied with the announcement was a 1-minute teaser; a mashup of shots from shows, the band during the recording process, on tour, and some artistic shots, but the most important thing of the teaser is the song that backs it. I can only guess that it’s the title and opening track “Holy Ghost”, a slow, somber acoustic song featuring lyrics “He’s been haunting my dreams alright / I’ve been hollering at him in the dark / Trying to find the right switch / Yeah my third wish / Has always been three more.”

I’m really interested in the direction Modern Baseball will take with their third release. Their last release of songs, the EP titled MOBO Presents: The Perfect Case EP featuring Modern Baseball had some of my favorite songs released by the band to date.

May is looking to be a fantastic month for album releases with The Hotelier, Pup, and now Modern Baseball set to release new albums.

Jimmy Eat Wednesday

This past Wednesday I went to San Antonio’s first Jimmy Eat Wednesday, a monthly Pop Punk/Emo Night that started in Austin. I had been wanting to go to one in Austin but never had the opportunity to. So, a friend and I met up and relived the nostalgia.

Bars aren’t really my thing, they never have been, and I don’t think they ever will be. I have trouble hearing people in everyday conversations, so in a bar where there’s usually music playing and people yelling, trying to have a conversation with me is the worst. However, this night wasn’t about conversing. It was about reliving the music of the 90s and 2000s.

Walking in, it was like a blast from the past. Almost everyone was wearing black. It was… comforting. We got a drink and assessed the situation. There was an outside and an inside, both with TVs and projectors playing music videos to the accompanied songs blasting over the speakers. In the first 15 minutes we got Finch, My Chemical Romance, AFI, and Blink 182. I was home.

We made our way inside - to the dance floor - which was a glorified mosh pit of people singing along to all these wonderful songs. I wish I had the playlist in front of me but for a good 3 hours I was nonstop singing (sometimes screaming) along to songs from A Day To Remember, Fall Out Boy, Brand New, Paramore, Sugarcult, Head Automatica, Taking Back Sunday, The Postal Service, Panic! At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Underoath, Yellowcard, Saves The Day, and The Starting Line. There was plenty more but I can’t remember off the top of my head.

The night brought back a lot of memories, good and bad, but it was an overwhelming positive experience for me. For those 3+ hours I was able to relive a time that I thought would never end. A time where for the majority of years, I was really unhappy with where I was at in my life. Being able to relive those times through that night made me feel so happy, so proud of where I am right now. It’s a weird thought process sure, but I loved it. Maybe it’s a little bit of romanticizing the nostalgia of middle/high school, but it was an amazing night.

[otheradrian]

February 19: Pizza grease on my keyboard

It’s Friday, again! I hope you had a great week. This post is going to go in-depth on Somos’ new record First Day Back which was released today. I’ve been waiting for this record for a long time. Also I talk about the teaser The Hotelier released earlier this week for their next album Goodness. Rounding out the post are three podcasts I enjoyed this week. Have a bomb weekend! 

Music

Somos - First Day Back

I should start this with Somos has quickly become one of my favorite bands. Their debut album Temple of Plenty came in at number 4 on my Top 10 list of 2014. Since then they’ve released splits with both Have Mercy and Sorority Noise and I’ve caught them on three different tours with Modern Baseball, Tigers Jaw, and Have Mercy. Late last year Somos announced they signed with Hopeless Records after releasing their debut with Tiny Engines.

After getting three singles released these past couple months, I’ve been highly anticipating this album. Temple of Plenty received some criticism due to its lack of diversity, and with First Day Back they’ve addressed just that. This album is completely different. It’s difficult to label this as a pop-punk album, I feel like that may even discredit it. There’s just more than your typical pop-punk in this album.

Opening the album is ‘Slow Walk to the Graveyard Shift’, a quick 50 second track that’s slow and ambient, giving you a taste of what to expect in the next 27 minutes. Yes, 27 minutes. This album is short. While there are 11 tracks, only 3 of them clock in at over 3 minutes. That is the only gripe I have with this album. It’s a weird gripe, because who’s to say what a song’s length should be? I’m just used to ambient, spacey songs being longer than 3 minutes. And maybe all I want is a 45 minute Somos album or that I don’t want it to end.

‘Violent Decline’ is the first traditional track on the album and it’s an early favorite of mine. There’s so much to this track, starting with an atmospheric guitar opening, vocalist Michael Fiorentino comes in with “And on that day you will certainly find / There are those welcoming violent decline / We all share too much / We’ve made too many plans / Blind in a wasteland”, which then welcomes the exceptional drumming bringing together a very complete song. My favorite lyric from this track is “I thought it would feel right to let it all out / But I knew I was wrong once I opened my mouth”. Instantly, I connected with that lyric. If you know me, you know I have trouble expressing myself.

The next song I want to mention is ‘Days Here Are Long’ a dreamy, electronic song, which feels more like an interlude due to it’s short runtime and repetitiveness. The opening seconds oddly reminded me of The Shins’ ‘Sleeping Lessons’. Another track with this type of feel is ‘You Won’t Stay’.

‘Bitter Medicine’ is another short track, it’s stripped down, featuring just guitar and echoey vocals with some strong and sad lyrics opening with “Don’t be so amused / the joke’s on you / every club needs a whipping boy”. ‘Bitter Medicine’ leads into the final track on the album ‘Lifted from the Current’.

If you want to see the changes Somos has made in songwriting listen to anything off of Temple of Plenty then listen to ‘Lifted from the Current’. It’s truly night and day.

There’s always talk of the “sophomore slump”, which I think is just the wrong way to approach the second album from an artist. Sure, I’ve been disappointed with sophomore albums like Young the Giant’s Mind Over Matter, but, specifically in this scene, sophomore albums have shown to be quite an improvement for artists, look at the sophomore releases from Modern Baseball, Turnover, Sorority Noise, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Foxing, and You Blew It!, sonically I think they are all better albums than their debuts.

If this is the sound Somos is moving forward with, then it’s a big step up. With Temple of Plenty we got to see that Somos can do pop-punk very well. First Day Back gives them the opportunity to move forward, away from the pop-punk umbrella they’ve been put into. With pop-punk there’s only so much you can do before it gets stagnant. Last year we saw Turnover move away from the genre and release my favorite album of the year in Peripheral Vision, Somos could do just the same with First Day Back. While it’s only February, I will definitely be coming back to this album for the rest of the year and longer.

The Hotelier - Goodness This week The Hotelier released a teaser to their next LP Goodness. On the teaser is an unnamed track that I’ve talked about before but I’d like to provide it below for anyone interested. (Warning, the video takes a NSFW turn towards the end) Goodness doesn’t come out until May which is painful considering Jason Tate of AbsolutePunk has already received a copy of the album. Yesterday he tweeted “I almost feel bad saying how much I love @thehotelyear’s (The Hotelier) new album since you guys aren’t going to get to hear it until May. Uhm, goodness.” Christian of the band also wrote a very open blog post on the band’s tumblr about realness and public figuredom which you can read here. At the end of the post he wrote “It’s a love record. I feel like we are allowed to do that now.” May can’t come soon enough.

Podcasts

This Feels Terrible After more than a year of silence, one of my favorite podcasts is back! Erin McGathy hosts This Feels Terrible, a podcast about love, sex, and heartbreak. The last episodes released were recordings from Erin’s wedding to writer Dan Harmon. Since then they’ve gotten a divorce and Erin has moved to Ireland. In episode 67 titled “The Return of This Feels Terrible” Erin invites her first boyfriend on to talk about their relationship.

Listen to "The Return of This Feels Terrible”  here.

Sleep with Me Gimlet Media hosts a podcast called Sampler. Sampler is a podcast about other podcasts. Every week Host Brittany Luse talks about a couple podcasts that she’s enjoyed. During one of the episodes she brought on Drew Ackerman, host of Sleep with Me. Sleep with Me is literally a podcast to help you fall asleep. It’s premise is to bore you to sleep. I put the podcast to the test twice. I fell asleep within 5 minutes both times. I honestly cannot even tell you what the podcasts were about.

If you have trouble falling asleep give Sleep with Me a try here. Also give Sampler a listen here, it’s a great podcast.

[feralaudio]

67 – The Return Of This Feels Terrible

Divorced, living in Ireland, Erin McGathy relaunches her relationship podcast This Feels Terrible with a candid interview with her first boyfriend ever.

[otheradrian]

I’m so happy this is back. Fantastic episode. 

[otheradrian]

February 12: The warmth of the Moon.

It’s currently 4am, and for me, it’s never a good idea to stay up past 2am. It’s dark, cold, and quiet. It’s only me, a snoring dog lying against my leg, and a laptop on my lap. The shining light of my laptop illuminating my blank stare. My headphones hugging my ears as Pinegrove’s Cardinal plays. 

Pinegrove - Cardinal 

New Jersey’s Pinegrove released their debut album Cardinal today. The 8 track album comes in around 31 minutes, but it feels like so much more. I feel as if Cardinal can be heard in two ways, a sad discussion of everything in life that has the potential to bring you down or how one can use those moments to lift yourself up, learn from them, and move on. The album has a twang to it, it features banjos, it’s a warm record. If alternative country was a genre, this would be the first album one would need to listen to. On Pinegrove’s Bandcamp they have “language arts rock” as a genre, so I’m going to roll with that. The lyrics can relate to anyone who’s ever felt lost, confused about life, a relationship, questioning your motives, the reason for being. 

One of the slower tracks ‘Waveform’ takes you through thoughts written in singer Evan Stephens Hall’s journal “It’s so late but I know you aren’t tired yet, I’ll bet / Got a couple things you think I should know / But unless you wanna say it now, I’ll go.” It’s easy to relate to that. Where you question every action between you and another person, wondering about what’s being said and not said. However, like I wrote earlier, Cardinal isn’t all about being lost. 

The track ‘Aphasia’, which funny enough aphasia means “the loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage” provides some future self optimism with “One day you’ll be reaching for me and I’ll be gone / So to help remind myself I wrote this little song / One day I won’t need your love / One day I won’t define myself by the one I’m thinking of.

“New Friends” closes out Cardinal, and it’s the track I connected with most. Opening with “Is there anyone here I know / Look ‘round the room, whatever I let it go / Steve’s in Germany, that’s it / Try to think of anyone else / No, yeah that’s it”. You gotta wonder why Hall doesn’t have any friends, right? While he doesn’t tell you, you get an idea with “I resolve to make new friends / I like my old ones but I fucked up so I’ll start again / What’s the worst that could happen?”. Then the track closes out with “Yeah what’s the worst that could happen? / End of summer and I’m still in love with her / I said forget it / Was it worse that it wasn’t sure?” You’re not given enough information to know exactly why he has no friends, but you can piece it together. Hall does these little pauses throughout the track and it’s kind of peaceful, he’s singing, but it feels like it’s being spoken. It’s weird to try and explain without hearing.

Now I know it’s only February, but I am going to play the hell out of this album throughout the year, especially in the fall. I really enjoyed listening to it and I hope you will too. I was going to recommend a few tracks but please just listen to it through.

You can stream Cardinal on Bandcamp.

Somos - Reminded/Weighed Down

My most anticipated album of the year comes out next week. Somos’ First Day Back is FINALLY almost here. This week they released ‘Reminded/Weighed Down’, the third single off of the sophomore album. And it’s good.

Listen to Reminded/Weighed Down here.

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

I don’t know where to start with this album. Do I start with the endless, almost incoherent tweets from Kanye? The “BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!” tweet? Do I mention the odd fashion show in NYC? How about how this album has gone through 4 different name changes? Should I talk about the album cover?

I’m conflicted. I own every Kanye record. I defended Yeezus. 808s & Heartbreak got me through some shit. But this guy.. You can tell me “But it’s about the music!” No, it’s not just about the music. Music is the extension of the artist who made it.

I watched the Tidal stream of Yeezy Season 3 yesterday where Kanye played The Life of Pablo to a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden. In the middle of the stage were hundreds of models showing of the new fashion line from Kanye West and Adidas. Kanye literally brought his MacBook to the arena’s soundboard and plugged in an AUX cable. Then he played what seemed to be the 10 songs from the record. And, I did enjoy a couple tracks. However, a lot of it sounded unfinished or tracks cut off early. It didn’t feel like an album, there was no cohesion, no flow between tracks. (This could change, apparently he’s still in the process of mastering the album.)

What really affected me was the lyric about Taylor Swift on the track ‘Famous’ “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous.” Come on. It made me feel gross listening to the record. I was following along a couple threads on reddit and KTT where dudes were eating that line up like “OOOH KANYE GOT TAYLOR!”, like really? There’s a lot of shit I’ve listened that made me feel uncomfortable, but misogynistic shit like this in hip-hop is why I find it so difficult to find albums to connect with. Since he’s still working on the record I wonder if this line will get taken out since he’s gotten a bit of backlash on it.

I’m only one person and my streams won’t make a difference on this record but I just wanted to get my feelings out there. I really did enjoy a couple of tracks.

[theverge]

NASA’S NEW SPACE TOURISM POSTERS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD

[otheradrian]

I am in love with these.

[otheradrian]

My steps keep splitting my grief through these solipsistic moods. I should call my parents when I think of them, should tell my friends when I love them. Maybe I should have gone out a bit more, when you guys are still in town. I got too caught up in my own shit, it’s how every outcome is such a comedown.

Pinegrove’s new album Cardinal comes out next Friday. 

[otheradrian]

February 5: Too close to the Sun.

Sup World of the Internet, another Friday, another cool dope post by yours truly. I apologize for getting this out late, I know so many of you have been anticipating my thoughts. 

Totally joking. Below are some thoughts on releases out this week. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Music

Dr. Dog - The Psychedelic Swamp

My discovery of Dr. Dog was fairly odd. During my sophomore year of college I had a Digital Art class with a really chill professor. Since we only met once a week the class was very long. The first 30 minutes of each class we just got to doodle, to have fun with software, and “create shit” as he always said. We were free to listen to our own music, but he would play his own collection as well. One day I forgot my headphones so I was forced to listen to what he played. Low and behold it was Dr. Dog’s Be The Void in it’s entirety. I was hooked from the first track ‘Lonesome’. After a couple tracks I had to ask him who this was. He lit up, “This is Dr. Dog’s new album! It just came out yesterday!” I’ve been a fan since that day. The Psychedelic Swamp is Dr. Dog’s reimagination of their unreleased debut LP. The entire record is bluesy, low-fi, and groovy. Since that February day in Digital Art back in 2012 I’ve found comfort in this type of sound. Therefore, for me, I’ve really enjoyed The Psychedelic Swamp.

Andrew Bird - Capsized

Today Andrew Bird released information on his forthcoming record Are You Serious including the lead single ‘Capsized’. If ‘Capsized’ is any inclination of the direction Bird is taking Are You Serious I’m all for it. I love the bluesy sound of the single, even if it’s quite the departure from his usual folk acoustic discography.

Breakbot - Still Waters

Still Waters is the 2nd LP by the French artist Breakbot. This is my first listen to Breakbot, but I really enjoyed listening through Still Waters. I’ve been really into uptempo electric music for the past few months, trying to break away from the emo/pop-punk angsty phase, so this is perfect for me.

Say Anything - I Don’t Think It Is

To me, like many people, Say Anything’s …Is A Real Boy is an absolute classic, up there with Brand New’s Deja Entendu. So whenever I listen to a new Say Anything record all I’m wanting is for it to be …Is A Real Boy 2. But for the past four Say Anything records I’ve been disappointed. Max Bemis and his band are past that sound. With this record there are definitely parts I enjoy, minutes of songs, collaborations with Dylan from Tiny Moving Parts, Christian from the Hotelier, and Michelle from Little Big League, but after a few listens I just can’t get into this record. My initial thought was “fuck, this is different, this isn’t what I want in a Say Anything record” I think if this was some band that came out of nowhere I’d enjoy it, but this is Say Anything. Maybe that’s unfair to the music, but knowing some of the stuff Max has put out, it makes me long for more, for the past. The production also does the sound no favors, the music sounds teeny and at times hurts my ears. I know I’m shitting on the record, and I feel bad about it, but I am really happy for Max, his family, and his band. After being in a very dark place, Max has made a career for himself and created a wonderful family. Good for him. But I can’t get behind this album.

The album art reminds me of Miley Cyrus’ last album, which is never a good thing. Don’t listen to ‘Varicose Visage’.

Some new releases I’ll be checking out: Brian Fallon - Smoke (single) DIIV - Is the Is Are Foxes - All I Need Frameworks - Time Spent Future - EVOL L.A. Girlfriend - Neon Grey Porches - Pool Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony Young Thug - I’m Up

Apps

Poncho Weather - Free on the App Store

I have way too many weather apps on my iPhone. I guess it makes sense since growing up I always wanted to be a meteorologist. It’s obvious that never happened so I continue to pretend for friends and family thanks to my many weather apps. That list grew by 1 as Poncho Weather was released. Poncho Weather is an entirely different weather app. Poncho is a “weather cat” and provides jokes and gifs related to your local weather. It’s also an alarm that wakes you up to music personalized based on your weather. While every iPhone ships with Weather.app, Poncho brings some personality to your morning.

Day One 2 - $4.99 for iOS, $19.99 for OS X

I’ve written about Day One before. The journaling app for both iOS and OS X contains all of my writing for the past three years. This week developer Bloom Built released Day One 2 built from the ground up as a new release, separate from Day One. For the past two years Bloom Built has been working on Day One 2 and since it’s a completely different app, users of the original Day One need to pony up money for the new release. I, without a thought, gave them my $25. I used Day One every single day for all the things going on in my life, so I happily supported them for supporting me through 40 free updates to the original app. If you own an iOS device or Mac, or both, give Day One 2 a try! Both are 50% off for the first week. 

For those unfamiliar with Day One, the app is a digital journal. You can do tags, attach multiple photos, GPS location, and have multiple journals for different things. For many people, apps like Notes.app are fine, but if you’re looking for a beautiful yet powerful journaling app, nothing comes close to Day One 2. 

Articles

Act Like You Know by Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Eisenberg has quickly become one of my favorite actors, with his roles in The Squid and the Whale, Zombieland, The Social Network, The End of the Tour, I relate to what seems to be a typecast role of being the awkward, quickly worded guy in films. So when I found out he was friend’s with Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond, I couldn’t do anything but smile. Posted to SLAM Online, Eisenberg wrote about how his interesting friendship with Drummond came to fruition, and how the two, while seemingly opposites, were able to come together and share a bond.

5 lessons animals can teach us about online dating by Marisa Kabas This was a funny read and quite the opposite of what I usually share but I enjoyed it. Jennifer Verdolin wrote a book titled “Wild Connection: What Animal Courtship and Mating Tell Us about Human Relationships” of which she went on dates through Match.com and Plenty of Fish and tried to relate the people she dated to how animals find mates. Hilarious, weird, but funny. I have since found I am much like a tropical boubou/albatross.

Other tidbits I finally saw The Revenant last night. I spent most of the time grossed out by wounds, chapped lips, and death, but it was a really good movie. I loved the cinematography, the running takes, and wide-angle lenses that literally got in the action.

I finished Fargo Season 2 earlier this week and it is now up there as my favorite show. Once it’s on Netflix I believe the show is going to garner a huge following much like Breaking Bad did during it’s last season.

If you’re interested I have two other blogs:

Dogs Like Music (featuring photos of dogs and lyrics)

TwoFiftyFive (GIFs of my day at 2:55pm)

[otheradrian]

Song of the Month, January 2016: Spiritualized - Broken Heart

At the end of every month I’m going to write about a song that summarizes that month for me. The criteria I’ve given myself is that it has to be a song I first discovered during that month. That’s it. It can’t be a song I already have in my library or have heard before.

That brings me to this song – ‘Broken Heart’ by Spiritualized off the 1997 album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

Give the song a listen here.

This is the first month in over five years where I haven’t had to worry about college – no exams, no pouring over my credits, no looking at syllabi, no registering for classes, no Rate My Professor, no essays, no reading, no group work, no Blackboard, none of it. It’s a weird feeling. I’ve already had moments where I wake up in the middle of the night thinking I missed registration time, or where I missed an exam.

I feel lost. I miss it.

I’ve come across Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space once before. After watching the documentary Helvetica centered around the typeface I searched the Internet on albums that have used helvetica on album covers. I love Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’s album cover, but I just scrolled by it, I never bothered to listen to it. It wasn’t until the first week of January thanks to Spotify’s Discover Weekly that the title track was placed in my playlist. After my first listen I immediately added the album to my Apple Music library.

‘Broken Heart’ runs in at 6:39, the opening instrumental makes you feel as if you are floating in space; I’m reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey. About a minute and a half in Jason Pierce’s soft, fragile vocals come in with:

“Though I have a broken heart/I’m too busy to be heart broken/There’s a lot of things that need to be done/Lord I have a broken heart.”

On my first listen I broke down crying. This first verse hit me hard. My longest relationship ended 2 years ago around this time. I had just transferred to a university from community college and was trying to adjust to the faster pace. Although the break up affected me, sometimes I felt like it didn’t affect me enough. I was much too busy to let it. That first week after it happened, I let so much work pile on, I skipped most of class that week. I was so far behind. I couldn’t let it affect me that much. I had shit to do. So I tried the best I could to put it all behind me. Of course there were days, weeks where it got the best of me. I did what I could.

The next verse is much like the first:

“Though I have a broken dream/I’m too busy to be dreaming of you/There’s a lot of things that I gotta do/Lord I have a broken dream.”

After six years of being with someone you stop thinking of just “me”, and think more of “us” and not “my future”, but “our future”. The broken dream. All of the things I hoped for a shared future were stripped away from me. I was back on my own.

The next two verses while different from the first two, do share the same format:

“And I’m wasted all the time/I’ve gotta drink you right off my mind/I’ve been told that this will heal given time/Lord I have a broken heart.”

“And I’m crying all the time/I have to keep it covered up with a smile/ And I’ll keep on moving on for a while/Lord I have a broken heart.”

While I’m not much of a drinker, I did start drinking more after the break up. But the line that gets me is, “I’ve been told that this will heal given time”, so many people told me that, I never wanted to believe it. I was so wrapped up in loss that I couldn’t dare think of getting better.

The hardest times are really when you’re alone.

The lyrics are only so much of this beautiful track, they only cover up two minutes. The closing instrumentals are breathtaking, the orchestration is phenomenal. I’ve listened to the track over seventy times this month and sometimes the closing makes me cry, other times all I can do is smile.

When I started writing this, I didn’t know what it would come to. I’ve always wanted to publicly write about my failed relationship in someway. I guess this is it. Over the past two years I tried to preoccupy myself with other things so I didn’t have to think about it, why it failed, what I could have done differently. This month gave me that time.

The lyrics to Spiritualized’s ‘Broken Heart’ are very simple. However, it’s the weight behind each word that is dense, multi-dimensional. I feel like it could really connect with anyone who’s gone through heartbreak.

[otheradrian]

January 29: Brand new Brand New news

Pup - DVP

Pup has become one of my favorite bands in the past couple of years. First, their self-titled debut album was one of my favorites from 2014. Then late last year I caught them on tour with Modern Baseball, Jeff Rosenstock, and Tiny Moving Parts; and Pup put on the best show of the four. They played the highly energetic DVP live and just released the recorded version, running in at 2:29, and all the energy translates well. Pup’s shout vocals have become second to none as Pup’s frontman Stefen shouts “I just don’t know what to do, I’m still fucked up over you! I know that I drink too much, I know that I fucked it up. She says I need to grow up!” It’s no secret that Pup’s new album will be out sometime this year, and it will for sure have it’s place on my top ten at the end of the year if DVP is any hint.

Listen to ‘DVP’ here.

Basement - Promise Everything

This week brought LP3 from Basement, the first album since 2012’s Colourmeinkindness. Released via Run For Cover Records, who have been putting out solid release after release, this is no exception. My favorite track off this record is ‘Aquasun’. It’s sound reminds me of the early 2000s pop-punk, it’s weird. Listen to it and tell me you can’t picture it as a music video on MTV, with lens flare behind the band, close up shots of the lead singer as he repeats the chorus “Dive into me, dive into me. I’ll meet you on the water there someday.” While Promise Everything is a solid release, I don’t see it getting a lot of play from me as the year goes on. 

Listen to ‘Aquasun’ here.

Procrastinate! Music Traitors sent out an email today with a list of releases for this year on their label — one such is Brand New. It has almost been a year since they released the single ‘Mene’ and seven years since their last album Daisy. Looks like a new Brand New album is happening, and if their tour with Modest Mouse later this year is any proof, that release may be coming out in the first half of this year. For those unfamiliar with Procrastinate! Music Traitors, it’s a record label started by members of Brand New.

New releases this week: Bloc Party - Hymns Wet - Don’t You Basement - Promise Everything St. Lucia - Matter Milk Teeth - Vile Child

[otheradrian]

January 22, new music and Fargo

A friend of mine asked me yesterday, “So what new music is there to check out? Don’t you post new music on Fridays? Tell me before then.” and it made my day! At least there’s one person who reads this! So while I won’t have any write-ups on music, there are some exciting new releases to share.

Here’s some new releases I’ll be checking out this weekend.

Sam Means - 10 Songs (formerly of The Format) ROAM - Backbone (Pop-punk) From Indian Lakes - Wanderer EP (Indie Rock) Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger (Garage Rock) Tortoise - The Catastrophist (Post Rock) Chairlift - Moth (Synth Pop)

I also just want to talk about what I’ve been binge watching.

Fargo

I just finished Season 1 of Fargo, the FX show created by Noah Hawley inspired by the 1996 film of the same name. It was phenomenal. Amazing storytelling, cinematography, music, and cast. I heard a lot about Season 2 recently being one of the best seasons of recent television, so I decided it was finally time. The series is an anthology, think True Detective and American Horror Story, with each season following a different timeframe and set of characters. Season 1 ranks up there with True Detective Season 1 and Breaking Bad in some of my favorite television series. It follows Lester Nygaard and Lorne Malvo in 2006 on a series of adventures in Minnesota and North Dakota.

I’m only two episodes into Season 2. The season is set in 1979, and oh boy, the sets, music, and visual effects really make you feel like you’re in 1979 too. The music in Fargo is some of the best I’ve heard in a television series.

This show will get a huge following once it’s put on Netflix.

[otheradrian]

Canon AE-1, 50mm, f/1.8

[otheradrian]

This song is so beautiful. I hear it in four stages. There’s the slow build up, the curiosity of another person. Next, fast-paced, passionate, the moment of falling in love, one of the greatest feelings, emotional, vulnerable. The third stage, the eventual disturbance, quietly chaotic, even unrestful. The ending, a slow walk, unexpected and unexplained.

I always picture myself during the ending, walking alone.