Scott FM - Bringing you good music!

North American radio is a wasteland for us who grew up on 80's music - lots of good stuff out there! Find it here!

[georgetakei]

When they said he couldn’t balance like a cat, he took a fence.

Source: Awwww Pets!

[scottcrick]

Today on ScottFM - Russkaja with "Energia".  Gen Xers were the last generation to live under the threat of nuclear annihilation, and our exposure to Soviet culture was usually limited; in most cases small bits of agitprop films is all we saw (and Rocky IV).

This video is a fun "turbo polka" take on this.  Do I understand it?  No.  Do I like it?  Absolutely!  Russkaja combines ska, metal, and polka in a fun, high energy way.

[scottcrick]

ScottFM Throwback Thursday - Jerry Cantrell with "Dickeye".  Was never much of an Alice-in-Chains or grunge fan, buy occasionally someone would come out of the scene and show their great rock chops.

After Alice-in-Chains "disbanded", Jerry put out the excellent album "Boggy Depot".  Two songs got a fair bit of radio play - "My Song" and "I Cut You In", but the awesome opening guitar riff in this song makes it the best cut on the album. 

[scottcrick]

On ScottFM today - All That Remains with "This Probably Won't End Well".  This is the first single off their upcoming album, a follow up to the excellent "A War You Cannot Win".

ATR normally has two types of vocal approaches - harsh angry cookie monster vocals during verses with clean vocals for the chorus, or clean vocals through the whole song.  The clean vocal songs are the ones that occasionally make it to radio in the right market, or show up on Sirius Octane.

ATR also has shown an affinity for melody in other songs, and it shows up in spades here.  Some bands sacrifice "heavy" for melody - these guys don't.

Regardless, this is an excellent song, with good use of keys, excellent guitar riffs, and enough grit in the vocals to satisfy most listeners. 

[scottcrick]

Today on ScottFM -Coheed and Cambria "The Suffering".  Yet again, another band that unless you live the right market you'll never hear.  Unfortunately, in our image-driven society, I think these guys just weren't pretty enough for the label to push.

Excellent modern rock tune, with one of the best choruses I've ever heard.  The lead singer reminds many people of Geddy Lee of Rush....I'm not 100% sure of that, but do certainly enjoy their sound on this track and others.  Heck, I reno'd my kitchen to the album "Good Apollo"

[georgetakei]

Some of you will notice, but I don’t want to talk about that — period.

Source: I Fucking Love This

[scottcrick]

LOL, love these egg pans

[scottcrick]

Throwback Thursday on ScottFM - Black Eyed Susan with "Satisfaction".  There were some very good bands in the late 80's/early 90's that made really good music, but fell through the marketing cracks as grunge rose in popularity.  We'll harvest some of these "deep tracks" every Thursday.

Black Eyed Susan was fronted by the former lead singer of Britney Fox, but had a different honky-tonk kind of sound, more in line with The Black Crowes than some of their hair metal brethren.  I think this is a pretty good rock-and-roll tune, with a great bluesy feel to it.  Hope you like it too.

And on a sad note, my radio market (Winnipeg) now has no"new rock" station as Power 97 has now changed to 975 Big FM - yet another classic rock station.  So, for someone who wants to hear new rock, there is nowhere to hear it - unless you like Monster Truck, the Sheepdogs, or the Black Keys, about the only new bands they play on our "world class rock" station, 92 Citi. 

I hate radio.

[scottcrick]

Today on ScottFM - MyGrain with "Trapped in an Hourglass".  I didn't realize that "melodeath" was a term until listening to these guys.

Regardless, yet another band from Finland on Spinefarm Records, and another insanely talented group of musicians.

Harsh vocals are an interesting phenomenon as they are almost the opposite of the high screeching vocals from the 80's.  This being said, they are certainly tolerable when the band plays excellent melodic music (which MyGrain does), and they throw in some clean vocals for relief at the chorus.

Difficult to categorize this type of band.  Heavy?  Sure.  Melodic?  Sure.

But again, something unique that I am sure people would like if they actually got a chance to listen to it. 

[scottcrick]

Today on ScottFM - Santa Cruz with "Aiming High".  Now I do have a bit of a thing for bands from Finland (and Spinefarm Records as well), but these guys are in a class of their own.

I mean the look, the sound, everything comes directly from 1988.  Plus they actually have better chops than many of the bands that were big in 1988.

Not sure how big these guys will ever become, as this is definitely niche music...that being said, they appear to take the 80's very seriously, and not ironically like Steel Panther.

[scottcrick]

Today on ScottFM - The Silverblack with "Chimera".  I had honestly never heard of these guys until they started following my Twitter feed, so I thought I'd check out their vids.  Pretty good stuff gentlemen.  Mind you, not often you hear Italian metal on the radio.

If I was asked to describe their sound, I'd say Rammstein meets Lordi -bit of a doom/horror sound layered on techno-metal  Plus the video has chicks with chainsaws.

Not a bad debut at all, and I'll be keeping my eyes on these guys to see where they take their sound.

[scottcrick]

On ScottFM today - Avenged Sevenfold with "Seize the Day".  If you live somewhere that doesn't have a "new rock" station (or you don't have satellite radio), you may have never heard A7X.  Which is really too bad.

They truly progressed as a band with the 2006 album "City of Evil", on which today's tune is located.  This progressed even further with an exceptional self-titled album, after which drummer/co-sonwriter The Rev died.

After his passing, the bad has released the albums "Nightmare" and "Hail to the King", neither of which I find as appealing as "City of Evil" or "Avenged Sevenfold".  The Rev added a real pop sensibility to the songwriting, something that is sadly missed.  

But one can hear so many great influences on this track - Guns n' Roses and Motley Crue are fully in this song's DNA.

[scottcrick]

ScottFM Today - The Weakerthans - "One Great City".  A change of pace today - #Winnipeg band The Weakerthans with their love/hate song for the city they call home.

For someone originally from Winnipeg such as myself, it is such an interesting city.  There are so many things to hate about it, such as the weather, mosquitos, urban sprawl, and a dying downtown, not to mention numerous governments that have done everything they can to drive business out of the Province.  At the same time, Winnipeggers are a fierce and loyal lot, proud of their city despite its flaws, loyal to their city and their fellow residents.  Winnipeg is very much a blue-collar town, and the residents reflect that.

Unfortunately the Winnipeg of my youth was an exciting place that people went to.  Now it has become a place where people are from.

Hearing the lyric about the guy stalled in the turning lane will make anyone who has driven in Winnipeg in winter smile in remembrance.

[scottcrick]

On ScottFM today - Edguy with "Ministry of Saints".  Although classified as a power metal band, Edguy has a diverse sound that has many elements of 80's and classic rock.  This is not surprising since they've been going since the early 90's.

They've released quite a bit of material, but this tune is my favorite - mainly as it is a great straight-ahead rocker. 

[scottcrick]

ScottFM today - "Over and Done" by Amaranthe off their current album "Massive Addictive".  I know I'm kind of cheating by putting Elize Ryd up again, but as I described to my wife the other day when listening to "I'll Sing You Home", she has a voice that is made for singing lullabyes.

This is a very commercial song by the band from their third album, and one that shows off the vocal chops of the two clean voices.  Plus, the kind soul who did the video work treats us to some beautiful time-lapse photography.

If you like this, you may find their normal pop-flavored, EDM death-metal style a bit much.  Me, I'm ADHD and find their music is great.  Don't like the song, wait 30 seconds!  Other favorite tracks are "Leave Everything Behind", "Hunger", "The Nexus", "Automatic", "Call Out My Name", "Afterlife", "Theory of Everything", "Burn With Me", "Trinity", and the haunting "True".  

Regardless, I will try not to post anything else with Elize in it for a few weeks.

[scottcrick]

ScottFM Today - My Chemical Romance - "Boy Division".  As mentioned in yesterday's post, the songs that were eventually released as the 5 EP Conventional Weapons set were a mix of "old" and "new" MCR.  

My favorite is the tune you are hearing today, Boy Division.  The lyrics appear to be anti-media and anti-fame, but more importantly, the music is aggressive, driving, and angry, with lots of variety and texture.  

Not only would this track have been at home on "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge", its overall sound and fury reveals its lineage from melodic 80's thrash. 

[scottcrick]

ScottFM Today - Staying in North America with My Chemical Romance - "Ambulance".  Although I thoroughly enjoyed "The Black Parade" and its homage to everyone from T-Rex to Pink Floyd to Queen, I missed the angry, aggressive, yet still melodic sound that made "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" such a compelling album.

So after "The Black Parade" blew up, the band seemed a bit stuck - especially with a sudden fame that they likely wanted, but were truly unprepared for.  And this was reflected on their follow-up album, caught painfully between radio-friendly retro-style rock, and angry pop-punk.  And due to the disjointed nature of this album it never say the light of day, and instead, the overtly slick and commercial "Danger Days..." was released.

However, when disbanding (hiatus?), the vault was emptied, and the ten post-Black Parade songs were released in pairs on five EPs.  To me, there were two exceptional songs that stood out, with one reflecting the newfound pop smoothness of MCR (Ambulance), and one a throwback to the rage-fueled years that helped form the band (Boy Division).

Presented today is Ambulance, with sweetly layered vocals, and a hopeful, poppy, and cheery chorus.  Resist clicking on Boy Division - it will be tomorrow's Scott FM tune.

[scottcrick]

Early morning ScottFM!  Black Veil Brides - "In the End".  Not sure about where you live, but Black Veil Brides are played on 0 radio stations here.  Watching these guys progress in their careers, they remind me of a young Motley Crue that has already gone through their Shout at the Devil and Theatre of Pain phases and is now in their Dr. Feelgood phase.

Enjoy, especially the 80's style guitar solo near the end of the song.