Bozart - Bunge

Before I was in Ladies & Everyone, I didn't listen to instrumental bands. Jazz and classical were it. The first band I can remember seeing that was instrumental was the band Number 2, from Syracuse. Before I started Ladies & Everyone, I played in the band Amorous Radio. We played alot of shows with alot of great bands. Its unbelievable looking back because there was such a stigma connected to us in Syracuse. Scene politics was all that mattered then i guess. I'll tell people now how we covered Fugazi and wanted to cover Unwound and I'll get "I could never see that band covering those bands, I could see them covering Get Up Kids..." And that honestly shows that, people didn't like us, based off of what the band was before I joined. But i digress. 

The first time i remember playing with Number 2 was in Ithaca. I feel like we were in the downtown area. I cant remember the name of the venue. But really, it was just a art gallery. It was super tiny. The show was in the basement. As weird as it sounds, I cant really remember much about that show. I cant remember our set. Maybe we didn't even end up playing. I have no clue. I do remember being upstairs sitting with our equipment with Anthony (yes, he was in Amorous Radio too. That band began our run for how many bands we could do together. haha.) I remember being sort of bummed because it was a shit show. There weren't that many kids there. We had to lug all of our shit like a block to the venue. And at that time, some shitty nu metal band was playing. Who i think the crowd was there to see, because I dont remember many people being there after their set. Anyway, that band played and Rossman and Vonpless decided to go check out the next band. A little while later they started and i remember both anthony and i looking at each other and saying, this sounds pretty awesome. Rossman came up a lil while later going on about how great they were. so we went and watched. it was awesome. it was like the best proggy parts from Rush songs back to back. We quickly befriended them and played more shows. A year or so later, Anthony and I started Ladies & Everyone as a side project, and the rest is history...or so they would have you believe.

When Ladies & Everyone decided to stay instrumental, I started to listen to alot more bands in that vein. Our first show we got compared to Don Caballero, who at that point, i had never heard of. And its just snowballed from there. Ive become alot more knowledgeable on the genre then when i first saw Number 2 play. Through the years I've stayed friends with the guys in Number 2. A few years ago Bob, their drummer, offered to help my solo project Kalechex play a show. It didn't pan out, but while i was over at his house practicing, he showed me the band Bozart. Who Number 2 had always referenced as one of their main influences. I immediately thought the band was outrageous. The only sad thing about it was, it took away a little bit of the mystique that Number 2 had for me. Cause the band bares alot of resemblance to Bozart.

Bunge was the first album i heard by the band. And its awesome. Guitar & drum mathy metal-ish duo. "Set Aside" is easily one of my all time favorite instrumental tracks period. Somehow or another the band has stayed under the radar. Not alot of people have heard of them. I think they are very original and stand out against their musical peers. I think if you like any kind of  mathy instrumental music, you should hear this band, and more specifically, this album.

Download it here

Buy it if you like it

Achilles - The Dark Horse

So recently on the local syracuse music scene message board, there was some chatter about a re-release of Achilles' last album, Hospice, on vinyl. I was stoked. I fucking love that album & I just recently inherited a gnarly record player from my recently deceased grandma (RIP). But in all of the posts about praise was a remark that, though meant in a positive way, i viewed as extremely negative and unintelligent..."This record makes their older material look bad." Now, I love the guy that made this remark. But seriously, dumb. Maybe its just part of being an older guy that was there when things happened and followed a band as they progressed. Maybe its just the fact that "The Dark Horse" was such a personally important album to me. I don't really know. I will thank this young fellow though, because his remark got me to pull out my copy of this album and listen to it. Which just furthered in my head how wrong his statement is. Start to finish, amazing album. Granted, they changed more musically on Hospice. But I really don't know if it was enough to act as if it was a giant leap. I also think the changes made on that album made the band more accessible to people who otherwise wouldn't listen to them. Most people who know me wont be surprised when I say I am usually against musical changes that end with that result. Blah blah. This album is heavy as balls. It was recorded by the guitarist of Breather Resist. There is not much I can say except that I fucking love this band. I've loved everything they have put out and I will continue to follow them until they call it quits. With the members all over now, and Polar Bear Club on their way to being MTV's "next big thing", I don't know when they will find the time to play shows, let alone write and record another album. But I'll be waiting. If all you have heard by the band is Hospice, I highly recommend listening to The Dark Horse. Preferably over and over again. haha.

Download The Album Here

I cant stress enough, that if you enjoy this album, you need to buy a copy. I'm personal friends with the members of the band and with the record label that put out the album. Please support independent bands and labels.

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

I've been listening to this album ALOT lately.

Its funny how you can hear about a band over and over again, and never check them out. I have no real reason why it took me so long to listen to Drive Like Jehu. Their name would constantly pop up in my “music quests.” They were compared to lots and lots of bands that I like. And for some reason, it was only last year that I heard them. YES, LET THE CRUCIFIXION COME! Haha.

The band only released two albums. “Yank Crime” was their second. I think a lot of people, myself included, view this as the better album. Which is strange because it was a major label release. And as a lot of people know, often times when a indie band gets signed to a major, they change. And usually not for the better. Somehow, this album is even more aggressive than their first album. Taking all things into consideration, this is quite a feat. Their intense energy is constant through the entire album. Whether it be in the slower song “Luau” or the album’s opening track “Here Come The Rome Plows”. Rick Froberg & John Reis’s guitar interplay set a new standard for the post hardcore genre. Its right up there with Guy and Ian of Fugazi if you ask me. “Do You Compute?” might be one of the best examples of this on the Yank Crime album. Its not hard to see why Drive Like Jehu are/were cited at a big influence on the then emerging “emo” scene. There are a lot of elements from the music on this album that reappear in later “emo” releases, as well as post hardcore albums. Its great that such a short lived band could have such wide spread influence. Its just a bummer that they were so short lived in the first place.

Download The Album Here

Please buy it if you like it!

In The Beggining...

Well, i decided to start my own blog. Why? Well, first off, the old blog I used to write for, Listen To This Once, became sort of a big lie. It was started with the concept that everyday, the contributors to the blog would write a review of a band or album. Sounds simple right? Not so much I guess, because it got to the point where I would have 5 posts in a row. As much as I enjoyed writing and getting positive feedback from readers and bands alike, I didn't like that it had become my blog in a sense. First, because their were limits put on myself and the other writers by the blog's founder. And second, because the fact that the others weren't writing just went against the original concept, and the whole reason i joined. I also like the concept of starting new and doing a different kind of blog. I want to be able to do reviews of bands and albums still. But also would like to talk about movies. And honestly, just write about whatever i feel like. I've been asked to write for a new music blog. So maybe I'll keep the music stuff to that. Maybe i can link my music blogs so it will appear on both sites. I don't even know if that's possible. haha. I'm still not completely solid on everything i can do on here. But yeah, this should be fun.