Can't Draw To Save...: 2014

Thursday, June 19, 2014

EVERYTHING IS BACK!

just wanted to let everyone know that last week i busted my ass and got ALL of the download links to work again!

Last time mediafire shut down my account and deleted all my material, I lost A LOT of personal material along with it. This time as a security measure, any of the problem bands/records(Foo Fighters, Baroness, Tortoise, etc.) are not hosted on my mediafire. I don't want to go through this again. So being that there is a good chance those may get shut down in the future, please message me if you notice a dead link and I will rectify the situation .

I'm pretty excited to FINALLY have this done after years of putting this off. Now on to posting all new blog entries!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Crash Of Rhinos – Distal

I haven't posted in awhile. And this post was kind of egged on by a conversation I had with a friend last night. Apparently he was a follower of the old Listen To This Once blog I used to write for and I unknowingly, along with at least one other contributing writer to that blog, turned him on to music he really enjoys to this day. We didnt know each other at the time. But now are friends, and our bands are friends. So it was a really, strange but cool thing to hear about. And made me feel like writing for my somewhat neglected music blog.

Last night I was driving home from a amazing show my friends Del Paxton played for the record release for their EP “Worst Summer Ever” on Secret Audio Club and I wont lie, I was drained. haha. I had worked a full work day and, to make sure I got to the show on time, I drove straight from work to the show. Stopping only to get a bite on the way to Ithaca. WORTH IT! haha. Being as tired as I was, I obviously didn’t want to listen to jazz or post rock or anything like that. This record was the first thing that came to my mind. It got me thinking about the past and made me a little sentimental.
I discovered Crash Of Rhinos on a British music message board. I was on a search to see what the members of the band Spy Versus Spy did after that band disbanded. I did get some leads. But within that was mention of these guys. At the time, they had just released this album. So I immediately checked them out. I was obviously not disappointed. Coming from the recommendation based off of Spy Versus Spy, I thought I knew what to expect. Which is essentially, something sort of like a more post hardcore influenced Braid. I wont lie that their name being taken from a Magic: The Gathering card didn’t hurt my interest. haha. It’s a amazingly fitting name given the set up of the band. Two guitars, two basses, drums, and all of the members singing, often simultaneously. The opening song of this record “Big Sea” starts so heavy, and then somehow, gets even bigger and heavier. haha. One of my all time favorite record openers. This album is filled with everything from intricate beautiful sounding guitars, complex time signatures and incredible drumming, to just heavy rock out parts. The songs in general, are longer than say a Braid or Mock Orange. Which keeps in line with Spy Versus Spy. One of my favorite things that Crash of Rhinos do on this album that they sadly did away with on their follow up is the gang/group vocals. It is so rare to have that in a band that is not some bullshit punk/hardcore crap. And being from Syracuse, NY I know a thing or too about bullshit punk/hardcore haha. One of the main things with putting this album on when I was tired and fighting off sleep is the promise that I could blast this album in my car and yell at the top of my lungs and feel a strange connection to what's happening with the recording. Its like any good album you really love and care about. And it having the group vocals to start have it set up almost right from the get go to have that special feeling.
This band broke up recently. For me, it was personally crushing. They put out their follow up to this record, “Knots”(which you can download in my Best of 2013 post), out on Topshelf Records here in the states and I really thought they were poised for amazing things. “Knots” got a shining review from Pitchfork. That record, while more polished, etc. is so good. But I really feel like this album is the top. Amazing songs. So many different kinds of songs and feelings occur when I listen to this release. There are very few albums that come out that have this kind of power. If you haven't heard this band, and more specifically this album, you need to do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s a amazing record start to finish.
Download The Album Here
Buy it if you like it!

Labeling of past blogs

I am trying to go through and label/tag past blog entries that i didn't initially. The ones that I wanted to do the most were the numerous "Best of's" from over the years. Issue is, blogger SEVERELY limits the amount of tags/labels I can do. So in the instances of the Best of posts, not all the information I would like to be there, is or can be tagged. I do apologize. I am trying to make the tags/labels the best i can given the restriction of 200 characters in total. ouch!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Colossal

There is something that has been going on in the present state of music, and more specifically music journalism, recently that is a VERY upsetting trend. There have been numerous articles that I have read that have been talking about the "emo revival" that is apparently happening right now in the world. They are hard for me to read. And this is coming from someone that, if you read my fave records of 2013 post for example, actually enjoys ALOT of what/who is being included in this supposed revival. There is seemingly a lax of knowledge of what happened musically in the past that led to where we are presently musically in a lot of these write ups. A big example would be a article i read the talked about the waves of emo. omfg. it essentially acted like after the shitty mallcore "emo" (My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, etc) there wasn't anything going on musically. Essentially completely neglecting the fact that this music was continuing and stilled existing while that garbage happened. A lot of people, myself included, don't really include that poppy neo alternative radio shit as a facet of the emo family tree at all. But it is seemingly one of those things that music writers/critics, labels, publicity people, etc. have hammered home that it was actually a thing. haha. So i guess that's how it stays. BUT I digress. So while all this talk is happening, and new albums are coming out, and new bands are coming out/blowing up, all i could think about was the bands from the last wave that would be fucking HUGE right now. Now I'm trying to be very respectful with this article. I don't want to name names or point out who wrote what. I just need to say that first. BUT, there are bands blowing up right now, that while good or even very good, are not as good as some of that last wave of bands. But the media/press attention on them would make you think they were the greatest ever.
One band I feel bad about is Colossal. They formed in Elgin, IL in the early 00's. They ran until 2006 when they went a hiatus, that I hope isn't indefinite. There were a lot of claims to fame when it came to who played with the band too. Members of Abilene, The Lawrence Arms and Smoking Popes all spent time in the band. Musically though, they don't really share anything with those bands. The first time Colossal was mentioned to me was something along the lines of this "You like American Football? Well you would love Colossal! They are like the same thing!" Lets get real, this is NOT true. Realistically, how often does someone suggest a band to you with that tag line, and the band genuinely sounds exactly like the aforementioned? Rarely. That being said, Colossal share some of the things that American Football had in their sound. Clean, pretty almost jazzy guitar parts are sort of the main binding factor between the 2 bands. But often times, lines that are played have far more in common with something Victor Villarreal would write. Usually lying somewhere in between his youthful chord based work in Cap'n Jazz and his more complex work in Owls. Between the two guitar lines that are going on, in most of their songs, usually one will be playing the more straight away, jaggley chords and the other will be doing the noodley guitar. Its like having your cake and eating it too! Also, Colossal are a lot more upbeat and energetic than American Football. Just another thing that really makes them stand out as their own band. And another thing that draws a more realistic comparison to Cap'n Jazz over American Football. I will say that one thing the band had in common with American Football was there use of a trumpet on some songs. The difference obviously being that American Football used the trumpet in studio, but live there was no trumpet to be found. Colossal's guitarist doubled as the trumpet player. So that must have been awesome to see live. There singer is another thing that set them apart from other emo/indie bands in this style. Where vocals tend to be in the higher registers with these types of bands, Colossal's singer is a cool baritone. And its a nice change because, as i said, you don't see that so often. Sometimes it honestly kind of reminds me of Stephen Malkmus a little bit. Its great. I promise. Their rhythm section (which at times on different releases AND live had multiple drummers playing simultaneously) is outstanding. Their bass player is able to move around while holding it down at the same time. The drums and bass actually do a lot of cool things together outside of what the guitars are doing. The drummer(s) are so tight that I'm at a loss for which songs they play on simultaneously. Call that seamless. Best I can tell from the limited information out there, Colossal went on hiatus due to their guitarist's band, Smoking Popes, reuniting. It's quite a shame. Not because of the popes or anything like that. This band was such a great band. Who knows what other excellent music they could've put out. So many good things have been written about them. They were always viewed as a super promising act. And all they ever put out was a EP and one full length. In today's modern revival whatever landscape, they would be destroying. Because truth is, they are better than probably 90% of what is happening right now in that scene. So please, this band is amazing. This is everything I have by them. Listen. Love. Let’s find every member of the band and bug the shit out of them to reunite so they can take over everything.

Download their discography here

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Best Albums Of 2013

Okay, that’s a pretty grandiose statement for anyone to make. No matter what publication you write, or don’t write, for. This is honestly just my yearly faves list. The albums released that just did it for me. Not in any particular order really. I don’t honestly think much will surprise anyone, but check it out!
The one thing I will say is that, at least in my life, Topshelf Records is really the label that hit it out of the park. So many great releases this year! Label of the year! I SAID IT!
And my usual disclaimer of PLEASE PURCHASE THESE RECORDS IF YOU LIKE THE MUSIC YOU HEAR. Thank you. <3

Crash Of Rhinos – Knots