Punk, Emo, And Dave Wenger

This is the latest mix of what I've been listening to lately, this time its from between september 24th and 30.

We start off where the last one ended with some tracks from the full length debut of Kill Matilda. I saw them last week on their Zombie Apocalypse tour and they are awesome female fronted punk.

Things get emo and more rock and roll with Into It. Over It. Evan Weiss is great. Though as much as I like II.OI. I really do prefer Stay Ahead Of The Weather.

Now its time for some modern screamo courtesy of  Reno Dakota. There's nothing brand new or groundbreaking here but it is good, modern screamo with few fills.

We stay with the screamo and get a lot more mainstream with the first three tracks of La Dispute. This is the 
first time I've actually engaged with these guys though the vocals can be a tad samey through these songs.

Now we get to the beginning of the output of a Canadian emo punk rock genius Dave Wenger. He started in high school with Moral Decay then played in M Blanket, Ache Hour Credo and Daddy's Hands.

 

Moral Decay is a metal band and M Blanket are a seminal emo punk band. More from Dave Wenger next time

the King is dead (long live the king)

This is the latest song I wrote. I had some riffs but then I forgot it so I wrote a new riff. It’s way more punk than it was before and this is rather rough and fresh but  I think it’s kinda good. It is an electric guitar which by itself doesn’t all that full. I think its ok but not much more than that.

Who Programmed This?!? 9/20/2011

This is the first episode of my radio show on Trent Radio handily cut into a nice little mp3 for your podcasting pleasure. I played Animal Faces, Todos caeran, Book of Caverns & Lizards Have Personalities

http://www.mediafire.com/?u7lj64twk6kfndk

Who Programmed This?!? 09/27/2011

This is the podcast of my radio show on Trent Radio. It was broadcast yesterday between the hours of 10 & 11 am. I played By A Thread, Wrought: Ironsmile, 30 Second Motion Picture, Rocket Science & IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing.

 http://www.mediafire.com/?ho4mks6bgut6rh1

latest mix

this is my latest mix that comes from what I've been listening to. I listened to a bunch of stuff between September 12th and 24th. Hope there's something here for you.


We start off with a softer emo band The Warren Commission. Pretty obscure. Good stuff though

Way more people will know Weezer. If you don't then i don't know where you've been or doing with your life. Even if you hate them you are aware of them, they were relevantish at one point.

Things get way more pop punk, upbeat and downright happy with The Wombats. These are very danceable indie rock songs with more than enough exuberance.

Now one song from portugal the man. It's a tad weird but I think it's pretty cool.

Now we have a whole bunch of angry, pissed off Hardcore, coming straight at you from Finland. My favourite bands from this compilation are: Riistetyt, Nolola Nolla Nollam Kaaos, Laahaus, Klimax, Appendix, Antikeho, Maanalainen Pelastusarmeija 

We head over to China from Finland for some Sonic Youth style post rock courtesy of  Carsick Cars. The can write some really good, catchy rock and roll songs and don't really care if they throw in a disconcerting time change or a wall of feedback in the middle of that catchy song.

We head back to the states and get screamy with IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing. This dude has been so productive this year. He's working on yet another tape which will be his 7th. He's talking about doing 10 by the year's out and if they all sound like this I am so down.

We stay punky but lose the screams for a bunch of punk from Witches With Dicks. These guys plast fast, pissed off orgcore punk pop. They like the simpsons. Nuff said.

I saw this band two week ago with Tin Vespers. Cousins play a bluesy style of weird garage rock punk. It's very distorted and the singer shouts a lot but it's pretty sweet.

I saw Kill Matilda last week with local punk bands Bumping Tacos and TV Casualties. On these songs they do a hard rock thing, on their debut lp they do a more punk thing. It's great either way.

Emo, Screamo and some power thrash

This is my mix of music I listened to from August 8th through August 9th. I am eclectic in my taste so some transitions may be jarring...

We start things off with some emo pop punk courtesy of a rather unknown band Your City/State. If your into underground music you might know Joie De Vivre, who these guys became. This is less midwest emo, more pop punk. Still quite good

Things get techinal and industrial with Andrako. I randomly found these songs online and they pound away at your brain until you surrender to the industrial metal.

 We stay metallica but get thrasy with Armor Column. They have a tad too much power metal in their music for it to be a regular listen right now but I will definitely be paying attention

We get way more chill with A Garden Overgrown. They play a very post rock version of screamo. A lot of the time there's more post rock than screamo and there's very little post rock that I actually like. They reformed this year and these are tracks from their new ep.

We shift out of post rock but stay emotional and finish with Talis Vita. They could be compared to Your City/State but screamo instead of emo and way more punk.. These guys are loud and they don't really give a shit if you care or like it.

In Between

Think a more hardcore oriented version of Joyce Manor. Emocore, emo with some punk attitude. Starts off emo but gets core pretty quick. Its entirely too short but pretty good all round

Radio show!

Listen to me on the radio tomorrow between 10-11 am eastern time. I will be playing vancouver emo outfit By A Thread, Wrought: Ironsmile a lo emo band also from Vancouver, 30 Second Motion Picture an emocore band who I think are from Ontario, Rocket Science, an emo band from either east London or Cape Town South Africa, IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing a one piece screamo band from Lansing Michigan and if there’s time Ampere who are from Amherst Massachusetts

You can listen online here http://www.trentradio.ca/stream.htm

new Cheers, Mate!

Cheers, Mate! is a great screamo band from Ukraine. They've got keyboards, they sing and scream in either ukrainian or russian and have some sweet alternating vocals if my memory serves.

They put out an Owl EP a while back and I really liked it.

I haven't listened to the new song yet but I'm assuming its just as good

listen to me on the radio!

Tomorrow between the hours of 10 and 11 am I will be broadcasting on Trent Radio. My show this week is all screamo. Animal Faces, Todos Caerán, Book Of Caverns, Lizards Have Personalities and Xerces are on tap for tomorrow 

listen here! 

Cousins, Tin Vespers, Candle Cave Ensemble Pt. II, Jos Fortin & Claire Ryan

The Planet Bakery was packed on Friday as four bands put their own stamp on the night. There was something for everyone. It started off with singer songwriter Claire Ryan, followed by folk singer songwriter Jos Fortin. Tin Vespers linked the folk of the previous singers to the rock and roll of the Candle Cave Ensemble Pt. II and Cousins who finished the night.

 

Claire Ryan started the night off with her heart on her sleeve. Her songs were sad and slow but had a good solid rhythm to them. The symbolism in her lyrics can be a little overwrought at times but mostly her lyrics were melancholy and filled with details. Think a deeper voiced Julie Doiron.

The next artist,Jos Fortin, is very similar to Claire Ryan but a better guitar player. Jos songs have more of a folk feel to them, with a little bit of country mixed in. His songs are more story telling songs and I don't know many songwriters that use words like tincture. There was lots of volume difference inside his songs and in a room where people won't stop talking those softer parts tended to get lost.

Tin Vespers where up next, the bridge between the singer songwriters that started the evening and the rock and roll that would finish it out. They are a five piece band and are fascinating. They have an accordion, drums, keyboard, a three stringed guitar and a cello. Meg is the lead singer, plays the three stringed guitar while both the accordionist and the cello player contribute to the lush harmonies.

Their music is rather hard to explain. They have a majestic sound that reaches out and grabs you in a bear hug only reluctantly letting you go for the next song. They know exactly when to push forward and when to hang back. Either way they're great and utterly captivating. 

After Tin Vespers the CandleCave Ensemble Pt II made things a lot louder. They played a very straight ahead, danceable style of rock with surf and garage rock thrown in to flavour the riffs. They had a great wall of sound, straight up with no frills to get in the way of dancing.

Cousins closed out the night with their thumping brand of aggressive, noisy rock and roll. They are a reverb soaked two piece from Halifax with riffs going off in every direction. They have a sharp, pointy guitar tone that rips out of the speakers and a singer that never abandons his desperate, searching vocals that usually stay melodic. They play a kind of blues. It is very distorted and put through a noisy punk rock filter but it is still blues at the basis.

The night had really had an evolution. Claire Ryan and Jos Fortin where rather soft and Tin Vespers was not particularly loud though they had their moments. The Candle Cave Ensemble Pt. II were the loudest band and Cousins topped everything nicely with their rather unique primitive bluesy punk rock.

Jowls & The Reptilian

They're both on tour right now. Gonna be in Toronto tonight. $5 show but the train ticket to Toronto is 6 times that. Anyway. Both Jowls and The Reptilian are awesome bands. One is a an awesome newish screamo band and the other is a harder to categorize twinkly, indie shouting band.

Jowls debut ep Cunt Punch is one of my favourite ep's of the year. The name may put some people off but that's okay. They are a two piece from Grand Rapids Michigan. They play what I think is screamo but could just as easily be post hardcore. Their split with the Reptilian sounds like they're more of a post hardcore band but only time will tell.

Jowls - Cunt Punch

Jowls & The Reptilian Split

The Reptilian have been around a while longer and they have a rather unique sound I think. They're is a  lot tapping, a lot of twinkly guitars and a whole lot of shouting. They are one of the shoutier bands on the Count Your Lucky Stars roster.

 

The Reptilian - Full Health

The Reptilian -  We Have Become

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing started as a three piece Jeromes Dream worship band. Then they became a two piece and are now a one man band. Regardless the music is awesome. They have evolved from being a worship band to being a really solid screamo band. Lots of high pitched screams and some pretty sweet guitar riffs. This is their complete discography, in order I think.

5 Track Demo

iwontstopwondering - split with Half Awake

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing Split With In Braille

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing - Rehearsal/Live

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing - Motionless

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing - IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing

IWontStopWonderingUntilYouStopBreathing - New Horizons

witches with dicks

Angry pop punk if there is such a thing. There are dashes of speed punk throughout but it all stays rather poppy in construction but the execution always come across as pissed-the-fuck-off. They’re a power trio and they fit nicely in with the other orgcore band’s I’ve heard. Think an angrier RVIVR, with just as much energy as the Menzingers but they’re more focused on kicking the shit out of their tunes.

 

Laptop Demo

http://www.mediafire.com/?nrrv2ql5k77w9

Those are the first 21 songs I have recorded on my laptop. They're all acoustic. 21 songs, 4 covers and 17 originals. The covers are Blitzkrieg Bop, I Wanna Be Sedated & 53rd & 3rd by The Ramones and Pay To Cum by the Bad Brains (who named themselves after a Ramones song)

Hope you like em.

Prawn & Tumblr

I never really got into Prawn before this. I listened to their stuff but it always too post rock for me I think. Anyway, this record isn't out yet but it's pretty awesome. There is lots of good 90's style emo and even some twinkle daddies style shouting if a lack of twinkling guitars.

Also, I have started a tumblr. It's way easier than this so I'm probably gonna stop posting here soon.
http://aplacetoburn.tumblr.com/
It'll be the same stuff only with more hipsters and boobs.

Warped Tour 2011 V 2.0

Every year the Warped Tour puts out a compilation of the bands that will be performing on their tour this year. The 2011 edition has 51 different artists in about 3 or 4 different genres. There is lots of pop punk/easycore, lots of metalcore and lots of post hardcore. There is as little bit of hip hop while lots of the post hardcore has electronic influences.
Needless to say there is a lot of garbage on these two discs. Bands like A Skylit Drive, I Set My Friends On Fire, Attack! Attack! and Asking Alexandria might give you an idea of the terribleness contained here.
So I've gone through and cut out the really great bands that somehow got mixed up into this terrible mess. Bands like Big D & The Kids Table, The Menzingers are good examples of the punk and I'm surprised that I actually kind of like the songs from Paramore, A Day To Remember, Hellogoodbye and Against Me!
Good stuff if you like punk and the watered down mainstream bullshit that gets labelled punk.

Rap Heavy mix

Here’s another new mix. There are 40 songs from 10 different artists.

We start off with Hammerlock. Two songs of the garage rock, proto punk they play from the Bay Area

Then it’s time for the rap. We start with seven songs from Lloyd Banks of the G-Unit crew. I’ve soured on 50 Cent and most of the people associated with him but I still find Banks to be interesting. These songs show a slightly more emotional, introspective side of him at times. Guests include Eminem, Jadakiss &  Ludacris.

Now it’s time for a half hour from southern gangsta Killer Mike. These songs are as political as they are gangsta and they don’t let up. Animal with Gucci Mane is not necessarily the best song but if nothing else it is funny. The rest of the album is a drug dealer kinda talking about jesus and knowing enough about politics to name Palin and Pelosi. The beats are of the boom bap variety.

Then we head to the Bay Area for some hyphy courtesy of E-40. In the past two year’s he’s put out four albums, all iterations in his Revenue Retrievin series. These songs come from the second album released in 2010, Revenue Retrievin - Night Shift. Lots of club songs and songs about drugs. A couple of shit talking songs and songs with weird hooks.

Listen to things get intelligent and cinematically produced with Talib Kweli. I’m not sure which is more impressive here, Talib’s rhyming abilities and intelligence or the lush, layered beats that still manage to to force you to nod your head. Talib is probably one of the best conscious rappers out there today and this album is a clear testament that. Sean Price kills his guest spot on Palookas and Jeane Grae kills it on Uh Uh.
We stay in New York for some more underground rap this time courtesy of Saigon. After literally years of label trouble The Greatest Story Never Told has finally been released and it is pretty awesome. These are great songs though they might slide by a little at first. the only criticism i can make of this album is that it is a sleeper. If you’re not paying attention you’ll miss some awesome gold.

Now things get random. We head to Germany for some emo violence from Katyn. The first song is a raging punk song that transitions quickly from ear splitting ragee to relative calm and melodious quiet while the second is completely acoustic with soft clean vocals.

So now it’s back across the sea up to Canada for a pair of songs from Barn Burner. They play stoner metal with awesome dirty vocals and a lack of sludge. The riffs are always awesome and I lack the words to describe how happy I am to find stoner rock that sounds like this. It’s heavy and stonery but doesn’t verge into extreme metal territory or try and envelop too many different styles.

One track from a nu metal band that put an album this year called CrowneVict. I didn’t think nu metal bands still exist but I do have a sweet spot for bands that sound like Dreadnaught and this song is kinda cool I guess.

The last song is a track from the solo album from the guitar player from Mastodon Brent Hinds. Bank Robbin Bandits is a southern, bluesy song that rambles on and on. The whole album is really good.

So yeah.

Ampere - Like Shadows

If you don't know who Ampere is, shame on you. They are one of the key intelligent screamo bands that still make gripping, emotional music.

They are arguably a supergroup with the guitarist Will Killingsworth playing in Orchid, Laceration and Bucket Full of Teeth; Drummer Andy Skelly played drums in both The Last 40 Seconds and Wolves, the singer Stephen has played in Montcalm, The Last 40 Seconds and Aerosols. Meghan also played bass in Unicoroner, and sang with Stop The Clock and Relics

This is emoviolence if there is such a thing. There are 15 songs in 13 minutes and each song is as punishing a hardcore anthem as the previous and next. The crushing power of this band might let up for a moment but that's only so you can breathe for a frozen moment before the next attempt at crushing you into the dirt.

These are short, chaotic and violent songs. If you don't like screamo or emo violence then this is not for you. If you like songs that don't last a long time but leave a huge emotional mark this the band for you. Glad to see them back.

the Men - Leave Home

I'll keep this short and sweet. Do you like punk rock? Do you like garage rock? Do you like desperate, emotional music cloaked in layers of distortions and noise? If so you should definitely check it out.  The Men are a noise punk band from Brooklyn. The basics of the music tends towards older school punk and garage rock. Lots of odd noises that come out of nowhere and solo's that start as squeels and end in shredding.

The best songs on here are fairly standard punk rock tunes that take off noisily, are blasted through and are over before you know it. And yet they manage to pack some twists and turns, a sonic surprise or two in nearly ever track. And they don't necessarily need to be all that fast and aggressive to make the songs work. Shittin With The Shaw slows things down significantly but stays noisy while verging in on emotional, instrumental post rock before evolving into another turned up to 11 jam.

I may be doing this a disservice by accenting the noisy, lo fi nature of this because that doesn't matter all that much. As long as you have good songs you generally have good punk. And even if you don't have good songs if you play fast enough and loud enough you can skate by. Thankfully the songs are rock solid and the noise tweaks only make them standout more

Alestorm - Back Through Time

Time for some more slightly derivative but still ass kicking metal. From Scotland Alestorm bring you their second LP Back Through Time. 

The music they play is quite interesting if not particularly original. The formula is power metal with folk metal and a lyrical focus on pirates thus getting you to Pirate Metal.

For the most part the music is straight ahead power metal. Huge melodious guitars chasing each other and nearly every song reaches into epic nature if not length. The singer has a really good gruff voice which contrasts the melodic but still really heavy music.

When I say folk metal don't think of something with really different instrumentation like Falkenbach but a more sort of general ass kicking heavy metal. There is accordion on some of the songs chugging along with the guitars and there isn't a lack of periphery instruments floating in and on top.

If you like power metal this will probably scratch that itch. If you like folk metal this might be a bit of a stretch but there is stuff here for you. If you like heavy metal songs about sailing the high seas, drinking lots and lots of rum and scantily clad buxom babes then this is great.

Born Of Osiris - The Discovery

This album is awesome. I`m not exactly sure if there is any original going on but it doesn't really matter at this point.

 This album is progressive while still being heavy enough to snap your neck. If you don't know what deathcore is this would be a good introduction I think. It's the first album thus labelled that I even remotely like. 

Basically it's a combination of death metal, metalcore (which is itself a merging of hardcore and metal) and progressive metal with just a touch of chaotic hardcore. There is a diversity of tactics here that conspire to bring everything together and smash your head until there is only dust.

 There are so many different things being pulled in from so many different places it can be a little overwhelming. There are multiple vocalists, all of them screaming or growling or some other evil form of vocal chord torture. The guitars, and there are lots of, are always going in different directions. There is one pounding out awesome thrashy rhthyms and then at least another guitar concerning itself with melody. Or just being brutal. There is a lot of that.

I know that I probably be should be used to metal bands taking the term Long Play very seriously but i do have some concerns about listening to this kind of music for almost a full hour. If that's an issue I will update this later but I'll probably just erase this and write a better conclusion either today or tomorrow.

Mixy Mix Mix

This time round we'll run through 42 songs by  18 different artists in just under two hours. Time for hardcore and sonic youth influenced noise!

http://www.multiupload.com/WNNEW4J7U9

We get things off to a skate punky start with Abserdo who play a darkened hardcore with an awesome skate feel. Easily my favourite song title in this mix is Hit Cops With Skateboards. Fun stuff.

Then we move back in time a little for some Sonic Youth influenced noisy post rock from Broken Water. Say What's On Your Mind reminds me of newer Sonic Youth but focused on grafting strange textures together than just random noisy noodling. Even the instrumental Heal seems like they're still talking.

Then we shift into the first of two emo bands here, Candle. They put out a pair of records in the early 90's and their singer went on to scream for Yaphet Kotto. If you like 90`s emo you'll be down with this.

You can get back on your skateboard again with a pair of tracks from lo fi hardcore skate punk outfit Cerebral Ballzy. I hate the hipster audience they seem to attract but Sk8 All Day is a better skate punk song than most of what has been labelled that for about five years. Minor Threat and Bad Brains is all over this awesome stuff

Now over to Germany for some hardcore courtesy of Carol. I imagine this is baloney but to make up for having such an girly name they have a really tough, thick guitar tone. I may say this a lot but this screaming really sounds like the man's being dragged to hell groin first. Awesome stuff that is almost Beyond Belief (I can not believe how lame I am)

Things get noisy but stay punky with a split 7" from Assassins 88 & TV Colours. Assassins 88 play a lo fi punk pop with drums that try and smash your head into little bits while TV Colours throw some programmed drums, walls of guitar and wailing vocals at you until your begging for mercy on the floor. Thoroughly lo fi and thoroughly ass kicking.

We step slightly into some emo for one track from a Discord post hardcore emo band called Bluetip. Their first album was produced by Ian MacKaye and if you don't know that is you really shouldn't be reading this lol. More from them on a mix in the future I  can almost promise.

We stick with the emo thing but get noisier and and head to Richmond Virgina for some Action Patrol. Emocore more than just emo I would say, makes me think of Shotmaker and Ache Hour Credo. Good stuff. Also, they were complete goofs.

Things get screamy for a song with the awesomely named Yossarian Is Drowning. They were from Britain and played emo violence with a twinkly touch. Think maybe Monument with moments of Loma Prieta if that makes any sense.

We head back to Germany for a pair of tracks from Akephal who play a sludgy thick hardcore with an emo edge to them.

Things get arty for a little with San Diego's  Clikatat Ikatowi. This stuff is a little weird. There is screamo, post hardcore and art punk all fighting tooth and nail for supremacy over the rest of the band. Always interesting and usually pretty good.

Things get much less experimental with Arson Our Savior. They play metalcore which at times is reaching for a more melodic place than you would expect. If you didn't know these kids where 18 and this was their debutep you would be forgiven for not caring. I hope they can progress enough as artists to fulfill the potential I'm hearing here.

Things get a tad more musically interesting if not audible with Son Skull. Time for some more lo fi hardcore punk, this time from Olympia Washington and fronted by a lady. Sweet stuff that is a tad noisy for me. I like thick heavy hardcore not frantic, feedback filled screaching hardcore. Still good though.

Things get even more experimental with Altered States. These two untitled songs are almost ambient but they build and change too much to be that. Experimental post rock something or other. Not sure what to call it but these are the best songs on their EP.

And then we're back to hardcore with Walls from Portland/Seattle. Yup. Hardcore. Fun times.

Pentimento on the other hand do seem to be having fun. You kinda have to be if you're playing pop punk. Doesn't work if you're all angry and pouty. So if your down from this hardcore this should help.

Then from Toronto we have more noisy hardcore from Urban Blight. Maybe you can hare bands like  Agnostic Front, Negative Approach, Straight Ahead but I just hear misanthropic hate commit

And we finish with another track of heavy, evil hardcore from Selfless. Dark and evil. nuff said.

Man that was more taxing than I had initially thought. I'm going back to bed. Hopefully when I wake up mediafire won't be such a dick and let me upload my file