Women rule!

I am still kind of playing around with the types of posts I am going to make here, so forgive me if I am kind of all over the place with the topics I am writing about.  It occurred to me today, as I was listening to the new Jenny Lewis record, that I have a tendency to gravitate to female vocalists.  I think this can be traced all the way back to when I first started developing my musical identity.  Whether it was listening to Madonna, with my sister, or hanging a picture of Susanna Hoffs in my locker, I've always been fond of the female vocalist.  I was going through my iPod and noticed that I have a pretty large amount of female artists on there so I thought I'd make some suggestions of some of my favorites.

Here is a list of female fronted albums that I think any fan of music should be listening to (in no particular order):

1.  Cat Power - What Would the Community Think:  While most people would tell you that Moon Pix is her best album, I will stand by this as her most perfect album.  This record spans a bunch of different styles.  Musically, there is some rock, some folk, some blues, and a little country.  Vocally, there is pain, there is anger, there is beauty and the whole thing just flows brilliantly.  I could easily have put about five of her records on here and would suggest pretty much anything in her catalog, but this is my favorite.

2.  Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville:  This one is a no brainer.  Prior to her going all teeny pop and trying to appeal to the mall crowd, Liz Phair was once awesome and wrote arguably the greatest lo-fi indie rock record of all time.  Super catchy, sing-a-long type songs with great, honest lyrics and a pretty fair amount of cursing.  This is one of those albums that even at 18 songs and almost an hour long, at the end of the album, I want to put it on for another listen.  Then I catch myself humming, or singing, one of the songs hours, sometimes days later.  I don't think I could ever say enough positive things about this album.  Every song on this is great.  

3.  The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity:  This was a tougher one to choose.  I like all of Nina Persson's output, including all six Cardigans albums, both A Camp albums, and her great solo album she put out this year.  But, to me the final album The Cardigans put out (here's hoping, they surprise everyone with a seventh) is her finest moment.  This is great, Swedish alt-rock from a group that seem to have a fondness for classic rock.  Sweden could also be represented on this list by the first Sounds record, but that one hasn't endeared to me as much over the years as this one.    

4.  Madonna - True Blue:  Yes, seriously.  There is a reason this album has sold 25 million copies.  It's a hit machine.  More than half the songs on the album were successful singles.  I dare you to put this album on and not know all the words to those songs and then I dare you not to love the songs that weren't released as singles.  I don't think I have to describe what you'd be getting into with this album.  It's pop at it's mid 1980's finest.  There are dance songs, there are ballads, there is La Isla Bonita, which is such an amazing song.

5.  Blondie - Parallel Lines:  I was going to cheat and use the Platinum Collection, double disc collection of all the singles.  But, that is not a proper album, and they did release a full album that is outstanding.  This one.  The other albums are good to explore for the really good songs on each of them, but overall aren't what I would would call great full albums.  Which is why I tend to go for the Platinum Collection so often, because I can get almost every song I want right there.  But, this album is a perfect blend of everything Blondie was about.  Punk, new wave, post-punk, pop rock, whatever you call it.  A couple covers, a couple massive singles, and the amazing 11:59 which is neither of those.  This was also Debbie Harry at her most hypnotizing.  

6.  Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood:  And then there is Canada.  From Blacklisted to Middle Cyclone, Neko wrote three great albums.  All three of these albums are great, but this is the one I find myself putting on the most.  Another indie rock artist, she blends rock with some alt-country or folk.  She is another singer that really puts her emotions out really well in her voice, much like Cat Power.  

7.  Portishead - Dummy:  A few years ago, I probably would have chose the self titled album, but over those years I have come back to putting Dummy ahead of it as their best material.  This album is like sex on record.  I have a feeling in the mid 1990's, a whole lot of people were getting down to this album.  It's always referred to as Trip-hop, as the genre, which I have always hated that phrase.  This is just a damn good record, that was refreshing and unique at the time it came out.

8.  Fiona Apple - Tidal:  She takes forever to release new albums, but each and every one has been worth it, if she needs the time to write the albums she does.  This was her debut and I could make an argument for really any of her albums being her best (except for maybe Extraordinary Machine), this is the one that hooked me on her.  This is another mid 90's album that really has stayed with me for so many years.  This is another one of those albums that probably was the soundtrack to some babies being made.  She is another artist that mixes genres really well (there is a theme here), and the opening track, Sleep to Dream, is one of my favorite opening tracks ever.

9.  The Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat:  The Go-Go's were similar to Blondie, in the sense that they blended punk, post-punk, and new wave together.  This is another album that has no filler, every song is great on this.  Everything is super catchy and this is a great album to listen to while doing chores.  I love listening to this while doing dishes or cleaning the bathroom.  Also, Belinda Carlisle was another one of those early crushes that I had in life.

10.  Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady:  This was my favorite album of 2013.  Janelle is newer to the game than all the other artists I mentioned here, but if she keeps writing records like this, I have a feeling she is going to be around for a long time.  This record combines soul, funk, r&b, rock, a tiny bit of hip hop, and a guest appearance from Prince.  When this first came out, I think I probably listened to this daily for a good three month stretch.  I enjoyed her first album a lot, but she really upped the game with the catchiness on this album.  I love everything about this album, including the whole science fiction side of things and the theme of being, and loving, yourself that runs through the album.

There are so many more that I would suggest, but I thought cutting it off at 10 was good. 

The day I admit I am wrong.

I'm not always comfortable admitting when I'm wrong, in any situation really.  But, sometimes I find myself just unable to escape pointing out my errors in judgement when it comes to music.  In this case, I have discovered over the last couple months that I was wrong, about three different bands, with my first (and in one case, first through like fifth) impressions.  One of these, I have not only realized my mistake, but I also have been listening to them daily for the last three months, or so.

The first band is one that I completely misjudged.  Against Me!  I remember sometime in the early 2000's, during my whole "I'll listen to just about anything on No Idea Records" phase, getting one of those samplers they used to put out (maybe it was Bread, the Edible Napkin or Back To Donut or The Shape of Flakes to Come) and it had Pints of Guinness Make You Strong on it.  I thought it was okay, but didn't have much interest because at the time it was probably overshadowed by the Hot Water Music song, or Floor, or maybe Combatwoundedveteran.  Then I saw the name of the album it was on, which I still think to this day is stupid, I immediately passed them off as a joke band.  The next two albums that came out, I think I was only really acquainted with the lead single songs that came out.  I think I skipped New Wave in it's entirety when it first came out.  I listened to a few songs on White Crosses, based on the suggestion of someone who I used to listen to when they suggested new music.  But, still nothing clicked.  Then earlier this year, when I was doing my daily reviews, I decided to listen to Transgender Dysphoria Blues and pretty much loved it from the start.  After this point, I decided to go back and determine if I had missed something previously.  I started at the beginning and worked my way back to the newest album and noticed that I had, in fact, been missing out for a long time.  Since this point, I have listened to on average one Against Me! album a day for probably the last three months and they have become one of my current favorite bands.  They are also pretty high up on the "bands I want to see live" list.

The second band that I was wrong about is Opeth, although this may be to a lesser degree, at least so far.  I went to a festival in Cleveland in the summer of 2005, I was incredibly hung over and was having a hard time focusing most of the day.  These guys played some time in the middle of they day and it was in a large amphitheater setting, which I almost never have good luck with when it comes to new bands.   I remember sitting down during their set, and while I recognized how talented they were, I was not feeling it at all.  Since then I have sworn up and down that this band was just boring and I didn't have any interest in listening to them.  I remember times where friends would have played them while we are all hanging out and maybe I might have even done some head nodding or finger tap drumming along with them.  But, overall I was still pretty middle of the road on them.  Then yesterday, I decided to listen to the newest album and found myself enjoying it immensely.  They have made a significant progression from a death metal band to a fairly progressive rock sound.  There was no metal vocals on the record, but they do still have a small amount of heaviness to them still.  It has a similar feel to me as Porcupine Tree, which makes sense as they have been working with Steven Wilson on Production/Mixing for a little bit now.  I haven't gone back in to the catalog deeper, yet.  But, I've been told the album previous to this is a very similar sound, so I'll be checking that out next.

Finally, the third band that I misjudged, which I also discovered my error yesterday, is The National.  I have for a couple years now just assumed they were a generic, indie rock band.  Like with Opeth, I am only one album in to listening to them.  But, based on that first full listen, I think there is a little more depth to this band then I gave them credit for.  There is a post-punk vibe that I really enjoyed.  The singer has a pretty unique voice and a few lyrics grabbed me here and there.  I don't have a real good story for this one about why I didn't give them more of a chance later.  I think my only real interaction with their music before was random songs that I heard driving around Tampa in my friend's car.  

So yeah, the first step to recovery was admitting I was wrong and the next step is to investigate the catalogs of Opeth and The National, a little deeper, to see what else I like there.  But, now I'm starting to wonder how many more bands I am missing out on, because I have misjudged them.  So, with a vacation coming up next week, I think Spotify and I are going to be doing some digging.

Happy belated 20th birthday Helmet - Betty!

Well, I failed miserably to complete the 365 new albums in the course of one year.  But, I have been listening to a lot of new music still.  It just  was a little too ambitious for a flake like me to stick to the schedule and writing up something every day.  I'll put together a list shortly of things that I have listened to in the last couple months and enjoyed.  Also, I didn't want to completely stop writing about music.   But, I don't want to tie it all to a single theme, that I am going to probably change my mind about down the road, like the previous attempt this year.  So, I'll probably just write about things as I get the motivation to write about things.  

Which brings me to today.  It came to my attention that a couple days ago, Helmet's Betty became twenty years old.  I have an odd relationship with this album, and I guess to a larger extent, this band.  I started getting back into heavy music at the beginning of the 90's and Helmet was one of the bands that  was able to hit both sides of a lot of fences.  They had some popularity, but were still a pretty unknown band to the world as a whole.  They were heavy, but had melody.  They could appeal to metal heads, hardcore kids, punks, the college rock crowd, experimental music fans, and in a more influential role, the newly forming, shudder inducing nu metal genre.  I got my first taste when I was listening to a tape a friend had made that had the song Sinatra, off the first LP, on it.  I didn't quite get them yet at this point, but at least the band's name was on my radar.  I then heard the name again, on Headbanger's Ball a year, or two, later and the opening bass line of Unsung, off of the second LP Meantime came in and even before the intro finished and the riffs hit, I was hooked.  I could not tell you how many times I have listened to my copy of Meantime, it hit me at easily the best time of my life for music.  Meantime is the reason I first heard about this band still listen to them over 20 years later, but Meantime is not the best album that Helmet put out.  It may remain my favorite to this day, for nostalgia or for the amount of times I have smashed the song You Borrowed into my brain, but what they did next is pretty close to perfect in my eyes, although it wasn't an immediate realization.

Which then brings me to 1994 and 16 year old me got his hands on the first taste of what would come from this album from the Crow soundtrack with the song Milktoast, an alternate version of the song Milquetoast that would come out on Betty a few months later.  The song was heavy enough, and seemed to fit into the mold of what I expected the new album to sound like.  That summer, one of the last truly carefree summers of my youth.....the summer between junior and senior year of high school, I picked up the new album,  Upon my first listen, as the opening track Wilma's Rainbow started playing, all was right, this was exactly what Helmet was about.  It had that stompy feel, it had fuzzy guitars, it had strong vocals all on a song that could easily have been found on the album I had worn out over the last 2 years.  The next song begins, starts off mellow, but once it kicks in, it's just straight heaviness with shouted, brutal vocals.  Then comes Biscuits For Smut, and things got a little sour.  It's a weird song, which at 16 I couldn't handle, but now the song flows just fine.  Things were fine again for the next couple songs and the Rollo, which is another song with weird vocals.  These songs, again to 16 year old me, really broke up the flow of the album, and I was still soured while listening to songs that are arguably some of my favorite songs on the album, which come right after them.  Then after a couple more songs, they throw in the song Beautiful Love, a cover of an old Waltz standard.  After a fairly straight forward intro, the song gets the abrasive, noisy treatment.  The Silver Hawaiian, which comes in two songs later is another of the weird songs and then ending with Sam Hell, a slower banjo fueled blues song.

Over the course of the last twenty years, as I have indicated, I have grown to not have any issues with the weird songs that break up the album, and even enjoy them.  They don't so much stop the flow of the album, as I once thought, but instead offer a breather between the heaviness of the other songs on the album.  I have been using the term weird for some of these songs, but that is just how I used to think about them when I was younger.  I have come to appreciate things that aren't as straight forward over the years, which has helped to progress my thoughts on this album as a whole, and I probably shouldn't think about them so much as weird as trying out different things.  Songs like I Know and Milquetoast, which bookend Biscuits for Smut, would both be placed in my top 5 Helmet songs and maybe now I might think they benefit from having the song in between.  The feedback noise ending to Beautiful Love transitions perfectly into the beginning of the fantastic Speechless.  There are less shouted vocals on this album than in the past, but that isn't a bad thing because on the songs that utilize the more abrasive vocals, they stand out even more, like on TIC and the ending of Street Crab.  There isn't a song on this album that I don't appreciate to this day and could listen to over the course of a full album or even individually.  Relistening to this album almost makes me forgot about the fact that they reunited in 2006 and are now putting out garbage.

Finally, this is not so much a review as it is just my thoughts about this almost completely perfect album that hit an age where I felt it need to be talked about.  This is also about the different ways I viewed this record at the age of sixteen as I did at thirty-six.  In fact, if I had written about this album every year for the last twenty, you would probably see an increase almost yearly of how much I talk about the positives of the record and take away the negatives.  Because, as it (I) keeps getting older, it just keeps getting better and better.

Day 91: Wisdom in Chains - We Never Sleep

Artist:  Wisdom in Chains
Album:  We Never Sleep
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  I have a weird listening history with this band.  I go through phases of listening to them a whole bunch and then a phase of not listening to them for a couple years.  Usually, I am retriggered to listen to them after seeing them live, because they have never disappointed with the live show.  They are a hardcore band that has definite punk and oi influences.  They have also been around for 12 years already and put out a ton of music in that timeframe with something like 5 albums and some EP's and splits.  This is the new EP.  The first side are two new Wisdom in Chains songs, then the second side are two Product of Waste covers.

Initial Reaction:  The first song, Exodus opens on the slower side of things.  It has some "woah wo-oah" parts and a solo in the middle of it.  The song seems to be about his place in the underground hardcore, punk scene. 

 
Random Thoughts:  The second song rips in and starts out as a much faster song off the bat.  The song slows down after a quick intro.  This is a song of nostalgia, and being fearless in youth.  The two cover songs are by Product of Waste and appear to be a tribute for the singer of that band, who died in an accident last year.  I never got too into Product of Waste, but from the more immediate, faster hardcore sound to these two covers, I think maybe I need to rethink that and go back and check them out.    

Final Reaction:  This was a bit of a teaser for upcoming release later in the year.  It was a pretty standard showing for this band, nothing that made me want to go on a listening binge, although I did go back and listen to Cap City real quick while on their page.  They mix hardcore, punk, and oi pretty well.  I just usually have to be in a mood for this.  Overall, it did enough for me to want to check out the full length later this year.  

Final Grade:  6.5/10

Day 90: Floor - Oblation

Artist:  Floor
Album:  Oblation
Source:  http://pitchfork.com/advance/403-oblation/

Pre-listening Notes:  The first time I heard Floor was on a No Idea Records compilation, with a song being that was a heavy, sludge tune that didn't really separate itself from a lot of the stuff I was listening to back then.  Fast forward about five years later and the next time is another No Idea Records compilation and the song is Scimitar.  This is the first listen of what I found out to be the first track on one of my favorite heavy albums of all time.  Floor self titled is a mix of equal parts heavy, melodic, upbeat tempo, sludgey riffs, and just about everything a metal band could want to put together and it blends it pretty amazingly.  I could not say enough good things about that album and the memories of all the times I've listened to it.  Then they broke up.  With Steve Brooks forming Torche, another awesome band, and Henry Wilson forming Dove, who were completely underrated.  Many years later, a reunion tour took place and it appeared to all the people involved that maybe there was more Floor left in them and a full on reunion was announced last year.  Here is the first, of let's hope many, album to come out.

Initial Reaction:  The album starts out with a promising sludge riff and then the outstanding vocals that came about on the self titled album and continued on into Torche, which treaded more into a poppy metal sound.  The first song, the title track, continues along at a slow pace with a heavy riff topped with sung, repeating vocals to form a nice intro. 

Random Thoughts:  The second song opens more upbeat with a song that sounds similar to an early Torche song, which is where I think Steve Brooks songwriting might have been going before the Floor breakup.  The song may touch a little more on the poppy side of things, but it still has an underlying heaviness to it.  There is some cool heavier breaks towards the end of the song.  Trick Scene opens and separates itself immediately from the poppier sound.  Thick, sludgy guitars that plod along until about the halfway point of the song and it breaks into a doom part.  This song is what I was hoping for from this.  Not that the first two songs were bad, but this one just sounds like classic Floor.  Find Away, which was the second song that was premiered off this album a few months ago, didn't hit me immediately back then.  It has since, with repeated listens, faired a little better over the months.  This is another one, though, that almost has an early Torche sound to it.  The slip a quick, upbeat, instrumental song into the mix before breaking the song New Man, which is a cool driving rhythm to it some quality melodic vocals to it.  The second pre release song, Sister Sophia, is up next.  This song has a similar sound to New Man to it, and was easily my favorite of the three pre release songs that came out.  The Quill, the album's second instrumental track, brings back in some more heaviness to it.  Love Comes Crushing has a slower, more sludge feel to it.  War party is the final pre release song on the album, but was the first taste of new Floor that I had heard in a decade.  Homegoings and Transitions opens with a weird guitar sound and ends with vocals over silence.  The song, Sign of Aeth, which is about nine minutes in length could have been shortened in my eyes.  The album ends on two shorter songs that basically fit in with the album as a whole. 

Final Reaction:  There are elements of what made the self titled Floor album so perfect in this album.  There are also hints that the first few years of Torche material is probably a similar sound to where Floor was going to head had they not broken up a decade ago.  This isn't as heavy as that album, but it still has it's heavy moments.  It's different and with any band that puts out such an amazing album, the follow up is going to be hard.  Then magnify that with the fact that there is a 12 year gap and a whole heaping pile of praise and hype have been layered on top of that timeframe.  I find it hard to believe that this album is going to get a fair shake from most people at first glance, myself included.  I will have to give this repeated listens to really digest everything.  But, on first glance, it's a good Floor record, but not great.  

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 89: Kelis - Food

Artist:  Kelis
Album:  Food
Source:  http://www.npr.org/2014/04/08/300284423/first-listen-kelis-food#playlist

Pre-listening Notes:  Kelis will probably always be remembered for the song Milkshake.  Up this point, that is just one song on five pretty well received albums, though, with this being album six for her.  She mixes a R&B, soul, dance, pop, and a hip hop into her music.  Her first two albums were both produced by The Neptunes, but then since she has diversified the production credits a bit on her next three albums.  Now, with this album she has gone back to a single producer, Dave Sitek, who is a founding member and has produced all of the TV on the Radio albums, so I am interested to see the tone of this record.  I am seeing that there is more electronic stuff mentioned for this album and even a trip hop feel.  So, here goes.

Initial Reaction:  The opener, Breakfast, starts off with a nice beat and after an opening segment some horns.  There is some funk influences in this and I'm loving these horns.  Vocally, Kelis sounds great and the sound in the headphones is fantastic, the production on this if great.  Nice upbeat, dancy opener, hope this sets the tone for this album.

Random Thoughts:  The second song, Jerk Ribs, which I think is the first single, opens with some kids talking that kind of meld into a chant to start the song.  This song seems to be a love song to someone.  There are more horns in this.  Also, I think NPR actually mislabeled these first two songs.  There is a line in this song that says "maybe we'll make it to breakfast' in this song, so I'm guessing the first song was Jerk Ribs and this is actually Breakfast.  Either way, both of the two songs have been pretty upbeat and awesome and makes excellent use of the horns that I've mentioned.  I will now mention that all of the instrumentation that is being used on this is pretty great, as I am pretty sure I've heard a violin and maybe some organ in there too.  Floyd slows it down a lot and the soul singer in her comes crashing out.  This is pretty great.  The song, Bless the Telephone starts out with an nice, simple guitar, and has Kelis singing along with a male voice.  I am not sure who it is, but the upon looking it up on the internet, this is apparently a cover by a British musician, Labi Siffre.  Biscuits n' Gravy is another one that uses piano and Kelis's voice in pretty great harmony.

Final Reaction:  This was excellent.  I had sort of lost touch with Kelis over the last couple albums, but this one has brought me right back.  There is no trip hop (as it sounds like that sound was scrapped for a more classic soul sound), but there is a fine blend of soul and R&B, and almost a bit of a indie rock influence in there.  The horns run rampant all over the album, but somehow are not overused and fit in perfectly.  There is a nice variety in tempos and styles to keep this interesting throughout the album.  I would not only listen to this again, I would even consider buying a copy of this.


Final Grade:  9.0/10

Day 88: Death - Death III

Artist:  Death
Album:  Death III
Source:  http://www.npr.org/2014/04/13/300585559/first-listen-death-death-iii

Pre-listening Notes:  This is a compilation from the band Death.  Not the death metal band, Death, but the proto-punk band, Death, from the 70's.  I, like most of the world, had probably never heard of this band before the documentary, A Band Called Death.  They were three brothers from Detroit, who started out playing R&B and moved towards a more rock approach after becoming acquainted with The Who, and other more energetic bands.  They never really were recognized during their time, but have been gaining some attention now (some 40 years later) and have even played some shows over the last few years.  

Initial Reaction:  The first track starts off with some guitar and bass sounds kind of jumbled up, before rolling together into the opening song, which is an instrumental and has a very raw feel to it.  It has a very demoish feel to it.

Random Thoughts:  The second song, North Street, sounds more polished.  This has a very similar vibe to late 60's, early 70's Detroit rock to it.  The comparisions to the MC5 are easily made.  Though they don't sound like a rip off.  I like the vocals, a lot.  There is the raw, soon to be punkish vibe, but there are the more melodic parts too, with cool harmonies.  It was a nice mix.  The third song, Open Road, showcases even more melody.  The song ends a little abruptly on this one, which almost leads me to believe this song may not have been completely finished.  We Are Only People is a bit of a ballad and lyrically seems to try to be a little more philosophical, but then kicks in and rocks a little more towards the end.  I like this half of the song better.  I do like how it was sort of a like a sneak attack in the tempo change.  Restlessness was one of my favorites on this, it had a nice driving drum beat and the guitar and bass fit nicely over it.  The vocals were good and the lyrics had a nice bookended theme to it.  His voice reminds me of Jimi at times.  Free had another demoish feel to it, like it was almost unfinished.  

Final Reaction:  I know that this compilation spans some different time periods and this is the third release for the band, with previous albums probably holding the bulk of the best songs they record.  But, there is some pretty good stuff in here too.  I enjoyed this and this band got overlooked hard when they were around.  The idea of what they could have put out with a little bit of assistance from labels and maybe some quality production work kind of interests me.  I will now go back and listen to the other stuff that has been released, that I have been sleeping on.  

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 87: The Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast

Artist:  The Afghan Whigs
Album:  Do to the Beast
Source:  http://www.npr.org/2014/04/06/297714232/first-listen-the-afghan-whigs-do-to-the-beast

Pre-listening Notes:  I was never a gigantic Afghan Whigs fan, but the album Gentlemen is an outstanding record.  This is the first album the band has put out in the last 16 years, most of which was spent while broken up and with the members working on other bands.  They are an alternative rock band that came started hitting it's stride somewhere around the rise of alternative rock in early to mid 90's.  Take that for what you'd like, but they never quite fit in with that whole scene, at least as I saw it.  They definitely had some punk roots and they were influenced by R&B a little for sure.  Like I said, I was never a huge fan, so I'm not going to be able to go on and on gushing about them here, but maybe this record will make me want to go back and really get into their back catalog more than I have.

Initial Reaction:  After some technical difficulties getting the album up and running, I am now listening.  The album starts off with drums and some sporadic guitars.  Greg Dulli's vocals kick in and it's got a dirty, sexy vibe to the song.  It's got a nice driving rhythm and hits on pretty much all points.  The music is good and Dulli's vocals are strong.  The song is filling the headphones real nicely and I'm glad I chose to listen to it this way.

Random Thoughts:  This has an almost dancey vibe to it.  Or maybe it's not so much a dance vibe as they just write songs that they think people would want to have sex to, that's another feeling I get from it.  The third song, It Kills, starts off with some piano and some mellower singing.  It picks up a little after the intro section, but it's still the most subdued song of the first three.  Dulli has some range vocally on this song, there is a point where he sounds almost like Prince.  Great song.  Algiers, has a bit of a country vibe going on, and the pace is slower, but it's another good song.  At first, I thought the song Lottery might have been the first miss on the album, but all of a sudden, I got a sense of this is awesome.  Royal Cream is another one of the more sexier upbeat songs.  The album ends strong with These Sticks.  Nice driving, slower song.    

Final Reaction:  I don't know if this will hit with the long time fans, but I liked this a lot.  It's got a pretty decent variety to it.  There are upbeat, sexy songs.  There are slow tempo songs that would sound pretty great in an altered state of mind.  The pieces all work well together, which I'm sure has a lot to do with Dulli writing all the songs and for all intents and purposes is a great songwriter.  His voice still sounds great as he is pushing fifty.  I enjoyed each song on this album, including a few that I found myself singing lines to the song after it ended and before the next one began.  It also has done what I had hoped, I now want to go digging deeper into the back catalog.  

Final Grade: 8.5/10

Day 86: Iron Reagan - Spoiled Identity

Artist:  Iron Reagan
Album:  Spoiled Identity EP
Source:  http://ironreagan.bandcamp.com/

Pre-listening Notes:  I didn't listen to this band, for the first time, until the split with Exhumed that I reviewed back in January, which I really liked.  I have since gone and checked out the LP, which I also liked a lot.  It's crossover.  This EP looks like the speed is going to be ramped up a bit, with thirteen songs and only one of them topping a minute and about half of them don't even hit the twenty second mark.

Initial Reaction:  The first song hits hard and fast in about 11 seconds.  Nothing more to say than, it's a ripper.

Random Thoughts:  Even though some songs are only twelve seconds, they don't all just rip through with speed.  Zero Gain starts off slow and throws a little blast of speed in at the very end.  The title track, the previously referenced title track, starts out with a twenty second intro and then comes through with the best song in my eyes.  Your kids an asshole is seven seconds of just letting you know that your kid is, indeed, an asshole over and over.  Cops Don't Like Me, I Don't Like Cops rips through about twenty-five seconds with unrelenting speed.

Final Reaction:  This will tide the world over until the new LP is done, for Relapse.  It's fast, pissed, and pretty awesome.  It comes in at under five minutes, total.  I almost couldn't keep up with comments, because by the time I finished a sentence a new song, with a new ripping idea was raging through.  But, that doesn't mean they don't pack in a bunch of different ideas and it doesn't leave you wanting more.  I'm definitely becoming a fan of this band, fast.  

Final Grade:  8.0/10

Day 85: Off! - Wasted Years

Artist:  Off!
Album:  Wasted Years        
Source:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?_r=4&

Pre-listening Notes:  Keith Morris is vocally responsible for one of the three best hardcore seven inches of all time, as well as two awesome LP's with the Circle Jerks.  When I heard he was forming Off!, I honestly thought there was no way he was going to be able to pull it off, considering his age.  Then tons of people started raving about the string of EP's that followed and I ignored it.  Then they put out an LP and I ignored it.  Finally, I gave the EP's a listen and it was decent, but I wasn't convinced.  Then I didn't love the first LP and I feel like I'm about the only one not loving this band.  So, here is my final attempt to love this band.

Initial Reaction:  The album opens with the song Void You Out, which is fast, and has that sound similar to the early 80's hardcore scene.  Maybe I was just missing it with previous releases, but this song rips.  I'm still not 100% on Morris's vocals, they are notably weaker than his youth, which is not a surprise considering he is getting close to sixty at this point.  But, overall this might just have the vibe I was hoping this band would have.

Random Thoughts:  I love the idea that only one of sixteen songs come in over two minutes long.  The second song has a creepy crawly breakdown in it.  No Easy Escape opens with some trademark Keith Morris talky part.  If I ignore the fact that his voice just doesn't sound the same, this is pretty decent.  Lyrically, it's got a touch of political, a touch of social injustices, a touch of outcast relating.  So far, this has all been short, fast, and to the point.  The drumming, provided by the great Mario Rubalcaba, is pretty much on point through this whole thing.  I guess for a bunch of old timers, the energy that flows out of this is kind of unreal.  As the songs moved on, I sort of got used to the slightly weaker vocals.  

Final Reaction:  I think I need to revisit the EP's and first LP.  I liked this.  Keith Morris has been doing this for a really long time and still seems to love doing what he is doing, which I can respect.  The music is fast and great.  I got used to the vocals about halfway through the album.  Lyrically, it's punk, but not in a way that it seems weird for a dude in his 50's to be singing.  Modern hardcore and punk bands can learn a lot from Keith Morris and this band.  If someone who has been around since basically the start can still do it and enjoy doing what he is doing, then someone who is young and full of life and energy should have no problems doing it.

Final Grade: 7.0/10

Day 84: Cult Leader - Nothing For Us Here

Artist:  Cult Leader
Album:  Nothing For Us Here
Source:  http://www.slugmag.com/articles/7415/Cult-Leader-ndash-Nothing-For-Us-Here.html

Pre-listening Notes:  Cult Leader is three quarters of Gaza, who put out an extraordinary album in 2012 called No Absolutes in Human Suffering.  That album was brutal and punishing metal that was parts grind, sludge, and hardcore.  This new band is all but the vocalist of Gaza, with the bassist moving to vocals and a new bassist coming in to fill his shoes.  The Deathwish bio says metal, hardcore, punk and compares them to Converge and Coalesce.  Both bands I am fond of.

Initial Reaction:  It opens with feedback and distant vocals.  I'm assuming this is an intro, as it is only about a minute and a half long.  The vocals sound strained and seem to be pissed off about God and there being nothing for us here.

Random Thoughts:  Alright, so Flightless Birds kicks in and I can see the comparisons to Coalesce, it is sort of an extension of Gaza, but still different.  It's got sludgy parts, faster almost blasty parts, and the vocals are very Sean Ingramish.  It reminds me a lot of Premonitions of War, as well, which makes sense because they were heavily influenced by Coalesce.  The contrasting more screamy vocals that accompany the end part with the growls of the main vocalist are pretty cool.  The next song, Mongrel, kicks in with the more screamy vocals over a guitar riff, reminds me a little of Trap Them, then the bass and drums kick in.  The songs all seem to be of the shorter variety, in the two to three minute range.  The fourth song, Indoctrinator's Deathbed is the best, so far.  The closing track, comes in at six minutes long, slows things down considerably.

Final Reaction:  This is something I would have eaten up in the late 90's, early 2000's.  Similarly to Gaza, there are definite comparisons to the bands that blended metal and hardcore in ways that I loved a lot back in those days.  However, there is just something missing from this that would send me into the realm of "gotta buy this, gotta see them, gotta buy merch".  To the best of my knowledge, very few bands are playing this style these days.  It's got a lot of parts that I like and I'd be interested to see where they go next.  While this may have just fallen a little short of what I was hoping for, I could see a few tweaks getting this to the point of something I would get all excited for.

Final Grade: 7.0/10

Day 83: Swans - To Be Kind

Artist:  Swans
Album:  To Be Kind
Source:  It's a secret

Pre-listening Notes:  Swans are a tough band to describe.  They were around for 15 years originally, then reunited about 4 years ago, so they are coming close to being a band for 20 years, although they started over 30 years ago.  I didn't get into them until during the breakup.  I started just checking them out because I saw a bunch of bands, and musicians, that I liked name checking them.  This is album thirteen total and the third since reuniting.  The last one, The Seer, was one of my favorites from 2012.  It's post everything (rock/punk/no wave/experimental/art rock/whatever) and it's all those things at the same time.  It takes some focus to really enjoy, but once you do, you can put it on and just kind of let it wash over you.  This is broken down into two discs, with five songs each.  The shortest song is five minutes long and the longest is about thirty four.  I'm going to give this a whirl with headphones on.    

Initial Reaction:  It starts off with an intro of bass, drums, and a little synthesizer.  The vocals kick in and the song plods along adding in some guitar and piano.  The song is giving me a sense of anticipation.  There is some chaos to the song towards the back end adding some additional instrumentation and hitting that point I was anticipating.  That was a nice build up to the ending.  So far, one for one on songs.

Random Thoughts:  Nice stoned out feel to the start of this second song.  Nice and minimal, with some parts where Michael Gira going off vocally.  The laughter part sounded pretty neat in my headphones.  As it plods along, it starts to intensify in parts, with some other sound effects popping in along with more instances of the laughter parts.  The song has a definite bluesy feel to it, which makes sense considering the title references Chester Burnett, also known as Howlin' Wolf, a fairly prominent blues musician.  Track three, A Little God in My Hands, kicks in with a funky, upbeat intro.  A decent contrast to the downer feel of the previous song.  Nice break into a chaotic noise part and then back to the rhythm of the opening part again. The layers of sound at the end of this song are exploding through the headphones and I am loving this.  The next song, or what appears to be two songs combined, name checks the man who lead the revolution that created the independent state of Haiti (I didn't know that off the top of my head, I had to look it up).  It's thirty four minutes long and starts off with some heavy drumming and a droney guitar riff.  It then drops down to a slow, droney pace again, with another anticipation build up.  Then about nine minutes into this song, it hits me hard.  This is excellent!  The second song in this piece starts off with more of the experimental side, with Michael Gira just yelling Toussaint L'Ouverture's name and it ends with a noisey, chaotic part.  The final track on disc one is a song called Some Things We Do, which is very minimal musically and vocally it is just a list of, quite literally, things that human beings do.  And on to disc two.  She Loves Us! picks right up and has a similar vibe to some songs on disc one.  It's got the droney parts, mixed with more spastic parts, and also contains the lyrics "fuck" and "Hallelujah" probably close to 100 times each.  Oxygen starts with fuzzed out guitar and then kicks in with a nice faster paced song.  With only two more songs, Oxygen has been my favorite of the songs, so far.  And the album ends on the title track.  Which opens with very sparse music, which is mostly piano, and vocals.  It kicks in about the five minute mark and ends chaotically.

Final Reaction:  This band is not for everyone, that's for sure.  For me, this was pretty great, though.  Listening the first time through headphones was a great idea.  In the future, I can see me probably only listening to one disc at a time, as two full hours of this got a little tough to digest towards the end.  This is all over the map, but it has a definite underlying tone and theme that stays throughout all ten songs.  I started to lose a little focus towards the end.  This fell a little short of what The Seer did for me, but ultimately it's definitely something I'll come back to.  

Final Grade: 8.5/10

Day 82: Wolfmother - New Crown

Artist:   Wolfmother
Album:  New Crown
Source:  http://wolfmother.bandcamp.com/album/new-crown

Pre-listening Notes:  I liked the first Wolfmother record.  Not a lot, but enough to give this third album a shot  I, honestly, didn't know they put a second album out, so I don't know if that one is any good.  The first one, though, had some cool stuff on it.  It had it's hard rock base to it, with some occasional stoner rockish riffs and even a little psychedelic parts here and there. 
        
Initial Reaction:  Well this sounds exactly like I expected.  It's got the upbeat thing working for it.  It's not heavy enough to be considered metal, but that's fine.  I suppose not everything has to be heavy.  There is some slower, heavier sounding parts, but it is not just heavy for heavy's sake.  Now having said all that, something seems out of place with this.        

Random Thoughts:  As the second song kicks in, I have that strange feeling that this is just going to be a rehash of bands I already listen to.  It does appear that sometimes this is going to slow down for a song that doesn't bring enough sludge to it to make this song interesting.  And as each song goes on, I realize why I didn't pursue this band any further.  They don't have enough variety to them.  I lost interest around middle of the album and became more attentive to what I was doing than what I was listening to.   

Final Reaction:  If you like a modern take on classic rock and don't mind a lack of variety or uniqueness, this might be for you.  If you would rather just listen to Zeppelin, do that.  This really lacked any real oomph to it, it started off and I was thinking there was a chance I might like it, but really I'll just go back and listen to the 4 or 5 songs off the first album that I really dug and never listen to this again.     

Final Grade:  3.5/10

Day 81: Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars

Artist:   Johnny Cash
Album:  Out Among the Stars
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  Johnny record this album in 1981, but the label shelved the album.  I'm sure everyone knows what to expect from Johnny.  I can't imagine this will be stylistically too different than  his catalog.  It'll be country, but it will be infinitely cooler than anything country. 
        
Initial Reaction:  The first song, the title track, is a great upbeat country song with the classic, strong vocals that he does best.  The lyrics weave a great story.  Hopefully this song is a start to a cool album of lost songs.  Things don't usually get shelved for no reason, but this particular song, I'm not sure why this was not released 30 years ago.      

Random Thoughts:  Second song is also pretty good, with additional vocals from June.  The trade off vocals from these two always seem to compliment each other pretty nicely.  Things slow down a little for the song She Used to Love Me A Lot, which was released as a single ahead of time.  It slows down even more for After All, which is a nice piano ballad.  I honestly have no idea why these songs took this long to see the light of day, this is better than I was expecting.  I'm digging on most of these songs.  I could do without the religions songs. 

Final Reaction:  This was pretty darn good.  I like to listen to Johnny every once in a while.  I usually reach for the greatest hits packages or Folsom, but this has me thinking I need to dig into his back catalog a little deeper.  Country music is not usually something that I am fond of, but the badassery of Johnny Cash helps to almost make the feel of his songs seem closer to rock and roll than country.  I have no idea why it took this long to get this out, but it was worth it.     

Final Grade:  7.5/10

Day 80: Fireworks - Oh, Common Life

Artist:   Fireworks
Album:  Oh, Common Life
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  This is the Michigan based Fireworks, I think there was also one in like Canada or Virginia, or both.  Another pop-punk/melodic hardcore/indie rock not quite one, but a bunch of different genre, bands.  I think I saw these guys once, but that might have been one of the other bands that share this name.  I'm not sure that I remember them if I did, but it's another new to me band, even if they have been around for like eight years.
        
Initial Reaction:  It's leaning more towards the poppier side of things.  It's got that polished sound that bands seem to hit and then blow up on.  This is probably one of the new bands to fall in love with for this genre.  Or maybe they are more popular than I think and they already have.  Either way, this may not be my thing, but it's well executed.       

Random Thoughts:  Oh wow, the vocals got even poppier.  This song is less pop punk and more alternative rock.  I can't shake the feeling that this vocalist sounds a lot like the singer of Fallout Boy, but it could just be that I only vaguely remember what the singer of Fallout Boy sounds like.  Then this just go all kinds of dancey sounding, and the pop just keeps coming.  This is definitely not for me.  This reminds me a little bit of where Saves the Day started heading, musically, after Through Being Cool. 

Final Reaction:  This is not in my wheelhouse, but I can see this band being a lot of people's favorite band.  It's a little too sugary for me, but I didn't hate listening to it, which is saying something, I guess.  I'll be high school kids across America are going to eat this up.    

Final Grade:  5.5/10

Day 79: Tycho - Awake

Artist:   Tycho
Album:  Awake
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  Some people are already branding this album of the year.  Others who aren't being so bold in their predictions have at least told me to listen to this.  It's instrumental, it's ambient, it's sort of electronic but not completely as he tours with live musicians.  I previewed a tiny bit of it the other day and it was good stuff to listen to while video gaming, which is what I am about to do.  So, here goes.
        
Initial Reaction:  It takes a lot to get me to enjoy instrumental stuff.  One big thing is it has to be dreamy and give me a sense of floating through the music when I listen to it.  This starts off and has it, which is why I decided to review it in the first place.  The songs don't seem to drag on too long on this.     

Random Thoughts:  The second song opens and I'm left feeling that there isn't a great deal of diversity in this.  That's not a bad thing, especially when you are looking more into just popping it on as a soundtrack to what you are doing.  This fits in nicely with Tristeza, as one of the insturmental artists that I could see myself putting on and listening to when I want to just relax and mellow out.       

Final Reaction:  This was pretty good for chill out music.  I could get behind listening to that on a more regular basis, I'll give that a whirl again when I'm in an even better mood for that type of music.  It's definitely on the electronic side of things, but there are what sounds like live instruments going on too.  It relaxed me a little more than I was, which I would think is sort of the purpose for this stuff.    

Final Grade:  7.5/10

Day 78: Twilight - Beneath Trident's Tomb

Artist:   Twilight
Album:  Beneath Trident's Tomb
Source:  http://pitchfork.com/advance/373-iii-beneath-tridents-tomb/

Pre-listening Notes:  American black metal, American post metal.  Whatever you are calling this, it's got Thurston Moore in it and Sonic Youth is one of the greatest bands.  It used to have Aaron Turner of Isis, but he seems to have left the band.  It's a Pitchfork stream, so it's got hipster cred.  Here goes.
        
Initial Reaction:  Feedback into a chaotic riff, drum, and vocal part.  It's abrasive, I can dig that.  I'm not entirely sure who is playing on this.  Blake Judd may have already left the band or maybe he left after the recording of this.  There is some Neurosis like vibe going on in the background, outside of the main vocals.   

Random Thoughts:  It's not as heavy as I would like.  My need for heaviness when it comes to black metal isn't satiated as often as it is in other sub genres of metal.   There is some brutality to some of the songs, that I enjoyed.  However, this whole thing kind of blended together.     

Final Reaction:  I lost track of the songs while doing other things.  I can't say I was huge on this, but I also didn't hate it for what it was.  If I had to take a guess, I assume I will never listen to this again.  I'm not a huge fan of black metal to begin with and when you make it hipster black metal, I suppose my interest wains even more.  I'm sure this will make some people's top albums of the year, but not mine.    

Final Grade:  6.0/10

Day 77: Gameface - Now is What Matters Now

Artist:   Gameface
Album:  Now is What Matters Now
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  Up until about 2000, I loved this band.  Not that I decided to stop loving them, I just kind of forgot about them.  Every once in a while, I'll pull out an old album and put them on, but lyrically I just don't seem to feel the same way about them as I did in my college years.  So, they broke up, but then got back together or something.  This is their first album in a decade (I had no idea they put out an album in 2003), there are a few bands from this era/genre that have done this successfully, lets see if they can.
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, it's more poppy than I was expecting.  I don't know why, I guess I just thought that a decade later, they were going to come back with a mellower sound.  It's pretty catchy.  It's pretty pop punk sounding, not in the modern sense, but what was considered pop punk in the late 90's.     

Random Thoughts:  So far this sounds like it could have been written during the bands heyday, for better or worse.  Jeff Caudill's vocals still sound just about the same.  Okay, the second song dragged on a tiny bit too long.  The hook just got repeated a few too many times.  The songs are definitely catchy and given a totally different time in my life, I probably would be shouting how great this was from the rooftops.  It's actually really good, I'm not saying it's bad.  I just don't go crazy for this stuff the way I used to.  Some of the repeated parts get a little tedious, is probably my only complain up to this point.  The song Lifetime Achievement Award is a more punk than pop song, but the ending is just too damn cheesy.               

Final Reaction:  This really just sounds like a Gameface record.  This wasn't really what I was expecting to happen after not being a band for so long.  Like I said, if this had been me in college, I would have eaten this up.  That said, I might listen to this again once or twice more to make sure it's not a grower.  But, overall, this is pretty good.  I think if they play some shows, they could even gain the recognition of the some of the newer fans of this genre. 

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 76: Seahaven - Reverie Lagoon: Music For Escapism Only

Artist:   Seahaven
Album:  Reverie Lagoon:  Music For Escapism Only
Source:  https://soundcloud.com/tom-rfc/sets/seahaven-reverie-lagoon-music

Pre-listening Notes:  This is the first band that I am reviewing twice.  First off, the EP that came out a couple months ago got a 5.5 out of me, so I am not going into this with a ton of high expectations.  Second, I hate the name of the album.  Third, I have already seen comparisons to Brand New's God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me, so people are already putting this on an uphill climb to truly be appreciated.  So, yeah...low expectations for me, but high for a lot of people.
        
Initial Reaction:  It opens with a pretty mellow, minimal guitar and vocals.  I think this is just a super low key intro.  Let's hope they kick up the tempo a bit.   

Random Thoughts:  The second song, Andreas picks up the pace a little.  The singer's voice doesn't give me a ton of hope for this.  It's a little too nasally for me.  I think I compared the guy's voice to the singer of Coldplay the first go around.  This is doing nothing to change that opinion for me.  This has a very radio friendly vibe to it, I remember this song from the EP, the second time through doesn't endear it more to me, but I found myself remembering the pattern of the song a little.  I just wish this had a little more bite to it, the songs are very tame.  Finally halfway through the album I get a song that I kind of enjoy.  The song is Flesh, so far, it's really the only one that has hit me.             

Final Reaction:  This is just way too mellow and kind of boring for me.  I can see this going over huge, though, with the masses.  Every time I was hoping this would kick up into a higher gear, it just kind of slowly meandered down the path of slow and dull.  I wouldn't tell anyone to not listen to this based on my recommendation here, because this review is definitely more based on my personal tastes than their ability to make music and write songs here.  This just really doesn't do a lot for me and by the sixth song or so, I was just kind of tuning things out.

Final Grade:  4.5/10

Day 75: Lies - Abuse

Artist:   Lies
Album:  Abuse
Source:  http://thesearelies.bandcamp.com/

Pre-listening Notes:  This new band has members of The Hope Conspiracy, Living Eyes, and more.  It is tagged on bandcamp as hardcore, punk, dbeat, and USA.  So, that's what I know and now you know.  You know.
        
Initial Reaction:  Lifeless is a very common song/album name for hardcore bands.  It's fast, it's crusty, and there is feedback everywhere.  Nice punk breakdown about 50 seconds in after opening brutal.   

Random Thoughts:  This opening for song two is pretty chaotic.  Another fast song, I am sensing that this will be a theme, since all four songs fall within one and two minutes long.  Cool solo.  Another ripper, with a solo about halfway through.           

Final Reaction:  The songs flew by a little too fast for me to really dig into comments.  Overall, the music was fast and brutal.  I could have stood for a few more songs, since the total length on this was probably less than 6 minutes.  The vocals are either weak or just a little too low in the mix.  Other than that, this was pretty decent.

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 74: The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams

Artist:   The Hold Steady
Album:  Teeth Dreams
Source:  Itunes Radio

Pre-listening Notes:  I was really late to the game on The Hold Steady.  I heard Lifter Puller, front man Crain Finn's previous band, back, in the 90's, but wasn't a huge fan at the time.  I revisited them sometime about 3 or 4 years ago and decided to give his new band a shot.  I had always just taken them for some hipster garbage due to the look of that guy who isn't in the band anymore.  After devouring the first LP, Almost Killed Me, I have slowly worked myself into each album after and became kind of a fan.  They are a pretty great indie rock band that has some classic rock, and definitely a little punk, influences and a singer who likes to talk-sing.  Lyrically, there is a lot of storytelling with characters from songs coming in and out and even making repeat appearances on later albums.  There are also a lot of references, sometimes to partying, sometimes to places, and sometimes even obscure people.  If you called this hipster garbage, I wouldn't fight with you, but if you give it half a chance it's actually pretty good and catchy.
        
Initial Reaction:  The album opens with the great song I Hope This Whole Didn't Frighten You, which was one of the previously leaked tracks.  It's a catchy, classic sounding Hold Steady song, with a sing-a-long chorus.  Musically, the song has some great melody to it.   

Random Thoughts:  The second song, Spinners, is another example of the band just writes catchy, infectious music.  By the time you get to the second chorus, you're almost ready to at least mumble along.  The album seems to focus more on the classic rock sounds than previous albums.  They have always been there, but this one just seems to be a little more prominent.  Woah, The Ambassador really brings the "pretty".  This is a nice, slow, melodic, ballad.  This album hits on all the Springsteen influence elements, for sure.  Halfway point, this is great.  The second half opens strong with the song, Big Cig, which is almost a dancey song.  Wait a While delivers, yet again, on a catchy guitar hooks and lines to a chorus that you will still be singing hours after you stop listening.  Another ballad!  Almost Everything digs more into the nostalgic past of Finn.  It ends on two slow songs, which might be the only hiccup in my eyes.   

Final Reaction:  This is a really, really good record.  I already liked this band and because of this record I will continue to do so.  They didn't break any new ground, but they also didn't just release a stale version of any previous album.  They mixed it up enough to make it seem fresh, but kept it close enough to home that you wouldn't mistake this for anything other than a Hold Steady record.  Will listen again......lots of times.                 

Final Grade:  8.5/10

Day 73: Taking Back Sunday - Happiness Is

Artist:   Taking Back Sunday
Album:  Happiness Is
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  I have no shame in admitting that I love this band.  I have liked each and every album they have put out.  I've enjoyed each time I've seen them play.  And here is another album I'm kind of excited to listen to.  It helps that a lot of bands that I've been listening to for years are still putting out great albums.    
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, so the intro is just a violin and cello and maybe a vocal, or two.     

Random Thoughts:  Song two kicks in and after a fake opening leading me to believe it's going to be a rocker, it breaks down into a mellow song.  Alright, there is some driving parts in the chorus, but it's still on the mellower side.  Alright, that was a pretty good opening song, even if it was track two.  I love the catchiness.  They have always been top notch with that.  The energy seems to be more subdued on this album, but the sing-a-long parts are still a plenty.  Like you do sounds like the most "classic" sounding Taking Back Sunday song on the record.  The songs seem to be a little more cohesive on this album than on the last couple and thematically sound more alike.    

Final Reaction:  Who am I kidding, I wasn't going to give this a bad review unless it totally blew.  Which it doesn't.  I don't think I'll ever stop liking this band.  As long as Eddie Reyes and Adam Lazzara remain in this band and honestly I can't imagine them going on under this name if either left, they will remain the catchiest, and best band of this genre.  I just wish the genre they play in didn't take them out on the road with The Used, and some equally awful bands.  But, like all their previous records, I'll be relistening to this a lot.                 

Final Grade:  8.0/10

Day 72: Earth Crisis - Salvation of Innocents

Artist:   Earth Crisis
Album:  Salvation of Innocents
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  Okay, so I have been sick lately and now I have a lot of catching up to do.  The good news is, I get to start with the new album by one of my favorite metallic hardcore (metalcore, whatever) bands.  Earth Crisis has always been kind of polarizing, due to their persistent themes of animal liberation and straight edge.  I think I remember reading that this album was going to only focus on the themes of animal liberation, which suits me better than the straight edge songs, but truthfully, I like those too.  I've been pretty alright with the last couple releases, after they got back together.  Bad news on this, I heard there are some very Slitherish parts on this album, which was the album they put out right before breaking up the first time.  Hopefully the Slither parts are kept to a minimum.  
        
Initial Reaction:  This first song, De-Desensitize was one of the songs I think they released as a preview.  The song starts out fast and then has a pretty great breakdown about 45 seconds in.  This fits right along with pretty much any Earth Crisis release out there.  It's got a heaviness and you Karl sounds like he's still really pissed that all animals are not free from captivity.     

Random Thoughts:  Another song that starts out fast with some quick riffing.  Out of the Cages definitely has to be heavy on their animal themes.  Okay, the song Shiver has a weird part in it, but otherwise is pretty brutal.  If that is the worst of the parts that I had read about, I'm totally okay with this.  So far, through four songs, this is pretty awesome.  Alright, Razors Through Flesh, ups the heaviness on the moshier part.  And another less than super heavy party creeps it head into the sixth song, Depraved Indifference, which has it's heavy moments too.  Okay, more and more weird singy parts keep peaking in to these songs as the album wears on.  But then songs start like The Pallid Surgeon and it's real brutal and it makes me want to go and break the cages open of every imprisoned animal ever.  The album closes pretty heavy.                 

Final Reaction:  Overall, this was pretty great.  This will never be Destroy the Machines or Gomorrah's Season Ends, but it's also almost two decades after both of those albums have been released and it's okay for Earth Crisis to do something slightly different.  I could have done with less singing, but it wasn't enough to completely negate the heavy and brutal parts.  Cool record, probably one I can sing along to without looking stupid.  I'll listen to this again.              

Final Grade:  7.5/10

Day 71: The Shrine - Bless Off

Artist:   The Shrine
Album:  Bless Off
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  About all I could find really about this band is from a review of their previous album, Primitive Blast, and it says "Fuelled by nasty hallucinogens, ditch weed and cheap beer, the band combine the hook-laden appeal of ‘70s hard and garage rock with stoner metal and gritty ‘80s hardcore."  Sounds good to me.   
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, this reminds me of a younger Fu Manchu, with maybe a hint of Turbonegro.  I'm alright with this, so far.  It's definitely rock.  It doesn't really let up either, in this first song.  I definitely would say this band has listened to a lot of early Kiss.   

Random Thoughts:  As with most bands of this style, I have a feeling the songs are going to fit a sort of pattern.  I definitely see the description above fitting this band pretty much dead on.  Some variation comes in on the song called The Duke.  It slows it down a little and fuzzes things out a little more.  The pace picks up quite a bit on Nothing Forever, this has a more punk feel to it.  This is the song I've liked the most so far on this.  I half expect every song to be about a van.               

Final Reaction:  This was alright, if you're looking for a modern band with 70's muscle car rock nostalgia.  I enjoyed it, but I could have done with a little bit more variety.  Vocals had the right feel to them and the music would fit a certain mood for sure.  I don't know that I'll ever come back and give it another listen, but at least I enjoyed it once.              

Final Grade:  6.0/10

Day 70: La Dispute - Rooms of the House

Artist:   La Dispute
Album:  Rooms of the House
Source:  http://noisey.vice.com/blog/la-dispute-rooms-of-the-house-stream

Pre-listening Notes:  Getting closer to being caught up.  There is a ton of hype around this band, along with Touche Amore, who I don't like one bit.  I get this band confused with Balance and Composure a lot and I saw one of them open for Polar Bear Club in the past and didn't care for them at all.  So, I'm hoping this is a case of mistaken identity.  But, they are a post-hardcore band that's been around for about a decade now, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.  A decade in, people must like them, right?   
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, not feeling the open with just vocals, but when the music kicked in, I was down.  I don't like the parts where the vocals feel separated from the music.  But, I have no problems with the parts where the music kicks in and they feel more together.  This sort of reminds me of Thursday's Full Collapse at first listen. 

Random Thoughts:  As the second song kicks in, I don't think this is awful, so I am assuming that I saw Balance and Composure at that show.  It's got the whole mellow to aggressive switch up thing going on and the singer has a more talky yell style, similar to At the Drive-In, only the lyrics seem to be more straight forward.  Alright, this doesn't have the catchiness and range as an At the Drive-In record, so some of the songs just kind of lose the appeal.           

Final Reaction:  This is better than 90% of what they are calling post-hardcore these days.  This isn't something I am going to run out and buy, I might give this band another whirl on Spotify, though.  I have to say that I was turned off by the hype surrounding this band and maybe that was a bad thing, but they are better than Touche Amore and I rather enjoyed listening to this.              

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 69: Praise - Lights Went Out

Artist:   Praise
Album:  Lights Went Out
Source:  http://reactrecords.bandcamp.com/

Pre-listening Notes:  I've never heard Praise before, but someone I trust heavily when it comes to hardcore said "LOVE this band", so I'll probably enjoy it. 
        
Initial Reaction:  Nice, it's fast, and reminds me of Turning Point a little.  Maybe, I'm terrible at comparing bands to other bands.  It has some melody to it, for sure. 

Random Thoughts:  The second song has a Dag Nasty feel to it.  Maybe that was the comparison I was looking for in the first song too.   This rules!  Apparently they are a straight edge band, but the lyrics don't seem to be preachy, so that's perfect for me.  There is some range to the tempo.  This third song kind of reminds me of H2O, a bit.  I guess all three bands that I mentioned have a similar thing going on, so maybe I'm not that far off in my choices.  There is also a significant DC Revolution Summer vibe going on.  I love this, though.  I would like to see these guys play a show with Give.  Lyrically, it seems they are dealing more with personal reflection than forcing ideals on anyone.      

Final Reaction:  This was great, would listen again.  Quality melodic hardcore that doesn't get boring and gets through a whole LP and I got to the end and wondered why there wasn't more.  Look forward to finding more out about this band and hopefully seeing them live.           

Final Grade:  8.5/10

Day 68: Ringworm - Hammer of the Witch

Artist:   Ringworm
Album:  Hammer of the Witch
Source:  http://exclaim.ca/MusicVideo/ClickHear/ringworm-hammer_of_witch_album_stream

Pre-listening Notes:  Christmas time 1993, I was taken down to a record shop and I picked out a couple cd's for my sister to give to me on Christmas.  One was Endpoint - Catharsis and the other was Ringworm - The Promise.  The Endpoint album has not stood the test of time for me, but The Promise is still so awesome, aggressive, brutal, fast, blistering, and punk as all hell as the day I first put it on and heard "There is no god" before the intro track Numb kicked me in the teeth.  Ringworm broke up sometime in the next year and I never thought I would see them or get to hear anything other than the LP and the other songs floating around (you know, pre internet, so on tapes).  Then about five years later, they got back together and I've spent the last fifteen years loving every album they've put out and seeing them any time they've come through the area.  I thought the last album on Victory was pretty awesome, so I'm super excited that they are now signed to Relapse.  Here goes! 
        
Initial Reaction:  Opens with a some serious riffing.  Oh man, the Human Furnace's vocals still sound so brutal and great after all these years.  Unlike another vocalist from Cleveland who I feel has gotten weaker over the years.  This is fast, as it should be.  It's fast, it's heavy, it makes you want to go out and run around punching everything in sight.  It's perfect!

Random Thoughts:  I love the thrashiness.  The songs sound like they would fit on anything they've released before.  Awesome bass intro on the song Leave Your Skin at the Door.  Great breakdown in this song.  Very few bands can match the intensity of this band in the metallic hardcore world.  Awesome drumming, great solos, and the most pissed off sounding vocalist.  Unless this breaks down into garbage in the middle of the album, this is clearly another win for an already legendary band.  Such an awesome ending to Exit Life, with a blast beat.  The solo in King of Blood is so great, fast and ripping.  Love bands who don't drag out songs any longer than they have to.  One of Us is Going to Have to Die is so heavy and is just so classic Ringworm sounding.    

Final Reaction:  This was awesome.  This was everything that a good metal, or hardcore, record should be.  Fast, brutal, unrelenting, pissed off, and all the other descriptive words I am feeling right now.  I came out the other end super pumped up and I am going to listen to a bunch of Ringworm at work tomorrow because of this.  If you like aggressive music, just listen to this.           

Final Grade:  8.5/10

Day 67: The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

Artist:   The War on Drugs
Album:  Lost in the Dream
Source:  http://www.npr.org/2014/03/09/285881314/first-listen-the-war-on-drugs-lost-in-the-dream#playlist

Pre-listening Notes:  Someone I am friends with on Facebook loves this band, so when I saw that this was streaming I figured I'd give it a shot.  They are from Philly, an indie rock band, and this is their third LP.  So that's pretty much all I got on this band. 
        
Initial Reaction:  There is some serious synth going on.  It's got a pretty good pace to it and the song has some catchiness.  It picks up the rock about two minutes in.  The singer has a pretty good voice.  The parts where the guitars pick up and the synth is rocking in the background are great.  The more verse parts where it mellows down a little are not as great, but still pretty good.  The first song was pretty interesting.

Random Thoughts:  Second song drops it down to the real mellow level.  The singer sounds a bunch like Jim James in this song.  There are some weird effects on the guitar too, but I kind of like that.  That song was a bit on the longer side, but it was a nice bridge between the more upbeat first song and the almost dancy third song.  The more I listen to this, thought, it reminds me more and more of My Morning Jacket.  Not necessarily the sound, but the different in styles and tempos mixing it together and the singer's voice.  Some of the songs kind of drag on a little too long for my tastes.  The song Eyes to the Wind reminds me a little bit of Dylan in the vocals.  Some of the later songs reminded me more of Dylan and one song musically had a Cure vibe to it.                            

Final Reaction:  I kind of enjoyed it, it was pretty catchy and although some songs may have been a little too long, the overall vibe of the album was pretty interesting.  It was another quality Indie Rock band that was the type of band I would have missed out on if I wasn't doing this project.  I will probably give this another spin down the road.         

Final Grade:  7.0/10

Day 66: Spring Offensive - Young Animal Hearts

Artist:   Spring Offensive
Album:  Young Animal Hearts
Source:  http://www.thefourohfive.com/news/article/spring-offensive-streams-debut-album-young-animal-hearts-405-premiere

Pre-listening Notes:  This is a change of pace.  I chose this one just because I liked the band name and the cover art, that I saw.  I haven't even heard of this band before, but something grabbed my attention.  It appears they are from England and this is their debut LP.  That's about all I'm getting from my early research, so I'm just going to play this and figure it out.   
        
Initial Reaction:  Very minimal opening musically, with some very deep and in the forefront vocals.  About halfway through, the first song the drums kick in and I get a glimpse of what I'm working with here.  This is pretty cool, the lyrics seem pretty dark and moody.  Musically, it's not fast or heavy, like I like a lot of my music to be, but it fits the vocals very nicely to come off more powerful than the intensity would suggest.   

Random Thoughts:  I like the choruses and the harmonies they have going on.  This song is a more cheerful approach music, but the vocals and lyrics still have the same feel as the first song.  I am really enjoying this.  Quality written songs that are catchy, interesting, and sing-a-longish.  Each song sounds like it was written with the purpose of being played on the radio, so far, half way through there isn't a song that I would consider filler.  I assume this would be considered Indie Rock, or maybe Brit-Pop, or something.  This is a pretty great album, though.                        

Final Reaction:  There is something very familiar about this album.  Maybe it's that each song is very strong and by the end of the album it sounds like an album I have heard and listened to over and over before.  This is not the normal thing that I would go for, but this album was excellent.  It was very melodic and has a lot of harmonies to bring the catchiness, but at the same time it's complex and moody and engages the listener to pay attention.  I did find a review on their earlier EP on amazon that someone said they put on a great live show.  I'll keep that in mind if I ever see their name coming to town.  Will listen to this again.       

Final Grade:  8.5/10

Day 65: Cripple Bastards - Nero in metastasi

Artist:   Cripple Bastards
Album:  Nero in metastasi
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  Old school grindcore from Italy.  They've been around since the late 80's and have put out tons of albums, EP's, splits, and comp songs.  And on my trips to Maryland Death Fest, they have been one of the most represented band merch wise walking around the fest.  I caught a song or two when they played the one year, but they were playing inside and the heat was unbearable.  So, after being a band for over 25 years, let's see how well they hold up to the other bands of the genre.   
        
Initial Reaction:  Nice crunchy, slow intro, which then breaks into blistering speed about a minute in and I'm reaching to turn the volume up.  This is great!  Blistering ferocity mixed with heavy crunch breakdowns.  This is sort of the type of album I was hoping Menace was going to be the other day.  Maybe now that I have something like this to listen to, I can go back and give that album a more fair shake.  The song sped by so fast.

Random Thoughts:  I'm pretty sure the lyrics are in Italian, but honestly I don't care.  This second song rips and clocks in at just under a minute and the speed never lets up.  I can't get over the intensity of some of this.  Each track just starts and rips through songs that generally range between less than a minute to around two and a half minutes.  There is a song that comes close to four minutes and another that tops nine, which I am curious to see what that's all about.  But, so far this is just blistering grind with the occasional slow down for a breakdown.  The vocals are fit in nicely and has a little bit of range from a growl to a more hardcorish yell.  So many blast beats, and then a breakdown in the song Lapide Rimossa, that would fit just fine in any hardcore album.  Some cool weird beats in the beginning of the song Occhi Trapiantati, which is the song that is close to four minutes.  It slows it down a bit to start, with a more death metal growl in parts of the song.  Things have taken a turn for the weird in the song Splendore E Tenebra, which has slowed things down significantly.  After about a two minute intro, the song then kicks into a groove riff before throwing some fast parts in.  It just keeps weaving back and forth and all of this song is just so heavy.                  

Final Reaction:  Woah, I think it's safe to say I've found something I really love here.  This record was exactly what I hoped to gain out of listening to an album a day for an entire year.  I wanted to discover somethings that I would be going back to time and time again.  This album, maybe even this band, is exactly that.  I now have regrets of walking out after a couple songs that year in Baltimore.  This is fast, loud, fast, heavy, fast and pretty great.  This rips, smokes, slays, all the other buzz words being used for metal right now.  The only gripe I would have had was the language barrier in the lyrics, but honestly I can hear his anger and hate seep through, even without actually knowing what he says.  Once the opening track kicked in, I knew I was in for something special.  I will not only be listening to this again, but I will be trying to work my way through the immense back catalog.  If you've read this far, and you like the things I've described (grindcore, fast songs, heavy songs, growling/yelling, blast beats, any of this) do yourself a favor and listen to this album.     

Final Grade:  9.0/10

Day 64: Real Estate - Atlas

Artist:   Real Estate
Album:  Atlas
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  The internet tells me this is a fairly new band, like 5 years old, that is putting out it's third album.  They are from New Jersey, are an indie rock band, and the hip websites seem to like them.  Since they appear to be a relatively young band, there isn't much else from a casual information search.
        
Initial Reaction:  After a little bit of an intro, some pretty decent vocals kick in.  This is pretty mellow and definitely a little bit more on the clean side of things, than I normally like.  The guitars don't have much fuzz to them, the tempo hasn't really picked up at all in the song, and the vocals have a nice, "pretty" feel to them. 

Random Thoughts:  The second song leads me to believe that this album has a thematic sound to it.  There is a little bit of a dream pop thing going on.  I can't imagine this all that exciting live, but that's not a deal killer by any stretch.  So far, this is actually pretty decent.  The third song, Talking Backwards, ups the catchiness level and is my favorite, so far.  The pace is a little bit faster on this song, while still keeping with the overall sound of the album.  The song April's song was a little on the duller side, but then they came back pretty strong once they got to the song Crime.        

Final Reaction:  This ended up being a much more enjoyable album than I thought when the first song kicked in.  It had a nice solid theme running through the whole album and while it was a little mellower than I normally would reach for, it kept me interested as I was working away on things.  It's not something to listen to that you want to put out in front and put much focus into it, but it's a good album to put on while doing something else where you can devote maybe half your focus to.  I'd definitely listen to this again, though like I said earlier, wouldn't go out of my way to see them live. 

Final Grade:  8.0/10

Day 63: Menace - Impact Velocity

Artist:   Menace
Album:  Impact Velocity
Source:  http://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/exclusive-album-stream-menace-impact-velocity

Pre-listening Notes:  This is a new project from Mitch Harris, from Napalm Death.  I love Napalm Death, so yeah I'll give this a whirl, even if it does state that this is a departure from that sound.  It also has the drummer that played on Black Seeds of Vengeance, from Nile, and Axis of Eden, from Today is the Day.  Also, Shane Embry plays bass.  So it has the players for something kick ass.
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, major departure from everything previously mentioned.  There are synthesizers, clean singing, and an almost alt rock feel to it.  There are effects on the vocals, there are some weird layered backups, and the hook doesn't really grab me.  Also, "just like a virus (pirate?), I live with your ghost"?  not sure what that even means.      

Random Thoughts:  The second song starts off with just some melodic singing and then breaks into what sounds like it will be a very mellow song.  I was not expecting this at all and maybe it is impacting my judgement, but halfway through song two, I am not into this one bit.  This is reminding me of something, that I just can't put my finger on.  Truthfully, this isn't terrible, but based on what I expected, it's not good either.  I get them wanting to try something new out, but something about it just seems like these dudes were not meant to go melodic.  There were a couple of times where it got kind of heavy in some later songs that I might have been into it, but I was kind of hoping for something faster and not as melodic.    

Final Reaction:  It's another hard rock album that just doesn't sit right with me.  It's not that I don't appreciate some stuff that isn't straight metal, but I was expecting something that just ripped me a new one.  I know that is what I get for having expectations, but for me, it just didn't melt my face.

Final Grade:  4.0/10

Day 62: Silver Snakes - Year of the Snake

Artist:   Silver Snakes
Album:  Year of the Snake
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  I am guessing they are named after one of the teams from Legends of the Hidden Temple.  This album is on Bridge 9 and apparently they are on tour with The Ocean.  These are the only things I know going in.  So go!
       
Initial Reaction:  It's got a rock vibe, I guess I was expecting heavier things.  I am not opposed to this whole post hardcore, grunge revival, 90's alt-rock worship vibe going on here.  The first song is short and sweet.      

Random Thoughts:  Second song has more of the 90's alt rock worship going on.  This reminds me of something that I could have seen touring with the Jupiter/Antenna era Cave In or maybe opening for the reunited Failure.  I get a similar vibe.  I kind of like this.  Some of the songs have a heavier feel to them, for a rock band.  Then there is an acoustic song nestled in the middle of all this.  This is a pretty cool album, so far, it has a vibe that I can get behind.  I'd like to see them play live, if that tour was hitting Buffalo, I'd be going for sure.  Maybe they'll hit the city up down the road.  This is some pretty cool stuff. 

Final Reaction:  Not much to say other than I really liked it.  It has a real alt rock feel to it and I found myself just letting the songs end and begin without really noticing those points.  I didn't feel the need to comment on each song, because I feel like the album, as a whole, was just a good listening experience.  I will be waiting for these guys to make their way up to Buffalo, so I can check out the live show.      

Final Grade:  7.0/10