Wow, who knew it would be so hard to combine the kids summer holidays with writing a blog about music? I have 3 boys, all of whom are now of school age and the amount of energy that these guys take out of my wife and I is unreal!! I’ve been to a couple of shows and have been listening to a number of great new albums and I’ve been wanting to write many nice things about them all yet it gets to the evening, which is my usual blog time, and I’ve barely got the energy or motivation to keep my eyes open let alone tap some words into my computer. We’ve also been preoccupied with the Olympics and Paralympics which took up more time than I thought ever would. It seems strange now that I would wake up and my first thought would be “better watch some Olympics”, a thought that would repeat throughout the day until I realised it was midnight and I was still glued to the tv. At the time it seemed perfectly normal.
Me at the Olympic stadium during the Paralympics.
So I thought I’d do a big round-up of all the stuff I’d been to and been listening to bring us bang up to date.
First, the shows I’d been to. Here’s where I would’ve been writing glorious things about how good Everyone Everywhere were on their recent uk tour. Sadly, money and time were both against me on this one and I didn’t get to go. My twitter friend Gary went and I’ve asked to write a very quick review of the show, here’s what he came up with:
“The gig was sparsley attended but still amazing, catchy, anthemic emo!!” I wish I had gone.
Something I did get to go to however was the last day of this years Hevy festival (with very special thanks to our good friends Chloe and Justin). The festival was in its 4th year and I’d been wanting to go since it started with just some bad luck preventing me before. Hevy is a small festival situated next to the Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent. I say small but one of the things I really liked about the day was the size of the festival, it was ideal and given the right line up i think it could be a great success. When we got there my wife, Hannah, and I met up with some friends who had been there for the whole weekend. They were wide-eyed with excitement about how much fun they’d been having so that instantly got me in the mood to stand in a field and watch some bands. During the day there were some great sets from Cruel Hand who delivered some hardcore goodness, 7 Seconds who in their fifties showed they could still entertain a big crowd and Suis La Lune who are always brilliant.
As it got towards the evening things started to get very exciting indeed. During Listener, who had packed out the tiny Red Bull tent and for good reason because they were spine chillingly good, our friends Chloe and Justin managed to get us to go backstage and I got to fulfill a bit of a lifetime ambition. I have always wanted to stand on the side of a stage at a festival to watch a band and during Hundred Reasons set on the main stage there we were and it was awesome. Now, I know we were hardly looking out over the crowd at somewhere like Reading where I imagine the feeling is even better but I loved how we could see the band up close and get to watch how the crowd were reacting and the crowd were loving it.
After that excitement there was still much to enjoy, Lemuria brought their charming pop loveliness to the festival to great effect and Vinnie Caruana made Hannah’s summer by not only playing an amazing solo headline set in the Red Bull tent but also stopping to have his photo taken with her when we bumped in to him later. Converge then came out and tore the place apart, the atmosphere was incredible as they launched into ‘Jane Doe’ but sadly my back was giving up on me and we made the hard decision to go. It was a hard decision because it meant that we missed out on watching Descendents who by all accounts played a super greatest hits set. My back is a bitch, I’ve gone on about it way too much before and it still pisses me off so I’ll leave it there. A fantastic day all in all and I really hope Hevy manages to continue on, I will certainly be going back if it does.
A week later we had the incredible privilege of Baroness coming to Margate to play an intimate show at the Westcoast Bar. It was a very special night as a pretty fair-sized crowd packed the basement venue. There were plenty of good friends there amongst the crowd and our friend Jason’s new band Harrowed played as support. They were loud, powerful and very impressive and were playing minus a bass player not that that made any difference to their set. Definitely seek them out and give your ears a good pounding. Baroness came onstage to a heroes welcome, they are obviously a band with a huge and devoted fan base and they lapped this up by playing a brilliant set full of songs old and new. Afterwards the band came out front to meet and greet with us fans, we got to chat a little with singer John Baizley who also posed for a photo with Hannah and our friend Emma. We were all extremely sad to hear the horrible news that 2 days later their tour coach crashed off a viaduct in Bath during torrential rain. Some of the band and other passengers suffered some horrific injuries and I hope that they will all make a full and speedy recovery.
The relentless onslaught of amazing music being released has also continued itself over the summer, some massive albums of which I’ll be posting some reviews of in the next few days. But for now I thought I’d roundup some really great records that you may or may not have recently missed.
Topshelf records release schedule has been as busy as always, including 2 records in particular that really caught my attention. The first being the new self titled album by the band Sirs. There is so much energy and joyous noise packed in to the 8 songs on the record that it leaves you little option but to fall instantly love with them. They are punk band in the best indie lo-fi kinda way, each of their incredible songs include hooks and melodies that leap out through the distortion and screams which will keep you coming back for more. Some songs last barely a minute and some stretch past 6 minutes yet all feel equally at home on what is a really, really good album that is absolutely worth your time, money and attention.
The other is the new album from Duck. Little Brother, Duck! ‘Don’t Take Our Filth Away’. If you like your music a bit more challenging and like songs to be messy and unpredictable rather than the standard verse chorus verse then this record will hold some appeal for you. The record starts out a bit Joan Of Arc but then soon enough comes across a bit more Sonic Youth whilst all the while sounding like neither of those bands. There is no set pattern to the songs on the record, the songs are interesting and inventive, a math rock wall of noise in parts with vocals way down in the mix to form another instrument of sorts. It again is a really great album with some brilliant song titles, ‘Flashes of Quincy’ and ‘Everybody Loves Screamo’ being a couple of my favourites.
A band that came to my attention recently thanks to someone mentioning them on this blog’s facebook page, (thanks Lee), is Sport from Lyon in France. Their album, ‘Colors’, is one of the best things I’ve downloaded from bandcamp in a while. It is an instantly likeable, summery album that never fails to put me in a good mood. Bright, poppy, twinkly emo of the best variety bringing to mind Algernon and Ape Up! and it is French which is always a big plus in my book. You can download it dirt cheap on their bandcamp page, the link is below.
The last band I’ll mention today is a very special one indeed, a band that have barely been off my stereo in the last month or so which is either due to laziness of the fact it’s really fucking good. And I think you’ll find it’s the latter. The band in question is Glocca Morra and their new record ‘Just Married’ is just genius. I could leave it at that but I won’t. Just as I was mourning the break up of Algernon Cadwallader this record comes along, slaps me around the face and tells me to get over and quick for I have some dancing to be doing. And dancing is just what I want to do when I hear this record for this, as the picture on the front cover suggests, is a party record. Glocca Morra know how to write a good melody, they may seem to want to make it messy and add a bit of grunge here and there but the melody always comes through. They also like to say ‘Fuck’ a lot but, hey, who the fuck doesn’t. This is a highlight in a year packed full of them, go and listen because you won’t be disappointed!!
Every time I used to make a mixtape for myself or a friend this would always be the first track I’d put on. It’s the ultimate opener, a big catchy brilliant emo blast. It opens their classic album, ‘Frame and Canvas’, and sets the tone for the rest of the record. Braid are a legendary band, they maybe didn’t get the plaudits they thoroughly deserved when emo first broke big but I like to think that has changed since. Especially as they have returned with new music in recent times.
9 – Jimmy Eat World – No Sensitivity
Despite making some of my favourite albums packed with great songs, my favourite Jimmy Eat World song is taken from the split they did with Jebediah. ‘No Sensitivity’ is a great showcase of Jimmy Eat World doing what they do best, making incredibly likeable emo rock songs with killer choruses. This is always a favourite when they play live and somehow I’ve managed to see Jimmy Eat World play 7 times, every time a pleasure.
8 – Spy Versus Spy – Helpless, Sign In Please
Out of all the bands in the UK emo scene in the late 90′s, Spy Versus Spy was the band we held in the highest regard, to me they were like our Cap’n Jazz. There was just something about them that set them apart from the rest of us, while there were plenty of good bands about in those days Spy Versus Spy were always the band I thought I would love forever. And more than 10 years later I still do so maybe that will be true. Their first mini album is still my favourite although they did go on to make the fantastically brilliant album ‘Little Lights’ which you should stop at nothing to get hold of.
7 – The Get Up Kids – I’m A Loner Dottie, A Rebel
Getting to see the Get Up Kids while they were touring in support of ‘Something to write home about’ is still one of the best live experiences I’ve ever had. I got to see them play a few times again but nothing will beat that first time, there was just so much energy and fun surrounding their performance that night. Without the slower songs that filled ‘On a wire’ the show zipped along with the band seeming to have the time of their lives, which in turn meant that we were having the time of our lives. ‘I’m a loner dottie …’ is a classic amongst an album full of classics.
6 – Sunny Day Real Estate – In Circles I have always loved this song since the first time I heard it all those years ago, but since their reunion show 2 years ago it has seemed even more special. I had tickets to see them play London in 2001, the show got cancelled because of something to do with their booking agents and then the band split up for the 2nd time. I was gutted and thought I’d never get to see this very special band play live. But, years later it was announced they were going to play a one off reunion show in London, excitedly I snapped up tickets only for that show to get cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud. They did reschedule however and managed to play and the reaction was incredible. When they launched into ‘In Circles’ the excitement in the crowd was palpable and the noise deafening. Guitarist Dan Hoerner looked blown away by this and seeing his reaction made this amazing song even more so.
5 – The Promise Ring – E. Texas Ave This song is Taken from probably the greatest split 7 inch ever released. The Texas is the reason song on the other side is fantastic, the artwork equally so but it’s the Promise Ring song that makes it truly great. Weirdly my favourite Promise Ring song is the Promise Ring song that sounds least like a Promise Ring song. It’s a lot heavier than they usually are and a lot darker. But it still sounds uniquely like the Promise Ring with Davey Von Bohlen unmistakeable voice sounding better than ever.
4 – Cap’n Jazz – Little League
Iconic, influential and downright briliant, Cap’n Jazz created a sound that would go on to be copied many times over. ‘Little League’ is a song I can never grow tired of listening too, It’s energy is completely infectious. The way the song sounds out of control and all over the place is its charm. It breaks down, it builds up, it screams at you and makes you want to get up and throw yourself about like a crazy person. Absolute genius.
3 – The Appleseed Cast – Marigold And Patchwork
One of the best shows I ever got to attend was when my old band supported The Appleseed Cast the first time they played in Margate. At the time they had only released their debut album, ‘End of the ring wars’, but to us they were massive and we were totally excited to have them play in our small town. They seemed really touched by the reaction they got that night and told us that when we sang along to ‘Marigold and patchwork’ it was one of the first times that that had happened to them. They must’ve liked it here because they came back to play twice more. ‘Marigold and patchwork’ will always remind me of a special time when music was the most exciting thing in my world and will forever be one of my favourite songs. You can download this song for free, see below for details.
2 – American Football – Never Meant
It’s amazing how some of the most influential and incredible music that came from the emo genre was from bands with short existences and limited output. I know Mike Kinsella has been very prolific in his output in various guises, but American Football had one album and one EP yet remain one of the best emo bands of all time. ‘Never meant’ is beautiful, it’s simple yet complicated at the same time and makes me fall in love each and every time I hear it. It’s the perfect song to do that old emo dance to, you know the one where you put your hands in your pockets and gently sway back and forth with your eyes closed? No? Just me then.
1! – Mineral – &Serenading
I have said for many years that this is the best emo song of all time. If I have said that to you then I’m sorry for the advance spoiler and apologise for the anti-climax to this list. It’s not just my favourite emo song of all time, it is in fact my favourite song of all time. If anyone mentions emo then Mineral is always the first band that jumps to mind, to me they are THE emo band. ‘EndSerenading’ is a beautiful album, Mineral made music so open and emotional that it shouldn’t work but it does work incredibly so. ‘&serenading’ is the penultimate song from that album, it is heart breakingly gorgeous in every way, lyrically and musically. The ending is just perfect, it builds up with repetitive vocals that harmonize at the right moment to elevate the song into the most beautiful of end riffs. Pure brilliant genius!!!!!
That’s it, the list is done.
FREE MUSIC!!! To celebrate ‘Is this thing on?’ has teamed up with the influential and legendary emo label, Deep Elm, to bring you a free 12 track download sampler featuring every Deep Elm song on the list. That includes music by The Appleseed Cast, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Cross My Heart, Pop Unknown, Benton Falls and many more. Click the link below to go there and download it.
Also, while you’re there you can check out the infamous 12 volume Emo Diaries compilation series featuring 147 unreleased tracks by Jimmy Eat World, The Appleseed Cast, This Drama, Further Seems Forever (featuring Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional), Planes Mistaken For Stars, The Movielife, Samiam and many more. Download the lot for $29!!
Thank you so much for reading. It has been an unforgettable few weeks sharing this list with you and I want to thank everyone that has read/shared/retweeted/commented etc.. It’s great to know that this music still means a hell of a lot to a lot of people. Feel free to share this and let me know what you think, whether you agree or totally disagree either on here or on twitter (@alextb3).
Autumn is here! Thank goodness. Being an emo boy I usually look forward to autumn each year, autumn being the most emo of all the seasons, but this year I have been anticipating it more than usual. Summer has been awful. I have been suffering with back problems since last november and in June it went completely, a massive prolapse. And with that came hospital visits, mri scans, spinal surgery, no work and a lot of sitting at home feeling sorry for myself (and for my wife, who’s had to pretty much do everything). Some summer that turned out to be. But enough with the moping, it’s getting me nowhere, and right now seems to be a super exciting time for music. So, basically, this is what i’m gonna write about. And i may as well start now.
Well, to start with a short note of what’s getting me excited music wise at the moment. It seems like all the bands that i’ve recently fallen in love with have new music on the horizon. Transit, Pianos become the teeth and Four Year Strong all have albums on the way. As do I am the avalanche and there is a new Polar bear club longplayer i’ve yet to get my hands on. New albums also from some of pop punks biggest hitters Blink 182 and New Found Glory if that floats your boat. It’s 20 years since Nirvana changed my life forever and turned me in to the grunger that i’ve never really recovered from, you can’t help but have noticed that Nevermind is being re-released in various guises. Pearl Jam are also celebrating the 20 year mark with the release of a new documentary PJ20, and perhaps most exciting is the film that really captured the early 90′s at its most exciting and hillarious is finally being released on DVD. 1991,the year punk broke follows sonic youth on a 2 week summer european tour of festivals and club shows, Thurston Moore is often ‘wet your pants’ funny and you also have amazing footage of Nirvana a few weeks before the release of Nevermind which is just priceless. Also includes live performances from Dinosaur JR and Babes In Toyland, sweet.
So, over the next few weeks, i’m stuck inside. No going to local shows for me, so i will be missing any bands playing Margate, Folkestone or Canterbury. Hopefully not gonna miss out too much. So i will just report on any new music i listen to, but will look to recover soon so i can report from whats happening in the local scene as well.
Thanks for reading, Alex
Below is whats currently rocking on the stereo! x
Summer
Wow, who knew it would be so hard to combine the kids summer holidays with writing a blog about music? I have 3 boys, all of whom are now of school age and the amount of energy that these guys take out of my wife and I is unreal!! I’ve been to a couple of shows and have been listening to a number of great new albums and I’ve been wanting to write many nice things about them all yet it gets to the evening, which is my usual blog time, and I’ve barely got the energy or motivation to keep my eyes open let alone tap some words into my computer. We’ve also been preoccupied with the Olympics and Paralympics which took up more time than I thought ever would. It seems strange now that I would wake up and my first thought would be “better watch some Olympics”, a thought that would repeat throughout the day until I realised it was midnight and I was still glued to the tv. At the time it seemed perfectly normal.
Me at the Olympic stadium during the Paralympics.
So I thought I’d do a big round-up of all the stuff I’d been to and been listening to bring us bang up to date.
First, the shows I’d been to. Here’s where I would’ve been writing glorious things about how good Everyone Everywhere were on their recent uk tour. Sadly, money and time were both against me on this one and I didn’t get to go. My twitter friend Gary went and I’ve asked to write a very quick review of the show, here’s what he came up with:
“The gig was sparsley attended but still amazing, catchy, anthemic emo!!” I wish I had gone.
Something I did get to go to however was the last day of this years Hevy festival (with very special thanks to our good friends Chloe and Justin). The festival was in its 4th year and I’d been wanting to go since it started with just some bad luck preventing me before. Hevy is a small festival situated next to the Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent. I say small but one of the things I really liked about the day was the size of the festival, it was ideal and given the right line up i think it could be a great success. When we got there my wife, Hannah, and I met up with some friends who had been there for the whole weekend. They were wide-eyed with excitement about how much fun they’d been having so that instantly got me in the mood to stand in a field and watch some bands. During the day there were some great sets from Cruel Hand who delivered some hardcore goodness, 7 Seconds who in their fifties showed they could still entertain a big crowd and Suis La Lune who are always brilliant.
As it got towards the evening things started to get very exciting indeed. During Listener, who had packed out the tiny Red Bull tent and for good reason because they were spine chillingly good, our friends Chloe and Justin managed to get us to go backstage and I got to fulfill a bit of a lifetime ambition. I have always wanted to stand on the side of a stage at a festival to watch a band and during Hundred Reasons set on the main stage there we were and it was awesome. Now, I know we were hardly looking out over the crowd at somewhere like Reading where I imagine the feeling is even better but I loved how we could see the band up close and get to watch how the crowd were reacting and the crowd were loving it.
After that excitement there was still much to enjoy, Lemuria brought their charming pop loveliness to the festival to great effect and Vinnie Caruana made Hannah’s summer by not only playing an amazing solo headline set in the Red Bull tent but also stopping to have his photo taken with her when we bumped in to him later. Converge then came out and tore the place apart, the atmosphere was incredible as they launched into ‘Jane Doe’ but sadly my back was giving up on me and we made the hard decision to go. It was a hard decision because it meant that we missed out on watching Descendents who by all accounts played a super greatest hits set. My back is a bitch, I’ve gone on about it way too much before and it still pisses me off so I’ll leave it there. A fantastic day all in all and I really hope Hevy manages to continue on, I will certainly be going back if it does.
A week later we had the incredible privilege of Baroness coming to Margate to play an intimate show at the Westcoast Bar. It was a very special night as a pretty fair-sized crowd packed the basement venue. There were plenty of good friends there amongst the crowd and our friend Jason’s new band Harrowed played as support. They were loud, powerful and very impressive and were playing minus a bass player not that that made any difference to their set. Definitely seek them out and give your ears a good pounding. Baroness came onstage to a heroes welcome, they are obviously a band with a huge and devoted fan base and they lapped this up by playing a brilliant set full of songs old and new. Afterwards the band came out front to meet and greet with us fans, we got to chat a little with singer John Baizley who also posed for a photo with Hannah and our friend Emma. We were all extremely sad to hear the horrible news that 2 days later their tour coach crashed off a viaduct in Bath during torrential rain. Some of the band and other passengers suffered some horrific injuries and I hope that they will all make a full and speedy recovery.
The relentless onslaught of amazing music being released has also continued itself over the summer, some massive albums of which I’ll be posting some reviews of in the next few days. But for now I thought I’d roundup some really great records that you may or may not have recently missed.
Topshelf records release schedule has been as busy as always, including 2 records in particular that really caught my attention. The first being the new self titled album by the band Sirs. There is so much energy and joyous noise packed in to the 8 songs on the record that it leaves you little option but to fall instantly love with them. They are punk band in the best indie lo-fi kinda way, each of their incredible songs include hooks and melodies that leap out through the distortion and screams which will keep you coming back for more. Some songs last barely a minute and some stretch past 6 minutes yet all feel equally at home on what is a really, really good album that is absolutely worth your time, money and attention.
The other is the new album from Duck. Little Brother, Duck! ‘Don’t Take Our Filth Away’. If you like your music a bit more challenging and like songs to be messy and unpredictable rather than the standard verse chorus verse then this record will hold some appeal for you. The record starts out a bit Joan Of Arc but then soon enough comes across a bit more Sonic Youth whilst all the while sounding like neither of those bands. There is no set pattern to the songs on the record, the songs are interesting and inventive, a math rock wall of noise in parts with vocals way down in the mix to form another instrument of sorts. It again is a really great album with some brilliant song titles, ‘Flashes of Quincy’ and ‘Everybody Loves Screamo’ being a couple of my favourites.
A band that came to my attention recently thanks to someone mentioning them on this blog’s facebook page, (thanks Lee), is Sport from Lyon in France. Their album, ‘Colors’, is one of the best things I’ve downloaded from bandcamp in a while. It is an instantly likeable, summery album that never fails to put me in a good mood. Bright, poppy, twinkly emo of the best variety bringing to mind Algernon and Ape Up! and it is French which is always a big plus in my book. You can download it dirt cheap on their bandcamp page, the link is below.
The last band I’ll mention today is a very special one indeed, a band that have barely been off my stereo in the last month or so which is either due to laziness of the fact it’s really fucking good. And I think you’ll find it’s the latter. The band in question is Glocca Morra and their new record ‘Just Married’ is just genius. I could leave it at that but I won’t. Just as I was mourning the break up of Algernon Cadwallader this record comes along, slaps me around the face and tells me to get over and quick for I have some dancing to be doing. And dancing is just what I want to do when I hear this record for this, as the picture on the front cover suggests, is a party record. Glocca Morra know how to write a good melody, they may seem to want to make it messy and add a bit of grunge here and there but the melody always comes through. They also like to say ‘Fuck’ a lot but, hey, who the fuck doesn’t. This is a highlight in a year packed full of them, go and listen because you won’t be disappointed!!
Here are some links to the things listed above:
Sirs – Sirs
Duck. Little Brother, Duck! – Don’t Take Our Filth Away
Sport – Colors
Glocca Morra – Just Married
Harrowed – S/T Demo
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Thanks for reading, feel free to comment/share etc.. More to come soon