the shark makes it extra awesome

It must really be great to be Four Year Strong right now.

The band releases its third full-length album of original songs this week, entitled Enemy of the World. FYS, a band whose Wikipedia page labels them ‘melodic hardcore’, would be better described as ‘melodic punk/pop/beardcore’, consistent with the band members’ outdoorsy-look. Enemy of the World is the band’s first album on a major label, having been snatched up by Universal Motown after spending some time on  Pete Wentz’s Decaydance label.

My overall verdict on this record? FYS are now the champs of this new brand of hardcore/pop-punk, looking down at the runners-up: Set Your Goals, A Day to Remember, and other bands of that ilk. FYS, though, really has the whole package, and it is on display on nearly every track on Enemy of the World. The lead song, It Must Really Suck to be Four Year Strong Right Now, is a barrage of chugga-chugga power riffs and energy that leads to a chorus of “Don’t fix it if it hasn’t broken yet”, an appropriate mantra for the band itself, which has truly hit its peak.

On a Saturday, the next song, is full of the type of crowd-participation moments that the band loves so much, where the vocals are echoed and you can picture a throbbing pit of rabid fans screaming along and pumping their fists in unison. It works particularly well on this song, with its passionate screams of “TONIGHT WE FEEL ALIVE!” carried out with a more hardcore-ish vocal style than usual.

As a whole, Enemy of the World is a kickass major-label debut for FYS. While Rise or Die Trying was impressive, I had issues with its production, as the drums sometimes sounded muffled and not as crunchy as they should have…this time around, everything sounds crisp and explosive. I’m sure some fans will whine that it sounds “too polished”, but to me, it’s perfect for a major label pop-punk/hardcore record.

The song titles are great, too. Nineteen with Neck Tatz starts out with more gang vocals, this time screaming “Can you prove to me…that you’re not dead and gone…we’ve crawled on hands and knees…but now I live my life standing strong!” before the song goes into more breakdown-core riff-tastic badassery. The song also has a particularly catchy chorus, as well. I can practically visualize the limbs and body parts flying through the air during this song at a show.

team up, team up!

Find My Way Back is a song that sounds structured for radio play, something that probably will piss off some fans. It’s a little bit slower and the riffs are a little more generic than usual FYS, but it’s still a great song. By ‘radio play’ I mean the song has one of those infectious choruses that you’ll have a hard time getting out of your head.

What the Hell is a Gigawatt? brings the pace back up, with the dual-vocals of Dan O’Connor and Alan Day offsetting each other, set to a meaty riff. The breakdown/two-step part that comes in toward the end of the song is just broo-tal, as are the screams. It rocks.

This Body Pays the Bill$ sounds like it could have come from Rise or Die Trying, starting out with some more yelling and breaking down into usual FYS territory. Flannel is the Color of My Energy amused me title-wise (since I’m a self-admitted 311 fan boy), and its synthesizer beeps fit the song well, giving it a sort of Motion City Soundtrack-gone-hardcore/pop punk sound.

The last track, Enemy of the World, is pretty much the most badass thing FYS has ever done. It starts out with a chorus of voices, before going into an avenue for FYS to exhibit all the things they do right as a band – catchy gang vocals (“If you bring the heart then I’ll bring the beat!”), chugging riffs that never let the energy die, a breakdown with more delicious riff work and an overall aggression and passion that is the aural equivalent to being smashed in the face over and over but getting back up and taking some more fists to the dome because it’s so fun. The song fades out as the chorus of voices returns, and by the time it’s over you’re out of breath.

With Enemy of the World, Four Year Strong has really made quite a statement. Set Your Goals had raised the bar for this hardcore/pop punk hybrid stuff with This Will Be the Death of Us, but now they might as well hand over the crown to Four Year Strong. The album is just fantastic, and as a self-professed pop punk nerd (shout-out to New Found Glory and @xchadballx) I’m psyched that this type of stuff still exists.

So yeah, go pick this record up if you riffs, breakdowns and awesomeness. It’s a hell of a lot better than all that Vampire Weekend BS that’s all the rage with the V-necked hipster kids.

Plus, it’s got killer breakdowns, bro.

feel it, bro

Tom DeLonge has a lot of love in his heart. Why else would he release Angels & Airwaves’ new album Love for free? Thankfully for him, the album doesn’t set itself up for “good thing it was free, it’s not worth any money anyway”-type jokes that would otherwise plague some of its reviews.

Angels & Airwaves has always been DeLonge’s “serious” project, quite the opposite from his days in Blink-182. Trading in poop and sex jokes and tongue-in-cheek pop punk tunes for lush orchestrations and over-the-top guitar effects, DeLonge has had to endure some criticisms of this sweeping, creatively excessive project. It doesn’t help that he built up hype for the band by repeatedly saying it’s the best thing ever or that he described Love as a mix of U2, Radiohead and Pink Floyd. Yes, it sounds ham-fisted at times and DeLonge has never really been known to have a ‘good’ singing voice, but Angels & Airwaves compensates for that with some rich melodies and a powerful overall atmospheric style.

I’ve always assumed DeLonge created this project in an attempt to make the total opposite of Blink-182. The result is a style that isn’t entirely original, relying on pomposity and a musical self-importance that veers closely to the same style employed by bands like U2, 30 Seconds to Mars and Muse. I’ve joked a few times that AVA, 30 Seconds to Mars and Muse should go on one massive tour together to see who can be more ‘epic’ and ‘life-changing’ than the other. I’m sure that tour would be quite the spectacle.

As for this album: it’s actually pretty good. After an instrumental kicks off the record (Et Ducit Mundum Per Luce, named in Latin because it’s so deep or something), The Flight of Apollo charges forth with a bouncy, energetic guitar riff (something AVA has missed in the past), but not before a minute and a half of DeLonge’s voice muffled by effects and space noises, of course. His voice, as mentioned earlier, has an out-of-breath, over-enunciated sound to it on these songs that was probably intended to sound more dramatic and powerful but instead re-affirms that his voice isn’t one of his best assets.

After the six-minute emotional burst of Apollo ends, Young London picks up out of its wake and bursts with epic-sounding guitar and drums, with Tom singing about “I’m not the one to admit it’s helpless. I have a sense that we will be alright…I wish for peace with electric silence to keep our hearts beating on our minds. And we will see that we’re all connected when we awake to the tunnel’s light”, appropriately puffed-up lyrics about life and existence and peace and war set to such puffed-up, self-indulgent music.

yeah, this is Tom's project

The rest of the songs are more of the same, but that’s not necessarily a dig against the album. Angels & Airwaves, to me, has always been about style over substance, and it shows on Love. Tom, of course, intends for it to resonate with the listener and be the best music ever, but anything that regards itself that important rarely is. Instead, the songs on this album reflect his desire to craft something that isn’t offensive or abrasive, but rather enjoyable to listen to.

Epic Holiday is another highlight, with a good hook and a little more of a rhythmic energy that doesn’t just rely on effects and space noises. Hallucinations, the album’s first single, was a fitting choice, as it’s also a standout on the album.

Overall, Love is a pretty decent album; I’ve never really cared much for Angels & Airwaves, but this time around Tom and friends managed to create an album that I can listen to all the way through without getting excessively bored. I understand why people hate on the band, as everything has a heavy self-importance that borders on arrogance (especially with Tom comparing it to Pink Floyd and Radiohead). It isn’t as good as anything by those bands, of course, but it isn’t totally boring either.

I’m impressed that Love was released totally for free, in the same style that Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have done previously. This will be re-released in a deluxe physical copy too at some point, but I like to see bands release albums for free like this. Granted, everyone can’t do this, and Tom has enough money to hand out music for free, but it’s still a nice gesture.

There is a companion movie also coming out soon, apparently…I can only imagine how grandiose and sprawling that will be, considering it’s based on AVA songs and the message behind them all, of hope and love and all that. Wow.

While this isn’t one of my favorite records of recent memory, it should appeal to anyone who likes atmospheric alternative rock, and especially anyone who enjoyed AVA’s previous albums.

With the exclusion of Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, Mark Oliver Everett’s work under the Eels moniker for the last decade has largely been little more than mildly inspired tongue-in-cheek baroque pop. Many have pointed out that this could well be a result of how the toweringly personal Electro-Shock Blues put off so many listeners with its intensely emotional material, and it makes sense. Still, while scaling back that aspect has certainly made the Eels more accessible, it’s doubtfully a coincidence that three of Everett’s last four albums were dominated with just passably catchy music when it was clear that he was capable of much, much more. On his eighth full length as the Eels, End Times, he chronicles a messy divorce and general anxiety over aging with a great deal of understandable angst, and it’s most likely because of this that he sounds more genuine than he has in years.

"Is this really how you see yourself?" "No, I needed more wrinkles but I ran out of ink.."

Having been put out just shy of a year after his last release, Hombre Lobo, the idea that End Times was written in a fashion similar to Beck’s Sea Change (driven by heartache and created rather quickly) isn’t out of the question. While this isn’t quite as profound as Beck’s melancholic masterpiece, it has the same sense of urgency in most places and the same overall gloom. Despite this, Everett still maintains his sad sarcasm, just without the irony. This is by far his best method of delivery, simply because it feels so honest; it’s a large part of what made Electro-Shock Therapy so damn good. The story he narrates in the single A Line in the Dirt is a perfect example: his distant lover locks herself in the bathroom, so he resorts to pissing outside, and singing about it in that heartbreaking voice of his. Making this kind of sardonic humor into a painfully beautiful song is truly his forte.

The heavier songs (at least heavy by Eels standards) have a great sense of vigor as well; cuts like Paradise Blues and Unhinged bring to mind aggressive songs from earlier albums that came across as watered down, not for lack of songwriting but conviction. Here they flourish because he’s got fire in his voice, and it doesn’t feel like he’s simply repeating himself. On others, such as the nakedly honest Nowadays and I Need a Mother, he makes impressive use of his knack for hooks and while his frail, weathered voice isn’t exactly anything new, he displays none of the contrivances that have marred a lot of his songwriting since 2000’s Daisies of the Galaxy.

Boo hoo, even my dog is a reject

While it’s not quite as good as Electro-Shock Blues, it’s wonderful to hear Everett this passionate again, even if it is yet again over loss. This is especially true for someone who’s followed him since his surprise hit Novocaine for the Soul back in 1996; his formula had been stale for a long while, and especially after the bland Hombre quashed the hopes that Blinking Lights restored, it’s good to know that the Eels are still able to be as sharp as they’ve ever been.

Welsh band Lostprophets have returned from their hibernation recently with The Betrayed, their first album since 2006’s Liberation Transmission.  After bursting onto the hard rock scene with their 2000 debut thefakesoundofprogress, the band changed its sound a bit, becoming much more polished and radio-friendly with 2004’s Start Something (which featured the radio hit Last Train Home), an album that achieved some success on the US charts. 2006’s Liberation Transmission followed, and mellowed out the band’s sound even more, replacing the raw aggression and innovation that was a part of the band’s debut with dance-y punk pop and super-polished hard rock tunes. The album was somewhat of a letdown to longtime fans like myself, with the derivative radio jam Rooftops the hit song from the album. Coincidentally, I still hear that song at supermarkets, so I guess it paid off for them.

Well, they returned this month with The Betrayed, the result of some tumultuous record-label hullabaloo in the past few years. After scrapping some songs because they were ‘too slick and shiny’, they tried to enlist the help of super producer Bob Rock, but that fell through as well. They then took matters into their own hands writing and recording an album while bassist Stuart Richardson took over production duties. The songs they wrote during this time resulted in the track list of The Betrayed.

As a long-time fan of Lostprophets who became interested in the band upon seeing the video for their song Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja way back in 2000 or so, The Betrayed is pretty good, despite its title and silly cover art. I didn’t really care for Liberation Transmission, as it was much poppier than I was used to. I much prefer the raw sound of thefakesoundofprogress and the harder-edged pop-rock sound of Start Something than the danceable songs with handclaps that plagued Liberation Transmission. This time around, the band seems to have tried to capture all three elements of their sound onto one album, and the results are mixed.

one of them didn't get the 'Wear a white shirt to the shoot' text....

Some of the songs on the album try really hard to be “raw”, such as Dstryr and Dstryr, with an abrasive riff and lead singer Ian Watkins doing some yelling amid the vocals. He yells, says ‘motherfucker’ a bunch of times, and it’s easy to see the fist pumps that inevitably go down when this song is played live. It’s not bad, but it’s a bit of an obvious attempt to recapture their harder-edged sound. First single It’s Not the End of the World but I Can See it From Here is pretty catchy, in the way most Lostprophets radio singles are. The video features the band playing the song on a rooftop somewhere in LA, and it’s an aggressive yet catchy tune with some nice rhythms and guitar riffs, and a sing-along chorus. Where We Belong is another single from The Betrayed, and it is not unlike Rooftops and Last Train Home (from Start Something). It’s what people have come to expect from the band in terms of radio singles, and with good reason. It’s slightly predictable but still not a bad tune, despite its obviously epic-sounding drum fills and staccato guitar.

Next Stop Atro City is another attempt to be ‘raw’, and it suffers the same fate as Dstryr and Dstryr, with loud noisy verses and another sing-along chorus designed for mush-pit approval. It’s not bad, and features a nice propulsive assault toward the end of the song. The issues I have with The Betrayed can be seen with the very next track, For He’s a Jolly Good Felon. After the abrasive noise bomb of the previous song, this one comes next, with its dance/punk guitar riff and radio-ready sing-along verses, creating a huge difference between its sound and the previous track’s aggression. With this album, Lostprophets are trying to please all of their fans, whether they prefer the band’s old sound, the radio-rock sound, or the dance/punk sound. All those styles of Lostprophets are on display on The Betrayed, and for that reason it doesn’t really flow well as an album. In addition, the ‘raw’ songs don’t really come off as that ‘raw’ because of the shimmery production that the songs have; they aren’t as organic and authentically raw as they were back in 2000.

Don’t get me wrong, the band still does do all these styles efficiently, but The Betrayed comes across as a bunch of songs they had written a while ago thrown onto one album of varying styles, without much cohesion. That’s not to say this is a bad record, in fact I’d say it’s much better than Liberation Transmission. It just doesn’t flow very well, but that makes sense, considering the rocky path this record went through in order to be finished, with producers switching constantly, label support dwindling and the band ultimately doing everything itself.

If you’ve ever like any of Lostprophets’ radio singles, then you’ll probably enjoy The Betrayed. If you haven’t liked them since 2000, you probably won’t care much for The Betrayed. I think it’s a solid record, though, and a marked improvement over their previous album.

Holy crap, this new 30 Seconds to Mars record is, like, so epic. And not epic in the way Tom Delonge thinks Angels & Airwaves is epic.

Let’s get one thing straight before you read the rest of this review: I fully acknowledge that 30 Seconds to Mars does NOT know how to tone things down. Singer/actor/guyliner-wearing focal point Jared Leto sure knows how to do the “breathy-vocals-exploding-into-a-powerful-yell” thing, as he’s done it that way for the majority of the band’s career. And yes, pretty much every song on This is War has a chorus of (what sounds like) children’s voices in the background swooning and echoing amidst all the percussion or chanting monk choirs (L490)  and, well, emotional, “epic”-sounding songs. 30STM just doesn’t know how strip things down and go simple…but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

30 Seconds to Mars is pompous. I’d say they’re in the same league as Muse and Angels & Airwaves as far as being self-important and having to make each and every song as epic and sprawling as possible. Yet somehow, someway, This is War impresses me the way Muse’s most recent album did not. (I know I gave that record a positive review, but it hasn’t held up as well through repeat listens).

I like this album, however, because everything sounds so big and fleshed out. There aren’t really any songs on This is War that are anything close to The Kill or I’ll Attack, from the band’s 2005 album A Beautiful Lie (the album that made the Hot Topic kids take notice). The only tunes on This is War that have that hard-rocking edge would be Night of the Hunter and the title track, which both have strong hooks and Leto crooning in varying pitches, using words like ‘messiah’ ‘war’, ‘we will fight to the death’ and so on. Just as the lyrics of Muse’s album were ridiculous and about some vague ‘uprising’, the songs on This is War are of the same lyrical themes, often having that silly choir accentuating Leto’s calls to action. I was corrected by a commenter that the choir is in fact a large group of the band’s fans, rather than a choir of children, for what it’s worth.

Yet the lyrics don’t bother me as much with this album as they did with Muse’s. Leto isn’t really saying anything substantial, and using a children’s choir doesn’t really help make things seem any more violent or irreverent (which would be characteristic of a war or uprising), but the music holds up well enough for me to overlook the nonsense. Every song has cool electronic percussion twinges and lush atmospheric arrangements. There are times I forget that the band has a guitarist, as everything gets thrown together and overwhelmed by the overall sound rather than a particular guitar riff.

I read an interview that stated that the band intended this record to sound more like their debut album than A Beautiful Lie, and I can see how that is the case. The shortest real song on This is War is 4:26 long, which means you have to really invest your time to listening to the whole record.

One of the disc’s highlights is Hurricane, which starts with a stirring piano melody. This is the song that was to have Kanye West do guest vocals, but for whatever reason (probably because everyone laughs at Kanye now??) the band cut his verse from the final version of the album. I prefer the version WITH Kanye instead, as he doesn’t overwhelm the song with his Auto-Tune robot voice, but whatever. You can find the Kanye version on YouTube or some other such site, if you’re interested to compare. The final version replaced Kanye with a vocal bridge by Leto, which works, but in my mind it was a more complete song with Kanye. Oh, and Brandon Flowers (ugh) of the Killers (double ugh) plays keyboard on this song. Despite all that, the song is a gem, and Leto does more passionate yell-screaming.

Another key track is Stranger in a Strange Land, which opens with some industrial sounding noises for a minute and a half, when Leto delivers the romantic line ‘Enemy of mine…I’ll fuck you like the devil’, which makes no sense but sounds creepy. The song plods on for a few minutes and has some of the coolest effects of any song on the album. It’s pretty effective in sounding like a Nine Inch Nails-inspired industrial techno jam.

This is War demonstrates that 30 Seconds to Mars is THE FARTHEST thing from an ‘organic’ band. Everything is syncopated beats, computer noises and studio effects, but they’re all done so well that it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure which songs on here will be big hit singles…the first single Kings and Queens is a fitting choice, but everything else is a bit more challenging than From Yesterday or The Kill. This album is also one that works as one piece of work much better than as individual songs.

Take a listen to This is War if you’re in the mood for something highly studio-effect-laden, melodic, and atmospheric. It’s not your average actor-turned musician album. It’s actually music, and it’s pretty good.

The Bravery have never exactly been critics’ darlings. After the breakout success of their single An Honest Mistake back in 2005, they were panned as new wave revival by the numbers, with a singer who couldn’t decide if he wanted to emulate Robert Smith, Simon Le Bon, or Morrissey. While these criticisms may have been true, they missed the point entirely; The Bravery’s self titled debut was never intended to be the next Pet Sounds, it was just a fun, synth pop record. After all, it’s hard to deny how entertaining the first half of that record is; each song is about as well crafted as any other new new wave one put out in this decade.

Tweet tweet hey a neon sign tweet

Then on their sophomore release, The Sun and the Moon, Sam Endicott and company did away with most of their best qualities in favor of a more mellow, britpop laced set. That they were trying something different was certainly commendable, but the result held no real charisma, and it was basically passable though forgettable pop. This time around, with their third album, Stir the Blood, The Bravery have not so much returned to their roots as taken a new approach that works. Much like Ladytron did on their third album, the direction here is more goth inspired and post-punk sounding, and the lyrics hint at a messy breakup. While the songwriting here isn’t nearly as good as that on Witching Hour, it’s still much better than it’s predecessor, and easily on par with the debut.

Adored starts things out with a brooding verse and a chorus that tries a bit too hard to soar, but it works all the same. What really sets the mood is Song for Jacob, with its wild synths and pressing bass line. Endicott’s vocals are a smidge reliant on a strangely gothic sounding snarl, but he truly convinces as he shouts, “There’s more inside of me than skin and bones” in the chorus. The midtempo lead single Slow Poison (which preceded Stir the Blood by about a month and a half) keeps the momentum going, but ultimately serves as the calm before the storm of Hatefuck. The anger bang accolade’s shrieking keyboards quickly give way to the relentless beat, and Endicott croons angrily about.. well, the imagery isn’t exactly difficult to imagine. The song startles in the middle with a detailed guitar solo akin to that in The Faint’s The Conductor, and  it wraps up nicely in under three minutes, as unexpectedly as it began. Frankly, with the exception of the title, it would’ve been an even better lead single; it’s a solid, catchy, and aggressive tune, as well as highly representative of the album’s sound.

Oooh we'ze all spooky n' shit

The almost equally suggestive She’s So Bendable (noone with a dirty mind is going to take this metaphorically at first glance) has a great laid back feel, without coming across as a labored attempt to sound like a single (as the preceding I Am Your Skin does), similarly to the ensuing The Spectator, which is carried largely by Mike Hindert’s great, understated bass playing. He is also largely responsible for the fantastic groove that Red Hands and White Knuckles has, which keyboardist John Conway expertly layers over with an almost distorted harpischord sounding melody, blinking synths, and a soft harmonization.  Jack-O’-Lantern Man is quite possibly the strongest song here, despite a more than passing resemblance to their 2005 hit Unconditional. Along with Hatefuck, it fits in with the rest of the album’s more reserved groove while injecting a massive dose of energy at just the right point. Stir the Blood closes with Sugarpill, a very Interpol/latter day Ladytron sounding track on which the band backs Endicott’s moping with a fittingly moody atmosphere that almost steals the show.

While it’s true that The Bravery aren’t afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, this doesn’t take away from the fact that they (lead songwriter Sam Endicott, namely) are quite capable of writing great alternative dance music. Stir the Blood proves that when they play to their strengths, The Bravery can put out some truly solid stuff.

The Stone Foxes are a bluesy rock band out of the San Francisco area that you should be listening to. I meant to write this review a while ago but life’s many distractions prevented me from doing so until now. I first saw the Foxes in 2008 sometime in SF, and since then I’ve been sure to spread their music to friends whenever possible. Their initial full-length self titled album is a revelation, a collection of tunes so soulful and accomplished that you might be surprised to learn that they aren’t seasoned veterans; in fact they are either recent grads or still college students in San Francisco. As a band, though, the Foxes have a maturity well beyond their years, with a strong and impressive grasp on blues rhythm and musical cohesion

I’m combining this album review with their live show that I saw Friday night at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach. The Stone Foxes stormed through an hour long set, playing some songs I’ve seen them play before at the Mint such as Sweep a Road and Mercury. The album’s first song, and the first one they played at Saint Rocke, Beneath Mt. Sinai, is one of their standout tracks; it boasts some awesome vocals and a nice, slow beat that turned some heads in the radio circuit up in the Bay. One of the coolest things about the Stone Foxes is how they switch off singing duties and instruments frequently; any given song will be carried out vocally by Shannon, the drummer, Spence, the guitarist, Avi, the bassist, or Aaron, the other guitarist. Avi and Aaron also switch instruments sometimes, as well as singing responsibility. It’s really impressive, since they all sound very tight and carry out their duties in a precise fashion.

At Saint Rocke, the people watching the show seemed to enjoy themselves; Shannon told me that their show the previous night at the Viper Room was packed to the brim as well. It’s great to see them getting this attention at venues across So Cal, as I think they’re one of the better bands I’ve seen in quite a while to emerge from the Bay Area. Their sound, inspired by the legends of the 60s and 70s,  is both unique and a throwback to a different era, one of passionate, soulful music of blues legends such as Robert Johnson (whom the Foxes even named a song after, a newer tune about his murder). A newer tune, Mr. Hangman, was the last song of the set, with Shannon doing some badass harmonica jams and taking over lead vocals again. Awesome.

The second track on the album, Rollin’ and Tumblin’, starts with an excellent harmonica lead and some sick slide guitar from Spence, and goes into a group vocal hook. The song may be a blues standard, covered by a ton of artists over the years, but the Stone Foxes’ version is just as great as other artists’ impressions.

As a whole, the album is great, and the songs flow into each other really well. It’s a perfect soundtrack for a long car ride. The Foxes proudly display their inspirations on their collective sleeve, so to speak, and the result is an album that everyone should want to listen to. I know I say this in just about every album review I write here at BtH, but in today’s mostly empty popular music world, bands like the Stone Foxes are all the more important; they have an honesty to their music that other bands/groups lack. I think the Foxes would do well alongside Sub Pop bands like Blitzen Trapper, Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes, as they have that folk-y, bluesy sound that those bands employ, much to the enjoyment of the Pitchfork crowd. It’s amazing to me that the Stone Foxes still aren’t signed to a label, as I think they deserve to be.

They just played throughout So Cal, at the Viper Room, Saint Rocke, the Mint, and then at the House of Blues San Diego with the Black Crowes. I know I will sure as hell make an effort to see them next time they come around, and you should too.

I hope this review has encouraged you to enlist your support for the Stone Foxes.

Want to check out their album? Here’s the iTunes link.

Here’s my video of Beneath Mt. Sinai from Saint Rocke:

Beneath Mt. Sinai

And here’s a real video of Sweep a Road.

Enjoy.

The vultures have landed. After the past few months of really weird and frustrating promotion (“here’s a few seconds of a song, but THAT’S IT! Bwahaha”), Them Crooked Vultures’ debut album is here.

TCV, if you weren’t aware somehow, is Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on vocals and guitar, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters/Nirvana/general badassery smashing the shit out of the drums, and John Paul Jones from an up and coming band called Led Zeppelin slapping the bass and adding Doors-esque keyboard flair where appropriate. Rock pedigree? Check.

After first hearing about TCV, my expectations were ridiculously lofty. Then, with the short teaser clips that made their way onto the Internet instead of full songs, my anticipation turned to a bit of frustration…but then I heard the singles New Fang and Mind Eraser, No Chaser and I realized just how badass this album could be. This album does NOT disappoint.

And oh, is it ever badass. Mind Eraser in particular was a great choice for a single. Dave even sings background vocals on this one. I was hoping to hear Dave on background vox on other songs, but this is apparently the only one. The other songs instead are carried out by Homme, who sings about sex, drugs, the government, the devil, and other such sunny subjects.

yeah, they're more awesome than you

Overall, TCV’s debut is a startling and long overdue kick in the balls to the current ‘rock’ scene. While Homme, Grohl and Jones are collectively rich enough to use all the best studio trickery and create a glossy, well-produced product (much like any Foos record), the songs sound like they were written in a garage out of an impromptu jam session. The riffs are dirty, the vocals snarling, the lyrics dark, just as they should be.

No One Loves Me and Neither Do I sets the tone for the rest of the record with these lyrics: If sex is a weapon then SMASH! BOOM! POW! How you like me now? You can’t always do right, but you can always do what’s left. When I told her I was trash she winked and laughed and said “I already know. I gotta a beautiful place to put your face.”
And she was right. Filthy.

On Mind Eraser, Homme discusses drugs, and asks the question Give me the reason why the mind’s a terrible thing to waste?

Given the subject matter of these songs, it seems to me that Homme penned all if not most of the lyrics, while the band probably jammed out all the songs musically. They’re similar in content to Queens of the Stone Age, so it makes sense for Homme to have come up with this stuff.

Thankfully, none of the songs really sound like Foos, Zeppelin or Queens, for the most part. Dead End Friends has a bit of a Queens sound (circa Songs for the Deaf), but that doesn’t mean it’s any less distinct. The dudes were able to create their own unique sound with TCV, and that’s commendable.

I REALLLY wish this was a real promo picture

Another good aspect to this record is how they didn’t get too over-indulgent. It’s not like every song is 7 minutes long, with tacked on bluesy instrumental jams all over the place. The songs that are over the six minute mark, Elephants, Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up, and Spinning in Daffodils don’t wear out their welcome; if anything they’re among the most solid cuts on the album. Elephants has a slower, brooding rhythm and Homme discusses the devil, lepers, and, well, elephants.

The best stretch of the album begins with Interlude with Ludes, (which sounds like David Bowie on drugs having a party in the desert), and ends with the conclusion of Spinning in Daffodils.

Warsaw… is a personal favorite, starting off slow and atmospheric and turning into a fast, bluesy stomp about midway through.

Caligulove has another stop-and-go beat and more keyboard flourishes that help set it apart, as well as a memorable chorus where Homme asks, “come on, Caligulove me”.

On Gunman, TCV masters a hard-driving rhythm that Muse wishes they could have come up with, and adds in some demented-sounding vocals by Homme and cymbal crashes from Grohl, creating another of the album’s highlights. Badass.

Spinning in Daffodils is psychedelic, sludgy, and dark, a fitting way to end the album.

Them Crooked Vultures’ debut record is the best thing to come from any ‘supergroup’ in a long time, if ever. Rock music could really stand to pay attention to this. It is music made for music’s sake, from three supremely talented guys. It’s just dirty, sexy, groovy music made by three people who combine to DEFINE rock music past, present, and (hopefully) future. If you had any inclination to check out this band, DO IT. It’s one of the most refreshing things I’ve heard in quite a while, and anyone who considers him or herself a fan of ‘rock’ music would be ripping themselves off if they didn’t check it out.

I debated putting this picture as the entirety of this review, as it sums up the album perfectly:

Go get it.

When the members of a band have released more solo albums than together as a whole, it’s easy to start worrying about whether or not the group’s hiatus is just that. Case in point, the Strokes. After a brilliant debut acclaimed by critics and fans alike, they released an adventurous sophomore effort that was slightly inferior, and then a sprawling, uneven hot mess. As if taking cue from falling flat so ceremoniously, the group decided to take a break and go their separate ways for a bit. Out of this came a couple impressive solo efforts from Albert Hammond, Jr. as well as projects from Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti (Nickel Eye and Little Joy, respectively), while the songwriter/vocalist Julian Casablancas laid relatively low. However, it couldn’t have been long until he decided to try his own hand at it; it’s all too easy to assume that the man at the helm of the immensely ambitious (though falling unfortunately short) First Impressions of Earth had quite a few varied ideas of his own stowed away just waiting for use, and boy, do we ever get them.

Even with all this in mind, Phrazes for the Young’s opener Out of the Blue is fittingly titled, with wildly bleeping synths introducing a more familiar galloping yet subdued guitar with upbeat drums belied by Casablancas’ fashionably alienated voice droning on about sadness turning into bitterness, and the like. The song is great – the devices are hackneyed but manipulated very well to produce quite a few outstanding melodies; overall it’s damned close to a perfect song. Up next is Left & Right in the Dark, which features Police-echoing guitar (the underlying part is particularly reminiscent of Canary in a Coal Mine) layered with cheesy but effective synths. These two, paired with lead single 11th Dimension, seem to set the stage for a bouncy alternative dance album, but the record takes a sharp left turn here, and to Casablancas’ credit, it works very, very well. 4 Chords of the Apocalypse recalls Chris Cornell’s When I’m Down (or anything from Euphoria Morning, really) with a surprisingly capable croon and a great, bluesy guitar. This is where the slightly sad affectations to his vocals work best; when he sings “So be with anyone you want, it’s alright with me,” it’s so convincing it truly feels like this was supposed to be a blues record.

The seamless transition of the hopping genres is made even more evident with the country-drenched Ludlow St., a tribute to bar hopping, and the inevitable drunkenness and hangover that follow. The cleverly placed keyboards and drum machine keep the song from floating out of place, as well as Casablancas’ endlessly grounded voice.

The album slips slightly here; River of Brakelights is a startlingly aggressive tune that gets a bit too busy in places, with Glass overindulging a bit much in the grandiose chorus (though saved by a strong chorus and bridge).  The momentum is quickly recovered with the closing Tourist, though; the track is incredibly effective, endlessly layered with new sounds as the song progresses and yet never sounding pretentious or overprocessed.

After the half brilliant, half disastrous affair that was First Impressions of Earth, Casablancas has re-applied his wide plethora of ideas once again, however with a great deal more vision. It’s not perfect, but it has everything the former didn’t, and even if we never do hear more from the Strokes as a whole, making do with their solo careers will be far more tolerable than anyone might have thought. Still though, if the musical growth everyone involved has shown is any indication, if we do get the new Strokes album we’re all hoping for, it’s gonna be a monster.

I wasn’t going to bother doing a review of the re-release of Nirvana’s 1989 Sub Pop debut Bleach because usually I don’t find re-releases worthy of that much attention. Most times reissues seem to just be slightly tweaked or ‘remastered’ versions of the original, with maybe two or three ‘exclusive’ photos thrown into the liner notes for kicks. The reissue of Bleach, however, COMPLETELY bucks that trend. This new version has to be the best possible package the folks behind this could have released.

Anyone who appreciates quality music knows how good Nirvana was. Sure, there are those who can’t get past Kurt Cobain’s moodiness, his supposed lack of guitar skills, or are tired of hearing Lithium, Come As You Are, Rape Me, and Smells like Teen Spirit on modern rock radio all the time. To me, though, Nirvana is one of the most important bands ever, and I wasn’t even old enough to appreciate them when they were around.

In Utero is arguably Nirvana’s crowning achievement, but I appreciate Bleach for being a groundbreaking record to emerge from the flannelled, grimy suburbanite hub of the Pacific Northwest in 1989. On this new edition, the songs have been re-tooled and sound infinitely crisper and crunchy than they did previously. Before, I didn’t really care much for Bleach since the recording quality was so notoriously bad (they recorded the album for $606). For comparison’s sake, it seems that most artists today waste that much on a few hours of Autotune studio time, so there’s some (admittedly exaggerated) perspective.

destroying stuff they probably couldn't afford yet

A lot has been said already over the years about the actual album itself. Where this reissue really shines, though, is in the live songs added to the collection from a previously unreleased show in Portland in 1990. The quality of the songs here is astounding. They almost sound better than the studio cuts. AND there are live versions of both Sappy and Molly’s Lips, which I haven’t heard before on any official Nirvana release. Sappy, in particular, is incredible, and I am really glad they included it, as it’s always been one of my favorite Nirvana songs that never receives much credit.

Kurt sounds great on the live set, and for the most part his guitar work is solid, except when the songs call for frantic dissonant shredding and spastic free-form weirdness, at which he excelled. The only Nirvana ‘hit’ on this set is About a Girl, since the other big fancy major label songs hadn’t existed yet. The set’s last song, Blew, concludes with the cacophony of sound that happens when Kurt, Krist Novoselic and then-drummer Chad Channing smash things to bits, a ritual that the band (and Dave Grohl once he showed up) would carry on to their days as The Biggest Band in the World. It adds a powerful sense of finality to a raucous, explosive live set that is quite something to behold. Too bad they didn’t release it as a DVD.

The album booklet is filled with a treasure trove of Nirvana promo/live photos that people haven’t seen before…hell, there’s even a photocopy of some random notes and Nirvana’s recording contract with Sub Pop. That’s about as ‘rare, unreleased, and exclusive’ as you can get. In some of the other photos, Krist has funny hair and Kurt SMILES. That’s something you don’t really see in most Nirvana books/pictures/etc, since he eventually felt so sick to the pit of his burning, nauseous stomach from all the attention and Courtney Love’s nonsense that he stopped smiling or being happy altogether.

This is really an excellent, well-thought-out treat for Nirvana fanboys such as myself. I was never old enough to experience the band live, and all I have instead are bootlegs and the occasional DVD release (as long as Courtney green lights it and cashes those checks, of course).

being on a major label is so fun!

In today’s wasteland of popular music, where most of what is trendy and successful is shamefully unimaginative and soaked in vapidity, bands like Nirvana just cannot be forgotten. Kurt Cobain’s earnest dissatisfaction with himself, his surroundings, and life in general that only got worse as he attained more and more acclaim and respect, is reflected in the dirty, (forgive me) grungy, passionate music that he and his band created.

While Bleach isn’t quite as polished or mainstream as Nevermind or the singles from In Utero, it is still an important part of Nirvana’s career. Hidden beneath the muddled, feedback-y layers of songs such as School and Swap Meet are indications of a band primed to breakout in a major way, which Nirvana of course did.

Before that breakout was Bleach, an album which laid the foundation for what Nirvana and their ‘grunge’ contemporaries would become, and thanks to Sub Pop Records, it is now available for people to appreciate and add to their collections in a whole new way.