URL change.... back

Hey!

So I've changed the URL once again to its original name from about a year and a half ago. Its alot easier to refer to and search for, from what I hear. Plus, it sounds less like a freaky barbershop now!

Thanks guys!

blink 182 - "Neighborhoods" stream/review

Okay, first off, that album art rules. Just had to say it.

My relationship with blink 182 is like most music lovers, I find, except in the fact that I don't deny it. For many folks, blink was the intro drug that got them into louder, faster, and better music. For alot of other people, they're a nostalgia band who wrote insanely catchy and fun music which was surprisingly musically adept at times. For almost everyone who takes themselves to seriously (*cough people who call themselves punks or hipsters cough*) they are a guilty pleasure to NEVER be acknowledged.

But, I'm lucky enough to live in a city where blink 182 gets a modicum of respect! The Grown Ups, fantastic local band, does alot of covers of older blink tunes (particularly from dude ranch.) Most of my friends flock to blink shows, whenever they end up in town. Everyone loves blink 182! They sound like junior high and high school rolled into one, with a ton of dick
jokes to compliment it.

So now, they've gotten back together and wrote a new album called "Neighborhoods." And I just listened to a stream of it online, it gets officially released in two weeks. What do I think of it?

It just doesnt sound like blink 182 to me anymore. I could really break it down and construct a well developed analysis of why (and trust me, I will), but the teenager in me who loves blink just says "its not fun, its not immature, its not blink."

It's natural for bands to change and evolve and there are tons of them that turned out fantastically. When The Thermals did "Personal lives," gone was (most of) the lo-fi riff heavy punk stuff, replaced by personally written non political songs with a serious Modest Mouse/Death Cab indie vibe to it. It ruled. And it still sounded like The Thermals. The Undertones experimented with slower, more progressive songs after writing three buzzsaw pop punk albums. Against Me, despite what everyone says, still sounds like Against Me despite not writing simplistic acoustic anarcho songs anymore.
Even blink themselves wrote that self titled album years ago which experimented with synthesizers, intricate song patterns, and more mature lyrics. But it still sounded like Blink 182.

"Neighborhoods" is full of breakdown drum solos, spacy guitar effects, heavy riffs, heavy handed lyrics, plenty of heart-on-the-shoulder type sentiments. On paper this sounds awesome and its actually pretty good in practise. Listening to the album, I bobbed my head once in awhile, even found myself humming along with choruses.
But it is to apparant to me that each member of blink spent so much time doing side projects and as such, I dont hear a cohesive "blink 182" sound anymore. Tom DeLonge bends his voice into the pseudo whiney howl he uses with "Angels and Airwaves," while playing his guitar like it is a rocketship/synth/thing. Travis Barker spends most of his time showing us, the listener, how great a fucking drummer he thinks he is by dicking about with his high hats and throwing in a drum breakdown every 30 seconds, a habit born from making all his solo remixes of famous songs with drum beats. Mark Hoppus is the only guy who seems to know what blink is and what it should sound like, stretching his voice into really cool dimensions and playing solidly catchy bass lines while probably scissor kicking.
Mind you, its not up to a listener such as myself to tell blink 182 what they should and should not sound like. Thats for the band members themselves to decide. But I think they are trying to unify to many sounds at once, and as such, are forgetting what made them such a great band to begin with. Yea they have grown as musicians, and maybe that in itself is the problem. Tons of people listen to Dude Ranch or untitled not because it was particularly unique or different, but because they were instantly recognizable and fun. "Neighborhoods," while not exactly bad, sounds like any number of other bands or typical Warped Tour generic crap that passes for "Pop Punk" today. (I'm looking at you, All Time Low.)

So pick it up when it comes out if your curious, you might just enjoy it and think its another step forward for them as a band. I am indeed glad they are back and doing shows! But while I realize this is probably the direction they want to take as a band, I am always gonna be weirded out by this new sound they have cultivated for themselves. It just doesn't sound like what blink 182 should sound like to me, personally. I just pop in a copy of Dude Ranch and party down instead!

- Nathan

Back, again.

Hey guys. No, this blog isn't dead... just waiting.

Waiting for me to not be busy with school and job hunting.

My last post was a few months ago, but as I plan to try and write for my school newspaper, I'm going to keep this one going so I can showcase my writing/share the music I love/all that good stuff

I might also do video game and movie reviews here and there!

Anyways, stay tuned because I'm about to listen to a stream of the new blink 182 album. I'm not sure if I'm gonna like it though, because it doesnt seem to contain any songs about fucking your friends mom or girls at rock shows.

Stay free!

- N

The Coachwhips - Bangers vs Fuckers

These has instantly become a new favorite of mine, the kind of band you hear for the first time and have no idea why you've never heard them before. Major shout out to my friend (and future band mate) Chris for showing them to me.
The Coachwhips were an exciting three piece garage punk rock and roll band from San Francisco, consisting of a guitarist/vocalist, a drummer and an organ player. "Exciting" may be something of an understatement. This music is loud, fast, simple, and sounds like its falling apart at the seams... and yet its so brilliantly tight and musically sound, your jaw is left somewhere on the floor as each song attacks you for a minute and a half each. The vocals are so distorted, you only manage to catch a word or two, a "yea" here and a "baby" there. Luckily, The Coachwwhips aren't trying to tell you anything; they just wanna get your ass shaking in all sorts of weird ways. Think the White Stripes (if the White Stripes actually COULDNT play there instruments) on speed, being molested by the organ player from The Attractions. As you can see, I haven't lost my touch for nasty metaphors.
I seriously love these guys. They aren't a band anymore, but the singer/guitarist has a fantastic new band called Thee Oh Sees. Catch them at Sled Island if you can!
Enjoy!

1. You Gonna Get It
2. Extinguish Me
3. I Knew Her, She New Me
4. Purse Peekin
5. Dancefloor, Bathroom
6. I Drank What?
7. Evil Son
8. Thee Alarm
9. Recline, Recline
10. (Harlow's) Muscle Of Love
11. Goodnite, Goodbuy


Download it here!

Streetlight Manifesto - "Everything Goes Numb"

As far as third wave ska goes, it doesnt get much better then Streetlight Manifesto.
Taking the manic energy of punk and putting an extremly talented brass line behind it while playing in what sounds like fast forward, its hard not to get up and start skanking whenever I hear these guys. I saw them live not to long ago and I dont think I'll ever forget it, the bearded sax player doing scissor kicks, the doc martin boots I kept getting to the face, the massive sing alongs. Formed from the remains of Catch 22 and in my opinion, far better.... Streetlight Manifesto isn't a band you should miss! Enjoy!

01- Everything Went Numb
02- That'll be the Day
03- Point/Counterpoint
04- If and When We Rise Again
05- A Better Place, A Better Time
06- We are The Few
07- Falling, Falling
08- Here's To Life
09- A Moment of Silence
10- A Moment of Violence
11- The Saddest Song
12- The Big Sleep

Download it Here!

The Max Levine Ensemble - OK Smartypants

I find it hard to believe I haven't talked about these guys before on this blog; they only happen to be one of my favorite bands currently active. Oh well, better late then never.
I have posted before about the wonderful D.I.Y collective known as Plan-It X Records. In case you didn't read it way back when, they are a do-it-yourself record label rub by Chris Clavin. A diverse nucleus of bands, ranging from indie to folk (including some of my favorite bands, like Defiance Ohio and This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb) operate out of it, often sharing members with one another. The Max Levine Ensemble is one of them.
A classic three piece pop punk band in the spirit of Screeching Weasel and Blink 182, The Max Levine Ensemble was actually once a fast paced third wave ska band. They were fantastic back then, and they are fantastic now. Always love it when a band can evolve without sucking. Please also understand that when I say pop punk, I mean a punk band that plays poppy, catchy riffs. I don't mean Warped Tour style, basketball jersey clad "Pop Punk" (which has its place, dont get me wrong.)
They play bratty, irresistable pop riffs with surprisingly complex structures and deep lyrics that touch on concepts like hometowns, loss, terrible radio stations, and that girl you once loved who changes with the seasons. Its all done up tempo with the kind of energy that only comes with youth. Don't miss this band while they are still young, everything they have done is amazing. This just happens to be my favorite album.
For a D.I.Y album, the production is surprisingly slick and each song fades into the next... this only add's to it. Alot of "punk" bands shy away from nice production, but The Max Levine Ensemble embraces and loves it.
Track highlights are "Nuclearadio" and "Summer, Like The Season." Enjoy this album like you enjoy the summer!

1. One Click.
2. Thrash Mt. Towson.
3. Firetoowwweerrr.
4. Aren't All Songs Political? Are’nt All Songs Vaguely Self Referential?
5. Nuclearadio.
6. The Accident.
7. Small Talk. ( Blah, Blah, Blah )
8. Love, Capital L
9. You’re Bitter.
10. Franny And Hooey.
11. Complex Machines.
12. The Loss.
13. Summer, Like The Season.
14. I Loved To Watch Them…

The Max Levine Ensemble, in true D.I.Y fashion, post all of there music online for free download. Go to their official website, scroll to the album, and download it for free Here!

startabandstartabandstartaband

I'm sitting here waiting for some guys to come over and play music with me and I just thought I would share a bit of what I am up to currently, as far as bands go and whatnot. I've been posting on this blog for about a year predominantly on music, so it would seem kinda funny if I wasn't an active musician myself.

First of all, and this won't be huge news to many people, my old band is getting back together. We are called Spineless.



Spineless was/is an experimental punk band with crust, grind, and progressive elements. I played guitar in it. Its pretty dark stuff in terms of song writing; alot of harsh walls of noise, screaming, blast beats. It started off about 2 years ago now as three buddies and myself fucking around on our intruments, trying to sound like Municipal Waste and Disrupt. It was rough and kinda goofy at first... we had two guitarists, no bassist, and a song about a Lava Lamp. We played one show through the extortionists known as Supernova, which went awfully. We had a chance to play a show with the phenomenal band Sigil, but it didn't pan out.
We all had super chemistry, it just needed more time to flush out. I was stupid and didn't see it as a work in progress. I thought the song and lyric writing was kind of shallow at the time (which it was) and the bad first show we did discouraged me. Arrogantly, I thought I was above it. So I kinda disbanded it and moved on to other things, like acting in plays and busking.
Our singer moved to Vancouver a year later, but not before we played music together twice more, minus one guitarist. We realized we had enormous potential to do some actual song writing... but then he left. He's coming back now, and hopefully, Spineless will actually get off the ground.
I'm really excited. The three of us have all grown so much, and the new material we DID write before he moved has some real emotion behind it. So look out for Spineless in the near future, we'll be spilling Lava Lamps Of Doom everywhere.

On another note, I'm currently waiting for some friends to come over so we can get a musical project off the ground that has been in the works for quite some time. This one is a bit less defined then Spineless, as were not quite sure who is gonna play what and who will be in it. We've already done a few basement cover shows with a revolving lineup but I'm thinking I will probably be playing either guitar or bass and singing. Tentatively, we are calling ourselves The Detractions (its a play on Elvis Costello and the Attractions) and its gonna be fuzzy, poppy garage punk. Alot more conventional, light hearted, and goofy then Spineless. But again, there is real chemistry between us all and I am a sucker for catchy riffs. Keep an eye out for that as well!

Beyond that, I am a regular busker downtown during the summer. Try and spot my terrible voice and rudimentry guitar work anywhere near 10th avenue during the summer.

So thats about it for now... I think. Until next time!

- Nate