PREPARE TO MOSH

It has come to my attention that there are people that don't know all the words to "Firestorm/Forged in the Flames," and much more disturbingly, there are people who have never even heard of EARTH CRISIS.

Disturbing, indeed.

I cannot let that stand. Earth Crisis is, for those of you who don't know (I don't want to know who you are), the legendary hardcore punk band from Syracuse, NY that is responsible for bringing Straight Edge and Veganism to the forefront of the hardcore scene. Some people complain that they take themselves too seriously; to those critics I say fuck you. God forbid a band has an issue they actually care about, and use their music as a means to spread their message. They are also one of the only bands to ever write a good chug guitar riff, much less a bunch of them.

So here are their albums, not in chronological order, but the order that I think you need them:

Firestorm/Forged in the Flames

All I will say about this is:

DUN DUN
DUN DUN
DUN DUN
DUN DUN
DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN

*pick slide with whammy bar*

and then the mosh.

Gomorrah's Season Ends

If the song "Gomorrah's Season Ends" doesn't either make you fucking pumped to be Straight Edge or make you wish you were, you're chemically dependent on something.
MOSH

Breed the Killers

No, they don't mean breed the Killers that way, silly! Although, really, I think the Killers should give up on what they're playing at their concerts and just play "Ultramilitance" 15 times. Then I would pay to see them.
MOSH

Destroy the Machines

This album contains the line "Reject the
anthropocentric falsehood." No album containing that phrase has ever been or ever will be anything less than awesome.
MOSH

To The Death

This is seriously the best reunion album I have ever heard. There's no wondering if they did it for the money, or to relive the glory days, or anything of that nature. This is just pure, ragingly heavy hardcore. You know it's good when the beginning of the first song is a mosh part.
MOSH

All Out War

Aww, isn't the opening guitar pretty? Yeah, it's nic-OH FUCK. It's their first, and you can kinda tell. Karl's voice is weakest on this one, but he's still better than almost anyone else.
MOSH

There's an album of covers, which range from kinda neat (Children of the Grave, Holiday in Cambodia, Earth A.D.) to "I'm gonna listen to 'The Discipline' instead" (Paint it Black) You don't need it.

And now you know about Earth Crisis.

So Here's A Thing

So this is Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. Black Joe is easily one of the coolest dudes ever, as evidenced by this album, which never ceases to be fantastic for the 30 minutes it runs.

"But why is it fantastic? How can I be sure I'll like it?" you ask, because you are a moron. But even though you are stupid as hell, I'll explain: Black Joe plays dirty, dirty garage soul and blues. These songs are gritty and kinda lo-fi, but in a good way; it sounds like a recording from the '60s. They cover some traditional blues themes: women, being broke, and women, but Joe doesn't word them like the standard--he's not afraid to drop a few (well, maybe more than a few) motherfuckers. The Honeybears are awesome; I dig the horns a lot.

I will sum this album up in a way that is perhaps easier for some people to understand:
Black Joe Lewis=James Brown vocals and horns+dirty Texas Telecaster blues riffs+Rhodes piano+old school production.

If you don't dig that, well, I can't help you. No one can. God have mercy on your soul.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears-Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!

Download

Bonus round!
Here's his self-titled EP. It has 2 songs that are on the album, plus 2 that didn't make it: "Bitch, I Love You," which you can already tell is great from the title (this is Black Joe's version of a slow jam), and "Cousin Randy," an acoustic blues story of Joe's encounter with the devil.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

Download

P.S., all you kids who go on and on about the Black Keys need this. The Black Keys are really good and all, but man, Joe rocks way the fuck harder.

Beware, This Post Is WORDS WORDS WORDS But Totally Worth It In My Opinion

So, when I first came to Lawrence, I had this idea that a hippy college town would have a super vibrant music scene, and that i would see some kick-ass concerts. Well, I should have thought this through a little better, because most of it seems to be hippy college duders with their acoustic guitars or a bunch of frat boys covering 311 and Sublime. Which is not exactly my jam, as they say.

But it's not like I haven't seen some cool stuff here. I mean, I saw Have Heart, arguably the best band in the hardcore punk scene today, in Kansas City. And Clouds, Coliseum, and Torche, which was bone-rattlingly loud and incredibly fun. Polar Bear Club played to maybe 15 people, and they fucking DESTROYED. You know there's something special about a band when they are capable of inspiring 8 or 9 guys to start a pile-on, all of us singing along.

But it's the next weekend that I'm excited about. I get to see both the Riverboat Gamblers, a long-time favorite of mine (who recently put ut a new album, I just found out), and the Gaslight Anthem, who I've only started listening to recently, but MAN. What a band.

First and foremost, I guess I should say I love Bruce Springsteen. I also love punk rock. Thus, the Gaslight Anthem seems to have been specifically designed to appeal to me. It's not super punk-y sounding, really (ok, the drums are pretty punk sounding); it's more of an energy thing, I think. The guitars are never heavy; in fact, a lot of the time they're clean and chiming. The vocals are fantastic, and have some really neat vintage vibes in the production. I don't know what the sound is; plate reverb, maybe? Who cares, it's awesome. He's got a super heartfelt delivery and I'm a sucker for that. The lyrics are a little more punk rock and less Dylan-esque poetry than Springsteen, but they're still songs about "regular folks" and their stories. Here's a sample from "Great Expectations," a song you will love of you have any sort of soul:

Mary, this station is playing every sad song.
I remember like we were alive.
I heard it Sunday morn' from inside of these walls.
In a prison cell, where we spent those nights.
And they burnt up the diner where I always used to find her.
Licking young boys blood from her claws.
And I learned about the blues from this kitten I knew.
Her hair was rabid and her heart was like a tomb.
My heart's like a wound

I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my first wife.
Everybody leaves and I'd expect as much from you.
I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my old life.
Everybody leaves, so why, why wouldn't you?

That shit just gets me.

Anyway, enough from me. Listen and love it.

The Gaslight Anthem-The '59 Sound

Great expectations, we had the greatest expectations.

BONUS!

Here is their E.P., Señor And the Queen. "Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts" is the sound of youth.

The Gaslight Anthem-Señor And the Queen

We like our choruses sung together
We like our arms in our brothers' arms
Call every girl we ever met Maria
But I only love Virginia's heart

Leonard Cohen's Original Is Just Not As Good

Most of the time, when I'm listening to an album or song, I'll get an idea of what I want to listen to next. It's not always related in anyway to what I'm listening to currently; sometimes if I just see it while scrolling through iTunes, that's what does it for me. Other times I'll get a theme going, like my totally rad mix I made for playing loud while driving (Baroness, Bloodhorse, and Bison! The all B thing is a coincidence, I think).

Jeff Buckley, however, makes things really, really hard. After I listen to his songs, I don't want to listen to anything else, really. I either want to hear them again or just have silence. Anything else would seem... wrong.

I realize that this album is literally on every single indie kid's terrible music blog, but man, this album really is one of those "you need to hear it" things. It is almost as good as The Tyranny of Distance, which is about as high of praise as I can give anything.

Jeff Buckley-Grace

Jeff Buckley's death and Justin Pearson's continued existence prove that either there is no god, or he has fucking awful taste.

Tonight, I'm only going to upload one song. However, that one song is way better than whatever the fuck you're listening to, unless you're listening to the song that I've put up here, in which case you rule. The song I'm talking about is Mastodon's cover of the Thin Lizzy song "Emerald."

Think about it. Let it sink in a little.

Mastodon. Thin Lizzy. Yeah.





Don't click here unless you're a fan of blazing lead guitar lines and tasty solos. And if you don't like those things, you are a bad person.


It's rad as fuck. I love it.

I Hate The Locust More Than Any Band In The World

Enough is enough, blog. I've had it up to here with you; I give you nice-sounding things that are pleasant to listen to, and what do I get? Nothing. Nothing at all. So I'll try something new.


Rhino Charge was a straight edge grind band that distilled 98% of the world's anger into a six song E.P. This sort of noise shouldn't be possible to create with only three people, but thank god they did, because it is fucking brilliant. There are ludicrous tempos, sludgy parts, absolutely throat-shredding vocals, and even some... grooves? All in six songs and a little over six and a half minutes. Bitchin'.

Rhino Charge

Forgiveness Only Gives You a Second Chance to Misjudge

Arctic Choke has possibly the greatest logo in music, members of Rhino Charge, and why are you not convinced this rules yet? You are dumb.

Arctic Choke-The 4-20 Demo

Six minutes is the right length for an E.P., isn't it?

Misery Index are the biggest band in today's lineup, with some nice production and a death metal-heavy sound. This one is an extravagant 7 minutes long, with almost half of that being an acoustic version of their song "Discordia" that is absolutely fantastic and strangely beautiful.

Misery Index-Hang 'Em High

Is that a poorly-rendered Clint Eastwood?


P.S.,
It is your civic duty as a fan of decent music to print off several hundred copies of these images and proceed to apply them to all of your area's resident fans of bands like Wecamewithbrokenteeth, Iwrestledabearonce, and, above all, The Locust. Fuck all those miserable pricks. "Holy shit THEY GO ALL SQUIDDLY-DIDDLY ON THEIR KEYBOARDS THEY ARE SO INNOVATIVE AND AWESOME!!!!!!!" these abysmal fucks say. I guess in their own way, The Locust is incredibly innovative--they managed to find the one way possible to turn grindcore, the genre that fused death and thrash metal with hardcore punk, into something completely lacking in aggression, anger, or intensity. Fuck.





Go fuck yourself.

'Sup blog?

It's been a while. Have some pop-punk, you'll like it.

Valencia-We All Need A Reason To Believe

Here

What Essay?

In a fit of complete altruism, I've decided to put off doing my Environment & History essay in order to give you something new to listen to, you faithful, non-existent readers of my blog.

Anyway, the theme for tonight is apparently 'weird shit I like at 3 in the morning,' which means later Black Flag and Ornette Coleman.

The Process of Weeding Out is an all-instrumental EP focusing on Black Flag mastermind Greg Ginn, sometimes called "the worst guitar soloist in the world" by someone who was a fucking idiot. He apparently does a bunch of microtonal stuff but I have no idea what that means, so I'll just say it sounds like a cross between avant-garde jazz and methamphetamines.

The Process Of Weeding Out

Here

I'm fucked for a description of this, so here's allmusic.com's take on it:
"Ornette Coleman's Atlantic debut, The Shape of Jazz to Come, was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven't come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes. The pieces here follow almost no predetermined harmonic structure, which allows Coleman and partner Don Cherry an unprecedented freedom to take the melodies of their solo lines wherever they felt like going in the moment, regardless of what the piece's tonal center had seemed to be. Plus, this was the first time Coleman recorded with a rhythm section -- bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins-- that was loose and open-eared enough to follow his already controversial conception. Coleman's ideals of freedom in jazz made him a feared radical in some quarters; there was much carping about his music flying off in all directions, with little direct relation to the original theme statements. If only those critics could have known how far out things would get in just a few short years; in hindsight, it's hard to see just what the fuss was about, since this is an accessible, frequently swinging record. It's true that Coleman's piercing, wailing alto squeals and vocalized effects weren't much beholden to conventional technique, and that his themes often followed unpredictable courses, and that the group's improvisations were very free-associative. But at this point, Coleman's desire for freedom was directly related to his sense of melody -- which was free-flowing, yes, but still very melodic. Of the individual pieces, the haunting "Lonely Woman" is a stone-cold classic, and "Congeniality" and "Peace" aren't far behind. Any understanding of jazz's avant-garde should begin here."

The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Here

Goodnight, moon.

Skyline Fucker

I have been promising rock music for a while. I am now delivering. You have no idea what you're in for.



Coliseum is a punk band from Louisville, Kentucky. Basically, imagine if Lemmy of Motörhead joined a crusty hardcore band. And that band rode motorcycles everywhere. And hated the police. And hated fuel-inefficient vehicles, or whatever "Skyline Fucker" is about. I can never figure the lyrics to that song out because I'm too busy ROCKING THE FUCK OUT.

Perhaps user "RedArmada" on Last.fm said it best, really:

"FUCK EVERYBODY, WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT DISCHARGE-MOTORHEAD VIBES, JUST PUT GODDAMAGE INTO THE CAR STEREO AND GET RIPPING DOWN THE HIGHWAY, RAM A FUCKING PIG AND HEADBANG UNTIL YOUR SKULL FALLS OFF"

Wisdom, kids.

Goddamage

Here

No Salvation

Here

If you listen to this and don't want to join a biker gang and fuck shit up, you're probably emotionally dead and you should kill yourself.

NEED SLEEP

I'm sleepy so this one's quick and dirty. I know I said I'd be delivering on the ROCK MUSIC, but this was a request, so whatever. I'll get around to it eventually.

Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Here

Wilco-Sky Blue Sky
Here

Here is a handy guide for all you Black Flag fans. It is very useful and will help you solve many problems, such as feeling the need to add a picture to your horrible posts on your horrible blog.


EDIT: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is back up.

More Music To Make You Appear Cultured And Sophisticated

This post *may* be dedicated to someone I know who is a fan of Mr. Matthew Robert Cooper and his work.


Cooper is better known as the man behind Eluvium, his ambient/classical project. His work ranges from the more "traditional" Brian Eno-style ambient of Lambent Material to the one-take piano piece that is An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death. It's great music to study to, I'm told.




Lambent Materials
Click!


An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death--this is my favorite, although it's rather different from the rest of his stuff.
Click!


Talk Amongst the Trees
Click!


When I Live by the Garden and the Sea
Click!


Copia
Co-
-pia




Indecipherable Text
'ielediknbv
SLefhJnv

Bonus!
Travel in Constants, Volume 20

I promise my next post will involve at least one distorted electric guitar and some rock.

I Hope You Can Feel My Smug Superiority

Because I'm about to post some classical music, and it is classy as fuck, and that makes me so cool you have no idea. And being cool brings the ladiezz. So if you want the ladiezz (or dudezz) to be all over your junk, just be all, "I'm a huge fan of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, famed for his minimalistic style, as evidenced in both his instrumental pieces, i.e., Tabula Rasa, and his choral works, such as Te Deum." Except you would never be able to say that entire thing due to the ravonous hordes of the opposite sex tearing at your clothes, overwhelmed by their lust.

Anyways, Arvo Pärt's music is some of the most beautiful and relaxing I've ever heard. Some quotes from the man:

"I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener. "

"Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God. "

"The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all. "

"Tintinnabulation (the ringing of bells) is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers - in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning."

Enjoy.


Tabula Rasa--this includes some of Pärt's most famous pieces of music, such as "Fratres" and "Tabula Rasa."
Te Deum--easily my favorite religious music ever. Beautiful choral music.

Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing

Seeing as the name of this blog came from a badly mislabeled copy of Given To The Rising, I figured it's only appropriate that I pay homage to my not-actually namesakes by putting up some Neurosis. For those of you unfamiliar, Neurosis began life as a hardcore punk band that began taking influence from doom metal, resulting in a blend that became known as "sludge" metal. I think "sludge metal" sounds really stupid, though, so I refuse to use that term. Yes, I am arbitrary.

Anyway, Neurosis songs tend to follow a pattern of gradual crescendo, rather than traditional verse-chorus structure, driven by the immense guitar riffs of Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till, who also both provide the roaring, raging vocals for the band. Since their early days as a punk band, Neurosis has continued to grow, adding more ambient and tribal elements with time (which eventually led to the side project Tribes of Neurot, but that's for another post). Not to say they've gone soft; rest assured, the band is still capable of crushing skulls and leaving a trail of sonic devastation. According to our trusty friends at the Encyclopedia Metallum, their lyrical themes include "Devastation, Evolution Through Pain, Fire & Chaos." Awesome.

Also, if anyone happens to know where "West of Orion" is actually from, could you please tell me? Unless it's really lame or something.

Pain Of Mind

Click!

Aberration

Click!

The Word As Law

Click!

Souls At Zero

This is the album where the band really begins to take off. More atmospheric and ambient elements begin to show, and the band seems to really find its direction.
Click!
Click Again!

Enemy Of The Sun

Click!

Through Silver In Blood

Man, I don't know what through silver in blood means, but it sounds fucking cool as hell. Also, some people consider this Neurosis' peak; they had the perfect mix of anger and atmospherics. I'm not sure about that, but it's a great album no matter what.
Click!

Times Of Grace

Click!

A Sun That Never Sets

Click!

Neurosis And Jarboe

Former Swans vocalist Jarboe collaborated on this album, which actually leans more towards electronic experimentation than a traditional Neurosis album. Unless you're too meat-headed to apreciate vocals that aren't roared by angry, bearded men, you'll probably like this.
Click!

The Eye Of Every Storm


Click!

Given To The Rising

Click!
One more time!

It's All Downhill From Here

I figured I'd start by posting the objectively greatest band in the history of the world. That band is Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. This is a fact. Disagree if you like, but you'll be wrong. I won't try to describe their sound too much, because I can't do it justice. No one can. The only way to know what Ted Leo & the Pharmacists sounds like is to listen.

However, as a service to anyone who doesn't automatically trust me and my (impeccable) taste, I'll try. Imagine if the Clash listened to Dexy's Midnight Runners, Thin Lizzy, and a bunch of dub music. That's actually a terrible description, but it's the best I've got. Just listen.

Tej Leo(?), Rx/Pharmacists

This is probably the worst place to start, if you're just getting into Ted Leo, but it's still interesting. Tej Leo(?) has lots of dub-y sonic experimentation, and soundscape type stuff. If you're only going to get one album (you moron), don't get this one; get The Tyranny Of Distance.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1kn1tjzzgou

Guitar For Jodi

Uh, it's an EP. It has 3 songs. Recording quality is pretty gnarly compared to later stuff, but it's still very cool, plus it has an early version of "The Great Communicator," and that's a good song.
http://www.mediafire.com/?myjlotgj2fz

Ted Leo/One A.M. Radio Split

Again, it's got 2 songs, one of which is called "To Whom You Were Born (Lungfish)." Just get it, you know you want to.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mymydj5jmmj

Treble in Trouble

This has a cover of a Thin Lizzy song ("Little Girl In Bloom"), so you know it rules. "Come Baby Come" and "Treble in Trouble" are awesome, too.
http://www.mediafire.com/?0imzn11t6wn

The Tyranny Of Distance


This is a perfect album. If I could listen to only one album for the rest of my life, this would be it. If you don't like every song on this album, fuck you. Also, fuck Pitchfork for saying "Timorous Me" is cheesy. That is possibly the best song in the world. If you only get one thing out of this post, get this, please. And then tell all your friends about it. It is the best.
http://www.mediafire.com/?eat3zidilj2

Hearts Of Oak

The first 6 songs on this album are so goddam good you have no idea. Unless you have heard them. In which case, you do know how good they are, and you love them. The same thing applies to the last 7 tracks, too actually.
http://www.mediafire.com/?x19mb4fytey

Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead

Dude covers the Ewan MacColl song "Dirty Old Town," the Jam's "Ghosts," Split Enz' "Six Months In A Leaky Boat," and some stuff from Hearts Of Oak, mostly solo.
http://www.mediafire.com/?4bz0zl14caz

Shake The Sheets

This is the first Ted Leo album I ever got, mainly because it had good cover art and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists is an interesting name for a band. Here, his songs are at their most concise--they're almost all around the 3-3 1/2 minute mark, his lyrics aren't as tongue-twistingly loquacious, and the songs are some of his most bitingly angry. "Me And Mia" is everything a 3 minute pop song should be.
http://www.mediafire.com/?xfywnzhnj0a

Sharkbite Sessions

I don't like this version of "Loyal To My Sorrowful Country" as much as the one on Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead, but you need it for the cover of Stiff Little Finger's "Suspect Device."
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzwmti1txdy

Ted Leo/Blueline Medic Split

Another split; this one has "Angel's Share," "Loyal To My Sorrowful Country," and "Six Months In A Leaky Boat."
http://www.mediafire.com/?nyml1yhkhwj

Living With The Living

Some people don't like this album that much. Those people are fucking retarded. "Sons Of Cain," "Army Bound," "Who Do You Love," "Bottle Of Buckie," "La Costa Brava," "The Toro And The Toreador," and "C.I.A." all rule hard.
http://www.mediafire.com/?9tm3wwzimyt

Mo' Living
Just listen to "Rappaport's Testament" over and over again. Then go fight fascism.
http://www.mediafire.com/?xmmxjztjomd