Music Monday: 4/4/11

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME-THE PARALLAX: HYPERSLEEP DIALOGUES

Alright, awful name not withstanding, everything about BTBAM's latest kicks an almost criminal amount of ass. While their last LP, The Great Misdirect, was 'more focused', it was also 'more boring'. It was a case of 'been there, done that' that plagues far too many lesser bands than BTBAM. Luckily, Hypersleep Dialogues brings them out of that cycle and finds them further refining and pushing the boundaries of their sound. There are plenty of crazy progressive moments as there is with any BTBAM release, but they are met with this time with a surprising amount of restraint and melody. Opener 'Specular Reflection' just might be their best song this side of Colors.

SPECULAR REFLECTION

DEFEATER-TRAVLES

To say that I've been digging Defeater a lot lately would be a gross understatement. In the last week alone, I've listened to them over 80 times and counting. There's something so visceral about not only their brand of melodic hardcore but the strange and fucked up tale that ties their songs together. Travels and their other LP, Endless Days & Sleepless Nights, read like poetry or a good novel: as soon as you're hit with the inevitably 'oh shit' climax and the final note rings out, you immediately want to revisit the world. Travels is, musically, far more narrative than Endless Days which means a variety of things: when the main character confusingly gets out of bed to kill his father, the music is frantic and equally as sporadic and gradually gets its bearings as the character does, etc. It might not sound as pleasing melodically, but I'll be damned if it doesn't give this record a special touch. Here's one of my favorites:

BLESSED BURDEN

Haven't been able to get my hands on too many new tunes so that's it for now. I'm working on getting plenty more

I'm not dead!

The lack of posting this week was due to me being really busy. Two papers and an exam were killing me. I'm working on a few things for here that should be posted in a few days. I'm getting back on schedule now!

FUUUUUUUU

The weekend was an aight excuse not to post (Thursday and Friday included).

Long story/rant to post tomorrow over what was SUPPOSED to happen tonight.

SUNDAY (EXHALE) BLOODY SUNDAY

Alright, so there's this Homefront soundtrack that I downloaded last night that has a bunch of covers of war songs done by death metal/core bands. Pretty much all of them are terrible with Winds of Plague cementing their suckage with perhaps the worst cover I've ever heard. For some reason, I'm really digging Veil of Maya's take on U2's classic 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. I think they did a damn good job of incorporating the most important elements (sans Bono's croon) with their technical riffage. It's nothing special, but I can't get the damn thing out of my head.

Oh, and the Misery Signals cover is decent too.

Stuffs...

Alright, just for the sake of putting the pen to paper, I'm just writing what I've gots in the pipeline. I'm working on a few things right now, school first and foremost. Other than academia, I'm working on a list of my 100 favorite songs from before 2011 (it's a new decade, DEAL WITH IT) and on top of that, some pointless I-guess-you-can-call-it 'essays' about why I like the Jersey Shore (and why that's okay) and some pointless rants shouting out at the emptiness.

I said I was gonna post errday. I wasn't lying....(yet)

NEW GILES COREY!?

Speaking of music, this little diddy just popped up on the internet. Giles Corey (and pretty much everything Enemies List) kicks ass. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming record that's been delayed constantly. Maybe a new Have A Nice Life will show up this year too?

Giles Corey- Sleeping Heart from Justin Donais on Vimeo.

Music Monday: 3/21

Every monday (well, that's the plan at least) I'll post some musics I've been digging. I always have trouble remembering what came out in the past year so this'll definitely help out.

Protest The Hero-Scurrilous

Protest the Hero's third album actually comes out tomorrow but the world has been enjoying it for the past six or seven weeks already. As for the music, HOLY SHIT. Scurrilous pretty much takes everything that everyone hated about Protest the Hero (Rody's eccentric vocals, incredibly technical music) and uses them more than ever. Somehow, this works in every single way. While I'm not sure where this will ultimately fit in with their discography, it's definitely the best thing I've heard so far in 2011.

Here's my two favorite tracks:
SEX TAPES


TANDEM

Defeater-Empty Days and Sleepless Nights

I'd by lying if I said I was an expert in the hardcore scene, but it doesn't take an HxC bro to realize the awesomeness of Defeater's latest. Defeater's brand of hardcore has a lot more depth than a lot of their contemporaries. Breakdowns are few and far between and are much more meaty than the standard 'chug chug' that the scene has been plagued with in recent years. The songs have an awesome flow of soft spots (including four acoustic songs) and all-out aggression. The lyrics also kick ass and, as far as I can tell, continue the story from their first LP. This band might just be the band that gets me into hardcore.

Favorites:
DEAR FATHER

AT PEACE

Kanye West & Jay-Z

While I'm not holding my breath that 'Watch the Throne' will actually come out, I'm perfectly content with the bits that have been released/leaked. While I enjoyed H.A.M., even with it's quirks ('Nigga, you should fuckin' quit, nigga'), it was a song that was a little disappointing. Thank god that another song leaked entiteld 'That's My Bitch.' This song, to put it simply, kicks ass. There's a much better flow, better use of samples, and Jay-Z didn't fuck this one up. If Watch the Throne is ever released, I'm hoping this song is more indicative of the rest than H.A.M.
THAT'S MY BITCH