Jesus. It’s been so long since I’ve been to a show I had to look up my own header format. Not cool.

For those of you who missed it, I experimented with Twitter at this show. Not a resounding success, because the show kept distracting me from sending updates, but I was pretty diligent through the first half of The Birthday Massacre’s set. This was my first trip to the Wiltern in a while, so there will be a new venue review over on the Venues page.

Yes, so, uh…show. This was almost the geekiest crowd I’ve ever been in, which I found a bit surprising (the geekiest was for a Jonathan Coulton show). The crowd was adorned in WoW shirts and making LOLcat jokes. The geeks were outnumbered, but only just, by the highly theatrical, costumed fans.

I have to admit, this isn’t something I’ve ever understood. I actually danced ballet for seven years as a kid, and I have to tell you – tutus and leotards are not comfortable. In fact, they could double as torture devices. Why you would wear one voluntarily, even ironically, is beyond me. Likewise platforms, stilettos, or shoes that do other odd things to your feet. You’re going to be standing for eight hours, darlings, wear flats.

As advertised, the show started with London After Midnight, and wow are these guys goth. I mean, wow. I haven’t seen that level of goth since I was in high school. Admittedly, it’s not my scene so I might have lost touch a bit, but wow. Long dyed hair, s/M gear, super-anorexic – seriously guys, eat something.

This set caught the crowd off-guard. For all their vampire-chic style London After Midnight is old-school-punk political. The sound may be high-goth, but the lyrics are anti-establishment. The set started with “Your Best Nightmare,” which was when I noticed the screen behind them. At first I thought it was running the music video, which wouldn’t have been a bad strategy, because for a seasoned band, London After Midnight is a bit dull on stage. No movement, not a lot of audience interaction, a ton of sampled music (I hate it when bands do that). The screen flashed lyrics (a bit odd – if the audience doesn’t already know the song, you’re not going to con them into singing with this trick), and your standard goth-horror music video images.

And then we moved into more political songs, and that screen became an amazing prop. The band played a song off their new album, “America’s A Fucking Disease,” and while they played the screen flashed statistics and images of American overseas interventions. For the most part, the information running served to mitigate the song’s lyrics – which were a bit over the top even for me, and they don’t make them more cynically liberal.

The statistics proved that the band had put a bit more thought into the song than taking the measure of American youth and writing a song to pander to their sense of disillusionment. They may have misjudged their audience a bit, though, because at one point the screen flashed, in quick succession, an image of Nazi soldiers goose-stepping, an image of the United States Marine Corps performing full-dress drills, and a series of images of the National Guard breaking up protests. (I have hunted in vain for a video of this – if someone has one please email me a link. You really need to see it understand.) The general reaction wasn’t at all positive, and if that didn’t play well in Los Angeles, I’d hate to see the rest of the country’s reaction. The analogy was a bit of a misstep, because I think the audience was generally with them up to that point.

Next we had The Birthday Massacre. I discovered this band when I saw they were on tour with Mindless Self Indulgence, and they quickly became a bigger favorite for me than MSI. I was a bit worried, though, that they wouldn’t be particularly effective live. Their sound is very constructed – and my favorite live acts tend toward simple music that can easily be reproduced on stage.

I shouldn’t have worried. First, The Birthday Massacre has six members, which gives them a bit of flexibility, and second, their show is so dynamic that you don’t notice the sampling quite as much. Chibi, the lead singer, is wonderfully engaged with the audience. She plays with the audience – calling for heart signs and sing-alongs, playing with the things fans throw up on stage, even putting on one of the gloves someone tossed up there. The band stuck to their faster songs and tracks off Walking With Strangers and was generally awesome.

Finally, Mindless Self Indulgence took the stage. If you haven’t seen this band live, you’re missing out. The energy they put into their albums is only a fraction of the live performances. MSI is easily the most playful band I’ve ever seen on stage. Jimmy, the lead, sings and talks and insults the audience in equal measures. The band stuck to fan favorites and songs off If, the new album.

I had thought that MSI wouldn’t be a sing-along band. The songs are fairly frantic and they frequently refer to the fact that their lyrics aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but the pit was word-perfect on even the most complex songs (even I know the lyrics to “Stupid Motherfucker”).

I could catalog Jimmy’s antics on stage, but retellings wouldn’t do the set justice. Where it’s fun and noteworthy when a lead singer steals a magic wand from a fan and runs around bashing his band members and the audience with it in any other band, that’s standard-issue MSI. It would be shocking for any other lead singer to allow the audience to strip and redress him (and that was a bit of shock even for MSI), it wasn’t really a surprise.

Even if this isn’t your favorite style of music, you need to see MSI live. For serious. I’m not even a real fan of the style, but I will definitely be back in the audience next time they’re in town. You’ll never get a better show.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• Rejects United, Boyhood Survival Kit
• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy

I’m kind of behind on this whole Web 2.0 social thingy, mostly because I’m bad at keeping up with the friends I have, I do not need a whole slew of internet friends to ignore. However, a friend of mine has convinced me to sign up for a Twitter account (that’s where the mini-updates in the sidebar come from) and I’m kind of enjoying it.

I will be Twittering the MSI show at The Wiltern tonight – I take notes on my phone anyway, so I might as well publish them, right? If you’re interested in seeing what’s going on as it happens, you can subscribe to the RSS feed over there in the sidebar, or if you’re on Twitter, you can follow me by searching for Aeirlys.

Every month, I go on these massive download sprees and somehow end up with a ton of EPs. I’m not quite sure how that happens, because I do my best to limit it to 2 or 3. All those EPs get dumped into a massive playlist and mostly ignored while I hunt for albums to review for this site.

But, every once in a while a song will come up on shuffle and I’ll think, “That’s it. That’s the next album I’m going to review. My work for today is done.” I’ll get all excited and flip over to the album and find out…it’s an EP. And as much as I love EPs, it’s hard to do a full feature on them. So far, only 2 have made the cut.

Today though, I’m calling out 5 EPs that I love because they’re awesome, and hate because they’re short. If you’re in one of these bands, stop reading and go make a full album. Right now.

Aces High, Aces High

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/aceshighca
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Aces High is a Southern California band (yay!) with an eponymous (boo!) EP. Their sound is solid classic rock. The music is high-energy and grounded in truly amazing guitar work. The vocals are melodic and delivered with conviction, but you get the feeling that the band’s focus is elsewhere.

Standout track is “Shattered.”

A Big Yes and a small no, Jesus That Looks Terrible On You

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/abigyesandasmallno
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

An EP with a name this tongue-in-cheek can only be from a Brooklyn band. A Big Yes And A Small No (I’m sorry, I cannot play your silly capitalization game. I was an English major and my head will explode.) credits 9 members on their website, and I believe it, because this EP has some of the most complex instrumentation I’ve ever heard. Having grown up in California in the 90s, I’m inclined to invoke some ska roots for them, but think there’s just as many big band/jazz influences in here as ska. Their sound is solid indie-ironic pop embroidered with keys and brass.

Standout track is “What A Fucking Mess This Turned Out To Be.”

House & Parish, One, One Thousand

• Artist website: houseandparish.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/houseandparish
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

House & Parish is a four-piece band out of Brooklyn that plays melodic, guitar-based indie-rock. One, One Thousand has a lush, relaxed feel to it. The lyrics are intelligent and delivered in an almost conversational style that focuses on simple sing-along melodies. My favorite track on the album is “This Curse,” but you can get “Summer Programme” for free at their website, so you might want to start there.

Mercy Mercedes, Casio Rodeo

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/mercymercedes
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I discovered Mercy Mercedes by accident when someone handed me a flyer for them while I was in line for a show a while back. Generally, I don’t like this particular marketing technique. It’s not creative, it’s not entertaining, and it fills my car with little photocopied handbills for bands I probably won’t like. But back in February, readers will remember, I got the flu from hell and had some time on my hands so I went online and hunted down some of the bands I’d gotten flyers for. And Mercy Mercedes was too good to pass up.

Mercy Mercedes plays fluffy, dance rock that’s perfect for driving too fast on PCH. Casio Rodeo incorporates a fair amount of electronic influences without quite crossing the line into full new wave nonsense. The sound is high-energy and full of hooky, sing-along choruses.

Standout track is “Get It Darlin’.”

The Morning Light, The Sounds Of Love

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/themorninglight
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Sometimes, a girl needs to listen to something unashamedly sentimental. The Sounds Of Loveby The Morning Light is perfect for those days. The Morning Light plays piano based emo-pop that is captivating, and wonderfully undemanding, which is not to say that the EP is all slow-dance ballads. With a single exception, The Sounds Of Love is comprised of mid to high-tempo songs that stop just short of dance pop. The focus of the EP is on the lyrics instead of the beat, though, and especially the tight vocal interplay between the two vocalists.

Standout track is “The Love.”

• Artist website: wearebarcelona.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/wearebarcelona
• Available on: eMusic

Barcelona is a four-piece band out of Washington. I stumbled across Absolutes after downloading Safety Songs by Brian Fennell. After writing a solo album, Fennell put a band together for a tour, which evolved into Barcelona and built Absolutes off the foundation laid in Safety Songs.

Absolutes includes three songs originally recorded on Safety Songs, “Colors,” “Numb” and “Response,” which is a reviewer’s dream. Barcelona’s debut album sticks to the piano based indie style on Fennell’s Safety Songs, but the sound on Absolutes is much more developed. The three duplicated songs have transferred over to Absolutes without dramatic change, and while they fit nicely along side the new material, they lack the lush instrumentation of the original material on Absolutes.

Barcelona includes Brian Eichelberger, a self-taught bassist and classically trained violinist, and lord knows I love a string section. Absolutes pays off on the “classically trained violinist” tease on “Get Up, Get Up, Get Up” and “Please Don’t Go” (the latter will break your heart). Still, I have my fingers crossed for a bigger showing on the follow-up.

Standout tracks are “It’s About Time”, “First Floor People” and “Please Don’t Go.”

Side note, I don’t often recommend band blogs because they tend to come in one of two varieties – super insidery or overblown tour updates. However, while you’re checking out Barcelona’s site, make sure you read their blog, especially the obituary for Ronald.

• Artist website: www.rejectsunited.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/rejectsunited
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Rejects United are a four-piece band from Portugal (who knew?) that play punk-influenced rock of the louder-faster-harder variety. Boyhood Survival Kit is their first album and it is equal parts classic rock and old school punk. The album is ambitious, invoking 30 years of music history over 14 tracks as well as mixing in modern styles.

Considering the range of influences on Boyhood Survival Kit, it’s a surprisingly cohesive album. It has the intensity of an old-fashioned punk album, but is moderated with a strong melodic sensibility. The result is a high-energy, complex sound that doesn’t sacrifice big, sing-along melodies. The vocals take center-stage for most of the album and are delivered with deceptive precision. The melodies are simple enough to allow for fairly direct vocals that emphasize intensity over technique on most the songs, but when the band slows down a bit the vocals show remarkable range. The lyrics occasionally stray into theatricality (“Mr. Adams Love Proposal”), but the most over the top songs have an ironic tone that undercuts the overblown metaphors. The instrumental work is solid and tightly delivered, straying into remarkable on several songs (“Learning Through Mutilation”). I’m the wrong person to go to for percussion or guitar critiques, but beyond being awesome, some of this stuff sounds pretty hard to deliver.

Standout tracks are “Dead In The Head,” “Learning Through Mutilation” and “Compulsive Denier.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy (Now with a blog. Check them out.)
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• Forcefield ON, Llipspill

• Artist website: www.thepanicdivision.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thepanicdivision
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

The Panic Division is a four piece band out of San Antonio. Songs From The Glasshouse is their second album, and it caught my attention because at first glance I thought it might be a live album recorded at The Glass House in Pomona. Which is why you shouldn’t buy things based on their titles. Someday I’m going to learn that.

Songs From The Glasshouseis a lush, synthtastic composition that is equal parts 80s pop revival and old-fashioned guitar rock. The lyrics and electronic elements draw heavily on the most cringe-worthy parts of 80s pop, which sounds like a bad thing. But The Panic Division has somehow managed to draw out the pieces of that sound and combine them with truly stellar guitar rock to create a sound that is neither retro nor really modern. Everything about this album is big. The sound is complex, the lyrics deal in metaphors of epic scale, and the vocals are delivered with so much conviction that it’s easy to overlook just how potentially awful the lyrics are. It requires a special kind of singer to take a lyric as cheesetasic as “take these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free” (“Broken Wings”) and deliver it in such a way that you can sing along and not feel like a complete tool.

Standout tracks are “Big Day,” “The Pieces That Mattered” and “Broken Wings”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thecasuallean
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Swears is the first album from Massachusettes five-piece band The Casual Lean, and it’s a raucous, swaggering piece of work. The album has the same ironic tone as Ghosts from The Gay Blades, but rather than TGB’s almost acoustic feel, The Casual Lean’s sound is complex and almost lush at times.

Swears opens with “The Bride,” a song that invokes every indie-rock tradition in the book and still manages to be awesomely original. The Casual Lean’s strongest asset is their storytelling ability, and even on songs where they may not be telling their own stories they deliver enough intensity that Swears feels personal. The lyrics are delivered with conviction and range, stacatto bursts on “The Bride” and a melodic croon on “The Deer.” Swears meanders a bit as the band plays with different styles and sounds, but is a remarkably cohesive piece. Lyrics and music both are delivered with enough conviction and pure ability to carry the core of the sound through the band’s experiments.

Standout tracks are “Third Degree Burns,” “The Blackout” and “The Deer.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/tobythefugitive
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Toby The Fugitive is a four piece band out of Clarksville, Tennessee that has neither a Toby nor a fugitive, but does have a whole lot of awesome. Although the band draws heavily on pop-punk tropes, the end product is a highly stylized rock album that has been stripped of most of the overwhelming sentimentality that has defined pop-punk lately.

On first listen, it would be easy to ignore the truly outstanding musical work and focus almost entirely on Casey Carstens’ vocals. The opening track, “Lab Rat,” is delivered with so much intensity the lyrics are almost incomprehensible. On the rest of the album Carstens dials it back a bit, but even on Proxima Distort’s slowest song (“Demi Moore”) the vocals emphasize style and intensity over melodic conventions. The album is split by the title track, “Proxima Distort,” an instrumental piece a bit too long and way too aggressive to be a called an interlude. The song gives the rest of the band a chance to take over for a bit and show off. I’m the wrong person to really analyze guitar and percussion work, but the sound is definitely bigger than a band this size has any right to. Despite the album’s stripped down feel, the arrangements are quite complex.

Standout tracks are “Burning Bridges,” “Description Of Sadness” and “Demi Moore.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/ghostbuffalo
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Ghost Buffalo is a four-piece band out of Denver. The line-up on The Magician is their second incarnation – the band is anchored by Matt Belinger, formerly of Planes Mistaken For Stars, and vocalist Marie Litton but drummer Jed Kopp and bassist Ben Williams are new additions.

The Magician is Ghost Buffalo’s second album. It has a distinctly 90s-circa-Smashing Pumpkins retro feel to it (christ, are the late 90s already retro? I feel old.). The album hangs on the vocals, delivered in a smoky alt-country style. The pace is on the mellow side, but even on the faster songs where you can really hear the band’s punk influences (“The Latest Wonder”), Marie’s vocals keep the tone of the album relaxed. Musically, the album is very much country influenced guitar rock with bits and pieces of punk thrown in to shake things up. The Magician manages to be coherent without becoming ten versions of the same song, despite the almost constant mid-tempo pacing.

Standout tracks are “The Latest Wonder,” “Fire Walk With Me” and “Just A Thought.”

I go away, I come back, and you have a whole new set of favorites. This week’s most viewed albums are:

• HTR, Let It Die
• Forcefield ON, Llipspill
• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy

• Artist website: www.holytrinityriver.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/htr
• Available on: CD Baby, iTunes, previous EP on eMusic

HTR (Holy Trinity River, I’m a bit confused about whether they use the initials or the whole name) is a three-piece band out of Brooklyn, via Texas, and boy does it show. Let It Die is their second EP and it is stripped down and country-fried guitar rock. HTR channels the same alt-country influences The Honorary Title or The Meadows, but Let It Die foregoes the emphasis on pop melodies and really digs into the blues roots of rock music. The result is gritty, no-frills rock that would be just as at home in a backwoods bar fifty years ago as it is in Brooklyn today.

Standout track is “The Shaker.”

• Artist website: www.futurekingsandqueens.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/futurekingsandqueens
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

The Day The World Died was made by one guy named Dickie in his “home environment,” a story that I don’t doubt, but which seems ridiculously implausible given how awesome this album is. And it is freaking awesome. The sound is solidly electro-pop and comes in somewhere between She Wants Revenge moody and Blaqk Audio frenetic. The Day The World Died is definitely heavy on synth elements, which are executed beautifully and would be more than enough to make this album crazy good. Dickie has included enough moments of old-fashioned musicianship, like the retro piano elements in “I Hate You,” to give the album depth and credibility that would otherwise be lacking.

The Day The World Died has incredible range. The songs are all grounded in techno-pop, but each is shaded with enough unique influences to prevent the album from becoming the soundtrack to a 90s rave. “The End That Never Comes” soars like an 80’s theme song without the 80s cheestastic lyrics (although it comes pretty close). “The Day The World Died” is moodily atmospheric with an almost choral quality.

Dude’s also from Los Angeles. Point for the locals.

Standout tracks are “Race The Devil,” “I Hate You” and “The Day The World Died.”

Two things:

• It is awesome to be back. Thanks for sticking around through the hiatus. I promise not to do that again any time soon.
• The Gay Blades are participating in the New York AIDS Walk, a fundraiser for AIDS research and education. If you’re in New York, go participate yourself. If you’re not, you can still help out by donating at the website below. If more artists did this stuff the world would be a better place. Donations are tax deductible.
  aidswalknewyork2008.kintera.org/gayblades

Thanks.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/girlonfiremusic
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic, Snocap via Myspace

Girl On Fire is a five piece band out of Seattle – a wonderfully dreary town where it really does rain as much as they say. The look and sound of the bands coming out of the Pacific Northwest have changed since the death of the grunge movement, but the tone hasn’t. You don’t really expect sunshine pop from a town where it rains almost every day, and you certainly don’t get it.

Girl On Fire plays wonderfully theatrical screamy rock. Their sound is similar to Chiodos or Pierce The Veil, but Girl On Fire is a little less polished and a little more accessible than either. The screaming is balanced with enough melody to make the songs catchy, and while the pace is a bit too frenetic on most numbers for true sing-along choruses, the energy gives the album enough momentum to prevent it from sliding into a caricature of the horror-rock genre. The vocals are earnest and what they lack in pure ability is more than made up for in intensity. For the most part, Nowhere and Everywhere relies on loud, relentless guitars to carry the sound and keep the album moving.

Standout tracks are “This Was All Your Fault,” “This Last Dance” and “Through The Ivy Lies A Broken Promise.”

• Artist website: www.forcefieldon.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/forcefieldon
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

I always like it when a band member is credited as playing “etc.” It generally means two things. First, that the band is young and probably wrote the copy themselves without the benefit/annoyance of working with a copy editor. Second, that I don’t have to pretend to understand what’s going on, because they’re not telling anyway.

Forcefield ON is a Long Beach outfit that credits six band members playing everything from the guitar to the french horn (I’m pretty sure that’s a french horn). Llipspill sounds like a bunch of ska fans decided to make a pop album. The opening number, “You’ve Been Had, Part A” has enough piano in it to give it more of a big band feel, but Llipspill’s most prominent instruments are definitely horns and guitars. The album as a relaxed feel to it, and Jesse Wilder’s vocals have a mellow tinge that allow them to slip into the background when the instruments really take over. The lyrics have an intimate, jazz lounge feel to them, and are just a bit too constructed to be truly conversational.

Standout tracks are “Adios Victrolas,” “Quality” and “Mental Notes.”

If anyone out there was still wondering, yes, this blog will come back at some point. A close relative of mine was admitted to the hospital a while back and until that situation is resolved, I’ll be on hiatus. It’s like the writer’s strike, only no one gets paid. I hope to be back in time for the Warped tour.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Colour Revolt, Plunder, Beg, and Curse. This album is now officially out at Amazon, so if you were waiting for it to be available somewhere other than eMusic, now’s your chance.
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts. Returning to this list in second place after a one week hiatus – I’m glad the buzz around them is still strong. I did actually make it to their show a few weeks ago, but since there were only about 12 of us there I’m not writing it up. If you get the chance to see them live you need to go.
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive.

Well hello there darlings. Did you miss me while I was gone? I won’t be posting album reviews this week. Instead, starting tomorrow I’ll be posting show reviews for the bands I saw play Bamboozle Left over the weekend. Today I need to figure out what went on in my boring non-music, non-bloggy life while I was away. I think I’ll also do some mini reviews of some of the EPs I’ve got kicking around.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Colour Revolt, Plunder, Beg, and Curse. Yay for new bands on this list!
• Portman, From Here To Your Eyes And Ears. Two new bands in one week, it’s a record.
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive. Lorene Drive has topped this list for five weeks, and been on it seven. They’ve been gone on tour forever, but they’ll be back in May, at the Knitting Factory and Chain Reaction.

It’s going to be quiet around here next week. I’ll be out of town on a full-blown non-bloggy vacation. I’ll make it up to you, though. Bamboozle Left is next weekend and I imagine I’ll be writing about that one for a while. You can view the full line-up here, schedules go up on Monday.

Who should I make a point not to miss? A bazillion bands are playing this show and I’m familiar with a lot of them, but not all. Who plays a must-see set?

MCR, obviously. Play something off Bullets for me, guys. It’s been forever.

Jimmy, of course. (Jimmy’s riding on banked goodwill – the last time I saw them they played like they were on Valium. Step it up, guys. You’re not off the hook just because you defined the genre.)

But who else? Charlotte Sometimes has been on my radar for a while, but I haven’t really investigated yet. Same goes for Automatic Loveletter.

I’m a huge AFI fan, but never really got all that interested in Blaqk Audio. Anyone seen them live? Any good? If I’ve been an AFI fan since Black Sails will I be disappointed?

Breathe Carolina fans (and there are a lot of you out there), this is your chance to tell me how wrong I am about them, again. I might wander by – maybe they’re an acquired taste.

I’ve been mildly obsessed with Foxy Shazam and Zox for weeks, so expect posts about their sets, schedules willing.

Take The Crown is a name that’s been popping up around here for a while (I think they’re localish). Any good?

Did I miss someone? I tried to hunt a lot of these bands down on eMusic and Myspace, but I won’t get around to all of them. Who’s worth paying attention to? More important, who do you want to read about?

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/theloyalty
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap, eMusic

The Loyalty is a four-piece band out of Saratoga Springs, New York. The Loyalty is their debut album. This is off-topic but, for the record, I hate self-titled albums. Writing about them either turns the writer into a pompous ass or the review into a game of Who’s On First.

The Loyalty play seriously melodic guitar pop. Their eponymous album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but does deliver a collection of catchy mid-tempo anthems and ballads that are made for audience sing-alongs. The album is driven by Travis Gray’s simple, but spot-on, vocal delivery. Lyrically, The Loyalty is personal without being intimate and while at times the lyrics skirt around the edges of cloying sap (“11:11″) they never descend far enough into cliche to quite get there.

Standout tracks are “Coming Clean, ” “Deny” and “Try to Forget.”

• Artist website: www.colourrevolt.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/colourrevolt
• Available on: Amazon MP3 (Avail. 4/1/2008), eMusic

Yesterday I wrote about a British group who sounds like they’re from the Midwest. Today I’ve got US band who thinks they’re from the UK. Or at least spells like it. Colour Revolt is a five-piece band out of Oxford, Mississippi. The eccentric spelling came about because the band took the name from Edwin Abbott’s Flatland, a social satire of Victorian England. This is now officially my favorite back-story for the naming of a band.

Plunder, Beg, and Curse is the first full-length album from Colour Revolt, following their decidedly excellent self-titled EP. The band writes bluesy indie-rock and Plunder, Beg, and Curse has the same laid back, low fidelity feel to it as the best Delta blues music. The sound is heavy on guitars and gravelly, crooning vocals. Colour Revolt band cranks up the intensity a bit on a few songs (“Swamp”), but the album is at its best on the slower numbers. The lyrics are intelligent (you’d expect that from a band whose name comes from a 19th century satire), relatively accessible, and focus on larger themes. Lead singer Jesse Coppenbarger’s delivery is wonderfully nuanced and equally convincing when channeling Old South blues and the band’s hard rock influences.

Standout tracks are “Elegant View,” “Moses of the South” and “Innocent and All.”

• Artist website: www.portmanband.co.uk
• Listen at: http://www.myspace.com/portmanuk
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Portman is a band of five guys who claim to be from Stamford, UK, but their sound is solid Midwest guitar rock ala The Get Up Kids, so despite the evidence I’m not quite buying it. From Here To Your Eyes And Ears is their debut album. It is comprised mostly of mid-tempo indie ballads that are brilliantly executed.

The album is bookended by instrumental tracks that sample speeches from The Great Dictator and Serenity. These set an ambitious, if somewhat bewildering, framework around the album. Both speeches deal heavily with themes of defiance of an oppressive government, but the rest of the album is intensely personal. Portman’s lyrics are almost confessional in their intimacy and seem a bit out of place when framed by such an expansive theme, although that may have been the point.

Portman’s greatest strength on From Here To Your Eyes And Ears is putting together numbers that careen from acoustic ballad to strident indie rock and back again in the same song without feeling overly experimental or disconnected. The vocal delivery is wonderfully dynamic and channels a bit of a Brand New circa Your Favorite Weapon vibe.

Standout tracks are “I Can Do Anything (I’m The Chief of Police),” “Back To Default” and “Can’t Stop The Signal.”

• Artist website: www.spiraling.net
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/spiraling
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Spiraling is a three (or maybe four, depending on your source) piece band out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Time Travel Made Easy is, I’m pretty sure, the fifth full-length album from this band, which I find pretty unbelievable. This band should have broken out a long time ago.

Disillusionment never sounded so good. Or got stuck in your head so long. Time Travel Made Easy starts off with “The Future” as in, “this is not the future we were promised,” a refrain that sets the tone for the rest of the album (and one I’ve been humming for days). Spiraling’s sound is 80s-inspired power-pop embroidered with beautifully constructed keyboard pieces played by lead singer Tom Brislin. The lyrical tone is defiantly bitter without being at all self-pitying, a fine line to walk that the band achieves by flavoring the darkest songs with soaring musical arrangements. Time Travel Made Easy shows remarkable range, embracing electronic influences on “Victory Kiss” and “Choices,” flamenco on “Enemy,” and Brit-pop on “Time Machine.” Despite channeling a wide set of backgrounds and influences the album remains cohesive, an effect achieved largely in the lyrics and Brislin’s stunning delivery. The effect lands Spiraling somewhere in between The Fray and Jack’s Mannequin.

Standout tracks are “The Future,” “Are You Here” and “Enemy.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Mayday Parade, A Lesson In Romantics

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/censura
• Available on: eMusic

Censura is a four-piece band out of Lawrence, Kansas. A Common Courtesy is their debut album, and the band is off to a wonderful start. The album is a mix of hardcore sensibility and indie-rock execution.

A Common Courtesy has a surprisingly glossy, soaring feel to it, ala Circa Survive. The album starts with a fantastic solo by drummer Dan Kirk and glides smoothly into a series of mid-tempo, high intensity songs. The music on A Common Courtesy is beautifully executed, but the album driven by lead singer Joey Kirk’s vocals. The vocals are slightly screamy, but stay away from the sing-scream-sing structure that has become so formulaic in the genre. Rather, the vocal delivery is both intense and precise, focusing on melodic elements and devolving into harsher sounds only occassionally.

Standout tracks are “Thank You For Asking,” “White Noise” and “Dim Lights Glow.”

• Artist website: www.zoxband.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/zox
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I was lame last week and only managed a handful of posts. In penance, I spent the whole weekend online hunting down fantabulous new-ish releases to write about. I’ve got a whole list of review candidates now, which is a new experience because before this I would just scroll through my iPod and pick whatever album I felt like listening to and was relatively current. Hence the series title. I bring this up because the next couple weeks will feature reviews that all have approximately the same intro: I knew [album title] sounded good when I listened to [single on Myspace], but now that I listen to the whole thing it is freaking awesome.

I can’t tell you which song I listened to online that convinced me that Line In The Sand is freaking awesome because I found Zox early in my search. The album is the third release from the Rhode Island band. There’s a definite U2 vibe on the album (the early awesome years, not the pretentious crap they’re doing now), but Zox also manages to channel some ska influences on what is otherwise a solid indie-rock album. Full disclosure, I may be hearing ska less because it’s actually there and more because I have a tendency to assign ska influences to any band with unconventional instrumentation.

In place of a lead guitar, Zox has classically-trained Spencer Swain on the electric violin, which would have been enough all by itself to earn them a spot on this site. As previously noted, I love writing about bands that reinvent the wheel because, frankly, it’s easier. If you put an electric violin in your lineup and treat it like it’s a lead guitar, I can write a whole paragraph on just that. See? Easy.

Swain’s violin and lead vocalist Eli Miller’s elastic delivery are easily the most dynamic elements on the album. Line In The Sand is beautifully written, with songs that touch on political (“Lucky Sometimes”) and the personal (“Line In The Sand”). The album has a nostalgic air that creates a nice contrast to its mostly mid-to-high tempo songs. Zox manages to deliver a remarkably cohesive album that also demonstrates a generous range, you’ve got acoustic numbers, some dance numbers, and a ballad or two.

Standout tracks (I had a pretty hard time narrowing this down) are “The Wait,” “7th Avenue Prophet” and “Don’t Believe in Love.”

• Artist webiste: Hark The Herald
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/harktheherald
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap, eMusic, HarkTheHerald.net

Hark the Herald is a five-piece band out of Louisville who caught my attention because they credit a cellist. A cellist! On a hardcore album! And not as a guest musician, but as a full-fledged member of the band! How sweet is that?

Ok, my little geek out is over, come on back. Aurora is the debut album from Hark The Herald. I suppose this sound is called post-hardcore or melodic-hardcore or some such, but I think most of those really specific labels are used by music writers as a crutch, so I try to avoid them. The sound is definitely screamy. In fact, it skates right along the line at which I get frustrated with an album because I can’t understand the lyrics. Aurora manages not to devolve into unintelligibility because there’s a ton of melody on this album and it blends with the screaming such that the hardcore elements don’t feel superfluous. The band only credits one vocalist, Clay Nevels, so I assume the guy does both the singing and the screaming, and if that’s the case he’s got remarkable range. His melodic pieces are delivered with conviction and real ability. In addition to the cello, played by Charlie Patton, there are some truly excellent guitar pieces on the album. Aurora focuses on faster numbers that really show off the interplay between the vocals and musicianship.

Hark The Herald is also pulling a Radiohead on their website, where you can purchase the album for as little as $1.00 or as much as $100.00. It’s up to you.

Standout tracks are “At Capacity,” “Tombstones and Tiger Lilies” and “1. An Unfortunate Error.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/acursivememory
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

It’s tempting to call Changes, the second album from Southern California band A Cursive Memory, pop-punk and leave it at that, but if you pay attention to the album that’s not what’s going on here at all. Changes is beach-pop at its best: ultra-relaxed even on the faster tracks and simply produced. You get the feeling these kids could set up on a pier and sound exactly like they do on the album.

Changes is beautifully executed guitar based pop embroidered with fantastic keyboards played by Mark Borst Smith (think Jack’s Mannequin). The album is mostly mid-tempo numbers and ballads with a sprinkling of high-energy dance tracks. A Cursive Memory’s strength is really the slower songs. The faster songs (“Believe”) are good, but not as dynamic as the tracks where the band takes their time and shows off Smith’s keyboard work and the interlaced vocals from singers Profeta and Colin Baylen. The lyrics have a refreshingly optimistic tone, and the band even manages to throw in an honest-to-god love song (“Perfect Company”) without descending into cheesy cliche territory.

Standout tracks are “Perfect Company,” “Lions” and “All The Weak.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Fozy Shazam, Introducing

• Artist website: www.testyourreflex.net
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/testyourreflex
• Available on: Amazon MP3

A while back I decided that I really ought to pay more attention to the stuff in my music collection. Not what I write about or albums I’ve purchased, but the random songs from those freebie compilation discs or demos people hand out at shows that I collect but mostly ignore. I’m pretty sure that’s where I got “Pieces of the Sun,” which turned up in a playlist of artists I couldn’t immediately identify. I went looking for the rest of the album on my iPod, and was hugely disappointed, because I only had the one song.

When I listened to the whole album I was surprised on a bunch of different levels. First, the band is local (yay!), even though they sound like they’re from the UK. The sound on The Burning Hour is similar to British band The Cinematics. Test Your Reflex is a bit more structured and though the album is very radio-friendly¹ it’s a bit lighter on the dance/electronica influences. Instead, and this was the second big revelation, Test Your Reflex has an honest-to-god classically trained pianist in the band. Andrew Ampaya plays the way I think my parents had in mind for me when they spent years forcing me to take piano lessons (to no avail, I never mastered sight-reading and thus ended my musical career). The keyboard work gives the songs (notably “I Won’t Follow”) a wistfulness and precision that you just can’t get out of a guitar. The lyrics on The Burning Hour are surprisingly optimistic for this particular brand of music (you’ll understand when you hear it).

Standout tracks are “New Year,” “I Am Alive” and “I Won’t Follow.”

^{1: This is not code for predictable commercial crap. This is what the radio stations ought to play, and I think honestly would play, if they didn’t have their heads up their asses. The problem with radio (full disclosure – I gave up on the radio years ago) isn’t even that the medium has gone corporate, it’s that they’re stuck in a feedback loop that caters to the lowest common denominator.}

Day jobs continue to suck.

My review of Ghosts has been the most viewed post on this site for a while now, so I thought I’d throw it out there that The Gay Blades will be playing The Knitting Factory in Hollywood on Thursday, March 20. I will do my best to get to this show, but I’m really bad at making it to weekday shows. Day jobs suck.

• Artist website: www.themenzingers.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/themenzingers
• Available on: eMusic, Myspace via Snocap

A Lesson In The Abuse of Information Technology, in addition to being the album with the longest title reviewed on this site (actually, it tied with The Future Of The Free World Is Riding On This One from Driving East), is the debut album from Pennsylvania band The Menzingers. The sound is classic socially-conscious punk, think early Against Me!, but the band has enough traces of ska-influences in here to keep the sound fresh.

True to this particular style of punk, the focus of the album is on musical execution and the communication of the message rather than sing-along choruses and summery vocals. The album is mostly raucous and fast-paced, with shout along and punch-your-fist-in-the-air choruses. The Menzingers’ lead singer (who isn’t credited on any site I can get to from work) delivers punchy lyrics in staccato screams and growls that keep the intensity up even on the slower numbers. The lyrics stand up to the all the attention, particularly on the three acoustic numbers (Acoustic punk! Who knew?). These songs are slower, almost a capella, and the band delivers remarkably well on them.

Standout tracks are “Victory Gin,” “Sir Yes Sir” and “No Ticket.”

• Artist website: www.sotheysaymusic.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/sotheysay
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Life In Surveillance is the second full-length album from Missouri based band So They Say, and the first to demonstrate a clear vision from the band. Antidote For Irony, their full-length debut, is good and completely listenable, but on Life In Surveillance So They Say has shed some of their pop influences, and the result is a much more cohesive record.

Life In Surveillance’s sound is heavier than the band’s previous work. The songs are mostly mid-tempo which allows the band to demonstrate a range lacking on Antidote For Irony. So They Say’s focus has shifted from poptastic sing-along choruses to tighter interplay between the vocals and guitars. The album is still melodic and the vocal interplay between singers Joseph Hamilton and David Schroeder is used to wonderful effect. Lyrically, the album is well written, but the lyrics serve as a vehicle for the vocal delivery rather than a centerpiece for the album.

Standout tracks are “An Apology,” “I Won’t Tell” and “Nuclear Sunrise.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• Farewell, Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun!?
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts

The Alarmists didn’t make this list, but get an extra shout out for the super nice email their lead singer sent me. Made my whole week.

• Artist website: www.tokyorosenj.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/tokyorose
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Tokyo Rose is a pop-punk band out of New Jersey ala Every Avenue. They’re the quintessential Warped tour band, not terribly groundbreaking and you’re certainly familiar with their sound if you’re at all familiar with the bands I tend to blog about. But I’m a lyrics girl (I minored in writing – I can’t help it), so for the most part I’m not looking for bands that reinvent the wheel – I’m looking for lyrics I can sing unabashedly along with in the car.

What’s the fastest way to win over a former English student? Starting an album with a dance-rock song that is one big Scrabble reference is a pretty sure bet. The Promise In Comprise is Tokyo Rose’s third full-length album and the first they’ve recorded as a trio (the previous two albums were recorded with a revolving line-up of four band members). The album is mostly mid-tempo anthems, which are definitely what the band does best. A handful of songs kick up the intensity a notch, most notably “Less Than Four” and “We Can Be Best Friends Tonight,” the latter having some fairly pronounced electronic elements. The faster songs are fun and well executed and give the album much needed range.

Standout tracks are “Less Than Four,” “A Pound of Silver” and “Seconds Before The Crash.”

Once upon a time, back when people over 30 hadn’t heard of Napster, the rest of us were pretty sure that we’d stumbled onto the holy fucking grail and that when people over 30 did hear about it they’d ruin the party.

We were all a little bit shocked, though, that the first people to crash the party in a big way were Metallica. Metallica, for fuck’s sake. The RIAA, yes. We expected that at some point corporate suits would shut down peer-to-peer because, let’s be honest, we all knew it was illegal. But Metallica?

Worse, in addition to Napster, they named 3 universities in the suit and attempted to make it a RICO violation.

Why am I rehashing all this?

Metallica’s big argument was that the lawsuit was the only way for them to regain lost profits from music that was shared illegally. Napster settled that suit, but it led to what was essentially a class-action against Napster by the labels and RIAA, to make sure the artists got paid. And at that point, even the fans agreed – the artists should get paid.

So, nine years after the first suit was filed, and months after the settlement was finalized, have the artists been paid?

No.

Who’s surprised?

So all of you who jumped on Metallica’s bandwagon, nine years after pissing off your audience and earning the stigma of being the artists who tried to sue the fans into paying for music, what do you have? Plans for a new lawsuit, this time against the suits who, shock, kept the $270 million from the settlement.

Don’t sue your fans, people. If the business model doesn’t work, find a new one. Lawsuits don’t get you anything but bad press.

• Artist website: www.thevalleyarena.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thevalleyarena
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

The Valley Arena is a four-piece band out of Long Beach, the orphan Southern California coast. It’s not quite Los Angeles, not quite Orange County, and since Long Beach has a reputation for being a bit sketchy, neither of its better known neighbors are in a hurry to absorb it.

Sesso.Vita, Italian for sex life, has the same sort of orphaned vibe to it. The album is a bit too accessible to be art rock, a bit too artistic to be the self-conscious pop-punk that Long Beach does so well. The Valley Arena plays wonderfully constructed guitar-based rock and despite its indie-obscure undertones, the lyrical sensibility is more akin to unpretentious emo ala Brand New’s Your Favorite Weapon. The album is definitely one of the more cohesive I’ve heard in a while, but the band still manages to demonstrate a remarkable range. Lead singer Warren Woodward’s vocals range from punchy and syncopated (“Bed”) to eerily disconnected (“100 Rumors” and “Keep It Discrete”) to catchily melodic (“More Adorned”). The guitar work likewise swings between syncopated and melodic, often on the same song. The writing is fantastically original and the mostly mid-tempo songs on Sesso.Vita give the band a chance to show off lyrics which would otherwise take a bit more work to catch.

Standout tracks are “Exfantasy,” “Keep It Discrete” and “Much Adorned.”

The Valley Arena is playing The Wire with The Photo Atlas on March 26.

• Artist website: www.jetlaggemini.com
• Listen at: http://www.myspace.com/jetlaggemini
• Available on: Amazon MP3

Jet Lag Gemini is a four-piece band out of New Jersey composed of Misha Safonov, originally from Russia, brothers Vlad and Matt Gheorghiu, originally from Romania, and Dan Diliberto, originally from New Jersey – because a band can only have so many members with exotic backgrounds.

Fire The Cannons is something of a sleeper album, which bodes pretty well for its future as a minor obsession of mine. The first time around the album plays like well-executed but pretty standard pop-punk. But over and over the band grabs listeners’ attention with little lyrical gems that might not be noticed the first time around, like “picking pennies off a dead man’s eyes” from “Fit To Be Tied.” Lead singer Misha Safonov’s delivery is a wonderful balance of fragility (“Keep This With You”) and bravado (“Run This City”). Since my first focus is always on lyrics and vocal delivery, I’d be completely willing to forgive any number of musical flaws for writing this good. Jet Lag Gemini doesn’t need any passes though, the music is wonderfully executed with a number of riveting guitar pieces (“Bad Apples” and “Just Say How” spring to mind). The album is high-energy and has an optimistic undertone that is a welcome change from the genre’s typical disillusionment.

Standout tracks are “Picture Frames,” “Stepping Stone” and “Every Minute.”

• Artist website: www.everyavenuemusic.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/everyavenue
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I’ve got a soft spot for bands that blend genres or otherwise manage to throw something unexpected into the mix and make it work. I’m discovering that it’s a hazard of writing about music – it’s just easier to write about the misfits. You don’t find yourself casting around for your thesaurus as much.

But there’s something to be said for a band that takes a tried and true formula and just owns it. Every Avenue is a pop-punk band. Their music is melodic, self-involved, guitar-based and written in the same ultra-constructed style as Driving East and Just Surrender. Shh. Just Go With It is their debut full-length album, and while they don’t break a ton of new ground here, it’s a completely worthy pop-punk opus written for summer and driving and days on the beach (or by the pool, for those of you who are landlocked). The band throws in electronic influences (“Take A Step Back”) and a bit of retro-pop (“Fame And (Mis)Fortune”), but the strongest songs on the album are straightforward pop-punk that allow the band to show off the album’s sing-along melodies and lead singer David Ryan’s stellar delivery. Lyrically, Shh. is stronger than their EP, Ah! (most of Ah! has been included on the bonus tracks version at Amazon). Even the token ballad on the album is surprisingly good, “Between You And I” starts as a classic breakup song before twisting into slightly more dysfunctional territory. Standout tracks are “Think of You Later,” “A Story To Tell Your Friends” and “The Hell Back Home”.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/foxyshazam
• Available on: Amazon MP3

All evidence to the contrary, Introducing is the second album from Foxy Shazam, following the very excellent Flamingo Trigger. The band plays what I’m going to call piano-punk with some serious soul influences.

Foxy Shazam’s style is high-drama punk akin to The Matches or Death of A Party, but their sound is really defined by Sky White’s aggressively awesome piano work. The instrument underscores Eric Nally’s gravelly vocals and provides the ballast as the band careens through Introducing at breakneck speed. Despite its artistically obscure, and sometimes plain nonsensical, lyrics Introducing is an album made for a live show. The call-and-response choruses on “Rocketeer” and “Ghost Animals” invoke a gritty club and high-energy audience. Standout tracks are “Ghost Animals,” “A Dangerous Man” and “Red Cape Diver.”

Foxy Shazam is playing The Glass House on March 20 with Fall Of Troy.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Love In October, Pontus, The Devil, and Me

• Artist website: www.thealarmistsband.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thealarmists
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

The Ghost And The Hired Gun is the debut full-length album from Minneapolis five-piece outfit The Alarmists. It’s another album I downloaded off eMusic based on nothing but a title (one of these days I’m going to get burned doing that), because seriously, how cool is that album title?

I’ve been listening to this album and trying to write this review for a couple months now. I got stuck, though, because I couldn’t figure out what it reminds me of. And after pouring over my music collection for weeks, I’ve figured it out. I couldn’t nail the sound because what this album conjures for me isn’t another band, it’s a movie. If Quentin Tarantino had been looking for an album that he could lift straight into Kill Bill without having to change a thing, it would be The Ghost And The Hired Gun. There’s a spaghetti-western twang to the whole album, which is otherwise solid indie-rock, that is brilliantly executed. The sound is lush, guitar-based and embroidered with surprisingly prominent keyboards. The vocals are quiet and laid-back and lead singer Eric Lovald’s delivery is at times almost delicate, though the sound is a little too complicated to achieve true fragility. The lyrics are wonderfully complex, a little obscure but not so much that the band loses its immediacy.

Standout tracks are “Hired Gun,” “The Places I’m From” and “Ghost.”

• Artist website: www.warminthewake.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/warminthewake
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I picked up American Prehistoric at eMusic, without previewing a single song. All I needed was one look at the track listing. Any album with a song named for Joseph Campbell was destined to end up on this site.

I’m glad I went for the impulse-download, because I’m not sure I would have been sold on the album after a preview. Warm in the Wake’s sound is a little further into the alt-country spectrum than I usually enjoy. The country influences on American Prehistoric, though, are brilliantly balanced by an indie-pop feel, ala Eisley or The Silversun Pickups. All three groups use the same dreamy vocals threaded through lush, complex music. Lead singer Christopher Rowell’s delivery is a delicate croon embroidered by a wonderful range of instruments, particularly jazz-inspired keyboards. On American Prehistoric, Warm in the Wake have constructed an extended metaphor comparing the U.S. to the Roman Empire, but this is the kind of concept album where you have to know in advance what the concept is or you won’t pick up on it. I went looking because the lyrics are a bit obscure, but delightfully intelligent and cleverly constructed.

Standout tracks are “Pawn Shop Heart,” “Devil With A Fist” and “DNA.”

• Artist website: www.loveinoctober.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/loveinoctober
• Available on: CD Baby

I discovered Love In October back in January when they were Spin.com’s Artist of the Day. I like to check in with Spin.com, but don’t often adore their recommendations. So when I first listened to “Petrula the Destroyer” I added the band to my list of artists to watch and moved on. A month after grabbing Pontus, The Devil, and Me, though, I’m totally obsessed.

Love in October has the same kind of musical schizophrenia as Say Anything, but instead of emo-alternative, Love in October plays power-indie-pop. The band was founded by brothers Erik and Kent Widman, who are originally from Sweden, something you’ll need to know when you get to “Vi Går till Stranden” and realize you can’t understand it. Unless you’re Swedish. Then you’ll be fine.

Pontus, The Devil, and Me is remarkably cohesive, something the band acheives by infusing each song with a playful optimism. Lead singer Kent Widman’s vocals wander up and down the intensity scale from earnest and delicate (“Song 11″) to strident and growly (An Average Idea”). The lyrics are conversational, ala Motion City Soundtrack, but Love In October’s sound is much more pop inspired.

I had a hard time picking standout tracks, because every song is so different. I seem to play “Find Me Sunshine,” “Method To Madness,” and “An Average Idea” over and over, so start with those.

As previously noted, I have the flu from hell and can’t muster enthusiasm for anything other than going back to bed. I can’t even turn this into an amusing rant, and I was going to try. I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• The Meadows, First Nervous Breakdown (tie)
• Weatherbox, American Art (tie)
• Them Terribles, Rock, Paper, Terribles (tie)

Another Day Late, News Said It’s Raining In New York

• Artist website: www.anotherdaylate.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/anotherdaylate
• Available on: Get it from them at a show, or wait for the release in March.

From the Envy On The Coast show 1/26 at Chain Reaction. Another Day Late is a band out of Orange County that plays slightly geeky, introspective rock. Their sound is solid melodic pop-punk, but the lyrics have an immediate, almost conversational tone to them. News Said It’s Raining In New York focuses on faster paced songs, but the vocals have a soaring, dreamy quality to them that balances the aggressiveness of the music. Standout track is “Fear Is A Man.” [Ed - This is now available at Amazon MP3]

Danger Radio, Punch Your Lights Out

• Artist website: www.dangerradio.net
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/dangerradio
• Available on: Amazon MP3

From the Envy On The Coast show, 1/26 at Chain Reaction. Danger Radio plays dance-rock, with a serious emphasis on dance. The sound is a little synth-pop with punchy lyrics and raucous choruses. Punch Your Lights Out has the feel of a perfect driving album. Standout track is “Sparkle Baby Shine.”

We Shot The Moon, The Polar Bear & Cougar

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/weshotthemoon
• Available on: iTunes

From the Sherwood show, 2/2 at The Knitting Factory. We Shot The Moon is a piano-based rock band out of San Diego that plays dreamy, introspective power-pop. The songs are optimistic and soaring performed in an accessible style. Standout song is “Welcome Home.”

Art Of Chaos, Crimson and Catharsis

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/ArtofChaos
• Available on: CD Baby

Ok, so these guys didn’t actually open a show, but they did blitz the scene this weekend. The band was at all three shows I attended handing out copies of their excellent EP, Crimson and Catharsis. Art of Chaos is a Los Angeles band that plays aggressive, melodic rock that is just this side of screamy. The lead singer has a voice that is eerily androgynous at times, reminiscent of Anthony Green of Circa Survive, but the band’s sound isn’t nearly as stylized. Standout track is “Coward.”

Flight To Athena, Flight To Athena

• Artist website: www.flighttoathena.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/flighttoathena
• Available on: CD Baby

Flight To Athena is a San Diego band who also did not open a show, but gets serious points for marketing. A band member (no idea which one, he didn’t look anything like any of the guys in the picture) walked the line at the Emery show on Sunday offering to let people listen to samples of the album on headphones, and then asking them to sign up for the email list or buy the EP for $2.00. It was a low-key, effective, and entertaining approach that every new band out there needs to steal.

Flight To Athena plays high-energy melodic pop-punk with soaring, sing-along choruses. The sound is aggressive, guitar-based rock that, if not terribly new, is wonderfully executed. Lyrically, the album is emotional and introspective, but the aggressiveness of the sound keeps it from descending into sappy cliche territory. Standout track is “Blameless Vestal.”

• Artist website: www.thebirthdaymassacre.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap, Amazon MP3

I get the feeling that I’m a little bit late to the party on The Birthday Massacre, but they came up on my radar when I saw they were playing The Wiltern with Mindless Self Indulgence. The Birthday Massacre is a Canadian group that plays eerie synth-rock ala Nightwish, although The Birthday Massacre isn’t quite as operatic or theatrical. The lyrics run to the obscure and are delivered in a delicate, dreamy style. In fact, the whole album has a dreamy, ambient undertone to it, even songs where the bass really kicks in like “Red Stars.” I don’t know enough about synth to talk about how the music is constructed, but the style works well and dances along the edge of goth-opera, but never quite slips over. Standout tracks are “Red Stars,” “To Die For” and “Weekend.”

• Artist website: www.schoolyardheroes.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/schoolyardheroes
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap, back catalog on Amazon MP3,

I first discovered Schoolyard Heroes at the show Aiden played at The Glass House this past weekend. I picked up Abominations at the show and it has snuck its way onto just about every playlist I have going.

Schoolyard Heroes are a four-piece group out of Seattle that writes high-drama, goth-operetta, horror-inspired rock. Lead singer Ryann Davis has an instantly recognizable voice. She sings in a high, soaring, almost vibrato style that’s just this side of shrill. Bassist Jonah Bergman contributes vocally on most songs, popping in on background or in interplay with Ryann, most notably on “Screaming ‘Theatre’ In A Crowd,” where the chorus is constructed of a conversation between the two. Lyrically, Schoolyard Heroes has the same noir-horror feel as The Vincent Black Shadow, but Schoolyard Heroes’ tone isn’t quite as stylized as TVBS. Guitarist Steve Bonnell is stunning on this album. Something special has to be going on to get me to notice a guitarist – I just don’t know enough about the instrument to be able to analyze performances. I do, however, know a virtuoso when I hear one, and this guy absolutely fits that description. Standout tracks are “Cemetery Girls,” “Children Of The Night” and “Screaming ‘Theatre’ In A Crowd.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/farewell
• Available on: Amazon MP3

Farewell is a six-piece band out of Greensboro, North Carolina. They were the first band up at Friday’s show at Chain Reaction. Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun!? is their first album, and it’s a lighthearted romp through sing-along power-pop-punk. The sound is guitar based and decorated with geeky keyboards (one of these days, I’m going to figure out what that instrument’s called). Lead singer Marshall Davis’ vocals are clean and favor intensity over complexity, and the band produces some truly wonderful vocal harmonies on the choruses. The lyrics are satisfyingly original and earnestly delivered. Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun!? focuses, appropriately, on high-energy dance numbers, but the band slows it down a bit on on “War” and channels a distinct Green Day circa Warning vibe on “Sing, Baby.” Standout tracks are “Anchors Away,” “Sing, Baby” and “War.”

This is my third show review in as many days and I am clean out of attempts at clever intros. Sorry. The crowd at this show was not as energetic as the night before for Aiden, but it would be asking a bit much to expect a repeat of that show.

The show started with a set by Cry of the Afflicted. The band is a five-piece Canadian group that played a solid set of four-ish songs. Their sound sits squarely in the melodic hardcore genre and is a bit screamy for me, but the energy was high and they did a solid job kicking off the show. The crowd was unfamiliar with the music, but in a good mood and receptive. Cry of the Afflicted isn’t the chattiest on stage, but lead singer Garrett Packer was engaged with the audience and played off the feedback pretty well.

Cry of the Afflicted was followed by Pierce the Veil, a slightly screamy act out of San Diego. Pierce the Veil plays high-drama emo with some decorative screaming thrown in for good measure. The sound is unique, relying mostly on lead singer Vic Fuentes theatrical vocals. The set was precisely performed and the audience got into it almost immediately, despite the fact that the band seemed disengaged for the first couple numbers. Pierce The Veil warmed up quickly, though, and as soon as they started to turn up the intensity the crowd went berserk. A good portion of the audience was familiar with the songs and singing along.

Next up was As Cities Burn, playing a set that came as a bit of a shock. Before I go to a show, I make sure I’m at least familiar with the bands playing (or try to, it doesn’t always happen). I checked As Cities Burn out when I bought tickets for the show, and I wasn’t thrilled with what I heard. Fortunately, their live set was nothing like what I remembered listening to online. On the new album, they’ve mostly ditched the screaming and settled into a very indie-rock, obscure vibe. The change killed the energy in the crowd a bit, but the new sound is much more mature than their earlier work. As Cities Burn wasn’t exactly disengaged, but they were a little distant on stage. They did tell the crowd about the $700 parking ticket/towing fee Cry of the Afflicted managed to pick up (we’re serious about our parking laws in California) and asked the audience to help the band out. I don’t know how many of them did, but Cry of the Afflicted’s tip jar looked pretty full back in the merch section so I think a good portion of the audience decided to help out.

As Cities Burn was followed by Mayday Parade. I’ve been slightly obsessed (in a good, play-the-album-on-repeat way, not a stalker way) for a couple months and completely ruined my voice during this set. The band loses some of their technical precision live – the soaring interplay between the two vocalists isn’t nearly as tight – but made up for it in energy. The band focused on A Lesson In Romantics but tossed in a couple songs of Tales Told By Dead Friends, and even played some of the slower numbers. Lead singer Derek Sanders made up for spending half the set singing with his hair in his eyes by walking the barricade on “You Be the Anchor,” one of my favorite songs and one I didn’t think they’d do, since it’s a bit slow. The audience was pretty familiar with the songs and sang along for most of the set.

Emery closed the show with the most raucous set of the night. There was a sense as soon as they took the stage that the audience had been waiting out the opening acts because the place exploded. The band is impressive on stage. Lead singer Toby Morrell is much more impressive live than on the albums. Emery is a band in transition, and nowhere is that more apparent than in their live act. You expect to see a certain amount of growth over a bands lifespan, and Emery loses some of their disjointedness on stage. The set focused on songs from their latest album, I’m Only A Man, but you still get the distinct impression that the band hasn’t quite made up their mind which way their heading. The more melodic songs play very well on stage, but the band doesn’t seem comfortable shedding the hardcore-screamo image they have of themselves. The set was generous, about an hour, especially considering that almost every band member apologized for being sick and not quite on their game.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/nationalproduct
• Available on: eMusic, iTunes

I discovered National Product at Chain Reaction on Friday. National Product is local band out of Orange Country and their set was one of the best of the night.

Luna wanders all over the genre map, but stays remarkably cohesive. The album has an underlying energy and style that manages to unite songs that display remarkable diversity in influence. In the first four tracks you get hardcore-esque (“By All Means”), pop-punk (“Collision”), and power-pop (“Love Me”), and the genre-melding doesn’t stop after that. The album stays mostly within those bounds, but that’s a big swath of territory to cover in 12 songs. The only reason Luna doesn’t feel like a compliation rather than a debut is that no matter where the songs go, they are all delivered with amazing musical scope, strong melodies, and soaring, precise vocals.

Luna’s lyrics are good, mostly introspective and if not terribly original thematically, and are cleverly constructed. Lead singer Danny Casler’s delivery is wonderfully earnest and technically brilliant.The album has a sunny feel (the band’s roots are in Hawaii, so how could it not?) and while the style at times channels darker acts (“Quay” has a distinct Jimmy Eat World circa Static Prevails vibe), even the heavier songs play like a classic summer album.

You need a specific mix of things to get a really good concert. Amazing bands, obviously, but also an excited crowd and a good space. The only part of that mix you can’t control is the crowd. The Glass House is one of my favorite venues, and the line-up for this show was amazing, but a lackluster crowd could have ruined the whole thing. Luckily, this crowd had more energy than any I’ve ever been in, and it stayed high all night.

Farewell To Freeway got things started with a solid four-song set. Their sound is screamy, a lot like A Static Lullaby, but their show was much tighter than ASL the night before. The band worked well together on stage and seemed honestly excited to be there. Farewell To Freeway is playful on stage which makes for a nice dynamic considering how hardcore their music is. There’s a lot of chatter with the audience and 80s-metal style swinging of hair that makes for the general feeling that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. The set was tight, but very short.

Farewell to Freeway was followed by Schoolyard Heroes, a four-piece band out of Seattle that takes a little bit of getting used to on stage. Their dynamic on stage takes a bit of getting used to. The star of the show is lead singer Ryann Donnelly, but her style is so theatrical that she doesn’t really connect with the audience. The band is led on stage by bassist Jonah Bergman, who does all the talking (literally, Ryann doesn’t open her mouth except to sing), and though it works once you figure it out, it’s a bit odd at first.

Schoolyard Heroes is an amazing act. I wasn’t familiar with the band before the show and I was blown away by the set. Ryann is an amazing singer, but the true musical star is guitarist Steve Bonnell, rocking a crystal-clear guitar and ginormous hair. I tend to think of guitars as background for the vocalist, especially when the vocalist is as strong as Ryann, but this guy had several solos that were jaw-dropping complex and wonderfully executed. Schoolyard Heroes’ sound has an eerie, goth tinge to it along the lines of The Birthday Massacre. The music works well with Ryann’s theatrics and, once you get used to the fact that she doesn’t speak, makes for an amazing show.

My American Heart was next and the first band of the night to have a substantial fan base in the crowd. I was on the floor toward the front, and the press got really intense for this set. My American Heart is a relatively local band (out of San Diego) that plays melodic pop-punk, emphasis on pop. Their set was solid and very high-energy despite the fact that their music is neither as hardcore as Farewell To Freeway nor as lightening fast as Schoolyard Heroes. They were the first band able to command a sing-along chorus from the crowd (on “The Shake”). The set lacked the theatrics of the rest of bands on the tour, but none of the intensity. They closed with a raucous version of “Boys, Grab Your Guns.”

My American Heart was followed by Madina Lake, and damn, but this band gets better every time I see them. I saw them play for the first time on Projekt Revolution last summer, but they are really in their element on this tour. Madina Lake has more energy on stage than any group I’ve ever seen. Lead singer Nathan Leone runs for the whole set and is wonderfully engaged with the audience. The band dropped confetti about two songs in and that set the tone for the rest show. A couple songs later they released giant five or six foot balloons to bounce over the crowd. This was a celebration.

The crowd became an assembly of berserkers from the moment Madina Lake took the stage, but the first time (yes, first, wait for it) that Nathan walked the barrier to let the crowd maul him I started to worry about cracking a rib on the barricade (don’t laugh, it’s happened before – at a MCR concert, no less). The crowd was word-perfect on every one of the band’s songs, and sang for the whole set. Madina Lake’s music is particularly suited to riling up an audience, the messages of numbers like “Now or Never” will get you moving even if you’ve never heard the song before, so I expected the energy to stay high. Then, just before the last number, Nathan dove out onto the crowd, which took a lot of guts. We were packed in too tight to drop him, but there was a serious risk that the pit in the back would decide to keep him. He made it back, though, and the band closed with “Pandora.”

Having seen Madina Lake live before, I was thinking going into the show that they were going to have the best set of the evening, and after their set I was convinced of it. I was absolutely wrong. Aiden did the impossible and stole the show back (since they were headlining I guess it was Aiden’s to begin with, but it’s been a month of headliners being upstaged by openers).

Aiden opened with a solo version of “The Opening Departure” by lead singer Wil Francis, and if I thought my ribs were in danger before, I’d had no idea how dense the crowd was willing to get. The set was balanced bweteen songs of the new album, Conviction, and songs off their earlier recordings. Conviction’s sound is incredibly different from their early work, so it took some doing to keep the show cohesive, but they managed it by playing less pretty versions of Conviction’s songs. The show versions weren’t so different as to be unrecognizable, but the rougher versions allowed the band to slide earlier songs into the mix without sounding like they were channeling two different bands.

I’ve been in a lot of audiences of die-hard fans (I often am a die-hard fan, at least for the duration of the show), but I’ve never seen an audience more willing to be controlled by a lead than this one. I’ve seen Green Day, Linkin Park, and especially My Chemical Romance command some crazy stuff from their fans, but Aiden will be the new bar that I measure this against. As with Madina Lake, the crowd was note-perfect on every song and more than willing to scream or sing or clap on command, and often without the command. The band was completely engaged with the audience through the entire show, responding to calls, playing with a beach ball that someone launched, and leaning down to greet the crowd-surfers that came fast and furious after a few songs.

At the end of the set, it was more than clear that we were going to play the encore game. Considering that Aiden had played a generous set (they were on stage for about an hour) I was expecting a single song. Instead, we got three. It started with Wil playing a solo, acoustic version of “Silent Eyes” off the Rain in Hell EP. But the most memorable number, of the encore and the entire show, was when Wil got the audience (the whole audience, even the people in the risers and balcony) to crouch down below the level of the barricade and stay there for the first verse of “One Love.” The roar when the crowd came to their feet from the chorus overwhelmed The Glass House’s very impressive sound system and wrenched the energy back up for the closing number, “World By Storm.”

I will be back at The Glass House tonight for Emery and Mayday Parade, and the boys better step it up. They’ve got a hell of an act to follow.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Meadows, First Nervous Breakdown

I got to Chain Reaction a bit early for this show, so I had a chance to wander around and eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. The buzz was all about the first act, Farewell, who I hadn’t gotten around to checking out before the show. They kicked off the show with the “Start It Up,” the opening track off their album, but the number felt a little dull. I was all set to be disappointed and swear never to believe in the wisdom of the crowds, but as it turns out, they just needed a bit of a warm-up because the rest of the set was rocking. Farewell plays off the dynamic between the lead singer and the keyboardist, who share vocal duties and manage to generate a ton of energy between them. It’s tempting to watch lead singer Marshall Davis, who was wearing a hat that made him look like a slightly bug-eyed Holden Caulfield, but Farewell’s real showman on stage is keyboardist Chris Lee. It’s hard to look cool playing the keyboards, but this guy pulls it off. Their sound is solid pop-punk decorated with slightly geeky keyboards. The best number of the set was “War,” a slower song that was a bit of a risk but showed off the band’s musicianship.

Farewell was followed by National Product, a local band who I would like to thank for playing Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity almost in its entirety while they set up and reminding me what an awesome album that is. Seriously guys, thanks, I’d forgotten. National Product is a six piece outfit that has a ton of energy, and they were bouncing off each other on Chain Reaction’s itty-bitty stage despite having slightly choreographed the set. The lead, Danny Casler, was probably the lead who was the most comfortable interacting with the audience of the entire night (although, the guy was on home turf, so that may have helped). About halfway through the set he jumped down into the audience and sang a chorus from the floor to keep the energy up.

Next up was Just Surrender. I have and adore their latest album, but there was a disconnect between what I thought I heard on We’re In Like Sin and the presentation on stage. The album plays as lightening-fast, clever pop-punk, but the band presents it as Linkin Park-lite by spending too much energy trying to channel an urban, hip-hop feel that they’d be better off without. On the songs with heavier hip-hop influences the show felt affected, but the set focused on their earlier work which relies more on melody and pop-punk construction. The set’s energy was good and the crowd was into it for the most part.

Just Surrender was followed by Lorene Drive, who seemed honestly ecstatic to be back on the road with new music. Their set balanced the new songs off Out Alive with more familiar numbers from Romantic Wealth, so the crowd was able to get into it and sing along. Lead singer Daniel Murillo seemed more comfortable on stage than the last time they played Chain Reaction. The band’s set was tighter than their last show and the interaction with the audience was better. At one point, Daniel opened a center aisle for the mosh pit that ran the entire length of the floor and the audience was more than happy to oblige. Lorene Drive closed with “A Song In The Key Of Sex” after letting the audience choose between that and “A Kiss Won’t Make This Better.”

A Static Lullaby closed the show. It’s been a long time since I failed to enjoy a headliner’s performance, even one by a band I didn’t know or wasn’t thrilled with, but I can’t say I really got into A Static Lullaby’s set. Some of the problem is taste – I’m just generally not that into music as screamy as A Static Lullaby’s, and some of it was technical – Chain Reaction is very bass heavy and the screaming tended to wash out the melody. Beyond the personal and technical, though, A Static Lullaby felt disjointed on stage. There was very little energy between the band members and very little interaction with the audience.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/tristanfan
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby

If Gerard Way was from Sweden, a solo artist, and wrote on the piano, he might sound a bit like Tristan. The sound will be a little strange for those not familiar with Nordic rock, a genre littered with operatic sopranos singing over growly-metal, but Tristan’s latest album isn’t as eerie as a lot of music that comes out of the Lands of Ice and Snow. The influences are definitely there, especially in the pacing, gravelly vocals, and electronic elements. The Borderline Generation also manages to invoke the soaring, goth-opera feel of groups like Nightwish, but steers clear of the pure theatricality of that genre by keeping the delivery simple and the lyrics accessible. The sound is remarkably cohesive, considering the variety of influences. Tristan’s strongest songs are the slower, more introspective numbers, but he still manages to deliver the more strident numbers with conviction. Standout tracks are “Army In Black,” “Revelation” and “Just Like You.”

• Artist website: www.drivingeast.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/drivingeast
• Available on: Amazon MP3

Hands up if you remember Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave. How many of you have been wondering what happened to the band that made that, and who the pod-people are that took their place? (Thanks for playing, now put your hand down. People are staring.)

Everyone who had their hand up, and some of you who were too self-conscious to play, will adore Driving East’s The Future Of The Free World Is Riding On This One. The album is a tailor-made summer soundtrack – infectious pop-punk infused with serious musicianship and attention to detail. The songs are meticulously crafted with a bias toward high energy make-the-crowd-sing-along-at-the-show anthems. While not an album that will hold up under serious lyrical inspection, The Future Of The Free World Is Riding On This One steers clear of most of the cliches employed by the more derivative bands in the genre. The vocals are crisp and confident, and delivered in a soaring style that slides the band further down the pop side of the scale than the sound otherwise warrants. Standout tracks are “Get Back,” “Sing While You Can,” and “Away.”

• Artist website: www.earlynextyear.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/earlynextyear
• Available on: CD Baby

Early Next Year is a quartet out of Orlando that writes marvelously bouncy geek rock. The sound is something akin to Motion City Soundtrack, but lacks MCS’s slickness and vocal emphasis. Catch These Words steers a bit more into indie-rock territory and the sound focuses more on guitar than keyboards and synthesizers, although both of those elements are present. The sound is loud and occassionally discordant, but the harshness gives the album an intensity it would otherwise lack. Travis Adams’ vocal delivery is highly stylized and staccato, but the choruses are melodic and delivered in a simpler style. The lyrics are conversational and accessible, if not always the focus of the song. Catch These Words is infectiously joyful, even when the themes stray into darker territory.

Standout tracks are “Say Hello,” “Lifeless” and “Plan B.”

In an effort to assemble my own DIY festival before the start of the official season, I will be attending three shows over the weekend. If you live in LAish, you need to see these bands live. If you don’t live in LAish, I will be posting reviews of each of these shows – probably sometime next week. It’ll be just like being there. Except quieter.

• February 15, 2008: Lorene Drive, A Static Lullaby, and Just Surrender at Chain Reaction.
• February 16, 2008: Aiden, Madina Lake, and My American Heart at The Glass House.
• February 17, 2008: Mayday Parade and Pierce The Veil at The Glass House.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/justsurrenderrock
• Available on: Amazon MP3

I have a rule – after a band reaches a certain level of market penetration I no longer consider them for this blog. As much as I love Paramore and My Chemical Romance, they just don’t need the help. So I’m taking this opportunity to write about Just Surrender, since I think my window of opportunity is closing fast.

Just Surrender is a four (or maybe five – Wikipedia isn’t sure, and I can’t get to Myspace from work) piece group out of upstate New York that writes melodic pop-punk. Their sound alternates rapid-fire verses (think Panic at the Disco at their most tongue-twisting) with more melodic sing-along choruses. The writing is fun and fluffy, not terribly introspective or original, but also not annoyingly clichéd. We’re In Like Sin is a perfect driving album, as long as you can get away with 80 mph with the sunroof open. Standout tracks are “New Declaration,” “I Said It Before,” and “We’re In Like Sin.”

Just Surrender is on tour with Lorene Drive. They’re playing The Knitting Factory on Feb. 14 and Chain Reaction Feb. 15. That’s this week, kids. Get on it. [Show review.]

• Artist website: www.johnnypanic.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/johnnypanic
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I was hugely obsessed with Johnny Panic’s first album, 2005’s The Violent Dazzling, and so have followed the band over the last two years with a growing sense of dismay. Since that release, the band has gone through label and management changes, the departure of a founding member, and frontman Rob Solly has fought off life-threatening septicemia. At some point, enough bad news had come out that I was pretty sure there wasn’t going to be another album.

So imagine my surprise when I was wandering around eMusic and discovered that, not only had Johnny Panic released another album, it was amazing and completely worthy of the two year wait. The Violent Dazzling was angry-anthemic punk ala American Idiot. The Good Fight keeps the sound and anger, but develops more personal themes. There are still political songs on here (“I Know That I Just Can’t Remember”), but the album’s best tracks draw on more intimate themes. Every review I’ve read of The Good Fight calls it classic British punk, but Johnny Panic has always felt more like power punk-pop to me. The songs are sing-along melodic with only occasional pepperings of staccato shouts in the choruses. The Good Fight has a soaring, lush feel to the music and vocal delivery that is nicely countered by the intelligent, often quirky lyrics. Standout tracks are “The Rebel,” “A World Away,” and “This Time.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• The Meadows, First Nervous Breakdown
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/lorenedrive
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap

If this had been released by any other band, I would have saved it for the next EP Roundup. But Lorene Drive is my favoritest local act and it’s been forever since we had new music from them. Out Alive is short, but far more mature than Romantic Wealth (which is itself quite awesome). The sound has stayed the same – Lorene Drive plays high-energy guitar rock with stellar, high-drama vocals delivered by Daniel Murillo. The themes on Out Alive have grown beyond what the band was writing on Romantic Wealth. The lyrics are more thoughtful, especially “Second Nature,” an honest-to-god social commentary piece that still rocks so hard you don’t realize how political it is the first time through. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good song about falling into (or out of) love, but it’s nice to see a band write about bigger themes.

Lorene Drive is playing The Knitting Factory Feb. 14 and Chain Reaction with A Static Lullaby Feb. 15. [Show review.]

• Artist website: www.thefastcomputers.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thefastcomputers
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

As previously noted, I am a massive geek (note the links in the side bar – 50% of those are tech related). So there was no way in hell I was going to pass on a group calling themselves The Fast Computers. With that kind of name, you’d expect a certain geekiness to the sound, and you’d be right. Heart Geometry is comprised of piano based geekypop with a decidedly retro, syncopated feel to it. The music is beautifully layered. It has a soaring, complicated feel to it that is emphasised by icily-precise piano harmonies threaded through the melody. The lyrics manage to be both obscure and conversational at once – it feels a bit like you’ve wandered in at Act Two of a play. The Fast Computers strike a balance between the slickly produced feel of the music and the warm, direct feel of the vocals. Lead singer Peter Dean delivers a performance that is both delicate and soaring, alternating between allowing the vocals to fade into the background a bit and then drawing them back out. Standout tracks are “Sweden Hasn’t Changed, You Have,” “Math Predictions” and “Heart of the City.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thereasonrock
• Available on: eMusic, Amazon MP3

I got all excited when I started researching The Reason for this post because their hometown is listed as Hamilton, CA. Yay! Local band! Then it occurred to me that Hamilton is in Canada, not California, and if someone could work on getting different abbreviations for those two I would be eternally grateful.

Things Couldn’t Be Better is the second album from The Reason, and it’s quite the departure from their debut album, Ravenna. Things Couldn’t Be Better drops most of the sing-scream combo and focuses on more melodic structures. The change gives the band a chance to experiment with different instruments (keyboards!) and song structures. It also allows lead singer Adam White to show off a bit and give a more varied performance. The result is a sound that is reminiscent of The Matches, but with stronger pop influences and a less frenetic feel. All the experimentation makes for a less cohesive album than their debut, but since each experiment pays off, it’s easy to forgive such a disparate sound. The band is even joined by fellow Canadian (sadly, also not Californian) Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara on “We’re So Beyond This.” Standout tracks are “All I Ever Wanted,” “This Is Taking Forever,” and “Reset The Breaker.”

• Artist website: www.downtoearthapproach.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/downtoearthapproach
• Available on: eMusic, Free Acoustic EP on AbsolutePunk

I am a sucker for complicated music. The more instruments you’ve got in there the happier I am, which is why this album was such a surprise. Come Back To You is simple, stripped down power-pop at it’s most elegant, and I love it. This is the second album from Down To Earth Approach, and appropriately, it is far from flashy. The style is reminiscent of the Plain White T’s, but Down To Earth Approach is a bit more rock-influenced and the lyrics are not quite as conversational. The songs are sing-along melodic and delivered in an accessible, earnest style that is wonderfully endearing. The songs are catchy and hook-laden with punchy choruses that invite the listener to join in. Standout tracks are “Night Moves,” “See You,” and “Reunion.”

• Artist website: www.emerymusic.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/emery
• Available on: Amazon MP3

Generally, my reviews are very gushy. I’m an easy sell and I know it, but this album was a disappointment. Emery seems to have a solid musical background, and the technical aspects of the album are fine, but artistically there’s not much here.

I’m Only A Man lacks cohesion. The lyrics are self-referential and immature, and the music isn’t enough to save the shoddy construction. The album sits firmly in pop-punk territory, with the emphasis on pop. The songs swing from pop anthems to attempts at melodic hardcore that fall flat. The group indulges in a certain amount of shrieking, mostly to boost their punk credentials, without any thought to whether it adds something to the song. I don’t see this album becoming an obsession anytime soon.

Emery is headlining a show with Mayday Parade (who I am totally obsessed with) at The Glass House in Pomona, Feb. 17. Their album sounds like the kind of music that will make for a pretty good show, so check them out if you’re in town.

This was my first show at The Knitting Factory. I’ve posted a venue review here.

I was terribly tempted to snag a table at this show, but you want to be front and center any time The Higher play, so I waded into the crowd on the floor. As soon as the show started, I was glad I did, because the first band up was amazing. We Shot The Moon is a local band out of San Diego that plays piano-rock ala The Fray. The band played a solid set that was cohesive and engaging. Lead singer Jonathan Jones (also the pianist) started the set off endearingly bashful, but quickly warmed up and got the crowd playing along in a sing-along contest.

Next up was The Higher, who are quickly becoming my favorite live act. This crowd wasn’t as convinced at the start of the set, but after a few songs completely lost their minds. The Higher are really in their element on stage, even the more clichéd songs come across as novel and complex. This set didn’t feature as much commentary from the band as their headlining shows since they were on a bit of a time crunch.

The Higher were followed by The Matches, who were the real stars of the night. This is a band that definitely has to be experienced live to be believed. The Matches play melodic-punk that is pretty spare on pop influences, and their shows reflect it. The crowd went berserk long before they ever took the stage and the energy level stayed high through the whole set. The band is wonderfully theatrical on stage, in the tradition of early Green Day or My Chemical Romance shows, but still engaged with the audience and accessible. At one point, the bassist handed his guitar to a girl in the front row to hold while he took off his jacket. They stuck to their more melodic numbers to keep the audience singing, but also played a couple songs off their new album (plug: A Band In Hope is out March 18). The Matches closed the set with a swaggering version of “Papercut Skin” that even got their guitar tech into the act (on triangles).

Next up, in theory, was Sherwood, but what really happened was the stage went dark and the crowd settled in for the longest turnaround ever, so after a while I wandered off upstairs to grab a seat. The whole theory behind opening bands is that they generate momentum, but if you take forever to turn the stage and do monitor checks you lose all the energy built up by the other bands and people start to realize that they can no longer feel their feet because The Matches’ fans jumped on them a few too many times. So I got some water and stole a table upstairs.

When Sherwood did take the stage they were impressive, but the set was a bit pedestrian after what The Matches had done. They took the stage in uniforms, red beanies and matching hoodies that were shed after the first number and settled in for a very mature, precise show. Nate Henry is a vocalist to give Seth of The Higher a run for his money and the instrumentation is complex and accessible.

Sherwood has incredible cohesion on stage. The set wandered between their acoustic numbers and the more strident songs. About halfway through the set, they played a cover of “Holiday” off Something To Write Home About by The Get Up Kids that mostly lost the crowd, but was a wonderful interpretation and it was great to hear a Get Up Kids song live again. The band was clearly enjoying themselves. During an acoustic number, the drummer and keyboardist wandered around the stage blowing bubbles at the crowd. They closed with a non-encore, evidently Nate finds the whole encore-routine to be a bit awkward, so they just announced that the next two songs were the encore and launched right into them. It was refreshing to have a band acknowledge the encore farce as being an act, and closed the show on an intimate note.

This weeks most viewed albums are:

• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Rhesus, The Fortune Teller Said
• The Cinematics, A Strange Education
• John Ralston, Sorry Vampire

I live approximately halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs (which is why I call my location LA-ish. I mostly play in LA, I don’t actually live there), so I’m generally super excited about the Coachella Music Festival. It’s right in my backyard. But this year, oh my god does the lineup suck. Coachella’s lineup is usually a little quirky, but this year it’s terrible. Your headliners are Jack Johnson (WTF?!), Portishead (known for defining 90s trip-hop), and Roger Waters – who will be playing the entire Dark Side Of The Moon. That’s a great album, no question, but after 35 years it’s a bit played out. There are a couple bands in there that I wouldn’t mind seeing, Tegan & Sara, the Raconteurs, Death Cab For Cutie and Minus the Bear spring to mind, but it’s just not worth it.

Coachella isn’t worth it because there are huge logistical problems associated with the festival. To start, it’s in Indio, which is the middle of kabumfuck-nowhere (this is coming from a girl that is content to live in normal-nowhere). It’s scorching hot, no matter when they schedule it, because Indio has a climate so similar to the Middle East that its biggest industry is date farming. Tickets are god-awful expensive and you better plan on spending $300 on top of those for a hotel room that will be (at best) 20 miles away from the fair grounds.

So this year, instead of trekking out to Coachella to kick off the summer festival season, I will be attending Bamboozle Left in lovely, temperate Irvine. The bands are more to my taste (The All American Rejects and My Chemical Romance are headlining, and several of the openers are new obsessions of mine – Danger Radio, The Maine, Pierce The Veil). Two day passes are $75 and on sale at the festival website, single day passes are $39.50 and go on sale Feb. 2nd. The festival is April 5-6 at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater.

• Artist website: www.hundredreasons.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/hundredreasons
• Available on: Hundred Reasons is on the V2 label, which is distributed by Sony BMG, so their catalog should be on Amazon MP3 sometime soon (the first EP is up now), eMusic, iTunes

Quick the Word, Sharp the Actions is the fourth record from Hundred Reasons. Where the hell have I been and why haven’t I heard of these guys before? Hundred Reasons is a pop-punk group out of the UK that plays diverse, infectious high-energy rock. The album maintains a surprisingly joyful sound as it wanders all over the pop-punk spectrum (and detours out of it from time to time). Quick the Word, Sharp the Actions includes both an instrumental interlude and screamo-metal number – back to back, no less.

The lyrics swing between wild optimism and poisoned cynicism. Even “Sick Little Masquerade,” a song about a funeral procession, has a wonderfully soaring feel to it. The vocals are delivered in an accessible, melodic-staccato style that lends even the more obscure lyrics a sense of immediacy. Standout tracks are “No Way Back,” “Sick Little Masquerade,” and “She is Poison.”

• Artist website: www.wearethemeadows.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/themeadows
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

For an uber-urban place, Los Angeles sure has a thing for country-pop. The Meadows are a Los Angeles duo that write mellow, country-influenced indie rock ala Sheryl Crow. The music has a casual, acoustic feel that swells into soaring, triumphant choruses. Guitars and simple, direct vocals are the core of the album, which is embroidered beautifully with piano cameos and electric guitar solos. The blend makes for a distinctive sound, a little slicker than a garage band, but definitely rougher around the edges than corporate alt-country. The lyrics are introspective and immediate and lend themselves to the intimate feel of the music. Standout tracks are “Paralyzed,” “Give It Up,” and “Used To Say.”

• Artist website: www.thecinematics.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thecinematics
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Every once in a while, I get this desire to disappear for a few months and become a music historian because I hear a song and think, “Wow, listen to all the influency-type things happening here. I wish I knew what the hell they are.” The first time I listened to A Strange Education I thought that for the entire album. The Cinematics have channeled a whole bunch of previous bands and turned them into a fantastically danceable socially-conscious album. I just can’t tell you who those bands are.

So what we have here is an album that reminds me of The Killers and She Wants Revenge with a touch of the Arctic Monkeys (though I think that’s just the accents). The sound is complicated; A Strange Education is a concoction of high-energy dance-rock that sounds appropriately frothy until you actually listen to the lyrics. The lyrics are clever, introspective, and socially-conscious. The album is rounded out by a fantastic acoustic track, “Home,” that shows off the Scott Rinning’s wonderfully direct vocals, which are a bit swamped on the faster numbers. Standout tracks are “Race To The City,” “Break,” and “Asleep At The Wheel.”

At the start of the year I set myself a goal of writing an album review every weekday. It has only just occurred to me that there are a hell of a lot of weekdays in a year. I’ve met my goal for January by covering everything that I loved in 2007, but I’m looking at February and realizing that I need some help finding new music.

So, darlings, consider this an engraved invitation to wander on down the comments section and tell me all about your favorite band that has been grievously neglected on this site. Please post a link to somewhere I can stream their music. If you’d rather not publish your musical eccentricities for all the world to see, you can use the lovely link at the top of the sidebar to email said band information.

• Artist website: www.silentenvy.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/silentenvy
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Silent Envy is from San Jose which is just barely honestly too far out to claim them as locals, which is a shame because all really good bands should be from LA so I can go see them all the time. Or maybe Las Vegas, since I think The Higher spend more time in Anaheim than they do the whole of Nevada.

From the available textual evidence (band name, album title, track titles), you’d expect a whiny emo-band with nasally vocals and dubious musical ability. And you’d be wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. Silent Envy plays tight, driving rock with serious ability. The lyrics are personal and earnest, but steer clear of emobarrassing cliches. The vocalist has a clear and resonantly deep voice that growls along with the bass and soars on choruses. Standout tracks are “Take Your Blame For This,” “The Ghosts Will Never Leave You,” and “Dance Dance Murder.”

• Artist website: www.hrempire.org
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/holyromanempire
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

When you’ve named your band after a long defunct but once powerful political construct, I suppose it gives you a bit of license in the ungodly-pretentious-album-title arena. Longue durée is French for long duration. Why the band chose a French album title when the band is named after a forerunner to the Prussian and German empires and they’re from Chicago is a bit of a mystery (and if it’s meant to be French, shouldn’t it be La Longue Durée?).

Damn, but this girl can sing. I’m a sucker for a serious vocalist, and it took a whole 10 seconds of the chorus on “Undeserving You” to sell me on this album and their entire back catalog. Emily Schambra is a classically trained vocalist with a truly gorgeous voice and impressive execution. Think Amy Lee without the makeup, drama, and most of the angst. The lyrics tend to be a bit indie-obscure, but are nevertheless well constructed, thoughtful, and pop-anthem catchy. The music is based in solidly executed driving guitars that seem to exist solely as a frame for the vocals, which is fine by me.

Standout tracks are the whole damn album, but especially “Our Whole Lives, Waiting,” “Olympus,” and “Mute Hearts.”

This was the strangest show I’ve ever been to, and that’s saying something. I don’t know who put the lineup together for this, but if they had pulled random names from a hat they couldn’t have possibly come up with a more disparate group of bands. I can see what they were thinking – the bands all played a distinct brand of high energy dance-able rock. But each band brought its own fan base who seemed to know and be completely dismissive of the other acts. Every time the sets changed, a convection current would sweep through the crowd as the fans of the departing act wandered back to the merch tables and fans of the new act would push forward.

Breathe Carolina kicked the show off with a set that was interesting odd. Decidedly odd. Let me say, I was prepared to fall in love with this band. They had the geekiest setup I’ve ever seen: not one, but two computers (a Dell laptop and an iMac, which is endearingly eccentric), and the only instrument I recall was one of those keyboard-guitar hybrids that you wear like a guitar. No drums, no real guitars, just geekalicious instruments and a lot of lights. Then the music started and unfortunately, I just didn’t quite get it. Breathe Carolina is a duo out of Colorado who claim to write “electronica/metal/indie,” but what they performed was 90s techno with some very out of place screamo mixed in for effect. They are supported on stage by two (possibly three – I remember three, but their website only credits two) technicians on stage: the guy on the keyboard-guitar-thingy and a DJ. The music was 95% previously recorded and what was performed live wasn’t enough to justify the set. The vocals, the only part of the show that were truly live, were weak and a bit baffling. The lead’s voice wasn’t strong enough or compelling enough to push through the noise and was completely upstaged by the screamer, who has a better singing voice than the lead.

Breathe Carolina has a distinctive sound, but it’s a mish-mash of two very different genres from two very different eras, and they haven’t quite nailed how to integrate the two (to be honest, I’m not sure it can be done). The crowd certainly seemed to love what they heard, but when the set was over Breathe Carolina’s fans up and left. Props to the band for pulling in their own fan base, but I think most of us spent the whole set wondering, “What the fuck?”

Next up was Another Day Late, a local band out of Orange County. Yay for local bands! They didn’t seem to have a huge fan base in audience, but they played a more accessible style of music than Breathe Carolina, which was a relief. They also had a much tighter show (with real instruments!). Another Day Late plays energetic guitar-rock driven by earnest, almost conversational, lyrics delivered in soaring melodies. Lead singer Kohl Hegmann has a voice that is reminiscent of Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack, but is far less chatty both lyrically and while performing.

The band handed out glow sticks before the show (for no real reason, but still fun), and seemed thrilled to be playing back home even if they didn’t exactly have a home crowd. The show was delivered with wonderful technical precision, but still seemed a little rough around the edges. ADL did very little to engage the audience, even though it was clear that the crowd was mostly unfamiliar with the music. The music itself was fantastic, striking a wonderful balance between the music and vocal deliveries.

Another Day Late was followed by Danger Radio, the most adorable band I’ve seen in a long time. Danger Radio is fronted by two hobbit-sized (ok, they’re probably a little taller than that, but one even has hobbit-hair) guys who are dangerously excited by everything. Danger Radio plays a brand of high energy dance-rock that got the crowd off their feet and kept them that way. The music features elements of electronica and jazz, dance beats, and clever, catchy lyrics. The vocals were delivered in a punchy, theatrical style that made for a wonderfully entertaining show. Lead singer Andrew De Torres was especially good at playing with the crowd, the band took frequent breaks so he could expound on theories of dance that kept the energy high and the audience engaged.

Next up was Envy On The Coast, who killed it. Lead singer Ryan Hunter got the audience hopping from the first song and then spent most of the set at the very edge of the stage, obligingly willing to be mauled by the audience. The band dealt with a number of technical issues – evidently the piano popped into organ mode during “Mirrors,” which I’m pretty sure no one would have noticed if they hadn’t pointed it out. I couldn’t even hear the piano for most of the set.

Envy On The Coast was by far the best live act of the night. Their set was energetic and tightly performed. The band focused on their faster numbers that played to the general dance-rock feel of the other sets, which took advantage of the momentum following Danger Radio’s set. The set showed off the very tight vocal interplay between Ryan and Sal, and especially Sal’s lightening instrument switches (the guy goes from piano to guitar to impressive vocal harmonies and back so fast that it’s hard to keep up with him). They closed the set with “Gift Of Paralysis” and were joined Danny from The Audition for a chorus.

Envy On The Coast was followed by The Audition. I expected the crowd to go berserk, but the energy died a bit for this set. The floor emptied out quite a bit, but the people that stayed quickly got into it. The set featured a couple songs from the new album Champion, but focused mostly on songs from Controversy Loves Company, and the crowd was obviously word-perfect on the whole album.

The Audition’s live shows aren’t as good as their albums. The band plays high energy dance-rock and the songs lend themselves well to rollicking live sets. Lead singer Danny Stevens chases intensity on stage with volume but overdoes it and loses the slightly breathy drama of his recorded performances. His on stage delivery is better on softer songs that require a bit more delicacy in delivery. The band generates serious energy on stage that lends the act a reckless feel, and while the performance was technically very precise, it felt a bit spotty. On the other hand, you could tell they were having a great time and that spilled over into the audience. The band even brought out a birthday cake for guitarist Seth Johnson, who promptly had an itty-bitty food fight with fellow guitarist Tim Kepler. (Off-topic: Tim rocked the best hair of the whole night. It was perfectly round.) The Audition closed with the opening song of Controversy Loves Company, “Dance Halls Turn To Ghost Towns,” and commanded a raucous dance-floor for the song’s entirety.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Weatherbox, American Art
• Rhesus, The Fortune Teller Said

I get most of my music from eMusic, and I end up downloading a ton of EPs that I’ve mostly ignored on this site. That doesn’t mean I haven’t found some truly stellar stuff, it’s just a bit beyond me to wrangle a full post out of four or five songs.

I have become hugely invested in bands based on EPs. Case in point, I’ve been waiting breathlessly for a full release from Driving East for years (years!) based on the fantastic Black Eye or a Broken Heart (think FOB when they still had souls), which isn’t featured here solely because it’s been out for a few years. (Their next release, The Future Of The Free World Is Riding On This One is out now, and you should all go buy it right now.)

To All Our Saviors, Don’t You Know

• Hometown: Orange County, California
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/toalloursaviors
• Available on: eMusic, iTunes

This is long overdue, since Don’t You Know has been in constant rotation in my playlists since I downloaded it. To All Our Saviors plays classic, loud rock with sing-along melodies and seriously catchy lyrics. The vocals have a surprising sophistication to them and are delivered in a gratifingly varied style. Standout track is “Fake It.”

The Halos, Halos EP

• Hometown: Orange County, California
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/halosband
• Available on: ?, I got mine at a show.

The Halos are a Southern California band that writes intelligent, heartfelt music with a sound not unlike John Ralston. The lyrics are clever and delivered in a simple, earnest style that is complimented by an acoustic-ish, stripped down sound. Standout track is “Tin Man and the Lion.”

Kid Durango, The Voicemail Diaries

• Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Artist Website: www.kiddurango.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/kiddurango
• Available on: eMusic, iTune Plus

Kid Durango features two vocalists ala Mayday Parade. The delivery isn’t as tight or soaring Mayday Parade, but there’s so much more going on here that you won’t even notice. The songs are bracketed by voicemail messages, and often incorporate elements of the message or phone sound effects into the songs. As a concept, it makes for a fantastically unified release and lends a sense of structure that would otherwise be missing as the band experiments with a range of styles and sounds.

The Maine, The Way We Talk

• Hometown: Tempe, Arizona
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/themaine
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

The Maine, who are not from Maine, play earnest conversational songs performed in a simple melodic style. The songs are constructed with hooks aplenty and sing-along melodies.

Maxeen, Life In The Gears

• Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/maxeen
• Available on: Myspace, via BlastMyMusic

Maxeen’s music has a wonderful 80s vibe to go with your skinny jeans and paint-splattered hoodies (and speaking as someone who remembers the original 80s, you poor kids are really going to regret this whole fashion thing). The music features dance beats, diva falsettoes, and shouted, driving choruses. Standout track is “Release.”

Signal The Escape, These Scars Are Just The Beginning

• Hometown: New Haven, Conneticut
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/signaltheescape
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Signal The Escape write driving, slightly screamy songs in the vein of Pierce the Veil. Their songs are immensely fun, they have a melodic sing-along quality and a beat to bounce along to. The lyrics are clever and delivered with punch and conviction. Standout track is “Excorism In The ER.”

There For Tomorrow, Pages

• Hometown: Orlando, Florida
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/therefortomorrow
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby

I saw There For Tomorrow play Chain Reaction with The Higher last month, and I have to say, I haven’t seen a band have that much fun on stage in a long time. They play high-energy songs with strong melodies and seriously catchy hooks. Pages is a rollicking good time, but it doesn’t do them justice. The only way to really appreciate this band is to see them live, so check out their tour schedule and catch a show. Standout track is “Pages.”

• Artist Website: www.gingerjake.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/gingerjake
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

Gingerjake is a female-fronted act out of Minneapolis (All my favorite bands right now are from Minneapolis. What’s the deal with that?) ala Canada’s The Vincent Black Shadow. The lead singer, Amanda Harris, has an American Idol pop-star voice that slithers through the aggressive bass and drum work. Her delivery is pure diva, and unlike most pop stars, the lady has the voice to back it up. Her voice climbs and soars, shouts and growls, croons and pleads. How To Kiss The Devil Goodbye is a collection of driving rock numbers peppered with a few slower, introspective songs that give listeners a chance to catch their breath and get their feet back under them. The band’s style works equally well with both. The softer songs give the band a chance to show off the stellar guitar work that Amanda’s voice steals attention from on the most energetic songs. Standout tracks are “Lunchbox,” “Found Your Way Back Home,” and “Silhouette.”

• Artist Website: www.pensive.net
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/pensive
• Available on: CD Baby, eMusic

Yay for local bands! Pensive is a four-piece band out of San Diego that plays catchy, high-energy power pop-punk ala Mayday Parade. Artifacts is their third full-length album and it’s a gem of sing-along melodies that wander from the sunny to the morose. Pensive revels in their California pop-punk connections, you’ll hear bits and pieces of Green Day and other Southern California legends in there, but the album is far from derivative. Classic guitar-driven melodic rock dominates the sound, but the songs are given depth by the rich vocal harmonies that pepper the choruses.  The lyrics are cleverly constructed and surprisingly narrative without losing any of the immediacy that makes the genre so accessible. Standout tracks are “Live Fast,” “Red Letter Day,” and “Come With Me.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/deathofaparty
• Available on: eMusic

San Francisco band Death Of A Party’s debut album, The Rise and Fall Of Scarlet City, is a masterful blend of emo-pop and punk traditions. It’s something of a departure for me – don’t count on understanding a word on the album without the lyrics in front of you. The vocals are delivered in a highly theatrical style with heavy doses of irony that focus more on effect than accessibility. Aggressive guitar and drum work are punctuated by the indie-obtuse lyrics in staccato bursts that meander up and down the vocal scale. The sound is riotous and manic, lending the album the feel of dance music without ever once descending into the vacuous. The Rise and Fall Of Scarlet City is a wonderful album that defies categorization but will have you bouncing along for the whole raucous trip. Standout tracks are “Emerald Crowns,” “Scarlet City Millionaire’s Club,” and “One Trick Pony Girl.”

It’s been a long time since I had a show to write up – over a month. So I’ve decided to binge over the next couple of weeks, starting Saturday.

Round 1 @ Chain Reaction:

• January 26, 2008: Envy On The Coast and The Audition
• January 31, 2008: Weatherbox, with Jet Lag Gemini (Releasing their first album, Fire The Cannons Jan. 22. Look for a review on Wednesday, Jan. 23.)

Round 2 @ The Knitting Factory:

• February 2, 2008: Sherwood, The Matches, and The Higher (who always put on a fantastic show)
• February 6, 2008: Limbeck and John Ralston (on the Alterknit stage. I saw Ralston on tour with Dashboard Confessional a few months back, and he’s amazing live.)

Round Three @ The Glass House:

• February 8, 2008: Scary Kids, Scaring Kids (Maybe. If I bail on any of these, it will be this one. I’m not so thrilled with the supporting the line-up.)
• February 16, 2008: Aiden, Madina Lake, and My American Heart (Madina Lake killed it on the Projekt Revolution tour this summer.)
• February 17, 2008: Mayday Parade and Pierce The Veil

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/rideyourbike
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

This album caught my eye because the band name made me grin. It’s in the category of “they’re going to regret that if they ever make it big” band names ala The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Of Montreal. (Ever tried to form a sentence referring to Of Montreal without sounding brain-dead or like you have a stutter? Then you know what I’m talking about.)

Silly artist name aside, Bad News From The Bar is a wonderful departure from collections of singles that have become standard fare. The album is conversational in tone and execution. The songs tell the story of a protracted breakup and often refer to events in earlier tracks. The sound is a mix of Motion City Soundtrack’s geeky ramblings and the storytelling on Everything In Transit, by Jack’s Mannequin. While most of the songs on Bad News From The Bar are primarily standard guitar-pop, there are cameo appearances by horns (“Faster”), violins (“Knack for Faith”), and keyboards that jolt the album out of the range of standard pop-punk. Standout tracks are “Faster,” “Dug In Deep,” and “This Car Is Hot As Hell.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Envy On The Coast, Lucy Gray (tie)
• The Audition, Controversy Loves Company (tie)
• Mayday Parade, A Lesson In Romantics

• Artist website: www.rhesus-web.com
• Listen at: www.bebo.com/Rhesusband, www.myspace.com/rhesusmusic
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Rhesus is a French (yes, French – I was surprised too) band that plays a brand of indie-rock that will be familiar to fans of The Silversun Pickups. Their songs are in English and the album owes a debt to U2 – the lyrics are delivered in the same sleepy croon that characterized All That You Can’t Leave Behind. The music is very much pop inspired, with simple structures, catchy hooks, and cleverly obtuse lyrics. The sound is rougher than their first album Sad Disco, but the rough edges make for a more interesting sound. The songs range from the bouncy “Hey Darling” and “Forever” to the downright morose “I Still Think Of You (Sometimes).” The Fortune Teller Said is a surprisingly cohesive album given the range of styles and influences (there’s even a ukulele on “Berlin”), but the strongest songs are the louder, driving tracks. Standouts are “Hey Darling,” “I Suppose,” and “Forever.”

• Artist website: www.john-ralston.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/johnralston
• Available on: Amazon Mp3, eMusic

Readers of this blog will know that I know absolutely nothing about music production, but after listening to Ralston’s albums, I went on a quest to figure out why they sounded so much better than anything else I’d heard in a while (actually, I didn’t have to go all that far, there’s a note in the liner notes on Needlebed). I’m not talking about songwriting, I’m talking about the actual sound of the album. It didn’t take me long to figure out, since I had to turn the volume up quite a bit on both records. They’re quieter. The noise level is lower than your average rock album, so you can hear more. This probably isn’t a revelation to anyone out there who has a background in recording, but it was to me. It helps that Ralston’s music has an acoustic, almost delicate, feel to it that is tailor-made for this style of recording.

The effect of all this is that the crescendoes on the album, like the chorus of “No One Loves You Like I Do.” sound truly joyful. The music is richly layered and the lyrics are subtle and heartfelt. Ralston’s style is in the vein of label-mate Dashboard Confessional, but since Ralston isn’t an acoustic act the sound is much deeper than the standard DC album. The lyrics are clever and delivered in a sleepy croon that’ll send a shiver down your spine. Standout tracks are “Gone Gone Gone” (Needlebed), “No One Said It Was Easy” (Needlebed), “Fragile” (Vampire), and “No One Loves You Like I Do” (Vampire).

Ralston is playing The Knitting Factory (Alterknit) Feb. 6 & 7.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/everybodyelse
• Available on: eMusic, Amazon MP3 by late January (The Militia Group is distributed by Sony BMG)

Yay for local bands! Everybody Else is a three-piece pop group out of Los Angeles. Their self-titled debut is a study in sunny California power-pop, updated for a self-consciously cynical generation. The tone is mostly laid-back surf rock-ish, with a few high-energy numbers thrown in to break things up a bit. Everybody Else has the same retro-pop vibe as acts like The Pink Spiders and Maxeen. The vocal work is strong and the lyrics are clever enough, but firmly rooted in the California pop genre, so don’t expect anything too mind-blowing. The album’s strongest features are the sing-along melodies and keyboard work. Standout tracks are “Faker,” “The Longest Hour Of My Life,” and “Alone In The World.”

• Artist Website: www.thedecoration.com/music.html
• Listen at: www.thedecoration.com/music.html
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I discovered The Decoration on eMusic, and Science and Sanity has quickly become my go-to album when to calm me down and cheer me up. The album has a quiet, delicate feel to it, but the music is lush and complex. You can almost curl up in this album. The sound is similar to Umbrellas or Eisley, with more depth. The lyics are on the personal-obtuse side, but are delivered with so much feeling that they almost make sense. The vocals wander up and down the charts, from jazz lounge croons to pop star falsettos, but are always delivered with solid technical ability.

Standout tracks are “Question For An Answer,” “Western States,” and “End Transmission.”

• Artist Website: www.thegayblades.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/gayblades
• Available on: eMusic

The Gay Blades are a two-man group out of New York and their debut album, Ghosts, is a raucous, swaggering record with a classic rock vibe and indie cred to spare. The pair have the style and laid-back cool of Los Angeles duo She Wants Revenge, but the sound of the album is closer to Rachel Yamagata’s Happenstance. Distinct pop and jazz influences give the hardest tracks depth and ease the transitions into the softer songs that are the album’s true standouts. Ghosts has amazing scope, the songs range from  energetic dance numbers, “Hey She Say,” to slower, introspective songs, “Dog Day Afternoon.” The vocals are delivered with an elastic versatility, the singer hovers a breath away from a sob on “Prologue for the Pure of Heart,” croons like a jazz singer on “Dog Day Afternoon,” and shouts and wails in opener “O Shot.” The lyrics are classic clever, indie-obtuse arrangements that spiral from sunny optimism to the dark cynicism that defines the genre.

New feature!

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Weatherbox, American Art
• Pierce The Veil, A Flair For Dramatics
• Madina Lake, From Them, Through Us, To You (tie)
• Envy On The Coast, Lucy Gray (tie)

Variety is reporting that EMI, the smallest of the four major record labels, has taken the first step toward exiting the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the London-based music trade group that represents the interests of the international recording industry. The IFPI, which receives most of its funding from the major labels, has recently begun an internal review of operations that will examine the “structure and operation of the organisation and its relationship with the national groups [like the RIAA] with a view to finding greater efficiencies and cutting costs,” according to comments from an IFPI spokesman. (Ars Technica)

According to the article in Variety, a source close to the IFPI has disclosed that all four majors are are in talks with the IFPI regarding changes in the structure and priorities of all major trade organizations, including the RIAA. “This is not about cost-cutting. Functions and structure need to make sense to all major labels. Right now, funding them doesn’t make sense.” EMI has threatened to pull its funding from the IFPI and RIAA if “the structure and aims of the IFPI are not aligned with the interests of EMI.” (Variety)

Both Ars Technica and Variety speculate that EMI will not actually pull out of either the IFPI or RIAA. The RIAA participates in the collection of licenses and royalties in the United States, as well as certifying gold and platinum albums. EMI can’t afford to do without either service. However, it has been widely speculated that the RIAA’s policy of suing individuals accused of copyright violation has been wildly expensive, while generating very little revenue for the group. There is no evidence that the policy has deterred file-sharers or increased CD sales. The policy has also generated a huge amount of bad press for the group and the music industry in general. If EMI is looking to have the trade organizations cut costs and align with their own interests, they may be pressuring the groups to stop the lawsuits.

I find all of this backroom maneuvering interesting because EMI has demonstrated its power to be a force for change in the music industry’s recent past. EMI was the first major label to sell music DRM free, following it’s purchase by Guy Hands and the Terra Firma fund, a private equity fund. Terra Firma is currently looking to reinvigorate the label and cut expenses, and seems perfectly willing to do so by ignoring the rules that have governed the industry for years.

Since EMI’s move to DRM free sales, the other three major labels have begun or announced plans to sell music DRM free in Amazon’s MP3 store. If this move follows the pattern set by the DRM wars, we can expect to see Warner, Universal, and Sony begin to put pressure on the trade organizations to find new ways to represent industry interests, hopefully ways that reflect the changes that the labels will need to continue to make to stay relevant.

• Artist website: www.theauditionrocks.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/theaudition
• Available at: Amazon MP3 by late January, or your local record store.

(I know, I swore and swore that I wasn’t going to buy this album unless it was on sale at the show, but I have really low willpower when it comes to stuff like this. Besides, I found it on sale at Borders after a really bad day at work.)

This album reminds me of Santi by The Academy Is…, which means I’ll probably love it for about 3 days, and then be deeply ashamed of those 3 days for the rest of my life (see also, Infinity On High). The album has a distinct sugar-pop feel to it that is made palatable because the songs are mostly high-energy jump-up-and-down numbers that discourage serious inspection of the lyrics. The sound has the same highly produced feel as Infinity On High, but lacks the ambition and scope of the FOB album to save it from sounding like a cookie-cutter remix of everything else on the radio.

Still, I’m a bit of a sucker for pop-punk with an emphasis on pop and fun. I won’t be listening to this album a year from now, I may not be listening a month from now, but for today it’s fun, feel-good music to pull you out of the everything-sucks blues.

The Audition is playing Chain Reaction with my current obsession, Envy On The Coast, Jan. 26.

via CNet

Finally. The catalog should be live in late January. I guess the MusicPass scheme got panned worse than they expected.

Despite the good news, I’ve got one eye watching for the other shoe (i.e. the only albums going up on Amazon are the 37 also slated for MusicPass). This is Sony, after all.