A lot of people aren't into what is labeled as "screamo," or more hardcore music. They say most of it is just a lot of noise and obnoxious screaming. I think it depends on the band. There are bands out there just starting out that don't know any better, and just think screaming is fun--I personally don't think they're going anywhere. However, there are a few bands out there considered hardcore that I like. The main reason is that their songs aren't ALL screaming--they have actual voices, they know how to sing and how to write good lyrics, and the music isn't just a bunch of crappy noise.
Every Time I Die
--One reason I like this band is their lyrics. It mostly freeform, and they pretty much say whatever the hell they want. They're definitely screaming, but you can understand them-another reason I am a fan. Finally, their music is just fun if you need to let off some steam. These guys are angry. My faves: "Kill The Music" and "We'rewolf"
Atreyu
--Oldschool. These guys are nowhere near as hardcore as they used to be. I used to listen them about 5 years ago or so, and at them time they were still screaming most of their songs. One of my favorites was "Bleeding Mascara." Their music is still pretty good, it's just changed a lot; PureVolume classifies them now as rock/metal. Very different from hardcore.
Alexisonfire
--I was first introduced to this band by an old friend about a year ago, maybe a little less. I love this music. First of all, their lyrics are deep--gives you a lot to think about. Or just gives you poetry to bask in. Whatever. Second of all, one of the most interesting things about this band is their singers. When they scream the lyrics, they really scream. But one of the singers/guitarists sings some of the lyrics, and his voice is one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear. Seriously. It's amazing. If you can't stand to sit there and listen to a hardcore song with screaming, you have another opportunity to listen to this gorgeous voice. Dallas Green also goes solo--he goes by the band name City & Colour. YOUTUBE HIM, BUY HIS ALBUMS, DL HIM, do whatever you have to.
Fave Alexisonfire songs: "Boiled Frogs" and "This Could Be Anywhere In The World"
Fave City & Colour songs: "Comin' Home", "Hello, I'm in Delaware", and "The Girl"
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
You're as subtle as the brick in the small of my back
Obviously, a lot of bands have connections with each other. It could be something as simple as similar music, or the same singers for both bands, or something as heated as a bad history with a lyric rivalry. Want some examples?
Paramore/Renfue
--Comparitively, Paramore is pretty well-known. Renfue is not. Most people have never heard of Renfue. I ran into Renfue accidently: I was downloading some new Paramore stuff, clicked on a song later, and it wasn't the song it was labeled as. To be honest, I still thought it was Paramore, I just thought it was another unreleased song. The music, as well as this singer's voice, sounds similar to Paramore. I listened to it a couple of times and realized it wasn't Hayley Williams singing—so I googled the lyrics, youtubed the song, and found this huge thing that was going on. Apparently people on YouTube are getting pretty worked up about the fact that Renfue's music is getting labeled as Paramore's in the illegal downloading world. So watch out, if theres a tag that says Paramore, double check it.
Flyleaf/Fireflight
--I've been a Flyleaf fan for about a year now. They're definitely labeled as alt/metal rock, and they get pretty hardcore. Lacey, the singer, absolutely screams her lungs out in a lot of the songs. It took me a little while(when they released their new album out this past fall) to realize that they're also a little bit Christian rock, which I never would have expected. It's subtle, and not all of it is like that—either way, it's pretty good, and the lyrics are just plain good. A few months ago, my laptop crashed, because of downloading of course, so I switched to using Pandora for a while, and a band called Fireflight popped up. They're not quite as hardcore as Flyleaf, but definitely on the same level, and they are also Christian rock. What I like about these bands is that they don't throw religious views in your face with their music. They HAVE views, but sometimes they're hard to catch, because the music is just good.
Taking Back Sunday/Brand New
--Listeners of TBS and Brand New know that a feud existed between the bands for a long time. The best way to explain it is to copy and paste off of wikianswers:
The Long Island Rock legend goes that once upon a time, Jesse Lacey, now the lead singer of Brand New, was best friends with John Nolan, former guitarist/singer of Taking Back Sunday and current guitarist/singer for Straylight Run. As the legend goes, at some point during the duration of the close friendship, Jesse's girlfriend cheated on him with John. During their fight, Jesse allegedly said "You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back so let's end this call and end this conversation." However, this is ironically close to the line in "Seventy Times Seven." This song was released on Brand New's first album, Your Favorite Weapon, originally released October 9, 2001.
While TBS was writing songs for their first album, Tell All Your Friends, originally released March 26, 2002, John Nolan heard the lyrics to "Seventy Times Seven." In response, TBS wrote the song "There's No 'I' in Team." Some speculate that the song was an apology of sorts to Jesse. Some say it was an explanation. But it seems that the best explanation is that it was TBS's way of giving the lyrical finger to Jesse. Lyrics such as "Wearing your black eye like a badge of honor/soaking in sympathy" and, most notably, in an interlude that also includes the lyrics "Is that what you call tact/You're about as subtle as a brick in the small of my back/so let's end this call and end this conversation/That's right he said it," seem to support this last explanation.
Paramore/Renfue
--Comparitively, Paramore is pretty well-known. Renfue is not. Most people have never heard of Renfue. I ran into Renfue accidently: I was downloading some new Paramore stuff, clicked on a song later, and it wasn't the song it was labeled as. To be honest, I still thought it was Paramore, I just thought it was another unreleased song. The music, as well as this singer's voice, sounds similar to Paramore. I listened to it a couple of times and realized it wasn't Hayley Williams singing—so I googled the lyrics, youtubed the song, and found this huge thing that was going on. Apparently people on YouTube are getting pretty worked up about the fact that Renfue's music is getting labeled as Paramore's in the illegal downloading world. So watch out, if theres a tag that says Paramore, double check it.
Flyleaf/Fireflight
--I've been a Flyleaf fan for about a year now. They're definitely labeled as alt/metal rock, and they get pretty hardcore. Lacey, the singer, absolutely screams her lungs out in a lot of the songs. It took me a little while(when they released their new album out this past fall) to realize that they're also a little bit Christian rock, which I never would have expected. It's subtle, and not all of it is like that—either way, it's pretty good, and the lyrics are just plain good. A few months ago, my laptop crashed, because of downloading of course, so I switched to using Pandora for a while, and a band called Fireflight popped up. They're not quite as hardcore as Flyleaf, but definitely on the same level, and they are also Christian rock. What I like about these bands is that they don't throw religious views in your face with their music. They HAVE views, but sometimes they're hard to catch, because the music is just good.
Taking Back Sunday/Brand New
--Listeners of TBS and Brand New know that a feud existed between the bands for a long time. The best way to explain it is to copy and paste off of wikianswers:
The Long Island Rock legend goes that once upon a time, Jesse Lacey, now the lead singer of Brand New, was best friends with John Nolan, former guitarist/singer of Taking Back Sunday and current guitarist/singer for Straylight Run. As the legend goes, at some point during the duration of the close friendship, Jesse's girlfriend cheated on him with John. During their fight, Jesse allegedly said "You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back so let's end this call and end this conversation." However, this is ironically close to the line in "Seventy Times Seven." This song was released on Brand New's first album, Your Favorite Weapon, originally released October 9, 2001.
While TBS was writing songs for their first album, Tell All Your Friends, originally released March 26, 2002, John Nolan heard the lyrics to "Seventy Times Seven." In response, TBS wrote the song "There's No 'I' in Team." Some speculate that the song was an apology of sorts to Jesse. Some say it was an explanation. But it seems that the best explanation is that it was TBS's way of giving the lyrical finger to Jesse. Lyrics such as "Wearing your black eye like a badge of honor/soaking in sympathy" and, most notably, in an interlude that also includes the lyrics "Is that what you call tact/You're about as subtle as a brick in the small of my back/so let's end this call and end this conversation/That's right he said it," seem to support this last explanation.
Lovelys
The following are some of my favorite bands that are not very well-known. Purevolume.com recognizes almost all of them as Alternative/Punk/Rock, some of them are more mellow, some of them are a little hardcore. If you're not into this kind of music, you've probably never heard of them and have never heard their music... But you should. Because it's awesome.
Valencia
--I started listening to Valencia the summer before I came to college. It was a summer I spent with 4 of my very good friends, and we were inseparable. I still remember when I first heard “From The Second I Wake Up,” on a mix cd that we called “Booty.” That track is a little depressing, but it brings back a lot of memories. Other songs by them that are amazing: “3000 Miles,” “Backs Against The Wall,” “The Space Between.” They've released two albums, the first is a lot better. Valencia is one of my favorite bands, and I'm actually really surprised they haven't gone further/done more with their music. Highly recommended.
The Scene Aesthetic
--If you choose to never listen to any of this music, please, please, please, listen to this song: “Beauty In The Breakdown.” It is one of my favorite songs of all time, once again in part due to the memories that go along with it. This is a song that I guess you could say needs “acquired taste.” Not everyone will like it, but I promise, you need to listen to it for your life to be complete. Seriously. It's acoustic, but not depressing or too mellow, and not all of the band's music is like it. They are similar to Valencia.
A few others:
Cute is What We Aim For-- Amazing live, different music, more like emo-pop-punk. First album very original, much better than the second, tried to sell out, didn't work. Orginial stuff still good.
This Providence-- See above.
The Swellers-- Only started listening to them recently, but they're pretty awesome. Alt/punk/rock, toured with Paramore for a while. I saw them play House of Blues in Boston and they were pretty good. Also, one of the guitarists is pretty gorgeous.
Valencia
--I started listening to Valencia the summer before I came to college. It was a summer I spent with 4 of my very good friends, and we were inseparable. I still remember when I first heard “From The Second I Wake Up,” on a mix cd that we called “Booty.” That track is a little depressing, but it brings back a lot of memories. Other songs by them that are amazing: “3000 Miles,” “Backs Against The Wall,” “The Space Between.” They've released two albums, the first is a lot better. Valencia is one of my favorite bands, and I'm actually really surprised they haven't gone further/done more with their music. Highly recommended.
The Scene Aesthetic
--If you choose to never listen to any of this music, please, please, please, listen to this song: “Beauty In The Breakdown.” It is one of my favorite songs of all time, once again in part due to the memories that go along with it. This is a song that I guess you could say needs “acquired taste.” Not everyone will like it, but I promise, you need to listen to it for your life to be complete. Seriously. It's acoustic, but not depressing or too mellow, and not all of the band's music is like it. They are similar to Valencia.
A few others:
Cute is What We Aim For-- Amazing live, different music, more like emo-pop-punk. First album very original, much better than the second, tried to sell out, didn't work. Orginial stuff still good.
This Providence-- See above.
The Swellers-- Only started listening to them recently, but they're pretty awesome. Alt/punk/rock, toured with Paramore for a while. I saw them play House of Blues in Boston and they were pretty good. Also, one of the guitarists is pretty gorgeous.
This world's an ugly place
SO.. to get started I'd like to talk about a few bands that, while are pretty well-known, are absolutely awesome. I'm the kind of person that becomes livid when a band I like all of a sudden starts playing on a popular radio station, and all of a sudden they become sellouts. If you're a person that only listens to radio music, popular music, rap or country, you probably won't recognize a lot of the bands I talk about. However, I think that the majority of people out there have heard these bands, or have at least heard OF them.
Paramore
--Paramore is one of my all time favorite bands. And I'd like to make it extremely clear that I was a fan pre-Twilight saga. While I am happy for the band that they received recognition for their music on the soundtrack to the first movie and as a result, pretty much doubled their fan base, I am against the idea of all the “teenyboppers” that decided to become obsessed with them because of the movie. I have loved Paramore since shortly after the release of their first album, All We Know Is Falling. The first song I ever heard by Paramore was “Here We Go Again,” and I pretty much fell in love from there. Personally, I like their first album best. Riot! was just okay, definitely not my favorite. They started to sell out, but hey, I can still jam out. Brand New Eyes is pretty sick and they definitely got back to their old style with it. My favorite songs are, by far, ones that have never been released on albums-- “Stop This Song(Lovesick Melody),” “Just Like Me,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Hello, Hello,” etc.
Blink 182
--Everyone knows Blink. Everyone. If you don't, shame on you. Hail to the ones that replaced cigarette lighters with cell phones at their shows. ...But seriously, even if you don't openly like Blink 182, you gotta be at least a closet fan, because whatever you say about them, they're awesome to jam out to in any setting, mood, or situation. Favorite songs: Going Away To College, Dammit, Mutt, Feeling This, Carousel... The list goes on. I had the pleasure of seeing them twice this past summer on their reunion tour, the first in Mansfield, MA, which was incredible, the second in Hartford, CT, which was a little emotional, as it was the day after DJ AM passed away... watching Travis Barker cry and walk off the stage is really not the coolest thing ever. But regardless, their live shows are awesome, their recorded music is awesome, and if you don't listen to them, you should.
Taylor Swift
--Let's get something straight: I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC. Despise it. Dislike with a strong passion. However... I like Taylor Swift. To me, she's not really country. ...Ok, so she is, but I still like her. It might make me one of “those girls,” but you know what, I think every girl out there can relate to the girl me and my friend and I like to refer to as “TayTay.” There's no denying she has an incredible voice, and she is very talented. If it means I've conformed, oh well. Believe me, I don't recommend country music to a single soul out there, but I was not Team Kanye after the VMAs.
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