Autolux - Future Perfect [2004]

Just so you all know, it has been at least a month since I first heard this band, and I am utterly appalled that it has taken me this long to post about them. The shame.

Autolux are the most perfect thing to ever associate with shoegaze; ever. Admittedly, it took me about a week to realize the main vocalist is, in fact, male. With such an allure as that, who wouldn't wanna listen to them?!

Future Perfect; which is a very apt title for such an album; starts with the delightful drumwork of Carla Azar on the lazy Turnstile Blues. Probably one of the best female drummers I've heard in a good long while, she certainly makes this band worth listening to. Turnstile Blues builds gradually, all the while retaining it's feeling of making you want to fall asleep, up until the smooth Angry Candy. There is something sexy lurking in the depths of this song, and you won't know until you bother to let it invade your ear canals and slither its way into your heart. And possibly even your genitals.

Subzero Fun is loaded with cuteness; Sugarless is full of the substance the title claims to have none of thanks to Carla's backing vocals and simple guitarwork; Blanket has enough pep in it to make one want to dance around the house in their underwear, and maybe even in the backyard also, before finally coming back down to earth to make you feel like you wanna get stoned and lay about on bean bags to the calming Great Days For The Passenger Element.

The shortest song on the album, Robots In The Garden, strips the underwear-dancing pep from Blanket and replaces it with the desire to jump around in the front row of an outdoors concert at twilight, which carries through onto Here Comes Everybody, minus the jumping and shoving in some good wholesome, well, shoegazing.

The entire cd starts to calm down with Asleep At The Trigger, with such simple yet pretty drumming. Plantlife delivers the standard distortion that is familiar with most shoegaze artists, before ending on crescendo of sorts with Capital Kind Of Strain.

See this is rare; for me to document the little things about every song on an entire cd must mean it's worth a few spins, and even more if you enjoy it.
To those who are uneducated in the joys of shoegaze, I can see why you may find this cd bland. For everyone else, it's a fucking gem.

Silversun Pickups - Kissing Families [video].

You better have watched this video before reading the rest of this entry. At least have it playing in the background. As neat as the video is, it is here purely for aesthetics. I just want to focus mainly on the song itself. Maybe also the video a little bit..

Silversun Pickups fans may notice the drumbeat in this cute little ditty is pretty much the same as the one in Lazy Eye, but nobody should bother to focus on such a detail when you have a song this nice.

Perhaps the title sounds a little incestuous, I know I sure thought that, but that should not put anyone off; ever. Brian has a fairly distinctive voice; I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard people try to insist that it's actually a female singing. Newsflash! Last time I checked, Brian is a male's name, and pretty sure the person singing in the video is not a woman. Even so, would it really matter? There are men who can do falsetto damn well, as well as those who can ruin it horribly, so go pick on them for sounding feminine, okay?

The song itself is a relatively simple piece of shoegaze fluffcake, coming from someone who dislikes the phrase 'shoegaze'. Who the fuck is the wiseass who coined THAT lame term?! But really, it's the only way to describe it when you think about it, and most bands that fit into that genre like little jigsaw pieces have that effect to whatever extent, as well as often sounding pretty as well as upbeat. What a knack they must have! Off topic...

It is not overdone, and fans of super distortion and wailing, angst filled vocals urging people to rape them will get no satisfaction here, unless you're willing to stick it out until a few minutes in for the really brief distortion that appears and fades out. Now you know why I used fluffcake. It's the only way I can describe the song fairly accurately. It's delicate and pretty, and when it's gone you're left wanting more, like people who really fucking like eating cake.

Silversun Pickups know how to write an effective song, and this is certainly a great example of such. Nikki's vocals that are often scattered in their songs are soft and offer a more feminine contrast to Brian's almost as soft, slightly breathy vocals. The bassline is also simple, but that's not to say it's bad. Simple can often equal good, and in Silversun Pickups, this is more often than not.

I do not want to hear any comparison to Smashing Pumpkins. This is a completely different band, and while there may be some influences thrown in there, there is no major comparison. Not at all. Brian and Billy sound different. Pumpkins have more distortion. Right.
Just watch the video and enjoy them for who they are, not for who they're meant to sound like but actually don't. Thank you.

Dethklok.

This band is the most brutal, metal band ever. Blacker than the blackest black times infinity.


Seriously now, all jokes aside, this band is pretty rad for a band that technically doesn't exist. Real or not, they have good music. The lyrics are often kind of silly, but what can you expect from a fictional cartoon band designed for an [adult swim] program?

Consulting my copy of The Dethalbum, which iTunes informs me it is a deluxe edition or some crap, I will voice my opinions on them. Whilst listening. My thoughts shall be fresh then. Fresher than the Fresh Prince. WOAH!

Awaken is ace. There should be more songs that bring forth enormous high speed internet destroying trolls. Well, no, there shouldn't, because I wouldn't be able to write this if that happened. They don't even exist anyway. But hypothetically speaking, then there should be.

Thunderhorse is fuckin' brilliant. For those of you who like songs to have a decent amount of lyrics, then you're far too picky. Thunderhorse doesn't NEED loads of lyrics to make it a very aurally pleasing song. The guitarwork more than makes up for it, despite it being great in most every song.

For all of you who are sick of singing the traditional birthday song, try Birthday Dethday on for size at your next celebration! Perfect for ages 1 to 100, this song shall perk up the normally bland and predictable birthday song selection. If singing it offends anybody, then you get bonus brownie points (from me, of course). Whether or not these points are redeemable for brownies (hash or otherwise) in any way depends, but most likely not.

Now, I know that none of you probably care, but Dethharmonic is probably my favourite Dethklok song. It may or may not be because of the wonderful Emilie Autumn on violins, and it may or may not be because said violins are beautiful, but either way, it's fucking excellent! It's lyrically straightforward; fuck taxes. I never thought a Dethklok song could be summed up as pretty, but this one is, thanks to Miss Autumn. I better stop, before this entry slowly morphs into an Emilie Autumn-centric entry. Eep.

There is also the most metal jingle you'll ever hear, which is fantastic. Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle is the new-wave of metal coffee jingles. Or it should be. It has a fantastic solo, which is something you don't hear often in jingles. You never do actually, but shut up! You know what I mean!

Fansong wouldn't surprise me if some actual musicians in the world feel the exact same way about their fans. If that's the case, then it might certainly prove that fans would do anything no matter what is thought of them. Hmm.

I want to see Dethklok live.

Grendel - Harsh Generation [2007].

Buy this cd, because it's something people must own. Really truly. Here goes.

Harsh Generation starts out with the very awesome intro which lasts about 23 seconds, but dammit, it really boosts the the title track, which comes on next, into the land of brilliant songs. Harsh Generation the song sounds like it belongs in a club, whether or not it's a goth club or a rave or some other variety of club where goths may or may not frequent. It has a great beat, and if you listen to it loud enough through headphones, it's like there's a rave in your brain and everyone is going mental. Headphones make it seem cooler. Ugh, it's just plain cool full stop. It makes me wanna fucking shuffle, and god I hate shuffling!

Void Malign has a cool intro, and just like the song before it, has a great beat that will make you want to dance, even if you're bad at it like I am. Even the name of the song is cool. Vooooid Maliiiign. It's fun to say. Can this band do anything wrong? The Judged Ones seems to have a deeper bass sound, unless my ears are misleading me, but either way, marvelous!

B.a.a.l (Deliver Me) is significantly slower. Well, not that much slower, but it's slower enough to be noticable. It has the same 'ahhh' voice in it that Void Malign has, it's kind of haunting actually.
Then there's the deliciously dirty Dirty. Come on, the sentence was just BEGGING to have a pun made out of it! No harsh whispery industrial vocals here, no sirree. Just a girl telling the listener how much she likes it dirty, and how often. Really. Even prudes will find this song danceable and just all round fun. Actually prudes will probably find something to complain about, so you know, steer clear so I won't get blamed for suggesting that you'd enjoy it. Wonderful. Not that anyone actually cares, but this is probably my favourite track on the cd. It has nothing to do with the girl, it's just fucking awesome.

For those of you who like a side of angry expletives with your industrial, then Hate This is the song for you. It should make people want to break shit, and if it doesn't then you're shut off to it's greatness and you need to play it louder. Sure, it doesn't swear as much as some songs, but who gives a shit? Hello children if you have stumbled upon this page. It's too late to tell you turn back now because, you've surely already seen my use of obsceneties, so you know. Too bad. It's your parents problem for not supervising you. Go swear at them, okay? Ohhh I digress..

Now, lucky little me has her hands on the copy of the cd with the bonus remixes. Oh yes, remixes. Let's see, the best tracks on the remix disc. Void Malign (Amduscia Remix), and it's not just because it's that song. It's because the remix is.. Almost possibly better! Hate This (X-Fusion Remix) is pretty dandy also. Hate This (Caustic Remix), because it sounds so jagged and messy and staticy. It's brilliant!

It seems that a good industrial song needs good sound effects and maybe even a smattering of quotes from action movies/tv shows, and Harsh Generation all in all has not too many or too little of the sound effects to make it a damn good album. Definitely worth spinning til it blows up.

*Although not on Harsh Generation, people interested should check into the song Pax Psychosis.

Visions Of Atlantis.

There once was a time when I enjoyed listening to the music this band put out, but that was back when I had horrible taste in music. Yes, this is going exactly where you think it is.

Basically, the only decent song this band has recorded is Lost, which perfectly defines the band themselves. They're clearly stuck between trying to sound like standard American rock bands (just listen to that guys vocals - come on!!) and a wannabe Nightwish or Tristania.

The whole 'beauty and the beast' vocal style is all well and good if you know how to work it. Not that this guy is really a 'beast' with his vocals. He sounds like an American Idol reject. I'm sure this band is from one of those Nordic countries (a quick Wikipedia check and I see they're from Austria; I was close), but he is trying WAY to hard to SOUND American! WHY! WHY DO YOU DO THAT! His vocals are so substandard. The female in the band isn't that much better either, but at least she doesn't sound like she got kicked out of the top 100 on Idol.

I was presented with a cd of theirs once and I think I listened to half of it and just forgot about it. There was no point. This band are just terrible. The music is predictable and is not unique in the slightest way possible.

That's all I can say. I don't want to waste space anymore.

CSS.

Cansei de Ser Sexy. Really, I am.

If you haven't heard of this band yet then you probably haven't heard of the inventions known as tv and radio. Or you're Amish. You're probably Amish.
I come to this decision due to the fact that not too long ago, CSS were almost everywhere. They had a slot in the V Festival this year alongside acts such as Smashing Pumpkins [the new, fail-filled Pumpkins, though] and Duran Duran [of all bands], they received love from Triple J and Rage played their videos quite often. They even were used in a commercial, which pretty much boosted them even higher amongst the trendoids who saw the ad and thought "ZOMG! I WANT!"; you anger me, okay?

For those who are now curious, it seems that many iPod ads use somewhat alternative songs in their ads. The CSS song? Music Is My Hot Hot Sex. If you still don't know it, the chorus contains the lyrics 'music is my boyfriend / music is my girlfriend'. There, trendoids; I've told you what the song is called. Go. Download. Put it on your iPod. Tell your friends how you finally found that song you all love. No really, I mean it. Do it, it's a seriously good song.

Let's start with Alala. It's probably my favourite CSS song at present, and with good reason! The video clip pisses me off and Lovefoxxx resembles a China doll with a bleeding nose, but the idea of a mass fight in reverse is pretty damn cool. The song has fairly weak lyrics [eg. 'alala alala, you're so cool / can I be your friend? / I'll drive it to the end] but it has a great beat and should be a hit in clubs because I said so. CSS should be a hit everywhere.

Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above is the first song I heard of theirs, and yes, I hated it, but I kept seeing it on Rage and it gets stuck in your head bad. Well it did mine. It made me want more - MOAR! So I got more; Music Is My Hot Hot Sex and then, the entire cd. I recommend it to everyone who likes indie/electronica stuff.

Meeting Paris Hilton is very amusing. I'm still not entirely sure if the song is about a dislike of Paris Hilton or a desire to shag her. Either way, it's a good song. It has an excessive use of the words 'bitch' and 'yeah' but fuck that, they're allowed to.

But now they've released their second cd, Donkey. I think they picked the right title for this cd - donkeys kill more people than cars do. It means exactly what you think it means; this cd is coming for you in the middle of the night and going to play itself until you cark it. Whether I mean that in a good way or bad way is up to you, depending on your opinions on it.
Personally, I do prefer 2006's Cansei de Ser Sexy over Donkey, but that's not to say that Donkey is without its decent tunes. Rat Is Dead (Rage) has a great rock feel to it, especially in the beginning. The shouty bits that occur every now and then add to the feel of the song, which is nice.

Although the standout track would have to be Left Behind. There is something about this song that should make people fall in love with CSS if they've never heard them before, and make those who already appreciated them love them even more. I like that they mention Helsinki. It's still pretty bland compared to the other cd, but music is a huge experiment. You're going to fuck up and release shit music and also create masterpieces. Unless you're Ashlee Simpson, who still has to learn how to sing her own songs let alone write a groundbreaking album. OSNAP!

Buckethead.

If someone were to create a music dictionary, a quick flip to words such as 'freak' and 'weird' would present a picture of a man with a KFC bucket on his head. This, my friends, is the anomaly known as Buckethead.

For those out of the loop, Buckethead is what you'd call a guitar virtuoso. He's had a stint in Guns N Roses, which must've been hell for him - that band is so lame. He's well known not only for his guitar playing but for being a complete basketcase. Seriously.

This is a grown man who plays guitar like a robot on speed but wears a Japanese mask on his face, which looks like he broke into Joey Jordison's house and painted his Slipknot mask white before stealing it, and the aforementioned KFC bucket on his head to complete the ensemble. A GROWN MAN! But that's not all. This guy actually created this backstory about being raised by chickens.

Yes, that's right - FUCKING CHICKENS!

Sure you hear stories about people being raised by primates of some sort but for a HUMAN being to be raised by a BIRD which is at least 5x SMALLER than a grown human.. It's fucking ludicrous! I understand the effect of a good gimmick, such as GWAR looking like cross bred mutants who live in a sewer, or Slipknot and they're constantly changing masks and jumpsuits, but if you're going to wear a takeaway container on your head and say you were raised by chickens then I think you should cart your merry self off to the fucking psychiatric ward.

What's even worse, is some people are very impressionable. My nephew adores this lunatic, and he actually BELIEVED his crap about being raised by god damn chickens. And no, my nephew was not three when he thought this. HE WAS FUCKING FOURTEEN! He idolises this reject so much he sincerely believed it, and would shut down anybody who tried to tell him otherwise. Thankfully, he came to his senses, or someone other than Buckethead would've been on their way to a shrink.

Also, have any of you seen this guys fingers?! They're very long, which I guess is a nifty thing to have when you're a guitarist of his stature, but my god they're just freakish!

All in all, Buckethead is a good guitarist, although I think I would respect him more if he ditched the fucking bucket and mask and made a press conference telling the world about his parents who should be named Barbara and Walter.
I would also respect him more if his guitar work wasn't all the same high-pitched, super fast riffing stuff he always does.. It's called variety.

I want to smack him for being a tool.

Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl.

I had to.

So this song burst out of the woodwork fairly recently yes? Correct. It's been plastered all over the radio stations which I don't listen to (thank god) and polluting the minds of those hipsters brainwashed by the masterminds behind radio who tell you what to listen to.

I heard it once and it left quite an impression!

But alas my darlings, it was NOT a good one.

For starters, everything in the commercial world is highly sexualised as it is already without this bird squawking about locking lips with another female. I hear the song was written by, and this I quote; "the mastermind behind hits by Britney". Mastermind? The only thing this 'mastermind' has done is successfully twirled the public around his little finger in order to rake in the money.

There is nothing remotely sexy about the song. I kissed a girl too. In fact, I've kissed several girls, not that I'm counting, but I didn't write a song about it. The least I've done is write tasteful poetry about feelings towards another girl that if you were to read them, you'd easily think they're hetero. Would the public react to this song so positively if the song was sung by a slightly chubby girl with piercings and tattoos and was a very open lesbian? I'm betting no; half of the girls out there who currently like this song would be very put off at the mere prospect that an ACTUAL lesbian is singing about kissing a girl and - gasp! - might dare to hit on them! OMG!

Then there's the fact it's sung by a girl. How about we flip it for a second, and say a male, who's comfortable with his sexuality, released a catchy track about kissing a boy? Who here also reckons it wouldn't fare so well, and that the poor boy would be slandered a homosexual when really, he's a straight boy who wanted to experiment?

Say what you like, but the world is so critical. Even the music industry, which I have no doubt would be the first to scrap the song if it was sung by a male for a male or sung by a very lesbian woman. Why even bother writing a song like this! Everything is so over sexualised that sooner or later this song will become but a blip on the rader because somebody will write a song called I Love To Have Sex With People And Occasionally Animals and it will take the world by storm with it's 'out there' lyrics such as "I will insert my penis into your tunnel of looooove".

Do the world a favour Katy Perry, and turn into a scene kid and whine about lost loves. At least then you can be fake without giving actual lesbians a bad rap.

Fuck you.

Metro Station.

I would like to thank the ads here for the American show So You Think You Can Dance? which used their song Shake It in them.

Why?
Because it saves me the trouble of actually wasting my time to go and look them up because all I hear is "Metro Station this" and "Metro Station that".
Talk about repetitive, unintelligent music.

Fuck.

The Dillinger Escape Plan.

If The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge were to engage in a grudge match to prove their worth and possibly win a prize, The Dillinger Escape Plan would most likely win for their versatility and willingness to branch out their distinctive musical style.

That's probably a key element you'll find within the back catalogue of The Dillinger Escape Plan: versatility. Listen to their older albums then the latest, Ire Works, to get a fair idea of such a trait. It's very evident that this band is not afraid to add things to create a new feel in their music and still sound kickass. They include trumpets even!

First time I ever heard this band was like a swift kick in the face. The song was Panasonic Youth and I was attempting to expand my music collection to beyond fairly generic sounding hardcore/metal. I can tell you now, I thought it was a catastrophic attempt at music, until I actually listened to more songs.

Digging down into their back catalogue, you'll find the fantastic Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants. Just because bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco exploded onto the scene with song titles that use wit and lengthiness, doesn't mean every band who does that is going to whinge about trivial issues. Plus that title alone could be a metaphor for a plethora of things if you actually bother to think it through...

Songs like Unretrofied would help prove their fearlessness when it comes to writing songs that aren't full of eardrum bursting drums and guitars. It's amazing. The video clip is even pretty cool, it fits the song, which is just great. A distinct lack of screaming could possibly even win over somebody who has an aversion to excess screams. Maybe, I won't guarantee anything.

And for those of you who like variety in their Dillinger Escape Plan, or just like variety in that entire genre, BUY IRE WORKS! I cannot stress that enough. If you're a trendoid fan who immediately dislikes any change a band puts into their music because it's the cool thing to do, close this window and go hump a chainsaw; now. Everybody else can pay attention.
Fix Your Face is the standard sounding DEP you'd expect that opens the cd, and just because you can tell it's DEP doesn't make it bad. It's not until the third track, Black Bubblegum when you notice a slower tempo and a bit of a change. It works, it really does. It has a great chorus, which is always a winner. It's funky in the best way possible, and even slightly sexy.

But it gets even better. Totally disregard the rest of the cd and listen to Milk Lizard first. Or don't, and play the cd from beginning to end so that you can be in awe when Milk Lizard starts playing. This is where you'll find the trumpets hiding, trumpets which suspiciously sound like music you'd find lurking within the theme songs for cheesy 70s superhero shows. It's wonderful! It, again, works really well, and makes for one ripping good song. Fuck the rest of the cd; Milk Lizard is really where it's at.

Fans of Converge should listen to them, but in saying that they probably already have. Kudos to you.

Ash - Meltdown

The song. All you need to do, is download it, and enjoy it.

I THINK MY BRAIN IS GONNA OVERLOAD!

That is all.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of those indie bands that almost everyone into indie music knows, or has at least heard of. Oh my.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs signature style of indie rock is pretty simplistic. The guitarwork is so simple that I'm pretty sure I could even learn it myself, and I'm an avid non-guitar player (although I can read guitar tabs... I taught my nephew how to)! But don't be frightened off by the lack of intricate face melting solos and riffs that would make Dragonforce blush, because they are, and should always be, great at what they do.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that their most well known songs are possibly Maps and Cheated Hearts. I assume that because most people I've spoken to associate those two songs with the band. Not that I'm complaining; Cheated Hearts is a brilliant song for starters!

Turn Into is a nice little slice of indie rock, with Karen O's signature vocals that are pretty well distinguishable. They really are. I can tell a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song just by her vocals. Oh bliss! It's a seriously cute song.

The guitarwork in Deja Vu is just awesome. I think it's the best song they've written, music wise, so far. Down Boy is probably another that would be associated with them, because Triple J have played it quite a bit in the past, which they rightfully should.

I could fully understand if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs aren't everybody's cup of tea. Some people might like a bit more depth in their indie rock, but for those who aren't fussed one itty bitty bit, then definitely go listen to this band, that is if you haven't already.

Opeth - Watershed [2008].

Who else has been excited at the prospect of the new Opeth album?!

Opeth very rarely make bad songs. It's a fact. They're just that sort of band that create the most beautiful music combined with heavy vocals and whatnot. I can just imagine Mikael Akerfeldt sitting in his chair now, steepling his fingers ala Mr. Burns and gloating over his success. Silently of course, I'd be upset if he was an arrogant rude type, so I'll let him be silently gloaty. Damn you Mr. Akerfeldt!

The starter is the lovely Coil. And by lovely I mean fucking gorgeous. I think my heart almost skipped a beat when I heard the female vocals in the song. They complement it so well. Where Coil possesses a delicate beauty, the next song, Heir Apparent, is pure Opeth. True to form, it dances between the two sides of the musical spectrum; heavy and.. er, not.

The Lotus Eater has a very funky break near abouts the six minute mark. Very funky indeed. It made me want to dance my little heart out. You can also hear the bass, which is also damn awesome. If you fear funky little breaks in Opeth songs, stay away! AWAYY! But no, listen to it, it's only about a minute long, and the song is just great.

Hessian Peel is the longest song on the album, coming in at 11:24. It's rather grandiose, and the big crescendo hits after about five minutes in the form of Mikael's harsh vocals. What better musical climax could there possibly be?! Don't answer that. I admire those of you with the patience to sit through a song this long, but that's what you get if you're a fan of progressive music (just for the record, I'm not saying my attention span is waning, I can sit through a song that's 11 minutes long with ease, but many people can't).

I read in a recent interview with Mikael that their new cd was very well received, and people close to him told him that it was their best effort to date. Perhaps in the eyes of some people it is, perhaps in others it isn't. I'm almost adamant that Opeth very rarely disappoint their fans, and this cd should be just as well received as all their others have been. Being an Opeth fan I can say that they haven't disappointed me yet, and I pray I have not just jinxed that.

Opeth have firmly cemented themselves as near gods in the progressive metal genre, and why not? If you've never had the pleasure to listen to them, then you're really missing out. They make beautiful music, and let's face it, who said heavy can't be beautiful?

For those of you who are unaware, Opeth are touring Australia in September. If you can make it to a concert, go. You know you want to.

Queens Of The Stone Age.

There is a reason that this band are so popular.

Whether it's Josh's vocals or the distortion on the guitars, to the catchiness of their songs or how awesome they'd sound when totally stoned, I don't know, but what I do know is that this band deserves every cent they make from cd sales.

This is another band that I used to never actually like. Their brand of rock didn't really appeal to me in any way whatsoever. Until I saw the video for Little Sister and fell in love with the woodblock. It was love at first sight; really it was - we eloped.

I then felt obliged to possibly listen to the band properly considering I only ever made my judgments on one song which I forget. My quest began! And promptly ended because I liked them pretty quickly.

Go With The Flow is probably their best song in my opinion. It's pretty well known but that doesn't mean it's not insanely bitchin'. Although it's quite possibly equal to the wonderful Song For The Deaf, which has such a cool opening. Truly cool. It's like the musical equivalent of a biker gang who helps abandoned kittens - yes, that cool.

Queens Of The Stone Age always have catchy guitar riffs laced between the crunching lead guitars that pretty much drive their music into awesomeness. That was my attempt at talking like a hardcore music reviewer. They're fond of adjectives like 'crunching'. But that's what QOTSA have; crunching guitars.

If you're like I was and haven't bothered to listen to them properly, or do not like them, then I must encourage you to go forth and invest in a cd of theirs! Possibly Songs For The Deaf, just because it has Go With The Flow on it. If you're anything like me, the catchiness of the song will have you imitating the guitar riff for days, maybe weeks, on end.

The end. [subliminal message; buyqotsacds.]

The Red Sun Band - Like An Arrow.

I've only just discovered The Red Sun Band due to this song.
I mean, sure I'd heard of them, but never actually listened to them, until the marvelous Triple J played this song and I almost had an orgasm because of it. Well, not literally, but I'm tired of drumming into people's heads how much I love music.

So I went and had a further look into this band from Sydney, Australia, and I think I like what I heard. In the meantime, let's focus merely on this song.

The vocals are soft but not so soft that you can hardly hear them or only resemble somebody breathing in rhythm to backing music. Very pleasant vocals indeed. Not forced or overly loud either like Amy Lee from Evanescence fame's, but then again these are two very different musical acts.

It's a simple song. Simple songs are pretty much awesome. Plus it's also nifty because then you can easily learn them on guitar and whatnot. The male backing vocals are lovely, they totally contrast the lead vocals. It's brilliant.

And the selling point of this song? It's damn catchy. Catchy songs can go one of two ways; the good catchy where you want to listen to the song over and over until you memorise the words or the bad catchy where you want to stick dynamite in your ears to blow up your brain. This is the former, thank god.

Let's see.. Who could I recommend this to.. Fans of artists like Sarah Blasko and Little Birdy. Hey let's see who last.fm compares them to.. It says Sarah Blasko and Little Birdy also. HA! SCORE!
Apparently, they're influenced by Cat Power, so Cat Power fans heed this blog and listen! THey toured with The Shins.. Hmm, I guess they could have a Shins-y feel to them. I think I summed that up nicely, don't you?

LITTLE KNOWN AUSSIE BAND WEEK!! #2: Synthetic Breed.

Polyrhythmic metal anyone?

With most bands I like I go into frenzy mode and become an [insert band here] afficionado. I never really bothered with Synthetic Breed because I decided that no matter how much local music fans knew about this band, I'd always have one up on them - bassist Jonas Bahlo was my history teacher at the second high school I attended. See? That equals me>you.

Despite the nifty sound Synthetic Breed create, they sound a lot better on cd. My friend said it best when he told me "polyrhythmic metal is hard to headbang to" and he's right. Last time I saw them perform I was confronted by a wall of noise with each instrument hard to distinguish from the others and it was so loud that the vocals were all but drowned out. It was a shame too, they were the headliners and I was so looking forward to seeing them.

There's not much to say about this band even though I do enjoy listening to them.
If you're going to pass judgment on them from what I say, then I'm sorry to disappoint. You're better off listening to them yourself. Don't listen to them live first though; unless they've improved their sound since and I'm unaware.

Just be envious that the bassist was my history teacher. =D

LITTLE KNOWN AUSSIE BAND WEEK!! #1: Black Like Vengeance

Ok, so Black Like Vengeance may not be THAT little known around here in the metal scene (I've encountered enough people who know who they are), but you know, how many Americans or Canadians can say that they know who this band are? PROBABLY NOT MANY!

This band pretty much hauls a fair amount of ass. I first heard of them on some random music forum I used to loiter on. I never bothered to post because the people on it were dickheads who were incapable of intelligible arguments or anything for that matter. The name made me think of some whiny emo band in dire need of new lyrical topics, but in spite of that, I went and listened to them. Whiny emo band? Not likely.

Their first release is the 4 track EP 'All Has Blackened', which is really, really good! Like A Coma is possibly the best song on it, but it's too good to really pick just one good song on it. The second, 'Empty As The Day' seems heavier. It might also be because it's louder. No, it's heavier.

The first thing you're going to notice about Black Like Vengeance (probably) is that their vocalist Sheri is a female. And she's not a silly bimbo looking thing either. She's not a rake, nor is she all made of plastic and makeup. I had the opportunity to witness them perform once at a uber cheap gig when I was in lack of money, which I usually am, and boy are they great! The stage they were on was only small, and was pretty much non-elevated which gave Sheri the opportunity to ram herself into every person in the front row. I established contact, being in the front row and all.

If you're going to take my advice and listen to this band, listen to Asleep At A Wake. Then maybe Empty As The Day.

You know you want to listen to them. Female fronted metal is always fun.

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas.

1. Melatonin
2. Well Thought Out Twinkles
3. Checkered Floor
4. Little Lover's So Polite
5. Future Foe Scenarios
6. Waste It On
7. Lazy Eye
8. Rusted Wheel
9. Dream At Tempo 119
10. Three Seed
11. Common Reactor


For a band to come along and leave their footprints deeply embedded in my heart via JUST one song alone is a huge feat that rarely occurs. Silversun Pickups did just that, and not only did they leave their footprints, they also etched their name on my heart and planted their catchy songs in my eardrums to blossom like a tree. Or flower, is probably more accurate.

For everybody's pleasure, I included the track listing. I think that's a nifty idea, at least then people can be all 'oh! I know what song she must be talking about!' now. Hooray.

The beginning of Melatonin has an almost Smashing Pumpkins-esque feel about it. Nothing could be bad about that! Although I am quick to argue when people call them the new Smashing Pumpkins, because they are not, and don't sound that much like them in my opinion, but this song does have an SP feel to it.
Well Thought Out Twinkles is ridiculously infectious, and has a video clip to match. You really must watch it. Then again, I am a sucker for videos in that sort of style. Listen to this song, and if the guitar riff at the beginning does NOT get firmly implanted in your head for days on end, then I will denounce the claim of ridiculously infectiousness. Although, when I think about it, I probably won't. The bass solo part is ace. A lot of SSPU's songs have great bass.

Future Foe Scenarios is insanely good. Oh goodness look at my adjectives today! Let's see how many more I can use.. It's a fucking brilliant song. Brian's vocals seem so much more emotional and heartfelt in this song than in any others. I think it's beautifully written. The lyrics are wonderfully witty and clever. Adjective, adjective, adjective! Brilliantly wonderfully masterful! This song is perfect.

Waste It On has a good bass intro. Scratch that. The bass throughout is ace. I like Nikki as a bassist. It is possible that I am biased in saying so due to the fact that this band is wonderful, but I do think she's a nifty bassist. The fact that their songs aren't afraid to let the bass through the wall of noise produced by the other instruments is just great.

Lazy Eye is the song that propelled them straight into my heart. I've heard the EP version, which is slower, but the album version is better. There isn't much difference except for the speed, and the vocals are a little different, but it's still the same great song.

Last but not least; Dream At Tempo 119. Purely fucking beautiful beginning for a god damn brilliant song. I've still yet to try to come up with a meaning for this song, but really who gives a shit? All that matters is that it's highly aurally pleasing and has Nikki's backing vocals littered throughout it. It's cute.

She said don't open your eyes..

Please give this band a chance. You won't regret it, and if you do, then I'm sorry you have poor taste in music.

The Birthday Massacre - Nothing And Nowhere.

Everybody should own this cd. I don't give a damn if you're not a fan of them, or gothic style electronica/industrial, you should own it anyway.

For starters, there is nothing bad about this cd. Nothing bad whatsoever.
Happy Birthday is the lucky song chosen to open the cd, and the fact that Chibi whispers in the song is enough to lure me into liking them. It worked too. Fucking damn whispering!
For those of you who haven't cottoned on just yet, the first song on a cd often determines whether I should listen to the entire cd or not. If it's a mediocre opener, I will reluctantly listen to the rest. But I still do, because the rest could be kickass and I'd miss out.

You could probably say that all The Birthday Massacre seem to write about is relationships, whether it's meant in a romantic sense or something else, but even if it is does it really matter? Promise Me may well be an example of such, but it's fucking brilliant. The imagery is truly pretty. If you think you have the topic pegged then congratulations to you, it still has fantastic accompanying imagery. Good synths in this song too. Fuck.

There was a time when my favourite song on this cd was Video Kid, because of the video game style intro, which seriously is too cute, and if you listen to it you can understand why. I've always loved the lyrics in this song.

Despite all of that, Over is arguably the best song on the cd. It is virtually impossible to dislike that song. Don't use 'but I don't like that genre' as an argument because you don't count. I couldn't give a shit if you hated that song, because I'm not actually addressing you, even if you would like to believe that I am.
Then there's the deliciously industrial Broken, which is probably the heaviest song on the cd, as heavy as The Birthday Massacre could possibly get. Yeah. You guessed right; it's freakin' great! It switches from Chibi's angelic vocals to rough guitars and synths and classic industrial style whisperlike vocals and back again. It kicks. Mmhmm.

Basically, the point of this entry is to tell you all to go invest in a copy of Nothing And Nowhere if you haven't already.

4/5

Evergreen Terrace - Wolfbiker. [2007]

It's really fucking good.

Buy it. Now. I mean it.


That is all.

Metric.

How could I start a music blog without writing about the mighty Metric?!
I had to. Gosh.

If you are an indie fan and have not yet heard of the force that is Metric, I am going to take the rock you have been living under and beat you over the head with it until you beg for mercy. How else will I punish you?

They're Canadian. If you have a problem with Canadians then you fail at life. Racism is not cool ok? They've been at it for 10 years. Yes, really. Since 1998, Metric have been doing the rounds. Three albums counting and I am certainly hoping for another. Fingers crossed.

Metric are made up of keyboardist/vocalist Emily Haines, guitarist James Shaw, bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key. If the names Emily Haines and James Shaw sound familiar to you, then obviously you are a fan of Broken Social Scene, as they are involved with the prominent indie artists.

There is no song that I can recommend to you all as their best so far. Everything this band records is amazing in its own way. Although, I can recommend which cd to start with.

Live It Out is their most recent recording [ignore the re-release of their first effort; Grow Up And Blow Away] and there is a very good reason as to why I recommend it to people yet to have their Metric cherry popped.
There's a 90% chance it is because the song opens with the brilliant Empty. Nothing is better than a song that starts out slow and builds to an explosion of drums and guitars only to fade back out to the same way it started. There is absolutely nothing bad about that song. Emily sounds angelic singing softly alongside the very placid drumming. The guitarwork is pretty too. Even better, go watch the video. It has cute puppets and you see Emily on her keyboard. Awesome.
The cd has a delightful mix of dancable and balladesque tunes. Handshakes is fun, and also has the following clever line; "buy this car to drive to work/drive to work to pay for this car." Clever AND true! If that does not make sense to you, then clearly you were dropped on your head at birth.
Too Little Too Late is just pure sexy. Why? Listen to her voice in it. There is something alluring about hearing Emily sing in a slightly lower register. Does it turn me on? Why yes, maybe it does! Even the lyrics are sexy. Hell, just trust me on the sex factor of this song ok?

If you listen to Triple J you're bound to have heard Monster Hospital. Yes, this is the song that got me hooked. Yes, I still love it. How can I not; it's feckin' Metric dammit! There is also pure sex when she sings "I've been bad!" just before the chorus comes in. Mmm. Fans of Grey's Anatomy take note: this song has been featured in that show. I can't say which episode, considering I've only seen it a select amount of times, but just trust me on that.
Patriarch On A Vespa sounds like the song that would've been used as an opener if Empty had've been left off. The slow start isn't as long as Empty's considering it kicks in mighty quick, but it's damn worth it. Excellent guitars in this song too. So damn catchy. Fuck.
Ending Start is next in line in the 'Emily sounds sexy in lower register' queue. It's beautiful. That is all I can say.
And what a better way to end a cd is the title track of the album; Live It Out. Seriously, this song is too good to even comprehend. Listen to it, nobody wants to hear me rant.

Once you've waded the crystal clear waters of Live It Out, your next adventure lies in the firm yet loving grip of Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? My infatuation with this band and all things Emily is making me go on for far too long right now. Best songs on Old World Underground... you ask? I.O.U, Succexy, Combat Baby, Dead Disco and Love Is A Place. The latter has to be one of the prettiest songs they've ever written. And yes, lower register FTW.

Also check out Emily Haines And The Soft Skeleton. She's a fucking amazing woman. Emily; be my mistress?

The Grates.

This is a band that fans of Aussie indie music should check out. Unless you already like them. In that case, I salute you.

The Grates are a three piece, last time I checked. They have fun energetic songs which make me, and should make other people, want to dance. But I refrain on account of the fact that I dance terribly.

I've yet to actually witness them perform live, but very reliable sources have let me know that they are fun live. How? I've seen live videos. DUH!
Singer Patience bounces around and all sorts of shenanigans; even whilst singing. See? Energetic. I've also seen footage of Patience using one of those gymnastics ribbons on stage. It's also an added bonus that she's a cutie. Hooray!

Their songs are fairly basic and simplistic, but good. Gravity Won't Get You High is their only full-length at the moment, yet I do believe they are currently recording a new cd. Thank god. It's pretty much about time.
They have a garage sound about them too. The song Howl has quite a garage feel to it. I'm not sure if I'm the only person who thinks that but this is my blog with my opinions so go jump.
Science Is Golden is the first song I heard of theirs, and like the earlier blog I wrote about Pretty Girls Make Graves' use of handclaps, they also employ the use of said handclaps. If you've been following, then right now you will know that I absolutely adore Science Is Golden. It pretty much got me hooked. Those darned handclaps; harlot!!

Nothing Sir oozes cuteness, from the piano that litters the song to the simplistic drumming of Alana Skyring. It sounds like a nursery rhyme or something that you'd expect to hear in a child's mobile. NOT phone; one of those dangly nursery toys that babies coo at. Yeah. Just leave the piano tune and voila! Instant baby hit.

There is also something amusing in hearing Patience swear in some of their songs. I look at her and think cute innocent girl, and hearing her sing "some motherfuckers think they're born to dance" makes me giggle. Gosh. Potty mouth indeed! Ahem..

I can't think of any bands I can compare them to. If I could I would write them, so that in the off chance fans of any similar bands read this they can go OMFG THE GRATES!
Although, last.fm does tell me they've been compared to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There we go. Fans of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs can go look into The Grates. I should write about YYY. Karen O is sex on legs..

I can't wait for the new cd. I hope it's as good; or better; than Gravity Won't Get You High.

Beck.

Despite being a very avid non-Beck fan, I respect him as a musician.

The reason being is the mere fact that he created the one song of his that I love undyingly; Nausea.
Occasionally, I will respect an artist I dislike if they can release one or a few songs I can enjoy wholeheartedly or even tolerate. But not always; not looking at anyone Radiohead.

I was pretty much put off the first time I ever heard the tune Sexx Laws. Seriously; what is with that song? It's pretty lame. I heard it on Futurama, which for the record, is a wonderful show.

Lameness of Sexx Laws aside, he writes some pretty spiffy lyrics. Go read some. Be amazed. Then fall in love with Nausea. I did.

Man. I'm not really with it today.

I END WITH THIS;
I respect Beck as a musician even if I don't like him. Oh yeah.

Cradle Of Filth.

Oh this'll be fun.

Why? Simple really; so many people seem to resent this band. And by people I mean metalheads. Either that, or they did like them then complain about their change in musical prowess.

Midian was an effing great cd. Seriously. Well, in my opinion. It was made of serious uber win. Cthulhu Dawn is such a rad song to open such a rad cd with.

So, I like Cradle Of Filth, I'm not afraid to admit it. They've put out some good music. They are metal, whether you want to believe that or not. See the difference between me and other metalheads, is that I accept that there is some shit metal out there.
For example.

A metalhead who doesn't like Cradle will insist wholeheartedly that it's NOT metal. Sorry to break it to you pal, but just because you don't like a metal band doesn't mean they're not metal. What the fuck are they? Opera? Jazz?! Fucking grow up. I don't like Pantera but I accept that they are metal. Stop being such a douchebag, ok?

Then there's the metalheads who go on and on about how Cradle used to be a good band when they released stuff like The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh. You're the kind I don't like. Admittedly, their newer attempts have been mighty lacklustre compared to the earlier stuff, but I reckon they turned bad on Thornography. I'm willing to see if they improve with another record. But have you even BOTHERED to try the stuff that isn't old? Or are you so scared of being flamed for having an opinion that you 'fit in' with the rest of the metal fans out there by announcing your dislike of the newer Cradle music?
I know a few people who think that their first outings were the only good ones, and they are forgiven because they don't force their opinions onto me. The ones who do; you're also douchebags.

I will say that I enjoy listening to Damnation And A Day and Nymphetamine. There are some quality songs on both of those cds. Damnation has the most amazing lead-in to a song I've ever heard in the way of Damned In Any Language (A Plague On Words) + Better To Reign In Hell. Mmm.. Musicgasm..

Then there's the little fact that Dani is so insanely easy to pick on. Has anybody ever noticed that? He's a short little British man who dresses in corpse paint and metal spikes and screeches like a banshee. It's a pretty nifty vocal range IMO, but gosh. A short little British man! What could be easier to pick on?! If he was a tall fat German guy, pretty sure people would be all 'how br00tul', but no. Poor Dani.

Even I can't screech that high. Hell, I can't do it at all. Wow.

Alexisonfire - Accidents.

Everybody should fucking love this song.

From the greatness of the beginning to the also great ending, this is a song that everybody should listen to at least once in their lives. Preferably more than once.

What could be better than a song about a fear of hospitals that has the ability to somehow work it's way under your skin and affect you in a way you never thought a song about hospital fears could?!

It must be the gang vocals in the LET'S REDEFINE part. Whatever.

Fuck it. Listen to it now.

And until next time I blog without having my mind taken over by the lure of WoW, I leave you with these words;

"Do they even cure you?
Or is it just to humour us before we die?
If only we could heal ourselves
We wouldn't need to be hooked up to these machines."

Ah Alexisonfire, you've done it again.


let's redefine what it means to heal!!

Pretty Girls Make Graves.

There is plenty of evidence that Pretty Girls Make Graves are one of the most amazing bands ever formed. Really; there is. I could go searching to maybe find said evidence for you all, but the only evidence you need is the cds Good Health and The New Romance; don't start with Elan Vital, it's mediocre in comparison to those two.

Pretty Girls Make Graves were formed in 2001 by Derek Fudesco and Andrea Zollo. And yes, for those fans of The Smiths out there, they indeed were named after the song of the very same name by The Smiths. Oooh.

Their first album is Good Health. Good Health is not good though, it's great! Speakers Push The Air is such a fucking good song! No, really, it is! It's fairly easy to tell that the song is about music itself. It mentions music in it. I would laugh so hard if I encountered somebody who believed it was about speakers actually pushing air, like a schoolyard bully pushes a geek with a helium voice.

But if I was to recommend an album to a non-listener, I would recommened The New Romance. it's far better than Good Health, making it brilliant. Where I can listen to Good Health in it's entirety a good few times, I could listen to The New Romance all day every day for a good few weeks. Here is a brief semi detailed account as to why.

Something Bigger, Something Brighter is such a good song to start an album with. It's the very song that got me hooked. Even today I still love it, and you know why? It's simple really - it has handclaps. Yes my friends; I have an undying love for songs with handclaps. Combining handclaps with a song as awesome as this has me literally drooling, which isn't hard to do really. Shove a pretty girl in front of me and I'll drool too. Maybe a little more discreetly though, so as to not come across as a total lech.

The Grandmother Wolf had the same affect on me also. The only thing missing from this song is handclaps too! I do like the bass bit in this song, but by now you all know about my affection for bass. It's too short for such a wonderful song - extend it please! - but it's a nice little tune, short or long.

Blue Lights is uber hot. Hot songs are always a winner with me, as they are most probably with anybody. Long live hot songs! I will not describe the imagery that accompanies it when I play it.

Hey you know what? I could go on and on about how amazing Pretty Girls Make Graves are in general, but you'll never know until you actually listen to them. Unfortunately for us, they split just last year. Their music will still live on in our hearts though.

Oh Christ. How god damn cheesy was that...

Young & Restless.

I will preface this with no, I am not referring to the shitty soap opera.
Got it?

Young & Restless are a brilliant band from Canberra, Australia. Yes, another Aussie band.
The difference is they haven't toured Europe like Angelspit have, because they're still getting started pretty much, but DAMN!

If you have not heard this band then seriously, it's your loss. Here It Comes... (Lungs) is debatably the best song on their album. I think everyone has to go listen to that song right now. Honestly, it's so smegging good!! I think I am in love with Karina's vocals. She's rad. She has the sort of vocals that make you wanna have sex with the vocal chords that produce them.

Young & Restless write catchy songs. Police! Police! is the very song that got me hopelessly hooked on them. They received pretty heavy airplay on Triple J, which they rightfully deserved. Their guitar work is damn good too! Ok you know what? Every little aspect of this band is awesome. The only non-awesome bit is the fact that I have missed seeing them live four times due to circumstances. I am determined that this May will be different, even if I DO have to endure Gyroscope to see them.

Black has one of the best little guitar solo things I've heard in a while. Seriously. Get 1:39 into the song and be amazed at the neat little guitar riff. I have something very predictable to say about how awesome it is but I will refrain, I already used it to describe Karina's vocals. The intro to Satan is even a little haunting-like, with the echoes and whatnot. It's hot.

I can't really describe to the full extent of how incredible this band is, because it's pretty difficult to do so without sounding like possessive of them. But they really are something.
Australia produces some great bands, and also some shitty ones. Young & Restless is definately a band you should all go and listen to. Seriously. Go now, and be blown away!

Whigfield.

All this rhubarb surrounding her lame-ass single Sexy Eyes of late (and by rhubarb I mean me and Megan laughing at it), I just HAD to write about her.

For those who were living under a rock during the 90s, out of the woodwork sprung a singer know as Whigfield. Ironically, her real name has NO correlation whatsoever to Whigfield. So where the fuck did she pluck WHIGFIELD from?!
I take some amusement in the fact I was dubbed Wigface. I should so adopt that and become the next Whigfield. My breakthrough hit could be Sexy Ears. Or not..

Basically, Whigfield was your standard run of the mill pop star. No real excitement there. Ditto no real talent either. She also had dull songs. With terrible lyrics. Sexy Eyes is a great example. I do not remember anything else of her, which leads me to think she was a one trick pony, although ponies are more interesting than her.

I would like to take this moment to ask any Whigfield fans to come forward and argue her appeal. Seriously; do it. I want to know why people actually enjoyed her music. It was terrible! Dull, bland, unimaginative.

Apparently she's still active in some countries. She's like herpes; once you think you got rid of it, it comes back again.

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army [video].

You all should know that I adore this video so much, that if I had the chance to, I would breed little skeleton babies that resemble Jack and Meg themselves. Through IVF. I don't want to copulate with skeletons out of a video clip in the guise of Jack and Meg White. Actually, I'd artificially inseminate a victim so that I don't have to give birth to boney love children.

Oh, yeah. The point of this blog? It's a fucking awesome video.

Angelspit.

It's been a good few months now since I discovered this duo by accident, and despite my definite lack of masculinity, I still have a raging hard-on for these guys.

Angelspit is comprised of the two members DestroyX and ZooG. Doesn't the name DestroyX alone make you wanna listen to them?!
They were formed in Sydney, Australia; just for those people who may read this who don't reside in Aus. Pretty sure they've been touring since they formed, which was about 2004, considering it is now 2008 and I've still yet to see them. (I get my chance to in the next few months. Heck yes.).

They create a fairly distinctive industrial sound. Oh how I love industrial noise. It's like techno, just a thousand times cooler. They've toured as supports for such industrial acts as Frontline Assembly, KMFDM, Cruxshadows and Tankt, just to name a few. They've also remixed tracks by fellow industrial artists.

They're not just good. They're fucking awesome. Seriously. Krankhaus is a bitchin' album, I've listened to it so many times that it will probably break one day from overplaying. The only problem I have with that cd is the song Juicy. That song pisses me off. It's a shame really, the intro is cool but the rest is just.. Not as good as the rest. Even the name alone puts me off. Damn. Get Even and Dead Letter are the best tracks on that cd. Pure fucking industrial bliss. Go download them now if you know what's good for you.

Their first recording, Nurse Grenade, includes the fairly straightforward track Fuck Fashion. Straightforward in the sense you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get the point of the song. Unless you're stupid, and can't detect it from the title alone. Maybe somebody thinks it means they have to go out and fornicate with the prettiest pair of All Stars they can find. Oh gee.. Foot fetish anybody?

Shit Fed (Drug) is probably the most techno sounding song on Nurse Grenade, but damn is it killer. For once DestroyX doesn't handle all the vocal duties. Mmm. Deliciously dirty industrial. What more could you possibly ask for?

Right, I'm gonna go check out the Japanese industrial act BAAL, considering the upcoming Angelspit gig in June/July is entitled Angelspit vs BAAL. Yeah. Double industrial goodness, that is if this BAAL is any good. Here's hoping!

[currently listening to Angelspit - Nurse Grenade.]

Fergie.

I had to. I just had to.
How could I not write a blog about a performer who pisses her pants on stage?

That's if you could even call her a performer. Sure, she performs on stage to her legions of fans, who I must say obviously wouldn't know music if it came and raped them from behind, but seriously; performer?

Who the hell would pay to see a woman sing a song about how she's so Fergalicious? God, I'm known to make up words but even I'd never refer to myself as Tarahlicious. Tarahsaurus, maybe, but that's just because I like dinosaurs, not myself.

And Fergie; big girls don't cry? Does that mean if I came to your house, shot your pets and raped your plants, stabbed your parents and ate their food before taking a shit on their doorstep and smearing yoghurt all over the carpet and writing NOW WHO'S FERGALICIOUS? on their wall you wouldn't shed a single tear? What if I sent a gang of gay men to rape your boyfriend in his sleep then place fresh shit on the ceiling fan so that when it's a hot day you'll be covered in turds before silently choking him? No? Say Fergie, maybe someone should test that theory.

She also ruined the Black Eyed Peas. I was never a fan of them before or after she injected herself into their threesome, but it's safe to say she ruined them. They had some remotely decent music; again, I didn't like it, but it was better than the shit they release now.
My Humps? What the hell?! For starters, who would want to hit on Fergie? She looks like a camel! My Humps has to be one of the worst songs lyrically, and unfortunately, it's catchy. Ugh. Rhyming 'lumps' with 'humps' in a terrible attempt at sexualising the song? Genius. Pure fucking genius.

For a 3 year old.

Then there's the urinating on stage fiasco. Somebody wasn't potty trained! Naughty Fergie! If she's such a big girl like her song claims, you'd think she'd realize that not only do big girls cry, they also know how to use the toilet. Back to Huggies for you, Fergie.

Maybe Fergie should go back to her crystal meth days, when she was known as Stacey Ferguson, rather than stealing the Duchess Of York's moniker. At least then there'd be less whinging coming from the airwaves.

Primus.

In the same vein as the uber short Coheed post, this is short and sweet.

I HATE PRIMUS AND I THINK LES CLAYPOOL IS A SMELLY HILLBILLY!

Even though my nephew adores them, he could do a lot worse. He could adore Fergie.

The Matches - A Band In Hope [2008]

All I can say is this cd is quite different to what I expected to get from The Matches.
Where Decomposer was big with the jumpy tunes, A Band In Hope is so much more mellow in comparison.

I've only listened to it twice so far and I think it might need to grow on me. I like it, it's different and sounds good; it could've turned out a lot worse than what it did, but I think I was expecting a second Decomposer. Isn't that sad?

The first thing I have to say is that the song Darkness Rising has me thinking about how Queen-like it sounds. I love it. Jon's voice sounds so lovely, he should sing more often, it's like a lullaby being sung only to me. I could fall asleep to that song. It's beautiful. So far it is my favourite song on this cd.
And Clouds Crash is fucking gorgeous. My mind just wanders off when I listen to it. Since I've started writing this blog, I've had these two songs playing the most out of the whole cd. They write such pretty songs, they do indeed. I could fall asleep to this song also.

Point Me Toward The Morning retains it's usual Matches sound, complete with the faint 'woo' at the beginning. It's nice to hear a song that doesn't sound totally different to their usual sound on this cd, even if it's about seven tracks in. It's a good tune, and really quite catchy.

I'd have to say, so far, that AM Tilts is maybe my least favourite song on the cd. I know for a fact that upon listening more, I'll probably come to enjoy the song much more than I currently do, is is exactly what happened when I listened to the band's previous endeavours.

All in all, I'm really surprised with this cd. I've gone from expecting another Decomposer and ready to jump around to the fun of it, to starting to embrace the charms of something quite different to what I at first expected. And embracing I am!
I recommend this cd to you all. There isn't a bad thing about it all. But I think The Matches injected me long ago with some kind of blissful serum that seeps in through my ears and goes into my bloodstream, with a one way ticket to shoot them straight into my heart.

I could be biased because I really adore this band, but I'm thankful this cd is such a gem, considering the recent woe I experienced at the hands of the new Smashing Pumpkins.

4/5.

The Matches.

And I say to myself, what a wonderful baaaaaand.

I find myself quite picky with indie styled music. I like to consider myself quite open to new musical endeavours, and I never hesitate to try out a new band. In the case of The Matches, I am highly glad I chose to look into them more.

It all started sometime last year when I heard Papercut Skin on the radio whilst I was trying poorly to fall asleep. I thought it sounded quirky, yet I enjoyed it and experienced a surging feeling throughout my body urging me to go and listen to them some more!
Not long after I found myself in possession of the cd Decomposer. I was very pleased.

At first, I really didn't like them. I was a little pissed off that this band I had actually gotten a cd of hadn't had an impact at all on me, and that there was one song on the entire thing that I actually enjoyed listening to. But after that first listen, I had a desire to listen to it again. It was like a car crash; I hate it but couldn't tear myself away.

So today, I am proud to announce that I am happily in a loving relationship with The Matches. They write great little tunes. Shoot Me In The Smile is a an awesone song of amazingly epic proportions. Again, I missed seeing this band on the Soundwave tour, and I'm kicking myself also. They also appear to be fun, and I saw a video of a live clip and they didn't sound bad either.

I recommend this band to everyone. Although, start with songs from Decomposer or their earlier works, they're the best in my humble opinion.
I suck at naming similar style bands also, otherwise I would.
I'll just say if you're a fan of indie, then you should try The Matches, that is if you haven't already.

Also, on a seperate note, I have a twitter thing on my blog. Just below my about me, it tells you things. Like how there is a two part Matches blog today. Awesome!

Calamine - Sealab 2021 Theme Song.

This is an I Broke Your Stereo first!

My opinions on a song, and not just any song, the 40 second theme tune for one of the most amusing cartoons I've laid my lovely brown eyes on! It's performed by Calamine. I did think of the pink lotion when I heard the name of the performers, and yes, I did remember using it to cure the itch of chicken pox when I was a child. A merry, disturbed, twisted child.

To begin, I purchased Sealab 2021 on DVD after witnessing the HappyCake Oven episode on an [adult swim] sampler DVD I was handed whilst purchasing another [adult swim] show a few weeks ago. I watched it, and I laughed. A show with a captain getting worked up over the fact that somebody stole his HappyCake Oven? It was too good to be true! (in hindsight, probably not, but I really, really did find it great).

Another thing which made me interested was the cute little theme tune. Forget the awesomeness of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer theme song, or the brutality of the totally metal theme for Metalocalypse (if you haven't seen that show, do it now, then you will get why I describe it as 'brutal' and 'metal'), this was a neat little ditty which I for some reason didn't expect to be the theme song for such a show.

Because I was so busy trying to force the HappyCake episode upon everybody I came across, I neglected to notice that the ending credits actually tell you who performs the song. So I spent a good few weeks wishing that some miracle would occur and let me know who performed said song.
Then I bought the DVD of Season One, and actually observed the credits. I then felt like a complete spastic. It was right there in front of me for those agonising weeks, and I didn't even realize.

So what's a girl who is hopelessly in love with a shows theme song supposed to do when she finds out who recorded it? Download it, that's what! And download I did, with a fiery passion burning within my chest! Although, looking back, I remember that said fiery passion was actually induced by the fact that I had just eaten something rather hot and swallowed it, and it was burning as it went down my gullet. I'm sure you all know that feeling.

I am now listening to it as I write this, on repeat, in all it's 40 second sweet goodness. I have an urge to research this band a little more now, because the singers voice is rather charming. She sort of reminds me of the lass from The Cranberries, except she doesn't do that oh so funky thing with her voice. You know, I just can't find the words for it.

As my conclusion, I think you should all either watch Sealab 2021 and laugh at how funny it is and aww at the theme song, or if you're too poor to afford the DVD, watch it on youtube, and download the theme song. Go! GOGOGOGOGO!

Coheed And Cambria.

Short and sweet today.

I DO NOT LIKE COHEED AND CAMBRIA AND I WANT TO HUNT DOWN THEIR SINGER AND STEAL HIS HAIR FOR THE WORLDS GREATEST SHAVE!

But I like the song Welcome Home..

Mindless Self Indulgence.

WOAH! Another band I don't like!

Only this time we're taking a different path. Yes sir. There will be no slagging off of MSI today. Nonewhatsoever. What, you say? Keep reading then. Duh.

I have honestly never been able to bring myself to like Mindless Self Indulgence fully. There's just something about them that I can't quite pick. I sometimes think it's Jimmy Urine's voice. But then I think maybe it's the programming. Or maybe the guitars; but no matter what I THINK it is, it's never right. I don't think I'll ever find it.

In lieu of my dislike of this band, I do, however, thoroughly enjoy precisely three songs; Stupid MF, Shut Me Up and Straight To Video. They, my friends, are damn good songs! It also helps that Stupid MF was featured on the Suicide Girls first tour DVD. Mmm. Unconventional hotties.

For some reason though, I can't say a bad word against this band. I never have been able to, and maybe I never will be able to, and here is the shocking truth as to why; they seem like they'd be amazing performers.

That's all, you ask? Yes, it is.
Unfortunately, I missed my opportunity to witness MSI in action at the Soundwave tour this year because well, I couldn't go. I really wanted to see them, to test if my theory of MSI being as energetic and entertaining as I pick them to be is true. Although, fairly reputable sources who did witness MSI at Soundwave tell me that they were amazing, which made me more sad I couldn't go.

I've always wanted to see a band that will blow me away, and MSI really seem like they'd be 'The One' so to speak. No, I do not expect them to shag me silly. They will be 'The One' to deliver one heck of a musicgasm. HA! Man, that is the worst Tarah-invented word ever.
As I was saying. Of all the bands I've seen, none have blown me away. I've seen bands put on great performances, and bands put on bad performances, but no matter, nothing will seem to match to the idea in my head that MSI's would be the ultimate of live shows.

How could I possibly say a bad word against a band I have such a desire to see live?

MSI have a delightful blend of programming and traditional band oriented instruments, melded together to create their rather unique sound. Yeah I know it's probably not THAT unique but I've not encountered a band that I don't like that I yearn to see play a show ok? I mean, you'll never catch me saying I want to see Avenged Sevenfold play a show, because god, I'd have to have amnesia and forget how much I detest them in order to do THAT!

Also, I know band members appearances mean nothing to how good a band are at whatever it is that they do, but Lyn Z is pretty good looking. Even if she did go and marry the twat I mentioned in my previous entry. Of all people she married the douchebag who sings about black parades! HOW COULD YOU!
Despite that, good luck to him, considering if this picture is anything to go by, she looks rather flexible;

Ooh bass is hot..

I will end this blog on a happy note, not by cursing the fact that a whinger married Lyn Z in all her flexible-appearing-greatness.

Thank you, Mindless Self Indulgence, for making me realize that just because I don't like a band, it doesn't mean I can't appreciate what they do because they're good at it.

Three cheers for MSI!

My Chemical Romance.

Most fans of My Chemical Romance that I encounter are psychotic.
Ooh offended? Excellent.

But really. I've met quite a few people, mainly teenagers below the age of 16, that are so in love with that band that the slightest hint of a negative comment about them will send them into a frenzy.
Example;
"I don't like like that music, especially that MCR crap."
"OMFG WTF*! THEY ARE SO GOOD! I LOVE GERARD! THEIR LYRICS MEAN SO MUCH TO ME! FUCK YOU!"

I don't blame you for wanting to defend your favourite band, but try to show a little maturity. Flying into a fit because somebody disses your favourite band is stupid. If someone disses a band I like, I will make my point as to why I like them, but I won't go ape shit over it.
But again, MCR fans are the worst, from past experience. Such a huge generalization I know, but I would really like to encounter a MCR fan under 16 that will listen to me bitch about how lame they are and accept my opinion without abusing me.

I really don't get their appeal, other than appealing to the ears of 'depressed' teens all over the world. I say depressed in jest; I am sick of kids whinging about how depressed they are when they're really cranky over something minor, like their parents didn't give them money to buy cigarettes. OH GOD IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! All of you who claim to be depressed, take a good look at yourself or please get a proper diagnosis, and we'll be bestest friends.

Who wants to hear music about some dolt wailing about how he's not ok [he promises, apparently] and being in black parades? If I wasn't so overexposed to MCR then I'm pretty sure I'd think a black parade is a hoarde of native African people displaying tribal dances in the streets. I think I'd rather see that on tv than Gerard and his mighty band of people with terrible hair.

The world was fine before that band decided to form. Or make it big. Whatever. Well actually it wasn't fine, the world has gone to shit, but if the various countries feel the need to destroy things, please could you destroy My Chemical Romance? They make all the other 'emo' bands look bad.
Thank you.

* = Only because so many people these days seem to favour text talk or whatever the hell you call it.

Smashing Pumpkins.

I'm compensating for the fact that I didn't write in here yesterday.

BE AMAAAAZED! I also love blogging. And music. Oooh.

I also love the Pumpkins. I must say though, the fact that they've come back minus D'arcy and James is a slight disappointment. I mean sure, most people will say "Oh, but Billy IS the band!" But you know what? You're all ignorant. A lead singer who is fairly well known does not constitute 'the band'. Sure, Billy Corgan is probably the core member due to his famousness and whatnot, but the other members are just as important, if not more. You can have an instrumental band or a band with a vocalist, but who wants to listen to just singing, with no music in the background whatsoever? I know I don't. I had to put up with it for two nights when I was on holiday considering the boring woman next to us did that for hours on end. But I digress.
The Smashing Pumpkins, I figure, are rather influential. I know for a fact that they have inspired me to get interested in music. Siamese Dream and Adore are such good albums. If you do not have those two cds somewhere in your collection, you seriously fail at life. I may forgive you at some point, but you know, probably not. God!
Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the music I listened to as a child. Actually, that may be kind of fortunate considering my spastic obsessions with the Spice Girls and ABBA. But those two aside, I'm pretty certain my taste wasn't terrible. There was the Pumpkins, Nirvana, The Offspring and Iron Maiden amongst the myriad of bands I liked.
I don't remember owning anything by the Smashing Pumpkins. I think it was probably because my mother bought cds for me back then, and would protest against the covers or song titles or whatever dorky reason she could conjure up for not buying them for me. I still obtained them thought, I'm canny like that.
Despite how the hell I got my grubby little under 12 hands on their music back then, I've always loved them. How can you not?

Take the opening song on Adore for example; To Sheila. It's a perfect slice of alternative rock balladry, and a great opener to a cd. It's so gentle and calm in comparison to something like The Everlasting Gaze, for example. Then for it to lead onto something like Ava Adore, which is quite different in comparison.. Gosh. I'm sorry, I need to collect myself for a moment.

Collected. Right, where was I? Everyone remembers Ava Adore right? I do, and I was.. Er. Young when it came out. Yes, I forget how old I was when it was released and I'm so terrible at maths I cannot count back from 19 to figure it out. Not really, I'm actually just lazy.
Adore is just so depressing. Who doesn't just love an album that can sound so bleak and beautiful without being cursed the damning tag of 'emo'? [dare call SP emo and I know a fair few people who will break through your bedroom door at night and stuff coconuts down your throat and rape your pillows. Yeah. Threatening isn't it?]
Compared to Siamese Dream, oh yeah, that opens with the relatively upbeat Cherub Rock. It also has the brilliant Today. That song is my theme for when my non-medicinal handling of my illness fails and I just regress back to bleak me. Don't be fooled by the pretty guitar work and rougher choruses, it's not all daises and buttercups. Open your eyes and look into it people. You might learn a thing or two.

Man, I could go on for years about the awesomeness of every song they've recorded, but I won't.
I'll leave it at the following;

The Smashing Pumpkins will always be one of the greatest grunge bands from the 90's. As a diehard fan, I will listen to Zeitgeist, but whether or not I will enjoy it as much as I do the stuff from their heyday, I have no idea.
Long live the Pumpkins.

Interpol.

I love Interpol.
That's about all I can say on the topic. But I have to elaborate.

When I was in Year Ten, I had a Nazi maths teacher. What sort of maths teacher kicks a kid out of class because she sneezed and forgets about her for 20 minutes? Yeah. She was a cow.
It wasn't until one day she kept me behind and told me she was strict with me because she feared that if someone wasn't I'd fall behind and.. Well, jump off the edge, so to speak.
After she probed into the details of my ailments and problems, we started talking about music. That in itself was weird, because she looked like Big Bird in a maths club. She mentioned that she liked Interpol, and despite the fact I hated that band back then, I kind of respected her, for her music taste, because all my other teachers liked jazz and blues. Blah.

That was about about three / four years ago.

I still would rave about my undying dislike for Interpol. Who the hell would want to listen to a band that sounds so boringly monotone, with no real expression or emotion in the vocals? I used to giggle at people's attempts at recreating Paul Banks rather bland vocal style.

Until I heard the song PDA.

I don't remember where I heard it. It wasn't rage or on Triple J; the only radio station I'll ever listen to. I actually think it might've been on one of those iTunes radio station things, even though most of the music on that is dull.
But I heard it, and I actually enjoyed it. I figured it was one of those situations where I'd like one song by the band, and not the rest. I hated Evil when I heard it, and thought the music video was the stupidest thing I'd seen in a fair while.
The lyrics seemed far cleverer than a lot of the bands I listened to then. Not to say that music I like has shit lyrics, some of them do, but they just seemed more meaningful? More intelligent. I don't know. Is most indie like that? It kind of seems like it is.

Anyway. As I was saying. Interpol; ooh yes. I went all fuzzy and warm feeling over PDA. It made me want to show PDA to PDA. Oh that was a bad joke. Sue me. Moving right along.
I finally thought 'hey, I'll look at other Interpol songs besides just PDA and see if maybe, just maybe, I find myself liking them.' So I did just that, and I'm proud to announce that I am an Interpol convertee.

And just for the record, I fucking adore Evil. I have no idea how I could've hated it in the first place, it's just that good! My nephew has taken to mocking the intro to the song though, and I sometimes wonder why they thought of the names Rosemary and Sandy. Why not Bertha and Martha? Or maybe Gertrude and Maureen [oooh that reference is for Megan]. Come on!!

I no longer find Paul Banks vocal styles annoying and grating. Quite the opposite really. It's a little hot. I also like their bass lines. Bass is hot. I love bass so much, that if a bassline was put into the body of some super sexy man/woman, I'd have freaky sex with it. If I do not stop here this blog will end up in a place I do not intend for it to end up in.
WOW! INTERPOL!
Speaking of, I saw this interview with Carlos and Paul on Triple J TV a few weeks ago. Anyone else catch that? Carlos seemed rather.. Up himself? I had to laugh; he reminded me of Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd. Oh boy.

If you'll all excuse me, I have to go and listen to Interpol now.
I have to swoon over the bass intro to Evil, and their lyrics, and ponder a way to capture their essence in a bottle and release a perfume called Eu de Interpolle.

Thank you.

Radiohead.

I would like to express my dislike of the band Radiohead.
I could nitpick and think of a thousand silly reasons why I don't like them, including the fact they chose to call themselves Radiohead, when none of them have an electrical appliance as a head, but why do that? I'm sure some people may think names of some of the bands I listen to are silly too.

For starters, I really don't like Thom Yorke. I think if he was in another band, I still wouldn't like him. I don't have a plausible reason to defend my reason of not liking him, but you can't like everyone in the world, can you?
He's whiney. I also think his voice sounds a little nasally at times. Who wants to listen to nasal sounding voices? I could be wrong, maybe my stereo was demented in some way and MADE it sound nasally, or I could've had an ear infection, but I know what I heard; it was nasal.
Another, they're supposedly all influential and whatnot. What makes them so special that THEY'RE influential? There's plenty of influential bands out there.
It annoys me that Paranoid Android is on the ending credits for Ergo Proxy [how I love that show] but in light of that, I do find that particular song relaxing, and actually bearable. It's not as whiney as other songs I've heard.

Their music bores me. I can listen to softer music, indie and alternative are fun genres, and I even sometimes find myself listening to minimal amounts of post-rock and right now, Porcupine Tree, but I need energy in my music. I like to be able to jump around and feel like I'm part of the music, and just have fun. Who the hell can rock out to a song like, for example, Karma Police?
Radiohead has the sort of music which I can picture being played in a nursery or maybe a old folks home.

Come on, yell at me and tell me I'm so wrong.
Tell me I haven't heard enough of their music to pass judgment. Sure, maybe they do have some fairly upbeat songs, but that doesn't mean I'd like them.
Sure, I've changed my mind on artists that I've not liked and realized I do like them, but I cannot stand Radiohead.
I will not like Radiohead ever, with the exception of the bearableness of Paranoid Android, and that might also have something to do with the fact it seems to suit the credits for Ergo Proxy.

I have nothing against their fans, I just wonder how they have the patience to actually listen to them.

Architecture In Helsinki; Places Like This [2007]

To be honest, I never really liked Architecture In Helsinki. Although, I saw the video for Hold Music and found myself actually enjoying it. So I took it upon myself to actually listen to them and decide then whether I like them. And listen I did!

I wasn't too sure about my decision to listen to the cd entirely.
The fact that they chose Red Turned White to open is, well, their decision obviously, but I don't like that song, and it put a dampener on the whole point of me giving the cd a try. I honestly didn't want to keep listening after I heard that song. I know it's kind of short but it bored me, and I sat there just staring blankly with a look of distaste on my face. Just picture the whole o.O look coupled with a mouth slightly open in a 'what the fuck?' fashion, and a raised eyebrow. Not two, just one. Who the hell raises both eyebrows when wondering what the hell they're listening to? I sure don't!

I think I just went off topic.
As I was saying, I was quite happy to blindly ignore the whole cd, and go on in life happily enjoying the three songs of theirs that I like [Heart It Races, The Owls Go + Hold Music].
Part of me is glad that I didn't give up. Of course, I was pleased when two of the aforementioned songs came up on next, one after the other, so that was good.
Feather In A Baseball cap pissed me off. It was very boring, in my opinion.
Ok next. Underwater; I like the simplicity of that song. It's nice. I can sort of see myself falling asleep to it. Not in a 'oh god this is so boring' way, but a 'this is so calm and peaceful I might drift off now' sort of way.
The beginning of Like It Or Not made me laugh and wonder just how seemingly juvenile this band can get, with their da-da-da's and wa-wa-wa's. Maybe they should throw in some scooby-dooby's and sha-la-la's. Or not. I hope I haven't given them ideas. Highly unlikely I have. Wa-wa-wa's aside, I do like that song.
DEBBIE! I didn't realize that I've heard that song before and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure I heard it sometime on Triple J and just didn't pay much attention, seeing as I only listen to the radio in the car or when I'm sleeping. But I immediatebly remembered the chorus, and was pleased that I finally knew the name of the song. Hooray!
Lazy (Lazy) was good. It wasn't full of the baby noises I mentioned before, and had basic instruments which seems to be a nice change considering the range AiH have.

Yeah you know what?
I think it's easier to say that surprisingly enough, I actually liked this cd. I found myself tapping my feet to the songs and getting lost in the catchiness of the happiness that the songs possess.
I'm still wondering whether it was a good cd to start with or theirs. Maybe I should've tried Fingers Crossed first, but either way, I'm quite glad I bothered to listen to it.
There are only two songs on here that I don't like, but the chances are that I'll listen to them and they'll grow on me until I do like them.

I enjoy quirky music. Oh yeah.

First Things First: An Introduction

Yes, you heard right.
An introduction. Who doesn't love introductions?

I started this blog when I decided I talk about music a little too much sometimes and had an urge to make a music related blog.
And what exactly is this blog comprised of?
I will give my opinions on bands, albums, songs + videos.
Basically, whatever I feel like, k?

Great!
Now that we've got that behind us, you may know a little more about iTarah.
Yes, my name is Tarah. The 'i' came from the fact I decided to make myself an Apple product. As a joke of course. Although I think I'm the only one who knows how I came up with that.
Why have an iPod when you can have an iTarah?
I enjoy things. Things like the smell of garlic, playing with rose petals, reading comics, advancing my DVD collection, lying under trees in the city with friends + booze, writing stories/poems/lyrics, counting the steps I take, spelling tests, computer + video games and listening to how people talk.
I have weaknesses for English accents, glasses and green eyes. Incidentally, the most amazing person I've ever met fits those categories. Hooray for her.
Yes, I am 'bisexual', or, as I prefer to call it, 'not fussy'.
I collect my cat's whiskers after they fall out. Currently, I have 22.

I love debates, depending on how passionate I am about the subject + arguments. I'm probably one of the best listeners you could meet, and I seem to have taken on the role of secretkeeper to my friends, and even those who aren't my friends.

My favourite bands are Jack Off Jill + Metric. Emily Haines is a genius.

I guess that's all.
Let's see how well this blog fares then shall we?