"...wasthisthefacethatlaunchedtenthousandships?" - all those born among them

It's a somewhat funny long name, but it works in a way I'll explain later and they should keep it (in three years will it make it easier or harder to find them though a Google search?). I think it sounds just like you would expect it to sound. Recorded live, blast beats, someone shrieking. It's like someone turned on a blender. I can't really hear much of what's going on as I don't know what is going on most of the time when I listen to music, and this is all so mysterious and cool to me. Most music is though. They provided lyrics, which helps in understanding what is going on in the songs. They scream kind of determined to lose their voices which I think is pretty great yet I kind of get scared that this band will last past the screams and they'll do some weird grunty produced-at-god-city type of thing (not that I mind it, but it's the only way to describe what I am thinking and I know for certain that many who read this blog know exactly what I mean).  If it comes to that then woo hoo! Never doubt a screamo though. Oh yeah, the name of the band is kind of in the same vogue as their lyrics. Everything is mushed up and shrieked out. All in all I suppose they sound like how I feel when I'm on the bus and am having an anxiety attack. So good.

"...wasthisthefacethatlaunchedtenthousandships?"  - all those born among them
http://wasthisthefacethatlaunchedtenthousandships.bandcamp.com/

Glass Hits - Pioneers Get The Arrows, Settlers Get The Land

Another band deeply ingrained with a 90's post hardcore influence without the typical college indie rock leanings. The guitars are airy and chunky at different times, for good reasons as it sounds good. I feel that this is where the rock and roll shit of the early 2000's was supposed to head. The Convocation Of... paved way for bands like The Strokes and The Vines, even unknowingly, and made it acceptable to rock the fuck out. I mean bands like Royal Trux and Jon Spencer's stuff were doing similar things, but they were less punk/hardcore sounding... I mean how much punk does a band like The Vines have? That song Ceremony (the punk one) let us hear before their newest album was released sounded exactly like The Vines... maybe they were trying to sound like this instead but missed it by a long mile. Regardless, this band is really fucking amazing. The vocalist sounds as though he is in some form of ecstasy, as though it were still okay to feel good about singing. I think the guitars near Grinderman sounding at times. I have no idea what anyone is playing. I'm not a musician really, I just love this stuff. I love it so much I find no words to explain it at all. Fortunately this band is kind enough to let us have their full length for freezy. Thanks.

Glass Hits - Pioneers Get The Arrows, Settlers Get The Land
http://glasshits.bandcamp.com/

Veneers - Demo

A bracket from my braces snapped off and I feel so powerless. I also regret not getting braces earlier.

If there's one thing that the internet casually does, it is to remind me of how behind I am when it comes to listening to the righteous of jams. Firstly Veneers comes across as being some sort of missing Tonie Joy band; sounding a bit like The Convocation Of... is pretty much a good thing even if there's nothing really taken away or even added. I think that sounds like a hit on Veneers, but as a demo this is awesome. The three songs are not hit or miss as they are all really goddamn rocking. Young Widows is another band that offers a viable sound comparison to those in the know. I'm kind of bummed out that I have to go to the dentist so I'll just finish (maybe) by stating that the guitar sounds fucking great on this. Really beautiful and pulsing with sound. When things get shouty it feels just about right.

Veneers - Demo
http://veneers.bandcamp.com/album/demo

Stripper Pussy - Pure Pussy

 Seemingly appeared out of nowhere, to me at least. The first time I got a chance to hear Stripper Pussy was via Ruptures. I was so tempted to go to the show but I wouldn't have been able to get back home and as I get older I am getting sick of wandering in the middle of the night wondering where my life is going. Regardless, Stripper Pussy is really fucking great. Tying the band into me having mental breakdowns at midnight while trying to think of ways back home, the first thing Pure Pussy starts off with is "I'd rather be fucking." You know, they're right. Somehow Stripper Pussy has basically exhaled years of pent up sexual prowess and (what seems to be) tons of stored early to middle 00's Southern California electroclash booty shaking (and whatever else that era made us vomit). It honestly reminds me of waiting in line for the Blood Brothers, or the Locust, or even smoking pot while listening to Gravy Train!!! and making bad jokes about being attracted to ugly people with ugly haircuts. Unfortunately I kept my ugly haircut and will always be ugly. This band rules.

Stripper Pussy - Pure Pussy
http://stripperpussy.bandcamp.com/album/pure-pussy

Planet Vegeta - Demo

A pretty groovy two piece band; following the drummer and bassist pattern of other noise rock bands but doing it as they feel like doing it. I booked them a show a few months ago with other bands (Vomit Bastard, Life of Refusal/Beez, Egrets on Ergot, and others) and it was going to be a blast but because of my dumbass behalf it did not go through. Sometimes stuff like that happens I suppose. Anywho, they're going to be here again on August 4th with poppier bands, so I will see how it goes along with whoever else decides to show up. I trust that they're going to be as awesome and fun live as they are on their recorded tracks. I think the theme and name are particularly silly, but I feel that it's all the better to dig them as a band. Regardless I don't think bands of this nature usually have super serious names or an intense demeanor, but I may be proven wrong and they could very well end up being scary live. Also, although I do not smoke pot I will probably be indulging in their Saiyan grooves and interplanetary boogie-like vibes as I am into that type of stuff.

Planet Vegeta - Demo
http://planetvegeta.bandcamp.com/

Wreck And Reference - No Youth

This is a really cool (maybe) little band that has a pretty huge sound. Very atmospheric. Bands like this usually just play out one sound over and over, yet Wreck And Reference let their ideas spill out all over the 10 songs. Lyrically things are very desperate and unforgiving, so in one area you can say the idea is to be somewhat pained, but the music surrounding the pitfalls the lyrics are telling is pretty fucking colossal.What this does is turn every instrument sound into a doorway or driveway, or a bathroom, some part of the scenery that the lyrics are contained within. It's kind of a mix of Brighter Death Now and other stuff. Honestly it's varied. Sometimes things are drone influenced, other times they're noisy, and then other times it's post-metal. Even the vocals shift around from sung, spoken, screamed and back. What do you like? I believe that Wreck And Reference hits it at least once on this album. I also think that this band sometimes hits a sound that I can only describe as the negative wavelength of stuff such as M83 and other stuff like that. I don't know. It's all kinds of enjoyable.They're also about to shoot through a West Coast tour... I am probably going to miss out on their July 5th date at Human Resources because of work, but it would be cool.

Wreck And Reference - No Youth
http://wreckandreference.bandcamp.com/

Ruptures - D∑CΔ

Ruptures is a pretty groovy band. I already posted their D E A D B L O O M Ep. The Ep was particularly good, even though it was a shift of direction from their earlier stuff which was a form of melodic post-hardcore. The sound on the Ep is expanded greatly on this release. D∑CΔ starts out with its namesake, and has a lot to offer in terms of discernible sounds that can only be heard if you are listening carefully. A lot of guitar effects that give a sense of chaos and some, what I assume to be, synth sounds accompany the introduction to the album. I'm not sure. Regardless, each song is a pulsating rager of post-hardcore mixed with slabs of punk, metal, and all sorts of other DIY-based music sensibilities. The vocal range of the singers has altered just a little bit, where one shouted in a more throaty higher pitched manner on the Ep, this time he seems to be almost singing in that way. I suppose there isn't much of a difference at all, if there even is one. I'd just like to point out that The Blood Brothers/Red Light Sting sassy vocals carries itself and alternates very well compared to the other singers crusty cookie monster vocals. I don't know what I'm trying to say anymore. Just give it a listen.

Ruptures - D∑CΔ
http://ruptures.bandcamp.com/album/d-c

False Light - False Light

Slowly but surely my attention had been turning to this band called False Light from Charleston, SC. In between doing research on ancient Indian/Mesopotamian/Chinese civilization for this quiz I have on Thursday (tomorrow) I decided to give in. Fortunately the research break ended up being worthwhile because as the first song ended I decided it was time to close the curtains as to not embarrass myself from bedroom moshing. What you get is the really currently welcomed negative and self-deprecating hardcore that's been gaining steam and getting kids to drop their angst off somewhere. I believe this is the first output for the band and it sounds really good! Each song is pretty well constructed in terms of aiming what it is aiming for, which is neurotic pissed off thought patterns as a mode of release. I think at least. The more I listen to the band the more I feel like the youthful vigor of angst paves way for self-demolition and ultra constructed internal confusion. Going to sleep wishing you wouldn't wake up the next morning as you know you'll feel like shit type of music. Loud. I like it. Tape soon.

False Light - False Light
http://thefalselight.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled

Guidelines - Guidelines EP

One of the homies from Daido Loori posted this in the CMHWAK forums a few days ago, on the day of the EP's internet release I think. My first thought from listening to the EP in its entirety for the first time was that the band definitely had the same qualities that made me love the Drago Miette. This band does not have the synthesizers or electronics that the Drago Miette possessed, but they do have a similar full sound where every instrument and shout adds to some wall of sound feel that resonates throughout the whole EP. Which makes it very easy to get a little lost in the songs. This isn't a bad thing though. A dream-like undercurrent envelops within the songs as you listen to really awesome musicianship and abrasive vocals. Like the Drago Miette, the band makes the noise and production a big integral part of the EP, and ultimately makes the songs fairly beautiful. I don't know how else to describe it. I also get reminded of metalcore tinged screamo bands, stuff like xvpopdmx and Dispensing of False Halos, more the latter than the former especially in terms of the way both the vocalists sound. Actually, thinking about it now, the band sounds like a mash between the production values and sound aesthetics of the Drago Miette mixed in with the musicianship and vocals of Dispensing of False Halos. Again, I'm sorry if the band gets mad at me for comparing them with other bands. I, for some reason, cannot help it today. The worst thing I could do is compare bands to one another. Oh well. This is good stuff.

Guidelines - Guidelines EP
http://guidelines.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-ep

Baklavaa - Hairmoans

The only other band I have listened to that includes a zillion little tiny nearly (both) melodic and chaotic bits in their songs in Mass Movement of the Moth. I think there are a ton of similarities, both have synths and stuff, or I don't know what those are, swirling noises that remind you that post hardcore is also very experimental; the over amounting aggression of not playing overly aggressive sounding songs; and the shouty, not shouty, and the sometimes kind of sung vocals. With bands like these, you have to try to wrap your mind around what other influences they have other than the experimental side of post-hardcore, or even of music. Mass Movement of the Moth was one of those bands that proudly wore their influences and turned them into their own ideas, I feel that Baklavaa does the same. I think it'd be hard to kind of go ahead and tell you what this band digs, but the revolving door of band members inserts a revolving door of influences. The album starts out very modern post-hardcore, like the stuff that's been rolling the deep end of blogspot, tumblrs, and bandcamps for the past two years or so, but it quickly flips the table a minute in, adding a synthy sound without the fear of the musicianship nearly collapsing. It isn't even in a very bland 2012 emotional hardcore type of way either. Then again, it quickly shifts back to where it started with. I think that kind of alternate balance with sound is important nowadays. Bands all too quickly indulge in trying to find out what their fan base will eat up (even underground DIY bands) and play the same song over and over. Baklavaa starts off sounding like a modernized version of Commander Venus (again, with this band today) in "I Don't Understand Anything," then again the song collapses near the end, then picks itself back up with a very natural progression. Somehow the album just keeps building up in this way all the meanwhile as it touches with different styles or influences of post hardcore, until Marijuana Abuse closes out righteously. I think I've already written a good amount.

Baklavaa - Hairmoans
http://baklavaa.bandcamp.com/album/hairmoans

Atlas At Last - Ceviche

This band went through a big change last year. I suppose they were two different bands (according to the info on Sailboats bandcamp page - not the band that died in a tragic, tragic accident RIP) or something, but now go by Atlas At Last. Regardless of the name, the songs are pretty neat. First off on "Fish" there's a weird kind of emo feel to it, with a little more melodic rhythm to it. I suppose I feel it's a mix of Commander Venus with some Shroomunion (they always had weird guitar progressions that this song seems to flow with) caked on top of it, with the versatility and "vibe" of The Convocation Of...; I feel that the song doesn't sound like any of these bands, really, unless they were all strung together. It isn't until the 2 minute mark where the band seems to find its own voice, kind of sounding similar to other post-hardcore bands, but with some "pirate-like" agitation. I don't know, it seems that was done super purposefully given the lyrics and song title. The rest of the songs are fairly similar, not in the way that some bands write the same song over and over, but how you can tell that this is Atlas At Last. "Raindrops Keep Eating One Another" has some Weezer-esque chord progression, I think, at least it sounds like that to me. It sounds even more like Commander Venus than the song before it, with the vocalist tending to shout out words like the homeboy from Cursive. Very Omaha/indie-rock or something. The closer "In The Company Of" is still pretty almost indie rock emo, with some aggression, definitely like Cursive. I hope this band doesn't hate me for describing their sound using other band names.


Atlas At Last - Ceviche
http://atlasatlast.bandcamp.com/

Elad Love Affair - A Woman Gives Birth To A Gun And It Stabs Her

I'm crying. I was listening to my shitty ripped copy of this EP earlier this morning and finally got sick and tired of the skips that came with the burned CD so I searched for members of this band on google trying to ask them for mp3s or something, I dunno, and I stumble on to their bandcamp. I don't know what to say about this band. 2002 was such a weird fucking time for me as I totally was into koRn and at the same time went to backyard gigs set up by the local "non racist" hispanic skin heads where I got my first taste of DIY. It was my first year of high school or maybe my last year of middle school. I can only remember reading about this band in Skratch magazine and they were given a pretty good rating for a "post-hardcore" band. I always wanted to know what that sounded like. Anyways I find a way to get someone to mail me a super shitty burned CDr that has track 5 (When You've Run Out of Words...) twice on it and I figured it was just supposed to be that way. So great to finally hear the elusive track two (which builds up to an amazing finish). God I love this band. You don't have to, if I remember correctly not a lot of people did, at least those I talked to. It's alright, my little secret. Whatever.

Elad Love Affair - A Woman Gives Birth To A Gun And It Stabs Her
http://eladloveaffair.bandcamp.com/album/a-woman-gives-birth-to-a-gun-and-it-stabs-her