Interview With Yellowcard

Yellowcard has been one of the biggest and most respected bands in the scene for more than 10 years now. "Ocean Avenue" is one of our generation's anthems, and will always be a defining song in pop punk. The band is now about to release their sixth album with vocalist Ryan Key, and the album is definitely one of their best. The band took some questions from us at MuzikDizcovery that mostly focused on the new album, including possible bonus tracks, the reasoning for the releasing "Always Summer" first, the creation of "Here I Am Alive," the choice of guest vocalists on "Telescope," the final answer regarding if there will be an acoustic version of Southern Air, and much more that you can read below.

Album Retrospective: Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

Album Rating: A-

Conor Oberst had always written music for himself and not for a particular audience.   His songs had always been his deepest, darkest, and even most romantic personal stories: he told us the story of how lost a important person in his life in the beautiful country epic "Poison Oak," he told us the story of how he almost lost himself in "Let's Not Shit Ourselves," he told us the story of how he fell in love in the acoustic masterpiece "First Day of My Life," he told us stories of struggle and war in the digital driven "Easy/Lucky/Free," and he told us the story of heartbreak in the rock song "The Calendar Hung Itself."  Oberst's heartbreaking honesty, wit and "suffering" had given him a passionate almost cult like following, the admiration of critics who could not stop their cute Bob Dylan comparisons, and the envy of just about every other songwriter.  With Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst single handedly turned songwriting selfishness not only into a virtue, but into a powerful and influential career.

Album Review: House of Heroes - Cold Hard Want

Album Rating: B-

House of Heroes is not a band that's short of ambition. Their 2008 record Suburba fell somewhere between the spectrum of Relient K's pop-rock tendencies and Queen's delusions of grandeur. The group even tackled the Beatles, the kings of bombastic power chords, on an EP. So why is Cold Hard Want an album that's lacking in heart?

Artist Of The Day: Sebadoh

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been caught completely unawares by Sebadoh's sudden return. Sure they've been touring for the past five years in support of reissues and other nostalgic means, but as a creative engine they've long seemed dead in the water. With that in mind, the release of a brand new EP, entitled Secret and announcement of a full length due in 2013 have come virtually out of the blue. What's even more surprising, though, is the quality of the material in question. Given that it represents their first output in 13 years, you'd expect Lou Barlow and co. to sound disjointed, or at least a tad ring-rusty. Instead, they've picked up seamlessly from where they left off, resuming the sloppy joys of their classic sound and reinstating it over the course of five excellent tracks. It may be described as "a taste of the upcoming album," but none of these songs are set to be reused, suggesting that even greater pleasures may lie in wait.

You can stream and purchase Secret from Sebadoh's Bandcamp page. A limited number of CD copies will be available at the group's coming live shows.

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Album Review: The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten

Album Rating: A-

It's hardly a surprise that Handwritten is a great record. In fact, coming from such a dependable outfit, its success was virtually inevitable, with the only unexpected twist being the manner in which it excels. Ok, that's not strictly true - especially for listeners with a hint of common sense - but for the naïve among us, Brian Fallon's comments in the run-up to the its release seemed to herald something of a U-turn. "Fast," "aggressive" and personal" are just some of the adjectives that the frontman has flung around these past few months; could he and his band be about to return to their raw and loose punk roots? Of course not.

Artist of the Day: Port St. Willow

Port St. Willow, the brainchild of Brooklyn resident Nick Principe, is a breath of fresh air. The indie project has a knack for constructing ambient textures that stand out from the usual - it's one thing to create a stirring ambient track, and another beast entirely to construct one that endures in the listener's memory. I accidentally discovered Holiday (Port St. Willow's debut album) this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised by how rejuvenating it is.

Holiday

Album Review: The Antlers - Undersea

Album Rating: A-

The Antlers had already created two near masterpieces with the conceptual and morbid Hospice and the atmospheric, free flowing, and nostalgic Burst Apart.  Hospice and Burst Apart were almost total opposites: the character on Hospice is willing to "put bullets inside of himself" for love while the character on Burst Apart screams about how he "doesn't want love," Hospice was a lo-fi, distorted, and depressing love story, while Burst Apart was an electric, electronic, and aggressive collection of "stoner songs," and while Hospice was a brief conceptually chapter book like summarization of everything that we define as "heartbreaking," Burst Apart seemed to be a beautiful, brilliant, and alms classic summarization of what we expect "joyful indifference to sound like." Even though both albums were complete opposites in sound, story, flow and feel, they were still both near masterpieces and superb albums in general.  Because of this it became clear to me that The Antlers could take just about any theme, sound, or feel they wanted and turn it into a superb album. But even I didn't expect the greatness that is Undersea....

Live Review: Cult Festival - Hoults Yard, Newcastle - 07/07/2011

The idea behind Cult Festival was simple; take a selection of North East England's finest up-and-coming bands, and place them on a bill alongside some of the best that the nation's independent scene has to offer. It was a simple, yet genius concept, and one which found a perfect setting in the damp, dingy warehouses of Newcastle's Hoults Yard. By far the strongest supplement of the event, Saturday's main draw was a headline set from Mancunian legends The Fall, but as it happened that was only one of the highlights on a fine exertion for the region's most dedicated music lovers.

Interview With The Front Bottoms

If you follow bands like Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack and Brand New, you've likely heard about The Front Bottoms. Over the last year, the band has burst onto the scene, opening for those three bands above and winning huge amount of fans over every show. On the last date of their tour with Motion City Soundtrack, The Front Bottoms took a few questions from us at MuzikDizcovery, about topics such as the size of their live band, opening up for Tenacious D, reflections on their self-titled album, lyrical styles, a possible vinyl issue of their older material, their plan to finish writing, and much more, which you can read below.

Live Review: Jukebox The Ghost, 9:30 Club (6/29/12)

Fans don't just go to live shows to listen to music, as they could just as easily do so on record. Live shows carry a multitude of other characteristics that separate them from just a simple recording, such as stage presence and crowd interaction. It's a rare quality these days to be as charismatic and warm as Jukebox The Ghost is in their live set. They noticeably try their best to put on a fantastic show and engulf fans in their set by making them feel like part of the show. It becomes more than just a show, it's a gathering of friends, all there to experience Jukebox The Ghost's quirky piano rock in all its glory.

Artist of the Day: ASC

The date today is 20 July 2012; just over halfway through the year. Since January, ASC have released one double single, three EPs and one LP. That's a lot of music. What makes this all the more impressive is that, without fault, it's all rather good as well. With his own take on Techno, Ambient, Hardcore and even (we're told) Motown influences, ASC began his healthy binge of creating electronic music through an equally as large addiction to listening to it. While still in school he had already begun DJ'ing on pirate radio stations - a somewhat outdated pastime now that the internet exists - and this broad range of tastes and influences from such an early age is easily identifiable in his music.

Album Review: The Contortionist - Intrinsic

Album Rating: B-

It’s exhausting being an avid progressive junkie like me, because of how often you get disappointed. In a genre that prides itself on experimentation, it’s necessary for musicians to remain moving forward, testing new waters and paving new paths to success. While it’s great that such evolution is encouraged, it can also be detrimental for groups to fear staying in one place for too long.  

Although The Contortionist’s debut album Exoplanet was a progressive deathcore success that nobody anticipated, the gears have shifted vastly since 2010 to prompt the creation of Intrinsic. The album features a more prominently progressive landscape, nudging the earth-shattering deathcore moments to the side to fit between pockets of tranquil ambiance. While the group’s new formula certainly isn’t flawless, it at least leads to a few of The Contortionist’s greatest moments yet. “Holomovement” channels the likes of Cynic in its dreamy atmosphere, in a way unforeseen by the group this far. Elsewhere, “Geocentric Confusion” ends on the sweetest note before giving way to the ambiance that defines Intrinsic’s transitions.

Artist of the Day: Polar Bear Club

Some bands were made to excel in the studio. The Story So Far put together a high octane whirlwind of a pop-punk record with Under Soil and Dirt, but their live show isn't as clean cut. They put on an energetic display at best. At worst, it's all over the place, frenetic and put to shame by their pristinely produced album.

Polar Bear Club is one of those lucky bands whose concerts transcend the solitary pleasure of listening an album. Like their namesake, the Rochester punk rockers plunge headlong into their performances with reckless abandon. Deep cuts like the anthematic call-to-stagedive "Living Saints" and "Burned Out in a Jar" pepper their sets with hardcore edge, but Jimmy Stadt and company have never sounded better than when they're blistering through tracks from last year's Clash Battle Guilt Pride.

Artist Of The Day: Born Gold

I may have seen nearly 20 bands (including highlights Sleigh Bells, araabMUZIK, Japandroids, Clams Casino, Kendrick Lamar, and Cloud Nothings) last weekend at Pitchfork Festival in Chicago, but the best band I saw the entire weekend came as an opener in a small club late on the Friday night of the festival. Born Gold opened up for Purity Ring (who also put on an incredible set as well), and may have well put on the best performance I have ever experienced. Vocalist Cecil Frena was a human machine, covered with lights and buttons from head to toe, lighting up as he moved every such way. His vocals were processed with glitchy effects, and the electronics and synths boomed and echoed through the tiny room, giving everyone in the crowd a show of a lifetime. Born Gold are true showmen aimed at blowing away a crowd, and their performance wouldn't be out of place on the biggest stages of Las Vegas.

You can download their album Bodysongs for free on their Bandcamp page.

Album Review: Aesop Rock - Skelethon

Album Rating: A-

Aesop Rock hasn’t ever truly met his potential, and this can be attributed to disharmony in his discography. The New York-born rapper loves strong beats as much as cerebral storytelling and stream-of-consciousness lyrical play, but his problem’s always been balancing the two. Labor Days bolstered abstract lyrics that had a spring in their step, but that were done a disservice with the album’s dry production that offered nothing new. None Shall Pass featured great production, but tracks that failed to come together as a coherent whole. Despite the flaws, though, each new Aesop release has always involved a high degree of hype, partially because we’ve all been waiting for the album that we know Ian Bavitz can make. His skills with production, his playful flow and vibrant lyricism all point towards a bombshell record encapsulating all of the man’s attributes. Aesop fans have been crossing their fingers behind their backs since the release of “Zero Dark Thirty,” silently hoping that Skelethon is the record where all the pieces fit just right.

Album Review: Dikembe - Broad Shoulders

Album Rating: B+

A conversation with a friend about bandwagon genres brought up an interesting point: the Twinkle Daddies movement feels like the next jumping-off point for the same following of fans that latched onto last year's pop-punk trend. For a genre with a name that sounds like an off-brand version of Twinkies, the bands that have taken up the moniker are surprisingly abrasive. This year's Twinkle Daddies are the stepsons of early 2000's emo revivalists. American Football and Cap'n Jazz would listen to their jangly guitars and chaotic vocals with pride.

Album Retrospective: Belle And Sebastian - Tigermilk

Album Rating: A

Plenty of records can cite a classic back story, but only the true greats can back theirs up with grade-A content. Tigermilk's mere existence is a blessing, and the fact it's now in wider circulation is something of a minor miracle. The key to its unlikely tale lay in outrageously talented Glaswegian Stuart Murdoch, a former boxer who, having being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, chose to pursue an alternative path in songwriting. After a short stint performing on the city's open mic circuit, he decided to hook up with bassist Stuart David, eventually assembling a full band under the Belle & Sebastian moniker. Before long, the group's demos fell into the hands of Alan Rankine, the head of a Music Business course at the local Stow College. Impressed by what he heard, Rankine granted them access to a studio, with a view to releasing a single on the college's label, Electric Honey Records. Once there, though, the pool of material was deemed strong enough for a full LP, with Tigermilk - initially limited to 1,000 vinyl copies - the ultimate result.

Artist of The Day: Medal for Merit

I am somewhat saddened to say that because of work, weird family situations, and not having anyone crazy enough to spend more than two hours with me, that I haven't been able to visit any of our gorgeous American beaches this summer.  I feel like I should have missed the young drunk women who fell for me just because I say I am Neil Armstrong's Grandson ("It is your patriotic duty to round the bases with me,) I feel like I should have missed body surfing on waves so big, beautiful, and blue, I feel like I should have missed the random games of Cornhole, Volleyball, and "smear the (now homophobic slur), and I should have missed the unique feeling of relaxation that comes once every six to twelve months in our chaotic and hectic lives.  The main reason I haven't missed the beach this summer is because when I listen to Medal for Merit I feel like I am already there.

Album Review: Borealis - Voidness

Album Rating: B

If I were to jump off this review and leave you lying there, frustrated and unsatisfied, with only a single word of description, I’d describe Voidness as ‘murky.’ Murky in the sense that everything seems submerged beneath this swirling residue of crackles and ambience; nothing clear except the slow thump of bass. Now it would be tempting, based on the short description you’ve just read, to dismiss Borealis’ debut LP under this new alias as borrowing just a little too much content from Burial. Indeed, a lot of what we now attribute to the work of this decade’s Dubstep superhero is in play here: from the minimalistic structure to sporadic use of pitched-up vocal samples. Both in mood and direction, however, Voidness is very much its own beast. It’s an album that, despite introducing itself as quite downbeat - drawing from the ever popular melancholic, urban feeling - emerges as rather hopeful.

Album Retrospective: The Antlers - Burst Apart

Album Rating: A-

The Antlers Hospice was an absolutely gigantic, emotional and morbid conceptual love story: it had a shocking premise (a cancer patient following in love with her doctor,) detailed and disturbing lyrics, quality and occasional epic songs ("Wake, "Two, "Bear, "Epilogue,") a very original sound, and a ending that was beyond sad.  Hospice was a "concept" album that may have been the most original of all time because it told a story that was so heartbreaking, emotional, and unique that it could only be successfully told one time.  The storyline, instrumentation, quality of song and lyrics on Hospice made it a once in a lifetime story of "love at any costs."