Album Review: Xerxes - Our Home is a Deathbed

Album Rating: A-

Emotional hardcore, as a genre, has seen its fair share of ups and downs these past five or so years.  Like many scenes of music, stagnation occurs when there really is no incentive for experimentation.  Added to that, there has even been a complete misunderstanding of the term emo, as anything with screamed vocals or emotional lyrics gets jumbled into the catch-all terminology.  But I digress.  Xerxes, as a band, make one care little about silly, misused tags that only distract from the music at hand.  There isn't a lot of progression in the scene?  Who cares.  Xerxes certainly don't, as their latest release Our Home is a Deathbed sees the band making exceptional music on their own terms.

Artist Spotlight: The Interstate Life

The Interstate Life is an interesting little project that consists of two guitarists, Giorgio Fareira and Tim Bittar. I think it's actually gained most of its renown not from their music itself, but the viral video featuring Giorgio at a Sonic drive-in. However, though many may fall in love with Giorgio's passion and carefree demeanor on the video, the real emotion is behind a demo recently released by The Interstate Life. For example, the first song on the demo, "Woe Is Me Without You," is one of the sweetest and truly most meaningful love songs I've ever heard, embodying heartbreak and the emptiness that couples with it only to, in the end, be a song sung to an Xbox. At first, I did a double-take. And then, slowly, I realized that the song made perfect sense, with lyrics like: "I'm turning you on / but you're shutting me down" and "I've been crying / Because I want you back / But I can't afford to make it work." The lyrics are pure genius, and the music that couples with it is really moving. The recording in lo-fi adds to how genuine the feeling behind it is, and how it really strikes to home. Definitely take a look at this little gem of indie rock, because there's sure to be more from The Interstate Life, and even in the fledgling stage, this band has mountains of promise in store for them.

You can listen to and pick up the demo on their Bandcamp.

Album Retrospective: Miniature Tigers - Fortress

Album Rating: B+

As soon as I heard the almost Hit The Lights esque opening lines of “Cannibal Queen” from the Miniature Tigers last album Tell It To The Volcano, I took a mental note not to get to attached to the band. While the album was superb and is probably the best treadmill album ever made, it was obvious to me that the band was going to sell out on their next record. I figured the only thing I would like about Fortress would be the cartoon boobs that grace the cover of the album. I thought Fortress would be splattered with Nickelback like lyricism and Hinder like musicianship. I thought the Miniature Tigers were going to be the biggest mainstream sellout we have seen in recent years. Fortress though is the complete opposite of being a sellout record and it is a vastly different record from Tell It To The Volcano. What do we have to thank for this? The power of drugs.

Interview With Eisley

Eisley released one of the better albums last year with The Valley, and with the recent release of Deep Space they show that the last thing they want to do is lose momentum. Eisley very happily took some questions from us at MuzikDizcovery, involving topics such as the personal tragedies leading up to The Valley, the difference between home recording and fancy studios, the differences between Eisley and other bands, a new LP in the works, and much more which you can read below.

Artist Spotlight: Josh Benash

Josh Benash was always the catalyst for the insanity of Eyeball Records band Kiss Kiss. The circus feel and the wide, chaotic instrumentation put the band on a level of theatrical wildness rarely heard since Cursive's The Ugly Organ. While part of the band has gone to the simple (albeit great) alternative rock band Hidden Hospitals, Benash's solo effort shows that he has lost none of his quirkiness. Benash shows no hesitation to be experiment or be weird, taking hints from Animal Collective ("My Little Noose") and noise-pop ("She Is Bad"), while also contributing the frontrunner for oddest song of the year with "The Pancake Song". The Dismal, The Beautiful is a case of Benash not being constrained by expectations or any other musical restraints, and while it may be one of the more hard to listen releases of the year so far, the pure strangeness of the album makes it worth listening to. You can stream and purchase The Dismal, The Beautiful on Benash's Bandcamp page, which you can find here.

Live Review: Little Dragon/ Holy Other, 02 Academy Oxford, 26/02/12

I like surprises. The very act of catching you off-guard can make an experience more potent; more memorable. On arriving at the O2 Academy in Oxford in the hope of seeing Little Dragon - after dull bus journey, a 20 minute queue for tickets and several arguments with a cash machine - a surprise is just what I received. Half an hour in of alcohol consumption and discussion on the fact that choosing not to wear thick-rimmed glasses, ear tunnels and a cardigan actually placed you in the minority, someone quietly slipped up to the small array of equipment on the stage. Later, I’d learn that she went by the name of Holy Other. Now I’m not supposed to know her gender, she’s one of a breed of artists who prefer to let the music speak for itself, but based on my fine tuned knowledge of forearms (the rest of her body was cloaked in a black hoody reminiscent of the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings), posture and how different genders use smileys on Facebook, it was kind of obvious. Take that as an exclusive: you heard it here first.

Album Retrospective: Miniature Tigers - Tell It To The Volcano

We know that our lives and the lives of the human beings around us are constantly changing. Over time economies change, technology changes, politics change and just about everything that can change changes drastically in a positive and negative way. One thing that seems to not change those is the apathy we human beings having towards working out. No matter how much the world around us changes and "progresses", it seems like working out will always be a bitch, and along with going to church will always just be something we say we are going to do but end up super sizing or fast food meals instead.

Album Retrospective: fun.- Aim and Ignite

Album Rating: A+

The classic pop album has died. No one knows the exact date of this occurrence: maybe it was when John Lennon gave up the ghost, maybe it was when our society was infected by the plague of disco, or maybe it was even when an angst ridden and awkwardly blond Thom Yorke screamed that "pop is dead" in the early 1990's. Even though we do not know exactly when the classic pop album died, it is quite easy to figure out why it died. It died because of technology that encourages musicians to just make one quality song instead of a quality album, it died because other genres of music became so much better, and hell, it died because pop music just isn't what it used to be.

Show Review: O'Brother/Junius Coheadlining Tour

The choice of venue can give both positive and negative consequences for a show. The choice of a tiny venue above a bar may have given a very large sense of intimacy for the crowd watching O'Brother, Junius and Black Clouds, but the other aspects were definitely harmed. The vocals were mixed way too low throughout the show for each of the bands, and the crowds were mostly calm and quiet. But all of the three bands showed off their superior music abilities and blew away everyone listening with their technical prowess.

Live Review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Newcastle Arena, 23/02/2011

It's taken a while, but now that the waters have finally settled following Oasis' acrimonious split it's pretty clear which Gallagher has emerged on top. While Liam has spent the past year toiling away in medium-sized venues with his mundane Beady Eye project, older brother Noel has dived straight into the arenas on his first full tour since the breakup, with this packed Newcastle date doing much to confirm that enduring popularity. The promise of old Oasis classics has no doubt helped his cause, but the same could be said of the runaway success of his Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds album, which kick-started a long overdue solo career back in October. As well as being met with a wave of critical approval, the record also achieved the improbable in that it toppled Adele from the summit of the UK's album chart, if only temporarily - and it was that success which rendered this show so much more than a mere nostalgia strip.

Artist Spotlight: Craft Spells

Only three months into 2012, and already it is shaping up to be a pretty eventful year for Brookyln-based independent label Captured Tracks. Jack Tatum and Wild Nothing are getting ready to drop their sophomore full length, Beach Fossils is working on new material, and just yesterday, Craft Spells announced the release of a six track EP, entitled Gallery, due out May 15th. Like Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing and Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils, Justin Vallesteros started Craft Spells within the confines of his bedroom. Vallesteros moved from California to Seattle following an overwhelmingly positive reaction to his first track, "Party Talk". In his bedroom in Seattle, with equipment borrowed from friends, Vallesteros recorded Craft Spells' debut album Idle Labor, released by Captured Tracks in March of 2011. Idle Labor was one of the strongest debuts of any act of last year, being a nearly flawless hazy barrage of catchy guitar melodies, beats, and fun, nostalgic songwriting. And now after a considerable amount of touring with his band that he formed to promote Idle Labor, Craft Spells have just released their first single following the debut, "Still Left With Me". The single features a much darker tone than the poppy whimsicality of songs such as "Scandinavian Crush" and "After the Moment", but still features a similar production to Idle Labor, despite the transition from bedroom to studio. But the change shown on the track is indeed promising, and makes Gallery easily one of my most anticipated releases of this year. "Still Left With Me" can be streamed from Captured Track's Soundcloud below:

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Artist Spotlight: Born With Stripes

At a risk of sounding hyperbolic, it really is a long time since I've heard a song that's excited me as much as Born With Stripes' solitary tune 'You Stole The Laces From My Shoes.' It's not the song of the year, or even the month for that matter, but what it does succeed in is packing an optimal dose of unequivocal joy into two blissful minutes of pure guitar pop perfection. We're deep into February - by my reckoning the coldest, most miserable month of the entire year - and yet this sublime cut still managed to fill me not only with excitement ahead of the impending summer, but also the immense sense of optimism that comes with it.

Album Review: Maker - Mirrors

Album Rating: B+

If there's one thing worth taking away from Mirrors, the first full-length from Springfield, MA locals Maker, it's the young band's already obvious mastery of their craft and sound.  Every track found here resonates with the confidence and purpose of a band that's found their niche in the modern pop-punk scene, with the album as a whole easily meeting and exceeding the present-day standard.  Taking cues from tour-buddies in Crucial Dudes and The Story So Far, as well as drawing some obvious influence from now-defunct Jawbreaker and even early Brand New, Maker combine the vitality of passion-driven songwriting with the accessibility of beefed-up choruses, driving their product home with the familiarity and modesty of your favorite local band.

Album Review: Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

Album Rating: C+

For fans of drone, no band can beat out Earth in terms of prestige.  For the past several years the band has been a defining force in the genre, creating classics such as Earth 2 and Phase 3.  But after an extended (almost decade long) hiatus, Earth returned as if they'd never left.  However, with this advent came a shift in sound; a subtle attraction towards a more melodic presentation.  This has peaked with the band's one-two punch of Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light.

Album Review: Take One Car - It's Going To Be A Nice Day

Album Rating: A-

Take One Car writes music that embodies power, to say it in simple terms. They're a pretty simple band from upstate New York, just four guys making music, but what they accomplish in this respect is so much more than music. The new release is a great blend of alternative, indie rock, post-hardcore, and a nice dash of post-rock, balancing some heavy guitar riffing with a good portion of mysterious ambiance, and profoundly metaphorical lyrics reverberate throughout. It's Going To Be A Nice Day is broad enough to cover genre stereotypes and appeal to many, but their sound is ultimately a concentrated, perfected blend of aural pleasure that stimulates the senses and sets emotions reeling.

Album Review: Fighting Fiction - Fighting Fiction

Album Rating: B

With such a multitude of bizarre sounds and obscure genres prevalent in music nowadays, it can occasionally be refreshing to hear a band that revels in simplicity. With nay an innovative bone in their body, Fighting Fiction exemplify this approach to making music, but to this point their lack of creative expansion hasn't proved prohibitive in the slightest. They don't bother indulging in any forms of self-serving pretense or outlandish experimentation, they merely play the type of anthemic, heart-on-sleeve punk rock that they've presumably grown up enjoying, and for the most part it's a pretty great proposition for the rest of us too. Repeatedly delayed, yet no less welcome, this debut full-length provides an engrossing showcase of that back-to-basics ethic, and with a little luck could see the Brighton quartet become a big hit among those who share their ideology.

Interview With Jukebox The Ghost

Jukebox The Ghost has been slowly gaining popularity over the past few years or so. In addition to touring with Ben Folds and Barenaked Ladies, the band also played on Letterman. They most recently wrapped up a tour with Jack's Mannequin, and are planning to release a new record in 2012. All of Jukebox The Ghost sat down with me at the penultimate date of their tour with Jack's Mannequin, and we discussed timetables for the new album, new quirks on the album, the differences between opening and headlining, the origin of donuts, and much more, which you can read below.

The Daily Blair: Who Is The Best Modern Musical President?

We all have strong opinions on who was the best President, who was the worst President, what Presdient really caused the current economic crisis, what President caused the Great Depression, who was the best economic President, who was the hottest President, what President was the best Commander-In-Chief, which President got laid the most, and the classic "which President was the best at getting stuck in the bathtub?" debate.

But I have never really heard a discussion or debate about who the best musical President is/was. Meaning I have never heard an argument about what President had the best albums come out during his tenure. So below I have compiled a list of the best albums to come out during each modern Presidents era (post World War II) and you get to decide who the best modern musical President is.*

*Best albums are all from besteveralbums.com*

HARRY TRUMAN
1945: Bing Crosby: Merry Christmas
1946: Lester Young: Prez Conferences
1947: Charlie Parker: Bird & Diz
1948: Mitt Jackson: Mitt Jackson
1949: Lennie Tristano: Crosscurrents
1950: Edith Piaf: Chansons Des Cafes De Paris
1951: Thelonious Monk: Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1
1952: Hank Williams Sings: Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys

New Muzik Monday (2/20/12)

So, I loved the feature that Blair did two weeks ago so much that I'm turning this into a weekly thing. Hopefully we'll get a different staff member every week to make this post, so you get the variety that we usually have in  - Give Up The Ghost. Basically, we'll do little summaries of albums that have come out in the last few months that we're really digging lately. So just read and listen.

1. Hospitality - Hospitality
Early Rating: B
Check It Out

I hate to say it, but the only reason I checked out this album was due to the fact that it was released on Merge Records. But I guess it's really just proof that pretty much everything Merge puts out is worth listening to. Hospitality's debut record is fantastic. It's all you could ask for from female led indie-pop goodness, including the sweet vocals of Amber Papini, instrumentation including a wide variety of saxophones and horns, and an endless amount of catchy hooks. Tennis, Wild Flag, and The Dum Dum Girls all come to mind when listening to Hospitality, and it should be very easy for Hospitality to soon join that group of very noticeable acts.

Album Review: Memoryhouse - The Slideshow Effect

Album Rating: B

After dabbling in ambience and dream pop, it should come as no surprise that Toronto based band, Memoryhouse, have once again reinvented their craft...albeit only slightly.  And while the lush melodies and relaxed beats of The Years made for a wonderful release, the band displayed a need to project themselves further than the confines of the devisive "chillwave" scene allowed.  Thus, The Slideshow Effect came into being; an album that truly shows that Memoryhouse are indeed a band who are not afraid to explore and expand.