Summer Jams

Quick Review (150 words or less) Set Your Goals This Will Be the Death of Us (Epitaph 09)

Finally, a band has caught my interest both musically and intellectually. Set Your Goals has found a way to make conscious music fun, to play and to listen to, and that is a quality you'd be hard pressed to find in new music today. While this disc is loaded with appearances from guest artists, none more awesome than Hayley Williams (Paramore, "The Few that Remain"), this Bay Area sextet can still hold their own. The booklet, lyrics and descriptions provided by frontmen Jordan Brown and Matt Wilson, is loaded with intelligent commentary on everything from the record/music industry ("The Fallen...") to over consumption and pollution ("Gaia Bleeds (Make Way for Man"). SYG remain poppy and fun, still provide a hardcore element and wrap it all up with catchy vocal patterns and engaging lyrics. A true grandslam - I await their next album oh so impatiently.

Final: 9.5 out of 10
Tracks to Check Out: "Equals" "Gaia Bleeds (Make Way for Man)"

H&F Week Four

The week of Thursday, July 23rd, 2009.

Each week I will be bringing you three things that failed or continue to fail, followed by three things that should be hailed for their current or continuing awesomeness.

Ya dig?

Fails

3. Daughtry (the band, not the person... yes, there's a difference) recently commented to MTV news that they believed they avoided the so-called "sophomore slump" with their new album Leave this Town. Daughtry (the person, not the band) was quoted as saying, "We put a lot of heart, soul and tears into this record..." (Source.) And he, along with Daughtry (the band, not the person) were ecstatic that the record's first single "No Surprise" has already reached number one. I guess it's easy to know that your second album will do well after your first album went multi-platinum. After all, they're virtually the same record.

2. Adam Yauch, better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys, recently revealed that he was diagnosed with a very rare (as in, less than 1% rare) type of cancer which attacks the salivary glands. The Boys have since pushed back their newest album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 1, release date and cancelled a string of tour dates. Their publicist was quoted as saying the cancer was "very treatable" if caught early, which his was, and so perhaps Beastie fans can rest easy knowing that MCA will pull through this. Get well soon.

1. Snape kills Dumbledore.

Hails

3. Bay-area sextet Set Your Goals will be on Alternative Press's fall tour, entitled The Fall Ball, beside The Secret Handshake, You Me at Six, The Mayday Parade, and The Acadamy Is... I don't really care about all of the latter, but this will have to do until SYG gets on Warped. Tour dates found here.

2. HORSE the Band have announced their new album, Desperate Living, will be released on October 6th. It will be their first album on Vagrant Records. But, who cares? HORSE the Band freakin' rule, and the new album has a track entitled "HORSE the Song." Freakin. Awesome.

1. Between the Buried and Me have announced a new album release, set for October 27th, 2009. The band's fifth album, titled The Great Misdirect, will include 6 tracks, two tracks shorter than Colors (Victory 07), but will probably be just as long and twice as epic. Tommy Rogers, frontman, stated that this record includes "some of the best material we've ever created" (source). The track listing can be found at the same source.

The Worst Songs of 2009 (So Far)

Summer is halfway through, and therefore, the year is over halfway through. Thusly, I've decided to present to you the worst songs of 2009, so far. The following tracks have haunted me on the radio in the shower, in the car (when I've forgotten a CD), at the mall or other public places, and in my worst of dreams.

There's not really an order here, because let's be honest, they're all abysmal. Just consider this not so much a list, but more of a melting pot of suck. Also, I refuse to link to the band's MySpace, Youtube, etc. because that would be selling these songs, and I don't want to put you through that.

Buckcherry - "Rescue Me" - Black Butterfly (Eleven Seven 09)
Buckcherry is honestly the closest I've come to finding God via a radio-rock song. Seriously, if I were a 30+ year old soccer mom, driving to work every morning at 7am, I would be sufficiently encouraged to have a fucking great day by Josh Todd and his rough-and-tumble vocal stylings and affinity for fur. But I'm not, and thus I am allowed to realize that the only thing separating this song from the rest of Buckcherry's discography is the year pasted next to it. Here's to another album with 7 singles on it.
(<-- Is he serious?)


Green Day - "Know Your Enemy" - 21st Century Breakdown (Reprise 09)
The year is 2004, and pop-punk-rock legends Green Day just released their rock opera American Idiot to mixed reviews and general frustration from hardcore fans. Flash forward a couple years:
- add an off stage vocalist and on stage, but clearly playing in a relegated position, guitarist
- throw in a dash of Billy Joe Armstrong is too good to play his own guitar parts
- mix in the fact that 95% of the words in this song (including the ridiculous sounding "wah heys") rhyme with "enemy" and
- add vocals that sound as if they're being mumbled through a high school gymnasium loudspeaker...
and you've got Green Day's latest smash hit. Their ultimate failing here is that they thought that releasing a song where they only play three chords would make them punk rock again. Nope.

U2 - "Get On Your Boots" - No Line on the Horizon (Def Jam 09)
This song is probably about war, anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-drugs, anti-racism, and anti-eating-a-large-meal-before-swimming, but I really could care less. Bono chants "I don't wanna talk about the wars between the nations." He's more than likely being ironic. Get it?! He doesn't wanna talk about it? But he is in this song? God, he's clever. Essentially, Bono could've eaten the rest of his band, literally, and you wouldn't even be able to tell by listening to this song. He layers his vocals about 174 times behind a redundant, synthed up bass line that Trent Reznor could've written in his sleep, repetitive guitar hits, and virtually non-existent acoustic drums. The only reason this is even playing on the radio is because of the name attached to it. Next song.

Godsmack - "Whiskey Hangover" - Currently untitled, set for release 2010.
Although the album isn't set to release for another year, the band released this single before they set out on tour. I guess they were trying to build momentum before their string of summer shows. I'm not sure what kind of momentum they expect to build with a song that sounds like every other single they've released. I especially enjoy the bridge of the song when frontman Sully Erna tells his tales of drinking and how many shots he can take before he does the craziest shit. Who knew radio-rock could be hardcore? All you have to do is sing about drinking, and other adult things, like taxes and electric bills. They used to be kind of badass - like, you'd look legitimately badass walking down the halls of your middle school in a Godsmack shirt. But I've grown up; you've grown up, and let's hope that, sooner or later, Godsmack will grow up, too.

Motley Crue - "White Trash Circus" - The Saints of Los Angeles (Motley 08)
I have a feeling that if Motley Crue wrote a song any faster than 150 BPM, Mick Mars would blow his pacemaker, Vince Neil would sweat himself into a coma, Tommy Lee would break his wrists, and Nikki Sixx would make 78 more shitty side-projects. Neil croons "We're the white trash circus, don't give a damn. We'll steal your girl whenever we can." Yeah, good luck with that.


Considering the fact that I had to willfully listen to that U2 noise twice through in order to write that review, I'm cutting myself off. There you have it. The worst of the worst so far in '09. Let's hope it gets better.

H&F Week Two

The week of Thursday, July 9th, 2009.

Each week I will be bringing you three things that failed or continue to fail, followed by three things that should be hailed for their current or continuing awesomeness.

Bon voyage.

Fails:

3. I don't understand the hype behind All Time Low. Their new album, Nothing Personal (Hopeless 2009), released July 7th. I listened to the single, "Lost in Stereo," and was confused and frustrated. It's supposed to be their single, but there's no hook, not catchy riffs, no a capella singing - just shitty 80s synth vocals and a 2-bit drum machine intro. Their music is so incredibly bland and stripped down. If they ever stopped making crap albums, I'm sure they'd have a job working for Kid's Bop.

2. Joe Jackson, father of the recently deceased Michael Jackson, just might be the hugest asshole on the planet. When asked how his family was doing after the death of their beloved child and brother, Joe stated that they were fine... and then proceeded to plug his record label. Twice.

(Original source.)

During an interview with CNN, in which he was expected to make comments about Jackson's funeral, the 79-year-old introduced his business partner, Marshall Thompson, and went on to explain the workings of his new venture.

He told reporters, "Marshall and I have -- we own a record company. Talking about Blu-ray technology. That's the next step."

But despite the outcry over Jackson's apparent lack of emotion, he has explained he is "crying on the inside," and was simply answering questions posed to him by journalists about what his own future holds.

He says, "I was asked a question last night about the record company. ... We have a lot of good artists fixing to come out.

"I was asked that question and I answered just like it was asked because they wanted to know what else I was doing."

Here's to you, Joe, you old bastard.

1. By far the biggest fail of this week, and of recent weeks, has to be the seemingly endless rate of deaths both public and private. All I know is that I wouldn't mind waking up and not having another loved one be dead. If this is the beginning of the apocalypse let me know now so we can try to reach Joe Jackson for comments.

Hails:

3. Christian metalheads August Burns Red are set to release their latest album Constellations (Solid State 2009) in less than a week, July 14th. When I originally planned to write this piece, I had only listened to two of the new songs, and I was planning on including ABR in the "Fails" section. Not that they necessarily "failed," but I wasn't too impressed. Upon further inspection, and listening to the entire album (streaming on their MySpace), I decided to retract their "fail" status. While Constellations isn't ground breaking in the least, it does seem to contain more focus than Messengers (Solid State 2007) before it. Their patented breakdowns are tighter, more innovative, and more rhythmically creative than before, and their melody lines follow suit. Overall, it does sound a bit like the same old stuff, but it appears ABR have matured and grown stronger just enough to earn the number three spot of the "hails." Next time I won't be so lenient, boys.

2. Al Franken finally made it into the Senate and, as I paraphrase, made comments about pushing hard for a public health care option. Further, Sarah Palin stepped down abruptly as governor of Alaska, and although her aspirations for the Presidency in 2012 are in speculation, we can all thank God that she is at least not in a position of power for the time being and therefore is no longer being paid tax payer money to be a hypocrite.

1. I received news via Alternative Press that Canadian rockers Protest the Hero were set to release a CD/DVD package. After some further snooping, I found that indeed PTH are set to release a live DVD in August or September of 2009. Word right now is the DVD is to include eleven tracks, with most of them coming from Fortress (Vagrant 2008). However, there are a couple of tracks from the bands first big break-out release, Kezia (Underground Operations 2005). In further related news, "Bloodmeat," the first single from Fortress, will be released as a Guitar Hero track in late July. Score.

The Kings Still Reign

With over ten years under their belt, the Florida kings of hardcore are still grasping their crown, and they're still angry as ever.

The Tropic Rot (Ferret 2009) released July 7th, and while many of the older PTW fans stopped listening when the boys released Versions (Ferret 2007) instead of another album with breakdowns, I was ecstatic for the release.

And indeed, in The Rot, PTW still retain the same vibe, tone, and key of Versions. However, where Versions was slow, melodramatic, and somewhat dragging, The Rot is aggressive, energetic, and downright pissed off.

The album kicks off with frontman Jeffrey Moriera asking "So now you're gonna change everything?" The anger in his words is retained throughout the entire disc. The second track, "Sparks It Will Rain" just might be the most vehement song I've heard this band produce. The track begins "Like the firm decision to bring axe forth to head. I want this winged metal to go down." The imagery of a skull split by a hatchet is frightening enough in a song where Moriera, at least metaphorically, wishes for the crash landing of a plane.

Lyrically across the whole album, Moriera is the tightest he's been in years. While on You Come Before You (Atlantic 2003) he seemed a little ambiguous, and on Versions he was incredibly blunt, on the new album he finally has found the words that have been dancing on his tongue, I'm sure, for years. On "Celebrate the Pyre," he admits "I've lived my life without direction... Dragging my body along the black expanse, I can smell the burning trail I've left behind. I'm not a failure. I'm not alone."

As mentioned, the tone of Versions is still present. However, the production is so much cleaner, allowing each drum hit to truly pack a punch, and drummer Chris Hornbrook has never been more solid. Where on Versions, he seemed to take a backseat on certain slower songs, on The Rot, he's interjected himself into the forefront again, playing largely and loudly, proving that you can make creative music and still have it be heavy.

The only critique I can offer is that occasionally, the clean vocals of Moriera can sound a little whiny (but don't worry, nothing can match his grizzly bear-esque growl). Also, the only track that really doesn't resonate with the rest of the energy in this album is "Are You Anywhere." It's a slow track that really doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Overall, it seems PTW found a way to retain the crisp, harsh attack of their first couple albums and combine it with their new momentum from You Come Before You and Versions. When people look back on their discography in 10 years, this is the album that will define the new Poison the Well. Versions laid the path, but failed to reach. The Tropic Rot busted down the gates and burned the path to ashes.

Final: 9.5 out of 10
Tracks to Check Out: "Celebrate the Pyre" "Sparks it Will Rain"

RIP John Hart

So we'll never sleep again... live twice as long as any man.

It sucks that I have to do this on only the second day that I started this writing project of mine. Words cannot express the feelings that friends, former bandmates, and family members are currently feeling, myself included, at the loss of Mr. John Hart. I don't have too many details now, and it's doubtful that I will update this with any more. I just wanted to do a little part in honoring this life, taken incredibly too soon. John was a true entertainer at heart, caring most about his friends, his music, and making sure everyone was always having a good time. I will always cherish the few John Hart memories that I had the privilege to be a part of.

Caption (added by John, himself):
Smiling isn't metal, unless you're John Hart. Which I am. Boo-yah.

Rest in Peace Brother John: 1984-2009.

H&F Week One

The week of Thursday, July 2nd, 2009.

Each week I will be bringing you three things that failed or continue to fail, followed by three things that should be hailed for their current or continuing awesomeness.

Enjoy.

Fails:

3. One band that is seriously holding back the bursting potential of "new" Brit rockers such as Gallows and Enter Shikari, and is single-handedly tainting any sort of new British Invasion, is Bring Me the Horizon, who have been on the scene for more years than the former two, and yet, they seem to still suck. Not to mention, the kids love 'em. Kids these days. Their latest break out track "Chelsea Smile" has me wondering why any band would want to sound any more like Bury Your Dead. Oh, and their screamer barks. Woof.

2. After a break out first album, and making fans and friends all across the musical world, pop-punk aficionados Four Year Strong are, soon enough, going to be releasing... sigh... a cover album. The term "slump" doesn't even begin to cover this sophomoric meltdown. Even worse, the band, in an attempt to be funny or clever, are titling this 90s soft/alt rock cover album Explains It All. Get it, Melissa Joan Hart? It's set to release soon, but really, I've stopped caring.

1. People still like 30H!3.

Hails:

3. British punk/hardcore band Gallows are finally getting the attention they deserve. After they released Orchestra of Wolves (Epitaph 2007), they received moderate attention with their first strike in the states via the Warped Tour. However, after this year's release of Grey Britain, also on Epitaph, lead grunter Frank Carter co-appearing on the cover of Alternative Press, and another stint at the Warped Tour, it appears Gallows are finally getting credit where credit is due. Can you smell another British Invasion? Get off their heels, BMTH.

2. All the hubbub about Michael Jackson's death/last will and testament/baby mama drama/etc. have many people in an emotional bind. How is this positive? Not sure, but we still have Prince.

1. Set Your Goals are on the verge of taking back the music scene from every band that I despise (and therefore, every band that you should despise). Their latest album, yet to be release, This Will Be the Death of Us (Epitaph 2009), the follow up to the astonishingly impressive and catchy Mutiny! (Eulogy 2006), is already being highly applauded by fans and critics alike. The few tracks they have up on their MySpace are certainly a sign that the best is yet to come for these young bucks. Set your sights on Set Your Goals.