SHOW REVIEW: Four Minute Mile/Spring Break '95/Zissou/Streetlight Fire/Trey The Ruler @ The Dial in Murrieta CA, August 25 2012

The morning of this show, I had no idea who any of the bands on this bill were. I was guessing pop punk or emo because Four Minute Mile is a Get Up Kids album and the other band names seemed to fit that mold. I had heard of Trey The Ruler before because he played here at The Dial awhile back with My Iron Lung, but I didn’t know what his deal was and assumed it was post-emo stuff like Anthony Green or something. I didn’t really have any expectations good or bad but thought I would mob out to see my friends at the venue and check out some touring bands. It was a dead night in town anyway.

Trey The Ruler opened things up with an impassioned, if perhaps a tad melodramatic, spoken word set. Initially I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy his performance because he seemed to be explaining himself a bit too much and I tend to be a bit cynical when it comes to emotional spoken word. But Trey had a very solid style about him and I identified with the themes he was confronting; namely, difficulty in interpreting and maintaining relationships and trying to hold onto ideals when you are seeing the other people in your life giving those ideals up. His delivery was almost like an alternative rapper ala Sage Francis or even Atmosphere mixed with occasional outbursts of yelling that suggested a background in the hardcore community. Although much of his subject matter is broad, he approached his work with a clear integrity and conviction, remaining engaging and interesting throughout his performance.

Almost immediately after Trey finished his set of poetry, Streetlight Fire from Sacramento was on their instruments conducting a sound-check. They had set up their equipment before Trey’s set so they relieved the audience of my #1 pet peeve at shows: long set-ups and take-downs. Streetlight Fire’s style is a very streamlined, pop-oriented take on emo-punk that would feel right at home on recent Warped Tour or Bamboozle lineups. The band that came to mind the most during their set was Taking Back Sunday, particularly their first album, with the musical emphasis on emotive quasi-breakdowns and dual-vocal interplay. The two singers had pretty similar sounds so the trade-off during choruses sounded very natural. There was even a few moments on their new track (“Redemption,” I believe) that reminded me of the last few songs on The Smashing Pumpkins’ 2000 album “Machina” because of their overwhelming poppiness. Overall, this band plays very well and seems to have a good chemistry, but they sound like so many bands from the early to mid-2000s pop-emo movement (particularly Eastern seaboard bands like Bayside, the aforementioned TBS, and Brand New - who they even covered) that it may be difficult for them to find a niche.

The next band, Zissou, was playing one of their early shows from what I could tell because they have no Internet presence as yet and Zach the Dial promoter confirmed as much. They must have really set up extremely fast because Spencer Coltrane and I barely had time to go back to my car and smoke before their set was over. We only caught the end of their final song and my only comments would be that they sound like Title Fight and it seemed like the singer guy had a good confidence about him. I don’t think they even played for 15 minutes.

Next up was Spring Break ’95, who - despite their name that would imply they’d fit right in with the pop-punk/melodic hardcore bands just before them - play short powerviolence songs much like ACxDC. In fact the reference to that particular band is important because the guitarist was wearing one of their shirts and they play as a 3 piece: guitar, vocals, drums. Just like ACxDC. As it is with most powerviolence acts, they didn’t really do much for me whatsoever. It’s like right when these bands have a cool part they decide to stop it, and those cool parts are often uber-generic triad-based chug riffs that all sound exactly the same. That all being said, they weren’t a shitty band for what they do or anything; if you like powerviolence you’ll probably like these guys. We hung out briefly afterward and smoked some ganja and they were really cool guys. This style just doesn’t do anything for me.

The final band of the night was Four Minute Mile, who I believe said they were from Washington state along with Trey and had been on tour for a little bit. They played a pretty standard type of pop punk with subtle core influences, much like A New Found Glory or a toned-down Set Your Goals. Similar to Streetlight Fire, they relied a lot on mid-tempo melodic breakdowns with anthemic lyrics, but in a more classic pop-punk vein they also had plenty of speedy parts to bring back memories of Fat Wreck Chords bands and the like. There wasn’t anything in particular that stood out and kicked my ass during their set, but I enjoyed all their songs and they all had a lot of good energy. The singer in particular seemed ready to burst from excitement like all good pop-punk singers should be

On the whole, a fun show with no scuffles or moments of dragging boredom; the fact that all the bands set up quickly really made the difference, there have been shows in recent weeks that seemed to take forever simply because people were lagging on their equipment and that’s always a bummer. It wasn’t an earth-shattering show that provided new revelations on life, but it gave a taste of 4 different sides of the modern West Coast punk circuit without feeling elitist to or from any of them. From Trey’s introspective musings to Spring Break ‘95’s blunt harshness to the saccharine elation of the 2 pop punk bands, it was a night that didn’t have to stay on the same vibe stylistically to keep everybody having a good time and generating a comfortable communal feeling.

ALBUM REVIEW: Cannibal Corpse - "Torture" (2012)

One of the things I have always loved about Cannibal Corpse was their consistency. If you’ve heard one Cannibal Corpse album, you’ve pretty much heard them all. The vocals changed on 1996’s “Vile”although most people outside the death metal world would not be able to tell the difference whatsoever, and their production has of course been improving with the times. But stylistically, Cannibal Corpse forged a distinct and signature sound that they have done very little to tamper with in 25 years. This is one of the things that I love about them. They figured out what they were early, and they stuck to it.

However, their newest release “Torture” just doesn’t hit me with the same vigor as previous releases, and for the very characteristic that I always held so important about them: This album sounds like a bunch of Cannibal Corpse songs I’ve already heard before. But not in the cool way, like this is a cool extension of what was going on in the last album; it’s more like, I have heard this exact part before. The particular offender is actually opening track and lead single “Demented Aggression.” The first time I heard it, when it was a streaming promo for the album, I noticed that it had parts that reminded me of both “Blowtorch Slaughter” and “Devoured By Vermin” from earlier albums. I also just felt like it wasn’t HEAVY like their past material but I shrugged it off to a lack of brutality in my life at the moment or something. When I listened to the album in its entirety, however, I felt the exact same way. That’s not a good sign considering I’ve long considered this band one of my favorites in all of death metal.

The vibe of overly-familiar material carried throughout the first few songs; trudging, double-bass driven mid-tempo sections, randomly placed almost-grind parts, groove-laden parts, Corpsegrinder’s trademark buzzsaw vocals. It just wasn’t doing much for me. Not that I wasn’t enjoying it more than other midway metal albums I’ve heard lately, but this is Cannibal Corpse forsatanssake. I’m usually raving about everything they do.

The standout tracks for me were “Encased in Concrete,” which elicits a very paranoid feeling throughout, and “Caged…Contorted” which features an almost-melodic bass backdrop from Alex Webster towards the middle of the track and sees the band in a more interesting songwriting mode than some of the more familiar tracks scattered throughout. “Crucifier Avenged” is another one, that although reminding me of “I Will Kill You,” has a cool groove throughout that sees the vocals acting as almost a percussive factor. Although pretty standard rhythmically, compared to the kind of changes that are fundamental to Cannibal Corpse’s sound, this almost makes for a more classic feel.

The song “As Deep As The Knife Will Go” is nearly an anomaly for the band, as it sees them in some fucked-pop-structure, the chorus even being somewhat intelligible to the untrained ear. Apparently it’s a loveletter from a psychopath or something, but I don’t really take much time to go into the often-ridiculous lyrics these guys come up with so I can’t speak much to that. The weakest track in my opinion was “Intestinal Crank” if only because it seemed a bit forced at times, and there were segments that seemed poorly planned or poorly executed or SOMETHING. Webster has some cool bass solos in “The Strangulation Chair” and “Rabid” but again, these songs on the whole just fade into the overall bludgeon that is this album.

If you’re a Cannibal Corpse fan, you probably won’t be disappointed by what’s here but you definitely aren’t gonna lose your shit because of how dope it is. If you’re looking for variance and subtlety in your heavy metal music, this was probably never the band for you in the first place, but this album is definitely not gonna help.

I think maybe the problem for Cannibal Corpse at this point in their career is that there are just so many bands in the overall death metal market nowadays that what once made them seen as one of the more extreme, offensive bands in the world – or at least a nefarious, almost cartoonish outlier in the death metal community – is now just, in a word, generic. It’s like how it goes with other longstanding confections: Their formula has worked for so goddamn long that there really isn’t a reason to change it, but there are so many other brands out their now that even the loyal customers are growing tired of the taste. That said, if all the other brands go out of business, at least we have a quality confection that we can always rely on to be exactly the same.

ALBUM REVIEW: The Offspring - "Days Go By"

I was never really the biggest Offspring fan, mainly because when I was in elementary school and first learning about Green Day and Blink 182, The Offspring was making an even worse mockery of "punk" with songs like "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" and shit like that. Even at the puerile age of 11 I could tell this was over-sweetened.
But I always kinda gave them the benefit of the doubt; I mean, after all, they had been a band in the early 80s under a different name and the first 2 or 3 albums are cool SoCal skate-punk. I grew up with some of that older stuff without even realizing it, and to this day "I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem."
However, since the abominations they were already releasing when I was a fucking kid, nothing has gotten better about this band. They're just too bright, too sing-songey, too fucking KROQ for me to ever take seriously. This newest album, "Days Go By" sees the band focusing more on their quasi-serious, "life can be hard" type subject matter, much in the fashion of their hit from like a decade ago "The Kids Aren't Alright." Unfortunately, subject matter is not the only way these tracks mimic that song; the first couple tracks might as well be using the exact same goddamn guitar progressions.
What's even sadder than their appropriation of their own past glory is the nearly-impossible-to-miss mimicry of a far more popular band that they no doubt influenced greatly: Rise Against. It's like Dexter Holland and Noodles listened to SoCal radio "punk" for an afternoon and realized they should just try as much as possible to sound like "The Sufferer and The Witness." As if Rise Against wasn't oversaturated enough, the last thing we need is an even more unfortunately-ubiquitous symbol of "punk"'s flaccidity blatantly ripping them off. Similarly, the track "Oc Guns" is a falsely-Latin-tinged whiteboy-reggae song that's vaguely about a glamorized criminal-lite lifestyle, much like the lame modern rock hit from a few years back, "Lay Me Down" by the Dirty Heads....A track that was really only big on KROQ. Do these guys listen to anything else? "I Wanna Secret Family (With You)" might as well just be a fucking cover version of "Stacy's Mom (Has Got It Going On)".
Beyond just sad is this:
There is a track midway through the album, which has had a music video made for it so apparently they are actively promoting this song, called "Cruisin California (Bumpin In My Trunk)". I feel like that name alone should be enough of a description for why this a bad thing, but just to break it down....it sounds like a half-rate Katy Perry song with really bad singing, or maybe a better relation is that it sounds ALOT like "Friday" by Rebecca Black. You heard me right. I don't know what they're game plan was on this track but my god, it's mind-blowingly bad.
If you used to like "Smash" in the mid-90s or if you remember this band from the empty-pool skate days of yore, DO NOT listen to this album. The only song that even throws a bone to older listeners is at the very end, a by-the-colors Bad Religion ripoff called "Divide By Zero". It's bleak and depressing, not because of the stark socioeconomic point I guess its trying to make (again with the Rise Against wannabe-isms) but because of how forced a simple punk beat seems to feel from this former beacon of the Southern California sound.

CASSETTE REVIEW: Glocca Morra - "Ghoul Intentions" EP

Glocca Morra is a band from Philadelphia that I played with at the Metaphor in Escondido last week and today I finally got around to listening to their tape from last year, “Ghoul Intentions.” This 6-song EP is a really good representation of their sound, which is more or less post-pop-punk. The band that I think is the easiest to compare them to would be Hot Water Music, although a bit more lighthearted than them. They also have a slightly garage-punk sound going on that reminded me of Scared Of Chaka, and the vocals oscillate between a strained HWM-style howl and a more chesty singing voice ala Braid or Bear Vs Shark. Musically, they switch between fast-tempo almost surf-punk smarmy parts to 90s-emo type mid-tempo parts. In this way they remind me a bit of mid-career At The Drive-In, especially considering their interesting but not overwhelming guitar parts. The guitars have an appropriate dissonance, the feedback parts don’t run annoyingly but are instead part of the song itself; this is most apparent in the angular mid-section to the song “Little Man.”

Although the insert says this was released on Ranch Records this looks more like a pure DIY release, with hand-written lyrics on a hand-cut foldout insert and a hand-drawn cover of a mutilated zombie-like creature with a mouth in its chest and horned erection that seemingly has no connection whatsoever to the music within. I got a real good vibe listening to this album, so if you’re into any of the bands I listed above at all I’d say give Glocca Morra a chance; they were really nice guys when we were at the show too.

gloccamorralives@aol.com  tumblr.com/gloccamorra

Playlist for July 2012

These are all the albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in their entirety during the month of July 2012. Everything I listened to this month was released within the last 7 months, all 2012 releases.
At the end are my notes and a list of musical performances I saw this month.

7/2/12

Periphery – “II: This Time It’s Personal”
The Allah-Lah’s – “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” 7” single
Lucero – “Women and Work”

Twin Shadow – “Confess”

7/3/12

The Bouncing Souls – “Comet”

The Men – “Open Your Heart”

Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants – S/T

7/4/12

Nick Waterhouse – “Time’s All Gone”

The Gravitys – “Bring You Down” live abum

3 Inches Of Blood – “Long Live Heavy Metal”

7/6/12

Cursive – “I Am Gemini”

Teenage Sweater – “Coconut Water” single
Father John Misty – “Fear Fun”

7/14/12

Terra Firma – “TF” live EP
Shady Characters – “Sunny Days” EP
Liars – “WIXIW”

Daylight – “The Difference In Good And Bad Dreams”
Moonface – “With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery”

Sociopathetic – “Self Titled EP Of Death” EP

7/15/12

Tanlines – “Mixed Emotions”
Linkletter – “The Dave Sessions” live album
Ceremony –“Zoo”

Apathy – “Desolate Terra” EP

HEALTH – “Max Payne 3” OST

Dreaming Dead – “Midnightmares” EP
Hollow – “MMXII” demo

Cloud Nothings – “Attack on Memory”

Dead End Alaska/Dead End Sons – “Family & Friends” split EP
Chromatics – “Kill For Love”
KIDS – “Cloud Island” EP

Kone – “Legend Days” EP

Black Dice – “Mr. Impossible”

Treacherouskin – “Altar of the Beast”

Fucked Up – “Year of the Tiger”

Reproacher – tape MMXII
Chairlift – “Something”

Light Years – “Just Between Us” EP
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Acid Reflex” remix album

7/16/12

Citizen/Turnover – split 7”
Aesop Rock – “Skelethon”

Moon Shrines – “3 songs” demo

7/22/12

Purity Ring – “Shrines”

Apathean – “Aggregation” EP
Gold Panda – “Mountain”/”Financial District” 7”

Dead Weight – “Backstabber” demo

Baroness – “Yellow & Green” 2CD

7/27/12

From Hell – S/T EP

Bloom – “VI. V. II.” Tape

7/30/12

Wildlife – “Sleeping” EP
Helsott – “Folkvangr” EP

Alex Metric – “Ammunition” EP
Kill Devil Hill – S/T

Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – “Roland Rat”/”Brain Storm” single

Plagues/The Cold Front – split EP

Love American – “Disquiet”

Gesaffelstein – “Rise of Depravity” EP
Colombian Necktie/Seizures – split EP

7/31/12

John Talabot – “FACT mix 315”
Pollution People –“Future Trash” EP
Divider/Colony – split EP
Breakbot – “One Out Of Two (ft. Irfane)” single

Burn Your Life Down – “Don’t Try” EP
Jim-E Stack – “Come Between” EP
Aukerman – “It’s No Time Ta Talk About Girls” demo
A-Trak – “Ray Ban Vision (ft. CyHI da Prince)” single
Hostage Calm – S/T
Fang Island – “Major”
Squarepusher – “Ufabulum”
Midnight Parade – “Living Room” demo
French Exit/Signals Midwest – split EP
Skrillex & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley – “Make It Bun Dem” single
The Murderburgers – “How To Ruin Your Life”

NOTES:

-          This was the first month of 2012 where I didn’t listen to even ONE Cannibal Corpse album…for shame

-          This new Lucero album is my favorite one of theirs that I’ve heard

-          Twin Shadow is cool but he’s a bit overrated; sometimes his melodies sound like direct rip-offs from well-known 80s hits, it’s just a bit much

-          The new Bouncing Souls album is much better than the last 2 were.

-          The Men “Open Your Heart” very well be my favorite album of the year. Those guys are just on POINT.

-          Nick Waterhouse sounds like he is FROM the 50s, not imitating the 50s, FROM the 50s

-          “Long Live Heavy Metal”…really? That’s way too cheesy, even for 3 Inches Of Blood

-          “I Am Gemini” is up there in terms of best albums of the year as well, and really maybe even my favorite Cursive album…the theme really works throughout the album I didn’t think they’d be able to pull off a concept album of this sort but they did

-          That Sociopathetic EP was one of the worst things I’ve listened to all year. Just terrible.

-          What’s up with Ceremony? They suck now!

-          No, the Apathy on this list is not the well-known underground rapper. It’s some hardcore band that just doesn’t give a fuck.

-          HEALTH did the music for the video game “Max Payne 3” and that’s ostensibly their new album…weird

-          New Cloud Nothings album, also very good. In the top 20 of the year so far I’d say

-          Kone is a badass DJ who came down to Temecula and played some crazy electronic instrument I’d never seen, and then when I went to try to trade one of my tapes for one of his releases, somehow he already had my tape…BUT he still gave me his stuff! And its dooope!

-          Treacherouskin is heavy as FUCK

-          Fucked Up can call “Year Of The Tiger” a single all they want, at 36 goddamn minutes I’m gonna go ahead and call it an album

-          Dead Weight’s demo is one of those noisy powerviolence/core releases that you cannot tell what song is what and then its over in less than 10 minutes… all of Side B was blank. Make your own judgements.

-          It sounds like Baroness really wanted to one-up Mastodon’s “Crack The Skye” but it’s not nearly as memorable and some of the songs legitimately sound like they could be Nickelback songs...That’s not to say this isn’t a cool album, this is still Baroness after all, but don’t come into it expecting the same heaviness whatsoever…Disc 2 is better than Disc 1.

-          For being a “supergroup” of aging second-tier hard-rockers far past their glory days, Kill Devil Hill’s album is actually pretty good for what they’re doing. I’ve heard a lot worse Alice In Chains/Soundgarden throwbacks in recent years. This is an alright listen.

-          I listened to a lot of splits this month

-          John Talabot’s mix for this month’s FACT magazine is an hourlong-plus track of dance mixes…and its good.

-          The spoken words on the Burn Your Life Down EP make it so much more menacing

-          The new Fang Island album, also on the best-of list for the year. So catchy

I also saw Midnight Parade, Honest Abe, A Search For Clarity (twice), Depakote, Jose Alegria, Co.Fee, Falcons, Kone, 1984, Nick Wuebben (twice), Crisis Arm (once acoustic and twice regular), Hello Penelope (twice), Game. Blouses, Beanvian Stalks Guava, Linkletter, KIDS, Mouthful Of Snow, Apathean, Reproacher, Bloom, Moon Shrines, Sailors Of Neptune, Glocca Morra, Vice, Ages, Dead Weight, The Coltranes, From Hell, Wildlife, Dead Words, Charlie, Pollution People, What Hands Are For, and North Americans perform live this month. 

The Gravitys also played 3 times and I played as end of the summer for the first time in awhile.