First and foremost, Pitchfork is a website with success that I cannot and will not degrade; they have earned every bit of their popularity. My reviews may never amount to anything close to what Pitchfork puts out on a daily basis, but the curious difference that let’s me sleep at night, is knowing I will never put out a review like the one in question. It’s almost sickening to see such blatant hate recycled, reused and distributed in a one page review. I still believe anyone who spends time writing articles about ‘bad’ music, as opposed to music they may actually enjoy, is certainly missing out in life (I know AWmusic.ca is guilty of this too). That said, I can full well understand criticism, take it, and learn from it, but the author who wrote the article on Owl City’s Fireflies, is simply a hater at best.

Beyond the two or three lines where the author does tackle some critical issues he has with the song itself, I find myself reading a fan’s guide to Ben Gibbard’s success more than anything else. Mind you, I was a fan of Death Cab and The Postal Service long before I heard of Owl City, and I will continue to be a fan of both. But what the author fails to do in this review is take Ben Gibbard’s crotch out of his oral cavity (as politely as I could state it). The whole Owl City sounds like The Postal Service argument is redundant and certainly about as productive as beating a dead horse. I find it ironic that the author says “But I doubt Ben Gibbard is losing sleep over Owl City’s Adam Young,” so why are you? While I don’t expect a response back, it’d probably be somewhere along the lines of ‘I’m not’ in which case that’s fine. I guess that article you wrote for a major music publication took you all of 10 minutes, right?

My other major gripe, besides the whole avoiding content and writing hate just so you can cash in on that very same artists popularity (get over it, Owl City is popular beyond belief), is the fact that he continues to imply Owl City completely ripped off The Postal Service. What strikes me odd is if Owl City can blatantly copy The Postal Service, and The Postal Service is amazing (which they are), then in theory Owl City’s music, all bias aside, should be at least half way decent. I cannot deny the obvious resemblance between the music, but their similarities are what make me fans of both bands.

Whether Owl City is a one time gimmick remains to be seen, or whether the author in question was on to something (I highly doubt he was). I just find it ridiculous that Pitchfork would publish such a demeaning article, and I’m SURE they didn’t know his chart-topping hit would give them hundreds of thousands of hits (sarcasm). Perhaps my response has more to do with ethics than with music altogether, but I don’t think its right to bash a guy, while looking for hits from his rather large fan base, if that was indeed their intention. I think music culture has gotten too much about being high and mighty, and less about enjoyment and fulfillment, even I find myself sitting here writing a negative response to a negative article.

In the end, Owl City is experiencing success few people will ever imagine, and perhaps writing this was a waste of my own time. Ironic isn’t it?

Check out his Myspace for more on Owl City.
And for my review of his album Ocean Eyes

Owl City – Fireflies

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Minuit (pronounced Minwee, as helpfully pointed out on the album cover) are a New Zealand-made threesome consisting of the lovely Ruth Carr and fellow knob-twiddlers Paul Dodge and Ryan Beehre. The band’s success in places like London and the Czech Republic have placed them high on the list of New Zealand’s musical talent, and their energetic live acts are loved by midnight youths across the country.

Find Me… reflects Minuit’s ability to grow, shift and change – manic enthusiasm in songs like Yeah Yeah sit comfortably alongside darker songs like Queen Of The Flies and I Hate You; something unexplored on previous albums The 88 and The Guards Themselves. The diverse array of musical elements in Find Me…, from pub sing-along Vampires to the industrial Wayho, detract from the fact that Find Me… is an electro-pop album. What sets Minuit apart is how effortlessly contrasted their third offering is: it can be played on the dance floor or while lying on the couch and not sound out of place. Ruth Carr’s cutesy vocals work as well as ever on some of the nuttier lyrics Minuit are known for – Ruth has the unique gift to make singing about knee-capping your legs and chopping you in two sound like a fun night out as heard on 25 Bucks, the albums stand out tune.

Overall, the diversity of the band’s third offering is what sets them apart. Expect the unexpected from an album that is careful to not sound like an experimental jam – Minuit know how to please, and their ability to spread their musical talents across a field of different sounds can only encourage more people to jump on the Minuit bandwagon.

Minuit – 25 Bucks
Minuit – Run Run
Minuit – Yeah Yeah

And just in the spirit of the Twilight: New Moon release:

Minuit – Vampires

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Since breaking onto the scene in 2000, The Starting Line has relentlessly touted and toured their infectious brand of pop punk around North America, until the announcement of their hiatus, slash, break-up, slash, need to spend some time apart, in 2008. As either a going away present to a very loyal fan base, or a hint that this is one of those, not permanent type break ups, TSL has offered up Sombody’s Gonna Miss Us, a live concert CD/DVD recorded at their very “last” show at the 2008 Bamboozle Fest.

Live albums can be hit or miss. If the crowd lacks any interest, or the band’s having an off night, or if the bands live show just doesn’t translate well to home listening. In the case of Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us, TSL has orchestrated a hit. The hometown crowd, who had backed the band for almost a decade, was into every song, and they were almost treated to every song in TSL’s catalog, even reaching back to 2001’s With Hopes Of Starting Over EP, for fan favorite Greg’s Last Day, and playing the always awesome Best Of Me and The Ride.

Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us lays out the road map of TSL’s career from their early days to the later, more experimental songs from the bands last proper studio release, 2007’s Direction. Throughout the set the reasons why the band chose to take a hiatus become as clear as the reasons the band are likely to be back together and go about doing what they do so well. Older songs, while still packing the emotional punch they always did, when sung by a younger Kenny Vasoli, who was only 16 years old when the band got started, take on a different sound on Sombody’s Gonna Miss Us when sung by a Vasoli who is eight years older and wiser. As the set delves into songs like Bedroom Talk from 2005’s Based On A True Story, as well as Direction and Something Left To Give from Direction, Vasoli’s voice finds the pitch that those songs were meant for, and it is easy to see why he felt the need to make a different brand of music with his new project Person L

As much as you can see the reasons for the hiatus, you can also see why it’s likely that The Starting Line are not done making music together. The songs are tight and sound incredible live, and the crowd is, as they are at many a TSL show, into it, singing every word. Vasoli hints at the likely rekindlement on the disc making mention of the fans only having to wait till 2011. It’s not the only mention of The Starting Line possibly reuniting as Vasoli joked when playing an acoustic set at the release party for Sombody’s Gonna Miss Us, saying, “If you are really good this year then Santa is going to bring you something.”

Here’s hoping that the future does hold some new music from one of the last decades best pop punk bands, but in the meantime, Sombody’s Gonna Miss Us, holds up as a great live album and a way to fill the void while the band figure out what the next step is and when they’re gonna take it.

The Starting Line – Gregs Last Day
The Starting Line – Best Of Me
The Starting Line – This Ride

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I’m familiar with two of the bands, The Germans and Black Hat Brigade. The Germans opened for a Vampire Weekend show an without knowing any of their material, they showed off good stage presence. Black Hat Brigade, I know particularly well in large part thanks to Rob from Burgeoning Metropolis. Of the two bands that I haven’t had any experience with, Racoon Wedding (deliberate spelling mistake) is a Brantford, ON band that is solid and I’m actually digging their stuff. Schomberg Fair are also on the card.

Contest rules:
1. All you have to do is enter a comment, that easy.
2. Winner chosen by a draw and they get to see a great lineup of local talent.
3. Winner gets a +1 guestlist.
4. Contest ends November 25th

Zombies (Basement Sessions) by Black Hat Brigade
Tiger Vacuum Bottle by Germans
Basement Or The Attic by Racoon Wedding

Thanks to The Musebox for allowing us to the host the contest.

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For the past decade, it’s been interesting to see the evolution of a band created from one man and his emotions and experiences. This evolution has come at the cost of the happiness of one Jon Crosby, the man behind the moniker “VAST”. In that time the music has taken on a tone of self-hate and self-destruction, possibly due to the difficulties of his personal life, or with regards to gaining the rights of his past musical works. Whatever the reason may be, since the release of his album “Turquoise & Crimson”, the music has been gradually losing the electronic/industrial edge that defined VAST. His latest release “Me And You” does rekindle some aspects of the sound but the majority is acoustically driven, melancholically deep, and stylistically singular.

Me And You as mentioned utilizes a more acoustic sound as seen in “April” (a previous release). This album does have its fair share of electric guitars but the improvement over April is best felt through the overall atmosphere and the noticeably keener attention to detail in production. The vocal work has vastly improved and Crosby does an excellent job in not only singing the emotion but establishing that connection to make you feel that emotion as well. The downside to this is that emotion is most often one of very few. The despair demonstrated in these tracks while passionate in their own right, feel very restrictive as the band has always had good range of emotion.

While VAST has changed dramatically over the years this different sound doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad one. Acoustically, Crosby has an excellent voice and the music feels layered enough to have you keep coming back. Unfortunately, the album feels unnecessary. All these songs have already been released under the solo venture “Generica” in a much more complete fashion. Standout tracks like “You Should Have Known I’d Leave”, “Hotel Song”, and “It’s Not You (It’s Me)” don’t carry the album enough to warrant dedication. Instead I would recommend you go through and peruse the Generica volume releases, you may find more of what you like and for a much better price.

MP3:

VAST – You Should Have Known Id Leave

VAST – She Found Out

Buy at:

Realvast.com Store / iTunes

More info:

Realvast.com / Myspace / Generica

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Before I go into any specifics about the album, I have a quick disclaimer: If the only Weezer you will listen to is Pinkerton and The Blue Album, stay far, far away from Raditude. Case in point: Lil’ Wayne contributes a verse on one song. So, if Weezer’s lean toward the mainstream sickens you, steer clear, because they don’t even pretend to be anything less than a pop band on Raditude.

With the disclaimer out of the way, I can now safely say that Raditude isn’t a bad album at all. Granted, it’s nothing like the music Weezer used to make, but that doesn’t necessarily make it worse. If we mark Make Believe as the beginning of Weezer’s transformation, then Raditude is without a doubt the best album of the new era. It is a solid album of simple pop-rock tunes, and nobody’s pop sense is better in tune than Rivers Cuomo.

The album kicks off with the 8th grade relationship anthem, ‘(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To’. Over an infectious guitar hook, Cuomo tells believable stories about middle school sexual tension. Although it’s a bit of an odd topic for a 39-year-old songwriter, Cuomo hits the nail on the head describing middle school awkwardness. The album continues with ‘I’m Your Daddy’, and by the first chorus, it’s clear that Cuomo has no qualms about going balls deep into generic pop music. That would be bad, but Weezer the songs are crafted so well that even though the sound isn’t original, it’s still catchy as hell. Some other favorites on the album: ‘The Girl Got Hot’, featuring Cuomo musing about the newfound attractiveness of a girl who nobody used to look twice at; ‘Tripping Down The Freeway’, a clever tune about a dysfunctional relationship that Cuomo refuses to end; ‘The Prettiest Girl In the Whole Wide World’, a romantic tune with an almost AC/DC-esque intro.

I’ve purposely left off ‘Can’t Stop Partying’, because it isn’t really a Weezer song. It seems like they took lyrics from Jamie Foxx and Akon and told Cuomo to sing them. This song would be better off on one of R. Kelly’s albums, complete with Lil’ Wayne guest verse. Don’t get me wrong, Lil’ Wayne’s verse is as deft and clever as always, but it just doesn’t fit in with Weezer. It doesn’t sound like something Cuomo would, or should, write.

Other than an odd obsession with middle school and the aforementioned unfitting song, the album is generally a good effort from a great pop band. Once again, it’s not Pinkerton, but we’ve known for awhile that Pinkerton is never coming back. If you can accept Weezer’s new sound, it’s obvious that this album is leaps and bounds better than the last two. I hope that, no matter which path they take, Weezer doesn’t stop making catchy songs. In that regard, Raditude doesn’t disappoint.

Check out their myspace or website for more information about the band.

Weezer – The Girl Got Hot
Weezer – Tripping Down The Freeway
Weezer – The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World

No related posts. Sorry.

First let me start off by saying that there should be a word limit to album titles, sometimes they get out of hand. There also needs to be some kind of truth in advertising thing as well, I mean, The Hearts We Broke On The Way To The Show sounds a wee bit pretentious doesn’t it, never mind a bit wordy. But this is really apropos of nothing.

The second thing I want to address is that second or two of foreboding you sometimes get when you look at something and think to yourself that it is just going to go horribly wrong. When I downloaded this album for review I had that sense of foreboding and I wasn’t far off the mark. I have stated that I hate giving bad reviews and it’s true. Bands, generally, work hard and try to do their best to make a product that will appeal to, hopefully, a large segment of the population. Much and all as we like to think that bands are in it for the music, the reality is they would like to see a bit of the green as a reward for their work. So with that in mind, it is with a sad countenance that I greet you today and a heavy heart that I have to write this. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and doesn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things and that somewhere there are legions of people who are just waiting for a throwback to the New Wave bands of the ’80s to come down the pipe. If there are, and I have to really believe that you are out there somewhere, this band is for you. For me, not so much.

It started out hopefully. Cosmic Dancer, a cover of a T-Rex song, starts with a nice Depeche Mode/Duran Duran vibe but it can’t overcome the lyrical paucity that was a hallmark of a T-Rex song. That being said, The Idle Hands aren’t great lyricists either so Cosmic Dancer fits right in. Loaded, the first single, contains such bon mots as: “All the unrequited emo boys get loaded” and “All the hopped up kids with their junkie friends get loaded.” In fact “…get loaded” seems to follow just about every line, although it is interesting to hear “backpack kids” sung quickly. I couldn’t decide if these songs were wry sardonic social commentary or if they just didn’t have that much to say but figured they should try for deep and insightful. They fail miserably on both counts. Don’t get me wrong, the arrangements are often quite good, with a mature post-punk/pop/New Wave sound that many retro-sounding bands lack but the lyrics definitely come from the shallow end of the pool.

It does get better after this but, for me, only marginally so. The Fall, the third song, is a danceable tune with a catchy refrain. It definitely has more in common with the Brit-pop movement of the late ’80s early ’90s than with anything going on right now. This sound kind of makes it fun but again the weak lyrics left me cold. Liver and Brains is definitely better, a heavier rock sound that supports the (and it pains me to say this because I love me some Jarvis and Cirian Daly just doesn’t have the pipes) Jarvis Cocker-style vocals. Daly, does have an interesting baritone but it is better suited to the songs that play into the lower part of his register, his voice tends to break unflatteringly when he tries to reach the higher notes within his range and a falsetto is just better left to those who can do it. Loaded showcases his voice very well and the talents of the rest of the band as well. This could be the strongest song on the whole album. Again, though, I found the lyrics questionable. Loaded, Married Life and Liver and Brains actually form a Strokes-like triad that I have to admit to finding likeable. By far, much better than the opening trio, Cosmic Dancer, Damage Control, and The Fall, and infinitely preferable to Queen of Air and Darkness (a nod to Berlin-era Bowie), Secretary (a song that could have been written by Snow Patrol), The Sleazer, or Space Thing.

What all this means to me is that, perhaps, a twelve-song album may have been a bit of an ambitious project for this band. They may have been better to just do a six-song EP rather than compiling everything they’ve ever written onto one CD. Certainly, they are talented musicians – the guitars are crunchy enough and the drums and bass are driving enough – and they have been getting a lot of favourable reviews from other blogs but I really had a hard time listening to this. I tried three or four times before I could get past the second song. This really, really isn’t my kind of music at all. They are catchy pop tunes, to be sure, (One reviewer who shall remain nameless compared them to the Jonas Brothers if the Jonas Brothers were an actual power trio. I find this a bit harsh, to say the least. I mean to compare them to the Jonas Brothers?!? That’s just cruel.), but I just didn’t like it.

The bands members are listed on their MySpace page as: Cirian and his brother, Criostoir (both Irish ex-pats) and Emma, Nick and Eileen (from Minneapolis). You can buy The Hearts We Broke On The Way To The Show on iTunes , Amazon and emusic. Anyway, give the following tracks a listen, they may be just your cuppa after all if the adage that somewhere out there the perfect partner is waiting for you is true then somewhere out there is an audience just waiting for this band.

The Idle Hands – Loaded
The Idle Hands – Sunshine on the Tenements
The Idle Hands – Liver and Brains

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Earlier Landon Pigg was mentioned in a music commercial post. If “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop,” was played a general consensus would state that the song is from a ring commercial on television, even though Pigg has released other singles from his second album LP. Many of the artists featured on television are known by their one song, and not for their real musical talents. Luckily, I’m here to clear that up.

Landon Pigg’s new album, Boy Who Never, is a warm and calming ride, fit for the cloudiest or brightest days. The album begins with “The Far,” a more up beat tempo song of a simple love story of a couple making it to where they are. However, it’s not the beats that compose the song, but Pigg’s voice carries the listener through the story, while maintaining a perfect level of emotion. The second song, and second single, however, has an instrumental beat that creates the song. A jazz-like melody in the beginning characterizes the song with a saxophone, a piano, and a consistent cymbal rhythm. This lovely instrumental moves the song along, accompanied well with Landon’s voice. The next song, “Blue Skies,” is my highlight of the album, about a love story gone wrong this time, turning blue skies to gray. Towards the end of the song, a familiar piano sequence appears, reminding me of the classic “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship.

“Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop” then passes, a classic love song that should not be passed up. “Take a Chance” is slightly catchy, then “The Boy Who Never” slows back down with a soft drum beat accompanied by a calm violin. Although peaceful, the song that labels the album is not greatly captivating, and feels incomplete. “Made for Glory” sings about a savior, and “Speak to the Keys” provides a little more pop to the album than heard up until that point. “Rooftops” is a gentle song, with an instrumental vibe close to Keane’s. Lastly, the album closes up with another slow song complete with a piano and Pigg’s continuously soothing voice.
In all, the album contains a smooth vibe that warms the soul with different emotions of love. However, each song individually does not hold enough creativity in itself to make specific songs pop out. That said, the album still does create an aura of peaceful happiness and love fit to purify the heart with its sound.

Landon Pigg – A Ghost
Landon Pigg – Blue Skies
Landon Pigg – This Far

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Anyway, here’s a neat music video that’s directed by Abby Portner (hmm don’t know the relationship to David Portner aka Avey Tare but there’s probably a connection). I dig the video much more then Summertime Clothes as it contains puppetry, lo-fi filming and other artistic qualities. It could be seen as merely a collage with no direction but it’s still cool either way.

A great video to accompany a great song, really check it out:

For you Ipod users, over at VisualNoiz has put up a downloadable .m4v video which you can find here.

In The Flowers by Animal Collective

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We All Have Hooks For Hands is a band is a South Dakota band signed to Afternoon Records. I was actually interested after listening to a few things as much as it polarized me.

One thing I should point out immediately, Eli Show has one annoying voice. Not that it’s important or anything but reviewing the album in front of my girlfriend had her annoyed. I think some of the annoying things revolve around the wailing/high notes that are not really hit too well. It’s squeaky and screamy (emoish perhaps) and at times it does take away from the quality of the music.

Musically I think they’ve got something good going for them despite the vocal drawbacks. Depending on the person anyway, it will or won’t matter. It’s different for some people, I personally don’t mind that much and I just made it a personal goal to just try to enjoy it as much as I can. WAHHFH’s style is a mix of pop, folk and I hear a little bit of roots in them. Their songs generally create a lot of energy to go along with Eli Show’s style. Their songs are full of musical energy and it leads to most songs being more solid then not.

It leaves me in a bit quandary, musical I’d be pretty excited by the band but I’m ultimately left tempered. They are a decent/okay band but I’m not sure how much I can ultimately like them. It’s hard to choose favorites because musically it’s solid but I doubt I’d ever be impressed by the vocals. Maybe it’ll end up being an acquired taste but it’s like that with music sometimes. As good as a band is, sometimes you just can’t get into the singer. Off the top of my head I’d say Made Up of Tiny Lights and Sea That Holds You.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
A band worth posting about yet at the same time a band that I don’t think I’ll ever be crazy about. Still, there’s nothing wrong with making decent music so let’s not bother concentrating on negatives. Especially if you dig their music.

Made Up Of Tiny Lights by We All Have Hooks For Hands
Sea That Holds You by We All Have Hooks For Hands

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In part because I thought it’d be fun to have back to back picks of the week with the word ‘Whale’ in the title of the band name, and in part because I’ve been listening to Noah and the Whale’s The First Days of Spring almost exclusively this week, I present to you… Noah and the Whale’s The First Days of Spring… that was anti-climactic...

Before seeing Noah and the Whale at Criminal Records a couple of weeks ago they weren’t on my radar screen at all. I’m fairly confident they were/are a pretty hip/happenin’ blog band, but I just never got on board — I’m not a sheep! After seeing them and enjoying the 3/4/5 songs that they played, I was ready to give The First Days of Spring a few good listens, but I wasn’t expecting it to light my world on fire or anything.

And it hasn’t… it’s not that kind of album. It is, after all, a break-up album. I see you’re processing that whole Spring metaphor they’ve used… re-birth, new beginnings, very clever.

What strikes me about the band and their album is how affecting I’ve found them both, particularly given that I’m in the opposite place in my own life (soon to be married — sorry ladies). It’s not just the symphonic string arrangements, although they’re certainly part of the whole mood, but it’s the way that the vocals – very somber, conversational, and almost hoarse at points – create this really beautiful contrast. It feels a little bit like the post-relationship reflection of a dumpee, looking back at all the relationship without remembering all the awful things that happened in the relationship that led to the break up in the first place.

Here’s hoping the boys in Noah and the Whale manage to bust whatever slump they were in with this new album. It’s very good, and if that’s in indication, they should have their pick of groupies so that the next album will turn out a little happier… I’m sensing a bikini inspired, beach themed summer album…

[mp3] Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies
[mp3] Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies (the Twelves rmx)

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I know I am jumping on the bandwagon of Neon Indian reviews a bit late but this ep definitely deserves just a bit more attention. Alan Polamo and Alicia Scardetta were the buzz of the summer and this album doesn’t disappoint. Everyone keeps saying it is reminiscent of the forgotten 80s which I get just it reminds me of old anti-drug propaganda videos with crazy colours in the background and talking hotdogs a lot more.

The entire album is heavily production based with little vocals which suited the feel of the album really well, the vocals when used are droney just adding to the whole hazy feel of the album. The steady simplistic drums along with the nostalgic guitar gives the entire album a sense of familiarity, and keeps the album grounded enough so that the extreme synths and nature sounds don’t get annoying.

Terminally Chill one of my favorites from the album has really happy synths and mellowed out guitar rifts accompanied by the occasional bird chirping to make a great track. The forgotten 80s theme of the album is most apparent in this song, its cheesy but just cheesy enough, not overly done so that its nostalgic with a new twist.

Laughing gas is a really fun song it has kids laughing layered over of what sounds like the music from Diddy Kong racing my only complaint here is that I wish it was a bit longer, a lot of those short tracks on this album, what I think of as intermission tracks are so good that I wish they were extended and made into full songs. BUT OH WELL, you cant be perfect. It reminds me a bit Psychic Chasm, the song not the album, which is my favourite on the album, well of the year really. It’s the heaviest track on the album with stronger guitar sounds and heavier bass taking occasional breaks with lasers, it reminds me a bit of Glass Candy which is for sure a good thing.

All the songs on the album are fairly similar but different at the same time, they use an array of effects from old school Nintendo to birds chirping and kids laughing. I wish the full album came out in late June simply because it would have been perfect to listen to while sitting around the fire drinking or whatever you do when you are outside. Physic Chasms couldn’t be a better name for the album its very new age electro and nostalgic at the same time without a doubt one of the best of 09.

Psychic Chasms – Neon Indian

Dead Beat Summer – Neon Indian

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Yeasayer’s back with a taste of there up coming sophomore album “Odd Blood” in stores February 09, 2010. The Brooklyn band recently released their first single “Ambling Alp” for free off of their website. “Ambling Alp” is extremely infectious, with its crisp sounds and intriguing vocals by Chris Keating. The track is more adventurous than songs off their debut album “All Hours Cymbals” as explores more electro pop sounds as but still holds on to their indie edge.

I can’t wait to see what “Odd Blood” as a whole will sound like, but until it’s released I’ll be enjoying their new single.

Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

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Lust In Space is an addicting new addition to Gwar’s ever expanding library of albums. Adding both to their old antics, charm and humor as well as improving their music as a whole, Lust In Space takes their metal into several new galaxies of mind blowing astonishment.

The Good : Continues the titular adventures of Gwar, vastly improved style of metal, good for a laugh; a good combination of raunchiness and depravity rolled into one, some songs are pretty addicting, great story/lyrics, some great riffs to be heard, displays some unique qualities not found in most other bands, notable songs include Metal Metal Land, Damnation Under God, and Lust In Space

The Bad: Some songs feel more spoken than sung, skipped tracks here and there, got bored at points, couldn’t get into a couple songs, music didn’t seem to mix well with vocals at points, songs feel either extremely well or poorly done i.e. no gray line, better listened to live in concert to get full effect

Gwar whose fictional biography is way too long to get into and spans over eleven studio albums, two EP’s, and two live albums. There’s a lot of history behind Gwar, and all of it fascinating and mainly comedic at the same time. For all intentional purposes for those who have not yet had the pleasure of being introduced to Gwar, let’s just say that they are a couple of interplanetary Gods who have been sentenced to life on Earth. They love to eat, drink, kill, rock and have sex, just like any other God out there and it serves as a main focal point for many of their songs and live performances.

Lust In Space continues the story where Beyond Hell left off where the band tries now to leave their prison that is the planet Earth and venture off into space where they shall once again resume their adventures. Many things end up hindering their escape from Earth including an impending attack by Cardinal Syn. They seek help from Zog who turns out to be useless in helping Gwar but in the end everything works out and they finally leave Earth to pursue greater things promising to stop back on Earth for tours. This is what I love about Gwar, they’re a band that takes their comedic styling to a whole new level by adding a new story to each of their albums that continues through to the next all the while keeping things fresh and memorable.

The album starts with an amazing intro song that prepares you for what’s to come later on, explaining Gwar’s current situation and what they strive for in doing by the end of the album. This intro song aka “Lust In Space” is also definitely one of the more notable songs on the album, it’s a very melodramatic yet oh so very addicting tune that feels something like a mix between Iron Maiden and Opeth. It makes for an amazing opener and pulls you right into listening in further to the rest that is in store.

Their music has also vastly improved over previous years especially if you compare this album with some of their earlier works. There is a definite change in everything from how they’ve changed up some of the pacing and timing all the way to certain lyrical content most notably if you take a song from this album such as “Metal Metal Land” and compare it to one of their earliest songs “I Hate Love Songs”. There have been a couple changes but it’s good to see the band getting back into the thrash metal scene. It’s a good fit for them and hopefully they stick with it in the long run since it’s a proven formula that seems to have worked with this album and a couple of their last albums to date.

What hasn’t really changed over all these years is their style of humor, it’s still as raunchy and taboo as ever hitting on everything from sexual taboo, to drinking, killing, and everything else in between. There’s never really a dull moment when it comes to Gwar, especially when seen live in concert. Their live performances take things to epic proportions. It’s like no other live performance you’ve ever seen, all I can say is that you have to go see it to actually believe it.

Where I just said that things never really get dull when it comes to Gwar, well that’s only half true concerning this album. There were just some songs I just couldn’t get into what so ever where it got to the point where I was listening through the album a couple times just skipping through to the tracks that I actually did like. Take for example “Where Is Zog?” it’s actually a pretty well done song after you get past the intro but just listening to the first twenty five seconds and hearing the same three words over and over again being droned on just didn’t cut it for me and I would almost immediately skip tracks.

Another thing that bothered me was that some songs felt more spoken than sung and felt monotonous at certain points. When sung the music just seemed to flow and was nothing but exciting and heart pounding. As soon as a track would start off spoken and kept like that for a good minute or so, it just felt mediocre and a total bore to be heard. In my opinion I found that most songs on the album were either really well done or really poorly done with no fine gray lining in between. There were even points on some tracks where the music and vocals didn’t really seem to mix and sync that well and would feel totally off and would ruin that certain track for myself.

For the most part though, the good definitely overshadows the bad. With notable tracks like “Metal Metal Land” and “Damnation Under God” it becomes really hard to truly hate this album. Lust In Space is an album with not only a good sense of humor but also rocks out to its fullest and for that I commend it. With another milestone surpassed by Gwar and now leading into their 25th anniversary, Lust In Space has proven to be one of their best works in their 25 years of thrashing, killing, drinking and the likes. Only time will tell where their next adventure will lead them, but knowing these guys it’s going to be out of this world.

7.6/10

Damnation Under God by Gwar
Lust In Space by Gwar
Metal Metal Land by Gwar

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Welcome to the island of misfit ideas. Welcome to a land dominated by the id and the ego. This is Puscifer. Deep within the recesses of Maynard James Keenan’s mind lives a world that just does not fit his other projects. What is Puscifer? The opportune question should be how do you describe it? It’s best understood as you blast the music on a car stereo driving on a desert road. Its best felt at a time when you just couldn’t care less about anyone but yourself and with this EP iteration: “C” is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE), Keenan ups the vibe of his inner meme.

The first single released on the album entitled “The Mission (M is for Milla mix)” is an extremely smooth collaboration between Keenan and Milla Jovovich. The beat remains smooth and clean throughout with the echoing vocals “whatta you know?” The standout track from this EP by far is “Polar Bear”. The emotion and vibe you get while listening just gives off the feeling of nefariousness and treachery. This fits well in line with the entire ballsy feel of Puscifer’s music. The two tracks live from Club Nokia come from the first album “V is for Vagina” Like most of their live songs; they sound completely fresh and different. Unfortunately the audio can’t reproduce the amazing caricatures and cabaret of their live show. If you like the sound of the inner workings of an interesting mind, give this album a shot.

MP3:

The Mission (M Is for Milla Mix)

Buy at:

iTunes

More info:

Puscifer.com / Myspace

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