Honorable Mentions: Indi Edition!

A name, a description, and a song. Can you tell I'm both not sure what to say and bored of this already?
To be clear, that is bored of this list, not of music.
Though: I think I will make this a list of things that you will not find easily.

DEER AND THE HEADLIGHTS -- SMALL STEPS, HEAVY HOOVES
There is something magical about this band. It is straight up rock, but composed by some of the best musicians ever.

HOOSIER POET -- SELF TITLED
From the great land of Hamilton (ew), this three piece dared to bring something different to Cambridge at a time when everyone seemed to bring the chugs. I believe they are broken up, and I know they did not go as far as I wish they did, but if you can find this album, it is so good.

THE JUNCTION -- & With This Comes Tomorrow
By far, one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Also, one of the poppiest bands I have sat through. Brilliantly tight and way too talented.

KRAEHMER -- IT WAS THE FASTEST I EVER RAN, IT WAS THE FURTHEST I EVER SAW
This album introduced me to technical progressions. Keep in mind, everything they ever did was with a single kick. Fuck that.
I CANNOT FIND ANY FUCKING MUSIC. IF YOU FIND SOMETHING, SEND IT TO ME, PLEASE?

LAMBS -- SELF TITLED I used to work with Sean (the lead singer) at a music store. I also recorded his old punk band many years ago. This was quite the shock, in the best ways.
I do not own this album, but I could not find the song online.

SLENDER LORIS -- WORLD TOUR
I got this CD after my band opened for them from my friends Kevin and Mike. This CD is everything that punk should be. Except, you know, good.
Check out teir BandCamp. Free music, or do what I recommend and support them. Keep in mind, the entire set is this short. Fuck yeah.

TUGNUT -- ODE TO PETE
This album is important. Everything about this album is both amazing AND loud!

the other elephant is on the ROAD

Farewell To Freeway -- Weekdays Seldom Wake To Victory
Take that, some semblance of alphabetical order, kind of! This band has a soft part of my heart because they were part of the first local show I ever saw. There is an atmosphere to this album that few have ever been able to recreate. To be fair, I do not think this band found that feel again until they released Only Time Will Tell in 2009. It came out JUST before the breakdown became a thing that ever band used, and it will forever be what I think punk can be. This short album brought me through high school and constantly reminded me that, with perseverance, a music career is possible.

FOR THE MATITATICS -- WE IMPEND
If AT THE DIVE IN never broke up, and became less thrashy(?). I consider this to be one of the greatest albums ever.

THE REDFLECKS -- THE STORY CANNOT END
This band took the ideas Metric had and made them less, Canadian maybe? Or the ideas behind U2 but performed them, less shit? I am not sure what to compare them to, but it is a very good, very short album.

That is it for these amalgamation lists. They are a lot of fun, and they are a great way to cut my work down, but I feel like I am taking a cheap way out. Please support everyone making music you love, but independent artists are working from their own financial reserves. I have done that the wrong way for years, but I have also witnessed the difficulties of those doing it right. If I do not update, have a great New Years. Otherwise, see you soon!

O' God, The Aftershow

SO. MUCH. PAIN.
But not as much as I was actually expecting.

Yesterday, Luka and I went to check out the summer slaughter tour. I will start this "review" with the statement that I am NOT a festival guy. Though I like the idea of paying one price to see several of my favourite bands, I get bored. Especially something like the Summers Laughter Tour where it starts loud and just stays loud for the entire time.
I will not be going too far in depth with talking about it. I will say that Cattle Decapitation, Norma Jean, Periphery, Animals as Leaders and The Dillinger Escape Plan make for an amazing tour just them alone. In fact, if I had known when they were playing, it would have been worth the $25 to show up when that lineup started. The first bunch of bands were a grab bag of not bad to really good. Norma Jean played it safe by spending most of the set playing "O' God, The Aftermath" and "Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child." I am not complaining: it meant I was singing along during the only band I danced in the pit for. Dillinger played a good selection and I might have blown my voice screaming along with 43% Burnt. Periphery and Cattle Decapitation were the two bands I had never seen before that night that I was most excited for. Neither band disappointed, but I feel like I may be the only person around who DOESN'T CARE about Periphery's second album.

Animals as Leaders has changed their drummer since last I saw them. I quit music forever.


Seriously! It was not even fair to watch. It did not sound or even LOOK humanly possible. Fuck.

To anyone with Steam: Add me!
I say that because I now have a mouse that is pushing me to play more online games because Left 4 Dead. Yep. Also Borderlands 2.

I did mention how I have this week off, correct? I have nothing else to mention. I will try to have a full review or something awesome for next week. Maybe I'll do an 80's thing. That would be awesome.

Reminders: I am at this on Monday. Come say hi. The 'Rents are awesome.
I have a Twitter where I bitch about things. Usually boredom related.
The comment section is a great way to yell at me for something publicly. Please feel free to do so. If it is about my grammar, I know already. If it was financially viable, I would pay for an editor.

Special Thank you to Jacob and Nate for noticing spelling errors within the first fifteen minutes of launch. For that, they get this sentence.

5) Yeah, I'm still doing this.

AHHH! Now that was the very definition of a busy week. I am officially first aid qualified and I'm pretty sure I clocked over 40 hours in the work place again. Time moves on, and Easter is here, and I got to see Sigur Ros last night!


It was pretty amazing. Oneohtrix Point Never opened the show. He's almost like if you were to cross Aphex Twin with Sigur Ros; pretty strings and choir samples, sliced together in a frantic collection of sounds.


Sigur Ros themselves, I felt, started a bit weak. They had this curtin in front of them for the first couple of songs. I had a neat effect for a little bit, but they weren't doing enough with it to warrant how long it was up. As soon as it dropped, I felt like the show began. I can't really remember the set. I did mean to take notes. I wound up sitting there, gapping maw, blown away by the brilliance and beauty of what was in front of me. They played every song that I wanted to hear (minus BaBa from the EP BaBaTiKiDiDo, but I would have been REALLY surprised), and even the songs I didn't care for on album sounded amazing. I still haven't heard the newest release, but now I almost have to because of how BAD ASS the songs were. The one piano player/aux percussionist had a full rack of metal slabs to get a proper "pot and pan" feel.

The back drop for the set was all the modified music video clips you can find from past shows. They did a good job at meshing images displayed on the screen and some of the stage lighting to make things seem like they were one. The lighting was really cool; either really organic lights set up like stars, or frantic strobes and spot lights to convey the frantic nature of some parts. Joining Sigur Ros on stage was a horn section (who, though very talented, I have no clue who they were) and I thought it was Amiina rejoining to fill out the string section, but I have been corrected. Everyone played their parts brilliantly, though it was fun to hear the occasional bunk note.

Now for things I could talk about any day.

Bioshock Infinite is staring me in the face. I really would like the time to get that plastic wrap off. I am beyond stoked that it has finally been released, now it's just a question on when to play it.

To my dearest metal heads: please do yourself the favor of looking up the Toronto band Titan. They are by far one of my favorite bands in Canada and my favorite metal band who haven't broken up. Bone-crushing rhythms and tear-evoking melodies in a soul-destroying arrangement with relentless and bloodied cries piercing through the cascading collection of melodiousness sounds. Parts and pieces of their sound reminds me of the Hamilton local band named Hoosier Poet, which is another one of my favorites.

Here is a horrible sounding live video. It's still pretty, though.

Here is the BandCamp for the new album.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that I love bands that remind me of Buried Inside and all of their brutal, beautiful sounds.

AND NOW FOR ME TO GUSH OVER BURIED INSIDE!

This band still holds the status of the prettiest band I have ever heard. It is the only band that can brutally beat the shit out of my ears and I cry with joy and absolute awe. I came in durring the era around their second album 'Chronoclast: Selected Essays On Times Reckoning And Auto-Cannibalism' and what a brilliant time to find them. The album is one long song broken into ten tracks with names to keep the theme going. Might I add that I'm pretty sure the drummer uses a single kick the entire time? Isn't that just amazing?
I was rather depressed when I found out that I missed their last show a couple of years ago. I had heard that they were coming up to ten years playing brutally fast music with hectic shows and mostly just playing for food and new an end was in sight. Of course, when someone offered me tickets and didn't mention it was their last show, I thought I'd have another year at least. Boy, was I red.

Shit quality, but you get the idea.