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!

Last post before I leave...

Random link jumping. Came up with some different and interesting artists and whatnot to look into.

Audrey Napoleon :: Random producer who does stuff. Some of it is pretty neat. It is a bit more dance-pop than I usually look into.

Brendan Canning :: Finally got a stream of the new album (in link) and it sounds pretty cool. Also, he started another label, thus the not being released on Arts & Crafts.

Dream Affair :: I keep checking in with this band every so often just to see what is new. 80's Goth, today!

Beliefs :: I'm on a bit of a dream-pop thing. These guys are pretty cool.

CST Sampler :: Constellation Records did a sampler a little while ago. Worth poking around on, if you are looking for something obscure. I'm not a fan of the full 40 whatever minuets, but to each their own.

I hope something in that list brings you a great feeling.
I'm off to do something that is very similar to this list, except I'm not going to tell anyone about it.
Also, I'M GOING TO ICELAND. BYE.

-J

Lest we forget (punk & Metal)

Remember 2002? I don't either don't worry.

(END BLOG)

I kid. 2002 was the year I started high school. The intro metal at the time were bands like Slipknot and Staind, and I really did start the alternative hunt around that time. Death metal got me into looking into the local scene and my Nine Inch Nails discovery got me looking into the budding screamo scene. 

Grade 10 I was introduce the the local music scene of Cambridge by a girl named Becky and a fellow named Jeff. They took me to see The Reason play with 86 This, Handheld, and Farewell To Freeway. So that seems like a good place to start.

A couple of notes:

Every little section will be followed by a "DOES IT HOLD UP?!" to which I am simply asking that if I had come across this album now instead of then, would I have picked it up.

I'd also like to take this line to Nate for introducing me to the phrase 2004-core. All you need to do is look at a few albums from this year to get what it means.

The Reason - Ravenna (2004)

This was one of my first experiences with "screamo." Ex Sewing with Nancy changed their sound and became a form of pioneer in the Southern Ontario punk scene beside Silverstein and Alexisonfire. The reason had that vocalist that would switch between the whining singing and screaming to accompany their soft-heavy-soft formula. The drummer barely used double kick, and it really kept the punk pace to all of their music. The individuel parts of their songs were very simple yet very fluid.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! Well, in the same way that At The Drive In's first album holds up. It is not so much a good listen as it shows a time and a place in music. In the screamo genre, this album has one of the lower production values that will apear on the list. Though this adds to the feel, it does make it hard for new listeners to pick it up and give it a swing. The Reason's next album, Things Couldn't Be Better, is a much cleaner album with much less 2004-core screaming.

Roses Dead - Stages (2006)

Holy fuck technical punk and/or Djent has come a long way, but my god this album is pretty. This is the first band I heard that played with rhythms and time signatures to a point where someone looking to learn the progressions would HAVE to break it down into segments, some of which lasting less than 3 seconds. The album starts with a "dirty breakdown" and the noise doesn't end for the entire 11 tracks. A Wake In The Water is still one of my favorite instrumental tracks of all time. The only real gripe I have about this album is that, even though it is one huge track, every song starts with a very similar guitar riff. This band has an EP prior to this release the broke up due to internal conflict and the inability to find a singer.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! New listeners and people who don't remember the early years of this sound would probably not enjoy this as much as those of us who lived through it to tell the tale. I mostly put this one on the list to remind the old 519punk users that they exist. 519 REGION PEOPLE, GIVE THIS ALBUM MORE PLAYS ON YOUR ITUNES! If you need a copy, talk to me. I think I still have mine somewhere.

Tugnut - Ode To Pete (2006)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



*recomposes self*

I played so many shows with these guys and my do I miss it. The first time I saw them, their bass player played half the set outside and I had no fucking clue what the hell was going on. People didn't know whether to dance or to kill each other. Still remains one of the loudest bands I have ever seen and will always stay close to my heart. I am reviewing this album mostly because when scanning through all of them, this was one of the only ones I could hear. The recordings, minus this and one other album, were all self done analogue. The first few albums were put together using photocopiers, sharpies, and time. There was some mention that the singer would actually write poetry and base the songs around how he thought the music would accompany it. To be honest, there are still parts of their songs I can't play after all these years of trying because it makes ABSOLUTELY no sense, and I love it.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! If for no other reason than there is nothing that could ever sound like this ever. Their strange use of jazz chords followed by broken jazz chords followed by a saucy dance bit will never be able to be replicated, and that is a bit depressing. Where are they now? Joe is making acoustic guitars in, I believe, BC. Marc was playing bass for Fuck The Facts and Steve was playing with the Great Sabitini. Marc and Steve are also in a two piece doom metal group called Greber. Please help these amazing friends with their respected projects.

Poison The Well - Opposite of December... A Season Of Separation (1999)

I can't tell if I have to love this album for what they influenced and were at the forefront of, or if I should hate them for making entire songs on this album out of "dun dun dunundun dun." There was a time where the first track had blown my mind with it's blistering double kick outside of metal and how personal the lyrics are. When looking at my iTunes for albums that came out that same year, I can't find anything remotely similar with the exception of Calculating Infinity (The Dillinger Escape Plan) and Refused's The Shape of Punk To Come from the year prior. There are still some great moments on this album and I'll still bust Slice Paper Wrists out at social functions to watch a couple people go scouring the ground for nickels.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! To put politely, fuck no. It is little more than nostalgia and their second album Tear From The Red (2002) was the same idea but so much better. I still love this album, and I'm sure most people who picked it up back in the early 2000's still love this album. If you have never heard of Poison The Well, save this one for last on the list of which albums to check out.
...
*puts Slice Papers Wrists back on to sing along with the middle bit*


ALEXISONFIRE - ALEXISONFIRE (2003)

When the hell did this album hit ten years old? That aside, what a fantastic piece of audio. This album has some of the prettiest string work to date. This album was before Dallas Green could sing properly and before George Pettit knew how to scream without thrashing his voice. The drums on this album are simple because they have to be to make this album perfect.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! I am way too biased to say honestly whether it does or not. It is still in my top Canadian albums of all time and in my top twenty albums of all time. There is something I love about how unpolished it is. In fact; if they cleaned it up, I probably wouldn't care for the album at all anymore. It is gritty and off key and strangely mixed because it HAS to be. I'm still looking for someone to cover Counterparts And Number Them, by the way.

Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)

Keep your voice low...
This album is beautiful. The use of vocal harmonies and almost vocal battles at points must have been something short of impossible to arrange in a way that didn't make them sound conflicting. This was my emo secret, and I owe it all to my friend Jaymi for reminding me every once and a while that I still have this album somewhere in this massive library of music I have. The songs are unfairly catchy, yet not cheesy. The lyrics are personal, but not pathetic, though they do hinge at times. Every song is about some horrible personal moment that could have ruined a life, and quite possibly has. At the heart of this wrist-cutting hair-dying masterpiece is a punk heart who beats with just as much hate as any of us. The vocalist is a lyrical genius with lines that seem relatable, quotable, but still incredibly personal to the one who wrote them.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! Like most major label releases from the early 2000's, there is little change is recording quality or methods so from a strictly auditory standing; yes. It comes from the same background that most modern pop-punk comes from and, since emo is a dead language, I would say that it would definitely hold up to date. Forget I dropped the emo line and pretend that punk was never used in this review. Use them as an idea to check out this classic album, but don't base the album on those merits. It's an experience, not a label. Listen, enjoy, and welcome to the family.

Norma Jean - O God The Aftermath (2005)

This album starts with a "...wat..." and it just never really drops it. I would like to think that I'm ok at drums, but I still can't figure out the first track. Speaking of tracks; this was the first album that I have ever seen that had not only a witty play on words every track title, but also had two titles per track (the second of which was equally witty). I can't make out a damned word he says on this album, but it all sounds equally brutal and harsh and something that's fun to punch walls to. I don't know if it's the gargled screams, the driving and fucked drums, or the constant slides of dissonance on the guitars that make me so angry when I listen to this album. Don't get me wrong, it's a good kind of angry. The kind that you get after you watch that bully who was just making fun of you get his ass handed to him by someone who just can't take his bull shit anymore. The biggest bit of regret I have around this band is that, when I got to see them (2005), I couldn't mosh or maim because the God Damned hardcore kids were dancing in every possible pit area.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! Oh fuck yes and no. It sounds like shit. The mid is totally scooped out and if you are in a car, the bass rattle from the windows will be louder than anything going on in the music. As far as musically, it is in a field all to it's own. When I say sliding guitars, I mean that the first track and a couple others are literally based around synchronized slides and dissident chords being hit in perfect unison. The drums are, though simple in skill, are so fucking tight with the random nature of the tracks, that following them can feel like you are going to loose your mind. Please, pick this album back up. Show them that they shouldn't have dropped this sound and that we may have supported them for longer if they hadn't. Seriously, Norma Jean: your other albums after this one suck.

I Hate Sally - Sickness Of The Ages (2004)

So fucking metal. This album came out before they got their more recognizable female front. I personally prefer where they went, but I can completely see why this album was so well received in the metal scene and why so many fans still hold it on such high. It was metal through and through. There was no attempt at making anything sound pretty and the message was very straight forward.
DOES IT HOLD UP?! Yes. The metal community should always remember these great Canadians and all the good that they did. The next big album they did (Don't Worry Lady) was much more drone feeling and came at everything from a different lyrical edge. Check them both out!1 Also, I will never do this band justice. Luka is a much better fan than I, ask her about them if you want more information!

BAHHHHHHH THERE IS TOO MUCH!

I will come back to this premis later if this is well received. If I left something out that you KNOW I shouldn't have, remind me in the comments! I'll probably hate myself forever if I don't get something I'm not thinking of right now in the next one.

12) Feeling Lucky?

So let us talk about sales of audio mediums and why the music industry is not going anywhere any time soon. I will try to keep my reasons and such, though opinion based, as unbiased and as educated as I can. Please keep in mind that my opinions for stating the reasons for changes in the industry are based on sales and opinions working at a used CD shop in Cambridge and should be seen as an idea or argument. Do not use this blog as any sort of absolute fact on anything, but especially this piece. The charts the actual numbers come from will be linked at the end.

The thing that gets brought up oh-so-often at my cash counter is "isn't the music industry dying?" and "why not just download everything?" Well, the easy reply to the downloading idea is that it is still illegal most places and most websites do not want to get caught in the crossfire. When people bring up places like iTunes and (legal) Napster, opinions and feelings often become thrown around as fact.

The first point I would like to make is that the music industry would not bother if it was not profitable. It is far too early in the year to have any sort of fair comparison to last years numbers, so let us pretend it is closer to January. Physical sales are down from a sudden peak in the year prior and digital sales are spiking from a very low 2011. Physical medium sales are still 80 million units outselling digital distribution. Now, would those sales go to digital if there was not an option for physical sale? I have a couple of customers who come to our store from the country who can barely get internet access. Would these people be able to switch to digital? Obviously not. Now, I am aware that the few customers I mention is not enough to even make the industry bat an eyelash, so I'm going to bring up some census information! YAY CANADIAN CENCUS!

A study done in 2010 shows that 1 in 5 Canadians do not have internet access (so just over 6.8 million Canadians). With Canadian physical purchasing sitting at 20.5 million last year and digital sitting just over 10 million, and assuming we go by the idea that 0.9 albums sell per person, would mean a decrease in sales by 6.12 million albums. The average price of a new CD at my work is approximately $15 dollars. This would mean a loss of 91.8 million dollars in revenue. Now factor in people like me: I do not download albums from iTunes unless I have to and I never purchase one off songs because the album is what is important to me. When you compile all the numbers, it will cost the music industry less to press CDs than they will loose in total sales.

Signs that the physical age will be on its way out? Price hikes would be one, and rarity of mainstream albums being another. I feel as though we would see Wal*Mart stop carrying CDs long before HMV went out of business, but we might see random pop albums all of a sudden become very difficult to find. Though I can no longer find the information on the actual situation, who remembers the Warner snafu? Warner went through some huge reconstruction thing at the corporate level and threw their distribution of music into the strangest tither. Customers would be able to find some WMG merchandise at my store, but not at the HMV in the mall behind us. Kitchener would be the only city in all Ontario to have Lykki Li, for instance. It was awkward to explain the situation to those who were just looking for that new release and it seemed to get fixed out of nowhere. There were a couple of us who started speculating a digital only push in cities. If it was an experiment, the consequence was the loss of thousands of sales..

What about vinyl? At one time is was viewed as the dominant source for quality of sound. People still spend tens of thousands of dollars getting setups and rooms for perfect acoustics. Audiophiles will always be around for every medium, but vinyl was always viewed as the "purists" form. This grand resurgence has been great for people who just prefer the sound and feel but did not want to give a million and one reasons every time a friend came by. It has now become accepted as just another medium to a huge part of the market and, with sales increasing in double digit percents every year, that market has become bigger and bigger. We now have Record Store Day with sale numbers that almost double every year. I personally do not think that vinyl will ever be the dominant form of music distribution ever again, but what a fantastic decade for vinyl to come back!

Before I wrap up, I would like to mention song sales. This is a fairly new idea, since singles from the days of old always came bundled with a couple of perks. When you purchase a song from iTunes at a dollar, 30 cents goes to Apple and 60 cents to the distributer. The total number of songs sold in 2012 was 1336 million. The cost for an indi artist to upload a song to iTunes using TuneCore is $9.99 per year. With these numbers, I am having a very hard time why anyone thinks the music industry is hurting.



Website used and not tagged already :

This article had a nice collection of charts with all the sale information from 2012 and 2011. Very informative and just kind of cool to read over.





During the writing of this, I was enjoying 2 records: Do Make Say Think Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord is Dead and John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. Both seminal albums in their genres and two of my favourite albums of all time. Please, as music fans, check into these.

2) This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Creative outlets? Not a subscriber, though I hear they are nice. One could argue that a blog is a creative outlet but I haven't been posting long enough (or regular enough) to really notice any sort of creative relief. As of right now; I see blogging as a nice way to kill a few hours and to get some of the noise out of my head. Plus it gives me something to better myself at (Give me feedback). Some days I wish I had a way to express myself in a multitude of sensory pleasures, but I have far too many ideas without any clue as to how to express them. One day I'll figure it out.

Until then, here are a few friends of mine who are doing some amazing things with their talents.

Chelsea Zimmerman :: Carapace Photography

For fans of Horror and all things Macabre.

My girlfriend Chelsea has really started to push her photography out into the world. She specializes in horror, gore & pin-up scenes. The thing I respect most about her work is that she is working with a micro budget and her friends. She is fantastic at direction and her angles she produces are unique and well lit. She comes at it the same way a director would a film. As a giant plus: I get to kill people in a good portion of her pictures! Always a good time. I'll post one of the murder-y pictures of me from a couple of weeks ago to keep things vain and to keep looking as arrogant as ever!!!! ^_^

I'm the one in the hazmat suit, in case you were wondering.

Luka (Luke) Kelly :: Hellhound Fashion

For nerds, fashion people, and people who like all things awesome.

Luka Kelly (from here on in referred to as Luke and if she has an issue with it she can just hit me later) has been one of my best friends for a very long time. She has always made her own clothing as well as doing clothing designs for local bands. She used to run a screen printing company out of her basement, press buttons, web design, myspace layouts, web hosting, and so many other things, all before she graduated high school. Now that Luke is finally done fashion school and has since been pushing incredible stuff out onto the internet for your credit cards to purchase. Seriously, her stuff is incredible. Click the picture below for a link to her Etsy. The link beside her name is to her fantastic Blog. She has always been better at that stuff then me. I won't tell her that I'm jealous, but I think by now she must know.

OH: Forgot to mention she is the biggest Marvel/Spider-Man fan I have ever met and so much of her swag is related in some way. Fellow nerds: ENJOY! Fellow DC fans, respect and keep quiet. She's small, but seriously, her right hook is cruel.

Kevin Fraser :: LIVESTALK

For fans of the ideas behind Sonic Youth, The Melvins and The Pixies

Kevin & I used to play in a band together for a few years. All Cut Up was the first serious band I was in and let me experiment both musically and professionally. He is one of the most talented sound creators I have ever had the pleasure of working with and has always had a keen eye for all things fucked in day-to-day life. We stopped working together shortly after I joined the hardcore group The Twin back in 2009 due to time constraints and life moving forward. The last thing I did with Kevin directly was session work on the Livestalk & The Bodies album Eudaimonia, which was released in August 2011. I played on 3 tracks using a four-piece kit with one ride and hi-hats. The musicians who wound up filling the rest of that album humbled me in ways no one would ever understand. Kevin painted a piece of art that I still listen to most days. He now plays in several bands all over Hamilton and, from what I can tell, is playing a gig most nights at some club somewhere in the downtown core. Everything on his BandCamp pages is either free or way too cheap for what it is. Please go support him.

There is so much other great stuff on the internet that Kevin has done. I am pretty sure I know less than I don't when it comes to his catalog.

Patrick Hussey :: Solo Work

For fans of Pop, Acoustic and Electro (but feel like there isn't enough crossover).

Oh Pat, what can't you do? This kid does so much work on so many different ideas that he keeps in that head of his that I can't even follow half of it (I do try, though). Pat and I have been jamming since 2007 and been playing shows since we started in the local scene. He has always been doing his solo acoustic stuff while fucking around with programs like Fruity Loops and ProTools to get his sound to one unique enough to stand some sort of time test. Everything he does is without an internet connection for tips or tricks for mixing. It is without any sort of training or preparation.  Everything he does is DIY (or with some help from friends) and it seems to always get better and better. He is still one of my best friends and I hope some day we can collaborate on something else, even if it's just one track.

Now, let's drop this beat!

Seriously folks, I posted this because I didn't expect to see it on the same page as his acoustic stuff. Click the links and go check out his SoundCloud. It's full.



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This blog was put together while not only listening to and reading the amazing things my friends have done, but also while spinning Portishead's self-titled release from 1997. Jazzy, classy, haunting, and beautiful.
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Are you interested in more independent goodness? If people wish, I can keep dropping "Friend Spots" now and again to keep everyone posted.