Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Music Review //
Float Here Forever
"Tour The Ruins"


$9.99 //
https://floathereforever.bandcamp.com/album/tour-the-ruins //

For me, I love this album because it takes me back to a time in my life when music was different than it is right now.   If you've ever looked at the scene of "rock" music today, you have a lot of radio stuff, a lot of "indie" stuff and then that whole "experimental" vibe (where it's rock but kind of not) and not a lot in between.    Rock music just seems to be lacking that middle ground-- music which just flat out rocks and if pushed slightly in either direction could either go underground or mainstream.

In the very early '00's I followed the band Lit around on tour for a few dates.  My friend at the time got in on a press list with some other opening band I don't remember (Sorry) and I mainly went along for the ride because Shades Apart was opening and I love Shades Apart.   Where are the bands that sound like Shades Apart in 2019 though?   We need more of that gritty rock music where they're one alteration away from blowing up with a hit and yet they just won't seem to do it because they want to stay more true to their roots.

Other bands I can hear in this album include but are not limited to Face to Face and Cadillac Blindside, which are two of my all-time favorites.   On one hand, I think of this as being something from the "Angus" soundtrack, maybe because I've been listening to that a lot lately, but then I also feel it could be from the "Bio-Dome" soundtrack, which had great bands like Wax on it.   If you look back to the 1990's, you'll find a lot of great soundtracks like that and it's just so sad they don't make them anymore, but I feel like that goes along with me missing bands like this as well.

The sound of Float Here Forever is heavily distorted, just crushing, but there is melody in here as well.   It moves fast, as punk rock does, and Darrel Bazian and Sam Easterbrook take turns singing.   Sometimes it's together sometimes you don't hear one of them for an entire song but on "Slipping Away" one will sing the hook- "I've got something to say / The words keep slipping away"- they take turns with it.    Just to name drop Nick Marko as well, as the drums on here are most excellent, there is an instrumental song in the fourth spot as well, just to kind of show off I suppose.

Sometimes this feels really catchy to me, but I've listened to it a number of times now and that might also be why I'm beginning to pick out the words and sing along.   Often times, the title is the hook in the chorus but all of these other words don't come quite as easy so you will slowly pick up on this one, song by song, but it won't take you forever.   The songs seem to come at just the right pace with just the right sound of rock music.   It's that sound from the 1990's and going into the early '00's that you just don't hear anymore and I've really missed.   While it can feel like a blast to the past, let's also hope it is more of a sign of things to come, a glimpse into the future.

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