Record Review // Tullycraft "The Railway Prince Hotel" (HHBTM)

http://hhbtm.com/item.php?item_id=663&category_id=1 //

Sometimes all you need is for a record to rock.  I mean, like, really rock.   Tullycraft somehow captures the energy of my youth with the indifference of my older years and puts it to music in the best way possible.    Everyone in this band sings (which I enjoy) and though Tullycraft has this pop rock / twee sound they do manage to stand on their own as well, as this is a unique release where it's "If you like the genre, you'll like them but they're not quite the genre" 

One of the aspects of my reviewing music that I'm trying to change is that I feel like I have too high of expectations at times.   Now, this of course is in a strange way (because I'm typing it) but I think it happens over time when you write about music for long enough.   Sometimes it can be as simple as seeing a song title and think "Oh, I hope it's a cover of this other song I know with the same title" and then being kind of bummed when it's not.   Is that just me because I'm jaded and a writer or does everyone who loves music feel that way sometimes too?

Well, a positive example of this is seeing the song on here called "We Couldn't Dance to Billy Joel".   Before ever pressing play, my hope beyond hope was that it wasn't just a "clever song title" and that the song would actually make some sort of reference to Billy Joel.   Now, as I've listened to this record more times through than I needed to for this review, I can admit that the song does indeed carry that title into the chorus.   That is above and beyond what I could have expected, Tullycraft (I would have taken a shout out to "Piano Man") and it just shows how exceptional of an album this truly is.

Tullycraft have that way about them, as all great artists do, where you listen to this record a few times and think about who it might sound like- names like Architecture in Helsinki and Float Here Forever come to mind.    But the more you listen to it, the further you stray from the idea of being able to put your finger on who it sounds like and you just end eventually accepting that it sounds like Tullycraft and you go forward, comparing other artists with them.    It's kind of like how you would level up in a video game I suppose.

"Goldie and the Gingerbreads" (which should probably be a band name, if it doesn't make you think of Casper & the Cookies) has this fast rocking part at the end which just makes me think that this is on another level from twee but you should really decide for yourself.   I also enjoy that in the fifth song they mention trading tapes and, you know, if anyone out there wants to ever trade tapes (You send me something, I send you something back, etc.) just hit me up cause I have duplicates and things I think people might like to hear or whatever.

One of the best songs not just on this album but possibly ever is called "It's Not Explained, It's Delaware" and as with the Billy Joel song before it, yes, they sing that line in the chorus and it is just oh so unbelievably great.   If I was in the business of radio/music video and all that I'd put "Hearts at the Sound" out there as a single for sure and the titular track just makes me feel like Tullycraft should somehow do the soundtrack to a Wes Anderson movie (and perhaps the best Wes Anderson movie ever)

Lately I've been listening to music which I describe as "dreamy" and "bliss", which isn't bad because that can come out in many different forms.    It's really become one of those types of tags like "rock", where you can just apply it to sounds without them even sounding that similar.    The difference between many of these artists I've listened to, even as recently as this year alone, and Tullycraft is that there's this punk energy underneath these songs.    It just clicks together in this way that makes you happy but also kind of want to riot and I truly believe that's what life should be about.

CD Review // Bigott "Friendly Monsters" (Dracula Records)

https://bigottband.bandcamp.com/album/friendly-monsters //

There is a lot to process on the Bigott album "Friendly Monsters".    While there is the musical side of this, there are also two songs which are audio clips played over the music- and more than one audio clip at that.     To listen to this from start to finish is an experience I feel everyone needs to take at least once in their life because it's just so unique but the way it is all tied together also makes it so special.

At first, a song like "Dreaming" can remind me of "That Thing You Do!".   It's that pleasant rock that is not quite twee and not quite dreampop but it's somewhere in between.   It reminds me most of bands who I don't hear a lot of these days- names like What Made Milwaukee Famous and Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!- bands who come around every so often and don't seem to have peers at the time.   It might very well be another ten years before we hear something like Bigott again.

The first of the two songs with audio clips is called "Virgin".   Music plays in the background and audio clips from various sources come out.   This happens again on the last song, "Lost In The Universe", and there is a connection between the two.   On "Virgin" there is an audio clip of Andy Kaufman explaining how everybody is so stupid and on "Lost In The Universe" we are told that they are kids and that's why they're stupid, which is not wrong to an extent.

In some ways this reminds me of that Beck album "Guero", which I admittedly only bought when it came out because it looked like a book in some special edition form I would later end up selling off because having too much stuff is a real thing.    It's just this feeling of understated rock n roll music with melodies that could leave you hooked for days.   It's a little trippy sometimes and other times it just cuts right to the point.    These songs can be instrumental without the audio clips and yet a song like "I Lov U" seems to only say that.

Somewhere between the singing and not, the audio clips and the distant vocals which only show up at the end of a song, comes music which is just as diverse and falls under that general heading of "rock".    This is not easily explained without walking you through song by song, but it is worth taking that walk if you enjoy music that not only manages to push the limits of rock but sort of rearrange what is thought of and what can be done within such spaces.

Music Review // The High Strung "Quiet Riots"

https://thehighstrungquietriots.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-riots //

I keep thinking that there is already a punk band called High Strung, but I think I'm mistaken for Strung Out.    There is a band though called Quiet Riot so maybe that's why this feels so confusing to me-- the words play tricks on my mind.   In any case, these songs are in that realm of twee that also reminds me of a pop rock feel.   It's something modern (like off of HHBTM Records to be precise) but also something older as well, something from the 1990's or even before that.

Within the rock sound I hear some Weezer.    "If You Wanna Roll" has that feeling where I know it's something from HHBTM I just can't put my finger on what.    It's something that if you read my previous reviews from such bands though and enjoy names like Boyracer and the more recently reviewed Marshmallow Coast then, yes, you will be into The High Strung as well.  I'm kind of surprised in some ways that this isn't a record on HHBTM.

"Darling Weird" is a little bit like The Beatles while the drumming holds steady.   In some ways this reminds me of the Flaming Lips but only on that "Fight Test" song, which I believe was the theme for that animated series I love called "3 South".   (This also made me think about how there is supposed to be a second season of "Bordertown" on Netflix, so off I go to add it to my list there so I can watch it later) [Editor's Note: It's a different "Bordertown".  Fuck!]

The songs can get a little trippy, you know, to feel somewhat like psych.   This is how we find this as being somewhere between the acoustics of The Get Up Kids "Walking On A Wire" and something from the classic rock style of music.    You could go back to the 1960's and 1970's with those melodies but also to something in the late 1990's like Toad the Wet Sprocket and acoustic rock bands along those lines, right up to the twee of today.   Rock that combines all elements of time to become timeless is always among the best in my book.

Music Review // Sid Sriram "Entropy"

https://www.sidsriram.com/ //

The music of Sid Sriram is entrancing.    There are these horns on the first song and I feel like if you're not just completely lured into this right away you might not ever get it.   While Sid Sriram is an Indian-American, you can feel that influence in these songs (and it becomes subject matter for the lyrics as well) but they are so much more than this.    That's one of the most beautiful aspects of music (which I wish the whole world could see) -- it transcends race, sex, religion, all of that if you just appreciate it for what it truly is.

"I'm not here for reconciliation I'm here for what's mine" is a fantastic line which I feel sums up the mood of this album quite a bit.    With the first few listens of this, and even for parts of many of the songs, it feels like there's such a stronger influence on the lyrics- what is being said or sung- than the music itself.   The music is there, and it's great, and eventually you'll be able to appreciate it further, but at first this feels like he's a motivational speaker or something, the way the emphasis seems to fall on the words over all else.

There can be beats, but in a clapping way, and electronics as well.   Musically it is just so diverse it's not easy to put into a genre.  "It Isn't True", for example, sounds like a pop song on some level but at the same time it can just remind me of a slower song from Scary Kids Scaring Kids which is just a strange comparison to pull from what this otherwise mostly sounds like.   Other times the words can be spoken, like poetry.   Many of the lyrics do feel like poetry because they are and it's easy to relate with them and if you can't you should at least feel some empathy.

"And I'm staring at my shoes right now" doesn't really make this shoegaze, though I had to point it out.   The idea of entropy is explained at the beginning of "6 Weeks" rather than the titular track.    "Paper Plates" has big synth come into it towards the end and that makes me think of that one song I know by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness for some reason.   The electronics on "Moksha" can begin to feel mechanical while the end of "Daunting" has that spoken word poetry thing going on.   The last song is called "Limitless" and while it starts with this X-Files/Doogie Howser type of key-synth it just becomes so powerful and uplifting; you couldn't ask for a better song to go out on.

Music Review // Post Death Soundtrack "It Will Come Out Of Nowhere"

https://postdeathsoundtrack.bandcamp.com/album/it-will-come-out-of-nowhere //

Though I might be alone in this (or at least in the minority) to see the title "It Will Come Out Of Nowhere" just makes me think of when the RKO went viral for a short time.   It may not be what anyone else thinks, but hey, maybe Post Death Soundtrack can have a song featured on one of those WWE shows.   Their shows tend to have average songs but they did do one with The Prodigy/ho99o9 recently so there is hope, and PDS could help them move in the right direction to finding songs by artists who don't make songs that all sound the same.

You should already know the song "Chosen Sons" by now and if you don't shame on you.   The distorted beats and darkness kick off this album and in a sense it does seem that the title is right on because you can't possibly prepare for the trip you are about to take.   "Crumbs" has these great beats and then somehow manages to find this dark piano riff.  I'm thinking of this one as being somewhere between Linkin Park and early Filter (specifically "Short Bus" because that's the only Filter album I listen to and enjoy) but it could just as easily feel like something from that film "Repo! A Genetic Rock Opera", which I don't think I've ever been able to make reference to before.

"Dark Matter" goes deeper like NIN and there are elements of Blue October in here as well.    There's this breakdown in "Dark Matter"- which is quite possibly my favorite song on the album- where it gets just screamy like metal and the words are about how death is so close today.   Death is always getting closer though, isn't it?   That's the funny thing about this album as well-- it's easy to get caught up in the music but you really need to go through and pay attention to these lyrics as well.

Dark electronics really open things up on "Expect No Sympathy" and as it feels closer to techno almost I have to think of artists such as Atari Teenage Riot.    These eleven songs are divided in half, as the first five and second five are melted together with a song called "Ramona Hills" in the sixth spot.    There is just a quiet air about this song.   It's minimal and ambient and feels like the calm before the storm.    It has a dual purpose though as it can act as that calm to kind of bring you down from the first five songs, but it can also prepare you in that way for the second half of the album.

"Benediction" has this more traditional Indian sound, which feels spiritual and makes me think even more of Blue October for some reason.   "Piercing The Veil" get darker, slower and somehow finds this trippy hole where it can reflect on something such as Pink Floyd.   "Fallout" has those electronic vocals like Frampton and for the first time I really think this album reminds me of Korn, but none of these references are to the point where I want to write this off as being "nu metal"-- it has just enough of these elements in it (Linkin Park and Korn, for example) to make me appreciate it.

"Pathless Land" comes out more like NIN- "The Fragile" era- and then the final song comes out swinging with these drums like NIN in the "Head Like A Hole" era.    Sometimes an album will go out with a sadder song, a ballad of sorts- thinking of NIN it's like how they closed out "The Downward Spiral" with "Hurt".   But Post Death Soundtrack chooses to go out with a bang and the energy of this album is something that cannot be controlled, though I'm not entirely sure why anyone would want to try and stop it.

Music Review // Verluna "The Narrow Road to Oku"

https://open.spotify.com/track/2CqxnfsIWaX02Kg0gE7VRu //
https://soundcloud.com/verlunamusic/the-narrow-road-to-oku //

When this song first starts it hits with acoustic guitars and the vocals which remind me of something I heard in the earlier 2000's.   I feel like there are elements of Elliott Smith in here, but it's not quite as dark as all that, so I'm trying to think of other names I listened to at that time, such as Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens and Akron / Family.   It's that combination of folk and Americana because I can't really call it "country" but it has that "for the people" kind of vibe to it.

In some ways it can remind me of the softer side of Two Gallants and then the drums really kick in.    As it gets louder it feels more like something you might hear on the radio (or have heard on the radio) as it has that sort of electronic folk rock sound I like to relate with X Ambassadors for some reason.   It's that idea of shaky vocals coming through with the twang but this bass drum giving you a beat that you can dance to and makes you unsure as to whether it should be filed under acoustic or electric.

There is a beauty in this song and Verluna is taking you on a journey simply because of the title but also because of the progression of the song.   While most songs live by the standard of verse/chorus/verse I feel like Verluna has two movements on "The Narrow Road to Oku", which at first is softer and then during the second act it really just opens up and lets loose. 

Songs which are straight forward and easy to define are not for me.   The second half of this song could be on the radio, but would they allow it to do so with the more gentle intro of the first half?   It's that idea which I love most about Verluna and this song.   It's for the radio, but it's not.   It's acoustic, but it's not.    That perfect combination of elements- being both something and not being it- is what will hopefully leave you wanting more.

Cassette Review // AD300 Document III: A Retrospecitve (Already Dead Tapes)

$15 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad300-document-iii-a-retrospective //

I'm not sure how we've made it to release number 300 for Already Dead Tapes and Records.   It feels like we were just at 100 and then 200.   Releasing 300 pieces of music is quite the accomplishment so hats off to Already Dead for that.   If you don't believe they're one of the best labels out there today (I say *the* best but as a writer type I'm not supposed to pick favorites) then lucky for you we have this collection of twenty five songs to show you just why Already Dead has made it this far (and will only keep growing stronger)

From Comfort Food to Excessive Visage, The Hell Hole Store to Painted Faces, this is just full of artists who I've reviewed full cassettes for and it's just the best of the best.    I'm pretty sure that all of these artists have (or will have) releases on Already Dead so there aren't any surprises in here-- just a strong representation of the type of music that I tell people that I listen to when they ask me because it's such a loaded question.

Now, if you want to know why Already Dead not only has been around for ten years but will likely be around for ten more (and then some) just look at what this cassette comes with: a Golden Ticket.    What is this Golden Ticket, you ask?  Well it's good for downloads of not only this cassette but everything from release number 201 until now.    So let's say you really like this song on here by Mezzanine Swimmers, "Black Cat in Heat".   Good news! You can download the album of the same name and listen to more Mezzanine Swimmers because it's release 273!

Most of the time when labels put out compilations it's a way of saying "Hey, here's ten or twelve of our artists with one song each, so if you like that song maybe buy their album or whatever".   Already Dead gives you 25 songs, over 90 minutes of music and 100 downloads to follow up with.   I feel like I'm on an infomercial at 4 in the morning but has anyone ever made it so easy for you to access such great music?  I don't think so.   And the fact that this cassette (old school) has the Golden Ticket for downloads (new school) just combines those ideas of the past and present to form something so future-esque.  Once again, Already Dead is way ahead of the times.