12/30/15

"I have said to myself in a mirror's company
'Who's that panicked stranger on his knees?'
All I want is to reset how I breathe
And slow down the fear I bleed."
~Composed
MuteMath, Vitals

My list of albums to listen to only moves in one direction, and it's never shorter. Sometimes it means that I rush through first listens just to check them off the list, plugging my headphones while I work, but then I inevitably end up getting interrupted/distracted. What I'm always after is that moment when an album really clicks for me, when I hear something special in it that makes me want to give it another listen.

It took me longer than I'd like to admit to really get into Mute Math's latest release, "Vitals,"  because I hadn't sat with it long enough and only intently listened to sporadic tracks. But then, after a few listens to "Vitals" while walking around with headphones or relaxing in my apartment, I realized that my delayed respect for this record was actually the perfect way to get into it. "Vitals" unfolds much in the same way "Odd Soul" did, with high-energy openers that dissolve into slower-paced electronic deliveries. Catching a few of the verses brought to light the album's message, one of hope and striving in the face of darkness, however real or imagined.

I love the hooks and choruses that color "Light Up" and "Monument," I love the optimism in Paul Meany's voice. There's a lot of talk about the lack of Darren King's excellent drumming on this record - he's there, but not as much in the forefront as he once was - but the beats and rhythmic intensity of this band are as prominent as ever, if not shifting into a direction. I initially found myself wanting more guitars and fewer electronic noises, but I've come to accept this is simply Mute Math's sound these days, evolving from a straightforward rock band to one that relies on the latest and greatest in sound technology to create a more ambient, full effect.

The result is something really shimmering, really light, really gorgeous like "Stratosphere" and "All I See." While I'm inclined to find this kitschy, I love how bright it is, and how the same style of narratives stuck around, acting as a familiar hand guiding me out of my comfort zone. Mute Math is still a thinking man's band, even if the sound seems designed to elicit dancing. They're still at their strongest when they get into the groove, no matter what instruments are playing.

I think this is a really smart effort, one that focuses on a fun, forward sound without ridding the introspection this band has always channeled. Overall, it's sleek, it's lean, it's a powerful little record that brightens up a room before pulling it ever-so-slightly inward. Few bands manage to match this much musical professionalism and intellectual honesty in their records, time and time again. As a fan, I don't mind the evolution, and as a listener, it's a welcome change to indulge in something new.



"I’ve been dreaming
Dreaming of a day in the end
Waiting for someone
To wake me from the dream that I’m in
I’ve been confiscating
Every shred of hope that I can
I keep on mistaking
The future for the places I’ve been
Always the same
Always, forever, we remain
Always the same
I’m dying just to keep my place."
~Remain
MuteMath, Vitals

12/23/15

"There is nothing I've ever done
I didn't learn to be ashamed of
There is no hope or no dream
I won't curse and demean
If that's what it takes
That's what I'll do
If that's what it takes, I will
 
I hope I never get my fill
Of pushing this boulder up on this hill
Getting to the top and taking a spill
Every time's like the first time
Every time is the same

And maybe you don't believe me now
But you will
Until you hang upon such a cross
You won't know a thing about laughter or loss
From Galilee to Gethsemane to Golgotha
Is a short walk, a short, short walk."
~Joset of Nazareth's Blues
Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances

Every year when people start talking about Festivus, I start thinking about Titus Andronicus. I love this song in particular, how joyful and busy its bells and harmonicas are contrasted with the scratched-throat vocals and self-damnation narrative. What a forceful little band, with such a devoted cult following. Their newer releases are just as punk-tastic, fueled by spit and rage and overly literary sentiments. A perfect band to listen to when you're ready to thank the world for all its done to you and repay it in kind, for better or worse...

12/17/15

How many unexpected things can happen in a day, a month, a year? Many, if you're open to whatever the world throws you and leave your expectations at the bottom of the murkiest of oceans that is your own self-involved psyche....which leads me to the AMAZING news of the first song from The Starting Line in eight years!



I'm so happy. I love this band. Always have! I still play "Up and Go" and "Hello Houston" on a regular basis (UTG referred to their releases as within the "golden era of Drive-Thru" and I'd have to agree). Now I find myself loving this song's chord progressions, lead guitar parts and references to waiting and words and watching reality unfold.

I had no idea TSL was still a band - let alone recording, let alone with Will Yip - and perhaps there was news about this that I missed, but at the moment I'm just going to let this just-under three minute track encapsulate my ears for the rest of the workday.

I hate to be cliche, but this year Christmas came early.

"I assumed that I could do no harm 
until I started to lose my charm 
I gotta go and put it all away
but i can't help to think about it almost every day
I was anxious right before your eyes
but i was sure to always wear my smile 

I know we've overcome a lot of pain 
cause it's so hard to be human in so many ways 
overcome most my life
i should be swallowing all my pride

I've had a lifetime to wait
such a magnificent drain on all my energy 
I want another word, awake
until the right words fall into place anyway
Anyways."
~Anyway
The Starting Line, Anyways

12/10/15

"I'm here reaching out again,
Lead into the wind on my knees
My fear is a memory
It's a reverie and I'm free
I wanna take this crown from my head,
I wanna build something with my hands
I will send a transmission home
To say that I've been out here too long alone
And I wanna come down now
I will send a transmission home
To say I should have called in so long ago
And I wanna come down."
~Transmission Home
Yellowcard, Lift a Sail 
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I am going to have the privilege of seeing Yellowcard this Saturday, checking off a 12-year concert goal from my ever-growing, never-shrinking list of artists I hope to see live.

A lot of people know Yellowcard from their "Ocean Avenue" days - their true breakthrough in the scene back in 2003 - but I've kept an ear on them since and they're almost a more influential band to me now, in my late 20s, than they were in my teens. Sure, I played the hell out of "Only One" back in the day (and I still do!!)  but the added depth and maturity of their later work is really worth digging into.

Their sound has evolved into one that's much fuller, and less catering to the (expertly done) fiddle trope they built their reputation. New Yellowcard is an unfiltered brand of rock music, but one that's rooted in a very emo and scene place, enough to be warm and familiar and more melodic than what you might find on the radio or wherever that boring brand of rock music lives (you know, the kind for large men with pick-up trucks and arm band tattoos. I'm generalizing, but you get the idea).

Last year's "Lift a Sail" has grown on me so much - it's a record that definitely needs some time to familiarize with because at first it does feel very "collection of songs" and therefore easy to dismiss. But I found myself seeking out their hooks and choruses and key changes. As much as I've grown to appreciate its solemn reflection and anthematic choruses, though, this isn't my favorite record of theirs. That goes to "Paper Walls," a record I've played more in the past year than I have in the previous seven. Why it took me so long to get attached to I cannot say, but "Fighting," "Shadows and Regrets" and "You and Me and One Spotlight" are now some of my favorite songs in their catalog. I can't wait to see if they're still in the band's rotation.

I'm hoping to get a new appreciation for their musicianship - but most of all I'm just hoping for that feeling you get at concerts sometimes, the one where you know the songs before they start, sing too loud, get lost in a crowd, and feel like you're home. Coming from a band like this, that I discovered years ago in a different place but will always associate with the place I am now, that feeling is as timeless, freeing and grounding as you can hope to find in a life full of moving parts and morphing attitudes.



"I heard, heard myself
Say things I take back
If I could, could retell
And make these stories last
I see, see shadows
Of who you'll always be
I drive, drive these roads
Made of memories
When we were only kids
And we were best of friends
And we hoped for the best
And let go from the rest
Shadows and regrets
We let go from the rest."
~Shadows and Regrets
Yellowcard, Paper Walls

12/7/15

In this noisy, terrible modern world, where everyone shouts or shoots or hates, I still do what I always used to do: Put on my headphones, lower my eyelids, and try not to weep openly at the fact that life is a gift and we are so good at wasting it, so busy busying ourselves with differences that we lose the utter sameness we ought to celebrate.



"It's getting weirder
Than I projected
It's saying something
In all directions:
'I held the fear in my mouth
I choked it down and now I'll never let it out.'"
~Redbird
Kevin Devine, Bubblegum

12/4/15

Post "Coming Home" New Found Glory records are all sort of a noisy blur to me, I never paid much attention, but I am unashamed to admit how much I enjoy it when "Vicious Love" comes on YouTube. Impossible-to-ignore chorus, solid harmonies and those sweet, sweet Chad Gilbert progressions. (Also, how have I never, in all these years, tagged New Found Glory before?!)



"I could have given up a thousand times
In the past that was so easy
When the thought came to my mind
There was no convincing me
Plant my feet to face it all
Side by side or a phone call
Living in tension with you
Still feels better
Better than I’ve ever known.

We’ve got a vicious love
We mix our tears with blood
No clock will stop for us
It ticks by
We fight as hard as we love
We’ve got a vicious love."
~Vicious Love
New Found Glory, Resurrection