Awesome Underground &#9733; Music Review

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Saturday, August 13, 2016

ROB ZOMBIE: RIOT FEST 2016 ♫ MUSIC REVIEW

Rob Zombie was definitely a youthful memory for me. He held a few of my significant pre-teen memories within songs such as "Living Dead Girl" and out of respect for certain people, I will not go into detail about those memories. But I had long since left him where I felt he belonged (for me, perhaps not for everyone), in my past. So, since I had made a valid effort to ignore anything new that came from this musician since... I dunno, 2003, the first thing I had to do before saying anything about him was to see who he was now as an artist. Because often, musicians will significantly change over such a gigantic gap in time. So, on to Spotify I went, and there I found... Rob Zombie. The same Rob Zombie I had dismissed over a decade ago (again, not because of him, but because of what he symbolized for me). Sure, he uses a little more off to the side sound effects, sure he layers his music a little more. But he still has those little bits that sound like a newscaster in his music, he still sounds like a growling giant, he still creates auditory nightmares and sells them in albums. So, basically, what I found was... He still has nothing for me. Everything I will ever get out of his music is what I have already gotten: a song to compartmentalize a seriously devastating portion of my life into. And I don't even really want to re-visit that. He still thinks very highly of himself, though, so if you'd rather go with his opinion than mine, feel free to love him.

But going just a step further, if you watch my videos or read my blog posts, or my facebook posts, or my tweets, you probably know how much I loathe excessive repetition. Is it really that much to ask that a musician take the time to write more than one verse and an extra line to repeat throughout the rest of the song? I mean, how many times do you need to repeat the same line? What is the purpose of this? His excessive repetition goes beyond excessive... on to sickening. It's a slap in the face to artists who take the time to write full songs and get paid less than a quarter of what he's making from those unintelligent one-liners.

ROB ZOMBIE LINKS:

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Rockstars Glued: http://www.rockstarsglued.com

Remnant X Radio: RemnantXRadio.com

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Friday, August 12, 2016

THE WONDER YEARS: RIOT FEST 2016 ♫ MUSIC REVIEW

The Wonder Years is an American pop punk band from Lansdale, Pennsylvania that formed in July 2005. Since their conception, they have released five full-length albums, two EPs, and several splits/compilations. The group is currently signed to Hopeless Records. Their name originates from a paper that lead vocalist, Dan 'Soupy' Campbell, read that was written by one of his after-school educators titled "The Wonder Years. Band Members Include: Matt Brasch (guitar, backing vocals), Dan "Soupy" Campbell (lead vocals), Casey Cavaliere (guitar, backing vocals), Mike Kennedy (drums, percussion), Josh Martin (bass guitar, backing vocals), Nick Steinborn (guitars, keyboards, piano, backing vocals)

Majestic pop punk. I say majestic because it's a little more than pop punk

No Closer to Heaven
This album has an actual intro track. That is magnificent.

I spent the greater part of my day immersed in this album and there were hints of so many different artists that stood out to me. But the most important thing was that this band was able to take so many elements and attributes that are present in a slew of other bands and bring them together in their own, original and glorious sound. My favorite person to discuss music with pointed out that they sound similar to Taking Back Sunday, and at first, I agreed, with the revision of "Pre-"Happiness Is"" But the more I listened, the less of TBS I heard, and the more I heard bits of influences from other bands, such as:
I noticed that the lead vocalist sounds a lot like the lead vocalist from Stereo Fuse in several moments, but not all of the time. And also, the more I listened to this band, the more I realized that they are so much more than pop punk. There's definitely a lot of pop punk in there, but I also hear some post-rock and alternative sprinkled in there.

My favorite track on this album is "I Don't Like Who I Was Then"

VIDEO REVIEW:

THE WONDER YEARS LINKS:

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: RIOT FEST 2016 ♫ MUSIC REVIEW

Riot Fest 2016 is quickly approaching. Death Cab For Cutie is one of the many talented bands appearing on the line up for both the Chicago and Denver music festival. Here is a short review and comparison of their four most recent albums, "Kintsugi," "Codes and Keys," "Narrow Stairs," and "Plans" (which features their most popular hit, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark").

Kintsugi
The first thing I need to say about this band is that the vocalist has that nerdy sound going, which can really work for me, but only along with a specific sound. In other cases, it sounds overly cheesy to me and I neither enjoy it nor take it seriously.
This album sounds like it has such a grand mission, but it's not translating for me very well, and I'll assume that has to do mostly with the vocalist. The instrumentals are glorious, really. very poppy/inspirational

Codes and Keys
This album is a lot more atmospheric and dramatic than the others while maintaining a mellow sound

Narrow Stairs
This album seems to have more elements of rock than their more recent albums. And not just any type of rock, but old school rock that has a certain level of artistry to it, with glorious lengthy intros and thought provoking instrumentals throughout the songs.

Plans
(which is the album their most famous song "I will Follow You into the Dark" comes from)
I think this is my favorite of all of the albums of theirs I've heard. I like their sound better in this album. I like their lyrics better, I like their symbolism. (Specifically, I love the way Marching Bands of Manhattan ends)

Video Review:

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Thursday, August 11, 2016

DEFTONES: RIOT FEST 2016 ♫ MUSIC REVIEW

Riot Fest 2016 is quickly approaching. Deftones are one of the many talented bands appearing on the line up for both the Chicago and Denver music festival. Here is a short review of their most recent album "Gore."

Deftones are classified as Alternative / Metal, but I would classify them as imagery alternative. This is definitely "feel something" music, but even more than that, it's "see something" music. It's art in various forms, with the outlet being music.

The way Gore was mixed, makes it almost inescapable. Have you ever listened to an album that just always sounded SO LOUD that you couldn't hear yourself think over it? This is one of those. And along with that miss mix is the over-exaggerated angst is not only apparent in the vocals, but is also made very clear in the instrumentation (specifically, the guitar). And where are the drums? They're there, but only if you're listening super hard for them. In addition to that, there's the immensely annoying crackling vocals on the heavier songs.This is an album that brings out the impatience in me. When I know a band is capable of greater things (and they are), it's hard for me to sit still through something mediocre. This is something I could listen to while painting, but probably at absolutely no other time.

The Deftones will forever be to me a band that has so many pieces to a puzzle with a glorious picture on it, but they either cut the edges of half of the pieces or stuff them in miracle grow before shoving them together, out of order and on an off-balanced surface.

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