album review: 'panorama' by la dispute (ft. the rock critic) (VIDEO)

So yeah, this kicked all amounts of ass - massive thanks to Crash Thompson aka The Rock Critic for joining in to celebrate this album!

And yet the tide of amazing music is not over - stay tuned!

video review: 'nearer my god' by foxing

Yeah, I'm a little stunned I wound up liking this as much as I do... but yeah, it gets there SO well, and though late I'm happy I covered it - enjoy!

album review: 'nearer my god' by foxing

So over the past few months I think some folks have gotten the impression that I've been more harsh or negative than usual - and while it's true that I've found less albums that I'd say are easy fits for the best of 2018, let's flip the script a little bit and talk about a trend in indie rock that I've actually come to like a fair bit. See, as a part of the success of the third wave of emo in the 2010s, over the past few years we've seen an expanded wave of rock artists dig deeper into raw, emotive territory but harness a little bit more maturity and poise, splitting the difference between over-educated detachment and the painful realization so much of that will not save them anymore - don't look at me like that, we all get to that age!

And make no mistake, this is a thematic trend that might have been primed by the third wave of emo, but it's bled enough into indie rock and alternative rock that it's hard to not think the pretentious coffeehouse hipsters of the early 2010s are having midlife crises, from the wine-soaked breakdowns of the older guard like Josh Tillman and Matt Berninger to the over-educated angst of Will Toledo to the palpable angst of Deaf Havana and The Wonder Years. And somewhere in the middle, inhabiting an intricate blend of post-hardcore rage, post-rock atmospherics, and indie rock meticulousness, we have Foxing. And honestly, I should have tackled this band months ago, because from the reckless, ramshackle howling of their debut The Albatross in 2013 to the more intricate and reserved fragmentation of Dealer two years later, Foxing were definitely inhabiting this lane, and with their third album Nearer My God primed to blow everything up on steroids with their longest and most explosive project to date, I definitely wanted to take this in, so what did we get?

resonators 2018 - episode #010 - 'zen arcade' by hüsker dü (VIDEO)

Well, this'll undoubtedly be controversial... eh, we'll see.

Next up, this massive project from Julia Holter - stay tuned!

resonators 2018 - episode #010 - 'zen arcade' by hüsker dü

There are folks who are saying that I should have covered this album months ago, that it is undoubtedly a seminal classic in pushing the genre forward and laying the groundwork for what would come. And that I'm only covering it now might be viewed in some camps as being a half-step behind, especially given that I've expressed a lack of familiarity with its subgenre before.

And here's my counterpoint: I see the argument for talking about Hüsker Dü earlier, but I'd argue it was more important for me to see the groundwork of hardcore punk get laid rather than jump straight to the concept album that's widely considered a classic of post-hardcore in helping define the genre, which is the biggest reason why I've put off covering this project for so long. Now some would argue it makes more sense to start with Hüsker Dü's debut album Everything Falls Apart - it was still produced by Spot even though this Minnesota group hadn't signed to SST - but at that point you could make the argument that Hüsker Dü hadn't come into their own just yet. They had never fully considered themselves a hardcore group, but the band was looking to get a lot more ambitious in their song construction and choice of instrumentation - albeit with a recording method that seemed to owe a lot more to hardcore punk, recording nearly every track as a first take within a forty hour window, and in a second forty hour window mixing and mastering it all! I mean, I've got to admire the dogged determination to hammer this out, but I had to wonder how well that would hold up in comparison to their labelmates and quasi-rivals Minutemen who put out the legit classic Double Nickels On The Dime that same year. But enough dancing around this one, let's get to it: we're talking about the critically acclaimed, concept-driven double album from Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade, and this is Resonators!

resonators 2018 - episode #009 - 'rites of spring' by rites of spring (VIDEO)

First video of the night... and man, it's a fantastic one. But now up for the main event...

resonators 2018 - episode #009 - 'rites of spring' by rites of spring

The tricky thing about this series was always going to be where the line was drawn when it came to genre. That's the tough thing when you're on the cutting edge and subgenres are forking off of subgenres, and considering how much music critics and fans love drawing lines, I could very easily run into trouble by covering this act under the umbrella of a series looking specifically at 80s hardcore punk. On the other hand, as I've stated a few times already it makes sense to look at what came out the hardcore scene in its entirety, and since I've gone through a fair number of the albums that set the foundations for the genre, it makes sense to examine what was built upon them.

So the year was 1985, and the setting was Washington D.C. - we've already talked about the D.C. hardcore scene surrounding Bad Brains and Minor Threat, but by the mid-80s the scene was shifting - the original wave of hardcore punks were entering their mid-20s and a whole new wave of teenagers were flooding into the scene, using the excuse of the genre to get more raucous and violent. Now the roots of that change in the scene are complicated - some of it was demographics, but a pronounced theme of that era was machismo. And to be fair, this was endemic across American culture in the mid-80s, a hypermasculine ideal reinforced by the Reagan administration and an economy that had picked up a lot of steam, to say nothing of a reactionary media climate that loved to brand punks as thugs or outlaws. This was an era of swagger, cockiness, and no fucks given, and even though hardcore had a left-leaning slant, it's always been more complicated, which meant not only did a lot of young guys push a very different ideology, they had the bravado to saunter in and use the show as an excuse to get violent. And while some punks who shied away from ideology flourished, a lot of hardcore acts were either evolving out of the genre or quitting altogether.

But in D.C., Ian MacKaye was not going down without a fight, and in 1985, he and various other members of his independent label Dischord Records began forming new acts for what would be branded as Revolution Summer, beginning an active pushback against aggression at shows and the sexism that was leaking into the scene. Many of the acts wouldn't last beyond laying the groundwork for bigger bands to come, but one has survived and has become what so many have branded as the genesis of an entire new genre just adjacent to the infant post-hardcore. That's right, folks, we're going there, we're going the only album released by the band widely considered as the inspiration of emo, the 1985 self-titled record from Rites Of Spring - and this is Resonators!

album review: 'palms' by thrice (ft. the rock critic) (VIDEO)

So this was a tricky record to dissect, and even with The Rock Critic teaming up on this video, this was still tough to deconstruct. Thanks for Crash for coming onboard, this was intriguing.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN and Noname, so stay tuned!

video review: 'the great depression' by as it is

Well, this was a thing. Certainly a thing. And probably not one I'm going to revisit much soon...

Anyway, Billboard BREAKDOWN with entirely too much Travis Scott ahead, then probably Nicki Minaj - stay tuned!

album review: 'the great depression' by as it is

So I remember hearing some promising things about this pop punk band a few years back and while the production was perhaps a shade more polished and the lyrics a shade less interesting than I'd personally prefer, the hooks were pretty damn strong and that gave me hope for what could be next... and then I started digging through their next few projects and coming to the realization that it might be all they have...

Wait, didn't I already make this review for State Champs? Do you guys understand why I typically leave these bands for Jon over at ARTV if I can't tell most of their material apart? Now in fairness, As It Is did seem to have a slightly different formula, with the second singer and slightly more pop-centric production focus and slightly more emo lyrics... which seemingly came at the cost of good production and any sense of weight. Yeah, I hate to echo a lot of other critics here, but despite being a slightly more dynamic group, both As It Is records are a lot more uneven than I can really excuse and the hooks never quite had the same punch as Neck Deep or State Champs, to say nothing of the upper tier bands in this format - generally passable, but rarely better. And yet I was curious to give The Great Depression a full review - apparently the band had gotten darker and more ambitious in a dive towards more abrasive emo material, which is really the sort of edge that this group could desperately need, so I was definitely interested. So okay, what did we get with The Great Depression?

video review: 'time will die and love will bury it' by rolo tomassi

So I will freely admit I did not expect for this to be nearly as good as it was, especially given their previous records... but yeah, I really did like this months late to the punch. If you haven't heard it, you definitely want to find time to do so, it's great!

Next up... well, I'm working on a top ten, but man that Lori McKenna looks tempting... stay tuned!

album review: 'time will die and love will bury it' by rolo tomassi

So this one's been taking its time rising up my schedule... and one that I've been rather perplexed about covering, not just because of its critical acclaim but also because it's received some popular backlash for possibly simplifying and streamlining their sound, which may have been that step needed to win over critics but would have alienated the diehard fans.

And speaking as someone who is definitely not one of those diehard fans, some of that might have been helpful, because Rolo Tomassi are not exactly close to an accessible act - screamo vocals balancing with female clean singing, wild shifts in time signatures and structure that recall something closer to jazz fusion than progressive rock or even mathcore, and let's not forget the synth tones that somehow picked a mutation of chiptune that gives me a splitting headache every time I listen to them. Yeah, let's not beat around the bush, having listened to all of Rolo Tomassi's records, I had a really hard time getting into them - sure, I can respect the sheer talent and there were some of the more restrained, atmospheric moments I liked, but I also get the impression that said moments were not the ones that are winning over the most acclaim from the diehard fans. But hey, Astraea was heading in a slightly more refined direction - as was Grievances in its own twisted, much darker way - and if Rolo Tomassi were looking to double down on those tones for future releases or even just accessibility a decade into their careers... well, it's a balancing act. So how is Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It?

trailing edge - episode 002 - january 2018 (VIDEO)

Well, this was... interesting? I'm surprised how well this series has done thus far, tbh. 

Next up, Ty Segall, so stay tuned!

album review: 'science fiction' by brand new / 'in•ter a•li•a' by at the drive-in / 'always lose' by the gospel youth / 'our pleasure' by single mothers (VACATION SERIES!)

So that's a lot of punk rock... gee, I guess while I'm in Nashville I might as well cover some country music... stay tuned!

video review: 'coming home' by falling in reverse

So yeah, this... actually not quite as painful as I was expecting, but it's pretty bad all the same. Eh, whatever.

Next up, Billboard BREAKDOWN and a record I've been eagerly anticipating all year, so stay tuned!

album review: 'coming home' by falling in reverse

Well folks, we finally got there. We've finally landed in the territory that I was dreading but knew with Patreon knew it was only a matter of time before I hit - the sort of Warp Tour band dregs that came in the aftermath of the pop rock boom of the mid-2000s and hasn't gone away. You know the place: where post-hardcore blurred with all the trends of modern pop and rock that nobody wants to hear to mutate into genres like crabcore, electronicore, deathcore, and a brand of pop punk blurred with screamo that traded insight or heartfelt power or even raw cleverness for pure obnoxiousness.

Hey, can you tell I'm talking about Falling In Reverse yet? Yeah, just because I've avoided them like the plague before this review doesn't mean I didn't know about Ronnie Radke's project after Escape The Fate fell apart. I actually had my first exposure to the group from seeing them - along with a lot of other horrible bands I hope to never cover on this show - on Mues' show First Impressions, and characteristically my first impression was a significant amount of revulsion. Yeah, their lead guitarist could pick up a tune on the solo and they could build to a decent if utterly derivative groove, but Radke's mugging delivery and the sense he bought into all of the lyrics he brayed made him utterly impossible to like. At least when Fall Out Boy gave the middle finger to their audience on Save Rock And Roll you can tell there was craftsmanship in the writing or experimentation - whereas that same year, Falling In Reverse released Fashionably Late which tried to pile in the synth against painfully gated drums, a ridiculous mishmash of genres, and utterly insufferable writing. And while there was a part of me that thought they might have been doing this ironically, sort of like the alternative metal genre blend Icon For Hire did, revisiting the record for this review convinced me otherwise - painfully. Thankfully, the band pivoted back to their blend of post-hardcore and pop punk with their 2015 record Just Like You - granted, that presumes you like a lot of post-hardcore, which for the most part I just don't. It at least felt like a ballpark where their sound and writing fit better... which they looked to be abandoning on their very next project which was going straight into pop punk space rock. I'm assuming that's the only reason why someone requested this - maybe as revenge for being ambivalent on that Starset record I've already forgotten - but whatever, there was a certain morbid curiosity in seeing how Ronnie Radke's brand of mugging would translate to the stars, so what did we get with Coming Home?

video review: 'boy thursday' by KNIVES

And now I finally got to a project that, well, if you're a hardcore punk or post-hardcore fan or you like rap rock, you'll probably dig it. Beyond that... eh, the writing's good, at least.

Beyond that, Billboard BREAKDOWN is next, and I have no idea where my schedule goes, so stay tuned!

album review: 'boy thursday' by KNIVES

So as I've mentioned a number of times, I didn't go through an angry white boy phase in my teens - I jumped pretty much from mainstream pop and hip-hop radio to power and symphonic metal, and that meant I pretty much skipped modern rock radio. And a big consequences of that is that I came to the nu-metal rap rock scene much later in my early twenties in comparison to many others - it was not a formative part of my musical evolution. And I'm kind of grateful for that, because upon revisitation with rare exception, a lot of rap rock tended to be really bad, especially in the late 90s the closer it crept to the gut-churning angst of nu-metal or the overblown and frequently disgusting machismo of acts like Limp Bizkit. This was music that rarely bothered to be tuneful or driven by consistent grooves or strong musicality, and that's before we get to the often atrocious lyrics. Now that's not saying I didn't find stuff I liked: I've always been a big fan of the Beastie Boys, and when you follow it with solid work from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and Rage Against The Machine, there is a subset of this music I like, especially leaning towards more of the punk side.

And there's a part of me that feels this genre could sustain a comeback, potentially even driven from hip-hop instead of rock. Acts like Doomtree and Run The Jewels are only getting production that is more aggressive and abrasive, and that's before you touch on mainstream acts like Eminem, who I'd put money on pursuing more of a rap rock direction if he drops a record in a year or so, especially if he goes more political. And so into that vein comes KNIVES, a new band fronted by L.A. rapper J. Medeiros, who you might know from his association with Rawkus Records or his work with The Procussions in the early 2000s. Medeiros has actually been active since the late 90s - and pretty damn prolific at that, so in addition to a planned debut from his electronic/hip-hop project AllttA later this year, he's been pushing a rap rock band inspired by punk and post-hardcore called KNIVES. They have a debut record, and in the aftermath of covering P.O.S and not getting the political material for which I hoping, I thought this would be a good step - was I right?