Shock Mountain

I’m From Barcelona is a disgustingly cute 30-person pop band from Sweden. Although I don’t really understand what all these people do, it sure makes for an awesome pop album. Since Columbus has been super sunny lately and all the snow is melting, I’ve been listening to this album a ton. It’s been making every day much better for me. I went kinda crazy today, and this album seriously made me feel much better. I highly suggest getting it and then singing along to it with all your friends. There’s absolutely no deep, introspective lyrics here, just Swedish pop fun!

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–McKenna

Yeah, double post.

Merchant Ships is a yelpy, shouty band from Indiana. They play kinda loud, and it’s pretty fun to listen to. They sound like a more Midwest version of a lot of emo bands, sort of. They broke up, but then they got back together. While they were broken up, some of them played in Midwest Pen Pals. A while ago, Nick contacted me about trying to set up a show in Columbus in June, which I really hope happens because I feel like these guys would be really awesome to see live (if you can help out, contact me!). This isn’t their full discography because when I ordered it, they (accidentally, I’m sure) sent me a blank disc. Anyway, you should get this and rock out to it and definitely try and see these guys if they come to your town.

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

PS: I just scheduled for Spring quarter, and I don’t have class Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday even though I’m taking 15 credit hours. So, if you are free those days next quarter, let’s be best friends. I’m not super crazy. You can Facebook stalk me to make sure. Or, alternatively, if you know of any jobs, tell me. Or give me a job being your best friend. Whatevs.

Oh, hi.

Anyway, Rosa was a folk/punk band from Texas. They broke up (I think), but they were really quite good. It has Brad and Kirke from Die, Emperor! Die!, but it isn’t yelly or whiny (and I love Die, Emperor! Die!). Dual male/female vocals with lyrics about bike rides, high fives, and breaking into hotel pools make this album one of my favorites to sing along to if nobody is around. It helped me though a very small nervous breakdown I had about a week ago that led to me opening all the blinds in my house, buying $20 worth of fruit, and sitting in what little sunlight there was and gorging myself. If you’re looking for something that’ll make you happy without being too cute, you should probably get this.

Buy from Plan-It-X Records

last.fm

-McKenna

Sorry for not posting at all  lately, but I promise I’ll be back soon. I just kind fell off the wagon.

Anyway, I’m hoping some people see this, but the Pianos Become the Teeth show that was in Akron tonight got moved to Columbus. They’re playing at Hal & Al’s. It’s free and should start around 9:30. Come out and buy some merch or give them money somehow to support them. I don’t know the full details about their previous show, but bands depends on show money to get them from place to place, and for smaller bands, the loss of a show’s revenue can really hit hard.

Basically, it’s a Thursday night, you’re not doing anything better. Come out and see these guys and give them some reason for coming here. They’ve been nothing but kind in their dealings with me, and it would really suck to see them lose money. I don’t have a lot of cash either, but if everybody kicks in a little, it could at least help them break even. Please consider it.

last.fm event with full details

Hopefully I’ll see you there! Say hi if you see me!

–McKenna

2009 was an eventful music year for me. I stayed away from a lot of bands picking up buzz in the indie scene while finding myself having a love affair with radio rap. I delved into the annals of history and rekindled feelings for some old bands I had forgotten about and some old bands I never really listened to. I feel like a lot of people on here won’t be huge fans of my list, but, quite frankly, I don’t really care. You’re just not having as much fun as I am.

Albums:

1. The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha
2. My Heart to Joy – Seasons In Verse
3. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Vs Children
4. iji – In Celebration
5. La Dispute – Somewhere At The Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair
6. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
7. Matt and Kim – Grand
8. Trophy Scars – Bad Luck
9. Comadre – A Wolf Ticket
10. Annabel – Each and Everyone
11. Math the Band – Don’t Worry
12. Pianos Become the Teeth – Old Pride
13. Weezer – Raditude
14. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
15. Native – Wrestling Moves
16. Wolves in the Throne Room – Black Cascade
17. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
18. SUNBEARS! – Dream Happy Dreams
19. Underdogs of Nipomo – The Lynx
20. Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) – What It Takes to Move Forward

EPs:

1. Snowing – Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit
2. His Hideous Heart – Only the Earth Can Make A Tree
3. Mexican Kids at Home – Recycled Songs for a Happy Environment
4. Everyone Everywhere – A Lot of Weird People Standing Around
5. Quebec Vs Winnipeg – Self-Titled

A ton of these albums are available directly from the bands, which I highly recommend doing. Remember that I would love to hear you opinions on this list through Facebook, last.fm, email, or the comments on this post!

-McKenna

If anyone in Columbus needs a ride to the Raein show on December 6th at Tower 2012 in Cleveland, email or Facebook me and let me know! I’m going up, but I would rather not do it alone and it would be nice to have some conversation buddies. I will be leaving from Columbus, Ohio that day, so if you’re going to be in that area, just let me know and we’ll probably be able to work something out for the price of a little bit of gas money!

-McKenna

FACT: Monster trucks are cooler than almost everything else combined, even if they are awful for the planet.

HYPOTHESES: Every monster truck ever combined must be the epitome of cool.

Because both of the above points are so, any band called Everymonstertruckever! must be awesome.

By the above logic, I got this album from the totally awesome blog The Muzack which is one of my favorites and one which you should totally check out. Fast, catchy-as-hell pop-punk in the vein of pretty much everything coming out of Pennsylvania these days. Think of a baby between Snowing, Yo Man Go!, Street Smart Cyclist, and a little bit of The Max Levine Ensemble, and that’s pretty much these guys. I can’t really for you to feel this way, but this album should make you want to bang yer head, stomp yer feet, and get a few bruises while dancing (which will be the title of the first album I release whenever I learn how to play an instrument or when any Columbus people who read this join me in a quest to give Philadelphia rock a run for its money). Anyway, get this and rock out. It’s only 13 minutes and a 12MB file, what have you got to lose?

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

(Sorry for how bad the art is. These guys are a small band. I’m also not sure if the correct spelling of their name is Everymonstertruckever! or Every Monster Truck Ever. Their MySpace says the second, but most everything else has the first spelling. Do as you wish.)

I really do apologize for not posting much lately at all. Like James said, I’ve been busy with school. Hopefully, this will make it up to you.

I just got the physical 7″ of this in the mail today, and I personally haven’t even had a chance to listen to it yet. It’s really high on my priorities list, I just didn’t want to put off doing things with this blog any longer. Anyway, this split features one new track from both bands.

The Saddest Landscape plays a brand of pure modern emo, in the vein of Suis La Lune or Her Breath on Glass. I don’t have nearly as much experience with The Saddest Landscape as I should and I fully intend on rectifying that as soon as possible.

I have much more experience with New Jersey-based post-hardcore group Trophy Scars, however. I first got into them with their release of Alphabet. Alphabets., but soon found their earlier catalog, especially Hospital Music for the Aesthetics of Language, to be more favorable. Anyway, I highly recommend checking more of their stuff out. Their song on this split moves in a more orchestral direction in the vein of their latest album, Bad Luck.

In summary, even though I haven’t listened to this as of this posting, I would be posting it in the first place if I didn’t have full faith in it being an awesome recording.

The Saddest Landscape MySpace

Trophy Scars MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

Saltwater

Old Pride

Earlier today, I was notified by a friend on last.fm that Pianos Become The Teeth might be playing a show in Columbus in January. I quickly made my way to their MySpace page where my highest hopes were sort of confirmed. While nothing has been finalized yet, I am incredibly excited for this show, especially since there is a rumored Max Levine Ensemble show planned in Columbus for a few days later.

Pianos Become The Teeth is a band from Maryland who recently signed to Topshelf Records (My Heart To Joy, Defeater). They’re an emo band who tint their sound with a lot of ambiance and beautiful soundscapes, not unlike Suis La Lune or Raein. While comparing a band to Raein might set the bar a little high, I think the energy the two bands put out are comparable. Since I’m seeing both bands live within a few weeks of each other, it’ll be interesting to see how the sounds and energy of both bands translate to live performances. Although both albums are full of excellent songs, one major standout is “Houses We Die In” off of Saltwater. The vocals sound so emotionally strained, mixed in with the mid-tempo, post-rock influenced music, that you can’t help but feel some kind of emotion. As I stated before, I’m incredibly excited to see this band live if their show does happen, and if it doesn’t happen in Columbus, I’ll probably travel to see it.

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

Dear Shock Mountain, I apologize for not posting a lot this week, but my week has been kind of crazy. It’s not like many of you are probably missing your pop punk fix anyway, so whatever. That’ll return soon.

Anyway, the Rock and Metal Forum on Sputnik Music recently voted (overwhelmingly) this album to be the best album of the last decade. While I may not agree with that completely, this is definitely one of the best metal albums of the past decade. Quick, hard-hitting, mathy metal/punk/rock is fused with really non-metal song structures and produces a sound that is 50% ferocious and 50% beautiful. The raw power that Converge throws out on this album is something that gets matched very rarely by contemporary bands. Even if you’re not a big fan of metal or harder music in general, I recommend at least giving this album a shot. I first got it when I wasn’t too into harder music, and I loved it just as much then as I do now.

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

Three albums from Washington-based experimental pop band Parenthetical Girls

(((GRRRLS)))

Safe As Houses

Entanglements

As stated before, Parenthetical Girls is a Washington-based experimental pop band. In all honesty, I really only stated listening to them because one of my favorite groups, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, covered their song “Love Connection” off of the Parenthetical Girls album (((GRRRLS))). Once I actually decided to give the original group a chance, however, my efforts were well rewarded. This album, while definitely not outlandish and borderline unlistenable, is not your typical pop album. Sure, the instrumentation is gorgeous and singer Zac Pennington (while sounding a little androgynous at times) sings beautiful stories in a haunting, quivering voice, this is more Xiu Xiu than Weezer. In fact, the best comparison to the sound of Parenthetical Girls is Xiu Xiu with a little more bells and a lot less freakouts. In fact, the song “I Broke Up (SJ)” off of Knife Play is a very good comparison, minus the parts of the song where Jamie Stewart freaks out and yells. Anyway, I’ve namedropped two really good experimental pop acts in this, and if the sheer weight carried by dropping those names doesn’t convince you to check these albums out, it’s out of my power.

MySpace

Official Site/Buy

-McKenna

In all honesty, I don’t post nearly as many albums on weekends as I should, normally just ignoring them. I attribute that to all of you being cool and having better things to do on the weekends than read my senseless babble. Anyway, I’m sitting at home and listening to Parenthetical Girls (get ready, Monday!) because I’m lame, and I feel like I should just post all of the links from my old blog, BADWAVES, onto this one. Think of it as my apology. There’s not much, but enjoy.

PS If you’re in Columbus or the surrounding area, make sure to come to the DELAY album release show Sunday night. It’s going to be awesome. Contact me on Facebook/last.fm/email for more info.

Team Robespierre – Everything’s Perfect BKLYN dance-punk

Ninjasonik – All Our Friends Are In Bands BKLYN hip-hop remixes of Matt & Kim, The Death Set, Vivian Girls, and others

Psychedelic Horseshit – Magic Flowers Droned Columbus lo-fi fuzz, shitgaze

The Exploding Ticket – In Flanders Fields Acoustic stuff from a guy I’m friends with on last.fm

Michael Jordan Touchdown Pass – Cash, Money, Etc. Folk punk from Vermont. Plan-It-X type jams.

The Comedians – Moon Colony Bloodbath John Darnielle and John Vanderslice recorded an EP about cannibals on the moon. Awesome.

The Appleseed Cast – Two Conversations Post-rock type stuff with a little more rock

The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha Post-rock. Probably my favorite album of 2009.

Sicko – You Can Feel the Love in This Room Punk from the 80s. Sounds like a poppier Jawbreaker.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Twinkle Echo Indietronic. Good. Pop.

Rilo Kiley – The Execution of All Things I really like this album. I don’t care what you think.

Philip James – Hazy Helicopter Fuck Lo-fi noise. Good and experimental.

Afterlives – A Ticking Clock I Couldn’t Stop Lo-fi Enemies List rock. Like everything they put out, incredible.

Arkansas? – Arkansas? One of my favorite DIY punk bands. Really good pop-punk.

Greenhouse Effect – Columbus or Bust Columbus-based hip-hop

Greenhouse Effect – Greenhouse Effect vs. Radiohead Columbus-based hip-hop mashed up with Radiohead

Score One For Safety – Like A Rice Filled Bird, You Explode European screamy post-rock

The Max Levine Ensemble – OK Smartypants Fast, hard-hitting pop-punk. Dance party!

-McKenna

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in Thompson Library when I noticed that a girl sitting a few tables away from me had what I assumed to be a Transistor Transistor sticker on her laptop. After dropping a note off at her desk expressing my affection for Transistor Transistor and notifying her of this blog, I nearly sprinted out of the library, high as a kite on whatever chemical your brain releases after you do gutsy things. Once I was outside and confident any police officers following me would lose me in the crowd, I put my headphones on and turned this album way up.

Erase All Name and Likeness is one of those albums that kind of demands to be listened to at a high volume. Thrashy, technical punk is one of those musical genres that I pretend to profess to be knowledgeable about but in actuality probably know nothing about. I think I know what’s good when I hear it, however, and the song “Power Chord Academy” on this album is definitely a solid track, along with most other songs on this album. The technicality of the instrumentation shouldn’t be a turnoff to people who don’t have much of a background in hardcore, while the sheer power the vocals are delivered with should satisfy even the most devout follower of kvlt underground punx. This is definitely one of my favorite hardcore albums, and since Transistor Transistor keeps company with bands such as Hot Cross, Wolves, Converge, Circle Takes the Square, and Daughters, it’s easy to see that others hold a pretty high opinion of it too. If that doesn’t convince you, be aware that this band is made up of former members of emo legends Orchid and Bucket Full Of Teeth.

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

So, I have received a unanimous, permanent ban from posting Get Up Kids album for the next while, so here’s something different. Seeing the Faux Pas album Max posted a few days ago got me to thinking about this band, Eux Autres. I’ve had their album for a while, and used to listen to it quite regularly, but it kind of fell on the wayside, unfortunately. I’m not really sure how that happened, because this album is actually quite good. 1/3 indie pop, 1/3 being French, and 1/3 handclaps, Hell is Eux Autres is definitely a fun, catchy band. Even though the brother/sister duo is based out of Oregon, a fair amount of the songs are either sung entirely in French or partly in French. The siblings switch vocal duties multiple times over the course of a song, all while keeping the drum beats and guitar riffs tight. The handclaps are also spread everywhere around the album without being overbearing or annoying. Basically, this is a solid indie pop/modern twee album that is definitely worth checking out if you’re into that type of stuff.

MySpace/Buy

-McKenna

Sometimes I really have to restrain myself from letting my fanboy status for particular bands become too apparent on this blog. For this reason, I’m kind of hesitant to post anything by the Mountain Goats or Jawbreaker, out of fear of just writing a 1000 word article detailing how Blake Schwarzenbach’s time at NYU brought in a different East Coast flavor to Jawbreaker’s West Coast based sound.

Anyway, my fanboy status for the Get Up Kids has kind of leaked out lately, but only because they put on an amazing show when I saw them in Columbus on November 8th. They played pretty much every song I could’ve hoped for, including, if I recall correctly, every song from Something to Write Home About. Between dancing and screaming my lungs out, however, I was surprised by how much the band played from their early catalog. Sure, they played later mainstays like “Campfire Kansas”, but they also played a fair amount off of Four Minute Mile (“No Love”, “Coming Clean”, and “Don’t Hate Me” were standouts) and this EP collection. The first Get Up Kids song I can remember getting is “Mass Pike” off of this EP, and it remains my favorite Get up Kids song ever. “Mass Pike” is followed by what is, arguably, my second favorite Get Up Kids song, “Woodson”, which is, in turn, almost followed by my third favorite song, “A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts”. This entire release could be carried on these three songs, but it’s also full of other standouts that many fans probably haven’t heard, showcasing a rougher, less poppy sound than what appears on their later releases. However, this album still has a slight predisposition towards hooks and similar pop influences that would appear in later albums. Definitely a must-hear for any Get Up Kids fan.

MySpace

Buy

-McKenna

P.S. If you’re wondering, the only song they didn’t play that I was disappointed about not hearing was “Like A Man Possessed”, but I’m just going to keep that small disappointment inside as much as possible.