I graduated from HS in 2005, which means ALL my friends were in an emo band or 2 or 3 on Myspace. Award for "Most 2005-Myspace-emo band name" among my friends' many bands is a toss-up between The Four of Us are Dying and Fear Makes a Hero.
My first concert was Tull as well! My dad's favorite band. This was in the 90s though (Roots to Branches tour, IIRC), so they were welllllll past their prime, but my 8 year old self loved it. I still spin their records every now and then.
for me, intensity level is an important part of d-beat/crust. bands like Disfear, From Ashes Rise, Trap Them, Totaled, etc. make me feel like i'm going to have a panic attack because of the sheer intensity. this is fun but doesn't make me fear for my life.
gonna be hard to top the second half of "The Sweetest Curse" for dual guitar interplay, for me. that song and "Isak" are neck and neck for favorite Baroness tune.
i've never been able to get into Martyrdod either, even though i love d-beat. for whatever reason, they just come across as a poor man's Disfear or Trap Them to me. glad other folks are enjoying it, though. more crust appreciation is always good! the Gum should cover the upcoming Totaled album for some truly nasty d-beat.
i enjoyed the raw rowdiness of it, folks refer to it as proto-punk which i sort of understand, but i don't hear punk as much as i hear proto-noise. some of those guitar freakouts are on some Sonic Youth shit.
"Now we have this song, ‘American Cliché,’ and at the end of it, I say Donald Trump quotes, but I do it in a bad German accent — ‘Vee have to build za wall!’ — so I told the lighting guy to turn [the flag image] upside down and make the colors all trippy and weird like it’s a bad acid trip."
wow, real provocative stuff
if you like good lyrics and narrative songwriting i think you would enjoy them. yes it's sad music, sometimes grandiosely so but so is Get Lonely. Familiars is one of my top 5 of the decade not just because it is ornately sad but because the lyrics are so well thought out and precisely articulated. it's a masterpiece of subtle storytelling.
that was one of my other faves! on first listen i definitely preferred the A side, but i love all of the more country-leaning stuff in general, especially "No Expectations". that's probably my favorite song too, though i've heard Sympathy so many times that it's hard to hear it objectively.
Canon blind spot clearinghouse, 1968/early 69 edition:
Cash- At Folsom Prison
Hendrix- Electric Ladyland
Kinks- Village Green Preservation
Stones- Beggar's Banquet
CCR- Bayou Country
MC5- Kick Out the Jams
I think my favorite of these was the Hendrix. I found Axis Bold as Love super boring, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Electric Ladyland. My least favorite was probably the Kinks. Sorry y'all, I think it bugged me for the same reasons that "Penny Lane" bugs Tom. Just can't get into stuff that sounds like Ren Fair.
this album reminds me of living with a self-proclaimed anarchist who was also deeply sexist. he wouldn't let us play the YYYs around the house because they reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, and he said Karen O was a bad role model for girls, as if that's something an anarchist should care about. instead we listened to "The Rake's Song" by the Decemberists all spring long. not a bad song, but probably should have been a warning sign that this dude was a major creep. anyways, this album is rad. "Heads Will Roll" and "Hysteric" played at every party that summer. i also especially like "Dull Life". fuck you, Jerry!
fans of black n' roll should check out Devil Master- Satan Spits on Children of Light. if the name alone doesn't entice you, think deathrock meets black metal, like a corroded VHS copy of Return of the Living Dead. great Halloween party metal, or whenever the next keg party at your local cemetery is.
this is coming out two days after my birthday!! what's funny is i'll actually be on vacation in St. Thomas which is NOT the ideal environment for a new National album. dis gonna be me:
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