Change in direction

Woah I realized i haven't written here for quite some time, heck another Warped Tour has come and gone even. I realized i'm not quite cut out to be a reviewer, at least a serious one as I don't have the money nor am I timely enough. I'm going to try to commit to once a week though and update on Sundays. I'm gonna keep this blog about music but now it's gonna more about what i'm listening to and general thoughts. I may still give reviews and such but they will be sporadic and heck might even be for albums that came out quite some time ago.

As far as the music listening goes I've been absorbing a lot of music though mostly it's been a lot of Manchester Orchestra and Right Away, Great Captain. Andy Hull is amazing musician with some very deep and thought-provoking lyrics. I am honestly not sure which band of his I enjoy more but i can say that with both i tend to like their first album better then their subsequent stuff in the end. But their entire catalogue is great stuff and I heartily recommend both bands.

Also been checking out some Evergreen Terrace which I've been meaning to get my hands on for some time now. Definitely an awesome melodic metal band that hits pretty hard. They have some alright solos but it's mostly just the main riffs and scream/sing dynamic that really gets in my head. They have some great hooks and I recommend the album "Wolfbiker" to sink your teeth into and see if you enjoy their style.

Been getting into Amazon's daily MP3 deals and sometimes they release good or new albums for mad cheap and it would be ridiculous not to buy at that price. Picked up the new Underoath album Disambiguation which i gotta say is the weakest album they have made in awhile. It's still them and it has it's moments but it definitely doesn't stick with me as well as They Are Only Chasing Safety and Define the Great Line do. It's the kind of album i recommend to Underoath fans but new kids should try an older album to see if they would like the music.

Another band i've been listening to is 10 years, picked up more of their stuff and remember why i like them so much. It's pretty much if Shinedown was good is the best way i can put it. They have a good old school alternative sound with some pretty deep lyrics that touch on some heady subjects. Worth checking out if you like bands like A Perfect Circle, Shinedown, or Crossfade.

The rest has been a smattering of Barenaked Ladies, The Receiving End of Sirens, Coheed and Cambria, and Soasin. Again rediscovering my love for bands i used to listen to a lot but kinda got lost in my music library and then rediscovered. I think that is all for now, until next week!

Review: "Take It How You Want It" by Self Against City

So i figured i would do something a little obscure for my first review...try not to go with something obvious and also this album is new to me. I happen to run across this band while listening to my Pandora station and thought they were interesting. And so i took a listen to an EP they released in 2005. The band is called Self Against City and the EP is titled "Take It How You Want It".

So right off the bat you can tell they come from the emo school of rock. The singer has that tenor voice that a lot of these bands have, but at least it's not sung from his nose. Actually it's a pretty decent voice and he uses it well. The music also has a very Mayday Parade feel to it, simply power cords and picked chords that come together quite nicely. Nothing too crazy or technical but it is arranged well and compliments the singer.

Interestingly i find the writing style of the lyrics refreshingly simple, especially from this genre. Yeah it's still your high school diary type subject matter, but it's not couched in obtuse metaphors or ridiculous imagery. It's actually pretty down to earth and straight to the point, you can definitely tell what the song is about without having to analyze every word for meaning

The problem I find after listening to the 6 songs on this album is that nothing really stands out for me. Nothing has a really strong hook that keeps you coming back for me, no song makes you wanna put it on repeat over and over again. As a whole the album is nice, but it's not going to wow you by any means. Also if your not really fan of this type of music, this won't really convert you. Granted the album is four years old but it still sounds like an also ran to me. It's the kind of music you listen to once and then kinda put it into the rotation. It's good in that I like it, if it comes on during shuffle or something I'm still gonna turn it up and listen, but nothing really jumps at me and says "You want to listen to more of this album!"

If your a fan of the genre or looking for something in the emo genre I recommend giving this a listen, especially since you can pick it up on itunes for 4 bucks. if your taste dies lie this way then I would suggest passing this up as there is better music out there to cut your teeth on. I think I'm gonna still Giantbomb's system and give this 3 out of 5 starts. It's a little bit of okay my friends...

Let the experiment begin!

So i finally got around to a project a good friend of mine has been pushing me to do, blogging about music to kinda of get me more immersed in it. So let's begin this experiment eh? Don't mind the name of the blog, i just went with something rather then waste hours trying to be clever and whatnot. I may change it right now, i figured I would rather have content over style at the moment.

So the first part is to lay down the foundation I suppose. Again things are still more in the planning stage then anything and i don't really have a structure set down. So pretty much anything that comes to mind regarding music will go up here and any time i feel like updating it really. Once I work out the kinks i'll let you kids know, hopefully this thing takes off somewhat. I'll definitely have reviews of albums i'm listening to, the critic in my couldn't do anything less. I don't know if I'll have a score system or anything yet, right now I am going to focus simply stating what I do and don't like about the album and whether I would recommend it or not. I'll do my best to thorough and back up my opinions with concrete examples so you can get a sense of what I'm talking about. Also I'll try to avoid using obtuse language and fluff that really doesn't mean anything more then window dressing. Just remember this is all opinion writing..really gut check stuff. I won't try to make my view the definite one or say that others aren't valid, i just want to put another perspective out there and explore music as well.

I'll try to review concerts too but I don't know how well those will go. I tend to be pretty drunk at those things, so i tend not to remember much of the set list and sometimes I forget the bands as well. With those I'll try to do more of an impression of the atmosphere, the band, and whether it was worth the money I spent or not. Again not sure how well those will go as alcohol tends to warp perception as we all know heh.

Outside of reviews I'll just write about things that interest me in the happenings of music or simply share a musing or two about music. I am definitely keeping to that realm and will actively work to keep within those bounds.

For a sense of what kinds of things you will mostly see in here I'll give some of my music background. Rather then tell you what I listen to genre-wise (i really hate the way genres in music are defined sometimes) i'll list my top 5 albums.

1. "Dear Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" By Coheed and Cambria

2. "Gordon" by Barenaked Ladies

3. "Nevermind" by Nirvana

4. "The Wall" by Pink Floyd

5. "Commit This to Memory" by Motion City Soundtrack

That should give a taste of the music I tend to enjoy. If ya need more then visit my myspace at http://www.myspace.com/jaymorgoth. In fact I will let that define me as a person too. There you can see my limited ability to play guitar (sometimes I can even make music come out of it, if i try hard enough. ) As well as other things too tedious to write in this little introduction that is already too long for my taste.

I'll try to have my first review up soon, actually listening to the album I'm going to review right now. And while I tend to be pretty stuck in my ways about music, I am willing to give any band a chance. Even country or rap, which are the genres I tend to avoid. So if you want me to review something or even just check it out let me know or send me some and I'll get on that! Just know that if I don't like it I am going to say so cause I honestly listen to albums. In fact my first listen through an album I just sit and take it in. That way if you ask me why I hate a band or song I can say "cause I listened to them and here is why".

So here's to the beginning of this little experiment...hopefully you guys enjoy it.