Music

First of all, I don’t listen to hardcore much. I’ll go see my friends’ bands and when one of them puts something out, I will give it a few listens. Oh yeah, I really love Uniform Choice’s first album (my hardcore/straightedge coworkers find this amusing). As far as hardcore goes, We’re Unstoppable is pretty accessible, so that means it probably sucks.

It’s scary that I have the option now of being glib about Cut City’s resemblance to Gang of Four and Wire, considering I was nowhere near cool (or old) enough to have listened to those bands the first time around. Still, the return of the sound has become such a phenomenon with the success of Interpol that I now know the echoes when I hear them.

If this weren’t an EP it would be dubbed the “Official House Cleaning CD of 2005,” but as it were it takes me more than the 25 minutes that make up this CDEP to clean my house. With seven members behind Parlour , you’d expect the music to have a lot going on, and you would be right.

Hella has always been one of those bands to which I can’t completely commit. I’ve had the opportunity to see them locally for free numerous times, but they still end up losing out to “The Shield” or a Yankees game.

A former member of The Make-Up and Nation of Ulysses plus the auxiliary drummer of Fugazi unite to bring you a hodgepodge of mostly palatable pop. If you’ve been following Dischord’s more recent output, the mediocrity of this release is hardly surprising, though still disappointing.

The follow up to Alaska!’s debut record a few years ago has met this set of ears with mixed feelings. While their debut was the collaborative (although at times long-distance) work of bassist Russ Pollard and guitarist Imaad Wasif, Rescue Through Tomahawk appears to have been written mainly by Wasif.

It’s ironic that a lot of what was considered progressive in the 70s is still considered such today. I dare you to listen to, say, King Crimson’s Lark’s Tongues in Aspic and tell me that in 2005 we’re beyond that.

People throw around terms like the “perfect” record, or describe music as being genius a little bit too often. I mean, is the new Green Day record really genius? Obviously though, there are times when these terms are right on the mark.

When I get the rare urge to listen to some hardcore anthems, I’m attuned to hearing non-melodic guitars pounding against vocals that sound as if steroid use was prominent amongst straightedge culture. Luckily for me, Comeback Kid is straying from the formula and I don’t have to take preventative headache medication anymore before listening.

At first glance, Kings of Leon appear to be just another one of countless rock revival bands, many of which seem to be cooked up by scheming major label A&R men. Then the vocals kick in and you realize that there is something that distinguishes this band from the countless others of their ilk.

Try as I might, but I just cannot characterize this as “screamo,” or even generic screamo at that. And while I haven’t heard very much at all from this group previous to this CD, my interest was peaked by their supposed jazzy influence and implementation of a sax.

Do you like your sludgy grindcore with intermittent synth interludes? Do you enjoy spastic noise followed by epic guitar wailing, complemented by noodling guitar riffs and a touch of electronic bloops? I thought you did.