Movies with Heroes – The Slate EP

Movies with Heroes have enough hooks and melodies on The Slate to fill a full-length. This Lancaster, PA band has been around for a while, in a few different forms, but this is the first I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. And although five songs isn’t enough, it’s a great introduction to this very talented band.
To describe them as indie rock would be awfully damn vague, wouldn’t it? Yet where to put them? They definitely rock, with plenty of killer guitar lines and catchy melodies. Yet they also have a very tight, very fluid sound to their music. This is summer music, the kind of stuff that you can play over and over again without getting bored.
This album kicks off to a rocking start, with a blaze of guitars and drums to kick off “Hurricanes and Runways,” before it calms down to a more mid-tempo indie rock track. It’s got a rootsy feel to it (think, perhaps, Built to Spill), but just barely and in the background, adding a nice flare perhaps from the vocals or the guitar lines. “Dirty History,” on the other hand, is a more moody and atmospheric track. Centered around a very fluid beat and incorporating melodic guitar, the vocals blend with the music for a very nice effect. “Screenplay” gets a bit more melodic without the rhythm and has something of a Jimmy Eat World feel to it, with excellent guitar and a very light, breezy approach. The rock kicks back in again for the stellar “Like a Bruise,” which has its quieter, moodier moments but primarily an up-beat, rocking track. The vocals here get quite powerful too, almost as if singer Keith Wilson wants to scream out. “When it Gets This Bad” closes with the hardest rocking track here. It has a soaring quality, similar to the band’s friends Ran Away to Sea, but with more of an edgy, guitar-driven and intense sound that fits nicely with their sound.
Hmmm…I don’t know if I’ve done anything to describe the music on The Slate besides speak in contradictions and generalities. Suffice it to say that these four guys are incredibly talented and have put together a top-rate EP of five catchy and powerful songs. They don’t overwhelm you. They don’t get in your face or scream at you. Instead, they’re the kind of music you want to listen to while driving with the windows down and the wind blowing through your hair: in short, the very best kind of music.

Koufax – Worcester – Worcester Palladium, MA – 2001-08-23

“Have fun at the show. There aren’t going to be many people there,” was what the creepy guy taking money at the gate of the parking garage said to me as I stuck my parking ticket on the dashboard of my car and headed around the corner and towards the front doors of the Palladium.

Oddly enough, he was right. Koufax played to a half-empty club after walking onto the stage a few minutes late. “It’s called lagging ass,” singer/guitarist Robert Suchan explained. The diminutive crowd left plenty of room for my friend and I to comfortably stand quite close to the stage, where he could pick up a cute indie rock chick and I could stand their taking notes like a goober. The people who hadn’t arrived yet missed out on a solid opening set, with Suchan maintaining a sense of humor about the small crowd. “Crickets. Tumbleweed. Crickets. Tumbleweed,” he mumbled after a lackluster response to one of his in-between-song jokes. The crowd responded best to “Going To Happen,” from the band’s 2000 release, It Had to Do with Love, as well as to a cover of Joe Jackson’s “Steppin Out.” “Picture yourself on a roller skating rink in 1981,” Suchan said as he introduced the song. Crickets. Tumbleweed. Crickets. Tumbleweed.

Next came Ultimate Fakebook, a band I like a great deal but somehow failed to realize they were even playing until I walked by the merch table and saw their stuff. I grew excited, bought a seven-inch, and moved on. The trio blasted through an energetic set and did their best to win the “Best Band of the Night” title. Drummer Eric Melin pounded his kit relentlessly as his shaggy hair flailed everywhere, while bassist Nick Colby delivered creepy stares to the audience and jumped off whatever he could find, and singer/guitarist Bill McShane belted out his vocals, sporting a nifty At The Drive-In t-shirt. In addition to songs from their two full-lengths, Electric Kissing Parties and This Will Be Laughing Week, UFB also previewed two songs from an upcoming split EP with Reggie And The Full Effect. “This is our Weezer meets the Bee Gees song,” McShane said of one of them. An enormous mosh pit erupted out of nowhere in response to “Soaked In Cinnamon,” and the energy from both the crowd and the band continued to rise from there.

But then the energy died. Hot Rod Circuit is never a disappointing live show, but for tonight they decided to go with a large number of unknown tunes. “Bear with us, we’re gonna play a bunch of new songs,” singer/guitarist Andy Jackson explained, adding that the band was going to begin recording their new full-length next week and thus wanted to try out the new tunes. The new material sounded great and only furthered my craving for their next release, but the raw intensity that is usually a significant part of HRC’s interaction with the crowd was missing due to the fact that nobody could sing or dance along. Favorites like “Flight 89″ and “Irish Car Bomb” helped rejuvenate the crowd at points, but things just weren’t quite the same.

Reggie and the Full Effect’s set was by far the most bizarre indie rock spectacle I have ever witnessed. Everything from the monster double-bass drum setup, to the gothic logo backdrop, to the black theme in both instruments and clothing, to the fog and thunder and lightning effects that filled the stage and crowd close to it would have told an unprepared concertgoer that a hardcore metal band was playing next. For the evening, Reggie and the Full Effect was played by Matt Pryor and James Dewees from The Get Up Kids, as well as all three members of Ultimate Fakebook. These five Reggie members sauntered onto the stage with wigs, sunglasses, black leather, and anything else to enhance the mock-metal experience, going so far as to open with their own version of Slayer’s “Raining Blood.”

“Yeah, I’m alive,” leader James Dewees muttered early on, referring to the band’s mysterious aura, having always referred to it as a one-man project and never admitting who was really in the band (see the band’s website for a better explanation). Dewees was sporting a Michael Jackson-like red leather jacket-vest and one of those goofy keyboards that straps over your shoulder like a guitar. He said little, and Pryor did the same, filling the space in between songs with instrumental numbers from the bands two full-lengths, such as “Doot Doot Pause Doot Doot,” “Boot To The Moon,” “Happy Chickens,” and “Fiona Apple Kiss My Black Ass.”

For the synthed-out solo number, “Gloves,” Dewees pranced around the stage alone, singing in his goofy accent, playing to the crowd like the best and cheesiest 80′s pop stars as a mirrorball hung overhead, and Pryor walked onto the stage to issue his background vocals, “No way,” and then walked back off the stage again. “Something I’m Not” was another highlight, a duet between Dewees and a mysterious guest in a bear costume, who screamed the heavier parts and spent his free time during the song pummeling security guards and people in the crowd. For an encore, band members walked onto the stage with gothic warrior armor and horned helmets to play the always-amusing “Dwarf Invasion,” complete with full-size gong and Dewees’ decision to climb to the top of a stack of speakers and wave the oversized warrior sword he brought out with him. After “Dwarf Invasion,” the band decided the only way to bring such an odd event to a proper conclusion was to break stuff. And so they did just that. Phew.

Dive – Who’s To Say?

My hometown boys have done good … real good. Dive is a straight-up rock band from Columbus, Ohio. Granted they have some other genres mixed into their sound, but who the hell cares when the music is this good? Citing influences such as Third Eye Blind, Our Lady Peace, Weezer, and the Matthew Good Band, Dive fits well into the same sort of category those bands do without being a knock-off, cheap imitation of any of them.

“Who’s To Say?” is seriously one of the catchiest songs I have heard. It only took one listen for it to be lodged in my brain for weeks. Surprisingly though, I didn’t mind having it stuck in my head. Written by Chris Peters (lead guitarist), the song deals with someone who refuses to let go of a relationship. Since I am more then guilty of being in that position myself, this has almost become my theme song. “Who’s To Say?” has a moody tinge to it, but not so much that it will bum you out if you listen to it when you are in a good mood (though it would fit perfectly if you were in a sulky, dark sort of mood).

Matt Fairchild (vocals and guitars) has a very passionate voice that draws in the listener, making you want to hear more. The band line-up is (at the moment, they’re looking for a bassist) completed with Cole Stuckey on the drums.

While Dive does not have a whole album out yet, they are hoping to have one out by the beginning of the year. Something you should definitely look into, I know I’m going to.

If you like any or all of the bands they list as their influences, you will like Dive. It’s that simple. If you don’t like any of the bands they do, check them out anyway, you never know. One of their songs (probably “Who’s To Say?”) might get stuck in your head, and you’ll learn to love it. Keep your eyes on Dive, they are going places. I’m praying to the musical gods that Dive can have success. It’s about time we get some good rock that isn’t too heavy or pretentious, just good music from a group of good guys. What more could you want?

Guy Incognito – Deadweight

Hailing from Long Island, NY the members of Guy Incognito (Colin, Dan, Jake, Jon, and Nelson) have written a nice addition to the pop/punk/emo/rock genre (what the band classifies themselves as according to their website). I know that sounds complex, but it really is the only way to explain the sound that has been captured in the song. It’s a pop/rock song that has emo moments with some punk guitar work. There are enough elements of all the genres to appease pretty much everyone though.

“Deadweight” is about a person who just can’t seem to get the hint and leave you alone. The lyrics definitely add to the appeal of the song. Who hasn’t had somebody who wouldn’t leave them alone before?

My only problem with the song was it’s introduction. You have about a minute of music before the vocals kick in. Maybe it’s just that I have a short attention span, but I thought that was a little long. After a few listens though, it started to grow on me, so I can’t really complain that much.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Guy Incognito. The vocals, the music, the lyrics, they have pretty much every base covered. Plus, I love the fact that in this one song they have covered so many styles effectively. This is the ideal song for someone who doesn’t really know what they want to listen to, they just want to hear something that doesn’t suck.

Various Artists – The Tigers Remixes

I’ve had this CD spinning in my stereo and in my head for the last four weeks, and I’m still baffled. It’s beautiful, it’s deranged, it’s disarmingly distant at times, and at others claustrophobic. Above all, it’s the mark of a band that refuse to be defined by generic constraints, a group committed to the lost art of fucking with boundaries.

The Tigers hail from Perth, a sunny city on the west coast of Australia that is closer to a host of other Asian countries than it is to the nearest capital city in Oz. Perth’s isolation breeds a strange crew, a unique musical scene that is more often less pretentious yet more experimental than that of the larger suburban sprawls of Sydney, and The Tigers are no exception. Somehow, though, they’ve managed to adopt a sound zillions of years away from that traditionally associated with Aussie rock, and it’s this sound that has attracted some indie-music bigwigs to remix their work across two CDs.

These remixers include David Pajo, aka Papa M, whose reworking of “Beneath My Hands” remains one of the creepiest sounding songs I’ve heard all year. For seven and a half minutes, a vocal refrain that begins with “Beneath my hands are small breasts of upturned gullies (?)” is repeated as an acoustic guitar note is picked over and over again, and sequenced loops dig their hands into the seamless structure. Doug Gillard from Guided By Voices turns “Cramer’s Jungle” into a post-piano dirge, punctuated by occasional beats and trumpet blasts that drop in and out, whilst Chris McCormick, a musician known for handing out CD-R’s of his music, creates a psychosonic journey of his own in “Up & Down The Shaft.” And all this occurs in the first four songs of disc A.

By the end of the first CD, as Mark Cooper fuses electronica with country on “Snow Pea Remix,” you feel as if you’re finally getting a handle on something, a firm position to sit back and appraise the situation. Then Disc B wipes its seedy fingers across your cheek, and you’re left wondering who the fuck let avant-dub trance into the hallowed indie halls. Apparently deliberately sequenced like this, the beats are spliced and spritzed, sprayed back through the speakers like spit. Classy title award goes to Running From Nothing’s “Bad Days: Satan beat me a pat-a-cake mix,” which sounds exactly as the title suggests it does: synth squeezed tightly out an icing-tube, bass galore, and a detached lyric revolving around two words – Go Away.

Remixes is as confounding and confusing as it sounds, but that’s in no way a bad thing. It’s a collection that demands repeated, and attentive, listenings, the way music should. Each remix reveals something more, a detail, a glance that may have been overlooked in the original now at the forefront of interpretation. Complex, strange, eclectic, yet undeniably great.

Rival Schools – Rival Schools United By Onelinedrawing EP

What we have here is a six-song EP, featuring four tracks from Rival Schools, led by Walter Schreifel, formerly of Quicksand, and two songs from Jonah Matranga of Onelinedrawing, formerly of Far, and currently of New End Original. This is the first commercial release for both bands, and it was recorded largely in the form of one expanded group, with all of the people involved playing and contributing to each other’s songs.
The four Rival Schools tracks are much mellower than any of Schreifel’s work with Quicksand, but they’re equally good. Everything from the quirky, largely instrumental opener, “Green Is Good,” to the truly excellent “Where I’m From” is well worth a listen, with “Always” sounding like something that would come out of a jam session between Guster and At The Drive-In, and their other track, “Take One For The Team,” being the heaviest of the four tracks.
Onelinedrawing’s contributions are a little less intriguing but still an excellent addition to the EP. “Be Real” has a slow, seductive, Afghan Whigs feel to it, while “Contraire” kicks things up a notch and closes out the EP with one more solid rocker.
Overall, an excellent first effort from both sides.

Hero of a Hundred Fights – The Remote, the Cold EP

“Apparently We Didn’t Give You Enough Rope” kicks off this blistering EP with music and vocals slightly reminiscent of At The Drive-In, but as the disc moves along, Hero Of A Hundred Fights shows a much darker, hardcore-influenced sound. If you enjoy music that, when it ends, leaves you sweaty and wondering what in the hell you just heard, this will be perfect for you.
Featuring former members of mid west bands Tintoretto, Managra, and Brass Knuckles For Tough Guys, the guys of Hero of a Hundred Fights are talented musicians who are full of rage, which is usually an excellent combination, but things just seem to get a little stagnant here. The EP isn’t long enough for you to get deep into what you are hearing, which is what you really need to do with this style of music. And, what is here can get a little boring.
The overly repetitive guitar noodling on the opener is enough to severely hurt your brain, and it seems to almost run through every song on the EP. There are occasional vocals in “Faction Paradox” and “The Celestis” that sound a great deal like Maynard James Keenan, but even that wasn’t enough to fully maintain my interest. By the time the fourth and final track, “Darling Gun,” rolls around, it feels like the band has grown tired of themselves, and you can’t help but do the same.

The Superheroes – Igloo

Let’s examine a few facts about the Superheroes, shall we? First you have the cover art, with the decidedly 80′s looking woman cozying up to an igloo (not ironically, the name of the album is Igloo), coupled with the annoying, promotional band name, usually better suited to early 80′s ska acts. Then, here’s the kicker – the Superheroes are so entranced in their retro-ness that they list all of their cool analog keyboards and dated drum machines not only on their website but in their album sleeve as well. This wouldn’t be of note if this list did not reside in the same album sleeve that neglects to print, among other things, the band’s lyrics and the names of the band members. Obviously, the Superheroes have some priority issues.

The Superheroes join a too-long list of bands that concentrate a bit more on looking 80′s than actually sounding it. Nonetheless, the Superheroes, compared to their peers, do a somewhat admirable job of recreating that lifeless synth sound of MTV pop circa 1985. The biggest difference is that the primary instruments on this album really are those overpriced analog keyboards. Most bands of this genre still write on their guitars then simply flavor their songs with keyboard flourishes. The Superheroes use their synths more readily than their peers, though; unfortunately, it is at the expense of their songwriting. While most of the songs on Igloo are certainly listenable, you never get hit with the irresistible sing-along chorus that this sort of retro indulgence begs.

When the band’s formula works, they do a pretty good job with it. “Ghost” and “Voice (On the Radio)” are both catchy enough to keep you from reaching for the forward button. The male/female vocal attack and foreboding keyboards of “Nightmare” create a sort of New Order vibe that works surprisingly well. “Searching” has the most digestible, candy melody on the album, and for that same reason it might be the Superheroes’ best song.

The same bravado that appears in the band’s name manifests itself in a few of the songs as well, to a less than desirable effect. The quick, punky “Miami” isn’t quite as bad as that Will Smith song of the same name, but it’s just as annoying. The faux-British accent on “Johnny and I” is rather unbearable. The brash nature of the band is most disappointing on “Julianna” and “Paradise of Me,” both of which open promisingly soft, only to be ruined by a rush of fuzzy keyboards and chunky, awkward choruses. The gorgeous “Calculating” (the album’s six-plus minute closer) shows what the band can do when it reigns in its explosions.

If you’re a big fan of new wave synth-pop, maybe this is right up your ally. I’d love to give this album a better recommendation than that, but I just don’t think the songwriting justifies it. What the band gains in retro cred-points, it gives up in the songwriting column. If the band could reproduce the success it had with a few songs here, namely “Searching” and “Calculating,” it could put together a truly good record. Until then, the Superheroes have stumbled upon possibly the greatest testament to their authentic sound: I still don’t want to listen to it.

The Sheryl Cro(w) Mags – #1 Hit 7"

At first the name caught me off guard when I opened up this record, being a fan of the Crow Mags, and not to keen on Ms. Crow after the rumor surfaced of her dating Kid Rock. Then I saw “Chris Wollard” printed in the line up and I couldn’t wait to put it in.

This band not only features Gainesville, Florida’s goldest Radon drummer Bill Clower, but guitarist/singer for Epitaph’s Hot Water Music blistering into previous No Idea-released horse vocals that band’s fans might miss.

The 7″ features two songs, first of which is “#1 Hit,” taking a stab at the latest pop trend offerings “we’ll just get some real nice asses on that screen” backed up by clean but abrasive guitar riffs and steady metal rock n’ roll stylings that let each artist in this band’s less-than-amateur skill stand on it’s own.

Side two features, in my opinion, one of the better songs I’ve heard in a while. “Watch For Repetition” is a more serious rock arranged sound that introduces the experimentation of this band’s sound. While this song is more catchy and familiar, there is something genuine that stands out about this band’s sound that I can’t quite put a finger on. Sort of like an out of time feel that came about when you first heard Minor Threat in the 80′s. It’s a good thing, so don’t let the name throw you.

Though the line-up has changed to a four-piece, as a full length is due out soon, this band already has a tour under it’s belt and will be on Crow’s and Pawns Records, also owned and operated by Mr. Wollard. You’ll no doubt appreciate these songs that appeal to a hardcore, rock and roll, and punk genre that serve as a tease for what’s come, especially if, like me, you are a long-time Hot Water Music fan. The similarities are there, but, like its name, this band serves a different purpose.

Sky Corvair – Unsafe at Any Speed

For a while the holy grail of post-hardcore and emo rock, Unsafe at Any Speed was released in 1998 on Actionboy Records and in limited quantities. Now considered something of an indie rock supergroup, Sky Corvair was then mostly just a side project for Tim Kinsella of CaP’n Jazz, Bob Nanna of Braid, Kevin Frank and Neil Sandler of Traluma. These Chicago-area musicians got together to record the songs in 1994 and 1995, the final three with Alex Stisser on guitar taking over for Kinsella. Because of the recognition that Braid, Kinsella’s later work with Joan of Arc, and Traluma received, it was only a matter of time before this album was re-released to the masses, and Divot was lucky to snap it up.

Describing the music isn’t particularly difficult. Combine all the elements – Braid, CaP’n Jazz, Traluma, Gauge (pre-Traluma) – and you get Sky Corvair. The closest comparison would definitely be early Braid with Kinsella singing…well, as only Kinsella can sing. Nanna adds vocals as well on many tracks, definitely the most easily digestible tracks, but Kinsella took lead vocals on the nine tracks he recorded with the band. Loud, epitomized by quick starts and stops, blaring guitars, and shouted/sung/wailed vocals. It’s a bit more hardcore than you’d expect if you only knew recent Braid or Hey Mercedes, but that was the charm of these bands in the mid-90′s.

You will know if you will like this album just by the paragraphs above. Fans who bought the Cap’N Jazz anthology and enjoyed it for all it’s roughly produced wailing will marvel at Sky Corvair. The musicians are all more mature and more polished so as to never release an album like this today, yet there’s nothing to be ashamed of here, unless you hate Kinsella’s vocals as many do. This is just powerful, loud, dynamic music, fun for all its roughness.

The best moments are the fastest and loudest, like the end of “Astaire” and the beginning fury of “Ethyl,” which showcased screaming vocals, bursts of guitar, and power drumming. “Swallow Water” evokes a more old-school emo aesthetic, with quiet, contemplative moments and furious bursts of angry rock, until the ending when Kinsella screeches away almost completely unaccompanied. “Dinky Rope Dog” starts off with the most horrendous Kinsella vocals ever, quite likely. He only sings well when accompanying loud and fast rock, if only he’d learn that. Oh, this song is so painful. But thankfully, Nanna takes the lead on the crazy, herky-jerky “St. December,” which shows Kinsella’s best vocal prowess manifests itself as background screeching. “Fifth Grade Tender” shows a more melancholy side of the band, although the power rock is still evident here and there.

By the time you get into the three non-Kinsella tracks, I think Sky Corvair were coming into their own. Nanna takes over lead vocals exclusively, and there’s less screeching and more hoarse-singing/shouting Braid-style. Only the rock here is louder and faster, with “Carpetbaggers” really pouring it on, and “Peppermint Gas” might have the best guitar on the whole album, making it one of the most consistently good songs here. And the closer, “Joy,” is much more refined and stately, more mid-tempo and intense.

Good stuff, if only to reminisce. I’m glad it was re-released, but this album is far less relevant today than it was in 1998. The bands have moved on and changed their sound, generally for the better. Unsafe at Any Speed still remains mandatory listening only for die-hards and collectors. At least we can all stop looking on eBay.

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