lotte kestner - china mountain

lotte kestner is the solo project of trespassers william’s singer-songwriter anna-lynne williams. this is a pretty delicate record, and i definitely have to be in the right mood to listen to it - when in the right mood though, what a record! the first song is one of the saddest things ever, and it kinda sets the tone for the rest of an album. try mashing together joanna newsom and will oldham or something, and you might be close to what this sounds like. its pretty sparse; mostly just her voice and guitar (with the odd melodica and quiet woodwind instrument), but her voice is so sublime that she could get away with it completely a cappella. do not expect any urgency here. this is very gentle. very slow. like creaking floorboards. some heartache. some optimism. a bit like floating. it is a grower, and something you need to give attention. away you go...somewhere on your little shimmering boat.... cccrrrssshhhhbbbuuuuuhhh (the sound of waves, ya know? ya know!). “fainted twice / once like butterflies / and once like ice.” lovely.

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funeral diner - yeah, you remember that

you will not find me posting much screamo. in fact, this will probably be it. mainly because screamo is dead - europe killed it - my interest slowly waning as somewhere, some french dude is jaming repetitive octaves for seven minutes. even bands like funeral diner test my patience sometimes... i can remember always struggling to sit through the underdark. but. but but but. this song (yeah i know, just uploading one song. so what) from the welcome the plague year 7" split is probably the best modern 'screamo' song (in my opinion etc...blah). its got the totally INTENSE pummeling crunching all out kick in the balls attack mode riffage; the breakdown; the quiet sobbing ("...as if bleeding was even enough for you!"); and the off the chart epic punch in face ending that makes you want to cave your own face in. this is repetitive without being boring. inspirational without being tacky. relentless in its complete attack on the senses (and emotion) but without taking the listener for granted.

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(i think its oop - prove me wrong and buy it somewhere)

ethel meserve - the milton abandonment

"Ethel Meserve was the name of a store on Allen Street in downtown State College, PA run by a woman of the same name. She ran the store for several decades selling various knick-knacks, home furnishings, lamps, candles etc. In the early to mid-90's, shortly after the band formed, she stopped running it herself when she became too old to manage her business. The store finally closed in the late 90's while the lady was close to a 100 years old, and the band itself found its end in 1998. Ethel Meserve = name of store = name of woman = name of band."

i remember i bought this cd pretty blindly from tree records (one of the best labels ever?). GOOD CHOICE. this band have done a handful of 7"s (yadin's hair is probably my favourite thing they've done), appeared on some comps too (post marked stamps), but this is kinda 'the' release. lincoln, hoover, boys life, drive like jehu, slint, native nod, june of 44, fugazi, 90s emo. - if you like this, get this. in fact, yeah, if i had to compare this record to another it would be departures and landfalls by boys life. it has the same tone/feeling. some quiet\loud moments. those total punch the air THIS FEELS GOOD moments too. the whole record starts and end with some cello. neat, huh. unfortunately tree records went bust a while ago. ken was getting rid of stock cheaply through the webstore for a while and then ebay, but now i have no idea where you'd pick this up. pretty essential though.

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also, if anyone has rips of the 7"s please let me know. thanks!

a day in black and white - notes

so i've been superbad at uploading lately, very sorry! hopefully i'll get a decent amount of stuff done over the holidays. anyway, a day in black and white were (indefinite hiatus) a D.C rock band. skramz kids went crazy for their first record ('cowboys...'), so this one kinda panned because it was so different and didn't have gutty screaming, big build ups, and OCTAVE guitar. this kinda sucked because this record is much better. its more mature, the recording is absolutely spot ON, and there is a certain (D.C) groove that has been missing from modern hardcore/emo. this sounds like it was released by dischord..., even if it was put out by level plane. i think that's what put a lot of people off this record when it came out. it sounds more like fugazi or q and not u (even sonic youth) than city of caterpillar. produced by kurt ballou it has some of the best sounding drums i've heard. damn! and ok, i have to admit there are a one or two duff tracks on this. sometimes it kicks into some pretty predictable and lazy patterns, but by keeping this record short (30 minutes) you don't get bored. so one or two duff tracks yes, but jeezzzo there are some seriously seriously SERIOUSLY max-out-woah songs on this that will get you so pumped. a literal tale, lame duck, a good turn (!!!), roland's right (bass is so tight on this one. so is the ending). MAN! these guys know how to write a song. so yeah, get this record. it sucks they kinda faded away without much credit for notes cos this slays like a major.

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buy cd/lp ($6/$8!!)
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noumenon - discography

noumenon is a mathy, fun band from chicago, il. unlike a lot of math bands from chicago, these guys are still around and playing shows. if you're into bands such as native or piglet or anything along those lines, check em out.

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harrison bergeron - dead bergeron

harrison bergeron is a hardcore band from pennsylvania. they were around in 2005-2006 and made this one demo, "dead bergeron", it has 6 songs on it, and they're not in the best of quality, but this band rules so hard, i just wouldn't recommend trying to blast this out of shitty car speakers, cause you probably won't hear anything. "darkness washed over the dude" is one of the best things i've heard. anyway, the members of this went on to be in street smart cyclist, storm the bastille, get to the chopper and boy problems. they toured on the east coast with make me in 2006, and probably should have been a band longer. i would recommend listening to all of the bands that came from them though.

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orwell - discography

well, orwell was a band from chicago, il in the 90s. to be more specific, april '95 - may '96. members included bob nanna, sean o'brien, demetrio maguigad, and billy smith. aka members of braid, friction, gainer, hubcap, the city on film, the sky corvair, traitors, etcetc. they didn't play a whole lot of shows, and they only have 9 songs, only three of which were actually released. "angular momentum" was on the "direction" compilation and "4242" was on another compilation called "emo shcmeemo" which you might be able to find on ebay if you really try. and "bandsaw architecture" which was on the "ground rule double" compilation. these guys rule and this is a must have if you're into braid or friction or whathaveyou. sometimes the stars hit me like racecars.....

listen to them

try it out

and then buy it! (if you can find it..)

february stars union - adults are threatening creatures

there isn't a lot that i can find on this band other than the fact that they were from illinois and were around in the 90s. also i really dig the female/male vocalist thing.

i actually found out about them from mitch's blog but i'm re-upping it because it's pretty awesome and i really want more people to hear this. more bands should sound like this.

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kickball - abcdefghijkickball

this album rules, this group rules. they're full of energy, and their music couldn't prove this more. they're from portland, washington and still love playing in basements. taking an excerpt from a review from a portland newspaper: "The trio creates its own energy with frantic, schizophrenic disco beats that drive adventurous basslines and start-stop buzzsaw guitar?the whole mess of which can juggernaut from sexy, bleeding-heart dance funk into soaring, ecstatic Arcade Fire-style choruses before your oft-shaking ass can tell the difference." yeah. enough said?

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listen to it/buy it

the love of everything - ghosts and friends

the love of everything is definitely one of my favorite bands, and this has to be one of my favorite albums of 2009. filled with bobby burg's (from joan of arc etc) off-key singing and looped guitar strummings, this album is perfect for everything. "safety first" is one of the best tracks on here, as well as "i love all you guys slow" (which is also on the split with mount eerie, i highly recommend getting this split asap, even though i think it's out of print now). so if you want to listen to a record which i can promise you has plenty of chimes, bleeps and bloops, then this album is pretty perfect.

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buy (ps, i think this has the split with mount eerie back in stock!)

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park ave - when jamie went to london... we broke up

this very short lived project of kids from omaha, nebraska still seems to have a pretty big fanbase. this is mostly because conor oberst was in this band, as well as the drummer from the faint and two girls who later went on to play in tilly and the wall. but also, this album is actually really adorable. this band actually broke up because jamie went to london (hence the title of this album). but before this happened they released a split 7" with the wrens on saddle creek records and then this record, which went out of print shortly after released, but conor oberst re-released this album on his own label in '06. this is really good to listen to when you're in the mood to listen to some really cute indie pop songs with spaceship noises and off-key singing. fun fact: none of the girls in the band knew how to play their instruments prior to being in this band. but this is still a cute album, nonetheless.

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the firebird band - the setting sun and its satellites

sorry again for the lack of posts. lindsay and i are crackin' down at school and haven't had a lot of time to update this. priorities, y'know? however, this blog is not dead, not gone forever, shall live on!

okayokayokay, the firebird band. where should i begin? well, they're from chicago. reason enough to listen to them, right? greatestcityonearthblahblah. also, it's chris broach... you know... braid... his brother was also in the band, and they were originally called the firebird "suite" but after braid broke up this turned into a full-time sort of deal. these songs are absolutely gorgeous. "gift" is probably one of the best songs i have ever heard, just reminds me of christmas so much, and it's a great song for playing on those chilly mornings. nothing not dance party is a little more upbeat. "they caught you dreamin', they caught you sleepin' again." also, "the way to go sound on sound" might be a favorite off of this album. "three months in chicago keeps you pretty....." maybe this band is just a chicago thing, but check it out.

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apologies for the lack of music. both of us are pretty heavy under with work. i don't know about delia, but i am completing my dissertation for my final year at university as well as getting prepared for january exams. expect a lot more music over christmas when we're too lazy to work though!

tree hopping - a hospital

tree hopping is another one of those fun bands from florida (like previously mentioned forest clay and totally nebular, so i'm imagining if you like both of those, you will probably like this as well). i can't really think of any other words to describe this album as anything other than "so dang cute". it's got some strings. it's got some sticks. it's got some other fun noises thrown in there and it makes you want to lay on your floor all day as the sun shines through your window hitting your face just the right way. the myspace has all of the albums to download, but here's this one anyway, just 'cause. most of these songs are 1 to 2 minutes long, but it's perfect anyway. personally my favorite song is "k hospital" but i can't think of a song you would skip on this record. take a long drive, hug a kitten, clean your room! this album will make you dance in your chair.

overall: fun/10

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take a listen, download the rest of the albums

pretend - bones in the soil, rust in the oil

this album is up there with my favorite albums of 2009, so far. if you're into the whole twinkly-guitar sound, you should definitely check this out. when i listen to them i can't stop thinking about american football (or maybe penpal, marquette, etc) for some reason. they have that soft sound, but their songs still seem powerful and emotional, not to mention long, but still not boring. Those Luminous Noises Are God is probably one of the best songs i've heard in a while. especially around 2:03, oh my gooooodness, and then the vocals kick in and the little chimes and it makes me want to melt. rumor has it they cover "honestly" by american football, and i would be so stoked to get my hands on a recording of that, or make it out to california to see it. i guess this is the only release they put out so far, but i could only imagine they're going to put out even radder things in the future.

overall: 9/10

buy this!!!

listen to it

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cheval de frise - sans titre

a french math rock duo with an amped-up acoustic guitar and drummer. listen to these key signatures go nuts.

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the union ares (ex-kolya)

so i've only really got a hold of these tracks. kolya are one of my favourite bands. i remember when i first heard the LP i was kinda giddy. it was like hearing native nod for the first time (if you haven't heard kolya or native nod, i guess its kinda 'rhythmic' 90s emo). pretty gnarly. i think the 7"'s might even be better but whatever. they split up shortly after the release of their self-titled album and faded away pretty fast. this band, the union ares, is guitarist todd giles and bassist craig schechter. Apparently todd also playing in a bluegrass band called poverty line old time band, but i really have no idea. anyway - i picked up these tracks from andy sncl somewhere i can't remember. its 4 tracks. 2 recorded and 2 apparently live tracks from the fallout shelter (quality is pretty good). its worth downloading for the first track alone really. the bit at 3:11 is soooo good.

there appears to be pretty much no information about this band anywhere on the net.

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tar...feathers - make way for the ocean floor to fall to the surface

tar…feathers are from stockholm sweden. initially just marcus nyke but now made up of 3 or 4 members, live and on record. they play INDIE ROCK that’s not a million miles away from early modest mouse or wolf parade mixed with xiu xiu. lots of scratchy and stabby clean guitar coupled with funny yelping vocals. neato! this album sounds awkward. but a good awkward. like it was made by the kid that was never that popular in school but totally dug all the rad stuff like poetry and looking at the stars. he probably never had a girlfriend, instead opting for classic literature and painting. i dunno, its ACE either way, and he manages to pull out melodies like nobodies business - i wanna know where he keeps them! there are a couple of mediocre tracks (tada comes to mind), but on the whole this is very good. you may take a while to get used to the vocals. perhaps an acquired taste, yes. but if was it even there? and forever is quite some time don't getcha jiving then i just don't know what to think of you anymore.

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peter broderick - home

oh boy oh boy! this is an album for a chilly autumn day if there ever was one. although peter broderick started off in more neo-classical circles with his totally rad album float, this record is much closer to albums by bon iver or sam amidon (all three records were released in 2008. much of the praise went to bon iver - completely bypassing the two better records). quite like bon iver, peter broderick likes to layer his vocals. and what what lovely vocals! although mainly centered around him and his guitar; harmonium, glockenspiel, organ, vibraphone, banjo and a cello all make an appearance along the way. if that sounds a lot, it isn't. there's something very subtle about the whole record. its not bombarded with over production or unnecessary percussion. its a quiet album, but oh so glorious! the final track, games, is one of my favourites. the hum of what i assume to be a sort of pump organ is complete bliss. like someone pouring a mixture of what could only be described as 'cosy' all over you. the reverb almost swallowing you up whole. yummy. REALLY RECOMMENDED.

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the candyland carcrash - self titled 7"

the candyland carcrash were a short lived 90's emo band from virginia beach. this is their two track 7" which you will never find anymore. oopmo. but yeah, its pretty good emo/hardcore. if you dig bands like owltian mia and republic of freedom fighters you should give this a shot. also - the more recent uk band jupiter lander. sorry, i don't really know what else to say about this band! i listened to the first song from this so much over summer, and is probably one of my favourite emo songs. its got the noisy/messy start...then the slow slow slooowww and unbelievably sad middle middle bit where you cry into a pillow, and then the really angry bit at the end. dig it, yeahh.

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