I'm Not Scared, I Just Don't Have Anything To Say

I know I really need to put something a little more substantial up here, but don't worry, I'm getting to that. I've been working on my year-end list (I know everyone is just begging to see it!) (I dunno, it's just something I do every year) and also a kind of year-recap thing. But I can't bring myself around to it right now.

So anywaysssssssssssssszzzzzzzz.

I heard people talk about this band Piebald a lot. During this winter break I finally got around to checking out their "best" album and I love it loads. They definitely take early 2000's drive-thru style pop-punk a step further than most bands did. Rather than sticking to songs about girls over the "pop-punk T" chord progression, they add some cool riffs and different song elements that, I think, really sets them apart from their peers. It also helps that every single song has a colossal vocal hook. This one is my favourite on the album:

Being the ska-nerd that I am, I also checked out some ska albums I hadn't gotten around to getting yet. Slow Gherkin was a band who were sort of a part of the mid-late 90's ska boom, but have since broken up. I guess you could say they were one of the ones who "didn't make it". There were a hand full of bands in the 90's who got huge on ska. There were tons and tons more who wrote awesomely catchy and poppy ska music, but never got the attention that No Doubt did. This band, unfortunately, falls into the latter category. They use the Greek sculpture Laocoon as the basis for one of their 7" covers, which appeals to the art-nerd in me. I think this song is very fun and it reminds of how much fun the Toronto ska scene used to be about 5-6 years ago:

For good ol' X-Mas I got some pretty sweet stuff. Namely a bunch of comic books that I am stoked to read (Psylock comes back from the dead and goes on a rampage on the Savage Land with X-23? Uh yesssss.) and some sweet books that I am also stoked to read. The one I've started is A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. He wrote the book that spawned one of my all-time favourite movie, High Fidelity, so I was super stoked to read one of his.

This one is about four people from different walks of life who meet and (sort of) befriend each other while trying to all commit suicide on top of a building on New Year's Eve. I think it's a pretty interest premise for a book. The back cover compares it to the Breakfast Club and I think that is totally apt. The four people could really not be more different, but are all bonded by their want to kill themselves. So I guess it's more like a darker version of a John Hughes film. I'm about a third through it and absolutely love it though. Definitely recommend it.

I've heard a lot about Best Coast and am checking them out right now. If they were a simple pop-punk band without the vocal effects and hipster hype, but the same girl singing and with the same lyrics, I'd probably love them. I just can't get into them now though.

Sweet.