Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Feel That Engine HHHHUUUUMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNN'

I was about to finish up a post I've been writing for a few days about Streetlight Manifesto because I feel guilty about my last few posts having not much too them, but then THIS HAPPENED TODAY:


Beat Noir has finally gotten around to releasing our new EP, Permanently. This is the first thing the band has released in a shade over two years and it's also the first release that Colin and I have played on. This is especially important to me as it's the first real-deal-for-serious release that I've ever put out with a band (will write about this later). I'm real proud of these songs and really can't wait for everyone to hear them. Also, it is free. Y'ain't got nothing to lose.

Secret Society

You know what band is amazing at making tour videos? Title Fight. The one below recaps the world tour they went on this past year around the States, Canada, Japan, Austrailia, New Zealand and various parts of Europe. It's sweet.





This video is in addition to a great mini documentary the band released earlier this year about a stadium tour they did with Rise Against and recording the excellent Floral Green. Check that out here:




Great band.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

This is one of my all-time favourite songs. Every time I hear it reminds of someone, specifically one night with them from a few summers ago, and makes me sad and nostalgic in a good-kind-of-sad way.



And man, when the song gets to the second chorus and Chris hits the higher notes, this is basically what happens:


PLEASE TIM, TELL US MORE ABOUT HOW YOU LIKE TO GET SAD AND WALLOW IN IT.

Monday, July 15, 2013

True Trans

This is the newest Against Me! release. It is two of the songs from the forthcoming Transgender Dysphoria Blues done acoustically. I really think that this is going to be a really amazing and sincere album and I can't wait for it.

Plus one is called FUCKMYLIFE666, so like COME ON!

Monday, July 8, 2013

It's More Than Wincing Every Time I Sip My Tea

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been pondering about a variety of things lately and have been thinking a little more critically than I normally do, which is something that I'm really happy about. Now that I think about it (nice job brain), I'm pretty sure this has to do with my new job. Whereas before I was mindlessly stacking things in a grocery store (fuck, that was actually the worst job I've ever had), now I get to use the creative part of my brain in designing activities and thinking of ways to apply themes and ideas, as well as think critically about subjects when cataloging artworks. It feels great to get the wheels turning up there again, which in turn makes me pretty fuckin' happy.

So yes, I have been thinking more critically lately and this doesn't just mean I write up a long post about how everyone rips on everyone for their music taste because Duff started listening to New Order; it means that I start to process things that happen to me and things that I do and try to relate them to my life experiences as a whole. So Tim, how about you stop typing things up out of your ass and get to the goddamn point of this goddamn blog post.

Cool bruh, just relax.

Earlier this week at work I was speaking with some others in my department, we noted that we needed to better promote our summer camps and decided that taking posters and flyers around the downtown area would be the best way to do that. I was the one charged with this task and as soon as I set out with a backpack full of materials I was struck by how funny it was that something I had done in the past to promote shows that my old ska band played or one that I was putting on at my house was now something that I was now doing at my job. Not just that, but also that something that is considered so basic and crucial in the punk world (one of my main interests in life) was now intersecting with my experience in the art world (one of my main interests in life). It's really funny the way things work out like that.

This got thinking about other times two areas of my life have intersected like that and once I really got going on that tangent it became apparent that it happens more than I realize. More often than not it was art that was finding ways to meld with other interests of mine because as they say "Art imitates the juvenile teen dramas that you watch ironically in your life."

The first time this happened was when I was completing a project for my 12th grade history class. We had to give big term presentations that would take up an entire class and I figured that my best course of action would be to take the "Romantic Movement in Europe" topic because at the time the only thing that I cared at all about was music and I saw that topic as an opportunity to incorporate talking about music into this class. What happened was pretty interesting (to me) and to be honest (seriously not hyperbolising here) was pretty life changing. I found that the more I read into the prevailing ideologies of the Romantic movement, I started to relate to it a bunch and thought it was pretty neat. At the time I was a little heartbroken and felt pretty lonely at my high school, so the frank openness of the Romantics in regards to their emotions and the feeling of being overwhelmed by the sublime was easily relatable. While I thought that I could focus on my forte of music and breeze through literature and art while still getting a good grade, just the opposite happened. The more I looked at and read into Romantic Art, the more I thought "Wow. This is amazing. I had no idea that a visual image could say this much." I started to take a really keen interest in Romantic painting and the main reason was that I thought that the attitude of the artists and what they were trying to say and the way they said it was not all that far off from all the punk bands I love. I looked at paintings like The Raft of the Medusa or The 3rd of May and immediately in them saw the same spirit of rebellion and anti-authoritarianism and that I saw in punk bands. The same went for the movement in literature at the time. The writers were so open and serious about their emotions that it was impossible for me not to relate it to emo music. In fact, during the presentation I said "This basically the book version of an emo band."

From there I ended up taking an Art History survey class in first year, which lead to me majoring to me in Art History in university, so you can see what I meant by "life-changing".

These intersections of my interests happen all the time and it's sort of hard for me to think of more major examples because they generally happen on a smaller scale. Usually it will be an ideology I learned about in school coming up in the themes of an album or a favourite book of mine being subtly referenced on a TV show. Enough for me to crack an appreciative smile, but not enough for me to make a big fuss about it. And it's those little instances that I find to be some of my favourite parts of being alive.

And shit (had to throw in an extra swear word, so I don't sound too full of it).