There was a little Japanese boy walking in front of me when I left the library today. It was early evening and the sun had just set. He quickened his pace as soon as my footsteps opened the automatic door behind him. I feel bad for scaring him, but I also remember that age, when 25 year-olds were so intimidating. Because of that guilt, I crossed the street so as not to force him to look over his shoulder at me and worry him. He can't be older than 10 and he's all by himself, which I find offsetting. Though I grew up in the city and was fairly independent, my parents never let me walk through an area this busy by myself. Is he neglected, or just well-adjusted? I honestly can't tell.
Seeing him walk down Queen Street instantly reminds me of walking east on Kingston in my own youth and how fondly I look back on my childhood. On one hand, I miss being that young and carefree dearly, but on the other I have still maintained some of that outlook today, I think.
I look both ways at Duke Street and begin to cross, having seen that there is no traffic. The little boy looks at me anxiously. I can see that he understands he will be able to cross safely and wants to show me that he is cool enough to jay-walk, but I can also see his mother's voice in the back of his head reminding him "Wait until the light changes to walk!" The look kind of breaks my heart because I can still remember the time of being young and wanting to impress the older kids.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Jody Husky Sandals
Because I write so rarely in this blog anymore, whenever I do I feel like I have to write some huge entry that I put a ton of thought into and spend a lot of time on. This is some type of penance, where I have to do a whole lot of work on something to make up for the fact that I neglect it so much. This can be counterproductive though, because I end up putting off writing just because I don't feel like spending 2 hours on something*.
This June I'm working with the Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener and Area (abbreviated and referred to as CAFKA). They put up a ton of public artworks in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. It's SIQ.
CAFKA
YO, BEAT NOIR STILL HAS OUR ALBUM UP FOR FREE DOWNLOAD. LOOK INTO THAT YOU JABRONI.
We played the worst show ever in Hamilton last week. It was truly awful!
Lastly, here's 90's skate footy of a dude in Timberlands. Hell yeah.
*Spending two hours on something productive and creative is not a bad thing. I should suck it up.
Anyways, what I was getting at is that there used to be a ton of posts on here where I would just throw up a bunch of stuff because that's what I was doing or listening to at that moment. Like seriously, if you go back and read all of that, there's so many posts about nothing. YOU SEEN THIS SHIT? I think I kind of need to do that still sometimes, because it keeps me in the habit of putting up stuff and staying involved.
Aight:
My friend Jay started a new podcast. I fuxxxx with it. I recommend it if you enjoy rap music and hangin' with your homies:
A hip-hop album I have been waiting for for a long time leaked. It is very good.
This June I'm working with the Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener and Area (abbreviated and referred to as CAFKA). They put up a ton of public artworks in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. It's SIQ.
CAFKA
YO, BEAT NOIR STILL HAS OUR ALBUM UP FOR FREE DOWNLOAD. LOOK INTO THAT YOU JABRONI.
We played the worst show ever in Hamilton last week. It was truly awful!
Lastly, here's 90's skate footy of a dude in Timberlands. Hell yeah.
*Spending two hours on something productive and creative is not a bad thing. I should suck it up.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Lying Awake Intent On Tuning In On You
You know what I really hate? "Ironic" pop song covers by punk/metal/hardcore/whatever bands. Hell, I am going to expand that to include "ironic" covers of any kind.
Whenever a band covers song for any reason other than "I like this song and would like to play it myself because I like it so much" that performer places themselves above the original performer, even if they're doing it subconsciously. I think that is outrageously pretentious and also incredibly disrespectful. Even if it is just the most simple, dumb pop song ever released, it still involved a very long and arduous process in its production. Making music and then releasing it is REALLY HARD and REALLY STRESSFUL. Demeaning another person's effort in that process seems like a real shitty thing to do, in my opinion.
On that note, that also implies that your own music taste is so superior to other peoples that you'll just be condescending about it. If you do that, FUCK YOU.
Like any capable writer I should give examples to illustrate my point.
One of the worst offenders in the "ironic" pop cover category is Fearless Records and their "Punk Goes..." series of cover compilations. The first iteration was a bit of a mixed bag because it seems like some of the covers were completely genuine and featured bands cover metal bands who you could tell influenced them in some way, such as Bigwig's Slayer cover and the RX Bandits Megadeth cover. On the other hand, there were completely awful contributions by Less Than Jake and New Found Glory (See! I'm not biased, I'm being critical about bands I like too!), so who knows. "...Goes Acoustic" which was acoustic versions of songs, so again not that bad.
After these though, everything went to shit. "...Goes Pop", "...Goes 80's" and the worst offender of all "...Goes Crunk" followed and were filled with the type of covers that I started this post putting down.
For example:
At the time, Katy Perry was figured by most to be on the fast track to becoming a one-hit wonder because of "I Kissed A Girl", so I'm sure Attack Attack! was looking to capitalize on her moment of popularity to benefit themselves. Jokes on you shitheads, she followed that with an amazing single and then put out one of the best pop albums ever, while all you're known for is this and being the soup du jour on Warped Tour one year.
These types of covers are also really popular with local bands because they can be a really easy way to gain cheap popularity for a bit, which is something else that really bugs about these. People should like you because of the art you make, not because they recognize a popular song at your shows.
Now, this is not all to suggest that there is something wrong with covering pop songs, just in the fashion that most bands approach it. In fact, I downright love me some pop covers. When the band Joyce Manor (who are very good, this is one of my favourite songs) announced that they would include a cover of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" on their second album, most people rolled their eyes because it seemed exactly like the kind of music bullshit that I have been describing so far. However, Barry Johnson was quick to point out that he's always wanted to cover the song and was a genuine fan of it. What a novel idea! Being a genuine fan? Who even does that anymore?! The first time I listened to Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired I didn't even notice the song was a cover the first time it came on. A funny thing happens when you actually like the song you are playing: Quality increases!
Now compare that to:
Another great example is the power-pop band First Base's cover of Abba's "Mamma Mia"
First Base covered this song because it is a GOOD POP SONG AND THEY LIKE IT. NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THAT.
I know that irony can be funny, by hell is it ever a slippery slope.
Also, a few years ago, Blogger totally revamped its platform. I've said it a few times, but to reiterate, I am completely committed to this site as a writing platform over Tumblr or other options because it is much more of a word processor and less of a "here's something to read for 1 singular minute before you scroll down and then forget it". One of the features they changed was that when you were embedding a video, for example from Youtube, instead of just throwing the whole code into the raw text of your post, you click a button that says "HTML" and put it there. I like this because it reminds me of my days on MySpace when I had to learn rudimentary coding to spruce up my amazing page. Because of that experience I have a kind of nostalgia for HTML. I thought of this wild-ass tangent because of how many videos I just had to put into this post.
Whenever a band covers song for any reason other than "I like this song and would like to play it myself because I like it so much" that performer places themselves above the original performer, even if they're doing it subconsciously. I think that is outrageously pretentious and also incredibly disrespectful. Even if it is just the most simple, dumb pop song ever released, it still involved a very long and arduous process in its production. Making music and then releasing it is REALLY HARD and REALLY STRESSFUL. Demeaning another person's effort in that process seems like a real shitty thing to do, in my opinion.
On that note, that also implies that your own music taste is so superior to other peoples that you'll just be condescending about it. If you do that, FUCK YOU.
Like any capable writer I should give examples to illustrate my point.
One of the worst offenders in the "ironic" pop cover category is Fearless Records and their "Punk Goes..." series of cover compilations. The first iteration was a bit of a mixed bag because it seems like some of the covers were completely genuine and featured bands cover metal bands who you could tell influenced them in some way, such as Bigwig's Slayer cover and the RX Bandits Megadeth cover. On the other hand, there were completely awful contributions by Less Than Jake and New Found Glory (See! I'm not biased, I'm being critical about bands I like too!), so who knows. "...Goes Acoustic" which was acoustic versions of songs, so again not that bad.
After these though, everything went to shit. "...Goes Pop", "...Goes 80's" and the worst offender of all "...Goes Crunk" followed and were filled with the type of covers that I started this post putting down.
For example:
At the time, Katy Perry was figured by most to be on the fast track to becoming a one-hit wonder because of "I Kissed A Girl", so I'm sure Attack Attack! was looking to capitalize on her moment of popularity to benefit themselves. Jokes on you shitheads, she followed that with an amazing single and then put out one of the best pop albums ever, while all you're known for is this and being the soup du jour on Warped Tour one year.
These types of covers are also really popular with local bands because they can be a really easy way to gain cheap popularity for a bit, which is something else that really bugs about these. People should like you because of the art you make, not because they recognize a popular song at your shows.
Now, this is not all to suggest that there is something wrong with covering pop songs, just in the fashion that most bands approach it. In fact, I downright love me some pop covers. When the band Joyce Manor (who are very good, this is one of my favourite songs) announced that they would include a cover of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" on their second album, most people rolled their eyes because it seemed exactly like the kind of music bullshit that I have been describing so far. However, Barry Johnson was quick to point out that he's always wanted to cover the song and was a genuine fan of it. What a novel idea! Being a genuine fan? Who even does that anymore?! The first time I listened to Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired I didn't even notice the song was a cover the first time it came on. A funny thing happens when you actually like the song you are playing: Quality increases!
Now compare that to:
Another great example is the power-pop band First Base's cover of Abba's "Mamma Mia"
First Base covered this song because it is a GOOD POP SONG AND THEY LIKE IT. NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THAT.
I know that irony can be funny, by hell is it ever a slippery slope.
Also, a few years ago, Blogger totally revamped its platform. I've said it a few times, but to reiterate, I am completely committed to this site as a writing platform over Tumblr or other options because it is much more of a word processor and less of a "here's something to read for 1 singular minute before you scroll down and then forget it". One of the features they changed was that when you were embedding a video, for example from Youtube, instead of just throwing the whole code into the raw text of your post, you click a button that says "HTML" and put it there. I like this because it reminds me of my days on MySpace when I had to learn rudimentary coding to spruce up my amazing page. Because of that experience I have a kind of nostalgia for HTML. I thought of this wild-ass tangent because of how many videos I just had to put into this post.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
God, Please Save These Troubled States
As I get older, I find that it is a lot harder to keep up with music than it used to be. Whereas I used to be on top of everything that came out and listen intently and instantly be able to form an opinion on it, I just don't have the energy or time to do that anymore. It could be that as a person, when you get older you just start to settle into the things you like or it could be that I don't have those commutes on the bus to school anymore, where I used to listen to music constantly and accordingly needed an always refreshing supply. Then again, I'm only 24, so making those types of statements seems pretty silly.
Another thing is that I constantly forget about releases and always find myself listening to something and thinking "Holy fuck! How did I forget how good this album is!" This is certainly a result of that period of finding and listening to everything I could find, as only so many things can stick you, y'know. It's weird, I almost feel guilty because I've been ignoring it.
There's a select few artists who this happens to more often than not: Jawbreaker, The Makeshift Heroes, Bayside, The Impossibles, among others.
Recently somebody this happened with is Crime In Stereo. I was fucking all about this band for a few years, but they gradually fell out of rotation for no reason that I can think of. Their last show in Toronto before they broke up (before reforming last year) was one of my favourite shows I've ever been to. They had a great career and each album was sufficiently different from the preceding one that it was distinct, but also still sounded like it was natural for the band.
This song is probably their best one. Everything about it is fucking perfect. Huge sing-a-long chorus, bridge/guitar solo, giant ending breakdown. Fuckin' great.
Another thing is that I constantly forget about releases and always find myself listening to something and thinking "Holy fuck! How did I forget how good this album is!" This is certainly a result of that period of finding and listening to everything I could find, as only so many things can stick you, y'know. It's weird, I almost feel guilty because I've been ignoring it.
There's a select few artists who this happens to more often than not: Jawbreaker, The Makeshift Heroes, Bayside, The Impossibles, among others.
Recently somebody this happened with is Crime In Stereo. I was fucking all about this band for a few years, but they gradually fell out of rotation for no reason that I can think of. Their last show in Toronto before they broke up (before reforming last year) was one of my favourite shows I've ever been to. They had a great career and each album was sufficiently different from the preceding one that it was distinct, but also still sounded like it was natural for the band.
This song is probably their best one. Everything about it is fucking perfect. Huge sing-a-long chorus, bridge/guitar solo, giant ending breakdown. Fuckin' great.
Go Out With A Bang, Or Until They All Know Your Name
Something that will surprise absolutely no one at all is that I am super into the new Antartigo Vespucci EP. It's the brainchild of Jeff Rosenstock (My fav since I heard "Nowhere"*, also Bomb The Music Industry!) and Chris Farren (Fake Problems, who I haven't listened to nearly enough lately and put out a shitload of great music), so it's pretty much right up my alley. In terms of the actual music, it's in the same vein as the poppier numbers from the end of BtMI!, like "Vocal Coach" or "Can't Complain". Chris Farren does essentially all of the singing, save for one brief appearance by Jeff on lead. Both of them wrote the stuff, though it does seem to lean more towards Jeff's style. Hey, Benny Horowitz from the Gaslight Anthem played drums too!
The whole thing is pretty ace, is perfect for summer and will certainly be one of my favourite things released this year. Poppy bangers like "I'm Giving Up On U2" are what will draw you in (dat chorus doe), but the ending line of "All I wanna do is fade out with you" on "Bang!" is what sealed the deal for me.
This is my favourite song off of it, I think:
As per usual YOU DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE FO' PHREE. DO IT.
*Hey Matt, since I know you're one of two people actually read this, look for John Ryan in that video. I assure you that he is there. My Long Island ska knowledge runs deep.
The whole thing is pretty ace, is perfect for summer and will certainly be one of my favourite things released this year. Poppy bangers like "I'm Giving Up On U2" are what will draw you in (dat chorus doe), but the ending line of "All I wanna do is fade out with you" on "Bang!" is what sealed the deal for me.
This is my favourite song off of it, I think:
As per usual YOU DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE FO' PHREE. DO IT.
*Hey Matt, since I know you're one of two people actually read this, look for John Ryan in that video. I assure you that he is there. My Long Island ska knowledge runs deep.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Sell Both Our Tickets And Sit On The Lawn
Initially, I planned to include this entry as part of that "Under The Radar" series I started writing and then promptly forgot about*, but then it dawned on me that it would be a little silly to have an entry on one of the most successful rock bands in Canadian history be titled "Under The Radar".
But then again, Sloan have a weird type of reception and are sort simultaneously liked and ignored for similar reasons. At least by my perception, that is. On one hand, they are indie rock darlings that encompassed everything about Canadian alternative rock in the 90's, while on the other they are Can-Rock giants, whose singles have dominated radio for about 20 years.
On that first note, they came from our then-indie Mecca Halifax (it could be argued they created it), they had the angst and they had the sound. Their first two records, Smeared and Twice Removed, are absolute classics and should really be considered the stuff put out by their concurrent American coutnerparts like Sonic Youth and Archers of Loaf. This is all referenced in the video below (Sidenote: Huge Eric's Trip sweater and a Jaguar! Remember the 90's?! This is who all the emo kids want to be right now, but they don't even realize it and that makes me laugh.)
Did I watch that entire video before posting it? Yes, I did.
The weird thing about Sloan is what happens to them after their first two albums. Though there is a definite progression in sound between Smeared and Twice Removed, they are both firmly within the realm of indie-rock. Those two albums were also very successful and released on the band's own label, Murderrecords. After some courting by a major, Sloan put out One Chord To Another, again on their own label, but there was a far greater progression in sound this time around. The hooks were still there, but there was a strong move towards more mature pop-rock that had it's foot much more in the mainstream than the band's previous output.
This is where the other side of the band's identity comes in. Though One Chord To Another is considered by many to be a classic, it does mark the beginning of the band's radio success and identity as a "singles band". Whereas before people praised Sloan's ability to put out classic after classic^, the band now started to be defined by songs like "Money City Maniacs", "If It Feels Good, Do It" and "The Rest Of My Life". That's not to say that those songs are bad, I love them, it's just that they became that band whose song you heard on The Edge or MuchMusic, not the band whose album you listened to in your room because you just got broken up with.
And hell, I guess that's just a result of those damn Can-Con laws, ain't it?
The problem with this entry is that I thought of it last week when I was in the middle of a giant, week-long Sloan binge, and have kind of forgotten what I wanted to get at. Duality or identity or some shit, I guess?* What I want to say is that you should probably go back and visit all the Sloan albums you forgot about, like Navy Blues, Never Hear the End of It or The Double-Cross, because they are filled with interesting forays into pop music on the deep cuts and gigantic pop hooks on the bangers.
For example, "HFXNSHC" is off of Never Hear the End of It and is the band trying to make a silly punk, but it doesn't work because THEY ARE WAY TOO GOOD AT HARMONIZING.
"Who Taught You To Live Like That" is off of the same album and is a picture-perfect example of Canadian roots-rock. SERIOUSLY, HOW IS THIS BAND SO GOOD AT HARMONIZING. CHRIST.
And hell, even after all these years, Sloan can still whip out an absolute gem of an indie-rock song, like this one (the song I'm referring to starts at 2:56, but all three are pretty fucking amazing together):
Really, I just wanted to write out a post as an excuse to include that last song. Hey Rebecca, I think about you when I listen to it. I AM THE KING OF THE SAPS.
*Sometimes when I have an idea for a blog, but not the time to write it, I start an entry by just writing out the title and maybe a short point-form description of my ideas and then leaving it. These typically turn into nothing, though on occasion I have actually gone back and written it out. I swear that when I came up with the idea of that "Under The Radar" thing, I immediately wrote down like six or seven bands I would want to do one on. Nope.
Also, I often come up with ideas that I think would work really well as a series, but also necessitate me writing and making entries in this blog often enough to have a series. That don't happen no mo'.
^Seriously though, their first three albums were Smeared, Twice Removed and One Chord To Another. That is a FUCKED amount of amazing output to start your career.
*Look at me go, I write like I don't care and am blasé, but I'm the one putting the effort into writing it! This is what you call "voice" or, more accurately, "being a poseur".
But then again, Sloan have a weird type of reception and are sort simultaneously liked and ignored for similar reasons. At least by my perception, that is. On one hand, they are indie rock darlings that encompassed everything about Canadian alternative rock in the 90's, while on the other they are Can-Rock giants, whose singles have dominated radio for about 20 years.
On that first note, they came from our then-indie Mecca Halifax (it could be argued they created it), they had the angst and they had the sound. Their first two records, Smeared and Twice Removed, are absolute classics and should really be considered the stuff put out by their concurrent American coutnerparts like Sonic Youth and Archers of Loaf. This is all referenced in the video below (Sidenote: Huge Eric's Trip sweater and a Jaguar! Remember the 90's?! This is who all the emo kids want to be right now, but they don't even realize it and that makes me laugh.)
Did I watch that entire video before posting it? Yes, I did.
The weird thing about Sloan is what happens to them after their first two albums. Though there is a definite progression in sound between Smeared and Twice Removed, they are both firmly within the realm of indie-rock. Those two albums were also very successful and released on the band's own label, Murderrecords. After some courting by a major, Sloan put out One Chord To Another, again on their own label, but there was a far greater progression in sound this time around. The hooks were still there, but there was a strong move towards more mature pop-rock that had it's foot much more in the mainstream than the band's previous output.
This is where the other side of the band's identity comes in. Though One Chord To Another is considered by many to be a classic, it does mark the beginning of the band's radio success and identity as a "singles band". Whereas before people praised Sloan's ability to put out classic after classic^, the band now started to be defined by songs like "Money City Maniacs", "If It Feels Good, Do It" and "The Rest Of My Life". That's not to say that those songs are bad, I love them, it's just that they became that band whose song you heard on The Edge or MuchMusic, not the band whose album you listened to in your room because you just got broken up with.
And hell, I guess that's just a result of those damn Can-Con laws, ain't it?
The problem with this entry is that I thought of it last week when I was in the middle of a giant, week-long Sloan binge, and have kind of forgotten what I wanted to get at. Duality or identity or some shit, I guess?* What I want to say is that you should probably go back and visit all the Sloan albums you forgot about, like Navy Blues, Never Hear the End of It or The Double-Cross, because they are filled with interesting forays into pop music on the deep cuts and gigantic pop hooks on the bangers.
For example, "HFXNSHC" is off of Never Hear the End of It and is the band trying to make a silly punk, but it doesn't work because THEY ARE WAY TOO GOOD AT HARMONIZING.
"Who Taught You To Live Like That" is off of the same album and is a picture-perfect example of Canadian roots-rock. SERIOUSLY, HOW IS THIS BAND SO GOOD AT HARMONIZING. CHRIST.
And hell, even after all these years, Sloan can still whip out an absolute gem of an indie-rock song, like this one (the song I'm referring to starts at 2:56, but all three are pretty fucking amazing together):
Really, I just wanted to write out a post as an excuse to include that last song. Hey Rebecca, I think about you when I listen to it. I AM THE KING OF THE SAPS.
*Sometimes when I have an idea for a blog, but not the time to write it, I start an entry by just writing out the title and maybe a short point-form description of my ideas and then leaving it. These typically turn into nothing, though on occasion I have actually gone back and written it out. I swear that when I came up with the idea of that "Under The Radar" thing, I immediately wrote down like six or seven bands I would want to do one on. Nope.
Also, I often come up with ideas that I think would work really well as a series, but also necessitate me writing and making entries in this blog often enough to have a series. That don't happen no mo'.
^Seriously though, their first three albums were Smeared, Twice Removed and One Chord To Another. That is a FUCKED amount of amazing output to start your career.
*Look at me go, I write like I don't care and am blasé, but I'm the one putting the effort into writing it! This is what you call "voice" or, more accurately, "being a poseur".
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Write Me A Cheque
Something that's been really popular on my facebook feed recently has been friends of mine posting lists of "12 (or 13 or 14) Albums That Changed You (or Stayed With You)". Basically, the idea is that you post a list of a few of your favourite albums with not very much thought being put into it, as the focus is more on the first thing that pops into your head, rather than a meticulous, thought-out process. Of course, as most people aren't huge music nerds like the people who originally started doing this, it eventually just turned into "Post Your Favourite Music".
I do want to state that I'm a fan of the original intention though. I think about music as much as the next guy, but there's something very refreshing about someone just posting something because it's the first thing they thought of, rather than mapping out why one album is better than another or constructing some type of elaborate argument to prove your point. Music is art and our response is generally emotional, so it's cool to base your thought process off of that in this case. And hell, it says something if you think of one release right away and then have to dig deep to remember another, doesn't it?
It has already been documented on this blog that I am TOO PUNK and TOO COOL to participate in trends on facebook, but as was the case last time, I'm actually kind of interested in this one and it seems neat. So here you go, these are 13 albums that have stuck with me over the years (or this is my list of favourite albums without racking my brain over shit that I'm forgetting). I have them in order, but it's pretty arbitrary; again, I'm not spending a ton of time on this.
The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Three Cheers For Disappointment
I have realized that having a "favourite album ever" is difficult because it's always changing, based on how your taste changes. This one is "mine" though and as is about as close as anything will get.
Bomb The Music Industry!- To Leave Or Die In Long Island
I used to time my walk home from high school so that I could scream all of the words to "Syke, Life Is Awesome!" to myself and that helped me deal with things more than you could possibly imagine.
The Suicide Machines- Destruction By Definition
This one made an instant impact and it hasn't gotten old since. In fact, I'm wearing a Suicide Machines shirt right now.
Less Than Jake- Hello Rockview
I have to pick just one LTJ album?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
We Are The Union- Who We Are
This is one that if I sat down and thought about the list might not have made it, but really has stayed with me over the years.
blink-182- Dude Ranch
Blink was one of the first bands I got into and this album still fucking rules.
Lifetime- Jersey's Best Dancers
I probably don't listen to Lifetime enough. They're the best. FEELINGS.
The Ergs!- Dorkrockcorkrod
There was a time in my life when I listened to The Ergs! and not much else. Riffs for days and cute lyrics for days.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones- Let's Face It
Again, probably wouldn't have included it on a best albums ever list, but I started listening to this band early in high school and haven't stopped since. Also, at one time I wanted to get "Let's Face It" tattooed on my chest like Travis Barker's Dag Nasty tattoo. I have since reconsidered that idea.
Saves The Day- Stay What You Are
Everything about this album is perfect. It has everything about a "favourite record"; a sound that captures a point in your music taste, relatability, being tied to a specific/important/nostalgic time in your life. Christ, I love it so much.
Set Your Goals- Mutiny!
Yeah, I'm a poseur. Whatever. I love SYG and have been listening to this since it came out.
Descendents- Everything Sucks
One of my favourites ever. "Thank You" is probably my favourite song of all-time.
Operation Ivy- Energy
Fucking timeless and if anything, I've started to love it more since I heard it in ninth grade.
BUT, I think that doesn't really capture me lately, so I have made this additional list of "Albums That Have Stuck With Me From The Last Few Years":
The Sidekicks- Weight of Air
The Swellers- Good For Me
John K Samson- Provincial
House Boat- The Thorns of Life
The Copyrights- North Sentinal Island
The Hotel Year- It Never Goes Out
Bomb The Music Industry!- Vacation
The Wonder Years- The Upsides
I Am The Avalanche- Avalanche United
Classics Of Love- Self-Titled
Sometimes I feel like I'm going through some huge musical transformation and my taste isn't even close to what it used to be. Looking at the lists above, I'm still the same dude, there's just not as many ska bands as there used to be.
I do want to state that I'm a fan of the original intention though. I think about music as much as the next guy, but there's something very refreshing about someone just posting something because it's the first thing they thought of, rather than mapping out why one album is better than another or constructing some type of elaborate argument to prove your point. Music is art and our response is generally emotional, so it's cool to base your thought process off of that in this case. And hell, it says something if you think of one release right away and then have to dig deep to remember another, doesn't it?
It has already been documented on this blog that I am TOO PUNK and TOO COOL to participate in trends on facebook, but as was the case last time, I'm actually kind of interested in this one and it seems neat. So here you go, these are 13 albums that have stuck with me over the years (or this is my list of favourite albums without racking my brain over shit that I'm forgetting). I have them in order, but it's pretty arbitrary; again, I'm not spending a ton of time on this.
The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Three Cheers For Disappointment
I have realized that having a "favourite album ever" is difficult because it's always changing, based on how your taste changes. This one is "mine" though and as is about as close as anything will get.
Bomb The Music Industry!- To Leave Or Die In Long Island
I used to time my walk home from high school so that I could scream all of the words to "Syke, Life Is Awesome!" to myself and that helped me deal with things more than you could possibly imagine.
The Suicide Machines- Destruction By Definition
This one made an instant impact and it hasn't gotten old since. In fact, I'm wearing a Suicide Machines shirt right now.
Less Than Jake- Hello Rockview
I have to pick just one LTJ album?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
We Are The Union- Who We Are
This is one that if I sat down and thought about the list might not have made it, but really has stayed with me over the years.
blink-182- Dude Ranch
Blink was one of the first bands I got into and this album still fucking rules.
Lifetime- Jersey's Best Dancers
I probably don't listen to Lifetime enough. They're the best. FEELINGS.
The Ergs!- Dorkrockcorkrod
There was a time in my life when I listened to The Ergs! and not much else. Riffs for days and cute lyrics for days.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones- Let's Face It
Again, probably wouldn't have included it on a best albums ever list, but I started listening to this band early in high school and haven't stopped since. Also, at one time I wanted to get "Let's Face It" tattooed on my chest like Travis Barker's Dag Nasty tattoo. I have since reconsidered that idea.
Saves The Day- Stay What You Are
Everything about this album is perfect. It has everything about a "favourite record"; a sound that captures a point in your music taste, relatability, being tied to a specific/important/nostalgic time in your life. Christ, I love it so much.
Set Your Goals- Mutiny!
Yeah, I'm a poseur. Whatever. I love SYG and have been listening to this since it came out.
Descendents- Everything Sucks
One of my favourites ever. "Thank You" is probably my favourite song of all-time.
Operation Ivy- Energy
Fucking timeless and if anything, I've started to love it more since I heard it in ninth grade.
BUT, I think that doesn't really capture me lately, so I have made this additional list of "Albums That Have Stuck With Me From The Last Few Years":
The Sidekicks- Weight of Air
The Swellers- Good For Me
John K Samson- Provincial
House Boat- The Thorns of Life
The Copyrights- North Sentinal Island
The Hotel Year- It Never Goes Out
Bomb The Music Industry!- Vacation
The Wonder Years- The Upsides
I Am The Avalanche- Avalanche United
Classics Of Love- Self-Titled
Sometimes I feel like I'm going through some huge musical transformation and my taste isn't even close to what it used to be. Looking at the lists above, I'm still the same dude, there's just not as many ska bands as there used to be.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Congratulations
Today I gave a lecture about Painters Eleven at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. This was a really huge event in my life for a variety of reasons. Obviously me being able to give a talk about a subject I went to school for, in an institution that is directly involved in that field is a pretty big deal, but it also held a lot of personal significance for me.
At this point last year, I was unemployed and living in a shitty basement apartment with Mark. I had just moved to Waterloo and had been out of school for almost a year. Since graduating, I didn't really do much of anything and had a lot of trouble finding ways to apply myself to anything and even more trouble finding a job. I was in the worst mental state I've ever been in and was averaging an anxious breakdown per week. What's interesting to me is that today it is almost a year to the day that I emailed the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery about volunteering with them, so this seems like a good jumping off point.
Volunteering at the gallery seemed like a good idea to me because it was a good way for me to get my foot in the door at an institution and get some valuable experience. Once I started, I tried to be there as much as I could, whether it be helping with day camps, the Family Sunday program or even just cleaning up stuff in the classrooms. One program of particular importance was a week I spent helping out with the gallery's March Break Camp. The kids took to me, I got amazing experience, but most importantly, I actually felt like something I was doing mattered for once. The kids looked up to me and listened to what I had to say about art and I got to teach them, but the real crutch was how much having things that actually matter in my life turned me around.
The gallery posted summer jobs and obviously I knew that I should get one of the positions. However, one stipulation of the position was the applicant had to be returning to school. Up to this point, I had been asked by my parents if I would ever consider a graduate degree, but never taking it seriously. Upon seeing that if I wanted a job at a gallery, I would have to return to school, I knew it was something I would have to do. I written about my experience applying to school on here already, so I'll spare you the details. Long story short is that applying to the MAAHVC program at the University of Guelph is probably the best decision I've ever made.
One great part about my program is that for one of my courses I've been able to work as an intern at KW|AG in return for a credit. The end result of that internship is the talk that I gave today, at the gallery as part of their "Contemporary Art 101" lecture series.
On top of this, Beat Noir has since released an EP (that not many people liked) and a full-length (that it seems like most people liked!) and played a ton of shows that really beat the shit out of what we were doing before. And hell, now I'm also in the most serious relationship I've ever been in and that girl makes me happy every day.
What I'm writing all of this up for is that I really hate talking about myself and can be really self-critical and depreciating, so I often look down on what I'm doing. I just wanted to say "Congratulations Tim. You really kicked the shit out of this last year of your life man."
At this point last year, I was unemployed and living in a shitty basement apartment with Mark. I had just moved to Waterloo and had been out of school for almost a year. Since graduating, I didn't really do much of anything and had a lot of trouble finding ways to apply myself to anything and even more trouble finding a job. I was in the worst mental state I've ever been in and was averaging an anxious breakdown per week. What's interesting to me is that today it is almost a year to the day that I emailed the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery about volunteering with them, so this seems like a good jumping off point.
Volunteering at the gallery seemed like a good idea to me because it was a good way for me to get my foot in the door at an institution and get some valuable experience. Once I started, I tried to be there as much as I could, whether it be helping with day camps, the Family Sunday program or even just cleaning up stuff in the classrooms. One program of particular importance was a week I spent helping out with the gallery's March Break Camp. The kids took to me, I got amazing experience, but most importantly, I actually felt like something I was doing mattered for once. The kids looked up to me and listened to what I had to say about art and I got to teach them, but the real crutch was how much having things that actually matter in my life turned me around.
The gallery posted summer jobs and obviously I knew that I should get one of the positions. However, one stipulation of the position was the applicant had to be returning to school. Up to this point, I had been asked by my parents if I would ever consider a graduate degree, but never taking it seriously. Upon seeing that if I wanted a job at a gallery, I would have to return to school, I knew it was something I would have to do. I written about my experience applying to school on here already, so I'll spare you the details. Long story short is that applying to the MAAHVC program at the University of Guelph is probably the best decision I've ever made.
One great part about my program is that for one of my courses I've been able to work as an intern at KW|AG in return for a credit. The end result of that internship is the talk that I gave today, at the gallery as part of their "Contemporary Art 101" lecture series.
On top of this, Beat Noir has since released an EP (that not many people liked) and a full-length (that it seems like most people liked!) and played a ton of shows that really beat the shit out of what we were doing before. And hell, now I'm also in the most serious relationship I've ever been in and that girl makes me happy every day.
What I'm writing all of this up for is that I really hate talking about myself and can be really self-critical and depreciating, so I often look down on what I'm doing. I just wanted to say "Congratulations Tim. You really kicked the shit out of this last year of your life man."
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
That Glove Was So Worn Out
Something that has always really irked me is when music journalists and reviewers say things like "Oh man the new ______, just wait until you hear it!" because it always comes off like they're bragging about the fact the fact that they have a release before you do. This irking is doubled when it's done by someone who writes for an online music news site or a blog. In that case the person comes off as a tremendous douche, because bands (especially small ones) really have to throw themselves out there and rely on those types of publications in order to make any kind of impact as a band. Oh, you like a release? Cool man, write a review about it.
I remember that there was a particularly bad offender on absolutepunk.net when I used to paruse the forums there a few years ago. Whenever there was a release that people were excited for and were speculating about, he would come in and say something like "Oh, it's amazing." as if to rub his connections in our faces. It really bugged me and came off as very smug.
I say all of this because I want the following to come off as sincere and not just me bragging that I have something before it's release date:
I was having a real moment with the new Wayfarer yesterday and "Worn Out" is now the song for every other band to beat this year. This thing is really something special.
I remember that there was a particularly bad offender on absolutepunk.net when I used to paruse the forums there a few years ago. Whenever there was a release that people were excited for and were speculating about, he would come in and say something like "Oh, it's amazing." as if to rub his connections in our faces. It really bugged me and came off as very smug.
I say all of this because I want the following to come off as sincere and not just me bragging that I have something before it's release date:
I was having a real moment with the new Wayfarer yesterday and "Worn Out" is now the song for every other band to beat this year. This thing is really something special.
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