Tour Announcement: Circa Survive and The Dear Hunter

Circa Survive just announced a new tour with The Dear Hunter and O' Brother going through the southern west coast. Presale is going up June 18th at noon and actual sale is going on June 23rd. I'm really excited for this since Circa and TDH are some of my favorite bands. The best part (for me at least) is that they're going to be coming through the town I live in, which I've NEVER seen a band go into. So lucky me, eh? Anyways, hope that you can make it to one of the concerts.


Fri/7-23 Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
Sat/7-24 Phoenix, AZ @ The Nile
Sun/7-25 San Diego, CA - Radio Show
Tue/7-27 Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
Wed/7-28 San Jose, CA @ The Blank Club
Thu/7-29 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brew
Fri/7-30 Bakersfield, CA @ Jerry's Pizza
Sat/7-31 St. George, UT @ Electric Theatre
Sun/8-1 San Bernardino, CA @ Stingers

- A

New Tera Melos Record "Patagonian Rats" Announced

That's right, post-math band Tera Melos has just announced that their new album entitled "Patagonian Rats" will be released September 7th of this year. The group put up a free download for a track off the record named "Frozen Zoo." It's really weird, definitely Tera Melos but slowed down a bit, a little more melodic, and contains a lot more vocals than on previous releases, but still great. I can see this getting stuck in my head really quickly. I'm digging it a lot.

There's gonna be a preorder put up eventually (it doesn't come out for 3 more months, give it some time) so that's gonna be cool. The record IS, in fact, coming out on vinyl (praise the gods!!!) as a double LP (2 vinyl records, for those who don't know) which will put the album length probably over an hour and will be the longest Tera Melos record to date (Untitled was about an hour but 28 minutes worth of improvisational noise doesn't really count). The more the merrier, eh?

Here's artwork and tracklisting. Looks great (Party With Gina *snicker*) and I'm really pumped for this baby.













1. So Occult
2. Kelly
3. The Skin Surf
4. Aped
5. Trident Tail
6. Frozen Zoo
7. In Citrus Heights
8. Skywatch
9. Party With Gina
10. Another Surf
11. Westham United
12. A New Uniform/Patagonia

The official announcement can be found here.



- A

Just Some Cool Blogs

I'm a fan of blogs (clearly) and there are a few that I think you should check out.

Get An Earection: This music blog really got me into the whole blogging idea. The founder and writer, Mat, has a pretty similar music interest to me (math-rock 4eva) so it's really fun to check it out and see what else is out there that I don't yet know about.

Pilap (or My Thoughts, not sure on the name): I stumbled upon this today and it seems kinda interesting. Personal commentary and the like, I'm interested to see where it goes.

Hyperbole and a Half: A really funny blog done by a chick named Allie Brosh. Funny stories and some pretty great illustrations done in MS Paint. Worth a look.

- A

The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and The Sun [2008]

The Sound of Animals Fighting is, for all of those living under a rock for the past 6 or so years, a super-group made up of some of the biggest names in the post-hardcore (and ska?) scene. Formed by Rich Balling of ex-RX Bandits fame, the group really never actually got together but was emailed their part which they then recorded and sent back to Rich, who put it all together. From what I understand, all of the music is actually written by Rich himself (it's difficult to write a song when you only know what you're supposed to play) so it's technically a Balling project with a lot of guests. But super group is a much cooler thing to call it. The band features Anthony Green, Craig Owens, Rich Balling, and members of many other bands including Finch, The RX Bandits, and Good Old War. The Ocean and The Sun is the band's third release and it hits that sweet spot between the 2 previous efforts. It has hard parts, it has weird parts, but overall it's a really solid record. Really chill music a lot of the time (title track, I, The Swan) and also really upbeat at other times (The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion, Uzbekistan). Just a good all around mix feature some of my favorite artists of this day.

Genre: Post-Hardcore
For Fans Of: RX Bandits, The Mars Volta, Circa Survive
Contact: Myspace
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. The Ocean and The Sun
3. I, The Swan
4. Another Leather Lung
5. Lude
6. Cellophane
7. The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion
8. Chinese New Year
9. Uzbekistan
10. Blessing Be Yours Mister V
11. Ahab
12. On The Occasion of Wet Snow


- A

Dartz! - This Is My Ship [2005]

Alright honestly I'm not feeling like writing now, so I'll keep it brief. Dartz! is a UK-based (of course) indie math-rock group that falls somewhere in between This Town Needs Guns and Foals so listen to them cuz they're good.

Genre: Indie Math-Rock
For Fans Of: This Town Needs Guns, Foals, Pirouette
Contact: Myspace
Tracklisting:
1. Network! Network! Network!
2. A Simple Hypothetical
3. Once Twice, Again!
4. Cold Holidays
5. Prego Triangolos
6. Laser Eyes
7. St. Petersburg
8. Harbour
9. Documents
10. Fantastic Appartus
11. Teaching Me To Dance
12. The Lives Of Authors



- A

Protest the Hero - Fortress [2008]

Now I'm not much of a metal guy, but Protest the Hero is amazing and with their recent pre-production update (which can be found here) I figured it would be a good time to talk about the band. The dueling guitars between Luke and Tim (I don't know their last names, damnit) are incredibly fast and technical with lots of tapping and fret board dancing. Bassist Arif is just as intricate, making mince meat of the neck while still keeping the sound together with drummer Moe. What really sets Protest above the rest is Rody Walker's (ok fine, I know Rody's last name but that's it) soaring vocals. His voice is so distinct from anything else in the metal genre, mainly because it's actually a legitimately good singing voice. But don't worry, dude's got an earth-wrecking scream too. The whole Protest the Hero sound comes together really well on this record, taking it a step up from Kezia (or rather just to the side since the 2 albums are very similar, in a good way). Hopefully their next attempt will be just as awesome, and from the clips you hear on the video I'd say it's likely.

Genre: Progressive Metal
For Fans Of: The Fall of Troy, the Number 12 Looks Like You, Between The Buried And Me
Contact: Myspace
Tracklisting:
1. Bloodmeat
2. The Dissentience
3. Bone Marrow
4. Sequoia Throne
5. Palms Read
6. Limb From Limb
7. Spoils
8. Wretch
9. Goddess Bound
10. Goddess Gagged



- A

Giraffes? Giraffes! - More Skin With Milk-Mouth [2008]

Giraffes? Giraffes! is weird. Technical, intricate, and weird. 2 dudes. Joseph Andreoli mans the guitar and loop pedal while Kenneth Topham plays drums. The instrumental post-math sound is a strange fit with this setup, but works really very well since Joe is a master of the loop pedal. The dude can play up to 5 parts in a song thanks to layering, and it's not studio magic. He actually pulls it off live too. Milk-Mouth isn't much different from their first release "SUPERBASS!!! (Black Death Greatest Hits Vol. 1)" but that's fine because their sound is awesome. Giraffes? Giraffes! isn't for everyone, in fact it's not really for most people, but I love the crazy guitar work and technicality. Don't mind the crazy track names, though they are pretty indicating of the music to be found on them.

Genre: Post-Math
For Fans Of: Tera Melos, bygones, me&you
Contact: Myspace
Tracklisting:
1. When The Catholic Girls Go Camping, The Nicotine Vampires Rule Supreme.
2. I Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Are Me And We Am I And I Are All Our Together: Our Collective Consciousness’ Psycogenic Fugue
3. The Ghost Of EPPEEPEE’s Ghost
4. Emilie Sagée’s Secret
5. A Quick One, While She’s Away


- A

"New" Demo Song By Chiodos - "Thermacare"?

Apparently this was recorded in August (along with 2 other solo songs) prior to Craig getting kicked out of the band. Somehow it was just recently leaked to the internet and there's quite a commotion about it which is rekindling the whole Craig vs Brandon argument (I don't care, really. AWTEW was great but I lost interest after BPB). The song is alright, I've heard some people say it's the best thing they've done but I disagree, it just sounds like a "poppier" b-side from Bone Palace Ballet. Craig has said he wanted to use the song with his new band and probably still will, regardless of it being released. Anyways, here's a video of it.





-A

Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler [2001]

If I had to define my Junior High School years in one album, it would be All Killer No Filler by Sum 41. I spun (we had CDs back then, anyone remember CDs?) it nearly everyday and loved everything about it. Lead vocalist and guitarist Deryck Whibley's lyrics about partying and rock n roll, while not something I could relate to, made such a lifestyle seem so exciting and glamorous and I gobbled that shit up. The pop-punk guitar riffs were so awesome and memorable (come on, who doesn't know Fat Lip?) and the trade off vocals of Deryck, back up guitarist Dave Baksh, and drummer Steve Jocz were all unique in their own right and threw a little bit of rap into the mix. Pop punk really was at its prime with this release (though Does This Look Infected? could be better, pop-punk's prime lasted several years) and it's still at its prime in my heart (d'awwwwww).

Genre: Pop-Punk
For Fans Of: Good Charlotte, Green Day, Blink-182
Contact: Myspace
Tracklisting:
1. Introduction To Destruction
2. Nothing On My Back
3. Never Wake Up
4. Fat Lip
5. Rhythms
6. Motivation
7. In Too Deep
8. Summer
9. Handle This
10. Crazy Amanda Bunkface
11. All She's Got
12. Heart Attack
13. Pain For Pleasure

-A

Every Time I Die - "The New Black" Ferret Music

For the music video this week I selected a classic tune from Every Time I Die, which also has one of my favorite music videos. Great band, great song, enjoy:

Also, two of the new albums I am most excited for are now in the works: the new Underoath and Craig Owen's new project, and they both have posted studio updates (actually more of teasers, but they still got me stoked to hear their new stuff) on their facebooks. Check em out.

Peace,

-T