The Blood Brothers Are Good And Crazy

Today we have a brief mention of post-hardcore, and more mathcore!

I would have posted the album of the week yesterday, but technical difficulties have been horrible prevalent lately. I don't want to go over that though.

Ever since I got turned on to post-hardcore, I've heard talk of two experimental bands within the genre - The Blood Brothers, and The Locust. Both are fairly... well, they're way out of the mainstream. They make what kind of is a hybrid between post-hardcore, and like... experimental grind-core. So, not airplay friendly. That being said, it's almost impossible to find their music. After a lot of searching, I managed to get a discography of The Blood Brothers - no luck on The Locust yet. Apparently these are the kind of bands that have fat emo chicks in white belts show up and fawn over lead singers, so that's pretty cool, I'd like to be in a band like that.

Basically, The Blood Brothers are a more... well, it's hard to say what they're more of. They sound kind of like HORSE, only noisier, and with shriller singing - less abrasive instrumentation in some parts, more abrasive in others, and the lyrics seem to speak more. In any case, I'd heard good things about them, and it's easy to see why. Thusly, I decided to make the song of the day one of their tunes that I'm addicted to - it is one of their more popular songs, but I couldn't pass up the chance - it's just stuck inside my head. I'm writing a story about it. The lyrics are amazing, and it just sounds wonderful. If it exposes people to this band that I should have caught onto a long time ago, then I'm glad. The song is called Love Rhymes With Hideos Car Wreck from their 2004 album Crimes. It's about... well, it's complicated, especially when you can't hear all the lyrics, but basically... it's wonderful. Check it out, I implore you. Megaupload link is here.


Originally I was going to reccomend this album for album of the week, but I realized I shouldn't go around toting things I haven't listened to extensively myself - and while there are some amazing songs on this album, I don't have an in depth knowledge of it. So, I'm going to try and go in a different direction... actually, what am I talking about, this album is just too good to pass up. Though, one of their prior releases, Burn, Piano Island, Burn is also really good. In any case, there's a Megaupload link for just the above track up there, and for those who want the entire album, the link is here. Enjoy. ^^

Basically, this group takes post-hardcore in a nice experimental direction that fuses a lot of different sounds - I highly reccomend checking them out, and would as of right now kill to see them live.

That's all for today.

The Movement of the Future

Track of the day: When a Jealous Man Finds a Gun by Enter Shikari. Everytime I listen to these guys, I find myself wishing they had a more prolific discography. There's nothing I've heard from them that I didn't like, and for some reason, this song always catches me. It's a bit irregular, not being the title track from their four song EP, but I think it definitely warrants notice. Admittedly, it sounds a little pop-punkish in parts, though not in a bad way. Not like... Good Charlotte or something. That is intollerable. When I think pop-punk, I think... well, okay, it doesn't sound pop punk, but the main 'riff' is catchy enough to be in a pop-punk song. Don't mean to scare away from this track - it really is amazing. Megaupload link is here.

The label of 'trancecore' as a development from hardcore is genius. As opposed to what might actually be termed 'hardcore trance'... we don't need genres that overlap like this, I don't think. Also, 'core' can be added to any genre now a days. Herein, however, we have 'post trance-core', which I think is one of the better genres out there. I think it needs a re-working though, because the synths that Enter Shikari uses don't really make it a trance feel - I would kill for a post-hardcore band that used their synths in a fashion reminiscient of Dream Theater, Stratovarius, or Warmen. I guess that's why I love HORSE the Band.

Have I not mentioned that I love them? Well, love is really too strong a word, but I'm a big fan. They're one of the only bands I got the discography of, and committed most of it to memory. Only 4 real albums, two of which are EPs, but still... that's something, for me. But for their almost infantile approach to music sometimes, HORSE is pretty much everything I want in a band. I would call them post-hardcore without hesitation - and they have one of the most intoxicating synth sounds ever. Like 8-bit era Nintendo, played by Jordan Rudess. Well, not quite so fluid or liquidy. But it's still really nice. If they had a better mix, and more personable musicians, they would be without a question one of my favorite bands. They have one of the best sounds out there, in my opinion. Anyone wanting to give them a look should check out the album R. Borlax. I think that's the best representation of their material - and it is a classic.

I'm having a hard time not posting Venetian Snares tracks each day. I listen to him too much, I guess. I'm trying to avoid exposing people to stuff they know I'm in love with - I made an exception for Instrumedley because it was new to me... and really, just delicious.

No traffic yet, but the day will come... I hope.


Post-Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention! Enter Shikari is one of only two unsigned bands to sell out a concert at The London Astoria. The other was The Darkness. Between the two, I think it's easy to determine which is the better band. I hope the former sees it fit to release a full length album some time. If any of my musical projects ever get off the ground (God willing), I would love to play the Astoria... along with the Croation Cultural Center in Vancouver (What? I know), and Tokyo! Metal bands in Tokyo rule! For references, check out the albums Tokyo Warhearts by Children of Bodom (one of my favorite albums of all time), and Burning Japan by Arch Enemy. More to come if I find them. Interesting note - both the lead singers address the crowd in the same way. What's up with that?