(I promise I won't tell you about my jazz records.) Dennis, I'll see you your 1980's The Elephant Show and raise you a Romper Room. I got out of jury duty because I worked with the guy who killed his wife. Not only did John give homework assignments that I already own, he did it twice. And not only do I already own them, I bought both of them at shows. Purrrrdy kewl, and the odds of this ever happening again have to be just about as good as John being back on the show. John: Full of Hell and Nothing. When No Birds Sang. I'm not that familiar with the music of Nothing (THIS band called Nothing, anyway. I've got a CD called Silence Came Back In, Filling Jagged Spaces, a concept album about Stephen King's Dark Tower books, by one Jason Walton, bassist of Agalloch, recording under the moniker Nothing.), but this is the prettiest FoH have ever been, and I love it almost as much as their collaboration with Merzbow. 8.5/10 Marriages. Salome. Dark, powerful, brooding walls of guitars, distorted and fuzzed, swollen by the huge percussion roiling inside and around them, aren't enough to drown out Emma Ruth Rundle's unmistakable croon. I almost enjoy what little Marriages material they've released more than her solo stuff. (Though, probably unsurprisingly but also for different moods, Red Sparrowes is my favorite of her projects.) 9/10 Dennis: Todd Glass. Thin Pig. My first impression of Todd was forever ago when I'd seen some brief thing on either HBO or IFC or wherever and he was ONLY loud and absurd. This is the most toned-down Todd I've ever heard. And the best. Surprising and for sure will listen again. 9/10 Suppression. Spiritual Sepsis. I'm hearing a lot of classic Brutal Truth grind, and I'm not mad about it. Also hearing some moments of just extreme punk hardcore. Not mad about that either. Twenty-three tracks in what? eight minutes? Felt like five. Wild. I think I listened four times. 9/10 Tommy: Simon Gibson. The Best I've Ever Done. Oh, okay. This guy's bonkers. Hell yeah, let's go. "Give it up. Give it up. Just give up." I love how off-the-rails he and the show gets. The whole "daddy" back and forth with that middle-aged black woman was pretty great. If that's all crowd-work was, I'd like it more. How far he drove his musical impression bit--that started weak and just got weaker--into the ground but also had "It was always gonna be Star Wars!". This was a lot of fun, I hope its wildly lackluster numbers don't discourage him, I'd love more, as long as it's not a fucking podcast. 7/10 Third Eye Blind. S/T. I don't know how long it's been since I last heard "Semi-Charmed Life" but it hasn't been long enough, apparently, because I had to really fight the urge to skip it. (Kudos for your first radio single being about meth addiction, but that novelty was worn to ignorable by how incessantly the radio punished us all with it.) That said, the guitar lick in follow-up radio favorite, "Jumper", is still undeniably catchy. So... I'm familiar with way more of this album than I thought I was. To the point that I think I might've owned it at some point. Or maybe a girlfriend did. Okay, I'm just about halfway through now and finally hearing something that doesn't have me perking up with WTF bells of familiarity going off in my head. And so far, the rest of this is just a retread of typical pop punk/alt rock radio balladry. Is he using a Talk Box on "I Want You"? Kewl dood. Buried deep at the end of the back half are possibly the best couple of songs on the whole album, "Motorcycle Drive By" and "God of Wine". I'll never listen to this again (nor will I listen to any of their other offerings), but if nothing else, I've inexplicably been reminded of how strongly I feel that Live's Throwing Copper is such a goddamn good album. 4/10
(I promise I won't tell you about my jazz records.)
Dennis, I'll see you your 1980's The Elephant Show and raise you a Romper Room.
I got out of jury duty because I worked with the guy who killed his wife.
Not only did John give homework assignments that I already own, he did it twice. And not only do I already own them, I bought both of them at shows. Purrrrdy kewl, and the odds of this ever happening again have to be just about as good as John being back on the show.
John:
Full of Hell and Nothing. When No Birds Sang. I'm not that familiar with the music of Nothing (THIS band called Nothing, anyway. I've got a CD called Silence Came Back In, Filling Jagged Spaces, a concept album about Stephen King's Dark Tower books, by one Jason Walton, bassist of Agalloch, recording under the moniker Nothing.), but this is the prettiest FoH have ever been, and I love it almost as much as their collaboration with Merzbow. 8.5/10
Marriages. Salome. Dark, powerful, brooding walls of guitars, distorted and fuzzed, swollen by the huge percussion roiling inside and around them, aren't enough to drown out Emma Ruth Rundle's unmistakable croon. I almost enjoy what little Marriages material they've released more than her solo stuff. (Though, probably unsurprisingly but also for different moods, Red Sparrowes is my favorite of her projects.) 9/10
Dennis:
Todd Glass. Thin Pig. My first impression of Todd was forever ago when I'd seen some brief thing on either HBO or IFC or wherever and he was ONLY loud and absurd. This is the most toned-down Todd I've ever heard. And the best. Surprising and for sure will listen again. 9/10
Suppression. Spiritual Sepsis. I'm hearing a lot of classic Brutal Truth grind, and I'm not mad about it. Also hearing some moments of just extreme punk hardcore. Not mad about that either. Twenty-three tracks in what? eight minutes? Felt like five. Wild. I think I listened four times. 9/10
Tommy:
Simon Gibson. The Best I've Ever Done. Oh, okay. This guy's bonkers. Hell yeah, let's go. "Give it up. Give it up. Just give up." I love how off-the-rails he and the show gets. The whole "daddy" back and forth with that middle-aged black woman was pretty great. If that's all crowd-work was, I'd like it more. How far he drove his musical impression bit--that started weak and just got weaker--into the ground but also had "It was always gonna be Star Wars!". This was a lot of fun, I hope its wildly lackluster numbers don't discourage him, I'd love more, as long as it's not a fucking podcast. 7/10
Third Eye Blind. S/T. I don't know how long it's been since I last heard "Semi-Charmed Life" but it hasn't been long enough, apparently, because I had to really fight the urge to skip it. (Kudos for your first radio single being about meth addiction, but that novelty was worn to ignorable by how incessantly the radio punished us all with it.) That said, the guitar lick in follow-up radio favorite, "Jumper", is still undeniably catchy. So... I'm familiar with way more of this album than I thought I was. To the point that I think I might've owned it at some point. Or maybe a girlfriend did. Okay, I'm just about halfway through now and finally hearing something that doesn't have me perking up with WTF bells of familiarity going off in my head. And so far, the rest of this is just a retread of typical pop punk/alt rock radio balladry. Is he using a Talk Box on "I Want You"? Kewl dood. Buried deep at the end of the back half are possibly the best couple of songs on the whole album, "Motorcycle Drive By" and "God of Wine". I'll never listen to this again (nor will I listen to any of their other offerings), but if nothing else, I've inexplicably been reminded of how strongly I feel that Live's Throwing Copper is such a goddamn good album. 4/10
What if you called the suicide hotline and it just played “jumper” instead of having a person talk to you