Monday, March 30, 2009

Age Sixteen - Open Up Finders, Please

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

So Hardcore For Nerds beat us to the punch. I'm sad to say we aren't the first to put up the new Age Sixteen, but to be fair, we've had it for like months anyways, lolz. Anywho, shit is so sweet, 9 songs, three of which are re-recordings from their earlier release. I hope all of you buy it from them here, because it's such a great CD. Also, I'm putting it out on tape cassette on my new tape label called Tall Cedar Tapes , so look out for that hippies.

Thugs and Chugs


* * *

Photobucket

Open Up Finders, Please

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Pyramids


Photobucket


Pyramids plays moody, mid-tempo screamo that relies heavily upon the 90's sound and features multiple vocalists, making for a very atomspheric, layered listen. These guys are great, and my personal favorite is their debut record with the original line up.

I found this bio written on a blog, apparently written by the drummer.


Pyramids formed in late August 2005 after three long-time friends, who had played with one another for many years in A Petal Fallen , found a house in Philadelphia and decided to write music together again. Living together in the Veggieplex Theatre and being largely unemployed, we found a lot of time to practice, ended up playing our first show only a few weeks after beginning to write, and began recording a full-length only a month after conceiving the band.

As we were finishing the recording of our record Following the Tracks, Forcing Motion Through Phases, we played a lot of shows and had a lot of fun, but upon its completion Chris decided Philadelphia was not for him and moved back to Seattle, followed shortly thereafter by Eric. With a three-week tour on the horizon and only one person left to play it, Larry and Daniel decided to help out and we took Pyramids on the road with only 1/3 of its original members, even writing some new songs (for the Devices split) in the process.

At the moment Pyramids has found permanent membership in Sean, Dave, and Benn, and is nearing completion of a new LP, Through the Hourglass. Following is already out of print in its LP form, and will hopefully be repressed soon, to coincide with our upcoming split 7”s. In a month or two we should be recording for yet another split, this time with our tour partners from last year, Capsule.


Here's a video of "Stationed" and "Drifting", from the last show with the original line up.



* * *

Photobucket

Following The Tracks, Forcing Motion Through Phases

Photobucket

Through the Hourglass

Photobucket

Violent Breakfast Split

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Apoplexy Twist Orchestra

Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Apoplexy Twist Orchestra is a screamo/emo-violence band from Germany that was around from '01 to 04. Their sound is comparable to June Paik and Louise Cyphre. I first heard these guys on the Emo Annihilation compilation, and then really got into them when I downloaded their split with La Quiete. Besides their split with La Quiete, they have a full length, a song off The Emo Annihilation Compilation, and a Split with The Kinetic Crash Cooperation. I could only find one version of the split with The Kinetic Crash Cooperation, and the artist names are not labeled. I tried to figure it out but I didn't want to label anything wrong and be a DILL HOLE.

Anywho, here's a video of 400 Miles and Counting, it isn't live, but it has some cool video clips and stuff.




* * *

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Create The New

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
"..." from The Emo Annihilation Compilation

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Split with La Quiete

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Split with The Kinetic Crash Cooperation

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Palatka

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I was going to try to write some deep in depth thing about how cool Palatka is, but, we're watching "What About Bob?", so I'm just going to copy/paste the text from Palatka's Last.fm:

Palatka Kills Young Republicans Without Even Batting an Eyelash.

I actually was able to find a video, I'm pretty stoked about it. It's in like '97 in Gainsville, Florida. Here it is.



Here's their Discography.

* * *

(I can't find the artwork, sorry guys)

Discography

Friday, March 20, 2009

You And I

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

You and I was a screamo band that started sometime in the 90s. They played a heavier kind of screamo music, but also had some very chilled out clean parts. As far as vocals go, it varies very nicely between chaotic screaming and melodic singing. I bought their discography in Philadelphia last weekend in some tight record store. These guys were really influential in the screamo scene, due to the fact that after they broke up in '98, they went on to form/play in Neil Perry, Hot Cross, In First Person, and This Ship Will Sink. I can't find any videos, sorry guys. But on the bright side, last night I saw a bumper sticker that says "Yinz are in Stiller Country".
Also, Suis La Lune is leaving in like a week, so make sure you DO NOT miss the second leg of their tour with Army of Kashyyyk, if you go to Frostburg Sunday you will be seeing us!

***
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Discography

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Barclay House 3/10/09 & The Model Home 3/11/09

Photobucket


So, as many of you probably already know, Swedish hardcore giants (relatively speaking, as much of a giant as you can be in DIY-world) Suis La Lune are touring the U.S. with Baltimore based emo-violence band Army of Kashyyyk and all-around-the-place based emo band Osceola. When my friends and I found out, we were stoked. So when we found out their first date was at the Barclay House in Baltimore, we headed out.

When we got there, we hung out down in the basement for a while, and when Suis La Lune came (which was totally obvious, it was kind of hard to miss four super European looking dudes, three of which were blonde) we headed over to their merch table to make small talk (and also buy everything they had for sale of course). This was their first time touring the U.S., and I think only Carl (guitarist) has ever been in the country before. They told us they were excited to be in the country and were looking forward to playing all the shows, and seemed a bit confused that we were so excited to see them, a fact which I think they quickly got used to after their first few shows. These dudes are extremely nice, and they are touring from Sweden! If you go see them, go up and introduce yourself! They are not going to belittle you or act elitist at all.

Two other bands played the show, but they seemed a rather odd match for Suis La Lune. Come to think of it, I can't really remember their names at the moment. It was more run of the mill punk type stuff that I couldn't really get behind. While the show ran through, we saw some friends we knew and made small talk and caught up. We spotted Kate from Frisby House (they throw awesome shows, check it out sometime!), who asked if we wouldn't mind letting her tag along to Philadelphia when she found out we were traveling up for the Model Home show the following night. We had already made plans to crash at our friend Eric's house, but agreed to meet her the next morning for breakfast and then hit the road.

When Suis La Lune went on, the basement began to get really packed. People seemed to crawl out of the woodwork, and by the time the set started almost the entire basement was completely full. I had been expecting a sort of quiet start to the U.S. tour considering the bill that night, but I had underestimated Suis La Lune's pull.

The set opened with "With Wings of Feather and Glue" and everyone instantly started smiling and bobbing their heads. Cameras flashed, and when the lights went off a night vision light from a video camera flicked on (check out the videos below). The energy was great, there was a really positive vibe and everyone was just enjoying the music. The set list included "Utter Silence Is Fragile", "This Heart Easily Tears", "Eris Flies Tonight", and I think the entire Heir 10", as well as two brand new songs. When they announced they were done playing (which happened about three times), the crowd began chanting "ONE MORE!". They ended up playing "Let the Bastards Come", from their 7".

That night we all headed to our friend Eric's house and crashed out. We got the next morning and headed over for some delicious vegan pancakes and breakfast potatoes ala Kate. The drive to Philly was pretty uneventful, and when we got into the city we went record shopping. For a loooooong time. The first few shops were pretty dissapointing, but we each found a few small records. We caught lunch at a veg-friendly pizza shop (started with a G...I can't remember...anyone?) where the pop-punk band Fireworks who had just played Charm City Art Space the night before just so happened to pop in for lunch. Kind of a funny coincidence. After lunch we went to the best record shop of the trip, Beautiful World Syndicate. We check out both locations. If you're ever in Philly, I advise checking out these shops, their used bins are awesome, and super cheap.

By this time it was almost 7:30 or so, so we headed to The Model Home. Surrounded mostly by abandoned shells of buildings, this second floor apartment is in a pretty awesome location for shows. About the only people there were our friends from Baltimore Age Sixteen, Straight, No Chaser, Matt from Storm the Bastille, who was sort of watching the apartment until the residents got home/running the show, and our awesome bud Raphael from We Were Skeletons, (who are releasing a new album soon check it the fuck out).

The line-up for the night was as follows:

Age Sixteen
Straight, No Chaser
Osceola
Suis La Lune
Storm The Bastille

Age Sixteen opened up with their usual zeal, absolutely destroying. In fact, they rocked too hard and Kris took John's amp straight to the head during a collision. They played a slew of songs off their new album Open Up Finders, Please which you can read a review of here and should BUY!!! (the link to their myspace is above). These guys always play a fucking awesome show and I encourage you to check out their demo by looking for Age Sixteen in the tags.

Straight, No Chaser played next. They play straight-up thrash really, really fucking fast and it is impressive. I had seen them play once before at Barclay, but to way less people. They put on a great show. Osceola played next and played a really solid set. They opened with "Smile", which is my favorite song of theirs, but the structure of the songs had changed a bunch since they lost a guitarist and I missed the final breakdown at the end. Awesome band either way.

Suis La Lune came on next, and they played a similar set list from the night before. I'm not complaining though, it was fucking awesome. During their set the cops came and tried to find out what exactly was going on (rather rudely, but what do you expect), but they were assured the window would be closed and we'd all clear out soon.

Storm the Bastille played last (with the window closed) and churned out the heavy jams. I had seen them at Barclay with Straight, No Chaser as well but I think this time topped that show. I picked up one of the two copies of Dismantled on 10" they had, and it sounds great.

After the show we hung out and smoked in the kitchen with Suis La Lune. By this time I was super drunk and I think I probably embarassed myself talking to Henning (guitar/vocals) but I was so happy to be hanging out with those guys I really didn't care. We headed back to Baltimore and crashed at Kate's house. All in all, it was an awesome time.

Be on the lookout for a Storm The Bastille post in the next few days.

Three videos of Suis La Lune playing at Barclay House can be viewed here, at Stoking the Roots, a blog you should check out.

Check out the rest of Suis La Lune's U.S. dates with Osceola and Army of Kashyyyk.

See a whole set of photos from The Model Home of all the bands here.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Level Plane Records: 80 Records and We're Not Broke (Yet)


Photobucket


From Level Plane's website.

New York City apartments are often barely suited for human occupation; they are cramped, often in disrepair and structural disarray. Not the kind of place you normally want to show your parents after you graduate college, and a far from romantic starting point for an independent record label.

Level-Plane records was founded in 1997 with the intention of having a name and mailing address to put on the back cover of the first 7” by SAETIA. The idea that the label would grow to it's current size and enable me to release records for artists as diverse as Muslimgauze, The One AM Radio and Lickgoldensky was something I could never have imagined.

The label has seemingly taken on a life of it's own and has definitely grown past anything I could have ever expected. We're nearing 100 releases and despite the seemingly endless work and occasional frustration I'm thankful for the fact that I'm more excited about being involved with music now than I ever have been before.

Playing in bands and running this label has given me the opportunity to meet some of the most talented and creative people in underground music.


Level Plane Records is legendary, and this compilation features music from legendary bands like Bucket Full of Teeth, City of Caterpillar, Neil Perry, Transistor, Transistor, Hot Cross, Malady, Amanda Woodward, Melt Banana...the list goes on and on.

The real allure of this compilation though is the second disc, which is comprised of unreleased material from some great bands, including A Day in Black and White, City Of Caterpillar ("Driving Spain Up A Wall"; you may know it from a youtube video or it's circulation on the internet for years), Lickgoldensky, Transistor Transistor, Wolves, and one of Neil Perry's famous jam tracks.

* * *

Photobucket

Level Plane Records: 80 Records and We're Not Broke (Yet) Disc 1

Disc 2

Monday, March 2, 2009

Native's back catalog

Well, we haven't updated in a few days and I'm too lazy/buzzed to write any lengthy article type thingy. So, here's Native's back catalog, if you haven't stumbled upon the free downloads on their myspace.. Two demos, enjoy.

* * *

Photobucket

Are You There? Hello? (Summer 2007 Demo)

Photobucket

Winter Tour Demo 2007/08