Solids – Fog Friends / Blown Out 7″

Yo, I know, I know. You’re thinking, “Dylan, don’t you need to be studying for midterms and not posting music on the bws blog?” ANSWER, “YES, but this needs to be listened to and appreciated by as many people as possible!” Here’s a new(er) 7″ from Solids, hailing from our northernly neighbor, Canada. The  catchiness of Generic Dogs is expounded upon and the guitars are blown out even more. Garunge in it’s purest form. I’ve been on a reverb-drenched grungy kick lately and this 7″ just pulls me deeper in. I can’t help it. Pick up a copy (and the Generic Dogs 12″!) from Machette Records and a Generic Dogs cassette from us or L’oeil Du Tigre.

BUY!!!

Download!

 

Ancient Sky – T.R.I.P.S.

Anyone else miss Verse En Coma? Yeah, me too. Well, maybe you didn’t know but members of VeC went on to form Ancient Sky (also featuring members of Darkest Hour, Ghastly City Sleep, and Majority Rule). Although T.R.I.P.S. is Ancient Sky’s sophomore album, it sounds like an entirely different band than the one that released the S/T record. For me, the S/T left a lot to be desired. I had lofty expectations considering the individuals involved and the labels that put it out. On T.R.I.P.S., Ancient Sky takes the psychedelic weirdness of Black Angels, grunges it up with some Dinosaur Jr. vibes, and even sprinkles a touch of reverb-y stoned blues on the top. Where other similar groups fail is in their drawn-out, long-winded repetition. Ancient Sky cuts all that nonsense and consistently is changing things up in their songs. If you enjoyed that Solids tape that we posted last year, you’ll dig this as well. Get into it and then pick up a copy from LOUD BABY SOUNDS or SONS OF VESTA.

Buy!

Stream It!

Parquet Courts – American Specialties Cassette

As you know, we here at bws are big Teenage Cool Kids fans and fans of anything those former/current(?) Dentonians touch. Here’s a prime example. One of Andrew Savage’s new projects is this noisy, psych-punk project known as Parquet Courts. The content is pretty varied, ranging from Woodsist influenced psychedelics to more straight-forward punk. The weirdness of Guided by Voices dry-rubbed with Sonic Youth’s more punk influences would be the best way to describe it. This may not be for everyone’s palette, but it’s tickling my taste buds. Pick up a copy from Night Moves Cassettes by emailing : nightmovin [at] gmail.com.

Texas Instruments

No not the calculator manufacturers you dummies!

Texas Instruments is a screamo/emo/post-hardcore band from Kansas City, Missouri. I saw them, along with two other Kansas City bands, Regret, The Informer and Battle Royale, last night. I’d never heard of any of them before but damn, they all blew me away. I picked up a four-way split tape from each of them and one more band who isn’t a part of the tour. You can listen to each bands contribution on their bandcamps. Definitely check out Texas Instruments‘ older material too, it’s not recorded as well but it still kicks ass.

They’re on tour so be sure to go see them all if they find their way into your neighborhood.

Here’s a plague doctor to motivate you to listen to them. Listen to the doctor.

Best of 2011: Taylor and Sean

Here are a couple more best of lists from the BWS family. Both guys are playing a show with the Reptilian and Innards currently. I hope it rules. Here are the lists accompanied by some cute pictures of the boyz.

Sean’s List:

1) Bright Eyes – The People’s Key (Obviously haha!)
2) The Roots – Undun
3) Trophy Scars – Never Born, Never Dead
4) Algernon Cadwallader – Parrot Flies
5) RVIVR – The Joester Sessions (kinda cheating, but none the less released in 2011…haha)
6) Teenage Cool Kids – Denton After Sunset
7) Big Kids – Phone Home
8) Kidcrash – Naps
9) Chuck Ragan – Covering Ground
10) Small Brown Bike – Fell & Found

Taylor’s List:

1.David Comes to Life – Fucked Up
2.Never Born, Never Dead – Trophy Scars
3.Father, Son, Holy Ghost – Girls
4.Knife Man – Andrew Jackson Jihad
5.Coloring Book – Glassjaw
6.Bad As Me – Tom Waits
7.On The Water – Future Islands
8.Simple Math – Manchester Orchestra
9.The People’s Key – Bright Eyes
10.The Smile Sessions – The Beach Boys
11.Go Tell Fire To The Mountain – Wu Lyf
12.Cold World/Guilt – Pygmy Lush
13.Ghost Town – Owen
14.England, Keep My Bones – Frank Turner
15.Strange Mercy – St. Vincent
16.Joyce Manor – Joyce Manor
17.In The Mountain In The Cloud – Portugal. The Man
18.Undun – The Roots
19.Old Raves End – Swarms
20.Decompositions, Vol. I – Circle Takes The Square

Best Original Soundtrack: Drive
Best Local Music: The Mighty Sequoyah

Comments, your lists and discussion are welcome and encouraged!

Best of 2011: Max

I love year end lists. I always find something that I’ve missed or forgotten about. Thanks to Cameron for reminding to listen to Kite Party more, because Baseball Season rules. You’ll see some things on mine that you’ve already seen on this blog, so there won’t be too many surprises.

There are a lot of albums that I feel I should mention that could have easily made this list if I had made it any other day.

Laura Stevenson and The Cans- Sit Resist

I love this record. Laura’s quirky and unique song writing has improved greatly from the bands first effort, A Record. Great people, great music. Watching Scream 4 with them this spring was hilarious.

Bridge and Tunnel- Rebuilding Year

This band always gets tagged with the label “ex-Latterman.” I love Latterman but I think that when people hear Bridge and Tunnel they’re surprised at the fact that they don’t really sound  anything like Latterman. The guitar work on this album is better than East/West. I find myself getting a little bit bored with the slower songs on this album but god damn, the heavy tunes blow my mind. Particularly “Drill Instructor.” So much anger. Love it.

Glocca Morra- Ghoul Intentions

This one is just an EP, but wow. The direction is a little bit different than their split with The Greek Favorites, but I like it more. “Them” blows my head open every time.

In addition to great music, 2011 brought some pretty disappointing break-ups; snowing, grown ups, the hiatus of Fucked Up. Bummer.

Enough crying you big babies, 2011 was a good year so feast your eyes, and ears I guess, on my all-knowing Best of 2011 List.

10. Lee Corey Oswald- Moon Songs

Cameron has already done a write up on this album so scroll down to see not one, but two descriptions that are better than what I would write. Moon Songs is their best material to date. It’s a treat to see them perform so learn all the songs and sing along when they come to your town. Oh yeah, nicest dudes ever.

9.5. Daniel Striped Tiger- No Difference

For some reason this release really flew below the radar this year and I don’t really understand how. If you’ve ever listened to this band you know what to expect; loud, dynamic, fairly chaotic, heavy riffs. I was hooked instantly two minutes into the first song.

9. Portugal. The Man- In The Mountain In The Cloud

Portugal. The Man is completely baffling to me. Releasing an album every year is no small feat and these guys seem to crank out completely different albums every year. This one makes me want to do drugs and go on an adventure. Did I mention that this is their major label debut?

8. Fucked Up- David Comes To Life

Is there really anything left to say about this album? It’s a gloriously ambitious rock opera from Fucked Up. What’s not to like? David Comes To Life may be a little too ambitious. It’s too fucking long to listen to all the way through on a regular basis. It tends to drag on, which is why it fell short of the top for me.

7. Big Kids- Phone Home

Seeing Big Kids this year in Portland was definitely a high note of 2011 and it also solidified my love for this band. Phone Home is a million times better than Hoop Dreams, which is still great. I Am A Romantic Comedy Guy gets stuck in my head pretty much everyday on my bike ride to school and I can’t help but smile every time.

6. Spraynard- Funtitled

Spraynard’s second full length blew them into international superstardom this year. Exaggeration? A tiny bit. This album fills me up to the fucking brim with positivity. With songs about your friends, skateboarding, cats, your friends, and your friends, how could anyone not love this album?

5. Algernon Cadwallader- Parrot Flies

Seeing this band not once but twice this year was incredible. Although it doesn’t quite have the child-like magical touch that their first LP had, Parrot Flies definitely does not disappoint one bit. The band has grown in every way. I’ll sit in my room and try to figure out the riffs in Pitfall and Preservatives (my two favorites on the album) all night. Some of the most fun music in the entire world.

4. Pygmy Lush- Old Friends

I drove alone for eight hours through dark, snow covered mountain passes to see Pygmy Lush in Missoula last February. Thoughts of the lonely trek always come into my head when I hear this record. Old Friends riles a slew of contrasting emotions in each song.

3. Joyce Manor- Joyce Manor

Joyce Manor came out of nowhere this year, blasting into the hearts of pretty much everyone. I don’t think I can find a single person who doesn’t like this album. It’s full Incredibly catchy little hooks that always leave you wanting more. I’m really excited to hear their new album sometime this year on Asian Man.

2. Bomb the Music Industry!- Vacation

God damn I love Bomb the Music Industry!. This album was a very surprising “grower” for me. Every other album of theirs was an instant favorite. I knew that Scrambles would be incredibly difficult for them the top, but I think that they may have done it. I could go on and on about why BtMI! is my favorite band, get me drunk and it’ll almost certainly happen.

1. Snowing- I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted

I know that you could download this album toward the end of 2010 but it saw its physical release in 2011. SO KEEP ON WHINING, DORKS. How could this not top every single person’s Best of list? I cried when they broke up, and I cry everyday when I listen to this album. The Snowing, 1994!, Algernon Power Tour was incredible. Long Live the Kings of Twinkle. teehee.