Song of the Week: Far From Any Road

Some time ago I spotted that Spotify had added a new playlist called "Southern Gothic" and I got around to listening to it today. I enjoyed this walk down the darker side of Americana and was elated to hear a song I recognized. "Far From Any Road", off of the 2003 album Singing Bones by The Handsome Family, served as the theme for the first season of True Detective which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The song creates a tension between the sultry and the sorrowful that reflects the mood of the show, set in a land of temptation and dissatisfaction where the justice exacted by the legal and moral law never seems enough to undo the evil pervading the living hell, exterior and interior, in which each of the characters exist.

"Far From Any Road" by The Handsome Family

The wind will be my hands,

Kelvin

Song of the Week: Like Moths to Flame

On this solemn day, when statues are covered and tabernacles are bare, my mind turns to a song from 2005's Vheissu, the fourth album by experimental / post-hardcore band Thrice. Frontman and songwriter Dustin Kensrue is no stranger to weaving Christian themes into his music (during the band's hiatus he even served as worship leader for Mars Hill Church) and this song recounting St. Peter's betrayal of his Master is a testament to that. Coupled with some of the most intense scenes from The Passion of the Christ, the fan-made video below offers a meditative springboard into contemplating the mystery of the Via Dolorosa.

"Like Moths to Flame" by Thrice

Top of the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (Latin for "cock-crow")

The fire's gravity compels,
Kelvin

Song of the Week: Anchorage

I assume the rest of the music blogosphere is replete with coverage of the lives and influences of Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister (who passed away shortly after Christmas) and David Bowie (who passed away this past Sunday), especially with the latter's release of Blackstar the Friday prior which is thick with themes of death and life hereafter. So instead of adding more to what better minds have already tackled, I'll share a simple discover from one of my favorite bands. Australian post-punk powerhouse The Church released their 23rd album, Untitled #23, in 2009 which featured this song with simple, poignant poetry and somber, abrasive melody which was the closest I've ever heard the band getting to "mainstream" alternative.

"Anchorage" by The Church

Living here in the future,
Kelvin

Song of the Week: Gun

Last week I started watching the BBC psychological/crime drama series Luther and its pilot episode featured "Gun" by Emilíana Torrini during a scene where the titular character went in search of a weapon which was key to solving an exceptionally clean homicide. The song's brooding atmosphere and the sweet-and-jerky vocal delivery are reminiscent in style to Björk, another Icelandic musician, albeit with a peculiar approachability like that of adult contemporary. This led me to listen the album where this song is from, 2008's Me and Armini, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

"Gun" by Emilíana Torrini

You moved right in,
Kelvin

Party Like It's 1999

Well, sorta... I just recently got out of a YouTube bender looking up eurodance tracks from the mid-90s to mid-00s and this is what came up. If this happens to inspire any discotheque adventures, be sure to bring your best look.

10. "Believe" by Cher (1998)

This is the song that got me started down this rabbit-hole after it was featured in the Stuff You Should Know podcast on Auto-Tune.

9. "Heaven (Bryan Adams Cover)" by DJ Sammy and Yanou featuring Do (2001)

Speaking of podcasts and things worth having an understanding about, this song closed a recent episode of Catholic Stuff You Should Know while the original was used as its opener.

8. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawmba (1997)

I'm guessing this song was everyone's excuse for getting drunk during the '98 FIFA World Cup in France.

A Dance That Ended Too Soon

I first encountered Voxtrot while listening to the Smiths' radio on Pandora. Their song "The Start of Something" showed a surprising proficiency in creating an 80s jangle atmosphere with a modern indie pop structure which allotted the merit for the band to be placed in the same playlist as Moz and the gang. That song was from their first release, a 5-song EP in 2005, and it would be another two years until the band came out with their self-titled debut album. Tracks like "Kid Gloves" render the repressed romantic restlessness characteristic of Voxtrot's typical melodic and lyrical composition, which sounds like a page ripped from the diary of a dejected 20-something hipster.

Unfortunately, Voxtrot's fall from indie rockdom was as swift as its rise. After a number of disjointed single releases, lead singer Ramesh Srivastava announced the breakup of the band in 2010 and thereafter began a solo musical venture. As a result, their last recording, "Berlin, Without Return", can be considered the farewell to a journey which began simply as... the start of something. But with a line like "When I see you naked, I see more than the flesh" it's a shame that the music scene is indefinitely deprived of a band that can deliver the pensive and vulnerable poetry of those striving towards authentic love in an otherwise self-centered and relativistic world.

"Berlin, Without Return" by Voxtrot

Steady your ears,
Kelvin

2006 was a GREAT year in music!

So, I got into the music scene a little later than most folks. I remember one day in my high school freshman Engineering period a fellow classmate asked me what type of music I was into. At that point, I wasn't into anything except the adult contemporary my parents played on the car radio (and that was passive listening). So I just blurted out something random: techno. Needless to say, said fellow classmate never spoke to me again...

In any case, that summer (2005), I visited Nicaragua with my aunt and cousin for two weeks. Around the second day, I met my cousin's cousins (my second cousins?) whom were teens like us. When I entered their room, I saw "Be Yourself" playing on the TV. I ended up spending the majority of the trip making up for lost time alongside MTV Latin America.

Not too long afterwards, I saved up the earnings of my 15th birthday and went to Best Buy to purchase a cheap Durabrand CD player, From Under the Cork Tree, American Idiot and Demon Days. And now, almost 6 years later, I'm here updating a blog about my not-so-secret passion.

Because it's so close to when I first began engrossing myself in music, I have to say that my favorite year in music is 2006. When I started out, I watched music videos like it was nobody's business. But after a few months of that, I got tired of just singles and delved into the albums of my favorite artists, discovering the gems no one cared to search for. Below are a few of my top picks...

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#10 - Panda - Amantes Sunt Amantes

A young, lonely, pop-punk listening Hispanic teenage boy was eventually going to come across this CD. It was one random day at my other cousin's house that I saw the video for "Narcisita Por Excelencia" on MTV Tr3s. I was instantly hooked by the sound and energy, and I also had an ear catered to "emotional" music. When I picked up Amantes Sunt Amantes, I became a fan overnight. What I liked most about the album (and still do) was the unconventionality of the composition, characteristic of post-hardcore. I wouldn't know it until later, but their previous release, Para Ti Con Desprecio, was the product of heavy plagerism. Panda writes some pretty catchy tunes, but sadly these are songs to slit your wrists to (and unfortunately the band doesn't make that a subtle point =///).

"Los Malaventurados No Lloran" by Panda

Covers Set #3: Punk Goes...

When I started this blog, I didn't expect that so many posts would be about covers. But given that the first featured song was itself a cover, I guess it was only a matter of time...

In any case, this entry is about the Punk Goes... series. In 2000, Fearless Records started this series of compilation albums wherein present-day punk (or punk-derivative) rock bands cover artists of a certain featured genre (like metal, 90's, etc.). Now almost 11 years old, Fearless has racked up an exceptional discography through Punk Goes....

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#1 - Punk Goes Metal (2000)

In my opinion, Punk Goes Metal is the most "punk" album of the set. Composed by the lesser-known names of punk rock (like Bigwig, Guttermouth and Ten Foot Pole), the CD delivers a heavy sound. True, there's one or two pop-punk renditions ("I Remember You"), but the majority of the album is punk metal showing their metal side ("Bark at the Moon"). And it also shows that metal sometimes has a punk side, too; Swindle does this for Skid Row.

"Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row Cover)" by Swindle

Listen to the original here.

He loves us. Period.

A lot of things have happened in my life in the past few weeks that have put me in a "Christian" mood, so to speak. This includes my music listening behavior. About two months ago, I went to a friend's apartment for an hour of praise & worship. It was just him and his acoustic; half the songs he sang were those that we've heard dozens of times over (and never get old), and the other half were songs he knew we wouldn't know.

That was the first time I heard "How He Loves." It started out calm and peaceful. I couldn't sing along, so I just listened. About three minutes in, he hit the second verse and began to crecendo. I was feeling it until he belted the line, "And Heaven meets Earth with a sloppy wet kiss." I've never heard something so suggestive in a Christian song! I was taken aback, and frankly I shyed away from the song because of that one line, forgetting all the other good ones.

Another time, another friend sang it, and I was waiting for him to make things awkward, but he sang instead "unforeseen kiss." At first, I thought I imagined the "sloppy," but then I realized it could have been some form of self-censoring. I approached the "unforeseen" friend and he said that he never heard it sung as "sloppy" and that he agreed it was weird. Then the concern was forwarded to my "sloppy" friend and this is what he had to say about it...

So recently, some people have been commenting on the way I tend to sing "How He Love Us." For the second verse, sometimes I'll switch back and forth between "unforeseen kiss" and "sloppy wet kiss." Sloppy wet kiss comes from the original song written by John Mark McMillan for his friend who died in a tragic car accident. It's about his friend being able to finally meet his father in heaven. I especially like to use "sloppy wet kiss" because when my siblings and I were little (and now my sister who is still little) my Dad would go in for a "sloppy wet kiss." To me it shows pure unabashed love in a playful, loving, fatherly way. Just wanted to share!

"How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan

Fridays just got a bit more confusing

If you haven't heard about this, then you've probably have been living under a rock (everyone's first guess) or you've been holding out as long as you can. All I have to say is that there's no rush, but if you're in a hurry, then prepare to have your IQ drop in HQ.

I can understand the last one, but this?!?

OK, metal already has some negative connotations, so it's not all that unusual that Metalocalypse (a cartoon about a fictional metal band) is intended for mature audiences. But what about this...?

Tick Tock...

"What could possibly be on Cartoon Network at 1 in the morning? Adult cartoons?" Why, actually, yes. For those who don't know, Adult Swim is a programming block that showcases mature (i.e. - ages 18+, while still "suitable" for those as young as 14) from 10pm to 6am on weeknights and similar times on weekends. Around since 2001, the current programming on [as] includes Family Guy, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The topic of discussion today is the show Metalocalypse. As the name implies, it has something to do with metal. Acutally... it has everything to do with metal. The plot (if there is one) is centered around the inexplicably and unrealistically famous band Dethklok. The members include frontman Nathan Explosion, lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf, rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth, bassist William Murderface, and drummer Pickles.

A half-lie every half-minute

Another week, another metal discussion. This time: Alternative Metal. I like to think of Alternative Metal as the illegitimate child of Alternative Rock, who spent her younger years fooling around with a slew of genres you wouldn't want to bring home to Mama: Heavy Metal, Nu Metal, Gothic Metal, Hardcore Punk, Post-Hardcore, Post-Grunge, Prog, Noise Rock, Hard Rock, Glam Rock and Electronica (the last two can be androgynous at times, and hence lacking of Mama's approval). When Alternative Metal was finally "born" in the mid-90's, his father could not be accurately determined.

"Alternative metal" is a tricky label, because it's as much an unbrella genre as alternative rock. I mean, you could have the "hard rock" of buzz radio ("Well Enough Alone" by Chevelle), the "metal" of pop-punk ("Headstrong" by Trapt) or the "post-grunge" of the new millenium ("Breath" by Breaking Benjamin). The only band I feel that can best define alternative metal is one of my favorites: 30 Seconds To Mars.

I think the word "Lady" was left out for a reason

Some bands are great and some bands are awesome, but sometimes it can be hard for a band to be simply... cool. The Killers is a cool band. Coming up from the deserts of Vegas, The Killers hit the ground running with their debut Hot Fuss in 2004. They skyrocketted the charts with the singles "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me," making them overnight superstars. These radio jingles were how I was first introduced to them, and I didn't really give them the time of day until I saw them premiere "When You Were Young" on the 2006 VMAs. It was literally a jaw-dropping sight, and if I remember correctly, they premiered the music video for the song right afterwards. At that point, they pretty much... killed me.

Sadness from a high place

Here comes more negativity! The artist on the spotlight today is Hawthorne Heights. Maybe spotlight is a bit too much. Let's try limelight. No, that's still to bright (actually, I think it might be the same thing). How about blacklight? Woah, we'll probably see things we'd wish we hadn't! OK, no light. Actually, that might be a little dangerous considering who we're discussing. Alright, how about in a cleared outdoor area that's not too close and not too far from civilization? Yeah, that sounds good.

A typical night on the Interweb

Yesterday, whilst procrastinating, I had the spontaneous urge to learn "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. With the help of tabs, I learned all but half the solo and thought that be enough for one day. Then I decided to look up some info on The Cars from my #1 music-discovery resource, Wikipedia. As I suspected, the band didn't make it past the 80's and what followed their 1987 album Door to Door were a slew of compilation records.

The last record that Wikipedia lists is The Essentials from 2005. Then I thought I might as well check out what Wiki has to say about "Just What I Needed." To no surprise, it's a heavily covered song; I was already aware of the version by Poison, but was intrigued by one by a band called Replicants. What caught my eye was just their name: it had an edgy punk feel like Rancid while having a sci-fi vibe like aliens pretending to be humans or mercenary clones. Moreover, the album was self-titled, so I just had to check it out.