Down with the RVA.

It turns out I love just about all of the bands that I've heard who come from Richmond, VA. I don't know what it is, but it seems that regardless of genre, that city just shits out amazing bands. I mean, sure, Lamb Of God aren't for everyone, but they play some tight metal music. Avail and Strike Anywhere are staples of most punk/hardcore collections. Cloak/Dagger and City Of Caterpillar are also seminal artists of their respective genres.

General name dropping done, now for my personal favorite stuff. I fucking love Wow, Owls! They put so much rock into the world with one album (Pick Your Patterns) and a farewell EP (Pee Sout), that honestly, it might be a good thing they broke up because otherwise they might have rocked the whole world to pieces . And that's definitely not a good thing... But it would've felt amazing at the time. I imagine the same could be said for contracting syphilis, but that's neither here nor there. There is a hint of their world destroying power in the crescendo during the bridge of "1989: The Best Four Years Of My Life"... Which appears on both releases, except on Pee Sout, it's called "More Explosive Than A Jerry Bruckheimer Joint" which is a truth.

After Wow, Owls! broke up, members went on to form Mouthbreather, who continue the tradition of rock/post-hardcore with witty song titles (my personal favorite being: "When A Chemist Dies, Barium.") with their debut album Thank You For Your Patience. With both bands, you can tell from the music that they're having a great time making music to have a great time to.

Storytime: This summer while I was taking the train from Seattle to Boston, I met a rad girl from Richmond who knows the guys in these bands, and was immediately jealous of her life.  She also told me about a festival that happens over the summer there called Best Friend's Day.  They have shows in a bowling alley, scavenger hunts and amazing things like that!  This year, Oderus Urungus from GWAR performed a BMX jump over the World's Largest Plate of Nachos!  What's not to love here?

And now back to the music!  Changing gears genre-wise, Tim Barry used to sing for Avail, but his solo stuff is folk music in the classic story-telling tradition. I saw him play a few years ago, and he is incredibly engaging with both his songs and his banter. Most of his music would sound great with just vocals and acoustic guitar, but he often fills out that acoustic palette with violin (played by his sister) and piano (played by his brother). Live, he also toured with a drummer, if I remember correctly. He has two full lengths out under his own name now, Rivanna Junction (2006) and Manchester (2008) and a third is being released in January called 28th & Stonewall.

My most recent infatuation from the RVA is called The Riot Before. They play punk rock with a Bob Dylan influence, both musical and aesthetic. Fists Buried In Pockets was one of the best albums I didn't hear in 2008. It not only has great songs, but the album as a whole flows together cohesively like I haven't heard in a album since... I'm going to say Mutiny! by Set Your Goals, because Colors by Between The Buried And Me is pretty much just one long song with track markers arbitrarily thrown in. On several songs in Fists, the coda at the end of one song will build into the intro of the following song like between balladic "Fists Buried In Pockets" and anthemic "Threat Level Midnight". And the bridge in the final song, "Capillaries" is a thematic return from earlier on in the album. Plus, anyone who can sing the line, "I was a mustard seed..." with conviction has my complete and utter respect.

BONUS!! Earlier this year, The Riot Before released an EP that acousticizes songs off of Fists Buried In Pockets and they called it, get this, Fists... Out Of Sockets!! Zing! And they're putting it out FOR FREE on the internet. Ah? AH? Sold yet? I know I am. I love me some acoustic versions of songs, and these ones are done very well. Not only are the songs mellowed out, but strings and horns were added to really get you in the heart.

So, yeah, in conclusion, Richmond, VA rules.

...Oh, by the way, Richmond is where GWAR landed on Earth. 'Nuff said.

Whoa! Your Sex IS On Fire! (The Pack A.D. The Habitat, Kelowna BC - Nov. 12th, 2009)

Ok, yeah, I know what you're thinking, this is the worst music blog, the only reason I'm reading this is because I'm friends with you, Trystan. That might be true. But why not tell all your hot friends that you know two hot guys who write about music? Hot guys or girls, tell them all. We could even make a header where Rob and I are quite busily oiling each others chests. I mean, I've purchased magazines, gone to see movies, and bought certain food items because there were hot people somehow linked to them. So spread the new baby mamas and mama mamas, the hotness is at Beards of Defiance!

Now on to my live music review. I love the Pack A.D. For those of you not familiar with their sound, old blues authenticity + The Black Keys + girls = The Pack A.D. So I was psyched when I found out they were playing The Habitat.

Now I don't know all of their songs yet, the only two I could really pick out were "Blackout" and "Don't Have To" from their second album "Funeral Mixtape". Did it matter? Not in the slightest. Becky Black (Guitar and Vocals) and Maya Miller's (Drums and Stage banter) performance was absolutely incendiary. They completely exceeded what you would expect from their albums, and rocked harder than the barely 100+ crowd probably deserved.

Becky Black might the be the best front-woman in Canadian music. Her wail and raspy voice could tear doors down. And I'm not gonna lie, she's a babe. That voice, that look, the thrashing of that guitar to make sexy-as-fuck blues noises? Of course I didn't tell my girlfriend that. And it's not like she'll read this! Hold on... shit.

Although there wasn't an encore, like a sweaty night of getting to second base, I was left completely satisfied without the usually requisite additional one-to-three songs. If Black's successive guitar strums had been flint on gasoline and Miller's Tom strikes continuous gusts of wind, we might have all been burnt to a crisp. But not like, in a bad way, in an awesome way.

Unlimits - Mugen Shindoroomu

Mugen Shindoroomu (translated from Japanese: Fantasy Syndrome) is the first full-length record by a band called Unlimits. They are, as you can probably guess from the album’s name, a Japanese band. They are a female fronted pop punk band; think Paramore mixed with More Betterness-era No Use For A Name and the harmonies of Tegan and Sara. They stand out from all the music that I’ve come across lately because they are easily one of the most melodic… and they sing in Japanese.

On my first cursory listen, I thought they were just alright and that I could probably take it or leave it. But then I found myself coming back to this album again and again. It’s surprisingly catchy, especially considering I can’t understand the language. Structurally, it’s also a really well assembled album, though it does fall into some of the standard traps of the genre.

The album opens with the song "Furanjia", which features a very brief introduction that consists of clean, picked guitar and soft singing that quickly escalates into a fast and fun pop punk masterpiece. This intro highlights the two best things about this band: the vocals and the guitar. Yoko Shimizu on rhythm guitar and lead vocals has a powerful voice on par with Hayley Williams of Paramore. Lead guitarist, Yoshitaka Otsuki, knows exactly how to complement Yoko’s vocals. His guitar parts are inventive and interesting, but most importantly, they’re fun to listen to. Naokazu Ishijimia’s bass lines are rarely at the forefront; they are strictly providing support and most often aren’t even noticeable (though there are a few exceptions like on "Sayonara No Ato" which is mostly bass driven through the intro and verses). The drums are fairly standard throughout the record, although that can be forgiven because Yoko Gunjima also sings providing the fantastic harmonies I mentioned earlier. These harmonies first appear in the chorus of Furanjia, and they refuse to quit for the rest of the album.

The second song, "Kodoku He No Shigunaru" (or: "Signal To Solitude"), continues with the upbeat and exciting blend of pop punk melody. It also contains one of my favorite choruses on the record; every time I hear it, I just can’t keep a grin off my face.

It’s in the third song, however, that Unlimits begins to stumble on the common mistakes of the genre. In my opinion, this style of pop punk is at it’s best when it’s played Fast and Fun. "Sayonara No Ato" ("Mark of Goodbye") is the first slower song on the album. Though it does provide some variety, it just seems like filler. It especially cannot compare with the next song, "Nana Shoku No Kioku" ("Memory of Seven Colors"), which is an example of variety done right. When it begins, it could be mistaken for a hardcore song. The verse and chorus have a psychobilly feel to them, and they’re followed by what I can only describe as a breakdown.

This album would be improved if they had cut it down from 13 to 10 songs, leaving out a few of the slower, filler songs. Regardless, this is a very fun and enjoyable listen and I highly recommend it.

I know given its origins it would be next to impossible to find a hard copy, but I’m told the internet is afire with media just waiting to be found. You don’t want to let down the internet, do you?

"Kodoku He No Shigunaru" ("Signal To Solitude")

"Nana Shoku No Kioku" ("Memory of Seven Colors")