Album Review: Glow by Flower Crown

Well I finally have some free time here and I finally got around to listening to the new Flower Crown album Glow. For those people who do not know, Flower Crown is a dream-pop duo (based in Pittsburgh) consisting of Richie Colosimo and Aaron Mook.

Flower Crown is the duo's second release and it sounds pretty damn amazing. Although I usually associate dream-pop with shoegaze, this is definately not that (at least my definition I tend to fin shoegaze and louder). However, it definately has that dreamy atmosphere that comes with shoegaze. The type of dream-pop on this album is more like a guitar driven chillwave, and the over all sound can get you lost within the over all sound. My proof of this was me having a conversation with someone on facebook messenger and completely forgetting that I was even having one while listening to this album for a review.

The album not only seems to have a chillwave influence, but also some sounds typical in post rock since there's a drone to it typical in a lot of early post rock groups such as Angels of Light (although unlike Angels of Light, Flower Crown isn't really folky, probably a bad example, I do these things off the top of my head).

Anyway let's get into some detail here the album starts off with the track True Blue, and definately sets the mellow and hypnotic tone of the album, then the second track Web comes in and kinda sort of has a tropical vibe to it. The tropical vibe continues with the third track How's Yr Head (my favorite track so far) which definately has that tropical vibe of the though of just chilling by the beach.

The fourth track is Bloodshade and it is the best REM song not by REM. I'm not joking and I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds like REM since there's a comment on their Bandcamp that even makes reference to at least this album sounding like REM, but although I so far it's just this one track that I pick up REM.

The song Moonwater then goes back to the tropical vibe and acts as a transition track to Frame by Frame a really nice and jangly type of song, and yeah now i'm definately picking up the similarities between the vocals in this and Micheal Stipes vocals, same with the song Pls (probably now cuz i'm looking for it) In the song Plz you can kind of pick up some effects that have been put on the vocals, which add a nice touch to the sound of the album over all (assuming it's done threw out the album).

The next song Rearview (Sept) reminds me a lot of the beginning part of great gig in the sky and also some slower version of a Johnny Marr riff.

To end the album there's the song Lady of the Lake. For this song, take the later stuff from the band Earth, and soften it up. There you'll have a basic idea of this song. Possibly also one of the most head in the clouds dreamy song on the album, the song is like a journey inside every neuron in your brain. It is a solid song to end the album with.

I really like this album. I'm definately going to check out their first release right after this. The guitar, keys, vocals, and everything else meshes super well and sets the mood to just sit back calm down and let your anxiety drain away until everything is ok. In short I am checking my account balances, hoping I have enough money in the bank to get a cassette before they sell out.

As usual check this band out.

Facebook (all pictures come from their facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/flowercrownmusic/

Bandcamp
https://flowercrownmusic.bandcamp.com/

Thanksgiving Song Review: Pornography In Stop - Motion by Elephant Pill

First time doing a song review so I hope I do this justice. Anyway Elephant Pill is a Trip Hop project by Erie musician Alex Wilson (one of the members of Ghost Embryo) and the song is a track from the album Slug Trails to the Lemon Kid.
Alex described t
he sample in the song as the doodle at the end of a stop motion Santa Claus movie. After doing some research I assumed Alex was referring to the Rankin Bass jingle at the end of the 1970 stop motion film Santa Claus is coming to town. Regardless what the sample is or where Alex got it from the beat of the song brought me feelings of familiarity and not quite knowing why (this was before I read the Facebook posts that were promoting the song, so I literally had no idea where the sample came from but knew I heard it before). With that feeling of familiarity I found that I would easily get lost in the song's instrumentation.
 I also got a vibe that the song was influenced by the sound of Massive Attack, especially the vocals. Alex described in the Facebook post that the song had a Tricky influence so I was close on guessing the musical influence due to Tricky being once a member of Massive Attack. However, I thought Alex's vocals were more like Massive Attack member's 3D's than Tricky's, but that just shows what I know and I'm no expert.
The lyrics I have a hard time analyzing, not because they're cryptic or hard to hear due to them being lost in the mix, it's mainly because as stated before I get lost in the instrumental and so in short I get distracted away from the lyrics, which in my opinion is fine, it doesn't make me enjoy the track any less. From what I could gather the song name drops and references musicians (examples Robert Smith and Beck) that I assume influence Alex's music to a degree, either that or he just likes those musicians. Despite me at first only picking up the name drops and references in the song due to my ADHD haze, the lyrics I assume tell a personal story that involves emotions and certain life challenges that the narrator of the song has faced or still faces (the song could be autobiographical, but it is not my place to assume anything)
In short the song is great, the sampling is better than anything I have done or can do, the vocals are really tight and has a nice flow. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the album

Link to the song
https://soundcloud.com/alex-wilson-465158726/pornography-in-stop-motion

Link to Elephant Pill's Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/elephantpill/

Surf Doom Madness: Survivors

Ok another band showcase and this is Survivors from Lakeline Ohio (so Cleveland area). This band consists of the duo Ammo (guitar, lead vocals and drums) and Zilla St. Cornell (keyboard and backing vocals) and they actually played one of their first shows in my home town of Oil City Pa. Their sound they describe on their facebook page as surf doom and that is really the best way to kind of explain it. The sound has a cheesy spooky vibe to it due to the keyboards and King Diamond-esque vocals. Definitely a great live act, with the unique sound that the band has (and the fact they use pre-recorded live drums as opposed to just using a drum machine) can even make the most jaded music fan to take notice. Plus they do an awesome cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. If you have a chance to see them live, do it.

Link to their facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/weSURVIVEtheyDIE/

The Death of Warped Tour: 2018 seems promising.

Just for those people that remember the old warped tour when it was decent and had bands like NOFX headlining, I never really experienced that warped tour while growing up. Instead I was exposed to the bullshit hot topic mallcore bands that invaded and hijacked what was a good music festival. While typing this article I will be refering to the "emo" (those bands were never emo or screamo just pop punk with eyeliner) and scene bullshit mecca era warped tour. So now that warped tour is ending, I hope this is one of the nails in the coffin that kills hot topic punk and metal for good and we can finally start celebrating music that is actually good creative and innovative. Hopefully Hot Topic will be the next thing to go down.

The Spo-It's: That Is All

OK not really, I should say more but first a short update. It's the last day of my Social Media Communication class so I figured that I would use this time to give my readers something special. Low and behold I chose the Spo-it's. The Spo-it's are a Shock Rock group from Savanna, Georgia and when I say Shock Rock, I mean Shock Rock. This group makes bands like W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, and even all the Norwegian Black Metal groups look like The Carpenters. Lead by Scott "King Spo-it" Corkern, and formed on John Wayne Gacy's birthday in the early 90s, this group pushes music and stage theatrics to the edge. A typical Spo-it's concert usually includes, loud Punk, Metal, and Jazz influenced Rock, with the most absurd and interesting stage antics ever. They have been known for having live S&M shows on stage, smashing TV's, setting off fireworks at the audience themselves, and even supposedly setting an audience member on fire. With addition to their crazy stage performance they have some really great music that has a large amount of dark humor, that will always put a smile on a person's face with that type of sense of humor. Not to mention the sound variety of their songs. Most of them (as stated before) are basically Punk Rock or Metal songs with some free form Jazz elements, but also interesting enough there's a hint of a southern rock influence as well. Which should be expected since they are from the South, but I try to not to assume a bands sound unless I first hear them.
Now I know some may complain that this band is past the local level, since they've not only have played with bigger named bands such as The Murder Junkies, Goatwhore, and Buzzov*en, they've also have been on the Jerry Springer show on more than a couple occasions. However, despite this to my knowledge it seems they really tend to stick to touring in small venues in the South (very rarely traveling across the Mason Dixon Line). Also to further defend my choice of writing about this band I know people who have been on Springer, and I knew a band that opened for Drowning Pool however, neither would be considered what you would call a big name or famous.



Regardless of their popularity they are still very much under appreciated with their very unique approach to Rock Music and their off the wall grindhouse film influenced stage performances. Sadly  I haven't personally seen, and I am really bummed out because of it, since it would be a very unique experience.

Links
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spo-its/136293699769671

Scott's Vimeo (not for the faint of heart)
http://vimeo.com/user4495746

Yet again another one for the Folkies: HEXE

OK this isn't necessarily a main group as opposed to a side project; However, since I gave Overdose On Vitamins a mention I might as well speak of other groups linked to them. HEXE is a folk group that consists of Justin Bowen (of Overdose on Vitamins) on guitar, mandolin, and vocals, and his girlfriend Jille on violin and vocals. Like Overdose On Vitamins they invite friends to play with them live or in the studio, but still maintain a core group (this time being Justin and Jille) being the main song writers.  However, unlike Overdose On Vitamins, which has more personal lyrics with some political overtones, HEXE's lyrics are mainly political, with focusing more specifically on environmentalism, animal rights, and I think feminism (I know they are feminists just not sure if it's in their lyrics).
If that's you're thing then their probably a perfect group for you, but personally I'm not big into a lot of political music, since I find it a bit overdone. However, that doesn't mean I'll just write them off and dismiss their music, because it's really good. The music is very emotional and also extremely soothing. Justin's voice very soft and a raspy, the guitar work is very smooth and the violin just adds more to the smoothness to the song. With the music sounding as smooth as it is it really disguises the seriousness of the lyrical content which seems pretty dismal, and a bit pessimistic, but a lot of good bands and songs have those elements so the formula works and if they keep at it they could go far, at least underground wise since they retain a large DIY ethic.

Links
Facebook:
 https://www.facebook.com/hexefolk

Bandcamp
http://hexepa.bandcamp.com/

Oh Shit! They're Going to Kill Us: Sorry Soar Throat but the Crossover isn't over.

Originally from Franklin Pa this Pittsburgh based crossover thrash band is what made me live to go see local bands. I remember seeing them at my first show which was at the Reno Social/Fire hall way back in like 2006/2007, and they wow'ed me from the start, and I was wondering why a band that good was doing playing in a fire hall in a town of less then 50 people (exaggeration probably but still ya catch my drift). Now they are based in Pittsburgh and they are definitely rising up the ranks of Pittsburgh's Thrash scene, and rightfully so. Their debut album (which was released on a small indie label called Deer Skull Records) was probably the best local releases that I bought in a good long while (have it in vinyl and CD) and their subsequent releases are just as good (so far my favorite release is the They Love the Bomb/Do the Blitzkrieg single).
Now after stating that I might as well describe their sound, since that's what everyone wants to know and what makes them stand out over other Thrash bands? Well for one as opposed to most thrash bands they are definitely more rooted in Punk as opposed to Metal than most Thrash bands(with members such as guitarist Andy Ramage, and former guitarist Jason Mucio being in a 90s style punk band Dooplo prior to being in Oh Shit!), and also their lyrics tend to be more on the horror than the political or partying side of most Thrash bands (with exceptions of certain songs). Also as opposed to a lot of Thrash bands they don't seem to take themselves too seriously and aren't dead set on a hardcore agenda (which tends to get old and cliche for me since it seems now every band out there has a political reason why they start a band and to me it just seems overdone and should have been left to bands like Crass or any 70s or 80s punk band). To me (I could be wrong but it's my interpretation and I'm not the band so take my words on this with a grain of salt) the only agenda is to simply to make music how they want to, and have fun doing it. Not to mention vocalist Dusty Hannah also has a very unique raspy voice which definitely seems very hardcore punk influenced, since it's definitely shouted, but yet has a sense of melody, which again seems to draw more influence with punk bands such as GBH, The Misfits (the more aggressive stuff) and The Cromags, and I also hear a large D.R.I. influence with the punk-ish vocals as well. But that's not to say that the metal influence isn't prevalent because it obviously is, the structured solos and harmonizing guitars definitely remind me of early Iron Maiden, and the grinding of the guitars on the rhythmic parts remind me of early Megadeth and Anthrax. Also I should also add their latest EP also uses a more melodic vocal style as opposed to other releases (which even add to the early Maiden feel since Maiden's former vocalist was noted for alternating is vocals from raspy and rhythmic to clean and melodic)
So in short despite being from a small town filled with hipsters, rednecks, emo kids, and even worse juggalos    (yeah Franklin is diverse in the trend department or at least now it is) an amazing Thrash band was able to break out of that area to a place where they can grow and be appreciated and share their music with the rest of the world so, as usual, check them out!

Links

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oh-Sht-Theyre-Going-To-Kill-Us/124587109886?fref=ts

Bandcamp
http://ostgtku.bandcamp.com/music



Myspace
http://us.myspace.com/ohshittheyregoingtokillus