versus the beast

so it's 2012 now. fingers crossed no one i'm close to dies this year and that the mayans weren't correct and the world collapses on December 21st. other than those two things, it's just a different number at the end of the date. let's roll with the tunes.

so my pals in house of fools finally released their new album (after years of record label turmoil) and it's everything i expected and more.  i couldn't make the release show on the 30th since i had some band stuff to do down here in chucktown but i've heard nothing but good things about the show. plus HoF has always been a band that you have to see live, no matter how good their albums are.

anyway, back to the album. it's full of great music, great songwriting and great harmonies. it's equal parts classic rock (tom petty, pink floyd), americana (wilco, ryan adams) and pop (the format, steel train). since i haven't owned it for even 24 hours yet, i'm reluctant to pick a favorite song but it's safe to say Time will remain as one of my favorites.  so watch the video below and then go pick it up over at cdbaby.

House Of Fools - Time from Patrick Caudle on Vimeo.

also, yes i'm a bit biased since i've known these dudes for a while and they're one of the reasons i wished i still lived in the g'boro area so i could see them live more often but even listening to it objectively, i still think it's an amazing record. 

now, there are two releases in 2012 i couldn't be more excited about, and completely different type of music than HoF, Every Time I Die's Ex Lives and Lamb of God's Resolution.  

if you've known me longer than a week you'll know how Every Time I Die is one of my favorite bands so even without hearing anything off the new album (drops March 6), I planned on pre-ordering it.  luckily, they released a song yesterday and it's every thing I would expect from them(and yes, I completed my pre-order package within about 20 minutes of posting). 

also, lamb of god has a new album coming out January 24th.  they're in the same grouping as etid in the fact that they never disappoint.  their single, ghost walking, speaks for itself.  two things to add to that though, (1) how amazing that lyric video is, and (2) how someone can play that riff on an acoustic is beyond me...then again, i'm a shitty guitarist. 

the best thing about both of those singles is that they sound like the band they represent while still evolving their sound.  it's not an easy thing to do. 

in other news, the merchants set is coming along nicely and hopefully we'll have our first show in the next month (shooting for a february 10th show currently). we'll begin recording soon too so that should be frustratingly fun (stupid click tracks).  and i actually posted a new by sea / by land demo the other day up on soundcloud. it's nothing fancy, pretty simple to be honest, but i like it. 

hope everyone is doing well, much love.

X

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you knew it was coming...best albums of 2011

2011 is about to wrap itself up and while, personally, it was somewhat of a shitty year, musically it was fantastic.  I was originally going to try and narrow it down to just 10 albums but that seemed to be an injustice to a lot of good albums that did drop this year, so i'm doing 20 instead.

Also, I hate narrowing this down, there will be a lot of albums that will be left out that probably would have made my top ten in other years, but I've got to cut it off at some point.

Wanna know something else pretty cool? There are a ton of albums that I've heard great things about that I have still not have had the chance to listen to, so I'm sure sometime in early 2012 I'll have a post about albums that should have been somewhere on this list.

And since I never really get to use my minimal HTML skills, i decided to do that here too....no idea why.

20
Kevin Devine ~ Between the Concrete and Clouds
one of my favorite lyricist, great mood throughout the entire album

19
	Manchester Orchestra ~ Simple Math
great hooks, great lyrics, great album

18
La Dispute ~ Wildlife
the whole "talk music" thing is really hard to pull off but la dispute does it beautifully

17
	Into It. Over It ~ Proper
another great artist with a knack for great, introspective lyrics and hooks

16
Four Year Strong ~ In Some Way, Shape, or Form
i was pleasantly surprised at how great this album is when i first bought it. if you've liked any of their previous albums, you'll love it.

15
	Saves the Day ~ Daybreak
saves the day is back! the 11 minute, 4 part opener track, Daybreak, is worth the price of the album alone. also, got to hang with these dudes about a month ago and have to say they're some of the most down to earth guys i've ever met

14
Trash Talk ~ Awake EP
the best 5 songs that clock in under 9 minutes; thrash metal at its finest

13
	The Appleseed Cast ~ Middle States
it's appleseed, of course it's amazingly layered and beautiful and of course it's good.

12
I Am The Avalanche ~ Avalanche United
if you take 6 years between albums, it better be good.  and yea, this thing is beyond good. listen to "brooklyn dodgers", just an awesome song.

11
	Bayside ~ Killing Time
bayside's best album yet. it seems that every member stepped up their musicianship a few notches for this album. super proud of chris' and jack's work on this album and anthony never fails in the lyrics department.

10
The Dear Hunter ~ The Color Spectrum
spend the money and get the complete collection (all 9 EPs), worth every penny.  just the idea, to write an EP based on the feelings of each color in the spectrum, is pretty intriguing and the fact that it was pulled off so well, i find amazing. Favorite EPs? Red, Black, White and Yellow...in that order but for real, get the entire thing.

9
	The Wonder Years ~ Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing
i've gotten back into pop-punk this year, after quite a few years off (minus an album here and there), and i can owe it this album.  this album reminded me of what's good about pop-punk.

8
Former Thieves ~ The Language That We Speak
I really wish I would've heard about this band back in April when this was released but I didn't know about them until the chariot show back in november but i love this album. reminds me some of the later poison the well stuff. sounds especially amazing on vinyl.

7
	Thrice ~ Major/Minor
probably the final album from thrice, which is sad but if you've gotta go out, go out on top and this is their best effort, which says a lot because i loved the alchemy index and beggars. it's one of the most honest albums that i've heard on the sad state of our society and yet is still a very hopeful/uplifting album.

6
Bon Iver ~ Bon Iver
i can't say anything about bon iver that hasn't already been said a million times over.  i find this album more beautiful every time i listen to it. i can't think of a more deserving artist to be nominated for 4 grammys.

5
	David Bazan ~ Strange Negotiations
when you've spent a career as pedro the lion, you have high expectations for every album that you drop. Bazan ignores those expectations and releases his best work since Pedro's Control.

4
Hands ~ Give Me Rest
i don't typically listen to overtly christian bands (i hate being preached to) nor sludge metal but i can't get enough of this album.  i've been listening to this album since it came out. every time i listen to it, i want to steal all of the riffs and use them in Merchants' songs.

3
	Balance and Composure ~ Separation
this was my number one at the halfway mark, back in the spring. it hasn't lost any of its luster, still an amazing album that i find on play at least once a week. it's albums like this that make the entire post-hardcore recent uprising worth paying attention to, plus they're young so i have a feeling their best work is still yet to come.

2
The Story So Far... ~ Under Soil and Dirt
if the wonder year's album restored my faith in pop-punk, this is the album that restored my faith that new/young bands could write good pop-punk songs. if i'm not mistaken, this is their first LP release and to start off this strong is impressive.  i'll keep rockin' this until LP 2 comes out, yea it's that good.

1
	O' Brother ~ Garden Window
it's not very old, especially in comparison to 2 & 3 but i'll be damned if it's not great. it's at the point were i subconsciously just put the album on when i'm in the car (and i'm always in my damn car, it seems). each song flows into the next, everything sounds connected without sounding like a regurgitation. it's impressive on a whole different scale than the other albums i've listened to this year.  there's a reason they tour with bands like Thrice, Manchester Orchestra and The Dear Hunter on a regular basis. nicely done, gentlemen, nicely done.

originally, i wanted to write a lot more about the albums but 20 albums is a bit more taunting than i originally thought it would be and free time is sparse for me these days so that's all you get.  i'll be the first to admit that there will be a lot of albums that i've missed so feel free to let me know.

Also, two more categories....

Record Label of the Year: No Sleep Records  5 of the 20 albums on the list are No Sleep bands and if I would've done a top 25, there would have been 6 or 7 of their bands (Touche Amore & Such Gold) in the list.  they continually sign good bands and their bands continually release fantastic albums.  Whatever their formula is over there, it's working.

Best New Music Site: ElectricMariachi.com Stumbled across this site looking for an album stream of some sorts and i'll be damned if they didn't have that stream (trapped under ice's new one, i remember correctly) but they have a ton of other album streams, many albums that i forgot were released and all. so yea, cool site and their player works on a mobile too.

There ya go, enjoy.  if you like my taste in music and haven't heard some of these releases, go pick it up somewhere. If you don't like my taste in music...i have no idea why you've read this, it's the internet, there are better things to read.

much love

X

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the art of atmosphere

first off, forgive the emo title but it'll make more sense further on down.  there have only been two albums that have been released in the past couple of weeks that i've felt like buying (yes, i buy all of the albums i talk about...it gets very expensive sometimes), and while they're both very different in their approach, both are phenomenal. 

first off, O'Brother released Garden Window digitally this week and within one listen it has become one of my favorite albums (if not favorite) album of 2011. now, let's bring this blog title back into play.  one of the best things about this album is the atmosphere they created throughout its entirety. expressing atmosphere within music is one of the hardest things to do (i think) and keeping that atmosphere throughout 60 minutes is impressive.  it's what allows an entire album to sound like one long, great song but still keep the listener intrigued from track to track. i'd imagine it's much like writing a novel, in where you have to keep the reader intrigued while continuing the story and offering new events along the way...granted, i've never written a novel so that's really just what i feel like it would be like.  my favorite tracks are Sputnik and Lay Down.  Sputnik features producer Andy Hull (vox/guitarist of Manchester Orchestra) providing some guest vocals, which add a nice element to the song. anyway, check out Sputnik and Lay Down below and i will re-iterate, this is an album that deserves to be listened to from front to back...it's impressive to say the least. 

last week, four year strong released In Some Way, Shape, or Form and while I had to some reservations about it, it's really good. like really, really good.  the couple of songs they released were definitely four year strong but a little more radio/ mass audience accessible than what i was use to from them. not to say that's automatically a bad thing, but it always makes me wonder what the rest of the album will sound like.  but have no fear, it has turned into my favorite album from them. it's accessible the way blink-182 and rise against are accessible which is more than ok with me.  the guitar work on this album is the best they've done (check out the riffs on stuck in the middle). nicely done guys, nicely done.

Also, if you are/were a Deep Elm records fan, you really should go like their facebook page.  they give away a free album (yep, the entire thing) every wednesday from their catalog.  last week was red animal war's "black phantom crusades" and this week is papermoon's "new tales". i never listened to papermoon before but they remind me a lot of old death cab, it's good, i'd recommend checking it out. 

if you have music suggestions or albums i may have missed, definitely let me know, i'm always down for new tunes.  

in other news, the band stuff is coming along nicely, have about a song and half to go before i think we'll be ready to start playing shows (it's been a year since i've played a show, i'm getting anxious to get back to it). we've got band photos saturday with a guy i met via craigslist who is trying to get into photographing bands (free pics!) so i get to stand there and try and look tough for a couple hours which is difficult when you resemble a hobbit more so than one of the american gladiators. hopefully the dude isn't weird though. could make for an interesting afternoon.  

hope everyone is doing well. much love.

X

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man, oh man, the chariot jams

so the whole band took a mini road trip up to columbia see the chariot show at new brookland tavern. yea, it was awesome.  i haven't been that impressed by a band live in a long time. so much passion, so much energy that it becomes infectious. also makes me impatient to start playing shows again, but alas we still need to hammer out a couple more songs...hopefully we'll be able to play a show before christmas though.

here's a short clip (it's from a phone so judge accordingly) from the chariot's set...love that band.

also,  former thieves played second that night and they were impressive to say the least. reminded me of poison the well a bit. i bought their album, haven't stopped listening to it since. 

and last but not least, listener opened up the show.  while, i completely understand if you don't like his stuff, i find it great.  it's spoken word/poetry with music...that's really the only way i know how to describe it.  i'm convinced he's a genius. and he's also a super nice dude, got to chat with him for a few while buying merch.  take a listen.

i've got two more shows to go to this week, both I'm stoked about. tThe Saves The Day/Bayside/I Am the Avalanche tour comes through charleston on thursday.  Got to meet Chris (drummer for Bayside) at Jenn's wedding so hopefully they'll get into town in time for us to go grab some food and a beer. and then Oh, Sleeper is playing charleston saturday, so I'll probably be at that.  their newest album is really good. Not looking forward to all the kids that'll be at that show though...oh well. 

other than the new Four Year Strong "In Some Way, Shape or Form"  that drops tomorrow (stream it on their facebook), there aren't many albums coming out, at least that I'm aware of, that I'm excited about so go listen to some of your classics after you pick up the new FYS. 

other than that, i'm alive and breathing. if you care about a life update, you've probably got my number so get in touch with me that way...it's much easier than trying to blog about it. and if you care about a life update but don't have my number, i'm not hard to track down on the interwebz. 

much love, 

X

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the classics

I've found myself listening to albums that I've grew up with a lot lately so i figured i would write up a blog on the albums i consider to be "classics" in my own collection.  there aren't many better feelings than falling back in love with an album from years ago.

Saves the Day ~ Stay What You Are

Songs ~ At Your Funeral, Nightingale 

At Your Funeral is, hands down, one of my favorite songs of all time. till this day, the ring out/vocal combination that kicks in at 0:40 gives me chills. The entire album is a top 5 album for me.  They've recently released Daybreak, which is a great and worth the 10 bucks or whatever iTunes is selling it for now, and that release reminded me to revisit Stay What You Are...haven't stopped listening to it since then. 

The MovieLife ~ 40 Hour Train Back to Penn

Songs ~ Ship to Shore, Kelly Song

There's not a lot I can say about this album except that if you've never listened to it, your life is significantly worse because of it. I Am Avalanche just released a phenomenal new album, which brought me back to the movielife, not sure how I got out of the habit of listening to them. This entire album just brings back the good days in high school of just driving around and listening to music. 

The Juliana Theory ~ Music From Another Room

Songs ~ Breathing By Wires; Piano Song

Yes, I'm aware that Emotion is Dead is the de-facto standard for anyone talking about Juliana Theory but Music From Another Room is my favorite release from the group.  Don't get me wrong, I love Emotion is Dead but every one of the songs on Music From Another Room are in my top ten from JT and there are 5 full songs on the EP...so do the math, 50% of my favorite JT songs come from this one EP. 

Brand New ~ My Favorite Weapon

Songs ~ Jude Law and a Semester Abroad; Mixtape; Shower Scene

A lot of people either don't know or just forget that Brand New's first album was a pop-punk album.  They're one of the few bands that have changed sounds on almost every album and still continue to amaze me. This album is definitely a favorite, a toss up for 2 or 3, depending on my mood, from the band (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me is my numero uno).  Whomever pissed off Lacey, I feel sorry for you. 

There are plenty of other albums I could have thrown up here, but if I didn't draw the line somewhere, I'd be here all day. Other classics to note (in case you're bored and are just looking up tunes while reading this)...

Cross My Heart ~ Cross My Heart 

The Appleseed Cast ~ End of the Ring Wars

Dashboard Confessional ~ Swiss Army Romance (judge me all you want but this is an awesome album)

Midtown ~ Save the World, Lose the Girl

No Use for A Name ~ More Betterness

If you haven't heard any of these albums, do yourself a favor and go to Spotify or GroveShark or wherever you listen to tunes and listen to them, you won't regret it. 

In other news, thanks everyone for the kind words on the By Sea / By Land album, it's much appreciated.  Obviously all of the listens/downloads have tapered off by now but if you did like it, share it with friends.  Hef told me I needed to post more about it on facebook/twitter but I'd feel like I'd be annoying buuutttt if my friends post about it, it's quite alright haha. 

Notable New Releases

 Saves the Day ~ Daybreak

I Am the Avalanche ~ Avalanche United

The Gaslight Anthem ~ iTunes Sessions (worth the price just for the Baba O'Reilly cover alone)

Trash Talk ~ Awake EP

I hope everyone is doing well, much love. 

X

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By Sea / By Land: The Hathaway Sessions

Annnnnddddd it's done! Finally. It took longer than I had originally planned but Kyle was pretty awesome at coming up with ideas, layers, instruments, etc... that I just couldn't turn any of it down. I owe a lot of this recording to him. He breathed life into some of the older songs and almost all of the really cool vocal arrangements were his idea.  He's a good dude, glad to have him in my life. Otherwise, it's an odd, slightly eclectic collection of songs, spanning a few different genres.  Guess that's what i get for listening to such an odd collection of music.

So feel free to go download it, give it a few listens, recommend it to your friends, etc... I hope you like it, cause I'm really proud of it, but if you don't, that's ok too, just act like you do so your friends will think it's the cool thing to be listening too.

And thanks to everyone for the kind words and encouragement to get it done, especially you hef, it's greatly appreciated.

I created a facebook page, so go "like" it. https://www.facebook.com/byseabyland

Download/listen to it at the bandcamp site: http://byseabyland.bandcamp.com

Next up, I've already gotten about 3.5 new songs written, that are a slightly different style than what's on this album. I'm also toying with the idea of writing an EP about two of my favorite books, Maniac Magee and The Giver.  That'll be an entirely new type of challenge, to write songs that don't necessarily reflect something in my life but I think it'll be a fun, little project.

Anyways, I hope whomever of you listen/download it, enjoy it. Much love.

X

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[UPDATED]too much good music

In the past two weeks, a ton of really good music (and one rather disappointing album) have been released.  It's been one of those weeks were I have no idea what to listen to because it's all good.

Thrice ~ Major/Minor
For Fans of: Thrice....they've released 8 albums, you should know what they sound like by now
Listen to: Promises, Anthology

If I did some sort of rating thing, I'd give this 100 stars out of 10, it's that good.  I absolutely love this album and this band.  They're one of the few bands that can consistently merge multiple styles in one album and nothing seems out of place, which is a lot harder feat than most people may think. Now, if you didn't care for their last release, Beggars, then this may not be the album for you but Beggars is one of my favorite albums of all time. Dustin's lyrics always find a way to become personal for me and their musicianship on this album shows that they haven't become complacent with their standing as one of the most solid bands around. Granted, this band could collectively fart in a jar, put it on iTunes, and I'd probably buy it...i believe they call this being a "fanboy", a title I'm more than okay with.

Our word is so faint and feeble, broken by the slightest breeze or breath. Our hearts are, they're so deceitful, sick and filled with lies that lead to death. 

La Dispute ~ Wildlife
For Fans of: mewithoutyou; listener
Listen to: Harder Harmonies

Their new album is streaming on their site, www.ladispute.com, and i've found myself going back to it daily. This is very much the spoken word/music mash-up that I only thought that mewithoutyou would ever be able to pull off but la dispute do it with an aggression/passion that I haven't heard in a long time.  Go give it a few spins, you won't be disappointed. Below is a lyric video of their single, Harder Harmonies...I love everything about his writing.

"

And all the ones who seem to fit the best into the chorus, never notice there's a song. And the ones who seem to hear it end up tortured by the chords when they fail to find a way to sing along."

Ok, those are the only two in-depth reviews I have time for this go around but here are a few more releases that are of note. I will also note that No Sleep Records is becoming one of my favorite labels, just consistent great band after great band.  Balance and Composure, The Wonder Years, Into It. Over It, La Dispute, Former Thieves, etc...go to their site and pick up one of their free samplers, more than worth the few minutes that'll take.

Also, the Of Monsters and Men album that I mentioned last week and that was released last week, only dropped in their native Iceland (seems that way anyway) so I'm still waiting on a US release date to hear everything and throw it up here but I have a feeling I'm going to like it a lot.  And Jamie N Commons put two new songs on his soundcloud so go check those out. 

************UPDATED**************
This is why I shouldn't rush these blog posts, forgot albums I had every intention of mentioning.  Also, after giving the new Maylene album a few spins, I've changed my mind a little so I've re-written my statement.

Into It. Over It ~ Proper

Maylene & The Sons of Disaster ~ IV (this was originally my disappointing album, but no longer. After making myself listen to it a few times, I get it now.  No, it's not my favorite album but it's really a natural progression for Maylene.  A couple of songs miss for me but overall, not as bad an album I thought on the first spin.  It's southern rock, not southern metal like their old stuff...guess that's what threw me off.)

Mastodon ~ The Hunter
Blink-182 ~ Neighborhoods
Wilco ~ The Whole Love
*************************************

In over news, the acoustic album is close to being done, for real.  It's been a busy couple of weeks so Kyle and I haven't had a chance to wrap it up but I need to redo vocals on one track (because i sometimes do this weird wavy thing with my voice without realizing) and then it'll be final mixing and mastering and then I'll release it to the internet and see what happens. 

Hope everyone is doing well, much love. 

X

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