Arrows

So many of my friends are obsessed with Arrows.

I can understand why. If you're into that noodly style 90's emo stuff that is having a popularity resurgence right now you would dig Arrows too. What makes it better is they are a band (mainly) from Brisbane. My roomate even works with one of the dudes. I keep saying it, but we do have some of the best music in the country right in our city.

I saw them once, in Melbourne of all places, opening for This Town Needs Guns. A perfect combination for a perfect noodly concert. They are a very hard bunch to catch live, as they don't play a lot of shows. However, we're going to get our second Arrows show in the last few months very soon.

October 1st, at Thriller. This will be my first time heading to Thriller since they moved from Rosies. It's now halfway between the Valley and the city at Hotel Orient. I'm hoping this venue is better than Rosies was for quieter bands. During Frank Turner all I could really hear was the music from the dance floor one room over.

Opening for Arrows is the always wonderful Jamie Hay. A former hardcore singer, he now does his own style of acoustic folk rock. But which former hardcore singer doesn't do that these days?

Arrows (with free MP3s)
Jamie Hay

Free Music Friday 25!

I really wanted to post this last week, but hey, I was in Melbourne for Modest Mouse. So I think I had my priorities straight. But it gave me a lot more time to listen to this band on the plane, and I can't stop listening to it.

The band is Monument and this year they realeased an album called Sweat Pants Fever. You can stream it here:

It's 90's style emo, with a way more heavy rocking edge. The album is half covers. But that doesn't bother me. The last two covers just make the album even stronger (Descendents and Braid).

Now, streaming isn't free. I know. But if you follow the stream link to their Bandcamp (or you can click here) you can get some of their EPs for free. Just click the album covers on the right hand side of the page.

With the Get Up Kids coming out in 2 weeks and Braid about to release a new album, this has really got me back into my 90s midwest style emo.

The Get Up Kids

Emo. You hear that term bandied around a lot (well, maybe less these days). And a lot of the old hipsters, like me, always refer to the better days of 90s emo. When the music was softer, yet still raw. Emotions bubbled through the lyrics (sometimes shouted). And bands like the Get Up Kids Were releasing amazing albums.

They broke up. They got back together a decade back and played Soundwave last year. This is them, on my phone:


Now if you know me, you know I'm a huge James Dewes fan boy. And he plays the keyboard in Get Up Kids. So you can probably guess that I squaled a little when I heard they were coming back for a headlining tour. No standing on the concrete in the afternoon sun with a bunch of kids not knowing the band they were listening to. No. Just me and the Get Up Kids. And a few hundred other fans.

Catch them August 5 at the HiFi. 18+

Free Music Friday 11!

I thought I'd give you all some free music before I officially start these holiday shenanigans. And today's free music comes from a band that randomly added me on Twitter. Now normally when someone adds me on Twitter I just presume it's spam and ignore it completely. But this profile had a little spark to their description which initially attracted my attention.

First off, they are from Madison Wisconsin, one of my favourite party locations in the world. Second, they play noise rock. And if you follow this blog at all, you'll know that I have a weakness for the world of noise rock.

They are, the United Sons of Toil.

They've got a new album ready to come out soon, but you can currently get their 2008 album Until Lions Have Their Historians, Tales of the Hunt Shall Always Glorify the Hunter. A mouthful, huh? I recently did the one sentence review treatment of it:

The United Sons of Toil (2008):this is what happens when 90s midwest-emo-loving kids grow up, get angry & discover feedback & distortion 4/5

As I mentioned, the best way to describe their sound is of a band that grew up on 90's emo/math-rock (the likes of Texas is the Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate) but also liked their noise and hardcore (I detect a definite Helmet sound floating in their music). They mixed it all up, let it marinated for a decade or so, and then created this band.

Their album of the ridiculously long name is available on their Bandcamp, for the low cost of "name-your-price". Check it out, and if you like it like I do, throw a few dollars and wait for their next album out in the next few months.

Bandcamp

Finch

Continuing on my run of emo-bands from my teenage years, it's time to talk about Finch. At about the same time as Taking Back Sunday, they released the album What It Is To Burn, featuring a mix of emo, alternative rock and post-hardcore. I dug it hard.

They had a few acoustic songs that my friends and I always used to mimic in our jam sessions. As I write this I'm listening to a demo Kenny and I recorded... Halfway through, we start yelling about ducks. Good times.

After What It Is To Burn we waited for what seemed like an eternity. The band kind of disappeared. And then they came back with a single track to the Underworld soundtrack. It went a lot heavier than their earlier work and showed an interesting twist, which came to fruition with their second album, Say Hello to Sunshine. This album, although alienating a lot of fans, has now become one of my all time favourites. It's amazing.

They then broke up and disappeared. Only to reappear with a disappointing EP and a spot on the Soundwave Festival in 2009. I was lucky enough to see them twice on that tour and was just blown away. There was hope for them in the future! They were recording again! Demos existed!

But then, this week, the end. They announced they were done. Differences of opinions. No longer able to collaborate together. Which is sad, because they left us two finished songs. And they are awesome. You can get them here.

I'm going to go listen to Say Hello to Sunshine now and be all sad in my room while clutching my Finch drumstick.

Taking Back Sunday

As a young, impressionable teenager, the band Taking Back Sunday meant a lot to me. Their emo-stylings and lyrics spoke to my constantly heart broken self. As such, their first album, Tell All Your Friends, was played pretty much every day. Heck, I still bust this song out on guitar every now and then:

Time went on, members came and went, albums were released and they just never seemed to recreate the brilliance of Tell All Your Friends at least as far as I was concerned. Maybe it was just the time and place and the memories linked to the album? Like when Joe and I drove to Colorado listening to this album over and over again, trying to convince his parents there were no swear words in it like modern music? Ahh, the memories.

Anyway, for the first time in years, the band is back together with the original lineup. Well not the original, original lineup with Jesse Lacey (of Brand New fame) in it, but the lineup that recorded Tell All Your Friends. And they've put out a new song!

You can listen to it here.

After one listen I'm a bit undecided. They don't really do the dual vocals on it like on Tell All Your Friends, but hey, it's not finished yet. Fingers crossed.