We Are The Vulture - War Torn

We Are The Vulture is a five piece hardcore/post-punk band out of Bangor, Maine. Their sound to me is very much like that of Touche Amore mixed with The Cause. It's nice to hear this kind of hardcore is still being made. I hope this band lasts because i'd really like to see them live.

EP available for listen and download on their bandcamp page.

Local Bands

(Sidenote: I live in Portland Oregon)

I was planning on going to a basement show tonight, but that was before my fever of 101.9 degrees. So instead i'm just going to post about the local bands that were involved in the show. The show was going to consist of 5 bands, 3 local and 2 touring. The touring bands were Caravels and Octaves, both good hardcore bands. The local bands involved were Carrion Spring; Duck. Little Brother, Duck; and Girlfriends.


Carrion Spring:



Carrion Spring is a four piece hardcore/screamo band that consists of two guitarists, bass, and drums. The guitars are often dueling and the use of discordant chords is highly prevalent, at times reminding me of NORA circa 2001. But overall there is more melody and harmony than the driving beat that NORA was famous for. The bass lines get some heavy attention as the bass player is also the lead singer and the guy who records most of their music. This band is very DIY. They have recorded their first album and it is in the process of mixing right now. The few demos they have out right now, while quiet in audio have very good mixing to them so i think the final finished album material is probably going to be pretty well done.

Several song demos on their myspace page here:
Carrion Spring Myspace
You can also download two demos on their Last.fm page
Carrion Spring Last.fm



Duck. Little Brother, Duck



Duck. Little Brother, Duck is another four piece with multiple vocals and duel guitars. This band is a lot harder to describe as that don't really fit into a specific genre, but i'll smash a bunch of them together to give you an idea, post-punk/jazz/emo... Maybe? You can listen to them for yourself and decide. What i do know is they are good and i like them. Also, their song titles are hilarious and awesome.



Full album on their bandcamp page.


Girlfriends



Girlfriends is emo. I mean with a name like Girlfriends what could it be? The difference with this band is that it's one guy. I don't know how it is live because i didn't get to go (fever). But it sounds like it could be done using a lot of looping for one guitar but he'd still have to have a drummer and bass player. But it's good music with lots of gang vocals. I'm a huge fan of gang vocals.



Full albums on bandcamp.

New Year's Eve Mashup Dance Mix

Thoroughly Enjoyed!!

Musicians

I don't think i could agree more with Justin Beck from Glassjaw more on this subject.


Justin Beck (Glassjaw):
When bands come through my office or I meet a young aspiring musician who tells me that they’re going to drop out of school, quit their jobs and tour full time, I think they’re fucking crazy. There’s a stupid metaphor I give all my peers that goes a little something like this:

Would you put your entire life on hold to go hang out at the local bodega to play Lotto day after day after day for just one hour a day? Now, for the other 23 hours, you did nothing but fantasize about the ultimate combo of numbers that you inevitably can’t nail down because winning is odds and luck, combined. Are you willing-slash-fucking stupid enough to take that gamble? Most people would say hell no, that’s the stupidest fucking thing. But when you combine vanity, a sense of entitlement and a spoonful of delusion, you get these suckers to sign on to put their entire lives on hold for the chance to be a rock star. It’s all good and romantic to say it’s your fucking art, but the truth of the matter is, you’re not a fucking artist. Picasso is an artist. You’re a fucking lazy pussy waiting for a hand-out.

The point is, if you maintain a humble balance in life of your loves and hobbies and being a responsible person, you’ll appreciate your talents that much more. And when the odds (Lotto numbers) land in your favour while being a hard-working humble person in society, go for yours and cash the ticket in. The problem is people abandon common sense and it’s so easy to circumvent reality and use I’m an artist as an alibi when it just boils down to laziness.

In this day and age, I totally feel that you can be in a successful band, write great music and still have a normal life. Basically, don’t fucking live like a rock star until you get to that point; which most likely ain’t gonna happen.

Cloudkicker - Beacons

The album beacons by Cloudkicker is just amazing all the way through. It is an ambient progressive metal instrumental album. The combination of long sustained E-bow notes with heavy and sometimes very technical guitar riffs. I can try to compare it to other instrumental metal bands such as Pelican, Russian Circles, and Explosions In The Sky. It's more all-encompassing than the subtle drone of Pelican. It has more than just the expansive sound that makes Explosions In The Sky so popular. And it's riffs are more metal than Russian Circles. Some of the songs even have a kind of Posi hardcore feel to them. All around this album is just an incredible listen and maybe to my friends that can't stand the vocals of most metal this could at least get you interested in the music.

Listen to the whole album or purchase it on bandcamp here:

http://cloudkicker.bandcamp.com/album/beacons

The Beginning

I'm going to use this space as a place where i can discuss and bring up bands and albums that i feel need exposure, not that i think anyone will ever read this blog anyway. But i can also use it as a place to remind me of what i loved in the past and hold onto it in the future.