Sexual Man Chocolate

I wrote about a band called Attack Attack! in one of my first blog entries, and I wanted to review and give my impressions of a new song they just released on their myspace, called "Sexual Man Chocolate". My estimation is that this is Attack Attack's best song, and one of the best songs in the screamo/technocore genre (though I hesitate to validate technocore as a genre given that not that many bands fit its mold of hardcore and electronic--the main ones being Attack Attack! and Asking Alexandria). If I have one gripe about the song is that it is too short--it goes by too quickly. This band is known for writing short songs, however: their first album barely clocks in at 30 minutes.

I discovered this band, as I seem to discover most bands these days--they were a supporting act for an Escape the Fate headliner in NYC in early 2009 that I went to. I checked them out on myspace, and really dug their mix of screamo and techno music, particularly the song "Stick Stickly", with its infamous rave/party ending sequence. I caught the ending of their performance and bought their debut, called Someday Came Suddenly. These guys quickly became one of my favorite bands, writing simple (not a bad thing!) and extremely catchy music.

It turns out these guys became scene darlings almost overnight, gaining in popularity so much lately that they are arguably the biggest band going to Warped in 2010. They've had some personnel changes along the way, parting ways with two vocalists, and making their keyboardist the lead vocalist (therefore playing back the synth parts). After all of the changes, the "new" Attack Attack! is very different from even the Someday Came Suddenly band in 2008. If "Sexual Man Chocolate" is any indication of the direction this band is going in with their second album, Shazam (to be released in May 2010), Attack Attack! might very well become one of the biggest screamo bands in the world.

The song starts off with piano arpeggios fading in that sound very interesting and cool. Drums and guitars come in next. Right away this band sounds heavier, tuning down to drop b (or even drop a#) from their debut album guitar tuning of drop c#, at least a whole stop difference. The guitars play a rhythm that descends a half-step (many guitar covers already up on youtube just play the same pitch).

Caleb Shomo's aggressive, almost As-I-Lay-Dying-esque (but very fitting), vocals tear into the listener with energy. Next comes an interesting clean vocal melody pre-chorus, with some nice harmonies thrown in. The chorus is extremely melodic and hooky, with obligatory strummed octaves on the guitar, and an aggressive tail to this section sung by Caleb. A really cool-sounding riff-based breakdown plays next, which not only sounds great, but adds variety to the rhythmically based breakdowns that are predominantly used by screamo bands. The song then switches back to a double rendition of the chorus, and is followed by an aggressive tail and a repeat of the intro piano licks and guitar riffs for the outro.

This is already one of my favorite songs of 2010 and is, in all seriousness, a screamo masterpiece. I am SO stoked for Shazam, and seeing these guys on tour. CHECK 'EM OUT!! peace

Once It Hits Your Lips Tour: Review and Thoughts

I decided to make it to this show since I had never been to Mohawk Place and it was a cheap ticket to see 5 bands. I don't remember all of the band names, but I know there was The Ready Set, The Bigger Lights, Anarbor (who are from Phoenix...?), and The Friday Night Boys.

Overall impression was positive. I felt a little old, seeing that the crowd was mostly younger girls, but I had a lot of fun, and going to shows is one of my favorite things to do anyway, regardless of the crowd makeup. The Mohawk is basically a bar with a small room in the back with a stage. I like those kind of hole-in-the-wall, ratty places because they have more character than squeaky clean joints.

Walking up to the door, I spotted the lead singer of TFNB walk in, and he was hanging out a lot close to where I was before he came on, which I liked. I noticed that all of the bands had pro gear. I saw an Orange amp, and I don't know too much about them, but I think they're pretty good. As for guitars, it was a night dominated by Fender and Gibson. The Les Paul and Telecaster ruled the night, with guest appearances by a white stratocaster, and red PRS.

Two things about most of the performances that stood out to me were the outstanding vocals and drumming. It strikes me that it is crucial in a band to have a great vocalist who can really shine live (with instrument or without-I prefer without personally). The Ready Set, The Bigger Lights, and Anarbor, had really well sung, clear, in tune, soulful vocals that absolutely made the performances. TFNB's vocals were a bit too quiet, which led to an amusing exchange between a girl and an older guy.

Guy: Turn up the vocals!! I can't hear!
Girl: SHUT UP!
Guy:...EAT MY ASSHOLE!

The drumming was flat-out amazing. The drummers were playing a lot of blastbeats, and lent energy, sonic presence, and vitality to the performances. I was also blown away by how well TFNB's guitarist performed the solo to "High School" so effortlessly and fluidly live.

It was an inspiring night for many reasons. On the one hand, it inspired me to branch out into pop-punk composition. On the other hand, it was great to see songs being performed live, because you actually get to see (really well) how and where the songs are being played on the guitar. Therefore, it gave some idea as to what positions the guitarists were using to craft their songs. The most important things I took away were the top three strings being used to arpeggiate a chord progression (with a static fret-hand position a lot of the time), or add sprinkles to some rhythm chord sequence.

I had fun at the show, got inspired and saw some great music, with a particular focus on drumming and vocals.

Next month is going to be hectic in terms of entertainment options. The Super Bowl and the Olympics are coming up soon. Since the weather is so bad I've all but decided to scrap the Cleveland show, and go to some great alternatives. I think first up is an early February Scary Kids Scaring Kids Final Show at the Mohawk, and then I think I'll go see Atreyu pretty soon after. Either way much fun will be had next month.

Update

So no review of Kills the Moment :( While I didn't make it to Xtreme Wheels that night, I finally saw Avatar in 3D. What an amazing movie. It was my first 3D movie. My eyes hurt a little initially, but after a while they got used to the visuals, and I had an absolute BLAST. I've seen a lot people (specifically on facebook) say that the plot was trite, and that except for the visuals, it's not a good movie. I think what ava-haters miss is that the movie is one of the best and most entertaining movies to come out in a while. I thought the plot fit the movie well, and I loved every (long) minute of it. It was just a great and more importantly fun experience. One of my favorite movies in a while.

Since I'm talking about movies, I saw a couple more recently, so I'll just give a short review of both. The day after Avatar, I saw The Book of Eli. To be honest, I wasn't too excited to see it, but it turned out to be decent, bordering on good. I remember hearing that the movie was written by Gary Whitta, who probably no one remembers was an editor and contributor to PC Gamer back in the day. Anyway, the movie is kind of slow because it shows Denzel Washington walking on empty desert roads a lot, and for long periods of time. I liked seeing Mila Kunis on the big screen (who wouldn't?) but she still comes across as the ditzy teenager she played on the 70s show. Gary Oldman played the bad guy really well (as he always does, though his last roles have been good guys-Sirius Black and Detective Gordon). There is a major twist at the end of the movie that doesn't really make sense in retrospect, but in the end I had a good time at this movie. The most fun parts of the movie were the really gory and violent fight scenes during which people in the theater shouted stuff like "oh shit!!" and "that was his arm!" in response to the bloodbath on screen. Lolz @ the audience participation.

Finally I saw Legion today, which wasn't a good movie. That's really the only thing I have to say, ha. Lots of promise with the material (angels, possessed humans) but in reality not a very good movie at all.

All right, on to other stuff. I've been on blog tv lately a lot. I just discovered this website, and it's pretty interesting and funny. I subscribed to a bunch of channels, and watch when I have free time. It's actually a great site for expanding your horizons, because I've been inspired to learn harmonica, and improve my guitar chord knowledge and acoustic song repertoire from watching people on blog tv. I actually prefer this site to other web 2.0 sites because it captures your attention (most of the time). I'm actually bored with facebook, but the weird thing is that I still compulsively check it daily. It's probably just a habit that I've developed over time, which is kind of scary because there is nothing really to look for on facebook. The status updates are mundane and trite, and people that post (interesting) pictures are few and far between. I mainly frequent youtube and blogtv on the interwebz now.

Music-wise, I've got a lot of things going on. I've got a bunch of electronic music song ideas on my pc and a lot of guitar riffs already written in 2010. I just need to develop these ideas into songs, and I hope to release this music in some capacity soon. So be on the look out for more music, show and movie reviews, and random thoughts.

So...

I don't know if anybody actually reads this blog anymore. Either way I'm using this as a writing outlet for myself, and if nobody reads it then I can live with that.

I'm looking forward to a great 2010, and some awesome shows this year. To start things off, I'm going to Xtreme Wheels this Friday January 15 to see Kills the Moment, a local screamo band that I found on myspace last year.

Next up, I'm considering going to see Flyleaf at the Town Ballroom February 12. The reason I'm not sure I'll go is because there is a show that I really want to go see in Cleveland the next day. It's Killswitch Engage, The Devil Wears Prada, and Dark Tranquillity playing at the House of Blues. If I can make it I'll go, if not then just the Cleveland show.

Then it's off to Xtreme Wheels on Feb. 17 to see Alesana, A Skylit Drive, and We Came As Romans. Another show at the same venue is Attack Attack and Asking Alexandria on April 4.

That's what my show calendar is shaping up to be so far. Of course I hope to go to Warped Tour this summer, and catch some great concerts in the (hopefully) warm weather.