Got a bit caught up in job hunting the past few days, but as I was working on that I was listening to this week's Band Of The Week, Guster.
Guster is a band that was started in 1991 by three Tufts University students. The trio began playing acoustic-based poppy alternative rock around campus, set apart from the rest of the early 90's college radio scene by their use of non-traditional alternative rock instrumentation, most notably hand percussion instead of the usual drumkit set-up.
Eventually, Guster's use of additional instrumentation led to the band adding a fourth member, who as of last year was no longer with the band (due to a conflicting touring offer, not from any bad blood as far as I can tell) and was replaced. The new member is listed as a band member on WIkipedia, but I'm not sure if he is officially a member or just a touring member. The member he replaced was indeed considered a full member, but neither is seen performing with the band in the video for "Do You Love Me" (from the band's 2010 album, Easy Wonderful).
Guster were, as far as I know, the first band to adapt Virginia's tourism slogan for merchandise use, as they sell t-shirts and stickers proclaiming "Guster Is For Lovers," which I have since seen done by other bands, including Fall Out Boy.
I would recommend checking out either Easy Wonderful or their second album, Goldfly. Both are excellent. Goldfly features the hand percussion and acoustic guitars of their earlier days, while Easy Wonderful displays a more evolved version of the band, with more experimental instrumentation. The other albums are good, too, but these are the two I hold as being the best examples of their sound. You can also check out their Youtube channel and Vimeo page to watch videos and get a sense of what they sound like.
Showing posts with label Band Of The Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Band Of The Week. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Band Of The Week: Rust Belt Lights
I tend to enjoy more obscure bands. My friends make fun of me for it, but most mainstream music just isn't appealing to me. I don't go out of my way to find these bands, it just kinda happens. A song on a compilation, a mention in a newsfeed, randomly seeing a name that sounds interesting, whatever. These bands just find me.
The second Library Punk Band Of The Week is far from obscure. Alkaline Trio get radio play, they've had videos on MTV, they've made decent placements in music charts. But they're one of the exceptions. The other two, Red City Radio and Old Man Markley, are fairly obscure. I don't know anyone that has heard of them beyond me talking about them. And the fourth part of my ongoing series is the most obscure yet: Rust Belt Lights.
I heard about Rust Belt Lights through a post on Punknews about Let Me Run (another good yet obscure band) and thought their name was interesting (I didn't remember this offhand, I had to search the Punknews archive to figure out how I heard about them). I figured from their name that they must be from relatively near me as I live in the Rust Belt*. So I looked them up and found out that not only are they from the Rust Belt as the name implies, they're actually from Buffalo, NY, about an hour from where I live. So that was exciting and I decided to check them out, because I love how many bands are coming out of Buffalo lately.
Despite being the most obscure band I've covered so far, I was surprised to hear a friend/co-worker bring them up in conversation once. A friend of his was in a band with current members of Rust Belt Lights, so it's kinda cool to know I have a "friend of a friend" connection to a band I had already enjoyed.
RBL play a kind of melodic hardcore with pop edge. Very anthemic, very fun, but still fairly agressive. I've seen them compared to The Movielife, so I just went through my iTunes library for This Time Next Year and Forty Hour Train Back To Penn and the comparisons are valid. Similar sound, but updated about a decade.
I've had their Long Gone EP for a while, but I finally got around to checking out the full-length they released late last year, These Are The Good Old Days (on Paper + Plastick Records, quickly becoming one of my favorite labels). Very good, it probably would have made my "Best of 2010" list if I had listened to it earlier.
You can check out "It Ain't What It Used To Be" from Good Old Days here. They also have tracks on ThePunkSite's It's Like Bringing A Fork To A Gunfight and AMP Magazine's 35 Punks Songs Are Better Than 3 Feet Of Snow Any Day.
*Side note: I had always assumed it was called the Rust Belt because of our winters. Very cold and very snowy, and a lot of salt gets dumped on the roads to combat the ice, which leads to rusty cars. But according to Wikipedia, it's because of the area's involvement in the steel and automobile industries. Which I guess also makes sense. I like to learn something new every day.
The second Library Punk Band Of The Week is far from obscure. Alkaline Trio get radio play, they've had videos on MTV, they've made decent placements in music charts. But they're one of the exceptions. The other two, Red City Radio and Old Man Markley, are fairly obscure. I don't know anyone that has heard of them beyond me talking about them. And the fourth part of my ongoing series is the most obscure yet: Rust Belt Lights.
I heard about Rust Belt Lights through a post on Punknews about Let Me Run (another good yet obscure band) and thought their name was interesting (I didn't remember this offhand, I had to search the Punknews archive to figure out how I heard about them). I figured from their name that they must be from relatively near me as I live in the Rust Belt*. So I looked them up and found out that not only are they from the Rust Belt as the name implies, they're actually from Buffalo, NY, about an hour from where I live. So that was exciting and I decided to check them out, because I love how many bands are coming out of Buffalo lately.
Despite being the most obscure band I've covered so far, I was surprised to hear a friend/co-worker bring them up in conversation once. A friend of his was in a band with current members of Rust Belt Lights, so it's kinda cool to know I have a "friend of a friend" connection to a band I had already enjoyed.
RBL play a kind of melodic hardcore with pop edge. Very anthemic, very fun, but still fairly agressive. I've seen them compared to The Movielife, so I just went through my iTunes library for This Time Next Year and Forty Hour Train Back To Penn and the comparisons are valid. Similar sound, but updated about a decade.
I've had their Long Gone EP for a while, but I finally got around to checking out the full-length they released late last year, These Are The Good Old Days (on Paper + Plastick Records, quickly becoming one of my favorite labels). Very good, it probably would have made my "Best of 2010" list if I had listened to it earlier.
You can check out "It Ain't What It Used To Be" from Good Old Days here. They also have tracks on ThePunkSite's It's Like Bringing A Fork To A Gunfight and AMP Magazine's 35 Punks Songs Are Better Than 3 Feet Of Snow Any Day.
*Side note: I had always assumed it was called the Rust Belt because of our winters. Very cold and very snowy, and a lot of salt gets dumped on the roads to combat the ice, which leads to rusty cars. But according to Wikipedia, it's because of the area's involvement in the steel and automobile industries. Which I guess also makes sense. I like to learn something new every day.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Band Of The Week: Old Man Markley
The Library Punk's Band Of The Week for the week of January 31, 2001 is Old Man Markley.
With OLM's debut full-length, Guts n' Teeth, Fat Wreck Chords enters the folk punk realm (not counting Against Me!, who had dropped acoustic guitar by the time Fat Mike grabbed them, or the Celtcore of The Real McKenzies). Guts n' Teeth is a blast of punk-fueled bluegrass. The Fat Wreck website describes it as sounding like if Mike Ness (of Social Distortion) made a record with Old Crow Medicine Show. I love both of those artists, so I would have checked it out if I hadn't already heard them.
The band is made up of current and former members of Angel City Outcasts and Youth Brigade, so if you've heard either of those bands then you have an idea of the energy and commitment that is put into the music. But it's all played on bluegrass instrument, such as banjos, mandolins, washboards, fiddles and, according to Fat Wreck, a homemade washtub bass.
This is a great band, and I've listened to Guts n' Teeth several times since it came out two weeks ago. I recommend checking out their video from the album's first single, "For Better For Worse."
With OLM's debut full-length, Guts n' Teeth, Fat Wreck Chords enters the folk punk realm (not counting Against Me!, who had dropped acoustic guitar by the time Fat Mike grabbed them, or the Celtcore of The Real McKenzies). Guts n' Teeth is a blast of punk-fueled bluegrass. The Fat Wreck website describes it as sounding like if Mike Ness (of Social Distortion) made a record with Old Crow Medicine Show. I love both of those artists, so I would have checked it out if I hadn't already heard them.
The band is made up of current and former members of Angel City Outcasts and Youth Brigade, so if you've heard either of those bands then you have an idea of the energy and commitment that is put into the music. But it's all played on bluegrass instrument, such as banjos, mandolins, washboards, fiddles and, according to Fat Wreck, a homemade washtub bass.
This is a great band, and I've listened to Guts n' Teeth several times since it came out two weeks ago. I recommend checking out their video from the album's first single, "For Better For Worse."
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Band Of The Week: Alkaline Trio
This week's band of the week is Alkaline Trio. These guys have been around for a long time, but I'vefound myself listening to them a lot over the past few days.
I've always preferred middle-era Alkaline Trio. Specifically Good Mourning (which, when this blog first started, I listed as my personal all-time most important album) and From Here To Infirmary (they seem to have really liked puns back then). Crimson was alright, Agony & Irony was kind of a letdown and This Addiction is a decent return to form, but those middle years have always been my favorite. But for the past few days I've found myself going back further, to the days of the self-titled album and their debut full-length, Goddammit. There's a diriter, less-restrained feeling to that earlier work that's lacking in so much modern pop punk.
For those unfamiliar, from Goddammit to Good Mourning they had a very rough-edged pop punk sound, the best kind of pop punk there is. Very fun to listen to. Lot of dark lyrics about love, hate and death without being a mopey, depressing band. Lot of references to drinking and smoking too much (the latter especially from singer/guitarist Matt Skiba). With Crimson they kinda started polishing the songs a bit more and bringing in other instruments and a more experimental sound. By This Addiction they started going back to that earlier kinda vibe, but much more polished. Less dark too, but still fun.
I've always preferred middle-era Alkaline Trio. Specifically Good Mourning (which, when this blog first started, I listed as my personal all-time most important album) and From Here To Infirmary (they seem to have really liked puns back then). Crimson was alright, Agony & Irony was kind of a letdown and This Addiction is a decent return to form, but those middle years have always been my favorite. But for the past few days I've found myself going back further, to the days of the self-titled album and their debut full-length, Goddammit. There's a diriter, less-restrained feeling to that earlier work that's lacking in so much modern pop punk.
For those unfamiliar, from Goddammit to Good Mourning they had a very rough-edged pop punk sound, the best kind of pop punk there is. Very fun to listen to. Lot of dark lyrics about love, hate and death without being a mopey, depressing band. Lot of references to drinking and smoking too much (the latter especially from singer/guitarist Matt Skiba). With Crimson they kinda started polishing the songs a bit more and bringing in other instruments and a more experimental sound. By This Addiction they started going back to that earlier kinda vibe, but much more polished. Less dark too, but still fun.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Band Of The Week: Red City Radio
Meant to post this yesterday, but family obligations got in the way. I wanted to start a weekly feature that I'll be updating on Mondays (except for this week, when it's a Tuesday). I want to use what small influence I have through this blog to bring recognition to bands that other people may not have heard of. So every Monday, I'll be posting my Band Of The Week.
For the first installment of Band Of The Week, for the week of January 17, 2011, I have chose Red City Radio.
Red City Radio are a band from Oklahoma who play the sort of America-tinged post-hardcore punk I've been so fond of lately. Think Hot Water Music but rougher, with some obvious influence from fellow Oklahoman (is that the term for people from Oklahoma?) Woody Guthrie (and not just because of their EP, more on that in a bit). I've also seen them compared to Latterman a lot by other blogs and music sites. And the iTunes store's "People Who Bought Also Bought" section includes a lot of The Riot Before and The Menzingers, as well as some other bands that I'm checking out now and liking.
Not that much info about them yet, but as far as I can tell they've had 3 releases; Two EPs, Spinning In Circles Is A Gateway Drug (Paper + Plastick Records) and To The Sons And Daughters Of Woody Guthrie (listed on iTunes as The Independent Record Company), as well as a vinyl split with a band called The Great St Louis. Both EPs are great (haven't heard the split), but I would recommend Sons And Daughters to start with. They also have a full length, The Dangers Of Standing Still, coming out on Paper + Plastick in February, so expect a review of that when it comes out.
If you want to hear them, they're streaming a track from the upcoming album on their Punknews profile. They also have a video for "We Are The Sons Of Woody Guthrie," and that track is available for download from AMP Magazine's free digital compilation, 35 Punks Songs Are Way Better Than 3 Feet Of Snow Any Day.
Check them out, they're great.
And if Red City Radio happen to read this, please play a show in Fredonia, NY, or at least Buffalo, NY.
For the first installment of Band Of The Week, for the week of January 17, 2011, I have chose Red City Radio.
Red City Radio are a band from Oklahoma who play the sort of America-tinged post-hardcore punk I've been so fond of lately. Think Hot Water Music but rougher, with some obvious influence from fellow Oklahoman (is that the term for people from Oklahoma?) Woody Guthrie (and not just because of their EP, more on that in a bit). I've also seen them compared to Latterman a lot by other blogs and music sites. And the iTunes store's "People Who Bought Also Bought" section includes a lot of The Riot Before and The Menzingers, as well as some other bands that I'm checking out now and liking.
Not that much info about them yet, but as far as I can tell they've had 3 releases; Two EPs, Spinning In Circles Is A Gateway Drug (Paper + Plastick Records) and To The Sons And Daughters Of Woody Guthrie (listed on iTunes as The Independent Record Company), as well as a vinyl split with a band called The Great St Louis. Both EPs are great (haven't heard the split), but I would recommend Sons And Daughters to start with. They also have a full length, The Dangers Of Standing Still, coming out on Paper + Plastick in February, so expect a review of that when it comes out.
If you want to hear them, they're streaming a track from the upcoming album on their Punknews profile. They also have a video for "We Are The Sons Of Woody Guthrie," and that track is available for download from AMP Magazine's free digital compilation, 35 Punks Songs Are Way Better Than 3 Feet Of Snow Any Day.
Check them out, they're great.
And if Red City Radio happen to read this, please play a show in Fredonia, NY, or at least Buffalo, NY.
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