Oct 31 2008
For what it’s worth, Halloween, October 31st, is my maternal grandmother’s birthday. Born in 1921, she would be 87 years old today, and though she passed away in June 1993, there are very few days that go by where I don’t think of her and her impact upon my life.
Happy Birthday Grandma!
Oct 31 2008
In case any of my readers would be so inclined, here’s the information on this contest from the press release:
“The Texas Music Project and Stetson Rocks are releasing a limited-edition tee shirt to coincide with the end of the Stetson Rocks contest. The TMP+Stetson collaborative tee is printed on top of the line, baby-blanket soft material, and was created to help support music education in Texas. The entire effort is a hunt to find an up-and-coming Texas band (who is winning some sweet opening spots for major country acts this fall). The Top 20 is comprised of some pretty incredible acts going into final judging at the end of this week.
You can find the shirt here, and, if people get there quickly, they might be able to land a Texas Music Project compilation CD to sweeten the deal. Thanks so much helping to save the music!”
Oct 30 2008
Paper The Operator
Solemn Boyz EP
Viper Bite
I get it. I really do. The reason that the average music fan pays no attention to the opinions of most middling music critics is that those critics place innumerable and often impossible artistic hurdles in front of a band in order to deem them worthy of a favorable review. Thus, accessibility is very important for any young, up-and-coming band because, once their music is relegated to the artsy and pretentious stack, it’s difficult for them to gain any sort of larger popular acclaim. And while being loved by the masses doesn’t have to be the ultimate goal for a band, it doesn’t really hurt either.
So, forgive me when I don’t shower Paper The Operator and their Solemn Boyz EP with the highest praise, because it’s kinda not their fault. This Pennsylvania four-piece has put together six pop-punk-meets-emo-rock tracks brimming with youthful energy, great production, and insightful lyrics, but they haven’t brought anything really new and interesting to the table. While my mind’s eye captures a club full of young fans singing along with the band at the top of their lungs, it doesn’t mean that their music is all that special. Yes, it’s accessible; yes, it’s fun, upbeat, and catchy; and no, I’m not being a cranky critic, but my primary issue with this little record is that it’s attractive to a very narrow section of the music-listening demographic. The Solemn Boyz EP finds Paper The Operator creating appealing, but not very transcendent, ditties in the vein of Jimmy Eat World and like-minded acts, and though there’s nothing wrong with that, that accessibility could prove to be quite limiting.
Oct 29 2008
Scream Hello
Everything is Always Still Happening
Red Leader Records; 2008
Guest Contributor: Marc Brubaker
Once in a while, when one lives in suburbia, a band consisting of close friends comes along and dominates the local scene. Their shows are like parties, where everyone knows everyone, the venue is packed, and goodwill abounds. They are not only the band that everyone likes, for whatever reason, but also the band that everyone believes in with the confidence that they can “go somewhere.” Scream Hello comes across as this type of band: full of promise and potential.
For many bands of this nature, making that last leap from the small pond of home is the most difficult step in their existence. Plenty of talented bands have slipped through the cracks into the abyss of the forgotten, due to bad blood between bandmates, a lack of vision, or a poor sense of identity. Unfortunately, Scream Hello seems to be suffering from the latter.
With their latest album, Everything is Always Still Happening, Scream Hello puts their best foot forward, launching forth with a strong track full of pop-heavy riffs and vocals reminiscent of Waking Ashland. While James Caverly’s lyrics can be difficult to decipher in certain moments, he utilizes his vocal ability well to create some well-crafted pop songs built upon some great riffs and hooks.
As the album progresses, however, the disorganization that plagues Scream Hello becomes very apparent. After two fairly put together pop songs, the band throws in a curveball with the third track, “Business Ethics” – a bizarre, fifty second track that consists of thirty seconds of ripping hardcore riffs and vocals surrounded by a ragtime piano sample. The album then proceeds to flip back and forth between pop-laden rock songs with catchy riffs to slamming, hardcore songs full of gruffly screamed vocals.
A few of the better tracks suffer from being stretched out too far, filled with wasted moments of rambling progressions that don’t go anywhere and merely fill space. “We Don’t Exist” seems to be a manifestation of the whole album in one song – rambling, disorganized, and suffering from an identity crisis, but best in its short, focused, pop-rooted moments.
As the last chords fade off into oblivion, it is evident that Scream Hello certainly is at their best when they stay focused, capable of producing good, quality rock songs full of catchy guitar hooks and pop melodies. Hopefully they can realize this and not fret their time away making confused, chaotic albums. In the closing track, “20, 21” Caverly’s voice soars as he sings, “We all want an adventure with meaning / So go and get it, if you want it / It’s there, it’s there, it’s there!” His words echo in eerie premonition, because it is there – Scream Hello merely needs to go out and get it, if they want it.
Marc Brubaker is a graduate of Texas A&M University; he currently works as a photographer, curator, and barista extraordinaire who occasionally uses his Creative Writing degree. You can find his work at Click. Wind. Repeat. or find him behind the counter of Taft Street Coffee in Houston, TX.
Oct 28 2008
Weezer, Angels And Airwaves, and Tokyo Police Club
Reliant Arena
Houston, TX
October 23rd, 2008
I also interviewed Weezer earlier in the week before the show.
Admittedly, I was quite dubious entering the venue for this show. I’ve never been a fan of Weezer (much less anything that Tom DeLonge has been associated with), but I have heard that Mr. Cuomo and Company put on quite a spectacular live show and I was curious to see how they was going to pull of the “Hootenanny” aspect of the show about which I had heard so much. However, being the people-watcher that I am, I was quite excited to see the crowd sing the better-known tracks from the Weezer canon at the top of their lungs. Going to shows is the music geek version of living with a primitive tribal culture to conduct anthropological field studies, and in my case, my predictions were borne out to be true. There were well-dressed young adults (Prada and Coach bags at a rock show?) reliving a bit of their youth through music; dorky, Peter Pan-ish 30-something males whose musical tastes have never grown up; and gobs of young, can’t-drive-yet Weezer-loving adolescents toting around their sweater-wearing (irony alert!) parents. I would guess that any band who’s been around for fifteen-plus years with six full-length albums to their credit would attract such a demographically diverse crowd.
Continue reading “Weezer in Houston 10/23/2008″
