ISMFOF’s sound – shall we call it Electronica-influenced Screamo-core?  Post-hardcore meets Club Pop?  I can’t classify it, so I love it. I won’t say how I got the cd, but I’m sure glad I stole it!

There are two main guys in the band, and a third guy drums for them when the drumming isn’t programmed.  They started with a cover of “Crank That” on MySpace, got over a million views, and ended up on Epitaph Records.  Fu<k yeah!

Acquire the music.  The CD is (I think) named for a t-shirt on t-shirthell dot com.  It’s called YOU CAN’T SPELL SLAUGHTER WITHOUT LAUGHTER.

Best songs = all of them.   Read the reviews in the History section on Wikipedia. Sorry for not posting in forever.  I make music myself and I’m in school and I work part-time.  Peacem Outskeez!

What a friggin’ talented group this is.  Straight from Australia, this metalcore band really knows how to rock.  Listen. Love. Word up.

  The Cinematic Orchestra combines jazz and electronica, and they do it so well that they can’t really be labeled.  They employ saxophone, piano, drums, guitar, and double bass, along with synth and turntablism, and are characterized by a soft, chillout-jazz sound.  Their music has appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and the TV series Friday Night Lights, and they have also played at the Director’s Guild Awards, performing when Kubrick won a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. 

More recently, and especially on their latest release, Ma Fleur, they have begun using vocals.  By clicking here, and listening to the track Channel 1 Suite, you can hear their more recent approach.  For a taste of old, more electronic TCO, play this video and listen to the song… there is no video, but this is what I could find. This song is called “Burn Out,” and it’s off their 2002 Release, Every Day.  Listen:

GG

  They’re labeled as prog-rock, but they’re more like psychadelic screamo, and they are unafraid to dabble in electronica… their first album has four musical acts, with interludes between all of them, and the interludes are all electronica.  Mainly though, they play highly technical, fast-paced prog-rock, utilizing two singers who can each both sing and scream.  The first time I heard TSOAF, I called my friend Matt so I could show it to him, and he likes them now.  He doesn’t like emo, and neither do I.  He doesn’t like metal, and I do, but the point is that TSOAF are maginificently creative, and very very very fun to listen to.  SO LISTEN!

Click here to play “Act II – All is Ash or the Light Shining Through it”

GG

  Rjyan Kidwell, otherwise known as Cex, is an experimental artist who incorporates IDM, glitch and trip-hop.  Please read more about him here, and then listen to the song “Not Trying” after you click here.  More recently, Cex has begun to experiment with his singing voice.  Check out this video for “Kill Me,” his latest track:

GG

  Another band hard to label, Gatsby’s American Dream mixes pop, punk and emo with post-hardcore and alternative, to create intelligent emo-core.  Their 2003 release “Ribbons and Sugar” is loosely based on Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” and the song I want you to listen to is the last track, “Counterfeit Language.”

Click here, and choose “Counterfeit Language” from the playlist!

If you like emo, or punk, or post-hardcore, or any type of “smart” rock, enjoy GAD!

Stay underground,

GG

  I thought since I mentioned Squarepusher in The Tuss’ blog, that I would post about Squarepusher himself today.  Real name Tom Jenkinson, Squarepusher is perhaps the best glitch / drum n’ bass artist ever to record.  His eclectic and highly technical work has been categorized as electronic jazz, drum n’ bass, glitch, experimental musique concrete, and even elctronic funk.  If I had to sum Squarepusher up in one word, I would have to take a course in etmyology and make one up.  I can however show you the video for his song “The Exploding Psychology.”

Listen intently, and hold on tight.  This gets extremely intense.

Stay underground,

GG

  Ratatat makes guitar-based electronica music, and consists of just two members, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, who met at Skidmore College, a school not far from the town I grew up in!  You don’t care, but it’s awesome!  Their music is loaded with emotion, and yet maintains a sense of care-free humor.  Stroud plays a creative guitar, and synth-player Mast adds a sleek sort of techno, all the while producing the music.

LISTEN TO THEIR MUSIC HERE… and please do!

Or watch the following video for their song “Seventeen Years”

  This is the best pop band I have heard since the early 90s.  Lead singer Max Bemis is a genius songwriter for today’s hyper music listener.  This song, “Alive with the Glory of Love,” is about lovers torn apart due to their being in a concentration camp.  Say Anything is a very creative band, and Bemis’ lyrics, always stark and intelligent, occasionally promote self-reflection, and the band does a good job of keeping the listener involved.  One of my top 20 favorite artsts… (And I listen to over 1,000)  Watch the video:

Stay underground,

GG

  Four classically-trained cellists that play heavy metal.  OK, that bears repeating…  FOUR CLASSICALY-TRAINED CELLISTS WHO PLAY HEAVY METAL!!!  They’re from Finland, they’ve covered Metallica, Pantera and Faith No More, and they’re simply amazing.  They’re Apocalyptica.  They have over 15 albums, with plenty of (awesome) original material, but their true ability lies in their covers…  I really hope you love Metallica as much as I do, because then you will see the sheer talent required for this:

Even if you don’t love Metallica, know that this is a Metallica song played on four cellos: one for vocals, one for bass, one for guitar and one for drums.  Enjoy!