My albums of 2010

Mouthwash

Well gee, is this one of those rare occasions where this ska music blog is being infiltrated by -Gasp- SKA MUSIC?!

Yes sir it is, Mouthwash are a ska punk band from West Norwood in London consisting of some soccer players and some people who really didn't have anything else to do. I saw these guys supporting Streetlight Manifesto at the Islington academy and they were fucking epic, fast, frantic ska punk with Wiley and Dizzie Rascal esque grime influence and a strong air of London pedigree. I'd recommend this band to anyone really, they seem really hard to dislike to me, ska fans, punk fans, rap fans, metal fans, I think anyone can enjoy this band I really do. Check 'em out.

Last.fm
1000 Dreams
True Stories

Review: Crywank "James Is Going To Die Soon"

Ok, so a while back, the foreman of this site, Bugger, posted about a guy called James who went by the name of Crywank. I downloaded his demos for his album "James is Going to Die Soon" and I fucking loved it, this guy is awesome, i'm his top listener on last.fm and honoured to be so.

All that said, the actual album "James is Going to Die Soon" doesn't do it for me as much as the demos did. There are a few changes to the songs themselves that I didn't like too much, particularly on my favourite song by the guy "Zains, Cam4, Wah-Wah and Sirens". The lyrics are slightly different, which is okay, but the thing that I dislike is just that his voice seems to have less depth on the album, it's less emotional, less passionate. When he shouted his lyrics on the demos it came across as shouting because of his emotions his feelings, on the album, it seems like more of a "Okay I'll shout here because there's a shout here", it's a good album, it just doesnt match the passion of the demos. I still enjoy listening to it, and there are some new songs on the album that are pretty cool, but if it comes at the cost of the song Blur, which i fucking love, I'd rather have blur, I also wonder why "Harvey Milk Shit on The Table", wasn't re-recorded like the others. I like it, but id rather have the demos any day.

The Album

Curt Smith's "Perfectly Still"

Little late on this one since I haven't been around. Tears for Fears' frontman Curt Smith put out a new single with airy vocal harmonies that remind me of dream pop. Check it out here: http://sw14group.com/curtsmith/ps/

Username: listento

Password: Perfectly Still

Mixtapes

Mixtapes have this sort of rapid fire indie-pop-punk thing going on with male/female harmonies and it makes me happier than anything to come out this year. Oh, and both of their releases are up for free download on Death to False Hope Records. The Thought About Growing Up EP is only seven minutes long and it's free and it's perfect and you have no reason not to listen to it.

Myspace

Last.fm

Maps

Thought About Growing Up

Daly's Gone Wrong

Two posts in a day! Ska on a ska blog! Return to former glory? Possibly!

Daly's Gone Wrong are an amalgam of some of the trendy things to do in punk and metalcore these days. They do they pop punk/metalcore verse/chorus switch and they have the humorous bursts of other genres except here they're mostly ska. There's even a straight acoustic love song. It's incredibly catchy through its six songs, with shout-along repetitions and and clean singing/screaming juxtaposition. I think they do it better than anyone else. Recommended if you like The Flaming Tsunamis, A Billion Ernies, or Folly.

Myspace

Last.fm

Exit Where You Belong

Sleigh Bells

I know I'm super late on the internet hype machine for this one but this album is still awesome to me. Sleigh Bells are the two people to the left, and the dude is from metalcore band Poison the Well. Except it's not metalcore at all. Sleigh Bells play this incredibly loud, noisy version of dance-able electro, with airy female vocals that would sound more at home in a dream pop band. Sort of like how my favorite album from last year, Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors, succeeded because it was a strange blend of such disparate influences into a singular, consistent sound. Download Treats and then begin to dance. It's good for your soul. Recommended if you like Death From Above 1979, M.I.A., or The Go! Team.

Myspace

Last.fm

Treats

Abzinq

A while ago my in-real-life pal Griffin finally decided to put together an "album" of a bunch of his miscellaneous recordings and uploaded it to Demonoid. Most of it is pretty silly and light-hearted. Sometimes they're acoustic singer-songwriter bits and others are electronic instrumentals and some are just him fucking around. Of course I'm biased because he's my bestest buddy. But yeah it's pretty good for sixteen-year-old-kid-in-his-bedroom-core. That's a thing now.

Myspace

Last.fm

George Clooney Takes a Bath