Pegasuses-XL

Alright, Pegasuses-XL... These guys... Are... Uh...

OK, so this band is INSANELY difficult to describe, they're a super group consisting of Mark Dale of Disband, Jeff Tobias of We Vs. The Shark and Dark Meat, Joel Hatstat of Cinemechanica, and Jeff Rosenstock of Bomb The Music Industry! But their music is nothing like the music of their members other projects, It's sort of fast paced synth-hardcore inspiration taken from riff based 70s rock, Trans Am, and 80s post punk. Each of their EPs is like a journey into your own psyche in a way, because everyone can read something different into their music, I love the band, but i have to be listening to them at the time to describe what the hell it's like, its like an acid trip in a way, but sped up to about 15 minutes per EP, just comes and goes. I definitely recommend these guys if you like hardcore synthesized music or even post punk, even if you don't you might like them, an acquired taste, but if you do get into them, i will vouch that you will love them

The Midnight Aquarium On QuoteUnQuote

XL on QuoteUnQuote

Self titled on QuoteUnQuote

Full-Length Review #2: City of Glass by Love Ends Disaster!

If anything, I can commend this band for giving me a hard time to form a consistent opinion on them.

When I got first emailed their single I thought it was a good indie rock song, and nothing more. I expected the album to be yet another boring instance of a band whose success will come from comparisons to other band. See: pretty much every indie rock album review that mentions a band's influences (which is damn near all of them). So I wrote a review like that last night. My thesis was Love Ends Disaster! are a talented band that sound like a lot of other talented bands. I still stand by that, but I was more cynical about it in my original draft.

There are a ton of ideas on display here, and too many to list all of them. "Knight Takes Queen" has some electronics, "Pigtails" is a minute-long song more frantic than any Johnny Foreigner track, and closer "Knight Takes Queen" is an obvious take on Beach Boys harmonies and SMiLE-like sound effects. (There are two different tracks titled "Knight Takes Queen.") None of these ideas are new, though. You're sure to find something you'll like on this album. Too bad the rest of it doesn't follow that up. Love Ends Disaster! are the millionth band in an age of Pandora, Last.fm, and other personalized music recommendations hoping to get fans by listeners saying, "Hey, these guys are cool like (band)."

Myspace

Last.fm

City of Glass comes out July 26th.

Going to close on some conversation between me and PirateSquid about this:

[13:15] tom: so anyway I have mixed feelings about Love Ends Disaster!
[13:16] tom: Album really picks up in the second half, which totally caught me off guard while I was writing the review
[13:17] tom: I kinda think my positivity regarding them started when I first heard track nine and went "oh yes glockenspiel!"
[13:18] tom:http://www.myspace.com/loveendsdisaster
[13:19] tom: all four of these songs on the myspace are better than the first single
[13:19] tom: especially "Killer Bombs"
[13:23] Gabe Penisington: I can't really make an opinion
[13:23] Gabe Penisington: it's like, at first I was "Eh"
[13:23] Gabe Penisington: then they added a cool part
[13:24] tom: yeah that's how i felt first time
[13:24] Gabe Penisington: so I'm at a loss of opinion
[13:29] Gabe Penisington: To be honest, this music seems humid
[13:29] Gabe Penisington: I don't know what that means
[13:29] Gabe Penisington: but when I think of this music
[13:29] Gabe Penisington: I think of being sweaty and uncomfortable

[13:29] tom: the singer sounds like the guy from the world/inferno friendship society but british
[13:30] tom: I think how I feel about this band right now is how I felt about Los Campesinos! before I fell in love with them
[13:30] tom: moments of frantic brilliance and some creativity counterbalanced by meh midtempo sections
[13:31] tom: but eventually, Hold On Now Youngster became one of my favorite albums so if that's any indication of where this album is going I have to review it positively

The Cast of Cheers

From the same dude who sent me Alright the Captain comes The Cast of Cheers. And you should download this and pump it through your speakers and dance right now. It's angular, it's rhythmic, it sounds like Foals. These guys can play their instruments and their three-minute slices of delicious post-punk will make you move. To be honest, I didn't expect this to blow my mind but then the repeated YING-YING-YING-YING of "Goose" just felt sooooo right. I didn't even get upset about the fact that they describe themselves with the ridiculous-sounding (but surprisingly accurate) tag of "robot rock." Their debut album Chariot is available for free download on their bandcamp so you might not even feel guilty about enjoying this without money.

Myspace

Last.fm

Chariot

Black Eyes

These dudes are an experimental Post-Punk band that pulls their inspiration from all over the music spectrum. From Post-Hardcore, to Jazz, to even Noise Rock, this DC quintet is actually simply incredible. They're also known for their dual vocal system, not unlike the Blood Brothers. With one vocalist who has a high, screechy voice, and the other having a more yelly, masculine voice, and they pull it off amazingly. They have two full length albums. The first being their self-titled albums, which is amazingly good, with incredibly catchy songs like 'Deformative' and 'King's Dominion'; but then they found perfection when they released their second album, Cough, two months after their disbanding. It's a difficult listen at first, but when you ease into it, you see how incredible it is.

Last.fm

Myspace

Self-Titled

Cough

BATS

Alright, so this band is BATS, a Progressive Post-Hardcore band that sings about science and anti-theism. They have pretty cool releases, and in my opinion Red in Tooth & Claw is the album of 2009. They're awesome and one of my top Post-Hardcore bands.

Myspace
Buy It

Last.fm

Cruel Sea Scientist EP
Red in Tooth and Claw

SHADOW FUCKING from Digital Beast on Vimeo.