Built on a Weak Spot

Joie De Vivre is back in what is almost exactly a year later with their debut full-length album The North End, once again through Count Your Lucky Stars. I was pretty into what they were doing on their EP Summer Months back in April of last year, by touching upon a lot of the great qualities that inhabited plenty of mid-nineties midwesterny emo bands. While originally intrigued by the band, I was most definitely a bit hesitant to hear them at the time. It’s just the day and age we live in, thus when your band is described as such it causes more skepticism than it probably should. That’s all behind me now though, as I clearly (and quickly) realized that Joie De Vivre were busy growing up on all the best bands you could possibly pick out of that mess during the decade and have managed to channel it quite nicely here in 2010.

The North End sounds significantly more polished than their EP, and without a doubt it sounds fuller thanks to the addition of a trumpet and organ. Both or which are used pretty sparingly throughout the album, but are certainly noticeable in maximizing the bands sound and reach. The vocals have taken a step up here too. While they are still the obviously strained cry that you’d expect from this type of music, they sound a bit smoother than they did on Summer Months where at times it maybe felt they were reaching a bit too much to really drive the point home. All the slight additions and the band having a bit more time to smooth out some of the rougher edges has paid pretty great dividends on The North End and it no doubt clears a path for them to put out many more fine releases in the future.

Joie De Vivre – Salt [MP3]

If you’re interested in picking up The North End or even their previous EP, then just hit up Count Your Lucky Stars where it’s available on CD or LP. Enjoy!

I was asked earlier last week if I wanted to be part of this currently running blog tour for the new album from Philadelphia’s Everyone Everywhere. I’d never heard the band before the invitation was extended to me, but after a listen to some samples I was more than convinced that I needed to be part of it. So, unlike what I am guessing will be the majority of blogs on here (maybe not, who knows?) I have not had the pleasure of hearing their debut 7-inch A Lot of Weird People Standing Around, which judging by the response that it received last year; it wowed quite a few people. So with that said, I am glad to be part of this and being able to present everyone out there following this tour with the third track “From the Beginning to the Tail” from the bands stellar debut Self-Titled LP. The album will be released on vinyl through Tiny Engines on May 4th, however you are more than welcome to pre-order it now! Those who cannot wait or just don’t have a need for a big piece of wax consuming space in your house can currently purchase it through iTunes.

The track I am posting is one of my favorites from the album. For those enjoy mid to late 90’s emo/indie-rock, then this may very well brighten your day. And I mean that too as this isn’t the “get you down in the dumps” type of sad bastardy stuff you might be thinking of. The upbeat nature of this album is one of it’s shining qualities actually and is quite infectious, however I feel like this track in particular (which is instrumental by the way) has a bit of a Mineral or Penfold type of quality to it that sort of goes against what I am saying. But believe me, this is rather poppy stuff that also contains a bit of mathy guitar work thrown in too. So please do check it out below!

Everyone Everywhere – From the Beginning to the Tail [MP3]

Tomorrow you’ll have the pleasure of hearing another one of my favorites “Tiny Town” being posted on the Dryvetyme Online blog. For those just joining us, here is the rundown/schedule of when and where the tracks are being posted for the tour:

Side A

01. Tiny Planet @ The Ripple Effect – Monday (04/19)
02. Raw Bar OBX 2002 @ Can You See The Sunset? – Tuesday (04/20)
03. From The Beginning To The Tail @ Built On A Weak Spot – Wednesday (04/21)
04. Tiny Town @ Dryvetyme Onlyne – Thursday (04/22)
05. Tiny Boat @ Battle Of The Midwestern Housewives – Friday (04/23)

Side B

06. Music Work Paper Work @ Deckfight – Monday (04/26)
07. Blown Up Grown Up @ The Album Project – Tuesday (04/27)
08. Fld Ovr @ Familiarize Yourself – Wednesday (04/28)
09. I Feel Fine by Everyone Everywhere @ Reviewsic – Thursday (04/29)
10. Obama House, Fukui Prefecture @ Clicky Clicky Music – Friday (04/30)

This tour will be taking place all the way up until the release of the album on May 4th. At that point all of the songs will be taken down, so be sure to follow along if you want the entire album. Despite that though, everyone will still have a chance to hear it as Punknews will be streaming it in it’s entirety from that point.

I was a bit less productive this week than I had planned. More snow here in KCMO, a rather long week of work, and the Royals continue to sign shitty worthless players like Scott Podsednik and Jason Kendall. Enough of that though, you’re not here to listen to me whine.

Got this split cassette awhile back, featuring two bands from the east coast in Michael Jordan (Brooklyn, NY) and Rainbow Party (Allentown, PA). Not hearing either of these prior to this release, I was initially intrigued by some samples I’d heard of Michael Jordan and led me to pick this up I’d say on start up tape label Nervous Attack. Michael Jordan contributes three songs to their side of the tape, and all have a satisfying unhinged emo/hardcore sort of sound and feel to them that I find myself liking more and more upon each listen. They have another cassette out as well, which I am beginning to think I should hear.

I kind of don’t know what to make of Rainbow Party. They make for a bit of an odd pairing here with their minimalist indie/post-punk that doesn’t take itself too seriously it would appear. I mean they do have a CD called Butt Jamz after all. Rainbow Party has four songs on their side, three of which are from a radio session live set. I suppose this isn’t my cup of tea, but if you’re looking for something a bit fun then you could probably do a whole lot worse.

Michael Jordan – I Don’t Want to Write This Song (stream)
Rainbow Party – F.P.S. (stream)

This is still available it appears through Nervous Attack, so if you’re enjoying it then definitely throw down the five dollars for it.

Perfect Future have an unfortunate name when it comes to entering it on Google trying to find information about them. You either get a ton of results for Autolux or you just get a bunch of people blabbering on about their own “perfect future” when telling it to search for those words as entered. The latter is actually quite fitting when getting down to what Perfect Future are trying to convey on their debut that presents an all too realistic view of life after you grow up a bit and enter the real world. For all of those results I end up seeing when searching for this band, you really do hope that their plans do work out, however for many you just know it won’t and this album captures the sort of letdown and compromise that comes with that rather well I’d say.

The music itself is a mix of the older Midwestern styled mathy sort of emo that popped up in the 90’s, although the band currently resides in Maryland. One interesting thing I noticed on the press release was that they cited the late and great Boston act Kolya, which was sort of nice as you don’t see their name enough in my opinion. Better yet though is that it’s fitting for the sort of vibe that Perfect Future are dealing in here and that’s certainly a good thing. Perfect Future seems to be a bit less technical, however incorporate a few interesting and random acoustic sounds into their songs that give it a bit of different spin. It’s definitely enjoyable if you’re into this sort of thing.

Perfect Future – In Hopes [MP3]

The bands self-titled debut is a joint release between Count Your Lucky Stars and Strictly No Capital Letters in the UK. So depending on your locale, check out either of those to pick up the record if you like what you hear.

This is a fine little seven song 12” EP that I’ve been sitting on for awhile from the Polish group Setting the Woods on Fire, which also serves as the bands debut in fact. When it was passed along to me originally I think I was kind of prepared to hear some sort of high tempo retread screamo nonsense, but was met with something a whole lot better. Setting the Woods on Fire kind of tiptoe around the area of early to mid-nineties emo, but this carries a bit heavier post-grunge feel to it than what I think you’d typically hear with something like this. With that I mean the guitars sound plentiful without them really being so, while still creating these big loud ringing sheets of distortion from time to time giving the impression that they might have more than few amps or so around them. It’s the sort of slowed down meaty influenced rock that kind of dominated the previous decade, but without some of the cheesier aspects that occasionally came with it. Solid stuff throughout from this outfit, look forward to hearing more. In the meantime do check out a tune from the bands self-titled EP below out now on Promise! Promise!.

Setting the Woods on Fire – It Ends Today [MP3]

For those interested in picking the album up it appears to be available currently only through strictly no capital letters in the UK. I think they have or had plans to get this available in the US. It is available digitally through the usual suspects Emusic, Amazon, etc. if anyone prefers to go that route or seek as an alternative.

Coincidentally Castevet was recommended to me awhile back, before Summer Fences was even out and appeared in my mailbox a week or so ago. I think at the time they just had a small demo floating around titled I Know What a Lion Is, which for the most part sat well with me while at the same time reminding me of various past Midwestern emo acts that spanned the early to mid nineties. No need to name them, you all pretty much know. The bands debut is being handled by Count Your Lucky Stars which from the looks of it are doing their damnedest to breathe as much life into the genre as they can. I’d say at this point they’ve done a fairly nice job in their choosing of titles for release. However Castevet, when it’s all said and done, could very well be their wisest one.

I am always a bit weary when I see bands attempting to mine the musical landscape of the Midwest during that time. It’s kind of a sentimental thing, but at the same time I’ve heard so many bands that suffer from incredible boredom because of it. Being mopey/nostalgic and playing in that Kinsella-esque twinkly guitar style doesn’t just always work right out of the box. Castevet have obviously studied long and hard before laying down the initial sounds that would become Summer Fences and have managed to blend in other areas of the genre as well. The gruff beard punk flavored vocals for example caught me off guard when I first listened to the band, but really work well while offsetting the cleaner sounding aspects of the band production wise adding a bit of authenticity that I think a lot bands of this style seem to lack. There really isn’t much else that needs to said, if you’re reading you know what this may sound like and know if you’ll like it or not. If it’s your thing, definitely check out the tune below. I highly suggest it.

Castevet – Plays One On TV [MP3]

For those interested in picking up Summer Fences, then just head on over to Count Your Lucky Stars. It’s also available digitally for anyone that cares to go that route. Enjoy!

It looks as if Rapid Cities is almost set to release their debut album Machinery Saints, as they have a record release show planned for the end of May from what I can tell. Even so, the album should be out sometime this spring through Look Again Media. With that being the case, it seems like as good of time as any to post a little bit about the band/record.

The band is based out of New Brunswick, New Jersey and has released a 3-song demo prior to their upcoming album thus far. Rapid Cities are another band making good in the post-hardcore/emo terrain and it’s definitely nice to hear more and more of this coming out these days. While the band seems to be more or less drawing from the early 90’s DC era, there are definitely hints here and there to west coast acts like DLJ, Tanner, etc mixing in a nice mathy sort of flavor to coincide with the records number of strong melodies within. As good as Machinery Saints is, I actually think the album gets better as it progresses with the band taking hold and showcasing much more musicianship than one would maybe expect from a band of their nature. It’s definitely impressive. Anyway, check out a track from the album below.

Rapid Cities – In My Mind [MP3]

Keep checking in at the bands MySpace or at Look Again Media for updates on the records release. Or if you’re in the area of New Brunswick, hit up the bands record release show on the 30th of May.

After reading a small blurb on this band/album over at Sound as Language my interest was somewhat peaked. Anything that considers itself firmly rooted in the strong run of mid-nineties emo will probably always get a listen or two around these parts, so hearing this album certainly became a priority. After getting a chance to sit down and do just that I will say that it certainly wasn’t being misleading in the least. Joie de Vivre has a passion and that passion is emo and what it used to be. More notably the slow meandering type that graced such rosters as Caulfield and Crank! during that period. Think Mineral, Boys Life, etc. This is pretty much where Joie de Vivre are operating on their recently released EP Summer Months and they are doing it pretty damn well if you ask me.

These days I am sure the term “emo” probably makes many people cringe or even worse sets them off into an uncontrollable rage. Trust me, I can certainly understand why. However, if there were more bands like Joie de Vivre to carry the torch from when the genre was more about passion and pure expression, then well…the same people that hated it then would certainly hate it…but those of us out there that couldn’t get enough of this type of music in the 90’s will gladly welcome Joie de Vivre with open arms. Give them a listen if you will.

Joie de Vivre – That’s the Hot Part [MP3]

For those interested in picking up Summer Months then it can be purchased through their MySpace or at Count Your Lucky Stars Records. Enjoy!

Aside from a very limited demo tape, this was the first release from KC’s Proudentall. Although released probably when most Midwestern emo acts were ending their runs, this 7-inch in particular fit right along with the sort of sound that Boys Life and Giants Chair pretty much perfected during the mid-nineties. Proudentall would later release an album in 2000 titled What’s Happening Here, which is worth checking out although by that point they had sort of moved away from the raw stuttering rhythms they presented here on this 7-inch. Anyway, here is the Snowed Skyline single for everyone’s listening pleasure (I hope).

Proudentall – Snowed Skyline [MP3]
Proudentall – Island [MP3]

Their album is still very much available through Amazon both used and new. So give it a go if you like the tunes above. Enjoy!

This is a short but nice 7-inch compilation put out by Caulfield Records in 1993. I think most of the tracks would later appear on other releases, although possibly re-recorded. Really the only reason I digitized this in the first place was to have a decent version of the Sideshow track that is contained on it because it’s pretty good and as far as I know it doesn’t make an appearance anywhere else, or at least on anything that I have by them.

Sideshow – Consume [MP3]
Germbox – Seed [MP3]
Mercy Rule – Summer [MP3]
Molly McGuire – On a Frog’s Fog [MP3]

For anyone that wants to check out any other releases by the artists featured here or anything else on the fantastic Caulfield roster over the years, then there are still plenty of copies both used and new of releases available on Amazon. Also, a good portion of the labels catalog is online digitally through Emusic and the like. So pick something up if you’re enjoying what you hear. Be back tomorrow.