A day off 'cos of heat? Sure!

Due to the intense east coast heatwave and the fact that I work in a poorly ventilated warehouse with no AC, I was told I didn't have to come into work today. This means that I can put up another sweet post. Me posting on consecutive days? When did that happen last, what with my laziness and all?

Comadre - The Youth.
Blood Town Records

Isn't it strange that when a band stitches into its songs a patchwork of identifiable genre references and does it well we give them credit for paying homage to the innovators, but when they do it poorly they're called copycats? Well, I'm left stuck thinking about that because of The Youth. Comadre is a band of fine East Bay gentlemen who are doing the whole screamo hardcore thing at a time when the subgenre has grown out of its exuberant underground childhhood and into an uncomfortable mainstream adolescence. While it became trendy a couple years back for young guys to copycat this stuff to get girls and seemingly shirk any DIY obligations, most of the originators had long since moved on to more diverse and (surprise, surprise!) novel projects.

I'm pleased to report, then, that Comadre makes inspired, turn-of-the-millenium music and, for all I can tell, stick to their DIY guns wholeheartedly. Listening to these cats you get a near complete picture of where a band like Hot Cross could have progressed after their A New Set of Lungs EP (and if they had better drums and vocals. "It ain't bad rap, I just don't feel it. There I said it.") had they taken on some of the darkness and speed of pg99. It's great that an American band is able to capture this sound because most of the quality screamo material is coming from Europe right now (France in particular). Aside from the completely unnecessary cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" (When I saw them they covered The Refused's "Deadly Rhythm" and it got me so psyched. I'm glad it was that instead of "I Think We're..."), The Youth. gets everything pretty much dead on. It's a couple years late, but whatever, it's quality material from guys whose heads and hearts are in the right place.

This is the bands first full length from late 2004 and apparently their new release, Burn Your Bones is out now. I don't have that one, though, so I can't review it. Hopefully it's as good as this one.

Back inaction

So there's been a ton of stuff preventing me from posting this last week, but I'm starting to get back into the flow of things. Here's something good that's been on the burner for too long:

The Heuristic - Parapraxies
Black Box Recordings

Though I must say that the whole tech/math metal thing has overstayed its welcome with me, The Heuristic has put together an enjoyable album that is a novel take on the whole premise. There are actually scientists in the band, so their musical perspective is something that runs much deeper than any trend. Refreshingly intelligent and sincere with just the right proportion of humor, these guys possess what most of their contemporaries lack. I must commend the band for not engaging in pointless wankery just to impress the audience; the parts are well-thought and actually work to create shifting moods. The only band I can possibly think to compare them to are Colorado's The Great Redneck Hope, though The Heuristic possess a more varied repetoire. This is a short album, too, which by any normal standard would be an EP, but these nine songs leave me wanting more, which is always a positive in my book.

(An aside: At first I thought "There's No Square Root of -1 In Team" was just a silly title until it was pointed out to me that the square root of -1 is i. This lack of mathematical prowess probably helps to explain why I enjoy techy/mathy stuff as a sort of novelty, but don't engage in it much. So yeah, there are math references that lose me a bit, but I'm a sucker for their Civil War-related songs. Anyway, check these guys out, it's well worth it.)