Lanny was a bastard.
7 years ago
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I hope I don't have much homework next week
...because my sleeping schedule has been absolutely DESTROYED by Spring Break.
Music Review
I'm going to start doing this once a week: I'll take a record I like, listen to it, then talk about it here.
Since it's almost one o'clock, I'm going to cheat on this first one and just talk about House of Heroes' three new songs that they so generously are offering for free before their new album comes out. Thanks to this little sample, I'm super excited for the full offering. It definitely carries the old HOH feel, especially in the guitar playing, but there are definitely some new progressions. Most obvious is in how Tim Skipper has taken almost complete control over vocals, a far cry from their debut, where he and A.J. Babock split almost 50/50 with drummer Colin Rigsby throwing in background stuff every once in a while. Now, the latter two are mostly used for background harmonizing. It's not bad, but I kind of liked A.J.'s voice in the forefront on some songs and kind of miss it. As for the music itself, it is much slicker, the bass is much less noticeable, and as a whole, it is catchy and enjoyable as ever. I'm pretty sure they added another guitarist/keyboardist recently, which has led to a much more full sound. It kind of reminds me of what Sullivan did between their two albums, except this is better. The song Sooner or Later is excellent, though a little predictable, with an impossibly catchy singalong chorus. I'm not a huge fan of the acoustic By Your Side, but it is by no means a bad song. Neither, though, holds a candle to the fascinating and fantastically misleading In The Valley of the Dying Son. This song is the entire reason I want to buy their new record when it comes out. There are surprises around every turn. From its initial driving bassline to the bouncy falsetto chorus to the little keyboard effects sprinkled throughout to its epic ending, this song is incredible. What's most incredible is that, despite its multiple changes and touches, the it manages to be enjoyable on the first listen. I don't know how they do it. Overall, this little set of songs has me shaking with excitement to buy The End is Not the End.
Since it's almost one o'clock, I'm going to cheat on this first one and just talk about House of Heroes' three new songs that they so generously are offering for free before their new album comes out. Thanks to this little sample, I'm super excited for the full offering. It definitely carries the old HOH feel, especially in the guitar playing, but there are definitely some new progressions. Most obvious is in how Tim Skipper has taken almost complete control over vocals, a far cry from their debut, where he and A.J. Babock split almost 50/50 with drummer Colin Rigsby throwing in background stuff every once in a while. Now, the latter two are mostly used for background harmonizing. It's not bad, but I kind of liked A.J.'s voice in the forefront on some songs and kind of miss it. As for the music itself, it is much slicker, the bass is much less noticeable, and as a whole, it is catchy and enjoyable as ever. I'm pretty sure they added another guitarist/keyboardist recently, which has led to a much more full sound. It kind of reminds me of what Sullivan did between their two albums, except this is better. The song Sooner or Later is excellent, though a little predictable, with an impossibly catchy singalong chorus. I'm not a huge fan of the acoustic By Your Side, but it is by no means a bad song. Neither, though, holds a candle to the fascinating and fantastically misleading In The Valley of the Dying Son. This song is the entire reason I want to buy their new record when it comes out. There are surprises around every turn. From its initial driving bassline to the bouncy falsetto chorus to the little keyboard effects sprinkled throughout to its epic ending, this song is incredible. What's most incredible is that, despite its multiple changes and touches, the it manages to be enjoyable on the first listen. I don't know how they do it. Overall, this little set of songs has me shaking with excitement to buy The End is Not the End.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
New Blog
So I finally jumped on this bandwagon! Or something. Cool.
I'll think of something interesting to put on here later. It's late and my brain is numb.
I'll think of something interesting to put on here later. It's late and my brain is numb.
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