Uzeda - Different Section Wires

Italian. Way Awesome. End review. Haha. Just kidding. 

I first started listening to this band back in the early 00’s. I couldn’t find anyone locally who listened to them or had even heard of them. And believe me I asked the people you’d think to ask (ex. Grant J.). I just wanted someone to talk about how awesome I thought they were. The band falls somewhere in between the genres of math rock, noise rock, post hardcore, maybe even post punk. Hard hitting drums. A more noodlely/riffy Shellac guitar sound. Solid pounding basslines. All the while with lyrics/poetry being shouted over in a discordant way. Its not really a surprise that Albini has recorded the majority of this bands releases. This is probably my favorite of their albums. If you like Shellac or Touch & Go, you need to hear this.

-matthew st. 

Download The Album Here

Buy it from a independent record store if you like it

Or you can get it online from Touch & Go's Website

(disclaimer: it has been brought to my attention that Touch & Go has a history of killing uploads of their albums. try to get this album before they kill the link.  if you find the link dead, report it to me. like i said above, if you like the album, support the band and the label and buy it!)

Castevet - I Know What A Lion Is EP

This is a band that is strange because I don't think they should work, but they do. Really well in fact. Chicago Indie rock in the vein of Cap'n Jazz, American Football, etc. BUT, with a singer that I've heard some people describe as a "beardo". What does that even mean? I have no clue. I should know. Should I know? Is this a new genre of music? haha. Honestly, and I don't want this to upset the band or people that like them, but the singer's singing sometimes reminds me of when Jimmy from Polar Bear Club screams. That's really all I have to relate it to with my limited musical knowledge. Just go from the bands they kind of sound like. If you like them, there's a good chance you will like Castevet. They've only been around for a few years. Expect, more great shit from them in the near future. They have a full length set to come out this summer. 

-matthew st.

Download The Album Here

If you like it, please support the band!

Castevet's Myspace Page

Hum - Downward Is Heavenward

My hot plate of the day today (haha) is one of my all time favorite albums by one of my all time favorite bands. Hum had a hit in the mid 90’s with the song “Stars” off of their 3rd album “You'd Prefer An Astronaut”. For a lot of people, I think that’s where it began and ended for them and their interest in the band sadly. Popular music is a cruel bitch mother. Its too bad for them. “Downward Is Heavenward” is a really great follow up. A lot of people, myself included, consider this Hum’s best album. Considering what it had to follow, its outrageous what they created and were able to accomplish. If you have any interest in 90’s alternative rock, you need to hear this album. Hum is one of the most underrated bands of the 90’s.

-matthew st. 

Download The Album Here

Buy it from a independent record store if you like it

BA-NA-NAs

BA-NA-NAs is a 3 piece instrumental math rock band from Somerville, Mass. I just heard this band recently. Which is surprising. Because Paul Joyce from Lynx plays bass in the band. And I've always tried to keep up to date on his projects. Anyhow, check them. Some of the stuff I've heard reminds me of the more melodic side of Lynx. For fans of instrumental mathy bands. 

-matthew st.

listen to songs @ BA-NA-NAs Myspace Page

this fellow has some live videos of them

Oh, Canada (Part 3): Rockets Red Glare

What a band! I don’t know why more people haven’t heard of them. 2/3 were in the popular Canadian math/emocore band Blake (who I will no doubt be writing about in this blog at some point). Rockets Red Glare played mathy post hardcore with elements of heavier post rock. Their rhythm section destroys my life. Dissonant/angular guitar parts with shouting over top. If I haven’t established it yet, this kind of music is sort of my thing. Haha. They’ve been compared to bands like Slint, Shellac and Mission Of Burma. But they’ve also been compared to Neurosis. So yes, they were quite the treat. I personally don’t think they sound like any of those bands, but I guess I always need a point of reference. Just listen and see what you think.

-matthew st.

7 inch

Self Titled

Moonlight Desires

All of this stuff is quite hard to find. 

Tailings

Syracuse, NY's newest indie super group. The guitarist from Com Veo. The drummer of Ladies & Everyone, One Hundred Metronomes and Know Nothing. And the drummer of Sever The Hands(Awake) and Monolith, but playing bass and singing this time around. All of that pedigree awesomeness aside, Tailings play a style unlike any of those bands. Heavy rhythm section joined with pretty, often arpeggiated, guitar lines. Lyrics are shouted in a way and with a urgency that reminds me of Sinaloa. For fans of the Touch & Go/Chicago style of indie music. Hopefully these young turks keep on keepin' on. Syracuse needs more good bands that aren't afraid to not be hardcore or "punx".

-matthew st.

Download Their Demo Here

Fugazi - Steady Diet Of Nothing

Here comes the surprise. This is my favorite Fugazi album. Yep, fuck all of you, I don’t care. Haha. Though "13 Songs" was the first album I owned by them, as I assume it was/is the first album most people have heard by them, this album has continually been my fave. I’m not going to get into what the band sounds like or “for fans of whatever.” It’s Fugazi. If you haven’t listened to them, there is something fucking wrong with you. Especially if you consider yourself to have any knowledge of underground or indie music. They have influenced a lot of the bands you probably listen to. And even some mainstream bands claim to have been influenced by them. I pretty much view them as one of the best examples, and pretty much the definition, of post hardcore music.

-matthew st.

Download The Album Here

Buy it from a independent record store if you like it

Or get it at the Dischord Records online store