Mark's Music » Indie Rock

Say Anything – Say Anything

mark — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:07:21 +0000

By far their most mature, energetic, and pop sounding album yet, the self-titled release by Say Anything is an emo rock kick to the eardrum. The album is a much more consistent style, unlike their previous effort “In Defense of the Genre”, which frequently varied in style throughout the double album guest starring a plethora of talented musicians (including Chris Carrabbra, Hayley Williams, and Gerard Way, to name a few). “In Defense of the Genre” was more of a homage to a lot of other bands and genres that the band was into, as declared by frontman Max Bemis in numerous articles, whereas “Say Anything” is more of a showcase on what the band has built on their own. Despite being a more mature album, Bemis still continues to sing of young bohemian living, the error of pop culture thinking, while sprinkling the album with emo themes of love, hate and death. Bemis even finds time to hypocritically insult the Kings of Leon for “writing songs about girls while babies with guns are beheading their friends”. Barring Bemis’ somewhat erratic, confusing and bizarre lyrics at times, the aestetic nature of this album makes it definitely worth listening to. The majority of songs contained on this album are also overall very appealing to the ears, making for an easier listen than usual.

Songs To Listen To: Hate Everyone, Do Better, Eloise, Crush’d

Rating: 4 arbitrary points out of 5.

Metric – Fantasies

mark — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:27:51 +0000

Canadian indie rockers Metric release their fourth studio album, “Fantasies”, April 7th, 2009. Though the album sounds to be the most polished piece of work the band has produced, they remain loyal to their indie rock roots, keeping in tune with their original sound. “Fantasies” contains a repertoire of indie rock songs that typically describe Metric’s style on every album they produce:
1)new wave hook-filled singles such as “Help I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy”, synonymous to tunes like “Dead Disco” and “Monster Hospital”
2)slow droning filler like “Twilight Galaxy” much like the “Calculation Theme” and “Ending Start”
3)loud and absent feeling indie rock like “Stadium Love”, reminiscent of most of their other work.
To a fan of Metric or an Indie Rock lover in general, “Fantasies” is a great addition to their collection. To anyone else, Metric may always just be merely the singles they release on the radio.

Notable Songs: Help I’m Alive, Sick Muse, Gold Guns Girls
Rating: 3 arbitrary points out of 5

Silversun Pickups – Swoon

mark — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:34:31 +0000

After releasing their mega-indie anthem “Lazy Eye”, of their freshmen release “Carnavas”, on both Guitar Hero:world Tour, and Rock Band 2, indie rockers Silversun Pickups make a powerful and successful sophomore effort with the album “Swoon”. Released on April 15th, 2009, the album has many depths to it’s darkness. Vocalist/Guitarist Brian Aubert demonstrates quite a range of music and emotion with raw guitar playing over intermittently sung lyrics in a nasally voice and raging screams, while Nikki Monninger sets the mood with her thunderous efforts on the bass. Right from the in-your-face indie jam “There’s No Secrets This Year”, to the catchy first single “Panic Switch”, through quiet and steady paced songs like “Growing Old is Getting Old” and “Draining”, to just outright loud tunes like “Sort Of”, you are taken on a subpop indie journey that can only be described as a melded incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth. This album is a testament of how a band goes from opening small club venues of crowds no bigger than what can be counted on your hands to huge festivals such as Lollapalooza and Coachella.

Notable songs: There’s No Secrets This Year, Growing Old is Getting Old, Catch and Release
Rating: 4 arbitrary points out of 5