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The Old Boys Club would hate Sorority Noise

Felipe — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 21:43:27 +0000

Given the antics we are barraged with on TV and Facebook, it seems I can’t have any sort of discussion nowadays without it getting politicized. So when I was mulling over sending out this email about the new Sorority Noise album (which is hella tight!), the first thing I asked myself was, “Who’d hate sorority noise?” I didn’t necessarily mean the band Sorority Noise – although they’d hate them too – but like, those words and their word associations, like, sororities, women, noise, and fun? Well, the first thing that came to mind was old white conservative GOP-dudes in Congress who seem to hate women and want to control every aspect of them and their bodies, that’s who. Those dudes definitely don’t like good tunes, women OR noise – I mean, they went after NWA in the 90’s and Eminem in the 00’s – so it’s safe to assume they wouldn’t like the combo of women on their own, in their own house, not needing men around, and making “noise.” That would be, I presume, terribly vexing to them. “Just how could them gals be havin’ fun without us or our permission!? That just ain’t natural I tell ya!”

Anyways, this new Sorority Noise album is killer, even though there are no female members in the band (wait what? but then why all the talk about women? that’s just misleading Feli) (womp, womp). The Hartford, CT foursome got started in 2013, put out some lo-fi-ish indie/emo tunes that were pretty great. Then they buckled down, and put together this excellent 2017 release “You’re Not As ____ As You Think.” It’s fast, dark, and broody, and rips through quickly enough you don’t get bogged down by all their “feelings.” It came out last Friday, and ever since Joe Ciolli made me listen, it’s been at the top of the list, even above WSTR right now… I know, I can’t believe it either. Here are the first two tracks, hoping it tickles your fancy (“tickling fancy” sounds like something our esteemed POTUS has admitted experience in – especially given that fancy was a euphemism for fanny in old British English, a vulgar expression for female genitals.)

FeliSays Sorority’s Noise is the best Noise

Get Lost in the Pinegrove

Felipe — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 13:49:28 +0000

Some folks are labeling the Montclair, NJ (mostly) 8-piece band, Pinegrove, as alt-country. I don’t think that’s terribly fair, but then again, labeling things is hard to do well. We as Americans love to label (#LTL). It’s one of our favorite past times. Dr. Remen at UCSF states that “labeling sets up an expectation of life that is often so compelling we can no longer see things as they really are“ and “a label is an attempt to assert control and manage uncertainty.” Hmmm… so we label things to exert control, and so we don’t have to “think” anymore. Verrrrry interesting Doctor. Very interesting indeed. So if I told you that Pinegrove’s great debut LP is alt-country, you’d probably go in to with some sort of expected parameters that would be different that if I told you it was midwestern-indie-emo, or folksy, or introspective art-rock. Maybe we should just stop labeling people/music/religions and let people experience things for themselves and make up their own minds (but then how will I #hashtag!? ugh…). Most things in life are more complex than one or two labels. Then again, these links of amazing label faux pas makes them fun again (here & here). Back to Pinegrove, their new album is really good and really chill. It’s good for work, for home, for walking. But that’s just my opinion. Think what you like.

“[Labeling] may allow us the security and comfort of a mental closure and encourage us not to think about things again. But life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure.” #labels #amirite? #pleaseagree

Feli Listens to this

Makeshift Shelters: only if you enjoy living

Felipe — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 13:30:27 +0000

If my time with Bear Grills has taught me anything, it’s that you can create Makeshift Shelters out of anything. You can hollow out a tree trunk (if you’ve got the time and the tools), you can weave those long stringy leaves together like a quilt with sticks and make a roof (if you know how to weave), you can hunt down some large game, cut them open and sleep inside their skin for warmth on a dark and cold night (if you can stand the stench), you can take a bunch of palm fronds and slap ’em together so the rain and wind doesn’t get you (climate & weather provided), you can dig a coffin sized trench in the snow (about 5 ft down), then cut in to the snow laterally and sleep in there (protection & warmth!), or you can do like Bear Grills and just sleep in hotels. (Bet you didn’t know I was such an outdoorsy guy and what not given my amazing manicure, huh?). Well these Makeshift Shelters are less earthy, but just as warm as the snow coffin. The D.C. foursome released their first full-length album, Something So Personal, last year to some heavy praise from folks like The World Is A Beautiful Place. They’ve been compared to Candy Hearts and even MCS and TBS, but to me it’s their slower cuts that bring it all together. Their second track “(This Song is Definitely Not About A Boy)” is really fun and catchy and spiteful (gotta love spiteful lyrics “i was pretty young and i was pretty dumb// because somehow you convinced me you were great”), and “Lighter fluid” are real highlights, although the whole album is pretty chill. The slower last 3 tracks “Overflowing” and “I’ll Be The One That Comes Around” and “Darkest Nights” really do it for me (ok, maybe I like the whole album :-/). Probably because the title “Darkest Nights” fits in to my earlier Bear Grills motif. And there’s nothing I like more than bringing it all together. RIP Steve Irwin.

Feli Says check it out on SPOTIFY

Moose Blood: drink it in

Felipe — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 15:56:25 +0000

Just got back from vacay, and what was waiting to ease me back in to the work week?, nothing but the long awaited album release from Canterbury four piece, and heavily FSL mentioned, Moose Blood. I saw them a few weeks ago at a tiny club (killer live, def go see them and grab some sweet merch) and they affirmed their status as a complete band in my book [you need to (1) sound good recorded (obv), but (2) be equally as good or better, live – sadly that is not always the case… cough cough Can’t Swim…smh]. 2016 has been ramping up to be the year of Moose Blood, so let’s get a few things clear. Their name: they knew they wanted an animal in their name and were just “mucking about at work trying to say as many silly names really” and MB just stuck. Well all that mucking about paid off, cuz they aren’t gonna be playing tiny clubs anymore. All I could think about while they were on stage, with 400 people screaming every word back at them, was that if they “pop up” just a tad, you’ll be seeing them everywhere. Hopefully they don’t go pop, though they won’t need to to get big.

Part of me hopes they don’t. There’s that bitter sweetness to seeing your small band become everyone’s band when they make it, especially when you see all the people you pride yourself on being a music snob over start to flood your shows and “ruin” that special band. But there’s a bit of a catch 22: you want them to be successful, of course, but then you as a fan lose that intimacy you share in a tiny underground club (see Fall Out Boy). You want them to make a living, so they can keep doing what they love (and more honestly, to selfishly provide you with more tunes you love), but there’s that part of you where you kinda don’t want them to be too successful; then maybe they’d retain that shard of what made you like them so much to begin with. And then you feel like a real sh*thead (or should at least) for wishing for that. Then you come to the conclusion you’re happy they go big (and then can tirelessly remind everyone you knew of them first – see Sum41), and just pray all the spinners and Dom and sing alongs with Wiz Khalifa don’t “change” them.

Moose Blood sold out their headlining US tour (even had to upgrade to larger venues in certain places do to such high demand), and are already selling out UK shows months in advance. Upset Magazine’s interview with them earlier this summer titled the article “MB’s second album will send them stratospheric.” Fans were already earmarking their new album, Blush, for a nod at best album of the genre before it even came out. I’ll say it’s prettttttyyy prettttyyy good. Idk about AOTY just yet… Tracks 8 and 9 slow it down a lot, and they coulda taken a few more risks with their hooks, but beyond that it’s real tight. It’ll be on repeat for a while.

Little Brother has feelings too

Felipe — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 19:14:26 +0000

In honor of whichever makes you more upset, the RNC or the Cavs winning the championship – tough call there – (hey, at least the NBA doesn’t call themselves “world” champions, like the NFL or MLB, who for some reason, don’t include the rest of the world in their competition :-/ I’m gonna petition my rec soccer league to crown us some meaningless title too. No, we didn’t “win” it technically, but if the KC Royals & Denver Broncos can be World Champs, then my third place indoor over 30 rec league might as well get a title too, right?), comes a song called, you guessed it, “Cleveland, OH” from a band called Little Brother. And in keeping with their name, they sound like they got beat up a lot growing up. LB is an acoustic emo project from the Newcastle, Australia lead singer of the band Trophy Eyes and are signed to Hopeless Records (man are they emo!). So I guess the lesson here is, picking on your younger siblings (besides deserving it) is a way to strengthen their character. And when they succeed, it’s approximately 40% because of your “tough love.”Just ask my sister. She’ll vouch.

Feli Says middle child is obvi the best

reminiscing the death of Mixtapes in Grayscale

Felipe — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 19:17:19 +0000

Throwback Thursdays… A great way to remind everyone that although you may be sitting in your cubicle at your horrible job, bossman yelling at you over the useless tasks that will never be used, you’re eating the horrible salad you made at home that morning in the dark because no one can afford Sweetgreen, and you haven’t shaved in days (legs or face) because, well, why? what do I have to look forward to?; you ARE indeed FUN and COOL and #blessed and hey!, why not remind everyone online that I took that vacation that one time! Kk let’s scroll through the 800 pics I took that weekend two Februaries ago…. change the filter… aaaand POST! Fewf… for a minute there the internet may have forgotten about me!! #I’mHereToo. So that we don’t forget anything ever again, we can reminisce on loves lost through a band taken from us too early: Mixtapes. The Cincinnati foursome (2009-2014) did some good things with guy/girl vocals, and she even became “Pink Intruder” for the esteemed Masked Intruder. Aiding our throwing back to memories of yesteryear is Grayscale (and dope Philly band & thankfully still around), with a much needed covering of a Barenaked Ladies track (they might as well be broken up, let’s be real, it was all downhill after “One Week”) looking back at his old apartment.

“Why did they change the locks? Why did I have to break in? I only came here to talk.“

Feli Says go Grayscale

Elway will NOT play the Super Bowl

Felipe — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 16:42:47 +0000

As a way to honor their Colorado roots, the humble foursome named their band “Elway” – a word so commonly used in the everyday vernacular of the Rockies. So you can imagine their shock, when the band that [at the time] “routinely plays in front of about 30 people in a basement” received a letter from Mr. John Elway himself’s legal representatives telling them to go ahead and change their name – chop chop let’s go! Flattered, lead singer Tim Brown thanked the two-time Super Bowl champ for all the publicity, but would be keeping the name, especially since “we’re just guys living in a van, driving across the country, playing shows with next to nobody in the audience,” but insisted he’d give Johnny-boy a raise if this PR helped them at all. Elway’s new album “Better Whenever” is real solid, lots of positive reviews, and is solid Midwestern-style rock. They accompany a lot of other dope Midwest bands on Red Scare Records (great name, btw): the Menzingers, Masked Intruder, Direct Hit!, the Copyrights.

(If ur looking 4 REALLY good Midwestern emo-rock, go str8 to Peoria, IL (now retired) The Forecast. They’re in my Top 5.)

Did Peyton use HGH? Feli Says who cares

State Champs: Around the World and Back LP

Felipe — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 22:49:23 +0000

Albany boys, State Champs, are super f-ing fun. The 5-some have been kicking a$$ for a few years now, and are back at with their third(ish) full length, “Around the World and Back.” The latest album grows up from their formative years – to be expected though, right? As you grow up you write less about murdering ex-girlfriends and silly tween sh*t (a la A Day To Remember, and they’re totally crushing right now) – but haters always gonna hate. It’s still a great time, and their live show is getting more and more raucous, especially, because as mentioned, they are “super f-ing fun.” Saw them back to back nights when they passed through NYC a couple weeks ago, a stark difference from last year when they were converting arms-crossed-head-nodders in to crowd surfing fire starters. Now it’s REAL rowdy and lively. Sadly we don’t live in Australia/Japan/UK when they tour with Neck Deep…. ugh

Feli Says Listen to these choice tracks!

Trying to Track Kurt Thomas Travis

Felipe — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 20:43:07 +0000

Kurt Thomas Travis (KTT to some – not to be confused with **heartthrob** JTT, who btw, stepped away from the limelight and went back to school! Good for him) is a Sacramento vocalist who has played with a whole slew of bands. After getting kicked out of Dance Gavin Dance so they could re-hire their original vocalist whom they had also kicked out… (weird. But I guess they like the wild spontaneity of Johnny Craig the whacky ginger. I didn’t know they could sing so well!), he hooked up with some Cali bands and decided to flex his solo muscles. Enter his 2014 album “Everything Is Beautiful” – a nice weird mix of sounds, but splendid album art a-la Where The Wild Things Are (although a bit phallic – or is that just me..? :-/).

Feli Says Listen, but you probly won’t.

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

Felipe — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:06:29 +0000

So I’ve been listening to lots of new music this week and truthfully, I’m a bit exhausted. I’ve been researching my magazines, reading sites, talking to friends (mostly my concert boyfriend – Joe Ciolli). Then I listened to an album that came out last week by a nine-piece band that’s always fluxing members depending on what they’re trying to accomplish. It’s wonderful. For real though. Really REALLY good. Seldom these days do you find an actually creative sound (you can tell I’m serious cuz I haven’t made any wisecracks yet). A sound that keeps changing and you guessing. Where you don’t even know which song you’re on because it’s just a ride you’ve gotta enjoy. A car ride with no destination, a “fuck it, let’s just drive.” A “clear eyes fulls hearts” journey. It’s not the radio friendly, done a thousand times album, with verse-hook-chorus-verse-hook-chorus-bridge-chorus songs, but an album meant to be listened to all the way through. Actually listened to. Think like, the polar opposite of a Katy Perry album.

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die have a serious title shot for Album of the Year in whatever genre some jerks decide to put them in (but don’t think about genres, just listen – Feli Said So). Harmlessness is complex, and smart. These cats tried really hard. Here are some quotes from Music Reviewers since I know you cake-eaters don’t believe me:

“It’s a powerful, human thing — the first masterpiece in the career of a band who hopefully have a few more of those under their belt. Maybe there will be objectively “better” records that come out this year, but there will be none that I love more.” – James Rettig; Stereogum

“The emo revival ends here because its flagship band made the best indie rock record of 2015, period.” – Ian Cohen; Vice

“Harmlessness is the gold standard for all of 2015 […] What matters is this: Harmlessness is a perfect record and it’s the best one we’ll hear in 2015 and nothing will come close. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die have created their magnum opus and the most transcendent and challenging piece of music to emerge from modern rock in a long, long time.” – Drew Beringer; Absolutepunk

“Their Epitaph debut may have been met with trepidation in some quarters, but it absolutely obliterates expectations: a masterpiece of emotional dexterity and musical precision, and an absolute must-hear.” – Gareth O’Malley; TrebelZine

Ok, enough seriousness. Back to jokes. Feli – Out.