R.I.P. Leonard

So While I was never really into the science fiction phenomena that was Star Trek it is saddening to hear that one of Hollywoods leading science fiction juggernauts has passed on and while this may seem odd to point out on here he did actually record music and I was always more fond of a lot of his vocal work for various animated projects and the Videogame Seman but all that aside let's take a minute to geek out for a day and respect a very respectable actor....

Sam Reviews an Album: "Our Own House," MisterWives

AH SHIT People MisterWives have a full length album out and I feel it to be my contractual obligation to give you guy’s a review so let’s quit bullshitting ya and get to telling you about this…

Some quick background for those who don’t know or haven’t read some of my concert reviews MisterWives are an alternative rock group from New York who have been spending the past year touring with various acts such as Bleachers, 21 Pilots, and American Authors and over the past year they’ve been gaining a lot of traction through their very jubilant and bright single Reflections which has gotten a hell of a lot of radio rotations here in the Kansas City area and even some national attention through some use in some random MTV show’s I don’t actually watch and with that about a year since forming and since the release of their first EP they’ve managed to release a studio album proper named after their first single from the album, “Our Own House,” which also serves as the first track of this album.

Of the previous EP of kind of bright but scattered poppy numbers almost all of them minus Twisted Tongue and Kings and Queens were included on this album and that kind of upsets me a tiny bit because Twisted Tongue was my favorite but that’s irrelevant because I figure Our Own House is a good replacement for that tune because it’s just as bright and poppy a number with a killer chorus in its own right and a complete lack of obscenities which probably helps them maintain this kind of radio friendly sound that is very apparent on this album which kind of screams a summer time album with its bright horn filled instrumentals and kind of clap along pace that many of the songs represent.

As I find myself giving this album a listen to review it I’m noticing a very heavy kind of Ska Influence in the tracks which is rather nice in most of these tracks but then you’ll eventually notice that a lot of these tracks also kind of sound the same because of that which isn’t really a terrible thing because the large amounts of bright kind of poppy chorus’ is this bands bread and butter and the fact that the majority of the tunes on it are those kind of songs gives this album a sound that kind of makes you want to go on a road trip or something with your windows down and this album blasting and not too much else.

Overall what I’m getting listening to this album is a pop group making a Ska record that will be on plenty of peoples list during those hot summer months whenever we’re all in need of real bangers and it really does make this collection of songs really solid at best it’s not the most amazing record of all time but it’s something that you can’t help but enjoy and have fun listening to because it’s a really good representation of their live show which is still bounds better than their studio outputs but even with that in mind as solidly good as this album is that means their live show is pretty freaking great.

7/10

Hits: Reflections, Our Own House, Hurricane, and Box around the Sun

Misses: Coffins, Queens

Song of the Day 2-24-15

So being in the KC area there's a load of shows getting all hyped up and ready to go on because you know this is the mecca of amazing band breaking show's people and I'm sure it'll leave me plenty of songs to cover for a couple of day's but you know there's times that while I should be covering all the sweet new stuff on it's way I can't help but finding odd pleasure in random songs and that's what happened today and yesterday because while alternative stations need to stay in the here and now or play the same recycled garbage they occasionally use their own liberties and bust out that old school punk that reminds you of why you love the genre sometimes and today I got to hear some mother fucking Bad Religion and that don't need to much discussion....

Placebo They're pretty cool...

So one of my favorite bands Placebo are getting ready to celebrate their 20th anniversary coming up and in turn they've decided to make their catalog available on Spotify which I find to be pretty damn cool so below I have a playlist of some of my favorite tunes by them so you guy's can also more easily get to know one of the 90's best underlooked acts...

Song of the Day 2/20/15

You know the cool thing about show's is that they give an artist a platform to test new music before they decide to release it but the same problem is sometimes you're left waiting for a proper studio recording and kind of have to deal with poor audio quality and questionable camera recording quality just to hear that song again and not have it feel nearly as awesome as it was when you saw it live because the energy just isn't there, but that's minor really because this song's still interesting.

The song in question is called Cry Baby and it's going to be on Melanie Martinez's studio album and it's a very kind of circus sounding bit of swirling madness that is only made even better by her repeated use of the word FUCK while spewing some truly kind of twisted lyrics I really can't wait for the studio version of this song because from the sounds of it that should be a million times better then her fairly underwhelming EP.

Sam's Message to Vance Joy...

So 96.5 the Buzz’s yearly prom themed show is coming up and this year’s headliner is Vance Joy and while that’s pretty damn sweet I had this idea that I need to convince people to start pushing to have him perform his cover of All my Life at this show because well…it’s fucking prom so to the world hashtag the shit outta this video and get him to put it into his prom set god damnit!

#playatpromvance

Song of the Day 2-18-15

What Kind of Man-Florence+The Machine

Florence and the Machine are back people and while I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not admittedly that much a fan of them they’ve seemed to of done a good job kind of taking things back a step and really cranking the rock up with this new single, “What Kind of Man,” which starts out in a very moody kind of boring fashion before deciding to say fuck it and kicking everything into gear with some really bitching guitar work that hasn’t been to strongly represented with their most recent singles and soundtrack contributions as of late, and for the first time since I don’t know when I actually find myself actually interested to see if she continues to channel her inner Siouxsie Sioux….

Song of the Day 2/17/15

So before I get into anything I’d like to make note that my Sam’s Song of the Day Facebook Page has just recently blown up thanks to some help from a pretty cool dude that I met at that VD show and would like to take 30 seconds to point out to his page here on this blog as a sign of appreciation…

Andy Riley Fan Page

Now all thanks aside it’s time for today’s selection which is something that came to mind because this past weekend the much anticipated 50 Shades of Grey movie came out and while I express absolutely no interest in ever seeing it, reading the books, or S&M it’s soundtracks pretty damn baller and while I’ve already covered the Weekends smooth ass contribution I also recently have been giving the Ellie Goulding contribution, “Love Me Like You Do,” a pretty decent listen and I have to admit it’s a pretty solidly good tune that’s grown on me more then I’d ever anticipate really.

It’s a very poppy synth heavy number with an infectiously catchy chorus that kind of draws you close to some semi softly sang verses that aren’t so explicitly dirty that the song doesn’t have appeal beyond the audience it’s book intends on appealing to which is a really good quality.