Listen To This #6

Written by Craig Will (puffkix) Saturday, 20 August 2011 05:00

Listen To This I have a subscription to eMusic, which means that I pay $20 a month and get 3 to 5 full CDs depending on the artists. This setup isn't for everyone but it works well for me because $20 a month on music is worth it and if it means I get more than 2 CDs for that much money I'm super pumped. eMusic also tends to have lesser known, less popular and eccentric sounding bands for cheaper than the mainstream artists, which is perfect for what I like to listen to. This is all a lead up to the fact that the artists in today's Listen To This are my purchases from last month. Get your headphones ready.

Asking Alexandria - Stand up and Scream - 2009

Mixing pop vocals and hardcore metal riffs have become en vogue for screamo hardcore bands over the past couple years and Asking Alexandria follows suit but also mixes things up by throwing in some techno/electronica (yes, I know they're different) beats into the fray. If there was a dance club that catered to the more metal among us, this is the band they'd play often. The diversity in sound also means there is an appeal to a larger and also diverse audience.
Listen to These: Hey There Mr. Brooks, If You Can't Ride Two Horses At Once... You Should Get Out Of The Circus, I Was Once, Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps A Cowboy King
Goes down well with: Bring Me The Horizon, Attack Attack!, Abandon All Ships

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary - 2005

Catchy, smart, and odd are all valid descriptors for this Montreal indie pop group. The vocalists play with their vocal inflections and pitch in such a way that you can't help but listen. The track order is also perfect in that there are often times two or three tracks fly by but it's all fit together so well it seems like just one long amazing track.
Listen to These: You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son - Grounds For Divorce - Fancy Claps
Goes Down Well With: Modest Mouse - Arcade Fire - Animal Collective

The Matches - the Matches album 4, unreleased; graphics? title? or not needed? - 2009

The Matches easily fall into that eccentric category I so love. They are also one of the most original bands in their scene in the past 15 years. This last entry (from 2009, their contract with Epitaph expired and they are pursuing different projects) harkens back to their earlier albums while retaining a lot of the fresher sounds they picked up on their previous CD.
Listen to These: It's My Day - Wicked Walk - Nothing's Going On
Goes Down Well With: Zebrahead - Ludo - Say Anything

I Am The Messenger - The War Between - 2011

I have a bit of a soft spot for these guys. Vocally, lyrically, and structurally they remind me a lot what I do when creating music so I see myself in their sound. But they're way better, moving seamlessly from deep growls to high screams to rough vocals to spoken word; it's everything I ever dream of doing musically. Track 2 also leads perfectly into Track 3 (Later Facebook) and it gives me shivers every time.
Listen to These: I Thought You Were Going to Mediate - Bipolar Bear - They're Stealin' Our Moves
Goes Down Well With: Scarlett O'Hara - Escape The Fate - The Devil Wears Prada