Archive for October, 2012

Yuck

Posted: October 28, 2012 in Uncategorized
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I got this album, Yuck, for my twelfth birthday, and I was rather impressed. The singles on the album are ‘The Wall’, the one I find most catchy, ‘Rubber, ‘Georgia’, ‘Holling Out’, ‘Get Away’, and ‘Shook Down’.

‘The Wall’ is the lazy song, the one that has no intro and is almost all chorus, the one that is literally four lines. The one that has a man yelling “Yeah!” for a lot of the song. The words are said as if they were someone behind a wall, or if you think about it in a deeper way, someone being protected by a wall.

What I love about the album is the range of sounds within it. It can be a risk, like Walk The Moon, I wrote about them, but I didn’t like it so much, but Yuck go from laid back four line songs to crazy guitar riffs and funky retro drums.

“Tryna make it through the wall
You can see me if you’re tall
Looking over                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    And I know that I’m in space”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glOfHOxdRCU

Yuck have obviously tried to make the album cover one that people would say “Yuck!” to. And, yes, they certainly have, but that is not where they deserve praise, as making someone react to an album cover to “Yuck!” is not very hard, they could have put a picture of an old man picking his nose. Where they deserve praise in the album cover is the fact that is still a piece of art to say “Yuck!” to, something that you can put on an album cover and not look like a fool for using it as your album cover, like, say, a man picking his nose. Well done for that, Yuck, well done.

I’d love any feedback, thanks, Ethan.

Green Day’s…’Disguised’ love songs?

Posted: October 26, 2012 in Punk rock/Metal
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While sitting in my room, in an over sized Nirvana t-shirt, I stopped and listened to the lyrics of one of the songs from Green Day’s newest album UNO!

A couple of songs really stuck with me, such as: ‘Stay The Night’, ‘Fell For You’, ‘Sweet 16’ and ‘Oh Love’. Partly because I’m a hopeless romantic and to me, Green Day are great at writing ‘disguised’ love songs, a talent that is also possessed by Coldplay . I say disguised because theses songs are definitely about love, but they’re not the straightforward ‘I love you’ songs…….if that makes sense. For example, in Green Day’s song ‘Sweet 16’ Billie Joe Armstrong (Who has an AWESOME name by the way) sings

“Stab at my heart like a dart board,

brown skinned girl that i dream about, a long long time now from the Midwest to the beach,

Old days are fine, but are left so far behind, From California to Jane Street,

Kids alright, alright as they’ll ever be,

‘Cause you will always be my, You will always be my sweet 16”

Throughout the song he talks about how although the times when they were young and free have passed, he still loves whoever he is singing about like a he’s sixteen again. He does not, however sing “I love you” at all. instead he uses other words that create an even more imaginative and powerful picture in your head. The message that is created in my imagination when I listen to that song is “No-one is too old to love someone with the same ecstasy they had when teen angst, acne and low self esteem were the worst concerns in life.”

What about you?

Let me know,

Roseby

Sleeping With Sirens

Posted: October 19, 2012 in Punk rock/Metal
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While discussing music with a friend, I mentioned the band ‘Sleeping With Sirens’  hoping to get some recognition. Later on in the day she told me she’d you-tubed them and really liked the lyrics, but the melody was too harsh for her. That got me thinking. They do have some pretty awesome lyrics, that should be praised and acknowledged.

I’m not trying to say that Sleeping With Sirens do not have enough praise, they have a fans all over the world. However, what my friend said stuck with me (hence the post).
While I’m listening to alternative, post hardcore, metal and punk…most of my acquaintances my age are listening to R&B, pop and dubstep. My question to you is, Does music have a personality?

Take Sleeping With Sirens for example, one of their songs ‘If You Can’t Hang’ has an exiting build-up, punchy bass and great guitar. The lyrics tell a story and Kellin Quinn’s voice has a unique pitch that reels you in and leaves you wanting more. From the moment he opens his mouth to sing, you instantly know what the song is about. ‘If You Can’t Hang’ is obviously about a relationship turned sour, and the dumpee is getting their own back. You can easily tell by the lyrics:

“I don’t wanna take up all you time,

’cause you’re such a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty face,

But you turned into a pretty big waste of my time”

I would say that the personality of that song is vengeful, angry and remorseful. To me, in certain ways, a piece of music is like a person. Unless it completley has no meaning at all, and the artist(s) does not have a story to tell; there is a hidden feeling in the music. Underneath all the anger in ‘If You Can’t Hang’, there is definately some sadness. Of course when someone leaves you, you become sad. Later, you get angry. Maybe that anger drove them to write the song. While they were writing it, the old sadness reemerged, creeping into the music.

Let me know what you think,

Roseby

Cheap Girls – Hey Hey I’m Worn Out.

Posted: October 16, 2012 in Indie Music
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This band were mentioned in this weeks’ NME magazine magazine by Gaslight Anthem front-man  Brian Fallon. In a a nutshell he described Ian Graham, the lead singer as having a unique voice. I think it’s something that the face of alternative music needs, the level of unique voices has died down over the last few years. It does remind me, Ian Graham’s voice, of Tom Smith, the lead singer of Editors in that it has a depth and hollowness. I felt this when I first listened to Jonathan Pierce, lead singer of The Drums’ voice.

The picture on the front of  the album cover Cheap Girls’ new album, Find Me A Drink Home, is slightly mesmerising in that you could wonder for a while as to what the picture is of. The aftermath of a party perhaps? Even after breaking up with your ex… I know when I was writing my last post in Walk The Moon I said that lyrics that don’t really seem to mean anything are very indie. And that is generally very true.  But not really as true in this band. This is because the lyrics don’t really mean very much to the listener, but we can tell that they do mean something to the writer of the song. An example is in this couple of lines

“The crash punks and I got credit cards,

And they don’t phase me when they’re living like suicide”

The other concept that I love in the band is that they are a two piece, a vocalist who also plays the guitar, the other member being a guitarist. Meaning that there isn’t a drummer- which is a unique twist, which I feel could be a new trend in big bands now. It means that the band is more subtle and soft, which suits Ian Graham’s voice. I do think that a loud powerful voice works better with a soft band, rather than crazy drums and hardcore guitar.

This is a post that I’d particularly appreciate feedback. What do you think of the lyrics? Do they mean anything to you? What do you think of the concept of a band without a drummer?

Ethan

Branding of the bands.

Posted: October 13, 2012 in Punk rock/Metal
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The moment I mention the bands Twin Atlantic and Biffy Clyro, the first response I get is, “Oh the Scottish bands, right?”

As a matter of fact, that is correct, both of the bands are from Scotland. It made me think that maybe all bands have a brand or unique selling point. For example, Def Leppard, the English rock band, are known as the band with the drummer that has only one arm. Or Slipknot will be known as the people who all wear slightly disturbing masks and bright orange overalls.

During the 2012 Reading & Leeds festival (if you haven’t heard of it…..I’m ashamed of you) Twin Atlantic held a sing along to one of their songs, and even though most of the people in the crowd were not actually Scottish, they sang the whole thing with a Scottish accent. Mainly because no-one would be able to imagine it being sung without a Scottish accent. That’s the beauty of the brand.

Let me know what you think, or if you have noticed any other ‘branded’ bands or singers.

Roseby

Salutations from a new blogger.

Posted: October 13, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Hi. My name’s Roseby. Roseby Franklin to be precise. I was recruited by the mastermind of this whole operation, Ethan Cohen (long time friend, short time blogging partner), to write about punk rock, pop rock, folk and some forms of metal.  My top seven (because five just wasn’t enough) favorite bands are: You me at six, My Chemical Romance, Sleeping with sirens, Of Monsters And Men, Bowling for soup, Good Charlotte, and last, but definitely never least, Muse.

I love songs that have lyrics that are meaningful and seem thought out. Unequivocally, I feel that Rock, indie, alternative and folk have more of a swing on writing meaningful lyrics. It’s one of the many reasons I love the genres so much.

But anyway, if you have any questions or comments you can always email me at roseby.f@live.co.uk.

Cheers!

Roseby

The news explained.

Posted: October 13, 2012 in Uncategorized
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We know we had you on the edge of your seats, biting your nails and desperately refreshing the page over and over, hoping we would put you at ease about all the up and coming things happening to this blog. Well, here it is. The moment you’ve all been waiting for……….the new name of the blog once known as ECSINDIEMUSICBLOG, is now going to be known as…….JUVENILE HEARING.

…

Okay, so it’s not that exciting.

We needed to let you know, so that when you next search for this blog, our old name wont be recognized and this is the name to search! We’ll give you lovelies a week to get the new name into your system, and then we’ll OFFICIALLY change it to Juvenile Hearing.

News from the far side.

Posted: October 12, 2012 in Uncategorized
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  1. It’s not just writing on Wednesdays. That’s too difficult. No fixed day. Once a week. Promise.
  2. There’s a new name coming.
  3. And big news.

my weird campaign

Posted: October 4, 2012 in Comedy, Indie Music
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Now, I might be thought of as crazy for what I am about to write.

Here’s the first. I was watching ‘MTV Rocks’ last night.

Here’s the second. I was actually shamefully enjoying ‘Twenty funniest rock videos of all time!’… I know, I know…..

Here’s the third. I have been ill with ‘Liam Lynch’ fever… WHATEVA’! I think by that word in capital letters you know what I’m talking about. *humming*… “I went down to the beach and saw Kiki She was, like, all “ehhhh” And I was, like, “whatever!”… Now I know that Liam Lynch isn’t sparkling new, but that’s my campaign: Get people to say “Whatever!” like Liam Lynch, i.e American, teenage, careless… etc. Or, do something like this…

My friend goes “have you never heard that song?!”, and I felt a bit ashamed, so at least no-one can say that to me any more.  “so, I got home at 3am this morning…”, he says, and I reply, “it’s three A.M. And I’m on the corner, wearing my leather, This dude comes up and he’s, like, “hey, punk!” I’m, like, “yeah, whatever!”  ”

I’d like to revive this old chunk of gold, for whatever reason that my fingers are writing this post. Or maybe it’s because I don’t want to see people in the coming years to think of One Direction as the ‘band of our generation’, but perhaps something with more novelty than whatever that other thing are.

But, please, do try it, because if one person does the Liam Lynch, then they can make five other people, and suddenly something that was popular in 2003 will become even more popular in 2012…

Thanks, Ethan.

Sorry for not writing last night…

Posted: October 4, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Sorry I didn’t post last night, there were last minute plans, and I’m feeling really guilty. I’ll be writing the best Blog post ever tonight, so look out. So I hope you forgive me.

Thanks, Ethan