(Don't Forget To) breathe

First off Happy Thanksgiving! to those of you that live in the United Snakes. This compilation is one that I enjoy thoroughly. It is composed of music that i like from a time in my life that i did not know so much about music. It was a time when i was still learning all the realms of genres and what makes up these genre's sounds. This post is also in response to some talk that i have had with some people about today's state of music. Yes, that statement was vague, and yes, i feel that you should dive into some of these bands that are on this comp. to find out their true roots as well as the definitions of the music that they make. One could say that i am a snob, and that i take the fun out of music but that is not true, i love music and this is my way of keeping it straight in my own head. Do your research! Don't hate something that you don't understand, research and support your claims and support your local scene!
Most of these bands are second generation emotive bands, also on this comp. you will find a harder side to the genre. Check it out...

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Warship

I mean look at the cover art!!! I wrote this post a while ago and i am just getting around to posting it so here it goes..ohh and look at the cover art! i mean, i'm just saying...

Once The Draft had come out with their album In a Million Pieces, I remember reading an interview with Jason Black stating that there was going to be to be three types of critics of their new band. He stated the first was going to be the people who enjoyed his earlier claim to fame band Hot Water Music (he was in the Unitas as well) but did not like the direction that the former members of HWM had gone with The Draft. The second group of critics would be later followers of HWM that liked The Draft but still held them up to the same standard that HWM set. But, the third and the one that he wanted most was the critics that had not really heard of HWM and they discovered The Draft not through its ties with HWM.
If I understand his thoughts right then he wanted to be given a clean slate and his new band to be looked at as something different than the their old band. He wanted The Draft to be viewed with out the HWM blinders on. I feel that Warship is the same.
I have read several reviews of this album that still have the From Autumn to Ashes lens on. Now, granted some of them have come from Itunes and who knows what type of non-knowledgeable-non-good-music lover is going to write about their favorite band that decided to stop playing, and your still wanting to hear those same three chords that where worn out when they first started using them to write their radio chart hit songs. The sad thing is I have read some reviews from magazines that have done the same thing. I mean I understand that their readers don’t get music at all. But, you would hope at least the people who write the articles have some knowledge of what good music is. Ok, so on with my slant of the review. This article gave the cd 4 out of 5 stars so I thought that maybe I should check it out. Some of the reviews have said that Warship is a doom/sludge album. They have compared it to Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality (That’s a good start for an album to be called doom). So with all the convincing of the review that this album is doom it really had better be. I have yet to hear it so I am writing this cold.
I am pretty sure that no one will read this far down so I will get to the good stuff now that I have bored out all the leechers and now I am talking to the ones that really care about music and the things that make music happen. So, congratulations! for making it this far…here it goes.
I feel that Warship should not be compared to FATA, that is a separated entity altogether. They should be viewed as a different band altogether, and my reasoning for this is that they are another band. So stop with all the comparisons between the two bands and also the comparisons of Marks other project Biology (bet you didn’t know I do my homework too!) Suck it up! FATA is dead and move on with your life! And stop thinking that Emo is goth. When did those two genres become a synonym for each other?

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Lucero

This post is a follow up of the previous one. It will be short. Lucero is good! Ben Nichols is great!, check him out on the Revival tour. Support his solo career, buy his records. Go see him/them. Enjoy!
This is Lucero's That much further west and Tennessee albums.

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The Revival Tour

My friends i have not written in here for a while and i do apologize. I will try to make up for that with some good music that i have been enjoying for a while now. As you may know i am a big fan of Hot Water Music and anything that any member of HWM is affiliated with, well since their hiatus they, the members, have come out with some extraordinary music. One would think that with the split they would not be as good with their separate engagements, but i feel that the exact oposite has happened. It started with the Draft and then just blew up from there. Var from No Idea records decided to release Chuck's first 7 inches, through an exclusive pressing club, and from there we have had wonderful music from the whole gang. Chuck has been busy with his music and this is just one installment of it. I feel that you should check out anything that he has out but i particularly like this album with Austin Lucas and his other band mates. The song Hold My Bed on this album was demoed on Chuck's 7-inches, and i personally like that version better. It is recorded at the dive bar in the bathroom on i'm guessing a four track recorder. It was a rough forcast for where Chuck Ragan was going and i personally enjoy the direction that Chuck has gone with his music. He has the same passion that has driven him throughout the years. He is a humble man as well. He may not know but he talked to me before the Revival Tour show and he offered to shake my hand and he carried on a conversation with me. Of course like a fool i was on the wrong side of the building to go into the show. (and i realized this later, only because the line was wrapped around on the otherside of the venue, to be honest i had not been to that particular venue in a good two or three years and the last time i was there the entrance was on the side i was waiting at, alright back to the post).
As for The Revival Tour i highly recommend you going to see it. Hands down it is one of the best shows i have seen in a good couple of years. I think i like the format of the show the most. At most shows you have the opening band first and then the subsiding bands following. That was not the case here. First everyone that was going to preform that night was up there and they played a couple of songs all together. Then they separated and Austin played some songs alone while calling the help of different players throughout his set. Richmond's own Tim Barry played next and did the same, then Ben from Lucero, and then Chuck. Chuck actually played some old songs from his Rumbleseat days. It was good to see him play Rye Wiskey. Alright well i have rambled on enough about this so i will get to the link. Please buy this album and support good artist.

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PoHM

True friends are hard to come by in my life. I just don't need the casual relationships that most people have with others. I have them but i consider myself to be independent and as such i have a very small amount of close friends. I have no problems with this whatsoever. In fact, i rather like that. I am a quality not quantity type of person. This next band is made up of one of these close people that i consider to be in my small group of true friends. Now we may not always keep in contact with each other but we have a mutual respect for each other and the decisions that each of us have made. This person is Brian Thibodeau. He is a creative genius! If you want to see what i mean then take a look at his artwork that can be spotted all over Richmond. Also check out his blog that has his works and his thoughts on the things he feels are important to him in this messed up world. Brian has always inspired me to live my heart and never to follow. He is a self made man. He will see what he wants and he will work at it until he can obtain that. And that is a rare trait that i feel a lot of people lack.

I have chosen to post his music for my next posting because i feel that, just as with, all the other bands on my blog that he is not represented enough on the web.

PoHM stands for Prisoner of Her Majesty. This music is just one of his many creative outlets. I truly love the music for what it is. I have had these songs for many years and i still listen to them and fall in love with them each time i listen to them. I love them for their rawness and their look into the mind of this man. He has told me to say that PoHM is an ongoing project and that more music is on it's way. I have included the cover for his Debut album called Century of War. The album i have is the Disengaged EP. The track listing is as follows.

Disengaged EP
1. Choices that Show
2. Suburbanites
3. Sunday Drive
4. I want to be your painter/ a lullaby
5. Creepy Crawly
6. Get a new Car
7. Curses
8. Time Comes to Depart
I have also included a two song preview of Century of War.
So check it out and let me know what you think.

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Back to Donut

This is everything a compilation should be. I remember when i got this comp. it was the day after Halloween, and i traveled up to d.c. to see Sick of it all, A.F.I., Hot Water Music, and Indecision. That was a tremendously good show. It was at a club called Nations and when i left there was a rave going on the other side of the building. You should have seen the clashing of sub-cultures when the show was over.

This compilation was one of the leading albums that shaped my musical taste from that day forward. I have come to own most of the artist works on this album. The majority of the album's artist are on no idea records and if no idea was not their primary label no idea at least produced some of the artist's albums. So yeah check this out it is well worth your time.

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The Weakerthans

Today, we are going to go on a journey up to our friends in the north, Canada. Here is a group that i feel is not represented enough out there on the web. The band is The Weakerthans. For many years i thought that they where me and my friends little secret until i saw some girl who i knew did not really know anything about underground music wearing their t-shirt. I then found out that the Weakerthans had actually had some pretty good success.

I really like the first two weakerthan's cds. I like left and leaving more in the beginning then i got into fallow. check them out if you have not heard of them. John K. Samson's lyric's are amazing. Wikipedia says that, The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he left the punk band Propagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined forces with bassist John P. Sutton and drummer Jason Tait, and created The Weakerthans as a vehicle for a more melodic and introspective brand of songwriting than that of Propagandhi.

I have included the Propagandhi song that was also on Fallow. This will be with the Reconstruction site link. I did not have enough room to put it on the first two albums link. I also put in the Red Army Faction ep with hot water music, avail, and discount. check it out.


Left and leaving and Fallow minus anchorless

Reconstruction Site Red Army Faction