Once in a while, some more then others, we pop out of bed with a song in our head that will not get out till you hear it.
Today it is this one.
2.24.2012
2.16.2012
Hypothermia and The Donnas
Mothers, don't let you little boys grow up to be cartographers. Especially ones that have to make trips to the field.
Bacterial infected ice cuts and hypothermia is for the birds. However the downtime is o.k. I rediscovered the Donnas
So, in conclusion Mothers, please let you daughters grow up to be rockers. We have enough hairdressers, diva's and cowgirls.
Gibsons, Girls and Marshalls. <3
2.08.2012
2.07.2012
A Tribute To Descendents - Either/Or Records
K, so, i don't know any of these bands that appear on this tribute (or the label for that matter) but, i do however, know who the Descendents are. One of the most amazing bands that have graced the last few decades. So you can't go wrong with a spruced up version of the record Homage: Descendants Tribute
Tributes tend to be a tough sell on fans (unless you are a Ramones fan then any tribute is awesome) but I think back to other VA tributes like the misifts tribute and leatherface tributes and the balance of Awesome and Suck tipped the scales in the Suck direction. I am in no way discrediting the artists on the tributes and their creativity, not at all, by suck i just mean some tunes didn't really do the songs justice. As fans we liked the original songs as they were, so to go mucking about with it and send a classic in to outer space might not be as exciting for the fans. Ok, here let me illustrate in an obtuse sort of way:
Exhibit A: The Horrible Crowes cover of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream = Good!!! It made the song palatable to people that loathe pop music or Katy or whatever reason. It just made it better.
Exhibit B: Miley Cyrus doing Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit = Bad. Took a rock classic and introduced that slutty Nashville twang to it. Just Wrong on so many levels.
Anyways, i know that's individual covers but a tribute is essentially a collection of covers, so these rules fit.
Because i said so. . .
Back to this record. I'll start with the bad.
I kinda figured there would be some screaming and hollering, as this seems to be the mark of a "great" band these days. There is, and I could have done with out it. Part of the Descendants appeal was Milo's voice. and yea, it's a tribute, i get that, I am not against it, It really worked on "M-16" in all honesty I enjoyed that. However, I could barely tolerate it on "Bikeage" It didn't do it justice but it didn't ruin it either, but the "Hope" cover.....
Failed to deliver.
It didn't work. Of all the songs to throw down some Polytonal screaming, that would be the one i would NOT have done. It didn't do anything for me on a classic like that. So, that was a bit of a disappointment. I'll put it to you like this, I have been to all ages shows and seen 13 year olds sing that song better. Just gonna throw that one out there. They should have got other bands to do Hope and Bikeage. Alas, C'est la Vie.
The highlights, in my own selfish opinion, was the 'silly girl' cover. The band did a terrific job freshened up a classic and kept it true to its roots. Being one of my top ten songs of all time anyways it could have been a mariachi band covering it and i would still think it was a good job. I am a hypocrite. Yes. I don't play by my own rules.
And of course the playful 8Bit cover of "Thank You" was awesome. I mean that takes integrity and i can't see how anyone could not want to listen to that on their drive to work.
None the less, I do give many many kudos to the label for the quality of the record. I went into it thinking it might be a lo-fi nightmarish 30 min sit through of shit as so often happens with these obscure tributes. But they did outdo them selves on the effort. 2 duds out of 15 is a pretty good score. Song selection was great. If it were up to me i would have requested a few other songs, but what was there, again was stellar.
All in all i give it 3.75 bombs out 5 and do recommend it to all Descendants fans to add to their collections.
Give it a test drive here and make your purchases accordingly. Directly from bandcamp to make things painfully easy for you.
Tributes tend to be a tough sell on fans (unless you are a Ramones fan then any tribute is awesome) but I think back to other VA tributes like the misifts tribute and leatherface tributes and the balance of Awesome and Suck tipped the scales in the Suck direction. I am in no way discrediting the artists on the tributes and their creativity, not at all, by suck i just mean some tunes didn't really do the songs justice. As fans we liked the original songs as they were, so to go mucking about with it and send a classic in to outer space might not be as exciting for the fans. Ok, here let me illustrate in an obtuse sort of way:
Exhibit A: The Horrible Crowes cover of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream = Good!!! It made the song palatable to people that loathe pop music or Katy or whatever reason. It just made it better.
Exhibit B: Miley Cyrus doing Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit = Bad. Took a rock classic and introduced that slutty Nashville twang to it. Just Wrong on so many levels.
Anyways, i know that's individual covers but a tribute is essentially a collection of covers, so these rules fit.
Because i said so. . .
Back to this record. I'll start with the bad.
I kinda figured there would be some screaming and hollering, as this seems to be the mark of a "great" band these days. There is, and I could have done with out it. Part of the Descendants appeal was Milo's voice. and yea, it's a tribute, i get that, I am not against it, It really worked on "M-16" in all honesty I enjoyed that. However, I could barely tolerate it on "Bikeage" It didn't do it justice but it didn't ruin it either, but the "Hope" cover.....
Failed to deliver.
It didn't work. Of all the songs to throw down some Polytonal screaming, that would be the one i would NOT have done. It didn't do anything for me on a classic like that. So, that was a bit of a disappointment. I'll put it to you like this, I have been to all ages shows and seen 13 year olds sing that song better. Just gonna throw that one out there. They should have got other bands to do Hope and Bikeage. Alas, C'est la Vie.
The highlights, in my own selfish opinion, was the 'silly girl' cover. The band did a terrific job freshened up a classic and kept it true to its roots. Being one of my top ten songs of all time anyways it could have been a mariachi band covering it and i would still think it was a good job. I am a hypocrite. Yes. I don't play by my own rules.
And of course the playful 8Bit cover of "Thank You" was awesome. I mean that takes integrity and i can't see how anyone could not want to listen to that on their drive to work.
None the less, I do give many many kudos to the label for the quality of the record. I went into it thinking it might be a lo-fi nightmarish 30 min sit through of shit as so often happens with these obscure tributes. But they did outdo them selves on the effort. 2 duds out of 15 is a pretty good score. Song selection was great. If it were up to me i would have requested a few other songs, but what was there, again was stellar.
All in all i give it 3.75 bombs out 5 and do recommend it to all Descendants fans to add to their collections.
Give it a test drive here and make your purchases accordingly. Directly from bandcamp to make things painfully easy for you.
2.06.2012
Wowsers!!!!
Is that all I have to do to get my page view counts up? Throw some music in here?
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