Cross Section: Brand New and Crime In Stereo

For Long Island, no music scene was more fruitful than that which emerged in the late 90s and early 2000s. Bands like Bayside, Glassjaw and Taking Back Sunday found much - if a little undeserved - success a realm that, for whatever reason, reached past high school. Then there was the massive success that was Brand New. Ask nearly anyone who was in high school between 2002 and 2009, and they can easily list off their favorite Brand New cuts. Brand New’s success is no surprise. They started off with an above average pop-punk album and continually challenged themselves with each release in an effort to evolve. There was also the presence of Jesse Lacey, an oft frustrating front man who had a very contentious relationship with his fans. This relationship, I think, made the fans that much more rabid. While Lacey was known to be unwilling to give them an inch, his fans would go exponential lengths for him in an effort to gain attention. Mixed with the fertile soil that was the Long Island scene, it would have been more surprising if Brand New wasn’t a smash hit.

Residing in a hardcore corner unbeknownst to most whose introduction to Long Island was Your Favorite Weapon was melodic-hardcore band Crime In Stereo. Crime In Stereo was started by Alex Dunne; he was a member of post-hardcore band The Rookie Lot, in which Jesse Lacey played as well. Dunne chose to go the more aggressive route and Crime In Stereo quickly became a much adored Long Island Hardcore band. Brand New and Crime In Stereo’s career trajectory have many similarities. They both released four albums, one of each were genre-defying. They both challenged themselves continuously throughout their careers. They were both stalwarts of the mid 2000s punk scenes, in their respective scenes of course. So, two years after Crime In Stereo’s break-up and three years after Brand New’s final full-length release (by their own accord) which career holds up better to scrutiny? Let’s compare.

Freshman Album: Finding Sturdy Ground

Your Favorite Weapon: Released in October, 2001 this album is often cited as a crucial release, although upon relistening to it, I’m unsure why. The album starts off strong enough with “The Shower Scene,” a by the numbers angsty pop-punk song that, at least, is not embarrassing to listen to. From there, though…things get dicey. We have “Jude Law and A Semester Abroad,” a song that’s lyrically mysoginistic where victim blaming and violent images of women dying in plane crashes abound. “Mixtape” name drops the Smiths like (500) Days of Summer, but it’s somehow more annoying. “Last Chance to Lose Your Keys” is about masturbating but isn’t tongue in cheek? Curious. The only song I can really give kudos to is “70x7,” but even that is only because of the anecdotal evidence that Jesse Lacey absolutely hates that song. And if anyone ever says “Soco Amaretto Lime” is a good song but doesn’t mention the shit production, I’ll punch them in the dick.  So, generously, I’ll say “this album has not aged well at all.”

Explosives and The Will To Use Them: Similarly, Crime In Stereo’s first album is also their weakest, but not nearly as strikingly as Brand New. Explosives lives up to its name as  the album immediately kicks into gear with a gang shout “We’re all going to hell!” and then barrels through the next 12 songs in a blistering 28 minutes.  This album, while it slows down occasionally, never has an acoustic break (thank Christ) and packs a punch right up until “Arson At 563,” which demonstrates CIS’s knack for knowing exactly how to close an album. Here, you can even notice the staggering difference in lyrical content. Brand New obviously is hungup on ex-girlfriends and very contentious towards everything. Even though I’d assume that Crime In Stereo is the angrier of the two, Crime In Stereo’s lyrics exude a kind of waywardness towards their “trainwreck of a life.” They comment on more societal issues (“No Gold Stars for Nationalism”) where Brand New resigns to bitching about high school. This is a good album, but our own Kyle Murphy put it best when he called Explosives a “very good b-sides” record in the kitchen of the party that time we became friends.

Sophomore Record: Defining Genres

The Troubled Stateside: Like Brand New, Crime In Stereo’s sophomore release is easily their most revered amongst fans old and new. This defines Long Island melodic hardcore. Easily accessible yet unstoppably aggressive The Troubled Stateside takes stabs at everything from center to far-right republicans, lazy kids living off their parents money, and most importantly, the state of their own lives as a post-grad. The shotgun blast that is “Everything Changes Nothing Is Truly Lost” calls out faux-art students hiding from loan collectors. “Sudan” comments on the mundanity of suburban life, but somehow manages to remain captivating and relevant. That’s a lot harder to do that it sounds; there are few things more banal than the frustration of suburbia. Then, there’s the closing trifecta. “Dark Island City,” the pseudo instrumental into “For Exes,” arguably the best song they ever wrote, and then the grand finale “I, Stateside.” This album kills it, and many would argue that this album was when Crime In Stereo peaked. I wouldn’t disagree.

Deja Entendu: Let’s just get this out of the way: Deja Entendu is light-years better than Your Favorite Weapon in every way, shape, and form. It’s structured better, paced better, and sounds better. Similarly to The Troubled Stateside, it starts off with a short introduction track that sets the tone for the rest of the album. The tone is wholly different from that of Your Favorite Weapon; instead of angsty, the band comes off as resentful. But of whom? No longer of the girls that left Lacey masturbating on a Saturday night, but Brand New’s own fanbase. A friend of mine posited recently that Lacey has always been equally resentful of his fanbase and resentful of himself. By and large, Lacey’s music taste has always seemed more aimed towards indie rock, but here he is stuck making music for kids who listen to New Found Glory. His love of the Smiths, Modest Mouse, and Built to Spill is well known and you can spot the influence. However, his lyrics always seemed more directed than Morrisey’s devil-may-care English self-commiserating. Where Issac Brock’s song writing style is defined by his interpolation of American colloqiualisms, Lacey’s attempt at playing with idioms seems clumsy and he lacks the metrical sensibility (and guitar chops) of Doug Marsch. So, it’s no wonder that Lacey comes off as resentful in songs like “I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t.” But, where the previous angst stunted the song writing, it only helps the effort here. I also have to applaud Lacey’s use of challenging images here.  Perhaps one of the most complex allegories, the band constructs an uncomfortable five minutes describing a date rape from the point of view of the rapist: the events parallel a band being preyed on by a label. We’re also treated to the violent images of soldiers getting their throats slit in “Good To Know If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die.” Awful song title but great song. Unfortunately, once again Brand New falls short of Crime In Stereo in closing the album. Acoustic closers may do it for every one else, but I am partial to the idea of putting “Play Crack the Sky” before “Good To Know…” Like The Troubled Stateside, many people decree this as Brand New’s strongest effort. This time though, I think nostalgia is crippling people’s judgement.

Junior Record: Long Island Burns

The Devil And God Are Raging Inside of Me: Ah, the third record: always apt for a comeback from the sophomore slump, yes, but what happens when you’re second album didn’t flop? You experiment. Following a three-year break and nine leaked songs, Brand new finally released The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me in November 2006. The album was decidedly a departure from previous material. It was louder. More abrasive. More sinister. Often uncomfortable. Lacey and co. had moved into a time when their friends began to die and they began to grow even more resentful of their fanbase; evidenced as their playing of “Degausser” twice in a row at Bamboozle 2007. However, The Devil and God channeled all of that unrest into Brand New’s strongest record of their career.  First and foremost, this record is LOUD. Howling shrieks cascade into explosive wall of sounds. They continue to challenege themselves, taking chances with their songwriting structure and futher obfuscating their lyrical content. Some similar themes are still there (lost love in “Not The Sun”) but overall, everything about this album is stronger. My main complaint, once again, is the closing track. Do we really need an acoustic closer every album? Regardless, I do genuinely enjoy “Handcuffs,” but again, it would have fared better in the middle of the album. That decision notwithstanding, I feel The Devil and God is Brand New’s defining album of their career.

…Is Dead: Following in Brand New’s developmental footsteps, Crime In Stereo decided to attempt a departure from the melodic hardcore mold they had conquered previously. The roots of hardcore are still there, but overall the band’s scope is much larger. Do I dare refer to this album as “cerebral?” “XXXX” (For Exes, four x’s. Get it?) answers that rhetorical question right off the bat: pounding drums open the track and soon we’re hearing lead singer Kristian Hallbert pleading for a challenge. “Say I won’t” as if an entire mission statement for the album emerges in those three words. No sooner this soaks in are we thrust into the weird, decidedly druggy jam “…But You Are Vast,” and then as we blink and we’re smoking cigarettes for our first time to “Small Skeletal.” Like Brand New, this is an album that has burned an image into my mind permantely in “Unfortunate Tourists.” Post-coital sitting on the edge of a bed. An unfortunate tourist in an unforgiving foreign land. Personal thoughts aside, you have the faux-nostalgic “Nixon” (Brand New are you writing this down?) and then the creepy and quiet “Vicious Teeth.” The album does not end as powerfully as The Troubled Stateside did, but the “Orbiter”/ “Choker” combo is a strong one regardless. Now, can I definiteively say The Troubled Stateside is better than …Is Dead? Not at all. The Troubled Stateside is endlessly more accessible, true, but …Is Dead is challenging in all the right ways. Both are phenomenal albums.

Senior Record: Life's a Train Then You Die

I was trying to describe you to someone: I know the title was named after a poem, but it is a truly beautiful name for a record. My friend, however, likes to refer this album as “Live In Tokyo” because of the somewhat bizarre cover art. I was… is a very bizarre album. The sound is cohesive, no doubt, but there are some puzzling moments that still somehow work. “Queue modernes” kicks off the record, takes a cue (eh? See what I did there?) from Brand New with an ethereal ambiance that blows into a jam. There’s the closest thing to an acoustic to electric song Crime In Stereo ever released in “Young;” a song that’s brutal none the less. They don’t relent on political commentary (“Republica”), it’s just a bit more subtle than before. Perhaps a bit too much. The most confusing moment in the entire record is a cover of  their own “Dark Island City” that actually builds on the original and fits within the context of the album. Then Crime In Stereo puts forth the best closer they ever wrote; a perfect end to their career with “I Cannot Answer You Tonight.” It’s the only song on the record that harkens to their early days without compromising their sound. No other song even attempts it. Is this album a dissapointment? I loved it when it was released, but three years later I rarely spin it. I’d rather just listen to their earlier work. Sometimes when I’m sad I’ll throw on “Young,” or attempt to cheer myself up with “I cannot answer you tonight,” but when Crime In Stereo announced they were breaking up, there was a sense of calm about the announcement. They didn’t end on a high note, per se, but you could track their sound and their trajectory and Live In Tokyo had a sense of finality about.  Crime In Stereo Is Dead. Long Live Crime In Stereo.

Daisy: Another final (?) album that was the source of great controversy, Daisy actually packs one hell of a punch. The record is as loud as The Devil and God but way dirtier. If you had told me that the band that wrote “Sudden Death In Carolina” would open their fourth record with a sample from a 1920’s opera singer, I would have punched you right in the mouth. But then again, here we are. Like Crime In Stereo, Brand New was not content to stagnate. This record is often overlooked because it pretty much completely eschews everything that made Brand New likable. There are no catchy sing-alongs here. You can check your angst at the door; this is unadulterated anger and frustration now. What’s that? You’re too soft for a forty-five minute blitzkrieg of sound? Well…I guess they put Noro at the end of the record for you. If Brand New had released this under a different name, I’m sure the praise would have been unanimous. Alas, precedent cripples judgment once again and a solid album is overshadowed by its overzealous older brother.

Post Script: Conclusions Upon Graduating

Brand New and Crime In Stereo are seminal early 2000s bands. Without Brand New, we actually may have been spared a bunch godawful pop-punk bands. The reach of Crime In Stereo has yet to be determined. I have no doubt both will be cited as heavily influential in the coming years, but to what extent? When melodic hardcore inevitably comes back into the forefront, will people be name dropping Crime In Stereo offhand as much as they do Cap’n Jazz for Emo? Will Daisy be the impetus for a noisey, and hopefully listenable, pop-punk music?

In terms of preferences, I think my allegiance is clear. I will always live and die by Crime In Stereo whereas Brand New remains a band I love, but love to be critical about even more. What are your thoughts?

2 Hours with Swans: A Review of The Seer

Let's face it, an album that clocks in at around two hours is going to have its highs and lows, and if you're a band that sticks to the same sound, it'll end up being dull. Swans is able to achieve something very different with their new LP, The Seer. Although this is an incredibly dense record to get through, the outcome ends up being pretty well worth it.

Before this review, I sat through and listened to every track on this album three times. That ends up being around 6 hours of time trying to come up with a coherent review that best describes this album and long running band (i.e. PLEASE READ THIS AND MAKE THAT TIME SPENT HAVE MEANING). My efforts became futile when I remembered Swans treads that fine line between drone music, noise rock and everything else you could possibly imagine - Godspeed You! Black Emperor, anyone? Like I said, this album IS daunting to finish at points. "Mother Of The World" put me off this album every time I listened to it due to its Primus-y guitar riffs and terrifying vocals - can making an "oo-wee" sound be classified as such? The strong points of the album come from the guests featured in a few tracks. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's eerily sings through amazing lyrics in "Songs for a Warrior", a standout track; also, it's one of the shortest on the album, coming in at just over 4 minutes. Folk/experimental band Akron/Family lends their talent on "A Piece of the Sky", which runs through 10 minutes of noise before coming in with a dark, southern jam.

After writing this -- while listening to the album...again -- it became easy to distinguish what's good and what's just bad. For fans of drone, this album is perfect: two hours of really good noise and ambiance infused with different styles of post rock and punk. For new comers, get ready for a difficult listen. The long tracks are sure to drive many away, but for the most part, they end up sounding incredibly well put together. Front man Michael Gira says it's taken 30 years to create this album, in the sense that it's every past Swans record crammed into a two hour mess that comes together at some points, and just plain falls flat at others.

Grade: B-

P.S. Check out the track "Song for a Warrior" featuring Karen O

My 10 Favorite Albums of All Time

I was trying to think of a great first article to start this blog with, but I figured since this is a personal blog, I should give insight into my persona. What better, easier way to get to know someone than to know his or her top ten albums of all time? I don't think there are any better ways, so this is my list. Keep in mind, like with the rest of the internet, this is all opinion and my personal - there's that word again - experience with music. These are the records I have come to know and love throughout my many years of devotedly listening to music. Feel free to comment! 

1. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

The Slim Shady LP set up Eminem’s second record, The Marshall Mathers LP, to fail spectacularly, but the sophomore effort did everything but. There were the two deaths, of which the blame was placed on Eminem’s first release; the ICP feud; Slim Shady, the character; and Eminem’s crumbling relationship with his then estranged wife, Kim. Everything coalesces into a perfect album that balances social and personal responsibilities with ease. The first half of the record defends Eminem’s first effort and the chaos it provoked, while the second sees Eminem proving why he garnered so much attention in the first place with traditional

I found this record, or I guess this record found me would be more accurate, during a time when my older brother was showing me weird things. I was eleven and my brother fourteen. He was already a year into his teens and teaching me all sorts of foul words. The first time I heard The Marshall Mathers LP, I was struck with wonder and confusion. First of all, I had no idea what half of the lewd acts Eminem spoke of were; my brother would later translate ad hoc, continuing to be my guide into an auspicious maturity. Second of all, I had never heard anyone rap about issues that actually mattered - most rap at the time was about "bling bling." Time passed and I moved onto different kinds of music, always gravitating towards socially aware rap because of this record. Years later, when I first started to collect vinyl records, this was one of the first records I purchased, bringing with it all the memories and lessons learned. 

2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

It’s nearly impossible to overlook Nirvana, when referencing the alternative rock uprising in the early to mid nineties. But Sonic Youth had been paving their own way since the early eighties, and released Daydream Nation a year before Nirvana broke ground with Bleach. While most of Daydream’s elements, from song titles to lyrics, are classic-rock inspired, it never sounds like anything majorly released up to that point. Sister and EVOL saw the band moving away from mostly dissonant, art-house sounds while still retaining noise jams, Daydream Nation brought forth some of the best guitar rock heard at the time, ostensibly inspired by the band’s connections to Dinosaur Jr. An album warranting well over an hour of listening, Daydream Nation never bores or caries on; it’s a whirling dervish from calm to chaos and back again.

When I first arrived at college, I brought with me my iTunes library full of CDs I painstakingly ripped. Then my roommate introduced me to the world of downloading music free off the internet. I think I used sordomusic.com for a month, constantly downloading whatever music I found noteworthy on "best of" lists. Of course Daydream Nation made its way onto pretty much every list I could find on the 80s, but I'm a 90s baby, so the album as put on the back burner for a while. The first time I listened to it, the album had been in my library for nearly half a year. It blew me away right from the beginning and all the way to the finish. I had never before heard anything so noisy yet beautiful, classic yet fresh, or angsty yet artsy. Since that day freshman year, I have always had this record to come back to. It's my breakup, bad day, good day, new girlfriend soundtrack.  

3. Burial - Untrue

Untrue is as dark as it is inviting. By fusing 2-step and garage music, Burial released what most people consider the first successful, true “dubstep” album. With its shifty beats and pitch-shifted vocals, Unture made an indelible mark in electronic music history. The release also continued the myth Burial had created with his veiled appearances toward the media. A genre defining moment, Untrue is one of the rare instances of letting the music speak solely for itself, unapologetically.

I cannot recall exactly the first time I heard Untrue, but I think it was around the time Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma came out, so somewhere around 2010. I was just starting to break into the world of electronic music, always having cast it out as emotionless and programmed. Untrue provided a eponymous testament disproving that mindset. I must have listened to the whole album, all the way through, thirty times in the first week I got it. It sent me in an electronic music tailspin and I downloaded or bought anything bassy I could get my hands on. Untrue is a gateway album, a gateway into a seedy, dark London underground. 

4. Led Zeppelin - IV

Led Zeppelin had a knack for making classic rock and roll albums, right? Almost any Led Zeppelin record through Physical Graffiti could be considered one of the top ten albums of all time, but what separates IV from the others is the weight it holds in the classic rock community. It’s impossible to not associate Led Zeppelin with “Stairway to Heaven”, the band, and possibly classic rock’s, “greatest song ever.” The album also introduced the symbols that would come to represent each band member, making each one’s talent and legacy escape words. This was the record that made Led Zeppelin the rock gods.

Like every child, I inherited certain bands and albums from my parents. My parents love Led Zeppelin, I love Led Zeppelin. The first time I started to classify music and form a schema, I raided my parent's CD collection for bands of whatever I found interesting at the time; that was classic, guitar-driven rock and roll. I decided Led Zeppelin was the best at this kind of music, so that's all I listened to. Although I favor their first record, I recognize IV as their best and most well-known. I know almost every guitar riff from this album. It's the quintessential rock and roll god album. 

5. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada’s first proper release created an entity looking as far backwards as forwards, an enigmatic record that would inspire most of today’s keyboard driven electronic music. There are multiple elements of classic songwriting but balanced with free-flowing beats and samples. Music seems to float somewhere above the listener’s head, always just out of reach, longing for moments of clarity.

I caught up to Boards of Canada around the same time I discovered Untrue and, I guess as the story goes, electronic music in general. What was so special about Music Has the Right to Children was the tone and execution of the music. Everything was so clean and mythical. It seemed to undulate while staying completely still. The mythos of the band furthers its reputation as a foggy, time-tested classic.  

6. The Roots - Phrenology

While it isn’t my favorite Roots album – that title goes to either Things Fall Apart or Game Theory – it certainly is their best. Phrenology never lets up. Each song flows effortlessly into the next, the production is near perfect, and The Roots are the main focus of the record; there aren’t any show stealing features, like in some later release. But let’s be honest, are there any bad Roots records? Phrenology sticks out most, much like Led Zeppelin IV, because of one song: “The Seed 2.0”. This isn’t why it is the best release, but because it has drawn so much attention with one song; it invites anyone unfamiliar with the band’s stellar discography to listen more.

I'm not going to lie, the first time I heard The Roots was "The Seed 2.0". I'm not ashamed to admit I fell onto an underground legend such as The Roots through their most well-known song. But as I stated before, the single did exactly what a single should and I as hooked. Following my proclivity to seek out socially conscious rap, The Roots fit right in with the Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest as one of my favorite rap groups to listen to all of. Phrenology is what hooked me. 

7. Radiohead - Kid A

Although Radiohead’s two preceding albums, The Bends and OK Computer, are both classics, Kid A saw Radiohead changing their music styles and popular music. Fans of the band’s traditional – as traditional as Radiohead could be – arrangements and instrumentation saw a move into more spacious, electronic sounds. Sonically, not many records, save this list’s and a handful of other classics, contain the beautiful, lurid soundscapes that Kid A offers. Even the transition instrumental tracks have enough depth in their sound construction to warrant multiple listens; “Treefingers” has more sound packed into it than most pop albums. Radiohead has had an illustrious career filled with many accolades, but Kid A stands out most due to its vast scope and halcyon production.

During my downloading binge freshman year of college, I followed up on a band I knew from songs like "High and Dry" and "Creep", and was I surprised to hear Kid A. At first, I thought maybe someone had mislabeled the band, but then Thom Yorke's melancholy croon entered and I knew what I as hearing, or maybe I had no idea. The album is challenging but rewarding beyond all expectations. To say you enjoy Kid A does establish some sort of dismissible indie-cred, but it's something all together different to love it. This is the smart kid with everything to offer in a relationship, the beautiful gem hiding in plain sight. There have been multiple times, like with Daydream Nation, where I have unconsciously gravitated toward this album, and it's always been just as receiving as that day I thought I was listening to something else.  

8. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins produced near perfection with Siamese Dream, but the reason Mellon Collie stands out more is its ambition. With added input from the rest of the band, Corgan and the group were able to construct something much larger than its parts, which range a wide variety of musical styles. A double CD and triple LP, Mellon Collie garnered the band’s only number one spot on the Billboard charts and received seven Grammy nominations. An hour and a half long, The Smashing Pumpkins gave the mid-nineties enough reasons to praise them.

I had always found The Smashing Pumpkins to be one of my favorite bands, but Mellon Collie is the album that solidified them as one of the most accomplished. The album was a double CD; I was confused by how something could be so large and still cohesive. When I first listened all the way through, nearly two hours later with bathroom breaks, I was captivated. The cover and album artwork isn't enough to capture your attention through the length of the album, so I found myself staring at my ceiling, in the dark, listening intently. It was one of the first times I can remember being completely invested in the music I was listening to. I just really hope it gets a vinyl re-issue. 

9. Rites of Spring - End on End

Receiving a proper CD release in 1991, Rites of Spring’s 1985 debut introduced the hardcore scene to more emotional lamenting. Widely considered the first Emo record, End on End is often overlooked when it comes to “best of all time” lists. It is baffling to see songs like “For Want of”, “Other Way Around”, or “Persistent Vision” not crack any influential songs list. Though the band lived a short career, with both only on LP and EP, it is foolish to marginalize a band that was decades ahead of its scene’s current sound, only to have its genre tarnished by mislabeling in the mid-2000s.

When I first started becoming sort of, what my friend RJ has dubbed me, a "music snob," I was listening to bands like Braid, Cap'n Jazz, and Poison the Well. I loved how these bands exhibited an emotional tenderness through hardcore and punk, but figured they couldn't be the frist to do so; this is where my research started. I looked up the genre Emo to see where I could find the music's roots. Rites of Spring was described in multiple findings, so I gave them a spin. I found what I was looking for and more; everything made sense, and I could move on through the genre's lineage. 

10. Bear vs. Shark - Terrorhawk

Destined to make only devoted fan’s lists, Bear vs. Shark crafted an album that strikes like lightning: a bright flash of light, rumbles, all leaving you with a cacophony of beautiful distortion and your ears ringing. With an effortless flow from reserved to release, Terrorhawk warrants multiple listens – what will end up being back to back - in order for the listener to capture its scale and emotional craft. Even with multiple listens, audiences will find hidden gems in the production work, like the subtle airplane flying overhead in “Catamaran”.

Not so uncommonly during my music downloading binge, I stumbled upon Bear vs. Shark in the hardrive of the roommate who opened my eyes to free music. "Catamaran" was all I needed. The song instantly nabbed my "I have to walk to ______, what should I listen to?" spot, which evolved into the whole album taking my top spot of "I have to drive to ______ and it's going to be a while, what should I listen to?" spot. It flows effortlessly from song to song, feeling like a movie score to a slasher film with a tender side about the killer's past. Terrorhawk is my top recommended album to people. I want everyone to love this band as much as I do.