!!!!!!!! That's my first sentence; let's not argue its grammatical legitimacy. Illinois emo patriarch Braid is back with a 12-inch of new material after more than a decade of side projects and growing cult status. If you like any group that’s claimed modern ties to the genre, this is what made them pick up a guitar. Logistically, the band has built on successful elements from the past—sticking with longtime label Polyvinyl and recording with J. Robbins—while changing it up sound-wise. “Universe Or Worse” features softer-edged vocals and a largely instrumental focus, just in case you needed confirmation that Braid’s still got it. It does, and the proof is out today on the Closer To Closed EP.
With the exception of Gainesville, I had always just sort of associated Florida with grandparents and Art Basel (or, you know, Flo Rida). I have Capsule to thank for my awakening, the Miami hardcore veterans who just released their latest LP on Richmond's Rorschach Records. While "Outline" goes a bit sludgier and "Small Caps" the way of thrash, both display the band's knack for actual melody alongside their riffage. Check out No Ghost, or catch them on tour now on the west coast.
Sometimes a band is so solid when you see them at SXSW the year prior that you have to post that same material in the hopes that new songs will soon follow. Native was my band to see in Texas last year, and the post-hardcore slow build of "Five Year Payoff" is rather symbolic of the wait for round two. While calmer and more drawn out in its multi-layering, it contains the technicality that keeps the Wrestling Moves LP (Sargent House) relevant in the space since its debut. The Indiana foursome kicked off a tour last week, and you can catch them again in Austin come March.
If my mother had been trite, she would have instilled in me the idiom that I should be the change I wanted to see in the world. I don't know if Calories are big Ghandi fans, but "You Could Be Honest" is the epitome of its chorus plead: good, solid post-hardcore with a sense of teenage rush sucked from pop-punk's teenage summers. The band's second album, Basic Nature, will arrive on September 13 through the heroes at Tough Love.
Wararrrrraaa-arrgghgghghghghggh! Johnny Foreignerare here and they're really fucking excited again. We posted "Feels Like Summer" a little while back and "Camp Kelly Calm" picks up where that track left off, with raucous hollering and guitars that sound like they're short-circuiting in vast pools of fresh sweat. You can pick up both of these tracks plus another - "Wow. Just Wow" - at the band's website. Meanwhile, a video for "Feels Like Summer" can be found after the jump. In it, the band are really fucking excited. Again. Warragghhh! Guhar! WarraaaghghgaaaaaHAH!
Sounds Like: Hundred Reasons, Los Campesinos!, At The Drive-In
The brilliantly-named Bipolar Bear deal in the kind of musical mood swings their moniker would suggest, mincing along with a gleeful swamp-rock swing one minute before turning on you with prickly guitars and crash cymbal blare. They're so up-and-down that the songs seem to outlast their two-minute time-tags, structures packed with ingenious detours and vocal yelps struggling to be heard over the din. Counting among their ranks former members of The Manifolds and the late Rose For Bohdan, as well as the two guys who run Kill Shaman records, Bipolar Bear are a band who clearly know their history but aren't afraid to fuck with it, bringing muddy rock roots to bear on the type of oddball indie-rock their LA hometown's best known for at the moment. A pair of thoroughbred examples await your ears below, "Manbase" and "Cherokee Fan Club" both delighting in their bad attitudes and out soon on different 7" pressings.
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