Daytrader, “Last Days of Rome”
Daytrader
“Last Days of Rome”
(Run for Cover)
When we interviewed Daytrader a few months ago, they had just announced a short tour and the release of their three-song demo. Culled from bands like Latterman, The Motorcycle Industry, Crime in Stereo, and Bridge and Tunnel, Daytrader’s demo was suggestive of the kind of early 2000s post-hardcore that was made standard by the likes of Further Seems Forever, Fairweather and The Beautiful Mistake. In the weeks that have passed since that interview, the band has logged stage time with several notable bands like Tigers Jaw, and are gearing up for a tour with This Time Next Year and Seahaven.
On their proper debut EP, “Last Days of Rome,” Daytrader find themselves dominating their pop-punk influence. The EP’s opening track, “Kill My Compass,” is the kind of song that would fit well alongside a track list that contains “Through Being Cool”-era Saves the Day and The Stryder. The title track, albeit mid-tempo, has some really cool time changes that suggest that Daytrader is above your run-of-the-mill pop-punk band.
“Last Days of Rome” is certainly more pop-oriented than their demo, but Daytrader is still a young band and there’s very little on this EP that shows any sign of growing pains, only a bright future.
— Ryan Pangilinan
The Get Up Kids, “There Are Rules”
Get Up Kids
“There Are Rules”
(Quality Hill)
Most people I know who grew up with the Get Up Kids hate this album. Of course, if you go back to the days of “On a Wire,” it had a similar reception and it’s a fan favorite now, albeit nearly a decade later. For their first studio full-length since “Guilt Show,” the Get Ups have replaced their primary influences of The Replacements and Husker Du with part shoegaze and part Brit-pop. There’s lots of fuzzy guitars, sound effects and distorted vocals.
The first track for “There Are Rules,” “Tithe” is an aggressive pop song that finds itself bubbling as some sort of could’ve-been-a-Sparta-song territory. It’s one hell of a way to start off the record, however, as it segues immediately into the more Get Up Kid-friendly “Regent’s Court.”
The midway point of “Rules” features “Automatic,” a Jim Suptic-lead song that prominently features a quirky synth tone as the lead instrument; it’s not terrible as it seems a little misplaced. I think that if you shuffled this song next to “The Widow Paris,” it would be easier to digest.
The Get Up Kids 2.0 is just as brash and talented as their “Something to Write Home” counterparts, however, they definitely going to alienate people who fondly and abashedly request “Holiday” and “Action and Action” at shows. Honestly, this is not the direction that I would have seen them going in, but it is welcomed nonetheless. I think the biggest downfall of the album is track arrangement, which has very little to do with the quality of the songs themselves.
These are weird pop songs, but once you get into a couple spins of the album, this is very much the Get Up Kids and that’s kind of what you have to keep in your mind. These dudes aren’t 19 anymore and I wouldn’t expect them to release music that is akin to teenagers anyway.
— Ryan Pangilinan
The Ataris, “All Souls Day” (single)
The Ataris
“All Souls Day” b/w “The Graveyard of the Atlantic”
(Paper + Plastick)
After the disintegration of their last incarnation, which found them reimagined as a new wave indie rock outfit, Kris Roe has, again, brought his project, The Ataris, back as a fully realized pop-punk band. Personally, I’m a little bothered by this because I actually liked “Welcome the Night” and who knows how much further The Ataris could’ve gone in that direction.
For their current retooling, Roe has stripped the band to something akin to The Loved Ones and Jets to Brazil: anthemic pop-punk. This is evident on their first single “All Souls Day,” a song that leaked onto the internet a while back, but is now an official release through Paper + Plastick.
The two songs are a good indication that the band is going back to their “End is Forever”-era sound, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does seem as though that Roe is reacting to the disappointment of “Welcome the Night” a little too hastily.
— Ryan Pangilinan
Tigers Jaw, “Two Worlds”
Tigers Jaw
“Two Worlds”
(Run for Cover)
Scranton, PA-based quintet Tigers Jaw continues their progression as one of the best indie-pop bands right now with their second full-length, “Two Worlds.” For many young bands, particularly in the scene, the sophomore album is often plagued with either too many ideas and not enough space or recreating their debut. “Two Worlds,” for better or worse, features a much concise and stripped down version of Tigers Jaw.
Whereas on their self-titled debut (and most of their recordings), the band had several songs that would cross the four minute mark and built their many of their songs with instrumental space, their new record clocks in at 25 minutes and emphasizes their pop sensibilities.
While there are some rockers on here like “Coil/Recoil” and “Buona Pizza,” there are songs like “Two Worlds” that explores a melodic sound that is owes its aesthetic to 80s Britpop.
I know that for many die hard Tigers Jaw fans, the direction that they’re going in seems to be selling the band’s songwriting short, but personally, I feel that by concentrating on concise structures, many of their strengths are prominent on this record, especially when their highlighted by Vince Ratti’s stellar production. If there was an album to propel Tigers Jaw, it’s “Two Worlds.”
— Ryan Pangilinan
Mike Birbiglia, “Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories”
Mike Birbiglia
“Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories”
(Simon and Schuster)
Whenever comedians write books, I’m always a little leery to read them. Back in high school, I read Chris Rock’s “Rock This” and was disappointed when the entire book was pretty much his act from “Bring the Pain.” Of course, I was 14 and probably didn’t know much better in the way that comics process humor.
Mike Birbiglia, a comic I knew through the media osmosis that is This American Life, has a narrative style that lends itself well to the written form. Birbiglia’s book “Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories” (Simon & Schuster) has culled stories that have appeared on his album “My Secret Public Journal” as well as his various appearances on This American Life, and yet in book form, they’ve certainly taken on a life of their own.
This is particularly fortuitous for fans of Birbiglia who are so familiar with his work because there are details in the book that aren’t mentioned their broadcast versions.
While “Sleepwalk” certainly has its many funny moments, there’s a particularly heartwarming and heartbreaking chapter about Birbiglia’s relationship with late comic, Mitch Hedberg. I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s probably one of my favorite stories in the book.
Unlike most collections of essays and even most memoirs, “Sleepwalk with Me,” is organized very well, though it doesn’t seem so at first. By the time you get to the end, the story as a whole makes a lot more sense and probably moreso when you hear Birbiglia’s voice as you make your way through the tome. After reading this book, I re-read “Rock This” with a different set of eyes and definitely made me appreciate comic’s book artform a little bit more.
— Ryan Pangilinan
Not-So-Random Reads
Love Fights Vol.1
A little over a year ago, Michelle hipped me to Andi Watson’s “Love Fights” series. I have the first four single issues and I never went beyond that beacause they became difficult to find. She, on the other hand, had the foresight to purchase the collected works and, as my best friend, allowed me to borrow them so I could write this installment of Not So Random Reads.
The basic premise of “Love Fights” is that it’s a romantic story between two professionals who cover the world of superheroes. Naturally, Jack, our male protagonist, feels inadequate and useless when there are dudes like the Flamer around who are paraded around the way that Zac Efron is treated in real life.
Like his work in “Slow News Day,” Watson has a unique way of humanizing very cartoonish characters – an ability that is reserved for the likes of a Ditko or even Bryan Lee O’Malley. In a way, I found “Love Fights” to be relevant in my personal life in the way that a nice guy like Jack, a guy who’s been stomped by fleeting romance and an overwhelming sense of awkwardness, is constantly competing against guys who have money, movie star looks, or even stability.
The problems that made Spiderman/Peter Parker likeable are the same ones that resonate in Jack, which is why “Love Fights” succeeds. No matter how much we want to be better than the hero, we’re really just us and we just have to learn to be okay with that.
— Ryan Pangilinan
Hostage Calm, “S/T”
Hostage Calm
“Hostage Calm”
(Run For Cover)
It can be hard not to be hard on the kids. Sure, they are the victims of their own naivete. Yet are also they are also enablers of rubbish, driving hours out to boondocked amphitheaters for Warped Tours, only to glorify the lowest common denominator of a Millionaires or a Brokencyde. It’s enough to make an aging dick like myself grasp his chest with the trepidation of Fred Sanford. I take no enjoyment from in being that guy who naysays everything that isn’t from my time. But there have been a number of groups (aforementioned included) to emerge over the past few years that have managed to poach a fiercely malodorous turd the likes of which haven’t been witnessed since the days of Crazy Town; they pain the soul I swore I never had. They make me lose hope.
Then a band like Hostage Calm come along to provide a reminder that sustaining optimism for the boys and girls of today isn’t complete foolishness. To be fair, I have no idea how old the members of this Connecticut quintet actually are. But the youthful exuberance of their self-titled LP is definite: think Crime in Stereo meets a less riff-shifty Gatsby’s American Dream, tied together by the golden melodies of vintage Beach Boys - might as well throw in The Smiths too, since it’s a common comparison. Such an array of influences perhaps conjures up the troublesome image of an overzealous bambino hammerfisting non-mating puzzle pieces into place. Not the case. The combined fixings, while certainly distinguishable, serve to up the ante of each song with fresh notions of what a chorus or bridge can be, thereby surpassing the milieu of pop-punk fodder.
To those of you still in the midst of your salad days: Hostage Calm are a fine specimen for both tutelage and fun - the pill and the applesauce becoming one. To those of you steadily approaching physical and mental decrepitude: enjoy the reprieve.
— David Woods
Not-So-Random Reads
By Ryan Pangilinan
Batman: Odyssey #1
(DC)
Batman: Odyssey is a big deal primarily because it marks the return of Neal Adams to the Bat-Universe. If you’re not familiar, Neal Adams was half of the team (alongside Denny O’Neill) who helped usher Batman and Robin out of the sixties camp aesthetic that cemented them in the annals of pop culture. Adams’ art was dark and inspired by pulp art and complemented O’Neill’s flair for turning Batman back into a detective.
For his latest effort, Adams has also taken over the writing duties as well as the art for Odyssey, which leads to an interesting and jumbled first issue. The art is visually stunning and Adams essentially retcons some of the Batman mythos with him rocking a gun for his first mission. Also changing the norm of the heroes, Adams makes the eyes for both Batman and Robin visible through their masks – something that is seldom done in superhero books, let alone THE definitive superhero book.
Unsurprisingly, Adams uses Man-Bat, a seventies mainstay that was utilized heavily by both him and Dick Giordano, which brings Batman and Robin back to the grit that made Adams’ style so interesting to begin with.
It’s a fairly interesting premiere issue. I’m hoping that as the series progresses, the story won’t be so chaotic.
Scott Pilgrim: A Non-Spoiler-y Review
By Ryan Pangilinan
It’s difficult to encapsulate this movie without having to write about all the parts that did make it cool and not ruin anything, but I’ll do my best to break it down to the nuts and bolts.
It helps if you’ve read Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series, but it’s not a requirement. Edgar Wright does a fantastic job both visually getting in all of the inside comic book/video game references, as well as compressing O’Malley’s story. As Wright stated in many interviews, there’s a heavy emphasis on the first three books, so there’s a lot of development in the first act, but once the second act hits, the movie gets rolling pretty quickly.
It’s not without its flaws, but that could be said of any comic book movie (such as not having enough Kim Pine, though not completely bad since she gets all of her important one-liners in). The important aspect is that the cast, by and large, worked. Michael Cera made a damn excellent Scott, Kieran Culkin was an awesome sidekick, and what can I say about Aubrey Plaza that I haven’t before? Also, the Universal logo is a bit different. I don’t want to ruin it, but you’ll see what I’m talking about when you see this flick.
This might be my favorite comic book movie since “The Rocketeer,” which is saying a lot.
Balance and Composure/Tigers Jaw, “Split”
Balance and Composure/Tigers Jaw
“Split”
(No Sleep)
On paper, it seems like an odd pairing of post-hardcore group, Balance and Composure, and indie rockers Tigers Jaw, but this is easily one of the most consistent split collaborations.
Each band contributes four tracks of hard rockin’ goodness. All hyperbole aside, however, this is a pretty good introduction to each band for a listener who hasn’t heard either one. While both bands have the potential to do well in the scene, they shine on this split record.
Balance and Composure’s mixture of brash lyrics and calculated time signatures shows well on songs like “Twenty Four” and the opening track, “Kaleidoscope.”
For Tigers Jaw, their keyboard-infused songs are highlighted with “Lodging” and “Danielson.” These days, there aren’t too many bands that are able to be successful with the male/female vocal exchange, but Tigers Jaw is one of the few groups that can pull it off without the songs sounding too hokey, not unlike The Anniversary.
Typically, I am not the biggest fan of splits, if only for the fact that I tend to favor one band over the other, but in the case of Balance and Composure and Tigers Jaw, No Sleep did a great job of putting together two newer bands that will no doubt make waves in the next year or two, as well as pairing together likeminded bands. They are like the peanut butter and jelly of the scene.
— Ryan Pangilinan
