Hipster Humpday : Akron/Family and Portugal. The Man

    First off the title doesn't mean if you use Vimeo and only listen to artists that are dead you get to hump anything, its just me trying to ween you guys off metal for the day.

      Last week you may remember I took a two day hiatus to see some friends and do some soul searching. I know, two days isn't much but a lot was accomplished. The first day once I got out from under the disdainful eyes of my mother was spent with a dear friend in bookstores and along rivers, on trails and cruising down country roads. We spent a long time sitting on the edge of the Grand river skipping stones and talking life while Akron/Family softly played from his headphones.

     Akron/Family is a folk influenced experimental rock band whose member live across America. Facebook describes them as a form of dramatic expression, and that is the most truthful thing I've heard all day.

Akron/Family - Akron/Family

Akron/Family - The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

     Experimental music is very hard to explain without actually hearing it. So first off let me encourage you to at least look into this amazing band before you move on, and better than that download two of their albums above, it may be exactly what you need. 

     Soft vocals and guitars, eerie organs and many other sensational instruments will caress your senses and leave you in a rainy day mood, let you sit down and think. I know since I first received one of their songs from a friend of mine back in the Dropbox days Akron/Family has encouraged me to take life slowly and progressively, I encourage you to do the same. Bands like this make me proud to have helped you experience them and sort of guilty for letting people download them for free, but truthfully good luck finding them in your local HMV. 

     The second band holding me together today is 

Portugal. The Man. Almost in the same group as Akron/Family, but only in the same sense as peanut butter is in the same grouping as jam. PTM is an alt-rock (and I use that term loosely) group from Alaska. Again I have to thank an old friend, for if you had not invited me to a dropbox session, I would be without so many amazing albums and so much musical knowledge.  

Portugal. The Man - In The Mountain In The Cloud

     Portugal takes the ingenuity of A/F and upgrades it to a more everyday friendly sound. My mind took a long time today to process that sound and to me its as if The Beatles and MGMT met and somehow had a lovechild. If you take the time to download the album, the password is pop-to-core.blogspot.com and this link will take you to a page with all of their albums for free, its definitely worth it.

     I apologize for making the first section a story and doing no justice to Portugal. The Man, but my artistic feelings quickly fade, usually after the first artist. I encourage you to listen to and download the music we shared today. As always this music is intended as a preview and you should probably go buy it and support the artist. Please like our page on Facebook for up to date info and other awesome stuff, also if you have suggestions I would love to hear from you as I'm quickly running out of material. Hopefully I have inspired you to do some thinking or maybe some searching for your rainy day music, cheers.

Toxic Tuesday 15 : Dillon Francis & Cory Enemy and Com Truise

     Don't mind me, I thought today would be a better day if I just jumped right into the music, so straight to the drop.

     Dillon Francis, is a Los Angeles based electronic DJ/producer and has been getting some cray hype from a lot of big names. Recently he released and EP with Cory Enemy, who shamefully I know nothing about.

Dillon Francis & Cory Enemy - Ultra EP 

(Click to download)

     This EP is pure energy, injected beats and synths straight into your brain. The whole EP has an amazing mix of electro/dubstep/glitch and of course a liberal amount of swearing. Grab the EP from Mediafire above or each song separately just below.

Dillon Francis & Cory Enemy - Ultra

Dillon Francis & Cory Enemy - I Love You

Dillon Francis & Cory Enemy - Who The Fuck Are You

     I must admit I've known about Com Truise for some time now, but only ever sampling one track at a time and never really taking the time to enjoy a full album. Well I fixed that about two weeks ago when I recieved an email from The Glitch Mob (before you go crazy, I'm not awesome enough to know them, I'm on the mailing list). In that email they were hyping some new artists that they enjoyed and toured with, and as soon as the word free pops up on the screen I'm there.

Com Truise - Cyanide Sisters EP

(Click to download directly)

     Classified as new wave electro or synth-pop Com Truise has one of the most unique sounds I've experienced in quite some time. Straight electro with an 80's feel, thats how I would explain it, but don't listen to me, hit that direct download above and drift back in time.

Monday Mix-Up

Basically this post is a weekly rewind of the most listened music of the previous week, and well some of my favorites from the previous week.

Well as we all know Amy Winehouse died on the 23rd; a rather short lived life, but nevertheless she was talented. It's reported that Amy had frequent checkups with her doctor because of her frail condition after abusing drugs and such and recently underwent one of these check-ups prior to her death. When I first heard the news break I thought oh great most likely a overdose, but when they searched her home they found no trace of drugs, so I'm awaiting the autopsy results. Anyways the first song is Valerie Ft. Amy Winehouse - Mark Ronson.

Psychic Powers - Dreamboat (RAC Mix)

Ok well what can I say, How to Love by Lil Wayne defiantly shows the softer side of Lil Wayne. I admit I don't listen to that much of his music, but I had to download this song. I'm sure he has blew all his fans away with such a sincere and sweet song. I hope to hear more songs like this in the future.

This week my favorite band has been The Morning Of. There's just something about the duets in their songs. Jessica Leplons' voice is pretty much flawless and is just a pleasure to listen to.

The New Is In - The Morning Of is off their 2008 album The World As We Know It.

Mellow Monday 4 : Feature : Omar Linx

     Welcome to another solid week of music to assault your ear holes. Hopefully you've been enjoying the ride so far, we've got something special for you today, something I was saving for a while.... so we're off to the City of Ommz.

     So along time ago I agreed to let one of my publishers write on this topic but apparently my phone slept with his phones girlfriend and they don't talk anymore. The fact he released a new mixtape a week or so ago sealed the deal, you've waited too long.

     Omar Linx, an unsigned hip hop artist from  Toronto, Ontario, and one of my all time favorite rappers. He works with DJ Nef-You, in case you couldn't tell by the tags, and he's produced a couple bangers with DC & Hooks from Zed's Dead, a Toronto based dubstep duo. He's dropped two mixtapes in the last couple years and they sound more like albums.

Omar Linx - A Cold Welcome

Omar Linx - City Of Ommz 

     Hit those links to download from Mediafire for free obviously, but if you're feeling generous (and I encourage you to do so) grab them from itunes. Now on to the actual tapes. Both of these tapes contain more talent and heart than most of the mainstream rap thats being lauded as award winning these days. His first album, the one that caught my attention is a soul rending masterpiece. I could compare Omar to Kid Cudi, only for the fact that they both like to tell it how it is, life isn't always happy and those moments need to be heard. The second release tones down the emotion a bit and focuses more on the actual rap which is a bit disappointing but still amazing. So in retrospect, hit "A Cold Welcome" first then once you're sure you love Omar as much as we do grab his new release off itunes and show some support.

Review : Dream Jefferson - Punch Perm

     If you remember a couple months ago I snuffled through a cold and completely destroyed any self respect I had by butchering a post about Dream Jefferson. Sadly enough I didn't expect anyone to see it let alone Corboe and Owel, their labelmate Danny Deleto, and their record label crew... I butchered it completely. So today lets see if I can redeem myself and spread the word.

     Its amazing really how they've managed to capture the first moment you hear their music in the label art and I'm not the first to say that. I've been a fan of Dream Jefferson since their debut album Sasquatch Bury Their Dead. Since then I've explored almost everything that's been done under Rifle Eyes Music, featuring at least 1, 2, 3 other ear raping artists here on the blog and saving the rest for the most opportune moment. I feel like there should be a break into another paragraph here but I'm done taking English probably forever. So grammar aside we can get into the meat of the post as it were. Consisting of two Canadian rappers, Corboe and Owel Five, Dream Jeff has a flow like no other. Thier newest tracks feature lyrics about the royal wedding, the X-Men, and Final Fantasy and Beyonce in the same song, and it doesn't stop there. With the amount of generic rap that's oozing out the radio these days isn't it nice to have something that will hit mainstream media when hell freezes? Their sound has evolved into something a bit more new age, with synths and backup vocals not very apparent in their debut, but I guarantee it will stick the name Dream Jefferson in the mind of everyone who hears it. I think I should end this on the note that I'm not amused at having missed the release party in Ottawa but making this EP free kind of makes up for it.

"Couldn't get a grip with a wish and a fat chance..."

Dream Jefferson - Punch Perm EP

(Click to download from Bandcamp)

Tracklist : 

Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla

Westminster Abbey

Purple Hearts

The Danger Room

Embrace Before The Fall

The Seed & The Sower

All Things Shining

Saturday's Special: Chris Yenney

I feel like all too often I'm apologizing for not posting on time, or at all. Today is my make-up post. I feel bad for not posting on Thursday. I figured today I would switch it up just a little bit and focus on an artist that I met about a month ago at this fundraiser concert thing for a couple of my friends who were headed off for a year with Youthbuilders.

From what I've seen and heard of him, Chris Yenney seems to be a genuinely nice person, not to mention that he's got a pretty impressive voice. The first thing I ever heard him perform was a cover of Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri, and I was just blown away. I'm not sure what it is with this community and talent, but there seems to be a lot of it hidden around. Here is this young man who attended the school I just graduated from, and he's so dang talented. His piano playing is great, his voice is great, and you put the two together to get a pretty fantastic artist.

His Youtube channel has many covers of songs, but there are also a couple of his original songs too such as "Hopeless Romance" and "Not Coming Back." I'm a pretty big fan of his original stuff too, and I'm seriously considering heading over to itunes to invest in his album "On the Surface."

That's all I've got for today, and I'm sorry that I do not have any downloads for you, but I really want to support this artist. It can be difficult to be from a small town like ours and trying to have a music career, so please check him out on itunes and buy his album if you like his work. You can also check him out on his Facebook page. You can follow him on Twitter if you want, but frankly, I'm too lazy to look up what his account is, and I'm sure you can find that out from his page.
Thanks for continuing to check in! This would be pointless without your views. 

Hasta Luego,

K.

Hardcore Humpday 10: Rage Brigade

Alright, K here, stepping in for MrFlawedLogic. Hardcore Humpday...this does not sound like much of what I'd listen to (considering the types of posts I pull out), but here I am. There are a couple reasons for this...One is that I'd do pretty much anything for C. The other is that I've been struggling with a lot of stuff lately and I wanted a bit of a challenge to keep my mind distracted. I'm going to stay true to myself and keep the post short and try to stay away from those run on sentences C is famous for. I hope yesterday's two posts make up for this.

Here goes nothing.

Today's band is Rage Brigade, and to be honest, I've listened to each of their songs once, and I still am not quite sure what to say about it...but perhaps that's just because it's so hot out today and all the heat is getting to my head. So I guess what I'll do is just leave you with the music, and you can create your own opinions.

What I do have to say for this band, is that I respect it. The respect I hold is for their lyrics. They bring forth some issues that are pretty common in society these days, and they put it into terms that anybody will understand, but they clearly show their stance. So if for no other reason, whether you're into this kind of music or not, do some digging for the lyrics and listen to them. They're worth it, they deserve it. Just do it.

You can find their music on their Facebook page, and C handed me a free download, which you can find here or at their Bandcamp. They're the same deal, just different sources.

I'm sorry again for my lack of any real discussion or anything of interest, but I hope the music speaks for itself.

Ciao,
K.

Review : Lil' Wayne - Sorry 4 The Wait

     Many of you that actually took the ten seconds and "liked" the Facebook page will know that I'm off for a couple of days and I plan to attempt to enjoy myself. That being said I doubt I will be able to post, although K will be covering for me it seemed in my best interests to do a post now, and try something new at that. Allow me a brief moment of clarity, I realize now why Elena's posts do so well, we have a completely different outlook on how posting should be done. I like to pick a day with a theme and hit you with whatever I've been hearing that works for that day, Elena works more like a professional would taking her day to post and finding something current to review, and thats the operative word, review. So I'm going to try it on for size, here's something from the last week or so that you should've heard about.

     I can't fault Lil' Wayne for what he does, he raps and by todays somewhat questionable standards he's good. He makes money and he looks good doing it and thats what the people want. Now going further than my review of the world today Lil' Wayne dropped a mixtape back the 13th and surprising even myself I downloaded it. I don't usually listen to popular hip hop but something about how the whole deal went down made me think it would be worth it. See Wayne has a new album coming out and no surprise its release date got pushed back, but here's where it gets good. Lil' Wayne took a bunch of freestyles and a couple original songs and dropped a mixtape, for free. Yeah free, I wish this would happen more often, we all know how annoying it can be to be waiting for something long after it was supposed to be in your hands. How awesome would it be if everytime this happened the producer gave you something free to apologize. I mean that new game that you're waiting for, its gonna be about three months late, but heres some DLC codes and the CD for the games score. The movie you want to see is postponed, but hey heres some free tickets cause we want you to enjoy it when it gets here. This will probably never happen cause it would cost the companies money, but artists can do this, because they know we won't buy it if they wait too long, thats the glory of the internet we can get it for free, we can hold them ransom. Kudos to Lil' Wayne for going back to his roots and giving back to his fans, this is how customer service works.

Lil' Wayne - Sorry 4 The Wait(Album)

(Click to download)

     Now we can get past my ranting and into the mixtape. Its a twelve track tape of which only two, Sorry 4 The Wait and Tunechi's Back, aren't freestyles. That being said Lil' Wayne has always had a talent for freestyles, although his flow doesn't move very far from his comfort zone. The tracks are full to the brim with reasons to make sure your kids don't listen to this. Bragging, swearing and rapping about bitches and money seem to be mainstay of Lil' Wayne's money scheme. Don't get me wrong this album is fresh, if you love rap for what it is, dirty, Lil' Wayne knows he doesn't have anything to prove. The beats are thick and low and most of the songs run for longer than three minutes, this is a mixtape through and through. So love it or leave it, hit the Hulkshare link above or read on for the track listing and direct downloads of select songs.

Tracklist:

Tunechi's Back

Rollin' (Freestyle)

Throwed Off (Freestyle) Ft. Gudda Gudda

Gucci Gucci (Freestyle)

Marvin's Room (Freestyle)

Sure Thing (Freestyle)

Groove St. Party (Freestyle) Ft. Lil B

Racks (Freestyle)

Hands Up (Freestyle)

Sorry 4 The Wait

Inkredible Remix (Freestyle)

IDK (Freestyle)

     Thanks for stickin around, hopefully you enjoy todays posts and let me know if you would like me to keep up with actual reviews. Head on back to the first paragraph and like us on FB, it means a lot. For those of you with higher class taste when it comes to hip hop head on over to The Burning Ear for "Sounds Of The City" by Luck One. Its a sterling track with a cheery instrumentation and a sophisticated flow, it might be what youre looking for.

Toxic Tuesday 14 : Deathstar, Gemini and Xilent

     There's a very unfortunate amount of amazing electronic music staring at me from my downloads folder these days. Unfortunate because at this rate I'll have dug myself into a new computer by the time I realize I haven't posted a fraction of it. So today I thought why not step the production up a bit, we'll have three artists and just make the run-on sentences a bit shorter. So if you came here looking for dubstep you'd better get your bass face on.

     Many a moon ago you may remember when we had a great track by Ooah, one half of PANTyRAiD, the other half being MartyParty. Today we have an amazing collaberation by Marty and dubstep producer Minnesota , Deathstar. They recently dropped their amazing debut EP, Ultraviolet Halo.

Deathstar - Ultraviolet Halo

(Click to download directly)

     Self proclaimed future bass music this EP is an amazing combination of dubstep, electric, and glitch. Both producers are extremely talented and I love when artists come together and make music like this. You can still hear their individual sounds, but when you combine them, its a whole other class of awesome. Sampling many notable songs and keeping the bass down low, this is definitely worth your time.

     I don't mind saying it, I am in no way doing this genius one ounce of justice with this review. Ladies and gentlemen the talent of today's post, from Leicester, UK, Thomas Slinger, Gemini. 21 year old Thomas just made his mark on the scene early this year with a plethora of amazing remixes and his debut EP, Blue.

Gemini - Blue EP

(Click to download)

     This four track banger of an EP is up there in my charts for best debut of the year and thats saying something. I'm almost at a loss for words, this is why I love the internet. I stumbled across the EP one day when I was cruising Dubfuckingstep.blogspot.com and it was love from the first note. So don't let me ruin this album for you, hit it from Mediafire above, and don't forget to check out his facebook for two amazing remixes.

     Our last artist today is Warsaw's own, Eryk Kowalczyk, (glad I don't have to pronounce that) or Xilent as he is known. This track jumped out at me from a very talent encrusted montage and of course who can say no to a link for a free download?

Xilent - Choose Me II (Dubstep Mix)

(Click to download)

     I have the odd feeling that I know this song from somewhere and I'm having a bit of trouble finding links to albums but if any of you have the time or patience to find me some links hit me here and I'll update the post. For now you'll have to go with me saying that the classification of futurestep is working for this song, love it. Check out his Facebook or website for more info.

Mellow Monday 3 : Audiodax and Plan B

     This is the part I hate, I really wanted to write this post on Saturday, thats when I was craving this music. But do to my scheduling fetish and the fact that my body chooses to sleep once every three days, we have to deal with it today. But don't let me get you down, or if you do prepare to be brought back up.

     Our first band today is a long time favourite of mine, Audiodax. I'v been an avid listener since their remix of Cheated by Mike Posner, from there I was amazed by the huge amount of original work that this duo have produced.

Audiodax - The Annexation

Audiodax - Pop Rocks

     Click clack those links for their first mixtape and newest album. There really is something special about Audiodax, maybe its the infectious beats, the cheerful lyrics or that trademark indie sound, either way I can't get over these two tapes. The only remix on either of the releases is listed above and the only guest appearance is by OnCue on Let It Fly. So let this album fly you through your troubles and check out the original sponsor post here and their website here. 

     Last week one day, bored out of my skull as usual I turned on the tv and watched Conan. Certainly it should be a daily occassion but this time it was different, see I actually stayed on the channel long enough for the musical guest, London Artist, Plan B. His new album The Defamation of Strickland Banks has already gone multi platinum, which is off the charts. I knew the name Plan B from a couple of amazing remixes I had kickin around on my laptop, the Nero remix of The Recluse, and the Doctor P remix of Love Goes Down. Those two tracks stopped my mind long enough to check out the album and was I ever surprised. Far from the dubstep I had affiliated with the name Plan B, "Defamation" was a combination of a forties swing jazz sound with modern UK rap, a clearly unique sound. This sound kept me floating all weekend and even caught the attention of my father who thought I had stolen some of his music. So please hit the Mediafire above or head on over to itunes or wherever you buy your best music from, cause this is way up on the list. Also watch the episode of Conan here.

     Thanks for all the love oh almighty viewer, its because of all of you that we have 3100 views from all over the world, and that makes me feel peachy. But what would make you feel better too is a chance to give us feedback and get up to date information... so like our page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

July 2011 Playlist

Well guys I've been super busy this summer. Just recently I got back from Paris and I'm leaving this Monday to go to Myrtle Beach...so its a miracle I could even post yesterday and today, but I hope you enjoy this playlist.

July 2011 Playlist Track Listing

1. Beautiful People (Felix Cartel Club Mix) - Chris Brown

2.Brazil - Deadmau5

3.Finally Moving - Pretty Lights

4.Last Friday Night (TGIF) (Cosmic Dawn Remix) - Katy Perry

5.Lights (Bassnectar Remix) - Ellie Goulding

6.Memory (Klaas Remix) - Fragma

7.I Wanna Go (Martin & Souza Club Mix) - Britney Spears

8.Earth Hour (Original Mix) - Dash Berlin

Madeon Mega-Mashup: 39 songs in 3 minutes

A couple days ago I was stumbling well with non other than stumbleupon..when I ran across an article posted by CBS News. It's a good feeling to know that this type of music is now not only recognized in America, but also is now in the news. 2011 is a bench mark for less pop music and more house. Can't you hear it? Obviously artists like Katy Perry, Black Eyed Peas, and dare I say Lady Gaga; but lets admit it she's a class of her own. This influence is also carried from mainstream radio playing remixes of popular pop songs, which in previous years has almost been unheard of, well unless you have a subscription to Sirus Satellite Radio or are creating your own radio stations using Pandora.

Madeon is only 17 years old, but obviously has talent beyond his years. In this mash-up titled "Pop Culture" he mixes 39 songs into a seamless summer hit.

Track Listing

Alphabeat - Fascination

Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars

Black Eyed Peas - Gotta Feeling

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time

Capsule - Can I Have A Word

Chromeo - Mamma's Boy

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic

Daft Punk - Around The World

Deadmau5 - Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Remix)

Deadmau5 - Right This Second

Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed

ELO - Mr. Blue Sky

Girls Aloud - Biology

Gorillaz - Dare

Gossip - Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)

Gwen Stefani - What You Waitin For (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)

Housse de Racket - Oh Yeah

Justice - DVNO

Justice - Phantom Part II

Katy Perry - One Of The Boys

Ke$ha - Take It Off

Kylie Minogue - Wow

Lady Gaga - Alejandro

Linkin Park - Crawling

Madonna - Hung Up

Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette - Boys and Girls

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Nero - Me and You

One Republic - All The Right Moves (Danger Remix)

One-T - Magic Key

Ratatat - Shempi

Solange - I Decided (Freemasons Remix)

Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

The Killers - Losing Touch

The Who - Baba O'Riley (SebastiAn Remix)

Yelle - Que Veux Tu (Madeon Remix)

*Update : Download Pop Culture Mix (Live) 

Top Thursday : Top Three Songs This Week

     Little intro here, I'm not sure if anyone is going to post today so I thought I would post some run on sentences and three of my favorite songs this week. This doesn't mean they came out this week, doesn't mean I found them this week, just means this week I can't stop rewindin 'em.

1) Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek (Murdok Dubstep Remix)

     Murdok, is one of the first Youtube dubstep producers I got massively into, and with the recent release of his first volume of remixes (Click the song link) I've fallen in love with Hide and Seek. This song has seen way too many remixes, that's mainly because Imogen Heap has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard, but thankfully this one is done right. Driving home one day, exhausted out of my mind, as I suffer from random onset insomnia, this song nearly broke me, I still get the chills whenever I hear it. This is straight up one of the most powerful songs I have, the gentle build, the soft background bass, and that chilling voice brings me to the shiver point every time. Hit it and the rest of the album for amazing chillstep.

2) Neilio - Captivating

     Last week a group of amazingly underplayed electronic artists got together and released a new completely original track every day for seven days. Hopefully you remember Ephixa and Stephen Walking, but taking part in Monstercat Media's release were other awesome artists such as Arion, Going Quantum, Halo Nova, Feint and Neilio. Now don't get me wrong each and every one of these tracks surpassed any expectations but today Neilio's Captivating has really shone through. Its an explanation of an aspect of music, through music, and the idea is amazing, then you throw in that hardstyle beat and I'm sold. Head on over to here to pay a dollar for it on Bandcamp, or rip the song from Youtube, don't forget the hit the Monstercat Channel for the rest of the tracks.

"Music is the broth of the soup..."

3) Nerva & Kexx - Whoa (Final)

     Nerva & Kexx, not a duo I'm familiar with but thanks to Artdubz, I will be soon. I was linked by a friend to an amazing track earlier today, from there I hit the channel and was amazed by the amount of free dubstep and electro, that and every song had an amazing picture in place of a video. After searching through all the tracks and downloading all the songs I could, as well as any pieces of art that stood out, I went into the process of finding my favorite. My favorite picture could probably be guessed by anyone who knows my taste but my favorite track must be Whoa. The genius mix of drone like dubstep and hip hop got me quickly back into the racing seat, and the frequent tempo and style changes kept me guessing the time. Check it out and please head on over and subscribe to Artdubz, I'm sure it helps. If you're interested in more by Nerva head on over to his Soundcloud. 

     *Also because we hit three thousand page views today and I love you guys, heres the website of the model in the last video... you know... if you're into lingerie photo shoots or anything...

Hardcore Humpday 9 : Straight Line Stitch and War Of Ages

     A long time ago on a dreary winter's eve I set out with four friends to what is so far the concert of my life. We were headed out to Toronto to see Times Of Grace, I didn't even care who the starting bands were, and the annoyance of spending an hour wandering around aimlessly searching for the Mod Club quickly disappeared. Once the show started everything fell into place and it turned into one hell of a heavy night. So I thought I would share the best of the show, well besides the headlining Times Of Grace, save that for later.

     The second band of the night, after The Twin, was a band that completely destroyed any expectations I had, Straight Line Stitch. Four of the burliest men to ever shred guitar and break drumsticks walked out onto the stage, followed closely by a lithe Alexis Brown. The lights cut then flared blinding the crowd, the guitars cut in and Alexis started growling into the mic burning the lyrics into my mind, all the while thrashing all over the stage. Their set was absolutely phenomenal and if I remember correctly at the end a couple broken sticks were thrown into the crowd.

Straight Line Stitch - The Fight Of Our Lives

     Right from the get go this album is one hell of a neck breaker, there's nothing better than throwing on while cruising down the highway or in any situation that needs you at your best, cause they won't let you sleep. Although there is a Mediafire link above, I encourage you to follow suit and pay the money, I searched far and wide for it and you'd better believe its worth it.

     After SLS, I must admit I was tired, exhausted is a better word, the show had been draining so far, lots of head banging and fist pumping and all that, and judging from the mosh that still hadn't stopped the rest of the crowd loved it too. The next band that walked out onto the stage was War Of Ages, a five piece metal band from Erie, PA. They may not have looked like anything different when they walked on stage but once they laid it down the crowd was spinning. 

War Of Ages - Eternal

(Password = pop-to-core.blogspot.com)

     Quickly winning over the crowd and mixing the pit into a frenzy WOA were the perfect band to warm up for TOG. Their newest release, Eternal, is a adrenaline fueled thrill ride of an album if you want any of their earlier albums head here.

      We haven't even gotten the main event as it were and already I've had the time of my life, but Times Of Grace will have to wait for another day, hit the links above and love them as much as I do. Live long and rage hard.

Toxic Tuesday 13 : Evil Nine and The Qemists

     Electronic music has got to be the spice of life, I mean take any songs you hear today, on the radio, internet, or via schizophrenic transmissions, they all have elements of electro. But now that everything else sounds like techno, lets make techno sound like everything else.

     Hailing from Brighton, UK, Evil Nine, are what I imagine the future of electro to be. With a list of influences so long I couldn't even fathom reading them all Evil Nine are doing the opposite of all the reverse engineering happening in all todays popular music. I must admit it seems like there's nothing they can't incorporate into their songs, from disco/dance beats to top notch hip hop then back to Daft Punk-esque vocals with guitars too heavy to be in a dance production. This is music so smart even my parents like it. So strap on those shiny shoes and do what you normally do when no one is looking... dance is what I meant.

Evil Nine - They Live!

     You know that feeling when you hear a song and can't remember who its by? Good chance its by The Qemists, a three piece drum and bass, electro, dubstep, rock, grime band. I spent most of yesterday replaying their two albums recognizing almost every song and realizing although I had heard a lot of them a quick search of my itunes revealed nothing. I'm not sure what it is about Brighton it might as well be todays feature band producing factory. UK based and running with a record label from Montreal, Canada, Ninjatune. Their two albums, are chock full of everything you could every ask for so head on down to grab them and watch the video that encouraged me to do some digging. 

The Qemists - Join The Q

The Qemists - Spirit In The System