The Black Dahlia Murder

Long time no update! Was recently notified that one person had actually been here a few times since I started (and pretty soon thereafter forgot about) this blog. So I felt kind of motivated to keep it going.

The last few days me and my bandmates have been getting pumped for the Metaltown festival next year. The first reason for this was that they announced System of a Down. Soon thereafter they announced The Black Dahlia Murder, and I pretty much pissed my pants. I've been a small-scale fan of TBDM since around 2006, but didn't really get into them until maybe 2008.

It's kind of hard to say what it is about TBDM that gets to me. I mean, there are loads of bands that make music that sounds kind of the same, but I usually don't like their music, and for some reason I fucking love everything the Black Dahlia Murder have done. Maybe it has something to do with how they don't take themselves too seriously, and still make music that's serious enough to respect. Maybe it's because most of their music is so fucking complex and their guitar-playing is so catchy. Whatever the reason, theyre an incredible band, and I highly recommend them.

Songs to listen to:

Miasma, Statutory Ape, What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, Elder Misanthropy.

Also, if you get the time, check out their documentary 'Majesty'. You can see the whole thing on youtube, and its the best band documentary I've ever seen. Funny as hell, and just makes you want to go on tour.

Peace!

/woody

Cult of Luna

Cult of Luna is a band that I've listened a shitload to ever since William Hesseldahl, the guitarrist in my band, first gave me a memory stick with the album 'Somewhere Along the Highway' as a going away present back before I moved to Belgium (from where I ultimately moved back after a month, but we didn't know that at the time). I had heard Cult of Luna before then, but only a few songs (though I listened quite a lot to those few songs), but I didn't really get into them until I started listening to 'Somewhere Along the Highway'. It became and has stayed one of my favorite albums of all time.

Cult of Luna play a sort of mix between post-rock, metal indie and hardcore, with some (but not a lot at all) synthesizers. The songs are long and usually slow, and centered around repetition. They make great use of intensity and have a great raw sound, extremely powerful music.

Cult Of Luna – Finland

Cult Of Luna – And With Her Came The Birds (this song is pretty different from their other songs, but its one of my favorites by them)

Peace,

Woody

Defeater

So I just found out about this band around 2 weeks ago, through Anthony DiDio, on his facebook page (credit when credit is due!). I just started listening, and was thoroughly impressed. But it wasn't until I listened through the whole album 'Lost Ground' (of which you can see the cover above), while reading the lyrics that I truly started to appreciate them. The way this album is put together lyrically, and the way it tells a story of a kid who goes to war and how his life turns out after getting home with a medal of honor, is just incredible. I love it when bands within a normally pretty unsophisticated genre (such as hardcore) handle themes from the past, or when they just reflect a general knowledge, emotion and passion thats more intellectual than most other bands in the genre... Great stuff. So if you have 40 minutes to spare, be sure to get your hands on this album and listen through it from start to finish, while reading the lyrics on the side; you wont be disappointed.

Defeater – The Red, White And Blues (first track off this awesome album)

Here's the link to the myspace blog where the full lyrics for the album can be found, including the notes between the songs, that give you more perspective on the whole situation:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=39374562&blogId=520951948

Enjoy!

Peace,

Woody

PsyOpus

PsyOpus is a matchore/technical grindcore band from New York. I've listened to them for a while, and they're probably the biggest technical mindfuck I've ever heard. Their guitarist Chris Arp (also the only member that has been in the band since it started), plays guitar in a way that I've never seen anyone play. Their music is some of the hardest (both angriest and hardest to play), most insane shit ever created, and I highly recommend them if you're into any for of modern grindcore, or if you're just a music nerd. Here's some of their shit:

Psyopus – The Pig Keeperis Daughter (mistagged on spotify, it's supposed to be 'Keeper's')

Psyopus – Imogenis Puzzle pt 2 (an instrumental song, pretty much just Chris showing off, but extremely well-written)

Psyopus – The Burning Halo (a song off their latest album, 'Odd Senses')

Peace!

/woody

Chet Baker

Chet Baker. Famous Amercian jazz-trumpet player. I'm not sure what song he was most famous for, but pretty much everything I've heard by him is really something special. I should be clear though: I'm pretty selective about my jazz. I have a lot of trouble listening to anything comprising of more instruments than a trio, since that usually means big-band-style jazz, which I am NOT down with.

The main thing about Chet Bakers music is that he has a really special way with his instrument. Before Chet, I always saw the trumpet as an ear-splitting instrument, and always thought it was sort of an uncomfortable audio experience (and I should know, I used to play the trumpet). But when Chet plays it, it sounds like the most careful and sympathetic instrument in the world. Another thing about Chet is that his voice is really special. It's not particularly good per se, but there's something interesting and compassionate about it..

Anyways, I'm too tired to be trying to write this right now anyways, so I'll leave you with a couple of spotify links:

Chet Baker – My Funny Valentine

Chet Baker – The Thrill Is Gone

There are some songs that arent on spotify, such as 'If You Could See Me Now' (the version where he plays and sings over a guitar), and the song 'Almost Blue', among others. Just look round, If you appreciate jazz at all you should love it.

Peace

/woody

Converge

Converge is an old hardcore/metal band from massachusetts, started in 1990. I don't want to give you their whole backstory, but there's a pretty good description on their wikipedia page. Coonverge is one of those bands that has always kind of been around, but that I didn't start really listen to until about two years ago. I had listened to a few songs quite a lot, and when they released their album 'Axe to Fall' I decided to go buy it and listen to it, since it got great reviews and everyone spoke really highly about it. I thought the album was amazing, especially some of the songs (such as 'Dark Horse' and 'wretched world', the latter featuring Steve von Trill from Neurosis). After that I started listening more to their other albums and just really connected with their music. I haven't listened enough to them to be able to say what albums are great and which albums are less great, and everything I've listened to so far has been amazing.

Also, I went and saw them play about a month ago (with Gaza opening up, a FUCKING AWESOME grindcore-ish band, incredibly cool live). The Converge show was one of the best I've been to. The venue was kind of small, and the vibe was totally boston-hardcore.. Stagedives and shit all the time. After the show Jake just stayed on stage, shaking everybodys hands, so I decided to go up and shake his hand and thank him for the show. When I finally managed to grab his hand he just looked me into the eyes and gave the most sincere thank you to me for being at the show, and it was a fucking awesome experience... Just the fact that a singer of such an influential band can stay so down to earth, and be such a nice guy... A true role-model, for anyone.

Anyways I'm late for university, check them out, they're fucking great, and if they come by your town make sure to check them out!

I'm not gonna post any links, just find them on spotify!

Peace!

/woody

Dave Matthews / Dave Matthews Band

When I was a little kid, my dad used to always play Dave Matthews Band around the house, and though I liked it, I never really listened to the music in itself.. Until about 2-3 years ago. To be honest, I've mostly listened to Dave's solo album 'Some Devil' (one of my all-time favorite albums EVER). But he's made some INCREDIBLE music with his band... The musicianship involved is just awe-inspiring, and the way these guys play together just makes me never want to touch an instrument or ever write another song, just because I know it'll never be as good. The 'Some Devil' album is probably the album that sparks my emotions the most, especially the song 'Stay Or Leave' (a song that I related to very personally due to events in my own life). I also had the privilege of seeing DMB in Belgium when they were there, and it was probably the best show I've ever been to, musically speaking.. Insane. The next music-related tattoo I get done will probably be some sort of tribute to Dave.

There isn't too much to be heard by them on spotify (although their live album 'Europe 2009' is great!!!), so I'm just going to leave you with a couple of recommendations of songs that you should listen to, and some links to whatever youtube uploads featuring the songs I manage to find:

'Stay Or Leave' (off Dave's solo album 'Some Devil')

'Ants Marching' (off 'Under the Table and Dreaming', DMB's debut album)

DMB does a live cover of 'All Along the Watchtower'... One of the best covers ever made of any song ever. If you don't appreciate this... well... I dont know, bad stuff should happen to you.

If you have some time to listen to an INCREDIBLE saxophone solo:

Dave Matthews Band – # 41 Europe

Hope you enjoy it!

Peace

/woody

Morphine

Morphine is a band that I started listening to through my mom way back in the day when I was around 9 or 10. A three-piece from Massachusetts, this band started back in 1989. The band was fronted by Mark Sandman, who played two string bass (usually with a slide), Dana Colley played all forms of saxophone and other instruments, and the band switched drummers a few times.

For me the music morphine made is best described as 'the kind of music you would imagine hearing in a smoky bar in Chicago, when its raining outside'. And yeah I know, that's an extremely subjective thing to say, but from my perspective thats what it sounds like. Incredibly awesome saxophone solos, smooth basslines, and Marks voice was something special.

Morphine – Buena

Peace

/woody

The Number 12 Looks Like You

The Number 12 Looks Like You was a mathcore-band from New Jersey. Theyve released 4 official full-length albums, and one EP. Personally I think their best album (if I have to choose one) is 'Put On Your Rosy Red Glasses', followed closely by their second album 'Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear.'. That being said, everything except the last album, 'Worse Than Alone' was perfect to me. If you havent heard them before, #12 are famous for alternating brutal grindcore parts with extremely technical parts, and then separating them with jazz interludes. Its fun for the whole family. Sort of.

Only two of their albums are up on spotify (the two last albums), so Ill add a link to one of my favorites off the album 'Mongrel'. But I recommend getting your hands on their older stuff, especially songs like 'Civeta Dei', 'An Aptly Fictional Description' and 'If These Bullets Could Talk'.

The Number 12 Looks Like You – Paper Weight Pigs

Peace

/woody

Deftones

(Above: my turquoise 'White Pony' tattoo)

Later on in this blog, when I start to get into some kind of blogging routine, I'm going to start posting albums instead of artists, but since I'm starting with my favorites, I'll just recommend the artists as a whole for now.

Deftones. I dont really know what to say about them. Listening to them is for me just an out of body experience, there's just something incredible about the spectrum of emotions that they portray with the music that just gets to me. Its dreamy enough to take you away, but still down to earth enough to keep you listening to the details, and at times hard enough to make you want to smash your face into a mirror.

The albums I'll recommend are all of their albums except 'Saturday Night Wrist' (not because its a BAD album, but because according to me all their other album are much better).

Heres a link to a Deftones classic, probably their most famous, and one of my favorites:

Deftones – Change - In The House Of Flies LP Version

Peace

/woody

Sage Francis

My first music post. I share the man I probably consider my favorite hip hop artist/poet in the world, Sage Francis. He has released a shitload of albums, b-sides, mixtapes, freestyles etc etc.. The ones I primarily want to recommend to you are the following:

A Healthy Distrust

Personal Journals (unfortunately not on spotify)

Human the Death Dance

I recommend these albums in their entirety, so just listen to them, and enjoy. Sage Francis uses a lot of obscure cultural references to all kinds of things, a whole bunch of absurdism, some political statements, and just an overall amazing way with words... Worth a listen, he's one of my all-time favorite artists.

Here's a spotify link to one of my favorite songs by him, 'Slow Down Ghandi':

Sage Francis – Slow Down Gandhi

And here's a song from his latest album, incredible.

Sage Francis – The Best of Times

peace,

/woody

Mission Statement

Hey

I started this blog to share with you the artists, songs and albums that inspire me. I categorize the posts into genres to the best of my abilities. I do this even though I myself do not approve of genre-specification, except for the purpose of archiving to make it easier for you guys to find what you're looking for.

That's all I've got for now, enjoy yourselves!

/woody