Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust

01 - Bound To Be That Way
02 - A With Living
03 - The Universe!
04 - A Tender History In Rust
05 - Herstory Of Glory
06 - You, You're Awesome
07 - Executioner Blues
08 - In Mind


It’s been four years now since Do Make Say Think released their critically acclaimed album inter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn in 2003 and many of us have been wondering if one of the corner stones of modern post-rock can punch out yet another terrific record.

The subject of much anticipation is Do Make Say Think’s latest effort, You, You’re A History In Rust, which gets the ball rolling with some textbook Do Make Say Think style of jazzy post-rock on the first track "Bound To Be That Way." The second track, "A With Living" is the "Fredericia" of You, You’re A History In Rust and likewise, it is an absolute gem. However, unlike the enormous jazziness of "Fredericia" the highlight of "A With Living" is the soulful vocals, which comes as a surprise because Do Make Say Think is definitely not known for their vocals, or lack there of actually.

But, no reason to be alarmed, Do Make Say Think has nowhere near abandoned their jazzy background as is evident on the next track "The Universe!" which sounds like a jazzy Broken Social Scene. However, track four, "A Tender History In Rust", is devoid of nearly all-things-Do Make Say Think, and sounds reminiscent of an Iron and Wine song, minus the vocals. But again, no reason to be alarmed, "A Tender History In Rust" is an absolute beauty.

As the record progresses, the sound of the new Do Make Say Think all comes together and in all actuality is much like the old Do Make Say Think. Lots of jazz influence, a higher dosage of folkiness, and the constant spacey experimentation on You, You’re A History In Rust show us that Do Make Say Think has definitely shaken off any rust people thought they may have acquired during their four year absence.

Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone

01 - The Birth And Death Of The Day
02 - Welcome, Ghosts
03 - It's Natural To Be Afraid
04 - What Do You Go Home To?
05 - Catastrophe And The Cure
06 - So Long, Lonesome


The world has long been anticipating a new album from Explosions In The Sky ever since they changed the landscape of Post-Rock with their 2003 release The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Since then, many bands have tried to emulate the sound of EITS, but the majority have failed. However, with the rising popularity of Post-Rock over the past few years and the hibernation of its early artists, many new bands such as Yndi Halda, The Samuel Jackson Five, and Gregor Samsa have emerged as the frontrunners of the new Post-Rock era. With All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone Explosions In The Sky show that they are still the among the elite, not only of Post-Rock, but of music in general.

All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone is Explosions In The Sky’s fourth full-length record and on it they bring much of the usual. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When you’re Explosions In The Sky and your last album is considered one of the greatest albums of the decade, more of the same is still better than 95% of music out there. However, that being said, All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone does bring a few new things to the table.

Prior to All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone EITS released a short little EP called The Rescue on which they experimented heavily, and this experimentation, though much more subdued, carries its way onto their new album. The major new element found on All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone is the addition of a piano to their traditional rock quartet, which adds a much more eerie element not found on their previous works, especially to the intro of the 13 minute track "It’s Natural To Be Afraid."

Another slight deviation is the return to a heavier drum sound similar to their second album Those Who Tell The Truth... This is most evident on the monolithic crescendo of the opening track "The Birth And Death Of The Day", which might be EITS's best song ever. Also, the closing track "So Long, Lonesome", with its gorgeous piano playing and closing hovering drum beat, is without a doubt EITS's best song ever under 4 minutes in length.

The only major fault found on All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone is that it does not convey a certain mood as well as The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. It sounds a bit choppy and more like a collection of incredibly good songs, as opposed to sounding like one beautiful 45 minute piece.

With all this being said, All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone is still a beautiful record which everyone should bear witness to.

Jesu - Conqueror

01 - Conqueror
02 - Old Year
03 - Transfigure
04 - Weightless And Horizontal
05 - Medicine
06 - Brighteyes
07 - Mother Earth
08 - Stanlow

According to The Great Impact Theory, a planetesimal the size of Mars collided with the proto-Earth, ejecting large volumes of matter into space which eventually condensed to form the Moon in orbit around the Earth. Similarly, when shoegaze collided with doom metal, the impact resulted in the formation of Jesu, the frontrunner of the so-called “doomgazer” movement.

Jesu’s first release, Jesu, was a monolithic record consisting of abrasive industrial doom metal blended together with dreamy shoegaze that resulted in a heavy buzzfest that overstayed its welcome after 25 minutes of its 75 minute span.

However, Jesu’s second release Silver was truly remarkable. The crunchy, abrasive instrumentation of Jesu was traded in for an extra dosage of shoegaze, resulting in a pop music unheard of before. A type of pop music that was able to get indie kids and metalheads agreeing with one another for once. A key factor to Silver being such an effective record was its length - clocking in at only 28 minutes, the record ended before it could ever get boring or repetitive, leaving the listener in awe and craving for more.

After hearing Silver, my expectations for Jesu’s next release were massive. I honestly believed that Conqueror was going to be a genre defying record - a record that would change the landscape of music and become the Loveless of our generation. Unfortunately, this was far from being the case.

Like Jesu, Conqueror is another full-length from Jesu. On Conqueror, Jesudisposes of almost everything that made them interesting. Gone are the gloomy sludge and pounding raucous of Jesu. Gone is the dreamy shoegaze reminiscent of Slowdive on Silver. In return, we have a slow brooding dirge from start to finish.

What made Silver so interesting was its ability to form a cohesive whole by combining not only different styles of music, but different song structures. No two songs on Silver sounded the same. However, on Conqueror, almost all the songs follow the same formula: start out a little heavy, follow it by one line of vocals repeated to infinity, a synth or piano interlude, and repeat on high. If this pattern was executed in a less monotonous manner, this record would have been more interesting. However, this album is simply nothingness. No emotions are stirred. No thoughts are provoked. Nothing happens for 60 minutes.

With all this said, Conqueror does have a few redeeming qualities. Ironically, one of them is the fact that nothing happens. Conqueror is a record that you can put in the background and not devote your attention to. Though it fails to immerse the listener into its nothingness like Stars of the Lid, it floats around quite majestically.

There are also a few standout tracks on Conqueror: "Brighteyes," "Weightless & Horizontal," and "Mother Earth." Though they’re all quite formulaic, they are executed really well. If Conqueror consisted only of these songs I would have thoroughly enjoyed it and been anticipating their next album to be something special.

Which leaves me at this: if Conqueror was fledgling band’s first effort, I would have been left with the impression that this band had tremendous potential and that they were going to be making some really special music in years to come. Instead, Conqueror is merely an album by a band that has become a shadow of its former self and can no longer conquer its audience.

We Flood Empty Lakes

Todd Burns is a fucking douchebag.

Proof

The reason why Todd Burns is a fucking idiot is not because he trashed albums I love. No. It's because he is the definitive definition of "hipster". Look up "hipster" in Webster's dictionary and you will find a picture of Todd Burns.

Here is one reason why:

Of all the reviews Burns has done, he has reviewed albums by two emo bands: Envy and Circle Takes The Square (both of which are undoubtably the two most popular emo bands out today).

It's obvious from this alone that emo is not a genre he is well-informed about, yet he still decides to write reviews on them.

Hipster rule number 1: Try to show that you know about every genre out there.

Secondly, when he reviews these two bands, he does a terrible job at it.

Burns gave Envy's "Insomniac Doze", a snoozefest Mono rip-off, a 'B' and touts them as "crafting a new genre", yet failing to realize that City of Caterpillar pulled this off back in 2002 and is really the band that should be credited to "crafting a new genre" of post-rock influenced emo.

However, Burns gave CTTS's "As The Roots Undo" a 'C', claiming that CTTS couldn't figure out who they wanted to ape more: The Blood Brothers, Envy, or Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Bar having somewhat spasdic vocals, neither Blood Brothers nor CTTS should ever be compared to one another. They sound NOTHING alike. Also, how is CTTS apeing off The Blood Brothers if CTTS's first release, which is like a mini-"As The Roots Undo", was released in 2001 and The Blood Brother's "Adultery is Ripe" was only released one year before that? CTTS likely didn't even know who The Blood Brothers were when they crafted the backbone of their sound.

And again, if CTTS is apeing off anybody in their genre, it's City of Caterpillar. Not Envy. CTTS and Envy have nothing in common other than being dubbed the title "post-rock influenced emo".

Hipster rule number 2: NAMEDROP!!!

In the reviews of Yndi Halda and Laura, Burns makes the most absurd statement I've ever read in a music article, which states:

"There’s no shortage of bands shamelessly working towards filling the enormous hole that Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s demise left in the post-rock landscape. Most of them are rank amateurs. (This Will Destroy You, dreamend, the Ascent of Everest, Gifts from Enola, the Workhouse, Souvenir's Young America: pack it up and go home, dudes, Efrim will take the violins at the door."

Anyone who knows post-rock well will find this statement to be ridiculously hilarious. Has this guy even ever heard The Workhouse or Gifts From Enola? Because no one in their right mind who has heard those two bands would draw a comparison to GY!BE. That's just ridiculous.

Burns is obviously either mentally challenged or namedropping for the sake of trying to earn credibility.

Another ridiculous statement by Burnsy:

"The production is great as well—something that very often goes unremarked upon by post-rock enthusiasts. "

Umm, this man does realize "the rich history of DIY and desire to gravitate away from the overproduced rock sound" (Jordan Volz) by post-rock bands, right??

All-in-all, Todd Burns is not completely a moron. He has written some nice reviews.

However, dear Mr. Burns, please do not write reviews regarding genres that you don't know much about. - yours truly, Armand