Twin Shadow

Some real, deep-space, lo-fi shit right here.  Yeah, lo-fi (or pop in general*) and I rarely get along well, so this is all a bit new to me.  This guy is super hipster, but his beats are so fresh.  Been jamming out to his LP everyday for almost a week now.  Its titled Forget.  It is streaming on his webpage.  Really laid back.  So very good, if you like this kind of stuff that is.  Very 80s sounding.  Below are two music videos.  Watch both, because each are quite different, tones of the two songs aside, even.  Also, there's a link to a review down there.  It explains his music better than I could.

"Castles in the Snow"

"Slow"

myspace

WEBSITE

album review

*self reassuring lies

Hate

Hate is a hardcore band from Chicago.  Rough, raspy vocals.  Get all three of their demos off their myspace (each of which I have listened to at least 10 times).  Other than that, they do have a 7" (Crimes, and it has three tracks).  The track "Fight Privilege" off Demo II is by far one of my favorites.  Such a driving song.  But its all good.  Damn.  Tight tunes.


HATE HATE HATE

Midwest Pen Pals

One of my favorite emo groups. From Indiana. It's dead though  :(

They've got six songs on their EP titled Inside Jokes.  Its pretty much everywhere.  Including their myspace!  But as far as I know, they also have a couple demo songs too.

Myspace (Listen to "Austin's House")

their outdated tumblr

this is somewhat relevant (and ignorant)...

Piglet

A dead math-rock band from Chicago.  Required listening for fans of the genre.  One release titled Lava Land. Very easy to find.  Get it!


"Bugstomp"

Megabats

I'm probably not going to mention stuff like this ever again (if not, then not too often).  But anyhow,  in researching this group (what little research I do happen to do), I first found this.  Then I was like "shit, this is awesome, this group is named after giant fucking bats".  Then I started reading about the animal and found its name is like an oxymoron depending on what type of megabat it is.  But who cares, right?  Whatever.  Megabats is an electronic group from Washington state.  Electronic in lieu of the ambient/psychedelic/drone category, but I'm just calling it minimalist.  Not typically my kind of stuff.  It's alright. This music is made by two guys who use a Korg synthesizer game for the Nintendo DS.


megaspace

this is irrelevant

...but the second half of season 4 starts this upcoming Sunday.

Minor Threat

Minor Threat is a classic and highly influential hardcore band from the Washington DC area, active during some of hardcore's greatest years (80 to 83).  There's already a shitton of things that have already been said about this miraculous group, so I will just tell you my personal experience with their music.  First off, when I originally listened to it I was maybe my last year of high school.

It gave me a really bad headache, I fucking hated it and I was driving at the time, so I didn't feel much like putting up with it.  About a year or so later, it was safe to say that this music has changed the way I see all music in general.  Sound-wise, it sounds terrible.  The guitar distortion combined with the recording quality sounds like chainsaws.  Layer that with a 19 year old kid yelling over it, and it really doesn't sound too good at first.  Or even at the second or third listen.  It took me a while.  All the songs really sounded the same to me early on, but are now so varied and unique.  I love every tune by this band.  (Note: their discography collection doesn't have all of their music.  They also have a demo tape, with different recordings of some songs.  There's also several bootleg live sets out there.)

wikipedia

myspace tribute page

an excellent page with lots of info, old articles, and very insightful interviews with band members (this is a bit better than the wiki page, to be honest)

Peter and Craig

Just two good pals making some fun, positive punk. Thats about it. Pretty DIY. Listen to their Summer EP (a part of their 7" series based on each season, but only Spring and Summer are out yet :P). Being that summer is coming to an end, its a relevant listen. Check out "Lets Go Surfing" and "Air Conditioning" on their myspace. Those songs are from Summer. Also, there's this song called "I'm a Seagull". Its written from the perspective of a seagull (of course!) and how the seagull is going to steal your pretzel and shit on your family.

Aside from their tentative season 7" concept series, they have three splits and a 7".

myspace!

I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism In Your Yearbook

Also known as: iwrotehaikusaboutcannibalisminyouryearbook.  Fun band name for a fun band.  Screamo from Cali.  Broken up a while ago.   

Their discography has about 21 songs or so.  95% of which are untitled.  If you interested, listen to more than just a couple of songs on their myspace.  Ex members of this now play with the likes of Punch, Who Calls So Loud, and Beau Navire.


myspacccccce