Kaospilot

In the early 2000's I started getting into screamo a bit.  Not long after, I started playing in a band full of recording snobs (and I mean that lovingly).  Screamo isn't particularly known for its production value so when I would try to show things like Song of Zarathustra or Yaphet Kotto to my bandmates it was quickly criticized, discredited, and disemboweled to the point that I didn't bother listening to it anymore.  Not because I was following a crowd, but mostly because I didn't have anyone to listen to it with, plus I probably (ignorantly) thought I wouldn't be able to translate those influences into what we were doing.  Like a college kid who starts buying Combos as munchies his first semester away because his parents would never allow him to have Combos as a snack at home (also me), now that those band members and I are separated I have once again started to indulge in stripped down abrasive screamo.  It's actually dominating my listening habits lately.

So maybe the recording elitism rubbed off on me a little bit because I'm not exactly delving in the stitched-jeans-held-together-by-patches-of-bands-nobody-has-ever-heard-of-gutter-punk version of crusty screamo.  No, I've kind of eased myself back in by finding a handful of bands that can still make car system speakers shake with thumping kick drums and rumbling bass rather than ear piercing feedback and/or static.  I know that's not very #PFR, but who cares?

I remember the Kaospilot name from my waning years of screamo interest and thought I had heard a few songs through the legendary Level-Plane record label, whom they released a handful of material including a split with screamo giants Neil Perry.  Anything I had heard previously most likely ended up on their 2006 Diskografi (oh, yeah, they're from Norway).  This time, though, I was steered towards their 2008 LP Shadows.  It's still of the noisy screamo variety, but with the aforementioned rumbling and thumping.  There's plenty of dissonant staccato chaos and straightened out rides, but this time it's backed by a fuller more menacing low end.  It's a lot like Off Minor, but with some thicker more lush recordings and the vocals are similar to Scandinavian brethren Refused and Lack.

www.myspace.com/kosepilot

Where They Started: 2001's For Your Safety 7" (?)

Where You Should Start: Shadows is easily the superior recording, but I also believe the songs are more thought out and better written than previous material.  If you like it then check out Diskografi as it has everything else Kaosplilot ever did.  If you're more of a screamo purist then definitely start out with Diskografi.

Songs:

Band of the... whatever: Shapes

Let's try going with impulsive.  If I can't immediately overreact with music that's new to me then I feel like what's left of my impetuous anticynical youth will perish and my transformation to bitter old man will be complete.  Seriously, new music is like my brand new toy on Christmas day or, if I were a credulous college co-ed, my new set of Hello Kitty key chains.  I'll play (with) it for days, but, in my advanced years, by the time I'm ready to show it off to my friends I'm either over it or worried that they have had that toy for months or even years.  Then I'm just the nerdy poor kid bringing a bucket to the sandbox while everyone else is playing with their Star Wars figurines.  Or worse, I make a reference to my 80's childhood Star Wars toys when everyone else is globally interconnected playing The Old Republic.  So we're gonna stop with the second guessing, the over analyzing, and the "will this be relevant?"  Who cares  It's blog.  I'll be like the rest of you who post another person's thoughts or images and reblog faster than a lonely match.com spinster refreshing her inbox (yeah, you can take it that way, too).  I'll be impulsive.

So, let's get impulsive with Shapes.  From Birmingham, UK, Shapes started off as an aggressive math rock band with quite of bit of shout-alongs mixed in among the buried, and most of the time absent, singing.  They focused more on the loud and sometimes disjointed rhythms of technical indie music.  They had that kind of Dischord Records feel going with the tones of Fugazi and the technicality of Faraquet.

On their second record, The Pasture, The Oil, Shapes looked to beef it up and tech it out some more even taking a page right out of The Fall of Troy's playbook.  Actually, the slightly ugly truth about Shapes is I could exhaustively list bands that they sound like, but they never let any of their influences fester around long enough to allow themselves to be deemed copy-cats.  They're more of an amalgamation of technical aggression that sounds strangely familiar while still maintaining some freshness.  It's never quite clear what direction they're about to swerve towards so if their music doesn't allow you to tap your foot or nod your head for an extended period of time then at least Shapes keeps the listener guessing.  With this release, they also moved the vocals up in the mix though they are still sparsely used.

With their latest effort, Monotony Chic, they take a more conventional approach to heavy rock music.  The technicality and speedy spastic changes are still there, but they also play with a little bit of space.  On this record, Shapes sound like they are dragging their guitars through the mud creating a dirtier and slower version of themselves.  It's similar to that underground Louisville rock sound, specifically Young Widows.  This style allows for more layers and fleshed out songwriting ideas rather than sledding down the Matterhorn hoping the next line they jump to continues the flailing journey rather than bringing it to a messy and abrupt ending.  Another interesting addition are the lower cleanly sung vocals which add even more depth to their new rock 'n roll leanings.

weareshapes.tumblr.com
facebook.com/weareshapes
weareshapes.bandcamp.com
bsmrocks.com

Where They Started: 2008's Get Your Learn On

 Where You Should Start: The Pasture, The Oil is probably the most interesting musically, especially technically, but Monotony Chic shows a lot of growth and is the most accessible.  It'd be a coin flip if all of their material wasn't available for streaming on bandcamp.

Time for Some Songs: