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:

Band of the Week - Rinoa

When I started Scrape and Scatter there were a handful of bands that I wanted to share right from the beginning.  I don't think I've even gotten through half of them.  Rinoa was definitely on the shortlist and since this (ugh) "blog" has been going they've broken up and started various other bands in different genres.  Well screw it, they're still good enough to talk about.

From a cursory glance at the track lengths on An Age Among Them and the atmospheric intro on the first song you could guess that Rinoa would have a lot in common with bands like Isis.  While there are some similarities between Rinoa and post-metal, especially repetition, they also have the straight ahead simplicity of a band like Will Haven.  Throw in some unexpected melody and it kind of sounds like if Will Haven had some assistance from fellow Sacto native Stephen Carpenter of Deftones writing guitar parts for them.  Now "straight ahead," "simplistic," and "repetitious" may sound slightly boring, but where Rinoa cast that assumption aside is with unpredictable chord progressions which isn't an easy feat when most of their songs are in a 4/4 time signature.  The vocals and song structure are akin to that of Japanese screamo legends Envy.  Don't worry, for once this English remake isn't a watered down version of the Japanese original.  If there is one complaint it's that the vocals can be a little too monotone.  I'm not saying that they needed to be trite and "pretty" or mainstream, but it could be argued that the melodic parts suffered from a lack of vocal variance (though I think they're just fine).

www.facebook.com/pages/Rinoa/99207468097

(new projects)
www.facebook.com/ancientsmusicuk
www.facebook.com/pages/Perry-Bryan/168396109906634
www.facebook.com/wearehospitals

Where They Began: 2008's Self Titled EP

Where You Should Begin: An Age Among Them, the only full length from Rinoa is definitely the way to go, but the self titled EP is worth picking up if only for the song "Atlantis."  If you want to round out the catalog the only other release they have is a split with Bossk which contains a track that wasn't released on the EP or LP.

Essential Song: This is what I believe to be their best song, but about 2 minutes are cut from it I guess to make the music video more accessible


Essential Live Video:

Band of the Week - Capsule

Miami's punk/hardcore scene is incestuous.  I mean, I assume most cities' are, but Miami especially.  This guy was in this band with his brother who was also in this band with these 2 other guys who started out in some band that was really popular in South Florida and was friends with that band on Victory back when they were releasing relevant records and they used to tour together and they probably should have toured more.  Well, actually, that band recently broke up and the two brothers are in different bands, but I think at least one of those bands shares a member of the brothers' band, or maybe all the members are in both bands except the brothers.  Wait, maybe the one brother isn't in it or maybe it's his cousin and he's in like three other bands all with each ex-member of that grind and/or sludge band... anyway, they just formed 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure Robotic Empire is putting out their 7" they haven't written yet and I think they're playing a ten song set tomorrow.

6 years of living in Miami and this is how I felt at just about every local show I went to.  Some of the members of Capsule were mentioned above, but I have no clue which.  I do know I have had some interaction with each member; guitarist/vocalist Colin Smith played guitar/drums/bass in countless bands including some my old band played shows with; no matter what band Ryan Haft has been in I have always admired his guitar playing and thought of him as one of the most innovative guitar players in the Miami scene.  Kind of why I thought it was criminal that he was playing bass in Capsule, but he's since been moved to guitar; drummer, well, now bassist/vocalist Eric Hernandez even played at my (dead) band's CD release party and has also filled in on drums for both Torche and Kyelsa; and newest addition, live drummer Alex De Renzis played drums for Adore Miridia (whose shows I frequented) and a slew of other bands.  Alex also ran a weekly themed night at a bar that my friends and I would go to almost every week.  What they all have in common other than being in Capsule (and the first paragraph) is that they all probably don't know who the heck I am.

Sorry for the digression.  On to what they sound like.  Although Capsule is the band of the week this is really more of a focus on their latest release No Ghost, but since I don't really do album reviews here we are.  Not that Capsule's past releases aren't similar, quite the contrary, but this just happens to be the newest one.  If it's a screamo (please read "origins...") record it's by far the heaviest screamo record I've ever heard.  If it's a post-hardcore record, again, heaviest post-hardcore record I've ever heard.  If it's metal?  Well, they still hold their weight.  This band almost never slows down.  Constant angular technical riffs against relentless pounding drums ala Lifetime of Gray Skies-era Anodyne, and thick pulverizing bass, the latter being the final blow that makes you feel like the gravity has been quadrupled.  I say "almost never slows down" because there are tracks like "Isn't Us" or the completely instrumental final song "_" that do alter the pacing.  "Isn't Us" is definitely one of the heaviest songs on the album and provides some head-nod inducing grooves.  The vocals are a gruff singing/yelling, kind of like a mixture of Hot Water Music and KEN Mode.  Actually, Capsule does kind of sound like if KEN Mode recruited The Fall of Troy guitarist and asked him to take the bubble gum out of his riffs.

www.facebook.com/CapsuleRock
capsuleband.blogspot.com/

Where they started: 2008's Blue (I think)

Where you should start: Well, since most of this entry was inspired by No Ghost that would be my suggestion.  Blue is a good second release to get by them and the split with Furnace is another fine couple of songs.  I'd hold off on diving into the self titled release until you know you're a fan.

Essential Song: Actually, you can sample a good chunk of the record through this player.


Essential Live Video: Why not a full set?

Band of the Week - Pilot This Plane Down

Ever wondered how/why Examination of the... went from their chaotic screamo stylings to the more Neurosis laden The Whitest of Elephants?  Me neither, but Pilot This Plane Down could serve as the perfect non-linear missing link.  Before I confuse you, I'm not saying either band share any members or anything like that.  The common denominators here are experimental ambient screamo and slow crushing meanderings.  PTPD just manages to blend them all on to one record(s). Whether it's building a 20 some-odd minute song (Airs EP), or separating the ambient tracks from the structured songs (Glory of the World LP) Pilot This Plane Down quickly and noisily attack before paralyzing you with the lulling ambiance only so they can drag you down and stuff you under a rock. Every song weaves into each other so well and after getting bombarded by a song like "Conquest," the bleed into the softer sung, prettier "Decline" is seamless.  Don't get caught napping or scratching your noodle asking "how did we get here?" because you will be knocked on your butt wondering where your socks went.

www.facebook.com/pilotthisplanedown

Where they started: 2004's Airs

Where you should start: Glory of the World is just the more complete record as well as having the better quality recordings.  Airs forces you to listen to the whole EP (seeing as it is just one song) whereas GOTW's songs can stand on their own, but you kind of want to listen to the record as a whole anyway.

Essential Song (aka only one I could find, but still a good one):

Although these guys haven't released anything in almost 3 years, there have been rumblings of new material being written and shows being played.  Also, member(s?) of Pilot This Plane Down were in a band called Day of Less whose contributors have gone on to form Gaza and Bird Eater among other Salt Lake City bands.