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:

Von Wolfe

Mitch Hedberg once said (or probably repeated the joke many times, actually), "Because of acid I now know that butter is way better than margarine.  I saw through the bullshit."  Now, I'm not suggesting the guys in Von Wolfe are on acid, but if they were it would make sense because they have drafted up a blueprint of bullshitless southern hardcore that is more honest, soulful, and heavier than the trendy song and dance acts of similar sounding bands.

When most think southern tinged metallic hardcore there's most likely going to be an echo of Every Time I Die riffs bouncing across ear drums.  That's definitely an accurate comparison as Von Wolfe is a very riff heavy band with a noticeable twang. The difference (other than actually being from the south) is Von Wolfe channels a more traditional hardcore influence rather than Lynyrd Skynyrd making out with Poison the Well in an I-10 rest stop stall.  There's not any singing or any attempt to water down the metallic riffs so that they'd feel comfortable floating down the Chattooga River like Maylene.  No, Von Wolfe's brand of hardcore is more along the lines of pissed off bands like Cursed, or some of the straightened out moments of Converge.  The vocals are also a bit on the Cursed side and have that overdriven coarse scream of fellow southerner Josh Scogin of The Chariot.

Their debut EP, Life's a Beach, is fast, heavy, relentless and very well recorded.  Sure there's some breakdowns and a couple of two-step moments, but nothing that feels trite or worn out.  There isn't much on the record that strays from their formula, but with only an EP's worth of material it doesn't get old and requires a few extra spins to indulge in the havoc (listen to it below).

www.facebook.com/vonwolfefl
vonwolfe.bandcamp.com/

Let's Talk About Noisecore

Noisecore is like a less refined (in a good way) version of tech metal and also similar to metalcore, but without any of the breakdowns or singing choruses (soooo, early metalcore).  The first noisecore record I had ever heard was Deadguy's Screamin' with the Deadguy Quintet.  After the departure of Tim Singer and Keith Huckins, Deadguy's sound took on a faster more dissonant off-beat direction (perhaps because of the addition of Jim Baglino from Human Remains) and also Pops' vocals were far more screechy and less intelligible than Tim Singer's angry yells.  Though, I'm sure there were some really good noisecore records before this, Screamin'... is a good barometer to measure current noisy bands against.  Some other noisier bands from the late 90's early 00's included Burnt by the Sun (also boasting Human Remains alumn), Anodyne, and Playing Enemy.  It was about that time that Calculating Infinity really took off and As the Sun Sets second album that featured shorter grindier songs came out.  As a result, bands that may have headed in the noisecore direction gravitated more towards tech metal or pseudo-grind.  I bring this up because in the past year or so I have heard of a few newer bands that tackle the noisecore sound with the caustic nostalgia of the turn of the century.

Kiss the Sky Goodbye
I've heard rumors that Baltimore, Maryland is grimy and dirty and kind of dangerous.  If that's true then Kiss the Sky Goodbye embodies the nature of their hometown as they tear through 5 tracks on their 2009 Ignite Records debut EP Fuck.  KTSG only slow down to produce the somber outro on the final track, but by then their noisecore cyclone has already shredded your ears.

Panic Candy
I guess I heard this band on one of the many Mecha Organa compilations, but just overlooked it.  When I finally noticed this band is on bandcamp while doing a search for bands that sound like Converge.  It's somewhat of an accurate comparison, but Panic Candy, from the suburbs of Boston, is a little more unhinged and chaotic and bring about far more shifts in their music per song.  Vocals similar to the above Kiss the Sky Goodbye, that overdriven screech, though not as high pitched.  Panic Candy also uses a bit more double bass, yet also a little (only slightly) less breakneck speed.  Their debut self titled EP came out at the end of last year.

Meek is Murder
The only full length of the bunch, Meek is Murder definitely uses their time to explore aspects of noisecore other than just going fast and seeing how many changes they can legitimately slam into a song in under 2 minutes (though there is plenty of that, too).  Meek... shares some similarities with Inevitable End and the vocals kind of have that Chris Colohan of Cursed if he were really paranoid vibe.

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:

Guilty Pleasure of the Week: Taproot - Gift

OK, so we're not all born with a Minor Threat seven inch in our Fisher Price Phonograph.  We all stumble while developing our musical interests and for a time I was into nu-metal.  What's important is that we learn and grow.  What was kind of embarrassing was watching some hardcore bands try to jump on the nu-metal bandwagon to cash in only to later find out that they were blazing a trail that left nu-metal bands scrambling to change their oversized jnco's and fishnets for girls jeans and black band T's.  It was too late for the those who jumped the hardcore catamaran for the nu-metal Titanic, though.  The damage to credibility and fan base had already been sustained.

Anyway, I still have the first 2 Korn records in my library, and rejoiced when Deftones were finally able to shed the "nu" label.  I was curious if any other bands I used to listen to in the mid-90's (even though this came out in 2000) still resonated with me so I went back and downloaded a few (what? I'm not paying for that garbage... again).  First was Coal Chamber.  I had always seen DevilDriver tour dates being listed and didn't even realize it was the same singer.  I checked out DevilDriver (not a fan) and it reminded me to go back and listen to Coal Chamber's self titled debut.  I figured I liked it when it came out, surely there would be a song or 2 that were still listenable.  Nope.  It's really bad, and if you're contemplating the same self-exploratory experiment, I'll save you the time, and details, just don't do it.

A deep feeling of reluctance came over me as I was downloading Gift by Taproot.  I even checked out a song before downloading and wasn't really feeling it, but still followed through anyway.  Then I felt a brief moment of joy before the shame kicked in.  Everything in me was telling me that I shouldn't like this record.  The simple drop D chords that sound too close to Korn's "Blind", the white guy with spiky hair occasionally rapping, the whiny Fred Durst-esque vocals.  None of that could deter me, I still really like this record.  It's just so much heavier than those other depressing alterna-rock wannabe metal bands with singers who tried way too hard to sound like Layne Staley.

Now I'm not saying this record isn't without faults.  There's plenty, but these guys just knew how to write some of the heaviest, yet catchiest choruses.  In fact, sometimes they'll even stumble through the song and it feels like the track should be skipped, but then they pull themselves together and there's that feeling of shame again as you're banging your head (specifically the attempt at a trite screamy pre-chorus on "Now" only to be followed by a much more memorable singing chorus).  That's all that they really have, actually and so many successful artists write crap songs, but the hooks get you. So, string in a little destruction for the chorus and the hit or miss verses won't matter.  The screaming on Gift works best when it's just a one off inclusion rather than yelling through an entire verse or chorus.  The album definitely sputters when it approaches the middle tracks and has a few sparkling moments towards the end, but never quite returns to the consistency of the first 1/3 of the record.

Upon catching up on what Taproot was up to I saw that their latest release had been put out by Victory.  I thought maybe they were one of those nu-metal bands that had experimented with a hardcore sound and that's why Victory was interested.  I couldn't even make it through one song before I realized this was post-2000 Victory and not 1996 Victory so why would they be interested in anything hardcore or even legitimate?

If you have a soft spot for that nu-metal fad, but somehow skipped over Gift, go ahead and give it a spin.  Screw what your elitist friends say.  It's only a problem if after listening you go and get an eyebrow piercing.

(A two week hiatus and I can't believe I chose to write about this and not the Coalesce or Botch ideas I had been throwing around.)

Band of the Week - The Joy Formidable

It's pretty weird, the innumerable outlets we have to find out about new (to us) music.  Not that long ago I feel like I was only finding out about bands I had never heard of by going to shows, compilation CD's, recommendations from friends, or even just judging an album by its cover and buying it based solely on the artwork.  For me to stumble on The Joy Formidable the way that I did just feels like a stupid anomaly dictated by the age that we live in.  I noticed that I had a new subscriber, or friend, or whatever on my YouTube account.  When I checked to see who it was my eyes were drawn to the first video in this person's playlist.  The still was of a short haired platinum blonde playing guitar and singing.   I mean I love The Cardigans, Maura Davis, and Kylesa and I really don't mean to sound sexist, but I'm just generally not into much music that involves female singers.  Most guys I know aren't.  Now I'm not really one to believe in fate or that serendipity has time for me, but for whatever reason I watched the video... and here we are.

As a three piece, The Joy Formidable attempt to create as much noise as 3 humans can possibly make live and on recording.  They are successful at both, but for different reasons.  On the recordings there is a lot of focus on electronic layers and while it does sound overdriven and noisy, the low end seems to suffer a bit.  When they play live efforts are made to encompass the electronic loops, but this is where a more raw sound occurs and where The Joy Formidable really flourishes.  On recording they may sound like a poppier Pixies or a female fronted Muse with Ritzy Bryan's vocals being akin to Björk mixed with one of the ladies from Ladytron (take your pick, doesn't matter which one), and this is what they sound like live, too, but with fits of improv noise ala Sonic Youth.  Also, the heavy hitting metal style drumming of Matt Thomas and Rhydian Dafydd's chunky bass add a pummeling that just isn't captured on recording.  Of course, all of this is what I've seen through videos since I foolishly skipped their appearance that was near me.  Don't you do the same.

Ritzy's doll-like attire definitely brings an element of surprise when The Joy Formidable builds up to their infectious choruses because though you might be expecting something kind of poppy and catchy, you aren't ready for the weight with which they deliver it.  Another aspect of their live act is that you can tell they are enjoying the shit out of themselves and having fun no matter the crowd size, reaction, or venue.  At the same time you can watch Ritzy transform as moments in the music seem to just take over her.  It's quite inspiring and genuine.

www.thejoyformidable.com/
www.facebook.com/thejoyformidable

(One thing I do feel the need to add which does detract from them a little bit is that The Joy Formidable is going to be featured on the next Twilight soundtrack.  That said and I still think they're worth talking about)

Where They Started: 2008's A Balloon Called Moaning

Where You Should Start: Doesn't really matter. Though, the latest release  
The Big Roar is the first to feature the harder hitting (and some times double bass-ing) Matt Thomas, it's really not that noticeable until you see them live.  I guess I do enjoy the songs on The Big Roar more, plus is also has the best tracks from the first release rerecorded. 

I'm just going to skip past "Essential Song" here and just give a few remarkable live videos.

The video I first got sucked in by:



I know it's the same song, but it's equally as impressive a performance.

Actually, just watch the whole SXSW performance, it's really great.

Also a must see performance on Conan O'brien where Ritzy tries to shove a guitar up Rhydian's butt:
http://teamcoco.com/content/music-guest-joy-formidable-destroy-stage-literally

They'll also be performing on David Letterman on the unholiest of days, October 6th.