By David Thomas
November 30, 2004
After a very long break, much longer than I had originally anticipated, Perfect Pitch is back.
I apologize for the lengthy pause in writing but I have to admit covering music has been somewhat taxing of late. First of all there is just a glut of music coming in that has zero to offer the fringe music listener let along the masses. Plus I’ve been writing the same column format for the past few years with little change, so I figure it’s time for retooling.
Over the past six months I’ve been working on a popular blog focusing on my other passion, cars. Over at Autoblog, I’ve discovered the joy of posting about topics instantly and getting immediate response from readers. While that isn’t possible as of now on MoviePoopShoot, I figured I’d bring a bit of the style and a lot of the ingenuity to this column.
From now on, or until I or you get tired of it, I’m going to collect every single scrap of music I receive in a week and regurgitate it as quickly as possible in one column. The material will come from the regular promos of course, discs I actually purchase and shows I go to. I’m going to keep the file of the column open on my computer and when I get something new I’ll mark it with a time and day and a quick thought after listening. If I listen to a disc a second or third time in a week I’ll at least post when and how many times, even if I don’t have time to write my thoughts on it.
If the new format sucks let me know. If you enjoy it let me know that too. If anyone is left reading this column I’d love to hear from you. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
November 21, 2004
GYM CLASS HEROES, The Papercut EP (Fueled By Raman)
I can tell by the rear band photo that this is going to be an emo-version of THE ROOTS and I’m pretty much right. This promo EP spent a long time without getting listened to so I pop it in the computer at work out of a desire to clear my desk of review discs. At least the MC in this live-music hip-hop group is decent. The first track is basically making a rhyme out of the ludicrous names of today’s big indie acts. The rest is a decent medley of rapping and laid back beats and guitar. Nothing offensive and nothing too inventive but at least it’s not as bad as I anticipated.
November 22
A friend tells me that Walter Schreifels’ new band was playing a show locally. I then started to investigate the act with the horrible name WALKING CONCERT. First off, the show is December 8, with EAGLES OF DEATH METAL. I quickly purchased two tickets online since I love all things Homme-related. Sometimes I don’t bother getting on guest lists just in case. I also went online and got a great deal on a new copy of the new WALKING CONCERT disc on eBay. Grand total of $7. Another non-promo purchase. That means I really want to hear this disc.
Nov. 23
Rushing to get out of town for Thanksgiving, no music news.
Nov. 24-27
Holiday
Nov. 28
I come home to an overflowing mailbox of promo CDs. They include STEREOTYPERIDER, the latest from IVY and a disc by a band on Victory Records called DEAD TO FALL with a cool cover. Cool covers often mean bad music.
STEREOPTYPERIDER, Prolonging The Inevitable (Suburban Home)
The horrible cover belies a pretty decent heavy indie rock band that isn’t too grating. But the lack of total originality has me throwing in the next disc to again just cut through the piles on my desk.
DEAD TO FALL, Villainy and Virtue (Victory Records)
Big shock speed metal covered by inaudible screams. Will this trend ever stop? When there’s zippo originality and headache inducing rhythms, discs meet the same fate as this one, immediate Ebay pile.
IVY, In The Clear (Nettwerk)
There were two reasons to put this disc in the CD player. 1: Get the grime of DEAD TO FALL out of my head. 2: I dig Ivy and am anxious to hear what they’re up to.
The promo disc is a long long lead item with no artwork and a release date sometime in May. I used to wait until an album was released before writing about it but at this point I’m sure the disc is leaked somewhere and if not I’m at least building advance hype. I also hope to post when I revisit the disc in the future but that may result in really long columns. We’ll see how it goes.
In The Clear is much more atmospheric and less poppy then those of the past. Either way, the combo of Adam Schlesinger and Dominique Durand is impossible to beat if you dig good music. I can easily say this will not be a car CD but probably will be nice background music while I work on my other stories.
Nov. 29
Column day and I’m at work and finally get a chance to put in the new disc by Walter’s band with the really bad name WALKING CONCERT. As far as I can tell there sure isn’t a whole lot different than in RIVAL SCHOOLS. This new “group” is a tad more pop oriented and not as dark as evidenced by the first track. But others like Aluminium sound very much like RS. Then others irk me as they take on an almost WHITE STRIPES vibe. Yikes. Say it ain’t so, Walter.
I will admit that I’m a giant QUICKSAND fan and RIVAL SCHOOLS at least had some grit to it so it too was good. But hearing Walter pop-out is a tad hard to swallow. After a few listens at work I was liking the guitar playing of course and some of the new tempos my man Walter was working with weren’t half bad even if slightly wimpy. This is new territory for him of course and it might be uneven through an entire disc but there is enough here to warrant that good Ebay hunt for the folks that actually refer to Mr. Schreifels by his first name.
NEXT WEEK: I’ll really put in times with each mention.
DISCLAIMER: If you’re offended that I sell many discs after they’re reviewed, please take into account that I get paid very little for my music work (hence me branching out to other topics). So a spare few bucks here and there from a disc that will no longer do me any good and only add to the massive CD collection I have is a small profit indeed. I also never sell a disc before it is released officially.
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