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  1. Honda Civic Tour, Florida 2008

    April 10, 2008 by Brianna

    My First Honda Civic Tour

    Yes! Just like the title suggests. Last Night was my very first Honda Civic Tour and let me tell you, I absolutely loved it! The music was great, the performance was fantastic and the energy was amazing.


    First up was Phantom Planet. From the moment they hit the stage, they brought on a blast of energy and really rocked it out. Their set had me bouncing up and down and bobbing my head the entire time. Most of the songs they played were off their new album Raise the Dead including their new singles “Do the Panic” and “Dropped,” which were awesome. They even went out there and pulled a “summoning” move for all the World of Warcraft fans at the concert (my sister and I met some of the guys and she is really into WoW.  She told them that she was a level 30 mage…they thought that was awesome :D).  They ended their set with, of course, “California” (which got the ENTIRE crowd singing along).

    The Hush Sound then took to the stage busting out with one of their songs from their new album, Goodbye Blues. As they belted out an energetic rendition of “Medicine Man” everyone sang along. I had never seen them live before so just seeing them there and SO CLOSE was just amazing. As I listened to them perform, I was amazed to realize they sound like they do on their CDs. (I know it’s weird, but I think it’s rare to actually see it or hear it happen.) Their set had a little bit for everyone. They performed soulful slow songs like “Hurricane” and more energetic and spirited songs like “We Intertwined” and “Honey”. They ended their set with an enthusiastic roar from the crowd.

    Motion City Soundtrack was up next and the closer we got to the headliners, the louder the rumbles throughout the venue became. They came on and I have to say that they are seriously entertaining. They cracked jokes in between songs – I thought that was really cool. They performed songs from their recent release Even if It Kills Me (2007) and their older albums as well.  I am a fairly new fan of Motion City Soundtrack and am still learning more about them. They got the crowd singing along when they sang “The Future freaks me out”, “Let’s Get Fucked Up and Die”, and of course their most popular, “Everything is Alright”.  They got the crowd pumped up and ready to rock by the time they ended their set. Motion City Soundtrack then turned up on the third floor to take pictures and sign autographs like The Hush Sound did, but the line went all the way down to the second floor and I wasn’t about to lose my spot in the pit.  I wanted so badly to see them and do that stuff, but positive thinking and saying to myself “there’s always next time” convinced me to stay put.

    Finally, it was the moment we had all been waiting for…Panic at the Disco was about to take the stage. The band hadn’t even come out yet and the crowd was already going crazy! I have to admit, I was part of the crowd cheering and chanting “Panic” thinking that would get them on stage fasterJ .  When they finally approached the stage, the entire venue was screaming and just…it was pandemonium. They greeted the crowd and began singing “We’re So Starving” followed by “Nine in the Afternoon”, everyone singing along the entire time. I sang even louder when they began playing my absolute favorite song—the moment the beat for “Lying is the most fun a girl can have…” began to flood the speakers, I completely let loose and started going crazy. Why would one admit this you ask? I don’t quite know…the simple answer is to show you how into the music I was. At one point though, I did feel like it was dragging a bit.  I guess it was just the lack of explosive bass and pounding rhythm. The final song was fittingly, “Northern Downpour” which I thought was nicely performed. They then got off the stage. I didn’t stick around for the encore so I can’t tell you about that.

    All in all, I enjoyed the sets, the music and the general mood of it all.  The best part was that I was helping the environment (eco-friendly centered concert). Although there were certain parts that were a little dragging, if you like any of these bands I suggest you go. You’ll have a blast.

    *all photos taken from respective artists’ myspace pages

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  2. Goodbye old Hush Sound

    April 10, 2008 by Steph

    The Hush Sound’s Goodbye Blues

    I’m really frustrated with The Hush Sound’s new release Goodbye Blues.

    Let me explain:  This Chicago quartet is one of my favorite bands.  Their debut and sophomore releases – So Sudden and Like Vines – are two of my favorite albums.  Now, I expect that bands are going to grow and change and that usually excites me when I get to discover a band’s new vision and maturity.  But I feel like the way that THS has grown and evolved with this album is frustrating.  I feel like they “evolved” my favorite elements into something that has an entirely different essence.

    Now don’t get me wrong here.  I think that Greta is amazing, but here’s the thing:  in the previous two albums I fell in love with the light haunting vocals that she has which was beautifully contrasted with Bob’s bright strong voice.  She was able to command the melody without forcing it.  On Goodbye Blues, her vocals have changed a lot and even though it shows an artistic diversity, it really changes the entire style of The Hush Sound.  On the “Intro,” her vocals are light but dragging and remind me of a possessed Snow White and again on “That’s Okay” her exaggerated vibrato reminds me of a Disney princess.  On the contrary, on “Medicine Man” her vocals are heavy and brash and bring to mind Amanda Ghost and Jewel.  Then, keeping with what seems like the vision of the album, on songs like “Honey” and “Molasses” her vocals are loud and strong and have a big-band 1920s flapper feel.  “Love You Much Better” hints at this theme as well, but makes me think instead of New Orleans at Disneyland.  And the song has a scary resemblance to “I Can Love You Better” by the Dixie Chicks.

    “Hurricane” I feel is the song that best combines old THS with this new direction they’ve gone.  The feel is haunting and pulls at your soul.  Greta’s voice is light and easy, but still mysterious and sorrowful.  If there’s one song on Goodbye Blues you listen to, make it this one.

    The music seems to stick to The Hush Sound’s signature formula (along with Bob’s vocals). The beat is heavy but the melody dancing and light. On other songs the piano takes over and makes it a smoother, emotion-filled track.

    The lyrics have mostly retained their frivolous cynicism. Songs like “As You Cry” decidedly conflict the happy melody with lyrical cruelty.

    It’s not that I dislike Goodbye Blues. The thing is that I liked what The Hush Sound was doing. And of course I understand that they’re going to evolve and change as band,
    but do they have to change the elements they had already perfected? If you haven’t heard THS before, you might love this album. Or maybe even if you have. But I think the mood of THS has changed and it’s something that I’ll have to get used to as opposed to revel in. For sure though if you haven’t heard THS before, check out their older releases if you’re not into Goodbye Blues

    (images from www.myspace.com/thehushsound)

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  3. Pretty. Odd. – Panic at the Disco’s deliciousness

    April 2, 2008 by Steph

    Panic at the Disco’s Pretty.  Odd.

    Remember when Panic! at the Disco (when they still had the exclamation mark) was on AOL sessions? Way back in 2006? Well Brenden said this new album would have more musical theater influence. That is CLEAR but somehow they managed to evolve a generally old-fashioned and fogie sound into something contemporary and catchy. Result: SUCCESS!

    “We’re So Starving,” the first track of Pretty. Odd.  is a flat-out address to fan’s fears.  They’re so sorry they’ve been gone.  They’ve been busy writing songs for YOU.  But you don’t have to worry cause they’re still the same band.

    They may still be the same band but plenty has changed.  They’ve ditched much of the electronic, processed sound – even the vaudeville influence they’ve been famous for.  They’ve left behind the dark, sadistic, eccentric lyrics that filled much of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.  (Maybe they’ve just run out of Palahniuk to reference?)  But they’ve traded it all in for a much lighter, frivolous sound but more a compilation of educated, finely tuned works of musical deliciousness with full contribution from all of the members.  If Pretty. Odd. was a food, it would be a wedding cake with the Panic boys at the top wedded in melodic matrimony.

    It’s obvious that while we were waiting and griping about the anxious wait for the new Panic album, the boys were fine-tuning the album to perfection.  Unhappy with the first album they wrote, they started from scratch last July.  It was well worth the wait.  Each song, filled with anything from strings to brass to harmonica, banjo, and tambourine, provokes an individual sentiment all on its own, but together the compilation fits snugly together like Mad Hatter fits in Wonderland.

    Some of the songs are reminiscent of American folk songs (and I’m not talking indie) like “Folkin’ Around” while others are serious throw backs to musical theater (Sound of music, Oklahoma, etc.) like “The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know” and “She Had the World.”  Others like “Behind the Sea” reinvent sixties rock like The Beatles.  But as always, Panic manages to extract a nostalgia and essence of genres way past their prime and evolve and mold them into something modern, catchy, and pop.  The ability to do so shows their music intelligence (dare I say genius?).

    The lyrics of Pretty.  Odd. —in place of the ominous, provoking lines of A Fever—are filled with light, nonsensical, whimsical phrases not far from Lewis Carol’ hallucinated Wonderland.  (“Remember when I was a bird and you were a map?”  “We should feed our jewelery to the sea”)  Which reminds me of their cover art and “Mad as Rabbits” video…  But if the top hat fits…?

    Panic has traded in their punctuation mark and their old sound for a new throwback.  The result is a light, fluffy, sweet concoction with intricate swirls of icing and piled 3 feet tall into confectionary harmonious perfection.

    Stay Savvy.
    Steph@A2S

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  4. Solo-67 is as hot as 69

    March 1, 2008 by Steph

    Solo-67’s Everybody Has To Know

    Solo-67 is punch-you-in-the-face-while-simultaneously-break-dancing-and-starting-a-circle-pit IMPRESSIVE.

    These kids know what they’re doing.  And I say “kids” because they are just that.  And that’s part of what made my mouth drop open when I heard them for the first time.  Cooper, Matt, and Chris just graduated from high school last June.  By their clean tracks they just released on the full-length Everybody Has To Know you’d never know it though.

    This Texas pop-punk trio has “it.”  I know that “radio-worthy” sometimes isn’t a compliment these days, so instead I will say that if they showed at warped tour, every scenester, punk, and prom queen would have their track on their myspace this summer.  Their hooks are catchy but their style isn’t bubble-gum so they have the ability to appeal to just about anyone.

    Their tracks have hints of influence from plenty of pop punk greats.  “Better Safe Then Sorry” reminds me of Dude Ranch Blink-182 while “The Truth Is” is more Enema of the State.  “Street Lights” is reminiscent of an older Yellowcard while the darker “Down and Out” hints at an Alkaline Trio influence.

    Even so, while it’s easy to compare them with other great bands, their style is fully their own.  They’re not a copycat band.  They don’t rely on anyone to feed them ideas.  Their creativity for such a new and young band is just… impressive.

    Their lyrics are the only things that give evidence of their age.  Full of teenage angst about girls and hearts, the words compliement each track well.  Lines like “Goodbye heartache, I can make it on my own” and “I’ll follow you for miles and miles, how can you blame me?” are borderline cliche, but only make these boys more adorable.

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  5. The Infamous Jeffree Star

    February 20, 2008 by Steph

    Jeffree Star’s Plastic Surgery Slumber Party

    So I’ve seen Jeffree Star around a few shows and today I decided to browse his music myspace.  I was listening to his tracks and going through his pictures…

    He is definitely the most gorgeous cross-dresser I’ve ever seen.  And the rumors tell me that some rockers think he’s pretty good in bed.  But the music… it sounds like the noise I imagine him making in this photo with caption, “bulemia never looked this good.”

    I can’t tell if he’s mocking pop culture and “scene” icons like the razor blade or publicizing it.  It’s an ambiguous line he’s on between criticizing Barbie and Miss USA and and dying to be them.

    The music… there’s just nothing to say about it.  It isn’t isn’t pleasing in any way unless you want to get off to lyrics like “You like it fast.. I like it hard” and “It doesn’t feel right so keep going down… I wanna L your P.  I wanna S your D.”

    I picture a thirteen-year-old boy walking up to the check out stand at Target with nothing but Plastic Surgery Slumber Party and the cashier responding, “Would you like some porn with that?”

    Jeffree’s music is aural porn and nothing better.  It’s trashy and vulgar and is nothing remotely close to what could be construed by anyone as good music.

    But if that’s what you’re into…

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  6. All Time Licentious

    February 2, 2008 by Steph

    ALL TIME LOW’s So Wrong, It’s Right

    It’s an interesting tale how All Time Low and I got together.

    Imagine me sitting in the parking lot of a Target listening to “Coffee Shop Soundtrack” over and over on my car stereo.  It’s off 2006’s Warped Tour Soundtrack.  And every time I hear it, it covinces me more and more…Hold on.

    Back up 32 hours.  I’m at Target staring at their “Red Room” section where they sell a ton of awesome “new” artists for $9.99.  And I’m a fan of the physical disc so that’s how I roll.  I grab All Time Low’s So Wrong, It’s Right and carry it around the store for a half hour wondering if I should buy it going only off the fact that Earshot Media promotes them.

    So I end up putting it down and walking the length of the Irvine Spectrum Mall to the Barns and Noble with the intention of listening to them and then possibly heading back over to Target.  And of course, it’s no where to be found at B&N.  Lame.

    So back to me being a creeper in my beat up Honda.  I decide that if I can be so in love with one song, the new album is worth my Hamilton.  So I give this band a shot at love.

    But my first couple listens though I’m distracted and not really paying attention.  Letting the disc spin, it goes through one ear and out the other.  Until a couple of days ago when iTunes is playing my recently added tracks and “Remembering Sunday” is just finishing.

    The unexpected, twisted, sick desperation of All Time Lows’ vocals and those of Juliet Simms (Automatic Loveletter) makes my hair stand on end.  It’s tugging on my shirt and screaming in my face. I can’t get over the passion in this song.  It builds and swells steadily until it explodes into a ravaging accosting beauty.

    So now I approach the whole cd with a new attitude of reverence and anticipation.  On this more enlightened listen-through I discover a greater appreaciation for some of the other tracks.

    The vocals are melodic with tight harmonies that are powerpop/pop-punk.  “Dear Maria, Count Me In” is on the pop-punk side whereas “The Beach” is pure pop.   Their lyrics are hopeful and nostalgic, the kinda any budding youth can adore.  At their worst, they sound like a Boys Like Girls with more talent.  At their best, like on “This is How We Do” they remind me of Sticks and Stones New Found Glory with Set-Your-Goals-gone-pop gang background vocals.  The song “Vegas” could be found on the Ocean Avenue discography if Ryan Key´s vocals were more like Jonathan Cook from Forever the Sickest Kids.  That’s a huge compliment, boys.

    So it wasn’t love at first sight, but we’re getting pretty serious and there are good things in our future.  I promise I’ll see you soon 😉

    Stay Savage.
    Steph

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