Happy Birthday Maine!

In honor of the grand ol' state of Maine for turning the big 193 today, I've decided to pull out some classic local albums that I used to listen to a lot (or at least that I have forgotten about until now).

Also, thank you, Maine for not splitting up into two separate states yet. Remember when that was a concern...

Confusatron - Chewbacalypse Now (2003)

Before ever hearing Hella's Hold Your Horse Is or had ever heard of such things as "math rock", "post rock", "jazz metal", "jazz punk" or any combination of those sub-sub-genres, I had only really heard of Confusatron.

I didn't know what they were, but I remembered their name from hearing it on a local radio station (it was WCYY, clearly) and would play all the music they had on their Myspace just because I loved the name (and the name of the album). And could you blame me? I was still playing with action figures when I heard about these guys, of course I was going to listen to them!

Taking a look back on this album today and I'm actually surprised how much I still enjoy it and how much it can stands up with a lot of other stuff I listen to these days. I mean it's got a mix of punk/metal and jazz, random samples, and random time-signatures - that's more than enough for me to get behind!



Through the discovery of Confusatron back in the day, I also came across a compilation by Entertainment Experiment which featured these guys along with other local bands like Pigboat, Man-Witch, Ghosthunter, and a hand full of others that I have lost track of. Confusatron had a few songs featured on the compilation (released in 2010) including the track "In The Shadow Of The Living Room" which was probably the first "post rock/metal" song I've ever heard and I didn't even know it (though it is also a mix of a bunch of other genres as well). "In The Shadow Of The Living Room" later appeared on Confusatron's 2010 release, Control Alt Destroy.

Bandcamp
Myspace
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Covered in Bees - 24 Hour Album (2008)

Another band that was featured in the aforementioned compilation above was this kooky band. By the time the compilation came out though, I was already pretty familiar with Covered in Bees. So familiar in fact that at the time they released this album, which I will go into more detail about, I would have probably named it my favorite album of 2008.

Now why is this album called the 24 Hour Album? Because it's just that. It is an album that was written and recorded - conceived and birthed - in one day. And that was a really really cool thing to me when I first heard of it (once again, on the radio).

With the task of creating a whole album in 24 hours, Covered in Bees did not take their job too seriously and ended up with basically an album filled with random skits, quick quirky songs, genre-bending experiments, and even a song about Hobbits. But I loved it! And hell, I'll still come back to this goofy album from time to time just to get my nostalgia fix.



Covered in Bees called it quits a few years after this album was released but are back now and even playing some shows in the Portland area real soon. This is the part where I would like to tell you they are playing with Andrew WK next month (I know right!!!), but unfortunately that is not the case. Truly a shame, indeed.

Official page
Bandcamp
Myspace
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Last Chance To Reason - Lvl. 1 (2007)

I have a theory in life that every genre of music on this planet has a good interpretation of what the genre should be and what it shouldn't. A common example of this would easily be genres like "screamo", a term most used when someone hears music with screaming in it versus "real" screamo which is a mix of emotional hardcore and "real" "emo". Bands like Poison the Well, Alexisonfire, Hawthorne Heights versus bands like Pg.99, Neil Perry, and Orchid. I don't mean to alienate anyone, but hopefully you know which ones are the "good" interpretation (or the "real" thing in this case).

What does this have to do with Last Chance To Reason,  a technical metal band from Augusta, Maine? Because LCTR has been the only band I know to be a good interpretation of technical progressive metalcore.

When I first heard these guys in 2007 or 2008, I hadn't listened to a lot of metal, but I had heard a lot of "metal" that I didn't like. LCTR though, had a lot of things going for them that were sort of like the "grindcore", "death metal", "progressive metal" bands that I had heard of and didn't enjoy, but something about the way that LCTR did it, it just made sense and I could actually listen to it without cringing. You know, that cringing feeling you get when your friends put on a Suicide Silence album to honor their fallen hero, well, LCTR didn't do that to me. Instead, I would just listen to these guys rather than force myself to get into over bands that these guys were opening up for like Unearth, Faceless, Job for a Cowboy, and Dying Fetus.



Anyways, Lvl. 1 is still an album I listen to once and a while when I'm feeling down about not forcing enough metal into my eardrums. It's not as popular as their second release, Level 2, which features a bit more of their love for electronics, softer singing vocals, and gaming - including a video game that actually goes with the album! I'm not sure how many other bands can say that they created a video game to go with their album, so that's pretty metal all by itself.

As far as I know, Last Chance To Reason are still out there somewhere getting awesome and playing video game infused technical metal! Unreal.

PS: Supposedly LCTR are also featured in a documentary called, Why You Do This - but I have yet to watch it.

Official site
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Last.fm

NFT's Got You Covered! With Bomb the Music Industry!

Bomb the Music Industry! - Others! Others! (Volume 1: 2005-2008)

Do I like ska? No. Do I like Bomb the Music Industry!? Yes. Do I like what Bomb the Music Industry has done to ska? Hell yes.

Others! Others! by BtMI! is a grab bag of goodies that Jeff Rosenstock and the gang have created for and as 7 inches, unofficial releases, original versions, demos and other rarities. The concept of this "Others! Others!" project was originally going to be as a release of covers from every band BtMI! has toured with. They scrapped this idea due to the fact that it would get pretty annoying for the other bands. I don't know why they would get annoyed. I wouldn't be annoyed in the least bit. I'm not everybody though and therefore this collection of extras is not full of covers.

The release still features five solid covers of bands BtMI! may or may not have toured with. "This Graceless Planet" (We Versus the Shark), "4 Inches" (Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine), "If Assholes Got Awards, I'd Have a Trophy Case" (Infamous Jake and the Pinstripe Mafia), "Little Brother" (Andrew Jackson Jihad), and "Gold Soundz" (Pavement) are the covers amongst the other goodies featured on Others! Others! Vol. 1.

Even though Bomb the Music Industry! has a bit of a ska influence and many things become driven my the off-beats; the covers, demos, original versions and bonus tracks are still supreme. BtMI! even takes the two ska bands Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine and Infamous Jake and the Pinstripe Mafia's (who aren't super terrible ska bands) tracks and makes them even less ska. Just because these guys are tagged as ska, doesn't mean they torment you with fedoras and jazz history (damn, that brings terrible images of my past to mind) . BtMI! are still looking out for the common good of punk music and are above all that bullshit that mainstream ska bands stand for. What do they stand for? Being lame, of course.

It's also really cool to see We Versus the Sharks on the other end of the covering process. It's pretty cool to see that these cover posts have gone full circle as well; We Versus the Shark and their cover album were the first band featured on NFT's Got You Covered and now they are the ones getting covered. With Bomb the Music Industry!'s whack at "This Graceless Planet", we see what was once a spastic but controlled math punk anthem becomes a spastic out of control vomiting computer made up of electronic keyboards and percussion instruments. The cover is actually really well done despite none of it sounding like live instruments and the difficulty of the piece. Bomb the Music Industry! are no strangers to crazy meters and looping in their own work either.

Other key elements and cool features of Others! Others! Vol. 1 has to be the demo version of "All Alone in My Big Empty Apartment", a track that was later released on Goodbye Cool World, this time with ukulele (I think that's a ukulele) instead of acoustic guitar. I personally like the demo version better and so does Jeff. Gosh, I'm slowly beginning to hate the ukulele (especially electric uke), but I will always love whistling and luckily for me, both versions of "All Alone in My Big Empty Apartment" still have the whistling, which is nice. The track "D13 4 YR GOV3RNM3NT" is a "megamix" for Anti-Flag. BtMI! made it for them to come out to as an introduction song while the two bands were on a little three day tour together. According to jeff after a short and funny story later, it never got played for them. Lastly, the track "This Year For President's Day, I'm Giving Up on Rock and Roll" sounds a lot like a Christmas song, well that's because it was going to a Christmas song. The track was for BtMI!'s split with Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine along with their cover of his track, "4 Inches". The split was scheduled to be released around Christmas time but it took too long and ended up getting released a few days after President's Day. So, they just changed "This Year For Christmas" to "This Year For President's Day". On the same BtMI!/Rick Johnson split, Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine cover BtMI!'s track, "Funcoland Vs. the Southern Electorate" off their first album, Album Minus Band (2005) (which also features a cover).

Most of my knowledge about this collection is from Quote Unquote (the first ever donation based record label) where Bomb the Music Industry! and other rad bands post their music (for free!) and sometimes write cool stuff. In the case of Other! Other! Vol. 1 on Quote Unquote, there is every song listed with the lyrics and some sweet stories and notes from Jeff himself (I'm guessing)!  Quote Unquote is an awesome site like If You Make It and everyone should check out all the cool stuff they have to offer! Now!

Bomb the Music Industry also released a new album last year called Vacation. It's pretty chill. Check that out too!

Official site
Last.fm