The week. 30/11/14

Hello. Welcome back. First off, let me just apologise for not posting anything for what seems like an eternity. The main reason for this being a lack of free time to write, kids have been poorly/had chicken pox which all takes its toll. Other reasons I’ll go into in a moment. But I wanted to start by saying, after much consideration, I’ve decided to adopt a different approach to writing this blog. The old way just wasn’t productive enough.

So, what I’ve come up with is this, The Week. Every week, usually on a Sunday, I’ll post a summary of what’s happened in the week. Music I’ve been listening to, gigs that have happened, comments on news and announcements that you may have missed in the preceding 7 days. As the old adage goes, a week is a long time in emo, or words to that effect. So instead of waiting to write lengthy reviews etc.. and falling behind this will be a great way to stay up to date. It’ll give me the chance to write about more things too, music/gigs/news I may not have found time to write 1000 words about will find space here. I’ll still write proper reviews, do interviews and post all the usual stuff you’d see here before. This will just be a positive addition to all that to keep regularly updated and in touch with everyone.

That’s the boring bit out-of-the-way so now we can crack on, thanks for you patience!!

First up, I just wanna take you back to the start of the month when Is This Thing On? staged its second gig of the year/all time. It was an honour to welcome Reiziger to the West Track studios practice space in Canterbury for an amazing show. I have been a fan of Reiziger since the late 90s, when I first listened to them as a teenager in my friend’s bedroom I couldn’t have imagined that 16ish years later I would finally get to see them play live and that they would be dedicating my favourite Reiziger song (Waitingday) to my 10-year-old son Louis, who I had working the door that night. They were the nicest guys and received a warm welcome from the West Track faithful.

REIZIGER

 
This was the 4th show in 4 weeks at this tiny, DIY, space and was a great example of how the local music scene in East Kent is becoming as vibrant again as it ever was. The whole night was packed with excellent bands who didn’t disappoint one bit. 2 of my favourite local bands kicked things off, Kind Eyes brought the riffs and Pax Indigo packed in the emotion before Kinshot, who had made the drive down from London just in time, blasted everyone away with noise and energy. What a night!!

Kind Eyes

 

Pax Indigo

 

Kinshot

 

Louis the doorman

 

Staying locally, this week saw the exciting opening of Kent’s newest and also best record shop. After months of hard work and persistence our good friends and all round best guys, George and Nat, took their burgeoning record label, Hot Salvation, and have expanded in to a beautiful shop set in the confines of an old hotel on Folkestone’s Rendezvous street. It’s a great space, selling both new and second-hand records from a myriad of genres, including massive punk/hardcore and alternative sections. Not only this they are also serving top quality coffee and a section that stocks beautifully designed home and lifestyle products from the likes of Naked Lunge and Donna Wilson.

Hot Salvation

 

Had it not been for Christmas coming up my wife Hannah and I would’ve spent a small fortune, which is something we’ll definitely be doing there in the coming months but apart from picking up a few Christmas presents and downing some delicious coffee I treated myself to the new Fugazi release, ‘First Demo’. It was one of many brand new Dischord records on offer in store and I just couldn’t resist. More on that record next week. In the meantime get to Folkestone and see the shop for yourself, failing that they also have a nice looking webstore up and running, check it out HERE

‘First Demo’

 

Another reason for me falling behind on this blog is a big feeling of late that the latest wave of emo, that I’ve written so much about for the last 3 years, is coming to an abrupt end. There have been so many dud releases this year (Dads/You Blew It/Somos) that I’ve found myself listening more and more to older bands and getting less and less excited about what’s happening right now. The latest nail in the coffin is the really disappointing new record from Pianos Become The Teeth. It seems really weird and depressing to even have to write that sentence after all the amazingly positive things that I’ve written about them in the past. You can’t take anything away from their, until now, faultless back catalogue and the experience of seeing them live for the first time when they played my hometown of Margate,  which ranks highly amongst the best gigs I’ve ever attended.

‘Keep You’

But, ‘Keep You’, their latest album released via Epitaph last month is just a bit….well, boring. There are some nice enough songs and Kyle Durfey’s voice still sounds as haunting as ever, but 5 songs in to the record you’re still waiting for something to happen, something to kick in and it just never does. The power they once had is all lost, the drums that were once hit so hard they made my chest hurt watching them live just plod along and it all just gets lost going nowhere. Massive, massive shame.

Did you get an American Football ticket? You can’t have possibly missed the news that the band are making their way to the UK for the first time next May. What was originally announced as 3 dates but expanded to more after the original tickets sold out within 20 minutes. Which is crazy!! I’ll see you in London on the 2nd night if you’re there.

To sign off this week I will leave you with the fact the Pearl Jam’s classic 3rd album ‘Vitalogy’ turned 20 years old this week. It is still one of my favourite records of all time and I’ve had a great time revisiting the first 4 PJ records this week on my drives to work. Here is them playing ‘Not For You’ on Saturday Night Live in 1994.

Thanks for reading. Stay in touch. http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog, @alex_itto, ittoblog@gmail.com

INTERVIEW: DIKEMBE

A couple of months ago Dikembe, the band whose name I recently realised that I have no idea how to say out loud, made an emphatic return with their sophomore record, ‘Mediumship’. Their debut record, ‘Broad Shoulders’ got a lot of love from this blog and I’ve been wanting to write about how great their new record is since I first heard it. But instead of listening to me badger on for 700 words about how their subtle grunge influences coupled with the bands innate ability to write moody but very infectious melodies make for one of this years must hear records, I thought it would be a much better idea to get Dikembe to agree to an interview. As luck would have it they did, so here it is. Answering the questions is drummer David Bell.

Is this thing on? – Hi. You have a new record out, how did you go about writing and recording this time round?

Dikembe – Our last record, Broad Shoulders, was written and recorded on the fly, so much so that there were a couple songs we had to learn to play together after the album was sent for mastering. We wanted to avoid that situation this time around. New songs were pushed into our live set as often as possible so that we could get a sense of how the tracks felt to play. If something felt weird we would bring it up during our next practice and try to make it feel better. When it came time to track the record we decided to track everything live, which saved us a lot of time and reaffirmed for ourselves how comfortable we would be to tour with these new songs.

ITTO? – The songs are recognizably Dikembe but there seems to be a progression in the sound from your previous records, has this evolved naturally or have you made a conscious effort to change your sound?

Dikembe – I would say we made a conscious effort to go with our gut and give little to no thought on the expectations of others. We just focused on writing and recording a group of songs we knew we’d all enjoy playing live and not worry about whether or not elements fit a predetermined genre or sound.

ITTO? – I love this record but found it to be a grower. Sticking with it has paid off really well, how has the reaction been to the record? Have you been nervous about how this record will be received compared to your previous records?

Dikembe– Feedback about the album has seemed pretty positive. I don’t think we were too worried going into the release. We were just excited for people to hear the jams we were having fun with during our live sets, especially since it felt like a lifetime since we finished our first album. I think Steven was the most nervous about Mediumship’s general reception, but we were on tour when it dropped and it wasn’t too hard to distract him from the twitters and such.

ITTO? – I’ve noticed a grunge influence to the record with some of the riffs used and the loud/quiet/loud pattern on some songs. What have you been listening to recently and what has influenced your writing this time round?

Dikembe – Steven had the sudden realization that Pearl Jam’s Ten is an amazing album about two years ago. He has also been claiming that Soundgarden’s “Fell on Black Days” is his favorite song ever. Most of the musical elements to Mediumship were developed during practices, so I think this album displays more of the group’s collective tastes than our previous releases. Randy and I grew up heavily influenced by our fathers’ CD collections, which they probably attained through some sort of Columbia House Record Club style subscription. Late 80’s, early 90’s “alternative rock” feels very familiar to our ears, and it probably seeps into our song production style.

ITTO? – Steven Gray’s voice does weird things to me, it melts my heart like an emo Eddie Vedder. What vocalists have this kind of effect on yourselves?

Dikembe – Jeff Buckley’s voice in “Hallelujah” gives me goosebumps every single time. It’s disturbing.

ITTO? – You recently put out a split with veterans the Jazz June, how did that come about? Any other bands you’d love to do splits with?

Dikembe – I believe they contacted us in some way and pitched the idea about a year ago. We were blown away by the idea that they had heard our music, let alone dug it enough to let us be part of their long-awaited return.

Randy says a split with Creepoid would be cool.

ITTO? – Are you guys able to commit to the band full-time or do you have to fit everything in (touring/recording etc.) around your regular lives?

Dikembe – As much as we would love to commit our full-time to life on the road and in the studio, Steven has a big-boy job teaching middle school kids and Ryan just produced a real-life baby human. We practice maybe once every two or three months because Steven lives in Orlando, a two-hour drive from the rest of us in Gainesville. It’s astonishing how much we’ve been able to do and how often we’ve toured given how little time we commit to this band as a whole.

ITTO? – What would have to happen for you guys to come and tour the uk?

Dikembe – We’ve gotten close, but scheduling issues continue to kill off plans. We would need a UK band to agree to a summer tour, let us squeeze into their van, and allow us to use all of their gear every night. I don’t think we can afford to fly over, rent gear, and rent a vehicle with our own finances.

ITTO? – Bands keep getting robbed on the road, seems to be an everyday occurrence at the mo. Have you had bad experiences yourselves? Does it put you off going on the road? What security tips can you give aspiring bands?

Dikembe – Thankfully, we have not had any bad experiences on the road so far. It helps that we tour in a 2013 Dodge Caravan that features an alarm system, slightly tinted windows, and an overall look that suggests it carries a family of six around instead of hundreds of dollars in musical equipment. Nevertheless, we still are very careful about where we park it. There are only two things I can think to suggest for a band going on the road in a 15-passenger van:

Get an alarm system installed or insurance on your gear. It’s obviously an investment, but you don’t want to have to rely on internet donations if the worst happens. Plus, it would really suck to have to cut a tour short because someone popped a lock off your van door with a screw driver.

If you can’t throw down that kind of money, invest in making your van look like a difficult job. Buy a fake alarm system with a flashing LED light on the dashboard, or get some tint on the back windows so that the value of heist is less defined. Carjackers and thieves look for easy wins, not possibly complicated scenarios.

ITTO? – Since the World Cup, we’re told that America has fallen in love with football (soccer) and football (soccer) is about to surpass regular American sports, such as basketball, as the national sport. can we now expect a Dikembe football (soccer) themed EP?

Dikembe – The United States’ love for football is as transient as it’s love for the Olympics. We’re just big fans of the concept of national pride. I’ll believe soccer is reaching the hearts of Americans when I can watch an MLS game on basic cable. I think Steven and I are the only members in the band that have any interest in professional sports, and that is solely reserved for the NBA.

ITTO? – Everyone says the UK is always a year or two behind America. What is the next big thing (TV, music, fad) sweeping America we can expect here in a years time?

TV personalities taking selfies while on the air and constantly mentioning their twitter handles. Be prepared, it’s awful.

ITTO? – Sounds awful. Thanks for talking to us!

You can buy ‘Mediumship’ on vinyl in the UK from Monkey Boy Records HERE

Or you can stream/download it HERE

Thanks for reading. Get in touch: http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog, @alex_itto on twitter or ittoblog@gmail.com

REVIEW: EMPIRE! EMPIRE! (I WAS A LONELY ESTATE) – YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE FORGOTTEN

Band – Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate)

Album – You Will Eventually Be Forgotten

Label – Count Your Lucky Stars/Topshelf Records

The first two songs of ‘You will eventually be forgotten’, the second full length album by Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate), each tell the story of how both the members of the band were separately involved in near fatal car accidents. Thankfully they lived to tell the tale but imagine for a second if things had turned out differently. Keith and Cathy Latinen, the husband and wife duo that make up Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate), are more responsible than most, both as this band and as owners of the Count Your Lucky Stars record label, for reigniting the fire in this once almost forgotten genre. Their tireless output, with their own bands countless splits/e.p’s & debut full length and the consistently brilliant records their label has released, has brought a lot of credibility to the current wave of emo, making it as popular as it is today. Without these two would I even be listening to any albums recorded after 2002?

Which segues nicely into giving a nod to the guest vocalists that are featured on this record. One of the biggest bonuses from bands playing this type of music again is proving to some of the legendary bands from back in the day there is still a loyal, devoted audience out there for them. You can’t have missed that Mineral are about to embark on a massive reunion tour and I hope you haven’t missed that Braid have come back this year with an incredible new record. Both Bob Nanna of Braid and Chris Simpson of Mineral make an appearance here and with these comes a sense of triumphant togetherness. We die-hard emo fans have found each other and our reward? One hell of a beautiful new record by Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate).

The weather is changing, it’s getting colder and the nights are drawing in, autumn is coming. And what an album ‘You will eventually be forgotten’ is to soundtrack this change in seasons. I always feel reflective at this time of year which has made me feel an instant connection with this record. The autobiographical nature of Keith Latinen’s lyrics, telling coming of age stories from his youth as well as asking questions about his own mortality really speak out to me as someone who, ever since turning 30, has started to question everything in life, constantly looking back at big turning points in my life wondering what could have been. All 11 songs here take on a linear approach, eschewing familiar verse/chorus/verse structures and preferring to take the listener on a journey propelled by the powerful story telling of the lyrics. Poetic tales of love, friendship, youth and companionship are told with such an attention to detail that I know feel, after numerous repeat listens, that I really know both members of the band personally. The album is the musical equivalent of those magical nights at the start of a relationship when you stay up all night talking to someone and in the morning you feel like you’ve known the person all your life.

The lyrics to each song had been posted online in the weeks leading up to the album’s release, being a musician I normally find it takes me time to find a connection to the lyrical content of a song, usually long after I’ve fallen in love with the music. But in this case, the lyrics are strong enough to stand alone without already knowing the melody as a piece of work in their own right. So it was really nice to get to know the songs before actually being able to listen to them. Don’t let me take anything away from the music though, because musically Empire! Empire! are as strong here as anything they have ever released before. Gorgeous guitar tones and big thick drums compliment the vocals throughout, clearly the whole production here has been meticulously worked out with the band knowing when to hold back and when to let the feedback take over for added drama. Echoes of Sunny Day Real Estate’s ‘How it feels to be something on’ and Appleseed Cast, mixed in with Empire! Empire!’s own inimitable style make this a record to truly behold.

With the many songs Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate) have put out in the 5 years since their last full length, it would’ve been really easy for them to cobble together enough for a follow-up album. I’m really happy they have waited until they had the time to commit to making something completely new with the sole focus of making a new record. ‘You will eventually be forgotten’ is a concept album of sorts, using moments in their lives to ask big questions about life and what is the real point of it all. Keith Latinen has experienced near death but not had any great epiphanies about what it all means (“My life did not flash before my eyes”), he has witnessed two people who, after a lifetime of devotion to each other, became so entwined that they passed away at the same time, even though they died 2 years apart (“It took 2 whole years to convince his body”) and is left to wonder if what he is doing is really worth it.

How do we ever know that? We can always look back, and consider what would have happened if we had done things differently but it won’t make any difference. As long as we do what we think is the right thing to do in the present tense then there shouldn’t be any regrets. There is a lot of love on display here for each other and the vast amount of love about to be showered on these two after the release of this perfectly amazing album should at least let them know that they are currently doing everything completely right.

Please don’t hesitate to listen to this truly INCREDIBLE record!!

You can stream/download/order the record HERE

This is me with Keith and Cathy after their amazing set in Brighton, November 2012

Thanks for reading. xx

Get in touch. http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog, @alex_itto or ittoblog@gmail.com

 

REVIEW: THE HOTELIER – Home, Like Noplace Is There

Band – The Hotelier

Album – Home, Like Noplace Is There

Label – Tiny Engines

The Hotel Year are now The Hotelier, which still sounds the same if said in a broad, comedy, cockney accent. Not just that but they have a new album which I’ve been mulling over for a few weeks unable to decide exactly how I felt about it.

There are 9 songs that make up ‘Home, like noplace is there’, The Hotelier’s sophomore record and something about it leaps straight out at you. Although, I think I’ve been holding back on letting myself really enjoy this record and I’ve been racking my brain as for the reason why. Annoyingly, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s my age. I can see that that is a really dumb thing to say but let me explain. The Hotelier don’t hold anything back lyrically or musically, they are really open to the point that it makes me slightly uncomfortable. Take the first song, ‘An introduction to the album’, for example. The way it builds and the emotion it shells out could be something off that would normally put me off but there is some kind of charm about that kept drawing me back. I put it on in the car on my way to work one day and a thought hit me, if I was 18 I would bloody love this band. Now this is nothing to do with being old or too mature etc… But when I was 18 I was a lot more open to music when I listened to it, now it seems I carry a lot of baggage when I hear something now that I close off. I feel more jaded, I can spot influences a lot more now and I let this get in the way of enjoying something.

Sure you can see influences dotted throughout this record, a bit of Saves The Day here or Piebald there, but it should be judged more on the quality of the songs rather than the originality of the sound. And the Hotelier pack plenty of quality in to their songwriting. Songs that come under the banner of ‘ANTHEM!!’ Come frequently through the record. The album veers in to a darker place but The Hotelier seem just at home with Touché Amoré style scream-a-longs as they do with their Jimmy Eat World style sing-a-longs.

The are a couple of spots where they don’t quite hit the mark, ‘Housebroken’ Is a bit of a dull point but by in large, if you let yourself, you’ll find this a really enjoyable listen. In the great scheme of things The Hotelier aren’t gonna steal my heart like, say, The Promise Ring but they will remain fondly thought of like, say, Hot Rod Circuit. Hopefully that analogy will make some kind of sense to you. Definitely worth checking out the record. Cheers.

You can download/stream the album HERE.
And the last time I checked Monkey Boy records had some vinyl copies available HERE

Thanks for reading. Get in touch. http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog
Twitter @alex_itto
Or ittoblog@gmail.com

REVIEW: SOMOS – TEMPLE OF PLENTY

Band – Somos

Album – Temple of plenty

Label – Tiny Engines

Everyday on my twitter feed for the last few weeks someone has been raving about the debut album by Somos. Most of my friends on twitter and a lot of the people I follow share very similar tastes in music to me. We fall out, every so often, when someone in jest bad mouths Fugazi and I have to point out how wrong they are, even in jest, but apart from that we have a lot of the same opinions on music. So, when I see them all in unison raving about a band then I know I need to get my arse in gear and see what all the fuss about. The problem with this album by Somos is that, after a good few listens, I’m still trying to understand what all the fuss is about.

Somos play big, arena sized, emo rock with a polished sound and, considering this is their first record, an assured confidence. Sometimes with this kind of band I can go either way. Obviously, as is well documented by this blog, I am obsessed with emo bands but this, more commercial or easily accessible type of band can either leave me excited or just numb. Like with Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, people have told me a lot that I can’t like one and not the other. As it turns out, as time has passed then I’m not really that fond of either band, but I use to really like Taking Back Sunday but felt completely indifferent to Brand New. I don’t know why exactly and I feel a bit like that with Somos. They don’t do anything wrong exactly and I certainly don’t hate the record but I just am not feeling any connection and, after just a few songs on the album, I’m left bored.

One thing I can point at as being quite enjoyable is the clean guitar sound. It’s crisp, big and almost sounds like the Police in the odd place here and there. There is a retro feel to it but it’s drowned out by the stock distortion sound on the heavier parts where the songs tend to lose my interest. The vocals too are a bit of a put off, too much on the same level and not enough engaging energy or distinct tone to separate Somos from other bands of this ilk.

Ultimately this is an album I really wanted to like but it just didn’t end up clicking with me. With all the love being expressed for these guys then I know they’ve got nothing to worry about and I hope they make their label millions because those guys deserve it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

You can download/stream the album HERE

As always, thanks for reading. Get in touch here, on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog on twitter @alex_itto or email ittoblog@gmail.com.

EMO IS BACK!! (Just don’t call it a revival)

In the last few weeks its become apparent that some more widely read media outlets have taken an interest in emo once again. First of all reviews for The World Is A Beautiful Place and Crash Of Rhinos have been popping up for all the hipsters out there on Pitchfork and now Stereogum have posted an article about an ’emo revival’ complete with a guide to 12 must hear bands. There have been mixed reactions to the news that these bands are receiving this kind of attention and, in the main, it’s nothing to do with how mainstream these sites are. No, it’s more to with the name they’re being labelled with. AGAIN WITH THE NAME!! It seems that ‘revival’ is the new dirty word. And I, for one, am guilty of using and applying it to the bands of today. But, come on, is it really all that bad? Okay, so emo never went away but for a lot of us it was pretty shit for a good few years in the mid 00’s.

I’ve explained many times why two years ago I started writing this blog so bare with me as I rehash that because I feel it’s relevant to my point. Where I live, near Margate in the south east of England, there was a pretty decent and vibrant punk/emo scene at the end of the 90’s to the beginning of the 21st century. We had various venues where every week there was always something going on. A lot of amazing touring bands came here and usually received a very warm welcome with great support from the many local bands that existed at the time. There was a real buzz about the place and it was really exciting for someone in their late teens to be a part of. I got into emo in a big way in 1998, I was aware that there was some derision associated with the name but that didn’t seem to matter one bit. The band I was in stopped writing throw away pop punk songs and instead took our lead from bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, The Van Pelt, Built to spill among others and injecting it with some hardcore here and there. when we toured England in Easter 1999 with Sunfactor and Rydell, although there were a couple of duff shows, we felt like we were part of something that was happening there and then.

As the years went by things changed a lot. People moved away, tastes changed and the local scene looked like it was dead and buried. By 2006 the band I was in at the time were playing ugly pop songs for people who like us felt jaded with music (in the truth we were trying to be Q and not U but were obviously not that good). We split up because it was all going nowhere, we found it impossibly hard to find gigs and when we did barely anyone showed up. After that I kind of gave up on music, I didn’t wanna play anymore and most of my friends were listening to other things now. I found it hard to find new bands that I connected with, if I asked people what they were listening to it was usually met with the same response, ‘Same old stuff’. And I did too. And then to make things worse I was being told that what I was in to was no longer the thing I thought it was.

In the mid 00’s I worked in a cinema, some teenagers were coming into the lobby and one of my colleagues described them as a bunch of emo’s. I looked up expecting to see a bunch of people wearing backpacks, checked shirts, NHS glasses and holding a copy of Fracture fanzine but instead all I could see were some goths. I laughed and corrected my colleague but he just laughed and set me straight, ‘you’re old emo, this is what emo is now’. ‘Fuck off’ was my initial response but he was right. This made me give up even more, no band to play in, no bands to go and see locally and now I couldn’t even tell people what music I liked without people thinking I sat at home cutting myself.

Then in 2010 my best friend told me to check out a band called Algernon Cadwallader, being an obedient friend I did as I was told and holy shit I was blown away. The fact that this band existed completely renewed my interest in music and I was even more blown away to find that they weren’t the only band out there playing this kind of music. There were hundreds, with d.i.y labels and local scenes popping up all over the place. It felt lke it was happening all over again and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could’ve been 19 again, people were referencing the 90’s, bands were coming to play locally, I was finding out about bands by word of mouth and no one was dressing like a goth anymore. Emo had been revived!! I desperately wanted to be a part of it but my back was shot to shit and required a number of operations so playing in a band was out of the question so that’s why I started this blog. If I couldn’t contribute musically then I could at least help spread the word by writing about it and letting people know how awesome it all was.

I’ve never been one to worry about things being labelled. Sure, labels are for soup cans but they’re also pretty damn helpful when you go into a record store so you don’t have to sift through a load of Country and Western bands to find the thing you want. I never had a problem referring to bands as emo and was happy to describe the band I was in as an emo band. It seemed to me that the bands that had the biggest problem with being labelled as emo, back in the day, would end up making sub standard records just to prove a point. They shot themselves in the foot and tht all lead to the scene dying away. One of the main differences I’ve noticed about this newest wave of emo is that bands no longer seemed to have a problem with that name. It no longer had the awful connotations it once did. And describing a band as an emo revival band just seemed a way to differentiate the new from the old. To celebrate the fact that the scene was again as vibrant as it once was. It doesn’t apply to every band but some it seems really appropriate for. But saying ’emo revival’ seems to be a problem now. Not as big as a problem as some bands being called ‘twinkle daddies’ but a problem none the less.

After about a year of falling in love with all these newer bands I started to wonder what would be the thing that kills emo again. There were so many parallels being drawn with what is happening now and what happened in the late 90s (Joie De Vivre are the new Mineral, CYLS is the new Deep Elm etc) that I thought the same thing would happen again, that it would be killed by its own popularity. Although a lot has changed since the late 90’s, the record industry is a completely different beast now. Surely no band can break through on a major label now because things don’t seem to work that way these days. So are we going to kill it off ourselves by the labels we’ve all been using? Are we our own worst enemies? Are we all set to bail before it becomes really popular in a mainstream way again??

Well, you can do what you want because I’ve decided that i’m in it for the long haul. I’m 33 now and am married with four kids, I haven’t got the time or energy to try and find something new to like or get in to. So you can decide to move on to the next thing or decide to change the way your band sounds so you don’t get labelled thw wrong way again but I’m gonna carry on doing this. Writing about emo bands, emo revival bands or whatever we happen to be calling it on that particular day. Like the guy in your town, you know the one because every town has them, who dresses like he did in the 1950’s and somethimes looks completely ridiculous or ultra hip depending on the fashion of the time. I’m that guy, I’m Emo till I die or something a bit less cheesy.

Love you guys.

P.S This is my old band from the 90’s if you wanna have a listen x

Thanks for reading, get in touch here or on Facebook www.facebook.com/isthisthingonblog or on twitter @alex_itto

Review: Dikembe – Broad Shoulders

Band – Dikembe

Album – Broad Shoulders

Label – Tiny Engines

I wonder, every so often, which albums out of this new wave of emo will stand the test of time. I feel as excited right now as I ever did about this kind of music and, like all good things, I don’t want it to end but one day it will and what will we be left with? When the world moved on to whatever it was that it moved on to before, I was still listening to Appleseed Cast or The Promise Ring on a very regular basis. So, what will be the records that stay with me when the scene no doubt falls apart like it did back then? Well I can say with a very certain amount of confidence that ‘Broad Shoulders’ by Dikembe will be one of those records. I don’t know if it’s right or not but I have only had the record for a few weeks and I’m already holding it in the same esteem as ’30 degrees everywhere’ and ‘Mare Vitalis’, or, to translate that for you IT IS REALLY REALLY FUCKING GOOD!

Since the release of their debut ep last year, the amazing 4 track ‘Chicago Bowls’ there has been much anticipation for Dikembe to deliver a full length record. They’ve taken a fair amount of time for it to get here, enough time for people on the internet to refer to it as the ’emo chinese democracy’ (which I think is to do with the amount of time it’s taken the record to come out rather than they have a guitar player who wears a KFC bucket as a hat, unless I’m missing something here). In fact it hasn’t been that long, it may seem like it just because you want it to come out so much and they’ve done well to take this time over it because what Dikembe have delivered here is a modern emo masterpiece.

Everything about this record just feels so right, the to the point indie production, the gorgeous guitar sounds, the perfect pacing of the songs where nothing feels rushed or hurried, just naturally brilliant. I read that singer Steven Gray said the theme of the record is growing up and you do see that throughout the record. on the Wavelets LP ‘Athaletics’ (his other band) he sang “I’m not mad I’m just fucking stressed out”, here on ‘Apology not fucking accepted’ he sings “I’m so mad I can’t fucking see straight”. Maybe he sees things different now as part of growing up or maybe those two are nothing to do with each other and no comparison should be drawn but either way they are 2 great moments of each record.

And great moments keep coming on ‘Broad shoulder’, like the chugging groove laid out at that start of ‘I watch a lot of Jackie Chan movies’ which turns in to perhaps the best song on the album. The album is equally as good in its more uptempo parts such as ‘We become river rats’ and ‘Librarians kill for that kind of quiet’ as it is in its quieter songs like the beautifully downbeat ‘Not today, angel’. By the end the album leaves you with a feeling of total contentment, this is what we’ve been waiting for and now this is what has been delivered to us, to put it a simpler way it’s like a having a perfect christmas. All the build up was overwhelmingly worthwhile.

The thing is with a revival of a sound, there are those bands that will do well by imitating what was there before and just bringing in to the current day and there are those that just get it. Dikembe are a band that just get it, this is the type of music they play because when they get together this is what comes out rather than thinking beforehand “hey, lets write a song that sounds like those guys”. They are a timeless emo band, one that has reaffirmed my love for this music for which I’ll be forever grateful. Cheers dudes.

Click HERE to go to the Tiny Engines bandcamp to download/stream the record.

Cheers again for reading xx

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Review (of sorts) – Crash Of Rhinos – Distal

Having just spent a good few months listening to and writing about nothing else but emo, it was my plan to listen to and write about something completely different. Nearing the completion of the Top 100 Emo Songs, I had bought the new Cancer Bats album in readiness to use as a sort of punk metal palate cleanser, something to refresh the senses. That was the plan until I received an e-mail from Big Scary Monsters containing a few recommendations of bands I may enjoy which triggered a memory of something I’d been meaning to check out for a while.

Whilst I’d been being extremely nostalgic and re-listening to music for the purpose of compiling the Emo 100, sitting patiently on my iPod were a few things I had downloaded and put on the back burner for the time being. One of these such bands were Crash Of Rhinos. I knew I was behind the times myself already as the ‘Distal’ album had been available since last April and that e-mail I received served as the kick up the arse I needed to start listening to new things again. It wasn’t my initial intention to review it just because it had been out for so long already but having been blown away by it on the first listen, I couldn’t not write something about it. Plus, Big scary Monsters have recently released it on cassette so I guess I can justify a, rather late, review.

The first thing  need to say is that ‘Distal’ is brilliant! Just in case you weren’t sure which way I was going with this. The second thing is that they’re British, which is also brilliant as it means there is a good chance I’ll get to see them play some time soon. Crash Of Rhinos come from Derby, they used to play in The Jesus Years and The Little Explorer and have 2 guitarists, 2 bassists, an amazing drummer and a fuck load of vocals. They play intricate, beautiful and epic emo which stirs up memories of a plethora of incredible bands like caP’n Jazz, Mineral and Cursive. Whilst all the while sounding completely like their own band.

Crash Of Rhinos aren’t afraid to let their songs breathe, most of the 7 songs featured on the album stretch longer than the 6 minute mark but at no time do they out stay their welcome. It shows a lot of confidence in their ability to write really captivating music that they can trust their songs to extend to these lengths without feeling the need to rehash parts or cut anything short. ‘Distal’ starts with the uplifting ‘Big Sea’ and from the very start you’re drawn in, by the time the vocals start you want to be joining in and singing along at full voice. It moves from a big rock beginnings to twinkly intricate breakdowns and back again seamlessly. The next track, ‘Stiltwalker’, starts with another great riff and is played at a frenetic pace and although it does go on to break things down quietly you never think they’re repeating themselves. The song builds moodily in to a brilliant climax, the riff at the end is where they remind me of Cursive, a sound so good it makes me wish I was still in a band.

From there track 3, ‘Wide Awake’, is lighter, the verse is gorgeous and paves the way for the Mineral-esque track 4, ‘Lifewood’. The album never dips at any point, ‘Gold on Red’ and ‘Closure’ both bring different things to the record whilst maintaining the quality. ‘Distal’ finishes with 7 and half minutes of absolute brilliance, ‘Asleep’ shows the band combining at their best, the tight rhythm section thunders the song along. There are shades of ‘End of the ring wars’ era Appleseed Cast here, its a perfect end to an amazing album.

If Spy Versus Spy were the best British emo band of the old wave then Crash Of Rhinos certainly hold that title for this emo revival. Makes me kick myself that their not included in the Top 100 emo songs list because if I had heard them this time last year I can’t see that I would have left them out. If I do make that list an annual thing, which is under consideration, then I’m sure Crash Of Rhinos would secure themselve a new entry. Especially as I’ve just read that their working on a new album that should be released before the year is out. I can’t seriously recommend this highly enough and fingers crossed they’ll be playing somewhere in the south east soon  so I can write more nice tthings about them.

Click HERE to go to the Crash Of Rhinos bandcamp site, or HERE for the Big Scary Monsters site.

Cheers for reading xxx