Category Archives: bayside

Spare Bricks Can Be Dead Weight

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It’s that time again. One of my favorite bands has released another album, and it’s time for me to snot and slobber on and on about how great it is.
Enter antithetic sentence here – wait, no. I was being completely genuine. I am about to snot and slobber over how great Bayside’s fifth major album, Killing Time, is. It’s sick, sick, sick.

Click to Enjoy Bayside – Sick, Sick, Sick

Anthony Raneri’s viciously self-aware lyrics have absolutely never failed to create the sharpest possible framework for each song, each album, each live performance. The combination of guitar sounds between Nick, Jack, and Anthony make sure that no matter how complicated the issue these lyrics skillfully dissect, the track will still melt your face. And then there is the skinny little fireball drummer, Chris, who picked up after the devastating death of the band’s previous drummer and lead them right through multiple successful albums. Watching him live is inspiring.

You need a map to see how far I was sticking out my neck

Whether it is in a club setting, a dive bar, or a huge outdoor stage – the Bayside live show is amazing and not to be missed. Record store acoustic performances ain’t terrible either. It may be a lot of emo/punk/uncategorized kids who are into this band, but this can’t possibly be a bad thing. Let’s hope some of Ant’s expert wordsmithery makes it into their vocabs sometime soon.

But can a person make a difference if he never makes a sound?

You can’t define this sub-genre. It is rock. This is rock music. These are working-class guys. They speak to everyone. You are guilty of committing the crimes these songs have called out. You have felt the pain and loss that they’ve so eloquently lamented. You’ve felt as doe-eyed in love. You’ve felt as murderously wronged. You don’t have to be Emo to feel these things. It’s rock and roll music (any old way you choose it.)

So buy Killing Time, and buy it for your friends too. I mean buy it. And buy a ticket to their show. I promise you, one will come nearby. These guys tour like a… rock band.

So stand for something cause something’s overdue
And I don’t ask for much, but this could define a lifetime.

I like antiphony

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Taking Back Sunday
I was chatting with TLO on my way home from the office Wednesday. She was talking about how she had recently gotten a few CDs from a friend that was returning the favor after she turned him on to Four Year Strong, Bayside, and Meg and Dia. Apparently he fell head over heels about those bands, and that’s the payoff my friends. This is why we even put in the blood sweat and tears into this very blog. We love that feeling when someone falls in love with a band that we told them about.

Back to the story…

I asked her, “Well…what are you gonna hook him on next?” She replied, “I tried a few other bands, but they fell short for him. No one else sounds like FYS and Bayside.” Well… I HAD to agree.

Even after what I am about to share this week, the statement is still true. No band sounds like Bayside. There will never be another band like Four Year Strong.

but…

You could find “Band B” that happens to have all the same things you like about “Band A”.

I am of course talking about iTunes Genius and Pandora. We have mentioned iTunes Genius in one of our podcasts, but I’d like to talk specifically about Pandora. Both the iTunes Genius and Pandora use a formula for determining recommendations of new songs based on songs/bands you already like.

Pandora, specifically, uses the technology provided by the Music Genome Project. In a nutshell, it takes characteristics of a band/song and matches it with bands/songs that have similar characteristics within a certain range of difference. Like if a band has a male singer that writes emo-type lyrics usually in a minor key, it will recommend other songs that have male singers that also have emo-ish lyrics in minor keys. The characteristics that make up a song are known as its genome. Musicians analyze songs to put together these characteristics, which make it a little more scientific than some punk kid saying simply: “They sound just like the Foo Fighters.”

To best describe all that Pandora is, I created two stations. One based on Bayside and one based on Four Year Strong.

The first one is Bayside.

Bayside Station
Pandora selected many great bands and songs for my Bayside station, most notably Taking Back Sunday and the song My Blue Heaven. Why TBS? Well, its genome similarities to Bayside are:

basic rock song structures
mild rhythmic syncopation
a clear focus on recording studio production
mixed minor & major key tonality
string section beds
a vocal-centric aesthetic
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
electric guitar riffs
vocal harmonies

[Download Taking Back Sunday – My Blue Heaven]

I like Taking Back Sunday, but in my opinion, Bayside is far better, deeper, and more profound than TBS. I definitely don’t mind it showing up in my Bayside Radio playlist though!

Now, let’s see how Pandora does with Four Year Strong.

Four Year Strong Station

One of the first recommendations was a band called Set Your Goals and their song Mutiny.

[Download Set Your Goals – Mutiny]
Here are the characteristics that make this a good recommendation based on Four Year Strong:

punk roots
great lyrics
heavy use of vocal harmonies
call and answer vocal harmony (Antiphony)
major key tonality
paired vocal harmony
dirty electric guitar riffs
an aggressive male vocalist
prominent drums

I love this band on first listen! Enough to go to Amazon and buy it! The best part was that I had never heard of Set Your Goals before Pandora suggested them! [edit by TLO: I did. They are actually touring with Bayside right now. But they were also on the lineup for a Big D And The Kids Table show that we ended up skipping quite a long time ago. LOL] Mission accomplished! Maybe Pandora will help you find some new music? The one thing is that you might miss more cutting-edge indie bands by just relying on Pandora and the Music Genome Project, so you better bookmark inALLcaps.com just to make sure you don’t miss something amazing!

POST #116! Hooray! Congrats, in ALL caps!

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I really wanted to celebrate our 100th post, but apparently I lost track. Post number 100 was my scathing rant about my neighbor bob.

/frown

Well, fuck it, we celebrate post number 116! Amazing!

We got a great team here at inALLcaps Music Blog. When I look back over the last 115 posts, I start to beam. Zink and TLO have done an amazing job with me to share some great music to you our readers.

In honor of post one hundred and SIXteen, I would like to present to you my top 6 most played artists of all time. These are the bands/artists I know I can count on when I need good music on a bad day or to stay focused while getting some work done. I hope you enjoy them all, and maybe pick up an album or two.

Thanks for sticking with us and telling your friends. We are really picking up speed, and we can’t wait to show you some more great music in the next 116. Much love…Mookie.

6. Ben Harper
I have singlehandedly turned more people into fans with this track right here. If there is a jukebox with this on it, it is getting played. Everytime I go in there. My friends and I sing it happily. This usually will get some soul to ask, what is this amazing song. “Ben Harper dude. He’s great!” we exclaim! Already a fan? Have you heard of the Relentless 7? Yeah. Thought so. Ben Harpers new band. Harder, edgier, more balls. New album on the way soon. Keep an eye out…or just check here everyday. Once it drops we will be telling you about it!

[Ben Harper – Burn One Down (Alone in Cambridge)]

5. Manchester Orchestra
You already know I have much love for this band. I listened to the album “Like A Virgin Losing a Child” on MF’ing repeat. It’s THE album of 2006, 2007, and 2008. The bands new album, “Mean Everything to Nothing”, comes out April 21st I believe. I cannot wait. To hold us over, Andy rocked an acoustic set over at Spin.com.

4. Idiot Pilot
Is it me, or does alt rock go really well with electronica? Idiot Pilot is from Bellingham, Washington. That’s kinda all I know about them. How did they end up in my post of the most ever played albums in my iTunes? The song below, kicks such ass, that you would just leave it on repeat for hour on end too…

[Idiot Pilot – A Day in the Life of a Poolshark]

3. Fall Out Boy
The Grammy-nominated pop punk band is a favorite of mine. Pete, as a lyricist, is clever and the band rocks. We’ve mentioned them before, so peep it.

2. Bayside
We’ve mentioned Bayside a few times here. This is a great rock/punk band with strong lyrics and powerful music. They are are fantastic live. What are you waiting for?

…and the number one most played artist?


1. The Working Title
It actually surprises me that this is the number one played band in my iTunes. They are great, I love to listen to them. Reminds me of an edgier Lovedrug. Gets me in the zone though. Yet, not sure that TWT would actually make any of my top ten lists. Strange. The band has finished their next album titled “Bone Island”…I’ll definitely be picking that up. What do you think of them? Post a comment!

[The Working Title – This Is Not Glorious]

The more I live I see this life’s not about me

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Imagine it’s sometime around 1989. You’ve just spiked your hair and combed your sweet mullet, or used a half-can of Aqua Net on your four-inch-high bangs.
It’s Friday night, and your jeans are tight.
It’s time to go see Great White.

You didn’t know how rock-n-roll looked
Until you caught your sister with the guys from the group
Halfway home in the parking lot
By the look in her eye she was giving what she got

Seems like their set is a bit short… Your voice isn’t even hoarse yet! What’s this… They aren’t even the headliner?! Some Christian band called Stryper is headlining this thing? Dude, time to go smoke a doob in the parking lot.

Fast forward to sometime around 2007, and I watched a hot dude – minus the mullet – experience a similar reaction when Bayside performed as one of the openers for Anberlin. I think someone made him stay and slow dance as Anberlin covered “Creep” as their closing song… He must have been in love. But to this day, he can’t stand Anberlin. All because they headlined a show instead of one of his favorites.

You didn’t know Anberlin was a Christian band? Well, most people don’t. For awhile they seemed not-entirely-sure how comfortable they were with that identity, to tell you the truth. Anberlin experienced their first major airplay on Christian radio, such as Air-1. In an early interview, they sidestepped the “are we a Christian band” question, despite having roots as a bona fide Christian punk band (the lead singer Stephen Christian and the bassist Deon Rexroat formed the punk band called SaGoh in high school, short for Servants after God’s own heart). Some of Anberlin’s early songs were re-worked SaGoh songs. An early blog post on the Air-1 website even once criticized them for such a sidestep. They’ve progressed to admit that they are able to share their faith with the other bands they’ve toured with and it’s a rewarding and enriching experience.

There is a strong sound to this band. The long and short of this album review post is going to be thus: “any distaste for them is undeserved.” That’s all I have for you today. I must be distracted by late 1980’s hairstyles.

Check out the video for “Godspeed” of their 2007 album Cities:

New Surrender, the band’s most recent release, is their first to be recorded on a major label. And they appear proud of what they’ve done, elevating themselves past writing about holding hands toward the issues and struggles they see in their lives and the lives around them. Case in point, lyrics from track 8 “Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)”.

[Anberlin – Burn Out Brighter]

And much to the dismay of loser radio jocks everywhere, I am pretty sure that the song “Feel Good Drag” currently in heavy rotation is not about drugs. It wasn’t even funny the first time, unless you’re thirteen. If I hear another dj suck in his breath dramatically while announcing this song, I just might show up and punch him in the neck. You’re on notice. You sound like an idiot.

You can support the indie label Tooth & Nail by checking out Anberlin’s earlier albums, or grab the new one out on Universal Republic. Just clickety-click below.