Protest the Hero

My taste in music is always changing and with the addition of more country to my music library, I think I can finally say that I listen to every genre of music. I say listen because some people have a lot of music, but haven't listened to all of it. I have. I did it last year and will embark on the journey of listening to every song on my iTunes this summer.

Anyways. In contrast to my previous post about a very popular genre in America, the band for today, Protest the Hero, is held in a genre that comes with a stigma of aggression, violence, and screaming (among other things), and with a much smaller fan base than country. I'm talking of course about metal. There are many different kinds of metal just like there are many different genres of rock. They have similarities and differences, but in the end they can all be held under the umbrella of metal.

Protest the Hero, a "progressive metal" band hailing from Canadia (Yes. That is what I call Canada. Deal with it. It's one of my favorite countries). My love for Canadia has something to do with my love of this band and may even be the reason I started listening to them in the first place. I had seen shirts for the band when I was in Canadia when I was 11 and when I started hearing about them in America I had to listen to them.

The one thing I will say about this band that may get them more listeners is that it sounds very similar to dubstep music, except for one HUGE difference. It's made by actual instruments and actual musicians. And yes there is real singing, not just screaming. Not just people who get bored and put some electronic sounds together to make music. I'm not bashing dubstep (because I really like that genre of music too), I'm just saying that a DJ is not the same as a musician in my mind. Yes the bass might not drop as much as it does in a dubstep song, but that's because it's too busy pounding into your brain. It may not sound pleasant, but give it a shot!

This was the first "metal" band that I had really given a chance and I'm glad I did. The intricacies and aggressive guitar playing on their first album Kezia are incredible. As a debut album this was released in America in 2006 and I fell in love with it. It's a concept album about a woman (Kezia) in prison who is sentenced to death. The story is told through three different perspectives, the priest presiding over her execution, a prison guard (who will do the executing), and Kezia. Each character gets three songs on the album and the tenth song ties it all together.

Outstandingly fun to listen and dance to Kezia has some stand out tracks. However, my favorite song on the album is "Turn Soonest To The Sea." (Video with lyrics underneath here) I put the lyrics in with this because until you've heard the song many times you really can't understand a lot of what they say. That's not even what makes this song great. It's the cool, intricate, technically accurate, and at times face-melting guitars throughout the entire song.

The second album they released, Fortress, is more deafening and exciting than the first one! For some that may be a huge turn off from the band immediately. But I assure you the onslaught of drums, guitars, and vocals and the combinations of notes and rhythms they come up with are unbelievable. I don't know how they play them as well as they do.

This album follows the pattern of a three act structure of the first album, this time with piano interludes between the three acts. It's an incredible album as a whole following themes of goddess worship. It "degenders" the lord and savior and follows some Irish myths. Intricate guitars and awesome, albeit strange lyrics lace this album with intensity. The first single and video off this album is "Bloodmeat" (view it here). And the second one is "Sequoia Throne" and is here. The thing that got me the first time I saw a video of them is that most of not all of the band members do not have huge beard. A staple in many metal bands.

I haven't listend to their newest album Scurrilous much yet, but from what I have listened to it is more of what they are known for, but the lyrics became more personal than they were ever before. Still aggressive and fun to listen to. They mess with time signatures way more than on previous albums. And it's fantastic! Listen to "C'est La Vie" the first single and video here! It's a fun one!

A lot of people overlook metal music, but if you give it a chance and really listen to it you may be surprised by what you hear.

The Dear Hunter (Acts I, II, & III)

Another band that doesn't get the recognition it should is The Dear Hunter. It's a band that, in my opinion, cannot fit into one genre. Yes it's a rock band, but there are influences of every type of rock you can think of: folk rock, dance rock, pop rock, rock ballads, among others. The Dear Hunter also seems unafraid to delve into other types of music too, shown in The Color Spectrum series of EPs.

What started as a side project for Casey Crescenzo's music that didn't fit with his band at the time The Receiving End of Sirens, ended up becoming a full time duty for him. He had originally planned not to really pursue it until he released his self-recorded demos and people loved it.

When he knew he had fan support he recorded an EP, which turned out to be the first act of his six album story, entitled Act I: The Lake South, The River North. The idea for this story was that it would follow the birth, life, and abrupt death of a boy known only as The Dear Hunter.

In Act I we are presented with the conception and birth of the main character to a prostitute named Ms. Terri. Some notable songs on this first act are "The Inquiry of Ms. Terri," "The Pimp and the Priest," and "His Hands Matched His Tongue." Each one lasts about six minutes and vary in the tempos and themes of the song. The last of the three is probably my favorite because it exemplifies one of my favorite things about this band, Casey's incredible vocals. His voice is smooth, but has a big range. Click here to listen.

In Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading the main character's mother, Ms. Terri, dies and he goes in search of information on his mother. He goes to a bordello and falls in love with a prostitute Ms. Leading, but they fall out of love. Another great part of this story are the names of the characters. Ms. Terri is an obvious mystery to our hero and Ms. Leading is a misleading character for our hero.

This act has an incredible amount of good songs to the point that I couldn't pick out even just three that are my favorite. So for that reason I'll pick the most famous song they have: "Red Hands." It starts off slow, but picks up by the end and is another awesome example of Casey's voice. This time not staying smooth the entire time when he stretches to the outskirts of his range. It's a fun song to listen to and just jam out to. Listen here.

Entitled Act III: Life and Death, the most critically acclaimed and probably most diverse album yet has a very interesting story that can only be pulled out after listening to it many times. Here goes my best interpretation. We find our hero has become a soldier and is fighting in a war. He finds his father while he is telling stories of his time in the bordello to other soldiers. Then he gets saved by an unnamed soldier who turns out to be his step-brother. His step-brother gets killed and his father shows no remorse. So, our hero poisons his father to try and take his step-brother's place with his step-mother. In the end our hero reflects on what has happened in his life and he questions whether or not he'll be able to love again.

Act III, like the second act, is outstanding. I think Act III stands out simply because it is so diverse. Beginning with a purely (for most of it) acapella track leading into a smashing of guitars and strong drumming in the background. It's a great opening to a record. One of my favorite things about this record is the fact that it starts out quiet and slow and ends quiet and slow, but throughout the middle we get piano rock, heavy rock, and awesome harmonies throughout. Two of my favorite songs are "He Said He Had A Story" (here) and "The Beautiful Life" (here). The first of the two is the story of our hero's time in the bordello with Ms. Leading from Act II. It's a funny story and very well thought out. Backing vocals provide the soldiers responses to "The Dear Hunter's" story. "The Beautiful Life" is another fantastic song with great vocals and interesting lyrics and a fantastic tempo change in the middle it's a fun song to sing-along to in the car or wherever really.

This band is very fun to listen to and I try and tell everyone I know about them. I try and get everyone to listen to them and help spread the word. It seems to be working, but who knows, maybe my friends are just appeasing me and agreeing with me so I stop telling them to listen to this band. Since this already is really long. I'm doing another post about them sometime about The Color Spectrum series and about the first time I saw them live.

Jukebox The Ghost

This Monday's band comes from Washington D.C. and is Jukebox the Ghost. They actually have a new record being released on June 12th of this year. They're just a fun group. Writing songs ranging from themes of love to science fiction (aliens and things) and nearly everything in between.

I originally discovered them after their first album Live and Let Ghosts was released in 2008. I only found out about them because I went to see Ben Folds at the Rave in Milwaukee. They were the opening band and they were incredible performers! I found myself tapping my feet, eventually turning into jumping and dancing to the music even though I didn't know the individual songs.

Seemingly just another pop punk band, Jukebox the Ghost proves to be much more than just that stereotype. They write catchy songs, with memorable lyrics and great storytelling. Songs like "Victoria" and "Hold It In", are signatures of theirs. Both are pretty straightforward songs both with catchy piano riffs and hooks and enjoyable lyrics. In "Hold It In" there are some great lines: "There's a couple with a baby and it's no secret why, neither one was able to hold it in. Hold it in." Lyrics like this always make me smile. While they may be straightforward, both songs play with tempo and rhythm. Keeping you guessing as to where the song may actually end up.

These two songs sit closer to the "poppy" edge of this band's sound, while we get songs like "My Heart's the Same," a nice slow piano song gives the album some balance from all the fun "dancy" songs on the rest of the album. This song flows seamlessly into one of my favorite songs on the album "Lighting Myself on Fire," one of the songs sitting closest to the rock/punk side of this band. I love it. I've been listening to this album all day long and am going to move onto their other album released in 2010 Everything Under The Sun later today.

Everything Under The Sun is a great album as well! The band didn't change their sound much, which plagues many bands going from their first album to a sophomore attempt. Sometimes it works for bands, but more often than not fans get mad and trash that album. Look to Taking Back Sunday as a prime example. Not necessarily of first to second albums, but when they moved to a new label many fans stopped listening to them. Primarily because they felt that TBS had "sold out." I stuck with them and they've made some of their best music in years. Thankfully Jukebox the Ghost didn't have a problem with their sophomore record.

This is a band who deserves more recognition than they are getting currently so please give them a listen! They're definitely worth your time in my opinion!

From Live and Let Ghosts
Hold It In

From Everything Under the Sun
Half Crazy

And from their album coming out on June 12th. Just released on April 9th:
Somebody

Give them a listen and brighten your day with some good piano rock!

Music Monday

Keeping with the theme I'm going to talk about music on Mondays. I absolutely love music. It's probably one of the best things in the world. I probably love it so much because I've been around since I was born. I've been going to the World's Largest Music Festival, Summerfest, since I was six months old and have been in love with music ever since. It helps to tell stories, evoke emotion, and get people to just have a good time.

I listen to any and every kind of music, yes now that even includes (some, very limited) country, but ranges from heavy metal to pop rock to rap and hip-hop and in an ever changing world of music there are always new bands and new music emerging. Though lately I've been in a Kanye West kind of mood. I don't really know why. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, his most recent solo album was absolutely incredible. Genius lyrics, catchy samples, and great beats, it's an album I can listen to on repeat.

But since then I decided to go back and listen to all his other music and rediscovered his first album, 2004s The College Dropout. I forgot how good his lyrics are on this album, one of my favorites coming from "All Falls Down": 'She couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis.' It's lyrics like those that make this album such a fun one to listen to. His various pop culture references throughout the album are another one of my favorite things about College Dropout.

It's also a great album to listen to because of the way he taunts everyone who thought he wouldn't make it, from record labels, producers, teachers, even his boss at the Gap. And the prevalent themes, ranging from organized religion to personal struggles to self-consciousness he touches on something that can fit into anyone's life. And though I may not be religious and am not a big fan of when people try and force their beliefs upon you, I have to say "Jesus Walks" is a great song, acting as commentary on the hip-hop scene in general. Lyrics like:

"They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus

That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes

But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?"

Show how the "gangsta" persona of hip-hop (still prevalent from the time the album was first being written, in 1999), is changing the norms in music and not necessarily for the better. Not only that, but West goes on to force this record to be played on the radio and gets a rap song about Jesus played quite a bit on the radio. Just another taunt to those who said he couldn't do it.

If you like smart lyrics and catchy hooks go back and give this album another listen, or maybe even a first listen. Bring back some memories or make some new ones. You'll notice different lyrics now that it's eight years later.


And if you're waiting on some new Kanye, he released a track last week first titled "Theraflu" after the cold medicine, but retitled it to "Way Too Cold."


Listen to it and read more about it here:
http://www.kanyewest.org/2012/04/14/news-kanye-changes-name-of-theraflu-track/