Jump, Little Children! Jump!

Don't you love it when you find out about a band once they've got several albums out? I do. I discovered the band Jump, Little Children about a year ago and when looking for more of their stuff, found out the song Cathedrals that I had fallen in love with was from their 1998 album Magazine. A quick search and a visit to a music store had me in ownership of Magazine and their 2001 release Vertigo. And hoo boy, do I love them.

Cathedral haunted me. It was this beautifully, heartstirringly sung piece about, well, the sheer beauty of architecture and how it can take your breath away. Backed by some beautiful strings and an acoustic guitar, I had a very different opinion of what Jump, Little Children were like. I put Vertigo in and listened first.

I was in for a shock. It starts up with this really fun upbeat alternarock track that opens the way for an album that surprised the hell out of me; the song My Guitar is awesome singalong fun and has a wicked solo, but the real stand-out tracks are Body Parts and Habit. Both of them are possibly the sexiest songs ever; Body Parts is about being turned on by a person to the point of furious passion and Habit is, believe it or not, a song about addiction. Both of them make naughty feelings happen in the loins of everybody ever. If David Boreanez is your thing, Body Parts is your song.

Magazine has a different feel. It's a more laid back album, but to be honest it falls flat. They've modified their sound for it but I don't feel it's for the better. Hold Your Tongue is a pretty song and great for singing along with some pretty cool bluesy lead guitar kicking in about halfway through and Singer tries to recapture that seductive tone they did so well previously, but overall the album just plain isn't as good. The end track Pigeon is gorgeous as fuck though.

Fans of Jeff Buckley, Pilate and hell, Goo Goo Dolls should really check out Jump, Little Children. They're criminally unheard of for their talent and should recieve lots of love.


Oh I haven't been new band hunting for aaages. Slow internet and all. But hell, I wouldn't be the little egomaniac I am unless I could link something I think makes me cool for liking, would I?

Fuck.


Look at this goddamn dog.

No, they're MINE. Get your own Chemical Romance.

So My Chemical Romance's new album The Black Parade has been out for a week or so now. At least, it's been on the internet where a combination of naughty people and music reviewers can get their listen awwwn. I'm sort of like both and neither combined.

This is the best My Chemical Romance album ever. This is the album Freddie Mercury would write if he was 21 nowadays and not having issues coming to public terms with his sexuality. It's epic and grandiose and mischievous and best of all, most of all, it's one of those things that I fucking love, it's an album that tells a story.

You see, The Black Parade is about The Patient. The album starts with The End, where The Patient has had enough and kills himself. From then-on out, we get a journey of everything he was as he comes to terms with his life and how death comes to you as your strongest memory. In The Patient's case, Death is a black parade. Goddamn, this album.

There's more than one moment that gives me massive tingles down my back. The first one is in The End, when Gerard just decides to lose control of his voice and angrily sing "When I grow up, I want to be nothing at all!" with a huge smile on his voice. Then the entire next track hits me. Then... Y'know what? I'm not going to quote every moment because there's too many moments to name.

Straight up, this album will put your conception of what they are to shame. It blows everything else they've done out of the water. It's my release of the year by far and I'll no longer admit with shame that I like this band, because this album is going to be one of the best albums released between 2005 and 2010. Quote me on this.


Myspace link? Band I'm totally cooler than you for knowing? Fuck a myspace link! Fuck faked coolness (I'm a massive dork, I have to fake it okay.) I'm giving total shoutouts to homeboys and homegirls everywhere that been linkin' me. One of my most excellent buddies Jess has her own blog going on which is good to read as she's probably going to post about me more because I'm really hot and I'm planning on touching her with my penis several times in the very near future. What's up, baby. I'm crass as fuck. Also, her friend Ashley who I met at a party the other night has his blog which seems to be rad and I'll do what I can to get him to write about me more. More people need to read about me. Me me me. I fucking love narcissism.

M-M-M-MULTIPOST

Senses Fail have released a new album, Still Searching. As the title insinuates, it's about the band's lost faith in religion. There's a bunch of tracks that directly state "No, fuck faith, fuck YOU" outright. Overall, it's a damn sight better than their last release, Let It Enfold You which was in my opinion, kinda eh. It's just solid angry pop punk with some decent hardcore and screamo elements in some tracks. And heh, I remember saying to a friend "I honestly can't think of another song about losing faith in religion." I'd been listening to REM's Losing My Religion when I said it too. Oh my. Myspace link.

Freezepop are fucking awesome.

The guitarist from The Smiths, Johnny Marr, has been confirmed to have joined Modest Mouse, assisting in songwriting duties for the new album. Hot diggity. I love The Smiths and I loved Modest Mouse's last album, so I'm picturing great things. What I'll be delivered will probably let me down quite a bit, but I don't care. It'll be awesome.

Over browsing on Youtube, I found a video for Miserlou on Expert in Guitar Hero 2. I honestly don't think I'm ever going to be that good at the game, even if I start practicing now and play for a few years. That's just... just... Well, my brain's gonking out trying to watch. I think it'd be easier to learn to play on my actual guitar. Hell, that's not a bad idea, it'd be a great show-off-at-the-music-store song to play around the kids playing Smoke On The Water over and over again. Off to my favourite tabs site...

Listen to Freezepop because they're fucking awesome.

A friend just got me onto Guster recently. That's some solid awesome alternative guitar pop. She's been sending me songs constantly via MSN and my god, I'm addicted. The track Rainy Days in particular makes me almost want to well up in tears at how amazing the singer's voice is. I'm getting Jeff Buckley vibes from a few songs, Harvey Danger from a few others and a general feeling of rockitude whenever I hit play. Goddamn, how awesome. Myspace link.

I'm having no luck tracking down music by Holidays On Ice who I have mentioned before, in any CD stores in the area. One would think somebody who loves Frente! as much as me and who loves cutesy indie pop would be all over that, wouldn't one? Oh no, no no no no no, sadly no. I'm refusing to let myself order new CDs in until I get a better job because I can't afford to eat most of the time, let alone order CDs. I go into all the local alternative CD stores that I can find and I search and I search because an "impulse" buy is far easier on the conscience than planning out a few days of starvation. Ech. I'm listening to their site and myspace's samples a lot though to make up for it. I'm still cool, right? Myspace link.

Oh yeah, and Freezepop are fucking awesome.

FREEEEEEEEEEZEPOPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

The Summer We Went West. Catchy by-line.

Question: Do you love hearing people put serious emotion into their vocals? Do you love melancholy, slightly upbeat clean guitars? Are you a major proponent for music that makes you wanna hug and slap at the same time? Have you been wanting some music that perfectly fits these questions and throws in some spoken word poetry to boot?

Answer: The Summer We Went West are a really awesome indie group from Maryland, over in the Yew Ess of Ay. They cry lyrics at you as guitars pluck and strum beautiful melodies, making you want to go on a road trip in an old beat up station wagon.

They're music to listen to after you've been dumped at 3am on your way home. They're music to listen to at eleven in the morning as you're sitting on your verandah staring at your yard, wondering what you're gunna do today. And they're music that, much like Stars, much like Mineral, much like The Arcade Fire, makes me wish I could be forlorn just once in my life.

Following The Holy Moon Goddess, their first full release, is just utterly amazing. The first few tracks really take you you away and surprise you. At least, they better. They surprise the hell out of me every time and I've lost count as to how many times I've listened to the album. Following that comes spoken word on the top of some beautiful guitar in the first part of a three part song (parts two and three use some electronic drums and just go exploring), before two closing tracks that bring you back to how the album opened and leave with a message: Lighten up, we're all too epic.

They really started shining as a bunch of guys who live together who all like to make music. They've still definitely got that sound, there's something about the way they sound that says everybody in the band is really close with one another. It's really sweet. Buy their stuff. Listen to their stuff. Be a filthy pirate for their stuff, your ears need it.


Oh yeah. We just got the game Guitar Hero which has led me to track down two bands - The Slip, who do the rock song Even Rats, and Shaimus, who do the poppy All Of This. Both of them are tracks you gotta buy in the game, and both are tracks that utterly stole my heart when I heard them. I had to go track them down, and now you don't have to. Go click some links and listen, they're oh so sing-along-to-able and oh so good. I'm off to go beat Bark At The Moon again to show off to my housemates once more. They hate me ever so much.

I gotta find me a British girl, because The Pipettes keep taking my heart

Let's fly over to England, everyone! While we're here, let's rock on down to that venue that I don't know the name of and let's watch Riot Becki, Gwenno and Rosay completely remove our socks so hard with their adorableness. They'll adorable your socks off so hard you'll forget that's not how you verb that word. So click this, yo.

The Pipettes are total pop. Formed by a promoter, girls hired to do choreographed singing on stage, all-male band is never seen in publicity photos, the whole deal. They're signed to the same label as The Go! Team. And they are so fucking fun it hurts.

How much can someone say about a manufactured pop group? It helps that they're indie pop, I guess, and that they're a lot more awesome in sound than most pop groups, and y'know what? I don't fucking care. We Are The Pipettes is one of the best albums I've got recently. Tracks like Pull Shapes, Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me and One Night Stand make me stand up and jump around and dance like a total spaz, whereas Why Did You Stay, Sex and I Love You make me sit and giggle to myself about things in life are radical. They totally are. Their lyrics are about sex and simple love, their backing music is really reminiscent of Phil Spector and their accents. OH GOD THEIR ACCENTS. "I looked at your score sheet and I saw a seven, so I walked up to you and said 'baby did it hurt when you fell from heaven'" should in no way be a great line but those accents, oh god those accents make it work so hard.

Oh and I made out with someone at a party who looked just like Rosay. But that's just me bragging. I don't brag as much as people think I do, really.


And fuck a myspace link, let's have some SUPER FUN MUSIC JOKES INSTEAD!

What's the difference between a trumpet player and a savings bond?
A savings bond matures and makes money!

What do you call the old singer when the band gets someone better?
The bass player!

Two DJs are talking:
"Hey man, wanna go see a movie?"
"Dunno, who's the projectionist?"

How can you tell if a drummer is at the door?
The knock speeds up!

How can you tell if a drummer is at the door?
He doesn't know when to come in!

How can you tell if a singer is at the door?
He can't find the right key!

How many Grateful Dead fans does it take to change a light bulb?
None, they let it burn out and follow it around for years!

What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?
The drummer!

This trombone player is rushing from a gig to meet his girlfriend for dinner. In his haste, he leaves his trombone on the back seat, in plain view from the street. He realizes this halfway through dinner and says "Shoot, I better go check my car, I don't want anything bad to happen." Sure enough, he sees that someone had broken the window to his car and stuffed another 5 trombones in there.

How many indie kids does it take to change a light bulb?
It's a really obscure number, you probably don't know it!

And with that, I'm going to go hang myself for sticking these awful, awful jokes up and almost taking credit for them! Thanks really go to the dudes over at Something Awful, for without them I would have no material to plagarise and call my own. BYE FOR NOW KISSES AND HUGS MWAH MWAH

Nikola Sarcevic had way more in him than pop punk

The dude's band is a freakin' legend. I mean, come on. Tell me with a straight face you haven't heard of freakin' Millencolin. I bet you can't do it.

I found out a few days ago that Nikola actually has his own solo thing. Curious, I got my hands on his album Roll Roll And Flee, which is his newest. This, this isn't what I was expecting. It's a lot better.

I was told by the dude that recommended it that "well it's like acoustic Millencolin" which really, really isn't the case. Take three parts folk guitar, one part pop punk and mix them together in a big bowl. Now stir in an equal amount of John Mayer and stir with a country spoon. Bake on "Sweden" for a few hours and you'll have cooked a fantastic sound.

I'd totally recommend this to people who love really pretty guitars. Especially to fans of Jose Gonzalez or Sufjan Stevens. Their sounds aren't that similar at all, but the slower stuff just fucking rocks in exactly the same way. It's pretty and beautiful and in some cases, like the title track (about the disappearance of Nikola's brother), absolutely heartwrenching.

Stand-out track? My one major track to tell you to listen to as an example? Get your hands on Love Is Trouble. You'll be singing the chorus for ages, that's a promise. It's a shame the track isn't on his myspace, but all the ones on there are good too.

Major kudos go to the dude for using harmonica really, really well in some tracks. I am a sucker for that thing.


And keep your eyes and ears open for my buddy Frank from the comic Combustible Orange's band Phony Bone. They're an awesome indie pop group from New Zealand that should be coming out with an EP real soon; Frank's shown me some unmastered tracks from the studio and they've got a wide range of fucking radical sounds. Overall though, I'd totally liken them to The Strokes who really need no introduction. They've got a live recording of their totally dancy track Penny up at their myspace. Go listen. Do it now. Be with me when the EP comes out with your sweaty money in your fist, ready to buy.

Big Day Out 07 is going to be really big.

Muse and Tool and The Killers and Peaches and The Herd and the Violent Femmes and The Tutts and Eskimo Joe and Evermore and okay I'm not that proud of this but My Chemical Romance oh my. And that's just in the first lineup.

There's rumours of the Eagles of Death Metal showing up too. And Daft Punk. And Peeping Tom. And Shadows Fall.

And maybe just maybe in my wildest hopes and dreams and crazy imaginings, someone'll finally get my email and invite Reel Big Fish. Oh please.

It looks like the crowd will be quite a bit different to last year's crowd. I'm imagining a lot more black on people, whether it be their hair, their shirts or I didn't actually think of a third thing. Less ocker cock rockers, although Jet and Eskimo Joe and the Killers will still draw a big crowd of people who think making a hat out of beer cans is a valid fashion statement.

Personally, as excited as I am by Muse and Tool and Peaches and certainly not My Chemical Romance oh no, I'm waiting for some more rumours to hit before I buy my ticket. I'll cave, I always do, but I'd like to have some assurance that I'm going to get to dance as much as I did to The Grates and The Go! Team this year. What I would fucking LOVE is The Pipettes, a British dancey indiechick group that you'll hear about real soon, oh yes. They'd take The Go! Team's place quite nicely.

And as for fashion? I plan on having massive ska chops, a solid chinstripe of hair and my hair up in a super cool ska-like quiff. I'm starting on the sideburns now. My facial hair grows slow. I'm gunna have a bright yellow shirt on. I'm gunna have a checkered wristband. I'm gunna look like someone most people would wanna hit in the face and I figure the ones that don't shall become my awesome friends. Unless people I already consider to be my friends want to hit me. Then I still think they're radical! Friends are radical! Things are radical! My attention has slid away from Big Day Out, so I think I'll go onto one of those myspace band link things!


Gross Misuse Of Noise are a Brisbane band that used to gig all the time back in the days of ye olde Indie Temple. They're something I totally never expected I'd like - they're basically just straight-up rock. They're so fucking influenced by Audioslave, Queens Of The Stone Age and Stone Temple Pilots it's scary, and the scarier part is that I really enjoy them. They went on hiatus for a while but are going to start gigging again real soon, which is fucking awesome. Try and see them at some point if you're in Brisbane - the frontman's got great stage presence and they're just really radical.