Branching out.

Last week's episode of V was extremely intense. Lost a couple (maybe? there's still hope for someone [I'll call him Kyle, because I don't want to spoil anything] and Samuel could go both ways...) characters, definitely gained at least two characters, and if a certain plot event is real, then something completely gamechanging just happened, beyond the obvious. Anna felt human emotion. Interesting, cause since human emotion is what the world and the Fifth Column is fighting for, it is also both the greatest weakness of humans and now that Anna seeks vengeance, the greatest weakness of the V. Some really interesting paradoxes in that one. Great show. Not sure that paradoxes is the right word.

New AVA - LOVE (and whether I love it or not)

So on my first listen of this album, I'm describing my reactions as it goes by. First track - Et Ducit Mundum Per Luce - about as spacey as it sounds like it'll be from the title. Kinda drags by but then the second track - The Flight of Apollo - hits way harder at first than any AVA song I've heard up to this point. With one of the more direct guitar riffs I've heard from AVA, it's an attention grabber, but still has the heavy synths and ambient sound of their earlier stuff. Third track - Young London - rolls around. Another guitar-heavy intro and so far, the whole album is seamless. Vocal rhythms are different from anything I've heard by AVA ever, reminiscent (not surprisingly) of blink-182. Ends with a flurry of drums... but wait! It's not over yet. Brief silence and then it returns with either keyboard/synth or guitar segue into the fourth track - Shove - . Still seamless, and this song is much more like AVA's earlier work. Sounds familiar. It began with a much softer guitar riff. "She said, 'Show me the world that's inside your head, tell me your secrets of life and death; your one regret, cause sometimes it comes with a shove, we fall in love.'" Synthy ending that's not really an ending again. I'm assuming it's going to be another segue into yet another seamless song. It was kinda seamless, but definite distinction between the two tracks. Fifth track - Epic Holiday - standard AVA to start with, Tom's vocals are definitely in the front seat of this song. "Let's start a riot! Nobody's right, nobody's wrong, life's just a game, it's just one epic holiday." Cool drum solo and then a rather generic guitar delay riff. Track six - Hallucinations - I've already heard this song, and I love it. Quite a long electronic intro, then a synth intro following that, at 0:50 guitar kicks in, at 1:15 the song really gets moving with a vocal line that has a rather different melody than most AVA songs, and a really catchy chorus after two verses "Do you believe in hallucinations? Any dream or its revelation?" Song structure goes verse-verse-chorus-bridge-nifty synth interlude with ambient vocals-chorus. Track seven - The Moon-Atomic (...Fragments and Fictions) - is slower than its previous neighbors, with blink-like melody. Another fake ending (or long outro, I can't really tell, cause one of the guys is doing a live web chat... :/ too much to focus on.) Eighth track - Clever Love - Another song with a melody that I feel like I've heard before. Had to pause so I can focus more on it later. Fades out to - Track nine - Soul Survivor (...2012) - quiet synth intro, with almost spoken vocals. Slow, but catchy and engaging. First "hey"s of the album, I'm not even going to try to transcribe them phonetically... okay, that was a lie, for now it's going "Yo-oh-oh-oh," but that's not what it was the first time, because that was a lot more "ya-ay-oh." Track ten - Letters to God, Part II - I don't know where one might find the first part, but it starts out with a rather fast guitar intro, then a very U2-esque riff. Pretty standard stuff for AVA. Enjoyable though. The final track - Some Origins of Fire - has rolled around, although I haven't decided if the time's dragged or raced by. Standard synth intro. Anyway. That's my first listen. Hope you enjoyed it. Please comment with suggestions, likes, dislikes, your own opinions, &c.

New direction for my blog.

I'm sorry to all of you guys who actually pay attention... all what, maybe 3? I dunno, my mom suggested that I blog about music, and I thought it might be a good idea, so I'm just going to talk about some bands and why I do or do not like them. I'll still post poems from time to time as I write them though, that's just not going to compose the entirety of my blog.

To start off, I'm going to talk about two of my favorite bands: AFI and Bayside.

A Fire Inside is an amazing band, if only because of the immense distance they've come musically. They started out as raw, furious, simple hardcore punk, and have over the course of almost 20 years changed their guitarist and bassist, and developed their style to become a rather unique form of pop rock. Their lyrics have changed quite drastically, though for the most part are packed with meaning and depth.

Bayside is one of the more influential small underground pop punk/punk rock bands out there. In the words of their frontman, Anthony Raneri, they "take music seriously." Their lyrics are full of pain, almost to the point of despair at times, yet they never completely abandon a shred of hope that somehow, sometime, even though everything looks like it could never get better, life is worth fighting for. Their guitar, while not showy or melodramatic, can be very complicated, and although they don't shatter the mold, they are quietly very innovative.

Please comment, share dislikes, suggestions, hate mail (but no spam at all) and tell me what you think. And please check out the music I talk about, even if you decide you don't like it at all, just give it a couple minutes. Key songs by AFI are "A Single Second," "Totalimmortal," "3 1/2," "The Despair Factor," "God Called in Sick Today," "The Missing Frame," "End Transmission," and "This Time Imperfect." Some good ones by Bayside are "No One Understands," "I Can't Go On," "They're NOT Horses, They're Unicorns," "A Rite of Passage," "Guardrail," "A Synonym for Acquiesce," "Dear Tragedy," and "They Looked Like Strong Hands." A personal favorite of mine is "Red Head Vs. the Pretty Red Bracelet," but it's EXTREMELY rare. I have it though ;)

Please comment :) love you all.

Changing my religion

Or just the direction of this blog. There will still be poetry, just not as much, and I will try to post blogs weekly. First post will be on Monday.

formspring.me

Ask me anything, I'll answer. http://formspring.me/SableFlag