Rival Schools are an emo band from New York who have just recorded/released a new full length after a 10-year waiting period. Don't worry, guys, you didn't make me wait, because I have no idea who you are. Punknews posted a link to the full album streaming online for free, so I of course saw this as an opporunity to review something, since I've been too distracted for the past few days to do anything. The only thing that interested me from researching them is that they teamed up with Jonah Matranga from Far and Onelinedrawing to do an EP once, and my friend Amanda is obsessed with Jonah. Other than that, I'll have to listen to them to know anything else useful about them.
Oh sweet! They use one of my favorite guitar tones for their lead. Their vocalist is very soft-spoken, or soft-sung rather. He purposely sounds like he's always out of breath, or trying to calm down an excited person, or something. The drums sound weird, and the bass might as well be inaudible. Their style is pretty basic, and would've been a little more unique sounding if it were released in 2002 instead of 2011, but it's not necessarily bad, so much as it is boring. I like some of these songs, but it's more like how every song on the radio is lame, but you start knowing the lyrics to the easier-on-the-ears ones and eventually you actually like it when the song comes on. It's kind of like that. There are a lot of people I could definitely recommend this band to who would love it, but I wouldn't recommend it to me. I would probably recommend it to the Bear, since she loves Everclear and all. It's not bad, you know.
Some of these songs actually have more of a kick to them than I would've expected, though. "Eyes Wide Open" has the singer showing a little bit of emotion in his voice at times, which is actually kind of cool. His voice is good for that. "Choose Your Own Adventure" is like a dance track, and definitely stands out and something different from the rest of the album, but not really something different from the rest of the music industry. I like the song "Big Waves" a lot, and that's probably because it's one where their effort shines through. The bass is still fucking inaudible, which always bugs me...and not just because I hope to play bass in a band someday. The album closes with "The Ghost Is Out There", which is just another song that sounds pretty much whatevery. The distorted tone sounds like an amplitube plugin or something off of garageband, so it has that going for/against it.
I don't know why this band is labeled as post-hardcore, honestly. But I guess you can call music whatever you want to, and I won't bitch. I mean, people call Streetlight Manifesto ska and get away with it. This album isn't bad, really. It's not bold, brave, or beautiful either. It's something that exists. You can stream it here if you're interested in giving them a shot yourself. I give it like a 2.5/5 I think?
-Idle
worst review ever.
ReplyDeleteChoose Your Own Adventure isn't really a dance track...it would be closer to funk if you had to slap a label on it. I can hear the bass pretty clearly throughout; you might need new speakers or maybe an equalizer. It's labeled post-hardcore because of the various projects the members were in initially - they'll be somewhat associated with hardcore as long as they keep playing with distortion.
ReplyDeleteThe bass bores me. Position stands. I'd dance to that song, dude. I'd dance my ass off.
ReplyDelete-Idle
band is basically quicksand with a more indie/emo approach. if you don't know who this band is, you should quit reviewing music. awesome record.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure you don't understand opposing viewpoints and people being into different stuff than you. I'm not a critic, I'm just reviewing. I'm giving my opinion and recommending it. So...I love you, too.
ReplyDeleteGo listen to Quicksand. NOW
ReplyDeleteAlright, download some!
ReplyDeleteYou don't know why this band is labeled "post-hardcore"? UMMMM, because the singer fucking invented the genre (along with Fugazi. Have you heard of THEM?) I'm starting to catch a theme in your reviews. You don't know anything about any band that's not within the last five years. Punk is not your area of expertise. Do your research.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, that last message was a bit harsh. But as a music nerd and fan of all things punk, your staggering lack of punk history is mildy infuriating considering you review punk records. As far as your writing goes, I enjoy reading it. It's funny. Just...damnit man, the guy from Citizen Fish was in the Subhumans. Can you see why saying that it's for Mustard Plug fans sounds stupid? No, because you've probably never heard "The Day The Country Died" because it's from 1982. YES, THE DARK AGES!
ReplyDeleteI listen to a lot of early punk, and of course I listen to shit like Fugazi, Embrace, Rites of Spring. I don't think genres should be given out just by the credit the members receive from previous bands they've been involved with. I know that the drummer from Citizen Fish shares members with the Subhumans, but the music style of the album Goods is not at all similar to the Subhumans, therefore I wouldn't honestly recommend it to fans of Subhumans or other punk/street punk bands. I said I recommend for fans of Mustard Plug (old mustard plug, honestly. In Black and White is very different from this style of music) because that's the style of music it's most similar to. It's dancey ska-punk music, and so are bands like Mustard Plug, The Hippos, and Deal's Gone Bad. Those are the type of people I'd recommend this album to.
ReplyDeleteI think it's awesome that you read the review, and I do have musical knowledge, mostly of only bands from before 10 years ago, but it's not what I've been into recently. I was really more into older punk music when I was in high school, and now it doesn't impact my life as much.
ReplyDeleteLike I said before, regardless of my moments of annoyance, I actually do like your reviews and enjoy them. I think they're pretty amusing and interesting. So no more outbursts from me, I'll just keep reading. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteBut I still would say that since Dick Lucas is the singer for both Citizen Fish and the Subhumans that there's definitely a comparison. I like Mustard Plug from Big Daddy Multitude until Evildoers Beware. That might be kind of a hip thing to say, but it's true for me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right. I tried not to bring in the Subhumans just based on not wanting to bring a whole coattails riding thing into question, but it's definitely something I should just add to the review.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever check out Quicksand "Slip"? It's a must listen for fans of post-hardcore. From 1993, I believe. If it doesn't kick your ass then you probably just don't like post-hardcore...because it's the watermark album of that genre in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIt basically sounds like Rival Schools with a good humongous pinch of kick-assery thrown in. Because it's Walter Schreifels - who is the singer/guitarist for Rival Schools - and was also in Warzone, Gorilla Biscuits and 800 other incestuous 80's/90's hardcore bands. Just listen! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to Slip right now, and it's awesome so far. I love gorilla biscuits and warzone are pretty rad. Add me on facebook or something since you're only on here as anonymous ha. I'll let you know what I think of it once I've heard the whole album.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/BenjaminIdle
Okay!
ReplyDelete