The Swellers - My Everest

Tracks:
1. Vehicle City
2. Bottles
3. The Flood
4. This Is My Everest
5. Clean Slate
6. Surrounded
7. What's At Stake
8. Rain Check
9. Keep Looking Where Your Eyes Are Looking Now
10. Skoots
11. Conscience, Meet Common Sense
12. The Way Back Home
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?25fnvlzfygr

I saw The Swellers on my birthday, Sat. the 13th and these guys totally blew me away. Perfect pop punk with just the right formula of punk edge and catchy hooks, plus some of the coolest guys i've ever met. The drums on this album are flawless and the production is gold, with nice, crisp snare hits and a realy nice bottom edge. My favorite track, "What's at Stake" (they didn't play it live) :(

The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?

Trackz:
1. Prehensile Dream
2. Anthem For The Earnest
3. Let Our Garden Grow
4. The Empire Strikes Backwards
5. Knows The Difference
6. Lost Of Love
7. Rhinoceros Is My Profession
8. O.G. Original Gentleman
9. (Theme From) Chariots Of Fire
10. Forces
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?ywn2dejr5zn

The Bad Plus is a kick ass jazz trio from Minnesota best known for their jazz covers of songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Iron Man". This releases only features one cover, "(Theme From) Chariots of Fire", and features their original work for the rest. TBP have a knack for laying down really tasty rock grooves, then deconstructing them into something abstract, and bringing it back to a crashing finish. My highlights, "Let Our Garden Grow" and "Anthem For The Earnest".

CHICAGO SCREAMO FEATURE!

Friday night I went to a badass show at DePaul University and saw most of these bands. I bought their demo's, and now I'm reviewing them. If you like them, please, please go to a show and buy one. Please.

The New Yorker/Throes Split CD

TRACKZ
1. LAWL (The New Yorker)
2. Shepard (The New Yorker)
3. Instrumental (The New Yorker)
4 Pidgins (The New Yorker)
5. Untitled (The New Yorker)
6. Untitled (Throes)
7. Vida Cargada Pt. I (Throes)
8. Pt. II (Throes)
9. Dollars and Sense (Throes)
10. Sludge Hammers (Throes)
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?4liynjuli2y

Kicking off the Chicago Screamo Feature is an amazing split brought to you by The New Yorker and Throes. The first 5 tracks belong to The New Yorker and they will punish you. TNY's breed of screamo breaches grindcore at times, but is still very emotional and melodic (I smell The Number Twelve Looks Like You more than once for example, especially in LAWL.) The next 5 tracks belong to Throes, who's breed of tunes veers more towards the metally side, with lower, more brutal vocals and chuggier guitars. I talked to the guitarist, and he described it as "super sped up Isis." See for your self! Please go to a show and buy one. Please.

Parrhesia-Demo Cassette

TRACKZ:
1. my hands are made ov sprite
2. "see that shit? that shit's beavtifvl!"
3. cthvlv hate fuck
4. victory pee. hold my wang.
DOWNLOAD:http://www.mediafire.com/?ktzoqfyznzm

This is my buddy Kris D's band. They fucking rock. 4 songs of brutal, chaotic, sloppy, emotional, skram. Just go to a show and buy a tape. Please.

cloud mouth-4 song demo

TRACKZ:
1. The Rats In Their Homes
2. Deserted Growth
3. Past Tense
4. Rachel
DOWNLOAD:http://www.mediafire.com/?njyymqtziem

This band is fucking crazy, man. Experimental jamz, blending with some emotional screamo equals some twisted shit. Each track is pretty different, style-wise, but all kick ass (some glassJAw is slightly detected...) Just go buy one at a show. Comes with two stickers, and kick ass artwork. Please.

Lautrec-8 song demo

TRACKZ:
1. Caypo
2. Taylor's Tent
3. Free Refills
4. Broken Strings
5. Modern Technology
6. Word Problems
7. Pushin' For The Cushion
8. Slider
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?ftwml2gmjyw

Holy fuck I am so pissed I had to leave before these guys played. Fucking amazing, super emotional screamo here. Totally unique and real, this demo will strike you down. Mathematical, melodic, and paranoid all at once. Favorite track: Pushin' For The Cushion, although every single other track kicks ass. Just listen to the beginning of Pushin'. It will blow your mind. Oh and go to a show. And buy one your self. Please. Thanks.

Fear Before The March Of Flames -The Always Open Mouth

Trakzorz:
1. Absolute Future
2. Drowning The Old Hag
3. Mouth
4. Taking Cassandra To The End Of The World Party
5. Ten Seconds In Los Angeles
6. The Waiting Makes Me Curious
7. High As A Horse
8. Dog Sized Bird
9. Complete And Utter Confusion...
10. ...As A Result Of Signals Being Crossed
11. My (Fucking) Deer Hunter
12. Lycanthropy
13. A Brief Tutorial In Bachanalia
14. A Gift For Fiction
15. Absolute Past
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?kdymumxjmwh

I haven't posted in a couple days. Who cares. Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is my favorite fucking album. FBTMOF really created a masterpiece here and they won't be able to out do it (yes this is better than there new release). This shit just never gets old to me. Every song fucking rocks so hard and are equally crafted to provide an amazing journey in to the mind and world that is Fear Before the March Of Flames. I think one of the best parts about this album is the production. The drums sound so huge and heavy, but not over-powering, like in a lot of recent metal garbage. The vocals are perfectly mixed in with the textures of the guitar and bass, and the tracks never get muddy, like their new S/T release. All the lyrics are amazing, although sometimes abstract, and really provide amazing imagery while listening. Although every song fucking kicks out the jams, (save for maybe the opener, "Absolute Future"), my personal favs are "Taking Cassandra...", "Mouth" and "The Waiting Makes Me Curious", although I much prefer to listen to the album in it's entirety.

Piebald - All Eyes, All Ears, All The Time

TRACK LISTING:
1. The Benifits Of Ice Cream
2. Present Tense
3. Human Taste Test
4. Jealous Guy Blues
5. All Senses Interlude
6. Haven't Tried It
7. Giving Cup
8. Part Of Your Body Is Made Of Stone
9. The Song That Launched A Thousand Ships
10. Put Your Slippers On Instead
11. Get Old Or Die Trying
13. New Boston Interlude
14. All Senses Lost
15. Six Eighter
16. All Sense Is Lost Postlude
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?nkzmwdmnnny

Piebald is a cheery, goofy pop-punk band that is pretty much non-stop fun. I only have two albums, "All Eyes..." and "Accedental Gentlemen", and I plan to get much more in the up coming days. "All Eyes" is definatltly a lot more than I expected after i heard "Accidental" and i am pretty impressed. These guys have a sense of melody that is pretty impressive and some of the songs of this album will leave you humming all day long. The only way I can discribe the vocals is like Max Bemis of Say Anything execept way less shitty...(I am going to assume Bemis probably listened to a lot of piebald, but i could be wrong)... One of my highlights include the piano driven "I Haven't Tried It" which has an irrisistable chorus and piano work reminicent to Billy Joel or Elton John(?!?). The song that really pulled me into this album, though, has to be "Part of Your Body Is Made Of Stone" which features witty and cheeky lyrics as well as more of that sugary piano. It seems as though this album starts a bit slow, grows in the middle and then tapers off again, as track 2,"Present Tense" and track 10, "Put On Your Slippers Instead" drag the album on. All in all, "All Eyes" is a great pop-punk record of a to-be emerging band.

Coalesce/ The Get Up Kids - Split EP

Track Listing:
1. Burned Bridges (The Get Up Kids)
2. I'm Giving Up On This One (Coalesce)
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?mcjmyajy4uu

I came across this gem while searching for "On A Wire" by The Get Up Kids and immediately downloaded it. Soon after I immediately fell in love. Upon researching this EP, i found out that the two bands are actually covering each others songs, which i think is totally cool. As I have never listened to much of the noise-core band Coalesce, I don't know what "Burning Bridges" (previously released as "Harvest of Maturity on a previous Coalesce release) really sounds like, but an extremely close listen to Coalesce's side "I'm Giving Up On This One" reveals it's actually "Second Place" from TGUK's "Five Minute Mile". Both sides of this EP really display both bands pure talent and provide two extremely enjoyable songs for your listening pleasure.

Samiam - Whatever's Got You Down

Track Listing:
1. When We're Together
2. Take Care
3. Get It Right
4. Do You Want To Be Loved
5. Storm Clouds
6. Anything
7. Come Home
8. Lullababy
9. Believer
10. Holiday Parade
11. Bide My Time
12. Bonus Track (Hidden)
DOWNLOAD:http://www.mediafire.com/?dizw4zg5m2m

So I broke up with my girlfriend yesterday... That explains the emo streak yesterday and today, but this album fucking rocks as much as it is emotional. Samiam's "Whatever Gets You Down" sounds like Jawbreaker's Bivouac after it drank a Redbull. Raspy vocals and mid tempo jams take care of the last comparison, but this record is just more catchy. The Irresistible chorus of "Do You Want To Be Loved" sold this album to me at first. After that i was reeled in by the less poppy, "emo-est" tune, "Come Home" which are some of the best lyrics I've heard in a while. Recently (yesterday) I listened to this album as a whole for the first time in a while and discovered the gem "Holiday Parade". "Holiday" rivals "Come Home" in amazing, heart-felt lyrics that make me a little misty every time. Unfortunately not every track on "Whatever's Got You Down" can impact me such as the three tracks i previously discussed, as the track "Storm Clouds" is a throw-away while "Lullababy" and "Take Care" lag. Overall, this record kicks ass. The end.