Friday night I stood for two-plus hours in awe as I watched The Appleseed Cast perform their entire 2001 double album Low Level Owl. The Lawrence, Kansas emo band played to a packed crowd at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge, and gracefully played the criminally overlooked double album, with a brief intermission breaking up the two volumes and … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Overlooked Albums of the Aughts. A while back I started an ongoing feature called “Overlooked in … [Read more…]
It was indeed “A Decade Under The Influence.†But while Taking Back Sunday could string together a few solid hits drenched in a post-hardcore milieu and cut with pop sensibilities, chances are no one in the band could have predicted how influential emo would become in the aughts. The presence of the word in the … [Read more…]
I rarely mention Pitchfork in the guise of this blog… I won’t go into great details, and I will admit it’s easily one of the best aggregators for independent-related music information, so I do visit the site regularly. But when it comes to reviews, I try to stray from their pieces. Yes, the Pitchfork writers … [Read more…]
Deep Elm, the independent label that came to fruition in the 90s and put a structured face on the then-still-ambiguous term “emo” with their “Emo Diaries” series, is giving away their newest emo-themed sampler for free online. It’s the “Emo Is Awesome/Emo Is Evil” compilation, in it’s second volume, and it’s available for a limited … [Read more…]
Stereogum is previewing the newest song by The Appleseed Cast on their weekly Gum Drop posting. Titled “Raise the Sails,” the song hearkens back to the band’s Low Level Owl days, with patient, drawn out instrumentals that make the slow-bursts and waves of noise all the more moving. Take a peek over here. The band’s … [Read more…]
*The Onion had a great “archival” issue online, which featured this hilariously-poignant piece on the “dangerous” lyrics of an opera performance: The Onion always has a great way of not only poking fun of society but media as well; I would be cramming the point down the provincial throat if I were to further explain … [Read more…]
After a bit of a delay, I finally present to you my review for TV on the Radio’s Dear Science,. But I’ve decided to offer up something entirely different in the way of reviews by focusing on the one pitfall of music critique I cannot stand yet find myself using at times: comparison. It’s quite … [Read more…]