Song of the Day 50: The Doors - The End

It's difficult to believe that music recorded forty-five years ago can still be full to the brim with life and relevance. 'The End', an apocalyptic fever dream of a song by the worshiped psychedelic-rock group The Doors has somehow kept its claws sharp and planted in the psyche of anybody that has heard its haunting rhythms. It crawls at a nightmarish pace, randomly breaking into spouts of explosive rage, then pacifying itself back down to a stalking creep. Every time I hear it, I'm taken to the opening of Apocalypse Now, where Michael Sheen is shouting belligerent and drunk in a bloody mess. He said that while filming that scene there wasn't any sort of script, but rather he was expelling his inner demons. I think Jim Morrison may have had a similar mindset when writing this song.

Song of the Day 49: La Dispute - Sunday Morning, at a Funeral

Since the release of their groundbreaking full length LP in 2008, La Dispute have focused their efforts on smaller, more concise pieces of music. A series of spoken-word EPs and two splits with two different bands over the past three years have kept their name alive and fuming with buzz as well as helped them perfect their sound and slowly progress as a band. 'Sunday Morning, at a Funeral' comes from their most recent split with Koji, and is a perfect snapshot of what their sound has become over the past years. Instead of telling a grand story over 13 tracks on an LP, they've instead started telling quick and substantial tales over single tracks. Like I say with every La Dispute track I hear, they're slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with. 

Song of the Day 48: Heavens - Annabelle

If there's anything that can be said about Matt Skiba and Josiah Steinbrick's project, Heavens, it's that it could take the listener to a different place and time. Their debut LP, Patent Pending, sunk the listener into a sort of ethereal darkness where each song swayed and groaned to reach its ultimate destination in that dreary part of your brain. 'Annabelle' captures Skiba at his best, using his ability to craft catchy choruses and imagery akin to that of Edgar Allen Poe to ensnare the listener while still giving them a reason to keep listening. It's not music for a party, but rather a funeral. 

Song of the Day 47: Kanye West - Champion

When Kanye West isn't being an egotistic psychopath, he's usually making some damn fine hip-hop. His music has slowly progressed from his humble days of self-conscious tunes about college and the struggles of the real world, to the now triumphant and success fueled tracks about just how gratuitously rich he is. 'Champion' from his third LP, logically titled Graduation, is an inspiring track that brilliantly samples Steely Dan to create one of the catchiest choruses that West has produced. The song reeks of ego but never quite reaches an obnoxious level, instead feeling more inspirational than boastful which makes it one of his best.

Song of the Day 46: Manchester Orchestra - Deer

Let's get back to this, shall we? Manchester Orchestra's fresh release, Simple Math, sways between tragic and fascinatingly melancholy as it explores each up and down that comes with depression. It begins fittingly with 'Deer', a song that sets the tone with reverberating atmosphere and dream-like flow. Lead man Andy Hull alone and deprived of human interaction as he pleads into the mic with a fragile tone that lends itself to the atmosphere perfectly. Simple Math is an album worth a spin that hits magnificent highs, but never quite sustains them.

Short Story: Beauty Supreme

So here's a really old story I wrote for a contest. It's fairly depressing, so if you're in a good mood I advise you look elsewhere. Enjoy (or don't).

Review: La Dispute/Koji - Never Come Undone

As strange as their pairing is, La Dispute and Koji have an incredible chemistry on their recently released split titled Never Come Undone. For every strained and powerful chord struck on the two tracks composed by La Dispute, there is a matching moment to be found on Koji's half of the record. La Dispute start it off with the story told by 'Sunday Morning, at a Funeral' which shows them at a less intense - but equally emotional - composition than what is seen on their previous releases. Lead man Jordan Dreyer holds a fragile tone over the equally breakable instrumentation to create a cold atmosphere layered thick with imagery which is all but second nature for the group. The contrast between this somber track and their immense full-length Somewhere... displays the group's ability to both maintain a certain atmosphere, but not necessarily adhere to a predetermined aesthetic. This remains true on the next track, an acoustic version of one of their earlier hardcore tracks, where they strip away the screams for a slow flowing rhythm to accentuate the emotion contained in the original. While not the most substantial addition to their library, La Dispute's portion of the split is fulfilling at best, if not only for the first track.