Pat’s Top Best Favourite Records of 2008, Vol 5
2. Gaslight Anthem - the ‘59 Sound
I tried to listen to this album through new ears today, imaging what it would be like to hear it again for the first time. I couldn’t do it.
I think that might be the most complimentary thing I can say about the 59 Sound; that every time I hear it I remember every note, every chord, every backing vocal, every melody, every drum fill even. And I want to. I want to sing every note at the top of my lungs and have someone next to me singing the harmonies. It’s joy incarnate as far as I’m concerned. It’s overall the most enjoyable album of the year, by far.
3. Glass and Ashes - Glass and Ashes
It’s kind of a rare occasion when I find myself willfully putting on really, really noisy music. As much as I like punk, hardcore, and a small number of metal bands I’ve never really gotten on board with the whole noise scene. I like loud, angry music but I like it with purpose; at least, with more purpose than being difficult for the sake of being difficult.
I bought a special, limited-edition pressing of the Glass and Ashes self-titled LP on a whim when No Idea Records put up some copies of a pressing meant only to be sold at the Fest, their annual music festival in Gainseville. Something like 250 copies were made with pretty much no artwork and it is absolutely okay because the songs completely stand on their own.
The beginning track is an appropriately-titled hardcore blast. “From The Moment The Floor Dropped Out” is among the fastest, most brutal tracks on the album, a constant barrage of near-indecipherable lyrics spat with ferocity by a vocalist that sounds somehow melodic and impossibly harsh all at once. What follows is forty-five minutes of brutal music that is also at times brooding, ominous, violent, and deranged.
But it really is amazing how listenable it is when you get right down to it. There is an accessibility, a melodicism that makes the music surprisingly palatable. It’s noise, but it’s adventurous noise. As is usually the case, that stems from the fact that no matter what style of music these songs are performed in, they’re just exceedingly well-written. These guys have the potential to be huge.
Well, at least as huge as dudes in noise bands get.
The ‘59 Sound is doing very well on iTunes and can be boughten physically from the label.
Glass and Ashes albums and other paraphernalia is made available through Steve Jobs; and Var and the gang at No Idea Records, one of the most legit independent record labels ever.
