Antilles - My Empathy EP (2010)
First up, Antilles, a screamo band based in Norwalk, Ohio. This quartet has quite a bit of releases under their belt, among which are 2 EPs, an upcoming LP and numerous splits, one even with the band which I am due to write about further in the text. Despite all these releases, I must admit that I haven't heard of this band before, so I can't really compare this EP with their previous work. But all of you who are like me and don't know about this project, trust me on my word when I say that this release definitely makes you want to search for more music under the name of Antilles.
"My Empathy" brings us two songs with a total of eight something minutes. It starts of with the song "Propensity", welcoming you with a very quiet guitar sound. VERY quiet, but don't be a fool like I was and think that it is a bad recording, the volume increases dramatically after 19 seconds. The song continues to have a repetitive mid tempo riff being played until it drops at one point, but complete silence is broken with a faster, more rending playing. The middle part of the song offers the speedup playing and tune shifts, while the last third of the song is again a repetitive sequence with less speed, but with extremely built tension. The song ends with yet unheard chaos which sort of oozes onto the second song, "The Shame". This songs was a bit more to my liking (not that there was something bad with the first one). The chaos from the first track continued here with even more aggression, but what is interesting is that it lasts until literally half the song, when it converts into an absolutely amazing slow tempo melody which just gently pleases your ears. It builds up in sound a bit toward the end, but once you think that it will explode and go crazy again it just starts fading away. Magnificent.
With all this said, how to describe their sound? Imagine a mix of Australian screamo, but with a lot more tension, a slight touch of grimness and brooding tones of some 90's screamo and a bit of a mathy trait screamo seems to get nowadays. At least to me it sounds like it, though if someone described a band this way to me I'd be confused. I need to check out the rest of their stuff to have a firm statement about this project, but so far this release really drives you into a positive direction. Definitely take a listen to this, you won't regret it!
Mountain Asleep - Smile Medicine 7'' (2010)
Moving onto the second release by "Kid Sister Everything", we are greeted with Mountain Asleep, a hardcore/screamo band from Louisville. Heh, when I first saw the name of the band and of the release, I thought that I will hear some mellow, slow tunes. Oh how I was wrong. The hardcore bit really comes up front row, so you are in for some very fast and loud songs.
This quintet recorded six albums/demos/splits with "Smile Medicine" being their newest addition. It features four songs with around seven minutes of tunes. As you can see and as I already said, this is a very fast-paced release. From the very beginning in the form of the song "Sleep Simplicity" you realize what will happen in the next seven minutes, since you are swiped off your feet with extremely enjoyable, melodic chaos. Everything is tossed at you from pack singing and an amazing raspy main vocal to constant melody shifts. Exploding crescendos, rushing punk melodies, rending riffs, start stop sequences... To even further the speed of the record, all songs continue onto each other and really overflow one another, with only the last song "Strangers" being a bit cut off with a fading out guitar screeching from the previous track. You literally have no time to grasp and analyze a particular song section, because you are overwhelmed by the next one. I really love the way these guys write songs, this really requires excellent hearing and a sense of tone. I'm not gonna analyze the songs in detail since it is almost impossible. Take a listen and figure it out for yourself, it will be seven minutes perfectly spent. My sheer amazement and the time it took me to lift my jaw off the floor, really makes me look for some more releases by this band. And it made one fact really hard to accept. "Mountain Asleep" will play their last show on December 18th. It is always sad when a great band breaks up, but it's even tougher when you just recently discovered it. At least, they left us with some breathtaking material. Definitely download this.
In the end, some technical information about the releases.
Antilles is released on 200 opaque red and a 100 on black.
Mountain Asleep on 200 yellow and a 100 on black.
And some links for you to get in contact with everyone mentioned here:
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