So we’re all back at school.
More importantly, we’ve still got money. I know, it’s
a slightly alien concept, but I think I’m pretty safe in assuming
that you haven’t spent all of your financial aid or summer
job cash in mere days. Or maybe you have. Well, to those who haven’t,
maybe you’re looking for some new music, in which case I thought
I might share my picks for the “back to school essentials.”
And for those of you without the means, I thought I might share
my picks for “Most worthwhile online piracy.”
  In
July of 2002, Canadian hardcore outfit Grade disbanded with very
little fanfare. Their album “Headfirst Straight to Hell”
was barely gathering dust and the band was receiving widespread
play in both Canada and America.
Grade’s signature sound landed them somewhere between the space
rock of bands like Cave In and the scream-till-you’re-mute
punk of Glasseater.
Vocalist Kyle Bishop’s lyrical approach to everyday subjects
(relationships, inspiration, turmoil in general) was written in
a way that bringing them full circle to the listener was something
akin to doing an algebra equation in your head...and failing miserably.
That was the life of Grade, up till now. With Bishop’s absence,
Somehow Hollow has gone on to carry the torch of Grade as best they
know how. Lyrically, the subject matter of their debut album “Busted
Wings and Broken Halos” is laid out clearly enough to appeal
even to business majors, and musically the band explores the technical
side of hardcore punk...like we even knew one existed up until now.
The musical snob side of me is dying to go on
and keep holding Somehow Hollow’s music up to Grade, and I’m
certain that I’d eventually find something to complain about.
But who would care? Grade’s dead and in the ground. Viva Somehow
Hollow!
  Finally,
a rapper who tells it like it is...a lyrical visionary whose words
paint the most vivid of pictures in your head, playing themselves
out with more ferocity on each listen. It’s no wonder he boasts
“you can call me modern urban Norman Rockwell” on the
song “Room with a View.”
Having said that, it makes perfect sense that the freshest voice
in hip hop is an albino Muslim. I mean, come on, even I saw that
one coming.
Hailing from the Rhymesayers camp, which brought us Atmosphere,
Brother Ali leaves behind the pretension of modern day rap. You
know what I mean:
Rapper 1: “So how many people did you kill today?”
Rapper 2: “Oh, I’d say roughly 20. I was too darn busy
driving around in my car and having promiscuous sex at the club.”
Rapper 1: “Word.”
You’ll find none of that here. Instead, you get a guy who
is actually brave enough to tell you about his life in such a
powerful style that the point is impossible to miss.
Confronting your next-door neighbor who has been
beating his wife and child, lousy shows on tour, the traumas of
high school in general; they’re all here. As if being an albino
Muslim in the hip-hop game wasn’t enough to write about.
Worst album in the history of recorded music. Ever.
 
Am I going to regret the day I went on record saying Fall Out Boy
is good? I hope not, but I have a sneaking suspicion that in a few
years’ time these guys will be faced with two choices: the
long, hard, and usually unrewarding road of being true to oneself
and staying on an indie label (whatever that proves) or touring
with Good Charlotte.
In the meantime though, I can get away with rocking out to Fall
Out Boy without ruining my street cred as a hipper-than-you rock
journalist.
Alas, Fall Out Boy walks another dangerous line. That’s right,
the “E” word. Do you need me to spell it out? Okay,
emo. There, I said it. These days, calling a band emo is about
the biggest cardinal sin you can commit against them ... although
I’m really not certain why.
Still, on their album “Take This to Your Grave,” Fall
Out Boy embraces the label, and all the musical pitfalls and lyrical
content that goes along with it.
So why does it sound so darn good?
Maybe when a musical style is so fervently shunned by the kids
who once advocated it, we actually forget why we liked it in the
first place. For one thing, it’s musically upbeat, and it
makes lyrics about heartbreak (however lame they may be) incredibly
easy to sing along with.
So put away your preconceived notions of what
punk and emo should be, and just listen to Fall Out Boy for what
they are: the perfect band for that mix-tape you’re making
for your ex-girlfriend.
  I’m
fairly certain that I speak for all of us when I say that there
are those albums out there that you’ve listened to a million
times, and yet every time you listen to it, you catch something
new.
For me, those albums are The Beatles’ “Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The
Downward Spiral” and basically everything Radiohead has done
from “OK Computer” onward.
I’m happy to say a new band has joined those
ranks. They’re Portland, Oregon’s six-piece powerhouse:
The Swords Project. The album is: “Entertainment is Over if
You Want it.”
Still, merely putting a bunch of weird crap in
your music doesn’t make it good. If you don’t have a good
rock song as your foundation, then all the weird clicks and chirps
are nothing more than pretentious trash.
Believe me, if you understand what I’m trying
to get at in terms of how an album can transcend from being just
an album and turn itself into something that taps in the subconscious
and seems to play more to your soul than your ears, then you can
appreciate The Swords Project. Think Pink Floyd’s “Dark
Side of the Moon,” but without hippies. Still, unless you’re
at one of their incredible live performances, this is music best
listened to with the headphones on, focusing all your attention
on trying to pick out every part of the album like a musical “Highlights”
picture.
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