akrish

Before getting this album, I’d only heard Paramore a couple of times on last.fm radio. I enjoyed what I heard there, but because I didn’t have any actual music from the band, I never really got into the group. Last week, two of my friends independently told me to get “Riot,” so I finally picked it up. Rather than plagiarize a biography of the band, see their wikipedia entry.

My first listen of “Riot” was similar to every other new album I listen to. It didn’t seem to be anything special. Songs were relatively catchy, but it sounded like a typical pop-punk album. I didn’t expect it to be as good as I think it is now, but as I do like pop-punk, I listened to it again… and again. Now after several listens, it’s definitely my favorite album, and I’m even recommending it to my friends (who don’t even listen to rock).

Not to be chauvinistic or anything, but there aren’t many good female rock vocalists singing in modern groups. However, I really liked Hayley’s voice, and she has an edgy sound that goes really well with the instrumentation, and the general effect that the band’s trying to get. In this context, I actually think that Hayley actually does a better job than a male singer could. Unfortunately, lyrics are actually pretty generic. Hayley sings about the same things as every other pop-punk band, and there isn’t much metaphor or poeticism to make things original.

Instrumentally, the album’s pretty good. Drumming is impressive, with nice riffs and fills. The drumming also adds a lot to the swells and movement of each song. Guitar work is pretty typical of pop-punk; lots of power chords, repetition, and very little soloing. Unlike other pop-punk bands though, the vocals don’t entirely overpower the guitar part, so you can actually hear the guitar riffs. Even though it’s pretty simple, the guitar only augments edgy effect the band is trying achieve, and is a bit unique in that you can actually hear it.

Overall, everything comes together very nicely. Regardless of how generic each individual instrument (vocals included) is, the end result is awesome. Part of it may be due to Hayley’s singing, which I really like, or it could be that I’m a fan of most pop-punk bands, but I’m really digging this band right now. I do think that it may get old pretty soon, but I still highly recommend it.

My rating: 7/10

Recommended Tracks: “Misery Business”, “Let the Flames Begin”

Paramore

I picked up my clarinet two days ago for the first time in about 5 months, and I was pleasantly surprised with my playing. It definitely wasn’t good, and I used to be a lot better, but after not playing for so long, I expected to really suck. I guess it’s like learning to ride a bike, you never really forget how to do it once you’ve learned. Granted, you’ll be a little rusty if you haven’t ridden for awhile, but you’ll never have to start over and learn again. Apparently it’s the same with music. I’ll probably never entirely forget how to play the clarinet. My playing ability will deteriorate (as it has this time), but it’ll never completely disappear.

So after high school, I pretty much stopped playing the clarinet. I wasn’t part of an ensemble anymore, I had stopped taking lessons, and I didn’t really see myself playing that much in the future. My mom would try to motivate me to practice, but I didn’t have anything to practice for, so I rarely did. I’ve been trying to get into the University Wind Ensemble at school, but rehearsal times always conflict with my classes, so I still don’t really have a strong motivation to practice. This semester, there was the slightest chance that I could squeeze rehearsal into my schedule, so I decided I should practice if I actually wanted to audition well. Just by practicing once, I rekindled some of my passion for music and now, even though there’s no way for me to be in the ensemble, I’ll keep practicing because I thoroughly enjoy it. I no longer need the motivation to practice, because I remembered how fun it was to just practice by myself and notice my own improvement. I’d still like to join the University ensemble, but I no longer need it to motivate me to practice.

After playing for so many years, and spending so much time, effort and money, I don’t just want to drop the clarinet. When I’m older, I’d like to be able to play in a community band or something recreational, and I need to keep practicing if I actually want to pursue that. It has definitely become harder to practice since I started playing the guitar, because I now have to divide my limited time between two instruments. Being in an ensemble really helps, but until I can actually join the group, I need some motivation to practice. I found that motivation on Monday, when I remembered how much I enjoy playing.

I first heard Chasing Victory’s music on Last.fm radio a couple of weeks ago, and they were good enough that I decided to get this album. Since then, I’ve been listening to it almost non-stop Before I jump right into it, a little about the band: Chasing Victory is a 5-piece hardcore rock band hailing from Georgia. They came together just a couple years ago and have since released three albums (“Fiends” is their third). I’ve only heard a couple of tracks off of their second release, “I Call This Abandonment” but what I’ve heard also sounds pretty good.

I really like the singing on the album. Adam Harrell (the singer) does a good job of mixing up the melodic singing with high-intensity screaming, without going overboard on the screaming like a lot of other bands do. His singing has a really unique sound that seems to fit perfectly with the instrumental parts and the style of each song. I’ve always been a fan of pretty high-pitched vocal parts (i.e Circa Survive and others) and I really liked Adam’s vocal range. What’s more, backup vocals are use sparingly, but they do a great job of accenting the lead line in songs like “Wolves” and “Fiends”. The combination of brutal screaming and softer melodic vocals adds dynamic contrast to each song and makes the album a lot more interesting.

Lyrically, the song’s are all about combatting one’s sin’s, but the lyrics never seem to get cheesy. Chasing Victory uses a lot of metaphors, so it’s pretty hard to tell what sins they’re addressing in each song. They do a good job of keeping things abstract, with subtle hints of the “sins” theme scattered here and there. One critique I have here is that repitition is a bit overused. Many of the songs have simple chorus’s that just repeat one or two lines (“Chemicals”, “Janus”). Overall, though, I think the lyrics are fairly good except for the repetition.

The guitar work isn’t too technical, but at the same time it creates a unique style for each song that’s complemented by the vocal line. Like the vocals, the guitars add to the swells throughout the album by varying heavy breakdowns with some softer melodic lines. The two guitarists also do a great job dynamically, playing softly to put emphasis on the vocals but playing louder during instrumental parts and choruses. There are a couple of purely instrumental sections, but I wouldn’t classify anything as a guitar solo, which is a bit disappointing to me. Some of the bridges and breakdowns are really good though. All in all, the guitar parts are simple, but very tactfully played so that they contribute positively to each song.

I’ve never been very good at reviewing drum parts (probably because I don’t really know anthing about drumming), but the drum parts in “Fiends” seem to be pretty standard. They do swell with the rest of the parts and provide foundation for each song, but other than that, they don’t ever stand out much nor are they exceptionally different from other bands. A lot of the drum riffs are pretty generic riffs that I’ve heard on so many other albums, but at the same time, they go well with the rest of the song. Drumming may be the weakness on this album, but it certainly isn’t bad; it’s just not exceptionally noticeable.

Overall, the most impressive thing on “Fiends” is how all the parts build on each other and really meld together well. The tracks also flow together well without fillers and other garbage. Every track is good, but they’re all different so the album doesn’t wear itself out in a single listen. If you enjoy rock/hardcore music, you should definitely check this album out.

My rating: 8/10

Recommended Tracks: “Wolves”, “Fiends”, “Carnies”, “Zombies”

Chasing Victory

Yesterday, I had my first encounter with songwriting and it has given me some new appreciation for the music I listen to. On one hand it wasn’t that difficult for us (I was working with a friend) to come up with some guitar and drum riffs or even some vocal lines, but it was pretty tough combining the different parts so that the end result actually sounds good. It got me thinking about some professional bands (or even some of the composers for orchestra) and how they do a really good job of arranging their different so that each line compliments the others.

My friend (let’s call him Jason) and I have had this dream of starting a band since around our junior year of high school. We even had a couple of practices our senior year and played a couple of Beatles songs for that year’s Homecoming, but we’ve never really tried to write anything before, so it was exciting to finally give it a shot and actually come up with something.

I don’t know much about how other people write songs (except for what I’ve read in some forums) but we started out by coming up with an instrumental part and then trying to add a vocal part to it. Ultimately this didn’t work out, because it turned out to be a lot harder for us to shape lyrics and melody around the instrumental parts. We did come up with some cool riffs that we may end up using later, but we couldn’t find a way to meld our ides into a coherent song. Finally, we scrapped this approach and decided to start afresh.

This time, we focused on the vocals first, coming up with some pretty sweet lyrics and melody for a verse and chorus. Writing lyrics was tough, but Jason thought of a catchy melody that we just hummed while thinking of guitar and drum parts. I came up with a simple chord progression to play under the melody and after some tweaking, it started to sound ok. Jason incorporated a drum part and everything came together into a pretty mediocre song (honestly…). It wasn’t fantastic, but it was definitely a step in the right direction, and for just a couple hours of work, I’d say we did a pretty good job.

Anyway, somethings that I learnt from the yesterday are: keep it simple, go with whatever works, and be patient. I realized that the reason we couldn’t line up vocals with instrumental parts in our first attempt was because our instrumental parts were way to complicated. I know it isn’t fun to play boring riffs, but it makes songwriting a heck of a lot easier.

Go with whatever works means that if you can come up with lyrics, write lyrics. If you’re creative on the guitar, write guitar licks. But keep in mind that at some point you’re going to need to do the harder stuff and that the end result is a layered song in which all the parts need to be good. Nobody listens to songs that have insanely cool guitar work if the vocals suck. If you want to write good songs, the way everything comes together is all that matters, but at the same time, when you’re starting out keep track of everything you come up with, and do the things that are easiest for you.

Finally, be patient. Not that I have any experience to be saying this, but good things take time. I’m pretty sure pro musicians can’t write a good song in an hour. I was really surprised with how much Jason and I did yesterday, and I’m sure we’ll have practices where we make no progress, but if we keep at it, eventually we’ll come up with something good. Along these lines, remember that it should be fun. If I’m stressed out, it’s a lot harder for me to be creative.

Again, I have barely any experience with this stuff, and this is just what I picked up from a couple hours of playing yesterday. If you disagree, feel free to let me know.