Matt Adams Seal Of Approval Vol 3: A Day Late, A Buck Short
Two records that came out today that you need to hear and one that has been out for a long time that you also need to hear at some point in your life.
Alexisonfire Old Crows/Young Cardinals
This record is really impressive and also totally took me by surprise. I was really into this band when they released their self-titled record back in 02, but after that I didn’t care much for the rest of their discography. I thought Watch Out! was just ok and even though I think the follow up entitled Crisis was a much better effort it still felt just mediocre and I believed the band could do better. So with that said my expectations were not very high for their new record entitled Old Crows/ Young Cardinals, but they pulled a 180 on me and made an excellent record. I believe the idea of growing up plays a huge part in this record being so great. You can definitely tell that the maturity level went up on a few notches on this record, especially in the writing. They even state this in the opening song with the line “Now, we are not the kids we used to be stop wishing for yesterday.” My favorite track is a song called “The Northern,” I also think Dallas Green brought some City and Colour (his side project) style to this record. I believe we get the best of City and Colour meets the best of Black Lungs (guitarist Wade Macneil’s side project) with some hardcore elements to make one great record.
Recommended Tracks: The Northern, Young Cardinals, Old Crows
This album is on sale for $3.99 at the Amazon MP3 Store
Dinosaur Jr. Farm
I didn’t get into Dinosaur Jr. until my sophomore year of college, but I think that was the perfect time to discover this band. Had it been earlier in my life i don’t know if I would have cared for them all that much. If you don’t know who these guys are then you should definitely do some research. Dinosaur Jr. formed back in the mid 80’s and was a huge influence on 90’s bands that loved to include distortion and feedback on their records. Basically if they didn’t exist Nirvana would of sounded completely different, Cobain cited them as a huge influence on his music style. If you like the Silversun Pickups you can definitely see a Dinosaur Jr. influence on their new record. Old school fans will definitely appreciate that the band haven’t strayed to far from their roots. Everything you need and expect from the band is on this record, loud distortions and deafening guitar solos. They also have hilarious and fun music videos check out the video for the single “Over It.”
Recommended Tracks: Over It, I Want You To Know, See You
Blink 182 Dude Ranch
Back in my catholic middle school days my friend Jason Vogel would recommend records for me to listen to. I remember the day that he handed me this record and said get familiar with this band they’re amazing. I remember turning to the back of the record to see a photo of the band dressed as mexican outlaws and I was confused about what made these guys so amazing. Well once this record hit my cd player my life was officially changed. People will tell you where they were when they first heard Led Zeppelin, The Police or Nirvana. I’m not comparing Blink 182 to any of those bands, but to the people who grew up listening to this style of music they remember where they were when they first heard Dammit. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar after hearing When I Coe Around by green Day for the first time, I wanted to start writing songs after I heard Dude Ranch in it’s entirety. Dammit is the most memorable track,. But the song Josie was my favorite; also the video for the song is great. Who would of thought a band who played in a high school bathroom during the video shoot would go on to headline arenas? We all know if it wasn’t for this record some of your favorite bands might not be around such as Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line or Simple Plan..ok maybe we could without that last one. Travis Barker wasn’t even in the band yet, Scott Raynor was the current drummer and you even see him in the videos for Josie and Dammit. He was asked to leave or kicked out however you want to look at it after his drinking became a problem. Barker was in ska band called the Aqua Bats before joking Blink. Once Travis joined the rest was history and after going on hiatus back in 05 the band has put behind their differences and will be embarking on a full US summer tour.
Recommended Tracks: Dammit, Josie, A New Hope, Dick Lips
