More often than not, when you see my name in the header of an article here at Type In Stereo, it's safe to assume that you're about to embark on some long winded voyage of (vaguely pretentious) analytics...or the exact opposite of that. But I - like all of you reading this - am a fan of music [...]
Category: Music
Coheed & Cambria – The Afterman: Descension
As regular readers of Type In Stereo will recall, on the heels of two Coheed albums that I didn't much care for, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Coheed & Cambria's 2012 release, The Afterman: Ascension. Being the first in a two-part, back-to-back release schedule, Ascension's success had me eagerly anticipating 2013's The Afterman: Descension. Well, Descension is [...]
Ownership & Identity: A Tale of Punk Rock, Hipsterism and Selling Out
Musicians just want people to hear their music. But it's rarely ever that simple. Musical culture dictates that all sorts of social constructs get laid over the top of who likes what, and which labels can be applied to which bands. If you can't think of any examples off the top of your head, let me point [...]
Venna – Third Generation Hymnal
"Sing along if you want. Knowing the words is not required." Who wouldn't want to listen to an album with that kind of tagline? After reading that description for Venna by Venna (FVBV - a latinate FUBU?), I assumed that Third Generation Hymnals would be filled with soaring harmonies and rousing group vocals - the kind of [...]
5 (Unintentional) Ways You Sound Like A Pretentious Dick When You Talk About Music
We've all been there: you're at a party, chatting it up with some friends and doing a little mingling, when the conversation moves towards music. You get excited - you love music! You can't wait to unveil some of the deep thoughts you've been having that you have - ever so regrettably - been keeping all [...]
The Case for Contrast
"There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself." What is it that gives a song its sense of movement? How does a song move from beginning to end without becoming boring? The quote above, taken from - of all places - Herman Melville's Moby [...]
The Honesty of Hares and Bears
After the splintering of my beloved Gatsbys American Dream, its members went off to participate in a variety of diverse projects - Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Search/Rescue and Places and Numbers, to name a few - but only a handful of those acts ever released any actual albums, and only one of those releases prominently featured Gatsbys' [...]
Owel – Owel
Only a few short weeks ago, I offered up Gates' You Are All You Have Left to Fear and Owel's I've Seen Colors (released under Owel's former band name, Old Nick) as the best albums that 2012 had to offer. I also promised that we'd be revisiting Owel soon, for their upcoming full length record. Well, that time has come. This [...]
In Defense of…In Reverie
Coming off of what is widely - and rightly - considered to be their finest achievement, 2001's Stay What You Are, Saves the Day was in a difficult position. How do you follow something that magnificent without seeming second rate or derivative? It's a difficult question to answer and one that a great multitude of bands have [...]
Brennan’s Best of 2012: New Jersey Rising
It is news to approximately zero people that music is not made in a vacuum. What may actually be news to a few people is the important role that community can potentially play in fostering a band's sound. There's a reason that we associate Seattle with grunge, St. Louis with the blues, and Detroit with that Motown [...]
Songs & Stories 