Ourstage College Clash: Review of the Best College Bands in New England

Quinn Strassel told me this. I didn’t say that they were the Best College Bands in New England. But Ourstage did, and have gone through heavy toil to build a really good website to democratize the value of bands in the eyes of the common people. There are small quirks and problems to how the system works, but I could say this might be the best system I can find on the net that can define what people think is good and what sucks ( My band, The History Righters, suck on here. I am FUMING ON THE OUTSIDE, but crying naked in the fetal position on the inside.)

Four Bands: I will review them, and tell you Ourstage’s winner, including my own true winner. Let’s take a look shall we.

The Zach Hillyard Band

This band is pretty slick. They have that good tight sound coordination with the organ sound and the bass. The guitar complements it all with coming in with great rhythm riffs. The lead singer has decent lyrics; they come off pretty strong although I can pretty much say they are radio pop to a beat ( I just think if Maroon 5 stole music, this band could easily be a victim, and vice-versa).

Throughout all of that, I can’t see this band being the best in all the six states of the fake-liberal federation. The sound, really reminiscent of Maroon 5, Vertical Horizon, Dave Matthews, & all of that non-controversial soft rock, doesn’t place it anywhere to define it as “amazing”. As a live band, and given their tightness with their instruments, I think they are worth seeing.

But to place this band anywhere as someone I am going to Digg or post a youtube love video about them, would give me the chance to simultaneously shave my pubes and throw pieces of them at my girl while she is showering. Because if I am going to be crazy enough to like this band, I probably will be crazy enough to shave my pubes and decide to chuck them at the people I love the most. Sorry Zach!

Brian Bergeron

Two Soft Rock Bands are vying for the title of Best college Bands in New England? Out of all the people making bands, buying synths, snorting coke, ranting about Coco Crisp vs. Jacoby, being fake-liberals and squirming over minorities moving into their neighborhoods, being fake-conservatives and whining about losing tax subsidies on business, being fake-libertarians and simultaneously condemn corporate ownership… woah, big digression. Most of it is just hateful lies:)

Ok, back to cocaine, snorting coke, ranting about sports, being around all types of crazy people, selling their guitars to survive the recession, playing music at Berklee or the Conservatory, having a record collection that is worth a two-story house, drinking and throwing stuff out of windows, starting sports riots, doing covers of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, experimenting with a band with 5 telecasters etc. You think with all of this madness that occurs ( or could occur since the last two paragraphs were bullshit) that the band would have a little more balls and less Americana than Briano sticking his guitar in my direction ( nice pic though ).

I am not against the Country/ Americana genre. If anything, the musicians in these bands have more experience and abilities to create music than most other types of groups out there. But there is so much of it out there, and it is easily popularized with an Abercrombie background music vocal, motionless lyrics, and a cute frontman who has nice hair and puppy-dog eyes ( Can you see these types of bands with a lead singer who looks like this?).

It takes VERY LITTLE to make this genre sound good and it always is good enough to pass by other bands who were easily better, but probably not received as quickly.

Everything about this band is OK, and the lyrics are sparse ( which make the riffs even more redundant when you don’t hear much in front of it).

When they do have lyrics, some are pretty good ( ” When I ran into you in the bar by mistake/ The guy you were with I almost punched in the mouth”), but like his actions, his music halted from doing the unnatural, performing the untamed. It is tamed, it has no emotion, it didn’t punch me in the mouth, and I shake my head, wishing that it would.

Last two bands are equal to me. They lack the ummphh I need that would want me to listen to them more than once. But fans, you fucking picked them! And you wonder why Dick Cheney is an asshole and does his shit without regard to popular American thought.

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Sam R-P ( Is he in the world of Tron?)

His music is actually not that bad, and it varies from song to song. In the song Remember, he has a girl backing up vocals. It is pretty decent, but it is pretty tame. This is a song I feel I have heard in many a dorm rooms, while the dealer passes an 8th you know is .2 short of the mark. But hey, the market’s tumbling, so daddy’s money will save you at least another year of free drugs. And the dealer always has chill parties with girls and Pabst; are you complaining? I hope not.

Although his songs are nice, it reminds me nothing more than a decent jam session between roommates that knew each other for about two years, and they like Dylan, Velvet, STP, Zep, Hendrix, and maybe Pearl Jam ( Magic Sky riff is familiar).

” A shooting start knows where we are/ because its watching from above all day long.” Shooting stars are never there all day long. I know I am harping on the smallest lyric which could mean anything, but most of the lyrics aren’t really good.

“In a Dream” is actually really well done. I enjoy listening to this song; if more songs folow that emotion, I can see how this guy can go above the latter two bands.

Ameranouche

Ameranouche is a string trio instrumental, and by far the most unique band of the four. I don’t want to guarantee them as winners because I think their is a method to easily be instrumental than it is to write and produce songs. But nonetheless, I really enjoy listening to the band.

I have little to say about them because like the others, they don’t float over as something different. But they do approach that realm, and is a band I will give more a listen to in the future as I find more content.

Spike’s Blues is a really fun song to listen to. Wouldn’t be surprised if a publishing deal to place it in a movie or show would be on the way in their futures.

The Ourstage Winner for Best College Band in New England:

The Zach Hillyard Band

They won it because of music fundamentals and doing everything right. In sports, that is the equivalent to watching the New Jersey Devils trap defense. My vote for the best band by far goes to Ameranouche. But, I do understand people’s short attention span for virtuoso instrumentals ( I tune off even when my friends try to play John McLaughlin, but will go nuts over Castle Made of Sand.).

This wasn’t done to showcase great bands ( except for Ameranouche ) but to showcase the good job Ourstage.com is doing and hopefully lead more sensible people to come around and check out the talent. For now, the Americana Pop is getting a lot of high praise from this contest. Let’s hope these contest pools won’t be as diluted in the future.

Not to go A&R on a Mothafucka but…

Disclaimer: Picture has nothing to do with the article. My jokes digress and regress whenever they please. You’ll enjoy them.

 

There’s no way we can have public sex here, my darling.

Why? Because I will not look cool without my umbrella. Can I hold it over

us while we do the nasty?

Bands like this with press like this annoys me. Tiger, Tiger!, with their new album The Kind of Goodnight has been really under the radar, and some people ( well, just me since I am the only mofo reading my work) will say, “But oh great writer of SID, this has to be the type of band you would put on your site, right? They are touted to be a mix of R&B & Punk and have two lovely chicks in the band. Surely two hipster-looking chicks add some brownie points to the mix?”

No. Good gracious no. No. No. No. No. This is a band that when I listen to it, I DO like their sound. I DO like the feeling and the counter-pop style they produce. I DO like the seductresses in the forefront. But the music is OK. OK. Like OK Soda. Mixed with orange soda, a little different, maybe even some questions and riddles on the side, but I am not bedazzled by the sound. I only heard their single, but if this their best sound, or even their median sound, I don’t feel there is much that will make me thrilled to hear them again.

Movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches!

When I made his blog ( like an hour ago ), my purpose was to promote really good music. I know this is the eye of the beholder conundrum, but I think that if anything, I am going to showcase the really good music. A lot of music contains a serious amount of mediocrity or attribution to other bands that you don’t see too many bands rise above that sea level of talent and scream ” Look at how amazing this sound is!”

When I hear a song, or want it to be put on here, I place it on here because it resonates higher beyond something I can comprehend.

I want to showcase that sound that makes a woman take off her top with no thought of consequence, her tits bare & reverberating from the sheer power of her hands ripping off her shirt for all to see. I want to give to you the music that the hard-faced alpha male will break down in front of peers and sob about the days he was molested by a fat man on the beach. I want a reaction after the end of the song that culminates into people having sex without concern for their surroundings or law enforcement, a reaction that can incite a mob mass drooling for blood and mayhem as they head to burn down the capital where the lovely imperialism complex resides.

Seldom do I find these types of bands, up to the point that not all the bands on this blog WILL BE that GOOD. Barely anyone is, and it is always disputed when someone nominates a song so highly. But I will promote music that is closer to that spectrum than to the spectrum of ” That’s great, honey. I think it sounds nice.” Nice is OK. OK is not bad. Get over those two humps, and you will probably have a spot on this blog.

I will showcase more bands in our weekly carnival, to be democratic of course. But I am doing this for my ego, and my ego appreciates good music. And band reviews like the one for Tiger, Tiger! ( thank god Google knows to look for two tigers in the search or you would’ve been fucked finding them otherwise; search engines were not that good in the old days) make me cringe because their sound doesn’t correlate with the praise.

It is the equivalent when I did my social studies project ( which they give you months to do) the day before class in the 8th grade and I WON third place ( my teacher was pissed; he knew I was a fuck-up). I felt happy not because I was talented, but I was an asshole who got my way because I was good at the craft of bullshit and deadline bullshit work.

In music, bullshit sucks. Even B- work makes me throw up my hands and go “WTF?! Why?”.

I don’t mean to have this rant, but this isn’t a shot against Tiger, Tiger! They are actually a decent band and I do hope to hear more of their work. But from what I heard, it wouldn’t make the cut if I ever had a record label. The Salvo goes out to the writers who do their best to market it by calling this band a “cohesive sonic menace” that would constitute bar music ” if more bars actually cut loose enough to play stuff like this“.

This is why if someone tells me I write really badly or don’t make much sense in my reviews, I can show them these diatribes on Tiger, Tiger!, show them a logo of Pitchfork Media, pour some gasoline on it, shove it down their throats, and while they CHOKE TO DEATH, I will scream, ” I could’ve made it worse by burning the paper before I shoved it down your throat, but I feel bad for you since you will die eating SHIT!”

My point of all this: I am adamant of the music that will be on this blog as good. If you don’t think it is good, then maybe I am losing my edge and you should contact me immediately and shove a pitchfork logo up my ass. That’ll get me working again to bring you the best underground music around. I am such a masochist.

PS: I am a sucker for the female hipster look, but its a faze that won’t last ( like my Mariah Carey faze = 1 year).

Quote of The day

“No one will ever – ever – be having this f***ing nonsense!”

- A high senior executive of a huge record company says as he throws the first album of an unsigned band called the White Stripes, out of a 4th floor window.

Read this wonderful article on A&R life here; its pretty fucking hilarious.