Carlo Capobianco PRAY TO YOU ALBUM REVIEW

 

Picture credit: James Baines - Wasted Youth Photography

It's been a busy past few weeks for great Winnipeg releases! Between singles, EPs, videos and albums, the scene has been greatly active in providing us great jams from several genres, including pop punk, metal, and today's subject: indie/synth-pop. Carlo Capobianco is an Italian-Canadian musician out of Winnipeg, who is releasing his debut full-length, "Pray to You" on April 20th, 2023. Carlo is a beauty and offered me a review copy ahead of the release of the album, so let's talk about some synth-pop! 

To be honest, synth-pop is a genre of music that I'm not super knowledgable about and haven't dug deep into, but I still jam to some of the basics such as M83, CHVRCHES, Future Islands, and the classic 1980s sound. The reason I bring this up is because the latter style of 1980s-era synth-pop is clearly a large influence on Carlo, between acts such as Madonna and Tears for Fears, and their glamorous stage appearance and performances. Carlo is a breath of fresh air in our scene as in my opinion, the synth scene (and additionally, the retrowave scene, etc) should have more traction.

Pray to You is just under half an hour, spanning 8 tracks. It was preceded by 3 singles; Pray to You, Call You Sometime and Sleeping with The Enemy. There was also an off-album single released around the Christmas holidays,  entitled "Holiday Kid". I was made aware of Carlo around the release of the last single, and his music really resonated, not only because it was different, but the production of the drum and percussion patterns, the keyboard arpeggios and passages and extremely soothing vocals and harmonies from Carlo (and Poodle Paddles' Danielle McDonald's signature gritty yet breathy vocals on the track "Mermaid"). I would like to take Sleeping with the Enemy as the perfect example of a song that represents how well this album is produced. In the hands of the wrong producer, it could've been overproduced, far too busy. However, what Adam Fuhr (of House of Wonders) and Carlo did on this album production-wise, is simplify it. The space on this album makes it very easy to breathe, and to listen to. This album is very personal to Carlo and he wanted his lyricism to be the forefront of the record.

"This is my personal bible. A conversation between me and God. A conversation about envy, obsession, love, heartbreak, religion, and dancing through the tears." - Carlo Capobianco in a recent Instagram post announcing the album. 

You can tell that so much love went into all of these tracks. Another thing that I'd like to give credit for is the great mix, done by Adam Fuhr with additional mixing by William Grierson of Collector Studio, and mastering done by Ryan Morey and Donavan Ostapowich. Between tracks that trigger nostalgia (Mermaid and Call You Sometime with it's cool opening synth riff) and good party vibes (Big City), and even some chill, gothic darkwave if you're into that (on the track Dance With the Devil). This album is going to have something for you if you're into the darker, grungier side of pop music. Catch the album, 'Pray to You' when it releases April 20th, and if you're in the Winnipeg area, Carlo will be performing at the Goodwill Social Club on that night for an album release show with opening acts Jupiter Meltdown and Dayloft. See you on the dancefloor!

Photo credit to Valentyna Gabinyetova

Thank you again Carlo Capobianco for sending over a review copy! I absolutely loved this release and I look forward to hearing more from you very soon.

'Pray to You' is out April 20th, 2023.

Produced/Engineered by Adam Fuhr, House of Wonders; Carlo Capobianco (Exec. Production)

Mixed by Adam Fuhr, William Grierson of Collector Studio

Mastered by Ryan Morey; Donavan Ostapowich

General writing credits/special thanks: Carlo Capobianco; Danielle McDonald; Max Hamilton; Adam Fuhr; Jesse Lawrence; Cam Dasher.

Carlo Capobianco Spotify

Carlo Capobianco April 20th Show at the Goodwill

Carlo Capobianco YouTube

CC Instagram

CC Bandcamp (pre-orders live!)

 

Justin Fisher's New Music Recommendations of March 2023!

 

Fish's New Music Recommendations of March 2023!

Hi! It's been a bit busy here but I promise i'll be getting back-on-route with the reviews and bios and such, starting with a local album review this week!

I just want to make a post saying that if you're in the mood for some new music and old emo gems, I have something for you! 100 songs in all kinds of genres including indie rock, screamo, metal and pop punk. I will be making lists with lots of new songs that you'll want to check out, every month! Stay tuned, follow this blog or my instagram @justinfishermusic for the latest updates if you're a new music playlist kind of person.

This playlist includes music from locals (A Grizzly Fate, Taylor Janzen, etc), musicians all across Canada (Cloaker, Cawston..), and a heavy focus on legends making a return to the scene with new music (Samiam, Jeromes Dream, Mudhoney, Depeche Mode)

 

Your Arms Are My Cocoon

Photo credit: Your Arms Are My Cocoon/Tyler Odom

Your Arms Are My Cocoon is a one-man DIY midwest screamo project formed by Chicago-based musician/songwriter Tyler Odom (not to be confused with Tyler from the Alabama emo band Northstar). The band has always been only Tyler performing all the instrumentals, screams, etc, with backing tracks during live performances (linked below, they are an experience). Your Arms Are My Cocoon has an extremely unique performance and recording style where all the instrumentals are very raw and distorted, giving the effect of a gameboy orchestra. The vocals are also recorded extremely raw, and are largely high pitched shrieks (similar to Jeromes Dream, Letters to Catalonia, I Hate Sex and Flowers Taped to Pens.) In fact, if I HAD to give you a "for fans of" list of bands, since there's practically no other band doing this style, I'd say you might enjoy him if you enjoy those high pitched shriek punk bands, as well as bands that use chiptune/8/16/other retro video game instrumentals such as Crying.

YAAMC live in Austin, Texas

 Tyler released his first (and so far, only) self-titled EP in 2020, and with tracks like Snowy! and Metamorphosis being big crowd pleasures, it'll be exciting to see where Tyler goes with this project.  Your Arms Are My Cocoon is only going up from here with attention on underground music boards such as r/emo, and the modern screamo community is extremely supportive of Odom, which I love to see.

 Check out Tyler's music wherever you stream or buy music, and hit up his merch page if you want!

YAAMC Bandcamp

YAAMC Spotify

YAAMC Merch (watch for tour leftovers)

 

Locater 'Clandestine" album release show review w/ Guilty Sleep, Agapito.

 

Nicholas Gammon and Brendan McLean of Locater playing at the Goodwill Social Club, February 25th 2023. Photo by Justin Fisher

Locater (FKA Louser) played a release show in celebration of their new album 'Clandestine', which was released February 17th, 2023 on No Sleep Records. This is a bit of a recap and review on the shoegaze/punk show, plus some pictures that I took that I liked.

The show opened with the band Guilty Sleep, a newcomer to the indie/shoegaze scene. They just finished recording some music with Griffin of Winnipeg easycore act, A Grizzly Fate on the board. Guilty Sleep consists of guitarist/vocalist Eric Ducharme, guitarist/vocalist Haise, drummer Liam Sewell (of Co Komono/Seweller/Jupiter Meltdown) and bassist Nick Paluck (of Jupiter Meltdown). 

Guilty Sleep perform at The Goodwill Social Club. Photo by Justin Fisher

Guilty Sleep play a blend of grunge and emo influenced shoegaze, with lush guitar soundscapes, big drums and even a telephone mic akin to Deftones. They can make you feel floaty, but also have some fast-paced songs that make you want to jump or mosh. They'll be a band to look out for in the future when they start releasing music. I absolutely loved their set and I can't wait to see more of their stuff. Despite the band name, the bombastic, spontaneously loud sound of this band will not make you want to sleep.

Agapito was the next band of the night, and I went in blindly, having never heard anything. They absolutely blew my mind with their mixture of post/progressive hardcore with a rock and roll energy. Agapito is more-or-less a supergroup, with a former member of Comeback Kid and Mike Peters from Cancer Bats on drums. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately, because I was so entranced by the bands performance. From the lead vocalists' rock and roll attitude to the colourful melodies used on both the guitars and the basslines. There was even a point where the rack tom fell over because of how hard this bands' music hits! This is a band you NEED to see, where the live experience is going to be so much different from a studio release. Keep an eye out for more music and shows from them, and also check out Cancer Bats if you're not familiar with them.

The last band was Locater, of course. Bit of backstory, they used to go under the name 'Louser' until early February 2023, but due to legal issues, were forced to undergo a name change. The band released one 'self-titled' EP under that name, but Clandestine was released right after their name change, after signing to No Sleep Records. The band consists of core members Nicholas Gammon on vocals, Sean Kaye on bass, Nick 'The Fonz' Fondse on guitar and Jesse Hardie on drums. For the release show, Brendan McLean (who has played with Elder Abuse/Higherlows/etc) hopped on 2nd guitar. Some of the bands these core members have played in include: Witchtrip, Ceilings, Elder Abuse and Badfriend. Locater's style is a mixture of grunge and shoegaze, reminiscent of bands like Narrow Head, Teenage Wrist and Nothing. The show itself was intimate, with an awesome vibe when it came to the lighting. I was talking to my photographer friend Brittany Lambert after the show, she was saying when it came to editing, the lighting was a challenge but one that she enjoyed. The projector visuals on the ceiling added a nice effect to the show. The setlist included a good handful of the great tracks from Clandestine, as well as some classics from their 2019 'self-titled' EP including Vitamin L.

Saturday was an amazing night, full of seeing some great friends and even better music. Thanks to Locater, Guilty Sleep and Agapito for the great hangs and the awesome photographers (Brittany, Matt) working the show, as well as the Goodwill for hosting a great weekend of music. Cheers everyone.

Locater Spotify 

Agapito Spotify

My personal instagram

Holdfast/Brittany Lambert Photography

Matt Friesen Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone Asked About You

Photo Credit: Unknown

Everyone Asked About You is a midwest emo/twee-pop band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were only active for 2-3 years (1996 to 2000), only went on 1 tour and released 1 self-titled EP and a split with The Shyness Clinic. They were somewhat unknown until long after their breakup, when they built up a small, loyal audience, mostly because of their EP. The band consisted of vocalist Hannah Vogen, Chris Sheppard on vocals and guitar, Collins Kilgor on guitar (who'd usually track bass in studio too) and Lee Buford on drums. Lee Buford currently plays in various experimental music bands including The Body.

EAAY is for fans of twee-adjacent music with the guy/girl harmonies and synth melodies, with vocals somewhat reminiscent of both 90s emo/indie acts such as Rainer Maria, Pixies and The Anniversary, as well as later acts including Tigers Jaw and Empire! Empire!

 EAAY lasted a very short time (as did quite a few bands from this era) but the influence clearly had an impact on much of the newer breed of emo bands e.g. football etc, Tigers Jaw, etc.

I wish there was more that I could say about them that hasn't already been said, but they are such a massively underrated band which makes information about them somewhat sparse. However, there is good news. In 2022, they reunited and played a show just before the calendar turned to 2023. Original lineup and a synth player. Just this past weekend (February 18-19, 2023), they played Numero Twenty in Los Angeles at the Palace Theater with other post-hardcore/emo greats from around their era, including The Hated, Karate, Chisel and Unwound! Chris Sheppard was also a guest on the WashedUpEmo podcast very recently, if you're a podcast person. On the day that I happen to be writing this (February 20th, 2023), they are scheduled to be playing Noise Pop 30 Fest at the Great American Music Hall, opening for Chisel. The festival also includes math rock favorites Covet. It's great to see EAAY starting to do things again, i'd be excited to see if they potentially release anything (unreleased music?), but overall, I'm just happy they're back.

Everyone Asked About You first show back, December 28th, 2022. From their social media. Matthew Bradley playing bass on far right side. White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Below are some links where you can find their social media and streaming links.

Everyone Asked About You Spotify

EAAY Instagram

EAAY Discogs

EAAY Bandcamp

 

 

 

Brandon Maxwell - Walk Away TRACK REVIEW

 

Picture credit: Unknown

Brandon Maxwell is a punk rock musician and Twitch content creator out of Orange County, California who incorporates many influences and genres into his sound, including ska, emo, pop punk and post-punk. Brandon was formerly a member of the skacore band Maxwell Smart, in which he played guitar and vocals. In his own words, the point of his own music is to bring light to the darkness [of life], until we can understand it and fear it less.

 His track "When I'm Old", released in October of 2022 gives us a taste of his songwriter-punk side, with some undertones of Rancid and the like. I'm happy that I got to meet Brandon in a The Hard Times comment section of all things, and he wanted to share a taste of what you'll be hearing out of the Californian pop rock/punk singer-songwriter. His new single, entitled 'Walk Away', was written by Brandon (who also performed guitar and lead vocals on the track). Rounding out the session is Tristan Garcia from Maxwell Smart on bass, Dan Evans of Bite Me Back on drums, Tara Hahn of Half Past Two on background vocals and Esteban Flores on keys. David Irish at Pot of Gold Studios in Orange County engineered, mixed and mastered the release. David Irish has worked on some notable releases including a handful of We Are The Union releases. 

Source: Brandon Maxwell's Social Media

Brandon noted that 'Walk Away' is a slight departure from the style he usually plays, which I love regardless. This most likely means that when a full release comes, it won't be super focused on one sound, rather an experimentation of different genres and subgenres. Walk Away goes for a bit of a mid-2000s post-punk revival and indie rock/power pop sound and excels at it. The organ in the majority of this track paired with the pushing drums and anthemic guitars give it a Death Cab For Cutie or The Weakerthans quality, and Brandon's vocals matched with his harmonies work very well for this type of music.

'Walk Away' is a just a great piece of emotional pop rock music, through and through. Some great harmonies and a hook that will make me want to keep it on repeat for at least the next little bit. Brandon is starting out extremely strong as this is his first non-acoustic song under his solo name, and he will be releasing more songs very soon with both a similiar sound to this, and heavier stuff for the traditional punk fans. To put it bluntly, there will be something for everybody.

Brandon Maxwell's new single 'Walk Away' releases officially March 3rd, 2023, and will be available wherever you listen to music. Remember to support small and/or local artists! Here's a few links to his social media and his streaming pages that you can find his music on.

Brandon Maxwell Spotify

Brandon Maxwell Soundcloud (if you're interested in hearing his old stuff!)

Brandon Maxwell Twitter

Brandon Maxwell Twitch

Maxwell Smart Spotify

 

 

 

Hassan I Sabbah

Photo credit: Unknown

Hassan I Sabbah was a screamo band from Boston, Massachusetts, active from 2000 to 2001. Members have been in other well-known or influential underground east coast bands including Prevail and Force Fed Glass, and Mike Justian went on to play in Unearth, Trap Them and The Red Chord. Other members would go onto play in Madball, Earth Crisis, Shai Halud and with Thurston Moore to name a few. The lineup included Chad Pfeiffer , Mike Justian, Ryan Daniels, Tommy Davis and Zac Davis.

Hassan I Sabbah remained heavily underground for the most part, mainly due to the fact that they lasted about a year, but within that year, issued many releases including 2 demos and a 7", as well as the famed Usurp Synapse/HIS 7", which is a split featuring two extremely good screamo bands, however was clearly overshadowed by the Usurp Synapse feature due to the packaging of the split (a razor blade in the packaging, by choice of Usurp,  something that Hassan I Sabbah was against). Hassan I Sabbah also had some compilation appearances including on a release put out by Iodine Recordings.

Having a more hardcore approach to most of their stuff compared to a mathcore adjacent band such as Jeromes Dream led them to being loved heavily within the underground emocore and screamo scenes of the very early 2000s. Live performances were unforgettable on virtue of sheer power. An example of one of the most "iconic" screamo show performances was when drummer Mike Justian threw a pair of hi-hat cymbals at guitarist Tommy Davis, slicing his hand which halted his ability to play guitar for several months. There's also the case of them showing up at a show wearing gas masks as well as multiple cases where the band did not showing up at all (common with some of these bands, sometimes. Earth Crisis did this a few times to my knowledge.)

Picture credit: Unknown

Check out the bit of music they have on YouTube or try to find the JUST DO IT! split on vinyl (good luck). Linked below are some ways you can purchase their music or follow their social media. 

HIS Spotify 

HIS Bandcamp 

HIS Instagram 

An original copy of the Usurp Synapse/HIS Just Do It split 7" on vinyl that I found from a auctioneer on the internet. This picture does not belong to me. Complete with the original razor!