brooklynfellner99 – Page 2

Chunky Shrapnel: A Movie-esque Review

By Bartek Jaskulski

As we approach our second month during our surreal quarantine, we’ve come to quickly adapt to our surroundings. This includes a number of changes within the industry, whether it be grocery stores, school systems, and even our national parks. One specific industry that has taken a massive hit from this is the music industry. In times where concerts have been delayed for the foreseeable future, artists have to quickly adjust themselves on how to bring a “live experience” to their fans. While some of these artists took the approach of performing for Minecraft festivals (a completely real and surreal experience), others have taken the approach of creating movies for listeners to enjoy in the comfort of their home, a “straight to DVD” experience per se. One prime example of this is the band “King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard”, if their brand new movie “Chunky Shrapnel”.

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard (also referred to as simply King Gizz) is a psychedelic rock band of 7 people originating from Australia. When looking up the band through a Google search, the group is labelled as a psychedelic rock band, although their last two albums from 2019 proves to show that they are anything but that in recent years. Starting off 2019 with their album “Fishing for Fishies,” the album starts off showing us what they’re capable of in the blues/boogie rock area. As it progresses, the album slowly deforms into a much darker, “synthier” style as seen in Arcanine and Cyboogie. Later on in the year, the band released a second album by the name of “Infest the Rats’ Nest”, which comes off of a completely different spectrum of what “Fishing for Fishies” was. Bringing on the genres of thrash and metal, the group manages to bring a cohesive look on their take of the heavy genres. This brings us to “Chunky Shrapnel”, a movie showcasing the band through their tour of Europe in 2019.

“Chunky Shrapnel” was originally to be shown in select cinemas throughout the globe, but due to the pandemic they took on a different approach. Starting on April 17th at 6 PM, the band released the movie on Vimeo exclusively for only 24 hours, making this seem much more like a grand premiere. The film is a prime way to experience the thrill of attending a King Gizz concert and it could not have come at a better time. In addition to this, a live album will be released on April 24, showcasing many of the songs performed throughout the film as well as adding on songs that have not been heard before.

Not only was it fan-fulfilling to watch this film concert, but it was also pleasurable to see that the whole piece was recorded on Kodak film and it shows. The raw nature of film could be seen greatly throughout the movie, especially within the shots of the band performing throughout pieces such as “Murder of The Universe” and “Planet B”. The colors especially tend to stand out during these times, giving a warm, fuzzy feeling to the viewer as the show goes on.

Although the movie brings much to the viewer, it can also be said that there’s not much that you can experience if you have already. Coming from a person that has seen them live at Franklin Music Hall this past August, the movie reminisces of those times. The film starts us off with the killer entrance of the song “Self-Immolate”, reliving it the same way back in August. “Murder of The Universe” was also a outstanding thriller within the film, as well as Ambrose’s dive into “Let Me Mend The Past”. These two were also songs that very well stood out to me back at the Franklin Music Hall, but I am in no way complaining to relive it once more.

Chunky Shrapnel was coincidentally brought to us in a time where we have to stay put and make radical changes to even our ways of enjoying ourselves, such as seeing live shows once again. This fills parts of the gap for us, letting us experience a truly blunt, gritty King Gizzard concert. Fans will find themselves indulging in many aspects of the film that they greatly favor, whereas bringing a great experience to people beginning to sink their toes into the world that is King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard.

Chunky Shrapnel comes out digitally on April 24th. It will also be out on vinyl on May 18th.

color theory by Soccer Mommy Review

by Lukas Da Silva

image of Soccer Mommy promoting her new album, color theory, from npr.org

Sophia Regina Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, has been putting in a lot of work these past couple years to make her own place in the music scene. She has been doing everything from putting out single after single to touring all around the world in an attempt to get her name out. Now with her new album, color theory coming out, she has finally cemented herself as a staple of the indie scene right now. This album was a great success that not only built upon what she created on her previous albums, but also improved on it with new elements on her instrumentation and lyricism. With a clearer sound and focus, beautiful instrumentation that sounds even richer than her previous work, and her unique and instantly recognizable vocals, Soccer Mommy has presented us with an album that is truly a culmination of years of work.

From songs such as “circle the drain” to “lucy”, Allison brings back the passionate and emotion filled lyricism from her previous works such as For Young Hearts while enriching the instrumental sounds she touched on in past songs. Hitting heavy topics such as her mother’s terminal illness, her own mental health, and the happiness lost as you slowly become an adult, Allison seems to be showing off the growth she has gained since becoming an artist and making her debut album.

As you listen to this album, expect to hear a wide variety of sounds that Allison has cultivated over the years, as some of the best tracks from this album are sure to stick with you even weeks after listening to them. The infectious and ear catching “circle the drain,” with its 2000’s sounding instrumentals, is sure to leave you humming it long after it ends. The melancholy inducing “royal screw up,” with its soft drumwork and pensive lyrics, leaves listeners questioning their own insecurities. Finally, the tear-jerking ode to Allison’s mother “yellow is the color of her eyes” is a tribute to the pain caused by terminal illness. These songs show the broad range of emotions and ideas the album has while still maintaining a consistently beautiful sound. These songs are some of the best that Soccer Mommy has ever put out and it’s easy to hear the amount of time and work that was put in each track. While these three songs might be the best of the album, that doesn’t mean the album is lacking in the other songs. Each song tells its own story and further propels you into the mind of Soccer Mommy, so take your time to enjoy this beautiful album.

American Football: how midwest emo lives on

by Brooklyn Fellner

Nate Kinsella, Matt Kinsella, Steve Lamos, and “the mysterious” Steve Homes, all poured themselves a glass of red wine in the lounges of the Union Transfer. Their band, American Football, was reuniting after a much anticipated comeback. Here is what they had to say about touring, writing, and getting the band back together.

American Football had played last in Philly at the UT two years ago, “give or take.” Although the band enjoys touring on the east coast, they said they “enjoy anywhere they’ll have us.”

They decided to do a deluxe release of their self-titled album after proclaiming “huh people wanna hear us.” This came as an exciting announcement, as the original album, first released in 1999, has been revered as a breakthrough for midwest emo music.

Their first record seems to be a timeless token of late 90s alternative. The band described how it just keeps getting passed on and on in every decade since its release. At every show, 60- 70 percent of their audience are in their 20s or younger and they are still surprised, but enthused by how relevant their music is today.

“it just seems like it keeps getting passed from generation to generation, it’s neat to be that for someone… even though they should be listening to different bands,” they said.

The revamp of the band is credited to Steve Lamos, who was rummaging through an old box of cassettes in his dad’s home, where he found old recordings of American Football. This rediscovery sparked an interest in playing together again, which led to their reuniting in after years of breaking off and starting families, new jobs, and adulthood. From this, came the American Football LP3 which was released in 2019 and was followed by the tour. Featured on this LP is none other than the queen of alternative herself, Hayley Williams. She lends her outstanding vocals on the song “Uncomfortably Numb.” Nate recalled this only took her three takes to nail.

In high school, the bandmates were in the homegrown punk scene. From there, this lifestyle extended further in college, when there were clusters of shows popping up in Champaign, Illinois. There were opportunities for people to play wherever they were allowed to be loud, so this usually happened in basements and garages. This idea of having DIY shows started to spread, and even if there is no end goal, the band said how they were enjoying their time in the basement regardless of the future of their music. Through the scene, their band got more and more popular and through “dumb luck,” as described by the band members, American Football caught on.

Fast forward to now, American Football still pulls loyal audiences to every show they have played on their reunion tour. The deluxe release of their self titled album has, without a doubt, inspired an even greater appreciation for midwest emo music.

Kiss My Super Bowl Ring by The Garden

by Dominick Baglivo

Image from https://www.spin.com/2020/02/garden-kiss-my-super-bowl-ring-album/

On their fourth studio album, The Garden absolutely excel at what they have always done best—getting weird as fuck.

Kiss My Super Bowl Ring, the fourth studio album by Orange County duo The Garden, sees them build upon their weirdo-art punk sound to create their most adventurous and impressive output yet. Following up 2018’s Mirror Might Steal Your Charm, which saw the duo of Wyatt and Fletcher Shears adopt jester aesthetics, the two have now enlisted the help of what can only be described as green goblins. Whether you credit the green goblins or natural artistic progression for this is up to your discretion, but there is no doubt The Garden have never embodied their own artistic vision of “vada vada” as well as they do on Kiss My Super Bowl Ring.

From The Garden’s website, “Vada Vada is a term that represents total freedom of expression without boundaries or guidelines of any sort.” If we are discussing the boundaries of Kiss My Super Bowl Ring, let’s be very clear—there are none. The album starts out rather tame for the duo with lead single, “Clench to Stay Awake”, which—save for a mildly chaotic midsection—describes feelings of helplessness and subsequent struggles to cope over light instrumentation. From there, Kiss My Super Bowl Ring quickly transforms into the most impressive musical clusterfuck you might ever hear, in which The Garden seemingly know nothing and everything at once.

Synth-heavy, bass-heavy, loaded with screams, Kiss My Super Bowl Ring thrives off chaos and unpredictability, shifting from one extreme to another at a moment’s notice. Perhaps the biggest surprise, and a shining example of the duo’s unpredictability, is the extent to which they have incorporated more aspects of electronic music to their already eclectic sound. Littered throughout the track list, most notably “Sneaky Devil” and “Please, Fuck Off”, you can find instances where the song evolves into or simply is based around breakbeats and drum ‘n’ bass. The duo’s willingness to experiment has always been their calling card, and they appear to have mastered it on Kiss My Super Bowl Ring by injecting electronic music into their musical backbone of fiery and chaotic punk.

Injury Reserve at The Foundry

By Lukas Da Silva

Injury Reserve played at The Foundry on September 26th and it was a jaw dropping performance. The show started off with the duo “Body Meat,” a group that started as the solo act of Christopher Taylor. He eventually paired up with the drummer named Infinity (named because of his other group “Infinity Dance Complex”) to begin making their post-punk R&B amalgamations.

This duo really brought their all to the show, creating an atmosphere of unchained imagination and sounds. Taylor was unleashing on the vocals, using autotune to further the crazy energy that he brought with his singing, while Infinity was making some really intricate and unique beats with his electronic drum pads. They blew away everyone in the audience as people looked dumbfounded that you could combine so many different noises and make it sound phenomenal. People looked taken aback by how good of an opening act that Body Meat was.

The second act, “Slauson Malone” was strange to say the least. To describe his music as experimental would be an understatement. The man used barely any lights and used some of the weirdest samples I’ve ever heard. These included flies buzzing and Amazon’s Alexa talking about the end of the world commencing.

His music contains some of the darkest vocals I’ve heard in a long time and it genuinely scared me at times.

Then finally, Injury Reserve came on and they brought the house down. The lighting had a chaotic yet controlled feeling that made me think the lighting was its own entity. The beats created by Injury Reserve member, Parker Corey, were so energetic and infectious that it didn’t take long before people were bobbing their heads to the music.

To top it all off, the vocals and flow of both Stepa J. Groggs and Ritchie “With a T” were top notch and filled with intense energy. The group brought so much energy that it didn’t take long before the crowd was moshing and chanting with them.

They had some awesome bangers like “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe”, “Jailbreak The Tesla”, and “Three Man Weave”. By the end of the concert, I felt like I had gone through a very intense workout and was still feeling the rush from it. My body was physically tired from rocking out so hard but mentally, I felt as hyper as ever. I left the concert very satisfied and felt that I had made some memories that would last me a long time. It was easily one of the most energizing shows I had ever experienced.

A Conversation with a hoodratscumbag

Photo of Pablo Cervantez taken by Emily DeHart

It wasn’t too long ago Beach Goons (made up of Pablo Cervantez, David Orcozo, and Chris Moran) was playing house shows in the “surf punk scene” of San Diego, California and using equipment from the public library. These past few months was only their second tour, despite the large and incredibly engaged crowd. The band has been gaining more and more popularity with the release of their new album hoodratscumbags. Singer and guitarist, Pablo Cervantez, explained from behind his tiny merch table at Theatre of Living Arts, that this album is his “little baby,” and has been working on it for 2 years. He went through the process of writing in his room, in the studio, and wiping out 8 songs before he was ready to release it.

With influences from Balance and Composure, Chalino Sanchez, The Cure, and Marvin Gaye it is obvious how Cervantez’s vast music taste contributes to the perfect creation of a surf punk album.

Cervantez went into depth about how important it was that he includes his Mexican heritage in this album specifically. The listener can quite literally hear this in the several verses he belts out in Spanish (such as in the song A.M.) , an inclusion that is greater on hoodratscumbags than any other album Beach Goons has released before. He explained that growing up in San Diego as a first gen was difficult because of ridicule from greater society. He referred to the area as “the ghetto,” something that he made known he is not ashamed of. Cervantez even recalls being pushed to speak english in public by his parents, fearing that he will be looked down upon for his heritage.

With his background influencing his recent album, Cervantez explained how he is no longer ashamed of his heritage. He is simply proud and he wants his parents to be proud.

After hoodratscumbags was released, Beach Goons had the opportunity to have an Audiotree Live session in Chicago, something Cervantez grew up watching and listening to. The coordinators were very welcoming and the overall experience was amazing. Check out their session on Spotify or Youtube to hear the extremely authentic and vocally dynamic recording.

Cervantez closed in on the interview with some insightful advice for kids growing up in less fortunate areas who are told they cannot accomplish anything:

“It’s all Bull Shit!”

Cervantez recommended a documentary about the area he grew up in called Chicano Park:

Check out a full review of the show here:

https://wkdu.wordpress.com/2019/04/14/swmrs-beach-goons-and-destroy-boys-at-tla/

SWMRS, Beach Goons, and Destroy Boys at TLA

SWMRS, Destroy Boys, and Beach Goons took over The Theatre of Living Arts on Tuesday, April 9th. The crowd was close to filling the whole venue just as the opening act, Destroy Boys, stepped on stage, so it was obvious Philadelphia was ready for a night of sick music.

Photo of Alexia Roditis taken by Emily DeHart

Destroy Boys, comprised of Alexia Roditis, Violet Mayugba, Falyn Walsh and Narsai Malik, came first with a hardcore, upbeat sound. Roditis’s strong, powerful vocals filled the venue. They took time to encourage an all-girl mosh pit, something that was very empowering to the female hardcore fans in the audience. Already proving to be an all- inclusive band, Roditis went on to perform a song for the LGBTQ audience, yelling out “That’s me, bitch!” The crowd then swooned when Mayugba planted a kiss on Roditis’s forehead. The band then covered Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings,” with spot-on, screaming accuracy.

Photo of David Orozco taken by Emily DeHart

Next to perform was Beach Goons, bassist David Orozco swigging a Yuengling as he walked on stage to plug in. The bands’ sound is like no other, the guitar having a perfect balance of surf mixed with pure, gritty punk. Upbeat drums along with catchy bass rifts ensure to grasp the attention of anyone listening. Cervantez’s voice is an extremely unique mixture of clean melodies that break into raspy, articulate screams.

They opened with “Tar,” and the crowd immediately started screaming the lyrics. A crowd this large and supportive could have been for a main act easily. Then, came the bodies. I have been to many, many punk shows, but I have never seen as many converse soles above my head before in my whole life. The bouncers were spastically trying to catch kids coming up to the front from every direction, as the rest moshed recklessly to their favorite punk band: Beach Goons. The pit was especially hyped when lead singer Pablo Cervantez repeated the lyrics

“Everybody is dead

All my friends are dead

And I’m tryin’ my best

My best to reach things”

The words were screamed over and over as more bodies were knocking into each other and flying overhead. Cervantez banged on his tan telecaster, a smile on his face the whole time. After asking to be smoked up after the show, Beach Goons closed with a surf-punk cover of “La Bamba,” something that sparked an even more intense energy throughout the crowd.

The fans for SWMRS were waving and singing along to their songs before the band even stepped out onto the stage. SWMRS opened with “Trashbag Baby,” a song that drew immense energy from the audience. The band, made up of Cole Becker, Max Becker, Joey Armstrong Jakob Armstrong (both sons of the frontman of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong), and Seb Mueller had a bit of a 90s punk boy band style mixed with some modern pop-punk influences.

Photo of Cole Becker taken by Emily DeHart

There was clapping and dancing from the barricades all the way up to the line of parents in the back of the venue, the audience knowing every song from the first note of the bassline. After requesting a circle pit be formed, singer Cole Becker referred to the “wall of death” mosh pit as a “wall of love,” encouraging the fact that “once you walk through those doors, you’re joining a community.”

The band was extremely interactive with the crowd, often stopping the show to talk with individual audience members from the stage. Becker then explained how important it is to recognize any form of sexual harassment that may go on during the show, asking for the band to be told if this happens so they can stop the show and “kick that mother f***** out!!!!!” The announcement was followed by “Berkeley’s on Fire,” a song about such issues and moving forward as a community.

The SWMRS tour definitely had a killer line up, proven by the large and engaged audience which was excited to see all of the bands. This may be the tour that brings Beach Goons to the next level of popularity, with such a large crowd going off the walls for their new album. This only being their second tour, it will be exciting to see how much they, along with Destroy Boys and SWMRS, grow as they make their way from city to city.

All photos taken by Emily DeHart

Instagram: @emm.jd