post hardcore

Record #603: La Dispute – Panorama (2019)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For the longest time, I wrote La Dispute off as a mewithoutYou ripoff band. Who else was mixing hardcore poetry with spoken word (shouted word?) poetry?

It was only after hearing the subdued, almost jazzy “Woman (reading)” off of 2014’s Rooms of the House that I gave them any real attention at all.

And while that album had moments that lived in that same sparse space,  it spent most of its time in a passionate, throat-ripping hardcore. Panorama on the other hand, stretches their softer side into a full album—and I couldn’t be happier. Continue reading →

Record #570: HUM – Downward is Heavenward (1998)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

HUM may have never gotten much mainstream recognition, but you’d never guess their cult status based on the pantheon of groups that list them as an influence. Their huge, earth-shattering brand of space rock influenced groups from Deftones to Hopesfall to Cloakroom to Smashing Pumpkins (who some accuse of getting famous off of HUM’s template).

Most people point to their seminal record You’d Prefer An Astronaut as their finest work. And while they pioneered their trademark sound on that record, their swansong Downward Is Heavenward is a much heavier and more cohesive record.

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Record #568: Basement – Colourmeinkindness (2012)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

At some point in college, I decided that I was “over” all of my adolescent tastes. I ignored all of the emo, punk, metal, and whatever else in favor of folk, indie rock, post punk, and “weird” stuff like Krautrock and dub reggae.

I’ve since come back around, but I’m still trying to catch up on all of the stuff I’ve missed during that time (I still haven’t listened to a full album by The World Is A Beautiful Place). In trying to sort out what’s worth diving into and what isn’t worth my time, a friend recommended Basement. And from the first listen, I was absolutely enraptured by the jangling chords, soaring melodies, and dynamic shifts.

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Record #565: Hopesfall – Arbiter (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Despite my love of mid-2000s Christian post-hardcore (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C…it goes on), I had somehow missed Hopesfall during their heyday. I remember hearing the name tossed around, but I always lumped them into the same pile of hyped bands that I didn’t have any interest in, like Haste the Day, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, etc. (someone is going to tell me I need to listen to them now, I can feel it).

So when a friend recommended their most recent release, I was expecting a warmed over Underoath clone (their place on the Equal Vision roster didn’t help).

I was absolutely not expecting the best mix of hardcore and space rock this side of Cave In.  Continue reading →

Record #562: gates – Bloom & Breathe (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I was previously unaware of gates when I discovered 2016’s Parallel Lives. But I quickly fell in love with that album’s blend of tender indie rock songwriting and epic post rock composition.

So when my friend Rob offered their debut full-length up in a trade for a copy of my band’s full-length, I took him up on it.

And while Bloom & Breathe is a little less tight than its follow up, there’s a rawness here that makes it just as rewarding.

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Record #561: Chastity – Death Lust (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For the last few years, it’s been suggested by a number of music snobs (or at least by me) that we’re currently in a post-genre landscape.

While the dividing lines between, say, dream pop and post-hardcore have generally been laid out pretty clear, these days there’s so much cross-pollination between influences that music taxonomy is an almost fruitless undertaking.

Case in point: Death Lust, the debut record from Canadian solo project Chastity. When I went to add the files to my iTunes, the cursor sat in the “genre” tab for several minutes, blinking mockingly at me as I tried to put a name to this (I copped out and settled on “alternative”). Continue reading →

Record #560: mewithoutYou – [Untitled] (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

After the release of the doomgazy single “Julia” and the subdued [untitled] e.p.,  speculation was high as to what the forthcoming [Untitled] full-length would bring.

But the similarity of covers between the releases seemed to promise an explosion.

Across social media, that theory seemed to be confirmed. When drummer Rickie Mazzotta was asked if the full-length would be as quiet as the e.p., he said, “that’s porch-sittin’ music. The album is cliff-diving music.”

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Record #559: mewithoutYou – [untitled] e.p. (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Few artists have as diverse and unpredictable a sonic palette as mewithoutYou. From the scorched-earth post-hardcore of [A–>B] Life to the ambient punk of Catch For Us the Foxes to the rambling quirkfolk of it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright, few bands have created more different-sounding music that still sounds distinctly like themselves.

And nowhere is that wide-ranging individuality as completely displayed as the twin untitled releases that came out this year.

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Record #558: mewithoutYou – Pale Horses (2015)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

In the years following Ten Stories, a few things happened to mewithoutYou.

They added Brandon Beaver, who was a session player on Ten Stories as a full-time member. Then, they went on a special tour to celebrate Catch For Us the Foxes. Finally, they signed to Run For Cover Records, a haven of post-hardcore and punk bands.

You could look at that set of datum and conclude that they were returning to their punkier roots. And you’d be right.

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