After the rambling folkiness of it’s all crazy! many mewithoutYou fans weren’t sure what to expect. Several friends washed their hands of the band, firmly deciding that their best days were behind them.
And even though I had liked it’s all crazy! I must admit that a part of me worried that it might be more than a one-off. When the first singles were released from Ten Stories, the fanbase was apprehensive. Continue reading
February of 2006, I saw mewithoutYou in the Kokomo Convention Center. They had wrapped up a tour a couple months before, had done some writing, and were driving to California to record their new record.
That night, they played some of songs from that record for the first time. And immediately, it was obvious that things would be different.
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As much as I’ve looked forward to this section of my collection, I’m sitting here with “January 1979” blaring at a complete loss of what to say about this record.
Do I talk about the broad scope of Aaron’s lyrics as he dissects theology, philosophy, and his own mental state in a yelping shout? Do I talk about how the rest of the band broke the doors off of punk music to create some of the greatest soundscapes put to tape? Do I talk about how over the last fourteen years, no record has meant more to me?
Because this record is all that and more. And if I didn’t have work to do today, I could write about this record all day.
In the summer of 2004, I found a copy of [A–>B] Life by mewithoutYou in the church camp bookstore for $7. I had seen the name trudging through the Tooth and Nail website (the things we used to do to find new music), and I was enchanted by Vasily Kafanov’s album art, so I took a chance on it.
On first listen, I hated it.
But following along with the lyric sheet, I realized that there might be a worthwhile experience if I could dig in deeper. So I listened again. And again. And a few more times.
And over a few listens, I became fully convinced of the genius of this bookish, experimental post-hardcore outfit.
Few groups have as varied a discography as mewithoutYou. They’ve forged a musical niche for themselves that is as diverse as it is consistent. Their records have run the gamut from blistering post-hardcore to intense indie rock to charming folk.
But looking back across eighteen years and seven albums, it can be easy to forget that mewithoutYou (whispers) sorta started out as a joke.
With Antenna, Cave In reached the absolute apex of their brand of heavy alternative. Seeing no point in trying to remake a nearly perfect album, they shifted gears once again—this time going back into a heavier direction.
If you’ve been following along for any length of time, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’m almost automatically a fan of anything with huge, thick walls of guitar noise.
It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about shoegaze, space rock, post rock, blackgaze, sludge metal, or whatever brand of guitar rock Lantlôs is putting out. If the guitars are loud, fuzzy, and slathered in reverb, I’m here for it.
So naturally, as soon as I heard the new album from Lake Michigan-area outfit Cloakroom, I was here for it.
Glassjaw has always been a bit of an outlier.
While the early 2000s Long Island punk scene was split between witty, weepy emo kids and muscle-bound hardcore tuff-guys, Glassjaw was a different beast entirely. Their ferocity and pop sensibility were never at odds with one another.
Jorden Dreyers, lead singer of La Dispute, is a bit of an enigma. He masquerades as a hardcore frontman, thrashing across the stage as he screams his lungs out.
In actuality, he’s a writer, through and through, showing more kinship with Ernest Hemingway than Henry Rollins.
In the great scheme of music history, it’s near impossible to talk about La Dispute without mentioning mewithoutYou. And I’m as guilty as anyone in that regard—mewithoutYou has been my favorite band for around thirteen years, and they were the first band to mix hardcore conventions and spoken-word (shouted-word?) vocals that La Dispute also uses.
It was this very relationship that kept me from La Dispute. I dismissed them as derivative—runners-up that sought to usurp of the throne mewithoutYou abdicated when they had their folky phase.
But then, I actually started listening to La Dispute. And brother, they don’t deserve my dismissal.