from first to last - emily

sonny moore, now better known as skrillex, used to be in this awesome post hardcore band called from first to last.  during his time in that band, he recorded this awesome acoustic song.  if you listen to skrillex and never heard of from first to last, this would be a good place to start your journey to enlightenment.

listen to "emily" on grooveshark

seaway - sabrina the teenage bitch

this is sort of easycore (you know, that pop punk sub-subgenre with hardcore elements and breakdowns and all that), but i really hear some inspiration from early pop punk like nofx in this track. it's short and catchy, and the vocals are super gritty. there is a small part with female guest vocals, and the harsh male vocals makes her voice sound super cute and little compared to theirs. my favorite part of the song is the title. hey seaway, i see what you did there ;)

as always, go like them on facebook!

watch the music video for "sabrina the teenage bitch"

listen to "sabrina the teenage bitch" on bandcamp, or their whole ep

download their ep for free on mediafire

confide - such great heights

i miss this band. i still can't believe confide has been broken up for over 2 years now. this cover, which can be found as a bonus track on the reissue of their debut album, has such a powerful and emotional sound since it combines a heavy metalcore sound with some lighter electronic sounds that aren't too far from the original version of the song. also, i think this is the first confide song to have joel piper's drumming on the recording.

click here to watch the music video for confide's cover of "such great heights"

click here to watch the music video of the original version by the postal service

semisonic - closing time

this is perhaps the catchiest song i've ever heard in my entire life ever (emphasis through redundancy). if i had to pick any song that could single-handedly represented 90s alternative, i'd pick this song (although i'd be strongly opposed by nirvana fans). if you haven't heard this song before, please take a listen.

watch the music video for "closing time"

joel piper - can anyone hear me?

there weren't too many albums i've been waiting for that were released today, so it was kind of thin picking. regardless, this track is pretty solid. this is a pop song by joel piper, confide's drummer and clean vocalist before disbanding. i like joel piper's new music because his lyrics are much more positive and emotional than some other pop artists. "can anyone hear me?" is a shorter track, but it's my favorite one because i like how it's built like a brontosaurus: starts softly, builds, and ends softly like a mini power ballad.

listen to "can anyone hear me?" on youtube

whitechapel - single file to dehumanization

it's metal monday again, and i wanted to pick a song with a really good breakdown.

i will probably pick out quite a few whitechapel songs on future metal mondays. this song's breakdown is cool because they use 8 strings tuned to drop e i think. they play this note that sounds super low (although i think the dominant chord played in the breakdown is a lower note). i think they only play the note twice, but it's so worth hearing. they bend the 8th string and let it loose as it rings out so that it descends beautifully. a friend of mine who showed me this song called it the brown note. i can talk about how cool i think that note is forever, so i'll just shut up now.

listen to "single file to dehumanization" on grooveshark

high hopes - she's a knockout

it's "someday" sunday! on sundays, i will choose a song from a band i hope will be bigger in the future. high hopes formed late july of last year, but i didn't hear about them until very recently because i was wondering why the singer's old band wasn't doing anything anymore. it was hard to pick one of their songs because they're all pretty catchy, but i felt that the first line of lyrics, "roll with the punches" would sound nice and familiar to anybody who's hear of four year strong.

listen to "she's a knockout"