♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ♥ Music ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

I really want to do a write-up in here on a particular band. I downloaded a ton of their discography after seeing their music labeled post-hardcore, but their music sat in my 'need to listen to' playlist for a very long time. The band's name: mewithoutyou I saw the name, I thought - great, another whiny post-hardcore, lovey dovey, band that's actually pop rock and always on about chicks (not that that's a bad thing). I was in an interesting spot at the time. I wanted music to have more meaning than just being about love and stuff like it. I put it on the back burner because of their name alone and I was a fucking moron. I don't listen to a lot of older music, admittedly other than maybe pink floyd and something occasionally that comes on and I like it. But I've always liked The Doors and their vibe. If I had to describe mewithoutyou, it'd be "The Doors with a little more grit". https://youtu.be/thVLmffORRU One song in, and I felt so many different emotions. I thought, is this how this guy sings? My second thought was, I don't give a shit, I fucking like it! I repeated the song. More things stood out to me on the second listen. Lyrics like "It takes a steady hand to navigate through adulterous waters" stood out to me. It sung to my past. After being blamed by my ex for her behavior, my first thought after hearing this lyric was how calculated she was in steering the situation so steadily in her favor, regardless of what she did to me. She wasn't a victim, she was the damn puppet master. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYacBt2EvkQ One thing I've always loved in music, when listening to an album is when a song ends and the next one begins during the same second. You'd have to listen to these two on the album to get the effect. It's something that clicks with me. Good enough tune, kind of a calm before the storm of the third song on the album, but when I heard the Hebrew being spoken at the end things clicked for me. Ok, this is a band focusing on religious stories, isn't it? Yes and it's beautifully done. https://youtu.be/ERd9zgrpV5Q An album later, and at the end of it, this moment of peace came through the speakers of my car. I love this song, so calming and haunting at the same time. The little sounds that can be heard in the background throughout send chills down my spine. Aaron Weiss's singing in this song has such a peaceful, yet depressing tone. The lyrics are some of the more simple I've heard from the band, but this one hits different from the rest of their songs because of it. It's very straightforward and relatable in some poetic kind of way. "Grape on the vine" is one of those lines I sing to myself at random moments in my life, it brings great musical memories and a sense of calmness to my thoughts. https://youtu.be/YR542DzB_yc This songs is the end of it's respective album and recaps the album subtly and ends it on a beautiful note; really brings the whole thing together. More Hebrew, super calming moment in the song. The end of this song is really bittersweet and at the same time sort of hopeful. Weiss remembering things about his late father, and the final moments of him remembering the nickname his dad called him "little Haroon" strike the heart strings in both a positive and negative way. That's the bittersweet part about it. Then the song fades out with an equally bittersweet finish, instrumentally. https://youtu.be/wb9nEWu-0QQ I know this has been a long post (and I'm sorry). I'll be sad if this posting effort is for nothing and no one cares... lmao. But I need to leave it on this song. I heard this song a long time before I recognized this band as the one to play it. This was my first, albeit unknown, introduction to mewithoutyou. I thought - what the fuck is a watermelon ascot? And did they just use coriander in a song? God, the opening guitar amps me up every time. The lyrics are strange and awesome. This song epitomizes my thoughts of this band being like the doors with a little more grit. Hope whoever listens, enjoys. Thanks.

So, how I find music is I go on specific websites, look up the genre I'm currently into and go through some all-time albums from top to bottom and sample each one. If I don't vibe with the songs (which I give a quick listen to), I might not like the style, the instruments etc., then I'll move onto the next band. If something stands out, I download the album to listen to later and go for the next band. When I binge this process, I end up with a shit ton of new things to listen to, and some become lost in the shuffle. Then when I search my music, I end up saying things like - "Who the fuck is Mclusky?" Words of advice to any punk/hardcore/post-hardcore fans - Listen to the fuckin' brits! https://youtu.be/W8zzWWRPxtM First glance at the title and I was intrigued. Ten seconds into the song and it's a banger. To answer McClusky's question repeated throughout the chorus... yes I think my ears just.... well ya know. Short, sweet, kick ass song. I still don't know what the "Lightsabre cocksucking blues" are, but I dig it I guess. https://youtu.be/m_AxTiKr62E This song reminds me of Scott Pilgrim for some reason. I think it's some of the grungy riffs that are present in this song and some of the songs in SP. The music is pretty simple and straightforward, harcore, grungy, party rock, but the brits have this way about making things so much more badass when it comes to this kind of music. https://youtu.be/uB0UKKZUImY Ah, then there's this tune, the one with the gritty bass that lingers through some of that British charm of gritty guitar and whacked out, fuck it, singing style. Unfortunately this band was short lived. Some of the members created a new band called Future of the Left, they have some good music too, but Mclusky hit different. If you like gritty brit punk I'd check more of this band out. Once again, thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy the tunes :) I'll be back again with some more British bands soon.

@mrkingofspades RE: mewithoutyou Just gave these songs a listen. They sound really unique in a way where they have mashed together about 5 decades of influence. Like the more upbeat songs sound like they are very inspired by the 60s and 70s rock, but their slower tempo songs, while they do remind me of Pink Floyd, they also kinda have this darkness to them that reminds me of 90s grunge. LOL while at the same time as all these things, also kinda reminds me of folk music. So yeah, interesting band.

They've got quite a variety of styles throughout their discography. Some of the earlier stuff is a lot more hardcore, but they definitely evolved to add in a little more folk. I also just love how their entire albums, naming wise and rhythm sort of mesh together - like songs In a Market Dimly Lit and In a Sweater Poorly Knit. Every intricate detail down to the writing of song titles seems very fleshed out with them. A lot of respect is earned from me with that kind of care. But I'm glad you listened to them.

Speaking of Careless Whisper, love this video for the dancing but also the music that they chose. I love that they highlight the caw from the crow in C.R.E.A.M. by Wu Tang Clan. https://youtu.be/3GNG12g2bKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI6oQ8Lgf2U So, this song tells the story of an old Russian Czar, "Peter the Great", or Pyotr Alekséyevich. His reign lasted from 1682 to 1725. There's a tale about how Pytor found his wife Catherine sleeping with her secretary, Willem Mons, and how Pytor sentenced Mons to death. Not only was Mons sentenced to death, but he was publicly decapitated at the gallows. Story goes that Pyotr had Mons's severed head preserved in a jar and put on display in a musuem (The Kunstkamera) and forced his wife to gaze at the exhibit for hours on end. Now, this story may or may not be true, or exaggerated in some ways, but that doesn't change the intrigue of the song. Bad Books, as a band, are very hit and miss to me. I like most of their music on some level, and they're one of the more interesting bands in this type of indie-rock scene, but they have a few songs that hit different; Pyotr is one of them. They know how to set the tone of sadness better than most. This song, along with a few others I will mention later, particularly tug at my emotional heart strings. It's not just the lyrics that depict this sick and twisted story in such a captivating, multi-perspective, deeply emotionally and connected way, but it's the mournful, lonely acoustic that fits this tale perfectly. Maybe it's the way I can relate to the anger of feeling betrayed by a loved one, and especially in the depiction of this song where Pyotr feels almost like he's nothing in comparison to Katherine's true lover. I know I've felt that same way, although I don't think I'd ever be sick enough to display the lover's severed head in a glass contained for my love to gaze upon, but I digress. Some of the lines here strike the heart in such a rough way. Pyotr: "I know you would gaze in his eyes forever, I figured out just how to give that to you", it's such a twisted and depressing line. This line from Pyotr expresses both the thought of feeling worthless to your loved one, and the tick of psychotic anger to me. Hearing this line after knowing the story changes its tone even more. Mons: "And I tell you in the heat of the scuffle, 'nobody ever takes my eyes off of you'", knowing that he's preserved in a jar, there to constantly glare at Catherine, and any passerby's, for the rest of time (I mean until the head is gone of course) just makes this line kind of terrifying. Pytor: "Just you and your lover as a dark souvenir." The entire ending lyrics, from the perspective of Mons's head, are incredibly haunting and depressing. "Strokes her blistered hand across my glass container, saying 'it's so good to see you back here again'." This wreaks of a mournful, heartbroken, woman in denial of her lover's death, desperately trying to recreate his presence in the room. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euL_owT305g I won't go in depth here, but this is another one that tugs at my heart strings. The line "When a man loves a drink more than blood" (from a perspective of family) hurts on so many levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3YZfx144Jk Then there's this track. This whole thing is just sorrowful, yet incredible. Kevin Devine's vocals on this song are some of his best. The short duet/harmony towards the end of this song is the perfect way to wrap up this particular album that finishes on an emotional note. Hope you guys enjoy these tracks. I'm thinking about making a video for the next band I'd like to admire on here, but I kind of hate the sound of my own voice, so we'll see how that goes. If I do, and sum up some courage, I hope it's ok to post the video in here.

RIP Meat Loaf January 20, 2022 https://youtu.be/k5hWWe-ts2s https://youtu.be/2Itpe4IraiA