Tuesday's Playlist

As I'm sitting here in my government job at the library in my home town, I am listening to a crazy lady reading stories to kids. It's this whole reading program thing and if you were here and hungover you would rather have the jaws of life squeeze your head than listen to this lady. She's wearing a frog hat and showing more enthusiasm than a gay pride parade.

After listening to this I am practically forced to put my headphones in and the enthusiasm beaming off this lady got me to think about the enthusiastic Hardcore music. I'm talking about electronicore. Yes it's a word. Bands like

Abandon All Ships

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lg2wiyk40E) and

Attack Attack!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFuUAeiSN4M)

These bands have carved their own style of music and listening to it makes me more enthusiastic. Sure Attack Attack is prone to tune to Drop A but the techno breaks in this song make me weak at the knees. Today it's this kind of music that gives me a feeling and shivers down my spine and music should always do that. Always. PERIOD!

Being keys and clean vocals in my band i have a certain respect for these guys. Especially Caleb Schomo from Attack Attack. This guy has learned to combine the 2 styles almost seamlessly and for that, I thank you.

One more song i would like to talk about is the new The word Alive song

The Hounds of Anubis

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0OR1rspGSE)

This is an epic of music in which i have no idea how they pulled this 4 minutes of insanity off. Great Tune.

That'a all for now,

Noah

New Keys

Hi,

So i recently bought a new set of keys. I bought the microkorg synthesizer and vocoder.

http://www.playderecord.com/images/P/microkorg.jpg

and i gotta say i love it. I brought it to practice for the first time yesterday and after the usual set we practice we sat down and discovered the sounds that we could unlock from this tiny piece of hardware.

The microkorg has tonnes of interesting sounds and effects with the ability to create and save your own right onto the layout buttons. After demoing this to the rest of the band it sparked a round of "unreeaaalllllsss" and "this makes me physically attracted to you". After the usual laughter we then got to the music and wrote a 1 minute 30 second hardcore breakdown with synth intro and overlay and i gotta say that it sounded incredible. i will be posting a demo video of this amazing little device

That's all for now,

Noah

My contribution

Some might ask what exactly i know about hardcore music and the like and i fully understand the skepticism. I'm part of a 6 piece hardcore group called Hilcrest. (http://www.myspace.com/hilcrest)

I play keys and do clean vocals as well as the sound FX on my computer. Our sound is metalcore with a bit of hardstyle thrown in there. If you want to hear some of it check out the myspace for contact info and free streaming MP3's. We are in the midst of recording an EP or something, idfk haha.

That's all for now,

Noah

Thursday's playlist

Today as I was walking to work i felt a certain craving for music that i rarely experience. I felt the need to listen to music that can barely be described as music at all. I'm talking that kind of music that barely makes sense with dissonant chords and heavy heavy break downs. After sifting through the usual stuff i went on a hunt through my iPod to find these songs and this is what I've come up with.

The first band i'd like to talk about is The Irish Front. (http://www.myspace.com/theirishfront).

The Irish Front are a 5 piece metal core/experimental band from Avondale, Arizona. Their style is full of insane drums and unbelievably destroyed guitar riffs. When listening to The Irish Front you can't help but be surprised when through all this noise a sudden hit of free-form jazz breaks out. The clearest representation of this is in the song Monsterbation.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr-hJeYnV3g)

(p.s. ignore the annotations.)

This is my favorite song by them because it combines the 2 genres almost seamlessly.

The second band i'd like to talk about is The Devil Wears Prada.

(http://www.tdwpband.com/)

Now I know that The Devil Wears Prada dont really have the same sound as the Irish Front but they can implement some of the strangest riffs and the heaviest breakdowns to date. In 'Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmZ1IyKOXE0) it seams to be an unbelievably clean transition from the opening chords the the all around falling apart of the song. Through dissonant chords and pinch harmonics and absolutely insane drum fills comes a song that you want to listen to over and over again. This is why The Devil Wears Prada are one of my favorite bands because they can make a song fall apart in the eyes of standard key signatures and tempo yet keep it entertaining and addictive to listen too. Another key example of this from the Devil Wears Prada is in the song 'Rosemary Had An Accident'. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--6gWwJxfpo) After a perfectly executed song they chose to end the song in the heaviest and strangest way possible with no tempo at all and barely any audible notes they still manage to keep it all together and for that, I thank you.

The third and final band i would like to talk about is The Fall Of Troy.

(http://thefalloftroy.com/)

The fall of troy are an experimental trio and for the life of me i cannot understand how they make the nose they do with only 3 people. Their guitar player/lead vocalist Thomas Erak has his work cut out for him as he is one of the most creative guitarists alive. His riffs are strange yet very powerful. They contain plenty of jumps from low to high notes with dissonant chords out the AV jack. In the song 'sledgehammer' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdaB3_1qscU) they (like The Devil Wears Prada) chose to absolutely destroy the ending of the song which becomes one of the heaviest and lowest breakdowns I've ever heard with small noise breaks in between the breakdowns. This is one of my all time favorite songs just because it sounds like you're listening to 3 or 4 songs at the same time. The second song like this is 'Ex-Creations'. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esw42RpchPI) This song combines the clean guitar playing with plenty of time changes and rough noises from the guitar as any other fall of troy song but with a breakdown so brutal it would make the devil beg for mercy. With absolute precision in the notes and the incredible dexterity in the drummer to deal with all the time changes it makes it some of the best music I've ever heard.

I NEED A SIGN OFF!!!!! D:

Noah

Introduction

Hi fellow bloggers,

My name is Noah Van Nest and i am addicted to music. What kind of music you might ask? Not the mainstream stuff but the kind of music that makes you reflect on past times, the music that creates felling and sparks emotion from note to note. For me this music isn't classical, jazz, blues, or any of that emo crap. For me it's the vast genre of Hardcore.

My point is exactly this. You could be into classical, or jazz, or even that emo crap and fell the same way i do about hardcore music. Bands like The Devil Wears Prada (http://www.tdwpband.com/) and Every Time I Die (http://everytimeidie.net/) have the same effect on me and my thoughts and feelings as Johan Sebastian Bach might have on yours. The point is that music is the drive in my life and it doesn't matter what kind we each individually listen to, just as long as it makes us feel.

I bring up this point because growing up my parents harbored my taste in music. They made sure i wasn't listening to the same old talentless shit that every one else did. My dad being an 80's kid ran away from mainstream pop acts because like me, it scares the shit out of me. How putting on a bit of makeup and learn how to use auto-tune makes you famous is beyond me. It also makes me wonder why I haven't done it?

There are only 2 real answers to that question. 1. I don't want to look like KISS, and 2. I have talent. What I don't understand is why Brittany Spears can sing into a computer like a Donkey and have (in someone's eyes) beautiful music come out the other end. It's frustrating for struggling musicians like my self to create music that takes talent whilst Miss Spears makes millions after shaving her head and checking in and out of re-hab. I saw her performance after those events at the MTV awards and let me say... sub-par Miss Spears... sub-par.

That's my rant for this blog, but it's not quite done yet.

The main focus of this blog is to talk about the music. I want you to share music with me, i'll do album reviews, post links, and find out about the new hardcore music scene. Tell me stories and ask me questions, i'll answer them in the most suiting and sarcastic way possible!

I need an interesting sign off..... -.-

Noah Van Nest