Podcast: Hella Mega Tour and the Return of Live Music

August 23, 2021 by Leave a Comment

HellaMegatour

Have you heard? Live music is happening at a venue near you! Our very own Kyle Schultz recently found himself at such an event, and it was a big one. Kyle joins Kiel Hauck to talk about his experience at the recent Chicago stop of the Hella Mega Tour. Kyle shares the general vibe and experience of attending a concert again and gives his full breakdown of the mammoth-sized tour, including standout songs and performances. Who brought the house down the most: Weezer, Fall Out Boy, or Green Day? Take a listen and find out!

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Posted by Kiel Hauck

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Review: Weezer – OK Human

February 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment

To be a modern Weezer fan is to approach each new release with a sense of skepticism. Having made their mark in rock early on, the band has spent the last decade or so really trying something new with each album. While some incredible success has come from this, there have also been some massive misses. OK Human, the band’s surprise release is a resounding success. The album fundamentally alters the core Weezer sound while retaining their signature mark, analyzes the feeling of passing your prime and still manages to feel fun and goofy. OK Human verges on being the landmark Weezer album none of us knew we wanted.

You can buy or stream OK Human on Apple Music.

OK Human is an indie album in all regards, ditching anything close to the guitar sound associated with Weezer in favor of a full orchestra. It’s odd then that the album’s sound seems to rest comfortably somewhere between Pinkerton’s confessional style of songwriting and The Red Album’s escapism.

The fact that it took the band this long to release a stripped back album seems detrimental in retrospect. Drummer Patrick Wilson stands out more than anyone else, as his relaxed percussion takes center stage without the distraction of guitars (“Numbers”). Meanwhile, Brian Bell’s keyboards and Scott Shriner’s bass sound completely new in the context of being part of an orchestra (“Dead Roses”). For his part, singer and primary songwriter Rivers Cuomo sounds at home against the gentler sound. Although he never truly pushes his voice, he finds gracious melodies that fit the softer tone of these songs (“Bird With a Broken Wing”).

For its part, the orchestral backing does a shockingly adept job of performing a pop melody for the bigger, Weezer-esque songs (“All My Favorite Songs”) and an appropriate tension for darker, more thematic tracks (“Dead Roses”). For being one of the more distinctive steps outside of Weezer’s comfort zone, the orchestra does an amazing job of finding the perfect balance between a new sound and the brisk balance of pop tracks.

At its best, OK Human is a study of finding one’s place in an ever evolving world that only sees the value of your past accomplishments. The most straightforward song on this topic is “Bird With a Broken Wing” as Rivers sings “Long ago, I was flying in the air / Looking at the sea below / I was hunting to kill”, before lamenting, “I’m just a bird with a broken wing / And this beautiful song to sing / Don’t feel sad for me, I’m right where I wanna be”.

While other songs tackle the same issue, such as “La Brea Tar Pits” (“Cause I’m sinking in the La Brea Tar Pits / And I don’t want to die cause there’s still so much to give”), others examine it in indirect ways. “Screens” looks at a world lacking human contact as Cuomo sings “Now the real world is dying / As everybody moves into the cloud. / Can you tell me where we’re going?”

OK Human also sees some of the best lyricism Cuomo has written in quite some time. “Dead Roses” traces the sorrow of what an imagined relationship verses what it actually is in brutal, haunting poetry (“Lamplight falls, and casts a laughing phantom / I imagine your smile and the life that we could share / But with the last of my steps, I see the truth lying there”).

Another recurring theme, the struggle to adjust to an ever increasing world reliant on technology appears early on, with much more straightforward prose. “Numbers” tackles the depression of social media and the obsession with being seen (“Look at him, look at her, they’ve got a million likes / … / Numbers are out to get you”).

Where OK Human falters is when Cuomo seems to almost stop trying to find the perfect allegory to what he wants to say, and instead just blurts out whatever is in front of him at the time, including several tech services that may ultimately date the album to an extremely specific period in time. “Playing My Piano”, a catchy song about losing himself in music, is hampered by extremely stagnant lyricism (“My wife is upstairs, my kids are upstairs / … / I should get back to these Zoom interviews, but I get so absorbed and time flies”).

“Grapes of Wrath”, an ingenious song idea about relaxing while listening to audiobooks, stumbles in the chorus as it sounds like an advertisement more than a heartfelt ode (“I’m gonna rock my Audible / Headphones, Grapes of Wrath, drift off to oblivion”).

Slightly more focused, OK Human could have been the next legendary Weezer album. That said, it’s still an incredible work of art that mostly succeeds at its experimentation. In terms of Weezer’s discography, it sounds distinct and vibrant, and oddly seems to stand amongst the louder of the band’s legendary catalog. If nothing else, it proves that Weezer still have so much left so say.

4/5

by Kyle Schultz

kyle_catKyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and accidentally drank from a water glass he remembered he saw his cat drink from 20 minutes beforehand as he gulped it down. He drank cat water. He is now know as, “Cat Mouth.”

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Podcast: Our Most Anticipated Music of 2021

January 27, 2021 by Leave a Comment

In many ways, it’s harder than ever before to know what to expect from the world of music in 2021. Did our favorite artists use quarantine downtime to create? Will there be live shows? Who knows! But we’re here to speculate.

Kiel Hauck is joined by Nadia Alves and Kyle Schultz to discuss the music they’d most like to hear in the new year, including new albums from the likes of Weezer, Kendrick Lamar, Julien Baker, AFI, Travis Scott, Lorde and more. They also discuss the difficult nuances around creativity in the midst of depression and why many artists may need more time to bounce back. And finally – what are the chances that we’ll be able to safely attend a live music even in 2021? Take a listen!

Like our podcast? Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts and be sure to leave a review.

Posted by Kiel Hauck

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Most Anticipated of 2021: Weezer Become Kings of Rock

January 12, 2021 by Leave a Comment

It can be tough being a Weezer fan sometimes. While they have some of the best rock albums of all time, there is a considerable amount that are not as good (looking at you, Black Album). However, the imminent release of Van Weezer and the rescheduled Hell Mega Tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy seems like a ripe time for the return of the glory days of Weezer’s guitar-heavy rock music.

Despite the clear inspiration of Van Halen on their sleeves, the singles released from Van Weezer offer a haunting return to the glorious “rock god” status of past albums. Lead single “The End of the Game” somehow uses a Van Halen-esque opening guitar riff to call back to the sound of past Weezer albums like The Green Album and Maladroit. 

If the rest of the album can maintain the energy and writing of the singles released so far, Van Weezer may be the best album the band has released in years. Weezer take a lot of big swings in their career, and while not all of them land, it’s always worth seeing what they’re doing. When one of their swings is purely to rile their fanbase into a moshing frenzy, it’s a moment that demands that fans remember just how high Weezer tower over the genre.

by Kyle Schultz

kyle_catKyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and is staring deep into the eyes of a pinecone owl.

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Most Anticipated Music of 2020: The Interrupters Become the Title Holder

January 23, 2020 by Leave a Comment

The Interrupters have slowly become the most famous band no one has heard of. Early in 2019, I discovered their album Fight The Good Fight (2018), after it had been out for almost a full year. Not only did this album set off a four-month spree of listening to nearly nonstop ska music, I also found out that I was the last person to discover them. Friends who don’t even listen to music were fans, teaching their children to sing along to songs like “Title Holder” and “She’s Kerosene”.

In the two years since the release of their third album, The Interrupters have made a brazen name for themselves. Their brand of music is reminiscent of the golden age of ska punk from the early 90’s, especially with the backing and blessing of Rancid’s Tim Armstrong.

In 2020, The Interrupters are opening for Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer on The Hella Mega Tour. As the flag bearers of a modern take on classic punk music, The Interrupters are in a prime spot to capture the attention of the last few people who have yet to fall in love with them. If their next album captures even half of the magic of Fight The Good Fight, The Interrupters will have released two of the best rock albums in recent memory.

by Kyle Schultz

kyle_catKyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and somehow got chocolate….. just… EVERYWHERE. Who gets chocolate on a TV screen?! He wasn’t even near it! Did it teleport there or did he blackout during an onset of of “brownie madness” and try to pet Tina Belcher’s cheek?! The world is weird.

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Review: Weezer – Pacific Daydream

November 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment

My first experience with Weezer came while playing Guitar Hero with a friend and watching them play “Say It Ain’t So”. As ridiculous as that sounds, their self-titled album remains my favorite release of theirs and I always turn up the volume when “The Sweater Song” comes through my headphones.

You can buy Pacific Daydream on iTunes.

My experience in this regard isn’t necessarily exclusive. Weezer has always been a great choice for a party playlist. This was true at the beginning of their hip, college kid demographic of yesteryear into the irony-driven college kid demographic of today. The lyrics in their latest venture, Pacific Daydream, are approachable and not too deep, but not worthless, either. As their career continues to unfold, Weezer seem to dwell in the past, always holding onto youth and fun, while avoiding feeling dated

Pacific Daydream was released on October 27, which is strange, because it would’ve landed best, without a doubt, as a summer album. That doesn’t take away from the quality of the album at all. I think it’s got their finest production and tightest sound, and, noticeably, their most enjoyable lyricism.

It’s no secret that times are tough. Shootings and natural disasters and all manner of terrible things tend to plague our day-to-day lives. Still, people are using music as an escape. I think Weezer’s Pacific Daydream provides that escape perfectly. Songs about relationships and day trips and simpler times are what we turn to when the news gets exhausting and depressing.

I know I’m more apt to turn on something upbeat when the world around me is at a low point. I think that the past holds a certain security, because we know what’s happened and how everything turned out, whether the outcome was positive or negative. Weezer seems to have tapped into that idea with the song “Beach Boys”, where Rivers Cuomo sings about how old, familiar music is sometimes the best choice.

Something I noticed from track to track is the similarity between certain older songs and the songs on this album. The references are simple and may not even have been done on purpose. “Weekend Girl” reminded me of The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” with the reference to meeting said-girl on Sunday and thinking about her on Monday and then through the remainder of “the weekday traffic”.

Similarly, “Sweet Mary” lyrically reminded me of The Beatles’ “Let It Be”. Right from the get-go, we have the lines, “When I am all on my own / One foot in the grave / My Sweet Mary comes / To help me find my way”. The most overt mentions of classic music are obviously the aforementioned track, “Beach Boys” and the lyric in the final track, “Any Friend of Diane’s”, which talks about a girl wearing a shirt featuring The Smiths.

On a broader level, Pacific Daydream seems to be the second in an unofficial series of albums featuring heavy mention of California. This album is their second to be released with Crush Management, so it’s possible that there was a push there for some thematic continuity. Whatever the case, it gives a perspective on where the members draw their influence, at least from a geographical standpoint.

I don’t really like choosing best or worst tracks. Instead, I prefer to take the album as a whole, trusting the artist’s final judgment on the pieces of their art they believe to be good enough to release publicly. Even without that personal guideline, I had difficult time with giving these 10 songs a definitive rating. The album is tightly knit and well put together and each song fits well where it was placed. Put plainly, Pacific Daydream is a perfect pop album, joining the ranks of some of the year’s best.

What I’m trying to get at here is that Weezer is the ultimate nostalgia band. With a new album hinted at for 2018, Weezer has made it clear that they aren’t keen on stopping. Over their 11 albums, they’ve remained consistently tied to the idea of never-ending youth, and they’ve invited us to revel in summer all year ‘round.

4.5/5

by Nadia Paiva

kiel_hauckNadia Paiva has been a music enthusiast since she can remember. Going to shows is her main pastime. The other is being upset when she can’t go to shows. This is her first official venture into writing about music. You can follow her on Twitter.

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Review: Jeff Rosenstock – We Cool?

February 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment

 

jeff-rosenstock

Up until yesterday, I hadn’t heard of Jeff Rosenstock or any of his various projects, as heretical to the punk scene as that may be. For someone who has been a part of the scene for 20 years, he’d somehow completely escaped me the entire time despite dipping my toes in literally every band I’ve come across in the same amount of time.

His second solo LP, We Cool?, was a random album I decided to listen to yesterday, and since then, I have listened to just about everything else he has put out. We Cool? is a lesson in punk rock from someone who has watched the genre evolve from the brutal grunge of the 90’s to the melodic pop noise of today. It really says something about an artist’s talent when in less than a day, they’ve made themselves as important as Lagwagon’s Joey Cape to me.

We Cool? is a trip through the last twenty years of punk and pop punk. Each song feels instantly familiar in some way, shape or form: a guitar solo in “You, In Weird Cities” and the opening to “Novelty Sweater” would make Weezer envious. Ben Folds Five piano rock oozes out of “Nausea” before breaking out in a sweet horn section out of a slower Less Than Jake song. The songs aren’t rip offs of these bands, but Rosenstock wears his influences on his sleeve proudly.

The result is an album that goes above the label of “punk rock” and instead offers the best of what the genre can deliver in any form. Rosenstock provided most of the work on the instruments (at least what I can tell from the album’s site), and each instrument shines through when needed and allows the album to stay fresh as it tours from one style to the next. Chiptune melodies appear suddenly in some songs (“Polar Bear or Africa”), but feel essential at once, especially when paired with the bass lines and guitar.

The real star here is the guitar work. The crunch of the chords feels classical and aggressive, while the solos slide with such stylish pop that most modern bands seem almost childish in comparison. The way that songs transition from soft pop with country influences (“Beers Again Alone”) to unapologetic hard punk (“Hey Allison!”) ensures that at the end of each song, you’re transfixed on what the next one will be.

Rosenstock’s vocals strike me in weird ways. He obviously pushes himself from sweet croons to straining his voice to be purposely out of tune amidst snarling melodic shouting. He sounds authentic and unwilling to artificially tune his voice.

The record sounds mature. This is a man who has outgrown the troubled love life of younger bands and is finding life as an adult even more troubling then most punk bands have ever explored. Don’t get me wrong, these are definitely drinking songs and the standard fare of drug use and subtle emo garnishes are aplenty, but it goes so much deeper. “Polar Bears or Africa” actually tackles most young punk bands head on with a single lyric of, “The truth is it sucks being young and in love / When you’re old you’re just bummed that you’ll never be happy enough”.

The first line of the album on the aptly titled “Get Old Forever”, Rosenstock regrettably sings in a monotonous tone reminiscent of The Mountain Goats, “When your friends are buying starter homes / With their accomplishments / Drinking at a house show can feel childish and embarrassing / With people glaring / Because despite what the advertisements said / Malt liquor doesn’t make you young”.

The theme of maturity gone wrong is what carries the album. The rock scene is something beyond the ‘norm’ for most punk teens turned adults, and Rosenstock’s lyrics reflect it brutally honestly. During “You, In Weird Cities”, Jeff sings, “I don’t have to wake up, I don’t have to feed a kid / And it’s got to the point where I’m not sure if that’s something I wanted”.

For me, Jeff Rosenstock is a new obsession, for others this solo album is a another high standard. Perhaps the only downside to We Cool? is that all the genre progressions can make it feel disjointed at times, and perhaps a bit too long. But the few downsides are so outweighed by such sincere and intricate songwriting it doesn’t even matter. For anyone who hasn’t heard of Jeff Rosenstock, We Cool? is the jump off needed to showcase his talent on every level. For those of you who already know about him, keep doing what you do; you’re obviously better than the rest of us.

Please check out the Quote Unquote Record label and show some support or check out Sideone Dummy for the album’s release. It’s well worth your time.

4.5/5

by Kyle Schultz

kyle_catKyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and somehow completely missed Jeff Rosenstock for last fifteen years. Boooo. Boo Kyle, booooo.

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It’s All Dead Podcast Episode: 010 – The Best Music of 2014

December 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment

IAD_Podcast_Image

If you couldn’t find good music to listen to in 2014, you weren’t listening hard enough. On this episode of the official It’s All Dead Podcast, Kiel Hauck and Kyle Schultz break down the best albums, songs, tours and moments of 2014 and discuss the year in music. The conversation includes reflections on music from Architects, Anberlin, Yellowcard, Weezer, Taylor Swift and much more. Listen in!

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/itsalldead/IAD_Podcast_010_mixdown.mp3|titles=It’s All Dead podcast episode: 010]

Subscribe to our podcast here.

Posted by Kiel Hauck

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Top 10 Albums of 2014

December 8, 2014 by 1 Comment

best_of_2014

Look, we don’t like this any more than you do. These end-of-the-year lists are tedious, obnoxious, self-indulgent…

Aw, who are we kidding – we love it! Even though it’s technically impossible to subjectively rank this year’s best albums, we took our best stab at it. This year was chock full of fantastic releases, many of which won’t be mentioned here because there simply isn’t enough room (or time) to spotlight all of them.

Nevertheless, senior editor Kyle Schultz and I put our heads together and came up with 10 worthy suitors to be a part of our second-annual Top 10 Albums of the Year list. Take a gander, then let us know what your favorite records of the year were in the replies!

every_time_i_die10Every Time I Die – From Parts Unknown

From Keith Buckley’s repeated opening shrieks of, “Blow your fucking brains out!” on “The Great Secret” to his final desperate cries of, “All I want is for everyone to go to hell / It’s the last place I was seen before I lost myself” during the final crushing breakdown on “Idiot”, From Parts Unknown is unforgiving and unrelenting. Who knew a band 16 years into its career could craft what may be their most punishing and challenging album? With From Parts Unknown, Every Time I Die don’t just want to carve their name into the stone temple of metalcore lore, they want to burn the whole damn thing to the ground. – Kiel Hauck

fireworks9Fireworks – Oh, Common Life

Oh, Common Life is the type of album that reminds you of an intimate conversation with a close friend. Fireworks’ distinct pop punk style is softened to allow for more melody while vocalist David Mackinder sings a hypnotic tale of maturation that comes with the bigger life changes during your twenties and the isolation that the world can impose on you.  While it starts off very poppy, the album slowly branches and touches on styles of playing that Fireworks have never tackled before as the lyrics grow more somber and accepting of life (“The Hotbed of Life”). It’s hard to say that Oh, Common Life was what fans of the band were expecting, but it’s what they deserved. – Kyle Schultz

copeland8Copeland – Ixora

Parting was sweet sorrow for fans of indie rock act Copeland, who closed up shop in 2010. Their surprising return is more than a mere nostalgia trip, it’s a return to rare form with their new album Ixora. The band is more playful than ever, sending listeners into a dream-like trance throughout the album’s 10 tracks that include haunting electronics, prancing pianos, and even a saxophone solo. Frontman Aaron Marsh is still on top of his game, adding to his vocal repertoire during the silky-smooth chorus of “Like a Lie”. From front to back, Ixora finds Copeland better than ever – here’s hoping there’s more where this came from. – KH

new_found_glory7New Found Glory – Resurrection

Resurrection is the first New Found Glory album in several years to sound like a classic. The new four-piece rebuild their sound to be more succinct and brutal, mixing their signature pop with much heavier guitars and a thundering bass. Each member pushes their musicianship to their limits with lyricism and themes that are significantly angrier than past work. While the songs are undeniably catchy and easy to sing along to (“Selfless”), they can make the listener uncomfortable (“The Worst Person”), which may have been the point given how much the band went through in the last year. As a longtime listener of the band though, it’s easy to see how much passion and energy went into creating a record that would rise above the trials that hit them all at once. – KS

emarosa6Emarosa – Versus 

The loss of lead vocalist Jonny Craig appeared to spell disaster for Emarosa after the band released their stellar self-titled record in 2010. Not so fast. Emarosa roared back in 2014 with Bradley Walden at the mic, releasing the best album of the band’s career. Versus is rife with conflict, but it’s a struggle that produces something beautiful. When Walden flips the script just over a minute into opening track “People Like Me, We Just Don’t Play”, it feels like the sort of sonic shift that not only changes the course of the band’s trajectory, but one that slams the door shut on the past. – KH

weezer5Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright in the End

Say what you will about Weezer, there’s no denying that when they feel like it, they can put out a masterpiece of an album. The aptly titled Everything Will Be Alright In the End is the band’s answer to years of criticism regarding their constantly evolving sound. The new album sounds like a lovechild between Blue, Green, and Maladroit, blending the respective sounds of fuzzed guitars, catchy pop songs and thrashing rock. Rivers Cuomo tagged the album as a ‘classic’ in the press leading up to its release, and he couldn’t have been more correct. It’s the first release from the band that doesn’t necessarily break new ground for their sound, but it recaptures the magic that made the band an international mainstay. – KS

against_me4Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues

Gender confusion and transgender identity are topics that have been at the front of people’s minds this year, which makes it all the more appropriate that Transgender Dysphoria Blues arrived just a couple weeks into the New Year. Not only is it Against Me!’s best rock album, it’s one of the most daring in that it follows the story of a transgender prostitute that mimics Tom Gabel’s transformation into Laura Jane Grace. The album is a tight series of fist-pumping songs that are just as heartbreaking as they are catchy. In the opening title track, Grace sings, “Your tells are so obvious / Shoulders too broad for a girl / Helps you remember where you come from / You want them to notice the ragged ends of your summer dress / You want them to see you like they see any other girl / They just see a faggot”. The album is a powerful and ferociously angry statement about transgender issues in this country, as well as the struggle for people dealing with them. – KS

yellowcard3Yellowcard – Lift a Sail

Born from a tragic skiing accident that left vocalist/guitarist Ryan Key’s fiancé paralyzed from the waist down, Lift a Sail is a painful song of triumph. The band drops what was left of their pop punk roots and forges ahead with powerful, anthemic rock tracks and explosive piano ballads. Violinist Sean Mackin has never sounded better, adding texture and layers to the songs that don’t overpower, but instead compliment the entirety of the band’s new sound. Lift a Sail is encouraging as it is aching, as determined as it is vulnerable. Just when you thought it couldn’t be done, Yellowcard has topped themselves once again. – KH

aaron_west2Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties – We Don’t Have Each Other

Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties is more than just another side project. It’s one of the few concept albums to not only have a tangible story, but a character that garners genuine sympathy. The acoustic songs mix enough new elements to sound unique, and enough of The Wonder Years’ brash style to show the versatility of their music. Dan Campbell weaves a vibrantly real, dark and heartbreaking story that never feels cliché or forced. As Aaron cracks more and more with each song, Campbell’s vocals are pushed to their limit as he jumps from soft whispers, to screams, and then singing the words of a conversation, sounding as though he’s on the brink of tears. The range of themes and universal fears crammed into the album are absolutely awe-inspiring. It’s easily one of the most emotional pieces I’ve heard in years and is unlike most anything else out there. There is little doubt that he is on a level of lyricism his peers can only hope to achieve. – KS

architects1Architects – Lost Forever // Lost Together

How did a modern metalcore album land our number one spot for 2014? By rattling the well-worn conventions of the genre and spitting at the notion that the music is beyond redemption. Lost Forever // Lost Together is the best album Architects have crafted, surpassing even 2009’s mammoth of a record, Hollow Crown. Vocalist Sam Carter is full of fire from the outset, roaring across tracks of technical guitar riffs and skull-rattling breakdowns. The album is angry, sure, but you can hear the band searching for something more – something deeper. Lost Forever // Lost Together is a metalcore album that makes you think, challenges the scene’s apathy, and forges a new path for any heavy band that dare follow. When Carter bellows, “You said we’ll never make a difference / Maybe this battle is to fight indifference” on “Naysayer”, you feel the sentiment pouring from every fiber of his being. – KH

Honorable Mention:

PVRIS – White Noise

Merriment – Sway

I Can Make a Mess – Growing In

Anberlin – Lowborn

Taylor Swift – 1989

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Review: I Can Make a Mess – Growing In

October 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment

i-can-make-a-mess-e1412945247537

Holy shit, did that just come out of nowhere.

I Can Make a Mess has only really garnered the attention it deserves over the last few years. Originally a side project a decade ago for soft acoustic songs that wouldn’t fit in with the discography of a still young The Early November, Ace Enders’ other brainchild has evolved into something of almost equal importance to his main band.

I Can Makes a Mess really came to true fruition with 2010’s The World We Know, an inspired collective of acoustic pieces that still remains arguable the finest release of Enders’ career. The few releases since then have seen him experiment beyond acoustic songs to more pop ventures and more use of electric guitar, but never reach quite as high as The World We Know.

Growing In, yesterday’s surprise release, is one of Enders’ best albums under any of his many names. It’s the equivalent of Dashboard Confessional’s A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar; the legacy of ‘acoustic only’ is tossed aside for electric pop. Each song is remarkably and distinctly Ace Enders at his best. It sounds like he genuinely had fun recording these songs and it shows through the energetically playful  lyrics and the thrashing pop.

According to Enders’ Facebook, each song was written in 3-4 minutes sessions of whatever came to his head first in regards to the music and lyrics. You can hear the voice memo from his phone of the initial recordings spread throughout the tracks.

The most surprising aspect is that some of the songs weren’t saved as inclusion for The Early November’s next release or as a continuation of Ace Enders and a Million Different People, as ICMAM usually doesn’t jump this far into the ‘indie pop punk’ pool. The lightheartedness of the music mixed with the playful and deeper lyrics though maintain the energy that ICMAM was originally built for. The guitars chug along crisply, faintly reminiscent of Weezer’s Blue Album and The Get Up Kids’ pop punk structure, but distinctly Enders’ own chord progression. The production that Enders is known for makes the songs sound more hand crafted than most music.

Growing In also tests Enders’ vocal chords to the limits. Not only does he run rampant across the scales over the course of the album, but he jumps from shouts to soft growls to nearly spoken word. The crackle of his voice adds to the effect that you can hear him testing himself. As the sixth ICMAM album, he has rarely sounded better.

Lyrically, Enders is more comfortable than ever. Topics of past ICMAM songs are still here; debt, money, love songs and overcoming the odds are still the mainstays, but are much easier to access and toy around with. “Get Normal” sees Enders crooning and shouting against backing vocals of himself over memories reflecting on how little he used to know when compared to “the height of the rising sun” as he sings, “I’ve crossed too many sun faded lines that divided my road / That’s what I believed but I don’t believe in all that / My life is crowded with the broken back roads, you don’t know”.

“I’m the Man (Sarcasm)” is an amazing grunge pop song with hints of surf rock that has Enders following a corporate shill somewhere on the verge of a midlife crisis who has never really grown up. “I never start a day without a coffee in my hand, thirty-two ounces, now tell me who’s the man,” is the opening line before eventually finding his way to the thought of “Pimping three screens like I know I’m the man / We’re staying late to get the job done, some kid got the promotion that I really wanted.. Cool.”

“Deciduous” is a magnificent pop song torn from the pages of early 2000’s emo and contains perhaps the most personal lyrics Enders has ever penned, “I really wish that money went as far as love does, cuz then I’d be on my way / I really wish that love went as far as money does, cuz then I’d be okay / I’m a thirty-something musician having a problem of never ending wishing / But I hope one day my kids think I’m cool, didn’t sell the farm to be the mule / I’m a fool with no clue paying dues after dues after dues”.

Growing In is a near perfect blend of old school emo and pop while manifesting the skills Enders has acquired over the years. It pushes the boundaries of what previous I Can Make a Mess albums were and threatens at times to become more of a sequel to Ace Enders and A Million Different People than anything else, but it’s also a testament that ICMAM is meant to be versatile and whatever Ace Enders decides it will be. It’s one of the few albums that make me proud to be a fan when I hear it. I am honestly a bit biased when it comes to Ace Enders’ music, but this is without a doubt one of the best releases of the year.

5/5

by Kyle Schultz

kyle_catKyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and once dropped a Popsicle in front of Ace Enders and didn’t know what to do. Ace watched me cover it awkwardly with my foot instead of grabbing a towel like an adult and then gain the ability to only say weird, awkward things to him whenever I’ve seen him at tours years later. I suck on every level mankind has managed to unearth.

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