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The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – “Heartbeat In the Brain”"

“Heartbeat In the Brain” is one of many tracks the good people at Topshelf Records have seen fit to release onto the Internet from the new The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die album, Whenever, If Ever, which is dropping in June and can be streamed in full here.

The Connecticut band combines elements of emo, indie, and post-rock into a heavy and life-affirming musical experience. Enjoy!

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The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – “Beverly Wyatt”

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die is a Willimantic, CT band with indie rock and emo tendencies. We’re premiering a new track of theirs right here titled “Beverly Wyatt,” which is set to be released on a new four-way split that Topshelf and Run For Cover are putting out, which will also feature new cuts from Code Orange Kids, Tigers Jaw, and Self Defense Family. Pre-order here or here.

“Beverly Watt” doesn’t reinvent the emo wheel, but it is a nicely written, multi-phased track loaded with passionate vocals and glistening guitars that make this earnest rock song a pretty cinematic experience. Enjoy!

Edit: Also, wanna say that the The World Is… will be dropping their full-length debut, Whenever, If Ever, via Topshelf on June 18th.

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Donovan Wolfington – Stop Breathing

Donovan Wolfington is a rock group from New Orleans whose music works in a lot of layers. There’s a heavy sense of angst flowing throughout a lot of the tracks, but they groups never loses sight of essentials like melody, memorable riffs, and just songwriting in general. There’s a clear indie rock element here, but their aggression and heavy guitars shows some clear punk and grunge influences as well. You could cast it off as another mishmash rock sounds from the 90s underground, but I’m finding it a bit too enjoyable to do that.

Stream this album via the widget above, or grab a copy here on Community Records. Enjoy!

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Desaparecidos – “Anonymous” / “The Left Is Right”

Stream: Desaparecidos – “Anonymous” / “The Left Is Right”

Conor Oberst’s post-hardcore band Desaparecidos made its return after a ten-year hiatus last year with the
“Backsell / MariKKKopa” single, a pair of songs that criticized the music industry and the attitude many anti-immigration activists hold, respectively. The group is now back again with another single, “Anonymous / The Left Is Right,” which can be streamed via the SoundCloud widget above.

The single continues down the lyrically passionate road of the band’s previous single, this time speaking out in support of both the Anonymous “hacktivist” group and the Occupy Movement. Certain lyrics play out as rallying cries, such as the “You can’t stop us, we are Anonymous/ Expect us, we are Anonymous!” of the A-side. The music matches the galvanizing words, with anthemic vocal melodies, soaring guitar leads, and an urgent punk energy defining both tracks. It is far from being a subtle set of songs, but respectable in its forgoing of restraint.

/via/

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TTNG (This Town Needs Guns) – 13.0.0.0.0

On This Town Needs Guns’–now officially shortened to “TTNG”–sophomore full-length, the band is premiering a new singer and a slightly smoother math rock sound.

WATCH THE REVIEW

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Stream This Pianos Become the Teeth / Touché Amoré Split

As I mentioned yesterday, Pianos Become the Teeth and Touché Amoré have a new split out, and I’m especially impressed by the Pianos side. The track they dropped on this thing, “Hiding,” has way more clarity, passion, and songwriting ability than I remember on the band’s last album. The track’s just got a strong element of balladry to it that sounds great.

Of course, the boys in Touché sound great. “Gravity, Metaphorically” plows through its four-minute run time with some blast beats, desperate slowdowns, and an attention-demanding opener.

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Shizune- Mono No Aware: Between Eternity and the Burial

Italy’s Shizune, which is a group of post-hardcore revivalists that I’ve featured on the site before, have a new EP streaming on their Bandcamp, and the band’s production sounds slightly improved. Nice! Of course, their tight playing, passionate vocals, and ferocity are maintained on what is, to my knowledge, their second release of 2012.

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Title Fight- Floral Green

On Title Fight’s latest album, there’s no doubt the band has matured with its mix of pop punk, post-hardcore, and emo as well. However, they don’t exactly have the most definitive take on these genres.

WATCH THE REVIEW

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Desaparecidos- “Backsell” (Loved)

Remember that track I posted almost a week ago about the newest track dropped by the recently reformed Conor Oberst-fronted Desaparecidos? Yeah, the “Marikkopa” single, that’s the one. Well, here is the b-side streaming above, “Backsell.”

It’s a heavy, hard-hitting jab at the music industry, featuring what seem to be samples of phone messages sent to Oberst by record execs. HILARIOUS! And of course the lyrics are clever, too. That’s an Oberst trademark, if I say so myself:

“I was scanning through the stations, every channel sounded clear.”

Good one, my son. I see what you did there.

Though the vocal delivery is fiery, the drums pound, and the guitars scream. It’s just how I like my rock music: rebellious.

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Stream the Aviator / Spirit Fangs Split EP

One of the great things about the internet is its ability to bridge gaps created by geography. Without the internet, it would pretty difficult and unlikely for two punk bands from opposite sides of the United States to come together and release a split EP, which is exactly what the Massachusetts hardcore band Aviator did with their California-based friends in Spirit Fang. The style of both of these bands is rooted in the melodic, emotive hardcore movement of the past few years, which has been spearheaded by bands like Touche Amore and La Dispute, and those influences come through particularly clearly on Aviator’s two songs. “A Thousand Monkeys” and “A Thousand Typrewriters” are similarly structured hardcore dirges, featuring lyrics about mental illness, disillusionment, and general self-directed malaise.

Lyrically speaking, Spirit Fangs’ two songs are rather similar. That said, Spirit Fangs’ side edges out Aviator’s, mostly because it’s more groove-oriented, but also because they seem to take themselves less seriously and enjoy making music more. It’s still the same kind of visceral, emotive punk, but just a little less heady and cerebral. With its multiple dynamic changes and gritty bass groove, Spirit Fangs’ “Hand Over Heart” is a particular highlight out of these four tracks.

Stream both sides of the split EP at the embedded link above, and download the whole thing over at bandcamp.