Nov

05

Thoroughly Impressed with ToothandNail Records

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Over the last three weeks, ToothandNail records has released 3 tremendously cool albums, all of which reveal just how far ToothandNail has come.

Before the albums, however, let me reminisce :). I've been a fan of ToothandNail for a LONG time. 10 years or so ago, ToothandNail was releasing copious amounts of albums. The one problem: they didn't have the resources for good production or good recording. The result was really cool albums that sounded like crap.

Fortunately, those days are long gone. With the success of many of its roster of bands, ToothandNail has obviously been able to upgrade its recording and production talent. Most of albums coming out of ToothandNail are slick and finished, lacking any remnants of the good old days.

With that said, the albums I've been listening to are as follows:

Emery : While Broken Hearts Prevail

This is really more of an EP, but it's got some seriously cool songs on it. Emery's sound continues to evolve as the band becomes less and less afraid to loosen the tether to their trademark screamo. It worked well for Dead Poetic (IMO), so I think it's a positive for Emery as well.

Ruth : Anorak

My first exposure to Ruth came a week ago when I was browsing ToothandNail's site looking for information about Emery. Reminiscent of bands like This Day and Age and Waking Ashland, Ruth is powerpop all the way through. Nonetheless, they bring some pretty intoxicating melodies (especially on "Nothing to Hide")--great drowning-out-the-dullness-of-work music.

Starflyer 59 : Dial M

I've listened to Starflyer 59 since they began in 1993, and I've always believed that SF's Martin is infinitely more interesting and talented than another Martin of Joy Electric fame...Anyway, Dial M is easily SF's best album to date. Smart lyrics and ridiculously interesting arrangements imbue every song with life and quell the doubts about the relevance of Starflyer to the post-90's music scene.

Seriously, do not waste any more time. Go find these three albums right now. Throw away everything else you have and listen to nothing else for 3 weeks. You will not regret it.

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/*/ About Me

Welcome to my blog. I am often asked what "Exist/Dissolve" means. Well, that is certainly a good question, and I am currently in the process of discovering the answer myself. Prima facie, it strikes me as encapsulating the existensial crisis that is our lives as finite, contingent beings. For a brief moment, we exist, and the next we dissolve into the nothingness of non-existence. From a theological perspective, it is, for me, a sort of ad hoc apologetic for resurrection - i.e., if to exist/dissolve is the human dilemma, there is nothing inherent to the person that guarantees existence, either now or "after" death. Therefore, resurrection is at the same time both the height of absurdity (for it is a notion entirely alien to the paradigm of existence to which we are naturally enculturated) and the only hope for the human to persevere beyond the pale of death.