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anticipation · 07-25-2009, 04:04 PM

thanks for your support fellas, holler if you'd like anything up'd.

L'antietam - Family

Track listing:

Intro
AM:JM
00:05
Brick Halls
00:43
Boxes
Dear Good Man
01:04
Two Birds
Outro (A Safe One)
We Saw The Umbrella Man
We Turned Off Harbor Lights
We Drank To The Top Of Our Lungs
We Built Our Heavens
Adrenaline Baby
Eldiso
Holy Family Fuck
Plastic
Paper
Bah Bah Bah Patriots
Everyone Loves Raymond (Not The Town In NH)
The Johnny Appleseed Trail
None Of This Is No Longer Worth My Time
Joe's Dad Looks Like Michael Moore
Thanks For The Gift But It's Completely Useless For My Situation
I Sat For Days And Came With This
It's Hard To Listen To A Word You're Saying When You're Spitting In My Face

The first of few screamo/hardcore albums to appear on this list, L'antietam's "Family" might be the greatest hardcore record to come out of the Northeast since Tiny Hawks were still making music. Put simply, while many contemporary hardcore bands are making a mockery of the genre by branching out into more post-rock instrumentation and experimental musical tangents, L'antietam's goal has remained the same since day one. That goal is to rip your fucking face off with the youthful enthusiasm. Listening to L'antietam is akin to eating a shit-ton of mushrooms and then proceeding to skydive without a parachute. Oh, and you're also fighting mechanical ravens that have laser beams in their mouths and talons made from the bones of small children. They are intense. I've been lucky enough to see them once when they came through Chicago on a tour two years ago, and I couldn't hear myself think for at least three days after.

"Family" embodies everything the screamo/hardcore community does right; awesome jams mixed with head-exploding live performances. Clocking in at 60 minutes of devastatingly good hardcore, "Family" is L'antietam self-actualized. They bang on all cylinders, ranging from gnar to reflective without skipping a beat. With as many songs as this album has it really doesn't make sense for me to do my typical play-by-play, so instead I'll be focusing on the overall feeling of the album mixed in with the occasional song analysis. Besides, this is a band that needs to be heard firsthand in order to be properly dissected.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? "Intro" sets the mood for the entire album with its light and dark elements, by which I mean heavy distortion and cleaner reverb. Immediately following "Intro" is "AM:JM", and then our journey into the abyss begins. Screaming and rapid shredage make their first appearance. The only lyrics audible for ears unaccustomed to screaming are "I REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO FEEL!", but I've always loved not knowing what the members are saying. Sometimes it's more about style than substance. One thing that L'antietam does extremely well is blend screaming with their music in a way that even the staunchest anti-hardcore listener can enjoy. The album rolls along with "Brick Halls" and "00:43", both raucous tracks that bring the noise. Next up is "Boxes", a far more reflective track that devolves into melodic jams at around the halfway point.

One of my favorite L'antietam jams ever is "Two Birds", a song that departs from the album's overall mood. I see "Two Birds" as a turning point in the album, as if the band's disorganized brand of chaos shifts from careless to brutal. Indeed, all of the songs beginning with "We" are in-your-face and exciting. "Bah Bah Bah Patriots" is a typical L'antietam jam, combining elements of skate punk and Bells On Trike style indie-emo to produce something completely different. Everything after "Everyone Loves Raymond (Not The Town In NH) is foreshadowing. The next release by L'antietam would be "Heady Chugs and Heavy Nugs Split With Kidcrash", a two-song effort that is barebones hardcore riffage with minimal bullshit. Let's just say it goes to 11, and the last 1/3 of "Family" is a foreword to those sweet licks.

At times, L'antietam's critics have said that the majority of their music sounds the same. Ever since "We Like It When The Red Water Comes Out", their first effort, the band has been slowly maturing and becoming more deliberate in their approach. I'd describe them now as a hi-fi version of Daniel Striped Tiger, but the duality of "Paper" and "Plastic" showcase their ability to craft ingenious tunes worthy of high praise. L'antietam is not like Neil Perry, they are certainly not like Capsule, and they are nowhere near Dawn Treader in terms of the music they make. But they don't have to be, they've spent their lives carving out a niche for themselves in the genre that many seem to love. They've even started influencing imitation bands. To this day, they are still creating a diverse array of music that satiates all my tastes. This year they are slated to release three new records: a split with Loma Prieta, an ep entitled "Dark Brew", and a full-length due in fall. I couldn't be more excited.

07-25-2009, 04:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
anticipation Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 3,565	thanks for your support fellas, holler if you'd like anything up'd. L'antietam - Family Track listing: Intro AM:JM 00:05 Brick Halls 00:43 Boxes Dear Good Man 01:04 Two Birds Outro (A Safe One) We Saw The Umbrella Man We Turned Off Harbor Lights We Drank To The Top Of Our Lungs We Built Our Heavens Adrenaline Baby Eldiso Holy Family Fuck Plastic Paper Bah Bah Bah Patriots Everyone Loves Raymond (Not The Town In NH) The Johnny Appleseed Trail None Of This Is No Longer Worth My Time Joe's Dad Looks Like Michael Moore Thanks For The Gift But It's Completely Useless For My Situation I Sat For Days And Came With This It's Hard To Listen To A Word You're Saying When You're Spitting In My Face The first of few screamo/hardcore albums to appear on this list, L'antietam's "Family" might be the greatest hardcore record to come out of the Northeast since Tiny Hawks were still making music. Put simply, while many contemporary hardcore bands are making a mockery of the genre by branching out into more post-rock instrumentation and experimental musical tangents, L'antietam's goal has remained the same since day one. That goal is to rip your fucking face off with the youthful enthusiasm. Listening to L'antietam is akin to eating a shit-ton of mushrooms and then proceeding to skydive without a parachute. Oh, and you're also fighting mechanical ravens that have laser beams in their mouths and talons made from the bones of small children. They are intense. I've been lucky enough to see them once when they came through Chicago on a tour two years ago, and I couldn't hear myself think for at least three days after. "Family" embodies everything the screamo/hardcore community does right; awesome jams mixed with head-exploding live performances. Clocking in at 60 minutes of devastatingly good hardcore, "Family" is L'antietam self-actualized. They bang on all cylinders, ranging from gnar to reflective without skipping a beat. With as many songs as this album has it really doesn't make sense for me to do my typical play-by-play, so instead I'll be focusing on the overall feeling of the album mixed in with the occasional song analysis. Besides, this is a band that needs to be heard firsthand in order to be properly dissected. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? "Intro" sets the mood for the entire album with its light and dark elements, by which I mean heavy distortion and cleaner reverb. Immediately following "Intro" is "AM:JM", and then our journey into the abyss begins. Screaming and rapid shredage make their first appearance. The only lyrics audible for ears unaccustomed to screaming are "I REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO FEEL!", but I've always loved not knowing what the members are saying. Sometimes it's more about style than substance. One thing that L'antietam does extremely well is blend screaming with their music in a way that even the staunchest anti-hardcore listener can enjoy. The album rolls along with "Brick Halls" and "00:43", both raucous tracks that bring the noise. Next up is "Boxes", a far more reflective track that devolves into melodic jams at around the halfway point. One of my favorite L'antietam jams ever is "Two Birds", a song that departs from the album's overall mood. I see "Two Birds" as a turning point in the album, as if the band's disorganized brand of chaos shifts from careless to brutal. Indeed, all of the songs beginning with "We" are in-your-face and exciting. "Bah Bah Bah Patriots" is a typical L'antietam jam, combining elements of skate punk and Bells On Trike style indie-emo to produce something completely different. Everything after "Everyone Loves Raymond (Not The Town In NH) is foreshadowing. The next release by L'antietam would be "Heady Chugs and Heavy Nugs Split With Kidcrash", a two-song effort that is barebones hardcore riffage with minimal bullshit. Let's just say it goes to 11, and the last 1/3 of "Family" is a foreword to those sweet licks. At times, L'antietam's critics have said that the majority of their music sounds the same. Ever since "We Like It When The Red Water Comes Out", their first effort, the band has been slowly maturing and becoming more deliberate in their approach. I'd describe them now as a hi-fi version of Daniel Striped Tiger, but the duality of "Paper" and "Plastic" showcase their ability to craft ingenious tunes worthy of high praise. L'antietam is not like Neil Perry, they are certainly not like Capsule, and they are nowhere near Dawn Treader in terms of the music they make. But they don't have to be, they've spent their lives carving out a niche for themselves in the genre that many seem to love. They've even started influencing imitation bands. To this day, they are still creating a diverse array of music that satiates all my tastes. This year they are slated to release three new records: a split with Loma Prieta, an ep entitled "Dark Brew", and a full-length due in fall. I couldn't be more excited.