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[joshua-egan-bassist]

An Exercise In Patience - Knope

This is a short yet memorable mid-west emo Ep. The instrumentation can be frantic with moving lyrics. Track one called 'broken couch' begins at a breakneck pace. Guitars have a bright tone to them and frequently play melodic phrases that accompany each section of the song. Lyrically this seems to be about a negative relationship and the lyricist coming to terms with it. The emotional tone is expressed greatly in the vocal delivery. An almost frustrated, harsh tone is sung through out, like the vocalist is really pushing their voice to the limit. The reoccurring theme of relationships is present on every track with different emotional outputs.

This Ep is a frantic yet extremely moving. This can be found in the dynamic changes of every song featured and the plenty of melodic parts that add colour to this EP. The track Shimmer begins with soft calm intro that builds in instrumentation. There's a dramatic shift in the second half serves as a release from the tension built up in the beginning.

The band masterfully mixes loud and soft sections together. During bigger, louder sections every element of the instrumentation can be heard clearly, even in its most musically dense moments.

[joshua-egan-bassist]

Single release. Process of how it was made.

My current band is called Station Requiem. We are progressive hard rock/metal band from Sydney Australia. I took to the task of recording the song Icarus Ascending. This process taught me how to record with the limitations of my set up.

Icarus Ascending is a 6 minute song that shifts into multiple odd time signatures such as 7/8 and 15/8. I had guitarist/singer Kris track both guitar parts via the program logic. The aim of this project was to record to a click track. This meant that recording had to be done in sections because of the alternating click.

When Kris finished his recordings, It was my turn to record the bass sections. For this process I purchased a Focusrite Audio interface. This device allows me to record directly from my bass to my computer. Recording on my Computer was lacking. The set up of the computer didn't allow for low latency in recording. This meant that my playing was off by a few milliseconds.

After messing around with possible solutions, I chose to use midi bass for this project as my current setup didn't aloud to accurate recording.

Overall, I'm happy with the finish production. I've learnt a lot about recording techniques and production tips. I hope to continue hone this craft and produce more self published music.

[joshua-egan-bassist]

Coming Down by Jail Socks

Jail socks is an American emo band specializing in hard-hitting riffs and noodly guitar licks. I was first turned on to the band through the song Poplar Avenue. Their 2019 release “It’s not forever” caught my ear after hearing the track Poplar Avenue. A song that instantly gave me a rush of energy in the beginning that slowly mellowed out through its duration. The guitar work of Aidan Yoh Is amazing. Instantly catchy licks and instrumental prowess. This Ep demonstrating the band's ability to play fast but convey weary lyrics is a quality I absolutely adore.

Coming Down is their first full-length album. The singles leading up to the release had me excited. Sick Weather is reminiscent of Poplar Avenue but has a different musical flavour. A perfect blend of catchy instrumentation and powerful, clean vocals on the border of becoming harsh at points.

Lyrically the band keeps the downhearted themes of feeling lost and unsure what to do in life, past relationships, and remorseful mistakes. This couldn’t be more evident in the song ‘on the run’. A chorus about the 9-5 work schedule and feeling stuck in comparison to the people around you.

‘Pale Blue Light’ is a slow balladesque jam that sees vocalist Aidan Yoh singing with little accompaniment by the rest of the band. This changes for the second half which sees the bass and drums playing a larger part. Similarly ‘More than this’ is a solo guitar piece with light flairs of bass and piano. These two tracks are a standout that functions as a change of pace between the faster, louder moments in the album.

‘No ground’ is reminiscent of the late 2000s, early 2010’s era of emo. ‘Losing everything’ has a catchy verse with a bouncy bassline with a nice layer of vocal harmonies. Production-wise this is a solid album. It’s easy to pick out the layers of instrumentation.

Overall this album greatly satisfies my unhealthy want for angsty music and I love every track on the album.

[joshua-egan-bassist]

Short Fictions are a 6 piece Emo band from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. I first heard the them through groups such as Chon and TTNG. This led me down a Math rock/Emo rabbit hole. Their first album, 2019's 'Fates Worse than Death' is a masterpiece of the emo genre. A combination of heavy and light songwriting that is deeply moving to me.

The album begins with Fates Worse Than Death, Part I. Initially what seems like a slow, plodding track picks up intensity leads to into Part II. Vocals are a mixture of clean and harsh and greatly fit into the instrumentation.

At points the straight forward song structure can take a turn for the weird and complex. Cities under water contains a catchy verse that leads in to a pseudo black metal section. Blast beat drums and speedy guitars are upfront in this section. Then later around 2 minutes it switches to a math rock style. The unusually song structure keeps me invested in the music.

A mixture of production and song structure creates a unique sound scape that's extremely moving and captivating. An example of this would be the track 'I'm proud to know you, You are special.' A slow jam that crescendos over 2 minutes. As an interlude the track serves as a great break from the heavier moments of this album. One guitar plays a series of clean arpeggiated notes while a keyboard plays long held notes. In the foreground are distant audio clips from a couple movies. Over the duration of the track more instruments are added until the whole band comes in. This subtle approach to their song writing creates an infectious mood of melancholy, a feeling I find cathartic and a great release. My favorite tracks are 'Nothingness Lies Coiled at the heart of being' and 'Living in places like these can be bad for your health.'

[joshua-egan-bassist]

Album of the week #1

Supporting Caste by Propagandhi My taste in music is more or less centered around the metal. A band such as Propagandhi wouldn’t have come to my attention if it wasn’t for the podcast ‘Scream Therapy’. Host Jason Schreurs gives a well-done recount of his experiences with the album. His enthusiasm is evident and led me to give the album a listen for myself. Immediately I was hooked by the opening riff of Night Letters. This opening section leads into a franticly chaotic verse that is hard to take your attention away from. Upon my first listen I found myself drawn to the rapidly changing sections. Tertium Non-Datur effortlessly shifts between fast and comparatively slow riffs. Lyrically this album is dense with political statements. The theme of veganism is very prominent throughout this album, Potemkin City Limits and Humane Meat directly comes to mind. These lyrical themes lead me to listen to further interviews with the guitarist/vocalist, Chris Hannah. Propagandhi is most commonly labeled as a punk band with their first few releases pertaining to that style. This album in particular sounds like a mixture of hard rock and punk with some really heavy moments. Supporting Caste by Propagandhi is a fast-paced experience of an album that goes by in an instant.  I can say that they’ve ignited a want to hear more politically charged music.

https://propagandhi.bandcamp.com/album/supporting-caste