#jonmess

[gerimi]

📐 Quick Perspective = 3 sets of parallel lines!

We started with a plan to do some fan art of my buddy Jim Lujan's character John Henry Unicorn, but the chat asked a simple question about a difficult topic… PERSPECTIVE!!!

If you really want to learn perspective, go to this guy… JON MESSER https://www.jonmesserartclass.com/

I took a class in-person with him years ago and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I've learned so much from him. And he's a kind, funny, and encouraging teacher to boot!

[andybenitezillustration]

“I’m lost again  Where have my friends all gone  Been chasing stars so long that home feels like a distant memory  Guess I can turn my woes into familiar melodies” Strawberry’s wake (2020), Dance Gavin Dance.

[overr8ed]

Only posting this because I have developed a ✨MASSIVE ✨ crush on Jon Mess @jondmess and I cannot get this lyric out of my head. Also I just really felt it when he said this.

[ohitsjustjimmy]

Track Review: “Prisoner” by Dance Gavin Dance

Taking groovy cues from the last single “Bloodwolf”, the experimental post-hardcore outfit gives us a taste of their up and coming 9th full length titled “Afterburner”. The intro riff Will Swan presents is nothing short of math rock bliss, along with frontman Tilian flexing his falsetto game, which is nothing new for the band’s sound. Adding brash, yet ear catching verses from Jon Mess, quite a strong chorus and an adequately placed ending breakdown, Prisoner is an intriguing new piece of material at best, and arguably more of the same formula the band has been putting out at worst. On either hand, the band is definitely consistent with their catalogue. Afterburner is set to hit all shelves physical and digital on April 24th via Rise Records. Also, Mattias Adolfsson never ceases to amaze with his album artwork.

Check it out here

[maxg-longform]

Secret Band - LP2

A fully realised experimental side project.

Names aren't Secret Band's strong suit. After a self titled Ep and self titled Lp, 5 years later they return with the unimaginatively named Lp 2. The title is where the lack of imagination ends. An experimental side project by Dance Gavin Dance bassist Will Swan and unclean vocalist Jon Mess, both are liberated to try things well beyond the Dance Gavin Dance style.��

Jon's vocals are the first thing you notice on album opener 'Upgrades' – a definite upgrade on his work in DGD - unhinged and raw, his technique never fails to impress as he digs into his trademark cryptic lyricism. As always, his lyrics are written to fit the music, and never written until the song itself is – meaning that every line is a perfect fit to the music, but he never so much addresses points as alludes to them, moving from reference point to reference point leaving the listener to fill in the gaps. Sometimes its just nonsense to make it fit, like howling at the Moon in 'moon', or stealing gorillas in 'Black Dolphin', but sometimes, the chorus about his memories in ‘Rabbit Hole' being the prime example, it feels like he is really driving at something profound.  Will Swan's riffs continue to be some of the most ingenious in rock and this album excels there too – the pounding riffs and drums of ‘Lightning’ being my personal high point, with the opener ‘upgrades’ also being excellent in that regard.

The creative freedom means faster, more aggressive drum patterns and genre experimentation that reaches into metal rather than pop. The intro to track 6 ‘Do it again’  is heavily inspired by sounds of bands like Rings of Saturn, to name just one example. Ultimately, how well this album sits with you is very subjective. If you are looking for background music, this isn’t it – it will just blend into a noise. If you listen to this kind of music for the technical prowess and invest yourself in lyricism, you’ll find an odd but rewarding experience, with the constant topic changes of the cryptic lyrics inviting you to try and understand them, and make the links in your head. Most of these links will be completely unintended on the part of the band, but that’s the beauty of it – your experience with it will be completely different to mine based on the ways you try to make sense of it. If that’s not your thing, that’s no crime, but when a band with this much technical ability and creativity use that as a solid platform to create an album as relentlessly intriguing as this, I’d implore you to give it a go and see where it takes you. Probably a lot further than Jon Mess was intending when putting the lyrics together. But that’s the point.  I love this album and everything about it, and I hope it resonates with other listeners as well as it did with me.

9/10

Key Tracks: Rabbit Hole, Lightning, Upgrades, Black Dolphin

@CoreLineage on twitter

[das-blut]

Give me that canvas, let me paint some shit. Pass me some poison let me take a hit #dancegavindance #jonmess #tilianpearson #mattmingus #mothership #johnheckinclean #dgd https://www.instagram.com/p/BsgH56Qj1M2/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jnksj0l5wc72

[thepizzaintheback]

My favorite band in my hometown at the biggest concert! A dream come true. . . . . . #dancegavindance #dgd #tilianpearson #jonmess #willswan #rockontherange #columbus (at MAPFRE Stadium)

[cerealite]

Still upset

That i missed my chance to record Jon Mess doing the macarena back during the warped tour

[jonmessandraccoon]

Cooking sketty, you want some?

Fuck yes cook me up soma dat scat PLEASE.

[boag]

The fact that I met my boyfriend bc I saw his post in #jonmess on instagram LOLLL💖💖💖

[gerimi]

How much perspective do you need to know and when do you apply it? - Livestream replay

https://youtu.be/tgKALeqonI0

…

#perspectivedrawing #arteducation #jonmesser #kimjunggi #figuresinperspective

[ohitsjustjimmy]

Afterburner by Dance Gavin Dance

“Classic acid.”

Release Date: April 24th.

Label: Rise Records.

With 8 studio albums under their belts, a three way split fanbase because of the various singers both entering and leaving the band and having a knack for the more obscure approach to post-hardcore, where does a band like Dance Gavin Dance go with their 9th release? To say every one of their albums was a polarizing release would be an understatement, with current falsetto dominant frontman Tilian Pearson being the longest running one of the three that have graced the band with their presence. Afterburner carries on that trend ever so strongly, while managing to be yet even more obscure than anything the band has done thus far.

Now if I wanted to just end the review right here and just bluntly say that this album was a mixed bag for me I definitely could, but that’s no fun. Please allow me to explain. When the album’s opener “Prisoner” was dropped a few months back, the song took me back a little time wise. It took me back to the genre’s simpler, more straight forward roots. I’ve already explained the song in depth on my review for it so I won’t go into too much detail but my consensus was that It’s definitely a banger. With solid performances from Tilian and the band on both the verses and especially the chorus, that ending break down just ices the cake, leaving me to look forward to what the band had written for the entirety of Afterburner. “Lyrics Lie”, another single provides another straight forward affair, with some of Will’s signature tapping guitar trickery to sweeten the sound mixed with both Jon and Tilian going back and forth in a shouting match towards the end of the chorus. The only way I can describe his unclean vocals are a rough mix of Anthony Green’s shouts and a little hint of Craig Owens’ shrill mids. The album comes to an almost screeching halt when the third track “Calentamiento Global” follows, leaving me confused about why the band decided that Reggaeton and experimental Post-Hardcore mix well. Tilian’s delivery just ends up being underwelming, as well as awkward sounding. Even Jon’s obviously superior performance can’t save this easily passable track. Both tracks “Three Wishes” and “Parody Catharsis” are somewhat of a relief, but at the same time aren’t really groundbreaking material for the band in general. The band follows this decent song-bland song pattern almost entirely throughout, which is what ultimately gives me my underwhelming impression of it, even after multiple listens. Practically every song is predictable by this point, some experimental instrumental gimmick that is supposed to be interesting, Tilian singing the same self loathing context he’s used since the Acceptance Speech days, with Jon and Matt in constrast doing what they do best. This in my opinion is their recipe for the inconsistency. The light at the end of the tunnel clearly are the two best tracks on the album, “Night Sway” and “Nothing Shameful”. The tenth track is a no frills, straight up freight train of a tune, with Will’s wall of a riff mixed with Matt’s classic quick pedal work in full force, tied together by Jon’s perfectly executed screams. Tilian’s pre-chorus and chorus performance actually shines well here, with soaring vocals and possibly one of the catchiest melodies on Afterburner. Coupled with Swan’s frantic tapping and intricate riffage, all of these elements make for a compelling track that the band is truly capable of churning out when they’re not trying so hard to fix what ultimately isn’t broken. “Nothing Shameful” is another excellent example of what the group can pull of when they really try to write the way they’re best at. Just like Night Sway, the opening riff hit’s the listener with full force while the precise drum work accompanies the tasteful guitar licks in a way that only these two musicians can pull off. Tilian is nothing less than excellent here as well, providing his signature soaring falsetto in most of this stand out track. The best quality about this song though is the stellar performance by Eidola’s own Andrew Wells, closing the track out using beautifully harmonizing vocals with lyrics that gnaw at you like no other lyric on this album. “Where to now? What happened to my fucking purpose? I am just a stone sinking, broken and numb. Where to now? The way you made me, made worthless. Truth is in the end, we all end up alone.”

Even with how great these two tracks are, unfortunately they aren’t enough to save the album from being the weakest release in their catalogue. Even an album like the band’s Self-Titled, while is definitely challenging to appreciate, had some kind of charm to it’s quirkiness and somewhat lackluster songwriting on some instances. Afterburner to me just feels like the band experimented with new elements, took risks and ultimately threw their fanbase another curve ball, which is fair game and what they usually do to their success. The difference this time around though is that it feels like they did solely for the sake of experimentation alone, which weakened their songwriting abilities as a whole. Kurt is to Happiness as Tilian is to Mothership, leaving Afterburner an almost decent, yet disjointed mess of ideas that just don’t quite match the quality of the band’s consistent solid work that they have relentlessly churned out album after album up until this point.

Favorite Tracks:

1. Prisoner

10. Night Sway

12. Nothing Shameful featuring Andrew Wells of Eidola.

[capitalchaostelevision]

DANCE GAVIN DANCE Drop New Single/Video; "Synergy"

DANCE GAVIN DANCE Drop New Single/Video; "Synergy" @DGDtheband @tilianpearson @matthew_mingus @timfeerick @therealwillswan @jonmess #Swanfest

Chart topping, Sacramento sextet, Dance Gavin Dance have dropped their first new music in almost 2 years today, with the release of brand new single, “Synergy” featuring guest vocals from Rob Damiani of Don Broco. The track comes accompanied by an official music video and is the first to feature fan favourite guitarist, Andrew Wells, as an official, full-time member of the band. (more…)

[ravenjpeg]

YOUR IN MY HEAD RUNNING LAPS AROUND THE TIMES YOU SAID YOU'D NEVER LEAVE BUT GRAVITY GOES DOWN AND SO ILL STAY DOWN FOR THE COUNT MAKE SURE TO REGRET EVERY MEMORY YOU HAVE OF ME BECAUSE I AM STILL INCAPABLE OF FEELING BETTER THAN YOU EVER COULD HAVE BEEN LAYING ON SPIKES I TOLD YOU ONCE I TOLD YOU THREE TIMES SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO LISTEN AND GET AN ANSWER TO COME UP SHORT WE'LL BUILD PILLOW FORTS TALK ABOUT THE THINGS THAT MAKE MY SKIN CRAWL I STILL WILL REMAIN ENTHRALLED BECAUSE YOU WERE MY DOLL NOW IM STUCK INSIDE THE WALLS THE BLADE IN THE BACK OF MY SPINE WHEN ALL I REQUESTED WAS A LITTLE EXTRA TIME LET ME HOLD YOUR HAND UNTIL I FEEL SATISFIED LET ME PICK YOU UP FROM YOUR 9-5 LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I HATE YOU BUT WON'T LEAVE YOU FOR DEAD HOURS TURN INTO YEARS AND YEARS TURN INTO TEARS YOU NEVER SEEM TO CRY HELP ME FIND MYSELF AND ILL HELP YOU FINDING THE SKY

#postpunk

#screamovocalist

#mathrock

#grunge

#grungelyrics

#jonmess

#dgd

[blvrryfaced]

Tilian Pearson and Jon Mess #blessthemess #dgd #dancegavindance #sanantoniolovesyou #posthardcore #tilianpearson #jonmess #bless #mess #headhunter