Tag: I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted

REVIEW: Snowing – "I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted"

This record is not exactly new. It was posted online for free near the end of last year, but the physical release did not even get the pre-orders going until February. Being released jointly by Count Your Lucky Stars and Square Of Opposition, this record is exactly what you would expect it to be. An absolutely solid release.

This is one of those bands that will always be name dropped in context of the who “emo revival” thing. A lot of comparisons can be made to bands like Grown Ups and Castevet (vocally and musically, respectively). As such, there seems to be influences coming from the Kinsella family bands. There are a lot of bands aping Cap’n Jazz, but Snowing also seem to take influence from the Joan Of Arc/Owls branch of that family tree as much as anything.

Musically, the band is taking a little bit from a bunch of different places. Expected of the genre, there are twinkly guitars. There are also more mathy, angular guitars. Ross Brazuk and Nate Dionne do a great job of not falling in the genre trappings. The production is a little murky to me, and as a result, the bass is sometimes hard to hear. This could be detrimental, but it fits this record fine. The vocals are hard to judge. Objectively, John Galm does not have a great voice. I can see that being a turn off to people who are not accustomed to the style. Looking at it under the greater umbrella of punk, they are great. I am stoked on how the whole package sounds, but I am not sure how this would fair outside of the scene.

Stand out songs of this record are “Why Am I Not Going Underwater,” “It’s Just A Party,” “KJ Jammin,” and “So I Shotgunned A Beer And Went Back To Bed.” All the songs maintain a level of honesty not found in a lot of things these days. Most songs, while a bit on the dark side, maintain a sense of levity. It is one of those records that can be depressing at times, but is not crushingly so.

Worth noting is this little slip of paper that came in the record sleeve. Rather than sit and retype the whole thing, here is a scan of it:

It is important that independent music works with independent companies. I am glad to see people care enough about it to actually mention it.

Overall, a great record. You can still download it for free, but I would suggest buying a physical copy if possible. Fans need to support independent music as much as we can.

Snowing (Official Site)
Free Download (CYLS Bandcamp)
Count Your Lucky Stars Records
Square Of Opposition Records

The Best Shit of 2010

Well, it is the end of the year. This, of course, means it is time to pretend my opinions matter, and compile my best of list for 2010.

Obviously, this list is my favourite stuff of the year. You may disagree with it (I like that I am typing this warning when, honestly, no one actually reads this thing [save that one dude, maybe]). So, yeah.

On with the show, motherfuckers.

TOP 10 FULL LENGTHS (in no particular order):

1) RVIVR – “RVIVR”
2) Blunt Mechanic – “World Record”
3) Off With Their Heads – “In Desolation”
4) Snowing – “I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
5) Grown Ups – “More Songs”
6) Castevet – “The Echo & The Light
7) Best Coast – “Crazy For You”
8) Iron Chic – “Not Like This”
9) The Dum Dum Girls – ” I Will Be”
10) Alkaline Trio – “This Addiction”

TOP 7 INCHES AND EPS (in no particular order):

1) The Get Up Kids – “Simple Science”
2) The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – “Formlessness”
3) Lemuria – “Chautauqua County”

STUFF THAT WAS ALSO PRETTY AWESOME (but, not “top 10” awesome)
1) Candy Hearts – “Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams”
2) The Gaslight Anthem – “American Slang”
3) Mi Ami – “Steal Your Face”
4) Shinobu – “Exhaustive, Exhaustive”
5) Grass Widow – “Past Time”
6) The Thermals – “Personal Life”
7) Japandroids – “No Singles”
8) Bars Of Gold – “Of Gold”
9) Sundowner – “We Chase The Waves”
10) MGMT – “Congratulations”

One record missing from all lists is “Ghosts On The Boardwalk” by The Bouncing Souls. The reason that it is not included is because, while it came out in January of 2010, it is just all the songs from their monthly 7″ series in 2009. As such, it was on my 2009 list as the series, and would be poor form to include it this year again. Though, yes, it is totally awesome.

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So, that is the list. More reviews coming this week, as we wrap up 2010.