Heard That Sound

I Am Alive in Everything I Touch is the eighth studio album by Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein. The album was released on May 19, 2015 through Rise Records (worldwide) and New Damage Records (Canada).
The album’s title is a line from the Canadian author Timothy Findley’s 1977 novel The Wars. Similar to A Shipwreck in the Sand (2009) and This Is How the Wind Shifts (2013), I Am Alive in Everything I Touch is a conceptual album penned by lyricist and lead vocalist Shane Told. The album is split into 4 chapters: "Borealis" (North), "Austeralis" (South), "Zephyrus" (West) and "Eurus" (East). Each track’s setting is a different city that geographically falls into that region, with real life recordings of each city incorporated into the songs.Told had this to say about the album:

""All the city clips we recorded, the transitions, and making sure the concept really worked and told this story of loneliness despite being surrounded by so much excitement. As much as I’ve put myself out there over all the records we’ve done, there’s something more real about this one. At times I almost stopped myself and said, is this going too far? Am I going to say something I’m going to regret? And after taking a step back and a few breaks from writing, I decided I needed to do this""

Release

On January 13, 2015 A music video for "A Midwestern State of Emergency" was released alongside the song's streaming release and coincided with the official announcement of I Am Alive in Everything I Touch. The music video was directed by Max Moore and produced by Nolan Cubero. The video begins with Shane Told (lead vocalist) in a bath of water, seemingly dead. He resuscitates as the music begins and the band can be seen playing throughout – with Told subsequently singing to himself in many places. The music video ends in the same place it begins, only with Told now on the floor spluttering water out.
A lyric video for the song "Milestone" was released on March 4, 2015. This video consists of footage from Silverstein's Discovering the Waterfront 10th anniversary tour as well as images of highways and buildings. This is all overlaid by the lyrics of the song. On May 11, the music video for "Face of the Earth" was released. On May 12, the album was available for streaming, and was released on May 19 on Rise

It might come as a surprise, but for the first time in nine years, Good Riddance has a new album out! After the long wait since My Republic,, and a hiatus, fans no longer need to hold their breath for melodic guitars and the sweet sound of Russ Rankin’s voice. Peace In Our Time is an awesome return for the band that proves they may have grown, but musically, nothing’s changed.

The album wastes no time like any other Good Riddance album: fast gritty guitars and in your face drums while Rankin’s aggressively clean vocals attack your eardrums. The band clearly has not lost their melodic edge, and the nine year gap almost feels nonexistent between Peace In Our Time and Good Riddance’s previous work. Originally, the band started based off their love for Bad Religion and that influence has clearly not gone away, as each song is melodically infused punk rock in the vein of that era.

Peace In Our Time maintains a steady tempo throughout. The songs have a very similar feel with fast guitars strung together by melody and raw energy. “Teachable Moments” gets a little more melodic and has a slightly different feel that is perfect for the halfway point of the record. Other songs have a more intricate and melodic feel as well. “Shiloh,” a song that reminds me of Dave Smalley-era Dag Nasty, showcases the more intricate side of the melodies Good Riddance is known for.

Good Riddance didn’t make a huge departure from 2006’s My Republic, but the album has its own elements that separate the two. Peace In Our Time is more melodic when it comes to the punk verses of the album instead of the melodic intros and leads from My Republic.

Long time fans of Good Riddance will not be disappointed in the band’s energy and sound, even after nine years. The band is as fresh as ever with some of their most intricate riffs in decades. Of course, recording at The Blasting Room certainly gives this album the feeling it truly embodies. Good Riddance prove one thing with Peace In Our Time: the wait was worth it.

Matt Skiba And The Sekrets are streaming their new single, Krazy.
The track is taken from the band’s upcoming second full-length, Kuts, which is out on June 1 in Europe and June 2 in the US, through Superball Music. Check out their latest single below, and let us know what you think in the comments!
“The writing style and entire approach to this new one was a stronger desire to do something fairly different from my other band,” Matt Skiba says of the record. “We used sounds hugely influenced by early David Bowie stuff and took more chances. I knew that the playing of Hunter and Jarrod would bring entirely new elements to the songs that would help shape them in a huge way and influence ideas that I would never have thought of on my own. They did great stuff for the last record but had even more freedom on this one. It really shaped the way this record sounds.”


Meanwhile, Matt Skiba’s other band, Alkaline Trio, will be hitting the road in the UK later this year, with NOFX and Lagwagon. Full dates and ticket info below!
On top of the new Sekrets album, Matt Skiba has been super-busy as of late, filling in for Tom DeLonge in blink-182. The musician recently told blink bassist Mark Hoppus that playing the band’s was becoming second nature to him. “It really feels like a band – it feels like home. It’s great,” he said.

Unexpected news isn't usually this welcome: It looks like we'll be getting an album of unreleased Kurt Cobain home recordings this summer.
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck director let the big news out during an interview with Bedford + Bowery. When they asked him if he uncovered any unreleased gems from the Nirvana frontman while combing through 200 hours of audio, Brett Morgen revealed there's an official release on the way.



"We’re going to be putting out an amazing album this summer that I think will answer that question," Morgen said. "It will feel like you’re kind of hanging out with Kurt Cobain on a hot summer day in Olympia, Washington as he fiddles about. It’s going to really surprise people. Just to be clear, it’s not a Nirvana album -- it’s just Kurt and you’re going to hear him do things you never expected to come out of him."
Back in 2013, Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson told Fuse that before Cobain committed suicide he was working on a "a solo album" that "would have been his White Album." At the time, Erlandson revealed there was an unreleased cover of a well-known song from a band Cobain loved sitting somewhere. Erlandson wouldn't name the tune at the time, but chances are he was nodding to Kurt's cover of the Beatles' "And I Love Her" that pops up in Montage of Heck.
While the release date remains unannounced, "this summer" is very soon. Be excited.

Let’s get this out of the way: Those of you looking forward to Exile In Oblivion 2 are likely to be disappointed. This album does not deliver on that front. However, for those of you worried about (or perhaps looking forward to) Blackhawks over Los Angeles part 2, this album will definitely not deliver on that expectation either. Transmission Alpha Delta actually winds up carving out its own space, managing to maintain a sound and feel that belongs solely to this record, while still retaining Strung Out’s signature sound.

Transmission Alpha Delta represents a release that is far meatier than anything the band has put forward in the past decade. With 12 tracks clocking in at around 45 minutes, there is quite a lot of music to digest. There’s more staying power here than on the previous two releases. TAD is an improvement on the formula in almost every measurable category. There’s not so much a stylistic difference here as there is a lyrical and songwriting difference. In some ways this album actually feels a lot like what 2009's Agents of the Underground was trying to achieve, but never fully accomplished. I found myself progressively liking the band’s previous two releases a bit less as time wore on, but through more than twenty listens that problem is thankfully not the case here. This is an album that absolutely necessitates numerous listens to fully appreciate.

In terms of both the lyrical delivery and content, singer Jason Cruz absolutely excels here. Cruz plays around primarily in a higher vocal range than he has on any Strung Out album to date, and it really pays off. He sounds great on this album. The lyrical content here is also more interesting than it has been in quite some time and strays from any potholes or major missteps. This is clearly Cruz’s best album as a lyricist and songwriter since Exile in Oblivion. Background vocals are used sparingly but effectively on TAD, with only a few rare instances with anyone other than Cruz singing. It’s a great choice for the album to have Cruz provide his own backups, but may make these songs seem a bit disappointing when performed live when one singer can’t be everywhere at once.

As far as song structures go, TAD consists of arrangements that are a bit less formulaic than the previous two releases, while still sticking to a somewhat “tried and true” script. The leads are overall more interesting and there are generally just more moving parts involved in each song than the band's previous two albums. However, the album could have benefited from a few more off tempo components than what are on display here. TAD rarely strays off the well-worn track, which is a bit unfortunate since some of Strung Out’s most interesting work has been those songs that just completely take left turns into weirdsville. They haven’t had that Element (heh) to their songwriting in a while, and not much has really changed on that front. Another unfortunate issue with Transmission Alpha Delta is that there is only one guitar solo on the entire album. Some of the leads here are absolutely outstanding, but the lack of guitar solos was an odd and largely unwelcome choice (particularly since the one solo found on “Black Maps” absolutely slays).

As far as individual tracks go, there are numerous standouts here. “Black Maps” is undoubtedly going to be a fan favorite. It’s a track that is just very strong with harmonized guitar parts that are somewhat reminiscent of “Vampires” from Exile in Oblivion. Other tracks, such as “Tesla”, offer something completely new and completely welcome. A lot of the best songwriting on the album can actually be found towards the back end of the album, with tracks “Go It Alone” (an uplifting successor and counterpart to 2009's “Vanity”) and “Westcoasttrendkill” (easily the best closer Strung Out has written since Matchbook) making up some of the stronger tracks on the back end. Overall, there really isn't a bad track on the entire album. Modern Drugs is probably the least interesting song, even with its very unique intro consisting of some of the mellowest stuff Strung Out has written to date. I actually would have preferred to hear the song continue along those lines rather than where it ends up going.

In terms of production, this is the best Strung Out has sounded in a long time. The mix on this album just absolutely nails it. Whereas Agents of the Underground at times sounded a bit like swimming through mud, the sound on TAD is crisp, loud, up front, and immediate. Everything is right where it should be. It seems like the delay on this album paid off in this respect, as the band finally found a producer that was able to match the quality and intensity of the music.

This is Strung Out’s strongest album in over a decade. It’s been a long time coming.

Teenage Bottlerocket‘s eagerly-awaited new album Tales from Wyoming doesn’t come out until next week but you don’t have to wait until then to hear it.  Give the entire album a listen below!
Tales From Wyoming will drop on March 31 through Rise Records.
The sixth full-length release for the punk band from Wyoming was produced by 
Bill Stevenson.