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AbsolutePunk
Collecting some of the historical AbsolutePunk.net content. Music Mends Broken Hearts
FEATURES, BLOGS, & REVIEWS

Review: mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister

mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister
AbsolutePunk

Last summer, my friend Scott Weber told me I must get into mewithoutYou—that they are a pivotal band, creative and non-linear—every five-dollar word Pitchfork Media would use to worship a Sufjan Stevens or Mogwai album. Putting it nicely, I thought they were rather over-the top and boring at the same time. Where were the driving choruses and upbeat melodies? I mean you have to have one or the other right? Fast forward almost a year later and I’m singing their praises, first acknowledging the pure poetry of their art—from there it was all butter. 

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Review: As Tall as Lions – As Tall as Lions

As Tall as Lions - As Tall as Lions
AbsolutePunk

The idea of a summer record invokes for most people thoughts of an album such as New Found Glory’s Sticks and Stones, The Beach Boys’ Sounds of Summer, or who knows… maybe Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up The Sun” is the only smooth jam on your iPod “summer love” playlist. Either way, when sound waves and heat waves collide it’s the fair-weather combination of energetic melodies, warm tones, and lifting progressions that we love to turn up while we roll the windows down. This being the case, As Tall As Lions’ self-titled full length, in all its murky, ambient glory, would appear very much a fish out of water as an early August release. Who’s the genius over at Triple Crown who thought we would take Head Automatica, Gym Class Heroes, and Hellogoobye out of our stereo for this semi-challenging, mostly somber, and generally soft-tempo collection of songs? Well, whoever he or she is, they deserve a promotion, for As Tall As Lions is perhaps the most awesomely anti-summer album of all time.

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Review: Saosin – Saosin

Saosin - Saosin
AbsolutePunk

There have been few inaugural full-length releases in the recent modern rock mire that could be considered anywhere near as “make or break” as Saosin’s self-titled Capitol Records debut. While it is largely indisputable that the band’s game-changing breakout EP, Translating the Name, was a high water mark in its own right, it had the benefit of making impressions without the complication of prior expectations and the proverbial “hype.” However, with the passage of time, the residual fame from that release has begun to wear thin after three long, empty years. A crappy (though supposedly wrongly-released) EP two years later did little to reinforce fence fans’ confidences, but a bevy of high-profile tours and festival appearances have kept the bottom from falling out on Saosin, despite the defection of one of the scene’s most prolific frontmen, and other lineup changes from the white EP’s revered roster.

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Interview: Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low

All Time Low
AbsolutePunk

So I first off want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to sit down and answer a few questions for us here at AbsolutePunk.net.

No problem at all, I’m excited to have the opportunity to sit down and answer some questions for you guys.

Can you introduce yourselves and tell us what you do in the band?

My name’s Alex Gaskarth and I sing and play guitar in the band All Time Low.

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Interview: Saosin

Saosin
AbsolutePunk

On their recent headlining tour, I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with the guys of Saosin to talk about what has been going on with the band, talk about their new record, and get some answers to the questions everyone wants to ask. This is what they had to say…

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Review: Gatsbys American Dream – Gatsbys American Dream

Gatsbys American Dream - Gatsbys American Dream
AbsolutePunk

Gatsbys American Dream’s new record reads something like an open letter to the music industry. It’s blunt, angry, and to the point. The disc might as well be a picture of a middle finger pointed directly at…well, you can put it together. The band’s 2006 follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed release Volcano finds the band recreating their sound once again. The addition of keyboardist Kyle O’Quinn adds a new dynamic to the band, the production is far more raw, and backing vocals are now done by guitarist Bobby Darling and bass player Kirk Huffman instead of lead singer Nic Newsham. Nic’s vocals are far more aggressive on this record, as it conveys more raw emotion than ever before. Gatsbys seems to have completely strayed away from the slower, methodically technical side that popularized the band on 2003’s Ribbons and Sugar. Instead, this self-titled release offers up songs that are generally faster-paced and contain a groove vibe to them. Many of the songs flow with incredible bass lines and gang vocals that make this the most danceable Gatsbys record yet.

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Review: All Time Low – Put Up or Shut Up

All Time Low - Put Up or Shut Up
AbsolutePunk

Pop-punk never has been and never will be a genre to converge on innovation. Regardless of how much the purists, nostaligsts, and old-time Drive-Thru loyalists might argue for the accomplishments of their once-favorite acts, those days of novelty have since passed. With those claims already staked out, hordes of visitors have arrived in a quest to find their own stamp of land in this crowded settlement, doing so with an homage to their predecessors, but at the same time working to establish a proper identity in a sweet sound all their own.

A cursory glance through the latest offering from All Time Low, Put Up or Shut Up, reveals an act that kowtows in such a style, with more than a passing resemblance to bands like Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line, and Cartel. In reality, however, that is an overly simplistic conclusion to reach. Sure, thematically, the band does not establish itself as a wholly disparate entity by any means, but that is not the name of the root game here, really. All Time Low most certainly gives the “what’s up?” head-nod to the scene heavyweights, but tosses in plenty of proprietary flair to earn due respect.

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Review: Dashboard Confessional – Dusk and Summer

Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer
AbsolutePunk

Ever since the demise of first-generation Further Seems Forever and the beginning of what could be called a legendary project, Chris Carrabba has established himself as the giant teardrop with a guitar and fans have either loved him or hated him for his heart-on-sleeve approach. But as the evolution of most musicians, Chris took his solo endeavor further, adding a full band to his last release, A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar. While the success of that release was wavering and short-lasting, his first full-band studio record Dusk And Summer requires the same close watch.

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Interview: Underoath

Underoath
AbsolutePunk

So what does the album title Define The Great Line mean?

Spencer Chamberlain: It’s a really long story, but I’ll tell the short version. Define the Great Line is the line, your path that you see yourself traversing down as a human, and I believe that most or all of us are on some sort of path to better ourselves. It’s the point and meaning of change in your life and growing into the man that you want to be while trying to balance yourself on that line. No matter how many times you fall off, if you have the vision of where you are and where you want to go, you can always pick yourself up and get back on track. That’s the short version of what Define The Great Line means to me.

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Review: Underoath – Define the Great Line

Underoath - Define the Great Line
AbsolutePunk

Chasing the safety of their last release, Underoath have returned with Define The Great Line, an album that undeniably marks the transition of how accessible metalcore can be. After two years of extended touring, the Florida sextet joined co-producers Matt Goldman (Copeland, Cartel) and Adam Dutkiwicz (guitarist for Killswitch Engage) to create a release that would showcase both talent and growth. Pleased with their six-man lineup and indie label Tooth & Nail imprint Solid State, Define the Great Line is undoubtedly a record that shows how masterfully a band can be both delicate and brutal with the same sound. Three apparent differences arise in this transition record: bottomless metal influence, the depth and variety of vocal work and excessive percussions. 

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Interview: Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy
AbsolutePunk

On Thursday, May 4th I was able to sit down with Pete Wentz before Fall Out Boy’s sold out show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. I was able to ask some follow-up questions to Part One1 of our ABSOLUTExclusive interview with him as well as address some things that we and you felt were missing from that series of questions. Once again, I’d like to thank Pete for taking an hour out of his hectic schedule to do this. I’d also like to thank Fall Out Boy’s tour manager, Dan Suh, for making sure everything ran smoothly. Hope you enjoy…

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  1. We’ve been unable to find this in our archives.↩

Review: Angels and Airwaves – We Don’t Need to Whisper

Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper
AbsolutePunk

Blink 182 has become somewhat of a touchy subject in the punk community. They undoubtedly became one of the largest bands ever spawned from the ever-expansive genre as they released an unprecedented number of hit singles and successful albums during many years of music production. Where they fall on the scale of respect is quite another issue, and a more debatable one at that. Whereas thousands honor them as pop-punk pioneers, countless others blaspheme them as trite, overly immature, and unbearable. The group’s reputation transcends all demographics. The former opinion is expressed by aging fathers while the latter takes place even among the visitors of a site originally intended in large part to be a fan site for the aforementioned band.

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Review: Forgive Durden – Wonderland

Forgive Durden - Wonderland
AbsolutePunk

Welcome to Wonderland. A world meticulously crafted by the minds of Forgive Durden, lies, deceit, greed, and lust lay within. The picture of Wonderland is painted with vivid lyrical imagery provided by Forgive Durden in their debut full-length. In one of the most diverse records to come out in recent memory, Forgive Durden brings their own musical style to several different musical genres, including takes on country, tango, and pop. But intertwined into all these styles is a distinctive sound that the band has made for themselves. Showing influences from Gatsby’s American Dream, Wonderland is full of accented off-beats and chromatic progressions, adding another band from Seattle who follows in Gatsby’s tech-rock footsteps. But the comparisons should end there. While listeners may hear similarities in certain chords or guitar stylings, virtually every song on Wonderland contains a chorus and Forgive Durden takes their musical exploration far beyond the expected scope. 

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