GAFF

Band: GAFF

Genres: Punk / Noise/Post/Math Rock / Post-Hardcore / Screamo / Sludge
Related artists: For Want Of, With A Sword On A Horse and Hokaset.
Country: Austin, Texas USA
Years Active: 2012-present
Song: "I Am The Business"
Album: "Roach Coffin"
Year: 2013
Label(s): HFF / What's Left Records
This post's artist is from the February 2014 Mix. This is track #10.
You can download the February 2014 Mix#2 right here.
For fans of: Hot Cross, We Are Empire, Frodus, Secret Arms, Ladder Devils, Kill Sadie
                  Die Princess Die, Smile To The Wind, Carrion Spring, Moxiebeat, Callow, 
                  Heart On My Sleeve, These Arms Are Snakes, Itto, Cassilis, For Want Of,
                  Storm The Bastille, Edhochuli, Ice Hockey, Ten Grand, Lord Snow and 
                  Animal Faces, aka PROPER Screamo.

GAFF is a pretty new band that has only recorded two releases, but those releases have been pretty engaging thus far. The band's early work is a strange mishmash of styles that mix the way different colours of paint look when poured down a drain. These different styles compress together and make a very sludgy and thick wall of sound loosely like These Arms Are Snakes, Ladder Devils and Moxiebeat (especially the craziness at end of "Wolves Among Empyrean"). If I were to name just one band, in the end the early demo sounds the most like the final album released by Storm The Bastille - crunchy, heavily distorted guitars which are off-time and come to life with the strained howling of the vocalist. Lots of sludge.

My boy Adam used to play in For Want Of and brings a few sounds from that band into GAFF. This is much more apparent on the new split with With A Sword On A Horse, as he is the only guitar player on that release. This new stuff will appease fans of the super-group Hot Cross, as well as Lord Snow in parts of "Gnarcorrido" which are similar in the extended palm muting and overall song structure (albeit much slower).

The vocals have shifted to a less yelled and more screamed variety with a single vocalist and fit with the bouncier/mathier rhythms that the band is now experimenting with - not to mention they have since added a second guitarist from With A Sword On A Horse, so the band's next release should be absolutely stellar.

I strongly recommend checking these fellas out, as the demo is more than decent and the split has left me salivating.

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DISCOGRAPHY

Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

2012 - Roach Coffin cdEP

2014 - With A Sword On A Horse Split cassetteEP
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(2012) GAFF - "I Am The Business" (from 'Roach Coffin')

(2012) GAFF - "Roach Coffin" (from 'Roach Coffin')

(2014) GAFF - "Compliance" (from 'Wasoah' split)

(2014) GAFF - "Gnarcorrido" (from 'Wasoah' split)

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GAFF discography mp3 download / additional links

Bandcamp (demo)

Bandcamp (split)

(download here)

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***CASEY BOLAND / WE ARE EMPIRE / You And I / Hot Cross / exclusive interview***

Band: WE ARE EMPIRE

Genres: Punk / Rock / Noise Rock / Math Rock / Grind / Emo / Shoegaze / Instrumental / Post-Hardcore / Metalcore / Screamo
Related artists: Atypical, Sky Falls Down, You And I, and Hot Cross.
Country: New Jersey, USA
Years Active: 2003-2004
Song: "Tomacco"
Album: "We Are Empire demo"
Year: 2004
Label(s): Level Plane Records
This post's artist is from the February 2014 Mix. This is track #10.
You can download the March 2014 Mix#3 right here.
For fans of: Hot Cross, Superstitions Of The Sky, Excitebike, North Of America, Sloan, 
                  Animal Faces, Hue, Tricky Woo, Despistado, Rye Coalition, Holy Shroud,
                  and Desiderata.

CASEY BOLAND. That's all I should have to say. Okay young'uns, I'll expand.

CASEY BOLAND is a guitarist who also dabbles with vocals. He played guitar in the seminal screamo/hardcore outfit You And I, followed by the genre bending Hot Cross. In the middle of his Hot Cross days, CASEY started a rock band called WE ARE EMPIRE that recorded a demo but quickly dissolved due to his Hot Cross commitments. Here is his resume, in all its glory:

Atypical- 1993-1995 (me, Chris Boland, Jay Thomson, Adolfo Lagomasino, three cassettes)

Sky Falls Down- 1995-1997 (me, Chris Boland, Jay Thomson, Adolfo Lagomasino, Chris Byrnes who played for a bit in Every Time I Die- cassette, split 7" on Moo Cow Records with Parade's End, split 7" with Bearing on I Defy Records)

You and I- 1997-1999

F44:876- 1999 (for me and Josh. The band continued until 2001 or so without us) (Justin Hock from You and I, Josh Jakubowski, Seth from East of the Wall, Neil Simon, assorted others; one CD that I did not record on)

Hot Cross- 2000-2007

We Are Empire- 2003-2004 (me and my bro, one CD EP)

2007- Present- Various projects that didn't last long enough to earn a name

During 2003 and 2004, CASEY BOLAND and his brother created WE ARE EMPIRE and recorded a 6-song demo EP. It had some seriously good songs and moments of brilliance, all embedded in a subdued version of Hot Cross. Overall, the songs have some hits and misses but this comes as a result of the job being a little rushed due to CASEY going on tour. If you are a Hot Cross fan, simply imagine any track where CASEY is singing. Remove the breakneck speed, shouting/screaming and breakdowns - there ya go, WE ARE EMPIRE. Amazing noodley, post-rock/indie/garage duo with deep, glazed vocals. While listening to WE ARE EMPIRE, it will become apparent to fans how much creative influence CASEY had on Hot Cross. Let's deconstruct each song quickly, shall we?

"T.V. On Drugs":
A great opening song that has a lot of Hot Cross going on, but sneaks into much more melodic vocal territory. The song has a sassy/indie rock vibe and is one of the best songs on the demo.

"Greatest American Hero":
This opening riff is so Hot Cross a lot of readers will probably download the EP after getting no further than 30 seconds in. It's a great song with guitar riffs that easily could have made it onto 'Risk Revival'. Vocally the song is less experimental than "T.V. On Drugs" but this works with the song, and it comes across sounding like a Hot Cross b-side. That in itself made my day when I first heard it!

"Tomacco"
The cornerstone of the EP is this - and it's fucking unreal. This is one of the main reasons I spent 10 years tracking down whatever the hell band made this song. It originally appeared on a Level Plane sampler as a one-off and no info was ever given about it. When I contacted CASEY I inquired if he was, in fact, part of WE ARE EMPIRE, at which point my search finally ended. Seriously, this song is so good it's ridiculous and is easily one of my favourite mathy/bouncy rock songs of all time. Again, serious.

"Murder Horn"
This is a pretty little acoustic instrumental ditty that shows off a side of CASEY that listeners haven't heard before. Serene, short and simple.

"Emoticon"
Another typical WE ARE EMPIRE song that, in my opinion, shows the rush that CASEY was in before leaving for his Hot Cross tour, as the vocals just don't seem "complete". It's a decent song, but the weakest of the 4 "full song/band" tracks.

"Salt In The Wound"
The final acoustic song, this one with vocals, sounds to me like a punk lullaby. It's a decent song with a trippy/spacey ending that closes out the demo nicely.

***Read the CASEY BOLAND exclusive interview by clicking HERE***

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DISCOGRAPHY

2004 - Demo cdEP (download here)

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(2004) WE ARE EMPIRE - "Tomacco" (from 'Demo')

(2004) WE ARE EMPIRE - "Greatest American Hero" (from 'Demo')

(2004) WE ARE EMPIRE - "T.V. On Drugs" (from 'Demo')

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WE ARE EMPIRE - Demo

(download here)

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KEN BURNS

Band: KEN BURNS
Genres: Punk / Rock / Noise Rock / Math Rock / Grind / Emo / Shoegaze / Instrumental / Post-Hardcore / Metalcore / Screamo
Related artists: The Saddest Landscape, Sneeze, Apart, and Who Goes There?.
Country: Massachusetts, USA
Years Active: 2013-present
Song: "Ghosting"
Album: "Ken Burns/Demo"
Year: 2013
Label(s): N/A -> Self Released (mad props)
This post's artist is from the February 2014 Mix. This is track #4.
You can download the February 2014 Mix#2 right here.
For fans of: Secret Smoker, La Quiete, Blue Friend, Greyscale, Funeral Diner,
                  Eyes Of Verotika, Caught In The Fall, Bright Calm Blue, Frameworks,
                  Life At These Speeds, Ice Hockey, D'Amore, Kidcrash, The Third Memory,
                  Van Johnson and Raein aka PROPER Screamo.

If you frequent quality blogs, chances are you've already come across these fellas. Mike from KEN BURNS sent me their band's demo EP over the internet a few months ago and I instantly fell in love with it. This band kicks out 4 great songs of late 90s midwestern screamo that put it in line for one of the best EPs from last year...and just to remind you again, THIS IS A FREAKING DEMO. Funeral Diner guitars? Check. Cathartic screaming? Bam. Sweet head-bobbing jam interludes? Galore. Questions, answers - they all lead to amazingness. The drums are lightning fast but hold everything down (see La Quiete - aka one of the biggest compliments I can give a band), the bass is heavy and dissonant. Hell, the whole package is fucking stellar. This band is definitely one to watch in the coming months. The emo leanings of "Ghosting" are palpable and when combined with the chaos of the drums and screaming...goddamn. Give it a shot then jam "Untitled" if you're still not sold. Chances are, you will be. You will be...

Mike says he only has a few copies left so make sure you email him here and grab them before they are gone forever.

He also did an interview about being diy and KEN BURNS. It's worth watching regardless of what music you like. Watch it here.
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DISCOGRAPHY

2013 - Ken Burns cassette demoEP (download here)

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(2013) KEN BURNS - "Ghosting" (from 'Ken Burns')


(2013) KEN BURNS - "Untitled" (from 'Ken Burns')

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KEN BURNS mp3 download / additional links

(download here)

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