I Saw Daylight // Deceits Split

[€5 for 7" // Edition of 500 (150 pink, 350 white) // €3 to Download // https://isawdaylight.bandcamp.com/album/split-deceits]

These are four songs- two from each band- of German hardcore.   I Saw Daylight reminds me of Grade at times while Deceits brings out some Silent Drive, but this is just the singing, the screaming, the melodies, the breakdowns-- it's just everything you want from a hardcore/metal band in 2015 because so many bands are claiming to be hard and sound like pop punk these days.   I Saw Daylight and Deceits are both the real deal.     If you're a fan of Bane, Thrice, As Cities Burn ("Son I Loved You At Your Darkest" era) and most of the other hardcore that has managed to stay with me since I first heard it.    Yeah, you're going to want to get this one.

I, Us & We "Mono"

Is it odd to anyone else that this band name includes every pronoun of the sort except for "me"?   Is it just me?   Okay then, I'll move on.    These are four songs from I, Us & We- which reminds me of "Me, Myself & I" but isn't.     They have a low-key vibe to them, churning out the softer side of electronic pop.   With piano keys and vocals that can remind me of Muse these are carefully crafted between Blue October and the more redeeming qualities of U2.

In some ways, this reminds me of something more on the electronic side of the coin, such as Twin Shadow or one of those producer types who creates all these beats and uses keyboard and synth.    But then there are enough guitar riffs in here, slow and cutting, that I'm hesitant to put an electric tag on it.     This is especially apparent in the song "Free", in which he can really sing so beautifully about how he is free.

"Lanterns" is a good example of the somewhat electronic side of these songs as it reminds me of Stabbing Westward without all of the teenage angst.     This also somehow brings out hints of a slowed down Duran Duran, which is never really a bad name to find popping up in your head when listening to music.

       As "Lanterns" sings about love being the cruelest game to play and being for dreamers, he ends with "I would say that love brought me to you".    An email, followed by a link I opened, a file I streamed and then a .ZIP folder I chose to download based upon the fact that I liked the first song I heard was what brought me to I, Use & We.    If I am to be what brings you to this wonderful music then so be it, but whatever path you should take I hope you do find this one.   

Texas Never Whispers "Texas Never Whispers"

[http://www.texasneverwhispers.com/ // http://texasneverwhispersband.bandcamp.com/]

The term Americana can get used far too often these days but it's what Texas Never Whispers reminds me most of still.   That and I can hear a lot of The Wallflowers in here and I've never been a big fan of Jakob Dylan and company but Texas Never Whispers just somehow makes it work for them.

Like something off of the "Empire Records" soundtrack combined with a honky tonk there are elements of Counting Crows in these songs as well as Phantom Planet and The Hold Steady.    The singer can really belt out these melodic songs about being poor and making music.    One of my favorite lines on this entire album is about "the words we never figured out, we still sung along" as it does hit home for me.

I think there are a lot of songs out there that I've heard growing up from Nirvana to Pearl Jam to Smashing Pumpkins even and I might not have known the exact lyrics to the songs so I'd just sing it my way- something I still do to this day- and I'm not sure why.    I remember only really looking up lyrics to specific Nirvana songs maybe three or four years ago and thinking, "Is that what he said?"

There is a sort of mystery in that though-- making up the lyrics yourself as opposed to singing the correct ones.    When you learn the actual lyrics it's like the reveal of a magic trick or something, right?    It has that peaking behind the curtain effect which sometimes can make things seem less fun.

Texas Never Whispers is actually from Texas and they have that sound that you would expect to find from such a great state when you think of any sort of rock n roll or country artist such as Robert Ellis.     They don't lean as close to the country and western side of things as most artists from Texas do though, and that's okay by me, and they're not really folk either so I'm hesitant to call them Americana so... is there a genre yet for Texacana?   That would be where I put them.