Flying On Clipped Wings

I'm a sad person a lot of the time, but there's a few songs out there that make me very happy indeed, and I'm going to share them with all you lovely readers here. They may not be your typical example of a "happy song", but they do make me smile at times when it feels like my facial muscles can't contort themselves into that shape. 1: tricot: Omotenashi First off we have Japanese all girl math rock quartet tricot, purveyors of the most lovely, warm, technical, beautiful, comfy yet powerful math-pop-rock in existence, This is a track off both an EP and their debut record,  T.H.E. , and honestly picking just one song is a difficult task, but it's a more straightforward cut, my first introduction to the band, and it packs such a punch. 2: Crossfaith: Wildfire Staying in Japan for this next song, we have Japanese electro-metalcore warriors Crossfaith. Despite how that genre description might sound, they do have a grasp of how to write songs, and pr...

2017 has been a terrible year on most fronts, however for heavy music it has actually been one of the strongest years for the genre. What stands out most about heavy music is just how many new bands rose to prominence, and how many bands were able to achieve both artistic and commercial success while staying true to their artistic integrity. It's a brave new era, and while I'm excited to see what 2018 brings, here we will be getting reacquainted with the best albums of 2017. 1: Counterparts: You're Not You Anymore "YANA AOTY" was a bit of a meme this year, but in the case of Counterparts, that is more than justified in my opinion. They've always been one of the most distinctive bands within their vein of melodic hardcore, blending together the roughness of the early '00s metalcore scene with intricate technicality, a really intuitive sense of melody threaded throughout the chaos, and a whole lot of passion. Despite losing a few members, they'...

(Originally published on The Odyssey at  https://www.theodysseyonline.com/10-songs-get-you-into-post-hardcore?utm_expid=.cZCE7oX8QCubI-ziFLsOXg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theodysseyonline.com%2Fuser%2F%40mal-andintheway)   Post-hardcore is a rather vague genre label, initially referring to bands that took the hardcore punk framework and twisted it into strange new shapes, now just a bracket for bands too heavy to be pop punk and not aggro enough to be metalcore. However it is a genre that’s produced many brilliant records and many brilliant bands, and I’d like to give ye all a brief wee overview with ten songs to show you just what this little subgenre can do at its best. 1: Big Black: Bad Penny Steve Albini is notable for having produced a number of brilliant albums, In Utero needing no introduction. Before that however, he was a member of Chicago’s Big Black, a band that took the anger of hardcore, the invention of post-punk and created some o...

I’ve loved music since a fairly young age, though perhaps a good arbitrary starting point is the age I first got my mam’s Walkman, yes the one that plays cassettes, and there was a mixtape made of all the songs I loved at the time, some Green Day, some punk, a lot of The Smiths and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!. My music tastes have gone through various iterations throughout my life, from getting into all the indie and punk my parents loved growing up, to becoming a proper metalhead in secondary school, to diving into hip hop thanks to Odd Future, NWA, Lil B, Chief Keef and Gucci Mane, diving back into indie when I wanted to be able to talk about music I liked to people I knew, and the weird collision of various conflicting sounds at my current age. Here are my 10 favourite albums, all listened to at various stages throughout my life, all great records. 1: Counterparts: The Difference Between Hell And Home I first heard Counterparts on a compilation CD when I was a tender 17 yea...