Towers
Towers is a pretty sick hardcore band from Philly who are tossing out some interesting chaotic heavy hardcore jams. I unfortunately missed their set this past summer, but everyone was raving about it and I felt dumb for missing it. Though in my defense they did only play for 15 minutes. Considering their songs generally just crest the 1 minute mark this is no surprise. Massive, jilting riffs tossed around like razor blades collide with cinder blocks of bass crunch. Anguished screams dual with rambunctiously pounding drums. People get hurt. For a band to squelch this much feeling out of a minute is an impressive feat.
Craig, the bassist / vocals for Towers posted a link to their site where you can listen to much of what the band has released thus far. Last year they released a self titled LP that came out in a variety of formats and a slew of labels. Very sick record, and if you grab the LP version its in all its screenprinted glory. Next on their list, slated for an early 2009 release is their newest LP, Full Circle, also released on a slew of labels.
If you live in the US check the Towers myspace page for shows that may be happening at this very moment (one with the Black Kites in Philly on the 30th). If you dont live in the US than I am sure they will be eventually making it out your way soon, so keep your eyes peeled. Craig also plays with Peter from Algernon Cadwallder in Peter & Craig. If Algernon makes you happy, Towers is sure to ruin your life.
Check it on the dubs. I made it easy for you. I put all the available files in a zip.
posted by blend77 at 5:00 PM
8 Comments:
Thanks for reducing the mental overhead! I am sure the comments from Trolls like me will now slowly start to pour in.
I listened to it a bit already on the page that you linked. I guess as long as you keep posting screamo bands you'll always hear the same comment from me: The music is fine (interesting even), but why is that young man screaming like this? And is that always the same man screaming on all those records? Man, they all sound the same... yawn.
i dont hear any screaming. what screams are you talking about?
can you describe the scream?
on a serious note i cannot say i would call this Screamo... aside from that name being laughable it also describes bands that have that jangly spastic emo sound that borders on grind. this is more like metallic hardcore to me, though definitely screamy. most hardcore is screamy.
basically, my joking post above is in some way serious because i dont even worry about the scream anymore. it just falls in the background most of the time and the music is what stands out for me... but cest la vie, to each his own.
Obviously (OBVIOUSLY!) I am not a connoisseur of the screamo genre, although (mostly thanks to you) my playlist probably contains a number of bands that would be lumped into that genre. So don't get me wrong it's not all bad (Brokencyde for example are pretty good ~_^ ). It's just my pet peeve that I don't think that music/hardcore gains any emotional value (or shock value for that matter) just because the singer screams in a raspy voice.
And since you have made a big Death Metal megapost above, one might add that DM takes that approach to the laughable extreme.
10 years from now you will still be able to identify Richie Birkenhead, Ray Cappo, H.R., or Choke when they were to front a NEW band (forget about their old band's music) - but could you say the same about any of these singers within this genre hat I put down so summarily?
Sure, maybe I am just not refined enough to hear the subtle differences in front-men. But my point is, as good as the music might be (and I do see recognize differences there, so it's not just my general ignorance), when all the singers sound the same to me it just doesn't entice me to spend much time on a band.
no, i do agree with you 100%. in comparison to those vocalists there is no comparison.
i guess my main point is that the vocals seriously take a back seat to the music. i suppose it would be weird if there were no vocals, but i dont mind some kinds of screaming. i know for a fact that we disagree on the really frantic screaming style, but some scream dont do anything but function as punctuation for awesome riffs are a sick drum fill.
but i firmly believe that yes, there is a lack of differentiation in so much of hardcore screaming. there always has been which is why the vocalists you stated stick out so much more.
i do like a good vocalist and appreciate them when they appear, but i can often overlook the quality of a scream and focus on the music, which, if strong enough, can in turn make me like the screaming a bit more as they all kind of meld together into one thing in the back of my brain.
the death metal post was, to some affect, in response to the scream stuff and yes, was taking it to the laughable extreme. but also because they were sitting there, all uploaded. i figured i would just pass them along without much fan fare.
I think the way I look at it (right from discovering bands like Envy, Indian Summer etc.) is that the screaming is another musical instrument, so it's as distinctive as the particular guitar player or whatever. Certainly sometimes it can be very recognisable as a particular person, but that's neither necessary or usual.
Blend - have you heard the current Loma Prieta album? Really replicates the intense Honeywell screamo sound as good as anything I've heard.
Lucifer - further on my idea of 'voice as an instrument' screamo, have you heard Lhasa? It's not 'frantic' screaming at all, and it's not deep-voice metal either, at least not completely, but it is possibly the most emotional use of vocals in screamo that I know of.
and Towers is really great too, thanks. Don't think I'd ever really listened to them before now, but they do some really creative stuff with heavy music that I like.
actually, I just found Lhasa have a myspace now: http://www.myspace.com/lhasajp
I think it could be official, though no new songs (saw someone elsewhere say they had disbanded). and the 'about' the band is what I wrote in my post, and credited as such :)
that Towers link is pretty hand to introduce you to their sound, I have to say. sound and artwork, too.
craig is also in a band called elders, who features members of balboa. Great bands/dudes.
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