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Lessons in Post-Rock, Episode One: Red Sparowes

I hate calling it Post-Rock. Not in a self-important “categorization of art kills it” way, I just don’t think it really captures what it is. Other people might call it experimental metal, post-metal, instrumental metal, metalgaze, but I just call it what it is: contemplative experi-instrumental post-metalgaze.

This is part one of six, where I will be examining one band per post. I would recommend using headphones when listening to these bands (or any music for that matter) and, in most cases, cranking it. Sure, I’m probably Continue reading →

Tags: At the Soundless Dawn, Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Sun, experimental, hipster, In Illusions of Order, post rock, Red Sparowes, The Pain is Excruciating But Therein Lies the Answer

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Music
Author corymerchant

Tycho – Dive

12 Dec

My friend Andy recommended this album to me calling it a “solid effort.” If I were in the business of writing two-word reviews, I could have stopped there.

Tycho (Scott Hansen) is a San Francisco based producer, graphic designer and musician…a sort of modern day, electronic renaissance man. “Dive” is Tycho’s second LP and evidence of his range of talent. Aside from gorgeous cover art, the songs themselves force you to Continue reading →

Tags: A Daydream, A Walk, Ascension, Boards of Canada, Dive, Ecco the Dolphin, graphic design, hipster, Scott Hansen, Tycho

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

Super Nintendo

30 Nov

I’ve been collecting video games since I was a kid. My biggest collection is for the Nintendo Entertainment System or the original NES. It will take some time to work up an article on the NES collection and so to hold you dorks over, I’ve decided to post about my Super Nintendo (SNES) collection: the younger brother.

Here is the “collection” as it stands today: Continue reading →

Tags: Battleclash, Castlevania X, Chrono Trigger, Contra III, Donkey Kong Country, Earthbound, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, hipster, Illusion of Gaia, Ken Griffey Jr. Winning Run, Killer Instinct, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Legend of Zelda, Mortal Kombat, Sim City, SNES, Star Fox, Street Fighter II, Super Hipster, Super Mario All Stars, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Super Nintendo, Wario's Woods

The SHH Guide to India Pale Ales

30 Nov

The India Pale Ale, or IPA, is a polarizing style of beer. To some, it’s a go-to style and is considered great test of a particular brewer’s ability. To others, it can be an overwhelming and otherwise bitter experience. Some people Continue reading →

Tags: beer, guide, HELLA, hipster, IPA

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Beer, Booze
Author Andy Marshall

Indie Canon Inductee: Beat Happening

29 Nov

For anybody that knows me, this should come as no surprise. I’m wearing a god damn Beat Happening t shirt as I write this. I stumbled upon Beat Happening in 2005 when I was looking at some rando’s list of the best albums of the 1990’s. Since then, they have become my most listened to artist.

Beat Happening has been an indie rock staple for the past 25 years and had an enormous impact on their musical peers. They took a typical rock song and boiled it down to its bare essentials: no bass, no overproduction, no complicated solos (most Beat Happening songs are only three or four chords). The band, which formed in 1983 Continue reading →

Tags: Angel Gone, Ask Me, Bad Seeds, Beat Happening, Beck, Bewitched, Bis, Bret Lunsford, Built to Spill, Calvin Johnson, Cast A Shadow, Collide, Cool Rays, Dreamy, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Fortune Cookie Prize, Halo Benders, Heather Lewis, Heavenly, hipster, Hot Chocolate Boy, I Love You, Indian Summer, Indie Canon, International Pop Underground, Jamboree, K Records, L7, Left Behind, Melvins, Midnight a Go-Go, Modest Mouse, Music to Climb the Apple Tree By, Noise, Olympia, Pajama Party in a Haunted Hive, Pinebox Derby, Polly Pereguin, Red Head Walking, Screaming Trees, Seattle, The Go Team, This Many Boyfriends Club, You Turn Me On

Card – Ender’s Game

28 Nov

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

I’m Ender Wiggin’ Out.

Despite this novel’s glaring failings, I did still enjoy it to a certain extent. Will I be rushing to order the remaining Ender volumes on amazon? No, but I wasn’t planning on it anyway. I typically read science fiction in between more mentally taxing novels. Ender’s Game is a novel that had been recommended to me a dozen times by a dozen friends of mine who know that I like science fiction. Well, I finally read it, and now I can move on. Continue reading →

Tags: Alai, Battle Room, Bean, Bonzo, Ender Wiggin, Ender's Game, hipster, homoeroticism, iPads, Justin Bieber, Mazer Rackham, Muppet Babies, Orson Scott Card, Penn State, Petra, science fiction, Speaker of the Dead, Valentine

Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness

27 Nov

I decided to give Los Campesinos! another shot despite the fact that their 2010 release, Romance is Boring, was a total snooze-fest. This year’s Hello Sadness, though listenable and a step back in the right direction stylistically, still falls short.

I first heard of Los Campesinos! from a friend in 2008 right after the release of Hold On Now, Youngster… That album’s unrelenting pop energy was instantly inviting and pleasantly overwhelming. Continue reading →

Tags: Baby I've Got the Death Rattle, Chris Conley, Hello Sadness, hipster, Hold On Now Youngster, Life is A Long Time, Los Campesinos!, review, Romance is Boring, Songs About Your Girlfriend

M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

6 Nov

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming turned out to be one of the more pleasant surprises of 2011. Anthony Gonzales remarked some months before the release that it was going to be epic. He wasn’t too far off. It’s a neon glitter bomb.

It has all of what made M83’s prior albums great, and despite being a double album, the listener comes away feeling as though some of the fat has been trimmed. Few songs exceed five minutes and those that do are very listenable unlike some of the sparse, sprawling bon voyages on Continue reading →

Tags: Anthony Gonzales, Claudia Lewis, double album, hipster, Hurry Up We're Dreaming, Kim & Jessie, M83, Midnight City, My Tears Are Becoming a Sea, New Map, OK Pal, review, Saturdays=Youth, Steve McQueen, Tears for Fears, Wait

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

Resident Evil: Code Halloween

2 Nov

I figured I’d post on Resident Evil as my friend and RE guru, Steve and I dressed up as RE characters for Halloween and because what better time than the Halloween week to revisit the survival horror classic. Continue reading →

Tags: Albert Wesker, Barry Burton, cerberus, duster, Halloween, hipster, itchy tasty, Jill Sandwich, Jill Valentine, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, survival horror, The Keeper's Diary, the Tyrant, Umbrella, zombies

Ironic Pro Wrestling T-Shirt of the Week!

1 Nov

I lived in Cohoes, NY for a few months during the two year purgatory stint I did for a health insurance company. It was closer to work, got to move out of mom’s house, etc. I was nineteen. I probably wouldn’t do it again if I had the option. No regrets or anything, just poorly conceived. Cohoes was home to Vliet Mart, a mom & pop convenience store up the street from my grungy bachelor pad. It sold what you’d normally come to find at one of these. Continue reading →