Fresh Finds Podcast Season 4 Episode 12 W Dan Macy

Fresh Hello and welcome back to season 4 of the Fresh Finds Podcast The show about discovering new music with good people I'm Ryan, in this episode I'm joined by Dan Macy Who is a musician, producer, and a very active member of the DIY, Emo, and Cybergrind communities How are you doing? I'm doing phenomenal and that is probably the best way I've ever heard anyone describe all the things I have done, honestly Well it's interesting because you're not in a band in the traditional sense You do a lot of production, you do covers on YouTube and things like that And then you really have a presence where you support other artists a lot And so that was the best way that I could come up with for that So do you want to introduce yourself a little bit, kind of talk about who you are, the projects that you work on, all that sort of stuff Yeah, I'm Dan Macy That's not my real name either, my real name is Donovan Macy Let me pull the curtain back on that a little bit And I may best describe as like electronic, emo, adjacent music I have yet to figure out a good way to put a box around anything I usually do But for the most part, I am helping with a bunch of different DIY collectives or groups Such as like cybergrind or emo in like production, mixing, mastering Also make the YouTube channels and make remixes for a bunch of different sick and cool people Yeah, and you actually just a few months ago, I don't have it in my notes But just a few months ago released an album of remixes from mostly DIY emo bands It was called The Only Love Letter I'll Write or something like that, right? Yep So how did that come about? What was coming out of that? What was kind of like the process? Like it's very clearly like these are bands that mean a lot to me And I want to do something with it But like was there a lot of, how many of them did you reach out to like beforehand? Were there any that just like kind of started out as just like I'm just gonna fuck around And then you're like actually this is kind of cool, I'll send it to them Like you know, that sort of thing So I saw basically like a lot of different artists I look up to And once you like start going back to earlier catalogs It's like they have like a lot of different artists That have had like remix albums And like they've done a bunch of different random remixes That you typically wouldn't expect like an artist like Porter Robinson for example would make So I like really wanted to do a remix album to kind of like celebrate the communities That I am like coming up through and like helping out Okay Because it was just like the community aspect of DIY has like really helped me In like figuring like myself out Plus like doing like a lot of stuff And like going through like anxiety of like being an artist And just like being a person around others And seeing like such a supportive group of people Made me like really want to do something too So I had like these two ideas of like I want to do a remix album I also want to do like a really cool project to like promote really cool artists And the community that has been like surrounding me And like pushing me as an artist and as a person And like really helped me through that So that's kind of how that initial concept came to be And then past that I just posted on Twitter being like Hey dude does anyone want me to remix their songs And that is how like 90-ish percent of the artists I chose Was like selected from that Where I just added them on Twitter under that one tweet And that's how like that original list began And then I just started working through all the remixes Which the record is basically like every remix Is a different genre So I was like seeing if bands liked a certain genre And then I was sending them demos to be like Hey is there anything you want me to change of this Do you want me to do XYZ Or are you like vibing with this And that's how the project from like start to finish happened So at the beginning it was like here's this concept Start from nothing and then see where it goes essentially Were there any bands that just like did not at all like The direction that it was going in And you like kind of started from scratch Or was everybody really like No this is pretty sick actually Just kind of keep going how you're going with it Um I wouldn't say like any band in particularly Was like oh this is awful Oh what did you do I wouldn't expect that but yeah yeah yeah Um but in terms of that It was a lot of like me going I don't think this is like my best work That I'm like putting out there To these like wonderful artists So there's like multiple times Where I just like scrapped a version of it Just because I wasn't like proud of it And then like sent them another version A great example of that is the um Red Sun Hyperpop remix of Red Sunfoe Because the original version of it Is like this really weird like 5-8 time thing That makes absolutely like no sense At least like how I remember that version going And I was like maybe I need a Like reel it back in And restart and try a different idea And then see like what I feel happy with Presenting to people And then like most of the decisions I made for the most part Was like really enjoyed by all the artists That's awesome I also really like that like It's a really fun remix album too Because there's a lot of like really good Like groovy type of stuff But there's also just like some samples Like before different drops and things like that That absolutely had me just laughing out loud At like how ridiculous And funny it was Like I think that the one The Red Sun one in particular If I recall had like a couple Just like absolutely ridiculous Like samples before the drop and stuff Yeah I kind of wanted to keep that Like hyperpop culture of like XD random But also keep like that Red Sun Like Twitter presence too Where it's just like Here is this like meme But then here's like the actual music part Behind the meme So that was kind of like my thought process on that Well because they have a lot of like You know kind of like gamer MLG almost type of memes Like with like the faker sample And like stuff like that Where it's like these are you know Professional gamers and like that kind of stuff So it really like lends itself to that a lot I also thought that it was interesting How like some of them were based around Like sampling the song And kind of chopping it up And then others were almost like Recreating it in a way Like I think the Harrison Gordon one If I recall I don't know if I remember I don't know if that samples a whole lot of it Aside from like the vocals It's mostly like 8-bit 8-bit kind of like recreation type of deal With that one I like re-transcribed like the bass part And then the vocals And then I was just like I'm going to try to make this as close to a Kirby song As physically possible So I used like the Kirby sound font For literally all the instruments Plus the vocals And like did all this like Small minute things to it That was like Yeah that would sound like It would go into a Kirby song I like that yeah What else like to you Is like special about like The production side of like that project So for me That was like really like One of the first projects I actually was like Reaching out to people On the production side To be like hey Is there like anything I could improve on this To make X-Cut further Or do something like that Or is there any like cool techniques You can teach me To make a thicker bass So like one of the people I hit up was Bootsy Which is the creator And like lead member of this band Called Sleeping on Stardust Which is like a cyber grind band And he does a lot of mix and mastering For a lot of different DIY projects So I basically was like Hitting him up and asking like Really dumb questions And I'm very glad and thankful That he was able to like Sort out how awful the questions were And like give me like really good Insight onto like the production side Of music that I never had before So a lot of it was just like Trial and error And then just asking for that feedback So for this project specifically That was like the very first time I was actively like And like openly trying To get feedback on it And like making notes And then getting them corrected As best as I could Gotcha Yeah cause you're like entirely Like self-taught Like on all of this stuff So it really has been a lot of like Kind of just trial and error Figuring it out Um Is your background a lot more like Like how long have you been playing music Like playing guitar Like all that Cause I know that you play guitar Do covers on like YouTube And stuff like that as well So So going back as far as I have been playing music Was like 7th grade And I decided to pick up The clarinets in school Alright Yes Um so I Very classic It is honestly an amazing instrument And I wish I played it way more But I just don't And I want to But I basically Played clarinet All throughout school And like high school And then I started picking up On side bands Because I was a part of like A lot of religious organizations When I was younger So I was just like Okay I will pick up bass guitar And like play that for them Because they need a bass player And I know Kind of how to play clarinet So I was just like Let me slide up in there So a lot of my early experiences With like learning music Learning about like How to organize like gigs How to get people together And stuff like that was like really built around that like fundamental instrumental groundwork and then as i got throughout high school i kept on playing clarinet i also picked up tuba for a year to play something different um and then i picked up gets hard around the same time period and i just really started like learning a bunch of different things like music theory through youtube okay so a lot of my like background is a lot of like diy slash like asking people random questions um just because i didn't have that like very much formal background yeah necessarily like i none of the music teachers really taught like music theory that i went to for like clarinets it was just really like yeah you play clarinet here's your class period and then you kind of like leave i was just like okay cool but really like the religious side of it um when i was younger like really pushed me in that direction to playing live music with people um and then eventually i fell out of like being really religious or like religious altogether when i was like 17 18 so i fell out of touch with like a lot of those different people but that was like the initial start i feel like that's like a very unique story as far as getting into this type of music because like for a lot of people you know you tend to have things like oh you know the first time i heard green day or the first time i heard you know this band that band the other band that band the other band that band the other band the other thing so i think it's really interesting that like the start of your musical journey was basically through like middle school high school band class and then like after that you know kind of getting into was it like um was it like worship bands or was it like um like what sort of stuff were you doing with like the church groups were you doing like stuff where you were playing at like um like youth group things or was it like playing it with the worship band every sunday like what was sort of like that sort of deal so um back when i was like middle school high school uh i played like every sunday uh for church on bass guitar and piano sometimes don't ask me to play piano now because i could not even attempt it and then i also played at like youth groups occasionally and then we would do like micro tours of going to like different summer camps and then playing like contemporary christian music to them um and i traveled throughout like south carolina north carolina and i went up to pennsylvania one time for this one camp so kind of had a little bit of a touring experience through just playing summer camps for kids um when it comes to music and then like building that up um it's like diy ethics and stuff was like really interesting crossbreed between the two worlds it's interesting too because like actually um playing in like the youth group band was probably my first introduction to playing in a like kind of rock band setting because the leader of the youth group had a rock band back in the day and like we kind of everybody who was in that was into like rock music and so we kind of did like rocked like amped up kind of kind of versions of like that sort of stuff so it's really interesting hearing like another person who like that was a formative like uh part of becoming a musician interestingly that was also how i got into like audio engineering too was like literally just the church needed somebody to run sound on sundays and i was like that's kind of interesting i've always been into like technology and stuff like that and so i started to learn it and realized that i really enjoyed it you know that's also like how i got into like mixing kind of for like the first time was like my church just needed a sound guy randomly for like a sunday so i just like popped up on the mixer board and like quickly learned like how to use it and i was like how to use the volume sliders how to just figure it out and stuff yeah and that was like super fascinating like then and like still to me now as like a thing you can just like study get really good at for like live audio engineering yeah i it's very interesting like i never realized that we had so many parallels like in that kind of like upbringing like that that's really interesting but i think it's also really funny to me that like you started out playing like the clarinet and like a classical kind of like instruments and didn't really get into playing like the rock music as much until later because again that's usually what draws people into music was their first time hearing like one of their favorite bands and like i want to do that a lot of it was just like at the beginning just like happenstance like i used to listen to like music in like middle school like nirvana green day and stuff like that like the traditional 90s alt bands but like i wasn't really on to an instrument necessarily at first because of it it just seemed like a fun thing to do without like the music part and then i've like grown to massively appreciate the music part way more now than probably like playing it personally but it was almost like the culture was more what drew you in at that point as opposed to like the music itself yeah and then interesting it became about like the culture over like the period of like playing music and just like growing up and like stuff like that to like where i just made an entire project just built around like the community aspect of music and like the remix side of like the culture of music so i feel like that's like a really cool like maturing of me throughout my like time as playing music yeah oh for sure i i think that it's crazy that you've had such a journey like so many different uh different things to get to this point do you um consider yourself a producer or like a producer or like a producer first when it comes to like categorizing yourself within the scene or even like what you try to focus on i try to focus on production because i feel like i am pretty decent at guitar now to the point where i can just kind of pick up things and just like go along with it um so like producer first musician second that's kind of how i view myself at this point sure what are some of the things that you're involved in on more of like a production side of things that you're like really proud of that have come out in the last couple years or the last year or whatever um generally uh some of the production stuff i just got a few cool opportunities that i can't talk about necessarily right now that the best kind of content for a podcast i can't talk about this but cool things are coming i swear some of the best stuff i've ever worked on is coming out it's but uh in terms of other things i worked with sleeping on stardust on their newest record navigator um on like instrumentation i produced an entire electronic break core type of remix of one of the tracks on the record and i also did some vocals and i just thought like on the production side it was just crazy of how much freedom or like control i was just given to like do something i was like oh sweet and then i've also worked with various like cyber grind bands like 3000 centipedes bottom surgery um vulgar yeah yeah yeah vulgar um just as like examples of like different bands are artists i've like worked with in the past um like the bottom surgery song that i forgot the name of because it's super long it involves like rainbow road and dying on it or something uh and that was like the first time i ever hit up someone i was like hey may i make a beat for you because like i really like your music and i really just want to make something cool for you and just like have that project exist um so that was like a really cool instance of just like throwing something at someone and then them also liking it and i thought that was also just like an insane experience that's another thing that i think is really interesting that i've learned a lot doing the podcast specifically but it seems like you have a lot of experience with as well that's very interesting about this community and i think the community is kind of realizing that everybody just does this for the love of the game and very few people have like an ego about it so like it's very easy to collaborate with the people that you really like their stuff if you literally just reach out say hey i like what you're doing like would you want to do you know xyz i think it's really interesting because like a lot of people will kind of like put their favorite artists up on a pedestal like there's so much above me like you know like i i couldn't you know whatever and i think that it's a very interesting thing that we all kind of have to learn in our own way that like everybody is just a person you know what i mean the transition of going from like not engaging with like diy and just being like a passive observer to like oh i can actually just like message these like really cool people doing these really cool things i really admire and like potentially like do a project with them it's just insane to me and like that still is insane but that's like been a really big thing i've been learning just like everyone is human and everyone is just trying to make like the best art that they can and like just find the passion and like the love for the music and i really like respect and love that about the community yeah it's it's so interesting and i think that like there is like a transition that almost has to happen there like like you you kind of like the first couple times you're like oh i i don't know if i should reach out you know and then you get to the point where it's just like hey so this is an idea that i had are you into You kind of learn to drop the bullshit a little bit, i think is interesting too instead of like putting like a long like flowery sentences and stuff uh it's just like here is blunt like this is like the first thing but it's also like this is the reason why i think you'll be amazing at this because like i listen to your music and stuff like that um and it like kind of rolls backwards kind of at least that's how i've been pitching different ideas to people because at first i'll like hit up people and be like hey may you be willing to like do xyz and this is the reason why i think like you would be perfect for this is because you made this song and i really like that so i think you would be like amazing at it or something like that yeah so like kind of moving forward i obviously you just released your album the remix album back in august and you have some stuff that you can't really talk about right now but is there anything like on the horizon that uh you're really excited about for like 2025 that uh that people can get excited about um there are two separate projects i'm currently working on that i can fully like talk about because they're my own projects the first one is like i'm trying to make a post hardcore slash like cyber grind projects just because like how much i love cyber grind and that scene so i really want to like just make music using that genre and i'm really excited about that and then the second one is like a real dan macy like lp that i'm only like 1.2 songs written okay so is that kind of leaning more into like kind of the emo type stuff or is that because i know that you also have a very deep love of like pop music as well so like is that kind of leaning more in that direction i'm finding myself writing in this weird gray zone between like emo and pop so it's like emo pop electronica type of flarings like i don't want to say like 21 pilots or anything like that's like a comparison to it but it's kind of blurring on that line between like yeah you could consider this emo but you could also consider this like another genre very easily okay yeah so that's all where most of it has gone to so far for that project that's pretty sick i also like just kind of thought about this because i i was you know bringing up the fact that you are really into like cyber grind and that and that you have this kind of like post hardcore uh project as well and i think that's but i was just thinking about the fact that like a lot of your musical upbringing was not that at all so like what was it that got you interested in like the the heavy heavy shit um probably when i started getting into like my chemical romance in like seventh eighth grade and then started going backwards from there but then i kind of like regressed gone to like midwest emo with like bands like modern baseball if you want to consider the midwest emo quote-unquote um if you're like a purist and you want to fight me on that um mom i'm not involved in that argument either way i do not care but someone someone somewhere cares very deeply um but um gone to those bands and then probably in the past year or two i've gotten more into like actual hardcore or like post hardcore bands um like early on i was i really liked citizen and like title fight in high school and like bands adjacent to that type of sound and then as i got older the more like metalcore sounding bands i've started listening to but a lot of those bands are like diy instead of like the mainstream like radio bands quote-unquote like yeah because because that was what got me into like heavy music was like i already kind of liked you know the the heavier stuff like anytime something like metallica or black sabbath or like that would come on the radio i was all about it but it was like in middle school my friends showed me like kind of that explosion in the late 2010s of like the the metalcore of like uh you know of mice and men or like asking alexandria like that type of shit was what got me into it so it's really interesting seeing what everybody's uh first foray into like kind of the screamy heavy shit is because like there's definitely like a bridge there you know what i like uh people can enjoy heavy music but like that's usually like the last thing before you're like all in on it is you have to get it you have to find your band that's the gateway band into you liking like the harsh vocals and the screaming and like that kind of shit i will say thinking back on it pierce the bell was actually like the first band i listened to that actually had like screamo elements in it so i guess in that way that would have been like my gateway into like going yeah i think more people should scream in music hell yeah um is there anything else specifically that you want to touch on between like kind of your background in music um any new projects or projects upcoming that uh that you want to talk about before we kind of get into like the next part of the episode a little bit more that's interesting i'm trying i'm trying to think of like if there's anything like really really really really really crazy um just like one piece of advice if you want to make something just make it that that is like 100 percent like i would have never gotten into like this discord call if one day i didn't just go i'm just gonna make something and see what how it happens and you learn how to do it as you're going along so like just don't be afraid that first step is a lot of the times throughout this past year as i have been taking like dan macy more seriously or like other random adventures was just like taking that first step and just like committing to it like me playing bass guitar way back in day even because like i didn't know how to play bass guitar but i was just still like yeah i'm just gonna do this i can figure it out yeah so i that's my biggest piece of advice as like how i've grown more as an artist and what i feel like i could potentially offer like a lot of people who may be like watching this video slash podcast it's just like take that first step just do it just commit to it 100 and that's one of the things that i love about the diy community on top of like how community oriented it is and everybody's just like i don't know i don't know i don't know into you know collaborating and all that but it seems like everybody who's involved is the type of person to have an idea and then like actually follow through with it because everybody i feel like has that story or a similar story of like i wanted to be in a band in middle school or high school and so i asked my friends who were also into the same type of music as i was and they were like yeah and then you were the only person who like ever took it seriously like tried to practice your parts and stuff like that and i was like yeah i don't know i don't know i don't know or anything and everybody who's kind of like in the diy community now in their own ways you know whether it's like you know making visual art making remixes uh you know uh putting out things like there's been so many like new tape labels and stuff like that too that have come out in like the last couple years everybody is kind of the type of person to have an idea and like commit to the bit in a way and i think that that is one of my favorite like aspects of this yeah like the follow through is really important to me and i think that's one of the things that i've been really amazing in the scene because like i feel like for most people the follow-through to an idea of getting made is kind of like shaky but then it's like you go into like diy circles it's like if you have an idea you're going to get it done it might take you forever but it's like it is going to be like a very amazing like payoff just being like i did this yeah and i mean it oftentimes there's you know there'll be uh things that get in the way as far as like you know money to finance things or whatever but i think that there's like also something kind of charming about like everybody just doing this in spite of it being like well i don't have the best stuff but i'm gonna do with it what i what i can instead of like you know so many people also get hung up on the like oh i need this type of gear in order to do whatever and i think that um you know also just taking the plunge with what you have and then once you kind of figure out how to use that to the best of your ability leveling up too is another yeah like another aspect to that like the way i first started producing um music was just like on my phone like i didn't have a computer that could even like barely run minecraft at the time it was just like barely able to run google docs so i just like downloaded fl mobile a cracked version even of that which is like 15 or something and i remember just like getting really attached to just learning production even in this like pseudo environment like i could still make the songs that i was thinking of even if i didn't have the time to do it i could still make the songs that i was thinking of even if i didn't have the time to do it i could still make the songs that i was thinking of even if i didn't have the necessary gear or necessary equipment to make it as best as i could it was just like getting that idea on paper and seeing like i could do that which then kept on giving me motivation to be like and maybe i want to spend like more money on a good computer later on like save up but until then i still have this way to make music um and like same thing with like my first gets hard it was like this um 50 pawn shop gets hard that they're just basically trying to give away by some like knockoff brand and I sat down and learned on that guitar thankfully it was so up decently enough so i could learn with it um but it's just like that's always such a terrible thing like people trying to learn on a guitar and not knowing that it's like set up terribly and so you're literally like you don't know what you're doing on top of actively fighting with the instrument because it doesn't play right like that's the worst shit or like it doesn't stay in tune you're like i why do i have to keep tuning it and stuff and it's because like why do i sound terrible why is it always out of tune and it's just because like the tuning pegs suck or whatever yeah but like that's honestly like gear kind of matters sort of but like in the getting that idea out and like following through to seeing like some type of like end goal through like any resources that you have is like the biggest like diy like stamp of like yes just do it type of thing 100 all right so i think that that's probably a good spot to like uh to end this first section the first segment of the podcast on some uh advice for people who are looking into getting into the scene a little bit um so the next part of the episode we're gonna go back and forth share some new music some music that people might not know some fresh finds if you will so i'm gonna have the first one we're gonna go back and forth which is gonna give you the closer does that sound good yeah yeah that sounds perfect all right lovely so i think this first one is gonna be right up your alley um i'm guessing you've probably already heard it and you're gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like if i'm if i'm being honest but it's the title track from split jaw who are a hardcore band from chicago and uh this is the song dreads comforting embrace which is the title track off of their brand new ep that they released on november 1st i can't trust my friends and i can't trust the doctors all i can trust is this feeling of dread i tell me you can't say i'm just being anxious i've done nothing wrong there's a place on my head i love superstitions but this can't be happening six plus five point two seven one one amd that's what this song is about i can't trust my friends and i can't say i'm just being honest very clearly about like the fight for trans rights and things like that and this i i guess it's the the sections of this song aren't aren't really as clearly defined as uh like a traditional pop song but like the uh the end of this kind of like first chorus i guess you might want to call it because it's like a repeated part is you want justice and they just want peace basically like talking about how like all that you want is to just be treated like a fucking person and like everybody else is like shut up just just be be happy that you're still alive and like i think that this is such a important topic especially right now in like the political landscape that we are about to enter that we've been living in but especially like right now i think that going through these lyrics and really like reading this from the perspective of a person who has been dealing with it as opposed to me just like a regular white dude trying to explain it i don't have the words to say any of this but if you just like read the the lyrics of this listen to the aggression of it you will get the point that this is trying to make uh first i really love mold's music like independent from split jaw like it's this uh very nice like electronic pop-esque like type of sound and i really love like her independent work but like on this it really comes out with like that aggression and i feel like it helps with one the song but also helps like get these like very hard topics through and like it matches like the feeling of it because it's like this song is just like in your face trying to get like aggressive into it i feel like that is kind of the energy as well like the lyrics are backing when it comes to the oppressive forces of like societal connotations on people and like the different discriminations that they may face based off their race sex gender uh necessity um etc etc but it's just like i think that really like encaptures like both together really well on this absolutely this whole ep is incredible this is this is the title track it's only been out for like a couple weeks at this point but um absolutely just killer stuff right out the gate i cannot wait to see uh where this band goes also they were um i i really i vividly remember this they were um like shared by um new metal agenda like oh yeah yeah yeah and that was super cool no that that was awesome as well um just like getting because i don't actually know what what is kind of like the background on that account like is it like kind of more of a blog type of thing because i've kind of like seen them around but i don't actually know like is it just a twitter account like i i don't i don't actually know so it started off as like i understand as like a blog covering new metal moments and then it switched up onto twitter where they just started posting like clips of bands doing like really cool things like slipknot and then they also post like diy bands as well and i think like they're like one of the best to balance like showing like popular bands while like keeping that like diy band still and like it is like a very beautiful blend on like their twitter um but they also have like full-blown articles you could read by various writers oh interesting i didn't even realize that so yeah i uh i kind of want to go a little bit deeper on that uh sometime i feel like i just see them pop up on occasion like i've never like dug into it at all i want to say the run by lamp go which is another organization but i don't remember okay um so what do we have up next what's going to be your first uh your first choice first pick uh let me start off with something that is more adjacent to normal sounding music quote unquote um and it will be sleeping on stardust the person who i asked for mixing and like mastering advice in the past i really love his music um this is a kind of like a solo act that features a lot of artists while he is making it so he'll have a track and then he'll just send it to someone to like write lyrics for it um or do more stuff in that nature okay um so this is off of his record from 2023 going memus memus one day i will learn how to speak english um but this song is called pokemon are stored in balls 2.0 and it is the like what got me really heavily into cyber grind oh interesting so it was kind of your gateway yeah i wrote an article for lonely ghosts records for this record just because of like how much it made the entire scene of cyber grind make sense to me and like how much the sound resonated me after i listened to this record so that is like i highly recommend checking this album out with all the other wonderful artists that will be playing today so i will see you guys next time on the next episode of the show bye bye you dreams dreams dreams dreams dreams Sometimes I kill you, make you stronger. I hold the key to my fate in my hand, but I won't give up. Die a wanted man, die a wanted man. A lot of other stuff that I've heard from, like, the kind of cybergrind genre. It's always funny talking about, like, accessibility in terms of, like, extreme metal type of music. Just because it's like, oh, well, that's just not straight noise, I guess. So, like, people might be more into it. But, like, I'm getting a lot of, especially in the vocals, a lot of, like, old school death metal kind of influence. Which I think is really interesting. Uh, yeah, I believe, like, um, the person behind this project. Like, really loves, like, 80s rock and, like, 70s rock. And, like, really loves, like, that more traditional, like, metalcore sound of, like, early Metallica and, like, thrash metal. So, it's, like, interesting to see kind of that old school type of sound. of like writing and like sounds popping up in this like completely new environment of like electronics are going off and it's blending so many different like genres and sounds together and still being like cohesive as like a project that like just blew my mind yeah because like while the vocals kind of remind me of like older death metal like the the rhythms especially like the da da da da da da da da da da da like those kind of like really aggressive like just chug breaks basically remind me a lot of like kind of the crab core era of like of like metal core a lot more too and also with the guitar tone reminds me a lot of of that too so i think it's really interesting how it's kind of like blending these different eras because it's definitely not like because you think mixing like metal core with like death metal you would get like death core type shit but this doesn't sound like death core at all which i think is really interesting anybody who doesn't know metal subgenres is just going to be hearing gibberish from this point on it's it's just like metal if persons scream on guitar there is no other such thing as any other genre but it's been a really interesting just like to get into like cyber grind which kind of is like a loose genre name for like this type of music that kind of involves that like crab core type of sound from like the myspace era of like hardcore music and the era of like attack on tech and different bands in that era and still like modernizing it in these like very interesting ways playing with like modern metal core as well and i i think that's like one of the biggest appeals to the genre but also because like just how open and varied you can get into the genre now because people less so focus on like the grind aspect of cyber grind and kind of focus on like the more on the cyber part uh which is like the next track i have eventually uh which kind of like showcases that more like cyber part loose goose of the genre but it's like i feel like the song kind of like perfectly represents like cyber grind at like a base core level of just like this mixing pot of all these like beautiful or like harsh sounds coming together yeah for sure and we're we're some of those like kind of game boy type sounds we're a couple of those actually ripped from the pokemon like i heard the the one thing that i think was uh it sounded like when your pokemon's like low on health or something like that i think uh is what it sounded i haven't played a pokemon game in so long but i don't think i've played one like five years so i i feel you there um i believe uh for non-legal reasons of course that it definitely isn't nintendo related i would say it probably could be i i'm also curious because i i i don't know how how much you know about like the background of like the making of this or anything because you you said that you have like you know talked to them a bit uh and things like that do you know if they use like a circuit bent game boy because i know that like exciting excellent uses an actual hardware game boy to make a lot of their sounds do you know if they're doing a lot of their sounds for this or if it's like a like an emulator or anything i want to say it is an emulator in reaper um i am not too sure about that but i wouldn't be surprised if he did have this setup in his room at all i'd like if he said he does or doesn't i it would kind of blow my mind if he like doesn't have one just because like how accurate these sounds are to like the original uh hardware i think that that's something that i find really interesting is the fact that people have found ways to just access the midi of like uh all of these old game consoles and just use them in that way to make their own music i think it's really cool my cat keeps on like borderline jumping on my keyboard like every like few minutes so i'm like uh uh words plus cat please do not uh mess with the recording at all i don't want to lose the footage kitty cat please all right so my next tune is gonna be from a band called a tiger made of lightning which first off is an incredible band name um they are a newer kind of like post hardcore type of band that have been releasing a couple of singles over the last few months i think they're gearing up for either an ep or an album but uh i need to look into that a little bit more but anyway they are from columbus ohio and this is their most recent single that was released on november 1st it's called better parts of broken things so where i sit is the operation i walk the path with horizons as wide as the sky i told my whole life that this all could be mine soon i found out it was rigged from the start i'm out and i'm dead and a hole in my heart where do i go from here scatter the ashes alone from this place i can never go home step out and do it again i'm out and i'm dead and a hole in my heart i'm out and i'm dead and a hole in my heart The unknown And discover a new way to go You cut me down for the last time And I rebuilt myself To be a beacon to look to in times of despair A person to count on and someone who cares Despite the blindness and all its persistence I'm reaching for joy as an act of resistance Better parts of broken things Better parts of broken things Scatter the ashes aloud From this place I cannot Never come home Step out into the unknown And discover a new way to go Better parts of broken things Better parts of broken things Oh, man. I really loved that. Again, kind of that, like, throwback. Like, almost, like, MySpace-era, um, like, post-hardcore sound. But, like, I just absolutely love all of the singles that they have dropped leading up to whatever this next project is gonna be. They've all been killer. Like, I would love to see that song live. Just, like, be a part of the crowd killing. It's like, I feel like that would go so hard. The panic chords, you're just gonna be like, oh, my God, I'm about to die. When it's like the wall of death, but it's actually, like, you're probably going to die in the middle of that pit. I just saw a really interesting lineup that they're going to be playing with. Who was it? They're going to be playing in early December with Casper Fight Scene and Cliff Diver. Oh, that's crazy. Which is really kind of, yeah, kind of a crazy lineup because they're a lot more, like, kind of, like, hard rock, emo, kind of, kind of tinge stuff. So I think that this is, like, especially for that show, going to be, like, a really crazy, like, change of pace. But all of their stuff that I've been hearing so far is crazy. I think, like, a sick lineup, such, like, kind of, like, the band closest to, like, kind of this sound would be, like, excuse me, who are you on, like, Double Bind, where it's, like, emo, hardcore type of sound. Oh, yeah. And, like, this is going way more into, like, hardcore and, like, kind of abandoning a lot of, like, the emo, like, traditional sounds that you will get. And it's just, like, it's really just, like, pushing, like, forward in that sense, I guess. Especially for, like, that, like, era of, like, cliff divers and going in, like, that scene is, like, really cool. Well, and that's, again, the thing that I kind of like about DIY is there is kind of this, like, crossbreeding of, like, you go to see a bill and you will get all sorts of different styles of music, you know, whether it's, like, a lot heavier stuff or, like, a bit lighter stuff or whatever. That's something that I've always kind of really loved about, like, the culture of DIY shows is that there's kind of going to be something for anybody who's into any kind of, like, alternative music generally. Well, I went to recently just to go see Combat play and, like, they had this, like, one, like, a Scrams band play but then they had this, like, hardcore electronic, I don't know, but it was, like, super, like, experimental and cool. Oh, that's sick. They were, like, using, like, voice manipulation software and stuff, like, in real time. While, like, they were playing drums with, like, one hand. And I was, like, that is such a crazy lineup to have before Combat. But it was, like, it was super fun. fascinating i really loved it yeah the way that some people like really experiment and like especially when you experiment with music in like those sites in those types of ways and like you probably relate to this a lot too i know that you don't really play live shows as dan macy uh but like you really kind of have to just find places where you can kind of like slip in a little bit because you're not gonna find other people making like the exact same type of stuff and so i i think it's interesting like kind of finding ways that you can like bridge that gap to be able to like play with these different types of bands and like actually get on bills and also leads to like even like more music being like even more diverse because you're listening to these like such a diverse range of like shows and you're like supporting like such a diverse range of sounds so like in that sense it's like really cool to see like all these different sounds like crossbreeding would be like the best way for sure so also like it kind of explained that as well i just realized looking at their their page on title is that uh this band a tiger made of lightning has been releasing music since 2020 i don't know why but maybe it's just because i just discovered them when like their newer stuff started coming out but i thought that they were like way newer i'm really looking forward to sometime in the next couple days going through and like checking out some of their older stuff because this is just absolutely killer and i would love to have more of it they have uh two full-length albums for the next couple of years and i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them coming out so i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next couple of years and i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next couple of years and i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next couple of years and i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in the next couple of years and i'm really looking forward to seeing more of them in 2022 and 2023 so they might be doing an album a year this pace which is pretty incredible for diy bands i really love when bands like come up super quickly but they've been like doing like playing music and like being a band for like five or six years and then like randomly they'll just like have something like go up and like pop off it's really cool just to see like bands coming up that way like i think about like harrison gordon for example because like he's like a big fan of he's been at it for forever and he just like this past year just like blew up off of um like different content on the internet i just think that's like super cool to see when like bands you've been following just has these like crazy explosions you finally see that that tipping point like uh saturdays at your place are a very similar band in that way as well we're like they'd been making music for like a number of years and then the uh always cloudy ep came up it came out and like changed everything for them yeah like they just got done with like a headlining tour and stuff and like that's super cool to see just like kind of slowly building up to this like one moment where they just kind of like all like explode at one another and it's super cool yeah and i think that it's really fun being able to follow bands through that too and like see the reaction to like oh shit like people care about us now like like what is going on i think like oh the biggest thing is like i've been following red sun for like over a year now um and seeing like all the cool things they've been doing and it's cool to see they just got signed to like wax bodega they have a split coming out on wax bodega and it's like that's just like super amazing to see they didn't even have i think that they released their first song on streaming this time last year like a year ago it's been a crazy crazy year for them they've just exploded and i feel like it's really cool just being like both a fan of the genre of music uh and like also like being an artist because like i like it's just super cool to just be a fan of these like wonderful musicians and like them getting like these crazy opportunities and just being like oh wow i can't believe that this person did like this crazy like incredible thing with like a certain label or like a certain venue or something like that like to me that's just like one of the best villains ever yeah it's just even like the second hand like excitement from that like it's not happening to you but you're like you've been watching them for so long it's like i'm proud of what they've accomplished basically yeah same thing uh with me with like riley because i've been listening for like ever too and it's like crazy to see like where they have come with like their newest record and just like all the cool places they played out the tours and like getting uh a couple different things on counterintuitive records as well yeah they they've been uh they've also been popping off this year that's honestly the new riley album is probably one of my favorite uh albums of the year so far honestly that's in my like top five for this year i always just say like it's top five no matter what because i'm like i don't want to choose a favorite so here's like five albums that are like i love and that's how i play with the top of the albums every year totally fair so what do we have up next so um as i was saying previously before we just listened to the great song by a tiger made of lightning we are going to go into the cyber part of cyber grind so this is going to be like your more aggressive beats slash noise kind of sound um and this is going to be by a artist called bottom surgery and skeleton meat fantasy library on the album skeleton surgery 3 the song is called bottom uh i'm not sure if i can say this word uh but uh bottom horse fair that's that's how i will say that i'm not sure if youtube hates certain words but hopefully they do not uh this person was originally from arizona i believe nevada no yeah yeah nevada and they are just like an amazing artist plus skeleton meat fantasy library also another amazing artist that i recommend checking out hopefully this works without some random thing happening all right let's go hold on a sec snip snip watch the ball i wanna try quick snip snip that was insane this is the only music i've ever heard i mean honestly my favorite thing about this is the fact that i have my webcam on i can see my reaction to this the fact that like i i couldn't do anything but just like kind of laugh at how ridiculously insane this is like it's it words are words are funny but uh this is almost like post ironic dubstep if that makes sense oh it's like to me like i hear a lot of things that you would get in like you know a skrillex song or something like that but like it's just cranked up to like you're not even at 11 anymore you're at 13 you know and like it's very interesting the way that you take all of this just fucking aggressive shit but like it's still cohesive in a way i have no idea how the hell they do it i've been trying to recreate a bottom surgery beat for like the past month and i still can't do it like it is very incredible the way that she makes her music because it's just like i i can't explain it and i don't know how anyone could but it's just like it is so powerful and still like keeping that like pop tendency in it where it's like that sweet beat on the background where it's like you have to like you have to have this beat on top of this noise and it's going full throttle and it sounds so amazing to me it also like kind of reminds me like specifically the bass just the like that that type of like bass that they have in it this feels like the deep fried memes of music if that makes sense like i i don't know how else to explain it like like i i literally have to pull on like meme references as ways to like explain this because like musically i don't know how else to it's so different from like anything that i'm like really familiar with like i feel like a lot of like the electronic side of like cyber grind is just like trying to go as far away from like traditional music and like trying to keep it still sounding cohesive and i think like there are so many amazing artists right now like tracy breaks and i'm letting unforeseen forces take the will or as just like examples of bands that are just like making these insane like soundscapes and like trying to just push the limit as far as they can go while still keeping it like listenable per se so like yeah average person who maybe is not used to like harsh noises in music yeah like i think it's really interesting how people try to take like the most extreme sounds that you could possibly imagine and still try and keep some semblance of musicality in it because like it it really is a valiant effort to be doing those sorts of things and like trying to really just find where the boundary is not not necessarily like push the boundary but figure out like how far can i take this before it kind of stops being able to be perceived as music which i think is it's something that i've seen in a couple of other podcasts that i find very interesting is the idea of how do you define music right like the i i think something that i saw that i thought was very interesting was somebody said that music is anything that can be experienced as such so like if you go into something with the intent of experiencing it as music then it can be but if you were to just like hear this you know in you know without that preparation you might be like oh this sounds like you know maybe not i've kind of always like i loved researching or like looking into like what makes music music and kind of seeing like the different deviations that people have on like what they would like classify as music to me i just see like any series of like loosely organized sounds is like music and it's just seeing where people will take that concept um such as like using just like raw noise or like taking a fan plugging it through effects such as like noise musicians where it's like to me i personally wouldn't like want to listen to that type of music however like there is still like that organization and there's still this like story that can be told through like more extreme stylistic choices such as like just distortion looping in on itself i think that is like very fascinating because like i feel like music can be both about the sound and also like the story behind what you're doing with the sound and it's just like there's two parts blending together and it's like really hard if you're not prepped on like the context of like what you're listening to to like understand it so i completely agree with what you're saying on when you're listening to like a more harsh noise album or just like a noise album you have to be prepped with like maybe a story or like the context that what you're listening to is like trying to convey like a certain feeling or like a certain provoke like sensation in you and i think that's really cool as well that's also kind of like where album art and things like that get to be very important because that that's like in more traditional music you can kind of go all right here's our songs here's an image that loosely kind of like captures the vibe and you can call that your your album art but i feel like there's kind of like a thing especially with like this type of stuff where you have to be very deliberate in the artwork that goes along with it that it uh like helps press the people who are going to be listening to it for what it is that they're about to experience all right so i have the next pick uh and now for something completely different up next is probably if i had to guess the most normal song uh that you're going to that you're going to hear this episode it's by a band called wifey and they are a power pop project from brooklyn this was a direct submission so uh if you are watching the podcast you make music and you are interested in submitting anything to potentially be featured uh send it to me at fresh finds pod at gmail.com but uh this is a band called wifey the song is called marianne leaves the band off of their new ep just to tease which was released back in september it's mostly men in the marching band and not a one girl's half as cute as marianne at her music stand my god that girl knew how to handle a flute told her my name at the football game and once again when we played the state fair but ever since she met johnny k well her priorities have been elsewhere marianne finds herself a man and then the band starts falling apart the kids in the window are licking their wounds i sit alone with my saxophone but mr s won't let me play the blues the music's cool don't feel as cool that the other girls are relieved but since you quit we play like shit i'm dropping shit for the chess team marianne finds herself a man and then the band starts falling apart well marianne leaves the band well marianne leaves the band oh marianne i beg of thee i'm pining for you as you plod through yankee doodle dandy this fecky girl can't play your parts as skillfully as you her breath control is spotty and i heard that she eats glue sure johnny's got a car and his sleeve tattoos are cool but don't you think it's kind of weird he hangs around the high school he's 32 years old and he's still in high school With his mom Pretty sure it's a legal boy To come to the front Marianne finds herself a man And then the band starts falling apart Marianne meets the band Marianne meets the band Marianne meets the band We've got ourselves a little bit of a palate cleanser there I really loved kind of the like Charmy like campiness Of like kind of that like Bowling for suits Era of like power pop Yeah Yeah it's like Fountains of Wayne kind of deal Yeah yeah Yeah like it kept that like same like charm From that And like kept on like expanding on it With like a really cool solo part In the middle of there And like that entire like bridge section Of like talking about this like random dude Who's like he should not be going to the prom Like that is red flag behavior And I thought like The overall vibe of the track Was like really Just like fun Slash like really like intriguing In that sense It's like the musical equivalent Of like going back and watching Like American Pie Or something like that Like it's got this very like Campy kind of early 2000s Like feel to it I mean even the lyrics again Kind of has that just like High schooler movie type of like Plot to it That I find very charming In that way But yeah like And also musically It is just very solid power pop too I've been getting into a lot of power pop Over the last year Just like I don't know It's something that after Having gone into like a lot more Like heavy music Over the last few years And stuff like that Like I've kind of gotten into just like A good short catchy tune Is just like straight up my alley right now I think like kind of a band Doing like a similar thing To this Would be like Equipment's new single Tequila Red Bull Okay sure Where it's like that like power pop Kind of middle Weezer-ish Like histography sound Where it's just like It is just these like really fun Sing along songs And I like really love just like Because it's really cool To like take music seriously But just have these like songs That are just like Oh yeah this is like super fun And just also like Really refreshing to hear And like to see bands doing Exactly Like a few other ones That kind of like scratch That similar itch for me Liquid Mike Is like musically a bit different But kind of has that similar thing Of like it's just very like Straight up like pop rock type of stuff With extremely catchy hooks That you can sing along to After just a couple listens Or even like probably My album of the year It's a band that I've been Working with for a long time And it's a little bit different But like I kind of get A similar itch scratched By the new Townies album as well There's a couple songs on that that kind of like do a similar thing but then they also go into like a bit of the heavier like kind of proggy and like emo type of stuff too which I think is really cool probably why it's my album of the year and has been pretty much since it was released but like honestly like overall I just like really love like the aesthetic I also have been like looking up the bands on my second monitor and just like looking at the album art and like I really love how like everything like is tied together with this band wifey and just like how like well produced it sounds I'm not sure like what how they produced it or anything but just like sounds really great so they were actually uh produced uh by Billy Manineau who is all over twitter you've probably you've probably seen him around before uh has done a ton of really cool stuff so I would imagine that they went into the studio and laid all this down and this was actually released on mountainside crushmore records just absolutely killer stuff I need to look into them more uh with mount crushmore yeah I don't think I've heard of that label yet but I I will after this though yeah I uh I kind of want to look that up right now actually because who else is like is that just their own no that's not just their own label but doesn't seem like there's any other bands that I'm specifically familiar with but I will definitely check out some more uh some more stuff on that label for sure if it's uh anything like this oh 100 especially like the power pop elements like I I've really loved to like listen to more of this type of like sound and just like get more familiar with like power pop in general honestly because I feel like that is an area that I'm also like kind of unfamiliar with a lot of other than like your very like popular bands from like the early 2000s but like I really like love this sound and I'm going to 100% listen to more did you listen to uh the new oso oso record or any other uh of any of their other stuff I have listened to osu osu and I do have a cover of reindeer games oh right on yeah yeah yeah I have only between me and you and whoever's watching this I've only listened through two full osu osu records and I need to change that um but I have listened to their newest record and the um yuhan mixtape but those are the they're a band that I was also very like late to the party on I didn't listen to them until their newest album came out but I I thought of that because they specifically mentioned in their email that it was like for fans of uh fountains of wayne and oso oso but I mean absolutely killer stuff uh what do we have up next so up next uh since we are wanting to go into a more normal-ish like soundscape instead of this like very harsh stuff I wanted to bring up a deep cut from king lj I believe that's how you pronounce their name they're from birmingham alabama um and they recently just released a record called meanwhile the 3.5 edition and this song is called vulnerability it's really my safe space though and I hope you hit my heart I always have 3 a.m again back with pat and pen right back not answering calls been ignoring friends alone in this room loneliness kicked in I'm just trying not to spin trying not to fuck I'm here trying to find myself don't know where I went I've been beginning again hoping that it ends caught me missed the shoot my shot but life blocked at the rim now I'm sitting here shit is looking grim I gotta love hate relationship with solid too I can't tell if I'm healed or isolated from the truth but however I feel like give it all to you and we'll look back one day and scrutinize to prove cause I ain't lying one time when talking to you my safe space has always been inside this hole I would prefer to have a person to relate this to but until her magical appearance that's what I have to do cause I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments hope you understand I'm not as strong as you think I am I have moments that hit me truly then I shake it off like mirage grooming cause I realize gotta keep it moving in a fair tale or a kids movie or a six flash or walt disney might max out but no goofy in me the ideas big nothing bout me many every wind proper nothing bout me mickey boy I'm with the shits like donald bucking at the bt awards never ducking any repercussions but it's up and stuck if you think the skill and the talent's luck can't handcuff this lightning bruh don't quote the grace it might get you struck don't mention dreck you might get you snuck I been throwing flames cause it's light work till the pipe bursts and we close cause I be wanting me a best friend that's similar when doors close we can see the scene and dress up clean make memories for sure but I also wanna cap off some memories and some things that we can't disclose but yeah that's been over I hate not having somebody to get close to a bend over a car trip with or hit food spots and make jokes with I hate not having somebody to get close to a bend over a car trip with or hit food spots and make jokes with I hate not having somebody to get close to a bend over a car trip with or hit food spots and make jokes with I hate not having somebody to get close to a bend over a car trip with or hit food spots and make jokes with I really love like the smoothness of the beat and like their flows on top of it complement each other like super well and I feel like that takes a lot of effort to get the right sound and I feel like that takes a lot of effort to get the right sound and I feel like a lot of talent like within the genre to like complement beats that well with that flow and just like knowing like when to like flow in certain ways and like how to play with like stops and stuff like that it's just like to me i felt like this track specifically off this record just be like very like impressive and just like really love like the song topic as well yeah and well and one of the things that i really like too is that it starts out with a much more like simple kind of straightforward flow and then like after it drops out there's kind of like that little uh like turnaround with with the sample and then it goes into like the next section that's when he starts getting into like the more technical kind of like acrobatic types of flows i think it's really cool to like start it out very like more simple and then kind of like ramp up to that and like at the end it almost like sounds like he's wrapping around the beat in a way like like he's he's not hitting right on like the the beat where i almost lost like count of it for a second but i think that it's really cool how some rappers have the ability to go around it but still work with the beat in that way if that makes sense like it's um kind of like the beat is like a living instrument that you're like playing off of and like playing on top of where it's like you can like bounce off of it and then get right back onto it and it just it sounds like so impressive to me yeah just i mean i do not have nearly that type of control with my my voice so like just thinking about the fact of like being able to fit some of these rhyme schemes in the way that they do and things like that is very impressive like you mentioned as well i also love that type of like old school sample based type of beat that kind of like boom bap type of like sample based beat is really something that i love that i kind of want more artists to bring back more because it's kind of like a little bit kind of like an old school sound yeah like i feel like a lot of artists now at least like in the genre of rap kind of sample songs but they kind of just it feels like it's not like necessarily like a creative decision with like their sampling where i feel like on this it feels like a very organic way to like chop and like sample something in that like classical traditional hip-hop from the um 90s using like mpcs and like 808s and like bouncing off of that into like the modern day where you just only have computers and stuff and to me that early like bit of going okay i need to like splice this up here tapping buttons constantly constantly over and over over again to like use the correct setting on the mpc and like that art form i feel like it's like slightly lost but there's a lot of artists that are using either old school material or using like new school technology in order to like recreate that like this and like to me that is really beautiful of like keeping that art alive and like that similar manner like using these like old samples and like these very creative unique new ways yeah well and also like there's kind of a tendency with a lot of newer stuff to be uh sampling like more uh like pop and stuff like that whereas this is an r&b type of sample which i don't know what the sample is from that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a deep cut but like i really love that sort of like just crate digging type of sound uh i don't know what the sample is from i don't know what the sample is um do you know if he produces his own beats i believe they do produce their beats as far as i'm aware uh i haven't looked too too too too much into them and like uh their process um but i want to say it is like mostly like diy hip-hop that's super cool i i really like the kind of rise of uh rappers and just uh artists in hip-hop that kind of do like their own production as well as the as well as like the vocals because there's something like that's a type of production that is very foreign to me but it feels really strange to think about buying a beat and from a producer and then like finding, you kind of have to write around it as opposed to like writing something and making a beat that goes with what you're writing. I don't know, that seems more intuitive to me than like just searching for different producers and beat makers and stuff like that, finding something that's a similar vibe. I feel like you would be more likely to have to settle in that situation as opposed to finding something that works exactly like how you want. Like I feel like with like a lot of rap, it is at least like in the modern day, it's a lot more like they're taking like the poetry that they've written down or they're freestyling and applying it to something rather than like taking something like a beat and like writing around it. Like typically like for us like instrumentalists, we think about the instrumentation and like how it goes with like the lyrics or like the singing and we think about like that as in like a new, new genre. And then we think about like the lyrics or like the singing and we think about like that as in like a new, nuanced kind of way for us. It's just like what we value where it's like on the other side, like a lot of these people exclusively care about the words and like delivering the story or their message across through that. And that is like more valuable to this culture than like the necessarily like the instrumentals being like this specific way for this specific verse and that type of stuff. At least that's how I have like grown to like interpret it at least. That makes sense to me. I don't know. It's just a very different world. Like it almost feels like you're working backwards from like how my mind processes like the music making process, which is just interesting because I mean, you know, you just think about music in general and everybody thinks about it in a different way. And that's what makes it so interesting and why no two people make the exact same type of thing. Yeah. Like I really love music just because like there is like hundreds and hundreds of different like cultures and like subcultures to music, like all across the world. And like there's hundreds of like thousands of millions of ways to like going about like creating music and like the different focal points on music, like whether or not you care more about the lyrics or like the beat or about like the instrumentation or solos and stuff like that. And to me, like that really like brings like the music alive and like gives it like that extra like element of culture, which I feel is very important, especially like on this record talking about like the commercialization. Of like rap and hip hop and talking about how just because you are not making like commercially like successful music in this industry doesn't mean that it is like more or less valuable. I also believe that it's like a major part of this record and just like in music in general. I think that's like a really great lesson to kind of like take away from that. 100%. I love that a lot as well, because just because you're not generating capital doesn't mean that your music isn't worth anything to people. In other ways. All right. So my next song is the one that I sent you earlier, because as of recording this, it is currently not released, but it will be coming out next Friday, which I believe will be the past Friday by the time this album or by the time this podcast comes out. Timelines are hard when you're thinking in the future like that. Anyway, by the time this is out, it will be out. This is a song off of the band Stop, Drop, Rewind's new self-titled album. They are what they call prog punk, which is basically pop punk if every single member of the band was really into like prog music growing up and just never wanted to play in 4-4. So this song is off of their new album. It is called The Bomb. The one that you have isn't actually called that because it was the working title. Anyway, let's listen to it. Nobody has to die. But no one dies alone. Put my faith in humankind. For all it got me. Snow was falling on the ground last time I saw my family. Same as the day that I was born. My mother told me. As a child, I used to bleed when I fell down. Only cried when there was no one else. Once you reach a certain age You see everything change But nothing changed at all Still skipping round that stage Does anything change? Nothing at all You've reached the final phase You've seen everything change But nothing changed at all Don't tell me nothing's changed at all Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down Tell me nothing's wrong In the fearful darkness You shake apart the crowd Tell me I'm fine Tell me the end of life Is so much different from the ending of time Tell me what you want me to do Cause everybody's following you Every person that I've ever loved And all my stuff is gone Every bleeding heart That could not give up Swore that love's enough Was wrong Every time I've ever felt alone Every broken bone is healed Doesn't matter how it felt back then I know I'll never be alone again Once you've made your last mistake You'll see if everything's fake But nothing's fade at all Don't tell me nothing's fade at all Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down Tell me nothing's wrong In the fearful darkness You shake apart the crowd Tell me I'm fine Tell me the end of life Is so much different from the ending of time Tell me what you want me to do Earth was shattered into shards And scattered to the stars And all the things you loved Are dust in little artful hands Dreamt I heard the voice of God Through sirens going off Asks me what it takes To make a person truly panic To make a person truly panic Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down Tell me nothing's wrong When the sun goes down In the fearful dark As you shake apart the crowd Tell me I'm fine Tell me the end of life Tell me I'm fine Tell me the end of life Tell me I'm fine Tell me the end of life Tell me the end of life Is so much different from the ending of time Is so much different from the ending of time Is so much different from the ending of time Tell me what you want me to do Tell me what you want me to do 'Cause everybody's following you 'Cause everybody's following you 'Cause everybody's following you Woooo! That was crazy. Dude. Dude. Dude. Dude. Like, where to start is the big thing. I think that one of my favorite things is the fact that it hits so many different things. Like, it's heavy in the chorus. There's that really, really funky bridge/solo section. But it also gets really dark and brooding But it also gets really dark and brooding in a kind of calm way at the very beginning, too. I think it's super cool how it takes off. It takes you on this epic journey, basically. Like, I really love the prog playing with time signatures in the bridge where it was just like that dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun type of sound. Yeah. And it flowing on top of that solo was just super crazy, too. And glinting it into what you would say is a traditional kind of rock/chevrolet/three days of grace kind of rock/chevrolet/three days of grace type of sound to it. And that was such a rock/chevrolet/three days of grace kind of cool experience to have those two worlds being blended together those two worlds being blended together super well and super crisp. Another small little thing that I really love is the end of the chorus. the do-do-do-do-do-do-do the way that there's like i think it's at least the guitar and the vocals maybe the bass as well all follow that run out of the chorus and then it goes into like the next riff i think is just such a such a fun little like unison moment like i think especially live it'll be like a really cool uh really cool part of the song i like really like also appreciate like the harmonic choices going up into like these really cool like type parts that feels like they're leading into the next part and when it drops it feels like so satisfying too where yeah it just like it feels like it's going like out of time and these like triple it filling chords and like punches in together super well i would really love to see like more bands doing this kind of like proggy type shit i feel like it's kind of an underscoring thing i feel like it's kind of an underscoring thing i feel like it's kind of an underserved market in a way in like the diy scene which is why i think that they're such a like unique and interesting band one of the i'm not sure like too many bands in that like prog area that is specifically going for like hardcore-ish sound because like i feel like a lot of bands are going for a more like math rock type of sound they're like playing with like a lot of these different concepts so it's like getting like a lot of these like really cool like math rock bands to go more into that like proggy area where i think that'd be like super interesting yeah because there are a lot of bands that play with like the the time feel and like play with uh time signatures and like that type of stuff but it's a lot more of a kind of like basic kind of pop rock song structure whereas their music plays a lot more on the structure of the song in general like that it's kind of that sort of thing like you think of dream theater tool like all that kind of stuff where you have very long songs with lots of different sections that have very different feels to them and that's kind of the big thing that differentiates like the math rock from like the prog basically like in my mind is like playing with structure a lot more yeah like um like a lot of the songwriting felt like interwoven within each other and like it playing off of itself and like different motifs throughout was like super cool as well and i also really love the fact they did include a chorus and like a very proggy song it's like i feel like most of the prog slash like long form rock songs that play with like a lot of different elements usually like don't have it at least in my experience but like this is also like a genre that i'm very unfamiliar with other than like a few here and there see that was something that was a lot more like up my alley growing up uh like before i got into like a lot of the heavier stuff was i was very into like um again like like dream theater and tool and like that type of stuff was kind of like my introduction to like more complex music as far as structures and things like that go but um the way that you were talking about motifs reminds me something that i think is very cool about the this whole project is they were telling me that it's a loose concept album that is based on different interpretations of the apocalypse and what that might look like through like different uh through different lenses they specifically said um so it's got a wider structure and it's got a wider scope down to like much more grounded things to almost like a mythical type of scale of like a mass apocalypse and i think that that's going to be very interesting way to like tie the record together i honestly can't wait to like hear way more of that project because i really love that song and like how it came together they released i can't remember if it's an album or an ep right now uh let me look uh a couple years ago it was an album it was called heavy love it's only six tracks but it's a it's a half hour long and it is absolutely incredible so if you're trying to get a taste of that before this new album drops absolutely check that out i was so into it when it came out a couple years ago and again just very cool like progressive type of stuff but they also have like some fun tongue-in-cheek type of music too like they have a song called space force that is literally just like a two and a half minute little like pop punk song that was kind of like a jab at the idea of making a u.s space force and it's like like almost a jokey type of song so it's really cool the range that they have these guys are awesome are they dropping the song that we just listened to as a single or like with the entire project and no this is an album cut uh so it'll be out when the album drops this friday uh as of recording okay uh i need to write that down so i can go listen to that when it drops yeah it's absolutely incredible stuff i like i said i've been a fan of theirs uh for a couple years now so it's really cool getting some new music from them again are we ready yeah what do we have up next so as tradition let's break all like norms we we have been listening to normal music too long already on this podcast so we need to break it up right so here is a band called dick beats song is from their newer album called dick broke and it is like this electronic break core slash like skewed all over the place song that is just going everywhere i think that is the best way i could physically even attempt to explain what's happening in this so let's give the song gay sex.com.gov.edu a spoon i'm as ready as i'm gonna be i'm gonna go ahead and go ahead and show you guys a little bit of what i'm going to be doing so i'm gonna go ahead and show you guys a little bit of what i'm gonna be doing so i'm gonna go ahead and i'm gonna go ahead and show you guys a little bit of what i'm gonna be doing so i'm gonna go ahead I'll see you next time. And while the kingdom fully recognizes the need for Israel to feel safe, it cannot be at the expense of the Palestinian people. Transcription by ESO. Translation by — Transcription by ESO. Translation by — again because like as a producer and a musician and whatever like i always kind of try and think about like i wonder what was the spark for this project was like you know uh you know where the idea came from and especially with this type of stuff it's just such a different headspace like one of the best places i found like listen to this type of music is just like working out because it's just like so intense and like over the top and going everywhere well like while working out it just like fills my brain and like it's such a great way to just like push through whatever i'm doing so like in that sense i feel like that would be like probably the best situation to listen to these like very intense going everywhere type of tracks i feel like it would be too much to focus on for me like like if i'm working out and like listening to stuff i like stuff that is just like aggressively simple and heavy like i really like old school just like knuckle-dropping dragger type of hardcore like like that kind of stuff when i'm working out because it's like something that i can i can feel the aggression but i don't have to like pay attention to the intricacies of it as much but like you know to each their own like i want my brain to be absolute static while i'm working out so i just like don't think about anything like i am being assaulted by like my ears i'm being like assaulted physically while working out so i'm like this is perfect music to listen to while i'm doing oh that's incredible all right um so my final song of the evening now is probably another one of my off of one of my favorite albums of the year it's interesting because it wasn't one that like i immediately went oh yeah this is this is like a game changer this is an album that is gonna be my album of the year when i listened to it the first time but it was one that i just kept coming back to and it's like it was a slow burn to realize like oh this is probably one of my favorite projects of the year but it's by a band called oceanator i discovered them a couple years back because they opened for pup on the uh the unraveling of pup the band that tour for at least part of it i don't remember if they were on the entire tour or not but anyway this is from their new album everything is love and death this song is called get out I'm done doing things just halfway and I don't care what you think anyway you've never had my best interest in mind filling my head with falsities I'm done doing things just halfway and I don't care what you think anyway that lies get up get up get out tonight cause i'm not going down without a fight i wanna be a knife stuck in my head imagining all the things i never said find my way back to myself i always feel like i'm somebody else get up get up get out tonight don't care what you think i know i'm right the next time that i see you it's all size and i swear cause i'm not going down with you i don't care what you think i know i'm right the next time that i see you it's all size and i don't care what you think i know i'm right get up get up get out tonight i don't care what you think i know i'm right i don't care what you think i know i'm right the next time that i see you it's all size and i don't care what you think i know i'm right the next time that i see you it's all size and i don't care what you think i know i'm right i don't care what you think i know i'm right the next time that i see you it's all size and i don't care what you think i know i'm right i don't care what you think i know i'm right i don't care what you think i know i'm right ♪ We're all dead ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're all dead It's all pointless, we're all dead We just need to stop by land Can't help it being in my head I don't think they'll tell you It's a world of rubbish, man I don't think they'll tell you Everything I'm waiting is a bucket Look at the sky, I get a punch Yeah, we hate it, I'm blind I'm late, I'm running bleak I'm low on candy, it's sad I'm low on money, it's sad Even a man's love, I thought I'd make a change Fuck It is what it is God, just look at us continue walking When the world is moving in a speed I can't compete with him in this I'm ready to die Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're all dead It's all pointless, we're all dead I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. Let Ma be human. That was a very interesting end to that. The sounds of some gory viscera there at the end. I wonder if that's like a, if it's a sample of like a, it sounds like maybe a video. Game sample or something like that. Or like some type of like horror movie from like the nineties or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. But man, for a blind pick, that was incredible. It had like really cool, like SAS core vocals on like just straight up like blast beats. And that was just like, honestly, for like a just random, like picking a random song off a random discord somewhere that was super like well executed. Yeah. Honestly, when you said, yeah, it's just a random one, from the discord. I'm like, Oh boy, I was preparing myself for the worst. And I was very pleasantly surprised. This was a incredible, just like, again, the blast beats and just, you know, fucking tremolo picking their asses off. And it just sounds incredible. And then like going into like a fax machine, breaking up into like, just glitching out was just like super cool. And like how it blended all together with like all those different types of effects was also like super well executed while still being like this harsh type of sound. That just blended super well. Yeah. Looking into it, it looks like they are a duo from say Michigan and Oklahoma, which is interesting. So I'm assuming that they probably met online, but you never know. Maybe they knew each other and somebody moved or something, but for just like a, a two P I'm curious how they split this up. If one of them's like a vocalist and the other does like most of the instrumentation, I would imagine, imagine one of them's a guitarist and one of them's a drummer. And then one of them does vocals as well. But I think, yeah, I think you are right of how you explained that. We're looking at their Twitter really fast. It looks like one does like guitar and like voice while the other one does like primarily like drums and like voice and probably like bass guitar as well. You know, this rounds back to something that we were talking about just before we started recording, which is where you said that like, some of the best, most heavy music you can't find anything about. And you're like, Oh yeah, their bio is usually like one sentence. And that's exactly what this is on Spotify. Army of two from Oklahoma and Michigan. And that is just a link to their Twitter. And that's all that it says on their, on their Twitter too. This is so funny that it happens to like loop back around to what we were just like talking about shooting the shit before we started recording. That's so funny. Like the less a band has in their Spotify bio, the harder it's about. Yeah. That's not like how, you know, you just felt like a really great band. It reminds me of something that I saw like forever ago, but it was somebody who was like, Oh, you think that, you know, X band is the best band to ever exist. The best band to ever exist was probably a group of people that you have never heard of from the middle of nowhere that played like five shows and then just like disappeared because they were, you know, in the middle of nowhere and couldn't get any traction. It kind of reminds me, like the emo revival of like snowing and stuff, or it's just like a bunch of these bands that have been known as like the greatest bands ever. We're only like known as the greatest bands ever, like 10 years past, like them doing their thing. Cause at the time they were just like middle of nowhere, Midwest, just trying their best to get these like really creative songs out there and playing shows like barely like anyone. And like at the time while they were like together, they barely had like any traction, but they were just like making music just to make music and only, like 10 years after the fact that people go, wow, did you check out this band called snowing? Like this was like the greatest record ever. And like things of like that nature and like how it like just grew like almost like post-mortem. I've said this forever that the most influential bands are almost never popular because they, if you're going to be influential, you have to like really kind of do something new and people aren't necessarily going to gravitate towards that right away. You'll have people who do, who gravitate towards it and they will probably be influenced by that music. And that will be the music that gets popular. And so like all, I feel like a lot of the bands that like push genres forward the most are only ever like appreciated as much as they should be after the fact. Yeah. Like, I think like a really like great example of that is like American football. Like when they were like first made and like the middle of nowhere trying to make like this Midwest emo thing, type of sound, it was just like no one really like cared for it. But then like five to 10 years later, a lot of people start signing it as like one of their biggest inspirations. And then like a lot of those bands started blowing up and then that brought up American football with them. And now like American football is like a very common name now versus like when they started and we're just like beginning out there, just like no one really cared then about what they were making or like trying to make. Well, yeah, I think that's interesting. Yeah. Because they really, they released an EP and an album in the late nineties and then didn't do anything until 2016 when everybody was like, this is the best band ever, you know? And then like almost like force them into like coming out of retirement. And then like, that was when they reached legend status. It is really interesting how you will just like randomly see those. And that's also like the independent scene. And like, I feel like you maybe don't see it quite as much, but like the college radio station culture and like, like that kind of stuff where there are people who, if you make contact with the right people, they will be like, Oh, this shit was cool, but it's not necessarily going to like turn into anything right away. I kind of going back to what you were talking about with like some of the bands right now that are like just taking off that like we're working for a number of years, kind of didn't get any traction, didn't get any traction. And then just kind of like popped off. Yeah. It's honestly like just really cool to see, like a lot of these bands and they're like hard work, whether like active, not necessarily like perform the best, like analytically, but they're just doing it for like the love of the music. And like people recognize that like after the fact that they were like an active band and like have gravitated them towards mass just because of like the passion and the love that they have for making music. I think like one of the biggest examples of just like this post-mortem, like absolute explosion was a modern baseball, just as an example, of like why they were going, they were just like, they only cared about like the music and like the community they were making around them. And then only like after the fact they blew up to like this multi like million monthly listener band. And just, I feel like people are just attracted to like kind of like that passion, like that influence. Yeah. Which again can kind of like screw you in like the time that you're like actually working because like, you know, you might not get as many opportunities as somebody who like, you know, is more into like the marketing a lot more aggressively or whatever. But I think that that's just the nature of music and art in general is some things are going to catch on. Other things aren't going to be, aren't going to be fully appreciated until afterwards. I mean, that's been the, that's been the cycle of art for millennia. So I think it's very interesting to just kind of be watching that in the current time. And that's something that I always kind of, to think about too is like, Like, you know, you have people who are significantly older than us, but who were like, oh, yeah, I saw My Chemical Romance for five dollars in like, you know, 100 cap venue, you know, something like that. And you never know what band is going to turn into that for you if you're going to be like, oh, yeah, I remember seeing this band play, you know, like the very first set at Focella and Howard's Bar in this year. And then suddenly they're like, you know, 20 years later, the biggest band ever or whatever. I think it's really interesting to kind of like have that perspective and like be in that moment now. Yeah, I just like getting in like current bands are just like active as well. And so just like maybe listening to like past bands, like getting involved into like the current scene and like supporting people. So you can be like, I knew this band before like X event or like Y event. And like be like super excited to just like watch their growth and like be along for that ride and like that culture. And I think that is like probably one of the coolest parts about DIY. Just like watching everyone grow into like either like a new musician or like a new space where they can play like bigger venues like Hot Mulligan, for example, like opened up for Fall Out Boy. Yeah. And like that's just like insane to think about because I've been listening to like four or five years now. And like, it is just like such an insane ride to like go from like where they were playing, like kind of nowhere bars to playing and opening for Fall Out Boy in stadiums. And I feel like that is a large part of like DIY culture as like playing and like supporting people. It's just like appreciating like the success of others. Yeah, I mean, you got to celebrate everybody's successes because what does your own success mean if, you know, nobody cares, right? But I think that that's a good place to end it on. This has been a good episode. Is there anything else that you want to hit on one last time before we sign off for the episode? I guess like the only thing is just like go because we're on the Fresh Finds podcast, right? Like just go and listen to a bunch of like new and like random music and just support artists like when you can if you're like if you're not are already doing that and just like exploring like the entire. Like culture and like getting involved will like significantly like change like your perspective on music and like make you more passionate about the music that you do listen to. I feel like 100% and on that note, this has been the Fresh Finds podcast the show about discovering new music with good people. Thank you. Bye. , you.