Walking Wounded

Well, I’ve been without my computer for two months now. I didn’t mention in my post about getting rid of the computer, but I committed to 90 days without it. I now have just under a month left and felt like commenting on the experience.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t been all that hard. I didn’t really miss anything I did on it. Granted, there were some things that made this easier. My roommates have computers and I was able to use them. However my roommates are also almost always on them, so I would only get on for maybe 15 minutes every few days or so. And that was pretty much just to check email and the weather. The main thing that made it easier was having a computer at work. This has allowed me keep blogging and still read up on music and video game news.

Even with all that though, it was quite a sacrifice. I’ve been without my best friend for two months! Oddly enough though, it’s made me feel a lot less lonely. That would probably be because a computer can’t really be your friend (should have been obvious before huh?). I can’t go into all the details, but many areas of my life have improved. I’ve been more active, more engaging, dealing with life and its situations and would say I have vastly improved the quality of my life. Ironic that people buy computers to improve the quality of their life and end up doing the opposite.

Now I’m looking towards getting my computer back. Honestly I would be fine without really ever getting it back if it weren’t for a couple things. The main and biggest one is the fact that I am dying to start recording music again. The second reason is we’re coming up on the best season to sell things on eBay and I’m still dying to sell off the rest of my video game collection.

Other than those two things I don’t think I really have any other reason I want my computer back. There is a huge part of me that just doesn’t want it back at all because I’m scared of falling right back into my old routine (yuck). I’ll definitely have to show some discipline when it comes back. I’m planning on avoiding using it altogether unless it’s something necessary. No more “I just want to check out”, no more “I’m bored and need something to do”, and no more letting a computer be my best friend.

Finally, after years of waiting, we get a full length album from Saosin. Does it live up to the anticipation and long wait? The answer is no. Unfortunately it’s not because of the songs though. It’s the mix and production of the album.

I’ve never heard such butchering of good music. The drums are too loud, the guitar is too soft, and the vocals are a little to quiet. That’s not the worst part though. The album has been so produced (or so poorly produced) that it has lost all of it’s rawness, especially concerning the vocals. The vocals mix is very clean and steady and well, boring. Furthermore, the mix doesn’t change the whole album. The guitar isn’t turned up for solos, the bass isn’t adjusted to fit a certain song. It makes the album very flat and no matter how good the songs are it causes me to get bored halfway through the album.

That aside, how is the music? The music is actually really good. I still like their former singer (of the now craptacular Circa Survive) better, but the new singer has done surprisingly well. I thought once their singer left the band that they wouldn’t be able to recover.

The guitar riffs are mesmerizing. I love the guitarist. He does the coolest things all throughout the song. Usually a busy guitar can really detract from a song and take focus away from the vocals. However, somehow, he writes them so well that they blend right in and give the songs a euphoric sound.

The drummer is SO, SO good. He knows when to make the drums stand out with killer patterns and when to just keep the song moving. The drums in the songs just fit. He also always adds in unique little things to common rhythms that keeps things interesting.

I can’t really hear much of the bass so I can’t comment on it. The vocals are good for what they are. I like all the harmonies. Boy can he sing high. He has a good tone and puts together good lines. I do have some disappointment with the vocals. I would like a little bit of screaming or raspy/raw vocals at times. It would just fit the music (that’s what the old vocalist did). The lyrics are lacking. Sometimes the lyrics are good but for the most part, none of them really stand out.

All in all, the album is good, but far below the band’s potential. Add on a terrible mix to the good, but unimproved music and the album becomes disappointing. I listened to the original EP tons, but after a week with this album I’m already getting bored with it. That is a very bad sign.

I’ve been a New Found Glory fan for a long time. I heard them in concert with MXPX a long, long time ago when their first CD had just been released. They actually didn’t even have the insert for them yet and had to get an address to mail it to people.

While I’ve always liked NFG, there is a lot that bothered me about the band. The vocals are just so nasally that it often drives me nuts. This was really bad on their previous album Catalyst. So for Coming Home I was expecting the same old over done good punk music with annoying vocals. What I found was quite a surprise.

Coming Home has broken the trend. The vocals have improved so much that there are many times I don’t even recognize his voice. I don’t know if he took vocal lessons or what, but he sounds so much better. Also, whoever mixed the record did a great job handling the vocals.

There is a lot more to this album than just vocal changes though. On Coming Home, NFG has refined and diversified there sound in amazing ways. They broke away from the punk mold I’ve been getting tired of. They added in keys on many songs which adds a nice dynamic plus other synthesized sound placed throughout the album that work nicely without being overdone.

What I really like about this album musically is they were able to slow the music down from the typical punk speed while still keeping the energy at the same level. The album is flooded with interesting guitar riffs and rhythms. The vocals are melodic and sing-along-able while still keeping stylish. The intros to songs on this album are to die for. I would give this album an award for “The album with the best intros of the year award”.

More than all I’ve said, the album flows from the song to song smoothly. Tracks range from ballads, to rock, to fast punk, to acoustic, to stuff I don’t even know how to classify. The well written lyrics follow a theme and I think anyone can relate to them.

I’ve yet to find much of a flaw with the album. It definitely blew away all my expectations (which weren’t that high). If you like Rock, Punk, or sing-along-able melodic music with style, then at least give this album a listen to. It is by far the greatest album they have released and believe has now brought them into a whole other league of music.

I know I said I was back. But I somehow I experienced the return of E Coli. Seriously, after feeling fine for four days it came back for it’s final kick (hopefully) which lasted three more days and was worst of it I’d felt yet.

Every now and again I actually like getting a little sick (like a cold) for just a day. It forces me to take a day to just relax and let my body rest. When it becomes for more than a day I get frustrated. This last sick stream put me over the edge. I had a sinus infection for half a week and then E Coli for 2 weeks. I was so tired of being sick. I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted to do stuff and couldn’t because I didn’t feel well enough.

It all made me sympathize with people who have continuing sickness basically their whole lives. It just emotionally wears you out after a while. I wanted to just cry, not because I was in pain, but because I was just so completely frustrated by it.

Hopefully that’s the end of it, but I’m crossing my fingers.