• 51 Plays
  • The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's MedallionThe Sound of Animals Fighting

The Sound of Animals Fighting are a scene supergroup in the same sense that the Boston Celtics are a super NBA team.  The combination of talent from Anthony Green (of Saosin, Circa Survive, etc.) and Matt Embree (of Rx Bandits, Love You Moon), along with their other members provide for a well-balanced offense and defense.  They’ve been in the game since 2005, but when they released their 2008 album The Ocean and the Sun, it was clear that they won the championship ring for supergroups, past and present (including Isles and Glaciers, who just pale in comparison to these guys).  Soundwise, it’s what you would expect to hear from members of Rx Bandits and Anthony Green.  This song in particular sounds like the old days of Saosin with the trademark RxB’s highly technical progressive rock skills. 

The Sound of Animals Fighting - The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer’s Medallion

TSOAF

- Ryan

  • 50 Plays
  • BackmaskCirca Survive

Talk about kicking the new year off right! In honor of going to see Circa Survive, Anberlin, and Foxy Shazam on Friday in Richmond, VA, here’s a song off of Circa’s latest EP entitled Appendage. I feel as though this whole EP combines their styles from each album with nothing more or less. It has the ambience like Juturna and On Letting Go, and the lyrical clearness and emphasis like that on Blue Sky Noise. It truly is Circa Survive, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

Circa Survive - Backmask

-Trey

Show Review: Circa Survive w/ Foxy Shazam @ The National, Richmond VA

This was a bit of an unusual lineup:  Foxy Shazam, an experimental band with an  amazing emphasis on the performance elements of their show, Circa Survive, the veterans of the ambient/progressive scene, and Anberlin, Christian radio rockers…all together in one place?  Well, this was the night of Friday, January 14th at The National.  Me and Trey got in a little late to find that Foxy’s set was already halfway through, but the last few songs we caught blew us away.

Watching Foxy Shazam is a complete experience.  They don’t just stand there or use a limited range of movements; they put on a true performance all while delivering great sounding music (I thought The National’s acoustics had improved but it might have just been that I wasn’t used to such a finely tuned set).

The singer takes his in-between song ramblings very seriously which might be annoying to some people but I think it adds a lot more to the whole set.  Having never listened to their last two albums I was amazed at how easy it was to get into the songs live.  I will definitely see them when they come around again and hopefully they get a chance to headline a tour.

Circa Survive is always guarunteed good.  This is now the third time I’ve seen them and I must admit that this was the best sounding set I’ve seen.  Half their set was devoted to Juturna classics like “Stop The Fuckin’ Car,” “In Fear and Faith,” and “Act Appalled” (yes!). The newer songs sounded great live, too.  “Get Out” was pretty intense, and “I Felt Free” sounded downright magical.

Anthony Green has always been charismatic onstage and tonight was no different.  As opposed to Foxy Shazam’s rather planned out conversations, Anthony’s are always spontaneous.  He starts off by saying that “we’re gonna have some fun tonight” and then he makes good on that promise.  He became fixated on a purple balloon that was floating around the venue, demanding that “Andre the Giant” in the front row should try to float the balloon up to the balcony. 

Sitting through Anberlin’s set is the equivalent to a musical jail sentence:  “You are hereby sentenced to sit through 45 minutes of Anberlin’s live music.” (Sorry for that one, Kelley.)  Among the things I witnessed were headbanging and air guitar playing bros, bros holding drinks while using their free hands to fistpump, and lighters held into the air during fast songs. All that, and Stephen Christian now looks and acts like Bon Jovi’s cousin who went to too many Bible studies.

Still, I’d say that I started off the new year with a great show, and I hope Foxy Shazam gets their proper spotlight soon because they deserve it. 

- Ryan