Travis Morrison - Travistan

In honor of the newly reunited and kinda sorta touring Dismemberment Plan, I decided to review Travistan, Travis Morrison's solo debut and the album that took six years for me to listen to. I got into Dismemberment Plan pretty late in the game (but I once called Emergency & I a perfect album) and never saw them live (I heard they were great) and when I found out their lead singer put out this album I said to myself, I should check that out. That was six years ago. I was still in high school. Weird. Turns out there's a reason I never heard this album. It's because anyone that heard it didn't want to think/talk/remember/dance or believe it existed. The song "Born in '72" has a great, if obviously obvious, Fugazi allusion but instead of feeling inspired it only makes me want to break out End Hits. Travis Morrison fell to fourth in my all time favorite Morrison list after I heard this truly awful album.

1. Van

2. Jim

3. Fred

4. Travis

Listen to Emergency & I instead. And preferably while Googling "Walter Fred Morrison."

Van Morrison - Moondance

I usually don't swear in my blog posts, but you seem really cool. Anyone who says Astral Weeks is better than Moondance is a fucking idiot.

Weezer - Hurley

Full full disclosure - I haven't listened to any of this album. All I know about it is that they put a picture of that guy from the TV show Lost on the cover. Why won't Weezer die? They were cool when I was in middle school and then Rivers was all, "I'm celibate" and all my friends we're like, "Fuck that dude! I'm trying to get laid and can't get anything and he's a fucking rockstar and decides he doesn't want any!" Seriously, Weezer has been shite for a long time and I don't need to listen to this album to know that.

Menomena - Friend and Foe

Full disclosure - I've barely listened to this album. I heard three songs off this album while riding to the beach in the back seat of my friends car and could not stop shouting, "This is amazing!" over the wind from the open windows. I finally downloaded (yeah, fuck that, I haven't paid for an album in years) the album and quickly realized that the three songs I heard while riding in the back seat were the best off the album. I've tried to listen to all of it but always end up skipping to track #9. Steal this album and tell me I'm wrong.

The Drones - Havilah

Have I told you how amazing this album is? Oh, I have? Well, here's a refresher. First you'll want to listen to the rock'n'roll songs, but then you'll want to listen to everything Garreth Lillard has ever recorded. This is the man that inspires me to drink whiskey with my Fruity Pebbles. Mmmm, think about it and then think about having a cigarette for breakfast dessert. That's what this record sounds like. Fruity Pebbles whiskey juice stirred with cigarette butts.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat the Devil's Tattoo

Distorted guitar? Check. Distorted bass? Check. Distorted church organ? Check. Distorted vocals? Check. Even the acoustic songs are 100% rock and roll.

Moon - OST

Wooden Ruler Society doesn't review movies so I can't tell you how awesome Moon starring Sam Rockwell is. I can't tell you to go Netflix that shit (even though I want to,) but what I can tell you is that the soundtrack is amazing and worth listening to whether or not you've seen the movie. Clint Mansell composed this which makes sense. He's the guy that did the soundtracks for Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and a bunch of other awesome movies. When his name rolled by in the credits I thought to myself, that makes sense.

No Kids - Come Into My House

If Yeasayer's All Hour Cymbals is the steak, No Kids' Come Into My House is the red wine to go with it.

Endless Boogie - Full House Head

I just sent my friend this text - "I'm 10 seconds into Full House Head and it's awesome." I only got this album cuz he sent me a text to check it out. His text read - "I think you'd love it. Endless riffs." If I didn't know this just came out, I'd think this was the album that influenced Tony Iommi. Oh, and I haven't looked into it, but I'm willing to guess that the ratio of bearded dudes to not bearded dudes at an Endless Boogie concert is probably somewhere around 23:1.

The Swell Season - Two Headed-Boy

Glen Hansard should be the only person allowed to cover Neutral Milk Hotel.


The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel