Review: Castevet - Summer Fences

First of all, can we just talk about how truly awesome this album cover is?? It's a disgruntled deer! Or maybe an imperious elk. It's not really an elk, I just wanted to maintain the alliteration thing I had going on. On a more pertinent note Summer Fences last year's release by Chicago's Castevet (not to be confused with a black metal band from New York of the same name) is like being taken to school on 90's emo (the good kind). The guitars are all chime-y and layered and do that 'quiet loudness' that envelops you and reminds me of bands like Appleseed Cast, Sunny Day Real Estate, or maybe American Football. They aren't all atmosphere either the parts are interesting and varied and there's clearly talent here in spades. Vocally, the record is a little sparse, several of the songs have less than 10 lines of lyrics and the words themselves are hardly intelligible since they are delivered with a rough yell reminiscent of early Hot Water Music or maybe a less punk rock Latterman. But a quick google of the actual lyrics reveals that while we aren't missing Byron or Keats here, they are far from the sort of banal crap that usually finds itself much higher in the mix. What I'm saying is, if you could understand the words, they wouldn't drag you down.

Castevet appear to be an excellent product of their heritage with the vocals of the more rough voiced punk rock we're currently seeing and the excellent instrumentation of a legion of their midwest-dwelling peers most of whom ended up on Deep Elm at some point or another. In fact I'm surprised that Deep Elm hasn't grabbed these guys yet since they seem like they'd be right in the ol' wheel-house. Also, I feel like I need to mention Braid at some point in here since they are Midwestern, technical, and indie/emo-y goodness. Other than that I apologize for one of those reviews where I just list other bands I promise to improve and I encourage everyone to pick up Summer Fences by following the link at the bottom.

Castevet - Plays One On TV

Financial Support Goes Here

Castevet

A Few Tidbits

So I just got back from visiting my friend Matt in Milwaukee (which is apparently in Wisconsin) and I'm happy to report that it is a seriously cool city. I wasn't expecting a whole bunch so I was really pleasantly surprised. In other news, a quick search through the past couple of entries will reveal that I have had to remove the music links for one of my reviews. I got a couple of those threatening emails. Let me take this opportunity to reiterate people: If you don't like me promoting your music by posting some of it, just tell me. I'll be more than happy to take them down and honestly, I think we'll all be the better for the communication. You can be my friend and I'll be yours. The legal-talky emails on the other hand are like a wall which allows for no communication or friend-making whatsoever. The end result is the same for both but the last one leaves me feeling bummed out.

On now, to happier topics. I'm leaving on my proper vacation (Milwaukee was the warm up) at the end of this week and I figured I should post something before I left to try to keep everyone's (anyone's?)interest as long as possible in my absence. So I thought I'd share a couple of cool things that have come to my attention in the last couple of days. The first of these is Flick Chart. If you're like me and by that I mean you have just an obscene amount of time on your hands and a strange desire to know what your favorite movies are then this site is for you. But Keegan - I hear you saying - I'm pretty sure I can tell what my favorite movies are for myself thank you very much. And you might think that, but sometimes our pretensions get in the way. As much as you might want to think that Il Postino is your favorite movie of all time (and it is a good one) the truth is that with a couple of hours to kill you're far more likely to reach for say, Anchorman. Flickchart is a good way to figure out the naked truth about your taste in movies through a mindlessly simple binary process. It's actually simpler than the sentence I just used to describe its simplicity. So go check it out, have a ball, lose six or eight hours off your life that you'll never get back.

My other new and exciting discovery comes from the woman sitting next to me on the airplane to Milwaukee. She was doing this puzzle kind of like a crossword, but without clues. Being the kind of obnoxious nosy person that talks to you on an airplane, I asked what it was and she explained that it's called a Code Cracker and it's a popular puzzle in New Zealand. You can find a daily one here. Get on this one early folks because honestly I think it's going to blow up and you'll be happy to say you were there at the beginning. This will be the next Soduko or Kenken. And trust me, I love Kenken possibly more than life and these are better. If you like Soduko but miss letters and Crosswords are just a little to knowledge based for you then Code Crackers are for you.

This is usually the place where I would post a couple songs related to puzzles and movies. But I'm still a little jumpy so no music today. See nameless/faceless lawyer-talk man? You've spoiled the fun for everybody. You and maybe Google a little bit.