Written by GE 138.

A few weeks later I'm cleaning out said purse and I go - Hey! There's that Better Broken CD Brian gave me to review, and I throw it on top of the pile of music on my desk to review when I got the time. A few days later I finally get around to burning it into my music library and I give a listen a few times to get a handle on what's happening musically. ​There's something going on here but I can't quite put my finger on it. First off, that Rush comparison is pretty apt. The singer dude is a dead ringer for latter day Geddy Lee - wether that's a good thing or not I'll leave up to you. At times he also sounds like that tool bag from At The Drive In as well. He croons quite lovely and is the perfect match up to Better Broken's soft serve melodic Emo Punk. Brian's bass lines weave in and out of everything, sometimes pounding out the accents and sometimes playing the hook to the songs - total ear candy. The drummer is good - fluid smooth with popping drum lines, and he can really set a mood when they play the slower stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, these guys can start quite a fast paced gallop when they want to, but they mix things up with pretty vocal melodies layered on top of everything and lots of dramatic start/stops to build up musical tensions, environments, and contrasts, like they do on Rain Man and the title track. Smooth FM radio friendly sounding tracks make up the better parts of this release, which I guess is a good thing, but songs like Mind and Dark Ages show that these guys can get down and dirty if they have to. It's kind of insulting to call this stuff Punk, Emo, Alternative, or whatever, because Better Broken are kind of doing their own thing, which is a little bit Hot Water Music, a little bit Hawthorne Heights, and a whole lot of Rush, ha ha, but it's totally catchy, good stuff on here. They are definitely worth a listen. Better Broken. Check them out.  👍🏽

Available from the band at every gig they play, and that's A LOT! 😁Also available digitally at their Bandcamp page,which you can go to by clicking here. "Like" the band on Facebook by clicking here. 

Written by GE 138.

This is an cool compilation, put out by the lovely fellows at Panic Inc., a local (sort of) label who've put out a lot of sick, kick ass music over the years. This release is a compilation whose stated purpose is to benefit the homeless and less fortunate amongst us, all proceeds generated going to help them and all that, and this comp is chock full of lots of tasty Local talent, some still active, some long dormant, and all the bands on here span a wide, diverse musical assault that highlights the talent inherent in all the bands present, bands ranging from the mathematical musical wizardry of The Bitters, the Viking operatic Thrash of Drouth, the slogan spitting in your face Punx of Opposition Rising, to the nightmarish howlings of Local legends Vihan Rytmi (RIP). Other Local bands of note on here are Back Stabbath (first song from their demo I believe), Faceplant, Unfair Fight, Life's Torment, Dr. Phobic & The Phobic-Tones, and Alarido, a criminally underrated band of note. This comps got a little bit of something for everyone, as long as you can stomach noisy thrash leanings, a sound which a majority of these bands on this release are testing the boundaries of. Never gets boring, that's for sure! Yeah, kudos to Panic Inc. for putting together a good compilation for a great cause. 39 songs for $7. What a deal! Some interesting stuff on here - check it out! 😀

Brought to you by Panic Inc., so you have them (him) to thank for this release. I believe it's only available digitally via Bandcamp, and you can click here to check that out to download and donate if you're interested. All proceeds from the sale of this compilation will be generated annually to help fight poverty, and that's a super cool thing to get behind. Salud!