Biffy Clyro Releases "Opposites" Video

It baffles me that Biffy Clyro hasn't caught on over here. And really, I wonder if they care all that much? They're apparently HUGE over in Europe, headlining festivals and winning awards and all that. Over here? The only other person I know who has even heard about them ONLY knows about them because of me.

Their popularity shouldn't bother me as much as it does. I guess I just want people to like the things that I like, be excited about the things that excite me. I like Biffy Clyro's music; it excites me. Why won't you listen to it?

Here's the video of title track from Biffy's double album "Opposites." It's quite awesome. Go buy it.

I Don't EVEN Know Where to Begin

So, obviously, regular updates of the blog aren't going to happen. Between work being hectic at times and wanting to do nothing but crash once the kids are in bed, I haven't even thought of this thing since the end of June.

I'm going to get back into it, but I'm making no promises as to the frequency of posts, let alone a posting schedule. Hell, September is crazy busy for me. I'll be announcing for two marching band contests, I've got a beer fest to go to (hard life, I know), and a wedding to attend. That might not sound like a lot, but the only free time I ever get is every other weekend and that's not even guaranteed.

I'll TRY to post once a week, but like I said, I make no promises.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of stuff at you. Things I saw, things I liked, things I'm looking forward to, stuff like that.

MOVIES

First off, because it's fresh, is Red State. This is the most un-Kevin Smith Kevin Smith movie I've ever seen, and I've seen Gigli and Jersey Girl. It was a good movie, but man, it was hard to watch, and I wasn't expecting that. The violence is graphic and extremely believable, and that always makes it more difficult to watch. And there was one scene where this little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, the same age as my youngest son, and she was just howling, crying these little kid sobs because of what she had just seen. As a parent, it hit me hard. This wasn't a movie that I enjoyed watching, but I'm not upset that I spent the time to watch it. The acting was good, as was the story, although I'm not really sure it had much of a point. There was no happy ending here, there were no winners, and I don't think there were any good guys. Had I not known Kevin Smith wrote and directed it, I never would have guessed it.



MUSIC

I've got a new jam, homies. It's "Thrift Shop," by Macklemore. I don't know why I listened to this song the first time. Maybe a recommendation somewhere on Reddit? Whatever the reason, I love the song, and I immediately hit up Spotify and listened to all of his stuff that's available on there. This guy is awesome. This is the type of hip hop that I like. Give me more of this guy, Childish Gambino, and the Flobots.

















Now, even with all my new-found love for Macklemore, I can't forget my Scottish rock overlords Biffy Clyro. They dropped a new song, "Stingin' Belle," and the new album will be available for preorder on Sept. 17. If this new song is any indication, the new CD will be as good as if not better than Only Revolutions.



Bleu has a new song out! Here it is!



Seth Timbs and the Hot New Singles has (have?) a little EP out. The songs apparently aren't new, but that doesn't mean they aren't good and totally worth your $3.99.


honeyhoney has moved to Nashville. What are the chances I'll randomly run into Suzanne Santo, enthrall her with wit and chivalry, and we fall madly in love? Probably not all that great, right? Well, a guy can dream.


COMIC BOOKS

I might have mentioned it before, but I'm just getting back into collecting comics. I've never fully left the hobby, keeping up with titles through websites and message boards, but I've started rebuilding my collection in the past year or so. I now have roughly 1/5 the number of comics I had when I first sold them all (just shy of 1,200 as opposed to the 5,600 I used to have). With DC's revamp and Marvel's upcoming "revamp," I'm really streamlining my new purchases. I'm trying to get out of my old habit of sticking with a title in the hopes that it gets better even though I haven't enjoyed it for awhile. The main offenders of that little problem have been Avengers and New Avengers. I love Brian Michael Bendis' writing, but since AVX has begun, these two titles have been shit. Absolute shit. In truth, the whole crossover has been shit. There has been little to no continuity between the main series and the tie-ins. There have been some great moments, sure, but as a whole I'm extremely disappointed in it.

My hold box currently looks like this:

Batman
Anything having to do with Locke & Key
The Boys
Avengers Assemble
Avengers vs. X-Men (I know, I know)
Avengers
New Avengers
Amazing Spider-Man
Wolverine & the X-Men
X-Factor
Invincible Iron Man
Journey into Mystery
Uncanny X-Force
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
The Shade
Dark Avengers
Spider-Men

The Boys is almost over, and The Shade and Spider-Men are ending this week and next week respectively. Locke & Key begins its final mini-series next month, I believe. Here's what's going to happen when Marvel NOW gets ramped up:

Dropping Avengers Assemble when Bendis leaves, and I'm sticking with Avengers and New Avengers until Bendis wraps them up. I'm sticking with Invincible Iron Man through its demise, and I'm dropping Journey into Mystery when Gillen leaves. I haven no idea if Uncanny X-Force is continuing or not. If it is, I'll stick with it as long as Remender stays on the book, but with him going on to Uncanny Avengers and Captain America, I don't see that happening.

I'm going to be adding All-New X-Men (crossing my fingers that Bendis will be awesome with a book that's new for him) to my pull list, and I'm going to give Uncanny Avengers a try. Truthfully, though, the preview artwork by Cassaday I've seen isn't all that great.

I'm excited about attending the Nashville Horror and Comic Festival next month. I've already got a stack of comics I'm going to get autographed.

TV

This is the best time of the year. New TV season, yay!!! Here's my tentative schedule:

Sunday

7:00 Simpsons

8:00 Dexter, Family Guy, Boardwalk Empire

9:00 666 Park Ave., Walking Dead, Homeland

Monday

7:00 How I Met Your Mother, Bones

8:00 Mob Doctor

9:00 Castle

Tuesday

7:00 Raising Hope

7:30 Ben and Kate

8:00 Happy Endings, Go On, New Girl, White Collar

8:30 The Mindy Project

9:00 Covert Affairs, Sons of Anarchy

Wednesday

7:00 Animal Practice

7:30 Suburgatory

8:00 Modern Family, Supernatural

9:00 Nashville, American Horror Story, Soup

Thursday

7:00 Last Resort, 30 Rock, Big Bang Theory

8:00 Office, Person of Interest

8:30 Parks and Recreation

9:00 Elementary, Archer

9:30 The League

11:00 Childrens Hospital

Friday

7:30 Community

8:00 Fringe

Saturday

8:00 Doctor Who

Right now I'm catching up on Parenthood. I'm almost done with the second season. For me, this is a show I have no desire to watch live or DVR, but I'm loving it on Netflix.

BEER

Right now I'm 24 beers away from getting my plate at The Flying Saucer. Eight more visits. My plan right now is to hit the mark a couple weeks before my birthday. That way, I'll be able to have my plate party and combine it with my birthday, the end of the world (the Mayans were right!) and the Winter Solstice. At least, that's the plan. It all hinges on actually being able to visit the Saucer when I'm supposed to.

This is my mostly complete beer list.

MISCELLANEOUS

I've been introduced to Reddit. No good will come of this.

My kids' old babysitter has a new side business up-and-running. They make covers for daycare sleep mats. They're kind of awesome. Order one now!

Apologies

I didn't update the blog at all this week, did I? Just the food one? Sorry about that. It's been a crazy week. Lots of work, I've discovered reddit, and my ex got remarried. Classy (I'm sure) impromptu ceremony at the courthouse. So I had a lot of shit on my plate. I hope to be in a better place next week.

Here's a gif from Game of Thrones and an awesome song from Biffy Clyro.

Video of the Day

"The darkness fell like a shout,
Am I ready to take that chance
Put my faith in someone else"

Gah, when will these guys get big enough in the states to headline their own show? Seeing them for maybe 30 minutes before Foo Fighters last year wasn't enough. If they ever come back to Tennessee, rest assured that I will be going and I will be bringing friends.

What You Should Have Heard #22

My Mix CDs

I’ve got a lot of music but limited space to hold it in, especially in my car. So I’ve gone the old tried-and-true way of making mix CDs to have access to as many bands as possible while driving. I’m going slightly old-school since I’m a bit backwards and have no iPod.

Most of the songs will be more upbeat, with probably only the occasional ballad or slower song included. I like to sing in the car, and the more upbeat songs are more fun to sing.

I’ll be going in alpha-numeric order with these, so if you’re wanting to argue with me about what Weezer songs should be included, you’re going to be waiting for a while.

My only limitations are that I use 80 min. discs, and I’m only going to use one disc per band/artist. I will make exceptions for only my most favorite bands with huge playlists (Foo Fighters and Self, off the top of my head), but I’d really like to boil everything down to just one disc.

Here’s the list guide:

Track # - Song Name - Album Name [Artist if album is by a different artist]

Biffy Clyro CD

Disc 1

1. Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies – Puzzle
2. Saturday Superhouse – Puzzle
3. Who’s Got a Match? – Puzzle
4. A Whole Child Ago – Puzzle
5. The Conversation Is – Puzzle
6. Now I’m Everyone – Puzzle
7. Semi-Mental – Puzzle
8. Love Has a Diameter – Puzzle
9. Get Fucked Stud – Puzzle
10. Folding Stars – Puzzle
11. Machines – Puzzle
12. Joy.Discovery.Invention – Blackened Sky
13. 27 – Blackened Sky
14. Toottoottoot – Many of Horror EP
15. Lonely Revolutins – Many of Horror EP
16. Buddy Holly – High Voltage

Disc 2

1. The Captain – Only Revolutions
2. That Golden Rule – Only Revolutions
3. Bubbles – Only Revolutions
4. Shock Shock – Only Revolutions
5. Many of Horror – Only Revolutions
6. Boooooom Blast and Ruin – Only Revolutions
7. Cloud of Stink – Only Revolutions
8. Sky Demon – Only Revolutions
9. Prey Hey – That Golden Rule EP
10. Eye Lids – That Golden Rule EP
11. Help Me Be Captain – The Captain EP
12. Once an Empire – The Captain EP
13. Questions and Answers – The Vertigo of Bliss
14. Eradicate the Doubt – The Vertigo of Bliss
15. Toys, Toys, Toys, Choke, Toys, Toys, Toys – The Vertigo of Bliss
16. Take Me Out – Live on BBC Radio 1

I’m in a bit of a quandary at first because of this mix CD. My first cut puts enough tracks and enough time on the list to make this a double CD. Now, Biffy Clyro isn’t one of my favorite bands, but they do have some killer songs. I knew I’d have most of Puzzle on here, because the CD kicks major ass, but I forgot all about the latest, Only Revolutions. I ended up liking that one a lot, too. Y’know? Eff it, I’m gonna do it. Biffy Clyro will be my second double-disc.

One of the main reasons I wanted to do a regular post like this on the blog was to showcase some of the more obscure music I listen to (and not just Self). It looks like Biffy Clyro is probably the first of such bands. I’ve never heard these guys on the radio. Granted, my choices around Nashville are somewhat limited. I don’t even remember how I became aware of these guys. I think “27” from Blackened Sky was included on a sampler CD I picked up at a used music store somewhere. I don’t know. Anyways, I heard some good rumblings about Puzzle, heard “Who’s Got a Match?” online, and picked up the CD on the basis of that song alone. I wasn’t disappointed.

I think “Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies” is probably the best opening for a CD I’ve ever heard. The way the strings come in soft and then swell into the lead-in by the bass and the staccato punctuations by the orchestra…it’s beautiful and powerful. Then they bring a choir in for backing? Wow. It’s a wonderful, wonderful song, and the momentum doesn’t fade as the CD progresses.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is how pop or rock music can sometimes neutralize a singer’s nationality. Shirley Manson of Garbage, Elton John, Bono (now, at least, but not necessarily so when U2 was first starting out)…I really can’t tell that they’re not American. But I love how you can really hear the Scottish accent of lead singer Simon Neil. It might be most notable in “Who’s Got a Match.”

Now, if I’m going to be completely honest, I’m not crazy about Biffy Clyro’s earlier stuff. It’s a little too raw for me. But really, Puzzle and Only Revolutions are crazy good. Go to iTunes, go to Amazon, or go to their MySpace or Facebook pages. Just check these guys out and tell me they don’t do anything for you.

Biffy Clyro’s Wikipedia entry

Biffy Clyro’s AllMusic entry

Biffy Clyro’s Official Site

Biffy Clyro’s MySpace page

Biffy Clyro’s Facebook page

Biffy Clyro’s Twitter page

Well, this is disappointing. I’m including the video for “Living is a Problem,” but after that description above, you might find the video to be a bit lacking. It seems that the longer intro was cut for the video. :sadface:

And here’s “The Captain” from Only Revolutions. It’s another excellent opening track. This one is reliant on horns rather than strings.