Aflightoremember Discography

Aflightoremember is an acoustic act from Ipswich, Suffolk, and finally after a few years of hard touring, and recording the project, sadly, has eventually come to a close. I thought I'd take this time to mention that there will be a final discography (3xCD) release, availiable from Dead Ship records in the near future, tailor made by Marc for the person receiving the collection. Further details can be found at www.myspace.com/aflightoremember

Sundowner - Four One Five Two

So, I just saw Sundowner on tour with Mike Park; and it was absolutely outstanding. There was a good turnout, a fair few people singing, and a nice colourful environment in which everyone was similing, and in full appreciation in the music that was being played infront of them. Solo music is always so personal, which is why I think it's so good, and it offers a nice warmth that listening to Black Flag doesn't neccessarily do. Even punks need a break, like...

Anyway, this record is really great. I'm almost scared to review is cus I don't want to let it down. Either way I really wish I had, because the TLA covers on here are awesome. Even though you could tell that he wanted to distance himself away from TLA, as he slowly juggled questions about their future, he still gave the impression that Sundowner is simply a 'side project'.because it deserves so much. Every track is perfect, and although I don't have a lyric sheet because I got a Boot CD-R done by Chris himself, I know what he's singing about is important. I never really got into The Lawrence Arms, I always got them confused with Good Riddance when I was a kid, and I think the only song of theirs I ever heard was something to do with porno and snuff, which I watched on P-Rock.

This record is really good, it's not boundary-breaking, but it's certainly a keeper and has tracks that will make you smile and sing along, which for me, is all that's important.

If you're a fan of slightly more upbeat folk (<-- *shudder*) acoustic punk, then I suggest you check this out. - Nick [Red Scare]

Circles Takes The Square Interview

This interview is a little bit old now, but I don't think too much has changed from it and the answers are still gold.

Circle Takes The Square. Seminal screamo from Georgia. Drew was nice enough to answer some questions...

Marcie: First of all, how's everything going with you guys?

Drew: great, thanks for asking. we're in the process of writing a full length and sorting out other, somewhat "behind the scenes," issues that we have never really had time to address because of a busy touring schedule and a few other factors.
one example is that we've finally gotten a new website up and another example is the remixing/mastering of our demo and split seven inch material, which we plan on re-releasing as a cd/lp sometime early next year. which leads us to the next question....

M: You have recently re-released your original demo/ep, what were the reasons behind this?

D: well it hasn't been officially released yet, but the demo tracks are up online for download now. the physical release will be coming out relatively soon. the two releases that will comprise this re-release were relatively small pressings originally, and we get alot of requests for the material, so we've decided to just put it all on one record and make it available again.

M: How is the new material coming along? 'As The Roots Undo' was very concept based, are the new songs following in the same vein, or are they all separate stories and messages?

D: its coming along well. the songs are shaping up to include a few common themes, but they're being written in a way which allows them to stand alone when out of the context of the album. one of the songs we're working on now is the longest piece of music we've written, and contains a few different variations on musical themes within the overall framework.
its been a fun and challenging project and i'm getting excited about eventually performing it live.

M: Have you felt any pressure when writing the new material, due to the positive feedback that 'As The Roots Undo' gathered?

D: we're happy that as the roots undo has been relatively well received. the response to that record was beyond our expectations, and though there may seem to be some pressure at times, i don't necessarily feel that we need to "top" anything we've done already.
we're just focusing on making a few pieces of music that we want to hear and perform, songs to satiate our current musical hunger.

M: 'Non-Objective Portrait of Karma' was one of the highlights of 'as the roots'..., the layers, the structure were beautiful. How do you go about writing songs like that - are they ideas which are jammed, or is there a clear plan behind them?

D: its a combination of both approaches you mentioned, really. the process varies depending on the mood of the song we're working on, or each specific part of the song for that matter. sometimes there's a need for something cold and scientific to balance out a part that's warmer and more spontaneous. i guess its about balance overall, or lack of balance depending on what we're going for. this is a difficult thing to describe, mostly because the process is somewhat inconsistent. for me, the most difficult thing about writing music is deciding which part of music you want to be represented in a song.
a painting of a landscape is not the landscape, its a man- made interpretation of that landscape. i think songs' relationship to music is very similar. a song is not representative of the music that's floating around out there in the ether, a song is simply a snapshot of that organic body in one of an infinite amount of potential forms. its up to the musician to decide on how he or she wants to represent that infinite form. i may have veered from the topic...

M: You've made it pretty clear in the past about your views on your own government and a lot of the actions they take. Is it still a burning issue with you, are you still pushing to get your views heard?

D: i don't think we're as outspoken in the context of our band as we might be as individuals regarding current events, simply because we're a band and therefore made up of individuals with different viewpoints and concerns. these points of view can't really be easily lumped into a blanket viewpoint, so we tend to not really define circle takes the square as having any one stance, necessarily. but we have made a few myspace posts here or there about certain topics of concern when we've felt so compelled.
i think they maintain a huge amount of neutrality, though. i guess one thing that we standfor as a band is for people to be proactive- there's so much amazing information available to everyone and sometimes people just need a starting point on how to find out what they're looking for.

M: Have you any plans to bring your art over to the UK as exhibitions?

D: ha, maybe someday. right now my main focus is finishing the new circle material!

M: And finally, any plans to come back over to the UK at any point?

D: again, finishing the material for our new full length is the only thing on our agenda right now, but once that's done we will certainly be getting back on the road and the uk sounds like a lot of fun.

http://www.circletakesthesquare.com

--

Marcie

Play It Faster Podcast Number Two Up!

Tracklisting is as follows:

Thee Vicars - Why Have You Changed (UK)
Masshysteri - Monoton Tid (Swe)
Wire - Mannequin (UK)
Cellophane Suckers - Sex Boys (Ger)
The Shitty Limits - Espi-o-nage (UK)
Cold Ones - D5 (UK)
Brutal Knights - Life Ain't Cool (Can)
Fucked Up - Police (Can)
Circle Jerks - Operation (US)
The Tranzmitors - Dancing In The Front Row (US)
The Methadones - Are You Really for Real? (US)
Regulations - My Future (US)
Government Warning - Arrested (US)
Reality- BIA (UK)
Shoot To Kill - Burnout (UK)
The Motards - You Make Me Sick (US)
Slumlords - Out The Door (US)
The Vicious - Obsessive Compulsive (Swe)
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (US)
Smart Cops - Tra Le Reclute (Ita)

You can download this here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?inzkbdj92mo