Mind Equals Blown

3 Of The Week: (4/25/10)

Tuesdays have been good to us in 2010, and spring and summer tours are coming our way, so my picks for this week include a lot of genre-hopping. This week’s 3 Of The Week features two bands that have been getting a lot of attention for their latest releases, one Minneapolis pop-punk group who are back with a vengeance this year, and 3 great songs that are best listened to at max volume.

1. “Oh Lord” – Foxy Shazam

Foxy Shazam may have made a drastic stylistic change with their latest, self-titled record, but the band looks and sounds like they’ve been playing epic, flamboyant camp-rock for years. Foxy Shazam is the most reflective in the band’s catalogue of Foxy’s energetic live shows. While I wouldn’t call “Oh Lord” the best song on the album, it is the most memorable. “Oh Lord” is incredibly single-esque, but it makes me dance even when my friends are looking, which is a noteworthy feat for any song. Foxy also released a video for it, featuring the best music video choreography since that Ok Go video. A fun-as-hell song, simple as that.

2. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” – Motion City Soundtrack

“Her Words Destroyed My Planet” is another catchy tune that’s been receiving a lot of extra attention on my iTunes, and it too has a fantastic music video. What Foxy Shazam does with flashy rock gems and white leather jumpsuits, seasoned pop-punk veterans Motion City Soundtrack do with being geekier than that guy you know who quotes Doctor Who on a regular basis. Yes, that’s a good thing. 2010’s My Dinosaur Life is a return to form for the band, containing the band’s best since their sophomore effort, Commit This to Memory. The first single on the album, “Her Words…” is filled with witticisms and quips about Veronica Mars and learning to speak Japanese, and gets bonus points for even mentioning The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The song’s hook is whistled over its impressively headbang-able chorus, which makes the song much more than your average pop-punk single. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” is infectious, bouncy, and far from superficial (a commodity in pop music), and that’s why I can’t stop listening to it.

3. “Everything Evil” – Coheed and Cambria

Second Stage Turbine Blade, Coheed and Cambria’s 2001 debut release, was a breakthrough album for both hardcore and progressive music, and is one of my all time favorites. Racking up plays on my iTunes this week is “Everything Evil”. As a defining song for the ‘Heed’s early years, “Everything Evil” has a nostalgic effect that’s very nice taking into consideration I was in grade school and had never heard of the band when it came out (believe me, I’d go back if I could). The song itself feels like a time bomb, with former drummer Josh Eppard’s steady high-hat tapping, leaving you begging for the explosion. When it finally obliges, the track becomes one of the most epic songs in Coheed and Cambria’s repertoire to date. While the track doesn’t showcase any particular member of the band, it shows how tight and precise the band as a whole can be without losing any energy. Even in the midst of Coheed’s newest release, Year of the Black Rainbow (a masterpiece in its own right), “Everything Evil” still encompasses who the band is, and that’s why it’s such a great song.