#musicmonday

The Dear Hunter 3.25 hours Jimmy Eat World 2.62 hours Reuben 2.38 hours 10 Years 1.99 hours Incubus 1.91 hours InMe 1.89 hours Black Lab 1.69 hours Amplifier 1.11 hours Further Seems Forever 0.92 hours Scale The Summit 0.76 hours The Chariot 0.61 hours Dead and Divine 0.46 hours Between the Buried and Me 0.33 hours Secret Lives! of the Freemasons 0.3 hours

There's no need to talk about The Dear Hunter. They walk a fine line between post hardcore and progressive rock that's accessible and incredibly catchy. If I were a pretentious fuck, I'd say they sound like Jimmy Eat World playing The Mars Volta - you get the raw energy of The Mars Volta with a touch of their complexity, but with all the hooks and brilliant songwriting of Jimmy Eat World. If you're not already listening to them, you will be soon.

I found on Spotify, Reuben's We Should've Gone to University. I've been a big fan of Reuben's for a while - they're a rare British punk band that wrote about what they knew, rather than making up childish problems. They've got amazing aggression and their live performance is tight-as-fuck. Seriously, there's tracks on University that I didn't realise were live until I was looking at the playlist.

10 Years is a band that should be way bigger than they are. They've got that nondescript, highly-produced, Chevelle vibe about them, which results in very listenable music, but bands of this ilk are ten a penny. Granted, 10 Years are one of the better practitioners of C-student rock (I'd sooner have them than Foo Fighters) but people clearly aren't besotted with this type of music any more (see: Nickelback) so I think they may have missed the boat. Shame.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Incubus is capable of making some of the best music you could listen to. There's not a weak member in their lineup, and they definitely experiment, but God do they produce some boring music. Over the years, I've heard their entire catalogue hundreds of times (with the exception of Light Grenades; I just cannot get into that album at all) and the only albums that I still put on are S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Crow Left of the Murder. There are some excellent tracks on Make Yourself (Pardon Me, Stellar, Clean) and Morning View (Circles, Just a Phase, Under My Umbrella) but they never really gel for me into something worth your time like the aforementioned. Fungus Amongus is worth a listen just to see what they were like when they weren't taking things seriously, but that's all.

You mention InMe in passing, and people like Russell Hancox start on about how great they are. So you start listening to them and you remember how much you love them. Then, you find out that they've released a new album relatively recently and it's also amazing. They've taken elements of their previous albums and mashed it all together into something wonderful. It's proof that The Third Album can be done right (I'm looking at you, Muse). Musicianship has greatly improved from White Butterfly, with the guitar quality and production taking them to the realm of such bands as Protest the Hero, which is no mean feat!

I discover a lot of music from American TV shows. Numb3rs, House and The Wire have excellent soundtracks, and I've broadened my horizons pretty substantially from intently listening and searching for lyrics online. This week, House started with a track that blended Marilyn Manson's vocal sound with Massive Attack's backing track, to the point that I would swear that's what I was listening to! But no, it was Black Lab; an alt rock band that I can't really say much about other than to recommend you check them out for yourself.

One of my favourite bands of all time, and a band whose music made an appearance at my wedding, is Dashboard Confessional. I'm not really sure why I love them so much - I normally don't care for simple acoustic guitar hate-love songs, but I guess I've just listened to these guys for so long that they're just there now. I still love them like the first day I heard them, which is also quite unusual. I tend to get into a band and listen to the all the time, which ruins them a bit. Dashboard Confessional survives. Chris Carrabba, apparently, used to sing in emo band Further Seems Forever, which was news to me. He only appears on one studio album, to my knowledge, but it's pretty good. His voice doesn't work with "proper" emo for me - it's a better contrast with acoustic guitar, but The Moon is Down is a strong album if emo's your thing. The lack of structure really appeals to me as you have to listen to everything to really get into it. I know that annoys some people.

I'm not a genre-elitist, but when I say "emo", I mean Circle Takes the Square, Fugazi, La Dispute, Pianos Become the Teeth, Cursive and Desaparecidos, not My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco. I rate all those bands, but the latter grouping is what I call post hardcore - it's too melodic and structured to be emo to me. There you go.

Between the Buried and Me will be touring with the amazing Animals as Leaders in the summer. I've listened to Between the Buried and Me a lot, but never really liked them. As I've descended further into screaming vocals and ridiculous guitar in the last couple of years, this is a band that's always been on my list to listen to again. Now I have a pretty good excuse, but not as much time. Story of your life?

Anything not mentioned is a staple, and I'm not going to write the same thing about them every week! Amplifier; awesome, Secret Lives! of the Freemasons; awesome, you get the picture.