Friday Five: 5 Favorite Florida Bands

Did this once before with North Carolina bands, but Florida is deep and wide. So all of the bands have the qualifier of "right now." There is no blood from surfers, no people that I'm against! and all of this is subject to change if Further Seems Forever gets back together in the next 24 hours...

5) Have Gun Will Travel





Part St. Pete bar band, part Americana innovators, Have Gun Will Travel's Postcards From A Friendly City was recently adopted by Suburban Home Records. No excuse not to find these guys.

4) Only Thieves





Greetings From Levy Park, the Only Thieves rocking debut is so good, but I originally thought they were from Jersey. Guess it was the album title. Have no fear, they rock it right in Tallahassee, snap!

3) Mouse Fire



Mouse Fire: "This Is How I throw My Slider"

I got Wooden Teeth when someone accidentally gave it to me. I soon realized how much Lujo Records and I see eye to eye. Word is, new album from Lakeland's Mouse Fire in May.

2) Look Mexico




Look Mexico: "You're Not Afraid of The Dark Are You?"

This kind of messes up my list, because according to this article most of the band is moving to Texas next week. Surprisingly, their old stuff is lighter and more mature than their new stuff, which is more straight ahead punkish-rock. Soon, indie rock kids at Florida State will say..."Look Mexico was so chill. We used to hang out with them all the time before they were on the radio..." Their new album comes out in March. See their tour dates here.

1) John Ralston



John Ralston: "Fragile"

I just discovered John Ralston in the last few months, but I knew John Ralston. A Legends of Rodeo song popped up on iTunes and I was like, "dang they are so legendary...what happened to them? To where have they RECESSed?"

Soon, I found the John Ralston MySpace page and hooked myself up with the album Sorry Vampire. It came out a few years ago, and he's had an EP since then...but expect more becaue my THEORY is that he's heating up again.

Honorable Mention: Holiday Shores, Greenland is Melting
More after the jump...

Swing South: Look Mexico

Look Mexico "You Stay. I Go. No Following." from Look Mexico HD on Vimeo.

Almost forgot. Look Mexico is going on a blast of a tour for their new album, To Bed To Battle in March from Suburban Home. Couple of shows in the FL will be album release parties before embarking on a longer tour. A few of those shows is with Tallahassee's Only Thieves, which I love as well. All signs point to this album as Look Mexico's "breakout" and "crossover." Rawk. Southern dates after the jump...


Feb 25 2010
8:00P
1982 (To Bed To Battle-CD Release Show) w/Only Thieves & Greenland Is Melting Gainesville,

Feb 26 2010
8:00P
Backbooth (To Bed To Battle-CD Release Show) w/Only Thieves Orlando, Florida

Feb 27 2010
6:00P
EARLY - The Porch (To Bed To Battle-CD Release Show) w/Only Thieves Brandon, Florida
Feb 27 2010
10:00P
LATE - New World Brewery (To Bed To Battle-CD Release Show) w/Only Thieves Tampa,

Feb 28 2010
8:00P
Doozer’s w/Only Thieves (ALL AGES) Jacksonville, Florida

Mar 2 2010
8:00P
Caledonia Lounge Athens, Georgia

Mar 3 2010
8:00P
New Brookland Tavern West Columbia, South Carolina

Mar 4 2010
8:00P
The Casbah at Tremont Music Hall Charlotte, North Carolina

Mar 5 2010
8:00P
Tir Na Nog Raleigh, North Carolina

Mar 6 2010
8:00P
Canal Club Richmond, Virginia

Mar 12 2010
8:00P
The Soapbox Wilmington, North Carolina

Mar 13 2010
8:00P
Harvest of Hope St. Augustine, Florida

Mar 14 2010
8:00P
Harvest of Hope St. Augustine, Florida

Mar 16 2010
8:00P
Vino’s Little Rock, Arkansas


More after the jump...

Swing South: Flashbulb Fires

Flashbulb Fires: "Ambulance"

I'm not usually a fan of sprawling pop, but Denver's Flashbulb Fires takes pensive melodies and extends them to their farthest ends but with a dash of Americana as if Coldplay got serious about analyzing Jeff Tweedy. Their new album Glory is out now. The whole thing is worth it just for the opener "Pyramid Schemes." The Southeast dates are below, including a stop in Nashville for the 7th Anniversary of Rocketown...



Feb. 27 2010 3:50P
Rocketown - Rocketown 7th Anniversary Festival Nashville, Tennessee

Mar 1 2010 9:00P
Cave Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Mar 2 2010 8:00P
The Hideaway Johnson City, Tennessee

Mar 3 2010 8:00P
The Evening Muse Charlotte, North Carolina

Mar 4 2010 8:00P
The Rocket Club Asheville, North Carolina

Mar 6 2010 7:00P
The 567 - The Blueindian.com Presents w/ Ha Ha Tonka, Austin Crane, Amy Godwin Macon,
Georgia

Mar 7 2010 8:00P
The Nick Birmingham, Alabama

Mar 9 2010 10:00P
The Buccaneer Memphis, Tennessee

More after the jump...

Sleep Bellum Sonno - Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living

Sleep Bellum Sonno
Judge Us By How We Lived Our Lives Not By How We Made Our Living
Unsigned, 2009
Review by Josh Rank

Sleep Bellum Sonno: "A House of Spades"

Sleep Bellum Sonno is a trio from New York. Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living was recorded live to capture the “rawness” of the group. This, I think, is self-important bullsh** but, hey, more power to ‘em.

Judge Us… is a concept album. Each song is written from a different point of view about a man leaving his wife and kids. This is an interesting idea and I applaud them for having more ambition than a lot of other bands putting out music these days.


The instrumentation on the album is great. Each song drifts from section to section with ease. The guitar lines carry the songs along but don’t necessarily lead them. A crew of background instruments, (horns, harmonica, I think I heard some strings) show up to add to the mood of each song. Each track is as strong as the next in this regard, meaning there are no stand-out “bad” songs.

BUT…

The vocals. Dear god the vocals kill the album. Two main voices are heard throughout. There’s a lead singer and a backup screamer. The lead singer, guitar player Adam Tomlinson, sounds like a 17-year-old version of a Las Vegas nightclub act. Likewise, the screamer, bass player Jeffrey Ramirez, sounds like a 17-year-old version of Isis (Celestial-era). The poor vocals do more than just annoy, they anger because the music behind them is so good. This band is an inch away from being a top-player in ipods across the country, if they would only hire a new singer or become an instrumental band.

Upon first listen, I thought that maybe I just needed to get used to the vocals. That, eventually, I would “get it” and could appreciate them in this new light. However, that light never turned on. Subsequent listens only proved to intensify my feelings towards the vocals to the point where I breathed a sigh of relief when the album was finally over.

However, I could see the album translating into a great live show. I imagine seeing these songs live would be great and I plan on seeing the group if they happen to come around. The crescendos built into the songs and the tendency to not be able to hear the vocals at local shows could really mean good things for this band.

Once again, the instrumentation is great. Thankfully, there are stretches that are purely instrumental and these sections make the album worth a listen. However, once Tomlinson shows up to the party with a dick in his throat everything goes to hell. On a rating scale of “stay the hell away” to “buy it right now,” I’d put Judge Us By How We Lived Our lives Not By How We Made Our Living at about a “listen to it online or at a friend’s house.”

More after the jump...

Lit Randomness: Stories by Scott Garson, Ben Tanzer, Ryan Bradley & Justin Hyde

"Two Flash Fictions" by Scott Garson: At 3 AM Magazine.

Small Lockers in the Back of the Factory by Justin Hyde: At Zygote in My Coffee.

Annalemma Double:

"Goddess" by Ben Tanzer

"Goodbye Ruby" by Ryan Bradley
(Magnum P.I forever).

Shameless self-promotion by the ever shameless people of Deckfight. Follow that shamelessness here.


More after the jump...