School is busy and time consuming

School has been consuming my time a lot, it sucks being a bioinformatics major and a music minor. It should be noted that I hate neither subjects it's just that the amount of reading that those subjects require is consuming a lot of time but the content is quite enjoyable at least. I'm going to school in Albany and I feel it's appropriate to mention that the music scene up here is very impressive. Being a college town, a somewhat decent size city and located in the middle of New York there is a very interesting mix of styles and acts that play in the area. You can go to a dive bar one night and watch a local two-piece art rock act for $2 and then the next night go blow over fifty bucks at the Times Union Center for some overrated, over-hyped national touring alternative band. The diveristy of the genres up here is what is impressing me the most, but coming from Poughkeepsie where all the bands were either generic metalcore or generic alt. rock that might not be saying much. If you got the time look into Albany area natives After The Fall, Dead Aces and The Killerados .

Alright end rant begin review:

"You got you're post-rock guitars in my emo vocals! You got you're emo vocals in my..."

Seasons In Verse

Seasons In Verse by the Connecticut band My Heart To Joy has to be one of the hidden gems of '09. My Heart To Joy has been around since early 2006, and they've been going strong ever since. One of my favorite things about them is the way they have evolved over the years. With origins in hardcore punk they blended in indie and art influences to sculpt their sound into something that is now comparable to Thursday and At The Drive-In. This shift in sound helped them stand out and garnered them a record deal. Seasons in Verse is the first full length record they have put out. The opening instrumental track with atmospheric guitars is reminiscent of post-rock such as sleepmakeswaves. The lead vocals of Ryan Nelson and backing vocals of Greg Horbal are post-hardcore in the vein of Thursday. The standout track on this album that showcases their blend of post-hardcore and indie rock has to be Old Capitals. The song features some of Greg's best guitar work on the album in my opinion and his post-rock inspired solo is one of the best examples of the keep-it-simple. I saw these guys live back in January and they absolutely killed it. Not only are they talented musicians but they are really friendly guys too. They have new material on the way too so be on the lookout for that and try to catch them on tour if you have the means.