"Pop Off!" Music Video from Dance Gavin Dance

Tilian Pearson singing about inner demons, tomato basil bisque, cocaine, pussy, and alcohol.

me:

I wish more bands would release instrumentals of their albums like Dance Gavin Dance do

POV: You just heard someone mention they love Dance Gavin Dance

Dance Gavin Dance - Jackpot Juicer Dance Gavin Dance has had a pretty rough year, haven’t they? After longtime bassist Tim Feerick unexpectedly passed away earlier this year, longtime vocalist Tilian Pearson stepped away in June after some sexual misconduct accusations. Frankly, that soured my excitement for upcoming album Jackpot Juicer. I didn’t really listen to 2020′s Afterburner much when that came out, mainly because I didn’t listen to a lot of new music that year, but DGD is a band that’s been running on fumes for awhile now. I really enjoyed 2018′s Artificial Selection, because they brought in some funk elements to their sound after being so stagnant for years, but they’ve just been cranking out the same albums for years now. The sad part about it is that DGD is one of the most influential and important post-hardcore / math-rock bands of the last twenty years. Their debut EP, 2006′s Whatever I Say Is Royal Ocean, kickstarted a movement within the genre. Firstly, it introduced former vocalist Jonny Craig into the world of post-hardcore, but its sound was very fresh and exciting. A lot of bands would go onto cop that sound, including what’s now deemed “Swancore,” but at the time, DGD were a new band. Albums like 2007′s Downtown Battle Mountain and 2009′s Happiness (their second and last album with Kurt Travis) are classics within the genre, and even some of their first records with Tilian Pearson are great, but they’re not a band known for experimentation or innovation. DGD are a band with a sound that they stick to, and to be fair, I get why, because it works. Their fans are utterly rabid, and they worship the ground they walk on, for whatever reason, so they’ll gladly hear the same album done a million times. In a sense, there’s nothing wrong with bands sticking to what they know, but it becomes a problem later on, especially when you’re a band that was known for being innovative and interesting. Now they just sound like a former shell of themselves, and Jackpot Juicer really displays that, unfortunately. I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to talk about this record, because it’s one of those albums that I like a lot when I’m listening to it, but the minute I turn it off, I forgot almost everything I heard, minus a few key and important moments that were really good. Part of the problem with this album right off the bat is that it’s eighteen songs and 63 minutes long. That’s the longest DGD album to date, but there’s no reason this album needed to be that long. It’s almost like this album never ends. I’ll look and see how far I’m into it, and I still have ten songs left, when that should be the entire album right there. Its runtime wouldn’t be an issue if the songs themselves were interesting enough, meaning that they justify the runtime, because they don’t. I hate to say it, but this album is kind of boring. It’s not boring musically speaking, but it’s clear that DGD are just writing the same songs over and over again. Everything sounds rather impressive, whether it’s Pearson’s clean vocals that are some of the best I’ve ever heard, Jonathan Mess’s screaming vocals that are always on point, or the guitatwork from Will Swan, but it all comes together in a very forgettable way, especially when everything blends together. Every song on this album sounds like the last one, and if that’s what you want, that’s great, but it becomes an issue when there’s no variety or diversity here at all. That’s the reason I’ve been wrestling with reviewing this album now; everything on here sounds great, but is it worth there being no variety at all? It’s an hour of the same song, just tweaked a little bit each time, and even then, this is a gimmick they’ve had for years. I’ll admit that they do sprinkle in some pop-rock / R&B elements here and there, thanks to the vocals, as well as guitarist Andrew Wells (also of Eidola) providing some clean vocals, too, so it’s a bit of a new dynamic (honestly, if the band kept him as their lead vocalist, I’d be very interested to hear what they do next), but that’s it. The music itself is still the same, so there’s nothing new or interesting there, and it just bores me after awhile. I really wanted to like this album more, but due to Pearson’s unfortunate exit, and the album just being a snoozefest when it comes to its length and its lack of diversity, I don’t care for this as much as I wanted to. It’s sad, because I used to love DGD, and I still do, but they’re running out of ideas. At the very least, they’re complacent with doing the same thing and sounding the same on each record. Honestly, if you want a better album with this same sound that just came out a couple of weeks later, peep the new Royal Coda record, To Only A Few At First, which just came out over the weekend. That’s the newest band from former vocalist Kurt Travis, and it’s got a very similar sound, but done in a much better way. I’ll talk about that album later this week, most likely, but I really love it. Jackpot Juicer isn’t outright bad, it’s actually great in small doses, but that’s the key -- small doses. If this album were about 15 to 20 minutes shorter, I’d love it a lot more, but as it stands, it’s okay, just really boring and very complacent from a band that is capable of a lot better.

Someone in these YouTube comments defending Tilian Pearson was literally like “don’t believe sexual assault allegations until there’s a trial and someone is convicted” LIKE DUDE . Less than 1% of rapes lead to felony convictions. I was raped by a grown man when I was 17 and did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do. I went and had a sane examination immediately after the incident, helped the detective collect a mountain of evidence, had several witnesses give statements to the police and agree to testify, we all correctly identified the perpetrator from a group of mugshots, and there was a VIDEO OF HIM ADMITTING TO RAPING ME!!! And guess what? He was rich as fuck, so his lawyer had all of that evidence, as well as the confession, deemed inadmissible before we even got a court date . They threw out the investigation immediately and I never got any semblance of justice.

Not to mention the fact that after experiencing that sort of trauma, people are often TERRIFIED of reporting the attacks. Throughout the process of the examination and investigation I was told by numerous medical professionals, police officers, and victims advocates that I should seriously reconsider going through with trying to press charges. I was informed by all of them that it’s extremely rare for rapists to be successfully convicted, and that I might not want to put myself through additional trauma by subjecting myself to investigation, cross examination, facing my attacker in person, etc.

The system is stacked against survivors. It is literally set up to prevent us from speaking out, and if we DO still speak out, it’s also set up in such a way that successfully prevents most rapists from facing actual repercussions for their actions. But yeah keep dickriding that piece of absolute human filth. I’m sure he’ll notice u someday🙄

Joy. Joy made here

HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD THIS SONG ?? I THOUGHT IT WAS PART OF THEIR NEW RELEASES WHEN I FOUND IT ON YOUTUBE IT SO GOOD RAHHHH

My first DGD fanart, based on Stawberry's Wake music video. I'm really addicted to their music, its been 1 month and still listening to them 😊💖

Now, now, slow your roll

Keep your head low

Your life is a joke

Don't make this awkward

Lay back in the fold

Can't make it alone

You're too fucking old

Don't make this awkward

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Oof. 😬🍓

Follow @sagehaleyofficial for more memes every Monday!

This year entertainers are just being scummy huh? Clownery at 1000.

Ember leading into Pop Off then One Man’s Cringe is perfection 

Eidola - Eviscerate

By this point, some almost twenty years since Dance Gavin Dance released their debut EP, the term “Swancore” is kind of dated, and a little bit played out. The genre is, too, as every band that fits the bill sounds the same, if not very similar — a vocalist with a voice suited for pop music (and is almost always too good for the band), math-rock and mathcore instrumentation that’s combined with progressive song structures, and lyrics that are either utter nonsense or poetic to the point of pretentiousness. That’s exactly how I’d describe the new Eidola album, entitled Eviscerate. Released on DGD guitarist Will Swan’s record label, Blue Swan Records (hence the name “Swancore), vocalist and primary songwriter of Eidola Andrew Wells is also in DGD, and that’s just one of many cases of how these bands are all connected. They weirdly all share members, like some kind of cult or prestigious club, but I digress.

When it comes to Eidola, I’m somewhat familiar with them. I’ve listened to one of their albums from 2017, but they’ve put out another one before Eviscerate. I can’t say I was super into them, as these guys have always been a carbon copy of the other bands in this vein, but they weren’t bad, either. Wells is a great vocalist, and it’s sort of weird his vocals aren’t utilized more in DGD, but that’s another story for another day. If anything, you’ll get a good time from these guys, especially if you like this sound, and that’s all you can really ask for. I was curious enough to listen to this new album, as a lot of progressive metalcore came out this past weekend, and this was one of them.

I’ve given Eviscerate a few listens, and remember what I said about a lot of Swancore bands having really good vocalists with a sound that blends mathcore with progressive song structures and lyrics that are either complete nonsense or pretentiously poetic? Well, this album is very much in that wheelhouse, and it’s not much different from anything else they’ve done, but it’s not bad. On first listen, this album’s pretty cool, but giving this a few listens now, its issues show themselves more and more. I will say that the one thing about this album that genuinely surprised is how heavy it gets, and that’s different for a band in this vein. A lot of these bands opt for a post-hardcore sound, and their prior albums for, but this is a straight up metalcore album. This thing gets gnarly, and in the best way.

Sure, it’s nothing special, but it’s a welcomed change. Even then, Wells is still a formidable singer, but the problem with this record (and their whole sound) is that the songs just blend together, especially with a lack of hooks. There are a few, but they’re not strong whatsoever. A lot of these bands are in the same vein, they’ve got killer vocalists, yet their hooks and choruses are lackluster. They seem to favor the mathcore instrumentation over accessible songwriting. The record sounds great, and it sounds impressive, but with a runtime of 45 minutes, you can’t just make the same song 12 times. Aside from a few moments here and there, this record blends together, and not in a way that makes me want to hear the whole thing, especially where this band’s sound just go above and beyond anything other bands in this vein have done. It’s a good album, and worth hearing if you love this sound, but you’re not missing anything if you don’t, unfortunately.