Band of the Week: Me And The Mountain and assorted other scrummies

Today's Band of the Week comes in the form of audio-visual goodness. Hurray for music videos. First up, the new lyric video for Me and the Mountain's This Is What You Do.

And then this from Rise Against. I've never really listened to them before, but a friend posted the link on Facebook yesterday and, well, it made an impact.

Then this gorgeousness from Kill Hannah (who just happen to be one of my favourite bands).

Goryness from dark cabaret lovelies Birdeatsbaby:

And finally, fun pirate metal from Alestorm.

Current love: Me And The Mountain acoustic

I think it's firmly established that I love Me And The Mountain. I also love hearing the acoustic versions of their songs. So these three vids are just made of awesome. Enjoy.

Review: Ruthless EP by Me And The Mountain

I'll have to look at getting a new Band Of The Week done tomorrow - haven't posted one for weeks! But for now, I have a couple of new reviews for your reading pleasure. First up is Me And The Mountain's debut EP, Ruthless. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Ruthless EP – Me and the Mountain

Release date: 9^th March 2011 (through Beehive Recordings)

Genre: Rock

Rating: 7/10

I've been eagerly awaiting Me and the Mountain's debut EP for several months and for a debut EP, it pretty much lives up to expectations. Easy on the ears, radio-friendly, female fronted rock, with a slightly hard edge to it. Opening track Hands To Yourself, originally released as the band's first single back in November last year is easily the strongest on the EP, a good driving track which displays the range of the vocalist. She's backed up on several tracks by one of the two guitarists and the bassist and while the male-female contrast is there, it stands out better in acoustic performances. None of them on this EP unfortunately, but I feel the contrast is something that could be worked on and improved in future material.

Throughout the EP, there is the slight feel that the rhythm section isn't particularly varied. I noticed this particularly on Hands To Yourself and the following track This Is What You Do. Although the EP as a whole has a slightly samey feel to it (probably not helped by that oddly similar rhythm section on the first two tracks), the tracks have enough variety to keep you interested. Third track Diamonds & Co begins as an almost ballad before exploding into life. Following on is the oddly fun Ruthless. However, my favourite tracks have to be The Invincibles and Silver Lining. This may simply be because they're the tracks I've known the longest, having heard acoustic versions back in November, but they are brilliant tracks. The Invincibles makes me wonder who these mysterious Invincibles are – the only reference I can find is to a variety of sports teams – and why do you need to keep up change for them? Silver Lining just has some wonderful lyrics:

“Sinks too low,

My body's forgotten how to float.

Treading water's just a joke.”

And this brings us to closing track As Yet Unknown. Another track where the opening notes at least sound rather similar to some of the previous tracks. That said, it's a great closer. The whole idea of “As yet unknown” leaves you free to wonder how Me and the Mountain will progress on their next release. If this EP is anything to go by, I think we can expect a pretty damn decent follow up, although hopefully without that samey feeling.

They sound almost more wonderful acoustic, by the way – check out their Youtube for some acoustic covers. It's scrummy.

Band Of The Week: Me And The Mountain

My Emilie Autumn post has been put on hold (again), since it was a mention by Me And The Mountain on Twitter that kinda jolted me into actually writing this week's Band Of The Week. Apparently they found my post from last week.

"@MATMofficial: Just spotted this little ditty from @ZoeDixon : We're just below @thedamnedthings so it can't be bad!"

So, they get the post, because, hey, they are indeed awesome. And if they hadn't mentioned that, I would completely have forgotten to post this week. This is what I posted about them last week:

"English, female-fronted rock. And if you dare compare them to Paramore I'm likely to kill you. Just because it's a female fronted rock band doesn't make it like Paramore. Besides, Me And The Mountain are shitloads better than Paramore. The debut EP Ruthless is due out at the beginning of February - should be on the iTunes store."

How to expand on that? Well, their debut single Hands To Yourself  is pretty damn awesome. Brilliant video to go with it too. But what really made me fall in love was their acoustic session on McFly's Super City site. As it is, I'm rather inclined to say I'm more enamoured of Me And The Mountain than McFly (although, that's not all that weird - there's a lot of bands I love more than McFly, however much I adore them). Beautiful voice, beautiful music and there's a violin. Scrummy scrummy gorgeousness. You know what's also awesome? They did an acoustic cover of Biffy Clyro's The Captain and did it justice. Check it out on YouTube. Great harmonies. Gotta love that female/male vocal contrast.

What else to say? Other than that there's something stuck under my O key, so sorry if there's any missing. Hmm... how about, I want the EP now. I wanna hear these new tracks!  And I need to see them live - will have to see if I can catch them after I get back to the UK in June. Seriously, there must be something else I can say. Gah, forget it, I'll just end with - Me And The Mountain are awesome, very rock oriented and definitely worth checking out. So, go do that, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted Me And The Mountain links:

Myspace

YouTube

Facebook

Last.FM

Twitter

No recommended tracks - just wait till the EP's out. Maybe I'll recommend some then. Till then, check their Myspace and YouTube.

Band Of The Week: super-mega-awesome feature... promise

Well, I didn't really feel like doing a proper Band Of The Week blog this week. So, instead, here's a few bands/artists I think everyone should check out.

Aamir al-Loki: Wonderfully odd self-described goth-pop. I'd put it closer to electronic rock, but goth-pop will do. Make sure to check out her new album Kill Your Demons. (Yes, I know I already wrote about her last week, but I'm just emphasising the point.)

Ahab: Funeral doom metal. I've never listened to doom metal in my life, but I'm pretty much in love with Ahab. Brilliantly atmospheric, plus their work's based on Moby Dick and whatnot. Someone on last.fm called it "whalecore". Made me smile.

The Damned Things: Pretty much straight up rock, with some melodic metal influences. Fall Out Boy + Anthrax + Every Time I Die evidently = a brilliant combination.

The Left Rights: Brainchild of Jimmy Urine and Steve, Righ? from Mindless Self Indulgence. Bizarre, crude, not all that imaginative, but good fun. Warning: may offend. No, seriously, may offend. I've seen the comments on some of their stuff.

Me And The Mountain: English, female-fronted rock. And if you dare compare them to Paramore I'm likely to kill you. Just because it's a female fronted rock band doesn't make it like Paramore. Besides, Me And The Mountain are shitloads better than Paramore. The debut EP Ruthless is due out at the beginning of February - should be on the iTunes store.

Get Scared: Post-hardcore type stuff. Or possibly rock with post-hardcore influences. Who needs this whole Black Veil Brides hype when you can have Get Scared and they're so much better?

The Blackout: More post-hardcore. Better live than on disc, so if you get the chance to see one of their gigs, take it. Although I warn you, it may mangle your knees. Check out their new track too - free download at the mo.

Last but not least, the wonderful Emilie Autumn, love of my life. Well, my musical life and she's a gorgeous woman too. Hey, a girl can dream. Ahem. Self-labelled "victoriandustrial", look out for the epic electric violin solos against industrial beats. On top of all that scrumminess is her voice. Eargasm, much. Seriously, go check her out. Hmm... maybe next week's band of the week can be for EA. Seeing as she's my favourite musician and all that and I don't babble about her enough. Mmm.

Anyways, go check them out, tell me what you think and pass it on.