O’Death is a band that was introduced to me a little over a year ago by my good friend Jamie in New Orleans, LA. I was very interested in their sound and their musicality; however, I never really took to them at that time. With the release of their new album, Outside, I rediscovered their music and developed an even greater love for them.
One of the biggest surprises for me in looking into their background was to find that this band didn’t come from the south at all. Their sound certainly makes me think that they grew up somewhere south along the Mississippi. I suppose featuring such instruments in your music as the banjo, fiddle, and ukulele will tend to do that. These southern style musicians however, honed their craft in good old NYC. Forming in 2003, their music quickly developed almost a cult following. They have a great folk sound that is sort of different from the folk sound that is prevalent in popular music today. Everyone has heard Mumford and Sons on the radio which has a more folky Irish feel to it. O’death goes for more of an Americana-folk that would be created on the front porch of a small cabin down by the river. Their gothic take on American music creates songs that seem to be more fitting of a funeral than any sort of celebration.
As O’death have matured, their songs have done so as well. This is the third release and it is by far their least frantic and chaotic. Evidently they have more or less begun to drop the punk association that many tagged this band with earlier on in their career. This album finds them still varying up their style; however, always returning to a muted and low-key sound. Refer to the videos I have included below to see just how their music has differed. “Low Tide”, a song off their last album, is clearly more hectic and punk rock influenced than their newest video: “Bugs”. One of their biggest reasons for maturing may be some of the trials they have been forced to face in the past few years. David Rogers-Berry, drummer for the band, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and forced to undergo both chemotherapy and a shoulder replacement. This forced the band to drop off their 2009 tour and take a break until a return to the stage the following summer.
O’death manages to create a sort of unique sound that they change and develop in each song. The songs will typically manage to come back to the way in which they started, but they go through many different changes throughout the trip getting there. “Bugs” starts out sounding like a long lost track off some Elliot Smith album. However, after the first verse, the banjo manages to find its way into the mix and takes it off in a completely different direction for the chorus. It fits together quite nicely, but being the first song on the album, it is the very first taste of a lot of southern style songs.
Every song on the album somehow manages to sound like some sort of indie strolling minstrel gypsy song. O’death manages to create a sound that not many are attempting at this point in time. Some of the songs do manage to sound slightly light and happy; however, a great quantity of the songs come off with a funeral dirge sound to it. A song that really embodies this concept is”Alamar”. This song starts off with people almost monk chanting in the background. Then a jarring guitar comes in followed by a very heavy metallic sounding drum. You could almost see them following a coffin towards a pre-dug grave site followed by mourners. It is a great song, and probably one of my favorite on the album; however, if you are looking for a pick me up, I wouldn’t recommend a lot of songs on this record.
Another song that sounds just as sad and mournful is “The Lake Departed”. The song starts with an almost old church organ sound, followed by heavy drums and bass, and then finished out with lead singer Greg Jamie’s quavering vocals singing out “Leave her body in the snow, there is no where else for her to go”. Not exactly a pick me up, and of course, it is the final song on the album. So, it leaves you with a very ominous impression of the album.
There are some more upbeat songs on the album. You of course do have to understand that O’death’s version of upbeat is much different from most other bands. “Back of the Garden” has a much lighter feel to it. This is more based on the instruments and not on the vocals. It even contains what i believe to be the most danceable song on the album. Of course, it may be more fit for a tango than anything. “Ghost Head” is another fairly upbeat song. You can once again blame this more on the instruments than the vocals.
All in all, I am very happy with the album O’death has put out here. I don’t think it will be for everyone, and I am sure there will be those that really can’t stand this style or the vocals. However, I’m content to enjoy O’death despite them being a pretty big downer a lot of the time. I don’t think you’ll put this on to enjoy a day at the beach, but I think you’ll find yourself going back to this album more than you thought you would. So check it out.
Teacher Grade: B
mill brews that are out there. One of the more interesting things brewers are doing now a days is trying to find harmony in the brewing community. We see these light beer wars on TV. Miller light is better than Bud Light blah blah blah. In the end they both taste like pee. Craft brewers have decided to go the other way when it comes to the competitive beer market. That is, they combine similar recipes to hopefully produce a product that is both different and amazing all at the same time. Unfortunately I missed out on the last big collaboration I wanted to get, Life and Limb, which brought together both Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. I would not allow that to happen again. When my good friend over at
alized this there was some talk over who would get to keep the name; however, instead of having just one brewer producing the Belgian ale by the name of Salvation, they actually both kept these on their roster and decided to combine the recipes into one bottle as well. Hence Collaboration not Litigation.
the book I literally just finished this afternoon. I would like to think of myself as a jack of all trades kind of guy; however, I think the follow-up to that (master of none) is more fitting. I really love to read, but I allow a lot of other things to get in the way, which causes me to read at a very slow and distracted pace sometimes. So I’ve been reading this book for about a month or more now, however, this week it really took off for me. Lone Survivor is probably a book you’ve seen half a dozen times at your local bookstore. I know I passed by it quite a few times before finally deciding I had to read it. I have lately really enjoyed non-fiction stories that involve people doing things that I guarantee I could never do. Lone Survivor is just that type of story.
esn’t already give it away, the mission goes seriously wrong and they have to fight their way out while sustaining tremendous casualties. Their fight to live and survive shows more heart than I could ever imagine being able to conjure up. I cry when I get shot in the wrong place with a hockey puck. These guys keep fighting despite being shot in the neck and chest.
For those of you who didn’t know, this week is actually American Craft Beer Week. Throughout the different states there are special events going on for craft beer lovers to enjoy hard to get drafts, meet and greet different brewers, and get some free swag. Therefore, last night John and I headed down to Smith Commons for the special Bells event they were holding down there. It was billed as having Two Hearted Ale, Oarsman Ale, and Hopslam. As I have never actually enjoyed having Hopslam, this was my main reason for wanting to go. However, after waiting a little while to get the attention of the bartender, we were finally told that they had run out of the Hopslam in the first half hour of being open. Guess a $5 Hopslam special is bound to do that. Slightly disappointed we decided to grab a glass of Two Hearted and 
count our loses out on the lovely porch they have built. Two Hearted is, at least in my opinion, a pretty standard beer from Bells; therefore, I really didn’t put too much thought into the different flavors that were present or anything. It’s a very good American IPA, probably one of the more enjoyable one I have had in a while. They don’t really rely too much on the citrus aspects in their IPA, it has a much meatier feel to it. From there, still disappointed about missing out on the Hopslam, we decided to switch over to a Dogfish Head that neither of us have had: Palo Santo Marron.
Having not looked into it at all, I immediately thought that I was dealing with some sort of porter or stout. I have had quite a few porters as of late at Rock Bottom Brewery after my hockey games, and I was certain this was falling right in line with a similar flavor profile. It had a lot of coffee, caramel, and chocolate flavors in there. But there was too much carbonation for it to be considered a stout. However, looking it up today, I see that Dogfish Head bills this as a brown ale. This has to be the heaviest brown ale I’ve ever had. Apparently, Dogfish ages this brew in barrels made of Palo Santo wood. I don’t believe I have ever really had a beer aged in barrels made of this wood before, so I am certain that has a huge effect on the flavor. After enjoying both of these beers, we decided it was time to move on and see what else we could find in the area; plus I hadn’t had dinner and was quite hungry. Evidently, if I was a bigger beer geek, I could have gotten tickets to see someone from Bells talk about the history of the company and their two biggest beers, but I decided I would much rather eat some good food.
One thing really stuck out to me when the bartender brought it over. The head on the beer was almost as dark as the rest of the beer. I was certain this would be a very heavy beer. Evidently, this beer is a limited edition draft only release from DC Brau. Therefore, if you don’t live in the DC area, you’ll probably miss out on this one. It was an excellent porter. Very heavy and very deep chocolate and coffee flavors. Brau notes that it borders between a porter and a stout. Therefore, it isn’t for the light beer drinker at all.
r different albums. Their third album, Time to Die, was mostly considered a huge flop. They were attempting to follow-up their biggest release, Visitor, but weren’t able to find that same magic they had on their sophomore release. “No Color” finds them taking some different, and very successful steps, to once again produce a stellar album. One of the biggest differences in this recording is the lack of the vibraphone. The Dodos were given two months to records this album, which allowed them to really play with sounds of the album. Although most of the songs were originally recorded with the vibraphone, they soon realized that the songs sounded better when it was taken out. This ultimately resulted in having Keaton Snyder, vibraphonist, leave the band. Another big addition to this record is having New Pornographer, Neko Case, along to guest on quite a few songs. Neko managed to join up with The Dodos when they toured together this past year. Neko helps to bring some harmony to the developing wall of sound these two musicians have created.
ther songs on the album seem really really busy in the way they are constructed. Don’t Stop has a very sporadic sound to it due to the way in which the drums are played. They fit nicely into the sound that The Dodos are moving towards. Going Under is an extremely powerful song. It alternates between electric fuzzy guitars and acoustic plucking. The drums are also extremely busy and powerful on it as well. The part that will really confuse you, really on most of these songs, is how melancholy Meric’s singing is on every song. No matter how upbeat and loud the song gets, Meric comes in low-key and subdued. It creates a great contrast if you’re into that.
This beer is brewed by the Bosteels Family and Browerij Bosteels in Belgium. It is made with three different grains: oats, barley, and wheat. This is a recipe that has been around since 1679, which means that it has a lot of years of experience and perfecting going on.
DC Brau is the newest brew to come to the DC area, and I am fairly certain you can’t get it anywhere else but the DC metro area. Therefore, if you don’t live here, that is too bad. DC Brau is the first beer to be brewed inside the district in the last 60 years. This new brew was masterminded by two men: Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock. These two didn’t just wake up one day and decide they wanted to create their own beer. Jeff first had an apprenticeship at Franklin’s Restaurant and Brewery in Hyattsville, Maryland, Jeff then brewed at Grizzly Peak Brewing and Arbor Brewing companies, both in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland. So, they clearly have a strong foundation on which to start brewing their own beer.
really hoping that Foo Fighters would win. I’m sure it won’t matter to most, but if you wanted to see something else reviewed, vote in the poll next time.
n the beauty factor a few points. You’ll clearly notice Smear here at the end of the line of dirty rock stars in the picture to the right.
