A kid recently let me know that her teacher (male) had asked the class what 'emo' was. He then did an image search on Google. Having looked at the pictures supplied the teacher apparently stated to his sixth grade class that all 'emos' were homosexual. I don't know about that. I am pretty sure that Chris Carrabba would likely be classified as both heterosexual and emo. In fact, Spin Magazine recently classified him as the 'king of emo-folk pain'.
Carrabba is, of course, the front man for the band Dashboard Confessional. The band recently released a new album titled, Alter the Ending. The album is available in two formats: the regular version and a deluxe version. The deluxe version, which is only an additional three dollars on iTunes, contains acoustic versions of all of the songs. I highly recommend spending the extra few bucks.
There has been talk that the band (and, more specifically, Mr. Carrabba) has been bit schizo as it ages. Some say that there is an identity crisis of sorts; a vacillation from adult contemporary to indie folk, etc. That isn't at all a bad thing. In fact, the bi-polar, hard to define quality is precisely what makes DC so interesting and different. Don't be fooled, even at their most over-produced DC still manages to hold on to enough indie-ism to keep their sound from blending into the vanilla.
When listening the Alter the Ending, conduct a little emo/indie experiment. Rather than listening to the album straight through, play the regular version of a song and follow it up with the acoustic version of the same song. Try that a few times. See if you can decide which version works best for your ears. Are you a 'depressed' DC fan or a 'manic' one? If you're like me, you'll find that you're both.
No comments:
Post a Comment