Top 7 albums of 2011 (so far)

7. ORGE YOU ASSHOLE - homely

This is what many call the Japanese Modest Mouse, I honestly do not understand this label at-fucking-all. Whether or not that makes sense to you or not, this was one of my favorite things to listen to due to the chilled nature of the music and how effortlessly the band played their songs. Some of the best use of horns and saxophone I've heard on a rock record in a long time.


6. Dads - Brush Your Teeth, Again ;)

Lovely creative guitar lines and complex rhythms throughout. Some of the best homemade twinkly emo bullshit I've ever heard. Unexpected amounts of expertise and songwriting in such a independent bandcamp release. Highly recommended and respectable music.


5. My Little Underground - My Little Underground

An EP release that was a mix of the more danceable styles of post-punk and several nods to shoegaze bands like Ride. A very satisfying listen, in retrospect and even in a tinge of sadness I enjoyed this record more than The Horror's Skying. Goes to show that the sometimes the best music is hidden.


4. Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor

This fucking band. THIS FUCKING BAND. Straight from my hometown and area of my earliest childhood memories I cannot help but have an emotional attachment to this music. While it may be simply indie rock influence punk, it evokes memories of the gone by days of happiness, youth and sadness, all in one package. One of the strongest debuts I've ever heard, I only wish this band the best.


3. Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Yeah yeah yeah, I know a whole mess of fans were butthurt after this wasn't 'In Rainbows Part Two' which baffles me as many wanted the band to experiment and evolve their sound. Well here it is assholes. Even if I did overplay this record to death for myself it still holds a special place with me as the only record that I was legitimately excited for and was satisfied with. Whether it was the beauty of 'Bloom', the dark rhythms of 'Morning Mr Magpie' or the delightful 'Separator', this record fulfilled everything needed for an experimental and different Radiohead experience.


2. Iceage - New Brigade

This record not only revitalized my dying interest in post-punk but made me love noise rock even more. When I first heard descriptions of this album as 'dirty', 'grimy' and 'murky' I was excited and intrigued. Not many bands can truly pull off the fine line between noise indulgence and actual songs that stand. Iceage managed this effortlessly. Truly the coolest record I listened to so far this year and the record that made me rethink if bands like Interpol or The Horrors are even trying at making good post-punk.


1. Dirty Beaches - Badlands

The only release that made me long for something I've never experienced, a truly immense listening experience in only about half an hour. The lo-fi elements transport one to a long forgotten time of paranoia, sorrow and escape. With songs like 'True Blue' and "A Hundred Highways" I can only imagine what Dirty Beaches is capable of with a entire studio to use. Lovely music.

Top 5 albums of 2011 thus far.

Bryan and I were talking about this year for music earlier today over lunch. We both agreed that this year pretty much sucked. Goblin turned out to be a huge disappointment, as well as Watch the Throne and Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang. So to combat this pessimistic view of the year here is 5 albums that might be worth your while.

5.) The Saddest Landscape- You Will Not Survive

These guys are probably the only band still making authentic screamo. The instrumentals are amazing. I hope these guys keep stay around and not split like their contemporaries.











4.) Shabazz Palaces- Black Up

I mentioned this album before in my first post. This album takes hip-hop and launches it to a futuristic place. The beats on this album are out of this world. It feels like the beats were made by a supercomputer from the future.

3.) Giles Corey - Giles Corey

One half of Have a Nice Life, Giles Corey is nearly equally as depressing. I can't say anything other than the fact it is absolutely soul crushing.

2.) *shels - Plains of the Purple Buffalo

Nothing more I could say about this album that I haven't already said already in my review. This album creates "epic soundscapes" which feels like a imaginary world.











1.) Joyce Manor- Joyce Manor

Though this album may be considered just a simple punk album,  it feels so much more than just that. From the first track, "Orange Julius" to the last track, "Constant Headache" you feel this surge of strange teenage joy which can only be explained simply by the strong songwriting. I have probably played this album 20-30 times this month and it still hasn't got old.

What you may see in the unknown Future?

As you can see I am Starlon. Should be doing my homework ,but since I am dodging this 7 page paper on a bad book, blogging sounds pretty attractive.

I am a 17 year old Lancaster born black kid with a thing for post-hardcore and strangely Waka Flocka Flame. One of my hobbies is to find obscure music on the internet from any genre which I may share here. One of them is Shabazz Palace's Black Up. I will go in depth about it later ,but it is a weird hip-hop album with some really different beats.

I have watched anime on and off for years. One of my favorites is and always will be Neon Genesis Evangelion. I consider it nearly a perfect series which is being masterminded by a depressed autistic savant, Hideaki Anno. The only thing that can possibly rival the greatness of Evangelion is possibly the "female version" of it, Revolutionary Girl Utena. Which has about equal amounts of psychological break downs and large amounts of "what the hell is going on ?"

On a related you should be looking out for some rants, I just recently went into a cave of un-evolved Homo sapiens which look closer to our primate ancestors, which are called anime fans. I will rant about the cleanliness and organization of their society, "Anime Club".

I am majoring currently in Journalism at CSUN ,but I am really thinking about switching to Anthropology. Though I love writing I have noticed that I have really no talent in it and well Anthropology is just cool. Maybe with this site I would gain some confidence with my writing and may even improve.

So, what you may expect from me in the future is some album of the week kind of stuff, rant of the week and maybe if I am feeling in any form creativity in my body, stories.

Random facts about me: favorite book even though I never finished it Savage Detectives, favorite movie Holy Mountain, favorite comic book Animal Man and favorite animals cats.

- Starlon H.

From safety to where...?

So this is the first post and introduction to the blog/website of Chief Tizo Records. To be quick and to the point, this is a digital music label for my musical outlet and any other artists we may discover and have under our banner.

There's truly no label "aesthetic", I don't really believe in that sort of thing because it diminishes the amount of output and diversity we could have on a independent record label like this one.

Let's be honest here though, I have no money, Starlon doesn't, this is mainly a digital ordeal in which we will promote the music that we make and promote anyone else's music who wishes to 'sign' with us and be a part of this small community in the making.

I wish to create something akin to Factory Records with their sense of style and 'coolness' without the copious amounts of drugs or the inevitable bankruptcy. A digital age of that... right?

I readily admit we are all new to this and this is a huge experiment of effort and creativity.

So what can you expect?

Well Starlon will be writing some very interesting articles and pieces about music, disillusion and whatever else he feels like writing about. I really don't know and am as excited as anyone to see what he posts.

I'll be posting new releases, recording updates, upcoming shows, and whatever else I feel like posting. Don't worry though it will not get too out of hand or off-topic.

Later on we'll be getting more writers within the bands to help us post and update this weekly! So it'll be very exciting, hope everyone will be a participant in this.

Godspeed.

- Bryan