This is a weird review for me to be writing because, well I hated this band's first album. I know "hated" is a strong word, but I still choose to use it. For some reason A Fever You Can't Sweat Out just rubbed me the wrong way. It came out at the hight of my music snob phase as well as my "anti-anything remotely sounding similar to another band" phase. I guess I grew up in a scene where the bands that got big were the ones that toured most often. They hit the right shows at the right times and through hard work and a insane touring schedule, they eventually would grow and develop a fan base.

Panic at the Disco played, like, a show or two before they were signed to a major record label. They hit at the right time at the right place, with the explosion of bands being discovered via myspace. They had catchy songs with a sound (vocal wise, at least in my opinion) that reminded me of Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. Even the song titles were long and clever, just like Fall Out Boy, and on top of all of that as a band, they weren't very good. Even Panic's lead singer, Brendon Urie, said they had strides to go when it came to musical talent.

By constantly touring, a band gains something else besides a fan-base; they gain talent. They practice with the same people daily, they tour in a small van with the same guys from state to state to state, creating a bond between members, gaining stage presence, and above all, they learn to be better musicians.

So having said all of that, being a guy who won't ever discredit a band undeservingly, and who will give multiple chances and continue to buy new releases of bands that have disappointed me in the past, I went half way with a friend and purchased Pretty.Odd. by Panic at the Disco.

Totally floored and taken back by, not only the fact that I liked this album, but how much I liked it, my like eventually turned into love. Yes, I eventually ended up loving this album.

This is the Panic at the Disco that should have made their debut. They had their own sound, their own vibe, and above all else, they ended up being really good musicians. With a few member changes, the vast improvements are obvious and have me very very excited for where they take themselves as artists.

With the super catchy "Nine In The Afternoon," this song sets a tempo for the rest of the album. They let you know there is a new band here--one that you're not used to. Gone are the overtly synthetic sounds of their first album, this is a band. This isn't some group of kids with a keyboard and a Mac; they know what they're playing and how to play them. There are trumpets sounding off in the background, pronounced guitar's and Brendon Urie's voice takes up a lot more space this time around.

That song kicks us off on a very mature (even though most of the members were still under 21) and an even classic rock or folky sounding record.

The song's are upbeat and happy as hell, and while having many a summer party last year, this was the album I often listened to.

"That Green Gentlemen (Thing's Have Changed)" is the song that tipped me off to buy this album. Seeing this video, hearing this song just for some reason made me want to hear more. So congrats to a great song/music video I guess, because the combo of the two was what baited me to actually give this record a listen.

Their third single " Northern Downpour," slows down the record and is a real great example of how they work now with subtle sounds, simple chords and courses' and harmonies as well as adding in wonderful back up vocals. It's a wonderful song to listen to on a rainy day and I highly recommend giving it a try the next time you're stuck indoors.

One of the last songs on the album is my personal favorite and this is usually the song I play for friends who have yet to hear the album. It's called "Folkin' Around," and, as from the title, you can see it's not going to sound like anything you'd expect to hear from Panic at the Disco. It's folkish while really flirting the line of being country. I'd love to play this and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" back to back to show just how far this band has come. I figure I'll end this with a quote from that song.

"If I've forgotten how to sing
Before I sung this song
I'll write it all across this wall
 Before my job is done
 And I'll even have the courtesy
 Of admitting I was wrong"

I can proudly say I no longer hate Panic at the Disco.

I wanted to write today, but I didn't know what I wanted to write about. I don't really like searching and searching for something to inspire me because it feels forced, and usually I just Stumble until an image, or a story, or a quote inspires me.

I found the image below today:

I can't tell you how many times I've done the same thing in elementary and middle school. I was a good student and I studied hard, but sometimes you just bomb a test. And when you know you bomb a test before it's even finished, you kind of give up.

But I had my little ways of trying to score brownie points with the teacher, and crossing my fingers that she'd give me a couple bonus points for creativity. I knew I was a good illustrator, and that I had artistic talent, so I used that to my advantage and drew all these amazing little pictures at the end of every bombed test. Sometimes I'd even spend more time on the illustrations than the actual test.

A lot of the time I'd incorporate little notes like the one above about how much I really tried and did my best, but I hoped that my little drawing was good enough for an extra point or two. At the very least, I was pulling some heavy psychological manipulation on my teachers when I was only 7 or 8 because I'd guilt trip them sometimes into passing me.

Granted, sometimes it didn't work, but those times were extremely rare because I was just THAT kind of a good student. I had my ways, lol.

The last time I can remember doodling on a test to that extent was actually during my AP English exam my senior year of high school. For anyone who's taken an AP class, you know the intensity of not only the class but of the exam as well. And for those of you that don't, AP stands for Advanced Placement and these are master's level college courses offered in high school. If you pass the exam at the end, depending on your score from 1-5, you can receive up to 6 college credits.

The exams cost about $80 each at the time, and since I knew for a good while that I was going to bomb this test but that my parents had paid for it, I didn't really care about my score. I wrote the essays and answered the questions in my booklet, but then proceeded to doodle and render these complex drawings on the unused pages for about 2 hours out of the 3 total hours I had to take the test.

My doodles weren't to sway the college professors and the AP board into giving me a better score, or to take sympathy on me, but it was honestly because I was bored and had a pencil in my hand for 3 hours. I wrote a note that time as well, but more along the lines of what I thought of the English literary system at the time mixed with a little personal opinion on the political arena. In a way it was practice for my following AP exam on American History the next day.

I think it's funny that one image done by an elementary student randomly posted and found online can bring back all of those memories. I'm sure there are more of you out there that have done the same, and there's no shame in it. We're always going to encourage you to doodle no matter where you are or what you're doing.

As always,
Draw.

A guitar slide and a declaration: "Tonight I'm coming home in a coma if it fucking kills me." Thus starts off Every Time I Die's twenty seven minute ear fucking of a masterpiece we aptly call Hot Damn.

And I'll be God damned if this album isn't the most perfect hardcore album I've ever heard.

I first caught wind of ETID when I was a Junior in high school and the first song I remember hearing was off their second album called "The Logic of Crocodiles." Shortly after being exposed to them, they came out with Hot Damn and I fell in love.

There's not a song on this album that any fan of hardcore wouldn't love. It has the witty, always quotable lyrics of Keith Buckley, the catchy guitar onslaughts of Andy and Jordan, and hard hitting drumming courtesy of Mike (in regards to ETID it's best to never mention the bassist). The key to the album is it's short.

Like, really short.

At twenty seven minutes, there's no room for fat here. Every song is either two minutes or under. They hit you hard, destroy every chance you have of ever listening to other hardcore albums again, and leave you tired, sweaty, and craving a cigarette.

Every.Single.Song.Is.Perfect.

So I'll just do a quick rundown of each one, give you a line from each song because the lyrics are always my favorite part. Simply put, you need to buy this album. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Romeo A Go-Go - "There's a delicate love song in this, kicked out and dripping in verse. Go get your gun because God won't show. He sent a poet instead."

Off Broadway - "Tonight we dance, for tomorrow they release the dogs. 1,2,3. 1,2,3. Keep it up. 1,2,3. Savor it. Where is my head? Where is my heart? Everything vanishes."

I Been Gone A Long Time - "What we're doing is so wrong, and what you're wearing is so right (It's so tight!)" and this song has the mandatory cowbell in it....so that makes it an automatic plus.

Godspeed Us To Sea - "Oh captain, my captain, you've been drinking. What happened? I've been slurring my cadences, and blacking out when I stand."

She's My Rushmore - " The greatest lovers were murders first."

Floater(Best.Fucking.Song.Ever.)- "Don't let your dreamers grow up to be dead men. 
Drown us at birth, save her some time. Drifting on romantic holiday, breathless as her cold arms cover me. Drag the lake. You'll find it's full of love." This song also has hands down one of my favorite breakdowns to ever see live.

In The Event That Everything Should Go Terribly Wrong - This is ETID's version of a calm instrumental and I think it's a nice way to calm down a second and regain your composure before the end of the cd hits you.

Ebolarama (Their single off the album, if you can call it that) - "When in Rome we shall do as the Romans, when in hell we do shots at the bar." <3

Hit Of The Search Party - "Sleep with one knife open. You can't outthink us, we've been out of thoughts for a while."

Pornogratherapy - "We'll sing the glory of the gospel for some whiskey and a skin flick. Hallelujah."

This is one of my favorite bands ever and every single album they've made has been stellar, but there is and will always be only one Hot Damn.

Sometimes life isn't meant to be taken so seriously. ImprovEverywhere, a group in NYC as well as elsewhere around the world, know this better than anyone else and routinely inject innocent fun into NYC's bustling culture.

Below is a video from their latest event on March 18th where they converted an entire subway station into a faux art gallery. The MoMA did this same thing at Brooklyn's Atlantic/Pacific Street Station for about 2 months, but spent thousands of dollars to take over a major changing station.

ImprovEverywhere did the same exact thing with a budget of probably under $100.

Their next big event is the annual Pillow Fight on Wall Street, and as endless fans of creativity and fun, we at Draw encourage you to attend.

Inject a little fun into society and as always,
Draw.

So we all have the one album that gets us into the type of music we listen to. We're all partial to one style of music or bands and then we find one that changes our entire outlook on music. They branch us off into a new style or genre; they make us want to hear more bands like them or just hear more from them. For me that band was the first band I ever saw live, and the first real "rockish," band I had experience with.

The band was Third Eye Blind and the album was self-titled.

This album was one of the first I ever purchased, and, like I said, they were the first live band I ever saw. I think everyone remembers them, and I'm pretty confident that if "Semi-Charmed Life" were to come on, whether you knew they lyrics or not, you would sing along with the "do do do, do do do dooooo." Don't pretend that you wouldn't.

I remember seeing these guys with my mother. In hindsight, I have to credit this concert for the bond her and I have to this day. She was the person who got me into music. Whether I was underage or not, she would take me to all the best concerts. It's really nice because in a few months I'm going to the Bamboozle tour in New Jersey and she's coming too. It'll be the first concert we've been to in a few years, and as fate would have it, one of the headlining bands is Third Eye Blind.

I chose Third Eye Blind for my perfect album review because of it's role in my growth as a person and for it's overall expansion of my musical taste.

The album is pretty upbeat, or at least a good portion of it has an upbeat tempo. If you wanted to know what the state of alternative rock was in the late 90's, look no further. I recommend this band--especially this CD--over the likes of other alternative giants like the Spin Doctors, Goo Goo Dolls, Sugar Ray etc.

The CD opens up with "Losing A Whole Year," a slow strum of a guitar met with Stephen Jenkins screaming " I Remember you and me used to spend the whole God damned day in bed," and we're off.

Their second track "Narcolepsy," is one of my favorites because of the pace it keeps. It has a slow burning guitar playing a very simple repetitive riff while the drums slowly roll in. As the song builds to the chorus you can hear it in Stephen's voice that you're about to get hit. Hard. His voice increases in intensity as he chats " I can feel this narcolepsy slide......into another nightMARE," the guitars come crashing down and the tempo speeds up. You feel the transition from sleeping to nightmare. This goes back and fourth a few times until the song ends with a nice guitar solo (personally, I feel, a must).

Even though "Semi-Charmed Life," is a big single for the CD, I feel like "Jumper," hit bigger and left more of impact. Maybe it was the lyrics, maybe it's the message, or perhaps just how the song has a somber tone yet they still try to keep it upbeat--hopeful even. It's obvious that this is a friend really reaching out to someone close to them.

"CAN I GRADUATE!" kicks off the song "Graduate," and the way it's screamed out seems more like an act of defiance versus a question. This is a great song to just rock out to at parties or with your friends. If anything, it's easy to learn. If the simple lines prove too difficult to remember, you can always just scream " CAN I GRADUATE!"

Their third single "How's It Going To Be," seems to be the ballad of the album, or at least the ballad that was released to the airwaves. It's a nice quiet response to "Graduate."

"Thanks A Lot," is a bit darker in the lyrical sense and the song itself has a much harsher tone to it. The song opens with a riff that leads to a guitar slide that is very very close to the opening slide to "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," which only could be a good thing, am I right? I think my fellow Buffy fans would agree. The standout line for me was always "I woke you up and I slit the throat of your confidence." I really can't pinpoint why, but that gory visual always hit home for me (see my first review of Saves The Day to see a similar interest in gory lyrics).

"London," is my favorite when it comes to the catchy songs. I have the most fun signing this one, and I love the chorus, "I don't wanna go to London." If you can't sing along with this song then there's something really really wrong with you.

Then comes my favorite song off the entire album, " I Want You." The perfect tune for an angsty teen. It's a slower song but not slow like "How's It Going To Be." There are sexual references galore and the lyrics ooze of desire and longing. Though the tempo speeds up at points the song can't be confused as poppy and upbeat. There's a passion in his voice--a sense of urgency like he needs her right now more then he ever did. I feel like its about letting go of restraint and just indulging in whomever you're there with. We all die eventually so before the worms come why not just let go and enjoy one another?

I hope you guys pick this album up. It means a lot to me; it swayed me from crappy nu-metal to a more refined sound. Third Eye Blind has a special place in my heart as well as an important place in the 90's, but seeing as it's 2009 and I can still listen to it without skipping a track, there's got to be more to it than just being my soundtrack to a decade.

I'm a fan of lots of different kind of artwork, particularly artwork that isn't strictly digital. I like variety, I like people to mix things up and I encourage getting down and dirty with your work.

I found a Finnish artist by the name of Sami Havia who paints album covers on cassette tapes and wow, does he goes all out. A couple of his images are below, but a lot more can be seen on his website.

One of the comments left today by someone on an art forum was this, "I'm all for art but I really dislike the idea of turning old tapes into canvas. It's trying too much and focusing in on the wrong thing."

I completely disagree with that.

I think that the combination of not only medium and style, but the concept and intent behind it is actually quite beautiful. Sami doesn't ignore the medium he's utilizing, instead he's incorporated it into his art and made the two separate elements meld together almost seamlessly in many instances.

Perhaps my reason for liking Sami Havia so much is that he plays on my desire to take an object and completely turn it on its head so that its original meaning isn't showing through at all. Cassette tapes are for the art of sound, and have never really been seen as having a visual connotation at all. Sure, the packaging was the art, and the sound that came from it was art as well, but the physical item really was never considered a canvas for anything.

I was reading an article earlier today that gave strong evidence to the idea of constraint for artists. The more restrictions, the more ability for an artist or a creative person to bloom and really explore the possibilities. It sounds contradictory, but pushing the elements within specific guidelines actually helps far more than complete creative freedom does.

For example, the Google homepage is limited to 28 words; Piet Mondrian pushed modernism because of his restraint in only using primary colors and sticking to 90-degree angles; the iPhone bases it's complete trademark simplicity on the dominate usage of the touchscreen and a single physical button.

And just like the aforementioned people and companies have shown, strong limitations actually push boundaries and stimulate the mind. Sami Havia's limitations of only using cassette tapes and album covers for his artwork in this series force us to revisit the idea of what something is, and what it's purpose can be. Not what it is, but what it can be.

Draw encourages you to push those boundaries with your own limitations and of course,
Draw.

»»Check out the new theme, *makeshift mixtape on our theme page!

This album is a favorite on my list of "Perfect Albums" and this band holds a very special place in my heart.

It's from a band out of the Seattle, Washington area called Minus the Bear and this, Highly Refined Pirates, is their first full length album.

Minus the Bear's Highly Refined Pirates is just plain groovy. The album has tracks that make you just want to make out, jump, or dance your ass off. Every song is either about sailing, drinking, or having sex…or any combination of the three.

Stand out tracks are:
"Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!"
"Absinthe Party At the Fly Honey Warehouse"
"I Lost All My Money At the Cock Fights"

Oh, and the names of all the song interludes are lines from "Starship Troopers" so of course I <3 the hell out of that.