For this review on 'New Music Monday,’ I was left with a challenge of picking one of the three albums we gained in October. In September, it was a fairly easy choice. I opted to pick the album that I enjoyed listening to more than one that may have been more musically challenging. For me, the experience of listening isn’t always about the cerebral dissection of the arrangement. A lot of the time, I just want to be entertained without trying to write a thesis. This month, there are no odds on favorites to get my attention. Each is strong in the merit of music and entertainment. So how do I pick?

Here we go: All three were eagerly anticipated. One of them, I felt completely humbled as I listened. It was like a ghost was talking to me. My feelings for that band run pretty deep. Because of that, I think my normally oh-so-objective writing may be tainted. The remaining two, one is a pet project of one of my favorite performers and the second is a relatively unknown EP release from a female-fronted hardrock band. I am a sucker for all female bands and bands with female lead singers. Winner: female-fronted band. With the choice made, I can move forward on this hotly anticipated review I’m sure you are all on the edge of your seat to read.

The Letter Black is a Pennsylvania-based band signed on the local Tooth and Nail Records. Having an acquaintance who once worked at the label put me in earshot of some of the most poignant musicians I had ever heard. I occasionally peruse the T&N website to see the latest releases. Upon one enchanted visit, I read of band to which I had never heard, The Letter Black. It used to go by the name Breaking the Silence which is coincidentally the name of the EP. If you know anything about Tooth and Nail, the label very rarely signs a band out of alignment with the label’s “directives.” This is a band firmly in line with those. It’s hugely uplifting despite the heaviness of the music.


It has one of those important characteristics that a good record must have. I can relate to it. TLB talks about faith, poor decisions, moving on, and believing in something Divine. It doesn’t hurt that the lead singer is easy on the eyes. As I said, I like female-fronted bands. TLB is the husband and wife team of Sarah and Mark Anthony with Sarah doing the lead vocals and Mark doing the lead guitar work. Saying this album is heavy musically and has a female lead singer will immediately get comparisons to mainstream acts like Paramore, Flyleaf, and Evanescence. The difference here, in my opinion, is the sincerity of The Letter Black.

Find it here: http://www.lala.com/#album/576742229319526817/The_Letter_Black/Breaking_The_Silence

There are significant musical differences here, specifically in production direction, when compared to those three. TLB is rawer and doesn’t have the overdone multi-tracking on guitars and vocals to fill out the sound. It’s rougher and darker and less nu-metal than the others. I would call this emo-Christian metal if I needed to put it in a filing cabinet. Listening to just the music, TLB sounds a bit like Dogfight. But as you listen to the EP, you pick up on subtle influences from genres other than just metal. The appealing characteristic here is the urgency in Sarah’s voice. There is a level of sincerity, almost pleading, in her singing. I was a fan of Amy Lee but got tired of the operatic flight in her voice. Sarah’s singing, while shrill, is convincing and is bent more to a punk rock ear.

With only six tracks on the EP, you don’t get too much material to evaluate their musical chops. Interestingly, this is enough to get a feel of what’s important to the band and to know it’s hugely motivated by Faith. This, to me, is refreshing to hear, and has a huge place in my heart and musical catalogue. So this is less of a review and more of ‘this is why I like this band.’ So let’s pick two songs to give a cross section of the EP Breaking the Silence by The Letter Black. For the record, neither of these are the best on the EP nor are they my favorite. (It’s ‘Perfect’ I suggest a listen to this one LOUD)

Collapse – The most obvious trait here is the honesty of the lyrics. There’s no metaphorical code to decipher, no waxing poetic, just flat out telling it like it is. Like I mentioned above, there is an urgent and fragile sound to Sarah’s voice. I would say that this song is ‘on brand’ for TLB. The drum line is heavy and marching but not at a break-neck pace, just a steady punch to the soul. The power chords drip over the beat in a dark melting wax type of way. I get the vision of a dark room, dimly lit with candles, and the lead singer staring out of the window further in to the darkness of the night.

Best of Me – If there was a math theorem for the creation of a hit alt-rock radio song, it was used here in the writing of this song. Let’s see; use of strings + formulaic repeated chorus + anthemic lyrics + multilayered vocals + acoustic guitar. It’s pop-alt-rock borderline emo-country-something-or-other. Again, there’s a massive amount of sincerity in the lyrics and their delivery. But musically, it’s addictive like crack to listen to. It’s an ‘I-can-relate-to-this-song’ type of song.



I’ve never been outwardly religious. Let me rephrase that. I’m not a formal practitioner of brick-and-mortar-church-sanctioned-religio-indoctrinated followings. Mostly this was because I don’t like being told what to believe and not being allowed to interpret meaning. But I’ve been fortunate to have individuals in my life that have encouraged me to find and explore my spiritual beliefs in a way that was most beneficial to me. These same people introduced me to bands like Third Day and Jars of Clay. Yes, these are NOT punk bands but they are bands I recommend for their spiritual depth, musicality, and lyrical poignancy. The Letter Black is one of those bands.

Opportunities to learn more about yourself always seem to crop up at the most inopportune times. I suppose that’s what makes these moments the most poignant. They stay with you longer when attention is brought at the moment of inconvenience. For example, if you like to drive with no pants on while texting your Uncle Bob and get in a car wreck doing it, the next time you’ll probably consider wearing trousers so that when you get out of the car to inspect the damage in your ill-contrived desire to be temperately ‘cooler’ when driving, you will not be embarrassed by your bare white behind in plain sight.

I digress. Now I don’t drive without pants nor do I have an Uncle Bob. Regardless, I had one of those moments today where I was educated by the universe on what matters.

A typical Saturday in my house is usually triple booked. There’s never a shortage for activities and obligations. This was the final weekend of operation of the Whistler Bike Park before winter. Wanted to hit that one last time. It was Homecoming at my undergrad Alma Mater. Despite my college football team’s inability to field a successful squad, I still held on to the hope of making the trip to Pullman. Beer flavored water. Lastly and most importantly, Son #1’s weekly ‘soccer’ game was on the schedule.

In the essence of full disclosure, I wasn’t too excited to head to the Panda soccer game today. I didn’t get too much choice in the matter. For one, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Son #1. In fact, he was concerned this morning that I wouldn’t be back in time from my bike ride to make it to his game. And second, I’m the assistant coach on the Pandas’ team. You see, the Pandas haven’t been real competitive over their three games. But the head coach and I continue to work with them on learning to dribble, pass, and score goals. I keep telling myself that they’re only four years old. This point alone has given me an unwanted lesson in learning patience and the appreciation for the purity of fun while playing sports long before winning, losing and statistics.

We’ve taken some beatings. Last Saturday we were trumped by a score somewhere close to 6-0. But we don’t ‘keep score.’ Today no bike jump or keg could have satisfied the unparalleled joy experienced while helping coach the Pandas to their first ‘un-scored’ victory. We saw our team mark their opponents, steal the ball, save goals, change directions, and score literally a dozen goals. There’s a kid on our team that you watch and just know he’s going to have a ton of success in whatever sport he chooses. He’s a great little kid who plays hard, takes instruction, and always gives you the thumbs up for approval. Today, he came uncorked and scored seven goals.

Four year old kid soccer is more like a swarm of bees than a soccer game. All of the kids, minus the ones who are dancing, singing, or not paying attention, create a scrum around the ball with elbows thrown, shoving, and body blows. But today, there were break away goals where our team decided that wrestling for the ball was passé. It was a break through. Son #1’s teammate had those seven goals, but he made many great ‘team style’ plays. Defending and passing to his teammates. But the big picture was that EVERY Panda wanted to play and participate. My position is on the sideline making the substitutions and keeping the kids who are not playing energized. Today, took very little effort to keep them fired up. All of the kids were ready and were constantly asking me to put them in the game. A complete team playing well and having fun is infectious and breeds more fun and excitement. The kids played so hard and had so much fun. As a coach, and a father of a player, I don’t think I could be more proud of our team’s success today, scoring or not.

That leads me to the lessons today. Son #1 had a rough morning. His latest thing is to try and negotiate when he ‘should’ do what he is told. That, getting him to eat his lunch, and getting him to get dressed were all challenges. My wife and I asked him, “Who is going to score a goal today?” God forbid we put too much pressure on our unfocused child. He responded with a despondent, “I’ll try but it’s just so hard.” That remark made me wonder if he was even having fun. I was worried that I was ‘that parent’ focused on pushing his child too hard to ‘ensure’ that the kid was having fun. Pushing to have fun is not right. Lesson #1.

We all wondered what the 7-goal Panda was eating at home to cause this. But he wasn’t the only one that surprised us. Son #1 scored today. As a matter of fact, he scored three unanswered goals and was the second highest scorer on the team. This is the beginning of Lesson #2. No matter what’s going on, when the unreal expectations you have set for your child are beat like a pack mule and are completely blown away, you feel totally throttled with emotion.


After stepping into the scrum and liberating the ball from its oppression, Son #1 broke free at midfield and headed toward the goal. All by himself, he booted in his first goal of the game and the season. Watching this happen was surreal. I wish time would have stopped for me to just cherish that small moment. It happened so fast. That first goal. I was on the other end of the field with the rest of the team but I saw the play develop and was beside myself. As he headed toward the goal, I worried he’d stop dribbling and start dancing. That’s his thing. But he kept on and booted the ball into the goal with authority. When the ball rolled over that line and hit the back of the net, my arms raised high and my eyes welled up with the largest tears of joy. For the next few seconds, I struggled to wipe the tears from my eyes and remain composed. There was cheering but I was so lost in my son’s action that I heard nothing but the silence of a smile all the way across the field. Absolute, undeniable joy and pride.

Son #1 went on to score two more goals today. After that third goal, he ran over to me during the game to inform me of his feat. Three goals. While I haven’t written too much about how I felt, know that no alternate activity could have compared to the purest sense of pride a father can have in his son. Yes, it was only soccer and only three goals, but his actions blew me away today. Lesson #2 is there is nothing more valuable than seeing your child succeed and knowing that he is enjoying that moment in his success. I will always love that.

For those of you who frequent the ramblings on this blog, you may remember that I deemed the last Monday of every month to be “New Music Monday.” My theory was that on this epic day, I’d incrementally increase the volume of our music catalog. Then, I would spend some time listening to the new addition, or additions, let the sound percolate and bounce around in my head, and eventually write up my own little review. What I found is that I am not patient enough to wait until the end of the month to buy new music. So let’s retool here. I am going to ‘try’ to write my review on the last Monday of each month and buy music whenever. I’m all ready late on my first issue. Shit.

September was a great month to be a music listener in my house. One word that describes how I feel about music: Substance. It’s like a friend you can always count on. Everywhere you turn, it’s there. I like that kind of reliability. I encountered a lot of new ‘friends’ in September. So getting to know each album was a daunting challenge. However, one record stuck out more than any other. The reason, as I will describe in further depth below, is because it encompassed many of the great things I like about music. I could hear so many influences on the record, artists and groups that also influenced me, so that I felt like I was listening to a family member talk to me.


The SoCal punk group Orange has been around for some time. There have been some changing of the guard through the years but the front man, Joe Dexter, and the vision of the band are still intact. Orange released its new album, Phoenix, on September 15, 2009. I wasn’t expecting it. As a matter of fact, my overall exposure to Orange was very limited. Like zero. However, I was listening to satellite radio when it got my attention and I scribbled the name of the band and song down on a post-it. Thanks to Lala.com and high speed bandwidth provided by the nation’s largest cable provider, I downloaded the latest Orange record.

Find it here: http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445168190460

So what is Orange? Do you mean the color? No, as I said above, it’s a SoCal punk band. It’s not as angry as Pennywise, as political as the Dead Kennedys, as comedic as the Offspring, or as fabricated as Story of the Year. Orange sits nicely in between these groups. It’s an entertaining almost-pop melodic punk that encourages the punk rowdiness through the music but lifts through its lyrics. No bashing the ‘Man’ here. Most of these songs are about feelings. So that makes Orange borderline emo on this record but the rest assured, the sound is confidently punk. I was giddy to listen to it as each track was upbeat and flowed into the next. The energy easily carries you through the record front to back. But there was no “Oh my God, this is the most amazing album I have ever heard.” It was more along the lines of being easily entertained by stories I could relate to or feelings that I have had. The songs, while not overly different musically from one another, allowed me to sit in the passenger seat of life for a minute and get an alternate take on the whole ‘feelings’ concept.

Phoenix has 12 tracks, covers a broad range of the musical spectrum, and draws on the diverse influences of the band. While I have listened to very little earlier Orange albums, I can say that Phoenix stretches the band both musically and lyrically as they try to develop their signature sound and mix genres. There is definitely a common Orange ‘theme’ through the record but each song pulls on its own uniquely creative strings. However, in lieu of time and wordiness, I am going to evaluate four of the songs which I feel give a fair slice of objectivity through the band’s recent release.

Standing Still – I would say that this is probably the most un-punk song on the album and was the first single off of it. This song has the most instrumentation of any of the other tracks. I personally like the whole xylophone action on it. I hear a lot of influence from the Cure on this song and I think musically that’s what catches me.

Everything I Need – This song just jumps right in like any good punk song should. You are immediately hit with a driving beat and guitar riff. The lyrics are introspective which is dangerously close to emo. The difference, no whining like a teenager who thinks they’re misunderstood. In my opinion, this is the best song on the record as the music changes direction multiple times and the message is right on.

Never Going Out Again – This song has such and east coast punk feel to it. It really reminds me of the Ramones. The chorus is an anthem and I can just visualize arms raised as this song is played in a club. Lyrically, the irony of not wanting to be like others but then following the herd is pretty accurate.

Catching Up – This song has the random chanting at the beginning that reminds me of a soccer game. I just want to slide tackle someone. The guitar work on this song is proto-typical crunchy SoCal punk. The lyrics are delivered with authority which reminds me of Rancid or the Misfits. I am sucker for SoCal punk.

If I had to set out must haves in a record, Phoenix by Orange would have hit most of them head on. The biggest one, does it keep my attention? The answer is yes. The big thing is that you can hear the diverse influences of the band. But it’s one thing to be influenced and it is another thing to copy. Orange does a great job pulling together their influences and using them appropriately in their music to yield an exceptional result. Most of the songs have outstanding choruses and all are anthemic and optimistic. Seems a little counter-intuitive for punk, right? Well there are several songs that are darker and there is even a cover of a Lou Reed piece called “Perfect Day.”

Overall, I would recommend Orange and their newest album Phoenix. It may not be innovative in its exploration of new themes or challenging when it comes to complex time or key changes, or even complex arrangements. But the music is energetic and the lyrics are encouraging. I personally like the fact that the band is not afraid to show an emotional side with a punk-type sensibility. I guess I can relate to this being the handful that I am.