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User
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Last Active 10-07-16 9:00 pm
Joined 05-12-15
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| Artist Mixtape: Bad Astronaut
Bad Astronaut were a Californian 7 piece pop rock group formed by Lagwagon founders Derrick Plourde and Joey Cape. During their 6 years of a group they released three albums that cemented themselves as some of the best albums of the genre. Their sound primarily focused on melody heavy punk and rock music with softer piano/spacey synths to give it a firmer foundation. Joey Cape's lyrics were very introspective and poetic, but still pretty fun to sing along thanks to the pop centric style of the instrumental hooks. Sadly, in 2006 Bad Astronaut were forced to disband with the death of their drummer Derrick Plourde, who had committed suicide during the recording sessions of their third album. The album in question, 12 Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment, was re-written to accommodate the sudden unfortunate event with many of Derricks recordings being fit around the new compositions.
Even though their life was cut short, Bad Astronaut's lone three albums are some of the best in the rock genre and Bad Astronaut will without a doubt hold a special place in my heart for being one of my favorite, if not my favorite, bands of all time. Check them out! | | 1 |  | Bad Astronaut
Acrophobe
Greg's Estate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rve-WWiS7s
It's only fair to include their first official recording. Heavy riff with Joey Cape spouting off vivid imagery of a dysfunctional family of sorts. Most notable is how brilliantly condensed the track is with the mumbling synths and heavy skip-beat guitar riff. Vocal effects are also scattered around, mostly vocal distortion and vocoding that gives off a really cool effect. Last half of the track features a piano build up with an awesome outro. It's fair to see what the appeal of these guys were. | | 2 |  | Bad Astronaut
Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem
Disarm - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2KkftT28ck
Something of a rock opera epic here. Start's with Joey fiddling with an acoustic guitar, before being joined with a low mixed guitar and piano. The track picks up with a faster tempo from the piano, and Joey incorporates vocal layering. From there the track picks up with a quick, fast paced punk riffs and quick sweeping synths. The track countinues a journey with a jazzy piano lead which leads to a very great outro that features various NASA mission control samples, like going on a journey. | | 3 | | Bad Astronaut
Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem
Single - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ben2qRRjNOw
Again, theres just this very fine attention to detail that these guys had when condensing so many different sounds that its unreal. You have a Foo Fighters-esque guitar melody sitting alongside very bouncy synths that give a large sense of bigger melody. Female vocals are featured on this track are incredibly interesting and carry some odd gasp that fits perfectly with the cadence of the instrumentals and Joey's filter vocal effects. | | 4 | | Bad Astronaut
Acrophobe
Anecdote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV9glGNs60c
Piano heavy track that featured the more melodic side of their talent. Joey's raspy vocals on the last half of the track are brilliant. | | 5 |  | Bad Astronaut
Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment
Stillwater, California - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgEKBrRP9hA
Awesome opening from Derrick, a synth dominated the majority of this track with a sound resembling distant whistling. This is a very chill and calming track that is great for an late afternoon drive. Don't let the lyrics get you down though, they're very personal on this track with Joey personally directing Derrick expressing confusion for him leaving them so early.
"Does this perfect world captivate you?" | | 6 | | Bad Astronaut
Acrophobe
500 Miles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEQD9FdYYo
Their most punk centric track, super catchy lyrics, riff, and an amazing guitar solo. Nuff said. | | 7 | | Bad Astronaut
Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem
Our Greatest Year - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeHNbbhDdYg
Beautiful song. Slow beat and a accompanying guitar and piano that play together as a ballad. Lyrics reflecting on a lost relationship with very different lyrics for the style of song. Maybe it's the comments that Joey make being uncapable to see things going wrong "it was hard to see the imperfection in your smile" for example. The harmonica that bridges each section of the song is especially a great inclusion. My third favorite from them. | | 8 | | Bad Astronaut
Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment
Good Morning Night - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8LJr757Ms
Surprisingly upbeat despite it's reference to Derrick Plourde. Super catchy growling synths and a catchy pop riff. Chorus is engaging and the female voices that count up and down get your attention quickly. | | 9 | | Bad Astronaut
Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment
San Francisco Serenade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T0Q-8OyxMU
Of course, Bad Astronaut's upbeat positivity started to diminish at the comedown of the record. These tracks began to get heavy in songwriting for Derrick and carried a very depressing mood that wasn't normal for a band that was normally upbeat and cheeky. This track features a marching drumline of sorts and seems to follow Joey Cape trying to understand and come to terms with Derrick's departure. Last half of the track features an entourage of fireworks before leading into a spaced out drum section and finally a heavy outro that moves quickly like their punk tracks but doesn't exactly rush anything along. Top three Bad Astronaut for me. | | 10 | | Bad Astronaut
Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment
The 'F' Word - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8W0EQgZps
The review for this album said it best "this song sounds like Derrick and Joey having a conversation through their music." Over 8 minutes long and the majority of it spent on a drawn out guitar/drum solo that really does feel like some sort of conversation beyond our own comprehension. Beautifully haunting and without a doubt the best song these guys ever did. | | 11 | | Bad Astronaut
Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment
The 13th Step - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS1NNa2RAEg
The final track which sees Joey Cape reminiscing one last time alone with an acoustic guitar. The sounds of laughter are heard from some distant audience, almost seeming to mock Joey for his words. Reversed synths appear in the second half of the track and play it out until silence. A strangely poetic conclusion. | |
LotusFlower
03.09.16 | Trying out a new way to get people checking out some lesser known or under appreciated artists through "mixtapes". Or basically me doing a very bad job describing songs that are the essential for whatever artist I cover. These guys are my favorite band of all time, so please check them out. | MyNameIsPencil
03.09.16 | Underrated band, nice list man | porcupinetheater
03.09.16 | Crazy good band, probably the best in this style. | LotusFlower
03.09.16 | oh cool feature.
and yeah, these guys are horribly under appreciated. I dont think they ever made a bad song in their career. | onionbubs
03.09.16 | def gonna check this out at some point. band seems like something id dig. | LotusFlower
03.09.16 | If you like Green Day and Foo Fighters then youll really dig this. They pretty much do their style of radio rock 1000x better. | onionbubs
03.09.16 | welp, i like green day quite a bit, so im gonna love this lol | Atari
03.09.16 | sweet list. I still own houston: we have a drinking problem on CD and it's great. | Feather
03.09.16 | cool list. I'm checking these guys out now and I like it so far. | LotusFlower
03.09.16 | glad you like it :] | UpwardSpiral
03.13.16 | Checking out Houston atm, good band. | theNateman
11.07.16 | Shit I love this band. Been super stressed out this last week and this band has helped me relax. So good |
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