Wednesday 3 July 2013

CAVE IN

MAY 28th, 2014

***8 demo albums uploaded***

DOWNLOAD demo 1 here and demo 2 here.

***STEPHEN BRODSKY exclusive interview at OMSB***

This post's artist is from the May 2013 Mix. This is track #4.

Band: CAVE IN
Genres: Rock / Math-Rock / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Metal / Doom / Acoustic / Space-Rock / You Name It, They Did It
Related artists: Kid Kilowatt, Converge, New Idea Society, Pet Genius, Stephen BrodskyStove Bredsky, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra, Clouds, and Sacrifice Poles.
Country: Methuen, Massachusetts, USA
Years Active: 1995-present
Song: "Inflatable Dream"
Album: "Anomalies Vol. 1"
Year: 2010
For fans of: Any kind of rock music - this eclectic band has written songs that will appeal to
              most fans of rock music in any form.

CAVE IN is, without a doubt, the most creative and talented rock band of our (or should I say 'my') generation. Some people are aware of them, but it's actually quite sad how obscure they still are. Do you like Foo Fighters? Me too, but they suck compared to CAVE IN. Do you dig Thrice or Codeseven or Waxwing? I do, but they suck by comparison, as well. CAVE IN is better than you. They're better than me. CAVE IN is so good that they are even better than CAVE IN. No, that's not a typo. I've been excited about this post, but I've also been dreading it - because I want to make sure that I can make this post up to CAVE IN's standards - and, simply put, that ain't gonna happen.

So - CAVE IN is good. Really good. Let's take a brief look at their stylistic shifts over the past 15 years:

1 - Their early material is a cross between post-hardcore, punk and metal. The band went through several vocalists during this time period and were still trying to find their sound. Listen to the introduction of "Flypaper", which shows the technical prowess that would define their next album.

2 - The metal-CAVE IN was brief, and basically lasted for about a year. Stephen Brodsky finally took over screaming duties in addition to the scattered clean singing. The band records 'Until Your Heart Stops' in 1999, which is one of the most progressive 'heavy' records of all time. Jacob Bannon from Converge lends vocals to a track. Tracks such as "Moral Eclipse" and "The End of Our Rope is a Noose" showcase the raw power that CAVE IN has always possessed, regardless of song. These songs, in particular, are technical, h e a v y and weigh about a ton.

3 - CAVE IN, and Stephen Brodsky in particular, were dissatisfied with the band's sound at this juncture in time. Their style was wearing on them, and they needed to shed their skin. Enter 'Creative Eclipses' and 'Jupiter', the ep and LP that kicked off CAVE IN's post-hardcore space rock style. This shocked the shit out of some fans - but it was 'Jupiter' that got me hooked on CAVE IN. The band's final release with their 'mainstream' sound was the prodigious investment in 'Antenna' which was the band's (and their new label RCA's) stab at mainstream success. The band followed with a world tour - supporting the Foo Fighters. This garnered the band more attention, but ultimately it wasn't enough, as CAVE IN was dropped by RCA and, I'm sure, had a very sour taste in their collective mouth.

4 - This brings us to CAVE IN's fourth stop, which involves the band giving a big FUCK YOU to the music industry. They recorded 'Perfect Pitch Black' in numerous studio sessions (4, to be exact)over the course of almost 2 years. RCA didn't like them cookie monster vocals - apparently that means screaming, so CAVE IN went back to their old label, Hydra Head Records, as well as re-embraced their heavy roots for the first time in almost a half-decade. I should also point out another reason for the sudden nostalgic drive down metal lane. When the band was preparing to play a fest one summer, they tried to re-learn a few old songs and realized how much they missed the heavy, technical stuff. They incorporated their metal sound, now more polished, with their spacey-rock sound and released 'Perfect Pitch Black', one of the band's most varied and enthralling releases - even though it's not truly a full album, but more of a collection of songs written by a band in a very uncomfortable place.

5 - Here we are, at the final stage in CAVE IN's career thus far. Before going on hiatus following John-Robert Conner's departure from the band, they briefly picked up Ben Koller, Converge's absolutely ridiculous drummer, and recorded an amazing 2 song cd/cassette tour demo - but the band opted to take a break instead. Fast forward 3 years and the leader in the fight against the terminators rejoins the band, they record a 4-song ep, 9-song album and a live dvd. This new stuff is not the CAVE IN of 2000-2005 - it actually leans more towards metal than rock and infuses Old Man Gloom and Zozobra stylings, as well. The last 3 songs on 'White Silence' sound like a mixture of Clouds and The Beatles.

I don't know what else to say, except that this post DOESN'T do the band justice. Just like my Neil Perry post. Just like my Rocky Votolato post. Just like the post I'm doing tomorrow. And the one on Friday. It can be difficult to properly convey how goddamn fucking amazing these bands are. Check this band out if you haven't, and give ALL the songs embedded below a decent chance - because all of the songs sound VERY different. I love CAVE IN. You should, too.
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BAND Discography
CAVE IN's discography is colour-coded by year, in case you don't like screaming.
Your loss, if that's the case.
BLACK = metal
WHITE = rock
BLUE = metal + rock
1998 - Beyond Hypothermia cd/12"LP (out-of-print early material compilation)

1999 - Until Your Heart Stops cd/12"/2x12"LP
1999 - Creative Eclipses cd/7"ep
1999 - In These Black Days 5 Botch split 7"

2000 - Jupiter cd/12"LP
2000 - Moons of Jupiter cd/ep (Jupiter remix/piano versions)(PURCHASE HERE)

2002 - Tides of Tomorrow cd/12"/picdisc ep
2002 - Lift Off cd/7"ep
2002 - 3 Track Promo cd/ep
2002BBC - Live cd/ep (download here)
2003 - Antenna cd/2x12"LP/dvd
2003 - Anchor cd/7"ep (Antenna bonus track) (PURCHASE HERE)
2003 - Untitled cd/ep

2004 - Live Airwaves cd/LP (download here)

2005 - Perfect Pitch Black cd/12"LP
2005 - Cassingle cd/cassette/ep (download here)

2009 - Planets of Old cd/12"ep/dvd (PURCHASE HERE)

2010 - Anomalies Vol. 1 12"LP (download here)
2010 - Anomalies Vol. 2 cd/LP (live show in Italy)

2011 - White Silence cd/cassette/12"LP

1998-2010 - some random singles from the discography listed above (download here)
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These are listed chronologically, so remember, the first link is the band's OLDER MATERIAL!!!
youtube )))))embedded official video / audio((((( links

(1998) CAVE IN - "Flypaper" (from 'Beyond Hypothermia' performed live in 1998)
FAST FORWARD TO 1 minute. And then be amazed. This was one of their first songs! Sorry about the lack of embeddededededness, but BlogSpot is stupid. Just follow the youtube in a new window.

(1999) CAVE IN - "Juggernaut" (from 'Until Your Heart Stops' cd)
(2000) CAVE IN - "" (from 'Jupiter' cd)
(2002) CAVE IN - "Dark Driving" (from 'Tides of Tomorrow' cd)
(2003) CAVE IN - "Anchor" (from 'Antenna' cd) MUSIC VIDEO
(2005) CAVE IN - "Trepanning" (from 'Perfect Pitch Black' cd)
(2005) CAVE IN - "Shapeshifter" (from 'Shapeshifter/Dead Already' cd)
(2009) CAVE IN - "Cayman Tongue" (from 'Planets of Old' cd)
(2010) CAVE IN - "Cave In" (from 'Anomalies Vol. 1' 12"LP)
(2011) CAVE IN - "Sing My Loves" (from 'White Silence' cd)
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CAVE IN out-of-print mp3 downloads

CAVE IN - 'Anomalies Vol. 1' (download here)
CAVE IN - 'Cassingle' (download here)
CAVE IN - 'Moons of Jupiter' (download here)
CAVE IN - some random singles (download here)
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7 comments:

  1. Hahaha...love the Terminator reference :) Fantastic article, Dave! Keep 'em coming, you walking musical encyclopedia!

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  2. Probably my favorite all time band as well. It is an arduous task to try to describe Cave In, especially to encompass their whole discography into about 500 words. Great choices for the examples too. Some of my favorite tunes are in there. The only one I'd do different is to put Breath of Water in for the Antenna choice. Well done, sir!

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  3. Awesome dude. I was meant to write a Cave In appreciation back at the start of 2012 when I first discovered them but that stupid thing called work distracted me. Probably one of the few bands - possibly the only - where on discovery I felt such an overwhelming amount of appreciation for what they do as musicians.

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  4. THIS IS THE BEST POST EVER, but not as good as CAVE IN

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  5. One of my all time favourite bands, i recently bought a box of rare demo cds/cassettes from Brodsky himself on eBay... one thing i am missing is the DVD version of Day Trader (the re-recorded version)... anyone help a brother out?

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  6. Hey there, could the links be updated. Thanks man!

    ReplyDelete