Year: 2011 Genre: Punk Rock/Folk Rock Label: Unknown Tracks: 8 Length: 32 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
DAMN, I was pissed-off, earlier today... ever have that feeling that all your friends are just a bunch of fucking fakers and that they secretly have no care or respect for you and that they couldn't give a rat's ass about you? Well, that's how I feel... but I don't feel as bad right now. But I'm really sick of people ignoring me all the time, I do not like it.
Anyways, this is Diehatzu Hijets's first full album, with eight songs on it. It will be officially released at the end of this month on March 30, but you can listen to the songs on the Diehatzu Hijets BandCamp website. There will be an album release show on March 30...
This album was recorded by Layne L'Heureux (vocals/guitar) only, and it was recorded throughout 2010... the production is a lot more polished than the first E.P., and the songs are getting less simplistic. Most of the songs on here are really good, and at the end there are two songs that are just acoustic guitar and singing. It even has a kool cover-art, isn't that JUST GREAT??? Anyways, I feel really shitty today, but I'm still going to make an effort to write my review of this...
1. Where You At? "Where you at?"... that's a question that gets frequently un-answered BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING DOUCHEBAGS THAT NEVER ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE CALLS!! Ahem. The song starts off soft and mellow (Mello-Yello) and then explodes into a louder song with an electrifying lead guitar solo and a droopy guitar sound and a drum beat and all of that stuff. The guitar has a really warm sound in the chorus. There's actually two guitars. There's lead guitar going on over the rhythm guitar. After the loud parts, there's a slower, psychedelic-type of part, and then the song returns to soft-acoustic mode with some cool sound effects. I like how there's two guitars still. Well-crafted song... just as much a soundscape as a song. Pretty long song.
2. Falling Apart This one starts off really folk-sounding... like, the way the guitar melodies sound... quickly, a buzzing hot electric guitar riff ignites over the other sounds. The chorus is pretty catchy. Or at least good. The song is really nice. There's a lot of cool parts to this song, like the acoustic guitar sound. Pretty awesome n' stuff.
3. Find Me This one's more fast and upbeat. The riff is pretty good. More acoustic/electric guitar combos... I like that. PSYCHOMINDBABBLE. YAEY FOR THAT. The part at the very end is awesome... I like the one stroke of an acoustic guitar chord at the very end.
4. Bro Starts out with a watery-sounding guitar melody... Layne sings, "BE MY BRO 'TILL TIME GROWS OLD"... having friends is nice when they aren't douchebags who betray you and lie to you. In the chorus, the guitar sound gets real grungy and fuzzed-out. Then after that, there's a guitar solo... the part after that sounds really euphoric and awesome... a fuzzy yet wet (whether or not this is comparable to a vagina is debatable) guitar sound, and it sounds really great. I like this song a lot! But don't actually kill your mom... killin' yer mom's bad, mm'kay? The softer guitar in the background is awesome. I love this song.
5. Fizz Out People are huge douchebags. They act like your friends and act like they want to be your friends and then when you try to get together with them or even talk to them they just ignore you because they're all a bunch of lying self-serving fakers who can get away with it because they surround themselves with equally assholish people they've known since the age of five. Oh, you wanted to know what I thought of this song? I like the opening part... it's kind of slow and laid back. "MY BRAIN BEGAN TO OOOOOZE...." OOOOOOZEEEE.... OOOOOZEEEE... THEN IT FIZZED RIGHT OUT... it's really emotional and beautiful. I like the solo that starts around a minute and a half in the song. Really great. The lyrics are amazing... the "IF YOU'RE WAITING ON FIRE" part is the best... the guitar melody and harmonies and everything are fucking AMAZING. I love this song and band... you can start to hear a bunch of buzzing furious lead guitar fade in from the very background... the vocals are great. This song sounds amazing.
6. Cut Yourself Free This song is great from the very start. The guitar melody at the beginning is beautiful. In the chorus, there's the lyrics "WHERE DOES IT BLEED?" accompanied by really loud noisy instrumentation divided by a quiet two-note interlude before repeating several times... the next part kind of ascends and stuff. Two-note bass ascension? I dunno. It gets louder and noisier as it goes on. Amazing lead guitar stuff going on in the background. After this is an amazing lead guitar solo... I love it. This is the last "band" song of the album... now for two acoustic songs.
7. Stay Just Mister L'Heureux and an acoustic guitar. From the moment it starts, you can tell that it's amazing. Kind of sad feel to it. The chorus of the song has a great humming chorus in the background that goes awesomely with that part of the song. "Bag of shit, jar of piss". That's how I'm feeling right now, buddy. After this part of the song is a bridge section with a solo. This song's a bit more repetitive than the other songs on this album... the last part is the chorus repeated.
8. O Me This was also on the "Farmer Automatic" E.P. from June... it's an acoustic song about getting back up on your feet and trying to find a way out of the darkness... the riff is amazing... the whole song is great. Pure emotion, just like about every other tune on this album. I probably said a lot more stuff about this song on my other review of it... but to put things simply, I like it a lot. It's good. And stuff. The part at the very end of the song with the guitar is awesome. The end!
Diehatzu Hijets will be playing at the Wunderbar on March 30! So get STRAPPED FOR CASH FOR YOUR LIVES or something similar like that. The album is pretty loud but melodic at almost every turn, and really emotional too. And it's nice how it closes off with two more mellow acoustic songs... really reminds me of weekends out here in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, it's real good, and there is only more Diehatzu Hijets stuff coming your way... the band seems to have endless ideas! Also, stay tuned for the split album n' stuff. That should be released soon as well. It amazes me how many songs Layne has written in such a short amount of time... anyways, you should check aut this album because it's really good... you can buy it for $5 on the diehatzuhijets.bandcamp.com site... it's good music for when you're feeling low... it just fucking bleeds... amazing guitar riffs and melodies at about every turn. That's all I've got to say for now. BYE BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Fizz Out 2. Bro 3. Falling Apart
Year: 2011 Genre: Post-Punk/Folk Rock Label: Old Ugly Records Tracks: 9 Length: 28 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
It's Saturday. One of my least favorite days of the week. I'd say it IS my least favorite day of the week. I was up until 3 o' clock last night so I'm a little tired, but WHO CARES? Anyways, Layne L'Heureux (who you may know from either his solo work or his band Diehatzu Hijets) has just released another new solo album, and it's the fourth one he's done since 2008. This album heads in more of a rock/punk direction as far as songwriting goes, as opposed to the first three albums which were for the most part pure folk. As usual, the music is very emotionally hitting and simultaneously sad and uplifting. The lyrics are often introspective and deal with feelings and problems that Layne has experienced in his life.
1. Torture This one has a pretty dirty guitar sound and it could've just as easily been a Diehatzu Hijets song. The extra guitar added in the chorus part sounds really cool! IT'S NOT UNLIKE ME TO LISTEN TO THIS SONG, DUDE. In one ear you're hearin' the guitar riff and then in another ear you're hearing some weird-sounding fuzzed-out lead guitar. The whole song sounds a bit fuzzed-out. Oh, and there's a drumbeat. The guitar melody at the end vaguely reminds me of a chiming bell for some reason.
2. Mind This one has an acoustic guitar instead of an electric. Similar to beat to the previous song. The chorus incorporates more electric guitar and melodic instrumentals over this and harmonized vocals and whatnot. 'Cuz it's music, right? Huhah. I like the acoustic riff played in the very middle of the song. Just after this, you hear some really good electric guitar stuff and the song transitions into another section with Layne singing all crazy!
3. I Knew I really like the guitar melody that starts this one off. Then the tempo gets a little more straightforward and the verse begins. The vocals are kind of high-pitched and wispy in the verse, and then more earthy in the chorus. No drums here. Just guitar and singing. I really like that guitar melody that he plays before each verse. Then the melody of the middle part of the song is even more beautiful. I love it. Layne repeatedly sings "HOLD ON TO WHAT YOU LOVE". I love... know what I love? I love this nice glass of water that is right in front of me. I am going to hold on to it. And drink it. That was some pretty good water. GLUGUGDFGLGUGLUGLGLGUGGLUGGGG!!!!!! Oh. Hi. I am still talking about this song. But now it's over. So that's all I can say for this one.
4. EATer Another punk rock sort of song. The guitar tone sounds kind of murky and muted in the verse. The chorus is much louder and the drumming is really nice in that part. The part after the chorus is even more interesting, with some kind of psychedelic whizzing sounds and a cool beat. The singing voice here sounds a lot like J Mascis. Sort of wry and with equal amounts of relaxedness and aggression. I like the "SHE'S TELLING ME TO GO AND SEE A FRIEND" part at the end a lot. It sunds good.
5. Comfort This song is slow and has a downbeat type of guitar riff. Layne's voice sounds kind of weird, but in a really good way. Once again, this song flirts with a psychedelic rock sound, mostly in the chorus. The type of song that's great to get real stoned to. I really really love how that guitar sounds in the chorus part. The chorus is more upbeat-sounding than the verse. And know what, I really still like the way the guitars sound. They just sound really really good. Like this one a lot.
6. Dreams As usual, always really good guitar riffs and guitar-playing for these songs. See, when you enter the La(y)n(e)d of L. 'Heureux, you realize that it's ALL ABOUT THE GUITAR, man. The guitar is such a great instrument, you gotta admit, man. This song has an acoustic solo. It iz great. The chorus vocals are kinda wispy and soft and trippy-sounding.
7. Daze Loud, gritty guitars and a hard beat. To me, the beat is like the lines and the guitar is like the colors. If that makes any sense at all. Do you think people can in a sense mentally "see" music? Sometimes I think of it that way. Especially when writing my own songs. I can literally kind of see what my songs "look" like in my head. The chorus part is even more noisy and in that part Layne's singing sounds once again fuzzy. The riff after that part sounds like something the Ramones would write! I like that. After that part, Layne sings about playing in a band finally and there the melody shifts into a more focused folky mode for the cool bridge section before exploding once again into a hot-headed sonic ear-assault!
8. Tell Me No distortion or drums here, just acoustic guitars, Layne singing, and a humming synth atmospheric. I love it... "I feel like bad food & T.V." -- that was a cool line. The guitars sound really nice and kind of tingle in your ear a little bit. Like good food and non-t.v. But not t.b. either, just in case you were wondering, y'know? We here at Legit Music Reviews (meaning myself) don't endorse giving yourself gross diseases like that. Wonderful song. You should listen to it!
9. Crawl Almost avant-garde placement of sounds... shifts back and forth between an extremely dirty, fuzzed-out part and a cleaner guitar riff. A lot more discordant riff-wise than the other songs. After the first part of the song, it cuts into a slower part with a clean guitar melody. Kind of dreary-feeling... like you just survived the apocalypse or somethin' like that. For some reason I like the very ending part a lot, also.
So there's YOUR FUCKING REVIEW, GUYS!! Oh. Hi. That was me. Hi again. We were just talking about all of the songs from Layne L'Heureux's NEW album called NEW and it's pretty NEW so if you've heard the NEWs you should go get this NEW album! You can buy it for $8 here, and if possible and you have the cash to spare and you like the sounds of these songs, then you should get it! Here's the link to Layne's website:
http://laynemusic.bandcamp.com/
HAVE FUN. Also, check out the new Diehatzu Hijets ALBUM that came out alongside this release called "Doo Doo Boy", which contains the last recordings of Diehatzu Hijets before it became a real band. And I'll do a review of that one too, pretty soon.
A lot of these songs do sound like they could be Diehatzu Hijets songs, as they're pretty electrifying and punk-y in this episode of the LAYNE L'HEUREUX SAGA. Actually, even though I have already reviewed this album, it doesn't "officially" come aut until March, so that's over a month left to go before THE ALBUM REALLY EXISTS. So when you listen to this album TODAY, you're really just hearing fragments of the reality of TOMORROW... except the album STILL won't be released tomorrow! "WHEN WILL THIS ALBUM EVER COME OUT????", you may ask... well, let me tell you, my old pal... nMeAvReCrH. And how you wanna read that is up to you, but let me tell you, if you wanna be ahead of the curve and do something that's supposed to be happening in the future, THEN GO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW!! DO IT NOW! AAAGGGHHHH. Some of the songs remind me of winter and some of them remind me of spring. But a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that it's still Winter right now. I'm sick of Winter, don't ya know? Well, that's my review. Goodbye for now.
P.S. -- Layne really does live on top of a giant snail.
Genre: Acoustic Rock Label: None Tracks: 3 Length: 12 Minutes Style: Emotional My Rating: 7/8
Diehatzu Hijets has a bassist named Drew Lamb, now... just pointing that out. Who the hell even reads these, anyways?? But yesh, this is the second Diehatzu Hijets thingy, and at theese point, Drew still wasn't in the band. This is a 3-song digital EP with mainly acoustic stuff, apparently either acoustic versions of three songs from the album that comes out this month, "Doo Doo Boy" (professionally pressed!), or three acoustic songs from the album that comes out this month, "Doo Doo Boy" (professionally pressed!). Your call. Maybe Layne can get back to me on that one. I first found out about this back in July, so I'm assuming it was unveiled about then. Three songs. One down-load. So let's load it on down to the old PC, hell, even make a little CD of it and then print out the cover art and stuff (something I do a lot when I find free music). As you can see on the cover here, there is Layne... playing a guitar, as a dog, one of his loyal fans giving him undying attention gazes on. Because dogs love music, didn'tcha know? I'm not sure. Dogs can perceive a whole layer of sounds that human beings can't, so that layer of sounds is probably either going to be the most beautiful melodies that reach the ears just by stroking a single chord, or some horrible freakish sound that makes nails on a chalkboard sound like the Beatles. Now for the song-reviewz, dudezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... zzz... zzzzzzZZzzz... zzz -- oh, sorry, I feel asleep for a second, there. THERE. IS a DOT. ON THE SCREEEEN! YAEY! (Update: I just checked the release date and it was JUNE! AGGHHH! NOOOOOO!)
1. O Me All of the songs are acoustic, so it's all just Layne singing along with his MAGICAL GUITAR, boys n' girls! I love the riff. It sounds great. The song starts off with the chorus, and then there are some really good verses, and Layne's singing just brings more texture to the song. The song's about losing your way in life needing to pick yourself up off the ground and brush off before heading back the direction you intended to. In the end of the song, he adds a little more lead to the riff. I thought that sounded really good. Best and longest song. I'm not sure if it's gonna be a different version on the new album, but it'd be really cool to hear this one with electric guitars and drums... though this version does feel a little more personal.
2. Couldn't Stand This one's faster. In this song there are a few overdubs, including some more acoustic lead and background synths. The song continues on a similar theme to returning from feeling lost inside yourself and overthinking about problems. The bridge section is pretty nice, also. "I can feel it coming back".
3. Take a Run This one feel's more folky. I like the little chingy sounds (tambourine?) in the chorus, and there's an extra guitar in that section as well. Really great chorus and it's a pretty optimistic-feeling song, with a good solo in the middle. This song seems to be about maybe Layne deciding to head "west for the mountains" to find that place to go to pursue his dreams in life. It's a real great way to end the record.
The record is sort of a teller of "what's to come" on the full-length album slated for release this month. If you want to hear even more new Diehatzu Hijets songs, they are on the band's MySpace, so enjoy those ones as well. I'm looking forward to that. If you want to download the EP, you can get it at this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?hnc3ww41tn0
Hope you enjoy it. Also coming soon from Diehatzu Hijets is a split album featuring Diehatzu Hijets and my band, White Noize! Available on cassette tapes as the first release from Ulcer Records! The official site for Ulcer Records can be found at this link:
Genre: Punk Rock, Folk Rock Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Psychedelic Label: None Tracks: 9 Length: 35 Minutes (Long) Style: Emotional/Love My Rating: 7/8
From the great land of punk known as Kanaduh (kaa'ne'deu), a new beacon of light has arisen from the unknown. This new beacon is Diehatzu Hijets. And while it's really just one guy named Layne L'Heureux playing all of the instruments and singing all the songs himself; make no mistake, this is great fucking music. Layne is an incredibly nice person, too. The "band" formed in late 2009, less than a year ago, after being exposed to '90s punk groups like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, which caused Mr. Layne to make his own music. And if he seriously only started listening to those guys less than a year ago, he's in pretty damn good shape, 'cause he's already making music nearly the same quality as those bands. And with that said, this is the Diehatzu Hijets debut album. It's actually considered an EP by the band, but with the added bonus tracks, it's basically LP-length, so go hit yourself in the vagina with a mallet, will ya? Ahahah!
1. Get Real A great opening song; a happy sort of song underneath a blanket of jagged distortion. Lots of great guitar solos here and there. It's a beautiful sort of slacker-anthem. I'm going to have to admit that the line "when I need a bro you'll be chillin' there" is a tad bit lame. But that's pretty much the only lame moment on the whole album. There's also a part where Layne sings "it sucks but, that's the way it is" -- which is really funny, because he pauses inbetween "but" and "that's the way it is", so it sounds like he says "IT SUCKS BUTT" at first. Ahahahahehehehe!
2. The Universe Mount Once again, really great melody, with a lot of little subtleties in the guitar-playing... why the hell is this guy so unknown still?? I guess in this song, the Universe is supposed unfold so "everyone can find their way" and such... how does he know this, you may ask? No idea. Inbetween the more straightforward verse parts, there are more mellow, solo-laden sections.
3. Burnt Out The guitar intro here kinda reminds me of "Schizophrenia" by Sonic Youth for some reazon. However, that part segues into something a bit less otherworldly than that song, but still a good song nonetheless. Once again, jam-packed with awesome lead melodies. Some guy is singing background vocals around the end of this song.
4. Running Horse My favorite song on the record! It's a slower song. It's a sort of country-tinged and wry but hard song with more great fuzzed-out riffs and leads. My absolute favorite part is the instrumental repeated riff towards the end. Something about the chord progressions combined with the great never-ending solos. Pure bliss can be achieved to the ears during one of the final couple minutes of the song. It's a real great feeling when you're down or just bored 'er something.
5. Someplace This one's mostly acoustic. No drums, either. It's sort of a calm-after-the-storm feely-song. It's not very long, but it's great to listen to if you're tired and just want to listen to something that fits how yer feeling. This track ends the EP version, but I'm gonna just go the extra mile are review the next few bonus solo tracks too!
6. Anger This is the first solo Layne L'Heureux song here. Despite the name, the song's not incredibly angry. It's very moving and emotional, still. You hear a burp around the beginning of the song. Truly beautiful. A rough electric guitar solo slowly moves its way into your right ear about 1/3 of the way through the song.
7. Peace, Love Once again, acoustic. Much more folky-sounding than the songs before it. The serene lyrics and emotion that delivers them sends you over mountains, the sea, through fields, as he wishes peaceful life for his lover because he misses her when she's (I think) away. And hey, the solo is acoustic too, this time!
8. Fugitive Kind Similar style of music to "Peace, Love". The song's about dating a girl who is much younger than you (still in high school!), getting crap for it from the parents of the girl, as they tell him that he's too old to be messing around with someone who's still a minor. Layne compares himself to Marlo Brando.
9. This Shit's Fulltime A great closing song. Some of the lyrics are kinda humorous, but for the most part, it's a pretty love song. "You look like my ass... you look like Venus" -- apparently his ass looks like Venus. Like, not Venus's ass. But his ass resembles Venus's entire body. Pretty strange, I've got to say. The final minute or so of the song is without vocals. And THAT, my friend, is totally the end. For now...
The first half of the record (including the bonus tracks) is more noisy and punky, and the second half is mellow and acoustic. And while not everyone is necessarily interested in that, most people should enjoy this album if they have taste beyond the cookie-cutter Top 40 plastik radio ranks... hell, my best friend even likes this album, and he can't stand most of the music I listen to! He thinks Diehatzu Hijets could potentially get famous... wouldn't hurt to have that happen. The common themes of the album are slacker life and the comfort/hopelessness in a romantic relationship. And it's free, too. The band's name sounds somewhat un-memorable, but the music has been keeping me coming back. You can download it for free, just search the band up on MySpace. So, that's my review. I recommend this for fans of Dinosaur Jr and other early '90s indie rock bands.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Running Horse 2. Anger 3. Get Real
DOO DOO BOY
