Dustin Hates Music

This is going to be my first non-CD related post. I figured there's so much music out there and my old CD collection isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Why limit myself to just doing one thing? As the album title implies, this album is both the twelfth in The Holophonics' MaSKArade series and a complete cover of Jimmy Eat World's Clarity . I have a passing familiarity with The Holophonics and their music, primarily that they're a ska band (in case that also wasn't implied by the album title), and that they put out cover albums at a very rapid rate (the first MaSKArades volume was released in 2012). I feel like I probably came across the band during my tenure as an editor at DyingScene, but if I didn't, then they definitely popped up on my radar in 2014 when they released the fifth MaSKArades album, a full cover of Saves the Day's Stay What You Are . Within the first week of its release it felt like everyone was sending me links to their Bandcamp. It

I listened to this EP a total of maybe three times after I bought it. I kind of remembered the hook from the title track, but other than that the only thing that really stuck out to me was that it was dirt cheap. Even listening to it now, nothing stands out as particularly memorable. The title track pays homage to Led Zeppelin, but it feels less like "hey, this is a tribute to one of our favorite bands" and more of a cheap stunt to flaunt their influences. I guess it should be noted that the CD case (as well as most places online like Spotify and Discogs) states that the EP is a "prelude to Between the Earth and Sky ," which, as it turns out, was the band's debut (and only) full length album. I have never listened to the LP, and after re-listening to this EP I think it's safe to say that I won't check it out any time soon. For something so forgettable, I have quite a few memories attached to buying this EP. It was summer 2005, my junior year of high

I'm almost kind of embarrassed to admit how much I still like this album. Almost. While my peers were listening to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge ,  Tell All Your Friends  and Your Favorite Weapon , I spent most of my early 2000 emo years with this album. Which is funny, because I didn't get this album until 2005, after I saw Matchbook Romance play with Motion City Soundtrack on the Epitaph Tour (side note: From First to Last opened that show and the entire time I made mental comparisons between Sonny Moore and The Used's Bert McCracken. Like most people at the time, it never crossed my mind to think that he would find success in the EDM field). I can't really explain why I like Stories and Alibis  as much as I do, but I do know that nostalgia has nearly everything to do with it. It's the same exact story for why people my age still love  In Love and Death  or What It Is to Burn : these albums came out during an important formative period in our lives and there