matsuri, and calculator at the yellow room 3.12.11

the yellow room has become my favorite place for shows in the bay area. this was my first time seeing both matsuri and calculator. matsuri had three guitar players which gave them the coolest sound. a lot of the parts were really instrumental. they had two singers. i really liked it. they had really cool group vocals. everyone in the band was enjoying themselves, which made it a lot of fun. i would definitely see them again.

calculator was awesome. the lead singer was crowd surfing the whole set. so were other people. everyone seemed to know the words, and everyone was dancing and singing along for their whole set. people had smiles on the whole time it was great. musically they were great. the group vocals really do it for me. memorial was my favorite song of the set.

calculator - these roots grow deep

calculator is a five piece emo/screamo/hardcore (i'm not sure what to call it- you be the judge) band from southern california. this is their first full length which is comprised of a few different recording sessions. the vinyl's got twelve songs on it. it comes with a poster and 16 page booklet complete with lyrics sheet and band pictures. it also comes with a cd with 17 songs on it. that's five bonus songs folks! parts of the album are super instrumental. parts of the album have full gang vocals. other parts are thrashy, and still other parts are super poppy. bottom of the line it's d.i.y. and it's awesome. it transcends genres and builds upon all of their influences. there's a donnie darko sample on the song 'paradise' which i like. the albums closer 'memorial' is my favorite. i need to see them live so i can sing along, "explosions in the sky/i don't want to go back to 1945/without it i wouldn't be alive." released on melotov records and limited to 250. pick one up here.