Yes, I often complain that a lot of the modern music that is influenced by mid-90s post-hardcore is only for teenagers and college students. However, when a young band comes along that speaks to my age and I like their music, I take a lot of notes. For me, it's Troubled Hubble.
I hear a lot of reference points in their sound but I think they have a sound of their own. Singer/guitarist Chris Otepka's voice bares a slight resemblance to the Dismemberment Plan's Travis Morrison's conversational singing voice, but I put an emphasis on "slight." Their songs are very four-on-the-floor and the melodies are immediate and catchy, but compared to a lot of other bands out there, TH's sound is very original. I'm not doing a sliding-scale comparison here: they're great and a breath of fresh air.
Then there's the lyrics: some could say they're wacky, but I really dig them. Case in point, this line in "I'm Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules:" "To be young and dumb and innocent/to fear your life and want to live/to sleep and wake naturally/to treat your brain how it's supposed to be." Then there's this line in "To Be Alive and Alone" that says it all: "It's a great time to be alive and alone." This is music by twenty-somethings for twenty-somethings but can be for anyone.
Troubled Hubble as a whole is a much more relatable band for me, a 26-year-old, than a band like Fall Out Boy. Yes, I'm very well aware of the fact that teenagers are a huge influence as to what labels of all sizes cater towards. However, I'm not somebody that's mired in a hipster or mainstream ghetto. I like all kinds of music, but I'm not into soulless garbage glossed over with studio trickery. That's a vague description, but it comes in all forms. I'm not on top of new records months in advance like other so-called hipsters. I don't download new records via sites like Yousendit or Rapidshare or get records to review months in advance, so I'm a little behind on the times. I used to download albums like crazy but when I realized I was spending more time downloading albums than actually listening to the ones I already had downloaded, I stopped (plus my old computer became infected by spyware).
Elvis Costello once said something along the lines of, "Music is for everyone; it's just the record companies that think it's just for kids." I agree. Plus, it's a great time to be alive and alone.
I hear a lot of reference points in their sound but I think they have a sound of their own. Singer/guitarist Chris Otepka's voice bares a slight resemblance to the Dismemberment Plan's Travis Morrison's conversational singing voice, but I put an emphasis on "slight." Their songs are very four-on-the-floor and the melodies are immediate and catchy, but compared to a lot of other bands out there, TH's sound is very original. I'm not doing a sliding-scale comparison here: they're great and a breath of fresh air.
Then there's the lyrics: some could say they're wacky, but I really dig them. Case in point, this line in "I'm Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules:" "To be young and dumb and innocent/to fear your life and want to live/to sleep and wake naturally/to treat your brain how it's supposed to be." Then there's this line in "To Be Alive and Alone" that says it all: "It's a great time to be alive and alone." This is music by twenty-somethings for twenty-somethings but can be for anyone.
Troubled Hubble as a whole is a much more relatable band for me, a 26-year-old, than a band like Fall Out Boy. Yes, I'm very well aware of the fact that teenagers are a huge influence as to what labels of all sizes cater towards. However, I'm not somebody that's mired in a hipster or mainstream ghetto. I like all kinds of music, but I'm not into soulless garbage glossed over with studio trickery. That's a vague description, but it comes in all forms. I'm not on top of new records months in advance like other so-called hipsters. I don't download new records via sites like Yousendit or Rapidshare or get records to review months in advance, so I'm a little behind on the times. I used to download albums like crazy but when I realized I was spending more time downloading albums than actually listening to the ones I already had downloaded, I stopped (plus my old computer became infected by spyware).
Elvis Costello once said something along the lines of, "Music is for everyone; it's just the record companies that think it's just for kids." I agree. Plus, it's a great time to be alive and alone.
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