The Grates - Teeth Lost, Hearts Won.

A couple of weeks ago now, I bought the newest album from The Grates.

Entitled Teeth Lost, Hearts Won, it's 13 more excellent songs from the Brisbane band.

They may not fit the adjective "see Birds of Tokyo review" but to compare them to the aforementioned band, or even someone say Bjork is wrong.

I suppose the flagship song is "Burn Bridges", that was the one that made the single, but it wasn't really the song that makes me love the album. It is a good song, I'll give them that, but it isn't my favourite or even in the top five.

You will find yourself most likely bobbing your head or clapping along when they are singing "Spent time making trouble, doing the right thing/ Spent time making trouble, what's the sum of everything..."

And do you know how I know. You're going to listen to the song. Because it's the single song, there is a film clip, and it's on youtube, and I can embed videos.



You will have to listen to the song before you leave this post.

The song that convinced me to buy the album probably was "Carve Your Name". It's similar to the last song, yet different. I'm sorry but I can't actually describe how the song is different. It's one of those songs that you'll dance to.

The next song "The Fun In Every Start". Is under a minute, but it's one of my favourites. This is in my top 5 for this album. It's a soft, sweet interlude between "Carve Your Name" and "Two Kinds of Right".

I think it's an excellent placement on the album. It breaks the mood well, consisting of just vocals and a piano and almost segues into the next song "Two Kinds Of Right" (which coincidentally is mentioned in the previous song).

"Two Kinds Of Right" is another song that is similar yet different to the first two songs. It's a song that you'll dance to. Not really a song that you can mellow out to. If you ever play this song on Audiosurf you will find plenty of high scoring spots.

"Aw Yeah", is sung in a similar manner to "Science is Golden" was in their previous album Gravity Won't Get You High. It's fast, it's loud, it's The Grates.

"Milk Eyes" is better described by Jmag. It's number 6 in my top 5 songs for this album.

My number 1 or 2 song is next. Another short song, "The Sum Of Every Part" is another mellow song. There is a video on Youtube from the band, I just don't think it does the song justice though. I guess that's what happens when it's played on a DS:



Where it sounds like there are supposed to be words, the lyrics are:

The winds of change rearrange our vision, tried to walk but I got no rhythm.
Temperatures change and spaces relax. Newspaper print left crime on my thumb,
You said it twice but I heard you just once. All of these thoughts like fingers and toes.
The sum of every part, the fear in every heart.

A 30 second clip from LastFM can be found here.

Next up "Storms and Fevers" (near my top 5 but not one) has a good beat to it. It opens nicely, and if you play it on Audiosurf you might find yourself trying to clear out the remaining blocks (for the 25% bonus) halfway through the song...

"Earthquake". Another fast song. Another loud song. It's an excellent song though.

Next though is the song that makes it hard to say what my number 1 song for this album is. "Not Today" isn't fast, it's far more mellow, but not in the same way "The Sum Of Every Part" is. With an opening of "If it's half as good in out there, as it is in here/I might have to change, everything I am" to the emphatically sung "But not today, no not today/Fuck your today, not going away".

"When You're Scared Of Dogs". It sounds very pop-y in a way. It has very distinct sections, and there are also the barks of dogs in the background.

"Let it Die" is another fast song. Not loud, but it's fast paced. It's one of the many songs with different instruments. This one sounds like it has a recorder in it.

The closing song is "The Biggest And Longest Adventure Ever". As the song says "Time's up, we better run away, before the night closes in, like it does every other day".

It ends with those lines being spoken by the band members. This is in my top 5 songs for this album.

Honestly though, my words can't do this album justice. If you ever get a chance go down to your music shop and get a copy of it. If you are in Not-Australia, then get it ordered in. You won't regret it.

The artist is The Grates. The album Teeth Lost, Hearts Won.

Review Revisited.

I'm vain enough to see if people post comments on this blog (although there is a rather funny one where it told me that I was replying to myself, when I was actually replying to a commenter). Anyway, I learned today that I got a reply on this post

"So, so, you are doing a review of my site without giving me a chance to say something. What did you think? That I am not a real person? Some ghost in the machine or what.

Anyway, I just updated the site. Maybe you like it.

- Louanne"

Well, umm... I don't really know what to say...

I doubt that you are a ghost in the machine, because I don't think that there are bots capable of writing sentences that mean something. In my defence when I wrote that I based what I knew about reviewing things on what I would, say, read in the paper. I didn't actually know that I had to tell you, but considering that you managed to find that post about a month after I posted it I don't really see what the problem is.

Still you are more then welcome to write a proper reply, and if it makes you happy I can provide a link to anything that mentions you in the future.

Scientology Stuff PLUS, Website Review: Scientology Myths

It's a post chocka block full of Scientology goodness. So watch out for engrams, and strap your thetans in for this wild ride through the world of Scientology.

Firstly, according to Anon SA the theme for the next raid will be known as Operation Reconnect. I'm quite sure that Scientology already knows this considering their rather pervasive presence on the internet in regards to this.

Secondly, take a look at this from thunderf00t:



I hope that you enjoyed watching it. I know I did.

Thirdly, I found that Ex-Scientology Kids has a wall of shame.

By the way, if you haven't already, please check out some of the stories from ex-Scientologists but preferably after you have read this post, I still have more to say.

Anyway, the wall of shame links to a site called Scientology Myths (which is apparently a front site, and I can see why, and you will too without losing most of your IQ).

But to be fair the homepage does say the following:

"ScientologyMyths.info wants to find answers to the questions that are being asked all over the internet about Scientology, Scientologists, the Church and L. Ron Hubbard. Our goal is to find answers from independent sources, not only from Church of Scientology owned sites or anti-Scientology sites either. We pull our information mainly from court documents and other neutral sources and lay out the information for you to come to your own conclusions."

So they want you to think of them as another Operation Clambake but they fail. Unless they want you to find answers without any impartiality at all, then they succeed quite well.

This is the Scientology Myths page on Anonymous.

The very first thing they mention on their "Anonymous" page is a link to the Wikipedia article on hate crimes. If you can be bothered to read the article at all, you will find the "seedy origins" of Anonymous, mentions of bomb and death threats, and take this little gem:

"One could say that Anonymous fails to clean its ranks from psychos and criminals but - without morals to protect it and cowardice as “party line” - is actually actively supporting terrorist activities."

So in other words, a decentralised organisation with no membership requirements, no member lists, and limited knowledge of who is a member of the organisation is supposed to have strong centralised leadership, membership requirements, member lists and the ability to check criminal and medical records?

Right?

And then they provide the Scientology Propaganda Video that "details" "death threats" against Scientology members by "Anonymous".

I've mentioned it many times before, but Anonymous provides the same protection as you would get with login names/forum names/avatars etc. on the internet.

And the other thing is that all the links provided support CoS. There is no evidence provided that supports Anonymous or even details what Anonymous is and does. Not even a Wikipedia link.

The Clambake section provides more evidence of the inherent bias in this site, and also shows a poor grasp of biology.

The Lisa McPherson page.

Ultimately can be summed up by:

"Some corrupt individuals tried to profit from the death of this girl and make a lot of noise about it. That's why you know about it."

The entire page supports Scientology, but they don't seem to mention some of the other things, like say Lisa being bitten by cockroaches.

But as evidence they supply the death certificate. I'll raise them some autopsy photos (WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK, PEOPLE OF CERTAIN FAITHS, OR MINORS). As a side note, the blemishes on her back and the underside of her legs/arms is caused by livor mortis, where the blood has settled to the lowest parts of her body.

Now based on the pictures and the rather large number of wounds on her body, it seems rather odd to ignore this evidence and make it look like she was in a livid mental state.

On internet censorship. All you get is a quote from Scientology (this I would suggest you read, note the blatant hypocrisy) a mention of Operation Clambake (at least I think it is) with a pro-Scientology spin on it.

Operation Foot Bullet from Operation Clambake has a mention of it as well.

And you get a lovely link to the DCMA from the Scientology Myths site as well.

To close I will leave you with one last page. The page on Freezone.

Especially this snippet:

"Freezones are not religious in nature, they are money making ventures, originally started by Captain Bill Robertson."

So when the Freezoners were talking about keeping the tech free, they actually meant that you should charge people for it?

Or how about this (same page):

"I understand the largest Freezone group is in Germany, which makes sense, since Germany is well behind the curve in supporting religious freedom."

Because it doesn't count when it isn't your religion that is being practised right?

Oh wait, I forgot this.

Notably:

"The "Cult of Greed" statement very much false. The Internal Revenue Service agrees that the Church of Scientology is not a for-profit organization."

I'm quite sure you can claim to be a non-profit organisation while actually being a for-profit organisation. It all comes down to what you show them, and who you blackmail.

It's good that someone, somewhere has mentioned to ESK, and probably other websites about this one, although it was quite clear anyway when you read certain pages that there is an inherent, and clear bias, on this site.

At least Operation Clambake provides links to Scientology sources.