Auditory Umami with Seannie Cameras #3 - Enter Shikari

DISCLAIMER: This is not traditional EDM, or electronic music and therefore should not be credited as such.

With that out of the way, I still felt that it was important to write about this band and their latest album, even though I'm late to the party on this one. When I was out in Cali visiting my 20 year old cousin, everyday I was in the car with him he would play this band of British lads called, Enter Shikari. Now, in Southern California there are several music genre's that are associated with the area giving them a prominence in the music world over the years: Hardcore, punk, pop-punk, white-people-playing-reggae-musc-poorly, and more recently, electronic music. The combination of Dubstep and Hardcore are ever-present in the youth culture that makes up Huntington Beach, Long Beach, SoCal, etc, and not just between my cousin and his friends. This band is perfect example of blending both styles of music together seamlessly.

They are labeled as Post-Hardcore, and this is definitely their main, melodic ingredient used to craft their music. BUT! What Post-Hardcore band has an intro and an outro on their album?! These fucking guys, do! There is an undeniable element of electronica soundscapes infused to their tracks to amp them the Fuck up! Songs like The Jester for example, which starts as a rollicking jazzy, snap-your-finger's kinda vibe, and quickly disseminates itself from that when the chorus kicks in with a wall of guitar noise. If you are still alive past that, then wait for bridge in the song because you are going to want to jump off of it. The song moves into a crazy, loopy, dubsteppy wonderland that would make the walls quake at any club/venue these lads decide to plug in at. Other standout tracks include is the most "radio-friendly" of their songs No Sleep Tonight, Zzzzonked with its frenzied, layered, electronic backing, and the albums title track, Common Dreads.

One of the things I love about these guys, is no matter how much their music is melodic, electronic, screamo, operatic at times (Solidarity), they never stray from their hardcore routes.  By managing to blend a perfect balance of all the genre's that influence their music and staying true to their musical foundations all while branching into new ones. They are carving out a very, viable niche in modern music. Plain and simple, these guys rock.