Friday, May 30, 2014

A LIST/LIST ABOUT IS/IS AND THEIR TRIUMPHANT RETURN/TURN TO T... YOU GET THE IDEA

Always eager to prove my ability to host a late night talk show, I have decided to forgo the traditional Total Blog format--where the reader is both thrilled and delighted by our informative and transcendental prose--and expedite all the hottest info on TF XII alums IS/IS to our dear readers in the form of a top ten list.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU:

1) TWICE AS MANY PUNS

2) EASY MLA CITATIONS (no idea if this is true or not, sorey)

3) AN ABUNDANCE OF ONE SENTENCE CONVERSATION STARTERS

4) THE EASE AND COMFORT OF REFERRING TO IS/IS AS "THE BAND THAT HAD THE BLOG WRITE UP ABOUT THEM THAT WAS A LIST--WHICH, TO BE TOTALLY HONEST, SEEMED REALLY, REALLY LAZY AT THE TIME," RATHER THAN THEIR EXTREMELY SUCCINCT NAME

5) YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN (and yeah, of course you never had to, but let's continue to operate under the assumption that even the mayor himself reads this thing in order to fulfill his civic duty #KEEPITLOCALBRAH #DONTBEADINK)

6) MORE HASHTAGS (recently, a friend told me about how he heard some teenagers laughing about some "old ass phone" that had a hashtag button #SOOLD #ENDTIMES)

7) THE ASSUMPTION THAT, BECAUSE IT'S A LIST, THIS BLOG WILL BE A QUICKER-THAN-NORMAL READ #JOKESONYOUBUTREALLYTHEJOKEHASALWAYSBEENANDREMAINSFIRMLYONME

8) REALLY, ONLY TWO MORE TO GO UNTIL THE REAL THING STARTS #TAI #UHOH

9) THE UNFORTUNATE REALIZATION THAT, THOUGH THIS PRE-LIST IS HELPFULLY LINEAR, THIS AUTHOR IS TRV KVLT AND--FROM THIS POINT ONWARD--HAS DECIDED TO REJECT ALL NUMERICAL SYSTEMS BECAUSE SHE OR HE FEELS THAT NUMBERS ARE LIKE JUST A TOOL OF POWER STRUCTURES, MAN 

•SO FAR, NOT ONE PUN WASTED #NOPUNCHLINESLEFTBEHIND #NOTWITHOUTMYPUN

So without any further ado--and with hell of hashtags already--Total Fest presents our HASHTAGGED LIST OF POSITIVE QUALITIES AND GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE BAND IS/IS:

# To my knowledge, I don't think that band has ever used a hashtag in a facebook post.

# Recently, the band relocated from Minneapolis to Portland--two wonderful, bike friendly cities. My narc-understranding of subcultures consists entirely of the assumption that musicians ride bikes.

# Their relocation was, however, after they lived in the desert for a month after last year's Total Fest (to which they did not bike, leaving me--and the rest of my narc-buddies--stunned and confused). You can read all about their pun in the sun (GET IT?) here.

# Is/Is often gets compared to Mazzy Star--which is not inaccurate, but there's definitely a heavier influence there as well: 70s stoner stomp by way of Pac-NW 90s, Spiritualized sans bombast, droney but not amelodic or monotonous. With hooks for miles, This Stuff Rocks™.

#  In a year of loud, rockin' bands, Is/Is absolutely dominated the Palace stage last year--not only with volume, but with an attitude that said, "Yeah, we ride bikes, but we also shred."

# For a certain kind of rock-fan (the author included), there are few things more enjoyable than the oft fabled Power Trio. Is/Is follows in the storied tradition of rippers such as The Clean, ZZ Top, Nirvana, James Gang and Spacemen 3 (who had four members in their best incarnation #sorrynotsorry).

# The band is constantly working on new material, but if you haven't picked up their most recent, self-titled full length or their excellent single from last year--both issued by Manimal Vinyl--I highly recommend doing so immediately. 

# Is/Is has always been a band capable of sounding dark without an unfortunate "woe-is-me" sentimentality--which is a lot harder than it sounds (especially because Is/Is does such a great job of making it sound so natural and effortless). 

# Making their second appearance at Total Fest, Is/Is should have all the erstwhile reluctant-tweeters of Missoula hashtagging the shit out of #feelingblessed and #ready2rock.

# Though this list is coming to a close, you should definitely stick around to listen to the tracks posted below or stream the entire new record at their Bandcamp page ;) #emoticonsrock




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