SOUND BITES

If the sixth and self-professed final album from The Dillinger Escape Plan is indeed the end of the road for the influential mathcore/metal group, there's no doubt that they're going out on a high note. Their trademark frenzy is in full effect on Dissociation , while the tracklist is peppered with the sudden detours and out-of-nowhere genre experiments that have endeared the band to so many open-minded fans of their extreme excellence. This record is the sound of an incredible and diverse band emptying the tank, exploring every stray idea if only for a handful of seconds. They've never been for everybody, and there are few concessions to conventional wisdom here ( Symptom of Terminal Illness and the closing title track are the closest they come to "accessible", and even they would never be considered as anything approaching mainstream). With Dissociation , DEP go out as frantic and gloriously against the grain as they came; it's a dizzying, combustible, shap...

After a couple of sort of difficult, kind of mediocre post-stardom records that skirted around the massive hooks that turned them from ragged fringe artists to world-conquering heroes, Kings of Leon's seventh album (aka We Are Like Love Songs , in case you were worried they'd broken their streak of five-syllable album titles) is their most consistently glossy record yet. So as to say, the soaring choruses and sharp melodies that made Only By the Night a runaway smash eight years ago are once again fair game. The cynical might see this as a contrived attempt to recapture their status, but I see it more as a band recognizing where their strengths lie and making the most of their talents. Put another way, if Come Around Sundown was an excessive and scattered response to fame and Mechanical Bull was a tentative attempt at returning to their pre-fame roots, then WALLS is the confident acknowledgement of what made them famous. That said, this record will earn little to no goodwil...

If there's one thing I hope outsiders learn about the city I call home this weekend, it's that Miramichi's music community may be relatively small, but it's unified. These aren't pretend rock stars holding each other down, it's a family of fellow minded musicians, supporting and nurturing each other; the people in Miramichi bands are the same people you see in the crowd at shows for other Miramichi bands. Whether or not any of these bands "make it" is irrelevant; their music is a reflection of hard work and creative passion, the two main ingredients for any self-respecting rock n' roll. The artists on this list are people I know. I've seen them play, and sometimes played with them. I've sold them CDs and/or sold their CDs at my previous job, and had deep conversations about music with them. I've had a drink with them and/or got drunk with them. I'm proud to call them my friends, even if just on Facebook; if that makes me a lit...

Known as the hub of the Maritimes, Moncton has long been home to a thriving music scene. Over the years, there have been a host of big name bands that have played there, packing concert halls and festival grounds alike. Put simply, there are a lot of chances to be inspired in Moncton. With Festival 506 this weekend comes a slew of talent from the Moncton area and, as you'll see from the four artists listed below, it's a diverse and expansive range of styles that inspire the residents of the Maritimes' fastest growing city. Here is a small taste of the musical talent Moncton has to offer:

As New Brunswick's capital city, it's no surprise that Fredericton is well represented from a provincial standpoint artistically. As an artistic hub of sorts, there's no shortage of inspiration to be drawn from the central New Brunswick city. I've been privy to many shows in the area (admittedly not so many in recent years, though); I used to travel there quite often with one of my hometown bands and, on one fateful night at the Chestnut, the band in question let me handle vocals on their version of Pantera's Walk. So, naturally, I forgot the words. They let me redeem myself at a later date, but butchering that song is my clearest, most dubious musical memory of Fredericton. Thankfully, there's nothing dubious about the following four artists from Fredericton, who will be appearing this weekend as part of Festival 506 in Miramichi:

With shows starting Friday and running through Sunday spread across several venues, there's a lot of talent to take in as part of Festival 506. I picked up my weekend pass to make sure I can take advantage of as many shows as possible; I've had a look at the artists and set times to plan out how to maximize the music, as it were, and I'm sure there will be frantic moments trying to get from one venue to the other in time for the next show (luckily, the majority are within a few minutes walking distance of each other). Later in the week, I'll be highlighting artists from a few of the most represented cities in the province; today is more of an overall list, with four intriguing artists from all over that should be reason enough to get excited for the weekend to come in Miramichi. Here are the first four artists you should plan on seeing at Festival 506:

I've never put much focus on where I'm from in terms of what I do here on Sound Bites. In my mind, I rationalized that by thinking that this blog could be seen as a regional outlet, rather than an all-encompassing place for me to write about my love of music. If I lead with local talent, I presumed, I'd be known as that guy from New Brunswick who writes about New Brunswick things. That, and I didn't want to put myself in the position of being commissioned by upstart artists for promotion; I once volunteered my time as a reviewer for a blog promoting Canadian indie artists, and soon found myself asked to give critiques to a growing list of bands I honestly didn't have interest in. So, that was my mindset five years ago, thus there have been very few articles concerning talent from my neck of the woods. That said, I think the past five years and more than 50,000 visits have deemed the coast clear when it comes to talking about bands and artists that are geographic...