New Release Tuesday - September 29th

who: weaksauce
why: because nothing can really compare to what's dropping next week (The Fall of Troy and HORSE the band). This week we have Omar Rodriguez Lopez with another release that'll likely end up being many layers of noise that people will claim is a "masterpiece". I personally think he doesn't have to put every single thing he writes down on a record... but maybe that's just me, and maybe I should actually listen to it before I say it sucks. Second we have Paramore. They made the cover of AP magazine this month and the article makes them out to be some sort of legendary revolution of genre fusion... I'm not gonna lie, I liked Riot!... and I liked playing Paramore songs on rock band even more, but I gave a listen to 'Brand New Eyes' and got nothing. I was waiting for it to be over. Wow, I just read this over and realized how harsh I'm being... point of the matter is that if you like Omar or Paramore, today might be a good day - but I'm just waiting for next week.

Buy | Listen

Buy (for $3.99) | Listen

Watch Out - Kassem G

who: Kassem G on YouTube

why: because this dude is hilarious, and I still think Kanye West jokes are funny.

Boycottage - Twilight: New Moon

who: Twilight.

why: okay, okay, okay. Let me be the first to say that I have not seen the first movie in it's entirety... but I reeeeally don't think I need to. And even if I did, I wouldn't watch it with an open mind, and I'd still end up hating it. So I just don't like it. What bothers me most is that it's becoming a cult phenomenon and shows like TrueBlood as well as other authors are basically starting to get rich off the work someone else has already done (I don't know who he/she is... I don't care). I do know that Kristen Stewart sucks and that English dude is a tool. I also know that the bands who've opted to appear on the soundtrack are taking a risky position. Because while a lot of people like Twilight, a lot of people hate it, too.

bold = why?

italic underline = expected.

Soundtrack:

1) Death Cab for Cutie - "Meet Me On the Equinox"

2) Band of Skulls - "Friends"

3) Thom Yorke (Radiohead) - "Hearing Damage"

4) Lykke LI - "Possibility"

5) The Killers - "A White Demon Love Song"

6) Anya Marina - "Satellite Heart"

7) Muse - I Belong to You (New Moon)

8) Bon Iver & St. Vincent - "Roslyn"

9) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Done All Wrong"

10) Hurricane Bells - "Monsters"

11) Sea Wolf - "The Violet Hour"

12) OK Go - "Shooting the Moon"

13) Grizzly Bear - "Slow Life"

14) Editors - "No Sound but the Wind"

15) Alexandre Desplat - "New Moon (The Meadow)"

Hahaha.

Watch Out - Tons of New Vids

who: Brand New | The Flaming Lips | Set Your Goals | Cursive

why: because I want music videos to make a comeback, and artists work hard on making them not suck. Short description cause the videos do the talking. Check em out!

Brand New - "At the Bottom"

The Flaming Lips "I Can Be A Frog"

Set Your Goals - "Summer Jam"

Cursive - Let Me Up (link)

Cool!

Read All About It - Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar

who: Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar
why: because as if he isn't busy enough touring with Death Cab for Cutie or being newly wed to the beautiful Zooey Deschanel, Ben Gibbard has joined forces with solo-artist Jay Farrar to release the soundtrack for 'One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur' on October 20th. NPR music has been kind enough to allow your ears a free listen at a track off the record titled "These Roads Don't Move". Way too folky for my taste, and I'm not really anticipating the release per say, but anything Mr. Gibbard touches is good enough for me. If you'd prefer a visual representation of what to expect, you can check out the music video for "San Francisco" here.

Pre-order

Watch Out - Saosin

who: Saosin

why: because it's hard not to like their 2009 release 'In Search of Solid Ground' at least a little. Their sound hasn't changed too much since the old Anthony Green days in my opinion... maybe a little more chorus-geared and poppy... but still Saosinesque at least. Here's their first video for "Changing", check it out.

Myspace | Purevolume | Website

Premature Infatuation - HORSE the band

who: HORSE the mothereffing band

why: they've never let me down. They always surprise me. They put on one of the best live shows ever. On October 6th (2 weeks) they will be releasing 'Desperate Living' and I will definitely be listening to it. News has surfaced that if you buy the album from iTunes or vinyl at a later date you will be handsomely rewarded with ten bonus tracks. Yeah, 10. Apparently some of these are going to be remixes they've done with other various bands and friends, but 10 songs is like another album and it's FREE extras.

Pre-order it now!

Desperate Living

1. Cloudwalker

2. Desperate Living

3. The Failure of All Things

4. HORSE the song (ft. K-SLAX)

5. Science Police

6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart)

7. Between the Trees

8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird

9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding

10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge)

11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa)

12. Arrive

BONUS Tracks

1. 13

2. Rape Escape vs. DMNDAYS

3. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding vs. Dan Sena

4. The Failure of All Things vs. Airborne Drumz

5. Arrive vs. Burgermover

6. HORSE the Song vs. arottenbit (8 bit cover)

7. Arrive vs. :( (Love Silent Things Remix)

8. The Failure of All Things vs. DJ Danny Maverick

9. Science Police vs. LAZRTAG

10. Golden Mummy Golden Bird vs. Skrillex

Fool for Thought - Downloading

I recently read a Punknews.org article about Muse's frontman Matt Bellamy's idea to wage a progressive usage tax on bandwidth. He claims that this would help solve the downloading "problem" and promote the expansion of "creative industries". I was in like what?... 5th or 6th grade when Napster hit the scene... and illegally downloading copyrighted material has only become easier as more programs, websites, etc. are making it more accessible. But what this has done for the music industry is what I'm really curious to know.

Before iTunes, mainstream music sales were at an all time low. People saw no reason to go to Tower Records and pay $18.99 for the new Britney Spears album... and can you REALLY blame them? Now though, people are willing to pay $9.99 for a bad CD online and it's the smaller, underground bands that are being slighted. It's crazy how many talented musicians there are today, and how many talented bands those musicians are creating. New genres are constantly evolving at a ridiculous pace... and it's seriously impossible to keep up with everything. But what's the problem? I'm not going to public and say that I support illegally downloading music, or that I think there should be laws created against it, but I will say that Muse's Bellamy is being a bit ridiculous with his suggestions. There aren't even taxes on online sales, why would we write law to attempt to regulate bandwidth usage?

What I'm basically trying to say is what an old episode of South Park already said. Wealthy pop musicians are talented and work extremely hard, but they don't even write their own music most of the time and are making more money than my favorite 100 bands combined, if not more. And I personally feel like if we limit the ways in which music is available to the public, we're going to be stuck listening to Nickelback... Most of my favorite bands make next to nothing on their record sales anyways and are near completely dependent upon touring and merch sales, instead. I read an article in AP a few months back about how Bring Me The Horizon signed a less than fair contract with their label... and they're all pretty much broke. But they play music because it's what they love to do... and that's what makes it better than the shit they play on the radio. Because those artists are just trying to get paid.

Honestly, I don't know if there is any way to know if illegal downloading is helping or hurting the music industry... it's extremely difficult to even wrap your mind around the economics of it all considering the shear amount of music that we're lucky enough to be surrounded by. But I do think this is a really important issue that needs to be discussed and some conclusions do need to be reached. What do you think?

image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bellamy

New Release Tuesday - September 22nd, 2009

who: Brand New - Daisy

why: because I've been talking about it for awhile, and so has everybody else so if you wanna be cool you should go buy it. No. Because if you like Brand New, this album is almost as dramatically new as 'The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me' was in 2008. It really is a must have for this year because you'll probably either love it or continue to call them overrated.

Buy. Listen.

who: Monsters of Folk

why: because it's an ubergroup side project shaping up to find new ways to relax you. Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) and M. Ward (She & Him) are coming to blow your mind.

Buy. Listen.

Notables: Owen | Or, the Whale | Five Finger Death Punch

Watch Out - Take Notice

who: Take Notice | I Surrender Records

why: posted this hilarious "Studio Update" video on I Surrender's YouTube channel and even if you don't know of or like the band, it doesn't matter - they're pretty funny and you should enjoy the video. Beware of ferocious dogs.

Check out the band!
Myspace (streams) | Purevolume (downloads)