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Headbanger’s Ball is premiering the brand new War Of Ages video for “Through The Flames” right now on their website:
War of Ages, Through the Flames, Leroy Hamp, Arise and Conquer, metalcore, heavy metal />... |
Check out the slick new Ed Laurie widget for his hauntingly beautiful Dangerbird Records debut EP, Meanwhile In The Park. Repost this on your website and introduce your readers to one of the year's diamonds in the />... |
UK band Hadouken! will release their debut album, MUSIC FOR AN ACCELERATED CULTURE, on their own in North America on October 28. The album will be available digitally through iTunes and other digital retailers, as well />... |
Art Alexakis of Everclear has never been subtle about his political leanings and activism. The outspoken Democrat has testified before Congress, worked the campaign trail and even represented his district’s interest as />... |
Ferret Music has announced the signing of Michigan’s Hellmouth.
With nods to bands like Celtic Frost, Black Flag, Venom, Black Sabbath and Disfear, Hellmouth is drawing from its members' past while />... |
Fresh after releasing his critically lauded new record Pomegranate, Astronautalis will be embarking on the first of many tours to feed the deafening buzz around it.
DO NOT MISS THIS PERFORMANCE; Please />... | ITUNES ORIGINAL SESSION RELEASED SEPTEMBER 30
Mute Records plans to release a special edition of Goldfrapp's acclaimed album Seventh Tree. Due in the U.S. on November 25, the special edition features DVD footage, new artwork and additional photos. The DVD contains />... |
Tune into NBC tonight, Friday October 10, to see Dead Confederate play Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Conan starts at 12:35am, so yes, technically it's Saturday, but it will be a great show regardless. Until then, />... |
Sounds Like Violence are about to enter the studio where they will start recording their full length follow up to 2007's " With Blood On My Hands".
Slated for an early 2009 release on Burning Heart />... | Headline shows rescheduled
You Me At Six are thrilled to announce they will be supporting Fall Out Boy on their October UK arena tour. The 3-date tour, which already features Bostonians Boys Like Girls, kicks off in Birmingham on October 19. />... | FEATURING REMIXES BY LILLICA LIBERTINE, PAPA VITO, YES SIR IDOL AND MR BLACK
16 YEAR OLD CHARLI XCX follows up the commotion created by her debut single ‘!Franchesckaar!’ with the silvery brilliance of new double A-sided single ‘Emelline/Art Bitch’, released on November 17 through ownlabel XCX />... |
Do something worthwhile!
I've been sitting here for a while trying to think of exactly what I wanted this to say without offending anyone or any organizations. I think I'll just put it this way: it's />... | Theatrical screenings confirmed nationwide
October 9 , 2008 (Burbank, CA) - THE FLAMING LIPS will finally release their long-awaited film debut, CHRISTMAS ON MARS: A Fantastical Film Freak-out Featuring the Flaming Lips, on November 11, 2008, on Warner Bros. />... |
Just wanted to let you know that our new video for "Saved" is up! We hope you'll all check it out and let us know what you think!
Click here />... |
Gringo Star at Mercury Lounge, Monday October 20 (10:30pm)
DEBUT ALBUM, “ALL Y’ALL”
RELEASED NOVEMBER 4 (My Anxious Mouth Records)
Produced by Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal />... |
Irish Rock Band THE ANSWER To Open For AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour – Itinerary Kicks Off October 28
THE ANSWER's US debut release, an EP/DVD />... | NICKEL AND DIME RECORDS
Nickel and Dime Records is pleased to announce the release of Los Difuntos “S/T” for worldwide distribution on November 18, 2008. This is the highly anticipated 11-track release from East LA’s favorite punk band. />... |
The Google-owned business is taking the first steps toward building an e-commerce service through which it will sell music, films, TV shows, video games, books, concert tickets and other media-related products featured />... | "HEART BURNS" SOLO EP OUT 10/28; SOLO TOUR STARTS 10/31;
Tom Gabel will hit the road without his Against Me! bandmates on October 31st. Tom will be joined by Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero), and Tim Barry (Avail) on the Revival Tour. The frontmen will />... | RELEASED NOVEMBER 11TH
The wonderful husky troubadour that is JAMES APOLLO is coming over from the US in November to tour and release his beautiful album 'HIDE YOUR HEART IN A HIVE' on 11th November.
James is also on tour in />... |  | | | Big Brother,Warner Bros. Records
Are these guys never happy?
More music from people who never seem to be happy about anything. Oasis are starting to become the kid at school who are always moaning about something, and to begin with you are interested about their heartfelt dismay, but after a while you begin to tire of it and wish the kid would go away.
This is what Oasis has become, for me. Been there, heard that, got the t-shirt.
I really enjoyed this the first time I listened to it and heard it from beginning to end, then immediately went back and listened to the whole thing again. I thought it was very enjoyable, solid and entertaining.
Do you notice how the above is written in the past tense?
The album quickly becomes boring, because while there is talent and ability there, the whole thing comes with a huge />... | Island Records
The first track "Go Go Go" was quite impressive for a first track - I hoped that this set a precedent for the rest of the album. It is extremely catchy, the instruments are utilized well, and it's very dynamic - definitely "single material" as it would certainly sell. However there wasn't much that separated each track and The 88 became quite predictable and started to sound very "samey". Which is a shame as The 88 sound like The 88 have quite a lot of potential, with both the music, and lyrics.
I get the impression that The 88 would be a great act live but The 88 need to expand their musical boundaries; as The 88 are very indie-mainstream. Which isn’t necessarily a negative point - as the audience is quite large. However, I expect a lot more from bands. I don't want an album that />... | Skint/Yellow Van Records – 15th September 2008 – CD, LP & Download
Over the last five years or so the UK music scene has been awash with spiky-riffed, sharp-quipping Northern indie-pop outfits. Since Alex Turner first transferred Mike Skinners bar-propping observational witticisms to a guitar loving (read; wider) audience, a hundred scruffy haired frontmen from bands like Milburn, The Pigeon Detectives, The Fratellis and The Courteeners have been vying for our attention with their quasi-cynical tales of struggling to be cool in stereotypically uncool Northern towns. Some, it has to be said, have fared better than others.
Little Man Tate are one of the bands who do it rather well. Their 2007 debut About What You Know was full of sneering putdowns and dripping with punchy one liners and gruff riffs. But the whole thing was delivered with a />... | Make Music Collective
On first impression, listening to the album, I was certainly able to draw comparisons to other bands of the "emo" variety, as there isn't much that sets them apart from such bands as Panic! or Say Anything. Most of the lyrics are appealing to those who tend to sing along, and they are quite 'relatable' - which perhaps is suitable for their "emo" audience.
I was expecting a lot more form the title song - Lengths And Limits - it didn't really stand out, and the "middle 8" : added to contrast the dynamics of the song, didn’t work as effectively as intended. Many of the chorus's were catchy yet weren't particularily easy to distinguish from the verse, as many stayed in the same key, or at least the tune sounded very similar to that of the verse.
Backing vocals were very effective />... |
At first I didn't really expect this album to be anything better than average, however I was rather suprised with what I heard.
Scream Hello are pretty much unheard of in the UK, but this four-piece from New Jersey, US have already been signed by Red Leader Records. They are rather unique and don't sound much like any other band around today, although classifying them in a genre would be difficult. This would be my main criticism of 'Everything is always still happening' - it doesn't really flow as an album. The songs all fit in different genres, and the band themselves class themselves on their myspace as Indie/Post Punk/Punk, thats like saying it's pork, cabbage and chocolate. It doesn't combine well.
Nonetheless, if you look at the tracks individually then they are mostly all />... | Distile Records
O! The Joy… of the off switch.
Maybe that’s a little harsh. After all, the first moments of the title track are promising. These young men from deepest darkest Sacramento have the musical ability of a great band but there’s something wrong. It’s possibly because they’re still trying to find their feet in the experimental math-rock pond. An insane mixture of different time signatures is confusing, with the occasional odd breaks in songs that sound like a 5 year old whacking a piano.
They are reminiscent of The Fall of Troy avec vocals similar to Incubus’ Brandon Boyd, hitting their high hats and adding little drum rolls here and there. The guitar solos running up and down, not always executed in a way that makes the album easy to listen to. After all, Zen is a Japanese area of />... | Red Telephone Box, Fontana
Perfect for the background.
This is an album that fades away while I’m doing other things, but as soon as I actually start to pay attention to the music, it starts to annoy me. I found it very easy to potter about and do other things while this album was on, but none of the tracks lured me back to the computer to find out the name of the specific track that was playing.
The music is pleasant enough, and is energetic enough to carry me though my daily tasks, and I’m glad I have plenty to do today. Usually I’m walking while listening to music, and I can tell that I would have very quickly turned this over had I been walking to work while listening to ‘Ode to J.Smith’.
‘The man who’ was the only Travis album I’d heard at any length before this one, and thus it was the only one that I />... | Support from Karima Francis
Natty – Rescue Rooms – 09/10/2008
Live review.
Tonight’s venue seemed to be filling up nicely. I walked in halfway through what looked like the lead singer from The View playing an acoustic set. But no, this was a gentle, timid, quiet and unforgettable Karmina Francis. Such a powerful voice seemed inconceivable from this delicate artist. In-between songs she would talk shyly to the crowd, smiling and seemed to be overwhelmed by the crowd’s love for her. You could do nothing but stand in silence and admire her vocal talent. She provided a natural ability to disappear into her songs and have the crowd follow. She is currently working hard on her debut album on the Kitchenware Label and will inevitably become something special. At times you were faced with a lot of similarities to Adele’s />... | Sony BMG, RCA, Columbia
Southern fried Leon.
“Screech, Screech…” sings lead singer Caleb Followill, as the soft rock guitar chugs behind him.
This album is not only whiny and high pitched, it’s also whiny and high pitched. Is there anything you need to know about the album? Has this description not already caused you to throw up your arms in disgust and vow never to buy this album?
Well, other than that, it’s pretty solid as an album, the quite mild tempered nature of the music causes me to be quite forgiving of the self-obsessed and pompous singer. Like a big floppy dog, that’s just done a poo in the middle of your floor, but looks really sorry about it, the music seems to apologise for the over the top nature of the lyrics. It’s like when your friend is far too drunk and is making a fool of himself in />... | Second Release for the Californian Quantet
Cold War Kids – Loyalty To Loyalty
Released: 22nd September 2008
So, to the return of the Californian Soul four piece, Cold War Kids. If you were a fan of their debut Robbers And Cowards, then you are automatically a fan of Loyalty To Loyalty. The album is similar in many ways, yet different in others. In our two-year wait for this record, nothing much has changed. Lead singer Nathon Willet continues his vocal domination on each track, providing cracked-throat blues and a soulful atmosphere. Plus the big beat, slow piano, jittery music works just as well as it did the first time. It’s hard to compare CWK to any other band around at the minute, and I like that.
The Opening track ‘Against Privacy’ sounds as if The Zutons have taken over the record, with a guitar sound from SpongeBob />... | Self Released - One of the best debut albums I've ever heard
Lipona may be fairly unknown in the UK, but if they continue to produce albums like this, it won't be too long before they're well featured in the british rock scene. This is their first full-length album and they have already given themselves a challenge to better it. The album is self-released and a call from a record label can't be too far around the corner.
The five-piece from Florida are a high-energy modern punk band that are comparable to many other bands of this genre, but also create their own styles of uniqueness. The vocalist Yamil Velez, for example, doesn't have the stereotypical high-pitched squeak often associated with many punk singers, but he has a voice that makes Lipona stand out from the rest.
The acoustic guitar and vocals that open the album on the track 'Shut up />... | Wall of Sound
Rock without words…well I never!
The first thing that annoyed me about this band was a quote I saw on Wikipedia:
“I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can’t do that with us they can get a bit upset.”
It just makes me think that they are arrogant and that they think that the people who hear their music are stupid enough to go:
“urgh, no words…what going on…me no like!”
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN BOTTOMS!
Now I’ve gotten that out of the way, the album is good. Very good in fact. It’s dynamic, it’s exciting, it’s all the things you want from a post-rock album. The lack of words isn’t even an issue in this album and it took me till at least half way through the album to even />... |  |  | | | "I wanted to impress my parents, and I have. So job done!"
AS: At what point did you think we are really making it as a band?
JF: When our album went to number 15 in the album midweek charts this week!! It was so surreal!
AS: What do you hope the fans take away when listening to your new album?
JF: As long as they enjoy it I am happy. We don't want to change the world, but to change a few people’s day would be really good.
AS: Is there anyone you want to particularly impress with "Take Off Your Colours"?
JF : I wanted to impress my parents, and I have. So job done!
AS: If you could be in any other band which would it be?
JF: Jimmy Eat World, because they are officially the best band in the world, ever.
AS: How long will it be till you guys headline an arena tour />... | "My legs are half titanium now"
He's had to cancel twice, and I'm starting to fear he'll do so again when I get the call. It's him. Right on time. His voice is deep, mellifluous and obviously hungover. We can't meet at his apartment, he tells me apologetically, there is simply no room. He's building himself a "jalapeno" bass, he says—"half the size of a regular upright, but with twice the kick"—and tools and sawdust cover the floors.
We agree to meet at the corner coffee shop. Moments later he appears, six feet tall and grass-reed slim. As we sit, I can't help but notice that his boots are completely caked in mud. "I'm just off the mountain," he says by way of explanation. Oh. I look at my watch. It's just past 9 a.m.
"So James, where should we start?"
"Well, I was born in />... | "When it comes to music, especially the ones I like, I like to possess it as a tangible object"
1: How would you describe your sound and what are some of the band’s main influences?
I am influenced by various things. In my childhood, I was often listening to my father's classical collection. I remember that, among them, I liked Bach the most... probably I was fond of its heavy and solemn texture. Apart from classical, I have also liked electronic music (such as Kraftwerk, YMO, Gary Numan) since I was little.
As I entered high school, I started listening to - turning the clock back - music like Post Punk, American underground, early Electro, Hiphop, Jazz, and everything. Also, I have been listening to Chicago acid house, Detroit techno (BTW - I am a huge fan of Carl Craig and UR) from its early era.
As long as I lived in Tokyo, it />... |  |