Song of the Day

**1/31/10

O'Brother - Providence

--------------Today, I'm going to keep my musings of music rather short, mostly because I have a ton of laundry to do before the Grammy's tonight. O'Brother is a band I learned about from a friend in my building, and I have to say I'm feeling the minor mood "Providence" gives off. Experimental, reeling and thoughtful, O'Brother sounds like Radiohead on Redbull with a little more aggression. If you like what you hear, they're currently on tour with Manchester Orchestra, The Features and Billy Clyro. Listen to "Providence" and also the track "Ascension" from The Death of Day.

http://myspace.com/obrothermusic/

Song of the Day

**1/28/10

Little Boots - New In Town

-------------Little Boots with a big, stomping beat. "New In Town" is very devil-may-care, flirty and tons of techno-fun.

This song is wonderful. If you're tired of brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack, "New In Town" has strutted onto the dance floor. Try very, very hard not to sit still while you listen. Get "New In Town" from Little Boots stateside EP, Illuminations.

http://myspace.com/littleboots/

Song of the Day

**1/26/10

The Maine - Daisy

--------------If I saw an actual daisy growing out of the ground right now, I'd build a shrine around it. With snow blanketing all walking surfaces (and making a clumsy blogger battle with the threat of broken limbs every morning), a little floral freshness would be nice. Until it warms up, I'll go with The Maine's "Daisy," a rare cut from the bouquet of this Tampa band's first EP, Stay Up, Get Down.

You're probably bobbing your head to this song's sunny beat and wondering why "Daisy" didn't make it onto the full length. If only I could answer that (John O'Callahan can't sing it anymore because it's too heartbreaking?), but for now, just enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPUQByIEhDQ

Song of the Day

**1/25/10

Never Shout Never - Can't Stand It

-----------It's been a big week for music, and it's not even Grammy night! Red Hot Chili Peppers welcomed Josh Klinghoffer as the band's new guitarist, Take Action tour kicked off and Death Cab reassured us they're working on an album this year.

All of this, and Never Shout Never released what is love? for a cool $7.99 (plus the governer's wages) at Target. "Can't Stand It" is too freaking adorable for words - there is clapping, a smiling horn section and disgustingly "super-duper cute" lyrics.

If you hate everything that has to do with love at the moment, do not listen to this song. It will gross you out, I promise you that. But if you're up for it, take a listen to "Can't Stand It" from what is love?

http://myspace.com/nevershoutnever/

Song of the Day

**1/24/10

Motion City Soundtrack - Her Words Destroy My Planet

-----------I'm sure most of you remember the adorably inaccurate but positively heart-warming adventures of Little Foot, Sarah the triceratops, Petri, Ducky and Spike. Yes, I am referring to The Land Before Time, and why not remember those lil' guys while listening to My Dinosaur Life, Motion City Soundtrack's newest album?

This album is perfect when you're munching on Tree Stars at parties or cruising around the great valley with friends. It's MCS's best effort to date. "Her Words" is a backhand to the heartbreaker and Justin Pierre's attempt to stall the extinction of his heart. Too bad selling your Xbox, taking Japanese and sending letters isn't enough. Best of luck to you, Justin.

http://myspace.com/motioncitysoundtrack/

Song of the Day

**1/23/10

fun. - Benson Hedges

------------It's probably the most perfect day (Saturday, in case you woke up too early, accidentally thinking you missed class or had work) for fun. All types of fun. Including the band, fun. For anyone who was heartbroken by the disbanding of The Format, Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost bring the oh-so-indie sounds back to a new life. Ruess is a lot more ambitious with vocals and the music? Well, I'll just let you listen.

The gospel praises at the beginning of "Benson Hedges" might scare you if you're in a library or have your earbuds plugged in at top volume, so listen with caution. I care about your lil' eardrums, god bless! "Benson Hedges" speaks highly of fun.'s answered prayer for an admirable first effort, Aim and Ignite.

http://www.myspace.com/fun

Still Some Hope

While you may not dig the fact that Ke$ha has hold of a bottle of Jack and the top of the Billboard charts (hater$, that's all ya'll are), rest assured there are worse things floating around and the numbers reflect that.



Heidi Montag, the blonde decathalete of plastic surgery and dry shampoo of The Hills and I'm a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!, is/wants to be/attempted to be/ an artist? She *giggle* released an album sold less than 1,000 units in its first week...



Ouch.



Just something to warm your hearts while you enjoy Contra and Transference.

Corey Smith at Legends - January 20, 2010

Alright, before you stop reading my blog forever, I know Corey Smith is not my traditional keg of Budweiser. But sometimes you've gotta shove your pride into your Converse high-tops and take the music like a man, a man with more patience than a Buddhist monk and a saintly tolerance for the most bro-tinged "COOOORREEEEEYYYYY" hoots.

Though I felt like the red-headed step child, I got some photographs out of the deal and a resurgence of hate for covers. These songs are now burn wounds thanks to the show:

AC/DC - You Shook Me (All Night Long)

Journey - Don't Stop Believing

Tom Petty - Free Fallin'

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

A final note: If I see anyone 'round these parts with a "Let Me Love You on a Back Road" t-shirt, I'll be the one shaking my head disapprovingly.

Song of the Day

**1/20/10

The Downtown Fiction - Take Me Home

-----------I'm sure some of you took home Motion City Soundtrack's highly roared about My Dinosaur Life yesterday. Pretty solid, right? How about including a trio of dudes from Fairfax, Virginia to your Recently Added playlist? The Downtown Fiction have the vocal chops and the catchy, Jimmy Eat World attitude to compete with the T-Rex's of pop rock music. I've wandered about their Myspace page, just for you! and I had a tough time choosing my favorite.

"Take Me Home" is dedicated to the couple in the library that was way to heavy on the PDA for my comfort level - stolen hearts and fiery passion? Get a room and check out "Take Me Home."

Also from The Downtown Fiction EP:

"I Just Wanna Run"

"Living Proof"

http://myspace.com/thedowntownfiction/

Boombox at Legends - January 19, 2010

It's been so long since I've posted any pictures, I deserve 40 lashings and a night in the brig. Here are a couple from Boombox this past week. Great show, though probably the fifth dubstep show I've seen in under a month. I'm ready for a change of pace, which you'll see tomorrow.

Song of the Day

**1/19/10

Set Your Goals - Echoes

-------------Continuing with the punk phase here. Ever since Avril hung up her skull-flower "I'm-acoustic-but-my-label-made-me-hardcore" image, punk seems to have taken an upswing. Hence, Set Your Goals, one of female rocker Haley Williams' favorite bands right now. Sounds like Set Your Goals spent some time in the studio with Blink or The Starting Line - any fans will approve with a tremendous "hell yeah!"

Set Your Goals reminds me of all the stuff that inspired me to wear Converse and paint my nails black in middle school. It brings me back to those simpler, angstier times...aah, to have those days back when mom had to drop me off at the skate park...Anyways, you can wax nostalgia or polish off a copy of Set Your Goals 2008 album Mutiny: The Deluxe Edition. Also check out their new album, This Will Be the Death of Us.

http://www.myspace.com/setyourgoals

Song of the Day

**1/18/10

Gray Matter - Burn No Bridges

-------------Most of us hear about music from other people (like this blog, for an obvious example). Allowing a genius or Pandora to create a playlist is only a secondary recommendation to word of mouth. Sure, the digital playlists are great and I frequent these tools often if I'm too lazy to throw a mix together on my own. Getting a recommendation from a living being, though, is even better.

Found out about Gray Matter from a forum in one of my music classes. The guy who recommended this band is the type of guy who says "don't listen to that screamo-crap!!!" at the end of the post. If you agree with this guy, Gray Matter is for you. "Burn No Bridges" is fast, furious, frantic, and furrowed in ambition. Get it from Food For Thought/Take it Back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMYHJsoz3yE

Song of the Day

**1/17/10

Augustana - Stars and Boulevards

-------------Alright, I owe you guys, big time, for the extreme absence from the blogosphere. Here's a look into one of my favorite bands that I always forget to mention when someone asks me about the music I like. Augustana flickered for three minutes on Vh1's Top 20 with the single "Boston" off this 2005 album, All the Stars and Boulevards, but the rest of the album is what you should hear to know what Augustana is all about. Lonely in the most compelling sense, Augustana sounds like Train with a bit of baggage to haul around. The album as a whole is rather contemplative with a crossroads theme. To hear new Augustana, check out Can't Love, Can't Hurt. Hope you enjoy it!

Key Tracks: "Sunday Best," "Hotel Roosevelt," "Mayfeild"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xih8l7YAT6g

Song of the Day

**1/12/10
Run D.M.C. - My Adidas
-------------When the black button-downed garage-band haircut record store cashier guy says "that's a claaaassic!," you can bet your fly kicks you've come across a phat find. Such was the case today when I bought Raising Hell, the Run D.M.C. album that birthed a hip-hop/rock collaboration of epic proportions and basically summarizing the entire musician's rhyming dictionary.

Raising Hell and Run D.M.C. are solely responsible for all of the pre-programmed buzzes, quips and wabbles on the DJ setting of your Casio. The hip-hop group from Hollis, New York, also brought sneakers onto the scene with the eponymous hit "My Adidas."

Joe "Run" Simmons Daryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jam Master Jay put a new shine on sneakers with a tribute to the fly kicks:

"My Adidas only bring good news and they are not used as felon shoes."

Run D.M.C. removed their laces from their shoes as a fashion statement based off of the laceless shoes prisoners wore while serving time. Why no laces? So they wouldn't hang themselves.

Ha...hope I didn't scare you with that last bit! But for real - check out Raising Hell to hear the hip-hop legends in old school prime. Now you can wear that Run D.M.C. shirt from Urban Outfitters with more B-Boy cred than one episode of Run's House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqJrRvng8w

Song of the Day

**1/11/10

Avenged Sevenfold - Burn It Down

-------------Avenged Sevenfold's album City of Evil comes with the infamous black-and-white "Parental Advisory" sticker slapped onto the right-hand corner of the cover art. If you're the type of person who middle-fingers these stickers, "Burn It Down" is for you. Aggressive drums by The Rev bring out the best for mosh pits, as well as killer rock-God vocals from M. Shadows, who went through vocal coach Ron Anderson for City. If I can get a little "ya know what I'm sayin'?" props from devout metalheads out there, Avenged Sevenfold reminds me of Iron Maiden, and if Maiden rocks, then Avenged Sevenfold rocks. Simple metal-math lesson for the day.

Our thoughts still go out to the family and friends of the band's late drummer, James Sullivan, who passed away this past December.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nzTj1UwbII&feature=related

Song of the Day

**1/10/10

Of Montreal - Suffer for Fashion

----------Being back in my element has also required me to be in full Everest garb. We're talking single-digit temperatures with negative wind chills. There's not a doubt in my mind I will have to suffer some numb fingers and toes, whether it's for fashion or not. That's why Of Montreal's "Suffer for Fashion" from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is singing loud and true for me today. Of Montreal are finishing their tour with a stop at The Orange Peel, the legendary Asheville club that I have yet to experience. Take one listen to Of Montreal, and you'll know not to miss their show. Stay warm, people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41kLIqW8_o8

Song of the Day

**1/9/10

Walk Harbor City - Arms and Ears

---------Once in a while, exercising my musical tastes just takes a few laps around the "I've-never-heard-of-this-band-in-my-life" circuit. Such was the case today when I came across Walk Harbor City, a Boston band formed in 2008 that just released a new E.P. entitled III Colors.

Walk Harbor City is not a band you'd expect to see with a crowd that's a foot shorter and ten years younger than you. Sure, pop-punk hooks are a dime a dozen, but WHC steps into the genre with more valuable lyrical content than other Weekend Warrior bands. "Arms and Ears" was my favorite from the Myspace page, and with a frontman name like Rocco D'Angelo, Walk Harbor City is bound to make more favorites in the days to come.

http://myspace.com/walkharborcity

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GTL - Song of the Day, The Jersey Shore Edition

**1/8/09

Atlantic Connection - Big Shot

------------I'll give this to MTV, what they lack in actual music, they make up for in absolutely ludicrous reality TV. Of course I'm talking about The Jersey Shore, which I initially started watching to giggle and fill in between seasons of Project Runway, but ever since Snooki got punched in the face, I'll be damned if I miss an episode full of drama, Karma and pasta.

Paying tribute to The Situation, bar fights at Karma and grenades was easy - I just checked out the music featured on the show via a little black scrool bar that pops up with an artist and song name during the show (MTV's pennance for slaughtering "music" television). The techno-synth simplicity of Atlantic Connection sums up The Jersey Shore perfectly.

There was no question that Atlantic Connection "Big Shot" is a broast to The Situation, Pauley D, Ronnie and Vinny. "Big Shot" is superficial, sleazy and simple-minded, the perfect song to play on the way back to the house for some pizza and jacuzzi time. Just make sure you don't ask Snooki to get rid of the grenades.

Other Good(ish) Songs of The Shore:

Glycerin - Motionless

Atreyu - Shameful

Oh Darling - Electrocute

Gotta go. GTL, baby. GTL.

http://myspace.com/atlanticconnection/

Song of the Day

**1/7/09
Angels & Airwaves - Hallucinations
---------------I'm foaming at the mouth here, people. What better way to welcome 2010 than a track listing of AVA's upcoming album, LOVE, and a listen to their single "Hallucinations?" Sounds like a perfect 1o (I had to do the pun, love it).
And as we all know, LOVE is free. No kidding - AVA is offering their album for lovers all over the world this Valentine's Day for jack squat, so downloading the album into your girlfriend's itunes won't be the dinner deal-breaker (sorry, boys, but you can listen to the album on the way to dinner!).
I've posted the track list link from absolutepunk.net below. Get your hearts and ears pumped up!

http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1502062

http://myspace.com/angelsandairwaves/

Song of the Day

**1/5/09

J. Cole - Grown Simba

----------I can appreciate a rapper who doesn't mind making a Walt Disney character roar with the ryhme "I was like a young Simba/couldn't wait to be the King." J. Cole, a rapper from Fayetteville, North Carolina, relocated to the Empire State in 2003, and his rhymes were picked up by Jay Z's label, Roc Nation, in 2008.

J. Cole is a minimalist rapper - the beats and samples aren't dressed up because his words are already fresher than an Armani suit. Hope he looks fly whenever he tours his home state. Get "Grown Simba" from The Warmup Mixtape.

Key Tracks: I Get Up, Lights Please

http://myspace.com/jcole

Song of the Day

**1/4/09

The Dandy Warhols - We Used to Be Friends

--------------I've noticed that I like to cover songs that were released years ago just as much as hearing "yet-to-be-released" material. And why not - just because it came out a few years back doesn't mean you've heard it, right?

This one, you may know, especially if you dig The Dandy Warhols hit "We Used to Be Friends" from 2003's Welcome to the Monkey House. This ultra-enemies, middle-finger rock song is perfect for an angsty mix for a foe or just for your underweared self singing into a hairbrush...but no one does that...not anymore (cough, throatclears).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wK43DCm-Uc

Song of the Day

**1/3/09

Editors - Escape the Nest

-------------------Once again, I'd like to thank the public library for letting me borrow a stack of CDs to feed the belly of my already morbidly obese laptop. Seriously, that place isn't just for encyclopedias, study sessions or wrapping up a 12-page term paper at three a.m. Plus, I get a nerdy kick out of the labels that indicate the band on the CD is a "Musical Group."

Among the dozen or so "Musical Groups" I selected was Editors An End Has A Start. Editors "Escape the Nest" is riddled with wailing guitar and rides a sweeping, dramatic creshendo. The lyrics sung by a slightly operatic Tom Smith fatnasize the triumph of an ant-sized love in the overwhelming and intimidating size of reality.

Kick-ass clip from Glastonbury 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSpSYkxSrY

Song of the Day

**1/2/09
Bluetech - Prayers for Rain (JViewz Remix)
--------------My twin sister told me the first thing she thought of when she heard "Prayers for Rain" was that it sounded like Bob Marley's version of "Hotel California." And while I won't deny the similarities between the beats, "Prayers for Rain" has a mellow chicness to it that leaves your body in an inescapable groove-mode. So maybe not Bob, but more like The Verve meets soft dubstep? Blahg, I feel like my terminology is too vague for this one. The song's got a lot to it, so feel free to drunkenly swerve your mind through "Prayers for Rain" without worrying about who it sounds like.

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qssES4oCHEo

Song of the Day

**1/1/10

The Status - Perfect Day

-----------Whooa my fingers did their habitual roll over the date 09 like it was nothing new, but hey, BACKSPACE that! It's a new freakin' decade, let alone a new year! Resolutions, promises and crowded YMCAs - it's the most wonderful and promising time of the year.

What's the status on The Status? Currently, they're in a relationship with their new E.P. Let's Be Honest, and indie pop hasn't seen a match made in heaven this sublime since Cheap Mondays and flannel. "Perfect Day" documents that devilish passer-by that is your soulmate whom you never got the courage to talk to. To get an idea of the band's sound, think of Anberlin's "A Day Late" meets The Starting Line. Not a bad formula for the perfect band, right?

http://myspace.com/thestatus/