Blog: PulverRadio

Trent Reznor's newest project is, unsurprisingly to those who've followed his web activity for the past few years, available for free download in incredibly high quality (and, of course, DRM-free). It's not NIN (that's a girl singing!), but Trent's new project with his wife Mariqueen Maandig still sounds very Reznor. And all it'll cost you is a valid email. Go go go go. http://howtodestroyangels.com/

A. The Suburbs AA. Month of May

A. The Suburbs AA. Month of May

• Arcade Fire - Month of May (Preview)
• Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Preview)

Josh Ritter's latest, So Runs The World Away is mind-bogglingly good. It's his first record released on his own label, and it showcases a breadth that followers of his have always known was there in a way that it hasn't yet been revealed on recordings. His storytelling is unparalleled (see the video above for proof), and his nods to the folk music that came before him made my first time listen one of the most engaging experiences I've had with a record in a long time. [...]

One of my favorite things in the world is watching the progress of a band as it finds its way. I had the chance to catch back up with Railbird the other night at a sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom, opening for their hometown friends Phantogram . As it was an opening slot, timing was tight, but the shortened set was enough to showcase a band that continues to reinvent itself, hone its chops, and refine its sound. I hate classifying shit, so I won't, but [...]

...but only in Canada. For now, anyway. They're doing 2-night stays at each venue they hit, playing Clumsy and Spiritual Machines in their entirety, then playing sets of new material immediately following. My 16 year old self just squee'd a little. ourladypeace.net for details, if you're Canadian.

...but only in Canada. For now, anyway. They're doing 2-night stays at each venue they hit, playing Clumsy and Spiritual Machines in their entirety, then playing sets of new material immediately following. My 16 year old self just squee'd a little. ourladypeace.net for details, if you're Canadian.

OK Go's Damian Kulash wrote an Op-Ed in the NYT back in February lamenting EMI's draconian YouTube policies, and in doing so piqued the interest of NPR's Planet Money crew, who posted an interview with him last week. It's about economics, which nobody does better than Planet Money, but it's also about the never-ending death spiral of the major label, which would be old news by now if Damian didn't explain it so deftly. Planet Money is awesome and you should listen all the time anyway, but you should especially [...]

This blog is now located at http://music.wealsoran.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here . For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://music.wealsoran.com/fee ds/posts/default.

I've been paying attention to The Confusions since they uploaded some tracks to my erstwhile meal ticket, pulverradio.com, circa 2004. Since then, they've been steadily but quietly (to the observer in New York, far from their native Sweden) putting out some really good songs, The best of which I've tried to post here when I've become aware of them. I've never seen them live, or spoken with them, although I have done some emailing with lead singer Mikael Andersson-Knut . Anyway, this latest video, for "I Won't Be Sober When This Is Over," from the [...]

Shout Out Louds - Fall Hard from Merge Records on Vimeo . Shout Out Louds will be touring North America in May (dates below). They're also playing a one-off show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 1, but that shit is sold out, son. As for the record, it's called Work , and it comes out in February. They're giving away another song, "Walls," on their website . And they're not even asking you to make up an email [...]

Back when The Bravery were first getting attention, a friend of mine went to go see them at a label showcase sorta deal in Los Angeles and had a vehemently negative reaction. So I was wary of them for a not very good reason from the beginning. And then they put out "Believe" and it sounded a lot like a Meat Puppets song that might not have been ubiquitous had Nirvana not covered it in a show that everyone in the entire world has listened to hundreds of times, and I sorta stopped paying [...]

• The Bravery - The Spectator

I'm not sure I've ever been inclined to do this before, but I'm doing it now. I'm just going to copy and paste the entirety of a press release I just received via email. I don't know that any editorializing I do is going to make this content any more salient. If this doesn't matter to you as written, I'm not sure anything I have to say about it is going to make any difference. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 3, 2009 WEEZER INTRODUCES THEIR VERY OWN SNUGGIE, AVAILABLE TODAY [...]

For more than a week now I've repeatedly approached my computer to write a review of Drew & The Medicinal Pen 's new record Heavy Head , only to retreat a few minutes later after a few false starts. I don't write as much as I used to on here, but even when I was writing about music every day I always had a hard time being coherent about the things that really resonated with me. So let me say this right now before I fall apart: I love this record and I will play it [...]

This video is a collection of clips from Drew & The Medicinal Pen 's recent tour around the midwest, set to "Paper Pockets," which will be the band's coming-soon-and-you-must-buy-i t record, Heavy Head . A bunch more songs are currently playing on MySpace . From the sounds of it, Drew and co. managed to follow up one great record with another set of catchy, quirky, dreamy and fun songs to make you frustrated that more people haven't heard them. More on that once it's out, though. For now, enjoy [...]

Amie Street announced today the addition of the Sony Music catalog to their site -- and the special status songs in that catalog will have. While all other songs currently on Amie Street start free, and can get as expensive as $.98 as more and more people purchase them, Sony songs will be fixed at either $.69, $.99, or $1.29 (more expensive than anything else on the site can ever possibly get). Here's an excerpt from the letter posted on their site: The songs in the Sony catalog will be priced at $.69, $.99 and [...]

Say Anything - Hate Everyone Yeah, that's about right. I love this band.

As Tall As Lions Album Trailer from Alternative Press on Vimeo . This just got emailed to me like I'm a real blogger or something. Sweet! Seriously though, I love this band, and I've been excited for their new album since they put out ther last one. You Can't Take It With You is slated for release August 18th, and judging from the video above, it was hell and a half in the making. Judging from "Circles" ( [...]

• As Tall As Lions - Circles

Let me get this confession out of the way first: I'm not the world's biggest U2 fan. Not even close, really. But I am a sucker for spectacle, and have been in love with Dublin since the last time I visited it years ago. So when the opportunity came to see the widely-reputed World's Biggest Band in front of a hometown crowd, I couldn't say no. In order to be one of the 2000 or so with GA tickets to gain access to the center circle (stage diagram here ), we had [...]

I hadn't exactly realized at the time that I managed to get them on TicketMaster exactly how hot the tickets to Brand New's first show in forever in New York were, but there were (probably untrue) rumors that at least one single ticket (thanks to the will-call only policy that all bands who wish to dampen scalper activity should implement) went for close to $1000 . Absense, as my companion last night pointed out, makes the heart grow fonder, and for many more fans in New York than the Music Hall of Williamsburg can hold, it has [...]