Blog: Synner Nation

During all of the running around in Austin, I was actually able to make room to see some bands that I truly enjoyed. Beirut, The Rapture, Malajube, Mando Diao and the 120 Days are just a few. I had already seen 120 Days just a few, um, days before leaving for Austin, but I had to make sure I saw them again before the week was up. I chose the Vice Showcase at Flamingo Cantina. I got the below video but it's only half the song (about three and a half minutes) as my camera only [...]

The Loewes Theater in Jersey City is probably one of the most perfect places to see The Decemberists. The beautiful architecture and ornate design of the theater fit this band of scholars perfectly (and it being a few blocks from my apartment is an added bonus). Frontman Colin Meloy, is probably the classiest man in rock and roll, as he took to the stage drinking a glass of wine. The Italian , is the only other musician who could pull this off. Meloy demanded crowd participation as he went through getting different sections of the [...]

I'd been reading about this record for a while and, I assure you, everyone who has written a review for it is a lot more qualified and skilled at writing about music than I am. Reason number one might be that I have actually never written a CD review (to the best of my knowledge.) However, that being said alone coupled with the fact that I am driven to do so now will hopefully be taken as a pretty big reason in and of itself to pick up the new record by Panda Bear. (more...)

Announcing the winners of our first Synner Mix Tape Contest! It was a tough race! We had a box full of submissions, and we thank everyone who sent one in. We had some very diverse mixes, heard some exciting new bands and love the time and energy put into the mixes! And the winners for best mix are: (more...)

More from the madness that was running around Austin for SXSW 2007.

Ozzfest has announced the first batch of bands playing on this Summer's Ozzfest. Lamb of God and Lordi will join Ozzy on the main stage. Hatebreed will headline the second stage, while Nile , Ankla , The Showdown , Mondo Generator , and Circus Diablo are among the first announced second stage bands that will be on board when the tour kicks off on July 12. More info after the jump. [...]

Check out Mando Diao performing "Long Before Rock N' Roll" at The Syndicate's SXSW party at Red 7. More videos and images to come from Austin as I get em organized!

Aside from our ongoing inter-office epic "Squid vs. Octopus" debate, I get a kick out of the Tentacled Beasts. Whether they be newly documented , or served to me last night at dinner - I'm into it. Seemingly unrelated, I'm a big fan of overly wordy/literary humor such as McSweeneys.net (screw all the "oh that's so cliched, everyone reads that" bs. it's funny. deal.). Much to my chagrin - what have I discovered? (more...)

So this week's music charts were released this morning and aside from a trio of hip-hop artists that I am entirely unfamiliar with take the top three sports (Musiq Soulchild @ 149,259, Lloyd @ 144,304 and Rich Boy @ 111,853) there was, quite possibly a very doom-ridden hidden message buried deep within the sub-charts. A Christian band called "Youth for Christ" ( highly marketable...i know this) somehow managed to sell.....you got it, 666 records! Granted, the actual "number of the beast" is widely believed amongst scholars to be 616; not 666. However, as 99% of the world seems [...]

Synner, Jackie Heathcock, hit up the MSTRKRFT show for us and got some pretty cool pictures. Click the image below to be brought to the full snapfish album and see one of our girls doing her best!

This video is pretty awesome. See a hi-res version here or a crappy youtube version below:

MURDER BY DEATH have just announced the release of their latest album In Bocca Al Lupo on vinyl.The limited edition album is 10″ quadruple gatefold vinyl. So when you open the jacket it folds out to be seven feet long and is 2cm thick. The band announced that they have only pressed 1000 copies of the vinyl so get them fast. The band had this to say about the vinyl release. It has probably the largest packaging in the history of man. The album is presented on double 10″ thick gram [...]

Via notcot.com - The Adopt a squid program is awesome in two ways - a - YOU GET A FREAKIN' (stuffed) SQUID!! b - A portion of all proceeds go to charity. get all up on it at www.adoptasquid.com .

Casket Salesmen use their home in Corona, CA for sleeping and eating, like most ordinary people do. But They also manage to use it as a recording studio and record label. They explain how they run multiple businesses out of it on their new video interview on StimTV.com . You can check it out here :

Just read this editorial from Coolfer on the cluster-fuck that is SXSW and thought that it was interesting enough to share: SXSW Notes: The Band Glut And Diminishing Returns M y wish for SXSW 2008 is for a trained economist or a consumer behavior expert - or at least Malcolm Gladwell - spend four days in Austin examining the competition for attention given scarce resources and even scarcer consumer attention. A marketing researcher would love attending parties at SXSW. The overkill of third-party sponsorships, [...]

Bjork is touring and I want to go. See the dates and a video reminder of why she is so awesome below: 04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella) 05-02 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall 05-05 New York, NY - United Palace Theater 05-08 New York, NY - Apollo Theater 05-12 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre 05-15 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre 05-19 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre 05-23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park 05-26 Gorge, WA - Gorge [...]

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Late Saturday night we headed over to the Vice after party which had its location switched to a VFW hall in a distant part of Austin. After finally finding a cab that would take us there, we navigated our way to the top floor, with a few minutes to spare before Against Me! started. Against Me! proceeded to rock everyone's faces (and shirts off). After a sweaty 30 minute set, they announced that Les Savy Fav would be performing next. After 10 minutes of searching for a drum chair, lead singer Tim Harrington announced [...]

Check out Patent Pending performing with MC Lars on the song "Hot Top is Not Punk Rock"

Patrizio Buanne is a dapper man and, if given the chance, will steal your girlfriend before he even realizes he's doing it. If you bring your lady friend to a Buanne show, I would suggest sitting in the very back and hand-cuffing her to the table you're sitting at. Even then, you will still have an 87% chance of going home alone. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Check out an eCard with his upcoming tour dates below and then another one of him making team Street Syn looking comparably less attractive: