Blog: Viva La Mainstream!

If you were to check twitter tonight, you might see that the most popular trending topic in the United States (2nd worldwide) at present is Hayley Nichole Williams, best known as the lead singer for Paramore (who headlines the Honda Civic Tour with Tegan and Sara, which kicks off tonight). But if you looked at the most resonant tweets (those that have been shared the most), you'd see something along these lines : Hayley Nichole Williams is NOT that girl in the Airplanes song and is not from the band that did that song in [...]

When I first got an email from One Fine Day, with just an mp3, a youtube link and a message reading "What do you think of this?", my first instinct was to put it straight in the trash. But given that the stuff I've gotten in the inbox lately hasn't inspired me to any great extent, I decided to go against that instinct and give it a play. Dear instincts, you fail. Love, TJ. One Fine Day are energetic, unassuming rock and roll that seems to get harder to find these days. The German quartet doesn't [...]

Foo Fighters' guitarist Chris Shiflett debuted the video for the first single from his side project The Dead Peasants. Check out the video below, plus read Matt Wardlaw's interview with Shiflett where he discusses recording the album. Chris Shiflett and the Dead Peasants are playing the North Star Bar in Philly August 13. Yeah, I aim to be there.

Following in the footsteps of Lady Gaga, John Mayer and that punk kid with the ugly hair, Kanye West has taken to Twitter . One has to wonder why it took the ego-obsessed rapper this long to sign up and start telling his hundred-thousand strong following about everything from the announcement that his new album will not be titled Good Ass Job (he's " bouncing some titles around ") to his admiration for Jimmy Fallon's suits (no, really ). It remains to be seen just how present 'Ye will be on Twitter, but if the first [...]

I'm not a gamer (the last console I bought was an old school Xbox), but I am a Linkin Park fan and a music blogger, so thus, it's newsworthy here. As Linkin Park ramp up the anticipation for A Thousand Suns ahead of its September 14th release date, the band presented a brief, as-yet-unheard clip of first single "The Catalyst" in conjunction with the trailer for the newest Medal of Honor video game. Check the trailer below. For those of [...]

Swapmeet Louie over at The Frontloader had a great post earlier this week on new music from Panda Bear (which we won't be covering here) and the idea that maybe, just maybe, the universe has too much music out there. It's a great piece, and everyone reading this should check it out in full, but in short he asks if the fact that there is so much music means that listeners don't give stuff the same chance they might have in the past, and thus miss out on what might be a new favorite. I commented on his [...]

Today saw the release of Amanda Palmer Plays the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele , a digital EP that's...well...7 tracks of Amanda Palmer playing Radiohead covers on a ukulele. The EP features 7 tracks (two of them live) spanning Radiohead's career from Pablo Honey up through Kid A , and is available for the mere minimum price of 84 cents (54 cents going to Radiohead for song rights, and 30 cents processing. Yes, Ms. Palmer is receiving no payment from the minimum price of the EP). Yes, it's a [...]

In my most recent scan of the new music in my inbox, this single track from Courtenay Green, alias See Green, floated up to the top. Green's introductory single "Think Twice" has a summery swagger to it, with sultry, in-your-face vocals over a rolling beat, also provided by the multi-instrumentalist. It's a fun little track to add to your summer playlist for awhile as she preps her debut album, out later this year. See Green - Think Twice

Is it just me, or is the rundown of music we're getting in September far more exciting than usual? This September is bringing with it new albums from: Linkin Park Jimmy Eat World Kanye West Weezer Brandon Flowers Maroon 5 Beastie Boys (hopefully) Now, I know last year we got new ones from Paramore, Muse, Jay-Z and Pearl Jam, but for some reason I find myself far more giddy over this year's batch than last years. So with that in [...]

I keep wanting to like Anberlin. Several of my friends really like them, and have been trying to get me up to their level for awhile. And it's not that I don't like them. I've listened to their stuff, and it's solid, but I just can't ever find the thing that distinguishes them from their peers. I could hear an Anberlin song and just as easily mistake it for being a song by any one of five or six other bands. That said, I keep coming back, hoping that they hit me with something new and different. Here's [...]

Today saw the debut of the newest trailer for the upcoming David Fincher film The Social Network (written by Aaron Sorkin), about the birth of Facebook, which I sincerely hope I don't have to describe to you. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as founder Jeff Zuckerberg and co-starring Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield (the future Spider-Man), the new footage is embedded below. That creepy-awesome cover of Radiohead's "Creep" in the background? That's a cover performed by a Belgian choir group called the Scala & [...]

With about six weeks to go until the arrival of their fifth studio album, Disturbed are giving away the title track from Asylum , due out August 31. "Asylum", the second song from the album to come out after lead single "Another Way to Die", will be available on iTunes on July 20, but is currently being distributed for free from the band's website. The track is more introspective than the tepid social commentary of "Another Way to Die", and focuses more on the battle with inner demons that's generally present on the stronger Disturbed [...]

Adding to the growing list of artists announcing the release of new material this September, Jimmy Eat World revealed the release date and title for their seventh studio album and follow-up to the brilliant but underappreciated Chase This Light . Announced via their twitter account, the album is titled Invented and will be in stores (both of the digital and physical variety) on September 28th. Alternative Press is reporting that the initial single from the album is called "My Big Theory", but there has been no talk of a release date for said single. Upon [...]

We've passed the halfway mark for 2010, so it's about time to look at what we've heard so far. Time to give out some awards (and yes, at the end, there'll be a rough Best Of list, much as I hate them). The (Not Necessarily Soccer-Mom Friendly) Best New Artist This one isn't even in doubt. Free Energy started out by wowing me, and then just keep getting better every time I hear them. Check out the B-Side "C'mon Let's Dance" below, and feel free to obey the call [...]

When I blogged about American Bang last night, I bemoaned the lack of exciting rock music coming out so far this year. So of course it would only take 24 hours for me to be proven wrong. Hey, waiter? Can I get a side of fries and a glass of water with this crow? New Collisions are a cheerful Boston pop-rock outfit, and "Dying Alone" is the first song from their debut album The Optimist , out in October. "Dying Alone" is an electrifying piece of modern day garage rock, led [...]

Solo albums have an unfortunate tendency to sound too similar to the band from whence the solo artist is escaping. One need only listen to Matchbox 20 and solo Rob Thomas back-to-back to see the comparison. Luckily Brandon Boyd doesn't seem to suffer that problem. The Incubus frontman last week released his first solo album The Wild Trapeze , which allows Boyd to break free of the simpler verse-chorus-verse song structures that he's used to with his day job and explore a style and sound that's far more personal. As a result, Boyd turns in an understated, pleasantly surprising [...]

Solo albums have an unfortunate tendency to sound too similar to the band from whence the solo artist is escaping. One need only listen to Matchbox 20 and solo Rob Thomas back-to-back to see the comparison. Luckily Brandon Boyd doesn't seem to suffer that problem. The Incubus frontman last week released his first solo album The Wild Trapeze , which allows Boyd to break free of the simpler verse-chorus-verse song structures that he's used to with his day job and explore a style and sound that's far more personal. As a result, Boyd turns in an understated, pleasantly surprising [...]

With Patrick Stump prepping a solo album due for release by year's end and Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman teaming up with members of Anthrax and Every Time I Die to form The Damned Things, Fall Out Boy bassist and polarizing toolbag Pete Wentz was the only member of the hiatused pop-punk act to not announce a side project. That is, until last week, when Pete Wentz took to his blog to provide a link to the official website for his new project, entitled Black Cards. Along with two short audio clips, Wentz provided the following description: [...]

I should hate American Bang. Really. After hearing the two tracks debuted from their upcoming self-titled album, I spent a few minutes trying to come up with the right comparison. Kid Rock cloned 4 times and performing a Kings of Leon cover. The Black Keys picking up two hobos and not showering for a month. Lynyrd Skynyrd covering Boys Like Girls. You get the idea. And then I heard selections from the band's EP from three years ago, and it got harder to like them. It sounded fresh, untethered, genuine. And it made those two songs seem all the more [...]

The following video was posted to my personal Facebook page a few weeks ago. If Pearl Jam's video about protecting the oceans was a little too, well, serious, for you, I offer you the following. So here it is, your Moment of Zen.