Blog: The Dumbing of America

The brilliantly named Asteroids Broke My Stereo were formed in early 2008 in England by Tom Smith and Ross Gilman who both had a love for indie rock and electronic beats. After having one of their songs, "Autumn Leaves" played on a local radio station the band made the decision to add drummer Stu Knight and bassist Danny Bristow. As we've discussed lately, the terrain sown by the music industry has changed yet again. Bands like The Boxer Rebellion top the charts as an unsigned band. ABMS seek to burn their own trail into your consciousness. They've released their first [...]

With all the cool kids at Coachella, you'd think they'd post a video or do more than Twitter about their pink VIP passes. Frankly, they're doing so much twittering I'm not sure they're actually watching anyone perform. So leave it to us, to post what we've seen on youtube thusfar. Undoubtedly there'll be a part 2 to this post. Why isn't anyone else doing this? Why isn't anyone broadcasting the whole thing? The Killers should be shot for doing this Joy Division cover. They should be tortured slowly for doing it badly. Why does anyone like this band? [...]

Our continuing journey to let all of you know that it's ok to listen to loud music too, takes us to Bullet Treatment. BT are the world's only punk supergroup, with an ever changing cast of characters surrounding their founder Chuck Dietrich. Their latest single Designated Vol. 1, includes members of Rise Against, Anti-Flag and Swingin Utters among others. Matt from The Bronx has been a frequent contributor on their albums, which exhibit all the rage and energy of the best west coast punk bands of the 80's. Chuck also runs Basement Records where he runs one of [...]

/ hɪˈpɒk rə si / Show Spelled Pronunciation hypocrisy- [ hi- pok -r uh -see ] –noun, plural -sies. 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. [...]

Continuing the theme of our previous post... We've been on board for The Boxer Rebellion for a couple of years now. In January we documented their ascension to the top of the ITunes charts in America and England without having a record deal. Since then, the "cool kids" haven't made a single mention of the band. Hmm, no label support/ no mention on the hip blogs....I'm sure it's a coincidence. Nontheless, the band continues to amaze. The Apple store in London hosted a session with them in March. It was the first appearance by an unsigned [...]

Rolling Stone published their first issue in 1967. For roughly the next twenty years, they were considered the taste-makers in the music industry. Writers like Dave Marsh (who's brilliant Rolling Stone Record Guide's are still great reads) had no qualms about trashing the newest Who or Bowie record, while praising little known (early Springsteen)artists regardless of their perceived commercial value. Somewhere in the late 80's, they succumbed to the pressure of the record industry. It was a time when labels had tons of money and were more than happy to throw it around. The result was RS writers giving good [...]