
I'm not yet ready to anoint the 2009-10 edition of Syracuse Orange basketball the best team since their 2003 championship; heck, it's probably a little premature to call them better than last year's Sweet 16 version, led by lottery pick Jonny Flynn. But there's no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best defensive teams I've ever seen at the Cuse. And they are off to one hell of a start. One night after dominating #12 Cal, they dismantled defending national champion UNC by an 87-71 margin, sparked by a 20-1 start of the second half that [...]
Touring isn't what it used to be. I told you that they weren't letting anyone backstage @ the BP3 show and J. Cole spoke on how there weren't any groupies gettin' their back out as far as he could see. Bummer. I think we all grow up having wet dreams where floozy after floozy in countless city comes through...well I ain't tellin' you my dreams. We all have a romanticized perception of what the life of an entertainer is supposed to be [...]
NME.com is reporting that Them Crooked Vultures have confirmed that they are to start work on their second album. Despite their self-titled debut having only been released earlier this month, the three-piece say they are already thinking about its follow-up. "I felt we've only just started to pick up steam. Why would we want to stop now?" singer Josh Homme told The Sun, while bassist John Paul Jones agreed. "We all know we have so much more in us yet," he said. Dave Grohl said that "when we make our second record, [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. God damn you Vampire Weekend. Why do you make it so hard for me to defend my positive feelings towards your material? Why do you constantly feel the need to remind me that I didn't go to Princeton (or Cornell or Dartmouth or Bryn Mawr)? Why do you have to rub your madras shirts and clever ironicism and frenetic energy in my midwestern face? I understand that I would be 30% more clever with a degree from an Ivy League school (or even someplace that [...]

E very genre of music has an ideal listening environment. Classical is best heard at a smyphony. Arena rock should be heard at, well, at a large arena. Electronic music? Nothing beats a dance party. But whether you're a club person, a bar junkie or a house party lover, you've probably encountered a lot of obnoxious people during your nights out. Below are nine of the people we hate most in no particular order. Got any good ideas for future lists you'd like to see? Send them over . [...]
![[New] Curren$y- Breakfast (In And Out) Produced By Mos Def](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/2141390_lg.jpg)
Dang, another new joint from our boy Curren$y? Why yes it is, I told you I would be stepping up my game with him and when I woke up there was another track from him. Not to mention this one gets a beat from the god, Mos Def. I saw something somewhere on something called a girlfriend test. Where a rapper is good to go to truly get into the listen to when you play that shit around a girl and they don't know who he is. I gurantee 9/10 girls don't know this guy and we can keep it [...]
Don't know exactly why I didn't post this in the first place...let's see if the links work! The kids are on spring break; we're spending lots of time at the library and the book stores, hanging out, avoiding the cold rain of...hmm...April. A couple of big projects need to be finished soon, too, so there's not a lot of time to write epic blog posts. So we're mellowing out in a folkie kind of way. Harry Chapin - Corey's Coming [...]

Back in 1997 Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian wrote and published what eventually became my favorite Los Angeles guidebook. That book's name was (and is) LA Bizarro . A few years ago on this website I talked to Matt about the original book's undertaking ( fun interview with Matt here ). Since that time the two authors have now revised, updated and significantly expanded that original tome, and their collective output was published by Chronicle Books just this fall. In the 2009 updated edition of LA Bizarro (available at the time of this [...]
![[The Paper Scissors]](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/2141351_lg.jpg)
"We don't walk! We don't sit! We don't stand! We fly!" This trio hails from Australia, a world of it's own for me ever since I stopped writing to my penpal in Melbourne. Since then, the word coming from that overgrown South Pacific island has been close to mum, but every now and again I'll stumble onto something from Australia that has me wonder why the hell I don't hear about bands from that countrinent more often. The Paper Scissors bring about a brand of rock that has me singing, loudly and badly, along, [...]

A Classic Education A Classic Education are a six-piece band from Bologna, Italy whose epic melodramas seem to attracting much attention. They played Indietracks in 2008 and are frequent visitors to London and further afield. Following a trip to CMJ in New York in October, they're back in the UK this month: they play at the Lexington on 26 November and the Buffalo Bar the following night. They have released two records: an [...]

Nesta sábado o Killer on the Dancefloor toca no aniversário de 3 anos da Blush produções. Aproveitando essa passada deles por aqui, aproveito pra postar uma de suas mais novas mixtapes! O KOTD este mês fez o show de abertura para a banda mais que conceituada The Prodigy e semana passada abriu a apresentação do David Guetta no Paraguai , sem esquecer que lançaram seu primeiro E.P pela gravadora DJS ARE NOT ROCKSTARS de N.Y city! Todas as informações sobre a festa estão na agenda mas já vou adianto [...]

So maybe a few of you are saying "Why the hell are you writing about The Alkaline Trio ?, They suck". Well I'll be honest, recently they have kind of sucked, but back in the day when I was starting to really get into music they where one of my favorite bands. So back to the recent sucking. I kind of feel the same way about this band as I do with Weezer. First couple records where good, then all went to hell. I don't know if this was because they where changing labels every record finally ending up [...]

You may not know Fred but the chances are you will be familiar with one, if not more, of their songs. Over the past year they have become a firm fixture on Irish radio with a series of singles off third album Go God Go that have seen them take their suitably off-kilter Cork roots and polish them up into the brightest of pop music. Why then do they find themselves playing the basement of a larger venue that has played host to many of their contemporaries. It's hard to understand but somewhere along the line something is [...]

By Carrie Brownstein And it's naptime. ( courtesy of The Patton Veterinary Hospital ) It's hard to believe that we've reached the end. For the past two weeks, all of us -- the NPR Music Team, a handful of outside contributors and myself -- have explored the last 10 years in music. Did we cover [...]
The recession still got a grip on your pockets to where Nytol isn't in the budget?, Well, if you tuned into the fraternity of late-night hosts this week as they ran through monologues and musical guests, some of that mindless dribble might have put you to sleep while some of it might have also been the reason why you were rocking bags under your eyes like they were made by Gucci. Here are a few highlights and not-so-highlights from the week that was. 50 Cent - Jimmy Kimmel Live!, November 18 [...]
Yesterday THE MAN busted me for posting a 1993 Willie Nelson MP3 that no one listens to anyway. I can't imagine that Mr. Nelson gives two shits about a 16 year old track being posted on a random website, and I also can't figure out why the record company does. Its not like people are running out to buy Across the Borderline . Its currently selling for $6.99 (US) on Amazon, and is rated #22,528 on Amazon's music sales list. Dudes, I'm giving you free advertising! Do you hire [...]
At a time when we are all witnessing the CD's imminent demise and the convenience of digital files running rampant, thankfully from an art perspective, a vinyl re-emergence is upon us. While sound quality is obviously seen as the most important reason why we are seeing audiophiles jumping back on the vinyl bandwagon, album artwork is also getting a much deserved close-up. With the vinyl album requiring more elaborate artwork packages, bands are re-thinking the overall aesthetic and producing some great work, which only enhances the overall music experience. 2009 has been a great year not only for the ears, [...]
Finnish act Mesmer tends to take a kitchen sink/anything goes approach to their music, but they are definitely at their best when they settle into a motoric Krautrock groove. Or at least at their most comfortable. Regardless, I of course am drawn to the aggro freak-out of songs like "On fire" -- nothing comfortable about it. They still hit that groove though, just at high BPMs and with more of a Suicide -level intensity. Why can't more modern Kraut bands attain this sort of energy level more often? Too much Kraftwerk ? That is [...]

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Blake Butler is the rare young writer who consistently and effectively challenges his readers. Scorch Atlas is a haunting collection of interconnected stories and vignettes, a dystopian work of genius. The book itself is a work of art. The internal pages are individually distressed, and the page edges and cover appear burnt and scarred, and the design complements the book's theme perfectly. Matt [...]