"Space Rock"

Wow. The music I've been hearing from the randomw iTunes shuffle has reminded me of some awesome bands that are buried in my collection. Junius is back with their inimitable sound – I'm no expert on "Joy Division" but they've been compared to them – that, for me, blends elements of "Explosions In The Sky", "The Cure", and "The God Machine" into a hugely dark, spacey sound. I looked around yesterday for the new cd which was supposed to be released 11/10, but to no avail. So I went to the record company and found it there for $7. sweet. Apparently, Junius is a boston band, but they tour like mad, so they're not even here that much. Click on this link -->"gimmesound" and you can maybe check out the power and darkness of this band through the streaming (but not-yet-downloading) option I found here as of 11/11.

While looking around the online site for the label - http://www.mylenesheath.com/home.html - I found a nice mp3 preview for another band I could definitely get into. If These Trees Could Talk has some of that same complex and dense song structure, with sparkling guitars and heavy bass / percussion that makes me such a fan of bands that can pull this off. The self-titled cd by these guys was out-of-stock, but it was at amazon.com and I guess I had to get it.

While talking about this kind of music, a band called God Is An Astronaut came up in discussion, and they also showed up on the amazon recommendations page that came up after I placed my order. The ways music tastes and searches can lead you back to things you wanted to remember but cannot are so cool.

New Stuff

Got a few new images off "image search"

3EB!!

Well, since the Deftones aren't due to release anything (love that I have the same birthday as Abe Cunningham!), and Tool is an automatic first-ballot ration breaker, Third Eye Blind's upcoming release, "Ursa Major", stands out as a highlight. Click on the album cover and you go to their very nice website. I'm a fan.

So, that's the first one on the list.
The Upwelling is another band that I have been waiting for to release something new. Ever since their fantastic EP, which I found in Virgin in 2004 (??), I've been wanting to hear more from these guys.

Saw them with Third Eye Blind in a gym at Babson back in 2005 (I think), and it's interesting they're releasing their new album, "American Stranger", right around the time 3Eb are dropping theirs. This is surely an entry on my top 100 anticipated releases. When you click on the cd cover there, watch out - you'll hear some singing really fast; it's kind of like a yodel, but is cool.

Finally, AP gave the new one by The Used a great review, and this is a band I think has been defining the sounds that bands like My Chemical Romance are putting out there. I don't think it's coming out until September, but it's gonna be another one I will be craving. Heard the video to "Blood On My Hands" at their site - click on the "Artwork" cover below to get to the site - maybe it'll still be up. It is pretty good.




So, there's the first three. Definitely helps keep the urge to buy down (not really). But since it to so effin long to post this, maybe I will have less time to wander the aisles of Newbury Comics.

Now, if you count that new Skynyrd disc coming out in Sept., that's 4 discs on the Top100 New Releases list of mine. At this rate, it'll be January when it is filled up. Nice. Just in time for x-mas.

Willpower

So, after going through all the cd's that are laying around, it has come to my attention that I am out of places to store so many. Still have to find a way to manage the past year's accumulation. I estimate it to be 150 new/used discs. Tough to imagine, but I ought to try and get a handle on the ones I have before buying too many new ones.

As a possible goal to look toward, I thought to try and add only one new cd per month to the unwieldy avalanche of plastic and digital media. Yah, sure, and what to do about the 3 discs I have already been salivating for? Dunno. The "Frog and Toad" story called "Cookies" comes to mind...

How about setting up a top 100 list of discs I want, as the time goes by. Most should still be available when I emerge from any "rationing" program. As for the August/September releases I know will be tough to resist (and those I still don't know about yet!), they'll be the first three I post about. This post will be the first post with a label, too. I'll try "top100".

from an Oakenfoldsearch

These sites I found while searching for an image for iTunes to enhance the new Paul Oakenfold (in Las Vegas) visual on the cover-flow view. This site has some new things I never knew about; especially a Rick James thing. Most of the entries for late June (2009) were interesting enough, and there are ways to hear the music. Couple acts he mentions are "More Cheese", "M Will", and the aforementioned Rick James thing.


AMP music

I think you can also download a teaser for the Oakenfold stuff on the "Hipster Wave" link below, and it has a cool photo - I used it for a different [disc2] cover-flow look - to go with the Vegas story.

Hipster Wave


Newbury Comics let me know of a talented, but "off-colour" (I dunno who gets to these pages, but any of my students ought to refrain from these guys) band called Steel Panther. Lyrix are hysterical, all-80's glam sound, and they can rock the guitar solos.

No pics for this post, but I hope I don't forget these tunes.

Some New Stuff

Messing with a new Facebook account and trying to publicize a cool band who is giving out a free download of their song. Band is called Thousand Foot Krutch. Click on the image next to this for a link to download the tune. Or just go to http://welcometothemasquerade.com/





It rocks nicely.








Also, Mind = Blown, the blog I mentioned in a previous post is changing name to Apes With Guns. I updated link to it on the left.
Maybe it's easier to just click on the banner below, though, since it is a good image.

Happy July

Going thru the old Earthlink e-mail account (I am *still* paying for dial-up service just so I don't have to change that email address!) I am impressed with the Ultimate Showcase Series news reporting and the publicity that's being generated. The Facebook group is called "Ultimate Showcase" but you can also go straight to their page at:

ULTIMATE SHOWCASE HOME

Check out this YouTube video. Yeah, the link right back <---there, will bring you to the video page on YouTube that has lots of other good "ultimate" video clips. The video shows the 2008 USS Championship highlights in about 3 minutes. Kudos to Marshall and Erik for their involvement! Reminds me how far I've degenerated on the field. Tubbs lost last night and I screwed up the final chance by cutting into a zone defense space where our popper was headed. Another story... that's one bad thing about today. One other great thing about today: Yanks gained a game last night in the standings, as a huge Sox choke – the heralded bullpen "imploded" – muffles the near-obnoxious presence of the so-called Nation in Camden. Oh, and Killswitch Engage's new disc is out. Such a sick band!
I got this image from a blog that looks pretty great. It's called MIND = BLOWN and they have a video of AlexisonFire's new track "Young Cardinals" running in the sidebar. Pretty cool how they do that. I will have to add that link to my own sidebar.

Follow-Up on Sweet

Hmmm... waiting for the rain to end so I can walk Bailey. Something to look into: could a visitor to this page access any of the stations I have listed on the right under "Pandora Radio!" – or is it just for my own listening? Could someone hear the stations if they aren't signed in as me, but maybe under his/her own Pandora account? I updated the script so all 6 (or however many) stations show up, including my much-touted (self-touted, albeit) *streck radio.
Man, what's with the Yanks?

Sweet!

So cool... new addition to the blog - Pandora Radio links! I think Streck Radio is the best station. It's a little too sprawling, I suppose, and maybe some refinement is in order. I bookmarked the first song on my account: "Minus Blindfold" by the Deftones. Can't wait for an Underoath song to come up, so I can hit that. "Cinematic Station" is brand new, and promising for the all-nighters I wish I still didn't have to spend writing conference reports.

There's a new band I found that rocks to an unholy degree: Machine Head. Well, the band isn't new, but I am a new convert. It's so lame that I don't know how to punctuate the title of this album "The Blackening" – I am going with the quotes, but maybe should be italics* – that is brutally good. I got the special edition. Cheaper at Newbury Comics that Amazon! Can't wait to see the DVD. I still hope it's okay to put this picture here. I'll give credit this time, since I paid attention to where it came from. The picture below came from Metal Kult! Yay, citation! Probably not properly done, but at leats a try. (Ahh, the laboriously mundane voice and thinking of a new blogger writing in stream-of-conscious... trying to figure out this new "craft")

* I have been assigning homework to the 4th graders where they have to punctuate the titles of the books, magazines, whatevers and now I don't even know how to do it myself! No manual handy to check... and if it wasn't so late in the day I suppose I could just check some online resource. Of course, this is a waste of a tangent since I could always just edit this post. Duh.

More Than A Year Later...

Things still great out in the internet for new music.

Just had my Linkin Park trial membership with LPUnderground expire. Not able to keep up with it, but still enjoying the free downloads I got from them.

Along with new music from Devil Wears Prada ("Roots Above and Branches Below") and Little Brazil ("Son") – these albums were highly recommended in Alternative Press and turned out to be awesome – I picked up some new discs by Iron & Wine, Passion Pit (not sure of titles, but "wicked cheap" prices at Newbury Comics), and of course Eiffel65 ("Europop" for $3? Gotta do that)!

Interesting side story, which generates this post: bought a new cd by CkY ("Carver City"). There was a free download coupon in there. All I had to do was join up with RoadRunner Records. Done. Along with feeds from Militia Group, Yep Rock, ToothandNail, I'll be psyched to know what's new with some favorite bands. Most notable Roadrunner act listed is Killswitch Engage. Fear Factory is a classic band of theirs, too. They let you select a bunch of bands from their catalog to help determine your interests. I skipped over Life of Agony to go with FF, Shelter, and Glassjaw.
Newly created accounts at cool websites always inspire a sort of domino effect for me. I decided to check out my long-neglected MySpace page and found that my heroes, Scissorfight, had accepted my friend request! So had the Queens-based band The Upwelling, who have a new cd coming out later this year. (I might have referred to these bands in that post I made over a year ago.) I see that LI band Envy On The Coast has some new stuff coming out, so maybe I will try to get them to be friends. The rock looks good going into the summer.
Finally gave in and made a Facebook profile, so I could keep up on the Ultimate Showcase group. Updated ma account on TokBox, all the while listening to Pandora – the Tool Radio station I made was playing plenty of Chevelle, which always keeps me content. Wanted to put the Deftones "Adrenaline kitty" up as my Facebook picture, but thought I don't have permission. Anyone care if I put it up here? It is so meowin' cool.


Further superb news is that Taking Back Sunday has a new disc coming out. As a matter of fact, I also thought there was a nice theme with screamin' cats when I looked at the cover for the cd single "Sink Into Me". That's the new image I used for my TokBox profile.

Again, if you're reading this – I haven't had any visitors to my knowledge; it's my place to practice posting – and you care that any image (yours) is used here, post a comment (you'd be the first!) and it'll be removed.


How awesome it'll be to get something new from 30 Seconds to Mars. There's going to be some tough decisions coming if I really do end up going thru with the idea to chill on music spending. Maybe get a cheap subscipx to AP and hoarde the reviews and make a huge wish list. It'll start with Deftones...

"Battle-axe" just came on the Pandora station. Their bassist, Chi Cheng was in a terrible car crash in early April and is in and out of coma state. Sad news discovered at this article while looking into latest news about their new disc, "Eros". These incredible musicians share their music and emotions with us, the world, and they do seem immortal when the music is playing. When such horror visits them and their families, it's really sobering. Looking for more info. I found a website to offer contributions – One Love for Chi – and also a place to learn more about his recovery. Man, I hope he comes back, if not for the band and fans, then for his family.