On The Broadcast: New Killers, et al, Deas Vail, and some Newbies

Yes, I'm aware that several of my posts have gone missing. I contacted Blogger's tech support about it, but since Blogger's idea of tech support seems series of forums that are largely dominated by the blind leading the blind, I dunno how much success I'll have. It's also possible that the entries were pulled on ToS violations (this is an MP3 blog after all), but it'd still be nice to be notified that such was happening. The only piece I really mind missing is the Metallica review, but I'll live. All the mp3s are still in existence on a different server and I'll link to that another time.

Anyway, today at 3PM (that's on the East Coast, adjust for your area accordingly) VLM is back on the radio at radio.arcadia.edu. Today's broadcast will have: New music from The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kanye, and Alicia Keys, as well as your normal healthy dose of Foo, Paramore and other goodies. Also expect some new Under the Radar bands, especially a band called Deas Vail. I'll do a full piece on them later this week, but they're impressive. I also did another strafing run on Ariel Publicity's site, so you'll hear some music from bands they endorse. All that and God knows what else, this afternoon at radio.arcadia.edu

And now for something completely different

Daughtry - Feels Like The First Time [iTunes]
(Yes, a cover of the Foreigner song)

==TJ==

Viva La Mainstream's Obligatory Idol Post

Anyone who reads Idolator, or any other music blog, is aware of the fact that there is overwhelming evidence in favor of the notion that this season's American Idol is gloriously rigged. The benefactors of this fix are former Star Search contestant David Archuleta and grunge-worshipper David Cook, whose album Analog Heart hit #1 on AmazonMP3, only to be squelched by Fox execs wanting to keep the popularity of contestants secret and untainted (read: make sure their guy wins). I've never bothered to watch the show, but if I had to guess how the rest of the season plays out, it would be as follows: Syesha goes home this week, setting up an all-male finale with a million subplots (both have already had success elsewhere, both named David, two totally different styles, and now Archuleta's father is banned from the backstage). Archuleta wins the contest, as hoped for by the Powers That Be, with Cook coming in second. Both get their inevitable record deals, and in a snafu remarkably similar to the Ruben Studdard/Clay Aiken situation (Ruben one, but Clay outsold him by miles), Cook's debut album is a runaway success, while Archie's fizzles out.

Best case scenario, however, has David Cook sent home this week. That way, Cook can still sign a decent record deal where he actually gets to write some of his material on his debut, and isn't stuck with crappy songs that may have been tossed around a few different times. Don't expect me to watch any of the finale, but at least now you have my thoughts.

In keeping with the AI theme of this post, I present to you an EP of stuff from Absent Element, the band fronted by former contestant-turned-rockstar Chris Daughtry. From the looks of it this is pretty exclusive, since nowhere else I know of had it (I got it a year ago from one of my music forums and have sat on it till now). This stuff is much harder than anything on his debut, and a hell of a lot less radio friendly. This might've been what we got had Daughtry not done as well as he did on the show. I'll let you decide whether we're better off or not. For what it's worth, "Break Down" and "Conviction" from this set ultimately became "Breakdown" on the full album. Anyway, have at it, and I'll be back later. Expect a slew of reviews this week now that I have free time again.

Uprooted EP
Absent Element - Break Down
Absent Element - Conviction
Absent Element - Weaker Side
Absent Element - So I Lie Awake
Absent Element - Seven4
Absent Element - Let Me In
Absent Element - Keep Me Close

==TJ==

PS This entry is a test of Blogger's future-post function. I'm typing this 12 hours before the timestamp on this entry. Um, yeah...woohoo!

EDIT: Fixed the goofiness with the links. That'll teach me to be so liberal with my shortcuts :).

A Week's Worth of Stuff in 3 Paragraphs

Hey everyone. Sorry for the weeklong absence. Real life/College life can get in the way like that sometimes. Let's get started with all the stuff that I've been meaning to post for the last week.

A combination of my joining the Activist club on campus plus and doing community service work on MLK Day led me to pick up a whole bunch of Rage Against the Machine music. I iTunes'd their self-titled album and bought The Battle of Los Angeles via Amazon and the latter arrived today and I love it. Look for a second spin column on them in the near future.

Rage Against the Machine - Testify [iTunes]
Rage Against the Machine - Sleep Now in the Fire [iTunes]*

*Easily the best RatM song, and perhaps one of my new favorite songs from my lifetime

In the last week Chris Daughtry has once again trashed American Idol, been verbally spanked by someone tied to the show, and consequently backpedaled from said comments. Daughtry told Rolling Stone that AI has lost a lot of credibility since he's been on the show, citing the poor ratings from last season as well as the failed records by Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee and Reuben Studdard. Randy Jackson then proceeded to say something to the effect of "Without American Idol there is no Chris Daughtry". Daughtry then backpedaled on his website, agreeing with Jackson's statements. The problem is, both sides are right. American Idol did create Chris Daughtry, and ironically getting kicked off the show was the best career move Daughtry could have made. Also, Taylor Hicks sucks. End of story. It's science. "Tattoo" is a great song and Jordin Sparks has talent, but Kelly Clarkson she ain't. Blake Lewis could potentially be a hit, but his record label doesn't seem interested in promoting him, so its a safe bet he'll be seen working at a coffee shop within two years. I don't know what it'll take to make AmIdol relevant again, but if Chris Daughtry has any ideas, they'd do right to listen.

This next bit isn't exactly music related, but the theatre guy in me won't let this go unnoticed on this blog. Heath Ledger's death earlier this week was just crushing. I was shocked when I first got word, and talking to people on campus I haven't heard a single person express any level of apathy. Everyone I've talked to is shocked and saddened beyond words. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain or Casanova (what are believed to be his best performances), but A Knight's Tale has always been a favorite of mine and is probably one of the most depressingly underappreciated movies ever. There was so much future ahead for him, and as Alex said, there is one less star on Earth tonight.

RIP Heath Ledger...you will be missed

Yellowcard - View From Heaven (Live) [iTunes]
Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me [iTunes]

Back soon.

==TJ==

On Account of Nothing, A Little Bit Of Everything

Most of this weekend was spent doing a whole bunch of nothing, both in my universe, and it would appear to be the same for the rest of the world (except for that Britney Spears episode, but in the interest of NOT giving into the media frenzy, we'll pretend that didn't happen). Luckily that gives me free range to post random stuff for your enjoyment.

First, I present to you a song dedicated to my new television obsession:

The Wallflowers - Heroes (Not available on iTunes or AmazonMP3)

I rented the first two discs of season 1 this weekend. I tried giving it a shot earlier in the year, but real life kept me from watching it regularly. I'm truly impressed. Definitely not the typical comic book superhero type thing going on, but it still holds my attention as well as Spider-Man. Definitely something I'm gonna try to snag on DVD when I have money again.



I went bowling with a few of my friends this weekend. No real story here, it just gave me an excuse to post this video/song. If you didn't see Across the Universe in theaters, its out on DVD February 5th. Make your life a little better and go watch it.

Jim Sturgess - I've Just Seen A Face [iTunes]

I got a new phone last week, and finally managed to get some ringtones that don't suck. If you were to call me right now, I would hear "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. I posted it in the last entry, go pick it up.

In what is the ultimate proof of justice in the music world, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks was dropped by his record label last week. When reached for comment, fellow contestant Chris Daughtry had only this to say: "Taylor Who?"

Daughtry - Over You [iTunes]

I think that's it for now. I promise a better entry tomorrow.

Currently Listening: Snow Patrol - Set Fire to the Third Bar [iTunes]

==TJ==

Cut Nickelback A Break...That's Right, I Said It.

So Billboard did a piece last week detailing the positively behemoth success of Nickelback's 2005 album All The Right Reasons. The album came out two years ago tomorrow, and has not left the Top 30 Chart since then, selling at least 25,000 copies every week for the 102 weeks it has been on the charts.

Here's where the shocking part comes in:
Nickelback's fifth album, released Oct. 4, 2005, has become a phenomenon that's not only eclipsed "Silver Side Up" but is arguably the biggest rock album of the century so far. It's been in the top 30 of The Billboard 200 for 102 consecutive weeks and is currently No. 7. The last artist in that rarefied position was fellow Canadian Shania Twain, whose 1997 release "Come On Over" spent its first 123 weeks in the top 30.

Is anyone else a little shocked/disturbed by this statement? Biggest rock album of the century? From Nickelback? Did I just see four horsemen fly past?

OK, don't get me wrong; as bands go, Nickelback really isn't THAT bad. They're not really any worse then Linkin Park or Daughtry or 30 Seconds to Mars. What kills them is the fact that they get so much exposure from the radio and the media. Admit it; you wouldn't be nearly as annoyed with Nickelback if you didn't hear one of their songs once every half hour on the radio, and in promo spots for a billion TV shows. Granted releasing 7 singles from an 11-track album doesn't help their case, you don't see Daughtry or even a radio-friendly band like Matchbox 20 getting the kind of nonstop, mind-numbing airplay that Chad Kroeger and company do. In my point of view, this kind of situation has only occurred once before, and gives way to my new music culture phenomenon:

American Idiot Syndrome: When a band releases an album that is by most initial accounts anywhere from 'decent' to 'classic', but then oversaturation by the radio, MTV, etc. results in a sudden shift in approval for that band/artist.

As indicated by the name, this kind of thing happened to Green Day after they released American Idiot. That CD was (and is) amazing on so many levels, and for the first month or two of its release, the masses agreed. Then "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" became huge and got played on the radio a bajillion times, followed closely by "Holiday" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends", and before long the general public turned its back on Green Day, calling them overrated and self-righteous. Half of that may be true; just listen to Billie Joe Armstrong preach on Bullet in A Bible. The same basic thing happened to Nickelback with All The Right Reasons. But it's not entirely a band's fault when they get overplayed. Besides, don't radio stations generally play songs that people request? So then in theory aren't the same people accusing a band of being overplayed or whatever amongst the same people who influence what the radio plays?

Either way, Nickelback has said they're done promoting All The Right Reasons and probably won't re-enter the studio until sometime in 2008, allowing everyone to take a breather and remember that somewhere deep down in their hearts, they know Nickelback isn't as bad as they'd like to believe.

Who knows? We might even come to *gasp* miss them for awhile.

Nickelback - Photograph
Savin' Me
Far Away
If Everyone Cared
Rockstar

Nickelback - A View From the Top [Billboard.com]

==TJ==

But the Kid Is Not My Son...

OK, first things first, because I keep forgetting to put this up...

I'M ON MTVU!!!

When the page opens, select All Shows > Campus Invasion > Kidz in the Hall - Wheelz Fall Off. Wait till the time counter hits 2:54 (it counts backwards). But yeah that's the first wave of awesomeness.

Other cool stuff:
-The oft-talked about Chris Cornell cover of "Billie Jean" finally leaked last week along with a few other songs from Carry On. It should be noted that a blogger for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer referred to the new material as sounding like old Daughtry B-sides. If this is the case...more, please!

-A few entries back I mentioned more leaked songs from Chinese Democracy. Well, to put it quite simply...they suck. Miserably. Think "Macy Gray recording a metal album" bad. Yeah.

-Last week Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee married longtime her longtime boyfriend, therapist Josh Hartzler. In my opinion this will lead to one of two outcomes: a) they will divorce within 6 months (in keeping with the Axl Rose comparisons), or b) Hartzler will leave Lee amid more complaints about Lee's overbearing personality and weird hairstyles. In other news Evanescence announced that members of Dark New Day will be filling in for the dismissed Rocky Gray and John Lecompt, and that the tentative title of their third studio album will be Cuban Democracy.

OK I made that last part up.

One more thing about Evanescence; in an attempt to "clean house a little bit" former drummer Rocky Gray is selling on eBay the platinum and gold records he earned while with the band. In his column, Bill Simmons keeps what he calls the Vengeance Scale. Right now this act appears to measure at about a 6.5. Damn...bitter much?

OK that's it. Might be back tomorrow with more stuff.

==TJ==

Face the Day Like You Did Before

I generally try to keep my personal life out of this blog, because it just hasn't seemed appropriate whatwith the LJ and Facebook. But this past week has been one of those weeks where everything gets affected, especially the music. In light of all that's gone (wr)on(g), I offer you a sampling of what I've been listening to these past few days. Downloads to come later for some tracks.

Oasis - Live Forever
Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
Secondhand Serenade - Vulnerable
Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever
The Fray - How To Save A Life
Jack's Mannequin - Into The Airwaves
Hinder - Better Than Me
Dashboard Confessional - Standard Lines
Daughtry - Used To
Something Corporate - Forget December
Ronnie Day - Coming Home Soon

There's probably some more, but that covers the bulk of it. One more thing; music brings out a lot of emotions in me, but very few pieces of music can bring me to tears (the ones that can...we don't talk about). Ronnie Day's debut album, aptly titled The Album, came damned close to being one of those. If you can get your hands on The Album, buy it. Till then, check out his myspace, it gives you just as good a glimpse. He's playing Penn's Landing on the 29th with Dashboard and a bunch of others as part of MTVU's concert series...looking into trying to go to this one...

That's all.

==TJ==

A Thousand Faces We'll Choose to Ignore...

Current Music: +44 - No It Isn't

New links on the left. More on those later (as in tomorrow-ish).

Before I get into the meat of this entry, I (somewhat shamefully) watched the first 5 minutes of American Idol yesterday (this anomaly is the result of my girlfriend, who is addicted to reality TV). The announcer claimed that Chris Daughtry's aptly named band Daughtry and their self-titled debut album was the best selling debut rock album in history. This would mean that it beat Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction. I'm not saying this is impossible, seeings how it sold 304,000 in its first week going up against the likes of Justin Timberlake's new album, but could someone please confirm this for me? My attempts to find out more came up with nothing useful.

I've been thinking about all the music I heard over the past year. I think thanks to things like iTunes, used CD shops and other various methods (legal or otherwise) I listened to more music than I have in previous years. I know for a fact my tastes have expanded, and I feel the need to elaborate. So the following is a look at my thoughts on 2006 as far as music goes.

Best album of 2006: I was originally trying to come up with my pick for best song, but like always there were far too many. I scoff at those that say that good music ended 20 years ago. There were any number of great albums this year. Pearl Jam came out with their best work since Ten, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers came back to form with the massive Stadium Arcadium. Then there were bands like The Goo Goo Dolls, The Fray and Snow Patrol and their ubiquitous radio hit singles. Meanwhile you had grandiose, over-the-top efforts from Angels & Airwaves, The Killers, and the incredible release from My Chemical Romance. The snob in me says to give it to RHCP or perhaps The Raconteurs, but any punk band that references Queen, The Beatles and Pink Floyd and melds them all into a punk-rock concept album that isn't fueled by gratuitous political statements (looking at you, Green Day) gets a mark in my book. The best album of '06 had to be The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Just two years ago these guys were lumped in with all the other goth-punk bands du jour. I dare you to a) name one of those other bands, and b) tell me what they're up to right now.

Worst album of the year: This is a hard one to pick simply because I take pride in the fact that I don't buy bad music. I tend to know what's bad when I see it (though as Gina will happily point out, I have been wrong about some artists). A lot of albums got mixed or less-than stellar reviews, and of course anytime Hawthorne Heights releases an album, you've got a contender, but this year someone even worse found his way into a recording studio. Without a doubt the worst record of the year honor goes to Kevin Federline's Playing With Fire. I trust I don't need to justify this to anyone.

Best new artist: Lots of new artists made their way into the spotlight this past year. Fueledbyramen Records (former home of Fall Out Boy) churned out a slew of them, from Gym Class Heroes to The Academy Is.... There was also Cobra Starship, best known for the lead single for the cult hit Snakes on a Plane. Grey's Anatomy helped propel The Fray to the top of the charts, while American Idol made stars out of Chris Daughtry and Taylor Hicks. Ultimately I think the award has to go to a band that's been able to work its way out from the shadow of what is allegedly the best drama on TV. Adantage: The Fray.

Most overrated band: Gnarls Barkley. While there's a case for Angels & Airwaves and their unnecessary grandstanding as well as The Raconteurs on the mere basis of Jack White alone, no band annoyed me as much as this second-rate OutKast. All the reviewers kept trying to tell me that I secretly liked "Crazy" but no, I really didn't like it. It was a dumb song. If I wanted some upbeat hip-hop this summer, I went for Fort Minor, not two guys that don't have real names.

Most underrated band: A few months ago The Killers had this one wrapped up. I am in the minority of people that thought Sam's Town was if nothing else on par with Hot Fuss. But then in November Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker (formerly of Blink 182) released the +44 album to the sound of no one caring. +44's When Your Heart Stops Beating is great, solid, no-strings-attached punk rock, especially when compared to the droning whine of Tom DeLonge. If you haven't already, go out and at least sample some of WYHSB. Trust me on this one, you'll like it.

That's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow.

==TJ==