So far 2008 hasn't offered much in the way of exciting new music. for the last month or so it's been lots of either garbage or carryovers from 2007. Luckily this week unveiled a great set of stuff to come for the next few months. I already posted "Nine In The Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco (which according to Hype Machine I have the blogworld exclusive on right now...pretty cool). Over the last few days some kickass bands offered new singles for new albums. Before that, some singles from older bands.
Linkin Park announced that "Given Up" will be the fourth single from
Minutes to Midnight. Not a great move if you ask me. "Shadow of the Day" is still climbing on the charts (#13 on the CHR/Top 40 this week) and could hit the Top 10 very soon, and "Given Up" was the weakest song off that album. I get that they want to keep their names on the alternative charts, but this song is pretty terrible.
Linkin Park - Given Up [
iTunes]
This week Finger Eleven is sent "I'll Keep Your Memory Vague" to radio stations as their next single after "Falling On" failed to stick around for very long. It's been described as the token ballad from the album, and that's pretty accurate, but it's still better than a lot of other stuf Finger Eleven's put out. Anyone else remember the last ballad Finger Eleven dropped, the emotacular "One Thing"? Yeah, this may not be great and not sure how it'll take with the far superior ballad by Linkin Park doing so well, but a decent song nonetheless.
Finger Eleven - I'll Keep Your Memory Vague [
iTunes]
This week was also a hell of a week for new singles. Last month I mentioned Secondhand Serenade's sophomore album
A Twist In My Story. The album became available for pre-order on iTunes yesterday, and with it the title track was released. Lead single "Fall For You" hasn't made nearly the impact I thought it might, and until today when a second song had come out, I had forgotten about it. "A Twist In My Story" isn't terribly exciting at first listen either, but I'm hoping that as it gets closer to a release I'll warm up to it. No word on if the title track will be a single. In the meantime, here's "Fall For You"
Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You [
iTunes]
Back for his first song since 2003 is rock singer songwriter Gavin DeGraw. "In Love With A Girl" is the first track from his allegedly self-titled sophomore album due out April 1st. Information on the release is spotty, and the only confirmed info is the release date and this single, which hit iTunes yesterday. The song shares a lot in common with his smash hit "I Don't Wanna Be", but is far from a carbon copy. The song still shows off DeGraw's excellent guitars and equally great lyrics, but with a touch more edge than most of
Chariot. I've been waiting to hear from Gavin DeGraw for awhile now, and while he may not have changed much in 5 years, he's certainly welcome back the way he has been.
Gavin DeGraw - In Love With A Girl [
iTunes]
The Counting Crows were among that chunk of music that Mike Newsham gave me last week, and based on what I heard, I like it. So I was quite excited to hear that last month the band leaked 2 tracks from their forthcoming
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings album to their website, as well as first single "You Can't Count On Me" to iTunes yesterday. "1492" and "When I Dream of Michelangelo" do a decent job of showing off the two sides of the album (it's a two-disc a la Foo Fighters'
In Your Honor with one loud disc and one soft disc), but neither song is particularly amazing. "You Can't Count On Me" is most definitely is single, and looks like it might be big on the AC charts. For me, I don't think anything will top the stuff on
August and Everything After, but the new song is still a worthy hit to add to their collection.
Counting Crows - You Can't Count On Me [
iTunes]
I think that's it for now. Might be back later to cover the Bonnaroo lineup.
==TJ==
Panic! At The Disco's debut record dropped around the same time Fall Out Boy saw their highest point of success to date. The two bands always seem to be lumped together, creating an unfair deal for Panic. The Las Vegas quintet are less blatantly pop or punk than FOB, and are more like a cabaret group that just happened to have a few punkish songs. might be remembered as one of the albums that made dance-rock cool, at least in the indie circles. I love the band's new direction on the Beatles homage Pretty, Odd., despite the universe's lukewarm reaction to its less-hooky, orchestral feel. If you're tired of Pete Wentz and want something intelligent and catchy, go through your archives and give this another spin.
My usual problem with singer-songwriters is the fact that they are easily the most formulaic genre in music right now, moreso than rap and moreso than country. It's usually breaks down to a guy with a cottony smooth voice and an acoustic guitar who's had his share of heartbreak and needs to sing about it for his own personal therapy's sake. Chariot was Gavin DeGraw's attempt to break that up. Yeah, there's still some schmaltzy tracks on this one ("More Than Anyone"), but it's buried amongst the charming rejection of "Nice To Meet You (Anyway)" and the brilliant party song "Chemical Party", saying nothing of the title track. Unfortunately DeGraw walked away from that on his 2008 follow-up, but Chariot still stands out as a wonderful solo debut from a time when John Mayer and his contemporaries were churning out the same coffeehouse-friendly dreck.
