Rapid Fire: Linkin Park, Velvet Revolver, Teddy Geiger (?!?!), etc.

Rather than try to do a bazillion posts today, I'm consolidating three into one.

=First, and update on an Under the Radar band; Canadian alt-rock outfit Your Favorite Enemies dropped their first full-length album, Love is a Promise Whispering Goodbye earlier this week. It's available dirt cheap on iTunes, and most of it is streaming from their MySpace page. I sadly have not yet picked up my copy, but once I do, expect a review

Your Favorite Enemies - Open Your Eyes [iTunes]

=Teddy Geiger, who despite falling off the face of the map since Love Monkey was unfortunately canceled two years ago is not dead, has set up a site via a service called musicane which is letting fans help select tracks from his long in-production second album. Fans can hear snippets from 33 songs, rate them, and if they so choose buy high-quality MP3s of their favorites. Relatively ingenious for a guy my age, but if people choose to buy their favorite songs from this set...won't that basically render useless releasing an album that might not have everyone's favorites on it?

=And now, the non-story of this set; Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington has squashed the rumors that he's on the shortlist to take over singing duties for the newly Weiland-free Velvet Revolver. Given that at last report, the VR camp was in talks with "an unknown Australian singer", I'm not sure who thought Chester was on the shortlist, as he is neither unknown nor Australian. Bennington says his current focus is on completing the Projekt Revolution tour with LP and releasing the debut album from his solo project Dead By Sunrise.

==TJ==

Weekend WTF: Wow, A Site that actually posts GOOD Mashups?

This edition of Weekend WTF is just as much a legitimate entry as it is a WTF post. Astute readers will find a new Link on the Left for a site called flipboitamidles. Flipboitamidles creates and posts videos for the mashups he creates. The video's aren't usually much to write home about, but the songs themselves are incredible. Most mashups seem to involve the same groups of songs and artists over and over again. On flipboitamidles, everyone is fair game, the best mashups I've found to date are "What I've Apologized" (Linkin Park/OneRepublic) and the (Hey Oh) remix to "Give It To Me" (Timbaland/RHCP). I've posted an MP3 of "What I've Apologized" below, but please support a fellow music blogger and check his site out.

Linkin Park/OneRepublic - What I've Apologized (Mashedup by Flipboitamidles)

Another legit entry coming later this weekend.

==TJ==

Singles All Over The Place

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==

Top 40 Breakdown: FINALLY Someone Knocks Off "Apologize"

Every Friday from now until whenever I decide to stop, I'm going to provide a breakdown/commentary on the week's Top 40 radio charts (If someone from Pretty Much Amazing wants to throw things at me for snagging an idea they had for awhile, now would be the time). So let's look at this weeks hits:

After 8 seemingly endless weeks atop the list, Timbaland/OneRepublic's "Apologize" saw its reign come to an end this week, slipping to #2. Before you feel bad for either band though, OneRepublic has "Stop and Stare" at #25 and climbing, and Timbaland's name appears a staggering 3 times with "Apologize" (#2), "The Way I Are" (#14), and 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology" (#29) all charting this week.

Replacing "Apologize" is the new Alicia Keys track "No One". Quite frankly I would have rathered another week of "Apologizing" boning the radio, but clearly I'm in the minority here. The rest of the top 10 is pretty lackluster, as Fergie's "Clumsy", Rihanna and Ne-Yo's "Hate That I Love You" and Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly" are still holding strong, as is the intolerable "Low" by Flo Rida. The only bright spots in the top 10 are Finger Eleven at #9 (down from #7 last week) and Jordin Sparks' "Tattoo" rising to #6.

Once out of the top 10, things get good. "Misery Business" by Paramore rose to #13 this week, but with a gain of only 5 plays nationwide, I don't think that'll get much higher. Daughtry's newest pop/rock crossover "Over You" is holding at #12, and rounding out the top half is Linkin Park's "Shadow of the Day", up one spot from last week. Also in there are a bunch of songs left over from the summer, with the aforementioned "The Way I Are" and Kanye West's "Stronger" (#17) just refusing to lay down and die. At 29 weeks, "The Way I Are" is the longest charting song on the Top 40 right now.

Once out of the top 20, the rest of the list is made up of songs either on their way in or on their way out. After "Everything" failed to make a dent on the radio, Buckcherry's "Sorry" is making a run for the top, currently sitting at #22. The positively generic "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace follows close behind, while Boys Like Girls and Chris Brown's "With You" also saw chart increases this week. On the way out is the indefensibly bad Soulja Boy, who starting next week will most likely enter the recurrent chart, along with Maroon 5 and 50 Cent. At the tail end of the list is "Calling You" by Blue October, released on the re-issue of 2006's Foiled (the original version was released in 2003). The song has bottomed out the chart for the last two weeks, but I'm personally hoping for a boost in the coming weeks.

My expectations for next week: With no song immediately poised to take down "No One", expect it to remain for another week or two, unless "Tattoo" can make a huge jump quickly. A bunch of songs will probably fall off the charts next week into the recurrent section, which might pave the way for "Calling You" to rise, and Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" to crack into the crossover list. That's the best I can offer this week, perhaps as I keep looking we'll see something more.

The Highlight Reel
Timbaland feat. OneRepublic - Apologize
Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
Paramore - Misery Business
Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day
Buckcherry - Sorry
Boys Like Girls - Hero/Heroine
Blue October - Calling You

Source: http://www.radioandrecords.com/Formats/Charts/CHR_Top40_Chart.asp

Current Music: Our Lady Peace - Made of Steel (DRMed...sorry guys)

==TJ==

New vids from the Foo, Linkin Park

Earlier today the Foo Fighters premiered the video for new single "Long Road To Ruin" on MTV.com (a pleasant surprise; I had heard the next single was "Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup is Running"). The video is classic Dave Grohl weirdness set to the backdrop of a bad soap opera complete with characters like "Saul Goode" and "Les Groper". Oh yeah, and the song is effing amazing

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

And a few weeks ago, Linkin Park released their video for "Shadow of the Day", their third single from Minutes to Midnight and yet another video directed by band member Joe Hahn. The video is traditionally dark, but as per the theme of the new album, much more insightful and powerful than the Linkin Park of old. I especially like the sound effects over top of the music. Another great song from an amzing album

Youtube disabled the embed function for this song, but here's a link. While you're at it, check out the piece on Chester's broken wrist.

That's all for tonight. Back when there's more cool stuff to show off.

Foo Fighters - Long Road to Ruin
Foo Fighters [iTunes]

Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day
Linkin Park [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==

The Juggling Act Continues...

Sorry for the week-long absence. Between school and work and everything else, updating hasn't been happening as much as it should. Some quick random stuff that I've been sitting on for a little while.

-First things first, an announcement regarding the much-delayed Viva La Mainstream radio show. A series of technical glitches have kept us off the air until recently. As of right now, the projected launchdate is next Tuesday from 4-6. Tune in to radio.arcadia.edu at that time for VLM's first radio broadcast.

-For the past week at the bottom of the page there's been an eCard promoting Dashboard Confessional's new album The Shade of Poison Trees, which hit stores today. The album has also been streaming on their MySpace page. I played a few tracks from it, and its definitely a throwback to the earlier, The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most-era stuff. Holding off on hearing the whole thing until I buy the full album. In addition, earlier today I came across a collection of tracks called Wiretapes, Vol. 1. It's an 11-track covers album that Chris Carrabba is apparently making available while on his solo tour; the source from whence I got it suggested it might be the first in a series of covers albums. Haven't listened to the whole thing yet, but looking forward to hearing Chris Carrabba do Weezer's emo classic "El Scorcho".

-Last week My Chemical Romance announced that they would release two more singles from The Black Parade. For added fun the videos for both albums would be directed by frontman Gerard Way. No word on which tracks are to be released, but my votes are for "This is How I Disappear" and "Disenchanted". Way also announced that bassist/brother Mikey Way would be rejoining the band on its next tour this fall.

-Linkin Park recently shot a video for "Shadow of the Day", the third single from Minutes to Midnight. As usual, Joe Hahn is directing. You may remember "Shadow of the Day" as the track that at first listen was the spitting image of U2's "With or Without You". Why has no one put together this mashup yet?

-In the interest of balance, I ruckused 50 Cent's Curtis, just to see if maybe it had something to offer itself. With the exception of leadoff "My Gun Go Off" the Justin Timberlake-assisted "Ayo Technology", I didn't find anything terribly exciting about it. If it wasn't clear yet, Advantage: Kanye.
Ruling on the Field: 4/10

-I'm currently listening to Still Feels Good, the new album from country-pop outfit Rascal Flatts. I wouldn't call myself a huge country fan, but as country goes, this isn't nearly as offensive to my intelligence as some artists (looking at you, Jack Ingram). Still not getting the same amount of play that other stuff is seeing though.
Ruling on the Field: 5/10

-That's all for now. More tomorrow.

==TJ==

Kanye, 50 set to do battle

For starters, I just started playing a leaked version of Graduation by Kanye West. I'll tell you what I think when I blast through the whole thing, but you should know that "Stronger" has been getting frequent play on my iPod for the last week or so. Both this album and 50 Cent's Curtis are slated for a Sept. 11th release, creating much fanfare and rivalry in the hip-hop world. In a very shady coincidence, both albums also leaked within hours of each other early last week. Fiddy has claimed that he will retire if Kanye sells more albums, a bet I sincerely wish we got in writing. Rolling Stone had the two appear as their cover story, and while the pieces are well worth the read, I was kind of disappointed to find out that the West/50 rivalry isn't nearly as heated as everyone would like to believe. I kind of enjoyed the image of Kanye holding his hands up in victory as he stands on a crying 50 Cent's body curled up in the fetal position. Maybe he's handing 50 a gold watch to help commemorate his retirement too. I dunno.

Last night my roommate handed me a mix of Okkervil River's stuff. I had heard of them insofar that their the new indie band du jour, but don't know much of their stuff. I'm gonna give it a shot a little later, see if maybe the indie kids got something right this time around.

Till then, I offer you a little taste of what I've been listening to in the last week or so:

Matchbox 20 - How Far We've Come
Kanye West - Stronger
Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day
Velvet Revolver - The Last Fight
Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
Pearl Jam - Daughter (Live at Lollapalooza 07) [The unedited version that caused a shitstorm last month]

That's pretty much it. Back later in the week, probably with more info on the radio show.

==TJ==

VLM Makes A Triumphant Return!!

OK everybody, I'm back! The month off was pretty awesome, but let's just dive in to the music!

-The Foo is back! The Foo Fighters have set September 25th as the release date for their new album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. A tentative tracklisting is on their myspace page, and early last week the first single "The Pretender" leaked onto the internet. The song isn't quite as good as "The Best of You", but as a sign of what's to come on the new album, I'll take it. In addition, the Foo Fighters have released a 10th anniversary edition of The Colour and the Shape with new bonus tracks. Normally this would suck and reek of corporate underpinnings, but since the bonus tracks are decent and they don't jack the price of the album up, it marks another classy move by the always awesome Dave Grohl.

Ruling on the Field: 6.5/10

Foo Fighters - The Pretender [via sendspace]

-Joining in on the fun is Jimmy Eat World, who slated October 16th as the release for Chase This Light, and also re-released Clarity and Static Prevails in anticipation. No single out yet, but look for one in the next few weeks.

Ruling on the Field: I want a single, dammit!

-A very large (and probably long overdue) "F--k you!" goes out to Chad Kroeger and the guys from Nickelback. The commercially angsty Canucks just reissued their 2005 smash All the Right Reasons with three pointless live tracks and a DVD of music videos. Since I'm pretty sure everyone who's going to buy All the Right Reasons already did so, this move just marks a cheap marketing ploy to scrounge another 30 bucks out of Nickelback's "hardcore" fans. Real smooth, guys...real smooth.

Ruling on the Field: Fuck you, Nickelback!!

-I Ruckused Sum 41's controversial new album Underclass Hero shortly after coming home, and damn it if it isn't a throwback to what punk rock is SUPPOSED to sound like! The title track is a ballbuster of the highest caliber, and nothing on the album is inherently bad, it just tends to lean into territory already walked by the likes of Blink 182. Regardless, Sum 41 comes through again with what might be the most underrated punk album of the year.

Ruling on the field: 7.5/10
Highlight Reel: "Underclass Hero", "Speak of the Devil", "March of the Dogs"

-My list of CDs I need to hear has expanded, now including Who We Are from Lifehouse (tentative ruling based on what I have heard: 8.5/10), Smashing Pumpkins' new album Zeitgeist, and the new one from Velvet Revolver. More on those when I sit down and hear them in full.

-Linkin Park released the video for their second single off Minutes to Midnight, "Bleed it Out". Love the camera work and the song's awesome, but didn't Coldplay already trademark the whole everything-in-reverse idea?



OK that's all. Back later

==TJ==

Review: Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

2003's Meteora, while it was a perfectly good album, made it painfully clear that Linkin Park had pretty much sucked dry the well of nu-metal, rap-rock, and other hyphenations that sustained them for so long. In the four years following that album, members of LP released solo projects (last summer's Fort Minor and scattered art projects), disputed their record deal with Warner Bros., and got much older. Most of these changes are reflected in Minutes to Midnight with the help of producer Rick Rubin (Audioslave, Johnny Cash). Linkin Park promised a departure from the sound that dominated their first two albums. In large part they come through on that promise, and the result shows a very mature, albeit far from perfect 12-track effort.

The most noticeable difference from the getgo is lead singer/screamer Chester Bennington's growth both as a writer and a performer. Bennington has progressed far beyond tired, angsty screaming. Chester emerges as a true singer, using his screaming as at most a compliment to the now-diminshed crunching guitars. Songs like the standout "Shadow of the Day" (shades of U2's "With or Without You") embody the change that LP promised. When Bennington does scream as he does in the lead single "What I've Done", it's largely tasteful and goes past the self-indulgence of past tracks. At the same time, emcee Mike Shinoda has fine-tuned his contribution, no longer rapping one-liners behind power chords. On "Hands Held High" and "In Between", Shinoda puts forth his best rhymes and even *gasp* sings the chorus. While the first two tracks, the jumbled intro of "Wake" and the downright abysmal "Given Up" (a half-assed leftover of the angst-filled wails of old) don't help their case, Linkin Park has committed themselves to a new direction. It's not perfect, as weaker tracks like "In Pieces" and "No More Sorrow" make clear the room for more growth, but the change is leaps and bounds past where they were.

Let's get one thing straight; just because the rap-rock is gone doesn't mean LP is a different band. The motifs are the same paranoid, finger-pointing that laced previous albums. But the person on the other side of the finger is a different figure. "Hands Held High" is a pointed criticism of the Iraq war behind a military drum cadence, complete with its haunting chorus of "Amen"s. Likewise, "The Little Things Give You Away" closes out the album with a poetic attack of President Bush's mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath; as Bennington sings in the six minute opus, "All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you / Six feet underwater, I do". But don't confuse Minutes to Midnight with another American Idiot. Linkin Park has refused to comment on the political undertones of their album, and let the music speak for itself.

On Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park turn a corner in their career, going beyond their formulaic scream-and-shout, but not sacrificing the edge that endeared them to the masses to begin with. This is what a change in sound should be. The framework remains the same, but the texture and overall aesthetics are something truly great to behold.

**** (out of *****)

Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day

==TJ==

Axl Rose : Chinese Democracy as Amy Lee : ...

I know I promised a Minutes to Midnight review, and that's still coming later tonight, but I want to give the album another couple spins before I make a final call. In the meantime a few bits of news from the past couple days.

-Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance are headlining the 2007 edition of the Projekt Revolution tour, with Placebo, Saosin and a couple of other no-names slated to be on the tour as well. Chester Bennington held a press conference earlier today with details, but no site has come forward with details yet. An unconfirmed report from Blabbermouth.net says the tour will come to the Tweeter Center in Camden on August 25th.

-Evanescence is down a drummer and a guitarist. Amy Lee, the heavy-handed, gothy lead singer reported that Rocky Gray and John Lecompt were ready to move on, but in a bitter MySpace blog entry (now blocked) Lecompt described an angry cell phone call from Lee which ultimately ended with him being fired. These departures mean that Amy Lee is the only original member of the band remaining. Is it too early to start making Guns N Roses comparisons?

-Speaking of which, another member of the GN'R camp is about to get fired. Over the weekend at least two more tracks from the mythical Chinese Democracy album leaked. "There Was A Time" and the title track both found there way onto the internet, and if a report from idolator is any indication, as many as 6 more tracks could leak in the very near future. Is this a real leak, or has the recent lawsuit caused Axl Rose to adopt alternative methods of releasing the album?

Ok that's all till I get back with that review. In the meantime, kindly take note of the fact that Axl Rose is 45 years old.

==TJ==

No, I'm Not Dead

Yeah, I know it's been nearly a month since I updated. So sue me.

Some quick things and I promise a real update in the next week or so.

-In lieu of a real review, I will tell you that Bright Eyes's album Cassadaga is pretty cool, but kinda lags in the middle. *** 1/2 out of *****
-Ronnie Day's The Album is incredible. Think Teddy Geiger meets Dashboard Confessional. ****
-All the Stars and Boulevards by Augustana needs a couple listens to sink in, but is a really fun, well-written album. ****
-Me. Seeing Dashboard 3 rows from the stage. And getting Ronnie Day's autograph. And other cool stuff. LiveJournal has that one (second entry from the top)

Now that school's out I'm gonna go back to getting serious about this. My next update will come early next week and it's gonna be a review of Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight, which leaked earlier today. So stick around for that.

==TJ==

Linkin Park Single Leaks...Well, sort of...

Clearly some people just couldn't stand to wait the last few hours before Linkin Park released "What I've Done", the first single from Minutes to Midnight. With only 60 more minutes to midnight on April 2nd, the song has found it's way onto the internet. I don't have an mp3 of it available yet as I'm on a foreign laptop that doesn't have the proper recording software, but I can offer you this youtube link of the song. The video I found has lyrics (misspelled, but there nonetheless) and some random pictures that may or may not be officialI've been listening to it every few minutes, and I honestly think its lived up to all the hype that the band has built up for it. Much more poetic than anything they've done before, and the lack of Mike Shinoda's rapping is noticed, but not felt. It's official; my hopes for Minutes to Midnight are up in the stratosphere now. May 15th can't come soon enough.

I'll be back tomorrow with an mp3 of this. Yes, I know I still owe you tracks from Cassadaga and a few other goodies, and I promise them all when I'm on my own computer tomorrow. Till then enjoy.

==TJ==

Update: Kevipod and Idolator saved me the trouble of ripping my own copy of the track, so all I have to do is sendspace it and everyone's happy. Idolator had a jolly old time bashing this track to shreds, but then again most music blogs are at the point where if a song doesn't feature Bright Eyes, Timbaland, or Arcade Fire, it's relegated to the crap bin. Viva la Mainstream!!

What's That Coming Over The Hill, Is It A Monster?

I owe you guys an update seeings how I was in London for a week, so let's get started:

-I may or may not have written about a Scottish band called The Automatic on this blog. I've been playing their song "Monster" on my radio show (which you had all better listen to) pretty frequently. Their debut album entitled Not Accepted Anywhere is an up-and-comer in England, but we Americans no very little about the band, as the album is not yet available. This, however, will soon change. In a report courtesy of NME, Not Accepted Anywhere will be released stateside on June 26. The release will coincide with The Automatic's appearance on the Van's Warped Tour. The band won't be playing in Philly anytime soon, but to keep you amused till then, I can offer you "Monster" and their much sought after cover of Kanye West's "Golddigger"
Monster
Goldigger

In other British band news, The Horrors, another not-yet-known group here in the states, were involved in an altercation at a bar in Allston, MA, and were forced to end their set early. The Boston Herald reported that frontman Faris Badwan smashed a bust of Elvis on the floor during their set. Badwan alleges that a doorman was rude to him and a fan and spat in his face prior to the set. Later this week I'm gonna get my friend Danielle Reicherter, who knows the band and has a very...unique...perspective on this story to offer her account.

Lastly, in a followup to my last post, the first 30 seconds of the new Linkin Park single are playing when you first go to the band's website. The clip was available for download after approximately 8 nanoseconds, and images of the band's new logo are also online here. The new album entitled Minutes to Midnight hits stores May 15th, and the single "What I've Done" will be released on April 2nd.
Intro to "What I've Done"

That's all. I'll be back later this week, I promise.

==TJ==

Linkin Park toys with fans and Axl's being Axl

Current Music: 30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday

Following up on the previous entry, amazon.com's UK site currently has September 17th listed as the release date for Chinese Democracy, which would translate to September 18th here in America. A new logo/potential album cover has found its way onto the net:

Looks to me like its done in the same typeface as one of the early Linkin Park logos:

You decide.

While on the subject of LP, the band says we can expect the first single sometime this month. numerous reports place the release of their fourth album anywhere between April and summertime. For what it's worth, Best Buy's website lists a May 1st release date AND suggests an "EXPLICIT LYRICS" label. Is Linkin Park gonna get dirty on us?

New links on the left; both mp3 blogs that deal in mainstream music. I tend to like Idolator more 'cause it's on a national scale, whereas Music Slut appears largely based out of New York.

I've got more in me, but I'm gonna hold out till tomorrow or Monday when I'm back on campus. Oh yeah, thanks to Heartless Bastard for the link that produced the "Better" rip last entry.

==TJ==

In Search of Some Rest...

Current Music: Carbon Leaf - What About Everything?

A couple of news stories I saw on Billboard today that made me all kinds of happy:

-Linkin Park is currently wrapping up the mixing process on its new album and is saying that the first single from their fourth album will be released sometime next month. Producer Rick Rubin is excited for the new release, saying this album takes the band places they've never gone before. Citing Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer as influences, the album appears to be a massive departure from the formulaic rap-rock that dominated 2000's Hybrid Theory and 2003's Meteora. The haters can say all they want about LP being washed up; I am 8 different shades of excited for this.

-The Beatles and Apple have apparently struck a deal that will end the ongoing lawsuit tied to Apple's trademark violations. The Apple Music group (owner of the Beatles' music) sued the Apple Computer Corporation (makers of the iPod) for breaching part of a previous settlement that forbade Apple Computers from getting involved in music. The deal allows Apple to continue to operate iTunes and use its logo, and could be the final obstacle in allowing Beatles music to be sold on iTunes. About freakin' time.

And I don't feel like doing a huge thing on it, but the Eagles are eyeing a spring release date for their new album, the first new LP since 1979's The Long Run.

That's all. I've got a rant built up in me, I'll probably post it by the end of the week (and other famous last words...)

==TJ==