Album A Day: Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

[TJ's note: We're inching ever closer to the official move from this site to our new home on Wordpress. Any and all mp3s posted here will not longer be picked up by Hype Machine, as they have been given the new URL for the site. Odds are by the end of next week this site will be officially closed. Change your bookmarks, Google Readers, RSS feeds, etc. accordingly.]

In honor of Nine Inch Nails' release of 400 GB of video footage yesterday, I'm listening to their most recent record, 2008's The Slip today. I was considering playing the bootleg I have of their show at Woodstock '94, but I'm saving that for an eventual week of live shows.

The Slip was a stellar blend of old and new for Trent Reznor. It had the driving, danceable singles in "Discipline" and "Echoplex" that were reminiscent of With Teeth, alongside the spacey instrumentals of "Corona Radiata" that made Ghosts I-IV a hit earlier that same year. In between those, you get the head-pounding, teeth-gnashing industrial that made Trent Reznor a hit in the early 90s. In many ways its a perfect introduction to NIN for people whose knowledge of the band begins and ends with the line "I wanna f--- you like an animal"*.

Lyrically Reznor is rarely better than he was at this point, and the music carries an intensity that warrants the epic tour that just wrapped up. Even "Lights In The Sky" (the song for which said tour was named) in its subdued angst holds so much power that you forgive its funeral march tempo. Despite getting a bit tedious around the seven minute "Corona Radiata", The Slip holds up so well leading to that point that you let Reznor indulge for one song just to hear what he does next. Sure enough, the patience is rewarded with the trippy "The Four Of Us Are Dying" and one last headbanger in "Demon Seed". A worthy end to an album

It's a shame that The Slip was so widely ignored on Best of '08 lists this year, since in a year where rock music struggled to have its voice heard amongst the return of Britney Spears, the reign of Lil Wayne, and that friggin' garbage that was "Low", Nine Inch Nails stood out as a shining bright light amongst a dim sky.

Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
Nine Inch Nails - Lights In The Sky
You can still download The Slip for free at NIN's official website

==TJ==

*I'm of course referring to the chorus of "Closer", not that of the despicable Limp Bizkit song "Hot Dog". Apologies for any confusion (though if you were thinking of Limp Bizkit in the midst of a blog about Nine Inch Nails, we might need to have a chat...)

Linktacular New Post!

Here in America (I don't know if I have any international readers, hence the clarfication), today is Labor Day, the day when we all celebrate how hard we Americans work by...taking a day off. Hmm. Anywho, some random stuff to catch you all up on since I went away.

Matt at Addicted to Vinyl posted two fantastic complete live shows; a Matchbox 20 set from Australia circa 1998 (After Yourself Or Someone Like You, but just before Mad Season), and the famous Nine Inch Nails Woodstock '94 show. Both are available in their entirety at the links provided. Enjoy!

Friends or Enemies posted a mixtape featuring new stuff from Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, et al. Haven't listened to it yet (headphones are busted so listening time has been shelved lately), but its free if you click here. Click the little lever thingy then fill out some info and you'll get your download ticket. PS: Fall Out Boy releasing a new album already? That was quick.

And since I've posted so many others cool stuff, I suppose I should give you good folks something to read (assuming you're still reading and didn't click away yet). This live show has gotten posted before, I'm certain, but it's a great show and worthy of being recycled here. Sometimes called "The Show That Broke Up Audioslave", Chris Cornell did an unplugged show in Sweden shortly after Revelations was released. Here is that show. For all the people who hate the new solo Cornell stuff, use this as a means to look back fondly upon the man.

Chris Cornell Unplugged in Sweden

Doesn't Remind Me
Like A Stone
Wide Awake
Fell On Black Days
Be Yourself
Billie Jean
Original Fire
Redemption Song [Bob Marley Cover]
Peace, Love and Understanding [Elvis Costello Cover]
All Night Thing
Black Hole Sun
Call Me A Dog
Thank You [Led Zeppelin Cover]

Complete zipped download

Have at it. Back later.

==TJ==

Back to Work!!

Yep, computer's fixed, and I'm back to work for the blog. Hope you all didn't miss me too much in my absence, but in lieu of hugs and exclamations of how much we all missed each other this past week, let's dive right into some stuff.

-In Blog Time this dates back to right around the Civil War, but regardless, Radiohead debuted a new track at a concert last Friday. They had been out of the music news realm for about 2 weeks before that, so I guess they needed to remind fans they were still around. Haven't listened to it yet, but posting it nonetheless

Radiohead - Super Collider (Live in Dublin)

(By the way, I'm aborting that A-Z project from this entry. I'd be calling it close without losing this week, now it's damn near impossible. I shall try some other time.)

-I'm currently listening to the new Journey album (popped up online the other day, so the internal debate of whether I would cop to buying music from Wal-Mart was thankfully bypassed). Only three tracks in, so nowhere near ready for a legitimate review, but I'm posting the first single because I kind of love it...a lot. Like, more than I probably should.

Journey - Never Walk Away [Wal-Mart]

-NIN put out an EP in support of its North American tour, which as expected is free on nin.com. According to a New York Times profile, Trent Reznor is reportedly working on a Year Zero cable series. Read the report here.

-Without the computer for a week, I'm a bit backlogged on posts. The good about this is that there's plenty of blogging coming this week. The bad is that I have a huge pile of things to look at in the next 48 hours. If you emailed me with a music recommendation, I probably got the email, but am just now getting to hearing the music. Sit tight, posts about the good stuff are pending.

And one more song from an album I haven't been able to play through yet, but a song that I find myself loving a bit more every play:

MGMT - Time to Pretend [iTunes]

Yes it's gotten some love from the indie fans, but I have nothing against indie bands, just their idiot fans. Back tomorrow.

==TJ==

NIN, Offspring Buy A Round for Fans

As expected by just about everyone, yesterday Nine Inch Nails released their newest album entitled The Slip to their website, free to fans. So read a statement from Trent Reznor on nin.com:

(thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me)

The album is available in every digital format imaginable, and in true NIN style, all 10 tracks are available for remixing. For the fans that enjoy holding music in their hands, a CD release is expected in the summer, but like with Ghosts, the digital version and CD are identical in sound quality, so the only difference is the ability to hold it in your hands.

Contrary to speculation by myself and other blogs, The Slip is NOT Year Zero 2.0. It is a completely separate entity combining the best of With Teeth (such as it was), Year Zero, and Ghosts I-IV. Musically this might be the best thing I've ever heard NIN do. It packs the same angsty, emotional punch of previous work, puts it behind a manic blend of grotesquely danceable hooks and drum beats (as best heard on first single "Discipline") and grinding synths and guitars (see also "Letting You") that would make unsuspecting listeners' ears bleed. Lyrically this is a different animal than Year Zero. I think I'm one of the few people who at least liked for the songwriting, and those strengths came through on this album. And then there are the two surprisingly chill instrumental tracks near the homestretch that lead into the final punch of "Demon Seed". Overall in the last three months Nine Inch Nails has released two quality albums that bloggers would be remiss to let slip by unnoticed when it comes time for the Best of '08 revues. It's too early to hand the prize to Trent for The Slip, but there's no denying the mark NIN has left on this year.

Ruling on the Field: 9/10
Highlight Reel: Echoplex, The Four of Us Are Dying
(The downloads are really just a formality so I can get picked up by Hype Machine. Go get the full album from nin.com. It's free and amazing. You have no excuse.)

And with that I am delcaring a one-month moratorium on NIN-related posts, barring Trent Reznor announcing his candidacy for president between now and then.

Also joining the free music party yesterday were The Offspring, following Coldplay's footsteps and releasing "Hammerhead", the first single from this summer's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, as a free download. "Hammerhead" is classic Offspring with a bit of a twist in the style of new Green Day. Those soaring harmonies are still there (one of my favorite things about the Offspring), and it's still fast paced punk rock, but there's something bigger about it. "Hammerhead" is a bit more arena-ready than I've ever heard The Offspring, and more power to them for it. I don't think that means we should expect a new take on American Idiot with the new album, just a broader sound this time out. I've never actually bought an Offspring CD, but at this rate I just might give Rise and Fall, Rage And Grace a shot.

"Hammerhead" is still available for download at theoffspring.com

I will be back sometime in the next 24 hours with reviews of some traditionally-released stuff from the last week or two (namely the Jimmy Eat World re-issue).

==TJ==

Second Verse Same As The First: NIN Drops A New Song

Weekend WTF is on hiatus until I find another track worthy of the name.

In the meantime, the first of two NIN-related posts this week. While randomly searching around Facebook today, I came across ANOTHER new track from NIN. It appears that Trent dropped a second song, "Echoplex" by way of the Facebook application iLike. It should be noted that there is precedent for this, as U2 debuted new music from its Joshua Tree re-issue last November. The track has the same cryptic message in the tags, urging listeners to visit nin.com on May 5th (that's just over 23 hours away as I type this). Since word of a presale is already available on the website, I am now convinced that the sequel to Year Zero will drop on the 5th. Hopefully the whole shebang runs smoother than the mess that trying to download Ghosts was. Ladies and gentlemen, call me excited.

My roomate's weird-ass music is getting in the way of me hearing "Echoplex", so I will give it a shot tomorrow, but I'm posting it below in the interest of giving it to those without Facebooks. I'll be back in 24 hours when nin.com updates again.

Nine Inch Nails - Echoplex
(c) 2008 Nin

NIN official website
NIN on iLike

==TJ==

Stuff From All Over

New speculation around the previously blogged-about NIN song "Discipline" suggests it might be the first single from the forthcoming sequel to 2007's Year Zero. It would make some level of sense, based on the overall mood of the song and it would give meaning to the cryptic "two weeks!" blog. But for Year Zero II to come out this close to Ghosts seems a bit defeating; unless "Discipline" explodes in the coming weeks, I think people will be tired of NIN and the Year Zero sequel will be a tad overkill-ish. That's probably just me though.

Side note: Thanks to everyone who's gone and looked at my ringtones on Myxertones in the last week. I've only been active on the site for a week, but already the 14 ringtones I've made have rung up 260 downloads. Hope you enjoy 'em, and I'm happy to indulge any requests.

Matt over at Addicted to Vinyl pointed me in the direction of this little doozy from Chris Cornell from the 1998 film version of Great Expectations. Reason #4,623 why I love the man.

Chris Cornell - Sunshower

Back later.

==TJ==

24 Hours Later...

The NIN track didn't go live until 2AM last night, so that coupled with real life means I'm only blogging about it now.

First things first: Can we all agree that by now Trent Reznor has out-Radioheaded Radiohead? Granted, Reznor had the advantage of seeing where Thom Yorke went wrong, but still...across the board from his announcement of free agency to this new single, Nine Inch Nails has succeeded where Radiohead didn't. NIN released the same product digitally and physically with Ghosts (The digital In Rainbows was a crappy bitrate version in the hopes that people would buy the eventual CD), has kept fans informed better, and has been overall less pretentious about it. Nine Inch Nails also had the YouTube and remix markets locked in before Radiohead could even look twice. So history will probably remember Radiohead for firing the first shot, but the prize goes to Trent Reznor for being the first to get it right.

On to the song: "Discipline" opens with an intro most reminiscent of With Teeth, which makes sense since this was written to be a single. The lyrics and chorus are much edgier and lend themselves more to something left off Year Zero. The drums and piano here are the most memorable things in the song. Lyrically its not awful, just on par with previous stuff. On principle "Discipline" is going to explode onto the Alternative charts, but with no album behind it (yet?), don't expect it to linger. Unless Trent's cryptic message of "two weeks" means there's more where "Discipline" came from.

"Discipline" is available for free at nin.com. Go give NIN's website some traffic and download it on your own.

==TJ==

Thom Yorke Is Full Of Shit

Amidst all the pro-Earth hubbub America is facing this week, NBC announced that this week would be green week, and they'd be doing all sorts of events in support of green week. At the same time, Radiohead was scheduled to make an appearance on Leno tonight in support of In Rainbows.

Until last week when Thom Yorke announced it would instead be sending Leno a taped performance to play during the show. A band rep said the rationale for this was as follows:

Recorded live in London, Radiohead's performance of "House of Cards," represents an ongoing effort by the socially conscious band to act in the greenest manner possible. By opting to record this exclusive performance rather than fly over for a one-off appearance, the band - as frontman Thom Yorke notes in the introduction to their performance - avoided leaving a carbon footprint equivalent to driving one's car for a solid year.

Bullshit. I would be far more likely to accept this reasoning and be OK with Radiohead's laziness were it not for this video. And this one. This one too. Suffice it to say, we have enough videos of Radiohead performing live from the last six months. Thom Yorke might have told Leno to go YouTube the band and help save the environment by avoiding having the video mailed. Moments like this make me frustrated with my newfound liking for Radiohead.

I hope they accidentally send the wrong video and everyone watching Leno tonight hears a live version of "Creep". That's right...I said it.

Radiohead - House of Cards [iTunes]

I will be back later tonight once Trent Reznor officially posts the new single. I didn't know about this story till about 30 minutes ago, so if you want info go to NIN's site or Idolator's piece here.

==TJ==

Update on the Past, and a Plan for the Future...

Update to last post: By Monday night I had heard several reports of people paying for the $5 download, and getting similar download problems to the one I had, which ultimately led them to pirating the album. Not exactly great publicity for NIN. But I tried again about an hour ago, and lo and behold the site was back up and running, and I'm playing through the first 9 tracks of Ghosts right now. Suffice it to say that Trent's description of the album being "music to daydream to" is quite apropos. Once I have a paycheck I'll shell out the fiver for the whole thing.

In the last week or two I've been in contact with a bunch of bands, some of whom have read VLM, others I saw live and loved, and they're all dying to be heard. So I think I'm going to dedicate next week to bands that are just below the radar screen that deserve some attention. Haven't decided what I'm going to call the series, but it'll definitely happen (I've had something like this in mothballs for awhile now). I think this is a pretty exciting time for VLM, so keep reading, and thanks to everyone for the support.

And since posting here without an mp3 is just lame on my part...
Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi
(One of those songs I forgot I liked so much...)

==TJ==

Nine Inch Nails Go Digital on New Album

As promised back in October, Nine Inch Nails have released new material exclusively through their website and is available for download or pre-order now.

The new 36-track, 2-Disc set entitled Ghosts I-IV became available last night around 9PM, shortly after an announcement about the release was posted to their official website. Reports say that within 30 minutes the site was at full capacity and users reported difficulty downloading the album.

Ghosts I-IV is available in 4 different packages: the first 9 songs are available for free as a preview of the rest of the songs. A digital copy with PDF booklet can be purchased for $5. There are 3 physical releases available for pre-order and are said to have a shipping date of April 8. There's a $10 2-CD set, a $75 deluxe edition with an extra disc and blu-ray with remixable versions of the songs, and a super-deluxe version with vinyls and autographed by Trent Reznor for a whopping $300.

I tried to download the 9-track preview (I'm tight on cash till my next paycheck...don't judge me) about 30 minutes ago, but the zip file that I was given was invalid or corrupted. Apparently NIN is still having server troubles. I'll let you know what I think as soon as I get to hear the tracks. Anyone who has heard the songs is welcome to post a comment.

Back later

==TJ==

What TJ's Listening To Now

Thanks to the help of some friends here at Arcadia and some online activity that would piss off the RIAA to no end, I now have 6 of Radiohead's 7 studio albums (only missing Hail to the Thief, which someone has already promised to let me borrow). After finally hearing what people like about In Rainbows, I decided to go back and look at the rest of their catalog, see how I felt about it. I've already listened to Pablo Honey and The Bends, and am relatively impressed, moreso with Pablo Honey (this is where I duck as all the hardcore Radiohead fans throw things at me). Expect a more thorough reflection next week once I've heard it all.

If you were to look at my last.fm stats for the last day or two, you would encounter lots of music from the following:
Radiohead (See above)
Nine Inch Nails (broke out Year Zero and Downward Spiral for another round)
Pink Floyd (long story involving a strange card game)
Pearl Jam (going through that Live at the Gorge box set)
Nirvana (currently playing through a bunch of tracks from With The Lights Out)

Clearly a very '90s alternative heavy set, and the weird stuff from that era, too. Not sure why I'm entering a premature crotchety old fart phase, listening to stuff from 15 years ago, but I am nonetheless. The question is, where is this gonna go? After I go through the Nirvana rarities, what's next? It'll probably be more Pearl Jam, as I continue trekking through the Live stuff, but I just thought my current taste has been a total reversal of what it's been in the past and worth noting.

Radiohead - Stop Whispering (AmazonMP3)
Nine Inch Nails - Heresy [iTunes]
Pearl Jam - Love Boat Captain (Live at the Gorge 9/1/05) (Not available online)
Nirvana - Polly [Demo] [iTunes]

Back tomorrow with Weekend WTF. Sneak preview; it feature one of the above bands.

==TJ==

10 Awesome Things That Happened in 2007

Maybe it's just because I was paying more attention this year, but it seemed like a lot of really awesome things happened to the music world this year. And contrary to what Rolling Stone and Idolator will want you to think, not ALL of them were tied to Radiohead. Below are my top 10 awesome stories from 2007:

10. New Guns N' Roses tracks leak; proof Chinese Democracy was at some point being recorded
Ah, how could anyone forget how we all (OK, maybe it was just me) waited with bated breath for March 6th to roll around when Axl Rose announced said date as the release for the eternally anticipated Chinese Democracy album. Of course once again we/I was left hanging, but we got a few unmastered tracks from the album as consolation. Granted, only one of these was worth hearing, but it was still proof that maybe, just maybe, it* could happen.

Guns N' Roses - Better

*By "it", I actually mean democracy in China, not Chinese Democracy. Come on now, what kind of fool do I look like?

9. Radio 104.5 brings the rock back to Philly
For anyone reading outside of the greater Philadelphia area, this means almost nothing. But just know that prior to this past February, Philly was without a decent alt. rock station for just over 2 years after the demise of Y100. 104.5 (WRFF-FM) filled that hole, and Philly radio is a better place for it.

Finger Eleven - Paralyzer (Live on Radio 104.5)

8. "The Battle of Sept. 11"
It's refreshing to hear rappers talk about duels and fighting that don't involve guns. 50 Cent and Kanye West had plenty of hype, hoopla, and excitement building up to the simultaneous release of their new albums, Curtis and Graduation, respectively. 50 promised to retire from the business if Kanye sold more albums in the first week, only to then cry foul when his CD got stomped on in the charts. But in the end, when two music greats go head-to-head in the name of getting music to the fans, doesn't everybody win?

Well, except for those fools who bought Curtis. Sucks to be them.

Kanye West - Stronger

7. Guitar Hero III/Rock Band
As a college student and music lover, I feel that my life is somehow more fulfilled as a result of these games. I have yet to play Rock Band, but cannot wait to get behind the electronic drum set and go Keith Moon-style on "Learn to Fly". The rest of the track listing is damned impressive, almost better than GHIII. Speaking of which, I have played, and am thoroughly awed. As much as the wireless controllers made me nuts (stupid lag...), the gameplay is as good as ever, and the songs are classic. Words don't describe how excited I was to blast through "Paint It, Black" and "Even Flow". This year I have 2 more reasons to upgrade to an Xbox 360.

Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly
Pearl Jam - Even Flow

6. Movies + Movies = Good times for all
2007 saw a blend between music and film that hadn't been particularly strong of late. Between the biopics for Bob Dylan (I'm Not There) and Joy Division (Control), the fictional projects August Rush and Into the Wild (not actually dealing with music, but scored by the amazing Eddie Vedder), and Across the Universe, the Beatles tribute in a class all its own, moviegoers saw and heard one hell of a good experience this year. And that's all excluding the tradtional musicals (Hairspray and next month's Sweeney Todd).

The Killers - Shadowplay
Across the Universe Soundtrack - Hey Jude

5. John, Paul, George and Ringo go digital; Beatles to follow in '08?
So all of the solo work from the Beatles became available for digital download across 2007, most notably when Paul McCartney tied his new album's release to the launch of the iTunes DRM-free store. Lennon's solo catalog followed, and a few weeks ago McCartney said that the Beatles catalog could go digital by early 2008. If this happens, it will leave only Kid Rock in the stone age of major label acts without a good reason to have their music available online. I see no problem with this.

4. Year of the Reunions
2007 seemed to be the year for bands to kiss and make up, with The Police, Rage Against the Machine, Genesis, and Led Zeppelin all reuniting in some form or other for tours and/or new albums. Now that second-rate bands like Extreme are feeling the need to join the party, I think it's time to kiss the reunion train up to God, but all things considered, that's a damn good set of bands making comebacks. Now give me some new albums!!

Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
The Police - Roxanne

3. AmazonMP3
Finally someone has the balls to (seriously) take aim at the iTunes juggernaut. While it still has a ways to go to match iTunes, Amazon gave music listeners a lot of things that iTunes wasn't; good quality DRM free music from popular bands at a cheap price. The store itself is still a bit clunky and lacks the ease of use that iTunes users enjoy, but they've got the one-up in that they have the rights to the likes of Radiohead and deal exclusively in MP3s. iTunes is far from dead, but at least now there's another fish in the pond

Snow Patrol - You're All I Have (the first song I downloaded in Amazon's MP3 store)

2. Radiohead releases In Rainbows themselves, allow fans to name price
This proved to be the ultimate "Fuck You" to the record industry this year. While bloggers and journalists were wondering what to expect from Radiohead, the band was quietly putting together this little bombshell. The move was inspired; people who wanted the music decided just how badly they wanted it and no major label could touch it. It was ingenious and a move that's already being copied by other bands. The only downside is that the music itself was decidedly sub-par, and the band later admitted the self-release acted as a promotional device so people would buy the CD. Given my lack of interest in the music, I would say it backfired. But either way, any band that sticks it that hard and that fast deserves some kudos.

1. Year Zero Viral Marketing/ARG
Leave it to Trent Reznor to create the ultimate musical reality experience. Nine Inch Nails had fans foaming at the mouth for 3 months while Reznor let slip USB sticks in bathrooms at concerts, created fake forums to establish the world of the album...hell, he even went as far as to set up fake hotlines where people could call in "suspicious figures" and the like. With a concept album like Year Zero, it's essential to get a sense of what they're getting across. The Marketing campaign did exactly that, and wound up inspiring the entire entertainment industry to find new ways to market material (see also: The Dark Knight, Cloverfield). Forget about making the music sound different; make the whole experience different, make me believe what I'm hearing.

Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism

Back again this week with more 2007 madness.

==TJ==

Does this make Radiohead and NIN the Tom Glavine and Mariano Rivera of Music?

Thanks to anyone who listened on Tuesday. It was sort of a disorganized show, seeings how I was training people in the midst of doing a show. A few mixups and glitches (sorry to anyone listening during the nasty feedback), and of course the ongoing technical issues were a pain, but hopefully by next week a large majority of that will be settled.

I also ended up sitting in on the Alex, Helen, and Amanda show after they had some trouble, and let's just say, if you aren't listening to their show...you should be. Even if you aren't a fan of Top 40 stuff, just listen in for the ridiculous antics. Alex, Helen, and Amanda are on Tuesdays from 7-9 at radio.arcadia.edu. I'm admittedly not a fan of all of their stuff, but just being in the studio with them is a trip in and of itself. MP3s of some stuff they play is below.

So after much publicity and blogging, Radiohead's In Rainbows made its way onto the hard drives of fans all over the world today. I'm listening through it as I type this, and it's more or less what I expected. Weird, borderline trippy music with schizophrenic (and sometimes nonexistent) melodies that ultimately makes for OK ambient noise. A final rating to come later, but even though I'm not thrilled with it after one listen, I know I'm gonna end up playing through it a few more times. Most of what I've read about it so far seems pretty split; longtime fans seem to love the album, casual fans and others are rather indifferent. I'll let you know where I stand later.

In other stick-it-to-the-man news, Nine Inch Nails posted a message on their website in which Trent Reznor joyfully declares himself a free agent in the music world:

"Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed."

Before we all get ornery and get ready to mark the time of death of the record label as we know it, let's remember that Radiohead and NIN have never been known for being the darlings of the recording industry. Anyone else remember the conniption that the RIAA had prior to the release of Year Zero? When bands like Fall Out Boy or Kelly Clarkson go free agent, then I'll call it.

One more thing; Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba has been passing the time on his solo tour by blogging about his experiences on the road. Blog topics range from stories of fans he meets (good to know I'm not the only over-18 male who loves Dashboard) to lists of things he loves and hates at the moment (apparently Chris is a fan of Heroes and Battlestar Galactica). The blog is on his myspace page, and will probably go for the length of his solo tour. On another note, I ruckused The Shade of Poison Trees and made it through The Wire Tapes, the covers album I mentioned earlier. I didn't know too many of the originals, but Dashboard redoes tracks like "El Scorcho" and Regina Spektor's "Better" incredibly well. More in-depth reviews later, and definitely expect this stuff to be on the radio show next week.

That's all for now. Enjoy the MP3s, and I'll be back soon.

Timbaland - The Way I Are (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Fall Out Boy - The Take Over, The Break's Over (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Kanye West- Stronger (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Nine Inch Nails - Capital G
Dashboard Confessional - Better (Regina Spektor cover)

Buying music may be good karma, but Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor don't care so much...the choice is yours.

==TJ==

Buckcherry Lead Singer: Dennis Leary's Illegitimate Child?

Some quick mini-reviews before I let them sit in my head and die of loneliness:

• Buckcherry's third album 15 is probably one of the best, most enjoyable albums I've listened to in quite some time. I have it on Ruckus, and it's now moved up to the top of my Wanted List. **** 1/2
  
• I haven't quite finished listening to all of It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5's new album, but at the rate its going its on pace for a solid ****. Here's hoping "Wake Up Call" is the next single.
• In a follow-up to the Second Spin entry from yesterday, Year Zero is just as trippy as vintage NIN, and it's good enough to warrant a *** 1/2. rating
  
• I just downloaded Chris Cornell's solo album Carry On and I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but on the strength of just "She'll Never Be Your Man", "Arms Around Your Love", and the angsty "Billie Jean" cover, it's already proven itself to be just as good as Audioslave, and WAY better than Euphoria Morning. ****

Meanwhile, Rage Against the Machine have a countdown clock counting down to August 24th. RATM has been silent on what is going to happen that day, but speculation suggests either a live album from their Coachella performance or perhaps a DVD. [Source: Billboard]

Furthermore, in a recent interview The Who's Pete Townshend declared that the current tour in support of October's Endless Wire will not be the last from The Who. Townshend has said that he has ideas for another album, and is just waiting to find a full band for he and Roger Daltrey to record with.

That's it for now. I'll be back with some housekeeping stuff and some Goo Goo Dolls action later tonight.

==TJ==

PS: In regards to the title. Look at this pic of Buckcherry's singer Josh Todd, then look at this pic of comedian Dennis Leary and decide for yourself.

Second Spin: The Spiral Just Keeps Going...

Welcome to Second Spin, where VLM goes back and gives an album another listen to see if the first reaction was correct, or if perhaps it deserves better than the treatment it's received. This week's feature is the breakthrough album from Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral.

Let's get one thing straight; NIN was making noise before making noise was cool. And even now he's doing it better than most others who try (See also: Slipknot, KoRn). When I first got around to picking up the album about a year ago (it came out in 1994, so I'm a teensy bit behind), I gave it a spin, but was pretty ho-hum about it. Save for the well-known tracks like the blatantly sexual "Closer" and "Hurt", it all just kinda blended into one big clusterfuck of synths and screaming that made no sense to me.

Shows how much a year makes when you spend that year turning into a music geek.

From the moment I popped in the CD for the purposes of this entry, I was prepared to be listening to something significant. After watching all the meticulous work done simply in advertising Year Zero and learning about the recording process done in the house of the Sharon Tate murders, I realized there had to be more to this CD. And there was. "Mr. Self Destruct" opens the album with textbook Nine Inch Nails style wrack-and-thrash industrial sound, and that keeps going all the way to the amazing "Heresy", "March of the Pigs", and "Ruiner". After getting the radio-friendliness out of his system, Trent Reznor dives back into the balls-to-the-wall soundtrack to fornication. Personally I had a hard time keeping up with the tracks and their inherent mechanized trippiness. But nonetheless its still amazing for listening to during sex, or if nothing else, it's solid background noise. Don't get me wrong; as much as it may not be my cup of tea, Downward Spiral was still a great album and something that really does grow after a few listens.

==TJ==