Fri 4 Jan 2008
We just wanted to let you know that we’re working on a new website and hope to have it ready (most of it) in a couple of days. We thank you for your patience and continued readership over the years and look forward to sharing this space with you in the year ahead.
Thu 3 Jan 2008
As a literature major, I am forced to read quite a bit of dated, boring dreck quite often. Now, some of it can be quite good mind you–but a lot of it isn’t. I thought that things could only go from bad to worse when beginning a recent “Young Adult Literature” course, and to be honest a lot of it was bad, angst-filled teen books.
But, amongst it all I made a startling discovery: John Green’s Looking For Alaska. Though marketed as young adult, this piece is a positively stellar read, and I would recommend it to anyone in the mood for a thoughtful, sad, laugh-until-it-hurts type of book (and aren’t we all?).
Green breaks the mold here with his tale of misguided youths at a boarding school, and you’d be hard pressed to find anything this side of The Catcher in the Rye that deals with the true pain faced in the teenage years and growing up.
Check it out, you won’t regret it.
Wed 2 Jan 2008
I’ll let what I originally wrote say what I want to say;
“Joshua are quite the emo anomaly; once the darlings of the genre, their presence went from the thoroughfares of Napster’s best days to the unfortunate mumblings of ‘what ever happened to?’ and the occasional joyous find at local Mom and Pop record stores. Capturing much of the attention in their early Doghouse days, they reached a pinnacle through, of all things, a self-titled single that still holds their two finest offerings; “Divide Us” and “Your World is Over.” It is quite strange to think that while many of their counterparts (who ply their trade in very much the same scope) have ascended to far greater heights, Joshua have never scaled higher than occasional scene reminiscence and the inquisitive wondering of lost potential…”
One wonders if the band had been around today, whether their brand of pop-tinged emo would find its way onto grander settings. Truth be told, their final release, the Baggage EP, doesn’t differ too far from what popular acts like Say Anything are doing today- and if I could throw in my two cents (more), I’d have to say Joshua’s final work is far less pretentious than what Say Anything have done in recent memory. Have a listen to the very breezy “Perfect Man” and tell me you’re not swayed … and then download the track “A Better Place” to see just what could have been. (more…)
Wed 2 Jan 2008
Video: Radiohead - “All I Need” (Scotch Mist version)
Posted by Billy under Videos , Music NewsNo Comments
Radiohead recently performed a much publicized New Years webcast, here is the track, “All I Need,” from the broadcast:
Tue 1 Jan 2008
What’s up with pop-punk these days? It seems that all the bands who call The Ramones their primary influence have either driven themselves further underground or are in their “mid-life crisis/in bed by 10pm” stage of their careers. Nonetheless, while Los Angeles-based outfit Say No More sound a lot more like The Starting Line than The Mr. T Experience, it’s still good pop-punk. Regardless of their tendencies to lean more towards the rock side of things, the band’s melody-charged tunes owe a small debt to the Bay Area bands of Lookout Records’ best days. Plus, when you think about it, it’s all connected in some way; Ramones -> Green Day/MTX -> The Starting Line -> Say No More.
So if you’re in the market for some more contemporary pop punk/rock that explores guitar-based songwriting to a deeper degree, What You Thought You Knew is a smart, well-written personification of the current crop of kids flying the flag. It isn’t anywhere near as irritating as the likes of Panic! or Paramore, and it isn’t afraid to be unabashedly accessible. Take the two tunes on show here- “For Drew,” (an obviously personal outing for the band), and the Hey There Delilah-ish tone of “Tell Me What You’re Thinking”- and you can see that these kids have a bright future ahead of them. Check them out after the jump. (more…)
Alright, since last we left this saga, things were on an uptick with CBS making the wise decision to renew their post-apocalyptic series Jericho after a massive fan campaign erupted with news of the show’s then-cancellation. Well, that was a while back–and now the seven new season two episodes are in the can, and an official air date has been announced for the return of new episodes of Jericho.
News on the forthcoming new studio full-length from the Counting Crows, dubbed Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, has been bouncing around since the disc’s release was announced a while back for late ‘07. That obviously didn’t materialize, and numerous delays pushed it back to early January ‘08, and most recently yet another date has come forth from Adam Duritz & Co.
The sun sets on another year as we head into 2008, and wherever you are in the world, we hope you all had a wonderful New Years and a great 2007. We are all looking towards a successful and safe new year.
The chaps at RollingStone have compiled a pretty in-depth article chronicling the current trend for music production to have its dial turned waaaay up. Titled 
