Friday night I stood for two-plus hours in awe as I watched The Appleseed Cast perform their entire 2001 double album Low Level Owl. The Lawrence, Kansas emo band played to a packed crowd at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge, and gracefully played the criminally overlooked double album, with a brief intermission breaking up the two volumes and … [Read more…]
It was indeed “A Decade Under The Influence.†But while Taking Back Sunday could string together a few solid hits drenched in a post-hardcore milieu and cut with pop sensibilities, chances are no one in the band could have predicted how influential emo would become in the aughts. The presence of the word in the … [Read more…]
…or Clarity? Big shout out to Pierre Wentz over at Washed Up Emo for catching this one. In any case, it sounds like JEW and the former Drive Like Jehu drummer and whirlwind producer Trombino are back together. Trombino produced the band’s first three albums, and his in-studio wizardry really helped morph the sound and … [Read more…]
Isn’t it a little to early for those end-of-the-year or end-of-the-decade critics list? Didn’t September just roll around? August hadn’t even ended before Pitchfork rolled out it’s top singles of the 2000s. Doesn’t it all seem a little too, well, soon? It’s still just September! There are four full months left in the decade! Some … [Read more…]
I was milling about the grocery store today when something startled me. Hey, don’t write yourself off yet No, it wasn’t only in my head, but I certainly felt left out, as it were. Left out of why Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” was decided as a song meant to soundtrack the most mundane of … [Read more…]
I rarely mention Pitchfork in the guise of this blog… I won’t go into great details, and I will admit it’s easily one of the best aggregators for independent-related music information, so I do visit the site regularly. But when it comes to reviews, I try to stray from their pieces. Yes, the Pitchfork writers … [Read more…]
Guitar Hero, the popular musical-video game phenomenon is coming out with its fifth volume. And it might as well be called the “Emo Edition.” Or the Indie Edition… One fits with the other. While the new version of Guitar Hero (GH5) if you will, has the regular mainstream-rock fare, it’s jam packed with many an … [Read more…]
So, months after my first post on a potential Sunny Day Real Estate reunion, and having recently come to realize how much of a hoopla my words have caused and the potential anguish I could cause in many an SDRE fan, and the reunion rumors are still bubbling. A little while after some newer rumors … [Read more…]
Jimmy Eat World continue the Clarity + fan love with a brand-spankin’ new link to a track-by-track breakdown of their sophomore album. Here’s the intro: “Zach: The past few months have been a special time for us. During this time we’ve been learning, rehearsing and playing these songs from Clarity for our fans across the United States. … [Read more…]
Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese may have grabbed headlines for his unusual promotional tool for promoting and covering the costs for his new album, Since 1972. For a certain price, you could get anything from a digital download of the album ($7) straight to a weekend with the man himself, mini golf … [Read more…]