The Green Day-inspired rock opera, American Idiot, is now open for business. And the reviews are good [via The New York Times]: A pulsating portrait of wasted youth that invokes all the standard genre conventions — bring on the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, please! — only to transcend them through the power of … [Read more…]
Max Bemis took to Twitter just a little while ago with one long, oft-rambling ode to the pangs of posting things on… Twitter. Part of Bemis’ cathartic, well-intentioned rant included a curious take on the future of Say Anything, the excellent band Bemis fronts: To let you guys in on some stuff that’s semi personal, … [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…]
It’s the halfway point of Hannukah, and it’s unexpected presence on the calendar has marked a sudden disconnect I’ve had with the Jewish community. For most of my life, I’ve been surrounded by aspects of Judaism and Jewish culture, be it growing up attending temple, my various stays in Israel or attending a university with … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Albums of 2009. As I’ve mentioned previously, there are a lot of pitfalls for “best of†… [Read more…]
The Daily Swarm tossed a quick story about a “Mobler,” aka a Lloyd Dobler-themed flash mob that went down in NYC on Tuesday. Apparently Twentieth Century Fox put together a little gimmick to point people in the direction of the 20th Anniversary re-release of Cameron Crowe’s 80s teen rom-com Say Anything…. Mobler members dressed like … [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’m referring to a Get Up Kids interview featured on The Drowned In Sound website. Though it’s only been online for a matter of hours, it’s attracted a wave of attention for a rather misinterpreted quote that goes to the tune of GET UP KIDS APOLOGIZE FOR EMO on several other news sites reporting on the interview. It’s … [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…]
The 33 1/3 blog released the final list of the nearly 600 potential books on a wide variety of albums that Continuum received after the call for open proposals a little while ago. Needless to say, it’s quite a list. It’s interesting to see what albums people are passionate enough about to fill an entire … [Read more…]