Goodbye, Yellowcard (Encore Episode 133)

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Encore 133

On this week’s episode of Encore I bring in special guest Craig Manning to discuss the final Yellowcard album and say goodbye to the band. Yellowcard have been a part of the formative years of our lives, and on September 30th they will release their last album. We discuss what the band’s meant to us, our favorites in their catalog, and then go track-by-track through the new album to talk about we like, don’t like, and how it stacks up with the rest of their discography. I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to miss this band quite a bit.

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Spotify Launches Daily Mix Playlists

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Ingrid Lunden, writing at TechCrunch, on Spotify’s new Daily Mix playlists:

Tapping into your own history of albums and tracks that you have listened to on the platform, Daily Mix brings together a selection of these alongside a few new things to create long, “bottomless” playlists of music to keep you listening. As its name implies, the playlists change every day, and range in number between one and six, depending on how prolific you are on Spotify.

Review: Cymbals Eat Guitars – Pretty Years

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Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years

Ah, The Weirdness.

Generally speaking, The Weirdness hits plenty of artists looking to follow-up their most critically acclaimed album. The timeline goes something like this: The Artist has likely released several albums to generally positive reviews. The Artist may have a modest-yet-loyal fanbase. Then, something happens to The Artist, causing them to reach within and write The Defining Statement. The Defining Statement is an album that makes critics take notice; The Defining Statement is a bridge between fans and critics. In fact, sometimes (but not always), The Artist goes on to resent or even loathe the success of The Defining Statement, and in an act of defiance, they give into The Weirdness.

The Weirdness is an album that turns heads. It is commonly experimental, a sonic left turn that pays more attention to The Artist’s tastes and less attention to what the fanbase may want. It can be an unfiltered and honest look into The Artist’s thoughts and influences. In short: The Weirdness can be awesome.

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Ryan Key Talks the End of Yellowcard

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Ryan Key of Yellowcard talks with Entertainment Weekly about the end of the band:

The track took weeks of tinkering and almost didn’t make it onto the album. “I still hadn’t found a chorus we liked,” he said. But when he finally came up with the melody and lyrics for the hook – “If I could find you now, things would get better” – they knew it would work. “We didn’t know it was going to get radio play or MTV success. But we had a sense that it was a special song, one of the most accessible, massive-sounding pop songs that we’d ever written. But we didn’t know that song was going to change our lives forever.”

We’ve got reviews, think-pieces, and podcasts coming later this week as we say goodbye to the band. Their final self-titled album is due out on Friday.

Wenner to Sell 49% of Rolling Stone to Singapore’s BandLab

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Jan Wenner has sold a 49% stake of Rolling Stone to Bandlab Technlogies. Bloomberg reports:

After a five-decade run full of interviews with pop stars and presidents, the founder of Rolling Stone is selling 49 percent of the iconic magazine to an Asian billionaire’s son. It’s the first time Wenner has admitted an outside investor, a deal that encapsulates the plight of an industry fighting to stay relevant in an online age. Wenner Media LLC also owns Us Weekly and Men’s Journal.

National Voter Registration Day

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Today is “National Voter Registration” day. You can check if you’re registered and get signed up at a variety of websites. And don’t forget this video series about how to vote in every state.

It’s easy to keep putting this off, but the election is only a few more weeks away, and early voting is starting in many states already. So, yeah, make sure you’re registered, and vote.