AM Taxi have posted up their new “mixtape” for sale on Bandcamp.
AM Taxi Release New Mixtape
Review: Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
About halfway through “Note To Self,” the third track off Modern Baseball’s new album Holy Ghost, Jacob Ewald earnestly proclaims: “There will be no more fucking around today.” On this particular song it’s mostly about Ewald taking control of his life, but that line can be applied to the Philly quartet’s evolution as well. The band’s first two releases (Sports and You’re Gonna Miss It All) catapulted the band from humble beginnings into playing shows with punk stalwarts like The Wonder Years, The Menzingers, and Say Anything. This rise set them up as the premier band on Run For Cover’s roster. But there was also plenty of fucking around on those albums while they blurred the lines between pop-punk and emo. On Holy Ghost, there are no more assholes with iPhones or songs about Chloe’s Twitter handle. Rather, Modern Baseball’s third LP works as a split release – Ewald writing and leading the first six tracks while Brendan Lukens undertaking the last five. On the surface this may seem like a recipe for an uneven listening experience; however, Holy Ghost rolls through its eleven tracks beautifully while touching on topics like finding love, battling depression, fighting addiction, and coping with mental illness.
The Ultimate Motion City Soundtrack Setlist
Last week I brought you the first installment in the “Ultimate Setlist” playlist. This week, I’m doing it again. This time it’s for one of my all-time favorite acts, Motion City Soundtrack. I’m not ready to pour one out, but the band recently embarked on their farewell tour, and I figured now would be as good a time as any to try and curate a career-spanning setlist. No pressure, right? Same rules as last time: 22 songs including a two song encore. The full track listing is below and you can find the playlists on Apple Music and Spotify.
Bad Timing Records Spring Cleaning Sale
My friends Thomas and Zack have been running Bad Timing Records for a few years now, and they’ve put out a bunch of great releases that are sure to have at least one artist you love on them. They’re having a “spring cleaning” sale to get ready to release some new music this fall and have written up a blog post talking about why it’s important for them to raise some money to prepare for these releases. First, they have great stuff so you should check out the deals and grab something. Second, I think it’s really refreshing just how transparent and honest these guys are about what they’re doing. We should reward that.
We want to keep doing this — every dollar we’ve ever made as a label has been put back into another release, and Zack and I have never paid ourselves a buck for doing this — but at the moment, we’re asking you for a little bit of help. We’re not out here begging or anything; the label isn’t about to close its doors if we don’t sell X-hundred albums during this sale. We’re not going to do a Kickstarter or a Go-Fund-Me or anything like that, either. We didn’t do that to start our label, and we won’t do it now. All we’re saying is — if there’s a Bad Timing release you’ve considered picking up in the past but for some reason have held off on it, chances are that you’ll find it with a pretty significant discount on this page. Consider adding it to that IKEA shelf you keep your records on.
Advance Music Culture (Encore Episode 124)
This week’s episode of Encore looks at “advance music culture” and what the expectations are for music bloggers that get sent music in advance. Has the music press become too “braggy”? Does talking about an album too much ruin the album for fans by building up expectations too high? What about bands that don’t want anyone to “hype” up their albums? Alongside the main topic we talk about Captan America: Civil War, Radiohead, Modern Baseball, and answer a few listener questions as well. You’ll find all the download and subscription information below, and, as always — thanks for listening.
Billy Talent – “Afraid Of Heights”
Billy Talent have released their new single “Afraid Of Heights.”
Ariana Grande – “Everyday” (feat. Future)
Ariana Grande has released her new song “Everyday” (feat. Future). This album sure is shaping up to be something special.
Dustin Kensrue on String Theory
Thrice’s Dustin Kensrue is featured on Ernie Ball’s “String Theory.”
Albums in Stores – May 13th, 2016
It’s a good week for new releases: that Modern Baseball album is being well received, I am looking forward to diving into the new one from The Living End, and I’m sure everyone’s going to be watching how Pierce the Veil charts next week. On top of that, David Bazan, Astronautalis, and Hatebreed all have new albums out, and are we still pretending 3OH!3 are relevant? I hope not. If you hit read more you can see all the releases we have in our calendar for the week. Hit the quote bubble to access our forums and talk about what came out today, what albums you picked up, and to make mention of anything we may have missed.
Supergirl Renewed for Season 2
Supergirl has been renewed for a second season and will be moving to The CW to join Arrow and The Flash.
The move comes as producer Warner Bros. Television had been looking for ways to reduce costs on the series, which ranked as CBS’ most expensive first-year show. Despite moving production from Los Angeles to Vancouver (where all of The CW’s other DC Comics shows are filmed), CBS ultimately decided that Supergirl’s ratings, even with a reduced licensing fee, did not justify a second season.
Bayside – “Enemy Lines”
Bayside have released “Enemy Lines” on Apple Music and Spotify.
Cool App: PodcastMenu
I’ve been singing the praises of Overcast for playing podcasts on iOS devices for quite a while now. It’s easily one of the most used apps on my phone and with the latest update allowing me to upload my own files to it, it’s becoming my audiobook player of choice as well. The app has always had a web interface that works well enough when I’m on my desktop computer, but I came across this awesome little menu bar app that lets you control the interface using the media keys on your keyboard.
If you’re like me, sometimes you’ll be listening to a podcast and need to quickly pause to think while writing a snarky blog post or check an email, and being able to use the built-in keys on the keyboard to do this really is a game changer. If you use Overcast and are looking for a way to bring your podcasts, and where you’ve left off in them, to your Mac — give this a look.
Neck Deep – “Can’t Kick Up The Roots” (Mark Hoppus Remix)
Review: Good Charlotte – Youth Authority
This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on May 12th, 2016. First impressions are meant to be quick, fun, initial impressions on an album or release as I listen to it for the first time. It’s a running commentary written while listening to an album — not a review. More like a diary of thoughts. This post has been lightly edited for structure and flow.
Hahah, ok, yeah, maybe not what people would expect me to do a first listen for, but the album showed up, and after I did a listen of The Living End’s Shift while queuing up news for tomorrow morning, I threw this on kind of as an after thought for fun, not really expecting much.
Um.
I like it. Like, it’s kinda really fun and good pop-rock music. Like, it’s kinda the best album the band’s written since Young and the Hopeless. Like, maybe it’s the two beers, but whatever, I’m gonna do another listen and write some thoughts about this one. News is queued up, to-do list for the day is done, and it’s too late to do any actual “work” for the rest of the evening.
Taylor Swift Believes in a Thing Called Love
After boosting Jimmy Eat World up the charts with her lip syncing of “The Middle,” Taylor Swift is back with a new ad for Apple Music this time highlighting The Darkness.