I Too Am A Nightmare (Encore Episode 125)

Encore 125

The obvious topic this week is a look at Brand New’s new single “I Am a Nightmare.” Do we like it? Where does it fit in the band’s discography? Has Thomas finally come around on Daisy? It’s Brand New, so of course we’re talking about it for a while. We also spend some time talking about the new Chorus logo, the (great) Riot Fest lineup, and how Bandcamp has figured out a sustainable business model. We end by talking a little about what defunct pop-punk band we think we’d most like to come back for the summer. As always, thank you for listening!

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Review: The Hotelier – Goodness

The Hotelier - Goodness

Three months ago, Christian Holden, vocalist/bassist of The Hotelier, posted on the band’s Tumblr a very personal essay reflecting on how their last album, Home, Like NoPlace Is There, affected the band’s lives and how they were going to proceed in the future. The essay also featured Holden coming to terms with being a public figure and exploring trust, art, and “realness.” Somewhere in the middle of the post Holden writes, “And I think this is what bums me out about the wishy-washiness of rock music and performance. Realness is a treasure in life. I don’t want to see uncritical postured realness. I want transparency.” And, well, you can use that declaration as the thesis statement for The Hotelier’s stunning new album, Goodness.

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Albums in Stores – May 27th, 2016

Well, this is one hell of a great day for music. We’ve got Thrice, The Hotelier, and PUP releasing new albums and I think that they’re all great in different ways. Take your time with each, dive in, and let them dominate your ears for the next few months. 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.

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The Car Seat Headrest Recall Cost Matador Records $50,000

Car Seat Headrest

Matador’s head of sales Rusty Clarke revealed to the A.V. Club that the situation where Car Seat Headrest’s album had to be recalled cost the label over $50,000.

“This is definitely an unprecedented situation,” Clarke told The A.V. Club. “We’ve never had to actually recall an album from retail before.” And while the physical loss is huge, as no part of these recalled products are salvageable—which pushes the album’s physical release to July—fans that pre-ordered digital copies were also put out. “We’d had it up for pre-order since March, so it had accrued a fair number of pre-orders at iTunes and Amazon and Google Play,” says Clarke. “We were able to switch out the audio that the artist re-recorded and we had mastered in a 48-hour turnaround, which was kind of amazing… but we had to redeliver it elsewhere. That means that we lost our pre-orders. So that was a little bit sad, too. And, of course, it’s not a great customer experience for those people who had pre-orders. Now they’ll be essentially confused as to why they’re not getting their album delivered.”

Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

The Hotelier

Ian Cohen, writing for Noisey, about The Hotelier’s new album:

The second path, surprisingly, was that of Brand New. Not in the sense that the Hotelier had become a band welcomed at any variation of Emo Night or that they’d even one day headline Madison Square Garden. Here was my friend’s explanation of the Brand New model: “They’ll make every wrong move that turns out to be the right move.”

Yes, the artwork is at the top.