I Too Am A Nightmare (Encore Episode 125)

Jason Tate May 27, 2016

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!

Zealyn – “Overwhelmed” (feat. Aaron Marsh) (Song Premiere)

Jason Tate May 25, 2016

Zealyn worked with producer Aaron Marsh (Copeland) on her upcoming EP, Limbic System, and today I’m excited to debut the track from it that also features Aaron on vocals. The song is called “Overwhelmed” and can be streamed below. Speaking about working on with Aaron on the song and tying their voices together, Zealyn says:

Having Aaron Marsh produce the EP was already incredible enough, but when the idea was brought up to have him featured on a song, I couldn’t believe it. His voice/songwriting is brilliant and so inspiring. It’s an honor to share a song with him! “Overwhelmed” directly sums up how the past six months have felt for me, and I believe everyone can relate to what I’m singing about. It’s about almost breaking under pressure and coming so close to giving up on everything you’ve worked towards.

A Friendship That Divides the NBA

Jason Tate May 21, 2016

Pablo S. Torre, writing for ESPN, on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade’s friendship:

It is the kind that, after 13 long years in this business, encourages them to think about the end. “We always say, ‘One day, we’re gonna stop dribbling this basketball,'” Wade says. “And yeah, while we’re playing against each other, we’re going to compete and we’re going to have fun. But life goes on way beyond this.”
“There is no loyalty in sports,” Union says. “It’s a business. Whatever loyalty exists is what you create outside the game. And when it’s all said and done, all you have is your relationships. A lot of retired guys have nobody. That’s a terrible, terrible feeling.”

Celebration Guns – “The Me That Used To Be” (Video Premiere)

Jason Tate May 18, 2016

I was feeling oddly nostalgic on the day Celebration Guns sent over this video to see about premiering it on the website, and something about the old home video footage worked so well with the music that it won me over almost instantly. The track, “The Me That Used to Be” comes from the band’s recently released EP of the same name. Frontman, Justin Weir, described the video premise:

The video features footage of me as a super hyperactive kid and while the lyrics have a general theme of reconnecting with youth and the associated beliefs and ideals that came with it, the video features the guys in the band reconnecting with the spirit of youth at an arcade, minigolf, and laser tag. Kind of a more personal look at Celebration Guns that hopefully brings about a nostalgic feeling overall.

Cassino – “Rose of Lee” (Song Premiere)

Jason Tate May 17, 2016

Cassino will be releasing their new EP, Bottlenecker, on May 27th and today I’m excited to premiere the new song “Rose of Lee” from it. You’ll find that below and can pre-order the album on iTunes. Nick, talking about the song said:

This song was the first one written after Kingprince. We had some of the same guys who played on Kingprince jam on this record. They tour with bigger pop-country acts, so it’s entertaining to let them loose and see what they come up with. Their understanding of the mathematics of music is interesting to me because they hear the songs sometimes at a different angle. We recorded this record in my friend’s log cabin north of Nashville in the snake infested woods of Smiley Hollow. It had two creeks and was fairly quiet most of the time. Ed said there was a wolf like creature haunting the woods around the house, and the dogs wouldn’t go outside. I came to the conclusion it was maybe some version of Ed’s soul haunting himself. Or a malamute.

How to Spot Fake Amazon Reviews

Jason Tate May 15, 2016

Lauren Dragan, writing for The Wirecutter:

The compensated-review process is simple: Businesses paid to create dummy accounts purchase products from Amazon and write four- and five-star reviews. Buying the product makes it tougher for Amazon to police the reviews, because the reviews are in fact based on verified purchases. The dummy accounts buy and review all sorts of things, and some of the more savvy pay-for-review sites even have their faux reviewers pepper in a few negative reviews of products made and sold by brands that aren’t clients to create a sense of “authenticity.”

Advance Music Culture (Encore Episode 124)

Jason Tate May 13, 2016

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.

Review: Good Charlotte – Youth Authority

Jason Tate May 12, 2016

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.

The Panic Sign

Jason Tate May 11, 2016

Panic are a great software company here in Portland, they have a sign on their building, they made it awesome.

With the Panic Sign, I wanted to do something similar — not just feel cool about seeing our name on a thing but also build in a little magic for the city, something special for the observant, curious, and knowledgable. And I thought we could take it one step further: we’d put the magic in your hand.

Don’t think I don’t change it to sorta-chorus-blue when I walk by.

Uncanny Valley

Jason Tate May 8, 2016

Anna Wiener, writing on N+1, with the best thing I read this weekend:

We get ourselves out of the office and into a bar. We have more in common than our grievances, but we kick off by speculating about our job security, complaining about the bureaucratic double-downs, casting blame for blocks and poor product decisions. We talk about our IPO like it’s the deus ex machina coming down from on high to save us — like it’s an inevitability, like our stock options will lift us out of our existential dread, away from the collective anxiety that ebbs and flows. Realistically, we know it could be years before an IPO, if there’s an IPO at all; we know in our hearts that money is a salve, not a solution. Still, we are hopeful. We reassure ourselves and one another that this is just a phase; every start-up has its growing pains. Eventually we are drunk enough to change the subject, to remember our more private selves. The people we are on weekends, the people we were for years.

Bored to Death (Encore Episode 123)

Jason Tate May 6, 2016

This week’s episode of Encore spends a lot of time talking about all of the Blink-182 news over the past week. We talk about the band’s new song, their new album, the entire thing about the song going up a day early and what happened there, and the band’s massive upcoming tour. We also talk a little about the new Drake album, answer a couple of listener questions, and, of course, talk about beer and basketball as well. You can find all the information to stream and/or download the episode below. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thoughts on Business Insider

Jason Tate May 5, 2016

Shane Ferro, writing at Medium:

I used to work at Business Insider. I quit after 10 months. The first three months were great. There was seltzer on tap, and whiskey tastings on Wednesdays and lots of smart, young, enthusiastic people around me. During the second three months the pressure to get more traffic and write a higher number of posts per day ramped up.
The last four months, I remember mostly tense meetings about how I wasn’t hitting my goals — five posts per day and one million unique visitors per month. I remember riding the elevator downstairs in the afternoons, hoping that no one would see me crying until I hit the front door and made a left from Fifth Avenue onto 21st Street. I cried a lot while pacing back and forth on 21st street in the summer of 2015. My anxiety got so bad I thought about quitting with no plan. It took my mother, my boyfriend, and my therapist together to convince me to stick around until I found something new.

This is the state of publishing online right now for the large publications. It’s why you get publications rewriting content. This is why it’s a mess.

Review: Thrice – To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere

Jason Tate May 5, 2016

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on May 5th, 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.

Ok, this is totally not really a “first listen,” this is more like an eleventh or so listen, but I have been having a lot of fun doing these the past few nights, and after getting the podcast done and up, and a bunch of news queued up for tomorrow morning, I found myself with about an hour to do things before I am going to call it a night. I could, maybe should, work on some features on the forum, but I decided that a Thrice live blog is what gets my time tonight.

Beer for the night: Full Sail “Pilsner”

The regular rules still apply: These are my first thoughts, totally fully of spoilers, mostly just a live blog of what I’m thinking, I can change my mind at any time, and feel free to ask questions!

Drafts Screencast Series

Jason Tate May 4, 2016

I’ve been a big fan of the iOS app Drafts for quite a while. Here’s the premise: open the app, get a blank screen to start typing, then after your thought is out — decide where to send it. One of my biggest uses is to type something and then append it to a file in Dropbox to keep a running list (movies to watch, gift ideas for friends and family, etc.). This video series by David Sparks is a great way to learn the ropes: highly recommended.