Liner Notes (May 10th, 2019)

Jason Tate May 10, 2019

New Blink-182 music week means I’ve got a lot to say.

I’ve decided to try something a little different, and I’m going to start sending out this newsletter to anyone that would like it via email. If you’d like to have it delivered to your inbox each week, you can sign up here. On the website itself, it will remain a supporter only feature, but I put a lot of time into it each week and want it also to reach more people. And I’ve heard from some supporters that they wish they could share it with a few friends, so I’m going to try this and see if it may be a happy medium. I hope that if you sign-up to read it, and like it, you’ll end up becoming a supporting member so that I can keep writing it. To give you an idea of what you’ll get each week, I’ve made this issue free for all.

In this week’s roundup, I write a lot about Blink-182’s new single and everything surrounding its release. I also share some thoughts on new music I heard this week and the albums coming out that I think are worth your time. Then I go through my usual weekly media diet, share a playlist of ten songs I loved this week, and share some of the new things I rolled out around the website.

This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Reminder: If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, you can sign up here.

In the Spotlight Playlist (2019)

Jason Tate May 8, 2019

On Monday we unveiled the first batch of artists from our In the Spotlight feature, yesterday we shared the second, and today I’ve got playlists featuring all of the recommended tracks from the entire list. Hopefully you’ll find something new to love. Enjoy.

You can find those on Spotify or Apple Music.

In the Spotlight: 50 Bands You Need to Hear in 2019 (Part Two)

Jason Tate May 7, 2019

Yesterday we brought you part one of our annual In the Spotlight feature, and today I’m excited to bring you part two.

You’ll find the second group of 25 artists, along with blurbs, recommended songs, and sounds like comparisons, below. Tomorrow we’ll share a playlist of songs from the included artists.

In the Spotlight: 50 Bands You Need to Hear in 2019 (Part One)

Jason Tate May 6, 2019

Today I’m excited to launch the third version of our In the Spotlight feature. This is the annual feature that continues the tradition of the “Absolute 100” and hopes to introduce you to a whole bunch of new music that should be on your radar.

Just like years past we’ve compiled a list of 50 artists we think are worth your time. Some of the artists recently released their debut albums and some have been around for a while now. However, the one thing they all have in common is that we think they should be in the spotlight and are worthy of your ears. You’ll find the first group of 25, along with blurbs, recommended songs, and sounds like comparisons, below. We’ll release the second batch tomorrow and a playlist of songs from the included artists on Wednesday.

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Liner Notes (May 3rd, 2019)

Jason Tate May 3, 2019

It was a nostalgic pop-punk heavy kind of week.

In this week’s newsletter, I share what new features I’ve been working on for the website and talk about my dive back into The Starting Line’s catalog. I also share thoughts on some of the new music released this week and go through my usual media diet. Plus, there’s a playlist of ten songs I loved. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Read More “Liner Notes (May 3rd, 2019)”

Drew’s Untitled Review Roundup – Vol. 2

Drew Beringer May 2, 2019

On the latest edition of Drew’s Untitled Review Roundup (or DURR), I dive into some of the more underrated emo records of the year plus a surprising addition to the metalcore canon from an unlikely group of musicians. As always, thank you for reading. Enjoy Volume 2 of DURR.

Liner Notes (April 26th, 2019)

Jason Tate Apr 26, 2019

Lots to write about this week.

In this week’s newsletter, I write about spending the week listening to Blink-182 and revisiting some of the interviews and articles from the early 2000s with the band. I explore how this band defined my entire personality as a teenager and young adult and how, even with all the fun memories, that probably wasn’t super healthy. Then I write about the new Taylor Swift song, and that turns into a rant about feeling left out when I have a “medium take” on a topic and how I dislike when motives get ascribed to an artist we can’t possibly know. Then there’s my weekly musical and entertainment diet rundown and a playlist of ten songs I loved this week. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Liner Notes (April 19th, 2019)

Jason Tate Apr 19, 2019

A quick reminder that we’ve got a new merch shop full of Chorus.fm and AbsolutePunk.net merch.

This week seemed to fly by at hyper-speed. In this week’s newsletter I run down the music I enjoyed this week and share a playlist of ten songs I loved, then I go through my usual media diet of movies, TV shows, and books (it was heavy on one TV show this week). The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Drew’s Untitled Review Roundup – Vol. 1

Drew Beringer Apr 18, 2019

A few weeks ago I got burnt out. Good-to-great records have been releasing at such a rapid pace (never a bad thing!) and I wouldn’t be able to write a quote-unquote traditional review for every single one. It overwhelmed me to the point of an incredibly paralyzing writer’s block. Then the idea hit me. It’s not an original one as round-ups have existed since the dawn of blogging, but every week or two weeks I’ll do these roundups where I write 1-2 paragraphs about 3-6 albums that’ve released over the past few weeks. I’ll still do the occasional “longer” form of reviews, but primarily I just want to write something about an album I really enjoy without feeling like I have to write 400-500 words every time. So with that out of the way and a hat tip to Steven, welcome to Drew’s Untitled Review Roundup (or DURR). Thank you.

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Interview: Tom Lanyon of Ceres

Zac Djamoos Apr 18, 2019

Three years ago, when I reviewed Ceres’ sophomore album Drag It Down on You, I said “Tom Lanyon sounds pissed.” But that isn’t the case on We Are a Team. Lanyon sounds happy. Hell, the first line of the record is “I’m gonna get happy.”

That isn’t the case when talking to him, either. He’s quick to laugh, quick to joke, and seemingly eternally grateful to be able to make music that connects with people. I got the chance to talk to Tom about the band’s upcoming We Are a Team, out next week.

Liner Notes (April 12th, 2019)

Jason Tate Apr 12, 2019

Sorry for this being a little later than usual, but I had a late lunch with friends and just now finished getting it all written.

In this week’s newsletter, I write about creating the new Chorus.fm shop and review my order of three t-shirts that arrived this afternoon. I share some thoughts on music, TV, movies, and books I enjoyed this week, and share a playlist of ten songs I loved. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Introducing the Chorus.fm Shop

Jason Tate Apr 8, 2019

One of the things I’ve wanted to do for a very long time is put together a merch store of some kind. I wanted to do this going back to the AbsolutePunk.net days but could never get the support needed to do it. I’ve played around with a few different options over the past three years, but when I saw Less Than Jake post up their Threadless shop last week, that was the kick-in-the-ass to make this a priority. I had a lot of fun putting this together last week, and I think it’s a good first step with a bunch of simple and classic designs. If you want to browse for yourself, you can check out our Threadless shop right here.

You’ll find the Chorus.fm logo in various designs, like a full color centered logo that looks great on darker clothing, the logo on the left breast, the logo in a monochrome white (centered, and breast), and a monochrome black logo (centered, and breast). All of the shirts come in various t-shirt weights and colors (I’m partial to the tri-blend). And there’s tanks, sweatshirts, hoodies, and longsleeve shirts as well for men, women, and kids. And there’s also various products like mugs, stickers, bags, and pillows available as well.

Along with the Chorus.fm merch, I’ve also finally realized my AP.net merchandise dream by putting the classic AP.net heart logo on merch as well. There’s the left breast version, a version with the logo and text that sat at the top of the website for years, and a fun “music mends broken hearts” shirt for if you want to remember the slogan that 16 year old me thought was amazing. These come in all the same colors and clothing options as the Chorus.fm logo.

I also tossed the Encore logo on some shirts as well, and the AP.net heart logo is available on other items like stickers, mugs, pillows, and things like that.

Take a look around, and if you see something you like, please grab it. I don’t make much per sale, but the little bit that I do will go right into keeping this website and community running. And when it shows up, please send me some photos so I can see it all out in the wild. I can’t wait for the first story of two people meeting in the wild in our little website’s shirts and giving a knowing nod.

All of the merchandise is digitally printed and processed via Threadless. They have product and sizing information on each product page and a 100% happiness guarantee (if you’re curious about the brand of t-shirts printed on, you can find that information here). If there’s an issue with your order you can email them and they’ll make sure it gets taken care of. I’ve ordered a couple of things off Threadless in the past and was happy with the quality. As I said, I love their tri-blend shirts. I even ordered three of these over the weekend. (Yes, I’m going to be the guy wearing shirts with both of my website’s logos on them.) I plan to add other designs and products to the shop in the future, and if you ever have an idea for a product or design, let me know!

Track List: April – Breezy Days & Stretching Legs

Trevor Graham Apr 8, 2019

Welcome back to Track List, your monthly dose of 30 songs aimed to match the time of year, sequenced into a playlist for you to vibe out to however you see fit. Hopefully some names will be familiar, and hopefully some will give you a new discography to dive into. Drop me a line with some of your seasonal favorites and check back every month for a new playlist.

You can find the playlist on Spotify and Apple Music and read more about the selections below.

Liner Notes (April 5th, 2019)

Jason Tate Apr 5, 2019

Another week is in the books.

This website turned three years old on Monday and as a thank you to everyone I’ve made this edition of my weekly newsletter free. You’ll find some thoughts on music I listened to this week, my weekly media diet roundup, and some news on the new Chorus.fm shop that will be launching early next week. There’s also a playlist full of ten songs I loved this week. The supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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The Third Anniversary of Chorus.fm

Jason Tate Apr 1, 2019

Today marks the official third anniversary of launching this website.

This year was another great one for the community. There were quite a few new features added to the website, and we saw good growth in pretty much every metric that matters to me. One of my goals for the year was to start writing a whole lot more, and that morphed into a weekly newsletter that is now regularly over 1,500 words a week. I didn’t podcast nearly as much as I wanted to, but the episodes we did release I’m really proud of. My goals for 2019 are to try and figure out a way to make regular podcasting a thing I can do again, continue my weekly Liner Notes, add some new features to the forums that have been on my to-do list for a while now, and start re-thinking what a redesign of the main website could look like and what it would take to write that code and implement it.

I’m able to do these things because of the support of so many of you. I can’t thank those of you have become supporting members of the website enough. That this number, specifically, keeps increasing is why I know I can keep doing this website for another year. It’s because of your support that this website can exist and I can work on it each day. If you’re not a supporting member yet but enjoy visiting and reading, I’d love if you’d think about signing up. We’re getting so very close to this being the only job I have to have, and I’m getting excited thinking about the possibility of diving into a significant code re-write and re-design and not having to worry about needing to stop and take a freelance job in the middle.

I always find it fun to look back on the past year and evaluate everything that has taken place, over the past twelve months we’ve seen:

3,684 new articles posted on the main site. (13,086 total)
1,912,545 words have been published all time.1
802,906 new forum posts were made. (2,700,066 total)
11,381 new registered accounts. (93,338 total)
1,367,965 likes given out since last April.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that visits this website each day. It’s been an incredible journey from AbsolutePunk.net to Chorus.fm and beyond. I feel extremely lucky that I get to do something I love and care about each day and it’s a true pleasure to be able to talk about music, pop-culture, entertainment, and technology with so many of you.

1,053,621 written by me.↩