Carousel Kings – “Dynamite” (Song Premiere)

Carousel Kings

Today we’ve got the premiere for the new song “Dynamite” from Carousel Kings. The track comes from the band’s upcoming album, Charm City, due out February 10th. Lead singer, David Alexander, had this to say about the song:

“Dynamite” is one of the heavy hitters from the album and definitely one of our favorites to jam live. Where most of the album has a positive outlook, this song was written as an expression of the band’s thoughts/distaste/unhappiness about the current state of affairs. The song is a call for all who hear it to look inward for the answers pertaining to how we can possibly change the world we live in.

Pre-orders packages are currently up.

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It’s Gonna Be a Long Four Years Playlist

The first week in the reign of Trump has me in a bit of a mood. The guy’s a total clown and checking my Twitter feed is basically just an exercise in “what has this jackass done now?” — it’s gonna be a long four years. So, while I’ve been spending some time getting ready for the months ahead (organize, organize, organize), I’ve also been diving back into a bunch of punk albums to channel the swings of rage and anxiety. I tossed together a playlist of some of my favorites and put them up on Spotify and Apple Music to share with others.

If you’ve never been into some of the more political punk music, now’s a great time to check out what you’ve been missing. Also, feel free to hit me up with with any recommendations of other bands I should be listening to, I’m not expecting this hole to be filled anytime soon. And, lastly, please be kind to each other out there and look out for those in your community.

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Hobbies, Work, and Everything Between (Encore Episode 141)

Encore 141

On this week’s episode of Encore I am joined by special guest Jacob Tender. This week we discuss AbsolutePunk.net, SpinMedia, UnderTheGun and a lot of behind the scenes chaos that plagued the music web community over the past few years. Then we move into a discussion about creating things and the balance between hobbies, work, and everything between. We look at what it’s like to create things, when to know if they’ve failed, and why it is we both feel a need to create and put things out into the world. There’s also talk about the new MacBooks with Touchbar, some thoughts on AirPods, as well as collecting media and how we track what we listen to, read, and watch.

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Jason’s Favorites From 2016 Playlist

This week we revealed the Chorus.fm staff and contributor top albums of 2016 feature. Along with that a bunch of us put together our own individual lists and I decided to take some of my favorite songs from my list and put them into a playlist. You can find that on Spotify and Apple Music.

I figured this would be a good way to quickly check out any of the artists you may not have heard yet before diving into the full albums. Also I want any excuse to share “Drive It Like You Stole It” with more people. If anyone else has playlists they made of songs from their favorite albums this year, I’d love to check them out — feel free to send over a link.

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Chorus.fm’s Top 25 Albums of 2016

The Best of 2016

Well then. That was a weird year.

In many ways, 2016 was a whirlwind—a confusing and frustrating year that will probably always be defined by its political tension and long list of celebrity deaths. For our staff and community, 2016 was also marked by the end of AbsolutePunk.net and the birth of Chorus.fm, a major transition that brought some serious nostalgia about the place where many of us grew up online.

No matter where you were or what you were going through in 2016, though, you probably at least had a great soundtrack to keep you company. By almost every metric, 2016 was a remarkable year for albums. If you are a fan of pop music and superstar acts, there was certainly no shortage of marquee releases for you to sink your teeth into. Even beyond the blockbuster surprises and capital-I “Important” albums, though, the year was a goldmine. Rock music was vibrant, highlighting both new bands and longtime veterans. Country music continued a resurgence that even self-described country haters could get behind. Hell, even the movie musical came back in a big way.

In virtually every genre or category, 2016 provided a wealth of new musical treasures. It’s no wonder that our contributors placed votes for 267 different albums while compiling this list. Ultimately, though, it was the 30 records listed below that rose to the top.

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Most Anticipated of 2017 (Encore Episode 140)

Encore 140

On this week’s episode of Encore I am joined by special guest Deanna Chapman. The main topic this week is all about our most anticipated albums of 2017. What made the list and what did we decide to leave off? Do we really have to mention Brand New … again? We also talk about movies we are looking forward to, discuss music on TV shows, and nerd out about comic books a little bit.

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Best of 2016 & Rogue One (Encore Episode 139)

Encore 139

This week’s super sized episode of Encore features a lengthy discussion about our favorite albums of 2016. We go through our top 10 and break down why those albums were important to us this year. The second half of the episode is all about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — it is filled with spoilers so you can pause if you haven’t seen it yet and come back to it later. We wanted to give you a jam packed episode for the last two weeks of the year.

Hope you enjoy and have a great holiday!

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Jimmy Eat World – Live in Indianapolis (12/01/2016)

Jimmy Eat World

I’ve been listening to Jimmy Eat World for over half my lifetime. Crazy enough, the last (and only) time I attended a Jimmy Eat World show was in 2005 when they were opening for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. That’s pretty sad! Fortunately, I made some sort of amends this past Thursday when the Arizona quartet made their way through Indianapolis. Headlining one of those radio station holiday shows, the band played a 20+ song set that included a well balanced mixture of hits, deep cuts, fan favorites, and new songs.

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2016 Holiday Gift Guide

With the holidays rapidly approaching, I wanted to steal an idea I’ve seen on other websites and put together a few gift ideas that I think are pretty great to give and receive. Since I already have recommendation posts for albums, movies, tv shows, books, software, podcasts, blogs, audio-equipment, and random miscellaneous tech and around the house items, this list is focused mostly on things not included in those posts and more geared toward things I’ve come across in the past year or so that I think are worth checking out and that I think would make good gifts. As always, I only recommend things I’ve personally used and loved.

I used my Amazon affiliate link when the product showed up there, which gives our website a slight percentage back if you make a purchase, and therefore helps fund our continued existence. I hope you’ll find something cool, and feel free to drop your own recommendations in the comments.

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