Review: Japandroids – Near to the Wild Heart of Life

Japandroids - Near to..

“It’s a lifeless life, with no fixed address to give/But you’re not mine to die for anymore/So I must live.” On the list of the best lyrics of the decade so far, that one—the most climactic line from the Japandroids’ blistering, cathartic “The House That Heaven Built”—has to be near the top. To me, that line has always been a beautifully apt statement about growing up and moving on. I suppose you could read it as a lyric about a break up, but I prefer to see it as a vow to let go of the things that used to define your life and build new ones in their place.

In a way, that’s exactly what Japandroids are doing on Near to the Wild Heart of Life, their third full-length album and their first in nearly five years. Their last record, 2012’s Celebration Rock, was more appropriately titled than any other album released in the past seven years. Beginning and ending with fireworks, the album raged with pounding guitars, blitzkrieg drums, and shout-along choruses that could put anyone in a party mood. It was an album about being young, staying up all night, making memories with friends, and drinking way more than could feasibly be deemed “necessary.”

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Albums in Stores – Jan. 27th, 2017

There’s a lot of great stuff out today. We’ve got new music from the Japandroids, P.O.S., Cloud Nothings, Sinai Vessel, and Allison Crutchfield that are worth giving a look. 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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SetApp: Subscription Based App Store

Apps

SetApp is a new subscription plan for the Mac that gives you access to a bunch of different apps for a monthly fee:

Setapp gives you a growing suite of hand-picked apps in one signup. There’s no store — just a folder on your Mac, and no hidden costs — just a flat monthly fee. It’s simple, like shortcuts should be.

I’ve used quite a few of these apps over the years, and there’s some good stuff in there. Personally, I like owning the software I use and prefer one time payments for a handful of apps I obsessively pick, but this is an interesting alternative. Worth looking at if you wanted to try out some new apps at least.

Net Neutrality Is Probably in Trouble

Brian Feldman, writing at New York magazine on Ajit Pai, the new head of the FCC:

The net-neutrality debate is about whether one class of private entities, ISPs, should be regulated in order to allow millions of other private entities, users and businesses operating online, to operate freely. Pretty much everyone agrees that they should — except for the ISPs … and Ajit Pai. Pai even wrote a 67-page(!) dissent when the order was adopted. Even Google and Facebook support the principle, in part because they often buy up the smaller startups that flourish on an unfettered internet. Imagine an internet where, rather than buying Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook instead paid for a fast lane and forced Instagram out by other means.

As the proprietor of a relatively small internet website with a razor thin budget, and as a fan of the open internet, I’m not super happy about this.