Review: All Time Low – Last Young Renegade

All Time Low - Last Young Renegade
Jason Tate

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on May 19th, 2017. 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.

Oh yes, it is that time again … first listen time.

Tonight I’m excited to share a live-blog-first-listen thread all about the new All Time Low album.

My history with All Time Low is interesting. I remember seeing a lot of hype for the band around The Party Scene era and giving the songs a listen, I thought it was pretty run of the mill stuff, nothing really stood out to me. Then they released PUOSP and I was like, eh, ok, this is better, there’s some stuff here that I like, but as a whole, nothing really grabbing me. That was a three or so year long period of seeing the band, thinking they had potential, but nothing stood out to me as a “hit.”

And then the band sent me some demos for SWIR.

I heard “Dear Maria.”

I remember thinking, “yep, that’s the one.”

As a whole that was the first album I thought really nailed a pop-punk vibe and they had multiple tracks on that album I really, really liked. “Six Feet,” “Remembering Sunday,” “Stay Awake” … I felt like I finally got the band, even if I wasn’t really feeling the albums. That continued with Nothing Personal, an album where I really enjoyed a variety of songs, even more than the previous album, and this was the first time where I felt the band had put together a full album of songs. Something I felt like I would come back to time and time again and be able to listen to front and back.

Read More “All Time Low – Last Young Renegade”

Rare Fall Out Boy Demo Tape Being Auctioned Off

Jason Tate

A copy of Fall Out Boy’s first demo tape is being raffled off tomorrow by Christopher Gutierrez (HeyChris) to benefit The Catcade, a Chicago nonprofit cat rescue/arcade combo.

This is the first and original Fall Out Boy demo tape. Maybe like 50 ever made. One of the few pieces of early-2000s pop punk history I have collected that I said I would never sell, is now being raffled off to raise money for my non-profit charity @thecatcade – for every $10 donated between now and Saturday at TheCatcade.org , your name will be entered into a drawing and the winner will be chosen live and fairly this Saturday. Good luck.

Donations can be made here.

Lena Waithe Wrote Her Most Personal Story for ‘Master of None’

Jason Tate

E. Alex Jung, writing for Vulture:

“Thanksgiving,” the eighth episode of Master of None’s second season, is the most personal thing Lena Waithe has ever written. She and Aziz Ansari wrote the episode together in a hotel room in London, filtering her own coming-out experience through Denise, her character on the show. The episode is quietly epic, in large part due to the direction by Melina Matsoukas, who paid attention to the details from the cross on the wall to the plastic covers of the couch. “Thanksgiving” is a paean to the beauty of annual rituals and how we think about real and imagined families.

I absolutely loved this season of Master of None, and this episode was one of the highlights.

Lena Dunham Cancels Lenny IRL Tour, Citing Health

Lena Dunham
Jason Tate

Lena Dunham has canceled her upcoming Lenny: America IRL tour with Waxahatchee due to health reasons:

I’ve always been open with you all about the challenges I’ve been dealt with my health, even when it’s scary and embarrassing, even when it makes me feel weak or less than. So I’m not going to stop now, even though part of me really wants to, cuz enough is enough. My body, which I’ve worked through all kinds of pain for many years, just doesn’t have what it takes to do this tour. Lenny is about giving 100 percent of ourselves, 100 percent of the time, and I couldn’t bear to limp through this. Not for you, our favorite people, and not for the women giving their time to join me on the road.