Brie Larson stars in a new Funny or Die video as the fourth Haim sister.
Brie Larson Is the Fourth Haim Sister
Envy on the Coast Stream New EP
Envy on the Coast’s new EP, Ritual, can be streamed below via Billboard.
Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Have a Heart” Video
Cymbals Eat Guitars have released a video for “Have a Heart.”
The Dickies Verbally Abuses Crowd Member at Warped Tour
The band The Dickies were assholes at Warped Tour on their last day of the tour. They posted a pretty ridiculous statement on Facebook about the entire thing and at this point I’m just exhausted by how prevalent this nonsense is.
Safer Scenes’ take is right on:
If you don’t want misogynist rants on stage at your event, make a policy for performers, and have sound crew and security enforce it. Another good way to keep misogynist rants off your stages: don’t book artists that have attacked women fans, don’t book misogynist bands.
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88 Fingers Louie Stream New Album
88 Fingers Louie’s new album can be streamed below via New Noise Magazine.
Mogwai – “Party in the Dark”
Mogwai have released their new song “Party in the Dark.”
Weezer – “Feels Like Summer” (Acoustic Version)
Weezer have released an acoustic version of “Feels Like Summer.”
Ryan Key + Emo Night Brooklyn
The xx – “I Dare You” Video
The xx have released a video for “I Dare You.”
Jimmy Eat World – “Get Right” Video
Jimmy Eat World have released a video for “Get Right.”
Silverstein Release Recording Documentary
Silverstein have released a studio documentary for their upcoming album.
MTV News Laying Off Writers
MTV News is laying off a bunch of their writing staff to shift toward video and short form content for a younger audience. Variety reports:
Among the most significant changes — MTV has reached an agreement with the Writers Guild of America East to represent MTV News staff members. As part of that agreement, MTV News is parting ways with fewer than a dozen staffers and several freelancers. The news division is in the process of hiring additional personnel to focus on video and short-form content.
I actually thought MTV had been putting out some pretty good written content over the last year. A shame to see how difficult making money online has become for most publishers.
The National – “Guilty Party”
The National’s new song “Guilty Party” is up on Apple Music.
Bringing First Impressions to the Main Site
For as long as I can remember I’ve been doing some version of “first impression” blogs about music on the internet. It started back on AbsolutePunk.net in my blog as I’ve always loved being able to offer some thoughts on an album without the full pressure of an official “review.” My original idea was a more free flowing and less structured way to comment on music usually after having only heard an album one or two times. Today we’ve got things like our forums and social media to serve as a similar medium for putting together opinions on something without it needing to feel too official. I like that. It’s freeing.
One of the things I’ve been doing for supporters in our supporter forum is these first listen/first impression live blogs for certain albums. The basic idea is the same as always: I listen to an album and I do a little live blogging of my thoughts, impressions, and feelings as I listen to it. It started out as a fun little way to talk about music and once again helped me feel free from some of the pressures of “official” reviews on music. It’s been a lot of fun and it seems like everyone really enjoys reading them. Now, one of the downfalls of using the forum for this is that it’s not as easy to archive and save these pieces for posterity. And they’re behind the community package paywall and therefore unaccessible to patrons of the main website. Today, I’m fixing both of those problems.
Review: Captain, We’re Sinking – The King of No Man
Captain, We’re Sinking’s The Future Is Cancelled was one of the most impressive punk albums in recent memory. It’s a tense listening experience, as songs burst and crash with little warning; vocalists Bobby Barnett and Leo Vergnetti jumped between near-inaudible whispers and throat-damaging howls at the drop of a dime, singing harrowing stories of depression, alcoholism, and suicide. It all felt spontaneous, necessary.
The King of No Man feels a bit more rehearsed. Where before the band had more jagged edges, they’ve smoothed them over. Instead of finding catharsis through ragged shouting as on The Future, No Man finds it in quieter moments, to varying effects. Opener “Trying Year” ushers this new era of Captain, We’re Sinking in appropriately, pumping the brakes every time one would think Barnett’s getting ready to let loose (although he or Vergnetti does sneak a pretty impressive guitar solo in there). “Hunting Trip” is a slowburn comparable to “A Bitter Divorce” with a less intense payoff, finding Barnett singing the song’s climactic final lines over a clean guitar line. It feels a bit toothless in the end, like there should’ve been a little more push to end out the song, and it sort of sputters out rather than exploding. Then there’s “Dance of Joy,” a bizarre, drum-led song that would never fit on The Future Is Cancelled. It’s weird to even think the same band wrote this song and “Shoddy Workmanship,” but it ends up being one of the album’s highlights, due in good part to Vergnetti’s powerful vocal performance.