Brand New – “I Am a Nightmare”

Jason Tate

Brand New’s new song “I Am a Nightmare” is now available on YouTube, Bandcamp, and from the band’s webstore.

Update: This song comes from the band’s upcoming album, as confirmed by the press release for the song:

The song—produced by Brand New and longtime collaborator Mike Sapone, mixed by Vince Ratti, and taken from the band’s upcoming release—will be available via all Digital Service Providers this week and can be pre-ordered now on vinyl.

Emphasis added.

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Cassino – “Rose of Lee” (Song Premiere)

Cassino
Jason Tate

Cassino will be releasing their new EP, Bottlenecker, on May 27th and today I’m excited to premiere the new song “Rose of Lee” from it. You’ll find that below and can pre-order the album on iTunes. Nick, talking about the song said:

This song was the first one written after Kingprince. We had some of the same guys who played on Kingprince jam on this record. They tour with bigger pop-country acts, so it’s entertaining to let them loose and see what they come up with. Their understanding of the mathematics of music is interesting to me because they hear the songs sometimes at a different angle. We recorded this record in my friend’s log cabin north of Nashville in the snake infested woods of Smiley Hollow. It had two creeks and was fairly quiet most of the time. Ed said there was a wolf like creature haunting the woods around the house, and the dogs wouldn’t go outside. I came to the conclusion it was maybe some version of Ed’s soul haunting himself. Or a malamute.

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Remembering ’90s Swing Music

Stereogum
Jason Tate

Tom Breihan, writing for Stereogum, with a remembrance of the late ’90s swing revival:

Looking back, it’s hard to figure out how all this shit happened, but there are some threads to pick at. After grunge began to pass out of favor, this stuff seemed like its polar opposite: sharp rather than slovenly, crisp and efficient rather than wild and intuitive, knowingly silly rather than deadly self-serious. Within the rapidly atomizing alt-rock universe, there was a hunger for something smooth and sophisticated. A few years before the grunge revival popped off, there was the deeper-underground but just as silly lounge revival, with Combustible Edison releasing music on Sub Pop and a ton of Esquivel reissues coming out. But if you’re looking to blame the swing revival on anyone, blame Hollywood.

Sinéad O’Connor Found Unharmed in Chicago

Sinead O'Connor
Jason Tate

This morning there was a missing-person search for Sinéad O’Connor but thankfully local police tell The Hollywood Reporter that she was found, unharmed, in a Chicago suburb.

On Monday morning, a statement from the Wilmette Police Department said officers are “seeking to check the well-being of Sinead O’Connor. O’Connor reportedly left the Wilmette area for a bicycle ride yesterday at 6:00 a.m. and has not returned. A caller has expressed concern for her well-being, and no other information is available at this time.”