It’s a slowish album release day today, but the big release is probably the new one from The Weeknd. Guttermouth’s new EP is also out today, and so is the new album from Busted. 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.
The Bombpops have signed with Fat Wreck Chords and will release their new full-length, Fear of Missing Out, on February 10th. They’ve also released the new track “CA in July.”
Obviously, I think this is a great signing.
Law 360 is reporting that A Day to Remember has been freed from their Victory Records’ contract and awarded a $4 million verdict.
An Illinois federal jury released Florida-based rock band A Day To Remember from a 2006 recording contract Tuesday, finding that the band had fulfilled the five-album deal and awarding its members $4 million in withheld proceeds from music and merchandise sales.
Following a two-week jury trial and a day and a half of deliberations, an eight-person jury returned a multipage verdict that largely favored the band, also known by the initials ADTR, in a legal dispute against record label Victory Records Inc. that began in 2011.
We’ve been hearing for years that “rock is dead,” but let’s just be honest: 2016 has been a damn fine year for rock music. Between new classics from the likes of Butch Walker and Jimmy Eat World, a Green Day album that was better than I ever expected a Green Day album would be in 2016, a sterling goodbye from Yellowcard, another strong round of emo releases led by The Hotelier, and the most ambitious Dawes album yet, 2016 has been the best year for rock in recent memory.
You can add Max Fite’s Shake It On Down to the list. An up-and-coming outfit from the Los Angeles area, Max Fite strike an effective balance between garage rock, 1990s brit pop, and whiskey-soaked southern rock. Held together by the voice of frontman Max Fitelson—who himself sounds like a mix between Craig Finn (The Hold Steady) and Noel Gallagher (Oasis), the band’s collision of different sounds coheres surprisingly well.
In 2006, Brand New were a band known mostly for their work as one of the Long Island based pop-punk bands that managed to make it to a national stage. They were winding down from the success of their 2003 sophomore record Deja Entendu, an album that saw the band eschew the pop-punk tag in favor of more complex and dynamic songwriting, in addition to exploring more introspective themes than their contemporaries.
The sonic shift experienced between those first two records was nothing, however, when compared to the shift between the second and third. Complications arose in January of 2006 when nine demos leaked. This leak stalled the band’s creative process, further delaying their third LP. Though the band was vocal in their disappointment about these songs making it to the internet, it may have been for the best. And then, on November 21st, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me was unleashed onto the world. I think it’s fair to say that most of the people who have listened to the record have found themselves greatly affected by it. Why is that? I can only really answer by explaining my experience.
Read More “Brand New – The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me”
Earlier this year, in a 10-year retrospective piece for Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium, I talked at length about the impossibility of double albums. The crux of my argument there was that the double album was something of a cautionary tale. So many artists have tried and failed to make compelling double albums, free of filler and with enough thematic or sonic cohesion to hold together over the course of two discs. Even as a songwriter myself, I can’t fathom wanting to attempt a double album. The idea of writing lots of songs is that you can take the finest ones, the ones that best cohere to your vision, and put them on a record together.
Father John Misty’s new track, “Holy Hell,” can be streamed below.
Green Day performed “Bang Bang” and “Revolution Radio” on Kimmel last night.
The notable bands on your television this week include: Green Day (Kimmel; 11/21), Halsey (Kimmel; 11/22), The Killers (Kimmel; 11/22), Ok Go (Colbert; 11/23), Green Day (Corden; 11/22).
A documentary about Frank Turner, titled Get Better: A Film About Frank Turner, will be released on December 13th. A trailer has been released.
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness’ new album is now up for pre-order. The new single, “Brooklyn, You’re Killing Me,” is also up on digital platforms.
Read More “Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness Posts Pre-Order and New Song”
Today sees the release of the new Bruno Mars and Metallica albums. I’m most looking forward to giving the new Pully album a spin. 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.
Certain Women. It’s there in the title. This is a film about certain women. Their lives are interconnected in certain ways, large and small, always existing simultaneously. Their stories share some themes, but their stories are different in other ways. This is a slice of life film where the lives we’re witness to are so fully realized that even the mundane, routine, and unspectacular are rich and layered. It is a precisely made film, with art in every frame, presented with masterful control. Kelly Reichardt has crafted something fascinating, something special.
There isn’t much to the plot of the film, which feels weird to say about a story that involves a hostage situation. Yes, a disgruntled man holds captives with a gun, but this is no action movie. Just as tense as the sequence featuring Laura Dern in a bulletproof vest approaching a gunman is a sequence in which a lonely rancher drives four hours to see the woman she has a crush on but barely knows, unannounced. In a similar vein to films such as Margaret and Boyhood, we’re witnessing situations that mean very specific things to certain people, but the world around them continues to move forward, Earth still spinning, lives continuing on. Just three stories, each elevated by the context of their surroundings.
John Mayer has released his new single “Love On the Weekend.”
PUP have released their video for “Sleep in the Heat.”