Julien Bakerʼs latest album is one that I keep imploring people to check out, today she’s released a cover of Elliott Smith’s “Ballad of Big Nothing.” This track comes from the upcoming tribute album, Say Yes!.
Read More “Julien Baker Covers Elliot Smith’s “Ballad of Big Nothing””
Leading up to the release of Carry the Ghost, the second full-length album from Noah Gundersen, I was a little bit nervous. I loved Noah’s first LP, last year’s Ledges, so much that I couldn’t imagine the follow-up living up to my impossibly high expectations. If I had to pick a favorite record of the decade so far, Ledges would be it, so the thought of Gundersen making an album as good (or even better) was hardly something that I was even daring to hope for. Furthermore, the first track released from Carry the Ghost—the piano-led album opener “Slow Dancer”—showed that Noah was looking to flesh out his sound significantly on this record. Even on first listen, I really did love the song, but by the time an anguished electric guitar came ripping through the arrangement, I was worried that Carry the Ghost might fall victim to the pitfalls that singer/songwriters often encounter when they trade acoustic bedroom folk for lusher full-band textures. After all, we hadn’t heard a lick of electric guitar on Ledges.
We’ve teamed up with our friends over at the Hard Rock Online Rock Shop to put together an exclusive and limited edition pin as a way of commemorating and kind of saying goodbye to the AbsolutePunk.net logo. There are only going to be 200 of these made and once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, if you’d like one, definitely grab it. I wrote more about the history of the logo and its creation after the jump.
I know that the “six degrees of separation” is commonly linked to actor Kevin Bacon, but I think it’s time we made an exception to the theory and include Evan Weiss. Whether it’s through the seemingly hundreds of side projects he’s a part of (most recently Pet Symmetry and Their/They’re/There) or the handful of records he’s produced (ranging from bands like You Blew It! to Xerxes), it’s no wonder someone who’s definitely not me nicknamed the Into It. Over It. mastermind “the emo mayor” (consider this review my official apology for that, Evan). But a funny thing happened during the writing and recording sessions for his third album – turns out Standards isn’t an emo record after all.
Our first Friday with the new digs — not that I’ve had a lot of time to stay on top of upcoming releases the past few weeks. Our release date calendar was built to give you a listing of all the upcoming release dates in a clean and easy to browse format. I’ve also pulled out everything we’ve got on there that’s coming out today and put it below, and, of course, please check our forum thread for discussion on this week’s releases. I need to go make sure I check out that Explosions in the Sky album and see what people think about that Weezer release. Read More “Albums in Stores – April 1st, 2016”
PUP will release The Dream Is Over on May 27th. The video for “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” can be found on YouTube or by hitting read more to see the track listing and album art. The track is also up on Apple Music and the album is up for pre-order from SideOneDummy Records.
Frightened Rabbit will be on Steven Colbert on March 28th, St Lucia will be on Jimmy Kimmel on March 30th, and Weezer will be playing Jimmy Fallon on the 31st.
Blink-182 are gearing up to release their first new music with Matt Skiba in late April. KROQ’s music director got to hear some of the new tunes and is saying good things. So, the hype begins.
“I think any fan of Blink-182 is going to be ecstatic when they hear the music. I really do! It sounds like Blink-182 but it sounds like Blink in 2016. Lyrically it’s clever.” Worden explains that of the songs she’s heard, it’s primarily Hoppus on vocals with Skiba adding harmonies. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
This goes right along with stuff I’ve been hearing as well — that it’s very Blink sounding but more rock tinged than atmospheric. I think I’m most looking forward to hearing Mark and Matt together, if that works, and Travis is as good as we know he is, I’m sold.
The Movielife have released their first new song since 2003. You can stream “Future Feeling (Afraid of Drugs)” below by hitting read more.
Read More “The Movielife Release “Future Feeling (Afraid of Drugs)””
Warped Tour has announced their lineup for this year’s tour. The full list of bands can be found below by hitting read more.
Thrice have announced on Twitter that their new album will be titled To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere and will be “coming soon.” The artwork can be found by hitting read more
Read More “Thrice Announce New Album ‘To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere’”
The Hotelier have released “Piano Player” on Apple Music and Spotify. Pre-orders are also now available for purchase and the video for the song can be found on YouTube or by hitting read more.
Read More “The Hotelier Release “Piano Player” and Put Up Pre-Orders”
The 1975 have released their new video for “The Sound” on YouTube. The video includes real quotes from past critical reviews of the band. Their brilliant new album is also now available on Apple Music. Over the years when writing about music I’ve come across bands that I think are special, that have it, and that find their way into rarefied air in my music collection. This is one of those bands. This is one of those albums. I hope it means as much to everyone that hears it as it has to me.
Apple has publicly responded to a court order brought on by the FBI and US government asking them to purposefully break into one of their devices. There’s been a lot written on this subject today, so I’ve rounded-up what I think are the must reads after the jump.
The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.
Ah, Friday … album release day. I’m still not really used to albums coming out on a Friday, it’s just not totally built into my bones yet. The biggest album release this week, in our corner of the world, has felt like Say Anything dropping I Don’t Think It Is. Personally, it’s not doing much for me. If you hit read more you can see all the releases we have in our calendar for the week. An open thread has been made in our forums to talk about what came out today, what albums you picked up, and to make mention of anything we may have missed. I hope everyone has a great weekend.