The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.
Tyler Hayes
Switchfoot: “Oh Gravity†will be one of my favorites of 2007 even though it technically came out in 2006 (by a few days)
Bryce Jacobson
Take a listen to Motion City Soundtrack‘s back catalogue as they prepare to release their new single next week.
Also if you have some extra cash on hand this week pick up The International Drive‘s new album, Finish What You Started, out this Tuesday.
Adam Weidman
Give Weatherbox and their new record American Art a spin.
Boys Like Girls took out their acoustic guitars for 3 songs in the AOL Music studio for Sessions Under Cover. For the cover song, the pop-rockers did ‘Let Go’ originally by Frou Frou which was made popular on the ‘Garden State’ soundtrack.
Artist: Stung Out
Album: Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: June 12, 2007
Overall: 8.0
Music: 7.0
Lyrics: 8.0
Production: 9.0
The wait for new Strung Out material is over! Strung Out is back with their seventh full-length album Blackhawks Over Los Angeles. They return with a more focused and driven approach to their songwriting, melding punk with melodic hardcore. It’s not a significant change from their earlier material, so fans won’t be disappointed. However, I’m a Strung Out fan and while I was listening to Blackhawks Over Los Angeles and it got to the fifth, sixth, seventh track etc. I was soon wishing they had changed things up. They are prolific almost to a fault. Although the band has grown over the years, they really haven’t progressed much musically or lyrically. I’m fine with that though. Maybe its nostalgia and the familiar predictability I know I can expect from Strung Out, but they will always have a place in my music collection.
The opening track “Calling†starts with a western melody that then turns into melodic punk-hardcore sound that has a similar flow as “Downtownâ€. The lyrics behind the songs are strong and flow well with Jason’s vocals. From those two songs and as well as the other songs on the CD are written on the subject of war, not necessarily what’s going on but the people that are caught in the middle of it all. Songs like “Letter Home†tells the story of a soldier writing to his family not knowing what might be the outcome for him and coming to a realization of what were his reasons for going to war. Although some songs touch on the subject of war, Blackhawks Over Los Angeles has a catchy pop-based song like “All The Nations†and their titled-track “Blackhawks Over Los Angeles†along with “Mission Statement†has that familiar sound that is Strung Out.
Their seventh full-length record is one that their fans will like and new ones will enjoy. From their opener “Calling†to the heartfelt personal song “Letter Home†about a soldier Strung Out has managed to keep their influence of punk, hardcore, and metal alive on Blackhawks Over Los Angeles.
Track Listing
1. Calling
2.Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
3. Party In The Hills
4.All the Nations
5. A War Called Home
6. Letter Home
7. Orchid
8. Dirty Little Secret
9. Downtown
10. The King Has Left The Building
11. Mission Statement
12. Diver
Lovedrug had their van and trailer stolen while staying at a Motel 6 in Southgate, MI this past Friday. If you have any information on the situation, thee band is asking that anyone contact Molly at Bradstreet Entertainment.
Molly @ Bradstreet Entertainment: 607-331-9374 or molly at bradstreetentertainment dot com
Motel 6
18777 Northline
Southgate, MI 48195
Lovedrug Van:
Green Ford E-350 Club Wagon 15 passenger
Vin # 1FBSS31S65HB27675
Lovedrug Trailer:
Black United Expressline Trailer
Ohio License #TNE4861
Indie Vision Music will release “Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 2” on 07.07.07. This is an all unsigned/independent band compilation with contributions from artists all over the country and beyond.
Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 2
Tracklisting:
1. Olivia “Feelings
2. Sophia “Mocking Birds After The Picture Show”
3. Take It Back “Lights In This Town”
4. Avery Pkwy “Sleep Now”
5. Someday “The Sink Is Here Cause I Got Problems”
6. Thyne Scabbard “Call of God”
7. Kings to You “Strike Back”
8. All But Screaming “Wide Eyed”
9. Quick and the Dead “Nothing Changes”
10. Spacepilot “Without Stitch”
11. Abandon Kansas “Minutes”
12. Stand The Gaff “Frankly My Dear”
13. One Star Story “Near To Far”
14. Death Is Not Welcome Here “Facing Today”
15. Newvale “Summer’s Gone”
16. Fixed Til Tuesday “Heaven Knocking, Hell Rising”
17. The Distance Between “Building Bridges”
18. The Relay “Back Seat Driver Sara”
19. Ashcroft “Behind the Bruised”
20. The Trade “White Noise”
Check out: www.myspace.com/heartsbleedpassion to hear clips of 5 songs.
Matchbook Romance‘s “Monsters”, will be included in the upcoming game Guitar Hero III. The game is due out this fall, check out more of the lineup below.
“Cherub Rock” by Smashing Pumpkins *
“Cult of Personality” by Living Colour
“Even Flow” by Pearl Jam
“Knights of Cydonia” by Muse
“The Metal” by Tenacious D
“My Name Is Jonas” by Weezer *
“Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones
“Rock and Roll All Nite” by Kiss
“Sabotage” by Beastie Boys *
“School’s Out” by Alice Cooper
“Slow Ride” by Foghat
In Addition, bands confirmed to be contributing to the game include:
Queens of the Stone Age and Velvet Revolver.
Project 86 has posted their new video for “Evil (A Chorus of Resistance),” check it out below.
Envy On The Coast has finished their new album and will be calling it Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray will be in stores everywhere August 7th. EOTC is adding to their current touring plans by announcing some headlining dates in late July with their friends Kaddisfly, Danger:Radio and Powerspace.
Pre-order the Paper Rival (Formerly known as Keating) EP now at Smartpunk for only $5! Click here to pre-order.Head over to myspace to listen to A Fox In The Garden , an unreleased new track from the debut self titled EP hitting stores on July 10th
Say Anything are over half done recording their new album. Max has posted an update via the bands MySpace page.
hey y’all
bemis reporting in on our continuing recording progress. we are about 65-70 percent done tracking our new record, In Defense of the Genre. the rest will be done here in los angeles. we are trying to keep a lot of shit under wraps for the fun of it, but just to torture you i’ll reveal a few details about what we’ve done so far.
a) we’ve completed drums, bass and guitar on 95 percent of the songs except for a few strangely arranged ones that will involve much more than drums bass and guitar.alex is playing all the bass on the record, wheras I (Max) played the bass on… Is a Real Boy.
b) we recorded most of the record at quite-famous electric lady studios in new york city (built by hendrix). we even tracked a lot of the record in the same room that weezer recorded the blue album in, and most recently guns n’ roses completed their unreleased opus.
c) as of now there are A LOT of songs on the record.
d) our friends from various projects and bands will be involved in singing and playing on the record.
e) the record is another “concept album” (god help us) but this time (tentatively) the songs will appear in order of the story they tell, which is far more direct and personal than the last record’s story.
f) brad wood is producing our record. he produced sunny day real estate’s first two records as well as liz phair’s and albums by placebo,smashing pumpkins, mewithoutyou, that dog and more. he is our dawg, and doing an amazing job.
g) this record will be the best say anything music you’ve heard thus far, at least in our opinion. i mean we’re four years fucking older, max is four times dirtier and crazier, coby’s got four times as much party in him, and alex has quadrupled his collection of gnomes, bathsoaps and other hippy shit. the point is, we are proud of what we’ve created; it’s not just somethign new but something deeply
connected to the direction the music has been going for the 8 years of this band’s existence..we plan on doing a bunch of oh-so-fun press surrounding the album so check back here for a few new interviews in the near future that will reveal even more about the record.
thanks for your patience,
max and say anything
