Sorting Through My Inbox

A guest blogger for PMA did a post a few weeks back about the adventures of a low-level music blogger and his email inbox, a story to which I could relate all too well. I, too, a couple dozen emails a week from promotions companies asking me to listen to their next big thing. More often than not it's either terrible or not worth the time (example: "indie dance pop fused with rock" = terrible. Band saying 'check out our MySpace page for song samples' = "not worth the time". Don't make me work that hard to hear your music). Every once in awhile though, something good breaks through. I give you some of those examples.

Exile Parade are raw, raucous and just a little bit sloppy. In other words, they're exactly what rock music could use these days. With the Foo Fighters taking a break for a few years, the stage might be set for someone like Exile Parade to give rock music a swift punch to the kidneys.

Exile Parade - Heart into Suicide

Love, She Wrote take four-chord punk rock and give it a better-than-average lead singer (given the state of punk rock these days, that's a compliment) and some catchy lyrics. Overall they're not the most memorable thing you'll hear, but they've at least got enough talent and hook to warrant a few listens, which is more than I can say for countless others.

Love, She Wrote - December Nights

Lastly, I've got Letha Allen. Letha Allen is what I wish soft rock sounded like more often. It's got less forceful and more mellowed out than standard rock n' roll, but at the same time, it doesn't put me to sleep (looking at you, Fleet Foxes). If you're a fan of Counting Crows or Ryan Adams, this is a good place to pick up something new.

Letha Allen - You Do It Right

That's it for now, back with a little more soon.

==TJ==

Fall Out Boy Show Madness, Yet There Is Method To It

Did you know Fall Out Boy were releasing a new record on Tuesday? If you did, you seem to be in the minority. The once ubiquitous punk band have but one mild radio hit in play right now in "I Don't Care" (#22 on the Top 40 this week). It's true, Folie A Deux lacks the immediate gratification that previous FOB albums gave, but this album signals Fall Out Boy's graduation from the standard pop-punk outift into a smarter, diverse band. Give it a chance, and Folie A Deux will reward time and again.

It takes the better part of the first song "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" for Fall Out Boy to get into a rhythm that can resonate with listeners (I bought in right around the chanting "Detox just to Retox!"). Unlike their previous work, Fall Out Boy seem less interested in making music that gets people singing along and more interested in making people shut up and listen to what they're trying to say. Whereas other albums featured a good blend between Pat Stump/Pete Wentz's lyrics and the tight music, this one's all about Pete Wentz's take on fame, fatherhood, and politics. On "I Don't Care" Stump defiantly declares "I don't care what you think as long as it's about me". Likewise "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on A Bad Bet" has the band singing "I will never end up like him / behind my back I already am". Make no mistake; there's nothing stupid about this record.

That said, the emphasis on substance over spectacle makes it a more difficult listen. With no herpes-esque infectious hooks to force listeners to come back, individual tracks on the album are far less memorable. Lil Wayne helps keep things fun on "Tiffany Blews", and "The (Shipped) Gold Standard" stands out as a surprise favorite amongst the hit-and-miss later tracks. There's nothing wrong musically here, it's just not what listeners or radio programmers have come to expect from the guys who wrote "Dance, Dance".

Folie A Deux is already drawing comparisons to modern punk classics American Idiot and The Black Parade. While this record may match those in sheer ambition and scope, Fall Out Boy come up short here in regards to making something I can imagine going back to years from now when I want something representative of the rest of their career. All in all I see it more as an equivalent to Magical Mystery Tour, with a lot of great ideas and great passion in the music, but trying too hard to say something and forgetting that it's supposed to be musically pleasing too.

Final Score: 7/10
Fall Out Boy - The (Shipped) Gold Standard
Fall Out Boy - Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes
Buy Folie A Deux on iTunes today

Pearl Jam Celebrating 18, 19, and 20 Years With Re-Issues

We now have Rolling Stone's first guaranteed five-star review of next year.

Pearl Jam announced last week that they will be re-releasing their entire catalog between 2009 and 2011 in celebration of the band's 20th anniversary, starting with a remastered version of their debut classic Ten, set to be re-released March 24th. According to the band's website, there will be four different versions, with all manner of special additions, among them:

-Remixed album by Brendan O'Brien (some of these remixes appeared on the Rearviewmirror Greatest Hits album)
-DVD of the 1992 MTV Unplugged performance
-LP of the infamous 1992 "Drop in the Park" concert
-Cassette tape of "Alive", "Once" and "Footsteps" demos with Eddie Vedders vocals (only recently uncovered by Jeff Ament)

And that's just the beginning. The Super Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order now at the "What Recession?" price of 140 bucks, but shipping's free if you're a good ol' red-blooded American (or at least if you have an American address). Below is the full info on all 4 versions (I'm setting aside some cash for the Deluxe Edition).

1. Legacy Edition (2-disc set in mini-LP style slipcase):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· Re-designed packaging

2. Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD specially designed hardbound package):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix

3. Vinyl Collection (2-LP set)
· LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
· LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien

4. Super Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD, 4 LPs and replica cassette in linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box):
· Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
· Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
· DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix
· LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
· LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien
· LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park – Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O’Brien)
· Cassette: replica of original “Momma-Son” Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring “Alive,” “Once” and “Footsteps”
· Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam’s early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert.

Again, this is the first in a series of re-issues of every Pearl Jam album. Suffice it to say I'm glad I've held off on picking up the entire PJ catalog thus far.

Official Press Release on Pearl Jam's Website

Pearl Jam - Black [iTunes]

==TJ==

The Part Where My Roommate Gives Me A New Favorite Song - Updated

A post that's apropos of absolutely nothing other than the fact that I heard and fell in love with this song last night, courtesy of one roommate and one good friend.

The Veronicas - Untouched


That opening string bit had me at 'hello'. Listen as needed. Love it ad nauseum.

The Veronicas - Untouched [iTunes]
(Thanks Matt)

Breaking down the GRAMMY Nominations; 2008 edition

A performance from the Foo Fighters still wasn't enough to get me to watch the Grammy Nomination show last week, but now that I've bothered to take a look at who the Recording Academy's children told their out-of-touch parents should be nominated, it's time a take a look at a couple categories

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Coldplay, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, Raising Sand
Radiohead, In Rainbows

For the most part this category is in order. Viva La Vida was the surefire album to get nominated, and deservedly so. For no other reason than its mold-breaking publicity stunt Radiohead deserved a spot. Tha Carter III is a shout-out to the bloggers who know what they're talking about. Robert Plant and Allison Krauss are this year's Herbie Hancock, the old folks who put out an OK-but-not-great album who could steal it all because they're respected artists paying tribute to a respected (read: old) style of music.

The Ne-Yo pick still confuses me. Granted, I still need to hear Year of the Gentleman, but the singles I've heard so far were best described as bland. If they were going to nominate an R&B/Soul record, I would've gone with the better/more successful Exclusive by Chris Brown.

Who Should Win: Radiohead's gone 0-for-2 on AotY nominations, and I feel like In Rainbows is their best chance at scoring a nod. That said, I see a gunfight breaking out between Coldplay and Lil Wayne to score this one. I'm gonna say this is Radiohead's year.

RECORD OF THE YEAR
"Chasing Pavements", Adele
"Viva La Vida", Coldplay
"Bleeding Love", Leona Lewis
"Paper Planes", M.I.A.
"Please Read the Letter", Robert Plant and Allison Krauss

"Chasing Pavements" has no business sharing this category with Coldplay and Leona Lewis. Likewise, the only part of "Paper Planes" I like is the gunshots in the chorus. I like the Plant/Krauss song, but this category is already locked up. That said, where the hell is Duffy on this one? "Mercy" should have been a lock for this category. Grammy fail.

Who Should Win: Coldplay Coldplay Coldplay.

BEST NEW ARTIST
Adele
Duffy
The Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

Once again, Grammy's definition of "new artist" needs to be examined. According to their official website:

(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)

Anybody read that and think this is Grammy's way of screwing over smaller record labels? This makes me wonder how many mainstream artists are getting boned by the academy because they won't sign their souls away to the Big Four. Look for another rant on this soon.

Who Should Win: Duffy's the best in this group, but serious doubts as to her chances. Best New Artist is always the toughest one for me to call (Paramore got ROBBED last year).

BEST ROCK ALBUM
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay
Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock
Only By The Night, Kings of Leon
Death Magnetic, Metallica
Consolers of the Lonely, The Raconteurs

Again, Coldplay has a chance to win big. But Jack White has been a Grammy darling for a few years now, so nothing's locked in. The only one here that doesn't quite make sense is Kid Rock, but I'm willing to let that slide.

Who Should Win: Tough call. I think it comes down to Coldplay and Metallica.

That's gonna be it for now, as I have other projects to work on. I'll be revisiting htese nominations over the coming weeks, and I'm expecting to do a running diary again this year. Till then, post your own thoughts here.

Ringleader, Celebrity or Queen, Britney's Back for Real This Time

Finals week and a failing computer made blogging damn near impossible last week, but fear not. I plan to make up for it this week, with at least one post tonight, and more coming in the next few days. Now, to my much-delayed review of Circus, Britney Spears' much anticipated second comeback record in as many years.

After leaving listeners scratching their heads with last years rushed, overproduced Blackout, Spears returns with the record she should have come back with. Circus is an honest, enjoyable listen that proves that Britney still has some talent lying around someplace. First single "Womanizer" is unabashedly fun and a return to the sex-driven pop that made Spears famous a decade ago. Circus looks, sounds and feels like what we should be expecting from a now 27-year-old pop princess of yore. The music is still brilliantly catchy, alluring to men and women alike (for varying reasons, mind you), and yet, you can still catch glimpses of how weary Spears is from the last few years. The token ballad "Out From Under" would fit in just as well on any previous Spears record, and "My Baby", an obvious tribute to her children, may not fit in with the rest of the album quite so nicely, but its no fault of Britney since its just as powerful a song.

That said, the album shines brightest when its fast and club-ready. The title track is the kind of song that proves folks like Avril Lavigne and the interminable Katy Perry owe us an apology for half-assing it. Likewise the already controversial "If U Seek Amy" (say that title very fast) probably has Lavigne and Perry cursing their songwriters for not coming up with something so brilliant and so raunchy first. All of the latent sex appeal that made Spears such a hot topic 10 years ago comes out of hiding on Circus as she stops giving a damn what critics and parents might say; she is one now, and she's just fine with what she's doing, thank you very much.

Overall Britney Spears delivers a shining moment in pop music in a year that's been marred with a bunch of would-be's trying to take her place. Katy Perry was just keeping the throne warm for a little bit, and Spears takes her place once more. Long live the queen.

Final Score: 8/10
Britney Spears - Circus

Back later this week with a much more timely review of the new Fall Out Boy record, plus my take on last week's GRAMMY nominations.

==TJ==

Best Of 08: The Bloggers

Finals week is a terrible time to have a computer go on the fritz, but lo, my 2003 Dell, the one that got my brother through college and has lasted me the 2 and a half years of my college career thus far, has fallen ill. This means blogging is gonna be a bit harder to do consistently for the next week or two (harder than it already would have been whatwith it being finals week). But I'm taking a break from studies to hammer out one entry, the first this month, and the first in the Best Of 08 series.

No, I'm not making grandiose statements about the best record to come out this year. Not yet, anyway. Starting things small with the best music blogs on the internet this year. Every music blogger reads other people's sites. It's how we know what's making waves and what's worth posting about on our own sites. Agreeing on a fellow blogger's music tastes aren't a necessity, just the fact that you're reading and seeing what other people are putting out there is enough.

2008 was a huge year for ¡Viva La Mainstream!. It was the year that VLM suddenly got added to the list of blogs others read, and the year that this little project that started out when my girlfriend told me I needed a hobby grew to something much larger than that. A great deal of that is the result of you, reading this now, and over the next month I will thank you profusely for your contribution, but part of it also comes from the other bloggers who have stopped in and had a thought provoked by the words on this site. So without further guilding the lily and with no more ado, I present the 2008 VLM Blogroll Awards (I promise to have a cooler name for those by 2009).

First one goes to my colleague Matt at Addicted to Vinyl. Matt was probably one of the first bloggers to take VLM seriously, and in so doing his blog and VLM have found each other making dialogue with each other many a time. Matt was even cool enough to bring me along to Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore this year. Kudos, Matt, and keep up the awesome bloggage.

In tandem with Matt I should point out Broken Headphones, as written by Brian, a comrade of Matt's and fellow VMF festival-goer.

One of the first blogs I ever encountered was Idolator, a site that I recently learned is only about 6 months older than this one. They also certainly win the award for most thorough blog in the bunch. No group, genre, or artist is sacred on Idolator; if they did something, they'll talk about it. Idolator goes down as one of the blogs where I don't generally agree with the sentiments posted, but their sense of wit and fun when it comes to the music business, as well as their consistent updates over the course of a day is amusing enough to keep coming back for more. That said, if I see one more post taking snarky jabs at Dave Grohl or Hayley Williams, Maura Johnston's gonna get a knock at her door.

Kidding...kidding...

Then there's Luis & Co. over at Pretty Much Amazing. First I want to point out two fantastic guest pieces that showed up on the site; one here that talks about life as a low-level music blogger who has to try to sort through all the emails of promotion companies BEGGING you to check out the next huge thing, and one here that breaks down just how blog darling The Hype Machine has affected what we do. PMA covers mostly pop music, with the occasional Hype Machine pandering foray into remixes, indie bands and the like, but for the most part PMA is the place to go to get your Top 40 fix...with a twist every once in awhile.

It is my personal belief that everyone who calls themselves a music blogger should read I Am Fuel, You Are Friends. Regardless of your attitudes toward the music posted there (I'm lukewarm to it, but this Matt Nathanson post was great), Heather Browne is a stellar writer. Fuel/Friends is probably the high-water mark for music bloggers who want to do more than just report the news and post mp3s, if you ask me.

The good folks over at The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown post some great stuff too. They first won me over with a small army of Foo Fighters' B-Sides, and haven't really let up since.

And one final award goes to Mixtape Maestro, a guy who's been reading my blog far longer than I realized, and does some excellent work on his own page.

I think that's everybody. Of course there are bands who do some cool stuff on their sites (NIN, anyone?), but I wanted to get the average joes out of the way first. I'll be back sometime soon with another post, but much depends on a lot of variables right now.

==TJ==

Weekend WTF: Bee Gees Drink Some Powerthirst

That's right, back for a limited engagement this weekend only, it's the return of the Weekend WTF!! This one comes by request from my good friend Ray. Ray went to go see The Aquabats at the Trocadero last week, and opening for the band was a group calling themselves Tragedy. Tragedy bill themselves as "An All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees". If you're eyebrows are somewhere on the ceiling right now, it's OK. Mine were too. Then Ray showed me some video (note: the video below is not Ray's, as his were posted only to facebook. Hoping he'll youtube them sometime soon, as they were far better quality than this one)



As ridiculous metal covers go, this one's actually pretty damned good. Ray and I were both duly impressed with this one. Below you'll find the band's MySpace and official page. Sadly Tragedy is done touring the US for now, but expect them back sometime in '09, and if you have some cash to spare and don't want to deal with bands who take themselves too seriously, go give Tragedy their due.

Tragedy Official Website
Tragedy on MySpace
Tragedy - Stayin' Alive

==TJ==

Kanye Gives Us his Broadway Moment

Re-posted with streams instead of links

In theater we describe musicals as being scenarios where the stakes get so high that characters can't express themselves through words anymore; they feel so strongly about the given situation that they have to sing. That same idea is what drives Kanye West's new album, the remarkably divisive 808's & Heartbreak. Released less than a year after the death of West's mother and breaking up with his fiancee, 808's presents a drastically different side of the self-proclaimed voice of this generation. While purist rap fans will scoff at West's turn toward unfiltered emotion and honesty, those willing to let Kanye pour his soul out on his terms (and really, after the hits he's given us, don't we owe him that much?) will find an arresting, albeit flawed listen.

808's and Heartbreak features none of the ego and spectacle that's made Kanye West a household name. The album opens with West letting his barriers down to show that he's really hurting on "Say You Will". Between the warbling "hey, hey, hey, hey"s and the admissions that he misses the mystery girl, it's hard to suggest the hurt is anything but genuine. On the first single "Love Lockdown" 'Ye switches gears and becomes the one dealing out the hurt, declaring "Where I want to go / I don't need you". "Paranoid" and "Heartless" are the two songs closest in style to the West of old, with bouncy choruses and a touch of self-confidence, while "Amazing" lets Kanye's ego out for a little sun, while letting Kanye get to work his pipes (and Auto-Tune). The heart-wrenching closer "Coldest Winter" brings the record full circle, offering an emotionally charged tribute to Kanye's mother. Across the board 808's and Heartbreak is an honest record, immortalizing West's feelings in a style far different than anything we've heard from the man before now.

Kanye's feelings and passion are palpable throughout every track, and for the most part that carries this record a long way. Moments where other artists would sound cringe-inducingly bad are forgiven here because it's accepted that Kanye must be really commited to a song if he's willing to sing rather than rap it. That said, West is still a rapper first and foremost, and he's not ready to make the jump completely on this record, which hurts the product in some spots. "Amazing" sounds like it belongs, but its message doesn't fit the theme of the rest of the album, and his collaboration with Lil' Wayne "See You In My Nightmares" feels forced into this album, not really belonging in any sense. I applaud Kanye for taking a sharp turn out of his comfort zone and being fully committed to that turn for the most part, but this is by no means a perfect album.

808's and Heartbreak will likely be remembered as Kanye letting off steam in the wake of an unimaginably difficult year. it's very much a product of what Kanye was feeling in this present moment, and I don't foresee West continuing this path on the next album. Having said that, Kanye West has taken a jump with his music that few artists in any genre dare make, and for that it's only fair to give Kanye massive amounts of credit for his effort.

Final Score: 6.5/10

Kanye West - Heartless


Kanye West - Street Lights



==TJ==

The Crash Motive Coming To An End

No radio show today as I'm getting ready to head home for Thanksgiving break. Lots of blogging today though.

This news will probably not get picked up by anyone else, but it means something to this blogger, so we're gonna give it its due.

Delaware-based rock outfit and friend to ¡Viva la Mainstream! The Crash Motive will be disbanding at year's end. In a message sent out to the band's mailing list, lead singer Derek Fuhrmann announced that The Crash Motive's remaining three shows in 2008 would be his last with the band, at which point he'll be leaving the band to record a solo record in New York. The other members of the band have further decided to not continue on as The Crash Motive. The nonsinging band members intend to continue on a new project, but details on that project are not available yet.

The Crash Motive were one of the first up-and-coming bands I wrote about here, way back in the early days of this blog. They were also one of the first bands to take VLM seriously, offering me promotional considerations and the like after I reviewed their album Consequence. It saddens me a bit that I will likely never see them live (their last all-ages show is this Friday), but all the same I wish the band nothing but great success in the coming year.

The Crash Motive - You Can't Know It All [iTunes]

==TJ==

At Long Last, A Chinese Democracy Review (And I'm Not Kidding This Time)

I have a much different angle on Chinese Democracy than most of my blogging peers. When Use Your Illusion came out, I was probably sitting in front of a TV watching Sesame Street at the tender age of 2 years, 11 months (This is where I duck while my peers throw things at me for making them feel old). I haven't waited 17 years, endured the countless broken promises and trainwrecks that led to yesterday's unimaginable final chapter. I came into this story far later, as a music fan who discovered GN'R well after the original lineup abandoned ship, when the mythical album had already become a punchline. So for me Chinese Democracy's release is much more of a historically significant event, rather than the emotional release that Guns N' Roses fans of old might be feeling right now. But I digress. The point is, Chinese Democracy is real (the album anyway), and while those waiting 17 years might feel a bit let down, it's still a damn fine album, and certainly not lacking in anything fans want in a Guns N' Roses record.

The title track takes a full minute to get going, but by the 61st second guns are blazing. It's fast, it's dirty, and Axl isn't interested in easing people in. Rose may be 46 years old, but you couldn't tell from his voice. The song sounds dangerous, ballsy; like the GN'R of old. From there we get "Shackler's Revenge", which keeps things fast and rocking, but former guitarist Buckethead's avant-garde texturing bogs the track down. If someone wants to pick apart Chinese Democracy, they'd do well to start with Buckethead. His work is admirable standing alone, but on this record it takes songs that could be humongous rock songs and sucks the hook out of them, turning them into artsy, atmospheric sludge. Think Radiohead cranked up to 11. The worst example is "Sorry", a 6-minute would-be opus that has Axl bearing all, while the rest of the band does little more than mark time.

Rose, on the other hand, is in top form. The two ballads "Street of Dreams" and "This I Love" let Axl pour his heart out while the strings and keys play on. On the other hand "Riad N' The Bedouins" is a gem, a sign that the Guns N' Roses that rose to the top with "Paradise City" isn't gone forever. Second single "Better" gets better with every listen, the kind of track that modern rock needs to hear right now (take notes, Three Days Grace). The whole record feels very precise, as though nearly two decades of work went into every note, line and phrase of the album (wait...). More often than not Rose's perfectionism pays off, as the record manages to balance sounding clean and professional and being truly rock and roll. "Better" is a very polished affair, but still makes room for Axl's gut-wrenching growl to show through. "Madagascar"'s sampling of speeches in the bridge is pure production, but is among the best songs Chinese Democracy offers. As a whole, as Axl goes, so goes the album.

The simple fact that Chinese Democracy is on store shelves makes it a memorable release. The fact that its so excellent is just an added bonus. People who've waited 17 years might not find it to be all they hoped for, but that's a result of the lack of Slash, Izzy and Duff on this record. If you go in accepting the fact that you're not hearing the explosive lineup that sold millions of records in the 90s, you're bound to hear something truly enjoyable. Axl Rose can sleep soundly tonight knowing he's done well. Let's just hope I'm not 37 when the next Guns N' Roses album comes out.

Final Score: 9/10

==TJ==

Jesus to John Lennon: "Yeah, It's All Good"

It took 42 years, but the Vatican is finally ready to make nice with The Beatles. In its newspaper on Sunday, the Vatican announced that it had forgiven John Lennon for a controversial interview in 1966 in which he stated that The Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ. The report more or less came down to the Vatican realizing that Lennon was coping with sudden success, and the fact that Beatles' recordings are still so ridiculously popular 40 years later (The White Album turned 40 this week) means that its time to let bygones be bygones.

Any snarky joke I'd put here would end up in bad taste somehow, I think. I'll just point out that Lennon died 28 years ago after spending his post-Beatles career campaigning for peace, and they're just NOW deciding that everything's cool.

==TJ==

Ducking For Cover

Want to clarify something I said in the last post that garnered some comments:

I don't believe that Blink 182 is my generation's The Police in terms of their talent or quality of music. Naturally The Police are a significantly better band. I meant that it seemed like the careers of Blink and The Police are strikingly similar. Both bands exploded rather unexpectedly and developed a rabid fan base. Over the course of their respective tenures, both bands grew and reached out in directions that listeners didn't expect, culminating in records that totally changed the way in which people viewed the band (Synchronicity and Blink 182). Both bands then came undone in a very public manner resulting in a seemingly irreconcilable breakup. The biggest difference is that Sting was actually able to have a successful career without The Police, while +44 and AvA demonstrated that Blink was only as good as the sum of its parts.

Hope that clears it up. I don't know what (if any) band matches The Police's success and talent in my generation. Part of what made The Police so huge was their worldwide appeal. I don't think any band has acheived that AND had the raw talent to back it up. *Nsync, maybe (with Timberlake in the role of Sting), but the comparison is still very flawed. That gives you a sense of what I was trying to say though.

This week is looking like review week here at VLM. In the next few days you'll get reviews of new albums by:

Guns N Roses (expect this one in the next few hours)
Kanye West
Scott Weiland
Britney Spears
and perhaps a surprise or two if the Gods of Music and Blogging deem it so.

[tangent: Is there a God of Blogging? If so, think he's got a blog? I feel like that blog would be like the ultimate LiveJournal, where said God just rants and raves about all the crazed keyboard-wielding lunatics and the ideas they insist on making public. /tangent]

==TJ==

Blink 182 'Reconnecting'; Reunion Speculation Heats Up

Just a few short months after Travis Barker was nearly killed in a tremendous plane crash that killed 4 people, he and the other members of Blink 182 are apparently back on speaking terms for the first time in four years. According to a blog post written by former Blink bassist (now with +44) Mark Hoppus, the punk trio that sold nearly 12.7 million albums between the mid-90s and their split in 2004 have met face to face and communicated with each other for the first time since their well-publicized breakup. The blog post reads:

in the midst of everything else that has happened lately, tom, travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing. obviously the first question for a lot of people will be “does this mean a blink-182 reunion?” the answer is none of us know. we haven’t talked about it at all. right now it’s just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect, and let the past be the past. the events of the past two months supersede everything that happened before. life is too short.

That pretty much poses and answers every question on the minds of Blink fans everywhere. While I'm glad to see the band is talking again, too many things need to happen before a reunion can take place. +44 and Angels and Airwaves (Tom DeLonge's band) are both still under contract for at least one more album, which means that little actual work can get done with Blink until those contracts are up. Travis Barker is also still recovering from injuries in that plane crash, so that's slowing things down too. All in all I think it'll be at least a year and a half before any talk of a Blink 182 reunion can be taken seriously.

Blink 182 are sort of the Police of my generation. Both had wild success during their time, leading to dissent amongst the band and a messy, very public breakup in which the members of the band stopped talking to each other for some time. It took 23 years before The Police could get back together for a tour. I'd be amazed if Blink 182 got back together after just 4 years away and did anything near what they were up to when they split. So while I want to see another Blink record in the near future, I also hope it's not too soon.

Blink 182 - The Rock Show [iTunes]

==TJ==

[Hype Machine Readers should Bookmark Me (Ctrl + D)]

The Killers Lay Tribute At the Altar of All Things '80s

[Hey Hype Machine readers: Most of my posts aren't being picked up anymore as a result of me trying to dodge Blogger's anti-DMCA iron fist. If you're reading this on hypem, bookmark me the old-fashioned way (Ctrl+D) and check back regularly for mp3 goodies and some awesome music stuff.]

The Killers are many things, but bashful sure as hell ain't one of 'em. The Las Vegas band's debut Hot Fuss was pure 80s glam worship at its finest, making it one of the surprise hits of 2004. After letting Brandon Flowers indulge his Springsteen fantasies on their slightly misguided Sam's Town and blowing off steam with the Sawdust compilation, The Killers come back reaching for the sky and ready to work this year with the bombastic Day and Age. This new record is a recognizable third step in the band's progression, taking the best elements of the two previous records and creating a monster of an album that is nothing if not grand, fun, and completely lacking in apologies.

Day and Age comes in with full '80s bombast in the form of "Losing Touch", a track that mixes the synthesized wonder of Hot Fuss's "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" with the brass-band, blue-collar rock that permeated Sam's Town. From there the album doesn't skip too many beats, offering loud, sing-with-the-windows-down fun rock music. Flowers' lyrics make about as much sense as they always have (read: not too much, but who cares?), but when the melodies touch the sky and the music forbids you to listen sitting down, the indulgent musing is forgivable. First single "Human" gets better with every listen, and matches nearly every single The Killers have ever released (except maybe the epic "All These Things That I've Done"). "Joy Ride" is another bouncy, unwavering classic in the making. If you get the leaked version that I snagged or the iTunes release, bonus track "Forget About What I Said" is the kind of song you put on repeat for an hour and just enjoy however you choose. The only false note on the entire album is the closer "Goodnight, Travel Well". For some reason The Killers seem to think they need to announce when they're done playing with a song saying just that. The sooner Flowers and co. realize they can just leave the stage with a final bang, the better their records will get.

Day and Age resembles what would happen if The Police and Bruce Springsteen got into a marching-band style war, each trying to outplay the other. The winner here is whoever's listening. The Killers sound like they hit their mark in full force this time around. There's no hesitation whatsoever on this record, and certainly no shame. Day and Age is a sweeping, unapologetic tribute to the glam, the goof, and the ego that the 80s embodied. And damn it if Day and Age isn't the best job the Killers have ever done to pay homage. By putting forth significantly less effort, The Killers have put together their finest work to date, an album that rewards with every trip through.

Final Score: 9/10
The Killers - Human
The Killers - Joy Ride
Pre-Order/Buy Day and Age on iTunes

==TJ==

PS: Check out the poll question in the sidebar at the top of the page.

Coming Up Today on ¡VLM! on the ARC

=Breaking down Kanye's 808's and Heartbreak
=What few highlights exist from David Cook's solo record
=I continue to proclaim my undying love for Hayley Williams
=Plus beginning to construct the Best Of 08 list

All today at 3PM on The ARC

radio.arcadia.edu

==TJ==

David Cook's Record Everything We Thought Nickelback's New One Would Be

Finding a copy of David Cook's self-titled record proved much harder than I initially thought. My usual seedy sources came up short, and the leak that was circulating above ground was of poor quality. So it was only yesterday when I finally got to listen to the bugger. In truth, knowing what I know now, I probably could've stood to wait a bit longer.

David Cook's post-American Idol record is exactly what so many feared it would be. The rock influence that won Cook so many fans on Idol is virtually nonexistent on the album. In its place is shlocky, paint-by-numbers radio fare that has a decent shot on radio, but is utterly devoid of the balls that Cook displayed earlier this year. "Declaration" sets the stage for the rest of the album with a below-average anthem in the vein of Collective Soul and Nickelback. Except its nowhere near the quality of either. "Permanent" is as dry and boring as a ballad could possibly be, and "Life on the Moon" is an awkward, unimaginitive affair. Nothing on this record, not the songwriting, not the music, not a damn thing matches up to Cook's work with Axium or the oft-bootlegged Analog Heart.

The album is saved from completely crapping the bed with glimmers of hope like "Bar-Ba-Sol" which actually shows off some testosterone in its up-tempo pace and less than pristine drums. "A Daily AntheM" is perhaps the most honest moment we hear on this record, a slightly better than expected tribute to Cook's brother (the capitalized letters spell lil' Cook's name). But even that doesn't match up to "AC", the song he did with Axium. And Cook gets his growl back on on "Kiss on the Neck", perhaps the finest overall track in this set. There's one problem though; "Kiss on the Neck" is the hidden track, appearing ten minutes after the last song. David Cook feels mismanaged, overproduced, and ultimately underwhelming.

As I tend to do in moments like this, I blame the label. Cook's label wanted so badly to score some cash in the form of radio play that they abandoned what made him popular in the first place in favor for their tired, established method. The songwriting, which Cook helped with, is good, but not nearly as good as anything Cook has written by himself (see: Analog Heart). The extra 'help' on the record makes it sound less like Cook himself and more like the people who got to put their hand in the cookie jar. It basically comes down to there being too many "Cooks" in the kitchen, when in reality one could've done a much better job. I can only hope that Cook gets another record and take the few successes from this botched, forced attempt and use them as a new foundation.

I can't believe I'm about to type this next sentence, but here goes. If you find yourself with 10 bucks to burn on music tomorrow, skip over this and pick up Nickelback's new album. It's far more consistent, and believe it or not, it's much better written and performed than anything on this abortion of a record.

Final Score: 4.5/10

==TJ==

Review: Nickelback - Dark Horse

Chances are not many folks are going to take the time to review the new album from Nickelback and will instead just give it a categorical thrashing. So when the album leaked earlier this week I allowed my curiosity (and yes, my casual fandom) to get the better of me and I grabbed a copy of Dark Horse, the band's sixth record.

Produced by Mutt Lange, Dark Horse is in many ways a far cry from the band's 2005 monster All the Right Reasons. The tone is nastier, slightly more reminiscent of the band's breakthrough Silver Side Up. Leadoff track "Something In Your Mouth" is a stripper anthem a la Buckcherry's "Crazy Bitch" that's about as raunchy as the title suggests. The band goes even more balls-out on "Burn it to the Ground", a riot-inducing track that would make even Rage Against the Machine proud. On top of those is the album highlight "Next Go Round", which takes the hair-metal influence the band failed to get right on the last record ("Animals", anyone?) and puts a shotgun to its head. Let it be known here that the common complaint that Nickelback lacks spine is irrelevant. But Nickelback (and Mutt Lange's) greatest success here is getting Chad Kroeger to remove the pole from his ass. For the first time it sounds like Nickelback are actually having fun with these songs. Few moments here feel forced, and where Reasons album closer "Rockstar" quickly became the biggest joke in rock music this decade, this time around "This Afternoon" has a low-key, everyman quality to it that lends itself better to a drunken singalong.

That said, the Candian quartet is still very much interested in getting people to hear the music, hence the smattering of radio-friendly cuts here. "I'd Come For You" has some glaring comparisons to Mutt Lange's last production effort, Shania Twain's Up!. First single "Gotta Be Somebody" will rear its head once more in time for prom season, and Tim McGraw probably deserves a writing credit on "If Today Was Your Last Day" (the lyrics positively wreak of "Live Like You Were Dying"). But even these songs are nothing like the recycled tuneage of All The Right Reasons or the stinker that was The Long Road.

In spite of its successes, you can't help but remember once in awhile that this is indeed still a Nickelback record. The chorus to "S.E.X" is a takeoff of an old joke that every college frat boy has heard or told a thousand times "Sex is always the answer / It's never a question / 'Cause the answer's yes". Groan. Likewise "Never Gonna Be Alone" is a straightforward, boring affair that sounds like it was piecemealed together from "If Today Was Your Last Day" and "Gotta Be Somebody". And overall it just feels a bit too polished. Lange's production is good on the singles, but a bit overdone on the real rockers on the album. It kind of feels like a college dorm that got febrezed a few dozen times before the parents came over. It's clearly dirty and raw, but there's a layer of cleanliness designed to distract you from that. Ultimately it's that distraction that takes away from some of Nickelback's best work to date.

On Dark Horse take an incremental step forward from their past angst-ridden melodramas. It's a very small babystep and the band is still in their comfort zone, but listeners should take their victories where they come. That said, in a year where Coldplay grew up and filled out, Kanye West is channeling 60's soul, and Guns N' Roses are putting a steel toed boot to rock & roll's neck, Nickelback's growth is coming up just a tad bit short.

Final Score: 6.5/10

Nickelback - Burn It To The Ground


Back later with a look at the new Kanye West material and hopefully a look at the newly-leaked David Cook record.

==TJ==

Today on VLM on the ARC...

NOTE TO THOSE SEEING THIS ON THE HYPE MACHINE: THIS WILL BE THE LAST POST YOU PEOPLE SEE FOR AWHILE. IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ, BOOKMARK ME AND COME VISIT THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY!!!

Today on the ¡Viva La Mainstream! radio show...

-Democracy arrives in China.
-3 consecutive Nickelback songs that aren't necessarily awful. Could Dark Horse be the first Nickelback record to get good reviews?
-Kanye remasters "Love Lockdown" and "Heartless" AGAIN. Is this the reverse Chinese Democracy?
-VLM favorites Drive A drop a new song, EP to come in 2009.
-Speculating on the Led Zeppelin reunion sans Robert Plant.

Plus your requests, wishes, and desires. Today at 3PM EDT at radio.arcadia.edu!

Drive A - Are You Blind
(Blogger can lick it. I can PROVE this one's fair game)

==TJ==

CHINESE DEMOCRACY HITS ITUNES!!!

In yet another sign of the apocalypse as caused by one W. Axl Rose, iTunes is now accepting pre-orders for Chinese Democracy, the 14-years in the making record from Guns N Roses (or 'Axl Rose and some guys he picked up off the street', to the naysayers). Pre-ordering the album will get you the title track/first single, and the rest of the record will arrive on hard drives on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008; the same day the album is supposed to arrive in Best Buy stores nationwide.

Yes, I plunked down the first $.99 to pre-order the record and get the first single, and will be paying the remaining 9 bucks to get the full download the day it comes out. That said, I still want a hard copy of this sucker, for no other reason than the historical implications of it. Chinese Democracy has become a joke over the last several years, a metaphor for things out of reach up there with unicorns, the ends of rainbows, and four-leaf clovers. If the world does not explode in the next 13 days, Axl Rose just might get the last laugh. Especially given the fact that "Chinese Democracy" is actually a damn good song. The song has a lot in common with the first Guns N Roses ever heard, "Welcome to the Jungle" both in terms of its mood and the excitement that hearing the track generates. Rose's age shows a bit on the track, and it's definitely moodier than the GNR of old. If you haven't heard it yet on the radio or in its numerous leaked forms, a stream is below (courtesy of imeem; I haven't had time to convert my .m4p file yet). Expect this track to show up on this weeks radio show.




No mp3 of this one, since I don't feel like joining Slash, Buckethead and Kevin Cogill on the list of folks who can't get a free Dr. Pepper.

==TJ==

PS: I promise never to get this excited about a pre-order again...at least until Scream finally sees the light of day.

Third Eye Blind Not Making Lattes, Releasing New Music

So we're gonna try something new; every song I post is going to have a stream here. It means that until I figure out something better, nothing I post is going to the Hype Machine, but it's an acceptable loss for the time being. Intelligent users (using Firefox) will know to access the source code for the entry and can access the mp3 from there for downloading purposes. If someone knows a way for me to have my cake, eat it too, and NOT get beaten down by Blogger, I'd appreciate the input. Onto the entry...

Pop quiz everybody: Raise your hand if you thought Third Eye Blind had broken up and become baristas at Starbucks years ago. (Note that I'm raising my hand)

Yeah. We all fail.

Welikeit.indie posted a story early this morning announcing that 90's pop-rock also-rans Third Eye Blind are releasing an EP of the their first new music since 2003's Out of the Vein on November 18th. Red Star will be released as a digital-only package an as a teaser for the album Ursa Major, which is slated for a 2009 release. The album will be released on Third Eye Blind's own label imprint, an offshoot of the Sony/RED label.

The first track from this EP is entitled "Non-Dairy Creamer". It's a slightly quirky look at the general idiocy of life in 21st-century America, with bouncy guitars and Stephan Jenkins's smooth, albeit mostly forgettable voice, leading into a strange acoustic/electric drum segment in the last minute. It's not going to shock the music world too much, but new Third Eye Blind is totally OK by me.

Red Star is due out November 18.

Third Eye Blind - Non-Dairy Creamer



==TJ==

An Important Announcement From Viva La Mainstream

So with the help of reader Michael I was able to piece together why I've had so much trouble getting content to stay up on the blog. He found this article from prefixmag that tells the whole story. The long and short of it is that the RIAA and its European counterparts grabbed Blogger by the balls, and now Blogger has to comply with their wishes. From the looks of it, VLM has gotten it easy; yeah, posts are going down, but at least I had it coming. The comment section shows that folks who post mp3s with the band's permission are still getting crap from Blogger and the RIAA. Once again, something that could have been great is now getting set ablaze by the greedy rat bastards at the RIAA.

What this means for Viva La Mainstream: No, I'm not closing up shop. Just won't give the RIAA the pleasure. From the looks of it, it's gonna be tough continuing the way I have on Blogger. Over the next weeks and months I am going to begin archiving some of the better/more popular posts I've made over the last 18 months, so that they can be saved and posted somewhere else in the near future.

I also just registered a domain name at Wordpress, so if nothing else I might be headed there. More likely, I'm looking (with the help of fellow bloggers feeling the same troubles) at the notion of shelling out the cash to set up shop on my own. The soonest any of this would happen is early 2009, so for the time being I'm just going to tough it out as best I can here while I come up with a decent solution. Regardless of how this tale ends, I want to thank everyone who's ever found their way to this site, be it in search of a review or for an mp3 that the Hype Machine bookmarked, and Gina, who doesn't read this thing, but is indirectly the reason I got started on this blog (she told me in January of 2007 that I needed a hobby).

I'm going to try to post as much as possible in spite of the crackdown, but it probably won't be with the same frequency it was at the beginning of the year until the move to wherever is complete.

==TJ==

On Being A Music Blogger

The last few weeks in the life of VLM haven’t been particularly easy ones. Seems like everything I write that has any kind of substance to it gets cut down by some RIAA prick citing DMCA. Look, I know that under the law, operating a blog like this is kind of illegal. From the outset I’ve never disputed that. I firmly believe that the rules are unfair and in desperate need of change, but that’s the way it is right now. My dad linked me this article from the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, and it more or less sums up my attitudes. The RIAA is trying to grab an entire beach’s worth of sand with its bare hands, and for the most part it’s all slipping through their fingers. And yet somehow in the last few weeks VLM keeps getting snatched up.

Some things to know about VLM and my web traffic: Based on the numbers I receive, Viva La Mainstream averages somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 readers a week. That stat is a bit wonky, since its hard to differentiate between people who come and read the blog and people who come to the blog while searching for some mp3 or image or something. On the Hype Machine this blog is way, way down on the list of hottest blogs. A vast majority of the time, by the time a story or leak appears on VLM, it’s been up at 20 other, more popular sites for several hours.

So, now I pose a largely rhetorical question; why is VLM perpetually taking the fall for posting mp3s? The logical answer (which I’ve discussed previously) is that someone at some record label has noted the blog as a spot to watch for potential DMCA violations. This doesn’t bother me so much. What bothers is me is the fact that this person/group, along with the RIAA as a whole, has shown a complete and utter lack of balls when it comes to this situation. They go crying to Blogger, who then go and tell me about it. And Blogger’s counter-complaint methods are so troublesome that trying to claim fair use or whatever is hardly worth the effort it’d take.
Now, I offer up a challenge to whoever’s got me in their crosshairs. Next time you see something objectionable that you want removed, before you go crying to Blogger, come to me. Leave a comment. Shoot me an email. Tell me that you’re taking issue with something and you’d like me to adjust my behavior. This is beneficial to both of us; you’ll get what you want, as I will take down any offending material when prompted to, and I get to keep the text of my entries intact (posting the Snow Patrol review three times in as many days was nothing short of irritating). I along with my fellow bloggers are actually agreeable people. If you treat us with some respect, we’re likely to do the same for you.

I’m well aware of the fact that the RIAA won’t do shit in response to that challenge. But I’m putting it out there anyway just in case someone with a brain and a pair of balls reads and is willing to treat me like a human being with something worthwhile to say, rather than a would-be scumbag criminal.

Thanks for reading to a frustrated blogger's ranting for a few minutes. Back a little later to keep this little game going.

==TJ==

Post Promising Another Post...

Today's show is posted below:

Viva La Mainstream on The ARC - October 28, 2008

Snow Patrol review has been re-posted...again. It also was one of MOG's album reviews of the week...nice.

Two posts coming tomorrow...one of them is gonna be a semi-response to the fact that VLM is being targeted for consistent DMCA bullshit.

==TJ==

Review: Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns

With the success of 2006's Eyes Open, Snow Patrol backed themselves into a corner. The album went platinum primarily on the strength of "Chasing Cars", and that song saw a lot of its success as a result of an appearance on Grey's Anatomy. So you can understand the potential pressure for a successful follow-up. But this Tuesday the Irish rockers (with normal names) release their fifth studio album A Hundred Million Suns, and anyone willing to take the time to hear the record out in full will walk away greatly satisfied, if slightly caught off-guard. Take note; this is not Eyes Open Part II

A Hundred Million Suns starts out with "If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It". The titles of the songs on this record are about as grandiose and epic as the songs themselves. Snow Patrol have succeeded where some of their Irish comrades have failed; A Hundred Million Suns is a record that not only sounds larger than life, but it's also interesting to listen to again and again. Gary Lightbody's voice soars both in pitch and in scale. While no song here matches the immediate draw that "Chasing Cars" had, across the board this album matches the high-stakes, textured beauty that song brought forth.

Unlike its predecessor, A Hundred Million Suns is a much more introverted album. Snow Patrol take the time on this record to create a texture and atmosphere on every song. That isn't to say that Snow Patrol is getting experimental on us; first single "Take Back The City" is a textbook rock number whose chorus begs to be sang out loud on the nearest rooftop available. Likewise "Disaster Button" is pure fun, no-holds-barred rock and roll, or at least as close as Snow Patrol has ever gotten. But conversely Lightbody & company offer up the acoustic singalong "Lifeboats" and the tribal "The Golden Floor" alongside the sweeping "The Planets Bend Between Us". While it might not be the radio-pandering record that people might expect or hope for, this album is fantastic, alluring, and demands to be heard over and over.

I can't end this review without mentioning the closing track, the epic 16-minute "The Lightning Strike". This is actually three songs melded together in a form that lands somewhere between The Who and Rush. I'm not sure I understand why Snow Patrol combined these songs onto one track rather than just have three gapless tracks, but it doesn't matter, since in the three times I've listened to the record, I haven't once been bored. Suffice it to say the track is aptly named, as the song appears to be the moment of pure, unadulterated brilliance.

When it comes time for me to prepare my Best Of '08 list, expect A Hundred Million Suns to be in the conversation. I feel like Snow Patrol's career is starting to mirror that of Jimmy Eat World. Both bands had massive success on one song ("Chasing Cars" and "The Middle") resulting in a platinum record and worldwide acclaim. Jimmy's follow-up Futures was a brooding, introverted affair that couldn't have been more different from its predecessor. But regardless it was a decent album that led to a continued great career for the band. Based on the marginal impact "Take Back The City" is making on radio right now, it looks like A Hundred Million Suns will be a disappointment in comparison with Eyes Open. But like with Jimmy Eat World, Snow Patrol sound like they've hit their comfort zone on this album, and when all the cylinders fire on this album, as they often do, the results are positively captivating.

Final Score: 9/10

==TJ==

Now You've Done Gone and Pissed 'Im Off...

First things first:

Viva La Mainstream on the ARC October 21, 2008

Now, I've got some good news and some bad news.

Good news: People are reading the blog. Great Success! That's what a blog exists for, right?

Bad News: Some of the people reading this blog work for record labels. In one 30 minute period earlier today, six posts from the last 3 months got taken down under DMCA violations.

No, this doesn't mean I'm getting shut down. No, I'm not getting sued. No, I won't be Kevin Cogill's cellmate anytime soon. It just means that I got someone high up's attention, and I need to be more careful for a bit. The two most recent pulled posts are back up without mp3 links, and I'll do what I can to recover the older ones. In the meantime, as always you can check out my SaveFile Archive for mp3s that you may have missed. I'm gonna go off the grid for a little while just so I can make sure the heat gets taken off me, but I'll be back before you know it.

And since we know how much the RIAA loves irony...

Weird Al Yankovic - Don't Download This Song

Back soon.

==TJ==

Today's Show; Kanye, Snow Patrol, Smashing Pumpkins...

Today on the VLM Radio broadcast at 3PM on the East Coast, I've got two of the new songs from Kanye West, Holding Mercury (as discussed here), Deas Vail, David Cook, new Fall Out Boy, Apocalyptica, and more! Plus IM me any and all requests to TheArcRequests. That's Today from 3PM-5PM on the Viva La Mainstream radio Show at radio.arcadia.edu

==TJ==

PS: I'll post the show once it's finished sometime tonight for all ye who can't listen live.

Re-Post: Kanye West Does Something Different, Artistically Interesting; Music Snobs Turn Up Noses

Reposted without mp3s this time

I have no idea what Kanye West's plan is with 808s and Heartbreak. Right now he's got "Love Lockdown" out on the radio and up on iTunes. But by the time that song hit iTunes and was available for sale, the blogs had it up for free for over a week. Now there are three songs making waves on Hype Machine; the aforementioned "Love Lockdown", "Heartless" (the mastered version of which hit the web last night), and most recently "Coldest Winter". Again, only one of them available for purchase. Even if "Heartless" were to drop to iTunes tomorrow, West has still lost out on so many potential sales there. Are we going to have heard all of 808s and Heartbreak in these little spurts between now and Nov. 25?

I've only heard "Coldest Winter" but once, and in a subpar radio rip quality, but so far I really like the direction West is taking. At its core nothing's really different. It's still hip-hop music that's gonna be heard in the clubs for forever. "Coldest Winter" is pure soul from Kanye; no rap, and a bare bones beat beneath West's warbly voice, assisted by any rapper's best friend, AutoTune. But even in the moments where it sounds like it might've come off a T-Pain album, there's something that sets it apart and draws it in. The subject matter of this record allows for it to be more melodic and honest than we've heard from 'Ye on the last two records (The College Dropout had some really powerful emotional moments in comparison). And once again, because a rapper is daring to step out of the genre-defined comfort zone, the internet is having a conniption. Yes, Kanye is actually singing on a number of these tracks. That's why they're called 'songs'. I think "Heartless" is the best track I've heard from Kanye West...and this is from someone who listened to "Stronger" a million times when it first came out. The bridge on "Heartless" is probably my favorite part of the song. It's completely the opposite of what we've come to expect, and yet if you stop and think about the song, about Kanye, and just keep an open mind (I know, I know...I'm speaking heresy here)...you might find something you like.

Kanye West - Love Lockdown [iTunes]
Kanye West - Heartless
(Holding out for a decent copy of "Coldest Winter"...at this rate check back later this week)

Repost: In Which We Discuss The Merits Of The Remix

Re-posted without mp3 links

What does it take to make mashups and remixes good?

I've pondered that question a couple times since starting this blog a year and a half ago. As a general rule I haven't been a fan of either form of twisting a song. When it comes to remixes, too often I feel like they go on too long and end up being a lame way for some overactive GarageBand user to get his name on the internet. These remixes often only seem to use about a minute of the song it claims to remix, and the remaining 8 minutes are taken up by absurd beats and weird techno sounds that turn my brain into mush. Remixes too often, in my mind, don't stay true to the original intent and meaning of the song, and just grab something in the public eye at present as a means of seeming in touch with the mainstream while in reality ignoring it. In my mind the best remixes contain most of the original track, but with some twist or unexpected element added in.

Mashups are a slightly different story. They tend to use the entirety of the song in question, but just slap a different song underneath it. Too often mashups just end up being sloppy cut and paste jobs that sound hasty and messy, which in effect makes the project less enjoyable. A good mashup acknowledges both halves of a song, but only those which the mash-artist wants to recognize. Below are examples of a good and bad mashup.

Fall Out Boy and Kanye West - I Don't Care I Still Love Her
("Dance, Dance" and "Gold Digger")


Paramore and Panic! At The Disco - The Only Difference (Misery Remix)
("Misery Business" and "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage")


Notice that in the latter one, the instrumental from "Misery Business" is a hasty rip from another copy, and the backing vocals are still present and stick out rather ugly when matched to Panic's lyrics. On the other hand, the Kanye/FOB mash is very precise, only offering specific, detailed sections of songs, which makes for a very clean, more enjoyable listen. I realize I'm not being fair here (the Kanye mash is professionally made, whereas the Paramore one was made by Flipboitamidles), but that's the thing; it's so hard to do a GOOD mashup, that there are a bunch of subpar ones which turn me off to the style.

Which brings me to yesterday's Album A Day: Dean Gray's American Edit mixtape, a series of mashups centered on Green Day's American Idiot record. American Edit is an example of a fantastic, well-thought out series of mashups. This is what mashups and remixes are supposed to be about; mixing elements you wouldn't think to combine, while still keeping both of said elements distinct and unhindered by ridiculous beats. American Edit is a terrific album, the kind of thing I could legitimately envision listening to again and again.

Dean Gray - Whatsername (Susanna Hoffs)
("Whatsername" mashed with "Manic Monday")

Since hearing this, I've been on a hunt for good remixes. This means searching the Hype Machine and subjecting my roommates to all manner of dance music to mixed results. I'm not going to subject you to my findings, since I intend to keep VLM a strictly mainstream music blog, and remixes fall outside that category for the most part. But let it be known that there's been a shift in attitude, so they who claim that I'm as elitist and snobby as those blogs I rail against, consider yourselves wrong.

Except I do love this track

Radiohead and Kanye West - Reckoner Lockdown (DJ Earworm Remix)

I'll return you to normal posting and music discussions later today.

==TJ==

Holding Mercury Begin Their Ascent with a Downfall

I'm backlogged on my Album A Day project, but I assure you it's still active. Friday's album came to me by way of a recommendation from reader Beth. It's from a band called Holding Mercury, the album entitled Downfall of an Empire.

Holding Mercury sound like they got sandwiched between the electronica-fueled rock of the 80s and the smoother, everyman rock of the 90s. Imagine, if you will, what OAR would sound like if they mixed in some synthesizers. Now take that analogous sound, and make it AWESOME. Now you've got Holding Mercury. They've got the sensibility and intelligence of some of the better mainstream acts like Matchbox 20 or even shades of Everclear, but they've also learned how to be loud and shout-along friendly like 80s favorites Cheap Trick or The Cars. Downfall of an Empire sounds like what I expected from the hugely disappointing Carolina Liar record. If you like your rock and roll with equal parts good hooks and brains, then I implore you to pick up Downfall of an Empire on November 4th.

Final Score: 8/10
Holding Mercury - I'm Not Well

Again, the album drops November 4th. Look for Holding Mercury to be on the radio show for awhile.

Back later today to play catch-up from the weekend.

==TJ==

Rambling Through The Cracks

I was originally going to post a very simple, quick musical ramblings to catch you up to speed, but then 2 posts this week got taken down (both are back up) which slowed the process down. As much as it tickles me to know that I'm drawing the ire of the RIAA's copyright trolls, the whole mess gets a bit frustrating when there's stuff to be done. So instead this post is part ramblings, part stuff that fell through the cracks.

I started re-reading Watchmen late last week. I started reading it sometime freshman year (well before the movie trailer came out) and didn't get through it, but am now about 3/4 finished. If this gets put to film anywhere near as well as it was put to the page, it's gonna be fantastic.

Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning [iTunes]
(Song in the Watchmen trailer)

Smashing Pumpkins - The End Is The Beginning Is The End [iTunes]
(Alternate version of the above song)

Two rappers on opposite ends of the spectrum both debuted new material yesterday. Kanye West unveiled an unmastered version of his next single from 808s and Heartbreak "Heartless". The track is much more in keeping with what we're used to from Kanye, but not altogether boring. I like the fact that this album seems to be keeping true to hip-hop, while branching out into old-school R&B and soul. Props to Kanye for keeping it real.

Kanye West - Heartless (Unmastered)

Also coming out of hiding is one Marshall Mathers, alias Slim Shady, alias Eminem. After going into hiding since 2005's Curtain Call, Em is back in the studio recording new music. The first evidence that a new album is imminent came yesterday with "I'm Having A Relapse", a quick, largely unimpressive new song that I think does little more than remind people that Eminem is not, in fact, dead. No exact release date is set, but if 50 Cent is to be believed (he isn't usually, but it's fun to pretend sometimes), it could see the light of day in the coming weeks.

Eminem - I'm Having A Relapse

Speaking of the coming weeks, Best Buy has posted the tracklisting for the most anticipated exclusive in recent memory, Guns N Roses' Chinese Democracy. On an inactive preorder page, the 14 track setlist appeared, and showed us that the tracks that have been pirated around for the last year are legit, and that there are 3 songs that have never been heard by anyone on the web. Billboard has the tracklisting here. Chinese Democracy is set to drop in your local Best Buy on November 25th. Anybody know of a Best Buy doing a midnight release party?
(I'm only half-kidding there)

Two days have passed since my last Album-A-Day entry, so that means I've heard two full albums.
Wednesday: Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Thursday: Dean Gray - American Edit (2008 Re-issue)
Today: Haven't decided yet...will return when I have listened to it.

For those unfamiliar with the latter, its the mixtape project from whence the oft-traded "Boulevard of Broken Songs" originates. Highly recommended by VLM, which says something given my ambivalence toward mashups and remixes. The album is available by way of any torrent site worth its salt. Go forth, young pirates, and claim your bounty!

I've been fussing around with the iTunes Genius function, and I was right that the more music you have the better a playlist you get. Good for my ears, bad for my medieval computer. Anyway, my travels through the Genius list have a number of times landed me this song.

Slipknot - Before I Forget [iTunes]

This song is the biggest piece of evidence I have that Stone Sour did the rest of the band good. It's also the first proof I have that Slipknot is capable of producing a melody.

OK that shall be all. Back later today with my daily album and whatever else happens.

==TJ==

Fall Out Boy Get (Even More) Postmodern

The DMCA struck this post down, but luckily my MOG feed saved the text, so here it is sans MP3

In their continuing quest to get people to give a crap about Folie A Deux , Fall Out Boy released a third track from the album (now slated for release on December 16) yesterday. "What A Catch, Donnie" is certain to become a crowd favorite at shows, with a glorious singalong to end the track (featuring the voices of a number of FOB's friends, among them Elvis Costello, Gabe Saporta, Brandon Urie, and then some). Listen closely and you'll hear one of the voices singing the choruses to various Fall Out Boy tracks (I heard "Sugar, We're Going Down" and "This Ain't A Scene..." and I'm sure there are others in there). Sounds like the guys are going for the "All You Need Is Love" approach here. This is probably going to become my favorite of the new batch of tracks, and it certainly hasn't diminshed my expectations for the record, but numbers don't lie, and all three tracks from Folie A Deux are struggling to make an impact. I don't know what the band is gonna need to do to generate sales for this one, but at least now they have six more weeks to find a way.

Fall Out Boy - What A Catch, Donnie [iTunes]

==TJ==

The Closest Thing To A Podcast I'll Ever Do

So I've come to a realization that people aren't often able to listen to the Viva La Mainstream Radio Broadcast because, well, its on the interwebs at a time when people are either at work or leaving work, making listening impossible. So I finally found a purpose for the archives of shows I keep on the station computer. Effective this entry, every Tuesday night I will post that day's radio broadcast in its entirety for everyone to listen as they may choose. The sound quality is only about 64 kbps, so its not perfect, meaning I feel OK about the fact that full songs are in the broadcast.

The audio files are titled as follows: TJ O'Neill [date of show] [time show started], so this first one looks like this:

TJ O'Neill 20081014 1504
(My show on 10-14-08, starting at 3:04PM)

Feel free to rename shows as you deem fit. This is better than a traditional podcast for me because I recently learned that if you don't update your podcast in a certain period of time it gets deleted. Since come December the show will be going off the air for a month for Christmas break, the podcast would die, and that'd suck. much easier this way, no?

So here's Tuesday's show. Let me know what you think/if there are any problems.

Viva La Mainstream on the ARC - October 14, 2008

==TJ==

EDIT: So I just listened, and you can hear me talk...but the music is absent. Huh. That will be fixed for the next one.

Have you ever had a moment where you heard a song for what you thought would be the first time only to realize "Holy Crap! It's THAT song!"? Well, as I was typing the last entry (this one) the song below came on and I had exactly that moment. Enjoy

Del Amitri - Roll To Me [iTunes]
(Matt, I'm betting you're all kinds of pleased at the moment)

==TJ==

Viva La Mainstream Presents an Album A Day!

I mentioned in a post last week that I have a metric ton of music sitting idly on my computer, never listened to, doing little more at the moment than taking up space. Much of this music is actually made of full albums that friends or band managers give me. So in an effort to expand my musical knowledge, increase the breadth of sound that this blog covers, and to give meaning to countless gigabytes of data on my computer, I'm hereby starting a project in which I listen to an album in its entirety every day. For the movie fans reading who also frequent Ain't It Cool News, this project is borne of my appreciation Quint's A Movie A Day project.

I might not write about each daily album I listen to, but I'll let you know what that day's record was and probably give a few words on it. I'm excluding greatest hits albums and similar compilations, but soundtracks are still fair game (though they'll probably be rare). Furthermore, not every album will be something I'm hearing for the first time; of course I'm gonna go dig out the old favorites, but this is also a project to give me new bands to talk about, and thus share with you, so everybody wins!

Some of the records I've listened to in the last couple days:
The Black Crowes - Amorica (1994)
Until last Thursday night The Black Crowes were in that very large category of "Bands I had heard of and been recommended, but never actually listened to". Justin handed me Amorica, the album largely considered their breakout album. Make no mistake; The Black Crowes rock, but it's not the kind of rock where you roll down the windows, turn up the speakers and sing along while driving. Suffice it to say it was quite appropriate for me to have listened to them shortly after midnight in a largely empty library. Very chill, bluesy rock and roll. Whoever said that rock and roll fell off the face of the earth in the 90s after Kurt Cobain died missed the boat as much as I did.

The Black Crowes - Nonfiction [iTunes]

The Black Keys - Attack & Release (2008)
Much of what I said about The Black Crowes just now applies to The Black Keys as well. This does virtually nothing to help the fact that I get the two confused easily. But where the Black Crowes take a more mellow approach to blues rock (think Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton), The Black Keys turn the volume up a bit higher and channel more Led Zeppelin than they do Slowhand. Attack & Release comes in as unassumingly as it exits, and at just under 40 minutes, it's something that demands multiple listens. So perhaps you can look for this record to be the subject of a future Album A Day post.

The Black Keys - Strange Times [iTunes]

AFI - Decemberunderground (2006)
I said last week that a couple of my friends encouraged me to listen to more AFI. I've had Decemberunderground in my CD collection since it came out in 2006, but it never got much play. "Miss Murder" was a fun track and there were moments of alt-rock brilliance, but it never quite stuck with me. After finding that I liked Sing the Sorrow more than I expected, I decided it was time for Decemberunderground another spin. The album is by no means bad, as there are some fantastic tracks here ("Miss Murder", "The Missing Frame", to name two), and AFI's flirtation along the shores of glam rock are worthy of being explored on future albums. The problem here is that the album breaks too early. By the time "The Missing Frame" comes to a close at track 8, I've already heard the best the album has to offer. The final tracks are nothing to write home about, leaving about 15 minutes of music that does little more than tread water.

AFI - The Missing Frame [iTunes]

That's enough for now. I've got a laundry list of albums that are going to appear in this segment in the coming days. If you've got something you want me to hear, drop a comment with the artist and album here, or email it to TJ.ONeill1024@gmail.com

==TJ==

Amusement at 1AM

Today's XKCD comic (didn't know that XKCD updated so quickly...good to know)
For the record, the title of this one is "Steal This Comic", so go ahead and ask how my conscience is feeling right now.

Expect a piece on some of the ideas behind this comic later this week, as well as something that might become a new segment for awhile.

==TJ==

PS If you don't read XKCD you hate America.

Exploring the Other Side of the Rainbow: A Brief Profile of Radiohead

Music blog A Reminder astutely acknowledged that today marks the one-year anniversary of the biggest fuck-you moment any record label has ever had to endure; October 10th, 2007 was the day Radiohead released In Rainbows to the web, allowing fans and curious observers alike to name their own price. It was a brilliantly innovative thing to do, and it turned the internet upside down for about two weeks and got every music-based website to drop whatever else it might have been covering to pour on the praise every time Thom Yorke so much as covered his mouth when he coughed.

Radiohead - Reckoner [iTunes]

Those who've stuck with ¡Viva La Mainstream! for a while know that my first impression of In Rainbows was not a very good one. I thought it was the same pretentious, gratuitously artsy music I started this blog to rail against. After a couple listens and some encouragement from friends, I grew to truly enjoy In Rainbows and jumped on the Radiohead bandwagon after hearing their back catalog.

Myself and fellow music geeks Justin and Peter were discussing Radiohead's merits the other night, and Justin brought up something that just sort of sums up what can sometimes frustrate me about the band, and yet also always draws me in further; unlike other alt-rock bands which place emphasis on the lead singer and his presence, Thom Yorke treats his vocals as though they were another instrument in the band. You could listen to a Radiohead song and ingnore or flat out replace the lyrics with nonsense syllables, and you'd still have some damned good music. That's the fantastic part about it. What's frustrating is that Yorke's lyrics are so fucking great that the fact that they tend to be imcomprehensible when listening (unless you're listening while looking at the lyrics, a lesson I learned when I bought In Rainbows on CD) becomes a negative thing.

Another interesting schism as I continue listening: the band is constantly irritated by the fact that their music becomes what Thom Yorke calls "fridge buzz", which is to say ambient sound that just becomes background noise. And yet Radiohead's music is so atmospheric and lends itself to letting listeners' minds wander and just enter the world the band creates with their sound that there's a certain inevitability to the "fridge buzz" effect. I think the fact that the music has the potential to inspire me to drift into another place and time like that is a great thing. It shows a connection with the music that goes beyond just singing along to the words or something equally superficial.

Also, Radiohead albums aren't something you can listen to once and claim to have really heard. Not by a long shot. There are so many layers of meaning and substance that one listen carries with it so little that of course the average music listener (read: me this time a year ago) won't see the appeal. Peter pointed out that thematically Radiohead is brilliant; note that the beginning and ending of OK Computer are both about a car crash.

Radiohead - Airbag
Radiohead - The Tourist
OK Computer on iTunes

Again, showing that Radiohead are significantly more intelligent than so many of their contemporaries. I'm not certain I'd say their better musicians; I think that title gets tossed out too freely just becuase the band does things musically that others don't immediately think of. That's not good musicianship necessarily; that's innovation. And Radiohead has enough of that to spare.

Another interesting schism as I continue listening: the band is constantly irritated by the fact that their music becomes what Thom Yorke calls "fridge buzz", which is to say ambient sound that just becomes background noise. And yet Radiohead's music is so atmospheric and lends itself to letting listeners' minds wander and just enter the world the band creates with their sound that there's a certain inevitability to the "fridge buzz" effect. I think the fact that the music has the potential to inspire me to drift into another place and time like that is a great thing. It shows a connection with the music that goes beyond just singing along to the words or something equally superficial.

I'm trying to decide if it was fate or a clever accident that I listened to OK Computer while at work last night and came up with the idea to blog about them on the anniversary of In Rainbows. I'm not even sure if it's worth trying to explain away, so I'm just going to accept the way it was and offer one final thought. I like every single Radiohead album; even Pablo Honey. To those who claim the first two albums "aren't really Radiohead", I offer the following counterargument. Pablo Honey and The Bends needed to happen in order for the band to get to a point where they could write OK Computer and the subsequent albums. Radiohead's evolution has been a very natural one, and you can indeed sense the change in sound coming; without the early stages of that shift on The Bends, I don't think an album as great or influential as OK Computer could have existed. Metallica's James Hetfield recently said that the much-maligned St. Anger needed to happen before the far superior Death Magnetic could take shape. Same idea applies here. Sometimes you need to get the cliche and less inspired out of the way before you can do something extraordinary.

Radiohead - Anyone Can Play Guitar [iTunes]

That's all I've got.

Get all of Radiohead's albums and then some on iTunes

==TJ==