Category Archives: Music News

I Heart Mixtapes

Allow me to subtract 1/2 of my age for a moment and let me get all excited over Mixtapes

I freaking love that band.  So funny.  I feel better now.

They are playing Cleveland in a couple weeks, so round up the troops and be there.  It’s going to be a good time fo sho.

May 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Now that’s Class- Mixtapes w/ Dear Landlord

If you liked Mixtapes (how could you not), head over to Death By False Hope Records and download their album Maps for FREE!!!

North By North What?

So did you happen to miss SXSW and can’t make it to Bonnaroo this year?

Are you looking for a festival to hit up this year like none other?  Would you prefer not to melt at said festival?  Well check out the line-up for North By Northeast (NXNE) coming up in June.  It is one hell of a offering of bands of multiple genres in good ol’ Toronto, Canada and I am highly considering jumping the border to check it out.

This bill is IMPRESSIVE!!!  Descendants, The Pharcyde, Digable Planets, Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls,  OFF!, Joey Cape and Kevin Seconds alone make it amazing. (DEVO too – Kent/Akron love y’all) 

There are a ton of other sweet acts joining them making for one of the better festivals I have heard about this year.

If you are looking for a summer festival you should consider this one, not because I say so…  Well maybe you should if you know what is good for you.

Here is a press release in regards to NXNE:

NORTH BY NORTHEAST (NXNE) announces the second wave of bands for the 17th edition of the festival, taking over Toronto June 13-19, 2011. Tickets are now available online at www.nxne.com.

NXNE has just confirmed that Devo, Descendents, Stars, The Pharcyde, Men Without Hats, Digable Planets, Twin Shadow, OFF!, Art Brut, Shad, Land of Talk, Chad VanGaalen, and Cults will join a festival line-up that also includes performances by The Dodos, Deerhoof, Hot Water Music, The Bouncing Souls, and Anti-Flag (previously announced), plus Dum Dum Girls, Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield, Braids, Ty Segall, Suuns, PS I Love You, Crocodiles, Wild Nothing, The Pack A.D., Metz, Dirty Beaches, Forest City Lovers, The Luyas, Lower Dens, Gentlemen Husbands, Rusty, Royal Bangs, Julianna Barwick, No Joy, Prince Rama, Doldrums, Secret Cities, Evening Hymns, Snowblink, Parlovr, Talk Normal, PUJOL, Woodsman, Gauntlet Hair, Joey Cape, Tape Deck Mountain, AIDS Wolf, Houses, CJ Ramone, and Kevin Seconds.

Presented by AOL, New Wave legends Devo headline the summer’s biggest day-and-night party on Saturday, June 18 at Yonge-Dundas Square. Toronto’s Yonge Street will close to traffic and open to a massive crowd of NXNE fans as Devo – complete with signature uniforms and flower pot hats – whip into the downtown core with classics from cult fave albums Freedom of Choice and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Also rocking the Square will be Canada’s Men Without Hats, fresh off a sold-out return to the stage at SXSW 2011.

“We’re excited to have such legendary artists play the busiest hub in Toronto for the largest music festival in Canada,” says Joshua Ostroff, music editor, AOL Canada. “It will be a great time, with amazing music and we’re looking forward to being right in the centre of the party”

SoCal pop-punk hits NXNE on Thursday, June 16, with Descendents. It’s a rare chance to see one of the genre’s most influential bands, touring with their classic late-80s lineup for the first time in a decade. They’ll share the Yonge-Dundas Square stage with Vice Records’ L.A. hardcore supergroup OFF! featuring Keith Morris (Circle Jerks & Black Flag), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven Shane McDonald (Redd Kross) and Mario Rubacaba (Hot Snakes & Rocket From The Crypt).

Sirius Satellite Radio touches down at Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday, June 17, for a live-to-air North American broadcast featuring Juno-nominated Stars. The band recently sold out consecutive nights at Massey Hall and opened for Coldplay in Ottawa, and their NXNE set will be a highlight of the festival. Also on the bill is Montreal trio Land of Talk, generating great reviews in Pitchfork and Stereogum.

“A live show and broadcast from Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square is a great way to share the excitement with our listeners across Canada and the U.S. while marking SIRIUS’ 6th year of support for NXNE,” said Andreanne Sasseville, Director, Canadian Content Development and Industry Relations, SIRIUS Canada Inc.

NXNE ’s final festival night rolls out Sunday, June 19, as a second colossal evening party takes hold of Yonge-Dundas Square and Yonge Street, fuelled by performances by alternative hip-hop legends The Pharcyde, whose 90s release Bizarre Ride II was named by Kanye West as his favourite album ever. The night also features Grammy Award winners Digable Planets, tagged in Rolling Stone as “everything hip-hop should be: artistically sound, unabashedly conscious and downright cool.”

Funding supporting all NXNE’s free public concerts at Yonge-Dundas Square is provided by the Government of Ontario.

There’s even more for fans at NXNE this June: California’s Dum Dum Girls, coming off a 2010 tour with MGMT and Vampire Weekend; Chad van Gaalen, playing new songs from his upcoming release, Diaper Island; and Twin Shadow, hitting the festival on the heels of shows at SXSW, Coachella, and Bonnaroo.

All NXNE Festival passes and wristbands are now on sale, available at www.nxne.com. Early-bird pricing for NXNE Priority Passes is available through April 25.

The complete NXNE Music line-up and schedule, NXNE Film schedule and additional NXNE Interactive programming will be announced over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

17 Years, 650 Bands, 50 Stages, 40 Films, 75 Interactive Conference Sessions, 7 Days.

www.nxne.com

Beastie Boys – “Make Some Noise”

The Beastie Boys still have it. Have what you ask?

Talent. 

“Make Some Noise”  stars a whole slew of Hollywood making for a entertaining as hell video.  I am sure you have already seen it, but it is too hilarious not to share. 

Wondering what is going to happen next? Me too. There is a 30-minute full version of this video that is probably going to be released right around the time that Hot Sauce Committee Part II drops on May 3rd.

I can’t wait.

Bad Religion Celebrates Fans & Band History w/ New Video

Just caught this amazing video for “Wrong Way Kids” that dropped a couple days ago by one of my all-time favorite punk rock bands.  Bad Religion never ceases to amaze me…

A little bit about the video from Epitaph:

Influential punk rockers Bad Religion have released a moving video for the new single, “Wrong Way Kids” from the group’s critically heralded album, The Dissent of Man. The song is an up-tempo, powerfully melodic tribute to the band and their fan’s shared histories as rebellious yet durable outsiders.

The footage begins in present day with lead singer Greg Graffin offering a knowing message of hope for Bad Religion’s many fans: “Even though they’re misfits,” he states, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” A subsequent shot reveals a defiantly unconventional Graffin on stage with the band back in 1984 counting down the song intro. From there it’s a surging beat, powerful guitars and signature sing-along chorus set against a stirring non stop montage of found footage showing the band’s remarkable rise from teen rebels to international punk luminaries.

Seriously, how cool is that video?  Young and old Bad Religion footage really shows how far 30-years can go.

The grandfathers of punk will actually be playing a show in Cleveland on May 7th.  Sadly they are opening for Rise Against.  If you ask me, Rise Against should be opening for them.

Sadly I will not be attending the show.  I want to, I really want to.  This will be the first Bad Religion show I have missed since they played the Rock Hall a couple years ago as a suprise guest.  This is one of those bands I make sure I am present at every show, but sometimes I can’t make them all.

Free Fireworks!

Detroit’s Fireworks have just posted a free track available for download in anticipation of their May 24th release of Gospel


CLICK HERE to check it out the track called “Summer”.

Guitarist Chris Mojan had this to say about the upcoming release:

Gospel represents Fireworks better than anything we’ve done in the past. I think it really is the photo for the fundamentals we started this band on. The songs came so naturally and working with Brian (McTernan) pushed them and us to a level we’ve never came close to reaching in the past. Fireworks Lives.”

Gospelis now available for pre-order at: www.merchdirect.com/fireworks.