Modern Minstrels

NFG Summer Tour

AP.net reports New Found Glory will be doing a headlining tour at the end of the summer with Hit the Lights, The Early November, and Cartel in support. Consider me giddy as a school girl!

Dog Problems

Summer's here! Or it might as well be, because Dog Problems by The Format is available in digital form right here (it hits stores July 11). Dog Problems is that one album that can just carry you through a summer. Whether you need an album to blast in your car, or to listen to on your iPod while you're taking a walk, or just need some background music while you're sitting on your porch sipping a nice cold beverage: Dog Problems is your album.

Every single song on the album is catchy in its own way. You've got the opening track Matches in 3/4 time, and horns in the title title track and Inches and Failing, and just plain catchy riffs in Time Bomb and The Compromise and of course the simply irresistible song Snails. And with all these catchy beats you also get wonderful lyrics:

Snails see the benefits, the beauty in every inch
- Snails

Love is speaking in code
it's an inside joke
Love is coming home
- If Work Permits

I can feel your feet touching mine
If you can't dance, there's someone else in line
So meet me in the middle
Well come on let's make up a dance
and we'll agree to call it the compromise
- The Compromise

I love love, I love being in love, I don't care what it does to me
- Inches and Failing

I'm standing in a room,
It's filled with older folks pleading "baby listen"
And I scream as loud as anyone,
but when asked to make a point I tend to whisper
- If Work Permits

After my first few listens my initial favorite tracks are Snails, Dog Problems, The Compromise, If Work Permits, and Time Bomb. Hmm, I better stop with just 5 songs, lest I just end up listing every song on the album.

My fanboy ramblings cannot do the album justice, but lucky for you, there are several tracks available for free download. You can grab The Compromise over on AP.net and She Doesn't Get It on the band's MySpace page. I also recommend you go stream some of their older stuff on Pure Volume (specificallly The First Single and the acoustic version of Snails). Then when you're hooked go ahead and purchase the full album here. Your summer won't be complete until you do. While you're at it I also highly recommend you pickup their 2003 debut full length Interventions and Lullabies.

Yet Another Batch Of New CDs

This afternoon I made trip to Target with a few co-workers. I was in search of New Super Mario Bros. for my Nintendo DS, but before I even got to the video games section I had 3 "new" CDs in my hands. I say "new" because I've heard all the CDs already, but hadn't actually bought them yet.

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At The Disco
This album came out late last year and has been incredibly successful. The single I Write Sins Not Tragedies has gotten tons of radio play (hell, I even heard it multiple times at the Sunshine City mall in Tokyo). I also remember seeing the album was in iTunes top 10 downloads for quite a few weeks. It's just a really fun CD with lots of catchy lyrics and dance beats. If you like Fall Out Boy, you'll definitely like Panic!. It's currently $9.99 at Target and I highly recommend you pick it up.

Punk Goes 90's
This compilation came out a couple weeks ago and I've been meaning to pick it up. So when I saw it for $8, it was an immediate purchase. It's not quite as fun an album as the Punk Goes 80's compilation, but it's still got a good collection of songs. My favorite tracks include Gym Class Heros - Under the Bridge (RHCP), Copeland - Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden), Scary Kids Scaring Kids - Losing My Religion (REM), Cartel - Wonderwall (Oasis), The Killing Moon - You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette), and Bleeding Through - Stars (HUM).

Eyes Open by Snow Patrol
This album also came up just a week ago and was on my To Buy list. Ending up getting the $15 "Target Limited Edition" which came with a DVD featuring three live songs from their South by Southwest performance and an interview. I can't quite explain the difference, but this album has a familiar, yet definitely different and distinct sound from Final Straw. I haven't had as many individual songs grab me as being amazing yet, but the album is definitely growing on me. I wouldn't be surprised if after I dive more into the lyrics I end up liking the album better than Final Straw. Favorite tracks include Hands Open, You Could Be Happy, and Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Matt Nathanson x2

Got to see my absolute favorite live performer, Matt Nathanson, not once, but twice this past weekend. That man can fucking put on a show. I don't care what kind of music you listen to or whether you normally go to concerts or not; you absolutely must see a Matt Nathanson show at least once in your life.

Friday's opener was Paula Kelley. She was alright. It's kind of funny how she has this really high, sing-songy voice, but the content of the songs she sang was more on the depressing/hearbroke side of things. Saturday's opener was Two Sheds. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Standard folk sound, but I really liked Caitlin's voice.

Matt was spectacular both nights. His ability to interact with the crowd is unparalleled. It's this ability that keeps his show very fresh. Normally I'd be very wary of going to see the same show two nights in a row because you know you're going to end up hearing close to the same set, and often even the same jokes/stories. Not so with Matt. The two sets only shared a handful of songs and he has a never ending supply of amusing stories and not to mention all the stuff that takes place on the spot as he's chatting with the crowd. I'm so glad I attended both shows.

One of my favorite lines from the first night was when he asked the crowd for requests and some girl asks for Answering Machine. His response was, "Come on, don't ask for that. You know I play that at every show". It was great. It really annoys me when people keep yelling out songs you know the band is going to play. Oh, he was also ripping on James Blunt the one night, which was hilarious.

Another thing about Matt is he loves the 80's. You can always count on a fun sing-a-long of a couple 80's tunes. We got to help him belt out Journey's Don't Stop Believin' on Friday and Suvivor's Eye of the Tiger on Saturday. We also covered a song by The Smiths for his wife and though not an 80's song did an excellent cover of Patty Griffin's Foregiveness.

While the covers are certainly lots of fun, the real good stuff is his original tunes. Some of the highlight songs for me were Illusions, New Coats and New Hats, coming down and playing Suspended without a microphone, and his new song Detroit Waves.

You can experience some of Matt's live show by picking up his new live album, At The Point. Or by checking out these very high quality recordings of a show on this past tour. But my recommendation is that you go see him in person this fall when he hits the road in support of the new album he's working on.

Dredg

First up on Nick's and my three concerts in as many days schedule was Dredg at the Fillmore last Thursday. The only opening act was Chi Cheng from the Deftones (bassist) reading poetry he had written. I wasn't really into it. The poetry wasn't bad, but it was about incredibly dark subject matter.

Dredg on the other hand totally rocked. I hadn't realized this, but they're actually from the Bay Area. I'm not going to even attempt to compose any kind of setlist, but needless to say they played for over an hour and a half and played pretty much all the songs from Catch Without Arms and a whole bunch of older stuff.

Probably the best part of the performance was just watching their drummer. He was incredibly intense and throughout the course of the show threw at least 20 drumsticks out into the crowd (in the middle of songs). Fun times.

And since the show was at The Fillmore, we got a spiffy free poster after the show.

Platinum FOB

Pete of Fall Out Boy sent Jason Tate of AP.net a personal plaque of their Platinum certified (selling over 1 million copies) From Under the Cork Tree. Very cool. And congrats to FOB on all their success. They've earned and deserve every bit of their success.

The Summer EP

AP.net has Sherwood's Summer EP available for a free download here. Sherwood is a fun little pop rock band from San Luis Obispo, CA. They recorded and released their Summer EP all on their own dime without any label support.

As for the album itself, I've only listened to it once so far but the songs are definitely catchy. This Airplane is a Ribbon and I'm Asking Her To Stay are my initial favorite songs. Definitely check them out.

Q-Unit

Jeff sent me a link to Q-Unit, a mashup album combining Queen and 50-Cent. And you know what? It's actually pretty good. I've only given it one listen, but Under Pressure All The Time and Crazy Little Pimp Called Love are some initial favorite tracks.

On a side note, I've been getting into more rap recently, mainly MC Lars, some Gym Class Heroes, and the Legion of Doom Hands Down Ghandi mashup. I don't see an onslaught of "generic crunk rap" filling up my music library anytime soon, but I've definitely been listening to a lot more rap recently than I ever have before.

Anathallo

I received a copy of Floating World by Anathallo in the mail today. Anathallo has been around for a while, but I've only just heard of them recently. They're a 7 person (and twice as many instruments) band from Michigan. Their sound is along the lines of Sufjan Stevens (good bit of horns and lots of interesting percussion). You can grab a couple songs from their PureVolume page.

The CD insert contained a story about an older couple, a dog they come across, and their greedy neighbor. Turns out the story is Japanese folk tale called Hanasaka jijii (which is used in the title of several tracks on the CD). You can read a slightly different version of the story here.

I've already listened to the album a couple times tonight. The songs flow really well and the whole CD just has that storybook feel to it. Great stuff.

I've also heard nothing but good things about Anathallo's live show. So next time they're in the Bay Area, I'll definitely be checking them out.

New CDs

Today being a Tuesday meant a trip to Best Buy was in order to pick up some new CDs. I actually showed some restraint today and only walked out with three CDs (two of which were planned purchases).

Thursday - A City By The Light Divided
This was the main reason for my trip. I really enjoyed Thursday's last album, War All the Time, which made A City one of my most anticipated albums of the year. Listened to the album a couple times at work and I'm definitely digging it so far. I can't wait to sit down with it and analyze all the lyrics. Geoff is a great lyricist, so I know I'm going to find some gems. Also, the video for the single Countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is really well done (it's included on the "enhanced" portion of the CD. While Thursday isn't a band for everyone, if you're into their style of music, I definitely recommend picking up this album.

Matt Nathanson - At The Point (Live)
I've pimped Matt's live show on here several times. This album actually came out nearly a month ago, but I couldn't find it in stores until today. Listening to it just gets me all the more excited that I'll be seeing him twice about a week from now. Like the album, the shows are going to be just Matt and his guitar. Can't wait.

Morrissey - The Best Of! Morrissey
This was the only unplanned purchase of the day. I was vaguely familiar with Morrissey (frontman of The Smiths back in the day) and just recently heard some songs off his new EP. I happened to notice this album on the shelf as I was picking up Matt's CD, and since it was only $8 and has 21 songs, I had to pick it up. The songs definitely have that upbeat dance vibe that I've really been getting into lately. Should be a fun CD.