Modern Minstrels

Coming Home

Oh, New Found Glory, where to start. If you know me at all, you know the special place NFG holds in my music world. Their first full length, Nothing Gold Can Stay, is what got me into this whole scene, and as such is held on quite a high pedestal. None of New Found Glory's album's since then can touch that album (though their self-titled follow up comes as close as any). And honestly, I've liked each new album just a bit less than the previous one.

So, how does their newest release, Coming Home, fit in? Unfortunately, it continues the trend (perhaps a little too much). My first experience with anything from the album was the release of the single It's Not You Fault. I liked the sound of the song, but the lyrics left a bit to be desired (which I would come to find would be my feelings about the album as a whole). Then I had my first listen to the entire album on their PureVolume page a few days before its release. A few songs stood out as being quite good (Coming Home and Familiar Landscapes in particular), but in general I was pretty disappointed.

However, I wasn't ready to write the album off completely, as Mike did. I still picked it up the week of its release, and have given it a number of listens since. And I have to say it's slowly been growing on me. Jordan sounds fantastic on this album and I like the variety of instruments used in the songs. As for other songs that have caught my attention besides the two mentioned above: There's something irresistibly catchy about Hold My Hand, despite it's simple lyrics and When I Die is a touching tribute to Chad's dad. I also really like Golden, which is a b-side from the Japanese release.

Unfortunately though, I still have to say this is definitely my least favorite New Found Glory album. I really can't stand the song Connected. And I'm really disappointed with most of the lyrics. Most of the songs are really, really repetitive and the cheesiness of a lot of the lines is almost too much for me to handle. For instance the chorus of the opening song: "I don't want to be without you, I don't want to live without you, I don't want to breathe without you, You're my oxygen" That song is titled Oxygen, if you couldn't guess. And from Connected: "Soon I'll be home from all this work and I'll make love to you (make love to you)". Come on guys, I miss lines like: "in the bright of day, it might seem like the stars are gone, they never leave, they come back when the sun moves on" and "too stubborn, too ignorant, too crazy about you, I didn't know love was blind" and "I sat and stared at the sky, I knew I'd find myself there again, I wonder how else to cope with the air, the air that brings me this luck, I'm unlucky, that's just me".

Despite my disappointment in the new album, I'm still really looking forward to seeing them in October (with Cartel and The Early November!). NFG has never disappointed me with their live show, and I've even come to like some songs more after hearing them played live, so I have no doubts I'll enjoy the show. I'm hoping we'll get a good dose of classic NFG songs along with new stuff, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too high.

The Early November Preorder Offer

If you pre-order The Early November's new triple disk album, The Mother, The Mechanic, and The Path here you get a t-shirt and signed poster all for $16 (that includes shipping). I promise this CD set will be amazing. You can read about the concept behind this unique album over on AP.net and hear some samples of the songs here, here, and here.

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.

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.

Cheap CDs

Made a run to Best Buy at lunch today with the intention of picking up .Moneen.'s new album The Red Tree, since it was on sale for $5.99. Ended up walking out of the store with 4 CDs, all of them under $10.

.Moneen. - The Red Tree
I've heard a few of the songs off .Moneen.'s older album and I liked them, so at $6 I had to pick this up. Listened to it a couple times so far, and I enjoy it. This Is All Bigger Than Me is my initial favorite song. Oh, and you've got to love their outrageously long song titles.

Yellowcard - One for the Kids (rerelease)
They had this on the end of one of their displays for $9.99 (and incorrectly advertised as their "debut album"). I figured I should actually own this since it is my favorite YC album, plus the rerelease has Rough Draft on it. There's also a couple live videos on the Enhanced CD portion. Haven't checked them out yet though.

Foo Fighters - Five Songs and a Cover
This was in the CD display at the very front of the store and only $2.99, now that's just un-resistible. Opens with a live version of Best of You and contains demo versions of DOA and World. The cover is Cream's I Feel Free.

Saves the Day - Sound the Alarm
Knew Mike picked this up the other day when he got the .Moneen. album. I've never really gotten into Saves the Day, but this album has been getting good reviews, so for $9 I figured it was worth checking out. I've listened to the album a couple times already and it's pretty good. I think it'll keep growing on me. Initial favorite song is the opening song, Head for the Hills. Also as I pick up more and more of the lyrics, I think the whole album is a story...which I'm always a fan of.

Men, Women, and Children

"You don't need a reason
to get out on the dance floor!"

So goes the chanted chorus to the opening track of Men, Women, and Children's debut full length album. And that phrase perfectly describes the feeling you get when you listen to this CD. This is one of the most fun albums I've heard in a while and has lived in my car's CD player for the past week.

Every song on the CD has a great dance beat. The second track, Lightening Strikes Twice in New York, could totally be the opening theme for a James Bond movie (think Die Another Day). Lest you think the album is nothing but dance beats, I should also mention you'll also find an array of catchy choruses and just general fun lyrics:

Give me your right hand
But keep your left hand free
Let's run in circles
Yeah, let's make history
- Monkey Monkee Men

They say boys are messy
but you know girls just make a mess
So we don't care if we get dirty
We ain't here for cleanliness
- Messy

A, E, I, O, U nothing!
- Vowels

My favorite tracks include Dance In My Blood, Who Found Mr. Fabulous, Messy, Monkey Monkee Man, and Vowels. Check out their PureVolume page to hear a few tracks.

With spring just around the corner, I highly recommend you pick up this album (it's out on March 21st) and blast it in your car with your windows down.

More Missed Albums of 2005

The awesomeness of Cartel's debut full length, Chroma, has finally hit me. (I'd link to their webpage, but it's a flash website that blasts music at you, not just once, but twice...and no one wants that) I don't know why it took me so long to get hooked (it may have been just getting used to the singer's voice), but I finally am and I can't get enough of this album.

The last two tracks, Q and A, are especially awesome and just perfectly sum up the entire album. "If you're not getting answers, ask better questions." If you hadn't guessed, communication is the main theme of the album. The album starts off with a track called Say Anything (Else) and you've got a song called Runaway (obviously about running instead of communicating) and of course there's The Minstrel's Prayer which is all about communicating through song. And those are just a few of the songs.

The whole album is really well done, and I highly recommend you check it out. If you're not into it right away, just make sure you give it a few listens before you write it off. I guarantee you'll get hooked.

Another album of 2005 I've been listening to a lot recently is Jimmy Eat World's EP, Stay on My Side. I've especially been hooked on Disintegration and the Drugs or Me Remix. Check 'em out!

Yo DJ HAL Bring That Beat Back

The Graduate by Post-Punk Laptop Rap extraordinaire MC Lars is now available on the iTunes Music Store, a full month before it hits store shelves.

I've listened to the album numerous times the last couple days, and I'm definitely digging it. His songs are filled with catchy beats and an onslaught of lyrical references to everything ranging from references to the music industry, to science fiction, to literary classics such as Moby Dick.

You can stream full versions of three of the album's best songs (Generic Crunk Rap, Hot Topic is NOT Punk Rock, and Download This Song) over on his My Space page.

My one disappointment with the CD is that it two songs (iGeneration and Signing Emo) that were on The Laptop EP. I thought they might be new mixes of the songs, but alas they aren't.

If you haven't heard MC Lars before, go check him out! And if you have heard of him, then I have no doubt that you're already rocking out to the album.

String Quartet Does Fall Out Boy

Whoa, this is pretty crazy, string quartet versions of Fall Out Boy songs (scroll down a bit for some samples). I may have to get this just for the randomness factor. Looks like this same band has a slew of other cover CDs including NIN, Tupa, Kiss, and Gwen Stefani. Bizarre.

Thanks to AP.net for this find.

Amoeba Records

On Saturday while I was up in the city with Nick, I made my first trip to the amazing Amoeba Records. They have pretty much any CD you could ever want. Unfortunately, I didn't have a list a CD list on me but I did browse for a while and picked up a few CDs I've been meaning to buy for a while.

First I grabbed Funeral by The Arcade Fire. I've seen them live twice and I've been listening to mp3s of their CD for quite some time so I decided it was finally time to actually buy the thing. The CD insert is pretty cool as it's made to look like a bulletin for funeral. This is definitely an album I recommend everyone pick up.

The second album I picked up was the phenomenal Forget What You Know by Midtown. After spending some time with it, it became one of my favorite albums of last year. I wrote a bit more about the album in my Music of 2004 post where I named it the most underrated album of the year. My purchase of this album was definitely long overdue.

Finally I bought Orange Rhyming Dictionary by Jets to Brazil. I had a tough time deciding between this album and their most recent release Perfecting Lonlieness. But I decided for all the times I've listened to Sweet Avenue, I should go with Orange Rhyming Dictionary.

On my next trip to Amoeba, I need to remember to look for the Home EP featuring Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Andrew Kenny of American Analog set which I just read about in this interview.

CD Purchases

I stopped at Best Buy to pick up a few CDs (all under $10). I saw in their weekly ad that they had Acceptance's new album Phantoms on sale for $8. I've been wanting to pick this up for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it. Needless to say, knowing it was only $8 was all the motivation I needed. Phantoms is an album pretty much anyone can enjoy. Their single, Different, was the free iTunes download last week.

The next CD I picked up was Motion City Soundtrack's Commit This to Memory which just came out last week. This is a great followup to their last album and is filled with fast beats and catchy lyrics. My favorite tracks include Attractive Today, Feels Like Rain, L.G. FUAD and Time Turned Fragile.

The last CD I picked up was Interventions and Lullabies by The Format. I first heard The Format when they opened for Something Corporate and Yellowcard last spring and really enjoyed their set. The album has a bunch of really catchy songs like The First Single, and Tune Out. My recent favorite song is the excellent (if a bit depressing) On Your Porch.

These albums should give me some good music for the start of the summer. Though I still need to pick up the new Coldplay album and the Punk Goes 80's compilation.

Harmonium

If you're looking for a fun pop CD coupled with a melodic female voice, check out Vanessa Carlton's Harmonium. White Houses, San Francisco, and the cover of U2's Where the Streets Have No Name are my favorite tracks so far. The CD has been my background music for the past couple nights while playing Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls so I thought I'd recommend it.

New Music

Picked up a couple of debut album's yesterday, Straylight Run (self titled) and Denver Harbor (Scenic). Didn't know the Denver Harbor CD was coming out already, but I saw it was listed on the iTunes Music Store. Then when I got to Best Buy, they had it for a mere $7 so I had to get it. Denver Harbor features 2 members (including the singer) from a band called Fenix TX that Mike introduced me to freshman year but they broke up a year ago or so. Their one "mainstream" appearance was their song Phoebe Cates included on the American Pie 2 soundtrack. Anyway, the Denver Harbor CD is a good CD, definitely very similar to some of the heavier Fenix Tx songs such as Ben. Not much needs to be said about the Straylight Run album, it is amazingly beautiful. My one gripe with it is the first song, The Perfect Ending. Even from the name you might question why it's the first track. Even aside from that the song is waaaaaay to slow to be the first track, so I pretty much always start on track 2, The Tension and the Terror. Don't get me wrong, The Perfect Ending is a good song, though it has taken some time to grow on me, but it really should have been the last song on the album. Mike put up a couple Straylight songs from an acoustic radio performance which I highly recommend you download. In addition to those albums Sarah brought me a couple movie soundtracks, namely Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite. Both were great movies, and have equally great soundtracks. The Napoleon CD is worth it just for the audio clips from the movie, including the greatest pickup line ever: I see you're drinking one percent, is that because you think you're fat? (pause) Because you're not, you could be drinking whole if you wanted to.

Album Reviews

Mike reviews several albums which I too have picked up recently. I thought I'd comment on his thoughts and mention a few other albums that have been getting heavy play by me lately.

Midtown - Forget What You Know
Definitely a good album as a whole, and Give it Up (which is also on the Spider-man 2 soundtrack) and Is it Me? Is it True? are really catchy. I haven't really given it a lot of listens since I've had it, so I can't echo Mike's album of the year praises. I'm definitely going to have to spend some more time with this album though.

Straylight Run - Self Titled
Straylight rocks. Period. There is not a song they've done that I haven't loved. I've heard the two sampler CDs which combined contain about half the tracks from the full length, and I have to say I can't wait for this album to come out.

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
I saw them live when they opened for Finch and enjoyed their set. This is the first time I've heard their recorded songs though, and it's a good album. The music itself is darker and a nice change from standard rock/pop punk. Helena and I'm Not Okay (I Promise) are the top tracks.

Green Day - American Idiot
Like Mike, Dookie was one of my first "punk" albums. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago. I still listen to Dookie fairly often, though I haven't really kept up with Green Day's releases since then. Nonetheless, I picked up American Idiot, and it is a spectacular album. Mike puts it best, "a giant punk-rock opera". I too am still trying to figure out the entire story of the album, but that's what makes albums like this so fun. Are We the Waiting was the track that immediately grabbed me the first time I heard it.

Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be
Not too much to say about this one. It's a good collection of songs, and overall better than their debut album, Tell All Your Friends. Set Phasers to Stun and New American Classic are my favorite two songs.

Say Anything - Is a Real Boy
This is a really fun, wacky album to listen to. From the spoken word intro "and the record begins with a song of rebellion" to the final song Admit It! the album is filled with amusing lyrics. Admit It is a hilarious take on the whole "emo" scene, which Jeff has blogged about. You can read all the lyrics here, but the lead singer has such a good voice it's something completely different to listen to.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures
This album isn't actually out until October 19th, but I've had a chance to hear an advance copy of it, and it is my favorite new album. I will definitely be purchasing it when it comes out. I've rated 9 out of the 12 tracks 4 or 5 stars. The album starts off loud with the title track and ends with the slower and mellow Night Drive and 23. All three of which I've rated 5 stars. In between is a collection of very solid, catchy rock songs. This is a must own album.

New Albums

I've been listening to several excellent new albums lately.

1. New Found Glory - Catalyst


2. Autopilot Off - Make a Sound


3. The Format - Interventions and Lullabies


4. Lola Ray - I Don't Know You


5. Midtown - Forget What You Know


6. Punchline - Action

iTunes Sessions

Thanks to my iTunes RSS feed, I found out about the Get Up Kids - iTunes Sessions album that was added to the ITMS Tuesday. The album contains 4 acoustic tracks off their new album, Guilt Show, plus 2 acoustic versions of older songs Action and Action (one of their best songs) and Better Half.

New Amsterdams

I finally found and listened to The New Amsterdams' 2003 release, "Worse for the Wear". The New Amsterdams are a side project featuring Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids as lead singer/songwriter. Fans of bands such as the Get Up Kids (obviously) and Straylight Run will definitely like The New Amsterdams. After just a couple listens tracks for me are "From California" and "All Our Vice". Lyrics can be found here and here respectively.

Blink-182

I picked up the new Blink-182 album last weekend, and have been enjoying it ever since. Although Tom and Travis's side project Box Car Racer may never release another album, you can definitely hear Box Car Racer influences on the new Blink CD. Gone is the toilet humor from some (not all) of their previous tracks and in is its place are songs a lot more about life. The CD comes with 6 music videos (made just for the CD) of various songs. One of my favorite things about the CD is in the booklet, along with the lyrics, the band members comment about each of the songs. They offer insight into the lyrics, how the songs were recorded, what instruments were used, etc. All very interesting stuff.

Thrice and Thursday: Live at the Apple Store

It's Tuesday, which means new music was added to the iTunes Music Store. Among the many tracks added to the store today is the live performances by Thrice and Thursday from the Apple retail stores. Four songs by Thrice and five by Thursday are combined on a single album. All songs were performed acoustically and sound great. You can really feel the emotion of the singers on every track. The songs are from each band's newest albums, except for This Side of Brightness by Thursday which was on their first CD, Waiting.

On a side note, the iTunes Music Store was Time Magazine's Coolest Invention of 2003. I have to say I agree. I mean, how cool is it that I purchased the CD this morning before going to class and within a couple minutes was on my way to class, listening to it on my iPod.

Deja Entendu

Mike has been praising Brand New's album Deja Entendu recently and I just wanted to echo his thoughts here. It's among the best album's I've ever listened to and is just an amazing piece of work. It took Mike a while to get into it. He had listened to their previous album My Favorite Weapon when it came out, and Deja Entendu is a much different sound. I had only heard the song Jude Law and a Semester Abroad before Deja Entendu, so I didn't have any expectations for what the album would sound like.

The first couple times I listened to it, I really enjoyed and a couple tracks really stood out: Sic Transit Gloria, Ok I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't, and Quiet Things. Lately though, I've been listening to the entire album on an almost daily basis. Mike and i agree, it somehow just gets better with each listen. The final song on the album, Play Crack the Sky, is quickly becoming another favorite. From that song: "What they call love is a risk, cause you will always get hit out of nowhere by some wave and end up on your own."

So if you have a chance, give Deja Entendu a listen and see what you think.

I'd also like to add that about a month after I purchased Deja Entendu, I also picked up My Favorite Weapon. I've also quite enjoyed that album. In my opinion, Deja Entendu is a much deeper album, but My Favorite Weapon is definitely fun to listen to.

War All the Time

I've mentioned the band Thursday in passing a few times, but I've been listening to their album War All the Time quite a bit lately, and decided to write a full entry about them.

Upon first hearing the album's title, War All the Time, and seeing song titles such as Marches and Maneuvers and This Song Brought to You By a Falling Bomb, it's hard to expect the album to be anything except a political commentary about the situation in Iraq and the "War on Terror" in general. However, it turns out the album is not about that at all, and rather about growing up and comparing romantic relationships to war.

War All the Time is lyrically one of the best albums of the year. The lead singer Geoff Rickly writes all the song lyrics, so the songs are based on his own personal experiences and the way in which he has dealt with the adversities he has faced in his life.

My favorite tracks are Signals Over the Air, Division St., and War All the Time. Though I know this type of music does not appeal to everyone, I highly recommend anyone reading this to give this album at least a couple listens.

New Music

I've picked up 2 new CDs in the last 2 days. My preorder of The Early November's album The Room's Too Cold came on Monday. It came with a DVD and a signed poster of the band. Ace told Sarah at the concert last Saturday that it took them days to sign all of the posters. Overall, the CD is good stuff. There's a nice mix of slower, acoustic songs and faster, rock songs. The DVD that came with it includes a documentary, a live performance of Every Night's Another Story, and an acoustic song.

Then today while we were at Wal*Mart in a somewhat impulse purchase I picked up the new Coheed and Cambria album In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 which came out today. I had read really good things about it on Absolute Punk, but wasn't really planning to pick it up. But after seeing it for $10 at Wal*Mart and the fact that it came with a DVD, I decided to buy it. The CD is 12 tracks (including the bonus track) and just under 1 hour and 10 minutes long. I've listened to it once tonight and like it a lot. I'm not quite sure how to describe the music, other than to say it fits in with the types of music I generally listen to, though it definitely has a distinct sound. Now, I've purchased the most recent Thrice, Thursday, and Coheed and Cambria albums, I really should go to see the three of them at the Agora October 18th.

I also want to mention the new Death Cab For Cutie album, Transatlanticism, which also came out today. Definitely one of the best albums of the year. Ben Gibbard is a lyrical genius, and I think everyone needs to hear this album.

The next music purchase for me will be October 21st when Something Corporate's North comes out. The Punk Goes Acoustic compilation also comes out that day, so I may end up picking that up as well.

Deja Entendu

Jeff, Sean, and I stopped at Virgin Records store while we were in San Francisco on Sunday. I picked up the Fall Out Boy CD Take This to Your Grave and the Brand New CD Deja Entendu. The Fall Out Boy CD is good, catchy pop-punk CD. I have to say though Deja Entendu is simply amazing. They have an eCard here if you want to hear a couple songs off the album as well as some older songs. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about it after Jason Tate at Absolute Punk had been hyping it so much, but it definitely lives up to the hype. According to my iTunes play count I've listened to the entire CD 10 times since Sunday, so yeah, the entire CD is good.