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Since this sites been pretty dead lately (I can see the tumbleweeds blowing through the place), I thought I would post an update on some new music that’s coming our way
One music release that has got me really excited is Zebrahead’s new album titled Phoenix which will be out August 5th. We can only hope that these guys will finally get off their lazy arses & tour Australia for the first time.
Alkaline Trio will release their much anticipated newbie called Agony & Irony on July 1st. Their previous effort was an absolute ripper & according to the track by track review on Bombshell, this one’s just as good. This is also reminds me to pick up a copy of their classic release Goddammit which they’ve recently reissued in a remastered package along with a bonus DVD.
While Anberlin have been busy working on their upcoming album Surrender they’ve recently suffered a major setback after all their written material was recently stolen. Unfortunately none of it was backed up & they now have to go back to the drawing board & rewrite all their songs. This has resulted in them pushing back the release of their upcoming album to September 30th.
In contrast the release date for Weezer’s new album has been pushed ahead of schedule after most of the songs leaking their way onto the internet. In keeping with the color naming theme on their previous albums (blue,green,black) the newest one will simply be called the red album and will be released on June 3rd.
In local releases The Living End will soon be releasing their latest offering called White Noise. After hearing most of the new material live at their last gig I’m really looking forward to the whole album which will be released on July 19th
Gaslight Anthem have been busy boys & will be releasing the follow up to 2007′s Sink Or Swim called The 59′ Sound on August 19th. Since Sink was my favorite album of last year I can’t wait to hear some of their new stuff. Speaking of which, tickets are currently on sale for their gig at the Arthouse on Friday 1st August & will only cost $22 + b/f. You can pick them up from Missing Link (I’ve still gotta get myself some tix).
After gracing our shores last year Gainsville rockers Less Than Jake will be releasing an album on their new record label on June 24th. Since they received a bit of criticism on their last album for being too ‘poppy’ they’ve decided to go back to their old school ska roots on the latest record which is called GNV FLA.
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes (These guys really need an acronym but MFATGG isn’t very catchy), next album will be a collection of B-sides leftovers from their Have A Ball record and is aptly titled Have Another Ball. This will be released on July 8th & contains 12 covers tracks. While I haven’t heard most of the originals like Coming to America, Only The Good Die Young & Sodomy, the fantastic Country Roads is well worth the price just on it’s own.
On a related musical note, two new albums that have recently been released & are definitely worth a listen are Stop,Drop & Roll from Foxboro Hotubs & Send Me Flowers from the Black Lungs. I don’t think I could be bothered writing a whole review, but I just thought I would throw in my two pennies worth on these great albums.
In case you haven’t heard Foxboro Hotub’s is Green Day’s recent little side project & sees the band venturing into vintage rock & roll territory with plenty of toe tapping catchy melodies. It’s an interesting change in direction for the band which sees them moving away from the epic sounds found on American Idiot into songs that are reminiscent of old school 60′s tunes.
The Black Lungs is another side project, this time from Alexisonfire’s Wade McNeil. Send Me Flowers is described on their myspace website as sounding like a tragic mix of liquor, late nights and fast women. It’s a great mix of dark brooding melodic tunes that really builds on you after a number of listens and is definitely recommended to those that dig well written music. Bombshellzine have written a good track by track review of the album so make sure to check it out.
Cheers & good listening.
As Australians we all know that our cricket team are not the friendliest people to compete against. They will use sledging as a tool to get ahead whenever they can. Some claim this is one of the main reasons we have been the best in the world for such a long time. After the infamous Sydney test match a lot was said about how the Australians conduct themselves on the field and how they should just take some of their own medicine. I was reading all this at the start of the year and was thinking that this is just wrong. If an Australian player was found guilty of racially abusing an Indian player he would have been suspended and made to apologise. When the Aussie team accused an Indian player of doing this what happened?
Well I think we all know what happens, India blame us, threaten to end the tour and say that we made it up. Harbhajan gets let off and does not even come out and apologise. Now months later in the IPL Harbhajan is at it again this time slapped an opponent, and who is this player he slaps? His own Indian team mate. For once the BCCI will need to stand up and take action as this just shows the true nature of Mr Singh.
For now Harbhajan has been suspended for 11 IPL games and this I think is good for the game and cricket in India. Would the same sentence have been given if he slapped Symonds? As Big Brother would say “I don’t think so”.
Harbahjan has once again shown his true colours. The next time he does something to an international player he shouldn’t get away with it. If he does then this would really show the true power India have in the international cricket world.
The good guys at Bombshell have hooked up a sweet looking double header tour for No Use For A Name & Strung Out.
The fat wreck chord boys will be heading off on an extensive Strangers In The Outback Tour on the 2nd of July and will see them hitting a number of rare locations (Cairns, Jindabyne & Geelong to name a few) until they finish up on the 30th.
No Use For A Name recently released their 11th album The Feel Good Record Of The Year and showed that they’re still capable of belting out some great punk rock tunes 17 years on. I think NUFAN was the first punk band I ever saw.
Strung Out are also in fine form & played some fantastic shows after their recent trip to OZ playing support for Bad Religion. Their heavy hitting album Black Hawks Over Los Angeles was released last year & was an excellent punk/heavy metal hybrid.
For our Melbourne readers (all 5 of you), both bands will be playing at Billboards on Friday 11th July. Tickets go on sale the 2nd of May & will cost $45+ bf from Moshtix (just don’t buy them from the bend over bandits Ticketek).
A Band In Hope sees The Matches diverge from the previous pop punk sound heard on their last two albums (Decomposer & E.von Dahl) into a style that may be unfamiliar to old fans. This diversity was achieved by recording their latest album in a total of nine studio’s with seven producers ranging from John Feldmaan (Goldfinger) to Tim Armstrong (Rancid). This influence has lead to plenty of creative experimental songs that push the band into some new areas. However it’s initially hard to wrap your brain around this album as it has a bipolar nature with plenty of bleak mournful songs mixed with upbeat tunes. Even the title of the record can be interpreted two ways, a band in hope or abandon hope.
Shawn Harris (vocals/guitar) has stated that their albums are “Simply snapshots who we are at the time of making it” and that their latest, “Sways between hope and despair, and the hope one gets when they feel disillusioned and abandoned”.
AM Tilt opens the album with a slow tempo that holds the track back from reaching it’s full potential. This pretty average introduction finally unleashes some heavy rock riffs within the last few seconds, but it’s a case of to little, too late.
This is followed up with the fantastic sugar coated pop song, Wake The Sun. This one is likely to leave a smile on your face and it’s a shame there’s not more songs like this on the album, as its uplifting, upbeat and a lot of fun.
The gloomy side of the album then begins to show with Darkness Rising which has Shawn playing piano and swapping singing duties with Justin San Souci. This originally stripped back affair turns into a confusing mishmash of operatic vocals and dramatic Broadway style melodies. It’s a weird track that somehow remains compelling and has built on me after a number of listens.
While the album does contains a few forgettable tracks (To Build A Mountain & Future Tense) these are atoned for by, Point Me Towards The Morning, If I Were You and Their City. These memorable pop rock tracks containing positive messages and soaring vocal melodies with plenty of catchy hooks. We Are One also delivers the goods with a nice dose of rock accompanied by a rattling acoustic guitar and a great drum roll beat that will probably have you singing along “When we are loud we are one”.
The same cannot be said of the depressive 24c, which is easily the worst track on the album and consists of distorted drumming and morose vocals which overstay they’re welcome with a 4 min running time.
Things are slightly redeemed with the more interesting Clouds Crash which contains a simple acoustic guitar melody with moving violins and soft bell chimes that create a tune similar to the Beatles song Across The Universe. Between Halloween also captures the attention with some background keyboard work that highlight Queen style vocals and old school guitar hooks.
The fun filled Yankee In A Chip Shop, is the only track that’s really similar to their earlier work and was supposedly written after their visit to the UK when they were chased down the street by a local hood. The Ramones like hooks & catchy lyrics make this an instantly likable song which closes the album on a good note (Ignoring Proctor Rd, as its mostly an instrumental track).
Overall A Band In A Hope is a compelling if somewhat confusing record that will probably take a number of listens before you’ll be able to fully comprehend it. While half of the songs seem a bit downbeat and flat, the other half is full of optimism and hope. If you can appreciate this schizo aspect of the album then this album may slowly grow on you, but just don’t go into it expecting to hear instantly addictive fast paced songs like on their last albums.
Overall Rating: 70 / 100 pennies
Highlight tracks
- Wake The Sun
- Yankee In The Chip Shop
- Point Towards The Sun
- If I Were You
Are you ready to be excited?
Offspring have announced the release date of their upcoming album Rage & Fall, Rise & Grace (Does anyone else get the feeling that they’ve ripped off the name from the Foo Fighters last album?).
It’s been a long time between album’s (5 years) but their new record is set for release on June 17th. Offspring have stated that each of their records have always reflected the state of punk at the time. I guess it was a real bad year when Splinter was release, but it will be interesting to see what their interpretation will be this time around.
After seeing them briefly at The Soundwave Festival, they managed to impress me and for some reason I’m actually pretty excited about their latest album.
Speaking of new releases, Thrice’s ambitious Alchemy Index project will soon be completed with the release of their final volumes, Air & Earth next week on the 15th.
While volumes 1 & 2 (Fire & Water) were a little disappointing, I’ve given Air a quick listen & so far have been impressed. This time they’ve ditched most of the slumber inducing electronic sounds heard on Water and they’ve concentrated on real instruments that deliver a great atmosphere to the album (Loving the piano on Digging My Own Grave).
They’ve currently streaming the whole two volumes on their myspace site, so make sure you give it a listen.
Week 5 was a bad week for me as I was still recovering from my little mishap and did not get to do any running. I did manage to get out on Saturday and do 22k on the bike so I did do something for the week. The other boys all did very well and are on track for the big day.
Gav – 25.55K this week at 6.44 per K.
Paul – 28.54K this week at 5.15per K.
So week 5 is now behind us and we look to week 6 the half way point in our quest to run for the kids. I will give my foot a go this week and get my run back on. We have a big Saturday this week with 12k the required distance so will be good to see how we all go with the extra few k’s and me coming back from 2 weeks with no runs.
Run On!
Well it has begun again channel Ten has brought the goods in the world of trash “reality” T.V. with Sunday night brought the return of the Biggest Loser, better known as ‘Run Fatty Run, Cry Fatty Cry.’ Sunday also brought about Australia’s first attempt at replicating the success of the America’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’(more on that later). Hazzah I hear you say… well my friends its trash time.
As you may or may not be aware I am a big fan of truly trashy T.V and particularly the humiliation style ventures of Run fatty Run. So Sunday saw the newest season walk slowly onto Ten. With more contestants than the usual the ritual humiliation of said fatties began instantly with 30 needing to be reduced to 15 and of course the best way to do this would be for trainers Shannon and Whats her face to break them down. I was delighted to see that it only took 15mins of show to live up to its name and also gain an extra phrase of ‘Spew Fatty Spew!’ After each contestant tried to show they had the determination, and more importantly a good sob story to accompany it, to be selected. And so the contestants (to many to name, and to early to care) were cut down to only 15. A top moment that stood out in the show was when Shannon the overly buffed yet somewhat sensitive trainer looked deep into the eyes of an eager fatty awaiting their fate and said “ I believe in you…I believe you have what it takes…to do this on your own you are not staying” in the immortal words of Fez “BURN!!”
What would trashy T.V be without a good twist or two and of course the opening episode delivered with the unsuccessful applicants being whisked away, in an uneasily appropriate Hummers, to be trained by… wait for it The Commando! The commando as far as I can see would spend too much time in the gym or in front of the mirror to ever serve in the military.
Some have said this show brings out the worst in me and I believe they are right but something about the way this show is put together with the façade of being about helping people have better lives and yet they humilate them week after week by showing the world piles of food they in their previous ‘disgusting’ lives would have consumed.
This “reality”(don’t know how many peoples reality this would fit into) show whilst humiliating for the contestants also continually reminds us that they signed up for it of there own accord and this makes me feel better about the entertainment I get from their misery.
Now the next newest trash to hit the screens is ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. I’ve been a huge fan of the U.S version so was excited to see a down under version. I have to say the first two episodes did not dissapoint with a good mix of the ridiculous and extremely talented. If you failed to see the start I suggest you get on board in particular I was pleased to not only see ex Blackie High constituents Demi (formerly Sharon) and Carlo Sorona(sp?) but that their family had an entire section of the show dedicated to them. Both have made it on to the next stage(Sydney) and are incredible dancers. Also props to their Deaf sister Lorraine who didnt make it through but was still great. And to get on my high horse for a minute Boo to channel Ten for not providing an interpreter during their interviews and props to Demi for interpreting and carrying a conversation at the same time which is an extremely difficult thing to do.
All in all a great start to the newest crop of trash… lets hope it holds off Big Brother for awhile.
So the first week of training for the big run is in the bag. I managed to do a total of 13.52 Km this week at an average of 6min 10sec per km so it was a very good start. The fittest of the group TrePaul did a huge 21.57 Km this week at an average of 5min 26sec per km.
I am still not feeling confident that I could do 14km but we will see how we go with all this training that we are doing. Now if you don’t really know how long 14km is I have a picture of the course that we will be running below so check it out.
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