Classic Album Of The Week!

OK, so I've tried to start little weekly or monthly things in the past and I really didn't follow through... So I'm going to try this again. But crack down on it. If you're willing to read, I'm willing to post.

Anyways, lets get this show on the road. Every week from now on I want to post a classic album (i.e. 7 to 10 years old) and a small review of it on here, just to spice things up. Hopefully you guys will find something you like or realize how pretentious my music taste can get. Oh well. The first album is one that I've been getting really into lately: Refused's 'The Shape Of Punk To Come: A Chimerical Bombation In 12 Bursts'.

This album is fucking revolutionary. Seriously. Give it a listen. You'll say to yourself "Ben, this sounds like it's just another hardcore punk band." Then I'll tell that it was released in 1998. Yeah. These guys laid out the blueprint for hardcore music back in the late nineties with this album. The title is actually very true. A lot of bands owe Refused so much because of this album. It brought back the idea of punk music being unique in both the sounds and ideaologies. If you can remember, punk in the late nineties consisted of more pop punk radio-friendly stuff like Green Day and Blink 182. This band reminded the underground punk scene that you can still push yourselves musically and idealogically and make it big. Do yourself a favor and grab this album, give it a couple of spins, and smile. Its messages are very relevant these days with the word 'socialism' getting thrown around a lot. As you'll be able to tell, these angry Swedes were very socialist. It sucks that they broke up after a final U.S. Tour. Kind of funny tour name though: Refused Are Fucking Dead. Here's a video for one of the singles from this album, 'New Noise':

25 million??? Really??? Uh, good luck with that...

Next time I'm selling a shitty old car I know to go to Minnesota. I'm not a big sports guy, but this pretty much sums up the whole Brett Farve issue in my book:

Three Strikes, You're Out.

Losing major points in my book. This isn't overreacting, this is an equal and opposite reaction to it all. We won't be the same after this.

Anyways, now that all that is off my chest, I just realized I hadn't posted anything about the Silversun Pickups show. Overall, it was a pretty decent show. I'll be honest: I think the venue took a lot away from the performance. As you'll see in the pictures, SSPU were spread waaaaayy across the stage from each other... it was kind of isolating. Thoughts on the performers themselves: Cage The Elephant sucked. Royally. The whole band just stood in one place while the lead singer ran around and shit. That was cool, but the rest of the band really brought it down. The next band, Manchester Orchestra, was awesome. They played a great set from their new album and converted me into a fan on the spot. Definitly check out their new album 'Mean Everything To Nothing' if you are into indie/emo/grunge. I would have to say Manchesters set was the best of the night. Following them was Silversun Pickups. Like I said earlier, the venue and stage really detracted from the performance. I would have liked to see some more props or something, but it was just a blank screen behind the band. They played a great set but just lacked a certain zazz that I was looking for. All in all, it was a pretty good concert. Picked up some good merch and had fun with some good friends. Enjoy the pics!

OK One More

I'm sorry, but this sketch is the filthiest, most hilarious thing I've ever heard. Here's another:

Patton Oswalt Is One Of The Funniest Men Alive.

So here I am, as usual, blogging random shit because my plans for the night have fallen through. I need to put a smile back on this mug, so I started watching clips of Patton Oswalt, the funniest comedian out there right now in my opinion. His delivery just fits my sense of humor for some reason. Anyways, here's a couple of his sketches for your enjoyment:



I was listening to one of his albums at work one day and I heard this sketch... I thought I was going to get in trouble because I couldn't talk or answer a phone I was laughing so hard. It even had one of my co-workers keeled over laughing:



Enjoy this junk, and I hope your night is more eventful than mine... In a good way, of course.

New Music + Upcoming Concerts = Busy Next Months...

So my goal of seeing as many bands as I could this summer kind of fell through, mainly because of those damn summer festivals! Anyways, the goal has been pushed back into the next coming months. Today I'm going to see Silversun Pickups (yay!), Manchester Orchestra (yay!), and Cage the Elephant (eh.). Then I'm going to see The Mars Volta, which should be pretty sweet, Dinosaur Jr., which WILL ROCK, and Brand New, which should be fucking cool. So yeah, even though it's my senoir year, it looks like I'm going to be traveling a lot. I'll post a couple shots from the Pickups show when I get a chance. Anyways, time for some new music.

One band that I've really been getting into lately is the hardcore punk band Gallows. They've been making quite a stir over in jolly ol' England and have started touring around in the states with Warped Tour. Their album "Orchestra of Wolves" is pretty fucking sweet. These guys have been listening to Black Flag a lot and you can tell in a good way. They blend together some great rythyms and melodies while keeping a savage growl the whole time. Stand-out tracks for me include "Kill The Rythym", "Abandon Ship", "Will Someone Shoot That Fucking Snake", and "Orchestra of Wolves", the title track. The lyrics of "Orchestra" are quite poetic: "Trust me when I say it's non-alcoholic, I don't want you passing out, I want you sucking my dick". Truly the Shakespeares of their time. Anywho, check them out if you're into hardcore stuff. You won't be disapointed.
The other band I've been listening is on the complete other end of the musical spectrum. His name is Chris Garneau, and the album is "El Radio". Now, I have just recently started listening to this guy but it sounds really cool. It's baroque influenced pop with a carnival-like twist. He has a beautiful voice that really gets to you when you listen to it by yourself. The album is divided into four parts: April Showers, Il Fait Chaud (french?), In Autumn, and Winter Songs. Each part consists of three songs. I haven't listened to it enough to pick out standout tracks, but this album will be spinning for a while. It's really relaxing and I have a feeling this guy is going to become pretty big on the indie-rock circles. I'd put money on indie hipsters starting to drop his name in coffee shops very soon.

Wait. Wha... WHAT?!?!? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!?!?!

HOLY FUCK. BIG NEWS PEOPLE. NEW SUPERGROUP IN THE MUSIC WORLD. I'm sorry, let me calm down... Whoo... Breathe... Ok. So I've stumbled upon some mind-blowing news. Apparently, Josh Homme has been secretly putting together a fucking rock and roll supergroup, and I've been in the dark this whole time. Holy shit, is that amazing. Just the fact that this shit hasn't blown up shows how dedicated Homme is to keeping his shit under wraps. ANYWAYS, the band is called Them Crooked Vultures and consists of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones (bassist from Led Zepplin). They will be debuting at a Lollapalooza afterparty this Sunday. Guys, this could be monumentaly epic. I feel like this is going to catapult Josh Homme into legendary status. I mean, he's a fucking badass now, but I feel like it's only musicians who respect him. This will put him into rock icon status for sure. Here are some links with more info. I'll keep you guys posted as it all goes down.

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=135&csid2=844&fid1=40294

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=135&csid2=844&fid1=40324

pic of band name, album name, release date, and members:

This looks very legit to me, folks. I don't think they are fucking around.

(school girl squealing ensues)

Is That Me?

Yeah, here's a silly video of Andrew W.K. on Conan O'Brien. This is basically me when I'm out in da club, hollering at thaw shawties.



And now you see why I never get laid.