The Top Albums of The Decade: 2002

This post is part of our “Top Albums of The Decade” series. Follow the series to read about the best music to grace our ears in the 2000s. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes (Interscope Records) Remember when rock bands made albums and not just a collection of songs? Yeah, I don’t either. Except for Trail of Dead’s third outing, Source Tags & Codes. Not only…

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Songs of the decade: “Worship Depraved”

Arsis | “Worship Depraved” | 2004 Technical melodeath band Arsis caught the attention of many with its debut record, A Celebration of Guilt. A combination of technical melodic death metal and frontman James Malone’s black metal rasp made them one of few reasons to get excited about American metal – and rightfully so, considering the talent that lies in this record. Its unorthodox (ironic, given the record’s subject matter) nature, both musically and lyrically, gave…

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Download: Final Fantasy – ‘Lewis Takes Action’

We’ve been waiting for new material from behalf of orchestral experimentalist Owen Pallett, more know by his Final Fantasy moniker, for a very long time, and now, a mere one month away from it’s highly anticipated release, “Heartland” is almost upon us. If you’ve joined him at one of his live gigs from this past summer, you might have been graced enough to listen some of the new tracks off “Heartland”, like this epic performance…

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Gorillaz’s new album Plastic Beach to feature Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed and more

In a recent interview with The Guardian, British music icon Damon Albarn revealed some very interesting details concerning the long awaited Gorillaz follow-up to the incredible 2005 “Demon Days.” Apparently, “the LP is nearly finished,” as Damon put it, and will go by the name of “Plastic Beach” (the title came to him after seeing the plastic bottle-littered beach in front of his home in Devon). He goes on to add that the new album…

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Al Byrne’s Radio Bile

They say “familiarity breeds contempt”, but the more I hear that phrase, the more I dislike it. And not just because I’m a pathetic, desperate contrarian idiot – the phrase is wrong. Wrong. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. It breeds comfort, warmth, and eventually nostalgia. New things are awful, and potentially dangerous, and sometimes have questionable odours. Shun new things. Avoid them. Instead, you should wrap yourself in the comfortable blanket of the safe and familiar,…

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Welcome to Ashley Interview

Welcome to Ashley, “one of Chicago’s best live bands,” was an energetic, crowd pleasing, good time at the Empty Bottle on October 23rd. This show in an effort to promote their new album, “Absent man” was fun and refreshingly new. Coley Kennedy, the front man for WTA took time out of his rock star day and answered a few of my burning questions. How did Welcome to Ashley form and what has kept the band together? Coley: Pete and Jeremy…

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Download: The Notwist’s ‘Boneless’ (Grizzly Bear remix)

Grizzly Bear just released this very soulful remix of The Notwist’s “Boneless”, off the later’s 2008 highly praised “The Devil, You + Me.” If you’ve been following indie blogs for the last couple of years, you might remember another Boneless remix, which has since become quite famous , namely Panda Bear’s very dramatic take on the song. Actually Panda Bear’s remix, rehashed to such an extent that it became a whole new track, was featured…

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[VIDEO] Yeasayer – ‘Ambling Alp’

At the beginning of the month, I was simply psyched by Yeasayer’s new song “Ambling Alp”, off the band’s upcoming 2010 new album “Odd Blood.” Back then I said “The song, as a whole, makes for an incredible uplifting experience, packed with memerising electro beats and a bright pulsating rhythm. So far, it seems a lot more sharper, defined and focused than anything on their debut, which can only make me wonder what gems I…

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Belle & Sebastian new album on the horizon [?]

Since Belle & Sebastian released their last glorious album, “The Life Pursuit”, in 2006, the band has not only stopped releasing any new music, but they haven’t even hinted of plans of a new album whatsoever. When Stuart Murdoch, the band’s lead creative force behind the band, started working on his God Help the Girl project any plans for the band to make any new albums had been scrapped, until today that is when the…

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Wednesday Smilejerker: Muppets cover Bohemian Rhapsody

Smilejerker’s back, and this week we’ve got something for all ages, that will both move and humor you, namely this fabulous cover of Queens’ Bohemian Rhapsody by an ‘all-star’ Muppets cast. We’ve seen some awesome tunes covered by the Muppets in the past, including Beatles, The Everly Brothers , Weezer, The Drifters and even death metal (unofficial), but this is one is truly magical. Enjoy, kids!

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