From the latimes.com:

Breaking from the rest of the entertainment industry, record giant Sony BMG is cooperating with the Grokster file-sharing network on a venture that combines free music sampling with paid downloads.

The initiative reflects the growing interest among record labels and movie studios to harness — rather than fight — the popularity of file sharing.

Read the entire article here…

From the inbox:

The guys in Calico System are taking a little time off to finish writing material for their forthcoming CD. However, they are still hitting the road from late Nov-late Dec. Here are a few of the dates, look for more to come soon.

Nov 5 Brownsburg,IN @Lions Club

Nov 6 Vincennes,IN @VFW Hall

Nov 11 Carbondale,IL @Copper Dragon w/Adair

Nov 18 Boise,ID @the Venue w/Dead Poetic

Nov 19 Salt Lake City,UT @Lo Fo Cage w/Dead Poetic

Nov 20 Denver,CO @Grandpa’s Music Box w/Dead Poetic

Nov 21 Lawrence,KS @the Bottleneck w/Dead Poetic

Nov 26 Evansville,IN @Wired Cafe w/Adair

Nov 27 Salem, IL @Roller Palace

Dec 9 West Hollywood, CA @Whiskey A Go-Go

Dec 14 Las Vegas, NV @Roadhouse Casino

link: calicosystem.com

- CALICO SYSTEM’s Eulogy debut, The Duplicated Memory is a fine slab of hardcore. I definitely recommend giving this band a listen!

NOFX – The Greatest Songs Ever Written By Us

- A lot of care was definitely given to the flow of the song selection, and the remastering job on some of the older songs is worth the price of this release alone, even if you have their entire discography.

In a brief article in Friday’s Washington Post, it was mentioned that Washington DC’s nightspot, Nation, (a longtime home of punk, hardcore, metal, hip-hop, and dance shows) was subject to a proposal to raze its facilities in order to construct a new 10 story office building. Nation sits a mere three blocks from the proposed site of the new DC baseball stadium. According to the article, there’s no known time frame for approval on the proposed destruction of the club, as such a process can take anywhere from one year to three years, or even more.

- When I first started going to shows at this venue when it was known as the Capital Ballroom, it was in a real shady part of town (where the street hustles offered to “”watch your car for $10… or else”"). Right now, its location is going through a massive reformation with all sorts of new federal departments establishing offices there and with mega-million (billion?) dollar proposals to remake the southeastern DC waterfront. Times are a’changing…

On Tuesday (nothing else going on important that day…), HOPESFALL will release their second full-length for Trustkill, entitled, A-Types. The group shot a neat looking video for “Icarus,” not too long ago, and you can watch it here. Later on in November, HOPESFALL hit the road with A STATIC LULLABY and ENGINE DOWN.

Although I’ve never claimed to be much of a music critic, and have handled Pastepunk roughly by the seat of my pants for more than five years now, I have come to conclude that even for the most “extreme” (ha!) band, without good songs, ones craft better be self-gratifying to create, because otherwise, it will [...]

1. THIS PROVIDENCE – Our World’s Divorce

2. V/A – This Is Indie Rock Volume One

3. KANE HODDER – The Pleasure to Remain Heartless

4. ODD PROJECT – The Second Hand Stopped

5. LIARS ACADEMY – Demons

EVR has been gracious enough to post an ecard containing the entirety of CODESEVEN’s atmospheric opus, Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds. Listen to it here, and expect it to carry you off to some far away mental state of relaxation and contentment. Or something like that…