There was a point and time where I thought STATISTICS was just another copycat act branching off of the recent success of Connor Oberst (a.k.a. BRIGHT EYES) and the booming Omaha, Nebraska music scene. Denver Dalley, co-songwriter of DESAPARECIDOS alongside Oberst, has taken the reigns of a solo project that meshes pop rock rhythms with [...]

HOPESFALL – A-Types

- A whole lot of people seemed to close the door on this band with their further foray into more melodic and less heavy pastures but this is a powerful, intricate release that defies easy categorization, and nestles deeper in your brain with every additional listen.

UPDATE: link of the day: bananaguard.com – now this is a great holiday gift!!

…is GROUPER finally, the killer app?

Find out more on why you should be using this program at grouper.com.

From the inbox:

“”In our last mail we already told you we’re working on a DVD. Things are coming together more and more! We’re playing a show at Nighttown in our hometown Rotterdam on the 2nd of February which we’ll record completely for the DVD! Of course we hope everybody will show up to make this a great night! Presales are starting very soon, we’ll keep you updated on that!

Furthermore a documentary on Face Tomorrow will be made for the DVD. And it will have stuff like live shows, pictures, music videos, interviews etc. But, we still would like to get our hands on as much FT footage as possible. So; if you have any live Face Tomorrow videos, please help us out and get in touch! The DVD is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2005.

Besides the Nighttown show we have lots more cool shows and tours lined up! In December for instance two short tours through France and Germany (with H-Blockx). In January we’re playing the Noorderslag festival in Groningen and in February we’ll do a month-long headlining tour through Germany, Austria, France and the UK. More shows are being booked at the moment so keep an eye out on facetomorrow.net for updates!

- This band rules – some of the best sung lead vocals on the planet…

I’m about four months late with this review of “Coral Fang,” but seriously good releases like such are supposedly timeless, right? THE DISTILLERS have largely a love/hate appeal in punk rock that seemingly has no rhyme or reason. As this is the band’s third full-length, and first for the heavy hitters at Warner Music, it [...]

I’m still enjoying my holiday with family in NY, so there’s no formal update today, but I figured I’d check in with some stuff.

1. Big ups to MOCK ORANGE and THE KITE-EATING TREE for becoming finalists in the MTV2 Dew-Breakout Circuit. I just watched the episode this morning where MOCK ORANGE was featured and it was rather awesome. It’s too bad they didn’t give Lobster a shout-out at all in going over the band history, but since their sound has changed so much over the years, maybe they’re (stupidly) trying to forget how mind-blowing Nines and Sixes and The Record Play are. I haven’t caught the show yet with THE KITE-EATING TREE, but Tom Ackerman and crew deserve any attention they can get! Good luck playing live on MTV2 w/ YELLOWCARD on December 4th.

2. Yesterday morning at Best Buy. Oh baby. All I’m sayin’ is 4 CDs and 1 DVD for $44. Hot damn! Much to my chagrin, I was not able to figure out how to purchase a 700 watt Yamaha home theatre system and somehow, take it home via Amtrak. Oh well. Shopping on the day after Thanksgiving is beautifully American, and although the press tends to harp on the stress and chaos that holiday shopping puts on families, I saw virtually nothing but smiles and people having a good time stalking out for good deals in just about every store we went to. Sometimes, a little bit of extragavant commercialization is a good thing…

3. Bleeker Street Bar in NYC. I was there last night and it was a cool time. I hadn’t been down on Bleeker in years, and it looked a lot nicer than I remembered it being. I can’t express how nice it is to go out in NYC’s smoke-free environment. Judging by the crowd at the bar, it doesn’t seem like making people smoke outside is all that troubling to business either. Brooklyn Lager is good stuff. Everytime I head into NYC, it makes me absurdly homesick – where else can you be on a train at 1am and have 10 people in front of you arguing loudly (and likely, drunkenly) over whether the Mets should get Sammy Sosa? (Yes – they totally should!).

4. I’m turning the corner on the new STRUNG OUT release. I gave Exile in Oblivion only a lukewarm review, but it’s swiftly becoming one of the most played items on my mp3 player. Say what you will about the track ordering, but the first six songs are absolutely unstoppable (especially the gnarly guitar solo at the end of “”Lucifermotorcade”"), and the last three or so finish up real strong. Although I don’t see it happening, STRUNG OUT would be a welcome change of pace and a healthy addition to the bands featured on Headbanger’s Ball.

5. Not being able to get to an Islanders game during this weekend has been depressing. I hope the NHL understands how deep this lockout is hurting their steadfastly loyal fanbase. Sports pundits can chew all day long about how no one America seems to be crying about the lack of hockey right now, but there’s a silent majority of hockey fans here who feel like their interests are going entirely ignored. I’ve been going to hockey games with my Dad and brother since I was barely old enough to walk, and getting to games during Thanksgiving (or the Dec. holidays) has always been something we loved to do together. Simply stated, this stinks. And what about our friends in Canada?!?!

6. Album of the day: NO USE FOR A NAME – Leche Con Carne

Although I generally appreciate most releases from the Hyrdahead camp, some of their bands demand a little more from the listener than others. KEELHAUL is definitely one of those challenging entities, as their brand of mostly instrumental math-metal, while superbly executed, runs roughshod across the listener’s portion of the brain that’s supposed to take in [...]

I think some of the new allegedly “screamo” bands should provide vomit bags with copies of their promos. I’m almost in shock that in 2004, well into the great modern screamo explosion, that bands are still prone to churn out cliche after cliche of emotional wasteland. “Remind Me To Burn These Pages” ?!?!?!?! Please. How [...]