Stillborn Records has never had a problem attracting bands to its roster, given the credentials of who is behind the label, but what manages to impress me the most about this label is their ability to select out some real “diamonds in the rough” among the hardcore masses. One of the label’s best signings of [...]

After signing with Wind-Up Records in early 2005, THE EXIT plan to re-release their most recent album, Home Is An Island on the label in October 2005 (the disc was originally put out by Some Records). The group recently shot a video for the single “Don’t Push,” and stills from the shoot can be found here. According to the band’s website, the re-release will also include some new material. Finally, THE EXIT will be hitting the road for most of August with FINCH, RX BANDITS, and A STATIC LULLABY.

This article isn’t nearly as luddite as my headline might suggest. Here’s a snippet:

Online social networking, especially the kind dominated by teenagers, has been remarkably fertile turf for music marketing. The community site MySpace.com features home pages for more than 350,000 bands, from indie acts to platinum artists like Nine Inch Nails and Black Eyed Peas. MySpace allows users to become “”friends”" with bands, communicating directly with them (or whomever they hire to answer e-mail) and sharing video and audio clips with other users. For MySpace users, the music content is a draw, giving them something to talk about online. And for labels, MySpace is a marvelously efficient, remarkably cheap and not terribly invasive means of spreading buzz.

… Visitors to the Yahoo site watch more than 350 million videos per month. In the last week of May, AOL Music had an audience of 12.2 million, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings, and Yahoo Music was close behind with 11.3 million. Though the figures aren’t directly comparable, in the same time period, “”Total Request Live,”" MTV’s flagship countdown show, drew a daily average of 662,000 households, and “”106 & Park,”" BET’s countdown show, captures 605,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. Says David Saslow, who is in charge of video promotion at Interscope Records, “”If we have a No. 1 video at Yahoo, that’s as important as having a No. 1 video on a network.”"

On Friday, a CD arrived from a band who I probably hadn’t thought about in at like seven or eight years. Fiend Records has assembled a retrospective from the California melodic punk band, SCHLEPROCK. Apparently the motivation by the release was to the chronicle the band’s legacy, and to help raise some money for Monica Graham, the wife of the band’s guitarist who tragically died from a drug overdose a couple of years ago. SCHLEPROCK were signed to a major during the height the post-GREEN DAY label signing spree. Like fellow Californians’ SAMIAM, they didn’t exactly have the best of experiences on the label, and the band hit a rough patch thereafter, ultimately disbanding in 1996. Before that period, the group released a couple of full-lengths of Dr. Strange Records and were easily one of the most well-known punk bands around in the early 90s. The group’s most popular song is likely the tune “Sorry” which was featured prominently on the Fearless Records compilation “Punk Bites.” The retrospective has a total of 21 tracks, and a bunch of sound clips have been posted here. Check ‘em out!

From Barsuk.com:

NADA SURF are gearing up to release their next record, The Weight is a Gift. Co-produced with DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE’s Chris Walla, and recorded at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone studio in SF and Walla’s Hall of Justice in Seattle, the new CD is full of sweet harmonies and stand-out pop tracks ‚Äî the perfect follow-up to 2003′s let go. A free MP3 file from The Weight is a Gift is available here ‚Äî the first pressing of the CD (due to be released September 13, 2005) will contain a limited edition bonus disc.

OUTSPOKEN’s Spotlight discography release hit stores last week, and Indecision Records has posted an mp3 for the track “Shadows” right here. These California hardcore monsters will be getting back together to play Hellfest, and apparently have a show scheduled in Connecticut sometime in October as well.

Sick mosh, bro. Check out the video here. The track comes from the band’s newly released full-length Lions At The Gate on Eulogy/Hand of Hope records. In other Eulogy/HoH news, the label group has more or less their entire roster playing Hellfest. Here’s the rundown:

Friday August 19th

Donnybrook

Kids Like Us

Summer’s End

The Warriors

Shattered Realm

Saturday August 20th

The Burning Season

Casey Jones

Evergreen Terrace

Society’s Finest

Sunday August 21st

Calico System

ARIEL KILL HIM is a Swedish band that has been praised and talked about since the release of their new album, “In the Pyramid.” When I checked out the two songs on the band’s website, I found no reason to share this excitement – I found the songs to be boring and generic. So when [...]