15) PANDA BEAR – Person Pitch I don’t really know how to describe this one, but all I know is that this thing just sounds gorgeous. Overlapping samples and weird effects create a sonic landscape that you can see and feel (especially if you’ve got headphones on). Layer upon layer of textured sound that envelopes [...]

If you had never heard of TOKIO HOTEL before, judging by this photo alone, what kind of music do you think they’d be playing? Punk rock? Glamcore? Christian metal? Nu-metal?

I just wonder how the dude on the left feels…

1. How slow has music news been the past week? So slow that the most interesting press release I got today was about how the USC marching band will be playing an AVENGED SEVENFOLD song (“Almost Easy”) during the halftime of the Rose Bowl on Thursday. Is that the one that rips of GUNS N ROSES, or is that the other one? Does anyone know of a marching band version of GREEN DAY’s “When I Come Around?” – I would be interested in hearing that.

2. I’m not a big of the pop-punk band THE MEASURE (SA), but I have to give them credit for naming their new 12″ EP release Songs About People‚Ķand Fruit N’ Shit. You can check out an mp3 of the song “Revisionist” from that release here.

3. Amazon.com continues to offer great deals on new mp3 releases – right now they have their “50 favorite and best selling” albums of 2008 available for a mere $5. Artists include DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, SNOW PATROL, METALLICA, CITY COLOUR, and more.

4. Not music related, but this just cracks me up… a guy on his cell phone today missed a road construction sign in DC and drove into a big hole in the ground. Supposedly, he then fled the scene. More info and fun photos here.

- Before THE DISTANCE went hardcore-lite, they were an impressive band in the rough mold of CARRY ON. This split catches them in a moment of transition, and the situation is similar for WITH HONOR who later released their final offering on Victory Records.

- If you like WITH HONOR, this release is essential. The packaging, (a four way digipak) is also wonderfully done. The physical disc may run you a little more than you’d like to pay for an EP, but I believe it’s worth it when you have the album in your hands.

James

Woohoo! Now, this is what I like to hear… a bunch of young, well-read, brainy, suburban kids from Hanover, Pennsylvania, playing “Revolution Summer” style punk/post-hardcore, with an SAT word in their name. Not only do these guys call to mind RITES OF SPRING and EMBRACE on a surface-level musical comparison, but the vocal emotion, and [...]

What a strange year, 365 days of music and I couldn’t even come up with a list of my ten favorite albums of the year. Yes, there were plenty of records I enjoyed, but the albums on a best of list should stand the test of time and not include albums that enjoyed a two [...]

Vancouver’s HORIZONS (ex-DAGGERMOUTH) have posted a brand new song titled “Separation Anxiety” to its MySpace page. The tune is from their yet titled upcoming full-length.

The fellas in EMAROSA have come a long way since releasing their This Is Your Way Out EP in May 2007. In fact, their transition from a standard metalcore band to a well-rounded rock powerhouse is so astonishing that it’s hard not to give most of the credit to their change in leadership. Toward the [...]