She's no steppin' stone, she cuts you to the bone
I've been talking a lot about new albums this week! It just seems like a lot of my all-time favourite bands are unleashing new material at the same time. First Danko Jones, then Zebrahead... and now, The Living End! Unfortunately, the new Living End record is the one album out of the three that I have yet to hear. Their records always take forever to get released in North America, and I haven't found any kind of substantial online preview audio either.
But hey, it's the Living End! They have yet to release a bad album, so what the heck... I'll recommend picking up this album even though I have no idea what's on it. I guess I'm ready for a career in music journalism now!
The Living End "sound" is sort of a cross between early ninties pop-punk like old-school Green Day, and rockabilly bands like the Stray Cats. In your minds ear, try to imagine heavy, abrupt punk anthems played with an accoustic bass and blistering boogie-woogie guitar solos. How can you not want to hear that? If there is a way, I don't want to know about it!
Anyhow, if you're new to the band, there are three stellar albums to catch up on while waiting for the fourth to drop in North America.
Sam Logan
Was now the last time 'til the end?
Danko Jones is unwaveringly reliable. When you buy one of his CDS -- any one of his CDS -- you know exactly what you're going to get: straight-up hard rock with crisp, juicy guitar riffs and pure lyrical testosterone. Here is everything I have learned from Danko Jones' music: Danko Jones loves the ladies, crucifies his enemies, rocks all night long, and will continue to rock 24/7 without rest until he is dead and burning in hell.
His 2003 album was called We Sweat Blood, and at that time, I didn't think it was possible to come up with a title that screamed "Danko Jones" any harder. But he has one-upped himself with his latest: Sleep is the Enemy. It also happens to be a great album -- the first half is pure traditional Danko, and the second half sees him successfully stretch his legs into the heavier territory of bands like McLusky.
The best song is "When Will I See You Again," which sounds like Danko almost maybe considering writing a straight-up weepy ballad before changing his mind about fifteen seconds in and whipping out the metal riffs. I don't think it's too easy to get Danko's CDs outside of Canada and Europe, but regardless of where you live I would recommend making an effort to check out his stuff.
Sam Logan
Postcards from Hell
There is a new Zebrahead album -- albiet one that is only available in Japan, where the American band is astoundingly popular. This is their first album to feature their new lead singer. I think they picked him because he sounds almost exactly like their old lead singer. Does that happen a lot in the music industry? I suppose it makes sense, but it just seems like bad manners to me! It's one step above replacing your singer with a robot that does impressions.
Do you like Pokemon? Claire is looking to sell off her massive pile of American and Japanese Pokemon games. As for me, I fully endorse any activity that removes Pokemon-related products from our home, so I figured I'd mention it here. You can check out this forum thread for all the details.
Actually, now is a good time to check out the forum in general. We've just added a bunch of new sub-sections, and are doing our best to make it a friendly, welcoming place to post about extremely important internet topics like punctuation, 80's cartoon shows, and mind-numbing amature flash animations.
Sam Logan
