"If you thought SOPA and PIPA were bad, let us introduce you to their Big Brother, ACTA.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has already been signed by several countries, poses a dangerous threat to the inherent freedom and openess of the Internet. Under ACTA, ISPs and websites will be given more power to track what we do online, while forcing them to turn over our information and reporting our activity to the authorities -- all in the name of copyright protection! While we respect the rights of creators, ACTA's ill-conceived provisions will have chilling effects on free speech everywhere."
...now it's not just the EU, but also Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerlandand the United States.
It's been a while since I listened to Dashboard Confessional for the last time, so I almost forgot how good their latest album was. And I'm of course talking especially about the deluxe edition of Alter the Ending, which contains both full-band and acoustic versions of each song. They NEED to release some new material soon.
I decided to put together a little compilation of songs by bands with the word "Vegas" in their name.
First on the list is French band Oh Dear Vegas with their song, "Little Thing".
Next we have Irish band Leaving Las Vegas with their song, "Exit".
Then we go to Californian band Vegas Is North with their song, "Parking Lot Kings"
And finally we have Indiana band Hello Vegas with their song "No One Knows"
I don't know if you know who Student Rick is, but three of the members of that band formed the band Hello Vegas. Here's the song "Falling For You" by Student Rick:
For me, in the flood of UK indie music, The Maccabees used to be just a band to look out for, but nothing more. Sadly, they never stood out, and Young Lions was their only song I really liked. But that might have been all my fault.
However, Given To The Wild is a complete game-changer. It's definitely a step up from their previous records, whatever you think about them. They certainly weren't afraid of pushing their sound, not unlike The Horrors or Arcade Fire. And yes, by reinventing I mean adding up synths, a move that every indie rock band has to undergo come their third album. But nonetheless, in this case, it feels like a very natural progression. It doesn't distract at all and helped them to achieve even greater heights. In a way, the album is like ogres, it has layers, and it's fun to discover them all. Pelican is the only faster song on the record, the other flow rather slowly, but are all equally atmospheric and captivating, reminding me of Raised By Swans a bit.
To sum it up, Given To The Wild may be this years first truly great album and you shouldn't miss it by any means.
At last, we've been given a chance to listen to the newest Nada Surf album, and words can't describe how much I was looking forward to this. It's without a doubt one of my most anticipated releases of the last few years, since, well, their latest album, Lucky. So this is a suitable and welcome opportunity to try a new thing on the blog. From now on, I would like to post more original content, short reviews mostly, not just music videos here and there. Or at least such is the plan...
So how good is the album actually? Reeeaaally good. Well, at least from my point of view, the view of an adoring fan. The first and foremost fact about "Stars..." is, that the band returned to their classic sound in the vein of the first three albums. No more Death-Cab-For-Cutie style, they've fastened up significantly and the guitars are distorted again. The rest is still Nada Surf as we know and love them, Matthew Caws' likeable voice, great melodies, anthemic choruses. In its approximately forty minutes, there isn't a single weak or boring moment.
They churn out the tunes with such an ease that it leaves me with suspicion they didn't even try too much. And frankly, that's the only problem I have with the record, because on Lucky or The Weight is a Gift the band tried to push themselves musically, shake things up a bit. And while this is still an extremely enjoyable record, it sort of leaves the bitter aftertaste of a band lacking progress. Nada Surf are situated in a similar position as Jimmy Eat World, both cult bands that can do almost no wrong, but struggling to come up with something particularly new and exciting...
...but who am I kidding, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy still is a fantastic album and thankfully, we don't have to wait any longer to hear it.
The opening track Clear Eye Clouded Mind
As always, feel free to express your thoughts in the comments.
With a little free time on my hands, I decided to look back at the year 2011 once again and make a list of songs that were somehow exceptional for me during the past 365 days. I hope you'll enjoy them.
Foo Fighters Dear Rosemary
Out of all the great songs from the new album, this was by far my favourite...
