Alien Days

Up In the Air

Can't believe it's been almost four years since This Is War. Although I might have doubted the lasting value of the album, I still like it, and I do listen to Kings and Queens fairly often.

Yesterday, the band premiered a music video for their newest single. The song itself is kind of meh, but the video takes it to another level. Their new album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, comes out May 17th, and I'm slowly starting to look forward to it. Knowing, that the band took on the help of a prominent producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, The Killers), has only increased my expectations.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts

I have to admit, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts is my first encounter with Cold War Kids, and I am enjoying the album quite a bit. Songs Miracle Mile and Jailbirds are the definite highlights for me. The record is hell of a surprise, so thank you, st. tropez.

Five Star Songs: Big Casino

To further honour the release of a brand new Jimmy Eat World track, let's look back at one of their best songs to date. In my opinion at least. The band has put out quite a few gems in the span of their twenty-year-long career, and many of them retain five star rating in my library. This is just the first one in a long line, and more are sure to come...

For me, out of the whole Jimmy Eat World's catalogue, Big Casino has always been the song of choice. It's instant accessibility, huge chorus, everything I love about the band embodied in one of their rockiest moments.

Chase This Light tends to be unjustly overlooked in the band's discography. The cleaner production, radio-friendly sound and uplifting lyrics -- especially in contrast to the gloomy mood of Futures -- aren't usually the type of things that get much love from more serious listeners. However, the tunes are just as good as they've always been. And Big Casino is just as good an opener as Futures or Bleed American were. Flat out one of their top songs.

Jimmy Eat World Will Steal You Back

Hell yes! I cannot contain my excitement. Almost three years after Invented, Jimmy Eat World are back with a new album, Damage, which hits stores on June 11th. Just about an hour ago, they released this little teaser of a song, and, well, it's *beep* brilliant. It's been playing on a constant loop for a while now, as I am writing this post, and I just can't seem to get enough of it. It has a big Futures vibe to it, and since I consider that album to be Jimmy Eat World's best, I couldn't be more stoked for Damage. I'm not really feeling the artwork yet, but I have literally no doubts the music will be as good as we've come to expect from this band. Thoughts?

Here's an interesing quote from the band's drummer, Zach Lind, who stopped by in a thread over on AbsolutePunk.net.

"Engineered/Produced by Alain Johannes

Mixed by James Brown (also mixed the Sound City Movie soundtrack)

The thing about this album in general is that's pretty natural. Zero digital editing beyond comping. No auto tune, no beat detective, no samples. What you hear is what we played. If it ends up sounding muddier or more raw than what folks might be used to, we can live with that. Production wise, this is easily my favorite record, especially for me on the drums. BTW, we love Gil. Would be open to working with him in the future. The sound of Futures had a lot more to do with engineering and mixing. Gil is really great with arrangements and overall vibe. He's a fucking slave driver but a great dude. He does have an arrangement style that really fills the songs up hooks. That's not necessarily a bad thing but lately we've been wanting to keep the arrangements more simplified. Not sure of that makes sense but there you go."

Demons

The National belong to the rare kind of bands that get better with every album, and their last release is the kind of a record that gets better with every listen. That said, High Violet is one of the best albums of the last few years. The only reason I don't listen to it more often is because I'm afraid it would knock The Suburbs off the top spot. I have no reason to believe their newest effort isn't gonna continue the trend. Here is the first single, Demons. The album Trouble Will Find Me comes out May 20. Thoughts?

Edit, Friday 12th:
And here's another one. Enjoy.

Monomania

Let's talk about something new for a while. For me, Deerhunter's last album, the super-successful Halcyon Digest, is one of those records, which you know are good--because everyone tells you so--and which you enjoy for the brief time the melodies drift through your headphones, but in the end, they just fail to leave a significant mark on their own.

However, the band has just released the title song from their upcoming album, Monomania, and judging from this little appetizer, it's hardly gonna be the same story this time around. I love the distorted guitars. Color me stoked.