Sound City

Well, I just saw Sound City and must say it's rather brilliant. If you have at least a vague interest in rock music of the past forty years, go watch it now. Besides Dave Grohl expressing his love of analog recording, there's also a whole lot of valuable history lessons about making some of the best rock albums in history from the likes of Rick Rubin, Butch Vig, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Krist Novoselic and fuc*ing Rick Springfield. Even Paul McCartney shows up near the end. You can check out the incredible list of albums that were made there on wikipedia.

Five Star Songs: Awakening

Well, this was just an idea... Since I am into the whole star ratings business, I thought why not throw in my some of my favourite five star songs every once in a while and express my love for them. So from this moment onwards, expect notorious singles, timeless classics and songs that tend to be kinda overlooked and underappreciated or even unknown.

Let's kick off the new column with Switchfoot's Awakening from their sixth album, Oh! Gravity. This is not the first song that pops into people's heads when they think about the band, nor it is the second, nor the third... But it is by far my favourite of them all. It is the reason why I even listen to the band in the first place. The chorus is just huge and irresistible, and it's an instant reminder of how good Switchfoot have always been. Ladies and gentlemen, behold...

B3

Placebo did release their latest extended play last september, but I didn't pay it much attention up until now. I was actually quite surprised to find it pretty good. In contrast to Placebo's last full-length, Battle for the Sun, it sounds quite fresh and got me stoked for the band's new album, which should be out either in March, or later in the summer... Thoughts?

A Tattered Line of String

The Postal Service's brand new song.

Losers

Damn, this is awesome... I don't usually listen to Robbie Williams, but when I do, it's thanks to videos like this.

Pure Love: Anthems

The english hardcore band Gallows have never been exactly my cup of tea, so when their frontman Frank Carter left the band and formed a new outfit called Pure Love, I didn't pay much attention. Until now. Pure Love's new album, which is currently slated for a February release, is being streamed in its entirety over here. And it's rather awesome and completely different from what I expected. Be sure to check it out.

Weird Shapes

2010's Astro Coast was an astonishing debut album full of infectious tunes. Surfer Blood will release their new album, Pythons, in the summer, and here's a first glimpse at what it may sound like. The lo-fi approach of their first record is gone, but the band obviously hasn't lost its personality. Color me stoked.

Sound City

Sound City is a documentary film directed by Dave Grohl about the history of Los Angeles recording studio Sound City Studios, where he recorded Nevermind back in the day. It will premiere at the Sundance Festival in February.

And now comes the interesting part. The soundtrack will feature eleven new songs from Grohl and an amazing list of collaborators. Check for yourself...

Track listing:

1. "Heaven and All" – Robert Levon Been, Dave Grohl, and Peter Hayes
2. "Time Slowing Down" – Tim Commerford, Chris Goss, Grohl, and Brad Wilk
3. "You Can't Fix This" – Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, and Stevie Nicks
4. "The Man That Never Was" – Grohl, Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, and Rick Springfield
5. "Your Wife Is Calling" – Grohl, Hawkins, Alain Johannes, Smear, and Lee Ving
6. "From Can to Can't" – Grohl, Rick Nielsen, Scott Reeder, and Corey Taylor
7. "Centipede" – Goss, Grohl, Johannes, and Joshua Homme
8. "A Trick with No Sleeve" – Grohl, Homme, and Johannes
9. "Cut Me Some Slack" – Grohl, Paul McCartney, Novoselic, and Smear
10. "Once Upon a Time...The End" – Jessy Greene, Grohl, Jaffee, and Jim Keltner
11. "Mantra" – Grohl, Homme, and Trent Reznor

This can't be bad. Thoughts?

Where Are We Now

Let's kick off the year with the best possible news...

So I've been listening to a lot of David Bowie lately. Partly thanks to the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in which his song Heroes plays an important role.

Coincidentally, few days ago, David Bowie released a new single and announced his first album in ten years. According to Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, the new album, The Next Day, will have "rock" sound, and that makes me beyond stoked. The video is weird, to say the least, but it's still pretty good. The music, on the other hand, is simply brilliant. Bowie hasn't aged a day. And if this melancholic and retrospective track is of any indication, we have much to look forward to.

Thoughts?

Albums of the Year

After coming up with this list, I realized that I didn't listen to as much new music as I thought I had.  The few new albums that I did listen to were some pretty solid albums.  Like every year, there were those disappointments, a new face, and those that always release a decent album.  In my opinion, this year was the most unpredictable.  The bands that surprised me the most were Swedish House Mafia and Keane.  Two bands that I was always aware of, but never gave a proper listen to.  Had I made my list longer, Swedish House Mafia would be ranked a#11.  

And here we go...