Blog

1. Protest the Hero - Fortress
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
4. The Killers - Day & Age
5. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
6. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
7. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
8. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
9. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV
10. Portishead - Third
11. City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love
12. Lil Wayne - The Carter III
13. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
14. Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation
15. Foals - Antidotes

Honorable Mentions:
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
The Fall of Troy - Phantom on the Horizon
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Juice - Death Certificate
Thursday / Envy - Split
Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
Saosin - The Grey EP
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Misery Signals - Controller
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Scars on Broadway - Scars on Broadway

Top 20 Releases of 2007:

01. Between the Buried and Me - Colors
02. *shels - Sea of the Dying Dhow
03. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
04. El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead
05. Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Vol. 1 & 2
06. Oceansize - Frames
07. Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Malice
08. Parkway Drive - Horizons
09. Menomena - Friend and Foe
10. Long Distance Calling - Satellite Bay
11. The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Mongrel
12. High on Fire - Death is This Communion
13. Elliott Smith - New Moon
14. Zozobra - Harmonic Tremors
15. Battles - Mirrored
16. Rosetta - Wake/Life
17. Prefuse 73 - Preparations / Interregnums
18. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
19. Anberlin - Cities
20. Kanye West - Graduation

Noteworthy of Buzz This Year:

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
A Swarm of the Sun - The King of Everything
Blacq Audio - CexCells
Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
The Fall of Troy - Manipulator
I Hear Sirens - I Hear Sirens [EP]
Idiot Pilot - Wolves
Jimmy Eat World - Chase the Light
Kaiser Chiefs - The Angry Mob
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice
Radiohead - In Rainbows
School of Seven Bells - Face to Face on High Places

Album I'm Most Embarrassed of Loving:

Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High

Albums I'm Most Disappointed With This Year:

Against Me! - New Wave
Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Puscifer - V is for Vagina
The Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist


Albums Not From 2007 That I've Spun Regularly:

As Tall As Lions - As Tall As Lions
Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
Isis - In the Absence of Truth
Cage - Hell's Winter
Kevin Devine - Make the Clocks Move
Thrice - Vheissu
Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
The Format - Interventions + Lullabies
Nas - Hip Hop is Dead
Relient K - Mmhmm

What was the last concert you attended?
The Rock the Bells festival on July 28. :) Rage Against the Machine, Felt, Immortal Technique, Sage Francis, Cage and Yak Ballz... good fucking times.

How many people were there?
Between 80 and 100,000.

What bands have you seen in concert the most, and how many times?
I'd say it's between Tool, Skycamefalling (R.I.P.), and... The Fall of Troy?

Do you have any set lists? From what bands?
Nah, haha. I never really cared for that kinda stuff.

Are there any CDs in close proximity to you? Which ones?
I can't recall the last time I purchased one, to be completely honest with you. I've got Tool's "Opiate" sitting by me though, autographed by Tommy Chong haha.

What band are you in the mood to see live right this second?
DragonForce and *shels, plz.

Have you ever been on a tour bus?
Nah, can't say I have.

Have you ever partied with a band?
Always. I'm not one to name-drop, though.

How many states/provinces have you been to concerts in?
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

What bands did you see live the month of May?
This past May or like... May in general? I unfortunately couldn't attend the two shows I'd planned on going to in May 2007. Sorry Reel Big Fish and On The Might of Princes. :(

What CD are you addicted to at the moment?
Hm.. I really love the Zozobra album, not gonna lie. Oceansize's discography has been in heavy rotation, as well.

Who is one band that you used to like, but now you can't stand?
Hm... I have a few of those bands, but I'm the kind of person that ends up listening to them after avoiding them at all costs for x amount of months and falling in love again.

Have you ever been on anyone's guest list?
Damn straight. I'm fucking VIP.

Last band person that you got a picture with?
Uh.. I really don't care for shite like that haha.

Do you consider yourself a groupie?
OMGZ LYKE YA.

If you were to name a boy and a girl after any band, what would you name them?
Fuck that.

How old were you when you went to your first concert?
Ten? Eleven? I was a late bloomer.

Who was it?
Lynyrd Skynyrd.

What bands haven't you seen yet that you want to see?
There's a shitload. I wish I could have seen Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots... but as for artists that are around now?.. I'd love to see DJ Shadow, Sigur Ros, Girl Talk, and Isis in a smaller club setting.

Are you wearing a band shirt right now?
Yeah, haha. It Dies Today.

What band do you own the most merch of?
Uhmm.. probably Underoath.

What song is on your myspace right now?
"Stiff Kittens" by Blaqk Audio.

Have you ever met that band?
Nah.

Do you ever do anything crazy at shows?
Not anymore, no. Dancing at hardcore shows and bringing the mosh are all in the past. I'll rock a j with a friend though if it feels necessary. :P

What are your favorite venues to go to shows at?
Bowery Ballroom, Knitting Factory... I miss the fucking Downtown.

What band do you have the most performance pictures of?
Hahaha, 32 Degrees in Hell?

Would you ever get a tattoo representing a band?
Yes. I've got one planned.

How many concerts do you average a year?
I used to go to at least one a week during high school, something ridic like that -- ...and then I got a job.

Upcoming shows?
Underoath, Every Time I Die, Poison the Well, and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster @ Nokia Theatre, whadduppp?

List ALL the bands you've seen live, including unknown ones:
..yeah, okay.

What one band owns your heart forever?
Easy. Goo Goo Dolls. :)

I've found it increasingly more obvious that my Last.fm profile is really a terrible representation of my taste in music. I've had this account since December 14, 2003 -- Almost four years ago and quite frankly, my taste has changed in an immense way. Half the artists I haven't listened to since like 2004 and I figured, it's time to reset my stats and start over.

Just so I have it archived, I'm gonna throw down some of the information just for my own sake. :)

All information as of July 23, 2007:

1. The Appleseed Cast | 2,294
2. Death Cab for Cutie | 2,159
3. Cave In | 2,128
4. The Cure | 1,997
5. Isis | 1,974
6. Mogwai | 1,972
7. Nine Inch Nails | 1,810
8. Muse | 1,791
9. Underoath | 1,723
10. Tool | 1,690
11. A Perfect Circle | 1,565
12. Jimmy Eat World | 1,351
13. Converge | 1,347
14. 2Pac | 1,326
15. Elliott Smith | 1,310
16. Radiohead | 1,302
17. Eighteen Visions | 1,275
18. Killswitch Engage | 1,258
19. Incubus | 1,257
20. Minus the Bear | 1,212
21. Kind of Like Spitting | 1,198
22. Sigur Rós | 1,186
23. Codeseven | 1,183
24. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 1,177
25. Explosions in the Sky | 1,168
26. Grade | 1,132
27. Anberlin | 1,117
28. Immortal Technique | 1,109
29. The Postal Service | 1,097
30. The Juliana Theory | 1,082
31. Emery | 1,078
31. Thursday | 1,078
33. It Dies Today | 1,075
34. Deftones | 1,072
35. On The Might of Princes | 1,066
36. Silver Mt. Zion | 1,060
37. Zao | 1,041
38. Pink Floyd | 1,034
39. Vision Of Disorder | 1,030
40. Skycamefalling | 1,019
41. Bright Eyes | 1,010
42. Portishead | 972
43. Joan of Arc | 971
44. Thrice | 944
45. Twothirtyeight | 930
46. Dead Poetic | 893
47. Goo Goo Dolls | 875
48. Misery Signals | 874
49. AFI | 862
50. Q and Not U | 850

Top Artists for the Week of:
15 Jul 2007 – 22 Jul 2007

1. Jack Johnson | 58
2. Nine Inch Nails | 37
3. Fall Out Boy | 35
4. Kevin Devine | 34
5. Hopesfall | 31
6. Rage Against the Machine | 31
7. Joe Rogan | 29
8. Eva Cassidy | 26
9. Codeseven | 20
10. Hellogoodbye | 14

1. Isis - In the Absence of Truth
2. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
3. Anathallo - Floating World
4. Tom Waits – Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards
5. Tool - 10,000 Days
6. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
7. Johnny Cash – American V
8. Dead Poetic - Vices
9. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
10. The Appleseed Cast - Peregrine
11. DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage
12. The Coup - Pick A Bigger Weapon
13. Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell
14. Islands - Return to the Sea
15. Kevin Devine - Put Your Ghost to Rest
16. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
17. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
18. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
19. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
20. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
21. The Beatles - Love
22. The Sleeping - Questions and Answers
23. Cute Is What We Aim For - The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch
24. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
25. The Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics
26. The Coup - Pick A Bigger Weapon
27. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
28. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
29. Blackpool Lights - This Town's Disaster
30. Latterman - We Are Still Alive

Honorable mentions:
Horse The Band, The Game, As Tall As Lions, The Roots, Incubus, John Mayer, He Is Legend, Eighteen Visions, Cursive, RX Bandits, Joanna Newsom, Cat Power.

Disappointments of the year:
Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Where the fuck to begin? We got to the venue before Isis had started to play to, y'know, kick off the festivities with celebratory bowls and the lot. I ran into the whole world and then some, but on to the concert.

Isis had started before I had gotten to my seat, they were only midway through the first song but holy FUCKING shit... their sound completely entranced me and I couldn't help but move along with the music and I swear it when I say I had an out-of-body experience. Their sound translated over to the big arena scene very successfully and their approach to writing music and playing it live captured me once again as they'd quickly become one of my favorite studio bands, and finally getting to see them live just set the fact in stone.

They played a four song set, which when dealing with epic post-rock/post-metal terms equates to about a half an hour. There's only so much I could say, but seriously - I cannot wait 'til they come around again some time. If you ever get the chance, do not even think twice.. definitely take the opportunity and run with it and I guarantee you'll be into it. A lot of the other fans seemed to not really care, but they were taken mostly in a very welcoming manner. At the end of Isis' last song - Justin Chancellor came out and jammed with them and it was fucking beauty.

The only complaint I had was the price of the merch. Sure, it's to be expected.. but fucking $80 for a hoodie? $40 for a shirt? Ehh, yeah. Fuck that.

Moving on... Tool was next. It always feels like it takes them an hour to take stage, but I was intrigued at the set up nevertheless. You had this crew come out and lay out these white pads that took up all of the stage; they took such care that they were wearing socks and sweeped it off afterwards making sure there was nothing on it. A lot of people were a bit perplexed, but I had a feeling I knew what was coming up. When they unveiled Danny Carey's drumkit, I couldn't help but fucking applaud it hardcore. The thing was MASSIVEEEE, this dude was ready to go to war with this music haha.

Tool finally takes the stage.

There stands Maynard James Keenan wearing a shirtless cowboy outfit: jeans, giant belt buckle, cowboy boots, and sporting a mohawk. The cowboy hat was only worn during "Rosetta Stoned". You need a cowboy hat when singing into a bull horn. It adds credibility. ;) He kept telling us that Jersey was louder and well, I don't know how true that might have been, but our crowd was fucking hot for Tool.

Adam Jones is still one of the most intriguing guitarists I've seen live. Kudos to him.

They played a slew of tracks I was very happy to hear, including "Forty Six & Two" which I am SO glad they played. For a few of the songs, including "Stinkfist", the opener, they changed up the parts and added new killer parts that definitely provoked a lot of crowd amazement. During the "Wings" suite... they broke out the lasers and that in itself made the mammoth of a song coupling a bit more exciting. I love the two songs, but you can only listen to it for so long y'know? The entire time I felt so connected with the set - I feel that I missed so much but I didn't at all. I was spaced out as hell between the bud and the set but ugh, haha. They were fucking incredible, the end. Their light show and laser set-up was just beautiful and it was good that I got to see them this tour. I was supposed to see them in Camden, NJ a week or so ago, but my mother had gotten way ill and I had to cancel that. All good, though. Last night definitely made up for it. Tool closed with "Aenima" and it was so beautiful and intense, haha. I'm always a little sad that Tool doesn't do encores, but the set was well worth it.

Tonight, I get to see Medications with Channels opening in Brooklyn which I'm definitely siked about. Wednesday is the Say Anything, mewithoutYou, Piebald, and Days Away show at Irving with Mr. Sean Rahilly and a pretty giant crew of people. I'm helllaaaa excited for this. Autumn and winter will continue to serve my ears, eyes, and body well, I will make sure of it.

So here's an attempt at a not-so-comprehensive list of bands I've seen in the past four years or so. It's a list that may very well never be completed as even now, I just can't cite every single band I've seen... 'cause there's a lot. But yeah, here's a nice chunk in list form for you avid readers out there.

25 Ta Life
3 Day Weekend
32 Degrees in Hell
.38 Special
A Silver Mt. Zion
Aeschylus
Against Me!
All That Remains
Alove For Enemies
The Ambition
Andrew W.K.
Angels and Airwaves
Anterrabae
Anthony Green
Anti-Flag
Arrogant Sons Of Bitches
As Cities Burn
As I Lay Dying
Ashes In The Fall
The Ataris
Bashi-Bazouk
Bela Kiss
Beloved
The Best Luck Summer
Big D and the Kids Table
Black Ox Orkestar
The Bled
Bleeding Through
Bomb the Music Industry!
Boys Night Out
Break The Silence
Breaking Pangaea
Bullet for My Valentine
The Burning Season
Bury Your Dead
Caliban
Calico System
Carla Bozulich
The Casualties
Catch 22
Chiodos
Cinemechanica
Coheed and Cambria
Crematorium
Crime In Stereo
Criteria
Dead Poetic
Dearly Departed
Deftones
Denali
Diehard Youth
Eighteen Visions
Emery
Entity
Every Time I Die
Fall Of Icarus
The Fall of Troy
Flat Earth Society
For Tomorrow We Die
Four Stroke Ruff
From Autumn To Ashes
G.F.Y.
Greeley Estates
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Haste the Day
Head Automatica
HeartBeatStill
High School Football Heroes
Horse The Band
Hot Cross
If Hope Dies
Ignorance Is Bliss
In Flames
Invictus
Isis
Jerusalem in My Heart
The Judas Cradle
Line Drive
Killswitch Engage
Kingston 12
Last Perfection
Lux Courageous
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mercury Switch
Meshuggah
mewithoutYou
Misery Signals
Most Precious Blood
Motion City Soundtrack
Murdersuit Fiasco
Mustard Plug
The New York Ska Exchange
Norma Jean
On Broken Wings
On The Might of Princes
On the Rise
Os101
Operator, Operator
Patent Pending
Perfect Endings
Piebald
Poison the Well
The Pietasters
Premarital Sax
Protest the Hero
Punch Your Face
The Red Tape
The Reform
The Reformation
Regarding I
Remembering Never
The Resurrection
Rule of Thumb
Salute The Dawn
Saves The Day
Say Anything
Say Goodbye
Skylark Lane
Skycamefalling
The Sleeping
the solidarity pact
Still Remains
Stray From The Path
Stretch Armstrong
The Subways[/[artist]
Suffice
Taking Back Sunday
This Day Forward
three years older
Thursday
Tool
TreePhort
The Verdicts
Vice And Valor
The Weight of Water
White Line Tiger
The World We Knew
Underoath
Unearth

Ohh, so many things I could say - but where the fuck to begin? I saw A Silver Mt. Zion for the second time along with Black Ox Orkestar at the Bowery Ballroom in the City. I wasn't nearly as psyched as I was to see them the first time around - I'm not really sure why, but whatever. Me and Dennis made our way into Little Italy and Chinatown before the show had started and just kinda walked around - explored - bought bootleg DVDs - you know, the usual. There was so much life and it was so impersonal - but it didn't seem to matter one bit. As it grew closer to 10 o'clock - we headed back to the front of the venue to smoke our final stoge and gain entry. We were hella confused when we got in - there was no stage, just a bar and a seating area.. eventually, we figured out that we had to make our way upstairs and we walked into Black Ox Orkestar starting their set. It was quite an interesting one, at that. They didn't have so many originals as they played traditional Yiddish, Hebrew, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern tunes. They played a Ukranian wedding song which was pretty dancy.. I really did enjoy the concept and sound they produced together.

An hour later - they got off stage and it was being set up for A Silver Mt. Zion. My gosh, that's when the anticipation finally hit me. I started getting ridiculously anxious; hands drumming, foot tapping, even a momentary pace going on. They finally took the stage and broke out almost immediately into "God Bless Our Dead Marines" - my only complaint about the performance was that the crowd was so much younger this time around and no one got into it as much as they did in Brooklyn last year... regardless, they completely rocked the song and didn't fail to make me feel the music.

I'm not going to critique the entire set, but they played a new song called (something along the lines of, at least) "One Million Died To Make This Sound" - now.. I don't even know how to explain it, basically - I bugged out at least five times during the length of the song - and it was definitely the longest song they played last night. There were a lot of time changes and just random parts would come out of nowhere and grab your attention and you would subconsciously start swaying and moving about and the drummer was especially into it - I don't think I've ever seen or heard him go as crazy in a song as he did in that song.

I fell in love once again with Sophie Trudeau, but that's to be expected.

They left the stage after the last song I'd mentioned and graced us with an encore presentation of "The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes". I left the venue with the quote "musicians are cowards" just echoing through the insides of my brain. I am thoroughly impressed and amazed by how transcendant they are.

The train ride home was quite pleasant, as well. I almost started a huge fight indirectly by not quite knowing how to respond to this drunk girl. She just kept making a gesture with her hands and saying, "Give it to me." I mean - I would not have hesitated, really - but I wasn't sure how appropriate that would have been, eh?.. especially with my chivalrous outlook on seduction. The guys across me started yelling stuff at her, her friends took offense, long story short - they started really getting into a verbal dispute which almost became physical. All 'cause I didn't "give it to her", hahaha. Oh well, me and random drunk girl had a brief conversation about Radiohead and she commented on my The Mars Volta t-shirt and she was cute, so it was all good. We shared a brief moment of passion as I exited the train and I will never see her again. Oh well.

I'm definitely looking forward to the shows coming up, ughhhh.

August 5 @ Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY -- Warped Tour (Underoath / Thursday / Against Me! / Bouncing Souls / Every Time I Die / Eighteen Visions / Horse The Band / Rise Against / NOFX / Motion City Soundtrack / He Is Legend / Cartel / The Early November / The Academy Is / Alexisonfire / Hellogoodbye .... & many more.
August 12 @ Club Ritual - Levittown, NY -- The Mercurial
September 28 @ Tweeter Center - Camden, NJ -- Isis / Tool
October 8 @ Jones Beach Theater - Wantagh, NY -- Isis / Tool

I need me some sleep, though. After we got off at the Merrick train station last night - we pretty much had to walk literally about 6 or so miles... from about the Sunrise Highway to my house in East Meadow. That was not very fun, hahaha. You can't do that kinda shite to smokers. :(