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Motion City Soundtrack at the Roseland Ballroom NYC 11/9/2007

By on Dec 3, 2007 in Music

Motion City Soundtrack is the first band that my sister introduced me to. This fact makes me simultaneously sad and proud. Truthfully, the first time I heard Motion City, I was going through my sister’s iTunes copying songs onto my computer. Her AIM away message has sported Motion City lyrics a few times so I took a listen to The Future Freaks Me Out. I have come to deeply adore that song but at the time I thought it was kind of wierd and hipster – probably because I skipped through it too quickly. Eventually (I’m not sure when), I came around and became addicted. So when I found out Motion City was coming to town I was stoked. Recently, on a long drive with my cousin, he played me Anberlin and Mae. Both bands made it on my list of bands to check out so I was doubly stoked to see them opening for Motion City. Prior to the show I went out and bought all the...

CMJ Weekend: Bloodshot Records, The Lawrence Arms, and Diatribe on Punk Rock Community

By on Nov 21, 2007 in Music

I started out my CMJ weekend by heading to the Bloodshot Records BBQ at Union Pool – Free Beer! Free Food! (after the $10 cover). We arrived late because that’s how I roll and guess what? No food and the beer might have been free but it also might have been dog piss. They only charged us $10 for 2 people though. We got there just in time to see Centro-Matic. I generally like Bloodshot Records’ bands and love the Old 97s. For years I’ve been hearing the praise of Centro-Matic as the new Old 97s but never really gave them a good listen. Now that I have, all I can say is that their music is good alt-country but nothing special. As for their live show … well the guitarist looked like he was about to fall asleep and I was right there with him. In one word: Dissapointing. And the Bloodshot merch stunk which was doubly dissapointing since I’m currently on a...

more pitchfork + bad religion

By on Sep 18, 2007 in Music

i admit it. i was spurred to search pitchfork for bad religion reviews after hearing that a friend’s hipsterific brother stopped liking bad religion after pitchfork called their lyrics ‘politics for seventh graders.’ (let’s not even get into the fact that this person blindly follows pitchfork …) the previous post on their review of los angeles is burning was just my first foray. next in google’s “more from pitchforkmedia.com” is: the process of belief: well i respect them for not dissing too hard on br; on refusing to give their readers what they want: “You want to see your friendly neighborhood elitist thoroughly skewering a band long past its prime.” (what does that say about their readers? only 28 year olds in girls jeans one size too small plastered on by the modern marvel of spandex can make good music?) at least, they...

once upon a time pitchfork media reviewed los angeles is burning ….

By on Sep 18, 2007 in Music

Read the article here. “The irony of it all is that the band’s call-and-response vocal arrangements are straight out of a Baptist church house, as are the rich harmonies and the reliance on one man– in this case, Graffin– to testify to (and for) the congregation. Bad Religion’s magic doesn’t stem as much from their political lyrics as from the airtight arrangements and thick, sweet harmonies that bring the lyrics to you, and interestingly, are also the antithesis of the social rebellion the band advocates. A case could be made (and sometimes I make it) that the band resorts to the very things it deplores in order to get across a message, and that in the process, they demand a kind of allegiance that a cynic might call unhealthy. But if Graffin and Gurewitz are willing to return to the well to help the innocent climb out, the end certainly justifies...