Breaking Artist: The Vox Jaguars

Get ready for the Vox Jaguars! These guys have it all! Crisp and quick guitars. Loud, minimal drums. The music is phenomenal, especially for such a young band. They have a great, full sound, and their music successfully captures the band in a raw form and keeps the charm of a live show in tact. The Vox Jaguars have a nice twist on classic garage rock with offbeat hooks and killer drums. The lead singer’s unique vocals play a key part of the charm of this band, combining their simple, primal stomp with vaguely suggestive lyrics.

Here's one of my favorites off of their self-titled EP. It's a song called "Swagger," and all I can say is that it is infectious. All you need is the intro and you’re hooked with its poppy homage to the garage revival scene and early punk of the 1970s.
MP3: The Vox jaguars - Swagger
It won’t change the world but it will stick in your head, and isn’t that why we love rock in the first place?

"Hey, Mr. Postman, what's the news today?"

Their new album, 200 Million Thousand doesn't come out till tommorow, but the band is ready with a video for their first single, "Short Fuse." Check it out below!

It's very literal, but who doesn't love the cartoon feeling, eh?

Oscars 2009

What a night for the Oscars! To see the full list of winners, go to the Oscar's official website here.

As for music, Slumdog Millionaire (and A.R.RAahman for that matter)nreally has been having an amazing year!

Winner, Best Song
A.R. Rahman, “Jai Ho,” Slumdog Millionaire

Winner, Best Score
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

I woke up today in a very simple way...

MP3 Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today


It's not an amazing video or anything, but it's a fun song that's been stuck in my head the past couple days.

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Mobius band has a Valentine's Day treat out there for all of you (single, taken, whatever) so that everyone can get something today! It's an EP full of Valentine's Day themed covers! You can download the Empire of Love EP here.

Empire of Love tracklist:
1. "Say You Will" (Kanye West)
2. "Love Hurts" (The Everly Brothers)
3. "Lullaby" (Dixie Chicks)
4. "Satellite" (TV on the Radio)
5. "At My Window" (Townes Van Zandt)
6. "You Don't Know How It Feels" (Tom Petty)























Also, check out Love Will Reign Supreme below. It's the Valentine's Day EP that the Mobius Band came out with last year, and it's still all up for a free download here.

Love Will Reign Supreme tracklist:
1. "Razor Love" (Neil Young)
2. "Baby We'll Be Fine" (The National)
3. "True Love Will Find You In the End" (Daniel Johnston)
4. "Mobius Band In A Green Cotton Sweater" (Casiotone For the Painfully Alone)
5. "I'll Keep It With Mine" (Bob Dylan)
6. "Digital Love" (Daft Punk)

It's Blitz!

What is the picture you may ask? Why the album cover for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album!

Yeah Yeahs Yeahs third album It's Blitz! will be coming out April 14th in the U.S., and I'm so ready for it! The first single is "Zero," and you'll be able to get that off iTunes February 24th if you can't wait till April.

Apparently Nick doesn't touch a guitar for most, if not the entirety (!!!) of the album, instead playing synths. So either this album will be utterly brilliant or absolutely horrific. Hopefully it's not the latter.

It's Blitz! tracklist:
1. Zero
2. Heads Will Roll
3. Soft Shock
4. Skeletons
5. Dull Life
6. Shame and Fortune
7. Runaway
8. Dragon Queen
9. Hysteric
10. Little Shadow

CD Review: Sick of Sarah

So it's been a while since I've shared some new music, so here you go!

Sick of Sarah is a group from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they've been around since 2005, but their first major self-titled LP dropped August 2008. The band displays talent, passion, and an ever-present sense of humor that shapes many of their songs. And at the same time, they are able to have power pop driven rock songs sandwiched between small town coffee shop-esque acoustic ballads. You can tell that each member of the band has a different influence, but Sick of Sarah makes it possible for all of these different styles to fit onto one album, giving it a radio ready sound.

Here's one of my favorite tracks from the album, "Not Listening:"


And here's the MP3: Sick of Sarah - Not Listening

If you ask me, a lot of the time all girl bands get a bad rep right from the start. No matter what an all female band does, their music somehow is seen as not as good: their rock style isn’t edgy enough, they are automatically a cliché, or many seem just plain old whiny. Sick of Sarah completely breaks through this preconceived notion and has created a self-titled album with driving hooks, unique lyrics, and thoughtful, well-crafted music.

Enjoy!

GRAMMY WINNERS!

(that I care about....or feel like typing about...) If you want to see the full list of nominees and winners, feel free to check it out at the Grammys official website here.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
 

How did they beat not only Radiohead (who I was REALLY going for and Coldplay for that matter, who EVERYONE thought would win?)

RECORD OF THE YEAR
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Please Read The Letter
 

(Hey, they beat Coldplay....and Adele and M.I.A.)

SONG OF THE YEAR
Coldplay -Viva La Vida

BEST NEW ARTIST

Adele



BEST ROCK ALBUM
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

....but Kings of Leon were completely robbed. I mean Coldplay isn't even rock!

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE
Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire

YES! I was hopping for them or Radiohead, so I'm happy :)

BEST ROCK SONG
Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Wow....my least favorite. I would have preffered Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Kings of Leon, or Coldplay for that one.

BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
 

Radiohead - In Rainbows

(YAY)

BEST DANCE RECORDING
Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger
 

That was a hard one, but Daft Punk deserved the recognition. I would have also been equally happy with Hot Chip though...

BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM
Daft Punk - Alive 2007

BEST REMIXED RECORDING, NON-CLASICAL
MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)


YES! Another great decision!

BEST RAP ALBUM
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
 


BEST RAP PERFROMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP
Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne - Swagga Like Us

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
Estelle feat. Kayne West - American Boy

BEST FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Adele - Chasing Pavements
 
 


BEST POP PERFORMANCE
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
 


That performance of "Swagga Like Us" was AMAZING! M.I.A., Jay-Z, Kanye West, TI, Lil' Wayne....I approve! I mean M.I.A.'s baby is DUE today and she performed. That's gonna be the coolest baby ever! If of course that bouncing around didn't harm the poor kid...

And Radiohead's performance of "15 Step!" Wow. I really loved that marching band helping them out. It brought a nice full sound (not that the original was lacking).

I know a lot of people hate the Grammys because it's seen as an awful way of showing how the music industry is some corporate hierarchy, but as long as it gets people excited about music, that's all I can really ask for...

You go today...

Check out the new music video from Fleet Foxes for "Mykonos," it's pretty cool!



We like the oragami :)

Are YOU professional?

I just had to share this one. I don't know if you've heard or not, but back in July Christian Bale had a bit of a freak out with the director of photography on the set of Terminator Salvation for adjusting a light during his scene. Well pretty recently the audio for Bale's freakout was released.

Now flash forward: Yesterday, on their blog, the Mae Shi posted this new song, entitled "R U Professional"


It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it made me smile....

Bonnaroo 2009!

I love when festivals give their lineups! The 8th annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will be in Manchester, TN again this year from June 11-14. The lineup has just been announced, and it's going to be another great year!

Check out the initial lineup below:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish (2 shows), Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Wilco, Al Green, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello (solo), Erykah Badu, Paul Oakenfold, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gov’t Mule, Andrew Bird, Merle Haggard, MGMT, moe., the Decemberists, Band of Horses, Girl Talk, Bon Iver, Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Galactic, the Del McCoury Band, Of Montreal, Allen Toussaint, Coheed and Cambria, Booker T & the DBTs, David Grisman Quintet, Lucinda Williams, Animal Collective, Gomez, Neko Case, Down, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Robert Earl Keen, Citizen Cope, Femi Kuti and the Positive Force, the Ting Tings, Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Kaki King, Grizzly Bear, King Sunny Adé, Okkervil River, St. Vincent, Zac Brown Band, Raphael Saadiq, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Crystal Castles, Tift Merritt, Brett Dennen, Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue, Toubab Krewe, People Under the Stairs, Alejandro Escovedo, Vieux Farka Touré, Elvis Perkins In Dearland, Cherryholmes, Yeasayer, Todd Snider, Chairlift, Portugal. The Man., the SteelDrivers, Midnite, the Knux, the Low Anthem, Delta Spirit, A.A. Bondy, the Lovell Sisters, Alberta Cross

Additional acts are expected to be announced in the coming months, and the comedy lineup has yet to be finalized. Bonnaroo '09 tickets go on sale exclusively through the festival's official website this Saturday, Feb. 7, at 12:00 noon EST.

Arctic Monkeys

It's been a long time since we've heard anything new from the UK's smoking rockers Arctic Monkeys, so it should come as good news to fans that the band is recording a new album due out "later this year," according to their official website.

The band recently premiered four new songs at the Big Day Out Festival in New Zealand two weeks ago.

MP3 “Pretty Visitors”
MP3 “Crying Lightning”
MP3 “Dangerous Animals”
MP3 “Go-Kart”

They're live recordings, but you can still hear the works in progress. Enjoy!