Review: The Decemberists – The King is Dead
In reviewing The Decemberists’ newest album, The King is Dead, it seems a popular path among critics to come out as a hater of the band’s epic 2009 rock opera, The Hazards of Love. Some have even gone as far as to see the simplicity of King – with its lack of an overarching theme and comparatively understated, American roots and bluegrass styling – as an apology for the bombast of Hazards. READ MORE
First Thoughts: Weezer – Memories
Writing about Weezer, at one time one of my favorite bands around, has become an exercise in frustration of late. There will always be a struggle between those who tolerate their recent releases and those who think they haven’t put out a good record since Pinkerton. I lie somewhere in the middle, enjoying most of Weezer (Green Album) and songs here and there on Maladroit and Make Believe. With a new album, Hurley (yes, it’s a reference to the dude from Lost), due out next month, those struggles will no doubt resurface; in fact, the premier of its first single has kick started my indigestion. READ MORE
Seeing Red
There was a time when I thought there were only two kind of Weezer fans: the ones who identified with Pinkerton and the ones who jumped on the bandwagon because “Island in the Sun” was so damned catchy. But since the group’s 2001 re-emergence, more and more of the former group have shunned the band, writing off front man Rivers Cuomo as a two-trick pony and calling Weezer (The Green Album), Maladroit, and Make Believe nothing but average power pop. Early reviews for the band’s sixth offering, Weezer (Red Album), follow that path, solidifying the new kind of Weezer fan: overly analytical elitist. Surely, none of the post-cloister albums are as good as Pinkerton or Weezer (Blue Album), and some of them do have some awful songs, but they’re all remarkably listenable, and the red Weezer is no exception.
Wide Awake and So Alive
It’s Friday, and that means time for another video from Movie Hawk. Enjoy the music video of “Car Crash” by Matt Nathanson. Anyone who reads this site with any regularity needs no explanation for why I’m posting this.
Edit: Whoops, looks like they aren’t allowing embedding. Here’s the link.
Holding Out for A Hero
For as long as the series has existed, Guitar Hero has fascinated me. Whenever I would walk by an open demo station in my local Best Buy, I couldn’t resist stopping and playing a song. Or three. But, as my console ownership has a history of both brand loyalty and generation skipping (I went from the original NES to N64, running both into the ground before buying a Nintendo Wii), I had precious few opportunities to get more acquainted with the high concept game. All that changed last week when the series’ newest member, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, came to the Wii.