New Politics- New Politics (2010)

New Politics made it big on the radio with their single Yeah Yeah Yeah which you may have heard in EA's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I actually got into them after hearing them on the Radio. New Politics are a band from Copenhagen, Denmark consisting of members David Boyd, Soren Hansen and Louis Vecchio. The band's sound is basically alternative rock with blends of pop and punk scattered through the CD. It's nice for a debut album with my tops tracks being Dignity, Yeah Yeah Yeah and Nuclear War. They have a lot of energy and it's shown throughout the album. Watch their music videos for Yeah Yeah Yeah and Dignity on youtube to decide if you want to check this band out. I did and I liked what I heard.

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Yeah Yeah Yeah (Youtube)

Dignity (Youtube)

A Perfect Circle - 13th Step (2003)

If you're like me, you've always wanted to give metal a chance only to be scared a way by hairy men and growling vocals. This the album for you.

A Perfect Circle is a supergroup formed by guitar-player Billy Howerdel (Nine-Inch Nails, Fishbone, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) and Tool front-man and vocalist Maynard James Keenan as well as a wealth of other well-known figures in the heavy metal scene.

The majority of the album is smooth instrumentals with Keenan singing in a soft, deliberate voice interspersed with heavy, loud conclusions on many of the songs, you'll find no growling here. It also gets bonus points for being a concept album about the twelve steps of addiction. It's deep, fun, and beautiful.

Try It First (Mediafire, 69MB .Zip)
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Youtube Samples:
The Package
The Noose
The Nurse Who Loved Me

Weezer - Hurley (2010)

After three poorly received albums in a row (including last years, Raditude, which was almost universally panned), Weezer was pretty much left for dead. Outside of a track here or there, even many fans were starting to turn their backs on one of the most influential bands in Alt-Rock. However, with their first album on their new label, Epitaph Records, Hurley seems like its going to start a new era of Weezer relevance.

The track most of you may have heard is the lead single "Memories", and while I didn't care for it, others enjoyed the track. Thankfully, its not representative of the rest of the album. While I don't like to say this, the rest of the album feels like "Old" Weezer, but with a more modern twist. It feels like the whole album takes from their best work (Blue Album through Maladroit), but adds a new flavor to it, keeping it fresh and not making it sound 16 years old.

There are a few dud tracks, like "Where's My Sex", but for the most part, the album is a really good ride, and a return to prominence for a band that many of us fell out of love with a number of years (and bad albums) ago.

Track of the Day: September 8th, 2010

I love this song...surprisingly found it in a tribute to Rue McClanahan (watch the music video, you'll understand)

Pistol Youth: In My Eyes

Vendetta Red- Sisters of The Red Death (2005)

Here's the funny story about how I discovered Vendetta Red. Video Games. Yes, it was Saints Row, the GTA clone for Xbox 360 that made me discover this band. On the Saints Row soundtrack was a song called Silhouette Serenade. This song was performed by Vendetta Red.

I fell in love with the song from the orchestrated intro to the main chorus to the lyrics. It was just amazing. It was probably my favorite song for quite awhile. And it was my love for this song that made me seek out the album from which it came. What I discovered was Sisters of The Red Death. The Albums from which Silhouette Serenade came from. Now I honestly just got the album for that song but I ended up loving pretty much the whole damn album.

Now this was Vendetta Red's last album. They broke up in 2006 after various line up changes and disputes. Vendetta Red are an alternative rock band from Seattle, Washington. This album was a concept album. The concept being about a woman named Gloria, after a nuclear war engulfs the earth, she is born as a half medusa, half harpy. She blames mankind for her disfigurement and she takes over the world. This album is what happens when she falls in love.

Now be warned this album is very dark (a growing theme with some of my postings). One song being called Vendetta Red cried Rape on their date with Destiny. Some highlights of this album include the songs The Body and Blood, A Dark Heart Silhouette, Silhouette Serenade and Run.

This is a solid, and I mean solid alternative rock album. The lyrics are dark for the most part but the style is flawless. If only Vendetta Red were still together, they really were an excellent band.

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