Shock and Awe...The New Moon soundtrack is actually damn good

Now I'm not the one who goes for sparkling vampires...or the whole eternal love crap, but I must admit the New Moon soundtrack is good. It's so good I actually bought it and FULLY listened to it.
The soundtrack from the much anticipated film New Moon is going to greatly surpass the original Twilight soundtrack. It was released Oct. 16, four days earlier than its original release date. It’s surprisingly that good because every song was composed just for the album. The soundtrack is expected to be number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. It landed at number two with 115,000 copies sold its first week.
The Twilight soundtrack had the punk rock feel with bands such as Paramore, Radiohead, Muse and Linkin Park. But the New Moon Soundtrack is a mosaic of indie artist; Lykke Li, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Killers even decided to dissolve their artist bubble to appear on the soundtrack.
The first single off the album, “Meet me on the Equinox” by Death Cab for Cutie was released just a few weeks ago. It’s seems to be a melody about the love of the two main characters Edward and Bella.
Lykke Li’s “Possibility” is hands down the most haunting and unforgettable song off of the album. The Swedish artist’s whispery voice and lovelorn lyrics make the song 10 times more desirable. There’s a point in the song where the heave of a rocking chair can actually be heard.
European band, Muse is the only music artist to have appeared on both movie soundtracks. Twilight author Stephanie Meyers has a huge infatuation with them. The song “I belong to you” is a remix of the same song from off their latest album, The Resistance.
Every song relates to the love triangle that three main characters are intertwined in. Songs about loving a vampire never sounded so good.
The 15 track soundtrack is dominated by acoustic guitars, synthesizers and hypnotize me with your vampire powers lyrics.

Here's the video for the Death Cab for Cutie single "Meet me on the Equinox" from the New Moon Soundtrack.

Paramore uses third album as therapy

For a small town band, Paramore seems to be everywhere, literally.
The Franklin, T.N. based band has a knack for touring and their haunting acoustic live sound. While touring with the 90’s band No doubt, they managed to record their third studio album, Brand New Eyes.
The band consists of small town guys; Bass player Jeremy Davis, new guitar player Taylor York, brothers Zac (drums) and Josh (lead guitar) Farro. The feisty orange-haired lead singer is Hayley Williams.
Brand New Eyes may disappoint the die-hard Paramore fans, but it’s clear the band wanted to try a very different sound.
“Ignorance”, the first single off the album has the original Paramore sound. It has the fast paced guitar riffs and the in your face attitude that all fans adore. It was made available for digital download July 7. The second single, will be “Brick by boring Brick”. It seems as though their releasing the songs that still reminds everyone of their old sound.
Majority of the album was made when the band was going through a tremendous hardship. The recording process was a type of self expressed therapy. This marks the first time the band went into the studio without the watchful eyes of a producer. Brand New eyes was released Sept. 29.
Williams described the process as “stressful” In early February the band went decided to take a much needed hiatus. Rumors circulated that the band was going to split ways because of friction between the band mates. The lyrics ended up being a way for them to express how they felt about the situation and shed light on how the band handled it. The album was named Brand New Eyes because during the course of making it they were seeing things in a whole new perspective.
They performed “When the lines overlap” for the first time during their summer tour. From the audience reaction they seemed to love it.
The 11 track album displays the bands unique way of being able to switch out from a high octane song, to a slow acoustic one. Track six, “The Only Exception” has the vintage lyrics of love and proves that Paramore can keep their loyal fans happy. However, Track 11, “All I Wanted” has Williams screaming her heart out; it shows a faint similarity to “My heart” from their first album All we know is falling.
Regardless if fans may be on the fence about this album, it’s still worth a listen to.

Here's video of Paramore performing "Turn it off"

An album worth listening to

Fans of The Used can now rejoice, their latest album, Artwork is ITunes playlist worthy.
The Alternative rock band released their fourth studio album on August 31, 2009. It was produced by Matt Squire. Squire has worked with Panic at the disco and The Receiving ends of sirens in the past. They began writing in early 2008. They also introduced their new drummer, Dan Whitesides in 2006. The rest of the band, lead singer Bert McCracken, bass player Jeph Howard and lead guitar Quinn Allman.
The album has a pure studio sound, like Weezer’s 1996 studio album Pinkerton.
The band wanted to take their music into a new direction. McCracken felt that the previous albums had the similar sound. He’s hoping to create a new genre called “gross pop”.
The 11 track album is nosier and louder than their last album Lies for the Liars. If purchased off ITunes there are 15 tracks of pure angst. A lot of the songs seem to have the revolving theme of hating yourself. Some even sound like their referring to morality. Alternative Press magazine gave the album 4.5 stars.
For example Track 9, “Meant to die” is sounds like it’s based on the death of actor Heath Ledger. Ledger died in 2008 of an accidental overdose. The chorus reads like a page out of troubled person’s mind. “So maybe I took a little too much/Maybe life didn't want this part of me/It helps to know, I never let you go/Sure, I lost my mind/ But I never really meant to die.”
The first single “Blood on my hands” was released June 30 and began airing on the radio July 14.


Here's their performance of "Blood on my hands" at Bamboozle.

The Sounds are ready to dominate

Most bands know that they’ve became known when one of their songs end up in a commercial.
The Sounds were practically unknowns in the U.S., until the song “Hurt you” was featured in a Geico commercial that aired in September 2008. Since then they’ve gained a decent amount of fans.
The New wave, alternative rock band hails from Helsingborg, Sweden. Forming in 1999 the band consists of lead singer Maja Ivarsson, Bass guitar player Johan Bengtsson, Lead guitar player Felix Rodriguez, Keyboard, Piano, and guitar player Jesper Anderberg, and lastly drum player Fredrik Nilsson.
When their debut album, Living in America came out in 2003, the band played over 300 promoting the album. They even performed during the 2004 Warped Tour. Two years later they played on the main stage of the event.
Iversson was featured on the single “Snakes on a Plane (Bring it)” for the sleeper hit Snakes on a Plane.
They have toured with the bands like, the Foo Fighters, Morningwood, The Strokes, Angels and Airwaves and Panic at the disco.
Their second album Dying to say this to you was released March 21, 2006. The album was produced by Jeff Saltzman, the genius behind another hit album called Hot Fuss by The Killers.
The song “Painted with numbers” had a video made and was broadcasted on major U.S. music channels.
Strangely they received a cult following of celebrity fans such as Pharrell, Quentin Tarantino, Bam Margera and even Britney Spears.
Unlike other bands The Sounds promote themselves by word of mouth and by having excellent street team members.
The band was recently on tour with No doubt during the summer. They also had a few small gigs in the country while promoting their latest album Crossing the Rubicon, which was released June 2. The use of synthesizers is very apparent throughout the entire album. However, their Swedish accents are close to invisible on this album. Their hometown origin doesn’t become clear unless you meet them face to face or hear Maja say “Your awesome thanks for coming to our show” So far, the song “No one sleeps when I’m awake” has been playing on radio stations and the video capitulated them to higher level with most musicians.
The band will be touring the U.S. again this fall.

The video for "No one sleeps when I'm awake"