The Top Albums of The Decade: 2002

This post is part of our “Top Albums of The Decade” series. Follow the series to read about the best music to grace our ears in the 2000s. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes (Interscope Records) Remember when rock bands made albums and not just a collection of songs? Yeah, I don’t either. Except for Trail of Dead’s third outing, Source Tags & Codes. Not only…

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Gorillaz’s new album Plastic Beach to feature Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed and more

In a recent interview with The Guardian, British music icon Damon Albarn revealed some very interesting details concerning the long awaited Gorillaz follow-up to the incredible 2005 “Demon Days.” Apparently, “the LP is nearly finished,” as Damon put it, and will go by the name of “Plastic Beach” (the title came to him after seeing the plastic bottle-littered beach in front of his home in Devon). He goes on to add that the new album…

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Al Byrne’s Radio Bile

They say “familiarity breeds contempt”, but the more I hear that phrase, the more I dislike it. And not just because I’m a pathetic, desperate contrarian idiot – the phrase is wrong. Wrong. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. It breeds comfort, warmth, and eventually nostalgia. New things are awful, and potentially dangerous, and sometimes have questionable odours. Shun new things. Avoid them. Instead, you should wrap yourself in the comfortable blanket of the safe and familiar,…

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Welcome to Ashley Interview

Welcome to Ashley, “one of Chicago’s best live bands,” was an energetic, crowd pleasing, good time at the Empty Bottle on October 23rd. This show in an effort to promote their new album, “Absent man” was fun and refreshingly new. Coley Kennedy, the front man for WTA took time out of his rock star day and answered a few of my burning questions. How did Welcome to Ashley form and what has kept the band together? Coley: Pete and Jeremy…

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Belle & Sebastian new album on the horizon [?]

Since Belle & Sebastian released their last glorious album, “The Life Pursuit”, in 2006, the band has not only stopped releasing any new music, but they haven’t even hinted of plans of a new album whatsoever. When Stuart Murdoch, the band’s lead creative force behind the band, started working on his God Help the Girl project any plans for the band to make any new albums had been scrapped, until today that is when the…

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Wednesday Smilejerker: Muppets cover Bohemian Rhapsody

Smilejerker’s back, and this week we’ve got something for all ages, that will both move and humor you, namely this fabulous cover of Queens’ Bohemian Rhapsody by an ‘all-star’ Muppets cast. We’ve seen some awesome tunes covered by the Muppets in the past, including Beatles, The Everly Brothers , Weezer, The Drifters and even death metal (unofficial), but this is one is truly magical. Enjoy, kids!

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Massive Attack reveals new album details

It took them a while, seven years to be more exact, but the trip-hop pioneering duo have finally come through and  recently announced the follow-up to the somewhat disappointing 2003 “100th Window.” Massive Attack’s new album is titled “Heligoland” (named after the german Archipelago of Heligoland), and features guest vocals by Damon Albarn, TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird, Hope Sandoval, and Horace Andy. The tracklist is only ten songs…

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Pearse McGloughlin’s Busy Whisper

Pearse McGloughlin is a Sligo-born songwriter and musician, who served his time in a series of bands before deciding to fly it solo – taking in many locations along the way. Spells in Dublin, London, Canada and France have no doubt shaped his broad musical talents and acute observational lyrics, and with “Busy Whisper”, he has produced a perceptive and powerful debut that is sure to take him to many more far-flung destinations. This troubadour…

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Al Byrne’s Radio Bile

You’ll forgive me if I wallow in a little self-indulgence this week – a new job and, more importantly, lethargy have prevented me from bothering to care about most music-related matters this week, outside of reminding myself quite how brilliant The Hold Steady truly are. If you don’t own any of their records, it’s important that you go buy one right now. In fact, buy all of them. They’re lovely. Two music matters that I…

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Megadeth and Slayer officially announce the 2010 American Carnage Tour

The Clash of the Titans 1991 tour was one of the most epic and spectacular series of metal gigs to ever have graced the planet, basically making various venues in the US  and Europe the very center of the scene for a day. Now, Megadeth and Slayer are set to embark on a tour of almost equal proportions in 2010, called the American Carnage Tour. They even brought on Testament as openers to re-create the…

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