The clearing of the air.

What's up, everyone? It's been a little while. Sorry about the extended hiatus from blogging; I've been officially a Twitter addict for the better part of the past few months, but I promise not to let this blog go to seed anymore. (However, if you want daily ruminations on my mundane life, by all means, please follow me.)

Anyway, I'm writing today because of Daisy. No, not this thing:



This thing:



Brand New's Daisy comes out on Sept. 22, which is in three weeks. Unfortunately, the record leaked this past weekend, sending everyone into a frenzy over who could hear it first -- and along with that, be the first publication or website to review it.

Being the music editor for a national magazine, I'm luckier than most: Publicists are usually able to get us advance music for hotly anticipated albums well before their street dates in hopes that we'll enjoy it enough to want to write about it in our magazine. In this case, I was sent a secure audio stream to Daisy on July 27, nearly two months before the record would hit stores. Due to publication deadlines (and the fact that I was out of the country on vacation through August 4), I was unable to fully absorb Daisy in enough time to accurately write a review for the print edition of AP. Thus, it was worked out with the band's publicist that I could run a web-exclusive review of the album on Sept. 7, a shade over two weeks before its release.

Of course, all that changed with the album leaking, and thus, the publicist contacted me this morning and told me we could run our review as soon as we wanted to, due to the circumstances. While my final draft wasn't done, I was quickly able to re-visit the album to get my thoughts straight, thanks to the leak which I admit to downloading strictly for professional convenience's sake. My review, which was based on roughly a month's worth of absorption (I'd estimate between 40-50 full listens), was published on altpress.com earlier today. Do I think it's the best review I've ever written? Not even close. But do I feel comfortable about it, knowing that I accurately conveyed what I thought were the album's high and low points? You betcha.

Judging by comments left by fans on our website as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages, the response has been mixed; some people agree with me, and some people don't. That's totally fine; music is subjective, and there's no reason you have to agree with someone.

But the reason I'm writing all of this is because of this accusation. I won't really even bother to address it besides to say that he is absolutely wrong in his assessment of how often I've heard the music. One day, maybe that kid will realize he isn't the most important person in the world and not every band, label and publicist kowtows to him -- but I doubt it.

For those of you who have heard Daisy -- even in live videos from YouTube -- what are your thoughts on it thus far? And furthermore, do you think your opinion will change after 10 listens? What about 20? Or 50?

I've got blogs.

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the 12th installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Manchester Orchestra's Mean Everything To Nothing
THE SCOOP: As of right now, this is the best album of 2009. I don't even know what else to write about how incredible this record is anymore; please, just listen to it. (I can't stop, myself.)
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Shake It Off," "I've Got Friends," "In My Teeth," "I Can Feel A Hot One"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:

Art Brut's Art Brut Vs. Satan
THE SCOOP: Welcome back, Eddie Argos & Co.! Art Brut's brilliant first album, Bang Bang Rock 'N' Roll, seemed to be a flash in the pan after 2007's capital-B boring It's A Bit Complicated was its follow-up. Thankfully, the band rediscovered just why they're so good (punky songs, noodly riffs, clever, sardonic lyrics) and they delivered big time on this disc. It's still not as good as Bang Bang Rock 'N' Roll (but not much is), however it's a solid four stars all the way. Jason Pettigrew's going to hate what I'm about to write, but Art Brut are essentially the English version of the Hold Steady.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake," "The Replacements," "What A Rush," "Summer Job"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

SUPERGROUP, SUPERFLOP:

Tinted Windows' Tinted Windows
THE SCOOP: I won't lie: When I first heard about this supergroup, featuring Adam Schlesinger of Fountains Of Wayne on bass, James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins on guitar and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick on drums, I got really excited. Then I found out Taylor Hanson from Hanson was singing, but I was okay with it, since the experience of the three veterans would almost ensure this record would be a pop masterpiece. I was so, so, so wrong. Tinted Windows is a bizarre teen-pop cash-grab record, copping most of its sound from the Jonas Brothers back catalog. It's truly unfortunate that the immense amount of talent in this band would set the bar so low for themselves on this release.
CRUCIAL JAMS: Fountains Of Wayne's Welcome Interstate Managers and Cheap Trick's Live At Budokan double disc
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: As Cities Burn's Hell Or High Water, Chimaira's The Infection, Depeche Mode's Sounds Of The Universe, Earth Crisis' To The Death, Meg And Dia's Here, Here And Here, The Photo Atlas' To Silently Provoke The Ghost EP, The Secret Handshake's My Name Up In Lights, Westbound Train's Come And Get It

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!

Stadium blog.

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the 11th installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Metric's Fantasies
THE SCOOP: Up until this disc, I've never been a fan of Metric (it might have something to do with a former AP editor playing them incessantly and our office having paper-thin walls), but Fantasies has completely won me over. Gone are the brash, bratty moments on their previous full-lengths; instead, there's more dreamy keyboards, powerful vocals from Emily Haines and just the right amount of rocking out. I dig. I totally dig.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Stadium Love," "Sick Muse," "Help I'm Alive," "Gimme Sympathy"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:

Silversun Pickups' Swoon
THE SCOOP: I enjoyed SP's first release, Carnavas, but it also had a weird habit of putting me to sleep whenever I played it -- partially due to its bloated runtime, partially due to frontman Brian Aubert's eerie falsetto vocals. Swoon still has plenty of the latter, but is definitely more focused; there's still plenty of room for soaring vocals, ethereal keyboard layers and some seriously chunky guitar riffs, but they're all reeled in ever so slightly from Carnavas's sprawl. Ironically, Swoon is only four minutes shorter than its predecessor, but you can totally tell.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Panic Switch," "Catch And Release," "The Royal We," "There's No Secrets This Year"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ANYONE CAN SEE THE ROAD THAT THEY WALK ON IS PAVED IN USED COPIES OF THEIR BREAKOUT ALBUM:

Fastball's Little White Lies
THE SCOOP: Yup, Fastball is still together. Yup, that Fastball, the "The Way" one. To put it into perspective, I bought just about every one-hit wonder in the alt-rock spectrum in the '90s, and even I avoided picking up a copy of All The Pain Money Can Buy. Plain White T's, if you're reading: This is your future. Invest wisely.
CRUCIAL JAMS: I'll take "the rapists" for $200, Alex.
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: As I Lay Dying's This Is Who We Are DVD, Fact's Fact, I See Stars' 3D, Peelander-Z's P-Pop High School, Agoraphobic Nosebleed's Agorapocalypse, Graf Orlack's Destination Time Today, Farewell To Freeway's Only Time Will Tell, Catherine's Inside Out

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!

What would I blog to you now?

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the tenth installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Jimmy Eat World's Clarity Live
THE SCOOP: One of the best rock albums of the past decade played front-to-back in front of a hometown crowd? Why would you not want to buy this? (Full disclosure: I flew out to Tempe, Arizona, for this show, and I'm pretty sure you can hear me go, "WHOOOO!!!!" here and there.) What's even cooler is the band are selling it themselves, so you know the money's going right into the pockets of those who truly deserve it.
CRUCIAL JAMS: The complete album (obviously), plus the live bonus tracks "What Would I Say To You Now?" and "No Sensitivity"
BUY IT NOW: JimmyEatWorld.com (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:>

Polar Bear Club's Sometimes Things Just Disappear
THE SCOOP: Okay, yeah, this album actually came out in 2008 (and technically came out in December 2007, natch), but today is the day it's officially made available on vinyl, which it so sorely deserves. Thanks go to Bridge Nine Records for giving this record one hell of a nice packaging job, with a gatefold sleeve and even a bonus CD copy of the album with all purchases. PBC are legitimately going to be huge, so don't blow it and buy this now -- if for no other reason than to flip on eBay in nine months.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Convinced I'm Wrong," "Our Ballads," "Burned Out In A Jar," "Hollow Place"
BUY IT NOW: B9Store.com (vinyl)

THIS LIVE CD/DVD WON'T BLOW YOU AWAY, BUT YOU KNOW THAT IT'LL STAY:

The Hold Steady's A Positive Rage
THE SCOOP: If you know me, you know how much I love love love the Hold Steady. Still, I have to say that the DVD portion of A Positive Rage is wholly underwhelming. It's a tour documentary that just shows the band getting progressively bigger each show. Nothing exciting really happens; there's no drama, either. Considering how much this band drink, I was really hoping for some funny drunken footage, but alas, twas not to be. The audio side of A Positive Rage is a live album recorded on Halloween 2007 in Chicago, so it's heavy on the Boys & Girls In America songs (which is A-OK by me, as that's my favorite record of theirs). It sounds good for what it is, but I feel like this package could've been a whole lot more.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Your Little Hoodrat Friend," "You Can Make Him Like You," "Lord, I'm Discouraged," "Citrus"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: Beastie Boys' Check Your Head [reissue], Bob Mould's Life And Times, Doves' Kingdom Of Rust, Left Alone's Left Alone, Single File's Common Struggles, The Color Of Violence's Youthanize, the Thermals' Now We Can See, Youth Group's The Night Is Ours

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!

A shipwreck in the blog.

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the ninth installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Silverstein's A Shipwreck In The Sand
THE SCOOP: Silverstein have always gotten a bad rap with the punker-than-thous. Sure, frontman Shane Told might have impeccably flattened hair, but half of this band wears jean shorts onstage -- and there is nothing less scene than jorts. The band's fourth proper LP finds them diving deeper into their metal and hardcore influences with the help of Cancer Bats' Liam Cormier ("Vices") and Scott Wade, formerly of Comeback Kid ("Born Dead"), with a heady lyrical concept that at times makes the disc sound like Boys Night Out's Trainwreck ("A Shipwreck In The Sand"). Seriously, this band gets better and better with each release -- people need to start taking them seriously.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Vices," "Broken Stars," "We Are Not The World," "I Knew I Couldn't Trust You"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:

Peter Bjorn And John's Living Thing
THE SCOOP: Yes, they were the whistling band (and if you still haven't heard "Young Folks," you're blowing it because it's one of the most ubiquitous indie-rock singles of the decade that's actually enjoyable) and yes, their initials double as an abbreviation for peanut butter and jelly (or, alternately, Pam Beesly and Jim). But they prove with their fifth(!) album that they're no one-hit wonder. Living Thing is danceable without sounding trite, with plenty of minimalist instrumentation underneath some pretty adorable Swedish accents. Vampire Weekend-esque Afropop shows up occasionally ("Living Thing"), and there's even a subtle hip-hop influence ("Nothing To Worry About"). Of course, Pitchfork gave it a 5.5/10, which means it's actually more like a 7.9. Hipsters gotta hate something...
CRUCIAL JAMS: "It Don't Move Me," "Nothing To Worry About," "Lay It Down," "I Want You!"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

HEY MAN, NICE CASH-IN:

Filter's The Very Best Things (1995-2008)
THE SCOOP: You know what's sad? Click on the link in the band name above. Filter have sold more than two million records in the U.S. alone, and they can't even get "filter" as their MySpace URL -- they had to go with "filter1." That just about sums up the inconsequential nature of this greatest-hits set. Honestly, who out there can name more than two Filter songs off the top of their head (those two obviously being "Hey Man, Nice Shot" and "Take A Picture")? I think everyone in the AP office who still listens to Filter (essentially Tim and Jason) would tell you to buy Short Bus instead.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Hey Man, Nice Shot" is still a total jam, even though it's been Jock Jammed into oblivion
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: Impending Doom's The Serpent Servant, Strung Out's Prototypes & Painkillers, Death Cab For Cutie's The Open Door EP, Great Lake Swimmers' Lost Channels, In The Red's Volume 2, Pansy Division's That's So Gay, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz!, Vice On Victory's Glitter & Gold

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!

Punk rock blog.

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the eighth installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Little Brazil's Son
THE SCOOP: Besides having a name that sounds like a fancy brand of cigarette, Landon Hedges has been chipping away at the indie-rock bubble with Little Brazil since 2002, and with his band's third album, Son, he has finally realized his potential. A concept album about a splintering marriage, Son sounds like if Josh Caterer from Smoking Popes listened to a shit-ton of Cursive, the Promise Ring and Hey Mercedes and decided to crank the amps to about 13 or 14 without losing lyrical sincerity. Remember, just because you haven't already heard of them doesn't mean Little Brazil aren't good; I highly, highly recommend this record.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "What's The Problem," "Wasting Time," "Perfection," "Wedding Glass"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:

MxPx's On The Cover II
THE SCOOP: Cover albums are tricky--if you deviate too far from the source material, people can't relate to your selections; if you play them too closely to the original, people accuse you of being uncreative. MxPx straddle that line very carefully and deliver a wide variety of total mega-jams, including the Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" (seriously one of the best songs in the history of the world) as well as "Linda Linda" by sorta-obscure '80s Japanese punk band the Blue Hearts (it's definitely worth tracking down the source material in this case). Kudos to Mike Herrera and the boys for once again making pop-punk fun again.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Linda Linda," "Punk Rock Girl," "Somebody To Love," "Suburban Home"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

I'D LIKE TO BUY SOME TALENT, PAT:

Vanna's A New Hope
THE SCOOP: This sorta-metalcore band from the outskirts of Boston showed significant promise with 2007's Curses, an album filled with guitar atmospherics reminiscent of mid-period Thrice and decently solid songwriting. But that album's follow-up, A New Hope, just feels empty and rehashed, like the band members haven't figured out how to advance themselves as musicians at all. It really is a bummer, because I always felt like this band had a really good album in 'em. Maybe next time.
CRUCIAL JAMS: Strawberry, grape, boysenberry
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: Beep Beep's Enchanted Islands, Fireworks' All I Have To Offer Is My Own Confusion, Damion Suomi's Damion Suomi, Mono's Hymn To The Immortal Wind, O+S' O+S, These Green Eyes' Relapse To Recovery, Mastodon's Crack The Skye, the Decemberists' The Hazards Of Love

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!

When I hit the blog.

Hello, I'm Alternative Press music editor Scott Heisel and welcome to the seventh installment of Positive Jams, your guide to the best (and the rest) of the week's new music as selected by yours truly. Let's get to it!

IF YOU BUY ONE THING TODAY, PLEASE LET IT BE:

Ace Enders & A Million Different People's When I Hit The Ground
THE SCOOP: Holy hell, do I love this disc. I didn't get down with Ace Enders' former band, the Early November, until their triple-disc magnum opus, The Mother, The Mechanic And The Path, but I'm stoked that I get to be on the ground floor for Enders' newest batch of brilliant emo-rock songs. This sprawling album (14 songs over nearly 52 minutes) features balls-out rockers, piano ballads and plenty of bouncy pop-rock, all of which sounds like the best album Jimmy Eat World didn't make. Seriously, buy this thing right now.
CRUCIAL JAMS: "Where Do We Go From Here," "When I Hit The Ground," "The Only Thing I Have (The Sign)," "Take The Money And Run"
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), Amazon (digital)

GOT MORE CASH? SNAG THIS NEXT:

NOFX's Backstage Passport DVD
THE SCOOP: Sure, it's not a new album, per se (although I did get an advance of Coaster last week and it's pretty great), but NOFX's Backstage Passport Fuse TV series has been ported to DVD, along with a bonus disc of hours of footage deemed "too hot for TV." Even if you don't like NOFX's music (bummer for you), there is still so much entertainment to be found in these episodes, as well as plenty of a human element most people probably figured Fat Mike didn't have. Highly recommended.
CRUCIAL JAMS: Um, it's a DVD. However, if you don't already own Punk In Drublic, you're totally blowing it.
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical)

"WE SAID MEH! M-E-H, MEH!"

This Providence's Who Are You Now?
THE SCOOP: The above Simpsons reference pretty much perfectly sums up my feelings toward This Providence and their new album. It's background music for a swooped-hair dentist's office: patently inoffensive with nothing out of the ordinary that would risk scaring the patient--er, listener. Honestly, do you really want to associate getting a root canal with this band's music? Too late, I already do.
CRUCIAL JAMS: Go buy a Gatsbys American Dream CD instead. Any Gatsbys American Dream CD.
BUY IT NOW: Amazon (physical), Amazon (digital)

ALSO OUT TODAY: Catherine's Inside Out, Graf Orlack's Destination Time Today, I Killed The Prom Queen's Sleepless Nights And City Lights DVD, Kylesa's Static Tensions, MSTRKRFT's Fist Of God, the One Thought Moment's Deaf In The Dead Zone, Sum 41's All The Good Shit

What did you buy today? Leave a comment and tell us!