News: Brand New Playing New Music on Tour
–Written by Mike Hogan
Rumors of new music from Brand New have been experiencing a pretty steady ebb and flow since pretty much the day after they released Daisy in 2009. But of course, nothing has ever happened with that, Brand New sort of slinked away for a little while, as fans waited eagerly for even a whisper from the publicist about what was going to happen next. Those rumors have been in full force again for more than a year now, as Brand New has been dropping not-so-subtle hints at studio time and new material being on the way. But of course, we’ve still been waiting
But of course, Brand New has been back, they’ve been touring all over the world, they’ve been doing interviews, updating their website; Jesse Lacey and crew have officially come out of hiding. And now, we have official confirmation of new material. On their current tour, they have been opening their sets with a new song titled, “Don’t Feel Anything”, and now it’s been caught on video. Be sure to check after the jump for the video of their new track.
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News: RJD2 Shares Details On New Hip-Hop Album, Collaboration With STS
–Written by Kevin Madert
Philadelphia-based instrumental hip-hop guru RJD2 is at it again: the long-time DJ/producer confirmed to Rolling Stone yesterday a new album is on the way. Out May 5th, STS x RJD2 will be a collaborative effort featuring rapper and fellow Philadelphian (Philadelphite?) STS. RJD2 describes the album as “soulful, honest hip-hop music,” and lauds STS for having “a way with words, and his own fully developed style…he’s one of my favorite rappers to make waves in the last three to four years.”
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In Case You Missed It: Dance Gavin Dance – Downtown Battle Mountain
For those of you that haven’t been paying attention, I’ve been going on and on lately about a new album coming out from a little band called Dance Gavin Dance. Instant Gratification will be the follow up to 2013’s Acceptance Speech, and their second album with Tillian Pearson (formerly of Tides of Man) on lead vocals. Pearson was an immediate fit with the band, they put out an album that made it sound like they’ve been making music together for their entire careers. It was a seriously impressive album, and proved to be the biggest leap forward for Dance Gavin Dance since their debut full length Downtown Battle Mountain. Which is incidentally, precisely what we’re here to talk about. There is a ton of hype surrounding Instant Gratification, but this is the perfect time to reflect back on one of the original classics that will always be a huge milestone in the history of the band.
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News: Nocturnal Wonderland Announces Initial Artists for 20th Annual Festival
–Written by Kevin Madert
Long-running Insomniac venture Nocturnal Wonderland is set to take place for the 20th year this Labor Day weekend, and today announced the first round of artists who will be joining in the celebration. Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, and Armin van Buuren are among the headliners tapped to take the stage September 4-6 at the San Manuel Amphitheater and Grounds in San Bernardino, CA. Insomniac doesn’t appear to have the ability to go any way besides big, so expect much more to come between now and Labor Day.
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Review: Hotel Books – Run Wild, Young Beauty
I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting for the new Dance Gavin Dance album for a long time now. Acceptance Speech was one of my highlights of 2013, and their follow up has been marked to top my album of the year list since it was announced. And of course, they released it for streaming last night. That’s the same night that I was supposed to review the new Hotel Books album, Run Wild, Young Beauty. I honestly wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do that. I wasn’t sure how I was going to stay focused long enough to not jump back to DGD. It’s not that I’m not a fan of Hotel Books, but the build up to the DGD album had proved to be a bit too much for me to handle, apparently. I could not have possibly been more wrong. Midway through the opening track I was eating my words. If I had no integrity in my journalistic presence, I would have simply just published my notes, but seeing as they are mostly comprised of the word “wow”, I figured I take a crack at writing something of some substance.
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