Gearing up for the prime summer/festival season can be a daunting task. It’s tough to decide where you should spend your hard earned dollars for tickets. Many promoters have gone to great lengths to make sure their festival has the hottest lineup, guaranteeing them blogger and fan buzz. One of the ways this is done by taking those popular bands of yesteryear getting them to dust off their monitors and reunite to the adoration of others.

With many bands reuniting this summer we only felt right to come up with our own list of bands that we’d like to see get back together for another shot at glory.

As with any list, there’s bound to be criticism. So check out what we’ve come up with and tell us why we’re “complete fools for not including band x” in the comments. (more…)

Earlier this month we announced HOT WATER MUSIC would be performing a reunion show at Terminal 5 in NYC this summer (July 12th).

Well it was just announced that THURSDAY will be joining HWM on stage and the show is now going to be a co-headlining gig. Paint It Black will handle the opening duties.

TICKETS: Thursday | Hot Water Music at Terminal 5

The official statement from Thursday’s lead singer Geoff Rickly.

Hey all-

We’re excited to announce an amazing show we will be playing in NYC this summer. On July 12th, at Terminal 5, we’re co-headlining a show with the legendary Hot Water Music. This band was one of the main influences on us when we started Thursday. Seeing their shows at the church in philly and the melody bar in New Brunswick provided a the spark for us that we still hold close to our hearts. We’re also happy to be playing our first show in Manhattan in two years. hrow on one of the most consistently awesome hardcore bands around today- Paint It Black– and this show is a dream come true for us.

Can’t wait to see you there,
Geoff

BE YOUR OWN PET performed last night as part of the Nylon Music Tour. The magazine did an excellent job promoting the show because it appeared as though 95% of the attendees had taken all their fashion sense straight from the mag except for the weirdly goth people (SHE WANTS REVENGE fans perhaps?) The crowd just didn’t seem to be the right fit for Be Your Own Pet sans the handful of fans in front of the stage. The played well, but seemed a little bit disinterested to be playing last night.

A couple pictures i snapped at the show before being forced to check my camera by Irving Plaza security can be seen below. (more…)

LESS THAN JAKE continue to keep the ska-punk dream alive. The band have posted a track from their new album GNV FLA coming out on 6/24 on their own label Sleep It Off Records. So get ready to skank with your checkerboard ankle tattoo exposed and download the track below.

MP3: Less Than Jake :: “Does The City Still Roar?”

The new album from THE ZUTONS, You Can Do Anything will be released in the UK next week. Right now a few of us in the office are feeling a bit slighted since there’s no plans for a US release date yet and we need our fix of the ‘Tons. So hopefully there will be a US street date sooner than later.

The good news is we found this site where you can stream a snippets of every track off the album. Yes we know that snippets are not nearly as good as the full albums, it’s the equivalent of listening to edited hip-hop. You just can’t go down the street in a car, blasting the tunes at the proper volume with a bunch of edits. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to settle for something better than nothing.

BUY: The Zutons :: You Can Do Anything on import.

Their video for “Always Right Behind You”, album art and tracklisting can be eyeballed after the jump. (more…)

Will Ferrell is finally releasing a movie where he’s not a wacky person on a wacky sports team and it actually looks funny. The premise of the comedy, Step Brothers is ridiculous - an older couple gets married and their new blended family consists of the newlyweds and each of their fortysomething sons, played by Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

The film was directed by Adam McKay (Anchorman and Talladega Nights) and since this is a red band trailer, we’re actually able to (gasp!) hear a curse or two. Rememeber, “This house is a prison. On planet Bullshit. In the galaxy of This Sucks Camel Dick.” Step Brothers is in theaters July 25th.

STEPHEN BRODSKY popped by Generation Records this weekend to perform some songs off his new record The Black Ribbon Award under a misspelled moniker STOVE BREDSKY. Along with the new tracks, Stove…I mean Stephen played a few tracks from his band CAVE IN from Tides of Tomorrow and Jupiter. He took requests throughout the set and threw in a couple covers and song off his other project Pet Genius. The record is currently up for streaming on Hydra Head’s website.

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WEEZER seem to be legitimatizing the viral video phenominon by using many internet celebs from the most popular youtube clips to make their own video. Is it peanut butter jelly time? No it’s time for “Pork And Beans”

According to this Blabbermouth story, legendary producer Brendan O’Brien (Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam) will be producing the next MASTODON album. This is a departure for the band, which up until now has only worked with Matt Bayles (known for his own legendary work with Botch, ISIS and Minus the Bear).

This should be a move for the best. Mastodon has never been a band to stay in a comfort zone. A new producer will be a suitable challenge for them, and O’Brien can add a nice “big sound” element to their insane prog-metal tantrums. Because let’s be honest, Mastodon isn’t that far from Rush any more.

When most folks discuss Canadian bands, names like Celine Dion and Shania Twain surface, as do feelings of resentment for sending them to our side of the border. One of their saving graces was Cursed, a metal-based hardcore band whose aggression was always faced towards society and not within the scene they called home. Singer Chris Colohan brought the same power and thought to his lyrics that he did for The Swarm and Ruination.

Sadly, Cursed called it quits yesterday, after being robbed in Europe where they were on tour.

You can read the whole story here. And check out their video for “Fatalist” after the jump. (more…)

Kamaal The Abstract, better known to you common folk as Q-TIP has promised us a new record for a while now. And most of us have been waiting around wondering if Mr. Tip was ever going to make due on that promise.

We’ve learned today that not only will the new album, The Renaissance come out this July, but it will be stocked with a ton of guest stars. Norah Jones, Raphael Saadiq, D’Angelo are all said to have laid down some tracks on the album. But one name has risen and given us more than a few “WTF?” moments around the office.

That’s because one of the new tracks on the new album will feature the spoken word of Illinois Senator and Presidential hopefull Barack Obama! It’s an interesting pairing but we can see it working. Or maybe Obama is going for the youth vote on this one.

Q-Tip is already set up to record his next album with mega-British producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis, Beck). Interesting to see what he comes up with next.
Then again, maybe we’re in no rush.

STREAM: Q-Tip :: “WorkItOut”