Song of the Week

My song of the week this week is a fantastic brand new tribute to our troops.  Ever since I was introduced to what was their first hit, What a Day, and shortly thereafter their second major release album, Development, I have consistently enjoyed Nonpoint.  They are heavy rock without being too heavy for my liking, and since they're kind of a niche style, their shows never get so big that they border on being unenjoyable.  For their newest album, Miracle, lead singer Elias Soriano describes his inspiration for his tribute to our troops, Frontlines:

"When I wrote the concept for Frontlines, I wanted to make sure the focus was on the commitment of what our soldiers do for us. The weight they carry, and the intensity they hold steadfast to protect people they don't even know." 

"I say this with as much meaning as I could possibly have," says Soriano. "God bless the men and women of our military, and thank you for allowing me to be what I am, and do what I do. Every single one of you are the reason I'm free to do so."

Nonpoint will be donating the proceeds of the digital sales of Frontlines to the USO and Soldiers Angels Foundation.  I've got three videos here.  The first is one Soriano put together because he was moved by the imagery he was seeing, and couldn't wait for the official video to be released, the second is the band's official video, and for fun (albeit low quality) the third is a video I took on my phone from their show in Dekalb on Tuesday.  Give it a listen, and if you like what you hear, give it a download for the troops!

Song of the Week

In honor of the fact that I recently found out that the next iteration of Guitar Hero is going to require us to play through all 20+ minutes of this entire song (awesome), I give you Rush's 2112.

Song of the Week

Today I am awarding my song of the week to a band that I saw play live last night for the first time in 11 years.  The Deftones were the middle band in the lineup of Mastodon-Deftones-Alice In Chains, all three of whom were incredible.  When I last saw the Deftones at Ozzfest in 1999 I was soured on them as a live performance, as Chino, their lead singer, had a complete prima donna meltdown on stage, whining and complaining and bitching out his roadies for something to do with his microphone setup.  Last night they redeemed themselves in a big way, putting on one of the most energetic performances I've ever seen, and backing up my friends' talk of them normally being phenomenal live.  The high point of their set for me came when the first notes to "Passenger" rang out.  A song that they originally recorded with Maynard James Keenan of Tool, it's a song they perform at a little less than half of their shows.  Last night's performance was especially exciting for us in Chicago, as native son and front-man for Rise Against, Tim McIlrath, reprised Keenan's vocal role for the song.  In honor of the special performance they gave last night, I give you one of the coolest songs you'll ever hear, "Passenger."



If you like this, give it a download.

Song of the Week

My first ever Song of the Week is going to one of my newly favorite artists, American Bang.  I saw these guys at Lollapalooza, and they stole the show for me on Friday.  A good description for them is Tom Petty meets the Black Crowes.  Their entire new album is phenomenal.  I'd slate it as a classic-album-to-be in the vein of the Black Crowes "Shake Your Money Maker," except that where SYMM loses steam about 2/3 of the way through, every song on American Bang is fantastic.

You may or may not have heard their first single, Wild and Young, on the radio.  If you have not, I present it for you here as my first Song of the Week.  If you like what you hear, give it a download here, and maybepick up their album, while you're at it.  In any case, enjoy!