Adam Says: Richmond One of Americas Top 20 Most Romantic Cities

While reviewing my daily dose of PopCandy I ran across this list of most romantic cities in America according to Amazon.com... turns out Richmond has made the top 20!

Adam and Jeremy Say: The Week Ends

The Week Ends and so...
It is Friday which means we are drawing to a close a very exciting week... I mean it was Virginia's Historic Garden Week, and TV Turn Off Week (How are you doing with that?) and on a more somber note this was Global Days for Darfur Week, and I hope you got a chance to read the guest post about it from Sarah. As an added bonus we found out that Rosie O'Donnell is quiting the View.
Plus I have this glut of goodies I have picked up over the last three days that I have yet to give you so now I spew them forth for your entertainment....

Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys new album titled "The Mix Up," and it promises to be way more old school punk Beasties than old school hip hop beasties... here are the details.

Spider-Man 3
The entire world seems to be buzzing about Spider-Man 3, and well they should (we could really use some entertainment right?!?) at any rate you can check out the super cool indie loaded sound track featuring music from bands like the Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, and the Killers, on the soundtrack myspace page.

Kurt Vonnegut Remembered
I think most literary fans are still shocked by the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, so here is a list of quotes from the Onion A.V. Club to fill the void.

Feeling Feist-y
Even though her album does not drop until next week in the states you can hear Feist new album, "The Reminder," on line; the whole thing is on Feist's myspace page right now... this has Popcandy all a flutter.

Adam Says: Guitar Hero has nothing on PC Punk!

So my good friend Bryan Smith plays the guitar, and he does so well. A few months back we are playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation and enjoying it. Near the end of the night Bryan says "Man wouldn't it be cool if there was a game where you could make your own songs?!!?" At the time I had never heard of Noisegames, but just this week both Relevant and Popcandy have gone bonkers for this new game that Noisegames has put out called PC-Punk. Basic premise: use your keyboard to play the rhythm and lead guitar as well as injecting vocals... this is the perfect game for everyone who once dreamed of being in the Sex Pistols but now works at desk in an overly beige building. But to make things even better Noisegames isn't just PC-Punk... oh no... they have lots of great games that center around making music... like guitarmachine and one where you make a frat boy sing in the shower.... oh you must check it out! And I must call Bryan and tell him the news!

Adam Says: Music is Fun!

Last week was a great week for music; mainly because Modest Mouse released their excellent "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank." These northwest nihilist have a sound and vibe that make them fun to listen to even if the subject matter is rather dark and foreboding. I really enjoyed the album even though critics say it is less accessible (accessible is the word critics use whenever they don't get it but they don't want to sound unhip.) If you liked their platinum selling "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" then you will love this new one, but don't take my word for it... check it out for yourself.

AOL is streaming new albums from Tim McGraw, Kaiser Chiefs, Good Charolette and J. Lo. However, I would not advise wasting your time over there because honestly they are all awful.

I am really disappointed in the Kaiser Chiefs; "I Predict a Riot" is still in heavy rotation in the iPod, but this album doesn't have one track that lives up to that standard. Apparently no one told the Kaiser Chiefs that the Beatles, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand have perfect the Brit-Pop-Rock sound, because they try their hardest to emulate it... badly. I reckon I should not be upset with Good Charolette they sold their souls to the corporate rock devil long ago, and I am sure their pseudo-pop-punk thing is still big with the tweeners, but honestly I think they take themselves way to seriously... after all they are just a bunch of punk kids from Baltimore.

If you do not know The Kills you do not know music. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but honestly I love this band. Their dirty take on garage punk-funk is one of the most amazing entries in the indie rock lexicon. their album "No Wow" is a must for any serious music snob, and a stumbled across this article about them yesterday that is pretty interesting. It paints them as the Rock N Roll Romeo and Juliette (oh did I mention The Kills are a two piece girl boy duo?) at any rate check it out, but I must warn that the magazine I found it in may be a little racier than some of you are up for so please don't click if you are offended by beer ads or women's beach volleyball.

Pitchfork has the track list for the as-yet-untitled new Spoon album, and I must admit I cant even type this post without having "The Way We Get By" bounce through my head. Spoon has also announced a handful of tour dates, but the closest they are coming to Richmond is Baltimore... and everyone knows that Baltimore is a hole.

Did you ever wonder who that enchantingly magical female voice singing with Damien Rice on his ready for coffee house albums was? I did until I found this article on Stereogum and found out that the aforementioned amazing voice is Lisa Hannigan and apparently she is doing her own solo thing that is worth checking out. You can check her website out here, and take my word for it... its totally worth it.

White Stripes news! Advance copies of the White Stripes latest album, "Icky Thump," have made it into the hands of several critics and over influential music publications. So of course the news of the day is the... TRACK LIST! well leave it to the White Stripes to completely stop Billboards presses for a track list. At any rate the reviews sound promising, and I don't want to steal CMJ and Billboards thunder, but apparently bagpipes are played... that is literally the only thing both publications touch on... from their they both do a good job of suppressing expectations. No release date for "Icky Thump" yet, but look for it before the years longest day.

One last non-music tidbit; Popcandy recently did a post on this website. There is a threesome of twenty somethings who want to road trip across America and to do it they are selling ad space on their van like this is NASCAR or something. At first glance I just figured this was another one of those "put me through college by buying pixels on my website" things, when I started to think about it I realized that this is just another case of capitalism whoring out one of my found childhood memories in the name of the all mighty dollar! What ever happened to five guys jumping into an ISUZU Trooper and driving all night from Lynchburg to Alabama?

Adam and Jeremy Say: Rock Not Dead... Yet.

Modest Mouse drops their latest project "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" Releases tomorrow! Adam and Jeremy highly recommend these nihilist rockers from the left coast (despite the nihilism and the left coast thing.) But if you need a little more prodding to go pick up their album then click here and listen to the entire album streamed by AOL. Thanks to Popcandy for the DL.
Update: The latest tour dates for Modest Mouse have been released on Pitchfork... check it out.

Speaking of exciting releases on the horizon... Chevelle will be dropping their latest head banger, "Vena Sera" (which may mean "Vein Liquid," but that's just something we read on the Internet so take it for what its worth.), hits stores April 3, 2007. The lead single "Well Enough Alone" has been littering the modern rock air waves, taking us back to when Adam and Jeremy made a living out of playing "The Red" and Blindside's "King of the Closet" on their critically acclaimed radio program.

Maybe the biggest music news of the year is the reunion of Rage Against the Machine! Oh yes the angry Adam and Jeremy fav's are getting back together for the Rock the Bells tour this summer with the Wu Tang Clan. Those of us on the East Coast will have once chance to catch them July 28th in NYC... buy your tickets today because this show is going to be huge... on a side not we certainly hope that this leads to more Rage Against the Machine albums because honestly rock music has not been the same since they left.

In case you missed it indie pop-rockers Mates of State were featured on this weekends edition of "This American Life" log onto the TAL website to check out the podcast featuring a live cover of "California" by our favorite husband and wife music act. The appearance of "This American Life" got us over to the Mates of State website where we found out that they have teamed up with PETA to do an anti fur ad. Well you can see that its certainly eye catching; if you want to know more check out the bands site.