Holy Crap!

Avid fans of The Elms, such as myself, know that their new CD is coming out a week from tomorrow. But I'm not waiting to run to the store, I just went and got it online.

The latest thing to hit my desk is the party rock of Family Force 5. They're crazy. There's definitely a lot of '80s influences, but it's mostly rockin' guitars with rap vocals, but much less electronic than Earthsuit. So what's my first impression? It's great for music to pump you up. Does it have any value besides fun music? Not really, but it's not bad.

Another release I was listening to yesterday was the debut album from House of Heroes. It's been out for about six months, and it's pretty darn good.

I remember the old House of Heroes when they were played on RadioU during the indie days. Actually, I think really early they were called "No Tagbacks", which obviously is a kiddie pop-punk band. But with their major-label debut release, they've transformed into an amazing art-rock band. If you want to check it out, find their video for "Serial Sleepers". Great stuff.

So today's new release that I listened to was Kutless's Hearts of the Innocent. And, well, it's exactly what I expected.

I liked Kutless because it was fairly good rock. Sea of Faces was good too, but a bit softer. Strong Tower was fairly disappointing, although the rock mixes of some worship songs are nice. But this new one is just too much of the same. There's no growth; no progress.

Last night I went out with my parents and saw the Third Day/David Crowder Band concert. It was pretty chill.

Although we didn't really get there until 7:10, if they started right at 7 Crowder's set was just too short. It was great, though. They did a great job with their "rock opera", "You Are My Joy". And, of course, we had fun with "Foreverandever Etc..". They only played 40 minutes or so, though, but oh well. The opening band never gets any respect.

Speaking of rock 'n' roll, just a side note that May 2nd is going to be a great day. Not only do we get the long-overdue rock 'n' roll release from The Elms (I mean, who wouldn't want a rock album called The Chess Hotel?), but I just noticed that the album a year and a half in the waiting, mars ILL's Pro*Pain is finally gonna be released. That is, unless the EMI good music Nazis have their way....

Their last issue mentioned it, but now it's here. The folks at Paste Magazine are now producing a weekly podcast called Paste Culture Club. What is it? Well, it's an extension of the magazine's content and samplers.

delirious? is my all-time favorite band. For years, they've been breaking ground as a Christian band with a reach into the non-Christian world. It's cool and I still totally respect them even though their last couple albums haven't been as stellar. (Well, that may be because I haven't seen a live show from them in almost four years.)

According to an e-mail from PasteStore.com, the upcoming issue of my favorite magazine has a killer sampler. Not only does Paste Issue 20 have a Sufjan Stevens track, but the gem is a track from the forthcoming full-length from Mute Math. Sure, all of us who are avid Mute Math fans have been watching the "Chaos" video for months (if not years), but it'll be great to finally have the studio version on my iPod.