News: The 'Skye' is the Limit for Mastodon

Atlanta progressive metal band Mastodon plan to play the entirety of their new album, Crack the Skye, on their forthcoming tour. Their new epic, a concept album about an astral plane traveling youngster who inevitably inhabits the body of Rasputin, is something that the band feels is wrong to play out of exact order. They also intend to incorporate a full stage show to accompany the tunes in concert, featuring short movies made of each song.

The album, though the storyline seems wonky, is a tribute to drummer Brann Dailor's sister, Skye, who died at the age of fourteen. Dailor told MTV News:

"Her name was Skye, so Crack the Skye means a lot of different things. For me personally, it means the moment of being told you lost someone dear to you, [that moment] is enough to crack the sky."

The album, recorded with Springsteen producer Brendan O'Brien, is set to be released March 24, 2009 with the tour starting in June.

Album review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

[Interscope, 2009]

Bands tend to progress with each album released. This is understood, and it's nothing unusual. It's considered a sign of maturity and of pushing boundaries. These changes are often minute affairs, made to separate one release from another. Imagine my surprise when I put on the newest offering by the New York City based trio and instead of hearing the fuzz of a guitar, I heard a pulsing, plattering synth. This begins the first track and leading single of It's Blitz!, a fun electro-pop album that shows the band in much different form than 2006's Show Your Bones. Electronics make up the breadth of the band's new sound. Propelled by synthesizers and drum machines, Karen O's haunting voice dominates.

Melody is key here. The afformentioned synth lines are often simple yet effective parts of an interweaving whole of synth, bass, and vocals. Each complements the others well, and it's evident that each song was painstakingly crafted with great attention to detail. The album just sounds great. TV on the Radio member Dave Sitek did another phenominal production job for them. Every instrument is easily distingisable and vibrant, and the drums are characteristically punchy. It never seems overproduced though; never overtly pop.

There's no filler here, and every song just seems to belong. I came into it with modest expectations and was floored. If this is any sign as to where the Yeahs go next, it's clear they'll surprise me yet again with an album even better than this one. Here's hoping they do.

A Little Something About Me

I suppose now is as good a time as any to take a moment to introduce myself. I am a seventeen year old Junior at Chalmette High School in Chalmette, Louisiana. I started this "writing about music" bag for the school's literary magazine. I got a lot of positive feedback, some negative feedback, and decided I should do this for a living, since I'm decent at it, and I quite enjoy it.

I enjoy music of all forms, whether it's rock, heavy metal, jazz, classical, or another genre. Anything worth listening to will find itself in my library. I greatly prefer vinyl records to CDs for the warmness of their sound and artwork that towers over their booklet counterparts. All it takes to make me happy is music and a good book.

Well, that's enough about me, I'm interested in knowing a little about you, the reader. Leave me comments, and I promise to get back to you.

News: Bonnaroo 2009

By now anyone not living under a rock has seen the lineup for this year's hippie-friendly bonanza of a music festival. They've pulled out all the stops this time, with such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, and Elvis Costello. These legends are sure to please oldsters and hipsters alike with dazzling shows.

The newly reunited Phish is set to play two shows at Bonnaroo (the question is if the audience will be able to take that much jamming). The shows will be among their first since 2004. On a different token, Nine Inch Nails will play Bonnaroo as part of their going away tour. Frontman and multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, tired after releasing several albums in the past years, wishes to "make Nine Inch Nails disappear for a while".

To go along with these long standing icons in music are much newer faces. TV on the Radio, fresh off a torrent of critical acclaim following the release of last year's Dear Science, prog rockers The Mars Volta, and eclectic electro pop group Of Montreal. All three of these groups are finally getting their due after languishing with cult followings.

I will be attending the festivities and will be providing coverage of the event. The festival takes place from June 11th to the 14th in Manchester, Tennessee, and it is sure to be memorable