Goodnight Sunrise Stopping, Dropping and Rolling to a Hot Topic Near You!

In one of the more successful marketing campaigns in music over the past 10 years Hot Topic and alternative (emo/punk) labels have joined forces to bring music directly to the fans. For many people, traveling to a large city like New York or Los Angeles is simply not an option and for that reason the musicians must be brought to the fans.

One of the bands taking part in this program is Goodnight Sunrise who are touring Hot Topic stores playing acoustic sets and promoting their latest album "Stop, Drop & Roll." Personally I think this idea is a great way to introduce fans to live music and new music all at the same time. In a Twitter post earlier today the band stated that they were on their way to a Hot Topic show in Scottsdale, Arizona. Although this town is located only about a half hour outside Phoenix, other Hot Topic shows will be held in states such as Nebraska and Iowa. Just in case you missed the memo, these states are not exactly known for their rich music scenes.

On a local level bands such as Goodnight Sunrise are helping to inspire young musicians all over the country by actually meeting the fans and putting a real person behind the music these kids love. The new album by Goodnight Sunrise is a really nice blend of pop rock and great musicianship. One thing that stands out clearly for this band is their ability to understand harmony within the songs they play and although the album didn't blow me away it gives the band a lot of room to grow.

A grass roots tour (the Hot Topic tour in this case) has the potential to really help a band at this level grow. As the years pass the kids who saw the band perform acoustically inside their local mall will continue to follow the band as they grow in hopes of one day purchasing tickets to see them rock a sold out show. Oh how we breed our fans from the youngest ages!!

Harris' Song of the Week: Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship

In a shocking turn of events, Cobra Starship has finally broken out of their mediocre club hits and produced a song that mainstream audiences care about. For years I have been saying that Cobra was one big hit single away from making it in the world and this week's song might just be it.

The song which features Leighton Meester from Gossip Girl is incredibly catchy and has the potential to be a huge club hit in the same way that "Clothes Off," was for Gym Class Heroes. "Good Girls Go Bad," has an incredibly catchy chorus and cool breakdown at the end featuring Sapora and the gang rapping along. The low point is Leighton's appearance but for the sake of publicity it was a great move.

Hopefully this song will help to bring Cobra Starship into the spotlight. Although I have not yet heard the album if this song is any indication of what's to come we might have an album of the month for August in the works.

To check out "Good Girls Go Bad," by Cobra Starship check out the video from YouTube

Pictures From Reel Big Fish!!

More to come a little bit later including a full show synopsis and review!!

Greetings From Nokia Theater

For those of you that have never been to a rock club (hopefully none of you) they are generally smelly, dark and gross looking. I'm all for classic looking clubs but let's face it, there is only one CBGB's and it's time to join the 21st Century. I am currently sitting inside Nokia Theater in Times Square, New York which is the opitimy of class and modern clubs. You don't feel like you will get an STD while using the bathroom and sitting on the floor does not bring back memories of college dorms after a big party. Instead this club features clean bathrooms an enourmous amount of drink and food selection and both seated and standing room, all covered under general admission. The point is that as a concert goer I would like a higher level of rock club so take note and if you haven't been here yet check it out soon.

P.S. I don't want to throw all other venues under the bus. Terminal 5 is another example of a cool and hip venue. Check them out and check back tomorrow for pictures of Reel Big Fish and the English Beat!!

Harris' Album of the Month: The Tranformers Movie Soundtrack (1986)

Although I'm a few days late I think this months album of the month is truly a diamond in the rough. Back in 1986 very few things were as celebrated as The Transformers. The television show had been a huge success and with everything from toys to snacks, robots were taking over the world. It was only a matter of time before these robots would meet the big screen in cartoon form. For those of you who do not know, I am not talking about the 2007 or 2009 movies but instead the original cartoon movie.

Enough about the movie. The thing I am here to discuss is my album of the month which is the soundtrack from this class 80's film. As with a lot of other music from this time period many of the songs are synthesized and feature screeching vocals, providing a good mix of classic rock and synth rock. Among the artists featured on this album are Stan Bush, Spectre General, N.R.G. and Weird Al Yankovic.

This mix of styles shines through brilliantly as these songs seem to fit perfectly into the movie and really showcase 80's rock and why it kicks ass. The theme song for The Transformers was recorded for the album by Lion and is the best version I've heard to date of the classic theme. If you really want to bring back the 80's and embrace your inner robot, check out this album and be sure to let me know what you think.

Track Listing
1. The Touch
2. Instruments of Destruction
3. Death of Optimus Prime
4. Dare
5. Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way
6. The Tranformers (Theme)
7. Escape
8. Hunger
9. Autobot/Decepticon Battle
10. Dare to be Stupid

Harris' Song of the Week: Lightspeed by Twin Atlantic

Let me guess, you haven't heard of Twin Atlantic either. As of a week ago I had never heard the name but an email changed all that. Honestly I have not done extensive reasearch but from the one song they are giving away on their website I'm pretty impressed. After a few times through the song "Lightspeed," I have concluded that it sounds like Dropkick Murphy's mixed with The All American Rejects mixed with some third party that I have not figured out.

The song itself is a really cool blend in which you are really able to hear lead singer Sam McTrusty's unique vocal stylings. The instrumental back up is nothing to write home about but the song is very well written and catchy as hell. Overall it is Sam's vocals that draw you in and get you hooked. I am really interested to hear more from this band and if I'm lucky I will really soon. For now visit the Twin Atlantic Official Website and download the free track (it's legal don't worry) and let me know what you think of it.

The Truth About Music Release Radar: June 30th, 2009

Another week and another pretty lame trip to your local record store. Although there might be a few hidden gems this week nothing seems to call my name. There is only one album that I legitimately want to hear this week and that is "Cradlesong," the follow-up album from former Matchbox 20 front-man Rob Thomas. I probably only want to hear this album in hopes that he will rekindle the spark and have a fun reunion tour with the band sometime in 2010 but either way he writes good songs on his own.

After Thomas there is nothing else that interests me. Moby is releasing "Wait For Me," and Bjork is releasing "Voltaic," and I couldn't care less. Time and time again I have been unimpressed by these two bands (and for their sake I will admit the genre's are not my cup of tea). Killswitch Engage is releasing their fifth studio album and someone thought it would be fun to self title the album "Killswitch Engage." I'm not against this necessarily but here's the problem, this is the second time they have self titled an album!!

Just in case none of that looks appealing here are a few more albums out today:
Suicide Silence release "No Time To Bleed"
Widespread Panic release "Huntsville"
Wu-Tang Clan release "Chamber Music"
Atlantics release "Power Pop"

The Matrix of Leadership

As I've been warned in the past, this post probably will contain some spoilers but I will try to reveal as little as possible. For those of you still confused about the title the Matrix of Leadership refers to a sacred artifact which appeared in the new Transformers movie "Revenge of the Fallen." Going into the movie I did zero research unlike the first time I saw the original movie (two summers ago). This lack of research led to some really great surprises and definitely gave me a better experience.

(Warning: The following paragraph is extremely nerdy of me and if you choose to skip it you will not be at fault. If you have seen Star Wars over 20 times and can recite any full scene from Lord of the Rings, you may not skip this paragraph). The title of this article really says it all to me. If you never saw the original cartoon series, or better yet, the original movie (1986) The Matrix of Leadership was stored in Optimus Primes chest and passed from Autobot leader to Autobot leader. Although the idea was slightly changed in the movie it's purpose was the same. The Matrix of Leadership will "Light out darkest hour," as the original movie quoted and in Michael Bay's 2009 movie it did just that, reviving Optimus Prime at a time when only he could save the planet. Among the other nerdy elements I loved about this movie were the continuing saga between Megatron and Starscream which is completely concurrent with the cartoon and the idea that they were searching for energon, instead of some cube.

Ok back to the more street friendly vocabulary. There are a few gripes I had with Michael Bay although I think he did a fantastic job with this movie (20-40 times better than the original two years ago). First, can we set the major battles in a place other than a dessert? It seemed that the battle towards the beginning of the 2007 movie was exactly the same scene as the huge one at the end of the 2009 movie. Also, anyone who has scene Bay's "Armageddon," recognized the scene with the spiky foam blocks because it happen already.

Despite these minor flaws, Bay did an excellent job in slowing down the action and bringing the camera angles back a little bit. This allowed you to actually follow the fast paced battles and keep track of where people were. Also, I loved the fact that they took one of the best characters from the cartoon Soundwave, and turned him into a satellite. In the cartoons he was a boom-box but in keeping with the 21st century, it was smart to make the ultimate communicator a satellite.

Overall this movie was excellent, a fast paced movie that really blew the first movie out of the water. The only problem I have is that if you are not a Transformers fan, you might not A. Get it, or B. Care. The movie caters to the die hard fans dropping a lot of old-school references, things that gave me goose-bumps, most people probably just couldn't care less about.

Here's what Bay needs in the third installment:

• Kill off both Optimus Prime and Megatron
• Introduce Galvetron to replace Megatron
• Introduce Ultra-Magnus and Hot Rod to replace Optimus Prime
• Show an epic battle between the Dyno Bots and Devastator 
• Take the movie off Earth for at least some portion, possibly introducing Unicron (A planet eating robot)
• More Megan Fox (why not right?)