Album A Day: Green Day – 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours

Yep, it is indeed going to be a week of Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre here at VLM. 7 days of albums featuring the guys from Green Day. Before they were American Idiots, before Billie Joe Armstrong sat on a bed and strummed out what would eventually become the most frequently used graduation song ever, [...]

Album A Day: Hoobastank – Hoobastank

Hoobastank are a fairly excellent example of why a band’s name can be critical. When Hoobastank’s self-titled first album came out in 2002, their biggest claims were a) they sounded remarkably like Incubus in a time when Incubus were a huge deal, and b) they had a goofy freakin’ name. So with those facts to [...]

Moment of Zen: British Comedy + Blink 182 = …um…

OK, so apparently there’s a BBC comedy across the pond entitled “All The Small Things”. Yes, its title is a reference to the Blink 182 song, which is now a decade old, incidentally. Anyway, British show named for an American pop-punk hit song, and at some point they took it a step further and incorporated [...]

Inside My Headphones…

In appreciation for everyone who stuck with the last few weeks while I was scrambling to be both a good blogger and a good student, I offer a small taste of music I’ve been loving as of late. Incubus is about to drop a greatest hits album entitled Monuments and Melodies next month, and added [...]

Album A Day: The Offspring – Americana

As per a request made by friend and future roommate Justin, some love for The Offspring. Once upon a time about a decade ago, punk rock didn’t involve eyeliner, obnoxiously witty lyrics and superstar posturing. It’s might be hard to believe, I know, but Americana was a damn good embodiment of raucous three-chord punk. They [...]

Leak Alert: For Serious This Time…New Green Day is Out There

After the premature report from a few weeks ago, I can now positively say that Green Day’s new album, their first in half a decade, is out on the web. 21st Century Breakdown had its informal, albeit legal, release today as MTV and VH1 are both streaming it from their websites. What’s cooler is that [...]

Leak Alert: Eminem Ends His Rehab Early As Relapse Strikes

If he wasn’t mad before, he probably is now. Within the last 24 hours or so (I’m uncertain as to precisely when since I was in Philly for most of the day today) Eminem’s hotly anticipated new album sneaked onto the internet, and is consequently fairly widely available now. Relapse is the first new batch [...]

Album A Day: Rise Against – Siren Song of the Counter Culture

Once again, thank you for putting up with my busy schedule as I try to juggle being a college kid and a music blogger. This should hopefully be the last time we have this kind of problem for a little while, until I get a summer job anyway (and hopefully I’ll find a way to [...]

Album A Day: Cass Dillon – A Good Thing Never Dies

UPDATE: OK I’m here now. Sorry, have some meetings today and tomorrow meaning it’s going to be hectic getting some quality blogging in. Stick with me, and I’ll make up for it come the weekend. Cass Dillon has pretty much dropped off the radar since debuting A Good Thing Never Dies and his amazing collaboration [...]

Tinted Windows Don’t Think Too Hard, Invite You To Do the Same

I’ve been meaning to write this review since I heard the album about three weeks ago, but just getting around to it now. The mere announcement of Tinted Windows existence sent the blog into a tizzy a few months ago, as people tried to figure out how Taylor Hanson, Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), James [...]