New Track Rundown

The New Year is upon us and it's looking to be a very promising one for music. I've already heard impressive albums from Surfer Blood, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Los Campesinos!, Owen Pallett, and Spoon and there are some HUGE releases on the horizon including prolific names like LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, and Radiohead. There is plenty to get excited about and lots of music to hear; so without further ado, I bring you another rundown of the best tracks circulating the internet. This time we have a really diverse list of tracks including a previously unreleased song from one of my all time favorite artists (Elliott Smith), a decent new track from a band that was one of my favorites (The Smashing Pumpkins), and some new artists who are making their way into my favorites. The image above is the cover of The Monitor, the new American Civil War themed album from Titus Andronicus to be released on March 9, 2010.

Thursday on a Saturday

Freelance journalism isn't exactly the most glamorous work. Most articles and reviews that you read on webzines and blogs are written by people purely out of the passion of doing so. Sometimes there are small perks like free passes to shows or advanced records but for the most part, it is a thankless job. I went to see Thursday for the first time since I was in high school under the pretense that I was going to be on the guest list and could take photos. Evidently, these things don't often work out as planned. I took the journey to the Middle East in order to see them perform with opener Dillinger Escape Plan on December 19, 2009 but was met with myriad problems.