Favorites - Week of April 25, 2011

A lot of great music this past weeks and plenty of awesome albums due out in May. These are some songs I've had on repeat all week.

5. "Sail" by Awolnation
This song is infectious and I love it. Fearless Fred of 102.1 The Edge thinks it sounds like the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack, but you can decide for yourself.

4. "White Limo" by the Foo Fighters
This and the number one song have been on my favorites list for several weeks now, except for last week when I shared some old favourites.

3. "Fragile Bird" by City and Colour
The first single off Dallas Green's third solo effort, Little Hell (available June 7), is a little more rock than past City and Colour albums. The song is great and sounds almost as if you were in the studio listening to him play it live and raw.

2. "Make Some Noise" by Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys album is one of the big albums out in May and you can listen to more than "Make Some Noise" under this post. In fact, the entire album is streaming below! Oh, and this week we actually have the "Make Some Noise" video (P.S. in the boys usual style it's awesome and hilarious)!

1. "N/A OK" by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
Maybe not on everyone's list of big albums coming out, but it is on mine and I'm super excited for its release.

Super Group

This is my lineup for the ultimate rock band.  Trent Reznor on the various instruments he plays, mostly synthesizer and keyboard, and doing some composing.  Jack White on guitar, key board and vocals.  Chris Cornell on vocals and guitar.  Flea on bass and trumpet, and Dave Grohl on drums.  To produce their album, I would have Danger Mouse join the team.  They'd be an amazing band and they could all switch parts around for different songs because most of them can sing and play guitar.

Favorites - Week of April 11, 2011

A couple new tracks made it onto my list this week.  Here are my latest favorites.

5. "Make Some Noise" by The Beastie Boys
The latest single from the long awaited Hot Sauce Committee album from the Beastie Boys brings up some great reminders of old school Beastie Boys.

4. "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele
Beautiful, soulful vocals and a dark blues-rock beat make for one excellent track.

3. "Two Against One" Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, and Jack White
The White Stripes are gone, but Jack White is still here.  Together with producer-extraordinaire Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, and Norah Jones, he is creating an album called ROME.  This is one of my favorites from their project.

2. "White Limo" by Foo Fighters
Back again this week is the extra heavy Foo Fighters with "White Limo".  If for some reason you haven't already bought their album, do it now!

1. "N/A OK" by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

A lot of amazing albums are scheduled for release May 3, but USS' EP Approved is the one I'm most amped for.  "N/A OK" is an awesome song, and I'm sure only a taste of things to come from Approved.

Favorites - Week of April 4, 2011

Plenty of great music came out this week and there were some battles for my top 5 spots.

5. "Make It Stop (September's Children)" by Rise Against

New music released this past week forced this from my top spot, but it is still an amazing song. See more on Endgame in my review.

4. "Rescue Me" by You Me At Six & Chiddy

I stumbled upon this collaboration from Chiddy of Chiddy Bang with You Me At Six earlier this week. I thought is was an excellent cross between alt rock and Chiddy's hip hop style.

3. [Tie] "F**K Him (He's a DJ)" by Ke$ha
and "Fall (Remix)" by M83 vs. Big Black Delta

This week I have a tie between my two favorite songs off the two remix albums I reviewed. The only original song off Ke$ha's remix album and "Fall" off Tron Legacy: R3C0NF1GUR3D. Both of these tracks just make you want to dance.

2. "N/A OK" by Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

Back again this week, can't wait for their May 3rd release. I hope I can get into their release show, if not I'll see them May 11 at Club Wax in Kitchener.

1. "White Limo" by Foo Fighters

It's not officially released until April 12, 2011 but ever since it began streaming I've loved how heavy the Foo Fighters' new album is. The album is streaming a few posts below!

Listen to the Foo Fighters' Wasting Light

Together with Soundcloud, the Foo Fighters are streaming their full album online. Enjoy.

Wasting Light will be released April 12, 2011. But if that's not enough Foos for you, they will also be releasing Medium Rare on vinyl for Record Store Day, April 16. Medium Rare features the Foo Fighters performing covers of songs from greats such as Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney. More info on Medium Rare here and here's a complete list of Record Store Day releases.

Comeback/Hiatus/Gap Albums

I don't know what you would actually call them, but it seems 2011 is the year for artists who have been off the grid for a while to release an album. The Strokes just released Angles (which I reviewed) after 5 years without a new album and the most recent album I reviewed, Screaming Bloody Murder, comes from Sum 41, whose last album released in 2007. And plenty more albums are expected later in the year from bands that haven't been in the studio for quite some time. The Foo Fighters album should be out in April and their last also came out in 2007, and the same for the Beastie Boys. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's new album, currently titled Dr. Johnny Skinz’s Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head, is expected this year and Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Radiohead gapped from 2007 to 2011 for The King of Limbs and Blink 182's album if released this year will gap from 2003 to now. I could go on and on with examples of this. At first, I thought it must have been due to 2009 and 2010 being a big period of reunions and reformations. But so many of these bands and those not listed here, never broke up officially. I can't explain why this is, but based on the records released thus far in 2011, I think I don't mind bands spending the time to create a solid album. So long as bands stagger their release years. That way we don't go years without new music and as an added bonus that makes it easier to win awards with less bands competing simultaneously.