Loud Music

Fasten your seat belts, kids. It's Grammy time.

Whether you love the Grammys or hate them, one thing's for sure. You can't beat the entertainment they've got lined up this year. Were talking McCartney, U2, Coldplay, and Radiohead, for starters. So even if the choices of the historically stodgy Academy make you want to throw things at your TV, at least you know you're going to get some quality music.

But the Grammys don't exactly have a very good track record when it comes to making forward-looking choices.

(Read the full post about Handicapping The Grammys: Predictions 2009…)

The Watson Twins, Chandra and Leigh Watson, have announced a tour in 2009 to promote their full length debut album ‘Fire Songs.’ The identical twins kick start their tour on Feb. 16 in Omaha, NE, and make a total of 16 stops before wrapping up at the Workplay Theatre in Birmingham, AL, on March 6. The tour visits a number of cities across the US and Canada including Minneapolis, MN; Cleveland, OH; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA and Louisville, KY.

(Read the full post about The Watson Twins On Fire Tour In 2009…)

New Jersey post-hardcore act Thursday has a lot to be proud about. Being credited with bringing the screamo genre to the mainstream level as well as have been labeled in 2004 as SPIN magazine’s “The Next Big Thing” are just a couple of reasons why. This six-piece did not invent the screamo genre but rather took it to a new level. With all they have accomplished I can not believe they have been a band for just over ten years now. 

Currently the band is about to release their fifth full-length album, entitled Common Existence.

(Read the full post about Music Review: Thursday – Common Existence…)

Like the film. the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire is all curry-flavored ghetto fabulousness. M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” makes a cameo, but the star of the album is the songwriter who M.I.A. calls “the Indian Timbaland”: A.R. Rahman. Rahman — unknown here, but one of the world’s top-selling artists — juxtaposes the folk sounds of Mumbai’s slums with the techno of its city streets. On opening track “O . . .
(Read the full post about Various Artists – Slumdog Millionaire…)

The Cribs protected a fan from a violent security guard last night (February 10) during a gig at the London Heaven venue, after he was pushed into the photo pit after trying to get on stage. During the show, at which the group played a series of new songs written with recently-added band member Johnny Marr, fan Tommy Powell crowd-surfed and attempted to get on stage. A security guard reacted by shoving Powell into the photo pit before he could get on stage with the foursome.
(Read the full post about The Cribs rescue fan at London show…)

Valentine’s Day — you either love it or hate it. It makes sweethearts swoon and others want to stab fat cherubs with a bow and arrow. Between the chocolate hearts, the red roses and the teddy bears shoved in our faces, the holiday stirs up a cocktail of emotions: happiness, despair, jealousy, grief, sadness, desire …

MTV News has all your mood swings covered. In honor of this beloved and dreaded holiday, we’re rolling out the Best Love Songs, Best Breakup Songs, Best Makeout Songs and Worst Love Songs in recent memory.

(Read the full post about Valentine’s Day Playlist: Top 10 Best Love Songs…)

The issue of domestic violence was pushed into the spotlight this weekend when reports emerged that singer Chris Brown was allegedly involved in a physical confrontation with girlfriend Rihanna. While police are not identifying Rihanna as the woman injured in the incident that occurred on Sunday morning, TMZ has reportedly confirmed that the the 20-year-old singer was the victim in the case and that she identified Brown, 19, as her attacker.

(Read the full post about What To Do If You’re A Victim Of Domestic Violence…)

The Lightning Seeds are set to release their first new album in nearly a decade later in 2009. The band’s spokesperson said in a statement that the band’s first album since 1999’s ‘Tilt’ would be released in June – although further details have not been revealed. Since the band’s last release, frontman Ian Broudie has released solo albums and has worked in his other role as a producer, helming records by bands including fellow Scousers The Coral.
(Read the full post about Lightning Seeds announce comeback album…)

Written by Sombra Blanca

If your rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, like mine, can only be lived vicariously, the Justice documentary A Cross the Universe packs in a few years’ worth. Despite the fact the documentary’s subjects, Frenchmen Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, don’t play rock ‘n’ roll at all, at least not in the traditional sense.

Whether their brand of banging electronic house music is “the new rock ‘n’ roll,” as one fan proclaims, I’ll defer to others.

(Read the full post about Music Review: Justice – A Cross the Universe (CD/DVD)…)

Shoegaze never died, but it is a bit less often that one hears a truly convincing record of the genre, which is probably why I embraced 2006’s Citrus, the second album by Indie rockers, Asobi Seksu, and why I’m also partial to this new album, Hush, which sees the same template improved upon and in service of a better set of songs.

(Read the full post about Music Review: Asobi Seksu – Hush…)