Mumford and Sons, indie band favorite for years 2009 and 2010, announced that their yet-to-be-titled new album will be out September 24th. 

They’ve been recording songs since early last year with producer Markus Dravs, who produced their previous album Sigh No More.

Source: Paste

As if there wasn’t a reason to see Prometheus already, the new Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained will be attached to the movie. That means if you go see the sure to be excellent movie Prometheus, you might see a trailer to another sure to be excellent movie. Or you could just go to see the trailer and leave, or totally miss the trailer because you wanted a large soda and not a small soda even though the size is nearly the same. 

Source: /Film

Album Review: Regina Spektor - What We Saw from the Cheap Seats

Regina Spektor has been in the music game for six albums now, including this one. She broke out with 2004’s Soviet Kitsch, and five years later she was on every mixtape due to the movie 500 Days of Summer. Then 2009 came around and she released Far, which was quite good and gave her a little push into a bigger audience.

And now we’re at her latest album, the greatly titled What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. Spektor continues her fantastic piano ballads and unique singing voice all over this record. But, unfortunately, Spektor floods her beautiful songs with a lot of mediocre fluff. Many have found Spektor to be a musician who has a lot of good songs but never really a good album, something that could describe Cheap Seats.

Other than that usual fault the album still is very nicely done. The blues-like “How” is incredibly saddening and vulnerable for Spektor and the single “All the Rowboats” is a nice anxious sounding track after such a lovely downward spiral. Though the odd noises Spektor makes during “Open” causes cringing moments that reminds one of Soviet Kitsch’s “Your Honor.” But what can ya do? It’s Regina. 

And that’s the real point. It’s Regina Spektor. She is what she is and that is what makes us fans of her musical career. She has average songs but those songs are much better than a lot of things out there now. Bravo, Regina. You made another neat album full of jams, even if some of them are a little creepy sounding.

Grade: A- 

Album Review: Sigur Rós - Valtari

Originally demoed in 2009, scrapped, and then returned to, the songs off of Sigur Rós’ sixth studio album Valtari have a nice placement in their strong discography.

Not being poppy-like from their 2008 album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, Valtari remains a very atmospheric album which is something the band hasn’t done since 2007. The song “Lúppulagið” (which funnily translates to “The Loop Song”) from last year’s live album Inni reappears on Valtari but retitled “Varðeldur.” The rest of the album features song electronic aspects but not in the way you imagine. Members of the band have said that it is not “like a dance album! It’s an organic thing.” There are some electric drums and some sounds that obviously aren’t organic, but the sounds are definitely added in for the atmospheric sound.

What’s interesting with bands that are described as atmospheric is that it can mean two things: Boring or enlightening. Sigur Rós continues to be on the enlightening side of things, giving whatever your doing throughout your day a nice soundtrack to bleed into. Valtari goes back to the band’s earlier years and brings it out in a delightful way.

Grade: B 

Embracing a barely crowded Tuesday night in Ybor City, These United States took control of the Orpheum venue with their rock and roll tunes. The audience, a little curious of what to expect from the band, gradually were enticed by the frequent catchy beats and general energy These United States pulled off. 

Bandleader Jesse Elliott sang his soul to the gathering crowd while bassist Anna Morsett put the grooves to dance to. Aaron Latos banged on the drums, with help from Elliott and his tambourine, enough to give off an extreme energy to each song that came onto the set list. The southern noise of steel guitar, courtesy of J. Tom Hnatow, gave each song a specific unique sound (as steel guitar usually does to any song it’s featured in), closed out by Justin Craig’s catchy guitar riffs.

Overall, These United States gave a stellar performance that make fans wonder why they haven’t recorded a live album yet. The raw energy that These United States performed with definitely carried over to the audience, causing new fans to flourish on the dance floor. 

Exclusive Acoustic Sets and Live Images

Read more...