Category Archives: Music

[Concert Review] Explosions in the Sky: Live in Chicago

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Overview:

explosions in the skyThere comes a time in a man’s life when he discovers a band who’s music chills him to the core. Each note they strike seems perfectly timed, perfectly orchestrated, and perfectly epic. Explosions in the Sky is one of those bands.

As soon as I heard they were going to be performing in Chicago, I knew I had to make the trip. There are only a handful of bands I had on my “Must See Live” list, and Explosions were right near the top of that list. Having listened to them since I discovered they were behind the chilling score for “Friday Night Lights,” I knew their live show would be both enigmatic and intense.

And it did not disappoint. Continue reading →

[Music Review] Marcy Playground “Leaving Wonderland… In A Fit of Rage”

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leaving_wonderlandOverview:

“Leaving Wonderland… In a Fit of Rage” began life as the second solo project from Marcy Playground’s talented frontman John Wozniak, but was eventually became Marcy’s fourth studio album.

The album deals with topics that almost everyone can relate to, becoming a fantastic soundtrack for life. The amazingly personal and soulful lyrics are accompanied by fantastically written music  that shows just how talented Marcy Playground is.

It’s an excellent album, I’ll say that right now. But was it worth the five year wait? Continue reading →

[Music Review] Marcy Playground “MP3”

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marcyplayground mp3Overview:

Five years would come and go before Marcy Playground would release a follow-up effort to their 1999 album, “Shapeshifter.”  Marcy Playground’s 3rd studio album, titled “MP3,” was highly anticipated by fans, despite the fact that the band would not deliver a tour to support or hype the album’s release. Couple that with the fact that there was virtually no radio air time for any of the four released singles and it’s easy to see why this album is almost virtually unknown to anyone who isn’t a die-hard Marcy fan. Continue reading →

[Music News] Marcy Playground Launches New Site

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Marcy Playground’s official website has finally relaunched with a newly redesigned template and tons of new features including member bios, up to date news, a vastly improved layout and background, tons of pictures from the band’s flickr set, and an overall cleaner and more stream-lined navigation. Click here to go to their new website.

They also released a neat widget you can share with your friends on FaceBook, Myspace, Xanga, and many, many others. The widget holds the entire track list for “Leaving Wonderland… In A Fit of Rage,” the band’s upcoming album as well as “Special.” Follow this link to find the widget.

[Everyview Doubleshot: Music Review] Wilco (The Album)

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wilcothealbumWe’re trying something new here on Everyview, and if you think past reviews have been too long, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Contributors Clay Cunningham and Andrew Majors are both avid Wilco fans, and both wanted to review the band’s latest, “Wilco (The Album),” and were both too petty to just let the other one have it. So, what we’ve done is combined them into the first ever “Everyview Doubleshot,” a format we basically stole from our friends at we-rate-stuff.

So while it may be pointless to essentially run the same review from two different vantage points, both contributors clearly feel very strongly about this new work and have several varied reasons why you should check it out. And if reading both reviews  simultaneously seems to be too daunting a task, feel free to take a break and come back at a later time. Our stats look better that way. Continue reading →

[Music Review] The Mars Volta “Octahedron”

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Music Review Mars VoltaOverview:

Since their inception, The Mars Volta have proven to be one of the more conflicting bands of the modern era. After splitting up underground punk heroes At The Drive-In, principal musicians Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez kicked off TMV’s career with 2003’s sprawling masterpiece “De-Loused in the Comatorium,” only to follow it with 2005’s “Frances The Mute,” a self-congratulatory piece of shit made by people who were far too pleased with their own “unique” vision. The albums that followed, 2006’s “Amputechture” and last years “The Bedlam in Goliath” fell somewhere in between. They possessed moments of genuine inspiration, but didn’t possess the overall charm of the band’s debut. Continue reading →

[Tech News] The Auto-Tuner

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bigasschainSince the dawn of time, man has had music. With this music came the frustrating and foreign idea of “pitch,” with asserts that the music you make should sound a certain way. This notion has stunted the common non-talented man’s creativity for too long. That is why we came up with the auto-tuner, a small computer chip that is installed into one’s throat. This little marvel of technology gives the singer/cyborg the illusion of “knowing what the hell they’re doing when it comes to singing.”

You’re probably asking yourself, “Why don’t they just leave singing to people who know what they’re doing?” Continue reading →

Michael Jackson Dies From Cardiac Arrest

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michael-jacksonConfirmed by the L.A Times and NBC News, Michael Jackson, perhaps the most influential figure in the world of pop music, died today at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from cardiac arrest.

He was taken to UCLA Medical Center after a 911 call was made from his California home reporting that he had collapsed, initiating a full alarm response. When medics arrived, reports say, he had already stopped breathing and was immediately rushed to the hospital in a deep coma. By the time he arrived, his pulse was gone and doctors worked vigorously to revive him, but their efforts were sadly in vain. Continue reading →

[CD Review] Marcy Playground “Shapeshifter”

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Overview:

marcyplayground shapeshifter“Shapeshifter” is the follow-up to the band’s self-titled premiere album which achieved platinum status and rocketed the band into temporary stardom with its biggest single, “Sex & Candy.” If you’ve never heard of Marcy Playground for any other reason, I’m almost positive everyone reading this review has heard that song.

With no “Sex & Candy,” to drive sales of “Shapeshifter” beyond the stratosphere, most people have never heard of this album. This obviously meant less commercial success for Marcy Playground’s second album, but critical acclaim was higher and more deserving than ever. In fact, many critics including myself consider this to be the best album Marcy Playground has ever released, which makes it a shame that the album is so obscure.

Continue reading →