Good Sunday morning, one and all. Welcome to your Day-Of-The-Oscars-That-I-May-Just-Watch-'Cause-Jon-Freakin'-Stewart's-Hosting-Them news.
The other day, my man Ben Forrest interviewed one-third of perhaps Christian rock's most influential act, dc Talk, that being Kevin Max. The interview isn't up just yet over at CMW, but keep an eye peeled. As disgusting as that sounds(weak humour, gimme a break, it's late). Very good interview revolving around the tenth anniversary of dcT's biggest album, Jesus Freak(1995).
One of the most talked-about bands in hardcore that's always seemed poised to leap to the next level(whatever that means) is Indiana's In The Face Of War - and they've just signed a new deal, with Texas-based Dollhouse Recordings Inc. Check out a demo from their upcoming debut over here. Zippy little track there, no?
I still say good for P.O.D.; the boys from San Diego(and one from Arkansas) are hitting the road in support of Testify starting April 20th, and they're bringing along three relatively-unknown bands in Pillar, The Chariot and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster - all of these bands, by the way, in regular rotation on my radio show, the Rock Block, Friday nights on CHRI 99.1 FM. Wow - where'd that shameless plug come from? [cmcentral]
Happy freakin' birthday to our compadres at Sphere Of Hip Hop, who turned nine the other day. So, current Editor-In-Chief and one-time head of Uprok Records Josh Niemyjski, what's the vision for the future? "The goal remains the same - to provide a wealth of information and to serve. Serve the community and fans. Serve artists and labels." Dang skippy, broheem.
Speaking of timeless hiphop: CMcentral's second-annual best-ofs were done recently, and my favourite crew Deepspace5 surprised everyone by beating out Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Relient K and others to win Group/Duo/Band of the Year, as well as Unique, Just Like Everyone Else winning Best Hiphop Album(it was a landslide victory, hopefully). Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Represent! I'm gonna go add them on myspace RIGHT NOW.
...or not. They don't have one. Doh! But if you wanna read the entire list of CMcentral winners, check this out.
The Black Maria have regrouped, following the departure of guitarist(and former Grade vocalist) Kyle Bishop; there'll be a new Victory Records album begun in April. [truthexplosion]
Fall Out Boy killed it earlier tonight on Saturday Night Live, performing, as expected, 'Dance, Dance' and 'Sugar, We're Going Down' - the latter far and away one of the best singles of 2005, and performed with blazing stage presence by the Chicago quartet. You can tell that three-quarters of this band have long ties with the Windy City hardcore scene. Well done.
A little-known track from Atlanta rap duo Mars Ill called 'Stand Back And Watch' is up on their myspace page. Love the piano sample, Dust! Oh, and two absolutely ridiculous remixes from the Backwaterprophets project, which is the Backbreakonomics album(2003) entirely remixed by Dust. They're also up there. Amazing.
Milwaukee hardcore kids Misery Signals have once again turned to Canada for membership, enlisting a 'brutal' Canadian fella named Karl to handle vocals henceforth. More info to come.
This blew my mind: a former Hoods guitarist and ex-Slick Shoes touring drummer Christian Pro have a new project called Astraea; check out some advance stuff here. I've wondered what happened to Slick Shoes!! Are they still around? Huh? Can someone tell me?? Either way I dig these songs.
I bet it's all over the internet already anyway, but you can stream Taking Back Sunday's new single 'Make Damn Sure' over here. Louder Now, TBS' major-label bow, is unleashed April 25th.
Posted by mike at March 5, 2006 03:19 AM