Lollapalooza 2014 announces full lineup

In its 10th year in Chicago, the Lollapalooza music festival announced the lineup they will present to guests. The 10th anniversary of Chicago is following up a killer lineup last year which featured bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, Mumford & Sons, and more. There are a few standouts this year, but I wouldn't say anything too spectacular. Two of the headliners are hip-hop artists which is a bit unusual.


August 1st:

Eminem, Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, Zedd, Above & Beyond, Broken Bells, Interpol, Lykke Li, Phantogram, Chvrches, The Glitch Mob, Portugal the Man, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, AFI, J. Roddy Walston & the Business, the Kooks, Rudimental, Iggy Azalea, Bombay Bicycle Club, Warpaint, Kodaline, Sander Kleinenberg, Lucius, Blood Orange, Perry/Etty vs Joachim Garraud, Jagwar Ma, Temples, Vic Mensa, Francisca Valenzuela, Into It. Over It, Courtney Barnett, San Fermin, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Brillz, Jacob Plant, the So So Glos, Cash Cash, Bebe Rexha, Wallpaper, Dugas, Bagheera, Of Verona, Highly Suspect.

August 2nd:

Outkast, Calvin Harris, Foster the People, Krewella, Nas, Spoon, the Head and the Heart, Chase & Status, Cut Copy, Fitz & the Tantrums, Grouplove, Gramatik, Jenny Lewis, Manchester Orchestra, John Butler Trio, Martin Garrix, Phosphorescent, Duke Dumont, the Temper Trap, Joachim Garraud, Typhoon, Z-Trip, Kate Nash, Vance Joy, Rich Homie Quan, Parquet Courts, Smallpools, Jungle, Wildcat! Wildcat!, Papa, the Districts, heRobust, Royal Blood, Ratking, Meg Myers, Joywave, Desert Noises, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Benjamin Booker, The Last Internationale, Johnnyswim, Charlie Hirsch, Anna Lunoe, Rocky Business.

August 3rd:

Kings of Leon, Skrillex, the Avett Brothers, Sebastian Ingrosso, Childish Gambino, Cage the Elephant, Young the Giant, Chance the Rapper, Flosstradamus, Chromeo, Darkside, The 1975, Rebelution, Glen Hansard, Gesaffelstein, Flume, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Run the Jewels, The Airborne Toxic Event, London Grammar, White Denim, Delta Rae, RAC, GTA, jhene aiko, Kongos, Nonono, Gemini Club, Crizzly, Bomba Estereo, Bleachers, Bear Hands, Kausea, Bronze Radio Return, Lindsay Lowend, Betty Who, Fly Golden Eagle, Crass Mammoth, Cardiknox, Space Capone, Plastic Visions, Oyinda.

You can catch Lollapalooza in Chicago, IL in Grant Park. 3-day passes are sold out already, but there are VIP tickets left. Single day passes go up today.

Nine Inch Nails' Hesitation Marks streams for free on iTunes

The new studio album from Nine Inch Nails titled Hesitation Marks officially drops next week on September 3rd, but it was put up for free streaming via iTunes last night as a sneak preview. I'm sure because of it the album has leaked online but that isn't important. I listened to Hesitation Marks last night because I am an impatient fangirl and although I wouldn't say it is a bad album I definitely wouldn't say it is a favorite.

I am a major Nine Inch Nails fan and have been listening to them for many years. I haven't encountered a time when I didn't really like something that Trent Reznor gave us so I am a bit lost right now. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of With Teeth but even then I didn't feel the way I do now. I think the album started off strong with the tracks "Copy of A" and "Came Back Haunted," but after those it just morphed into what felt like one giant, 50min song. It all sounded very similar and was dull and quite boring. Ordinarily I would have been bobbing my head to a beat but I only found myself doing that when "Satellite" was playing.
Yes I have to admit... I only liked three songs, maybe four. The saddest thing for me is two of those I have been listening to for a while now because Trent released "Came Back Haunted" and "Copy of A" early. The majority of the songs were just a dull roar for me. It sounded like Trent was still in movie mode and created another score only this time he decided to put words to each song. It felt very forced.
Now with all that said, I wouldn't call this a bad album. It is identifiable and you can tell it is Nine Inch Nails. I just feel like Trent was trying to mix all of his sound from the past 20+ years instead of trying to move to a new area like he continuously has done with each album release. When you look at the musical evolution of Nine Inch Nails it is rather incredible and noticeable. With Hesitation Marks it's like he sat down and was like, let me just mix everything and see what happens. It should have worked but I don't think it quite got there.
I'm not saying I don't want to own this album because I will, but I would put Hesitation Marks on the same level of The Slip and With Teeth (to some extent). It has a few good songs but it isn't an album I would listen to straight through more than I had to.


It's alright. I still love you, Nine Inch Nails. See you in November.

#NIN2013 #HesitationMarks

[Music] Avenged Sevenfold debuts Hail to the King

We now have the full first single, "Hail to the King," from the new Avenged Sevenfold album.


I said the preview sounded bad and you know what? The whole song sounds just as bad. I hope the whole album doesn't sound like this. It's boring, the drums are ridiculously repetitive, and it's the worst chorus. People are blaming the fact that The Rev is gone, but come on. Even the non-single songs on Nightmare sounded better than this.

Hail to the King will be released on August 27th and has this awful cover art to go with it.

Avenged Sevenfold previews "Hail to the King"

Avenged Sevenfold has released a 31-second preview for their new album titled Hail to the King. The song featured shares the same title. The album drops on August 27th.

I am a big A7X fan, but this isn't doing it for me. Not at all. It doesn't even sound like them. I hope the whole album isn't like this.

Welcome to the new format

See, I listen.

I have been working on this format for a while and I feel like it's finally to my liking. I kind of had enough of the complaints about the white font on black background (that isn't hard to read), so I think this is a little easier on the eyes. It's nothing flashy but I like it.

I also changed the name and the url, as you might have noticed, and if you didn't,,, well, I did! Enjoy the new movie blog, guys.

Nine Inch Nails - Came Back Haunted music video premieres

Apparently it can cause seizures, so exercise some caution.

[Music] Avenged Sevenfold announces new album

Avenged Sevenfold has announced their follow-up to the 2011 album, Nightmare. The new album, titled Hail to the King, will be released on August 27, 2013.

Despite the awful cover art that looks like an 8th grade art student did it, I have high hopes for this album. I am a big A7X fan so I am hoping this is going to surpass Nightmare. It is their first album without The Rev, so we will just have to wait and see. I have my fingers crossed.

Trent Reznor announces the return of Nine Inch Nails

I am so excited for this I can't really describe how exciting this is. I am so ready for this.

Here's the word from the man himself:

"Nine Inch Nails are touring this year.
I was working with Adrian Belew on some musical ideas, which led to some discussion on performing, which led to some beard-scratching, which (many steps later) led to the decision to re-think the idea of what Nine Inch Nails could be, and the idea of playing a show. Calls were made to some friends, lots of new ideas were discussed, and a show was booked - which led to another, which somehow led to a lot of shows.
The band is reinventing itself from scratch and will be comprised of Eric Avery, Adrian Belew, Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Ilan Rubin, and me. The first shows will begin this summer, followed by a full-on arena tour of the US this fall, and lots of other dates worldwide to follow through 2014.
Lots of details and dates to come. See you soon.
TR"

Tour dates have yet to be announced, but we do know that the tour will start in the summer of 2013 and extend well into 2014. I am predicting a rather extensive overseas leg of this tour and/or multiple shows in certain cities. The lineup is a bit different but brings back some old faces like Alessandro Cortini who toured with NIN during With Teeth and Lights in the Sky and Ilan Rubin who replaced Josh Freese for Wave Goodbye. The newcomers are Eric Avery from Jane's Addiction, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv.

In case you didn't know, Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band so I am just jumping at this. I read about this when I woke up this morning and I was so excited I couldn't bring myself to hop on here and share the news. I have calmed down, barely, but I wanted to share it. 

Something you should read

You might not know this, but there is a musician out there that is quite amazing. Her name is Amanda Palmer. You can find her on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Listen to her music and then click the link below. Read her birthday blog.

http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/22094057585/its-my-birthday-and-heres-what-i-would-love


I pledged, or "backed" as Kickstarter calls it. Will you? Everyone at least has $1 and has the right to listen to some bomb music.