First, I saw one of my all time favorite (and unknown) frontmen, Franky Perez, rock it out at the Key Club with his new band of rockers called Carnival Of Dogs. The band featurs Matt Sorum (Guns n’ Roses) on the drums and Tracii Guns (LA Guns) on guitar and Phil Soussan (Ozzy and Billy Idol etc) on the bass. They do nothing but kick ass rock covers like The Allman Bros’ “Whipping Post” or AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”. It kicked ass.

(that’s from 7 years ago and now he just rocks harder)

Secondly, I saw one of my favorite bands from when I was younger, and actually still today, Something Corporate. After putting out just a couple of miraculously emo piano punk rock albums, SoCo broke up, probably having a lot to do with Andrew Mcmahon, the lead singer, fighting leukemia. He won that fight and founded Jack’s Mannequin as more of a solo project with a different backing band, but the old crew was back on a reunion show and they really rocked my world. I saw it at The Grove in Anaheim, which is their home town and the crowd was incredibly vocal about their love for the band. I’ve never heard so much singing along with their killer lyrics (one of my favorites…”i met a girl who kept tattoos for homes that she had loved, if i were her, i’d paint my body ’til all my skin was gone”). They encored with the 12 minute power emo balad “Konstantine” and my favorite song of theirs, “I Woke Up In A Car” and that, plus the $5 long island iced teas made the night perfect.

It’s becoming kind of weird how many times Amazon Mp3′s deal of the day introduces me to a great band recently. A week ago it was House Of Heroes who’s song “God Save The Foolish Kings” was easily the most overplayed song in my car’s cd player since the last time I gave up on terrestrial radio. But that’s besides the point.

Steel Train. That’s who we’re talking about now. Some sort of indie band who’s first track sounds surprisingly welcome to a House Of Heroes album, though the rest of the music has a dancey indie feel. I think these guys are made for fans of everyone. If you are a Chromeo fan, go for it. Hot Hot Heat? Go for it. Killers? yes. Just do it.

I really do love the first track on the album, but I think i’ll post the second track here because it explains their multiple personality thing a bit more.

Enjoy.

Steel Train – Turnpike Ghost

Get Steel Train’s self titled album on Amazon mp3!

Sufjan Stevens took the indie rock world by it’s skinny jeans and gave it a huge wedgie when he released Illinoise a few years ago. Songs like “Chicago” became instant folk lore and even Snow Patrol name dropped Sufjan in their epic “Eyes Open” album.

He disappeared for a while. But he’s back with an “EP”. Called a quote “ep” because it’s 60 minutes long, which is longer than the majority of full length albums released in the past 10 years. And it’s pretty sweet, though I think Sufjan describes the title track better than I could, so here it is, from his site:

“All Delighted People is built around two different versions of Sufjan’s long-form epic ballad “All Delighted People,” a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence.” Sounds delightful, yes!”

Yes!

Enjoy and go buy it for just $5 at the ‘buy’ link below.

I’ve never seen a song get so much hype so quickly. Everyone from Perez Hilton to Bob Lefsetz to Fark is hyping this song. Insane. This will be hitting every club floor from today until 3 years from today. get ready to get sick of this awesome song.

how cool is this cover by Julia and Angus Stone? They took a classic Grease song and made it soft and beautiful. You’d never think this was written as a musical number.

Angus & Julia Stone – You’re The One That I Want – thepopsucker.blogspot.com by the Pop Sucker

Their album comes out later this month, check out some tunes on myspace for now.
http://www.myspace.com/popdechambre

Revolver – Get Around Town
Uploaded by emimusicfrance. – Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

can’t wait for the new album. he is by far one of my favorites ever.

Yesterday, the Amazon mp3 album of the day deal was a band called House of Heroes’ new album “Suburba”. I had never heard of House of Heroes but I gave the 30 second samples a few listens and I was quickly drawn in and needed to hear the rest, so i spent the whopping $2.99 to get the full songs. I had to skip lunch because of this purchase, but it was worth every last cent. I’m pretty sure this album is even worth the entire $9.99.

I see a lot of comparisons between them and Relient K, but I don’t hear that as much as some other bands. Like a harder rocking Jimmy Eat World, with moments of The Hold Steady, Coheed & Cambria, Weezer, 30 Seconds to Mars and lots of other influences, maybe even some Speedwagon.

This album definitely isn’t flawless, but there are more than a couple standout tracks that make it pretty spectacular. The greatest song of them all is the epic “God Save The Foolish Kings”. They practically summon a “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” Meatloaf in this song while getting some added vocals by a Carlos from Coheed sound-alike. Its a fucking awesome song. I’ve listened to it on full blast in my car and on my ipod at least 15 times today.

Turn up your speakers and love this.

House of Heroes – God Save The Foolish Kings

Get Suburba on Amazon Mp3, act fast and its still only $2.99

Sugarland and Jennifer Nettles in particluar have continued to blow me away with their song crafting skills, performaces and incredible incredible voice…and it looks like they’ve done it again.

This is down and out going to be the #1 country song within days and I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is a crossover success as well. Well done Sugarland. Well done.

Sugarland – Stuck Like Glue

Get Stuck Like Glue on Amazon mp3