FANTASTIC WEAPON

Yeasayer have confirmed details about their second album release; the follow-up to their highly acclaimed 2007 debut ‘All Hour Cymbals’. The new record is called Odd Blood and will be released on February 8th of 2010. STOKED. Hope it’s as good as the last one was. Yeasayer are a...

**Official Press Release**On November 2 at 11 p.m. ET, Fuse, the national music network, will televise the worldwide premiere of Nirvana Live at Reading, the band’s legendary, never-before-released 1992 Reading concert. The show, marking the first time that Nirvana fans will experience the...

82% – “Damn Good Record.”Ok, so you’ve heard it, I’ve heard it; it’s been all over the blogosphere lately.  The hip thing for the past 3-6 months has been chillwave.  You know what I mean, hopefully: indie pop music of the more “laid-back” variety.   It was absolutely huge this ...

I don’t really remember how we found out about this guy, but it’s (kinda) true what they say – that he’s “the funniest man in america” – actually, right now I don’t agree with that at all but if I did this would be my proof:He has a few records out ...

I’ve been waiting forever to find the right time to post this. Once someone asked me, “Are there any CURRENT bands that I could go see now that are awesome and rock like Violent Femmes?” I had a really hard time coming up with an answer, and finally settled on Tapes n’ Tap...

Checkout this clip of Nirvana performing “School” at the 1992 Reading Festival – I guess it was recently made available for fans and comes from the CD+DVD Nirvana Live At Reading which hits stores November 17th. (CD only version arriving on November 3rd.) Nirvana’s perform...

Mixwit has been dead for some time now, and today I spent like 3 hours trying to make it work on my server – unfortunately, it was to no avail. Enter 8tracks.com. Mixes can only be 8 songs long, they play in random order, and don’t look like tapes at all, but they’ll serve the p...

Bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh are hitting the stage as Sublime, just like they did in February – only, now everyone knows about it so FANS will actually get to go. The show is part of Cypress Hill’s Smokeout, and while Sublime might get the most attention, the lineup inclu...

“I’m really high on life right now, but it’s ok cause I can quit whenever I want.” This is just genius quote #1 out of the other 341290834128947 that make up the 30 minutes of Season 3 Episode 3 of Soft Focus. The blurb on the site about the TV show simply says “Ian ...

Let me preface by saying I have not heard any songs by any of these artists except for the ones posted below. I kinda feel like the rest of them will probably suck, so at the risk of losing esteem for the presented tracks, I think I’ll choose to remain ignorant.Owl City – Fireflies &#...

The Associates released ‘Club Country‘ on April 26th 1982, which appeared on their third album, Sulk. The B side was a non-LP track. The 12 inch version added “Ulcragyceptemol” (added as a bonus to Sulk when it was re-released) and a remixed version of “Club Country&...

As the only XXL staffer reppin’ the Golden State and, more specifically, the city with no seasons, I often find myself embroiled in East Coast conversations where the prevailing sentiment is: “The West Coast ain’t putting nothing out.”

Yes I know it’s Sunday, so what? Since I haven’t been vibing on any music lately, except for Shellac (obviously), and I can only post the same 5 Shellac songs so many times before someone’ll throw a brick at my head until I can’t lift it anymore, I had to come up with some...

Even though I’d say the readers of this blog are probably not interested in Shakira, the REMIX FAIL post got shit tons of traffic so some of you MUST be interested. Shakira stopped by Soundcheck a couple weeks ago and performed 3 tracks from her new release, “She-Wolf.” The excl...

Just got a stellar new track from the fellas in M.A.U., otherwise known as Man and Unable.  These gents are an electro-house duo from Portugal — unless they’re playing live, in which case they tack on another two members — and are yet another reason why the Southern Hemisphere i...

They say that “All you really need to know for now is that Gussy is Josh Gussy and Minna Gussy, and they make music together.” But I say you need to know some other stuff, too. For starters, they’re like, good. And that’s pretty rare isn’t it? GOOD unsigned tunes wh...

[tweetmeme]At the beginning there was an atmosphere of breaking up. Whereas on the one hand face and body of his band Seabear (whose debut was released on Morr Music in August 2007) gained their outlines more clearly, there remained a deliberately left open game with the sounds on the other hand....

[tweetmeme]Brand New are gearing up for the release of their new full-length album, Daisy, out September 22nd, featuring the first single “At The Bottom.” The album, which promises to be another boundry breaking assault, is the follow-up to The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, an a...

In the spirit of super groups (see previous post), the weapon brings you Monsters of Folk. The name would be fitting if the band consisted of Will Oldham, Jeff Mangum, and Samuel Beam, but it doesn’t. Members Conor Oberst, M. Ward, Jim James, and Mike Mogis are Monsters of Folk – and ...

This is a fucking super group if I’ve ever heard of one. The band consists of HR from Bad Brains, Norwood Fisher of Fishbone on bass, Rocky George of Suicidal Tendencies on guitar, and DH Peligro of Dead Kennedys on drums. I’m serious. I know. You HAVE to see this. Mr. Green All Stars...

[tweetmeme]Photo Credit: Camilla StephanEarly last week, The Raveonettes unveiled an ode to overdosing and/or love called “Last Dance,” the first proper single from the Danish noir-rocker’s October 6th Vice release, In And Out Of Control. I have qualms with the idea of an “ode” to ove...

[tweetmeme]Columbia Records and Favorite Gentlemen are excited to announce that Manchester Orchestra will be touring with Brand New in the fall. The Atlanta natives have been touring around the world non-stop since the release of their second full-length, Mean Everything To Nothing, and there are...

So thanks to Fever Dragon, Fantastic Weapon was able to secure press passes to FYF Fest at the last second – unfortunately, I was unable to make it because my car sucks and I’m a total stress-case so I can’t really hook you up with a review, but dude – THESE PHOTOS ARE INS...

I really, really, really wouldn’t ever want to eat a black apple, but I really dig listenin’ to ‘em. This band is R-A-D. They describe themselves as “a new psychedelic surf rock group” but I think it sounds more like if the make up were to get into it with a gang of ...

John Lydon’s influential U.K. post-punk band Public Image Ltd is to return for a five-date British tour in December after a 17-year hiatus.The Sex Pistols frontman has brought late-1980s members Lu Edmonds and Bruce Smith back for the dates, which coincide with the 30th anniversary of the e...

Singer David Bowie has had a large, yellow, hairy spider from Malaysia named after him.A German spider specialist told the Observer newspaper he named the new species after Bowie — whose album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was a huge hit in 1972 — because he wanted...