A few music sites you've probably heard of, but may not have taken advantage of:

1. Last.fm

Last.fm is my most recently-discovered, and current favorite, social networking site. My last.fm profile can be found here. On my profile, you can see everything from my most-played artists of the past seven days, the Beatles and Pendulum, to my most-played artist of all time, Fall Out Boy. Friends can also connect on last.fm and see what each other are listening to and have listened to. You can connect to a friend's or other user's library and listen to their music, or browse through artists and genres and listen to songs that way. Last.fm is a great way to expose yourself to new artists and styles of music that you may like. It is also an interesting catalogue of your own and your friends' music-listening habits. For example, I learned that I need to lay off of Fall Out Boy for a while, because 3,000+ plays is far too many. And I learned that a few of my friends, Catie Vernon and Jordan Fish, have great taste in music and I should listen to their suggestions more often. [As I often find myself listening to their libraries when I am at a loss for a song to play.] Last.fm is a great site for discovering new music and connecting with friends who have similar tastes.

2. Blip.fm

Blip.fm is another site I had heard of for a while, but only just discovered and started using. My blip.fm profile is connected to my Twitter, and whenever I "blip" a new song, it posts as a tweet. To blip a song, you merely search the title and artist, add your own comments, and a link is posted to liste to the song. Blip.fm allows you to "be a DJ" and broadcast your favorite songs for all of your Twitter followers and Blip friends to hear. You can select one song, or create and entire stream of music for listeners to play. Friends can follow your blips, and you can give "props" when you like music that another person has played. I also have my blips set to update on my Facebook, so that my friends can see what I'm listening to and be exposed to new music.

3. Strike Gently

Strike Gently is a pop culture gossip, news, and downloading site that I have often heard about and just recently looked into. SG is famous for their internet drama, as the website often offends both generic pop-punk bands and other music news sites. It's raw, brutal, and occasionally X-rated, so some may take offense... but I prefer to just laugh. Movies and television shows can also be streamed from the Strike Gently site, and many SG posts include links to download songs, albums, movies, or music videos, of course with a disclaimer which explains that such downloads are for promotional purposes only and should be deleted within 24 hours. I've found everything from the newly-leaked Lady Gaga album to a stream of New Moon on this site. I've also discovered new bands such as Ghostland Observatory. It's an interesting website which really enforces the idea of "try before you buy."

Cobra Starship: Intoxication at its finest.

"I've crashed up joints in Tokyo, and I may not be loved, but they always recall my name. I'm the last man standing, yeah, and I am never scared. Smash it up, smash it up, I'm gonna kick it down. Be cool tonight, don't wanna start a fight."


I've already reviewed Cobra Starship once on this blog, yet I can't help but review them again. The outdoor pavilion show last night was a vastly different atmosphere than the club show they headlined this fall, so it is completely fair to review them again.

Cobra was the second of five acts to perform at the Believers Never Die Part Deux show in Columbus, Ohio, but they definitely did not perform like a traditional opening act. I'm completely biased towards Fall Out Boy, but were I not, I might argue that Cobra actually upstaged them last night. Considering Pete Wentz's worship of lead singer Gabe Saporta and his former band, Midtown, I'm fairly certain that Pete would agree with me on that point. Because if there is one thing that Gabe has, it's stage presence. From the moment he stepped on stage, downing a red Solo cup full of Red Bull and vodka, to the moment he introduced Metro Station, dove into the crowd, and then dashed backstage, the audience was intoxicated. (I know what he was drinking because not only is it all he ever drinks, but he threw the cup into the audience and I found myself covered in Gabe's drink of choice.)


They started the show the way they always do, with their strongest, fastest, and most popular song, "City Is At War." Rarely does a crowd sing along with an opening act, but the audience last night knew every word of every Cobra Starship song, including a song that is barely a month old, "Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We're Famous." This was especially surprising when Fall Out Boy took the stage and played a few songs that the majority of the audience did not know. Granted, Fall Out Boy has five albums and Cobra has only two, but it was still supposed to be Fall Out Boy's tour.

When Cobra started playing my personal favorite song, "Kiss My Sass," it was clear that Gabe was overflowing with exactly that: sass. If Gabe ever stops playing music, I suggest that he become a motivational speaker. Despite the fact that Gabe is incredibly nerdy, he has so much attitude and is so unique that the audience rallies behind him as if he held the cure to cancer. Gabe is known for his dance skills, and there is no doubt that the boy can move, but I enjoyed being one of the few in the crowd who realized that he was copying Carlton's famous dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. At the after-concert party, I decided that Gabe could also definitely make a living as a DJ. Because no one else could go into a club and play everything from D.J. Assault to Journey and have the crowd dancing and singing along.


Due to the extremely short set, the other members of the band were not able to shine as much as they had when Cobra headlined, but they nonetheless remain the best live band I've seen to date.

Gabe's energy is difficult to describe, so I included a video of him singing "Kiss My Sass." Sorry the sound quality isn't the best:



Photos and video by Sarah Maloy in Columbus, Ohio on May 13, 2009.

Best. Concert. Ever.

So last night was probably one of the greatest nights of my life. It was the best concert, both entertainment- and musicality-wise, that I have ever been to. Not to mention the fact that I met and had the opportunity to hang out with all of my favorite musicians. In short: It was amazing, and I will now proceed to write show reviews for each of the bands!

I can't fall asleep... So of course I wrote a blog about "Fight Club" and Fall Out Boy.

I know it's completely cliche to be obsessed with Fight Club, but every night as I'm drifting off to sleep, I find myself staring at the Fight Club poster mounted beside my bed, and I begin to analyze its every detail. This is highly escalated on nights such as tonight, when I find myself unable to fall asleep. And of course, tonight of all nights, I was looking at my Fight Club poster when Fall Out Boy's "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" began to play and I was graced with the sounds of Patrick Stump asking, "Where will I be when I wake up next to a stranger on a passenger plane? Permanent jet lag, please take me back, please take me back, please take me back."


I really have little purpose for this blog, and I might make it private in the morning, but I just had to write this to get it out of my head. I could probably be happy spending the rest of my life listening to Fall Out Boy and watching Fight Club. There are an infinite number of things to analyze, discuss, expand upon, etc. in those songs and that movie. In fact, I think that one night when I'm not five and a half hours from morning, I'm going to write an entire entry about Fight Club. I'll include my thoughts, my ideas, my analyzations, and my questions about the movie, and hopefully we can all discuss it in the comments.

The Cab: My New Obsession.

Normally I don't become obsessed with a band until I see them live. So far there have been only two exceptions to that rule, not including the days when I was a little teeny-bopper who wasn't allowed to go to concerts. The two exceptions to my live-show-obsession rule were Fall Out Boy and the Sex Pistols. Until recently, that is, when I popped Whisper War into my computer and instantly fell in love with The Cab.

The first thing I thought when "Bounce" began to play out of my speakers was that I had found some sort of wonderful N*sync reincarnate. But as I listened, I began to realize that The Cab has all the goodness of N*sync, but with enough musical talent that they aren't a pop "boy band."
19-year-old
Alex DeLeon's lyrics aren't quite as cheeky and me-against-the-world as I like songs to be, but it's only their first album. And I have to consider that not everyone is as witty as Pete Wentz or Gabe Saporta and not everyone writes music because they hate the world.

Essentially The Cab is a wondrous hybrid of N*sync and The Academy Is..., Fast Times at Barrington High-style, of course.

The Cab's music video for "Bounce"

The Cab - New Music - More Music Videos

Believers Never Die Part Deux

I've never wanted to go to a concert this badly in my entire life.

Are you on the bandwagon or not?

Fall Out Boy-- America's Suitehearts video



Do I seem a bit hung up on Fall Out Boy lately? Well perhaps that's because I am. But only because the entire world seems to revolve around them lately. I know Pete Wentz just married and had a baby with Ashlee Simpson, but does no one remember how many complaints there were about FOB following Infinity On High?

The fans couldn't handle the change, yet now everyone is back to throwing their money and their attention at a band who they ripped apart just twenty-three months ago. Fall Out Boy's newest album, Folie A Deux, which dropped on December 16, is not that different from Infinity On High. Lyrically it is a drastic change, given that the songs are for once not written from Pete Wentz's point of view, but musically, there have been very few alterations.

I've like everything of Fall Out Boy's-- from their unsigned garage-band punk days of Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, to the obnoxious popularity of From Under the Cork Tree, and even recently the new sounds of Infinity On High and Folie A Deux. I understand the attraction of Folie, but I'm just surprised that so many have jumped back on the bandwagon. Maybe fans have finally learned to look at present-day Fall Out Boy as a separate entity from past-FOB. But regardless of whether or not they are widely worshiped, I plan to continue listening.

Music, Politics, New Year's Eve.

I love The Academy Is..., I love Pete Wentz, and I love this video.



I really respect when people can make fun of themselves. The Academy Is... knew that their decision to perform on MTV's Rockin' New Year's Eve would cause a lot of people to get upset and call them sell-outs, so how do they announce the performance to their fans? By sending out a YouTube video in which they make fun of themselves, while at the same time parodying a current event...

Weekly Recommendations

I'm going to start a thing called "Weekly Recommendations" where I make a list of cool things I've discovered which I think everyone should check out.

First on my list is the blog that gave me the idea to make this list...

--MartinSays.com


Second and third are social networking sites which I have recently become obsessed with.

--Twitter



--FriendsOrEnemies


My last recommendation for the day is an accessory which was shown to me by the lovely Gabriel Saporta of Cobra Starship.

--Jac Vanek bracelets


My personal favorite bracelets are Ruthless, Guilty, Trainwreck, and Legit. Which ones do you like best?

That's all for now.

Last night I knew what to say, but you weren't there to hear it.

Fast Times at Barrington High, the newest CD by The Academy Is... is amazing. A shocking change, and a significant improvement, from Santi. The album will be released Tuesday, August 19, but was leaked earlier this week on MuchMusic, AlternativePress, and, of course, The Academy Is...'s myspace. Finally a leak that makes sense.

The sound is close enough to some of the old music that loyal fans will not be disappointed, but Fast Times also takes a turn for the mainstream, as the boys bring a more "Fueled By Ramen" feel to their music. The workers at FBR have been trying their hardest to recreate Fall Out Boy, and I think this CD gives them the best shot.

The songs are catchy, not too pop-inspired, but just enough that they are marketable to the classic "preppy" teenager, and the lyrics aren't completely worthless as so many are these days. For allegedly being gay, William Beckett certainly can write about boy-girl relationships. The songs aren't exactly original, they sound like everything we've heard before, but at the same time, they are different than anything we've ever heard before.

The Academy Is... always puts on a fantastic live show, and this music is more precise and well-done than past songs; I know the this fall, the We The Kings and TAI... tour will be nothing short of brilliant.

Four stars.

Panic at the Disco CD review

The differences between Panic! at the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and Panic at the Disco’s Pretty. Odd. can teach us all one thing: punctuation is important.

At the start of 2008, Panic! at the Disco made a few announcements; in the following months, they would be releasing a new CD, headlining the always-popular Honda Civic Tour, and dropping the exclamation from their name. The deletion of this mark brought forth an entirely new band, devoid of the guyliner-emo-cheeky-sexual-circus motif for which the boys were formerly known.

Pretty. Odd. begins with a song which apologizes for the band’s hiatus and promises that they are still the same band they always were. Regardless of what the lyrics claim, they are clearly not the same band they once were.

This album is a drastic change from the band’s former style. It is, musically, a step up, but the band risks a drop in popularity; this move may have been too severe for a sophomore album. The bright side of things is that the band managed to marginally forgo the “sophomore slump.” There is nothing dull or repetitive about this CD.

Ryan Ross’s witty lyrics, omnipresent in A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, are scarce in Pretty. Odd. This is one change, however, that will only be problematic for teeny boppers looking for something cheeky to quote in their Instant Messenger profiles.

The most cohesive element between the two discs, Brendon Urie’s powerful and uniquely toned vocals, is now a more calm rock style, compared to the electronica dance style of former songs. New on this CD is the notable presence of vocals by songwriter and lead guitarist, Ryan Ross.

Pretty. Odd. is not the usual style, but it’s still amazing. There are few bands out there capable of conveying such unique and intriguing style.

Dedicated fan post. tl;dr.

8/17/09

It's time to talk about Fall Out Boy. I know I post reviews, etc. about them all the time; I'm sorry. But I need to write this. [Disclaimer: Even though they are merely on a "break," I will be referring to them as "over," because that is what my head tells me they are.]

I can't accept it. I cannot even begin to accept it. For as long as I have payed attention to anything in the music industry, Fall Out Boy has been there. My first favorite song [post-Nsync and Dream...] was "Grand Theft Autumn" and my first [legitimate] album was Take This To Your Grave, closely followed by Evening Out With Your Girlfriend and From Under The Cork Tree. I know I sound like a fangirl right now, talking about my long-term love for Fall Out Boy. But I'm not writing this to tell you all how I love them more than you, because I don't care. I'm just trying to convey that Fall Out Boy have always been there and I can't even fathom the world of music without them in it. The day I found out that they were going on hiatus [I've suspected for ages, but it was confirmed a little over a week ago] was a very interesting day. I never really thought that I cared about any band so much, but I definitely had a mini-meltdown.

And then I realized why I was so upset. I became a journalist because of Fall Out Boy. They didn't inspire me or anything, and the reasoning is really quite pathetic, but it's true. I just wanted to interview them. Teenage Sarah felt that she needed to sit down and have a conversation with her great musical heroes, and this was the only way that that could happen. I had, and still have, so many questions to ask them. I have so many things I want to tell them. There are lines I want to go over dozens of times and lyrics that I want to hear the story behind. And when I was sixteen, I knew that the only way I could have this sort of access to Fall Out Boy was by becoming a member of the media. Then they had no choice but to talk to me.

So I became a journalist. I started writing in high school and I got an internship at my local paper, where I interviewed The Bravery, Plain White T's, Monty Are I, Jon McLaughlin, and a few others. But not Fall Out Boy. I was in constant communication with their publicist, and it seemed that she could set me up with every interview in the world... except for with them. We even had it arranged at one point for me to interview Pete. I was finally going to have the opportunity to speak face-to-face with the lyricist who meant to much to me growing up. But of course, it fell through. I then became the entertainment editor at my high school paper and moved on to an internship at the major city paper nearest to me. Surely this was my chance, right? Wrong. I even managed to land an interview with the Jonas Brothers, but Fall Out Boy was still, forever it seemed, out of reach.

I always kept it in the back of my head, knowing that one day I would be working at a major entertainment media outlet, and I would eventually get that interview. I would finally have the chance to say and ask everything I had wanted to all these years. Even though I saw the signs pointing to the end of Fall Out Boy, I didn't accept it. I told myself that there was still time. And then August 6th rolled around and I saw the What A Catch, Donnie music video. That's when I knew it was over. The official announcement came on August 13th, but I had already been trying for a week to get in touch with anyone who could land me this interview. On Thursday, August 20th, I will be seeing Fall Out Boy in Indianapolis, and this is my last chance. If I don't interview Fall Out Boy by then, I'm terrified that I will never get the chance. I'm terrified that this one-year hiatus will turn into an indefinite break, and from that become a permanent separation.

I hope I find a way to make this happen, but I'm running out of ideas.

If anyone has any connection or anything to help me out, please let me know. My email is maloy.sarah@gmail.com.