It sure is Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (Ronald Says 4 out of 5)

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs from New York had their third album leaked on the internet which is pretty common nowadays. Maybe all bands should just upload their new album to their site since eventually it will end up there anyway. I heard many good things about this album and listened to it today.

From the first track "Zero" on it's clear that the album is heavily inspired by 80's punk rock. Sometimes it has a gloomy dark sound ("Runaway") and other times it has loud rock songs with heavy synths ("Heads Will Roll" and "Soft Shock"). After this impressive start they slow down in the beautiful ballad "Skeleton". Singer Karen O sounds modest on this track compared to the previous ones where she shouts and screams. On "Dragon Queen" they turn to disco and take it quiet again on "Hysteric". Final track "Little Shadow" sounds kind of psychedelic. Once the album's over you're wondering what you've been listening to. They have explored new directions and the album sounds very diverse. But it still is a complete album and no song is out of place. Besides Karen O going all the way both drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner get the chance to show their stuff and do a fine job. No need to get bored with this album for a long time. Read more!

Drummer wanted

Jimmy Chamberlin recently left the Smashing Pumpkins so now Billy Corgan and Co. are looking for a replacement. Today they announced they will be auditioning for a new drummer on April 10 in LA. Anyone interested in signing up? I still haven't mastered Geek USA myself so I think I'll pass. Read more!

Festival Season is warming up

The sun is coming out and things are warming up. This is bad news for my winter depression and good news for my temper. It also means the summer festivals are completing their line-ups or are announcing more and more bands. And of course I'll be checking out some of them!

Festivals are all about music, drinking, loosing sleep and good times but also in my case traditions. That means we usually go to the same festivals, in our case Rock Werchter in Belgium and Lowlands over here. I'd love to go to more festivals but my wallet won't allow me too so I have to make choices. A lot of festivals also offer day tickets which is more wallet friendly and in my case better for my health. Some years ago we started attending the North Sea Jazz Festival. And after a break from Pinkpop for many years we returned for one day last year. We enjoyed it a lot so this year we go to Pinkpop for one day again to see The Boss performing like many others.

Of course there's more to enjoy on Pinkpop that day including Elbow, Just Jack, The Killers and Chris Cornell. Although the last one was really disappointing in his last show. North Sea Jazz announced some names but will announce more in May.

Rock Werchter has a killer line-up once again including Oasis, Prodigy, Coldplay, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and regular guests Metallica. I'm particularly interested in Bloc Party (great show a while ago), Kings of Leon (great last album "Only By The Night"), Nick Cave (missed Grinderman last year), 2ManyDJs (on the main stage!) and The Mars Volta (still not sure what to think of them).

Lowlands is always one of the last festivals and like to keep us waiting in anticipation so they still have to announce most of the line up. Although they already announced some great acts like Arctic Monkeys, Prodigy, Basement Jaxx and Bloc Party.

So there's plenty to look forward to but some thing's are for sure: we'll be drinking too much, lacking of sleep and having a blast!
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