U2: No Line On the Horizon

by NEIL PITMAN

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Artist: U2
Album: No Line on the Horizon
Our Rating: 9.0
Release Date: March 3rd
Stream the album at www.myspace.com/u2

U2 are back.

It has been 5 years since the last release from the world’s biggest band, and expectations are running high. But does No Line on the Horizon deliver? Read the rest of this entry »

Best of U2: Ten Songs To Whet Your Appetite

by NEIL PITMAN
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As a lifelong1 U2 fan, this assignment was a daunting task. Compile my top 10 U2 songs? Impossible. I must, by very definition of my fanaticism, love them all. Different yet equal. However, as I don my hat of journalistic objectivity, I realize that “Red Light” truly isn’t on par with “Mysterious Ways.” So, before we “get on our boots” for No Line on the Horizon, here is my attempt at encapsulating 30+ years of music from one of the world’s greatest bands into a single, definitive list.2


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Americans weigh too much, drink lots of coffee, have public pillow fight parties and other things you should know. Also, urine heals all.

by RILEY MILLER

Since we last saw one another:

A 38 YEAR OLD RICH BOY, NEWLY SUSPECT TO FRAUD CHARGES AND FACING A DIVORCE, set his plane to auto-pilot, parachuted into Alabama, encountered the police wet up to his knees, said he’d been in a canoeing accident, was escorted to a hotel, fled the seen on motor cycle to a camping site, took blood thinners, shot off some emails, was “Internet-tracked” and found alive in a pool of blood, and was arrested in Florida.

OBESE AMERICANS now out weigh the merely overweight.

THIRSTY NEW DEHLIAN COW PEE CONNOISSEURS requested government approval to market and sell the substance as a cure for between 70-80% of diseases.

IN ORDER, TAMPA, SEATTLE, AND CHICAGO were named last years most caffeinated cities.

PERU’S TOP COURT had ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job.

Unfortunately, Read the rest of this entry »

The Traditionist: Season To Season

by ANDREW WEBB

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ARTIST: The TRADITIONIST

ALBUM: SEASON TO SEASON

OUR RATING: 7.5

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 10
www.myspace.com/thetraditionist

The lead singer of The Antiques (check them out on emusic), Joey Barro has created, on his new solo effort Season To Season, a unique - even ground breaking - sound, one reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens and Sondre Lerche [editors note: think also of Straylight Run and The Rocket Summer]. There is an obvious folk undertone to the record, but there is an experimental side to it as well. Barro utilizes the kinds of sounds you don’t normally hear in folk music: screechy electric guitars, wavy electric piano’s, wah-wah guitars and something that sounds like water drops. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 Oscar Preview

by DAVID KERN
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On Wednesday, we posted our choices top 20 films of 2008. Today, as promised, we offer a preview of Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

A topic of wide discussion and even wider consternation, the Academy’s various nominations were full of terrible oversights and seemed to be driven by politics more than ever. Many movie lovers, fans and critics alike, were frustrated that films like Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Rachel Getting Married and Gran Torino were overlooked as much as they were, not to mention the Academy’s major oversight in denying Bruce Springsteen a nomination for his great song “The Wrestler” for Darren Aronofsky’s film of the same title. Of course, their were a few pleasant surprises among the nominations (see: Anne Hathaway) and some great stories (see: Mickey Rourke). And, as always, there were some sure things (see: Heath Ledger). But, hey, that’s Oscar season.

The Into the Hill Oscar Preview includes a list of the nominees in each of the major categories, my prediction for who will take the gold statuette, my choice for who I think is most deserving among the nominees and a choice or two of people who should have been nominated but weren’t (denoted by “got robbed”). I conclude with a few thoughts on some of the other various categories.

Be sure to let us know who you think will and/or should win. Just leave a comment for all of posterity. Feel free to rant at will.

    2009 OSCAR PREVIEW:

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Andrew Bird: Noble Beast

by SK PITMAN

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ARTIST: ANDREW BIRD
ALBUM: NOBLE BEAST
OUR RATING: 9.5
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 20
Get it for FREE from eMUSIC
www.andrewbird.net

Ah, my favorite topic in all of Ornithology (although I like Charlie Parker as well), and my how this Birdian age continues.

Three events define my discovery and have led to my passion for all things Andrew Bird (although, regrettably, I can’t for the life of me remember if 1 or 2 came first, so I’m pretending they both did). Read the rest of this entry »


The Best Of

Best Of 2008