David Bowie & Bing Crosby - The Little Drummer Boy

The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)

Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis

Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmas Time

The Pogues - Fairytale of New York

The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo

Sufjan Stevens - Put the Lights on the Tree

U2 - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)

The Kinks - Father Christmas (Live)

Scrubs - Scrubs Charlie Brown Christmas

I'm a bit late with this, but here's some new Muse:

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Muse - Knights of Cyndonia (Live)

New album hits stores July 3rd. Enjoy.

I could chalk it up to being an addictive personality, but there has to be another reason why I've listened to The Format's "Dog Problems" three times this morning alone. Well, I guess it could have something to do with the fact that it's a great album, being heralded by some dude from somewhere on an Internet forum as the modern day "Pet Sounds." How appropriate, eh?

I'm not sure about all that, but I can tell you that this album has pulled me out of the gutter. I can also tell you that I feel this band deserves your money. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be offering two more songs from the actual disk, but I am happy to offer you these acoustic demos of songs that appear on the album in all their masterfully produced glory. As great as these are, I guarantee that each of these songs' album counterpart is an entirely new experience.
The Format - Pick Me Up
The Format - She Doesn't Get It
The Format - The Compromise
The Format - The Wind that Blows (Known on the album as "If Work Permits")
The Format - Snails

Most of these songs were available for free on the band's website, so I'll be able to rest easy over this one. As I said before, the band and their management have decided to put up a digital version of the album for online purchase a month or two before the album actually hits the streets. It's only $7.99 and you'll get CD quality non-rights protected MP3s with your purchase.

Claudio Sanchez has made it known on several occasions that he has an affinity for horror films. In fact, I recall the awkward frontman asking a rabid crowd of fans at one of Coheed's "Evening With" shows what they thought of Romero's latest zombie masterpiece "Land of the Dead."

Now there's even talk that the singer recently recorded his own music video for "The Final Cut" which features him chasing around his girlfriend with a chainsaw. Then several pictures surfaced on MySpace as a promotion for the singer's side project. Here's my personal favorite:



So, the question of the day is posed. Would you trust Claudio around your children? I know I sure would! I can't wait to see what this guy's got cooked up for us next, but something tells me it'll include a hearty helping of B R A I N S!

In the meantime, here's some old rarities from the band formally known as Shabutie and currently known as Coheed & Cambria:

Shabutie - Strong Short
Shabutie - Star Cecil

I haven't been posting nearly as much as I'd like to, but things have been all sorts of crazy as of late. I'm sure you understand, whoever you are. However, the whole point of this thing is to share the music that's picked me off my ass with the hope that it helps someone else.

Now that that's out of the way, how about some new tracks from The Format?

I fell in love with these guys the summer before my first year of college. I seem to remember a few of their songs really echoing the reservations I had at the time. All that aside, I found them all at once to be everything I loved about the now defunct Get Up Kids and pop-rock in general. With their new album "Dog Problems," the band has shown a startling amount of growth.

The elaborate production on "Time Bomb" can't help but remind me of Queen, while the album's title track stands on its own with an equally spectacular arrangement.

The Format - Time Bomb
The Format - Dog Problems

If you dig what you hear, I highly recommend heading over to this site and purchasing the digital album for $7.99. With that you'll get the entire album in a non-rights protected CD quality MP3 format. I've already purchased mine, which how I'm offering this little preview.

I guess this is the part where I promise to make an effort to update this thing.

Well...

Taking Back Sunday is offering something much closer to what I used to love about the band with their forthcoming album, "Louder Now." It's still a far cry from "Tell All Your Friends," but I must admit they've hooked me along for the ride. Everyone's entitled to a guilty pleasure or two, right?

Taking Back Sunday - What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?
Taking Back Sunday - MakeDamnSure

Purchase: Amazon