News: Coheed & Cambria Announce New Album, Release Single

Posted by admin on Jul 8, 2015 in Latest, News, Reads | 0 comments

Yesterday Coheed & Cambria announced a new album, The Color Before the Sun, due out on 10/9 through 300 Entertainment.  To give listeners a taste of what they can expect, the band released the first single from the album, “You Got Spirit, Kid” yesterday via YouTube. The song will be available for digital download tomorrow, July 10th.

Coheed’s 8th studio album will be the first album that is not a part of The Amory Wars saga, or indeed, a concept album at all. It will be interesting to see how this new dynamic affects Coheed’s sound. But if the first single is any indication, this new album will actually revisit the classic Coheed sound. So this will definitely be an album to keep your eyes on.

Check after the jump to listen to “You Got Spirit, Kid”.

News: Godspeed You! Black Emperor Announce Fall Tour

Posted by admin on Jul 8, 2015 in Latest, News, Reads | 0 comments

Legendary post-rock bands, and personal favorites of the AltFreq staff, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced an international fall tour in support of their new album, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress. The tour begins on September 9th right here in Washington, DC at the 9:30 Club, then hitting the eastern United States before heading over to England, and wrapping things up at the Pitchfork Festival in Paris in late October.

Tickets go on sale later this week, on July 9th and 10th.

Check after the jump for the full tour routing, and ticket links:

Holy Ship! 2016 Lineups Released; Hear Music From Every Artist On Both Sailings

Posted by admin on Jul 6, 2015 in Featured, Latest, News, Reads | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

HARD released today the initial lineups for both 2016 Holy Ship sailings, crashing the festival’s website and setting off “January vs. February” debates that will surely rage until both boats have sailed and returned. January headliners include Kaskade, Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus, Odesza, and Steve Aoki, while February’s lineup is topped by DJ Snake, Chromeo, Porter Robinson,  RL Grime B2B Baauer, and Boys Noize.

AltFreq Weekly Planner (7/5/15-7/8/15)

Posted by admin on Jul 5, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the events going on in the area, so we’re here to let you know what’s happening in live music over the next few days. Watch out on Thursdays for the “Weekend Planner” where we’ll cover the most important 72 hours of the week.

Warped Tour ’15 Spotlight: Six Veteran Acts You Can’t Miss (So Pray They Don’t All Play At The Same Time)

Posted by admin on Jul 3, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

Vans Warped Tour, the well-established summertime mecca for all things pop-punk, metalcore, and alternative music and lifestyle writ large, is fast bearing down on the DMV. On Saturday, July 18th, over 70 bands will take to nine stages scattered around the Merriweather Post Pavilion grounds in Columbia, MD as a part of the single-day touring festival’s twentieth iteration. Over the next few weeks we’ll be highlighting a plurality of the musicians participating this year, starting today with a quick list of Warped veterans you’d be spitting in the face of history by missing.

August Burns Red

These guys are longtime AltFreq favorites. Their straightforward approach to metalcore & their often introspective, socially conscious lyrics have been honed to brutal precision since their inception in 2003. In the time since they’ve amassed a formidable following, which makes their fifth Warped appearance this year a pleasant non-surprise. Best of all, they just released their seventh studio effort Found In Faraway Places; this means you’ll hear a mix of new tunes and crowd favorites as your flailing body is endlessly subsumed and regurgitated  by the roiling mass of sweat-drenched, dust-coated humanity otherwise known as “the crowd at an ABR show.”

Connect with August Burns Red: (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

Family Force 5

Remember “Love Addict”? It was one of the formative songs of my late middle school/early high school musical awakening, counting itself among the lucky 500 that could fit on my first generation iPod Nano. The half-rapped, half-screamed vocals and heavy post-production were a perfect cross-section of Family Force 5’s unabashed, crunkcore style. Lyrical content and religious affiliation aside, the band’s music spoke to me simply because it made me move. Seeing them perform live – on Warped a few years back, appropriately enough – rekindled that feeling with vigor, and it’s why they made this list. Based on sheer energy and stage presence alone these guys should make your Warped 2015 schedule.

Connect with Family Force 5: (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

Senses Fail

Another entrant under the “I grew up on this shit,” banner, the New Jersey post-hardcore outfit known as Senses Fail are making their sixth Warped appearance (and their first since 2012) this summer. I can picture myself in my darkened bedroom with Still Searching whirring quietly in my bright orange Walkman, saving my parents plenty of money on therapy by self-diagnosing my “issues” and then self-prescribing daily doses of emotionally-laden music as treatment.

Yep, that’s the one

Both the band and myself have come a ways since then. They’ve released four more full-lengths – including their latest, Pull The Thorns From Your Heart, out on Pure Noise Records as of this week. I’ve misplaced my Walkman and concluded somewhere in the interim that life’s not as bad as I thought it was at 13. Everybody’s happy, right?

Connect with Senses Fail: (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

Silverstein

One of the more intellectual and sonically diverse acts to come out of the post-hardcore/emo wave of the early to mid-2000s, Canada’s Silverstein has long been on my To-See list. They roped me in with When Broken is Easily Fixed and Discovering the Waterfront then kept me onboard by keeping it interesting – whether that meant ditching most of the sheen to record a straight rock record (Departures and Arrivals) or crafting albums with overarching concepts (three of their five most recent records fit this bill). If (read: when) you catch their set this summer, expect a little of everything from this quintet of seasoned, talented musicians.

Connect with Silverstein: (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

The Wonder Years

These guys are responsible for some of the most-played pop-punk in my music library, and with good reason. Their combination of no-frills, technically sound instrumentation and lyricism that hits home rather than skims the emotive surface makes it pretty hard not to bang your head and sing along. Much as some of the earlier bands on this list spoke to me at a younger age, the more mature thematic content present on works like The Greatest Generation connects with me now – songs about first loves realized and first loves gone awry are replaced by ego-bruised musings on expectations vs. reality and the looming uncertainty of the future that any 20-something can relate to. Of all the bands playing this year’s Tour, The Wonder Years owns most of my anticipation.

Connect with The Wonder Years (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

We Came As Romans

Blasting pure adrenaline through high-powered speakers since 2005, melodic metalcore band We Came As Romans round out this list for no reason other than because it’s ordered alphabetically. Calling Troy, Michigan home, the six-piece outfit has toured and released extensively in their ten years of existence, and have a new full-length self-titled album due out at the end of July. I’m running out of steam here, so I’ll make it simple: see We Came As Romans (and the other five acts previously listed) this summer at Warped Tour. Colloquially speaking, “they real good.”

Connect with We Came As Romans: (Facebook / Twitter / Official Site)

You can grab tickets to the 2015 Vans Warped Tour @ Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on Saturday, July 18 right here. All other Merriweather-specific info can be found on the event page.

Connect with Vans Warped Tour: (Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Official Site)

AltFreq Weekend Planner (7/2/15-7/4/15)

Posted by admin on Jul 2, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the events going on in the area, so we’re here to let you know what’s happening in live music over the next few days. Watch out on Sundays for our “Weekly Planner,” where we’ll cover the remaining four days of the week.

In Case You Missed It: Sun:Monx Shine Bright On “Power Salad”

Posted by admin on Jul 1, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise, Reads | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

One of the strongest driving factors in my endless musical pursuits is interconnections. The always expanding universe of music and the musicians who inhabit it is like a four dimensional puzzle, each figurative piece interwoven with tens, hundreds, even thousands of others by myriad aural tendrils. More simply, music is a sprawling game of “Six Degrees,” – although I’d wager almost everything under the umbrella could be linked in far fewer steps.

Your move, Mr. Bacon

The Daily Frequency (6/30/15)

Posted by admin on Jun 30, 2015 in Featured, Latest, News, Noise, Reads | 1 comment

–Written by Kevin Madert

Another day, another deluge of musical happenings. If we missed a piece of music-related news that blew your mind, let us know in the comments!

1. From the “better late than never” department, technology übercompany Apple threw their hat into the digital streaming ring with the launch of Apple Music. Users are granted unlimited access to the tens of millions of songs in Apple’s formidable library for a monthly fee ($9.99 for individuals, $15.99 for a family account that allows up to six simultaneous users). While we’ll probably be given all sorts of exclusives thanks to Apple’s deep pockets and industry clout – Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, for example, will be available for streaming for the first time ever via Apple Music – the service still lacks in some areas – there’s not much social interaction (a lá Spotify) and the music streams in 256kbps (320kbps is the norm). The company is offering free three month trials for all first-time users, so you can decide for yourself if Apple Music is the next big thing or simply another lackluster wave (*cough* Tidal *cough*). (via Time)

News: Deadmau5 in the Studio with Feed Me

Posted by admin on Jun 10, 2015 in Latest, News, Reads | 0 comments

According to Feed Me’s Facebook page, the electro alter-ego of Jon Gooch has entered the studio with Deadmau5. Both Gooch and Joel Zimmerman are incredibly talented musicians, and revolutionaries in their respective genres. Over the past few years, the two producers styles have become more developed and more unique, which gave way to more experimental, yet refined tunes, such as those found on Feed Me’s newest EP A Warrior Descends on Tokyo. Of course, this means their studio session together can is sure to produce something epic, this is definitely a collab to keep an eye on.

We’ll be sure to provide updates as they become available.

Image Credit: Rukes.com

New Tune Tuesday (6/9/15)

Posted by admin on Jun 9, 2015 in Featured, Latest, New Tune Tuesday, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

The Front Bottoms – West Virginia

A surprise single from one of my favorite bands is the stuff Tuesdays are made of. “West Virginia” is The Front Bottoms in quintessence: one part catchy, straightforward instrumentation, one part complex & quirky – yet equally catchy – lyrics, coalesced into a faux-lo-fi package and thrown at you with every ounce of emotive heft lead singer Brian Sella and company can push through their mics and amps. Like much of TFB’s catalog, the wordsmithery on display here is relatable in overarching emotional brushstrokes rather than specifics. You may never have experienced a conversation like the one Sella opens this song with (“Is it raining where you are? / The only thing I could think to ask. / But nothing ever hurt so bad / as the ‘no’ that you said back”) but dammit if those lines don’t hit you in the chest like a two-ton weight. You can download the new tune for free by joining The Front Bottoms Motorcycle Club on the band’s official site. The music video is a perfect visual compliment; you can see it below.