The National - Trouble Will Find Me

The National - Trouble Will Find Me
4AD
Release Date: May 21, 2013

This point needs to be made right off the bat: The National mean a lot to people. The Brooklyn-based band has been around since 1999, but their multiple emotionally charged albums have garnered an increasingly large fan base throughout the years. The main thing the band has going for them is frontman Matt Berninger's relatable delivery of the woes of mundane, middle age life. That's not to say the band's music is nothing special; on 2010's High Violet they proved that their songwriting skills are almost as moving as Berninger's lyrics. At the end of the day, though, the thing that keeps people coming back for more are the words from Berninger that run much deeper than they first appear.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Release Date: May 17, 2013
Record Label: Columbia

"When everybody has the ability to make magic, it's like there's no more magic—if the audience can just do it themselves, why are they going to bother?”

Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk, said that in the lead up to the duo's first studio album in eight years, Random Access Memories.

Show Review: The World Is A Beautiful Place, Cerce, Dads, Animal Faces, Foxmoulder - 5/22 - Ajax, ON

It's been over a year since the last time I was able to make it out to a show.  When I saw that a bill that included The World Is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid To Die, Cerce, and Dads was coming through the area, there was no chance of passing the show up.  Even better, without having to travel into the heart of downtown Toronto, easier access to the show helped end my one year hiatus to once again enter the humid, sweat-filled atmosphere of a "punk" show, only intensified by its basement setting.

Making my way through a crowd of asymmetrical haircuts and bird tattoos, it was easy to get right up close for the show's two local openers.  Foxmoulder quickly ripped through 20 minutes of of high energy hardcore, perfect for a bill that sports Cerce's name.  Vocalist Matthew Cuthbert's spastic presence made the enthusiasm higher than your typical local opener, getting the still timid crowd more and more excited by the second half of their set.  The band clearly wears their influences close, as their sound mimics dozens of hardcore bands, both active and defunct, but the band is still one of the more exciting acts to come from the area.

The Front Bottoms - Talon of the Hawk

The Front Bottoms - Talon of the Hawk
Bar/None Records
Release Date: May 21, 2013

If you've listened repeatedly to The Front Bottoms' self-titled debut at any time in the last two years, chances are that at some point you did so while imitating Brian Sella's voice - because let's be honest, he's probably not a much better singer than you are. But that was sort of the point: Sella felt like he picked up his acoustic guitar, drummer Mathew Uychich, and downed a couple of beers in the parking lot before heading into the studio to spitball whatever came to mind. Somehow, the two had struck upon a winning formula: The Front Bottoms have experienced quite a lot in the last couple of years. Kevin Devine posted covers of and sang along with the band onstage during the tours with Say Anything and Bad Books. All of this success had to have been at least a little surprising for an eccentric acoustic-dance project. The band's second LP, Talon of the Hawk, tries it's hardest to emulate the most successful parts of the first, to varying degrees of success.

Have Mercy - The Earth Pushed Back

Have Mercy - The Earth Pushed Back
Topshelf Records
Release Date: May 21, 2013

There is a certain satisfaction attached to stumbling upon, and subsequently falling for, an album that was completely out of sight.  While anticipating a record is all well and fun, the rush that comes along with a new discovery is something that is hard to match.  With such easy access to music in a multitude of formats, making this discoveries has become something of a scarce occurrence.  This year, it appears that The Earth Pushed Back, the debut full length from Baltimore, Maryland's Have Mercy, is on track to be that album for quite a few people.

Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3
Shane Black
Release Date: May 3, 2013

Marvel films seem to have found a massive following as of late. Though Marvel comic films becoming huge hits started with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Bryan Singer's X-Men films in the early 2000s, it wasn't until John Favreau's Iron Man hit the big screen in 2008 that Marvel superheroes really got their feet in the summer blockbuster door, following the success of Christopher Nolan's interesting twist on the Batman universe, Batman Begins, in 2005. While Iron Man was by no means a departure from the traditional superhero film, it had a certain likability to it, no doubt due to the incredible action sequences as well as Robert Downey Jr.'s spot on performance as sarcastic, genius millionaire Tony Stark. Since then we have seen many other Marvel heroes get their shot at the big screen, including the enormously successful The Avengers, but Favreau's Iron Man seemed to hold up as the elite standalone Marvel film of the group.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
Party Smasher / Sumerian
Release Date: May 14, 2013

It's no secret that The Dillinger Escape Plan are seasoned veterans of the mathcore scene. Their first album came out in 1999, and despite line up changes throughout the years, all of their albums have generally been met with acclaim. They have a sound that is distinctly their own, but on each album they've found ways to bend and twist that sound into a new collection of dizzying, gut-punching songs. One Of Us Is The Killer, the new album from the band, continues this trend of trying new things while still remaining one of the most defining records of their sound.