SOUND BITES

With lead single 45 just having had its world premiere on U.K. radio, it's time to get excited for some new Gaslight Anthem music. 45 is taken from the Jersey rock gods' fourth album Handwritten , which has been announced for release on July 24th. I'm so excited to share the news about what's become one of my favourite bands of the last ten years, I haven't even heard it yet, so I've got to wrap this up and go listen.  Stream that shit right here .

Having whiled the past few years split between his day job with Pearl Jam and his solo career (which is blossoming in its own right), Eddie Vedder could be forgiven for taking a break.  However, ever the busybody, Vedder has contributed a new song to the benefit compilation Every Mother Counts 2012 . Skipping shouldn't surprise anyone who's familiar with Vedder's recent work; it's a gentle acoustic ballad that falls right in place with the rest of his canon. The compilation also features alternate and/or unreleased tracks from a bunch of artists I don't really care for, but it's for a good cause (you can learn more about Every Mother Counts here ).  You can pick it up at participating Starbucks locations during the month of May, with $8 of the proceeds from each sale going to Every Mother Counts.  And really, if you can afford coffee at Starbucks, you can afford a CD.

Well, at least it's better than a Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) rehash. The Offspring return with new album Days Go By in June, and they've released the title track as its first single.  Bob Rock worked the knobs for the follow-up to 2008's Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace , and if you rolled your eyes because that album's title sounded like a bit of a rip on Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace , um... prepare to go nuclear. Try to listen all the way through without imagining Dave Grohl gritting his teeth and crushing his coffee cup in his hand: Kids, it's bad enough that the intro has a lead riff that calls Times Like These to mind.  When you throw in a similar melody, a similar lyrical theme, and a similar song structure (complete with the same quiet ending ), it gets a little uncomfortable.  This is not to say that the new Offspring single is a bad song; in fact, it's really pretty great.  But saying that is kind of like complimen

Over the thirteen years or so of their existence, I've had a somewhat tumultuous relationship with Linkin Park. Their first album, Hybrid Theory , put them on the map worldwide and garnered them a mass of screaming fans.  However, as pleasant as I found a few of the tracks, the samey sound and trite lyrics on most of the album wasn't up to snuff for my personal tastes. As their career progressed, I found myself less interested; still, every once in a while they'd release a single that absolutely torched the place.  Think of Feint , or Bleed It Out and how they explode from the speakers and cover the room in blood.

With one of the year's most exciting Tuesdays just five days away, this week I was reminded again of just how much times have changed.  Rather than painfully wiling the days away and pining for that release date to come so I could listen to the albums I wanted most badly, and rather than deal with the impatience and guilt of pirating said albums when they leak, the internet has given us a most happy medium in the way of streams. Long a practice reserved for fringe artists, the advance album stream has become increasingly common.  And this week, we've been given the chance to sink our teeth into not one but two fantastic records that see official releases next week.

As previously reported, Miami sludge n' roll masters Torche have a new album out later this month.  Its name is Harmonicraft , its album art (pictured left) is astonishing, and its first single (the lumbering giant Kicking ) blew our collective mind. Well, in advance of the album's imminent release, another song has surfaced.  Reverse Inverted is a different breed of beast from Kicking , but is no less fearsome in its devastation.  In fact, its sludgy, off-time flavour is more Soundgarden than Soundgarden's new song: Harmonicraft arrives April 24 via Volcom.  Several formidable and tempting pre-order options can be found here .  You can also catch them on tour with Corrosion of Conformity in June, and on the opening day of the Metallica-curated Orion Music Festival (which, BTW, features an incredible lineup) June 23 in Atlantic City.  Road trip, anyone?

One of the Maritimes' most exciting exports, Wintersleep have announced their fifth album, Hello Hum , as well as a couple of tracks from it. Hello Hum follows just two years after their somewhat polarizing 2009 release, New Inheritors .  That album showcased less melancholy and raw emotion than their previous three, which seemed to rub some fans the wrong way.  Well, judging from the first two songs to see light of day, those folks aren't likely to be swayed.

You have to feel bad for any band that slowly and helplessly falls into obscurity, especially a band as musically gifted as I Mother Earth.  After all, this is a band whose first two albums (1993's Dig and 1996's Scenery and Fish ) not only kicked ass back in the day, but completely hold up nearly twenty years after the fact.  However, when you're on a roll, sometimes egos come into play.  Once Edwin defected to flirt with mainstream acceptance in the late 90's, taking much of the fairweather IME fans with him, the band's hand had pretty much been dealt.  Their decidedly difficult, meandering and considerably mellower debut with new singer Brian Byrne, 1999's Blue Green Orange , didn't exactly do them any favours.  Tragically, their last album (2003's The Quicksilver Meat Dream ) was simultaneously their most musically satisfying and most commercially disappointing release. As is so often the case, interest waned, the money started drying up, and I

After the 22-second snippet released last week failed to shed much light on what Audioslave's first single in six years would be like, we got revelations galore thanks to the full length track's radio premiere earlier today. After first listen, it seems Audioslave are content to underwhelm with their hotly anticipated return; Live To Rise certainly doesn't match the bombast of any prior Audioslave release.  Instead it merely plods along down the path of generic rock that's been so well worn by countless hack bands (many of which also appear on the upcoming Avengers Assemble soundtrack) that it less resembles a path proper than a slick, muddy concert site as the Lollapalooza crowd files out.  But hey, enough out of me; check out the new Audioslave single for yourself:

Whispers in recent weeks spoke of the next album by Liars; more specifically, that it had been recorded and was coming soon.  Well, the wait is nearly over for fans of the New York avant-garde punk/rock/freak rockers.  They've christened their sixth album WIXIW and set it for a June release.  Of course, what good is announcing a new album without a taste of what's to come?  Soundcloud has a stream of first single No. 1 Against the Rush , which I've helpfully linked to right here for your amusement and/or bewilderment. After such genre-busting headtrips as They Were Wrong So We Drowned and Drum's Not Dead , there's pretty much nothing Liars can do that would shock me now.  And yet, with this new single, they've certainly surprised.  Having apparently tired of their foray into more straightforward rock territory, Liars have practically kicked guitars to the curb and taken a left turn down Electric Avenue.  The fury present in much if their first decade'

You'd be forgiven if you worried that the just-released second album by My Darkest Days, Sick and Twisted Affair , would fall victim to the dreaded sophomore jinx.  After all, it's hard to top that debut album; lest we forget it boasted monster smash Porn Star Dancing and a gut-wrenching rendition of Duran Duran's eternal 90's classic Come Undone . Happily, Sick and Twisted Affair does away with any concerns straight away with the blisteringly epic title track.  Boasting top notch synth work and timeless lyrics (i.e. "I'm like a dirty little drug / and you'll never get enough"), it's clear that MDD are going for the jugular.  It's followed by Save Yourself , an absolute blast that brings the fires of hell to the dance floor.  Its chorus soars on bat wings over a synthbed of molten lava. I could extol the virtues of Sick and Twisted Affair until my fingers bleed all over my keyboard; honestly there's so much awesomeness and grandeur