Extreme Makeover: This Blog Edition

If you're reading this, you've likely noticed that things have changed. How very perceptive of you. I figure by now that just about everyone who frequents this place has a widescreen monitor, so I've widened the layout so there isn't so much dead space on your screen. If you're still rocking that old CRT, apologies. Stretching it out also allows for a bigger sidebar, which you'll see is now big and beautiful (as opposed to the former incarnation, which was cramped and attention starved). And, with the bigger and awesomer sidebar comes Sound Bites' newest time waster. Rapid Fire Reviews is where I'll neatly sum up most albums I'm listening to with a quick paragraph and a (dreaded) rating out of 10; like Pitchfork, except I'm not a pretentious elitist snob and/or getting paid for favorable reviews. As I hear more, I'll add to the list up until the point that I feel it's taking up enough space, at which point I'll start deleting from the bottom as I post new ones. With the new that's come in, a few old things are gone. The first to go was ads; I only ever did it just to see if it were possible to actually make any money doing this. In nearly a year and a half, I'd amassed a grand total of two cents. TWO. Our government would round that down to NO cents, so I said to hell with the ads. Cool? Cool. Also gone are links to other websites, and the "greatest hits" list. Those were alright, but for the purposes of tidiness they were deemed unnecessary. I think that about covers it. Enjoy the new look and feel of Sound Bites. Come back often, and don't forget to "like" the Facebook page and find out about shit like this the moment it happens.

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Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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