Reggie And The Full Effect Announce Headline Tour

Right on the heels of the band’s announcement of their upcoming new album No Country For Old Musicians, Reggie And The Full Effect have announced their headline tour which kicks off on January 16th in Philadelphia, PA at The Barbary. Joining the band on this tour will be New Jersey’s Dads & special guests!

A limited number of tickets have been held for Reggie and The Full Effect fans and will be available through an exclusive Ducat King presale that begins Thursday, October 17th at 12PM local time!  By buying tickets through the pre-sale, fans will be able to get their tickets before anyone else AND save some money on service charges. Tour dates are below

JAN 16 Philadelphia, PA- The Barbary

JAN 17 Baltimore, MD- Ottobar

JAN 18 Richmond, VA- The Canal Club

JAN 19 Chapel Hill, NC- Local 506

JAN 21 Jacksonville, FL- Roc Bar

JAN 22 Orlando, FL- The Social

JAN 24 Houston, TX- Warehouse Live Studio

JAN 25 Dallas, TX- Club Dada

JAN 26 Austin, TX- Stubb’s Bar-B-Q

JAN 28 Scottsdale, AZ- Pub Rock Live

JAN 29 San Diego, CA- The Irenic

JAN 30 Los Angeles, CA- The Satellite

JAN 31 Santa Ana, CA- Constellation Room

FEB 01 San Francisco, CA- Bottom Of The Hill

FEB 02 Portland, OR- Branx

FEB 04 Seattle, WA- Vera Project

FEB 06 Salt Lake City, UT- Kilby Court

FEB 07 Denver, CO- Marquis Theatre

FEB 08 Kansas City, MO- Record Bar

FEB 09 St. Louis, MO- Fubar

FEB 11 Minneapolis, MN- Triple Rock Social Club

FEB 12 Chicago, IL- Subterranean

FEB 13 Pontiac, MI- The Pike Room at Crofoot Ballroom

FEB 14 Cleveland Heights, OH- Grog Shop

FEB 15 Pittsburgh, PA- Altar Bar

FEB 16 Syracuse, NY- Lost Herizon

FEB 18 Hamden, CT- The Space

FEB 19 Boston, MA- Brighton Music Hall

FEB 20 New York, NY- The Studio at Webster Hall

FEB 22 Asbury Park, NJ- Asbury Lanes

Review: INVSN - INVSN

INVSN’s (pronounced as invasion) debut album, the self-titled ‘INVSN’, is a kind of blast to the past. It has a retro vibe to it, mixing old-shcool Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock and even Post-Punk. The sound is soomthing smooth, upbeat and rather impressive. Boasting great work in all sectors, it is a downright impressive debut (in English anyway) for the new Rock-infused band that will only be bound to release even better albums in the future.

Kickstarting off on the opener ‘#61’, it gives a great vibe to the album, setting out the general feel that you’ll get when listening to it. It has some good riffs and some truly excellent vocals that is accompanied by solid bass-lines and tight drumming. It’s upbeat, infectious and makes your ears feel like they’re having multiple orgasms. It is beautiful with its simplistic yet stylish approach and pays off. Going through the album is a gand experience as your ears only get invited to listen to yet more beautiful, upbeat and infectious tracks. With infectious groove after astonishing riff, the album goes through the sleek and stylish tracks ‘The Promise’, ‘God Has Left Us Stranded’, ‘Our Blood’, ‘Distorted Heartbeat’ and the closing song, ‘Hate’. Now, don’t get me wrong, the song titles do not sound like your standard Rock song titles.

However, they are filled with infectious grooves and hooks that is only made more pleasurable to listen to due to the solid drumming and
intense bass-grooves that help to fill the album. All the tracks help offer something a little new whilst making sure to stick to their infectious Indie Rock roots that dominate throughout the album. It gives you great satisfaction after you’ve finished listening to it and you only want to replay the whole thing again, hoping that it gives you the same feel as it did the first time you listened to it. Let me assure you, it definitely does that making this an album to admire. Not often does an album maintain that sense of feeling that you got the first time you heard it but this one does, something rare in these modern times.

Enjoyable and well-crafted, this is something anyone can put on and liste to without kicking up a fuss. Catchy, sing-along styled songs add the greatness of the album, making it a wonderful and memorable experience to all whom dare listen to it. So that is the songs there, now time to talk production value. The production here is amazing, adding to the great feel on this album. It seems so slick and stylish, like a sleek piece of silk. Smooth and free-flowing, it is something that makes this album so memorable.

The way it is mixed makes everything sound tight and well-placed instead of being some form of mess. You can tell the band and producer have taken their time with this and have took a serious amount of effort to make it sound good. It’s like they poured their passion into it and it is something that they should all take pride in. It sounds thoroughly amazing and doesn’t let go of its juicy vibes, something I adore about the album. This is something rather damn special. Listen to it once and you’ll love it. Listen to it again and you’ll admire it. Listen to it a third time and you will absolutely adore this.

The influences are here, having sounds that seem like Joy Division to something in vain of Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Radiohead. It is sleek, smooth and flows excellently, creating a feel that is ever-present throughout. The emotions you will feel from this will only intensify as you listen more and more to the album. It is well-crafted and beautiful and is something that can be classed as a rare release in this modern age. I admire the record and hope for big things from this band. Listen to this, even if it is just the once, for it is well and truly a beautiful, amazing and infectious little masterpiece.

10/10

- Asa

A Tribe Called Quest Opening for Kanye West

A Tribe Called Quest will be opening for Kanye West at the two Yeezus Tour shows in New York City for their final two shows ever

Stream New Anthony Raneri Song "String Me Along"

New York City-based indie label I Surrender Records, run by former Midtown drummer Rob Hitt, Gaby Fainsilber, and Alex Sarti will release, I Surrender Records Presents: Our Voices, this fall. This will be the first in what the label hopes will become an ongoing series of EPs featuring original solo tracks from the members of some of the biggest and most influential punk and indie bands.

The initial EP will be available November 25 and features brand new music from Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, Anthony Raneri of Bayside, Chris Conley of Saves The Day, and Vinnie Caruana of I Am The Avalanche. A sneak preview of the EP is available now – you can check out Anthony Raneri’s “String Me Along” on Alternative Press at: http://bit.ly/1erurFE.

Review: Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is the fastest selling video game of all time. It’s also going to give The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, and Tomb Raider a run for their money for Game of the Year 2013. Not only has GTA V succeeded financially, but the gameplay has proven equally as good as it’s sales.

This is the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series to climb it’s way into my personal list of favorite games of all time. In single player mode, you play as three protagonists, all with their own unique personalities. The storyline is based around these three characters living in Los Santos, and you have to option to switch between them at almost any time during the game. Almost every aspect of GTA V is improved from GTA IV, and it’s a lot bigger as well. The online mode is like an entirely different game,as you can customize your character, and do different jobs around Los Santos to work your way up the ranks to become a master criminal. You can play with your friends, or strangers, having them help you out with different jobs.

The single player mode for GTA V is beyond entertaining. The story itself is very engaging, and the missions are very unique. A problem with GTA IV was repetitive missions, and I can say I did not have that problem playing GTA V, and every part of it is fine-tuned from the last GTA title. The phone feature is re-introduced, and it works surprisingly well. You can download apps from the fictional app store, and you can surf the web as you would a computer. A cool new feature is the Stock Market. You can buy and sell stocks in different fictional companies in order to make a little extra cash on the side from the story missions. Also new is the improved mini-map.

When you get into a vehicle, your map turns into a GPS, and can even lose reception inside of tunnels as a real GPS does. These little details aren’t annoying, nor do they interfere with the gameplay I promise, but I appreciate the little things along with the big things. Probably the biggest thing added to the game was the character switching. Most times when video games try something totally new, it needs some work.

GTA V’s character switching works unbelievable well, and is very smooth and ironed-out. During non-mission time, you can switch to whichever character you like, and it will start up with whatever that character was doing, regardless of how you previously left them. They could be walking out of a store, finishing a cigarette, waking up from a nap, or even waking up pants less in the middle of nowhere with a hangover! During missions, you can also switch in between characters for a different experience. For example, your three characters could be in a huge firefight with a gang. You can switch to one character to be the sniper support, then switch to another character in the middle of the action with an assault rifle, and finish it off as your third character with an RPG launcher from behind. The character switching is original, unique and it works well.

The graphics and feel of the game is great as well. Unfortunately, as of now GTA V is only for consoles, so you can’t get the full potential and beauty of GTA V’s massive landscape, but it still looks awesome on consoles. As with any previous GTA game, there is a lot of dark humor spread around the game, a lot of it making fun of modern pop culture. Heck, you can take a selfie on your phone! On top of that, there are many references to the previous GTA games, which is always fun for the hardcore Rockstar fans.

Online mode is great, but the gameplay is definitely not up to the level that the single player mode is. The loading screens are the longest I’ve experienced for years in gaming, and the unstable Rockstar servers can be very frustrating. But other than that, the online mode is very fun. There’s plethora of different jobs, ranging from races, to deathmatches, and to wave survival (a favorite of mine). Pulling these jobs alongside your friends is always a good time, and leveling up to unlock more keeps you dragged in. But at the same time, the match hosting for different jobs is sloppy and doesn’t work properly a lot of the time. Other than the long wait times, and the somewhat unreliable servers, GTA Online is a great time.

If I was to give a score on the Single player alone, I would have no problem slapping a hard 10 as it’s score. But this is a cruel world, and online mode is a huge part of the game. GTA Online is awesome, no doubt, but it just does not compete with the single player experience regarding smooth gameplay. The game is a must-buy, and I cannot wait for the inevitable PC release so I can mod it with no mercy. Grand Theft Auto V scores a well-deserved

9/10.

- Chris Grieco  

A Day To Remember Announce 'Common Courtesy' Deluxe Edition

A Day To Remember have announced iTunes preorders for a deluxe version of their new album Common Courtesy on November 25th. Those who preordered directly from the website on Oct. 8th will receive a discount towards it.

The deluxe edition includes three new songs and will be available digitally and in stores. Pre-order your copy today via iTunes.

The Classic Crime Announce Kickstarter

The Classic Crime officially turns 10 in 2014. Help them celebrate & acoustically re-imagine 10 different TCC songs from the last decade. View a message from the band below

The Fray Release New Single

The Fray’s upcoming album will be released January 14. You can listen to a new song below!

Finch Announce Live CD/DVD of What It Is To Burn

The newly reunited rock band Finch has announced that they will release a live CD/DVD celebrating the ten year anniversary of their landmark album What It Is To Burn. The CD/DVD will be released via Tragic Hero Records and was filmed and recorded at The Glasshouse in Ponoma, CA where the band performed their full-length in its entirety.

What It Is To Burn - X will be available in stores and online 01/07/14, but pre-orders for the disc and exclusive merch can be placed now at the Tragic Hero MerchNow Store.

Finch is currently on the What It Is To Burn 10 Year Anniversary Tour.

Close Your Eyes Release Digital Tracks

CLOSE YOUR EYES have released two new digital tracks, “The End” and “Frame and Glass”, from their forthcoming album, Line In The Sand. Purchase both songs now at iTunes, AmazonMP3 and your favorite digital retailers. Their headlining tour dates with label-mates ISLANDER which will be covering the Midwest and southern US can be seen HERE.