I really should title this blog: "The Top 10 Covers of all the music I enjoy... according to me." or something like that. Because, frankly, it's more of a list of my favorite covers rather than the opinions of the rest of the RCA staff... however, here I shall commence.

So, my knowledge of music is very minutia, thus my opinion about the top 10 song covers seems a bit counterintuitive, right? I mean, who cares what I, a 23 year old recent college graduate now teacher in lower New York state, has to say about music? Well, I hope…

Once again, it's that magical time of year when the dark prince of Brostep ascends onto a drooling, wide-eyed Seattle massive and assaults our senses with a new stage set that promises to be ever so worthy of the Mau5trap name. I'm a massive fan of Sonny Moore A.K.A. Skrillex and all his creative endeavors, but I can admit--if there was one place Sonny was lacking in the past, it was his live performance. Welp, be prepared to have all preconceived notions obliterated. For his Mothership Tour, Sonny has pulled out ALL the stops. His…

Hey - Bateson here. Here is a short blog on albums I've been jamming to lately.


blink-182 - Neighborhoods
Yeah, I've been listening to the leak. I don't feel too guilty about it since I pre-ordered. "Neighborhoods" is a great follow-up to self-titled. I saw the band live a few weeks back in Auburn, and the production was phenomenal. Long live Mark, Tom, and Travis.


Places and Numbers - Travels
Bobby Darling (guitarist of Gatsbys American Dream)'s solo work is quite impressive. Here is a cool video onYouTube of how he made "Travels" backpacking through…

Saying that Skullcandy's 2011 IDentity Festival stopped at the Gorge, would be like saying Woodstock was a delightfully well-planned, intimate experience for a handful of people in the 1960's. ID didn't just make its final nationwide stop in our very own backyard; IDentity Festival soaked the hillsides of the Gorge in 3 days of brain rattling bass, about 12 square yards of clothing, and a counter-cultural movement with a soundtrack from the likes of LA Riots, the Disco Biscuits, Le Castle Vania, Pretty Lights, DatsiK, Rusko, NERO, the…

We all know (or should anyway) that this past saturday was Dimebag (but still DIAMOND to me) Darrell's Birthday, RIP, which consequently was also my son Halen's first birthday. Rightly so, he was named after another guitar great, because his daddy loves the shred. Over the first weekend off I've had in a while, I got to thinking about my previous posts regarding the tons of great artists in the great northwest that are just waiting to explode. Of course, because of my line of work and the genre that I often work with, I know a lot of the…

While scrolling through the various status updates on facebook early this afternoon, I came across one of a status of one of musician friend's exclaiming his annoyance of another "friend's" distaste for Seattle musicians. This status that angered my friend stated, although he loves his fellow Seattle musicians, he believes that "most of (them) suck." His opinion unravels as he bashes most, if not all, local musicians who don't live up to his "high" standards of what a quality musician is.

As I sat there, jaw open and eyebrows clinched, I could only watch comments pour in one after another…

Rebecca Black, music "industry's" favorite unfavorite 13 year-old internet sensation, has released a video to her new single called "My Moment." While the world cringes at the sound of her name, the video stands out as MAD boring (possibly even border line forgettable.)

In all honesty, I was expecting some other catastrophe like "Friday" brought back in April (can you believe it's been 2 months since that song invaded our airwaves?), but this video is simply a waste of 3 minutes and 26 seconds. I expected more from Miss Friday since she was brave enough to make…

There are very few things I hold higher than a nice snooze in the afternoon or cats on a rainbow, but some good ol' fashion rock 'n roll is definitely up there. My current obsession: The Dear Hunter's Color Spectrum EPs. Who else beside Casey Crescenzo would be crazy enough to undertake the enormous task of making a four-song EP for every color of the rainbow [by that I mean ROYGBIV, with black and white thrown in for good measure], and give each EP enough attention to make it good enough to stand alone with its…

.. And why is Tuesday is my favorite day of the week? NEW. RELEASES. Yes, I am a day late but it's better late than never. I've been really behind on all of the new releases and now I'm determined to keep up. With that said, here are the notable releases for the week and a few short thoughts about it.

All Time Low - Dirty Work
Everything with this band is hit or miss for me. I loved Put Up Or Shut Up and So Wrong, It's Right was okay, but Nothing Personal left a bad taste in…

Its been about 4 months since the electro house enigma that is Mord Fustang first appeared on ze interwebz. Like a blind girl at a deaf orgy, the electro scene had no idea who was coming. He would spend the next few months filling our brain boxes with a sound Mr. Fustang himself describes as "Arpeggios, wobbles, 1-up mushrooms and disco basslines." Good on ya mate. His tracks would enjoy their time in the spotlight, spending several weeks with multiple songs appearing in Beatport's Top 10. In truth I've kind of been putting off writing this because...…

Whether you know it or not, odds are you've heard New York-based DJ/Producer A-Trak's work. He's ALL over the place. Whether he's spending his time on tour as Kanye West's live DJ, or in the studio bangin' out tunes with his house/EDM group Duck Sauce, A-Trak keeps it real. When it comes to raw, old school DJ appeal, it's hard to beat this guy.

He got his start at the tender age of 15... by winning DMC's DJ World Championship, becoming the youngest ever to win the award. Of course, he couldn't just stop there. Some of…

I've been a fan of Adele ever since I was working at this grocery store called Kings in 2008 (it's a chain in New Jersey.) I was a cashier and this girl came through my line buying milk and cereal, I think. She paused when she looked at my face as I mumbled for the hundredth time, "paper or plastic." The girl said, "You look like this new singer named Adele. Ever heard of her?"

Well, I had heard of her. Reading blogs and planning a trip to London caused me to do extensive research of what was popular in…

RCA! I'm back from a semester of crippling 18-credit HELL! Seriously, whoever coined the phrase, "You can sleep when you die," has probably died. (If you find the body, I didn't do it.) After much loss of sleep, hours of dedication to homework, and many certification exams as I trek my way to becoming a certified teacher in the state of New York, I am back.

To celebrate my return, I wrote a tasty article about the lost art of the Mixed Tape. You should go read it for yourself. It's actually well researched and well thought out...…

Wolfgang Gartner. You might recognize the name from a track likeAnimal Rights that he co-produced with Deadmau5. Maybe you've heard one his new smashes (ie. Illmerica, Space Junk, Wolfgang's 5th Symphony, etc.) on the interwebz somewhere. But then again, maybe you were one of the lucky rascals who got to experience Wolfgang live at the King Cat Theater on April 8th.

Upon arrival at what is becoming my new favorite venue in Seattle I was drunk with anticipation (and whiskey). I was greeted by the pulsating sounds of Felix Cartal,…

Hailing from across the pond in his native UK, Chris Lake looked to make waves at his "Play Pause Record" tour stop in Seattle. Unfortunately, all we got was a healthy splash of his upbeat trademark house music and a monsoon of lights and lasers courtesy of Republiq Night Club in SODO.

With a raucous crew and the week's disposable income in hand, arriving at Republiq was a pleasantly surprising experience. Nestled in the heart of SODO, I was expecting the venue to be a bit on the grimey side. Other venues in this area have a tendency…

"Black Macbook for $800 OBO". Sound convincing? How about $650? Are you ready to make an offer? Go ahead and shoot Jonny Craig of Emarosa (Dance Gavin Dance before that) a tweet and he'll get back to you to where you should send the money.

When will you receive your new Macbook in the mail? Oh, you won't.

Apparently Jonny Craig has been tricking people into sending him a certain amount of money through MoneyGram, a service similar to Paypal, and hasn't sent any of the goods that he has promised to send.

The…

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, scary monsters and nice sprites; Lend me your brains. Before I begin, I’d like to offer you a few truths that I hold in life. This way, when you read my “writing,” you’ll understand the blurred vision, striking headaches, and desire to spontaneously combust that have been known to follow. There’s not a lot I can say about my writing that I can’t also say about the music I listen to. It’s dry, chaotic, often misleading… It is dubstep. To aid in the healing process, I’ll be providing you with vitamins…

It seems like the master artist of reinvention is having trouble reinventing herself. Yesterday, February 10, 2011, Lady Gaga released her single "Born This Way" to all the major radio stations in the United States. A few hours later, the song was released digitally for all of the world to hear. Fans have been anticipating the release since Gaga's twitter exploded with lyrics from the upcoming single at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2011. For days now, Gaga supporters have been reacting on their twitter pages about their excitement as they await the release of the masterpiece the…

After spending the last three days of my life revisiting the Thrice discography right up to (slash through one time to see if it made the cut.. but didn't) Vheissu, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way in hell music is never going to be this aurally pleasing ever again.

I may be the last person who is a part of this website to say it, but... what the hell happened to music? Bands from the late 90’s/early 00’s (Saves the Day, Thrice) are still around making amazing music while still remaining slightly…

Last year, around this time, I was diving into old Dance Gavin Dance records and becoming familiar with the train wreck known as Jonny Craig. Well, who would have guessed that my disgust and mortification for this "bro" would outshine that of Nevershoutnever and All Time Low.

Last week, I stumbled upon Jonny and his bragged 9-incher on my tumblr dashboard. While gagging, I knew I had to investigate. We all know Mr. Craig as being the frontman of both Emarosa and DGD. His reputation has also lead bystanders to believe this party-animal is just like every other doped up,…

It seems that Paramore fans are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. On Saturday, December 18, 2010, everyone's favorite female fronted band since No Doubt announced that two of their founding members, Josh and Zac Farro, have permanently left the band.

The three remaining members, Hayley Williams, Taylor York, and Jeremy Davis, wrote a joint statement on Paramore.net saying of Josh and Zac: "A couple of months ago, Josh and Zac let us know they would be leaving the band after our show in Orlando last Sunday. None of us were really shocked. For…