Hello all, I've returned from the grave. My hands are bloody and my teeth are gone. I'm covered in dirt and I can't bear the sound of a human voice. I'm not here to kill, I'm here to talk to you about a band I've recently had the chance to enjoy.



This fine group of gentleman is known as The National. Some of you may have heard of them, they have peaked on the billboard charts at #3 and I couldn't be happier for them. Unlike many indie webzines, we here at RCA don't believe in hating…

The Maine's album Black and White comes out tomorrow, and somehow it hasn't leaked yet (a feat pretty much unheard of in this day and age). If you absolutely cannot wait until tomorrow to hear the album, you can now stream it in its entirety on AOL music. Just click the album and scroll down for the complete playlist.

Click here for the album stream.

The caption under their album art states that this album finds the Maine with a more "cohesive, mature sound." Do you agree? What do you guys think of…

Rockin' Romance: Volume 2 is the highly anticipated follow up to 2009's compilation featuring popular love songs covered by up and coming indie rock artists. Destiny Worldwide will continue announce two bands per week until May 28th.

The artists announced are up and coming solo artist Cady Groves with her cover of "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" by NSYNC, Artist vs. Poet with their cover of "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness, Holiday Parade with their cover of "Slide" by Goo Goo Dolls, Breathe Electric with their cover…

This album is so amazing that I started to write a review on it--then I realized that my writing was not worthy enough to be directed to such a beautiful piece of work. Seriously. If you want to read a real review then go to Pitchfork.

All I'm saying is that anyone who appreciates music should probably listen to this CD. My favorite tracks (thus far) are Baptism and.. everything else. As one of our Facebook fans put it, with this album "it's like they actually put forth some effort..." and I couldn't…

I should have posted this blog earlier, but better late than never!

My significant other (AKA Simon AKA the Snow of Kilimanjaro) is a DJ on UW's student-run Rainy Dawg Radio, and tonight is his last show EVER!

Tune in from now until 11. So far he has played some new Crystal Castles, Delorean, and Royksopp. Next up you will hear Mew, Tokyo Police Club, and maybe a little MGMT.

Click here to listen!

First off, let's all give a giant hand the size of TEXAS to our programmers for fixing ALL our bugs! /does backflip

Well, I'm a big fan of free music (legally, of course) and I bet you are too. PLUS, every OTHER music site does "FREE MUSIC FRIDAY", and to be ahead of the curve, here we are. With that said, I've compiled a list of AWESOME bands (literally or sarcastically) who are sharing some pretty AWESOME music.

1. Hawthorne Heights acoustic version of Nervous Breakdown. (oh, break DOWN, HH!)

2. Innerpartysystem's "American Trash" from their new EP…

Destiny Worldwide will release Rockin' Romance: Volume 2 on June 15, 2010.

Rockin' Romance: Volume 2 is the highly anticipated follow up to 2009's compilation featuring popular love songs covered by up and coming indie rock artists. Destiny Worldwide will continue announce two bands per week until May 28th.

The artists announced are up and coming solo artist Cady Groves with her cover of "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" by NSYNC, Artist vs. Poet with their cover of "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness, and today Holiday Parade is announced with…

Oh you haven't? I'm going to let you in on a little/medium/venti secret: Anarbor.



Anarbor is a group of friends from Phoenix, Arizona who make shradical tunes. They fall into the pop rock genre, but they definitely have their own psychedelic spunk. Their record The Words You Don't Swallow is out in stores on 4/20. Yeah, 4/20. Celebrate. I highly recommend you mark your calendars for this one and say hello to your new favorite band.

(Click image to pre-order)


;)

My ride is almost to the airport to pick me up, so this is going to be short and sweet.

Incidentally, this artist was also on the compilation that I received from Byron, but I was also reminded of this band by a fan on our Facebook page (*cough* become a fan for a double dose of RCA).

Mumford and Sons is today's band that doesn't suck. Precious.

It's Saturday night, and I am sitting at my mom's house watching a terribly depressing movie called Born Into Brothels. The movie is basically about children who live in the Red Light District in Calcutta, India. An Englishwoman teaches them photography and the children learn to see the world through through new eyes.... I literally can't keep my eyes from the screen for long enough to write a complete sentence in this blog. THIS IS TAKING FOREVER.

Anyway, the whole purpose of this blog is to share an artist with you guys that I just recently…

Forgive my insolence, but I only just now got around to listening to Circa Survive's newest single, Get Out. Tyler posted a news blurb about it a couple of days ago, but you REALLY need to hear this song.

I am seriously blown away right now. Circa have definitely taken their music in a of a different direction, and the result is AMAZING. Go listen to the track on the Circa Survive website.

Circa Survive's album, Blue Sky Noise, drops on 4/20/2010.

After months of anticipation, our friends in Me Vs. Myself are streaming their complete EP Seasons on their Myspace page, check it out here! They've also gone live with a new Myspace layout courtesy of yours truly. Check out what people are saying on Absolute Punk!

And most importantly, today is also the release of their music video for Promising directed by our favorite Ryan Kam. Click on the image below to watch the video on Ryan's vimeo page, or go to the bands Myspace to watch it on their page.

This is a compromise. I have a lot of opinions, and have a hard time trying to decide what to write about. And when I do write something, it's horribly long winded and you just want to scream FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP WRITING I GET IT ALREADY at me (which you can do at aeryn@raincityambience.com or you can send me nice things. Or questions. Or just... whatever). So in the interest of getting something done and not boring you to death... I bring you mini-reviews. Sometimes they'll be sorta vague (sorry), and sometimes I'll still tell you too…

Animal Collective have released their new video for Brothersport. Needless to say, this shit is weird.

Click the photo below to watch the vid on YouTube.

Our pals in Man Without Wax have posted a new demo on their Myspace page. The song is titled I Don't Care, and is accompanied by two other demos. They can all be heard on Myspace.

And just because we LOVE end-of-the-year-oh-when-will-they-ever-end lists so much, here is Man Without Wax's lists of 2009!:

From absolutepunk.net...

Spencer Mertel - vocals and keys
Top Albums of 2009
1. Paramore - Brand New Eyes
2. Muse - The Resistance
3. Dethklok - Dethalbum II
4. Flight Of The Conchords - I Told You I Was…

Agree? Disagree?

Don't worry, the end-of-the-year stuff will end eventually.

Share your thoughts in in the comments!

In Halo terms this phrase would mean 5 downloads in a row without being killed (or shot by the RIAA, which has pretty much been given the ol' axe anyway), but in my terms it means that my iPhone is seriously lacking in the music department and all of my good albums are on my iPod-- which I accidentally left at work. And ALTHOUGH my brand new shiny Macbook Pro is in transit (apparently still in Redding, CA), I thought I would flex my Macbook's downloading muscle just one more time before it is replaced by a better, faster version…

Considering this is going to be my first blog entry, I guess it's only fitting that you get a judgment of my musical tastes via my 2009 top album list. As I was thinking about the music I've been listening to all year, I looked at my iTunes to see what dominated my plays and sadly it wasn't very much music from albums released in 2009. But here goes nothing, and I hope to get more involved in RCA as its San Diego representative ha. Bask in it.


Top 10 Albums of 2009

10. Eye Alaska - Genesis Underground…

After reading both Kelly & Garrett's picks for 2009, I whispered aloud, "Crap, my choices aren't NEARLY as artistic as theirs." As I sat there, in my nest of a bed resting off whatever flu like symptoms I have now thanks to a confined space with my family members, I realized that this list is what fancies MY taste. My taste may not be the most artistic or highest rating with the critics, but this is what I liked in 2009. Hopefully, my list is a little diverse.

So, instead of being just like Kelly and…

It is with great honor that I present you...

Garrett's top ten albums of the year!


10. Thrice - Beggars


9. New Found Glory - Not Without A Fight


8. Despised Icon - Day Of Mourning


7. Say Anything - Say Anything


6. Brand New - Daisy


5. A Day To Remember - Homesick


4. Portugal.…

After finals, contracting the flu, contracting some other undesirable ailment, and an insane holiday season in the retail world, jumping on the ol' computer takes a bit of effort. With two days until the end of the 2009, I realized that this blog is an opportunity I can't pass up.

Without further ado, I present you with...

Kelly's top ten albums of the year!

I have put quite a bit of thought into this list at work and while driving to and from work (what a life I lead!), so I think I have just about enough foundation to write…

Tis the season for pop-punk/hardcore/rock bands to produce what i like to call... xmas-core. After having surgery during my finals week, I was pandora-ing listening to some "interesting" covers of all our favorite Christmas classics. This season, you won't have to settle for cookie-cutter Christmas tunes. Settle yourself in for a wild ride. We all have our favorite "punk goes christmas" collection. I'll be making my list AND checking it twice.

So, as i compiling this Xmas-core list, tell us:
What is your favorite Christmas song cover?

As you ponder, check out these albums for ideas!
1. Santa Cause: It's…

I listen to artists who add me on Myspace maybe once every six months because it takes a year to wade through all the mediocrity, but today I am going to see how many I can power through without having to stop because my ears start to bleed.

Sean Martin apparently sounds like Lydia and PlayRadioPlay!, and it looks like he is pretty good friends with He is We. Give him a listen if you like dreamy acoustic pop with slightly auto-tuned vocals.

Grab the Camera is a band from Portland, Oregon that remind me of a…

Every time I tell somebody I haven't actually listened to the newest Brand New album yet (which happens to only be twice, but both times were in the past two days), I get the feeling that they think I should probably just quit life and pursue something not related to music.

Long story short, I JUST GOT THE ALBUM, OKAY? I AM LISTENING TO IT RIGHT NOW. And holy crap, I pretty much refuse to believe that this is Brand New. The opening track, Vices reminds me more of Refused than the Brand New that I know and love.

The…

Do you LOVE Single Ladies by Beyonce?! Well... Me either. HOWEVER, Pompaloose has managed to create a version of the song that is actually enjoyable.

Hey, it might even be the best cover of all time. OF ALL TIME!!

Click the picture below to watch:

Usually when a new album comes out from a band I am generally "meh" about or have never heard before, I wait awhile until I am in the mood to listen to new music. Of course, owning a website dedicated to music and delivering the latest music news/info to readers makes this difficult. Somehow I manage. Colleen is a lifesaver in this respect.

Today was a little bit different.

I went to my usual music acquiring venue (err..) and picked up three new albums today: Fun. - Aim and Ignite, Say Anything's self-titled album that came out today, and some…

The first in a series of three blogs, here's an in depth look at my entire setup.

I literally spent hours and hours in high school studying articles like this, and dreaming up the rig I would want to have if I could travel the country playing music. Here was the drill: The only supplies needed for this fantastical game are a Musicians Friend magazine, a calculator, and a steno pad. Simply list the gear you want and add up the prices; back in the hay day it was something like a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, a Les Paul Custom…

I've decided that it would be a good idea to ask various artists about their current favorite listenings. Basically, this can include but is not limited to: top ten bands of all time, top ten albums of all time, top ten bands of right now, etc etc...

Today, we have Jaron Johnson (Me Vs. Myself, Forgive Durden) to fill us in on his top ten albums of the year.

1. Fun. Aim And Ignite
2. A Day To Remember Homesick
3. Brighter Shades You Shine So Bright
4. Every Time I Die New Junk Aesthetic
5. Set Your Goals This…

So, Kelly texted me today asking me if i wanted to do my top songs of the week. I decided to post my playlist on my imeem account as well. BY THE WAY, all these songs posted are new-ish songs... except for one! I've been listening to a lot of new stuff to get inspired... to change... much like the leaves do in the fall!


1. Paparazzi [Acoustic version] - Lady Gaga
I've been listening to a lot of Lady Gaga since i was her for my Red Carpet themed Homecoming dance. This song is super…

Our Texan friends in Otenki shot a music video awhile back, and it is now available for your viewing pleasure on Vimeo. The song, Phoenix, is off Otenki's debut EP, Making Sense of Static. Satiate your pop-punk side.

Just click the photo below to watch!

Instead of attempting to throw a new song at you guys every day, one of us is going to post a blog every week telling you what we are currently jamming to. Sound good? Awesome.

Also, I just realized that I have an account on iMeem, so I made a playlist of these songs. Click here if you are interested.

1. Minus the Bear - Into the Mirror Thank you to Colleen for discovering that my favorite band in the universe (this is my "I'M BIASED!" alert, FYI) has released a new song. I love the…

Basically, The Almost has the coolest pre-order ever. If i try to explain it, it'll come out like mush... so, to help explain it, I found this video of AARON GILLESPIE (love of my life) explaining it.

CLICK HERE!

From the preorder site:

Can't wait until November 3rd to get your Hands on the new Almost full length "Monster Monster"? Well here's your chance to buy your limited edition copy, AND get some goodies to listen to NOW!!!! The full album comes out on Nov. 3, but you have the chance to get this Limited Edition…

Hello.
After the 24 hour trek from Seattle to Denver, a very large portion of Penang curry and chicken, and a couple 50 cent New Belgium 1554 Dark Ales, the band and I went down to the lobby to hang with our new label mates, The Swellers.

Having heard their music, I was expecting to meet some dudes that were about as relatable to us as their music is. This is not a bad thing, but they play punk music (and good punk music, at that). This Providence does not.

Nick, Ryan, Jonathan, and Anto are some of the coolest…

Fueled by Ramen had one of their minions post a walkthrough of Paramore's Brand New Eyes box set on YouTube, and holy crap this thing is loaded with awesome (it is my goal in life to misuse that word as much as possible).



Check out everything that the box set comes with:
- CD with 2 acoustic b-sides (Tracklist below)
- DVD with exclusive content (Tracklist below)
- Yellow 7” VINYL with 2 acoustic b-sides (Tracklist below)
- Double sided poster (One side album art / One side new bxw band photo)
- 40…

I thought that compiling a bunch of music videos that I enjoy and sharing them with you all would be interesting, but it took me nearly a week to come up with.. uh.. four videos? After that I couldn't even decide how to post them, so instead of making a list of videos in order of their awesomeness, I am just going to throw them all at you in random order. Well, besides Sic Transit Gloria by Brand New. That video is just amazing-- So I guess that's where I will start.

Brand New - Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades…

I woke up with the worst headache this morning. I've been sitting around trying to find some relaxing piano music all day. And alas, I've found something truly beautiful.

Never heard of this guy until today, but I recommend you listen: Dustin O'Halloran

So I listened to Anchor & Braille when Stephen Christian (of Anberlin) first set out to do a side project. I wasn't that excited about it, being a fan of Anberlin and all. However, he's been working on a new album due to hit stores on August 4th, and so far I am in love with it! Go listen to his songs here.


And make sure you pick up/order a copy on August 4th!

That's right, Progress in Color have re-recorded/posted two of the songs that made us want to interview them back in 2007.

The new recordings sound awesome, and with them Caleb posted a sort of disclaimer blog (check their Myspace to read it, or the comments for a direct link) telling people why they shouldn't say the older songs are better because "they suck" and that's all they had the ability to record in the beginning. The new versions are how they were always supposed to sound.

Caleb also states that if you like the demos…

In all honesty, when On The Last Day parted ways with Geoff, I was quite skeptical of their new find. Carson Allen is the current singer of On The Last Day and has a completely different sound than the old On The Last Day, but definitely good. The addition of Carson was a glorious thing. Secretly in my head, I've always thought Carson would sound awesome on top of something a little more poppy and 90's. He started a side project a while ago with Frank (also of OTLD) and Jaron (may be seen drumming for Forgive Durden.) I've been…

I have come to the conclusion that lesser known bands only cover over-played pop songs to gain some sort of instant boost of MySpace fame, and it's getting more and more obvious by the AbsolutePunk news post. Admittedly, a few of them are not so bad (*cough* ADTR), but the rest are just ridiculous. I mean come on, you can't honestly think that all of these bands actually like covering cheesy pop songs-- but anything for a few more plays must be worth the agony. As one of our writers, Dan, speculated in the comments, "It's just one of many…

Metal fans listen up! The Sky Electric is a brand new band out of Seattle, but it is comprised of many familiar faces. Previous members of From Aphony, Dance, and Ameretta have gotten together and are prepared to melt faces.

With the recent addition of vocalist, Cory, TSE are complete, and have posted a brand new song on their Myspace page for your listening pleasure. An EP is also in the works, but a release date is not yet clear.

The Sky Electric will be playing their first show at El Corazon on August 5th.

Destiny Worldwide is an independent record label and management company based in Seattle, WA. The company was formed in 2006 around their first album release, “Building Homes From What We’ve Known” by The Scene Aesthetic. Metcalf produced and engineered the record in the company’s recording studio, Destiny Studios, and has since produced material from many other bands. His recent projects include albums and songs by Daphne Loves Derby, Danger Radio, A Change of Pace, Anarbor, Artist Vs Poet, The Real You, Moneta, Shyforshy, and many more.

Job Description: Monroe, WA based indie record label Destiny Worldwide is looking for interns…

Garrett reminded me that the new Alexisonfire CD is coming out next month, so I decided to head to their Myspace to check out Young Cardinals: the obviously kick-ass single that the band took three years to release.

Oh wait, did I say kick-ass? Screw that. I meant borderline Avenged Sevenfold bullshit that I wish I could pretend I didn't hear. But it's too late. My mind has been tainted. What has been heard cannot be unheard. I keep listening to the song expecting my ears (and broken heart) to magically adapt to this style that, as far as I…

I am currently listening to Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends from way back in 2002, and am attempting to come to terms with the fact that I think I like the music I used to listen to better than the music I listen to now. I don't know if it's because this is what got me into this genre of music in the first place or if it really is just better than my current musical choices (this would be a very sad realization), but I do know that it is blowing my mind to a point that…