Easy pick for my band of the week here. Copeland will begin their farewell tour this Wednesday, and it happens to be the one show in North Carolina. With Copeland hailing from Lakeland, FL. (close to Orlando) I have had the pleasure of seeing this band on numerous occasions, in various venues, and on tons of tours while I was living in Florida. 

I personally feel like their best CD is "Beneath Medicine Tree", which was also their first full length release. I'm not discounting their later and more recent works, but there is something about that album that stands out in my opinion. 

Head on over to their homepage to get the tour dates and listen to some tunes. I highly recommend taking time out of whatever day they are coming near your city to see them, absolutely wonderful musicians, and you probably won't get the chance to see them again any other time if you have not already.

The Morning Of is this weeks band of the week simply because they posted a YouTube clip announcing the date of their upcoming CD, "The Way I Fell In", which will be released on May 4th.

Their first full length, "The World As We Know It", was highly anticipated and lived up to a lot of the hype, but never quite took off as some expected it to. I highly recommend that CD,  it was one of the best of 2008 for sure, and I have no doubt this upcoming release will be just as good, and probably better (the song playing in the background of the YouTube clip sounds amazing).

Check out the band on MySpace, check out the page for the upcoming release, and check out the YouTube clip I referenced a few times below.

Every week I'll put up a new feature band that I feel anyone reading this blog should check out. To kick it off I have a band out of Tallahassee, FL. called Look Mexico. Head on over to their MySpace at this link  to get updated show/CD info (new CD coming out in February) and check my list of songs of theirs to check out below, most can be found on their lala profile, or on their MySpace.


Check these out:
You Stay. I Go. No Following. 
You're Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?
You Come Into My House, While I Sleep?
It's Been a Long Time Since I Smelled Beautiful


Those in Florida be sure to check them out across the state in late Feb. in support of their upcoming full length, which I will be sure to post a review of when I get my hands on it.

The new year is upon us. I took a look back at music in 2009, and now I'm going to look forward to the remainder of this year.

1) The Audition releasing "Great Danger" in March.

I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of this band in the past. Seen them plenty of times, listened to all the music in MySpace, and it just never did anything for me. The other day I heard a 30 second clip of a new song entitled "The Art of Living", and became a fan (at least of one song). I look forward to hearing the rest of the songs on this CD, as they could be in for a big 2010 with some more songs like this on the album. Check out the 30 second clip here.

2) Owl City becoming even bigger.

It may be to early to tell if Owl City has reached their peak with Fireflies, but I can vouch for the rest of that CD being loaded with radio ready tracks that the public is sure to enjoy. He'll take constant heat for being a Postal Service rip off, but he'll also be selling more tracks then most bands could only wish for these days.

3) Reasonable awards in RIAA lawsuits.

I've never understood how a person who is being sued by the RIAA is forced to pay millions of dollars for what usually doesn't surpass 50 songs. Put that at $1.00 a song (like one would pay on iTunes) and damages should be $50.00, plus any distributing they did of the song obviously. Recently a federal judge slashed a $1.92 million dollar award for the RIAA down to $54,000. It is too be noted the RIAA offered $2,000 and $3,000 settlements, but that is still a hefty fine for 24 songs, which was what was in dispute in this particular case. The lawyer in this case has vowed to fight on, and it may not happen here, but I feel (and hope) that at some point this year these ridiculous awards to the RIAA become a thing of the past.

4) Something Corporate playing at Bamboozle Left (any other reunions?)

Something Corporate will be playing their first show since 2005 at Bamboozle Left on March 28th (what I wouldn't do to be there...), will we see any other bands playing a reunion show this year? There's talk every year of it, but I feel this may be the year Midtown finally plays a show together again. Whether it's to benefit Haiti or just a change of pace from Cobra Starship, it seems like it's time for Midtown to take the stage again. There are plenty of other bands I would like to see reunite, but that list would be far too long to share.

5) Impact of the "Rock Band Network" on artist.

With the recently implemented Rock Band Network artist and labels can now submit their own songs for addition to the Rock Band Store, after going through a stage of testing. It's going to be additional revenue and additional exposure for artist, and quite frankly it's going to be awesome for us consumers (hopefully) getting to play the songs of some of our favorite bands.

Bonus) Cleveland Cavaliers win the Championship and LeBron stays in Cleveland.

Maybe this is just wishful thinking, being a fan of all things Cleveland, but the team has looked great as of late, and when the big games have come, they have showed up. It will be interesting to see how Mo Williams performs coming back from injury, and if he shows up for the playoffs this year. I think he will. As long as the Cavs make the finals I can't imagine LeBron going anywhere else, unless an offer he can't refuse comes up, like to team with Dwayne Wade or Dwight Howard. Time will tell, but I definitely don't foresee him going to New York or New Jersey, as others have claimed.

It was really hard to choose my ten favorite albums of 2009, as it usually is for any given year. A few bands that I absolutely love put out CDs this year that I tried to warrant putting on the list, but just couldn’t in the end (Farewell, We Shot The Moon, Person L, Set Your Goals, Sherwood, and Every Avenue, to name a few). You can find the list below, with a few short comments at the conclusion.

10) The Swellers – Ups and Downsizing

9) Between The Trees – Spain

8) Two Tongues – Self Titled

7) New Found Glory – Not Without a Fight

6) All The Day Holiday – The Things We’ve Grown to Love

5) Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

4) Mansions – New Best Friends

3) The Dangerous Summer – Reach for the Sun

2) Cassino – Kingprince

1) Fun. – Aim & Ignite

I knew “Aim & Ignite” was going to be my album of the year the first time I listened to it (and the plenty of times after that). It is simply amazing and I am ashamed I have not seen them live yet. Cassino put out another great album this year, but I still can’t get over the redone version of “The Gin War”, I like the older one way better. This was pretty much the only album I expected to compete with Fun.’s, and while it was second, I wouldn’t say it competed. At number four is the band Mansions, really the project of one individual, but keep an eye on them in 2010. I had never heard of them until I saw them open for The Get Up Kids, and I am glad I was introduced to them. Spots 6-10 were really hard to distinguish to any degree, each album has a few songs I absolutely love, some I dislike, and some I can tolerate. It pretty much came down to my familiarity with the band, or lack thereof, and what I expected from it. I was very disappointed in the Between The Trees album, I really thought that would be in my top three, at least, until I finally heard it.

Overall it was like any other year when it came to my favorite albums. A limited number of bands stood out in the crowd, some new comers caught my ears, and some bands that I like disappointed. And one last note – check out the CD/DVD combo: The Starting Line – Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us. It’s a great live show and documentary about the band, and just how messed up the music industry can be.