Musician tweet of the week: Brendan Urie

Panic! At The Disco are working on a new record. And they've reclaimed their lost exclamation point!

It's amazing how fast a band can fall off the radar. They've lost two of their members. We'll see if the new album (blink-182's Mark Hoppus is contributing) puts them back in the spotlight.

Panic! singer Brendan Urie was tweeting about domestic life this week:

i believe my dog Bogart's favorite movie is Marley & Me. can't keep his eyes off the screen.

The band's new album is slated for a 2010 release.

http://twitter.com/brendonuriesays

Full-length CD reviews are for suckers

So here are our short takes on noteworthy discs from the past several weeks...

STAY POSITIVE The Hold Steady
Scott: "These sing-along songs will be our scriptures," yelps Craig Finn in his sing-speak manner, and he couldn't be more true. "Sequestered in Memphis" might be the best song of 2008 - if "Stay Positive" isn't. Both are vintage Hold Steady, with the detailed plotlines, riveting piano melodies and soaring choruses that makes us love them. Those were the first two tracks I heard off this record, and that led me to believe this was an early contender for Album of the Year. The rest of the album isn't quite that good (if only "One for the Cutters" was as awesome as its title...) but this is still a terrific effort.

WEEZER (RED ALBUM) Weezer

Deena: The predictableness of most Weezer albums has pleasantly lessened on their sixth record. Each band member sings lead on at least one track, which provides nice variety; some fun white-boy rapping shows up on a few songs; and several tracks meander away from the traditional 3-minute disposable pop song formula, with great success. Often the complaint about Weezer is that their lyrics haven't been as emotional or personal since Pinkerton, but the Red Album might actually deliver on that as well, particularly the deluxe edition, which contains some equally good tracks that didn't make the final cut.

Scott: My favorite here is "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived," Rivers Cuomo's most ambitious song ever. Rivers channels Kanye West's ego for a masterpiece that might be the band's best since "Only in Dreams." The spoken-word bragging is the high point, with Rivers claiming, "If you don't like it, you can shove it. But you don't like it - you love it."

MEð SUð í EYRUM VIð SPILUM ENDALAUST Sigur Ros
Scott: A brilliant disc. Gone (for the most part) are the plodding 9-minute epics; instead, more than half the songs clock in at 4:15 or less. They are also much more lively, starting with the opener "Gobbledigook", while the last two minutes of "Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur" are as perfect as pop music can get. Sigur Ros also throw in their first-ever English song, "All Alright," which ranks up there with "Heysatan" and "Samskeyti" as one of their most beautiful tracks.

PRETTY. ODD. Panic at the Disco
Scott: This is better than it has any right to be. Panic sets out to make a record that the Beatles would make if they recorded in the year 2008, and remarkably, they come close to succeeding. "She Had the World" and "Beyond the Sea" wouldn't be out of place on Sgt. Pepper. This is one of those records that's a major artistic step forward, even though it's not likely to match the commercial success of their debut.

Deena: Even though I bitched that Panic abandoned their original producer, Danny Elfman, on this album, I really can't complain about the end result. Like the new Weezer album, most of the band gets a shot at the mic, especially lyricist Ryan Ross, whose voice is a pleasant departure and yet a great complement to lead singer Brendon Urie.

NO, VIRGINIA Dresden Dolls
Scott: This collection contains most of the songs the Dolls have performed in concert over the years but never put to tape. "Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner" is an intense track that is so fun and upbeat you almost don't realize Amanda Palmer is literally singing about a lonesome organist raping his page turner. "Night Reconnaissance" is another standout, Palmer speaking for outcasts everywhere when she sings, "Nothing is crueler than children who come from good homes."

ROBOTIQUE MAJESTIQUE, Ghostland Observatory
Scott: GLO is a favorite of mine, but this one doesn't live up to their previous efforts. "Dancing on My Grave" is a quirky electronic pop tune that stands out from a batch of unremarkable songs. Singer/snakedancer Aaron Behrens has given up the guitar on this record, and while I didn't think that would be a bad thing, it ends up leading to a lack of variety on this disc.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, Kathy Griffin
Scott: As a huge Kathy fan, I have to say this CD is a bit of a disappointment. Her stories aren't as compelling as usual. Instead of giving us behind-the-scenes stories from award shows, she talks about what she's seen lately on Oprah. Lame! Her stories about Marie Osmond and Stevie Wozniak aren't terribly exciting either, but there are still plenty of laughs, particularly when she talks about her 88-year-old mother randomly discovering new reality tv shows - "Kathy, I just don't want you to end up like those goddamn Kardashians!"

Modern Rock Misses You, Danny Elfman (or at least I do)

submitted by Deena

With all Scott's recent talk of Panic(!) at the Disco, I thought I'd keep it going with an entry of my own. What a letdown to hear that their upcoming album, Pretty. Odd., was originally going to be produced by Danny Elfman, who was dropped after the band decided to re-write the entire album, saying it sounded too much like a film score.

Although Ryan Ross, lyricist and guitarist for P@TD (pictured right--isn't he cute?), is a self-proclaimed Elfman fan, it seems like these kids don't even realize that his roots aren't in film.

In fact, Elfman's past work with Oingo Boingo would have made him a great candidate to work with the Panic boys. Both groups share the common ground of a fusion of genres like pop, electronica, dance, and rock as well as a love for creativity in instrumentation on their albums. It seemed like a great match.

Maybe I'm just bitter becuase I desperately want to see Danny Elfman venture back into the pop/modern rock scene, but the whole fiasco just seems strange to me. Panic passed up the opportunity to work with their idol and essentially discredited Elfman as anything other than a film composer.

So who DID Panic pick to produce the album? Rob Mathes, songwriter, arranger, and producer, who is widely known for his yearly Christmas concerts, which have spawned 2 PBS television specials. Snore.

But for all my complaining, I still can't manage to dislike the pre-release single, "Nine in the Afternoon," which has--dare I say it--a very Beatlesque quality. I'm still going to hold out hope that the boys bring Danny back into the picture at some point when they're ready to write their big film score...

Panic! drops exclamation point; punctuation lovers mourn

The news that Panic! at the Disco will now be known as Panic at the Disco (sans exclamation point) has made punctuation lovers like myself sad.

We've been in the middle of a long punctuation drought recently. Shania Twain was always the queen of punctuation. Her 1997 album Come On Over featured no fewer than 23 punctuation marks among its 16 songs, with titles such as "Whatever You Do! Don't!" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" But Shania's been away for years, so we can't count on her to satisfy our punctuation fix.

I'm going to have to start listening to bands like Los Campesinos! and You Say Party! We Say Die! I'm hopeful they will start a new trend.

And now, an mp3 of the most ridiculous punctuation song in history ("Babe, I wanna hold you in parentheses.")

MP3: Dan Baird - I Love You Period

Her name is Rio, and she closes the goddamn door

The other day I came across Duran Duran’s Rio video, while a copy of the Rolling Stone with Panic! At the Disco on the cover was sitting on my table, and it struck me that these two are EXACTLY THE SAME BAND. Of course this comparison has been made before, but I never realized just how accurate it was.



Duran Duran was known as much for their sharp style, cool hair and good looks as for their catchy pop ditties, just like P!ATD. Both bands received their fair share of scorn for this. The difference is that, over time, people came around and gave respect to Duran Duran, while it hasn’t happened yet for P!ATD. No matter, though. I think that’s part of the reason RS decided to put Panic on the cover. They realize that while they may get some criticism for it now, years from now it will make sense.

And, since RS once put Duran Duran on the cover...