mastodon | Popblerd

Jesse’s Top Picks For RSD 2012

by Jesse on Apr 18, 2012 • No Comments

Record Store Day is just a couple days away!! Jesse wants you to know what to buy…or what to avoid so he can buy.

Popblerd’s Grammy Preview & Predictions 2012: Rock Categories

by MJ on Feb 6, 2012 • No Comments

award shows / music / news / rock music / Uncategorized

Hey y’all! The same way that some consider the Academy Awards the Super Bowl for non-sports fans, the Grammy Awards is like the Super Bowl for a certain strain of music fan. Of course, I’m a football fan, so it’s kinda like having the Super Bowl a week after the Super Bowl…and it’s very likely that this year, Madonna will be at both. I won’t go into specifics about the history of the Grammy Awards. You all have Wikipedia for […]

Mastodon & Opeth Announce Tour Dates!

by MJ on Jan 31, 2012 • No Comments

Concert Reviews / rock music / Videos

Want your face melted? Of course you do!! Beardy metal guys Mastodon are heading out on tour this summer, and they are bringing equally cool (but Swedish, so potentially more cool…) metal folk Opeth out with them. The tour begins next door to me in Portland, ME and wraps in Atlanta a month and change later. Want to know what all those Ms and Os in parentheses are? They serve as an indicator of who’s closing the show (in case […]

bLISTerd Presents: Nick’s Top 11 Albums of 2011

by Nick on Dec 18, 2011 • No Comments

bLISTerd / Lists! / music / Pop Music / rock music

Aw…they look so cute. Mastodon leads the charge on Nick’s list of the top 11 albums of 2011.

New Release Report 9/27/11: Oh Well, Whatever. Nevermind (Again)

by MJ on Sep 27, 2011 • 5 Comments

hip-hop / Indie Rock / music / New Release Report / New Releases / news / Pop Music / rock music / soul music

Twenty years ago this week, a trio of wildly influential albums came out. Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik gave that L.A.-based band their biggest success, turned rock/rap into an official “thing” and gave Rick Rubin producer cred after a couple of years in the wilderness. A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory turned that group from De La Soul Jr. into one of hip-hop’s most original and inventive acts. Meanwhile, Nirvana’s Nevermind helped bring alternative rock […]

Metal Monday Volume 37 (9.26.11)

by Jesse on Sep 26, 2011 • 2 Comments

Album Reviews / Metal Monday / music / New Releases / Release Dates / Videos

At this point in Mastodon’s illustrious career, I have to ask: Is it even possible for them to make a bad album? If their latest, The Hunter, is any indication then the answer is a resounding “NO!”. Stepping away from the concept album concept (pun intended) for the first time in almost 10 years, The Hunter sees the behemoth known as Mastodon at their most loose, raw, and yet still experimental. With but just two songs on here crossing the […]

The Singles Bar: Mastodon’s “Spectrelight”

by Jesse on Sep 14, 2011 • No Comments

Metal Monday / music / New Releases / Release Dates / rock music / The Singles Bar / Videos

From the three tracks previewed so far, it seems as if Mastodon’s The Hunter is gonna be fast, heavy, and short. Which is good. I often joke that the only band capable of following up a concept album with a concept album (with a concept album with a concept album!) is Mastodon (I don’t know why you even tried My Chemical Romance and Green Day!) so to have them finally decide to free themselves of the constraints of such grand […]

Mastodon Play the Singles Game!

by Jesse on Aug 16, 2011 • 1 Comment

music / New Releases / rock music

Did Mastodon actually make a single that sounds like a single? I think they did! “Curl of the Burl” is still a big ball of unrelenting riffs and guitar solos wrapped into a neat under 4-minute package but wait ’til those vocals come in. Are they singing throughout? I think they are. And it’s very melodic! Who knew? And is that a huge pre-chorus filled with “Ohhhh’s”? It’s a little scary when you think of it as a Mastodon song […]

Mastodon returns. ‘Nuff said.

by Jesse on Jul 28, 2011 • 1 Comment

Metal Monday / music / Release Dates / rock music / Videos

Best news of the day was when the latest Mastodon album, The Hunter, was officially scheduled for a release on September 27th and not in October. Sooner the better, I say! Second best news was the release of “Black Tongue”, the band’s first offering from The Hunter. It’s heavy, it’s fast, it’s definitely Mastodon. This one sounds like a natural progression from Crack The Skye but more stripped down and sleek. How about this: take the guitar tones from “Blood […]

Metal Monday Volume 27 (7.18.11)

by Jesse on Jul 18, 2011 • 2 Comments

Metal Monday / music / New Releases / Release Dates / Videos

In moving forward from the recent Top 10 so far list on the Blerd last week, I give you my “Top 5 metal albums guaranteed to kick your ass during the next 6 months without hearing a note”. Catchy title, right? 1. Will Haven: Voire Dire> The first album that vocalist Grady Avenell has sung on since 2001’s Carpe Diem (And one of my Top 5 albums of all time). When Will Haven reformed a few years ago, I was […]

Mastodon’s B-Sides Are Better Than Most Bands A-Sides.

by Jesse on Jun 29, 2011 • 1 Comment

Metal Monday / music / rock music / Spin Cycle / Videos

Wow, for a B-side, “Deathbound” sure kills. THIS was a B-side?!?!?! I can see how this didn’t exactly fit into the fabric of Crack The Skye, though. “Deathbound” is stylistically somewhere between Remission and Leviathan. One thing’s for sure, it gives me a lot of hope for The Hunter in October which even Mastodon have been saying will be closer to Leviathan. For now, you get this treat and the accompanying demented Mr. Rogers Muppet mutilation video. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4dfd4ChKQ

Metal Monday Volume 9 (3.14.11)

by Jesse on Mar 14, 2011 • No Comments

Album Reviews / Concert Reviews / Metal Monday / New Releases / Release Dates / rock music / Videos

Ugh. I hate writing sh@#%tty reviews about bands I like. I love Mastodon. Their entire catalog titillates and tantalizes my earbuds regularly. (Bet you never heard that description talking about some heavy metal!) Some of you might be saying: “Hey Metal Monday guy! If it’s a bad disc, why review it?” I counter that with two reasons.: First, to prove that the world is not all sunshine and smiles. Second, my journalistic integrity (?) demanded that I tell you, the […]