Countdown to Punchday

[Bloodcinder]

Punchline (http://www.myspace.com/punchline)'s new album Just Say Yes is out on September 16, which I am calling Punchday! I am counting the days! You should probably do so as well!

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3325/punchlinejustsayyeslorepu9.jpg

Punchweek (the seven days before Punchday) starts on September 9, so if you haven't preordered (http://punchline.me) by then you're doin' it wrong!

Free MP3 from the new album: Somewhere In the Dark (http://www.modernshortstories.net/freepunchline/)!

YouTube acoustic basement sessions of songs from the new album: Somewhere In the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFV6aAxT0aU) and Punish or Privilege (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlHCwEgeCOw)!

YouTube videos of older Punchline stuff: Green Light (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BCsZTeWVTw) from 37 Everywhere and Getting There Is Getty By (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDu9BKwQ720) from Action.

This is a picture of Chris Fafalios' favorite space animal according to his blog in which he said so and posted this picture!

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8463/safeimagephpurlhttp3a2fxu3.jpg

I like it too! I think he did a good job!

Also, this is Punchline!

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/1926/safeimagephpurlhttp3a2fcj6.jpg

But those punchtastic clothes are just for special occasions!

The album is $14 of money on or before Punchday!

If you can get me a date with Chris or Belan I'll get pay you for the cost of the album!

[Z]

Hmm. I must admit, I haven't heard any of their songs yet but I may have to check them out.

[Bloodcinder]

You may indeed! The links I provided are pretty good!

[Bloodcinder]

This is the first of seven days preceding the release of Punchline's new album!

Which, for me, shipped today! I guess I'll be getting it early! Tits!

http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw1.jpg (http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw1.jpg)

[llama_egg]

Hmm, might check them out, they seem decent. Though I can easily say I'm not preordering it :P

[Seegtease]

You're such a fangirl.

[Bloodcinder]

This was day two of Punchweek!

http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw2.jpg (http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw2.jpg)

Look at them sing!

[Seegtease]

You're such a fangirl.
QFT

[Gio Takahashi]

QFT

QFT Indeed.

[Bloodcinder]

Oh my, I forgot to post for day three!

http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw3.jpg (http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw3.jpg)

And today's day four!

http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw4.jpg (http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw4.jpg)

The plot thickens!

My CD hasn't arrived yet, but I know it will very soon!

Chris Fafalios preordered his and already received it!

Of course, he is in the band!

[Bloodcinder]

My CD arrived by the time I got back from class this evening!

I haven't opened it yet!

My BFF is here and we're going to open it together and take pictures of the process!

[Z]

How'd it go?

[Gio Takahashi]

My CD arrived by the time I got back from class this evening!

I haven't opened it yet!

My BFF is here and we're going to open it together and take pictures of the process!

Now that's what I call fangirlism

[Bloodcinder]

Now that's what I call fangirlism
(Psst. I got it the first two times.)

How'd it go?
Haven't done it yet. Yesterday was quite tiring. Anyway, once I get all the pictures made and review the album, I will blog/post it all on Punchday itself.

That said, today is day five of Punchweek!

http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw5.jpg (http://link.bloodcinder.com/blog/punchw5.jpg)

Oh hai dere! Welkom!

[Bloodcinder]

Sneak preview!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2854894808_188fe1d5b3.jpg

Photoshoot (http://flickr.com/photos/bloodcinder/2854894684/): How to Open Your New Punchline CD. (Just keep clicking "more" until the end. There are 28 photos.)

[Seegtease]

Either I did something wrong, or you mixed some of the numbers up.

[Bloodcinder]

Three of the numbers are in a slightly wrong order, but I was too lazy to fudge the timestamps to make it work. But thank you for noting the small irrelevancies as usual!

[Seegtease]

I thought I found an Easter Egg!

[Bloodcinder]

Oh hai! I have ur Punchday rite here!


This is copied over from my blog...

So, first off, the amusing part: go look at the How to Open Your New Punchline CD (http://flickr.com/photos/bloodcinder/2854894684/) photo-shoot I posted on my Flickr thanks to Brian's handy-dandy assistance. There are twenty-eight photos starting with that one. Just keep hitting "moar" to browse the entirety. This will give you an overview of the glorious experience on this past Saturday of opening up the album, and, depending on your persuasion, make you want to suck face with me.

When done with that, you can read my brief review of Just Say Yes below!

This album is the shit. I am so impressed. The first thing that impressed me was just how great the packaging is. This thing looks like it was produced by somebody with far more popularity, like Relient K or Switchfoot or something. It's not a jewel case. It's one of those fancy tri-fold cases, and it has a lyrics booklet. The entire thing looks immaculate.

As for the tracks, the two I was already a fan of prior to the release of the album, "Somewhere in the Dark" and "Punish or Privilege," are still my favorites. However, there's a lot of interesting stuff. The overall theme of the album is very depressing, which I like, compared to 37 Everywhere which was remarkably happy. What can I say? I'm a fan of music that's more upset than I am.

There's also a huge instrumental difference. There's a lot more of what I'd term "experimental" instrumentation in this album, although "experimental" might not be such an extreme word in reference to their previous albums, since piano kind of counts. I would say, however, that a lot of the tracks have an interesting environmental feel to them that I'm not used to from bands other than Thrice. Specifically, "Get Off My Train!" actually feels like it's on a train, and "Castaway" actually feels like it's taking place at sea (even though in this case "castaway" is just a pun).

Steve Soboslai sings all of the lead vocals, which is a change from the last albums in which the backup singers sang one or two songs per album upfront. In this case, Jon Belan, the new backup singer, just does a lot of, well, backup. That said, I'm a huge fan of Belan's vocals. He can achieve any sound from "middle-aged black diva from the seventies" to "creepy coked-up anti-hero." I would have liked to hear a track primarily sung by him, however. Steve's not bad: I just got used to the lead variety in the last few albums where they switched off more like Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182.

A lot of the songs are not conducive to memorizing the lyrics or singing along. Thus, despite how much I like the album, there are fewer tracks that will get playlistified or thrown on a CD to listen to when I'm driving around with Buddy compared to 37 Everywhere. The ones that are conducive, however, are all four- and five-star tracks that I can't fucking get out of my head.

It was quite a good purchase. And apparently I was one of the first 500 people to preorder, because I received Just Say Maybe, the bonus disk, as well. It contains two not so great extra tracks and two not so great alternate versions of tracks from the main album. Worth it? Only because I can say I'm one of Punchline's biggest fans and have the proof to show it.

Go buy it, love it, and then make babies with it.

[Bloodcinder]

FOLLOWUP!

There's a wonderful new "music video" for "The Hit" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBYWnHBNmWE) off of Just Say Yes. It's premised on a lame sitcom and features an extended section in the middle with no music. And the drummer dressed as a girl.

[Bloodcinder]

Apparently I'm the first Linux-user to rip this CD. At least, that's my conclusion since I had to add it to the MusicBrainz database online.