The very first time I saw a Rage Against the Machine concert when I was 16, not only was I blown away, but there was no doubt in my mind that the music gods decided it was time that my audio virginity was to be deflowered. I have never been disappointed by their performances since. In fact, some of their shows have undoubtedly been some of the best live music experiences I've ever taken part in. Not just in the sense of audio alone but also crazy, unadulterated, political angst in the form of one of musics most innovative guitar and vocals duo of Zack De La Rocha and Tom Morello. When I first heard that the band and it's members would be parting ways, not only was it a massive hit to the music industry as whole, but I was incredibly disappointed that one of my first music loves was no more. That's not to say I didn't get my fair share of pure insanity in the form of multiple sets though. …  More

I have to admit, I was a little bit disappointed when I heard the very first (of what has become many) UPS commercials sporting one of the electronic melodies created on behalf of Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service. Although I had moments of nostalgia as I daydreamed back to when I was first introduced to Such Great Heights back round 04'- the very song that I was now hearing used as a background to what appeared to be some sort of gimmicky new-aged commercial - I was hard pressed to believe the witty, long-haired individual that appeared to be …  More

As you might have noticed, I've brought on a couple of writers to contribute along with me on Land of the Emu(sic). My ultimate goal with this side project is to approach all genres and directions of music, albeit with caution and patience. Simply put, that is something that one man or woman's interests obviously can never come close to covering alone. Hopefully, Caaaro, Oradol, and my yet to be found third contributor will able to cover bands and music projects that I don't have interest in or haven't heard of myself, and you enjoy everything they write as well. Definitely show them your support whenever you can. They will be contributing 1-2 articles a week each, but also might have large gaps between when they post, just as I might.…  More

While the article I wrote on Sage Francis was generally well received, the most common complaints were that the delivery and flow of his tracks leave the listener wanting more. I stand by what I say in that he is poetic and his lyrics have a lot of relative substance, but I wholeheartedly agree that he falls short in comparison to other artists in all other areas. Today I chose to talk about Aesop Rock, a hip-hop artist with one of the most unique styles of flow and presentation I can think of. The exact opposite of Sage Francis.…  More

I consider the musical compositions of TOOL to be some of the most alluring and equally saturating sounds ever created. They are one of the few reasons I have ever spent more than 10 dollars on a pair of headphones or had to pull out a dictionary to figure out what the hell that last word I heard even meant. When I was first introduced to the band, the complex sound of Ænima was nothing short of enlightenment when it came to the music world. Once Lateralus was released, my taste and intellectual grasp of music had expanded beyond baggy jeans and chains - thus, for one of the first times ever, I spent countless hours in what felt like a state of eerie lucidness listening to the mantra like sound of the album on repeat as opposed to worrying about the presentation of my metal image. The almost diabolical sounding guitar riffs in combination with the soft, angelic voice of Maynard was a rewarding escape from your more popular bands of the period such as Limp Bizkit or any of the one hit wonders that were an offspring of the combination of ludicrous sounding rap and guitars with an unnecessary 7th string. Of course, at this point my experience was limited to the sound capabilities of my original 10 dollar earphones that i later ditched, so once I managed to attend a concert when TOOL came through Chicago in 2001, I was joyfully reintroduced to the band in a completely new light.…  More

Be warned, this is not going to come even remotely close to sharing the same tone of previous articles here on emusic. Read at your own risk.

Jasi: I have high hopes for this blog, and from the responses I've heard thus far, it seems that people are interested and I'm glad to see that. Our goal is to provide daily content, and thus I have added a contributor whom I feel will bring a different perspective than my own to the blog. I hope that you enjoy both of our respective styles of writing, and will participate in discussions that follow. Without further adieu, welcome Caaaro to the blog.

I too have been recently begged to jump o…  More

It's unfortunate, really, that rap and hip-hop music of your conventional mainstream sorts, apply a much larger focus on club-ready beats over a goal of emotional absorption, intellectual immersion, and lyrical quality wit…  More

It's not often that I find an artist or song in which the twisting of melodies, sweep of guitars, and balance of instruments does anything but distract my ears from listening to a song in it's entirety; not to mention removing any sense of enjoyment at the same time. More often than not it's due to an overwhelming feeling that one effect bleeds out over the rest to the point where there is little to no sense of harmony. I think it's a common issue with a lot of recent music in that one instrument or aspect of production is far too overbearing, or songs are simply too complicated in general. Today I will share with you a group that not only has an amazing ability to harmonize, but to some, very well redefines the term itself.…  More

Don't forget to +1 if you enoy this!

Defining what qualifies a song, genre of music, or artist as "good" is a very relative process. It is virtually impossible to form an unbiased view on anything relating to any aspect of music simply because whatever empowers your mind or body with feelings of enjoyment and happiness might not do the same for even the person sitting right next to you. This applies to many things in life, but it couldn't be any more applicable than it is with music. In example, …  More

Those of you that have messed with the WotLK installer today or managed to snag a early copy of the game may have figured out that World of Warcraft accounts are now being merged into Battle.net accounts.

The news has spread around the net today and most of you planning to upgrade will have to deal with this at some point or another.  If you want to play WotLK you have to accept the TOS update agreeing that you don't mind porting your WoW account over to a Battle.net account (which you shouldn't…  More

Rob Pardo from Blizzard recently sat down with Wired and talked all things Blizzard; Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, WoW and Blizzard movies.

It has become a sad day in PC gaming thanks to the likes of Mass Effect and Spore that a game's DRM, or lack there of, is a key selling point.  One of the points Wired made sure to ask was Blizzard's plans to protect Diablo 3 and what kind of anti-piracy measures they would take. 

The answer was straight and to the point.  There won't be any of that DRM junk arou…  More

Blizzcon news is still being unearthed from over the weekend even though the show is long over.  Saturday a little read tidbit came in regards to WoW and some leaked data files in the Lich King beta. 

There were files mentioning "paid character customization" within Lich King so WoW production designer J. Allen Brack was questioned in regards to such a feature.  According to War Cry.com he first left the question and alone and avoided it. 

"Several questions later, he went back to the matter…  More

18 COMMENTS

Wadsworth1 said: Don't care.      Not getting paid for this. (Yep those were my high school years.  Got a lot (chicken) *****.) Slapnuts said: But his actually have meaning to the discussion or blog, and generally invoke humor.  Yours is just retarded... lol Wadsworth1 said: Yes sir.  Like a stupid school child.  Just doin the ol Lusitania drop the image in the blog.

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I was browsing the web when I ran across an interesting theory on the Diablo 3 release date. I'm 100% sure it's not true, but the fact that someone went through all the trouble to come up with something so intricate is quite impressive. I had to post it here for everyone to see. If you're the kind of person that loves conspiracy theories or dectective story, then you'll like this.

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Please, don't judge this before you read it through and think about it! I finally, after several month…  More

A little online design magazine that I recently discovered by the name of Smashing Magazine has written a great article, first of a two part series, on game site designs. It cites examples and analysis on the trends and practices in the video game industry.