Words cannot describe how excited I am to be posting this news.  Earlier today Nate Ruess (formerly of greatest-band-ever, The Format) sent out an email to all the fans declaring his new band, aptly titled: fun.  I'm not going to waste anymore time with my useless words.  Take it away, Nate:

In preperation for their upcoming full-length, The Glass Passenger, Jack's Mannequin has released The Ghost Overground, a new, four song EP.

The EP is available today on iTunes and should help ease the pain while we wait for Passenger.  Grab The Ghost Overground here and head over to jacksmannequin.com to pre-order the full-length in three different flavors (digital, retro, traditional).

While we're in Mannequin mode, you might want to check out Curt's conversation with front man Andrew McMahon in case you missed it the first time around, or as a solid re-read while you listen to your shiny new EP.

The Raconteurs are launching a new live section on their website and, in a decidedly Web 2.0 move, want your help!  Reaching out to fans for YouTube ready footage of their live shows, the band has asked fans to send in their own shaky-cam, Blair Witch-esque amateur videos. 

It's nice to see a band that's actually encouraging fans to bring cameras and other recording devices to their show, rather than banning them from reliving their happy concert going memories.

Hit read more to read more.

Fans of Canada's indie super-group Broken Social Scene (which could currently be coined Brendan Canning and friends) will be excited to hear that the Torontonians have added more dates to their Something For All Of Us Tour. 

Full press release after the jump:

Hype can be a dangerous thing.  On one hand, you have the benefits of additional publicity and exposure; but on the other hand, you are monitored and criticized with the grueling expectations of demanding fans and cynical press alike.  Having been hailed as one of the best live acts to ever grace the stage (Spin magazine ranked them 8th – one below Green Day and one above Prince – on their Top 25 Current Live Bands list a couple of years ago), I went into this show cautiously optimistic, trying not to let my hopes get the best of me.  Overall The Hives met, and at times exceeded these hopes – albeit with some minor compromise. 

If you've seen The Hives live before, or even if you've read about their performances, you already know the formula to follow in this paragraph: flamboyant The Hives frontman Pelle Almqvist struts his stuff up and down the stage (and surrounding areas), exchanging humorous banter with the crowd, all the while doing his best peacock impression; meanwhile, Almqvist's sidekick, guitarist Nicholaus Arson brings a more visceral presentation to the stage, sweat dripping from his curly blond shag and a much harder look on his face.  The antics begin with Almqvist and end with Arson, which leads me to my only real criticism: the other three members become nearly invisible (with the occasional exception of drummer Christian Grahn).  In saying that, not everyone can be as over the top and outwardly entertaining as Almqvist – in fact I'd have a hard time naming even a few people that are in the same league as the energetic, eccentric Swede (Iggy, perhaps?), so this is really less a slight on the band and more an acknowledgement of just how crazy Almqvist is.  If he wasn't at the front of a stage he'd probably be in a padded room.

Join PopZap as we scour the globe with our favorite bands to find all those happenin' spots in their hometowns. The only travel guide you'll ever need!

Shawn Neary, bassist of Minneapolis based experimental indie-rock band Cloud Cult, cues us in on hot locales in his hometown:

Minneapolis Whoa!

1.) Minnehaha Park It’s on the city’s south border, and it has a waterfall. A big, thundering waterfall that freezes mid-flow in the winter. There’s also a trail at the base of the falls that leads to the Mighty Mississippi. Combine this with a little restaurant selling line-out-the-door-inducing tilapia tacos and bicycles built for two all over the place and you have a pretty good picture of the place.

 
Whoa. Where did this come from? Wasn’t Santogold (Santi White) supposed to be a carbon copy of M.I.A.? Listening through her new self-titled release instead I’m picking up elements of No Doubt, Tegan and Sara, Rilo Kiley, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and yes, M.I.A. as well. After being written off as an M.I.A. clone for months based on a couple tracks, Santi finally gets a chance to strut her stuff, and strut she does. 

Santogold is far and away more diverse than anything M.I.A. has done. Santi is able to go from the danceable and M.I.A.-esque, addictive “Creative” (one of my favorite songs so far this year) to “You’ll Find A Way”, echoing early No Doubt (read: good No Doubt). The most impressive part out of all of this is she is talented at every type of music she tries. Of course any album as genre-spanning and ambitious as this is going to have a few weak spots. As versatile an album as it is, it is hard for it to feel coherent, it feels more like a mixtape than a planned out album. However, that isn’t to discredit the quality of the music, it just doesn’t flow very well at times. If you can get past that though, you’ll find 12 tracks running the gamut of indie music, and doing all of it superbly. Maybe Santogold should take on a Sufjan Stevens-esque project, but instead of doing states, she could do genres? What do you say Santi? You can thank me in your liner notes.

The evening for this concert began on a strange note – my girlfriend was in town for the week visiting and we spent the day at Niagara Falls, so by the time we got home I had to choose between freshening up and seeing the opening act.  Feeling gross and my hair frizzy from the mist, I opted for the former as I was supposed to meet up with my friend at a salsa club once the show was over.   

The strangeness is this: I love opening bands.  They were often all I would hear when I previously worked at a concert hall – few people buy drinks or snacks when music is playing, so there was minimal distraction as these bands performed.   Once the main act started their set we would often get the green light to shut everything down and clean up, so the first couple songs were all I ever really heard unless I stuck around afterwards.  Sometimes openers suck; sometimes they are better entertainment than the headliners; 95% of the time I have no idea who they are and just want to hear their musical offerings. 

We are still importing all of our archived articles.  This will take a couple weeks, but in the meantime, you can find everything at: archive.pop-zap.com.

Time is a funny thing.  When you want it to pass quickly, it moves at a snail's pace.  When you want it to slow down, it zips by, and before you know it tomorrow is today and today is yesterday.  Now, depending on how you look at it, both scenarios can be positive.  Nate Ruess of The Format would have you believe that "snails see the benefits, beauty in every inch," while Ben Rispin of The Saint Alvia Cartel would insist that he "don't wanna wait forever." 

On April 20th, 2008, PopZap!Music officially celebrated its first birthday.  This past year has come and gone rather quickly; yet oddly it feels as though we've been doing this for much, much longer. To celebrate our anniversary, we've been secretly (aren't we sneaky?) developing this brand new layout, with tons of great new functionality.  The launch date for the layout was originally meant to coincide directly with our April 20th celebrations.  Unfortunately, sometimes things don't always work out as planned, and thanks to a slew of roadblocks, the launch was pushed back a week.  Here we are, a week later and (somewhat) ready to go.  But it hasn't just been a week, this has been a work in progress over the last year.  So with that in mind, let's take a trip down memory lane...