The modulating bridge on "Across the Sea" is absolutely brilliant. Its musically interesting, a surprise turn you don't expect the song to make, and catchy as fuck.

I'm sure the drop off in quality has much more to do with River's deteriorating mental state, followed by his obsession with commercial success, Matt Sharpe's backing vocals are definitely one of the reason's Pinkerton is so good. I'd say he's one of those back up singers like Mike Mill's from REM or the guitarist…

That's really cool man, it sounds like you guys are running something special out there.

There's nothing better than screaming "there's a rapist and a Nazi living in our tiny hearts!" with a couple hundred people when they play live.

Agreed, of all the little things that Lucas lucked into that made Star Wars great (the incredible concept art, the miniature work, casting Harrison Ford, something he was initially dead set against) getting Ben Burtt as the sound designer has got to be the best one. One of the reasons why those movies barely look…

Of the many, many, things I dislike about the prequel duels, my least favorite is easily just how many times they Jedi just spin/whip their lightsabers around just to look cool. Its immediately apparent when the video in the article goes from OT fights to the Darth Maul one, where Obi One is just flipping his blade…

I know exactly what you're talking about! There's also a great clip (its been ages since I've seen it) from the set of that film where they do a take and everybody is gearing up to do another one and George is like "naw, we got it!" and you can just see everyone's confusion over why they're keeping the piece of shit…

Were you sad when the higher ups at your home on Sesame Street pulled the sample?

Thats really nice to hear, I'm always glad to when musicians I admire are genuinely nice people. I'd say that's doubling true for AJJ, since so many of their lyrics are just about trying to be as good a person as you can in a shitty world, I'd be super bummed if they were assholes.

Yeah dude me too! Such a great song too, Sean played it when I caught him on his solo tour last year and last time I saw AJJ, it was fantastic both times. They're one of the rare bands I would actually listen to a live album by in the first place, and including #armageddon on it was just icing on the cake.

I couldn't agree more. At first I thought it was only because I'm a huge DBT fan, but it was really a great example of Maron not talking over musicians about his thoughts on music, which invariably drives me nuts and makes him sound like a teenager.

It was the dude from Linkin Park, not Limp Bizkit (not that that is much better) but I was pretty shocked by how much I liked his score. Nothing I'd seek out outside of the film, but it fit very well.

Not Lifter Puller (despite being a rapid Hold Steady fan I've only listened to Fiestas + Fiascos a couple times, which I really need to change) but thats up there with the very similar:

Seeing them for the first time in 2.5 years next month, I can't wait. Not even the fact that they're playing the House of Blues in Boston, a really crap venue, can damper by excitement.

Can he actually play guitar though? I saw him play a sort-of solo once and it was pretty bad. I've always found it charming how it almost looks like he's forgetting to play because he's so busy waving his arms and going nuts.

I was pretty worried about the lyrics on this after listening to "Spinners," which is pretty much a paint-by-numbers, girl moves to NYC and drinks a lot Hold Steady Song, that doesn't have the lived in feel of something similar like "Magazines." The rest of the record is starting to click with me though.

1. You're Living All Over Me
2. Bug
3. Dinosaur
4. Where You Been ("Get Me" alone would put that record up there)
5. Green Mind

1. Separation Sunday
2. Boys and Girls
3. Stay Positive
(those three are pretty much neck and neck)
4. Almost Killed Me
-pretty big drop-
5. Heaven is Whenever

For real, Boys and Girls in America had an incredibly flat mix, but at least I could understand what the fuck Craig was saying, which is pretty much the point of listening to The Hold Steady. This one is so gauzy and washed out I'm having trouble hearing his lyrics.

And he brought such an awesome sense of energy to, and was a great presence at, their live shows. Seriously, I've never seen someone rock out so much while playing the keys, he was a joy to watch.