On April 2, 2007, I joined Last.Fm, as means to get an idea to my listening habits when I run iTunes in the background as I surf the net (most of the time, but not all the time, since I also watch TV for the most part of the night). Anyway, I just looked at my stats, and I am SEVEN away from 10,000 plays. My Last.FM Profile

Unfortunately, I haven’t been running, what I use now, Songbird, given my iTunes library is on another machine and I can’t find a easy way to add what I have on my laptop without creating a mass amount of duplicates (since I have at least 2,000 songs on this machine, and am ripping songs as I buy new CDs, and/or buying my tracks and TV shows and stuff only with this machine). I hardly ever listen from a CD nowadays, but I like having the physical CD, especially if I had an unexpected computer failure before getting a chance to back up any new purchases (though I try to back up after every time I purchase from iTunes). BTW, I’m not too far from having 300 CDs. There are several artists, including Tantric, that are gonna have new releases this year, so I’ll be over 300 total before this year is up. Yay!

Now why I like this service (I don’t care for the networking stuff):

The last few tracks I listened to:

1. Eric Clapton – Cocaine — 5/18/09 2:16am
2. Eagles – Hotel California — 5/18/09 2:09am
3. Queen – I Want It All — 5/18/09 2:05am

Most listened to artists in the last week:

• 1 – Lacuna Coil –> 14
• 2 – Tantric –> 8
• 3 – Within Temptation –> 6
• 4 – Breaking Benjamin –> 5
• 4 – Shinedown –> 5

Most Played in Last 6 Months:

• 1 – Tantric –> 153
• 2 – Breaking Benjamin –> 133
• 3 – Lacuna Coil –> 118
• 4 – Queen –> 89
• 5 – Within Temptation –> 82

Most Played in Last Year (top 3):

• 1 – Tantric –> 369
• 2 – Breaking Benjamin –> 303
• 3 – Lacuna Coil –> 226

AND the OVERALL TOP ARTISTS I’ve Listened to (since Apr 2, 2007 on iTunes, Amarok, or Songbird):

• 1 – Breaking Benjamin –> 1,019
• 2 – Collective Soul –> 930
• 3 – Tantric –> 901

Why not mention top tracks in last 6 months:

• 1 – Apocalyptica – I Don’t Care –> 25
• 2 – Tantric – Down and Out –> 24
• 3 – Tantric – Fall Down (Bonus Track) –> 23
• 3 – Queen – Another One Bites the Dust –> 23
• 5 – The Drama Club – Brand New Day (feat. Ben Burnley) –> 21

Last 12 Months:

• 1 – Tantric – The One –> 45
• 2 – Apocalyptica – I Don’t Care –> 38
• 3 – Tantric – Down and Out –> 36
• 4 – Tantric – Love Song –> 35
• 5 – Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son –> 33

And, Overall:

• 1 – Collective Soul – Heavy –> 90
• 2 – Breaking Benjamin – Until The End –> 86
• 2 – Collective Soul – December –> 86
• 4 – Tantric – Down and Out –> 71
• 5 – Collective Soul – Counting the Days –> 70

What do I get from this? It’s just really interesting. I can see overall what bands I take a liking to listening to often, but also, in terms of the last six-twelve months, I really enjoyed Tantric’s ‘The End Begins,’ A LOT! Looking at the last year, there were three Tantric songs in the top five, and about 6 months ago, was the time frame for which I finally got a Queen CD (Greatest Hits, and a few months later, I got Classic Queen, highly recommended).

And, I see the increase of Lacuna Coil as well, which surged with the arrival of their new CD, ‘Shallow Life,’ just last month (awesome, BTW). I hope Breaking Benjamin releases something soon, I need some new tunes, and it shows. (Same goes for Collective Soul).

Italian Metal band Lacuna Coil are releasing the highly-anticipated new album, ‘Shallow Life,’ April 21 (US) [April 20 (UK)]. The first single, “Spellbound,” can be heard on Sirius XM’s Octane, and the video can be streamed online at ArtistDirect. But the band is being a lot more generous. Head over to their MySpace page and listen to the new album, in its entirety (through April 17, so not much left, but you can still listen to the first single at least, and maybe one or two more songs). That’s right, preview it, then buy (or if you’re like me, you’ve already pre-ordered it ’cause you know it’s already gonna kick ass).

If you’re not familiar with Lacuna Coil, and you like bands like Evanescence (although, they are absolutely nothing alike, despite having a female singer (there’s actually two singers, one male, one female), that’s about the only similarity), you should definitely check them out. I actually prefer them over Evanescence. I also don’t consider them gothic metal, but when bands come here from another country, labels get all thrown out, and record companies are gonna try to entice people with saying gothic metal and similar to Evanescence. Oops, rambling again.

Also, to coincide with the new release, the Official Site has finally been updated, and it’s pretty cool lookin’ and quite different from other band sites. Some of it still seems to be under construction though, including the video section.

So, to sum it up. LACUNA COIL ‘SHALLOW LIFE’ in stores, April 21. First single called “Spellbound.” Check them out.

I hate Wal-Mart. It’s crowded unless you go after midnight (which works for me, but that’s when several sections are blocked off in order to wax floors and stuff). It doesn’t really have a large selection. True, it’s big and has a lot of stuff, sometimes at cheaper prices (not all the time, really, that’s mostly a gimmick, all retail stores use them), but in general, it doesn’t have a great selection (such as, say, PC software, it has is, but it’s limited to about two or three antivirus products, Office and maybe Windows OS, then a handful of new PC Games, a small section of older budget games, and that’s about it). But hey, it’s a general retail store that doesn’t specialize in squat.

But the real point to this post. Music. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve bought a CD at Wal-Mart as recent as May 2001 (yes, I remember, it was Mother’s Day and I got Tantric’s debut CD). I listened to it, very excited about this totally original and very unappreciated band. Then the song “Astounded” came to be which as the F-word in the chorus. It wasn’t edited since there was no sticker, but it easily could have been. A few months earlier was when Aerosmith released ‘Just Push Play.’ Not sticker, but there were reports that people who bought their copy at Wal-Mart, were screwed with a fucked up copy (edited version).

To understand this, let’s travel to 1985, when the hearings went on for the record industry to tag “inappropriate” music. In a sense, it’s not the real bad thing. Movies had ratings, makes sense for music to have something similar. The problem is when mothers just don’t get that the little black and white label means that they may not want their child to listen to it. So instead of blaming themselves for their stupidity (I don’t apologize, so shut up), they attack the retail chain that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the artistic process that goes into creating a record. And for most housewives, their choice store was Wal-Mart, so Wal-Mart therefore takes it upon themselves to NOT sell the real thing. Instead, record labels are forced to create these shitty B-Versions of CDs, or that album isn’t sold in the store.

This sucks when it comes to independent bands, say Tantric, whose last album, ‘The End Begins,’ was pressed only in the B-Version, since it costs more to create two versions of a CD. Interestingly, this last CD had the F-Word in it two times, while their debut that I did get at a Wal-Mart, had it four times and wasn’t affected. Neither of their CDs are vulgar enough to even need the sticker, IMO. I had pre-ordered the CD right when I could from their official online store, listened, and shelved it, went to iTunes and bought the two songs that were edited. I eventually bought the whole thing again for the bonus tracks available only on iTunes.

This is unfair to us consumers that are mature adults and appreciate music. I don’t have to have CDs that only contain THE LABEL, but I support free speech and the artists themselves, that pour their hearts into their songs. Wal-Mart doesn’t give a shit. I have no problem, what-so-ever, to go to my local record store (sorry CD store) and pay a few bucks more for the real thing.

I’m proud that it was been eight years, and I have not bought another CD at Wal-Mart. I enjoy getting many CDs from a local store that is part of the same company as f.y.e, which is awesome. Have the rewards card and go at least one to two times a month (sometimes more).

I buy ALL my CDs elsewhere, even those that are clean (like Collective Soul or Chevelle).  It’s a matter of principle.  I can’t buy CDs at Wal-Mart, since I don’t support them selling CDs unless they give consumers the choice.  If parents are concerned, that’s not Wal-Mart’s problem, and they need to understand that.  But sense they give in, I can’t support Wal-Mart, at all.  Only once every two-three months will I find myself going to that terrible place, since it’s the only place open in the later hours (all the drug stores close when the place I work at closes, making it difficult to get some items I may need).  But, I am looking forward to completely staying away from Wal-Mart once I find an alternative to the Faded Glory jeans I wear (since I know the size I need, I hate trying on clothes); now only if I can get the rest of my family to see my way.

BTW, Wal-Mart also doesn’t have a large selection of CDs anyway, and you’ll have better luck at a f.y.e.-like store anyway.

…LATER…