Top 4 of April 6-12

By: Xavier Veccia, Features Editor

1. Wasted Years - OFF!
By Sam Boyer, Blogs Editor

Wasted Years is yet another solid effort from punk supergroup OFF!. It's loud, fast and vicious, hearkening back to the hardcore groups of the '80s. OFF! does punk well, but this release raises a controversial question in punk music--is it bad to be consistent? Wasted Years sounds very similar to the band's full-length debut, and while the music is well-executed, it leaves the listener wondering if Keith Morris and company are capable of anything else. Should OFF! challenge itself the next time around, or keep to the same formula? There's always room for experimentation in any genre.

2. Coachella Makes Us All Jealous

We get it, cool music bloggers. Coachella's happening and it's the coolest thing ever! There may not have been a hologram rapper yet, but the Outkast reunion, Pharrell's guest-heavy set and Jay Z's cameo during Nas' performance were more than enough to make all us poor music fans plenty envious.

3. Ab-Soul hints at Longterm 3

It may not be news on the TDE rapper's new album, but it's something. The Longterm series of mixtapes dates all the way back to 2009, so when Solo tweeted about starting work on the third installment earlier this week, it was big news. While not much is known about either of his projects, it's exciting just to know they exist.

4. Arcade Fire did Arcade Fire

At an Austin, Texas show, Arcade Fire continued its tradition of wearing papier mache helmets by adding president Barack Obama and Pope Francis to their props. The Obama reference may have been because the prez was also in town. Pope Francis was just random. It's hard to believe that one of the most entertaining shows of Coachella weekend came hundreds of miles away from the festival, but that's just how Arcade Fire does things.

Top 5 of January 19-25, 2014

(Editor's note: The format of ACRN's Drop It Like It's Hot has changed! Instead of posting only about the week's latest releases, ACRN's editors will incorporate the latest music news and two of the highest-rated albums on the website. The highest-rated album sections are written by the original reviewers. Drop It Like It's Hot will now be updated on Saturdays.)

By: Xavier Veccia, Features Editor

1. Damien Jurado: Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son 

By Sammi Nelson

"Seattle is undoubtedly the center for all things indie-folk. With an insane amount of musicians hailing from this Pacific-Northwest metropolis, an artist from the city has to have a significant influential impact on the music industry to be deemed as one of the kings.

Damien Jurado rightfully belongs in this category. His most recent album, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, has an incredibly distinct sound that reflects the genre the 41-year-old musician has established for himself, yet it is so incredibly unique from all of his other albums." Read more at ACRN.com

2. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra: Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything
By Justin Silk

If Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything had been released in 2013, it would have at least hit number four on my top ten list of albums of the year. I really am a total sucker for Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra’s style of experimental post rock. In my defense, music like this is just so unbelievably engaging. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra doesn’t simply “write songs.” The band creates compositions--brilliant musical compositions that are long, but never dull. Each track on Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything has an immense amount of depth to it, and will take a lot of time to fully absorb. Therefore, it was great that an album with such profundity was released so early in the year. It gives listeners time to really contemplate the record. By December, placing it on an End of the Year list will be an easy thing to do. Music lovers of all kinds really owe it to themselves to give Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything a listen. The album definitely has its faults, but the incredible quality of its music will make them almost completely ignorable. 

3. Outkast Rumors

Outkast is everywhere and I could not be more excited about this. Whether it be on the Coachella lineup or on the Governor's Ball lineup or...okay, most of this Outkast news is for headlining gigs at insert festival here. But none of the concrete Outkast news has really gotten out of the touring stage. That didn't quite change this week, but us ATLien fans are getting somewhere with Big Boi's announcement of a solo LP dropping this year. He dodged any confirmation of an Outkast album, but with Mr. DJ, the longtime Outkast disc jockey, confirming in that same story that both Big Boi and Andre 3000 were working a lot in the studio, there's at least some sense of hope for us. At the very least, we're getting a new Big Boi album and, after his Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors release in 2012, that's more than enough.

4. Rap Genius Makes Some Friends

I don't care what any hater says--Rap Genius is one of the greatest things in the music bizz. But they've been getting in a lot of trouble lately. From getting targeted for possible copyright infringement to Google demoting them on search pages, things weren't looking up for the geniuses behind Rap Genius. But all that changed with Universal Music Publishing granting the site permission to print their artists' lyrics. With a massive amount of talent on the Universal roster, this was a huge win for Rap Genius.

5. Justin Bieber's Collapse

I've never been a huge fan of the Biebs. Yeah, I low-key loved "As Long As You Love Me," and sure, I was pretty psyched when I saw he did a song with Chance. But other than that, I thought as much about him as any other pop artist. Until this. If you were too lazy to follow that link (I mean, it's the Internet age. We're better than links), I'll try to give this story the justice it deserves. Justin Bieber was caught drag racing in his Lambo while under the influence of weed, beer and antidepressants. The "Baby" singer was charged with drag racing and a DUI. A slow collapse for a child star is never a surprise, but not many reach this level of insanity. Hopefully, this is the last DUI for Biebs because, I mean, driving under the influence is a pretty shitty thing to do. But I'm not against him continuing to be this entertaining of a celebrity.