30 Songs and 3 Doors Down the road I'm a little "Panic"ed

So first off, while Rock Band is one of the best games I've ever played, it gets annoying from time to time. While I'm not the person who purchased the game (James my roommate is the games investor), seeing the demise of the original guitar and drumset has still made me quite sad. This was furthered by the fact that 30 songs into our endless playlist, 58 songs straight thru, while pausing to buy replacement parts for the drumset, we were booted to the main menu. Annoyed, we vowed to try again on another date. Here's hoping that the second generation version of this game is a little more sturdy.

Second, I am super stoked to be going to see one of my all time favorite bands, 3 Doors Down, in concert next month. Finally decided that I couldn't hold back anymore and, upon finding a friend with a shared enthusiasm for the band, bought tickets for the April 17th showing at the Grove in Anaheim. William and I should have a ton of fun. Who knows, maybe we'll get a drumstick to replace the one for Rock Band that mysteriously broke. So, with the forthcoming yet to be titled Album set for release in May, hearing some new songs from them should be really awesome.

Finally, Tuesday I went out and bought the new Panic at the Disco album Pretty.Odd. (They have dropped the "!" since the last album) This album is a far shot better than their first album, released a couple of years ago, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Pretty.Odd. marks a huge genre change as well as a more grown up attitude for Panic. While there are still subtle carnival sounds the overall tempo of the album has shifted. No longer a punk, pseudo-Fallout Boy, Panic has come out with an album that resembles a mix between Sufjan Stevens at times, Modest Mouse, Nickel Creek, and Pearl Jam. All this floods together to make a wonderful new sound for a band that at first seemed to be just another fish in the sea. The overall theme of the album is, like most, about love and loss. However, the lyrics are really odd (an extension of the title maybe) in describing it. All together it is rare to see such a dramatic change in sound turn out so well (we all remember Garth Brooks alter ego Chris Gaines). While I'm not going to say that Panic is anywhere near the Beatles in overall talent. . . . . this dramatic yet fluid shift has some very Beatle-esque characteristics. We shall see over the next few years where Panic goes. Lets hope they don't get Senioritis on their Junoir album.