Listen to Placebo’s Battle For the Sun early

Placebo

A lot has changed with Placebo since its last album, Meds. The band claimed big Stateside success with its rendition of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and appearance on Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour. Then, shortly after the tour, it saw the mysterious departure of its longtime drummer Steve Hewitt. People “close” to the situation claimed Hewitt was booted from the band, although a reason never surfaced. The official press release stated the split was mutual, but frontman Brian Moloko in this interview seems to lead on that he and bassist Stefan Olsdal did in fact, give Hewitt the heave-ho. Though again, no official details on either side are known to the public, those in the know say neither Moloko nor Olsdal actually confronted Hewitt, instead having management do the dirty work. Wow.

So with this info in mind, unofficial as it may be, I had a hard time giving a fair listen to the new Placebo record, Battle For the Sun. I’ve been a fan for years, but this apparent shadiness puts a damper on the whole listening experience. The album is good. And when I reviewed it a month back, I did my best to wash away this information while taking it all in. It’s amazing, though, how you can admire a band so much and then just kind of fall out of love with them (i.e. Green Day). Give us the full story, already!

OK, I’m done editorializing. The news. Well, the sixth Placebo record hits stores in the U.S. June 9. But you don’t have to wait until then to hear it. The band is currently streaming the album on its official website. But you need to sign in to hear it, and this isn’t an automatic stream you can just listen to whenever you want. It goes from today until midnight May 31. I’m assuming “midnight” London time, which would be 7 p.m. EST. Anyhow, you can check out all 13 tracks here. Below are the rules of the game, copied and pasted directly from the band’s email:

• You can login to the playback 5 times from 9am on Friday 29th May until midnight Sunday 31st May.
• Each login session allows you to listen to the complete album from start to finish!
• Once the track finishes click the next button to continue to the next song.
• You cannot pause or go back until your next login – so make sure you have time to enjoy the whole album!!
• If you leave your listening session inactive for more than 15 minutes then you will be logged out and will miss out on one of your 5 playbacks!

Rancid’s Let the Dominoes Fall streaming now on MySpace!

Artwork from MySpace

One week before their first new album in six years hits stores (June 2), Rancid is streaming all 20 tracks from Let the Dominoes Fall on their MySpace page. Initial thoughts? Well, nine songs in, and I can tell you: This is not the same Rancid you grew up with. I’m merely only giving you my first reaction, so I may very well change my mind with more listens, but the seventh Rancid record  — diverse as it may be — is no …And Out Come the Wolves or Life Won’t Wait. What it seems to me is a great car record perhaps more tailored for cruising than breaking the sound barrier. Anyways, a fairer review will be coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy!