TOMORROW ON OUTQ: FUN PUNK FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Sorry I haven't been posting as much lately, work has been crazy. I'm looking
forward to Memorial Day weekend, as I'm sure you are. To that end, I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with just a few great albums to talk about on OutQ this week - what albums would be good to play at a backyard party? The first one is an obvious choice: Green Day 's 21st Century Breakdown. Although there's a few too many ballad-y moments, and it gets a bit too wrapped up in the narrative (as many concept albums tend to do, but which American Idiot didn't). I think you can cull a few songs from Breakdown and have a great bunch of songs for your party (I think the band is doing this in their live shows, judging by a review of thier recent NYC club show).

Another album that I'm looking forward to is Rancid's Let The Dominoes Fall - I have the first single, "Last One To Die." I've written a lot about how much I love this band - I am definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of the album. A limited version includes acoustic versions of the songs, which should be really cool.

Finally, King Khan & The Shrines - a band my good friend Julia of SIRIUS XMU turned me on to. They recently had the "coolest song in the world this week" on The Underground Garage with "Land Of The Freaks" but credit where it's due, Julia told me about them first.

Two other albums I would rock if I had a backyard party: The Ramones' self-titled debut (which I've been listening to a lot lately -- today would have been Joey Ramones' 59th birthday, R.I.P.) and The Clash's London Calling.