@LinerNotes

Just a year ago I reviewed the incredibly exciting debut album from The Memorials. The self-titled disc was a challenging first listen, full of complex arrangements and progressive approaches to what heavy music can sound like. It truly was a unique album, one that I would not have imagined would be easy to top. After just a year's time, The Memorials are set to release their sophomore disc, Delirium . I've been listening to an advance copy of it for a few weeks now and I must say...

This review of The Memorials self-titled debut was previously published a year ago on another music blog. I am republishing it here with some additions, including links to samples of some of the songs, because quite frankly it is a fantastic listen and one of the strongest debut albums of the early 21st century.

While attending the Golden Jubilee of the Southern California Renaissance Faire, I happened upon a performance of a music group who were playing some seriously entertaining ethnic folk music, with an energetic young lady sawing a smoking hot violin lead. I was on my way to another event at Faire at the moment, but I made a note of their name. A few weeks later, I specifically went back to the Ren Faire just to catch a full set from Circa Paleo, and I am so glad I did.

Roger Waters at 68 years old, performed The Wall in Los Angeles on May 19th, 2012 with more energy and passion than that of musicians less than half his age. Here are 68 photos from that concert to celebrate one of the greatest concert performances I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Photo credits: @RilakkonekoGirl and @LinerNotes © 2012 Also, please check out the full review of The Wall Live.

"...we came in?" Declaring something to be "the best" of anything is highly subjective. Doubly so when describing a concert, with many factors needing to be weighed to truthfully arrive at such a statement. Indeed, saying "(fill in the blank) is/was the best thing ever" has achieved meme status, thus cheapening best's impact. That being said, and with a modicum of respect for the definition of "best", I feel comfortable in saying I've witnessed one of the greatest live concerts ever staged. The notes still ring in my ears and the visuals continue to flash in my mind's eye. It's taken the better of a week to write this review, because one does not simply review The Wall .

Google has truly outdone themselves with today's Google Doodle. Or should we say Moog Doodle. That beautiful sounding (and looking) piece of analog synth hardware on the Google main page is in celebration of what would have been the 78th birthday of Dr. Robert "Bob" Moog, the father of the modern synthesizer.

Abney Park performing @ Queen Bee's, San Diego, July '11. Photo by @LinerNotes The crew of the airship HMS Ophelia is back with a brand new album, mere months after their most recent release. To celebrate, Abney Park, the preeminent purveyors of Steampunk music, are offering three free downloads of songs from their forthcoming album.

An earworm, by definition is a song one can't get out of their head, especially when not actually listening to it. For some, earworms can be maddening. I've had a very welcome earworm for the past couple days, put there by way of a newly released cover by DANZIG.

And the new world record holder for the World's Largest Guitar Ensemble is... the same people who held the old record! Congratulations are in order for music teacher Leszek Cichonski, founder of Poland's "Thanks Jimi Festival" and the 7,273 guitar players who broke their own record this week.

The gentleman concentrating on his fretboard above is named Eric Calderone. Eric, or as he is known by his online name 331Erock, is a guitarist. Actually, that's not quite fair. Eric is more of an alchemist, because when his fingers touch the fretboard the sounds that emanate from his axe are gold. Pure, geektastic, gold. Eric's latest creation is a metallic medley of themes associated with The Doctor. Who?

We are still several months away from the release of the first of two films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", but the source material is already providing inspiration for fan-created tributes to it. Truly though, "The Hobbit Song" goes far beyond the usual YouTube tribute, in part because it's an original song, but mostly because it is done so well.