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Paramore

Hayley Williams Releases New EP ‘Petals for Armor II’

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After releasing Petals for Armor I a few months back which consisted of an initial five tracks, Hayley Williams has now released Petals for Armor II, comprising of a further five tracks of new solo music.

The Paramore frontwoman had the following to say about the new EP:

PFA II is the perfect interlude between where Petals began and where it’s going…. Part III isn’t far behind.

I needed these songs to help me get to a place where I could name my shame, take inventory of emotional scars, true friends, awful coping mechanisms and discover what I desire for my life.

Williams’ Petals for Armor studio album is officially set for release on May 8th, with the three EP’s ultimately making up the full fifteen track album.

You can listen to Dead Horse, taken from Petals for Armor II, below:

Paramore – Still Into You

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Paramore - Still Into You

Having really not been impressed with Paramore’s ‘Now‘ single, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect with single number two from the band’s 2013 self-titled studio album. Whilst I’d still not personally perceive Paramore to be a band at their best right now, ‘Still Into You‘ does at least mark a definite improvement upon the last single.

The jerky introduction to ‘Still Into You‘ doesn’t sit particularly well with me as in my personal opinion Hayley Williams does not play to her vocal strengths here, the track certainly comes complete with an incredibly catchy chorus however, and Williams’ voice sounds absolutely brilliant throughout much of the track. ‘Still Into You‘ is not a single that I would say presents Paramore back at their very best, however it is at least a track that demonstrates that Paramore is still a band very capable of penning a catchy pop song. Regardless of whether or not you like the musical direction that Paramore has taken as a band these past few years, ‘Still Into You‘ is a track that should at least in some way appeal to fans of the band’s earlier material, at least with the punch that it packs with its chorus, even if nothing else.

Instrumentally I do not feel that this is the best track that Paramore has ever written as a band, in fact there’s a lot that I don’t like about this element of the music; the swirling synth sound present here is not a sound that I particularly like all that much and the track could certainly benefit from a really catchy guitar riff such as the band provided in abundance with its first two studio albums, there is however some brilliant drumming on display here, and also some absolutely superb bass lines.

For me, Paramore does not reach the heights that were reached in the earlier years here, this is nonetheless a pretty catchy offering of pop music however, and a track that will no doubt earn the band a few new fans from first time listeners in 2013.

Rating
[Rating:3/5]

Reading Festival Lineup Announced

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Tickets for the 2012 Reading/Leeds Festival went on sale today as the first bands were confirmed for the festival.

This year’s festival will see The Cure headlining at Reading on the Friday, Kasabian on the Saturday, and then finally the Foo Fighters will bring things to a close as they headline the main stage on the Sunday. Maccabees, At the Drive-In, and Justice meanwhile will be the artists headlining on the NME/Radio 1 Stage.

The following is a full list of the bands to have been confirmed for the festival thus far:

Paramore, Muse, and Boys Like Girls to Perform at the MTV VMAs

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Paramore, Muse, and Boys Like Girls are all set to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on September 13th.

All three bands will release a new studio album later this year, and the awards will provide a fantastic opportunity for all three bands to showcase new material.

Russell Brand is hosting the awards for the second year running, and Taylor Swift is another artist that will be performing.