Unless you passionately hate Billy Joel, or have somehow avoided hearing any of these songs over the course of your clearly deprived life, it’s hard not to find something to like in here.

Read on for more detailed impressions. Continue reading →

We still get that John and Yoko Xmas classic too, of course.

And don’t forget, you PS3 owners will be getting five Rock Band Network tracks today, too. And you Wii folks? Looks like this is a catch-up week, with tracks that were supposed to have launched earlier in the month.

Did I miss something? Did these songs never actually go up? Or perhaps this is necessary due to the weird hiccup last week?

I’m looking into it and will let you know. In the meantime, any of you Wii owners already own any of these songs?

All That Remains	Hold On	$1.99
The Gracious Few	Appetite	$1.99		N/A
HourCast	Freakshow	$.99		N/A
Johnny Cooper	Don’t Feel Like That Anymore	$1.99
Stan Bush	The Touch	$1.99

These will, of course, arrive whenever next week’s tracks from the main Rock Band store go live on your system. Have a listen to the playlist after the break. Continue reading →

Anaïs	Peut-Etre une Angine	N/A	N/A
BAP	Verdamp Lang Her	N/A	N/A
BB Brunes	Dis-Moi	N/A	N/A
Caesars	Jerk It Out
John & Yoko, The Plastic Ono Band	Happy Xmas (War is Over)
Linea 77	Fantasma
Litfiba	Proibito	N/A	N/A
Wir sind Helden	Nur ein Wort

These are all singles, so they’ll go for $2 apiece, or the system equivalent. And only two tracks offer Pro guitar/bass upgrades this week: “Dis-Moi” and “Jerk it Out.” Am I the only one who finds this the first week of fairly disappointing Rock Band 3 DLC? To be clear, that’s only because I’m completely unfamiliar with any of these European acts. Tell me, you folks across the pond, are you excited at least?

You can make yourself familiar with these tracks from strange lands in the playlist after the break. Continue reading →

At the moment, Fender’s own site shows no indication of this new development, and they still have the pre-order date listed as January 1. So it’s possible that this is a miscommunication or misunderstanding (though the press release from Best Buy is quite clear). But best to be safe, no? Here’s the preorder page at Best Buy.

[UPDATE: That was fast! Fender's site now instructs visitors to hit up Best Buy for the pre-order. Also, check out ricecake's comment below: The theory is that Best Buy may have the Squier exclusively at launch -- but not necessarily forever.]

On the other hand, if you’d rather rock out button-style, Mad Catz is currently running a pretty sweet deal on Mustangs: Pick one up through their site and you’ll get a (five-button) P-bass controller for free! You can also get the same deal if you pick up the five-button wooden Strat. And as an additional incentive, if you order a keyboard, you get a stand thrown in for free. Check out the Holiday Specials page at the Mad Catz store.

[Read]

Blessthefall	Hey Baby, Here’s That Song You Wanted	160 MS
Bojibian	Hallway	80 MS
BS (A. Whiteman)	Swallow My Children	80 MS
Close Your Eyes	The Body	160 MS
Comeback Kid	Do Yourself a Favor	160 MS
Driven By Entropy	Escaping	160 MS	N/A	N/A
Emmure	10 Signs You Should Leave	160 MS
Fear of Water	Firewall	160 MS	N/A	N/A
Garage A Trois	Rescue Spreaders	80 MS
I Am King Tony	Stereo Stereo	80 MS	N/A	N/A
Kataklysm	Determined (Vows Of Vengeance) (2x Bass Pedal)	160 MS
Matt ‘Chainsaw’ Chaney	Donuts, Go Nuts!	80 MS
Philip Franco	Jam	80 MS	N/A	N/A
Rain Dogs	Fallen	160 MS
Rainbowdragoneyes	Creatures ov Deception	80 MS	N/A	N/A
Raven Quinn	Catalyst	160 MS	N/A	N/A
Single White Infidel	The History of Execution (featuring Bluefusion)	80 MS	N/A	N/A
Taproot	Fractured (Everything I Said Was True)	160 MS
Woe, Is Me	[&] Delinquents	160 MS
The Word Alive	The Hounds of Anubis	160 MS

Neat, eh?

Now it’s invading the Rock Band Network, along with seven other videogame-themed tracks from the Pac-Man Fever album.

From the press release:

“We are very excited to have our album released on the Rock Band Network especially in light of Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary,” said Jerry Buckner. His partner Gary Garcia added, “We had a lot of fun recording it and hope our fans have fun playing along with all the songs.”

All eight of the songs from the album will take advantage of the new features introduced into the series by Rock Band 3, including Pro Drums, Standard and Pro Keyboard, and Vocal Harmonies. They are expected to hit to Rock Band Music Store on the Xbox 360 in early 2011, with potential future releases on the Playstation 3 and Wii consoles.

Should this strike a chord of nostalgia for you and you’d like to buy the album, it can be found at both iTunes and Amazon. Or you could just check out the playlist after the break. Continue reading →

Here’s the lineup:

The Downtown Fiction	Best I Never Had	$1.99
The Downtown Fiction	I Just Wanna Run	$1.99
The Downtown Fiction	Oceans Between Us	$1.99
Gov’t Mule	Broke Down on the Brazos	$1.99
The Slip	Children of December	$.99

These hit alongside those Billy Joel tracks on Tuesday, for the prices listed above. Playlist? Oh sure, why not? Continue reading →