W♥M (Archive)

Halloween 2008 III

Tim Fite - Dead Girl Walking

Bruce Springsteen - A Night With The Jersey Devil

Hot Lava-Mummy Beach

This is the last Halloween post from me today! Sorry for all the maddening posts, but the Halloween news flows fast and furious.

First of all, Epitaph sent in this press release for Tim Fite:

Brooklyn-based multi-genrist Tim Fite will release a new free, Halloween-centric recording via his website on October 31st, 2008. Available for one day only, the innovative song cycle entitled ding dong Ditch comes at the culmination of his tour with Man Man and will be celebrated with a special Halloween show at the Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia.

Of course, I clicked on the "Trick" part to get "Raisins".

The two EPs, Ding Dong DITCH (2008) and It's Only Ketchup (2007) proved too experimental for me. If you like that sort of thing, you should check it out.

Bruce Springsteen is also in the giving mood, with this free bluesy recording of "Night with the Jersey Devil".

He previously invited people to trick-or-treat at his home in Rumson, but then canceled it due to safety concerns.

Dear Friends and Fans,

If you grew up in central or south Jersey, you grew up with the "Jersey Devil." Here's a little musical Halloween treat. Have fun!

Bruce Springsteen

You can download the free song today and tomorrow only at brucespringsteen.net

Finally, courtesy of Bar None Records are three songs from their catalogue of artist: Greg Camp's "Zombies on Parade", Hot Lava's "Mummy Beach", and Starling Electric's "Black Ghost/Black Girl".

Of the three songs, I thought Hot Lava was the best. It feels very indiepop.

That's it for now, if you have more Halloween-type songs, well, there's always next year.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com

O'Death

 10/31/2008 09:48:18  ♥ written by vu ()

O'Death - Fire on Peshtigo O'Death Tour Dates 10/31/08 johnny brendas philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11/01/08 johnny brenda’s philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11/02/08 tt the bears place cambridge, Massachusetts 11/03/08 la salla rossa Montreal QC H2T 1R6, Quebec 11/04/08 el mocambo Toronto, Ontario 11/05/08 Mohawk Place buffalo, New York 11/06/08 beachland tavern cleveland, Ohio 11/07/08 Space 101 Bloomington, Indiana 11/08/08 Empty Bottle chicago, Illinois 11/09/08 hideout chicago, Illinois 11/10/08 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, Minnesota 11/11/08 the picador Iowa City, Iowa 11/12/08 the jackpot salloon Lawrence, Kansas 11/13/08 Waiting Room omaha, Nebraska 11/14/08 laramir lounge denver, Colorado 11/15/08 urban lounge salt lake city, Utah 11/17/08 media club vancouver, Alberta 11/18/08 high dive seattle, Washington 11/19/08 doug fir lounge portland, Oregon 20/08 jambalaya arcata, California 21/08 bottom of the hill San Francisco, California 22/08 spaceland LA, California 23/08 casbah san diego, California 24/08 Modified Arts phoenix, Arizona 26/08 mohawk austin, Texas 28/08 The Marquee tulsa, Oklahoma 29/08 off broadway St. Louis, Missouri 30/08 hi-tone Memphis, Tennessee 12/01/08 Exit/In Nashville, Tennessee 12/02/08 the earl Atlanta, Georgia 12/03/08 local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 12/04/08 black cat backstage dc, Washington DC 12/05/08 bowery ballroom ny, New York

Speaking of Halloween and death.... O'Death, a band based out of New York, just unleashed Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin last Tuesday on Kemado Records in the US and on City Slang in the UK. Judging from their Myspace and live performances on Youtube, this band has a massive fanbase.

This band reminds me of gypsy folk music with lots of usage of the fiddle and banjo. The singer, Greg Jamie, has a very mountain man/country twang to his voice. Some of the lyrics on this album do not mean anything (like "aaah hhaaa" or "la da la la la"), but they sound good in the song.

So, the story behind this album's dedication ("for Eliza") is that she's drummer David Rogers-Berry's fiance. She died of an aneurysm late last year - causing the band to understandably cancel their European tour plans. Her death brought the band closer together and it may have influenced their songs.

Check out these depressing lyrics from "Grey Sun":

Hang the hardship, baby, we go to sleep and then we die.

My favorite song off this album is "Fire on Peshtigo". It has that gypsy element that I mentioned earlier and I think the most interesting thing about this song is that it's actually based on a true event from a destructive fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871. This song sounds great and I think it will be a crowd pleaser at a live show.

Speaking of which, they are on tour, covering Canada, the East Coast, and the Mid-West.

Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin is out now on Kemado Records, you can find this at most online retailers.

Links: odeath.com myspace.com/odeath

Halloween 2008 II

 10/31/2008 03:15:34  ♥ written by vu ()

The Ink Spots - I Don't Want To Set The World On fire

The Ink Spots

Happy Halloween, kids! This is my favorite time of year, I mean when else can you dress up like Bozo the Clown and NOT get looks like you're a weirdo?

Unlike last year's mega Halloween blast of articles, I will admit that I've been really busy with other stuff. Namely Fallout 3, which is taking up loads of my time.

So far, I've reached Level 6, and striving to become a "sniper" with most of my skill points in Perception, Agility and Strength. I have zero (actually the lowest is a 1) in Charisma, so my dialogue option is very limited. But who needs to be a charmer when you can shoot a Super Mutant in the head at 95%?

I'm loving the game, it looks gorgeous and I think it actually works really well as a first-person, as opposed to its previous turn-based isometric view.

The turn-based thing does exist in the new Fallout, but it's now called V.A.T.S. and you freeze time to target the enemy. I haven't figure out how to build up "action points" while in this mode, but it's amazingly gruesome when you destroy an enemy with a critical shot (we are talking a lot of decapitations).

Some bad news though, the game have high requirements to run on a computer, but it should fare fine on the PS3 and Xbox360 (however I should point out that the computer offers much more higher resolution gameplay due to turning on anti-aliasing up to 8x or high res texture). Also, you can no longer target the groin as an option :/

Still, this is such a great game. It's fun and it doesn't feel repetitive and you're never bored. Plus it's 10x better than Oblivion, especially because the enemies does not level up with you - so you feel like you're accomplishing something when you've invested all these experience points...

Anyway, back to music, here is another cover lover songs - but with a Halloween theme:

ROY G AND THE BIV roygandthebiv.com ♥ myspace.com/roygandthebiv Roy G and the Biv - Somebody's Watching Me I was offered some music review for Roy G and the Biv, but due to lack of time, I could not commit to it. Please continue to contact me regarding music submissions, I'm more than happy to look it over, although I can't promise anything. So, in case you were wondering about the name 'Roy G. Biv', it's actually the acronymn of the colors of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. I thought it was pretty clever (and gay), so I did end up listening to this duo's EP. The one song that did catch my attention (that's not on their EP, but you can download this song for free on his myspace) is the cover song of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me", which long-time readers will remember that I've mentioned the original song before. The cover is pretty faithful, yet with their own guitar/keyboard mix to it. It's at time too synthy and the mix seems to overpower the vocals, but I reckon it's fine as it's their take on the song. It's not really my thing, but I will bet that Kate would really love this band, as she's expressed her love for synthpop duos, (such as Cromeo) in our podcast #30 show.

MARY SHELLEY OVERDRIVE maryshelleyoverdrive.blogspot.com ♥ myspace.com Mary Shelley Overdrive - The Hardest Button to Button This South Carolina band is making all three of their EPs available for free via their website. I wanted to mention them today, for the obviously Frankenstein author. I will admit to download all of the EPs to check out, but have only listened to a few songs for sample - they seem to me like industrial-surf-DJ music. That description probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense until you listen to it. The vocals style reminds me of Rob Zombie. I was going to use their "The Lament of Janos Skorzeny", but being a cover lover, I did really enjoy their White Stripes cover "The Hardest Button to Button". It looks like the band just released their self-titled debut album. The description via their website lists: Whenever the release of their album seemed imminent, another EP of cover songs was released - free - via their website. The bait-and-switch routine began Oct. 1, 2007, with the release of Shock Theatre, a stalling tactic to buy more time to finish their self-titled debut album. On Sept. 1, 2008, that album was finally released - a conceptual nightmare that blended a mind-bending trash culture and a general mistrust of society at large.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com

Dark Developments

 10/30/2008 09:09:08  ♥ written by vu ()

Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and The Amorphous Strums-Little F**ker Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and The Amorphous Strums Tour Dates 10/29 Oxford, MS Proud Larry’s 10/30 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jack’s 11/01 Dallas, TX Club Dada 11/02 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves 11/03 Austin, TX The Parish 11/05 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brewing Company 11/07 Tucson, AZ Club Congress 11/08 Phoenix, AZ Modified 11/09 San Diego, CA Casbah 11/10 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex 11/11 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill 11/12 Sacramento, CA Blue Lamp 11/13 Eugene, OR Sam Bond’s Garage 11/16 Seattle, WA Chop Suey 11/17 Boise, ID Neurolux 11/18 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court 11/19 Denver, CO Hi Dive 11/21 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Saloon

Not to be left out on all the 'dark' posts is Dark Developments, a collaboration album by Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and The Amorphous Strums - clearly an all-star win-win cast. Apparently the album was put together quite quickly over a course of a winter season or so in Chesnutt's attic studio.

I was already familiar with Elf Power, who had a break-through album earlier this year called In A Cave, so I was really interested in checking out their contribution to Dark Developments. What surprised me even more is that you can hear them playing backup on this record - and not only that but they will be going on tour with Chesnutt to promote the record.

I haven't heard of Chesnutt, but apparently the guy's really famous. He's been releasing music since the mid 80s, then went solo with the help of Michael Stipe in the early 90s.

Anyway, as the album title suggests, this album is a little darker toned... than say Elf Power's music, which I think has much to do with Chesnutt's vocals over Elf Power's more friendlier indie pop sound of Andrew Rieger (although he is listed on the liner notes as 'singing' - along with all the collaborators).

Some reviewers calling this album's sound harkening to Lou Reed. I think this is only true on some of the songs, especially "The Mad Passion of the Stoic". If you look at something like "And How", it obviously is a little more upbeat- possibly Elf Power's influence on this song.

However, I think my favorite song on here is the not-very-radio-friendly song called "Little F**ker". It's fast and it's rude, and I love it.

Dark Developments was just released last Tuesday on Orange Twin Records.

Elf Power-Spiral Stairs

On another topic altogether, I did enjoy the cover artwork by Terry Rowlett. Upon first glance, you would think this was from the 14^th century, but it's actually by a modern artist. The painting is called "Through the Garden" and was painted in 2002.

Also, bonus song is Elf Power's "Spiral Stairs". Enjoy!

Links: myspace.com/darkdarkdarkband sad-music.net bloodonion.com 

Darkroom

 10/29/2008 19:17:02  ♥ written by jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com)

 

Darkroom-The Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes

Darkroom

    It used to be that you could walk into a music store and ask to listen to music, or to otherwise preview an album or a single before buying it.  This fell out of favor in recent years for a variety of reasons, none of them good that I recall.  So when Vu asked me to check out Darkroom, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they, including a number of other artists, were using podcasts as a way to give listeners a preview of their music.  It's a bit like walking into that old record/music store and putting the headphones on to listen to something.  In fact, the biography on their website states that they use podcasts much more than they do traditional releases, which features a motley mixture of recordings of live performances, rehearsals, and studio tracks.
    Darkroom is an ambient/electronica group comprised of Michael Bearpark (guitar) and Andrew "Os" Ostler (keyboards and loops).  They describe their sound as a cross between freeform jazz and Fripp/Eno-style ambient looping.  The brief for Some of These Numbers Mean Something (sometimes abbreviated SOFTMS), released last October 10th, describes the album as "guitar under a microscope."  The press release defines it further as a combination 70s space rock, 80s Sheffield electronica, 60s guitar instrumentals and 90s post rock.  The 70s and 60s descriptions seemed quite apt for the opening track, "The Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes", which sounded quite psychedelic and dream-like.  Continuing on, the release states:

Mixing classic synthesizer & guitar tones with contemporary post-production, this album combines improvisation with carefully crafted and layered arrangement, and rewards repeated listening.

    Seems to be a fair statement.  The guitar licks throughout the album have a very old-school, organic feel to them, although the electronica tones sound more contemporary much of the time.  Either way, it does remind me slightly of music when "classic" rockers played synthesizers with much less shame and Brian Eno was still ahead of his time.  Moreover, Improvizone, which describes itself as "recurring live music evening of electronic/ambient/chillout beats and soundscapes by people with amplified instruments and bits and pieces of technology", in which Darkroom performs from place to place, goes further.  "If the first thing that surprised me was how composed the music is on this album, the second was what Os did with the drums," wrote Andrew Booker (who has also performed with them) on the Improvizone site.  It definitely sounds like the two really strive to keep their recordings as close to their live performances without the need for heavy editing.
    When not working with Darkroom, Os runs a site called Expert Sleepers, where he makes music software for Mac OS and Windows, some of which was used for SOFTMS.

    You can pick up Some of These Numbers Mean Something through burningshed.com or itunes

 

Links: darkroomtheband.net myspace.com/darkroomtheband last.fm/music/Darkroom

Dark Dark Dark

Dark Dark Dark - Ashes Dark Dark Dark Tour Dates 11/07/08 TBA, Eindhoven eindhoven 11/08/08 TBA, Eindhoven eindhoven 11/09/08 TBA, Eindhoven eindhoven 11/10/08 Floere Foefke Gent 11/11/08 Radio Primitive Reims 11/12/08 Le Ludoval Reims 11/13/08 La Miroiterie Paris 11/14/08 Le Sonic Lyon 11/15/08 TBA, St. Etienne St Etienne 11/16/08 Ker Boui Boui MORDELLES 11/17/08 Jet FM (91.2FM or streaming) Radio nantes 11/17/08 Le Violon Dingue Nantes 11/18/08 El Inca Bordeaux 11/19/08 Loubieres house show in the countryside, Foix 11/21/08 La Médiathèque Associative Toulouse 12/10/08 Frequency Madison, WI 12/11/08 Heaven Gallery Chicago, IL 12/12/08 Elbow Room Ypsilanti, MI 12/13/08 Monster House Columbus, OH 12/14/08 Morning Glory Coffeehouse Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 12/15/08 TBA Philadelphia, PA 12/16/08  Cake Shop Manhattan, NY 12/17/08 Whitehaus Boston, MA 12/18/08 AS220 Providence, RI 12/19/08 Union Pool Brooklyn, NY 12/21/08 Skull Alley Louisville, KY 12/22/08 Cinemat Bloomington, IN 12/27/08 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN

Just in time for Halloween comes Dark Dark Dark, the band so gloomy they named it thrice. Largely accordion and banjo driven - with cello, standup bass and sporadic percussion and piano, the effect is an anachronistic glimpse at a troupe of gypsy minstrels, perhaps seeking a riverside campfire and a chance to play for their dinner. Oh, and there are ghosts there. Lots of 'em.

Ghosts, graveyards, bones, dreams, winter, drowning: this is the vocabulary of Dark Dark Dark. Water imagery abounds throughout. And why not? There has always been something rustically aquatic and 19^th century about a slow accordion song. Add a gently plucked banjo and a haunting vocal and it's impossible not to imagine a foggy, moon-lit Mississippi riverboat bedecked with ethereal waltzing couples festooned in patchwork finery under flickering oil-lamps in what amounts to a macabre Mark Twain fever-dream.

Come on, it can't be just me.

Yesterday saw the release of Dark Dark Dark's first full-length "The Snow Magic," which I think starts out with promise but in the end falls just short of delivering that promise. Opener "Ashes" is a beautifully morbid ditty which actually may qualify as an "anthem" but the passion fades a bit late into the album. That having been said; the damn thing is seriously growing on me. Their raw, slightly-under-rehearsed sound can be a bit off-putting initially. So why can't I stop listening? I love the tone of the thing. It's lyrically bleak, ominous; never in-your face. It's more Mary Shelley than Steven King, more Tim Burton than M. Night Shyamalan. There's no gruesome blood-bath here, more an overcast sense of foreboding. A requiem, not a murder. And considering the bleak nature of the lyrics, it's actually a fun album. There's some love imagery there. There's a nice interplay of male and female vocals that's rather endearing. Endearing...and sinister. I mean, obviously.

Having roots in Minneapolis, New York and I can only assume half the river-port towns in between, band members Nona Marie Invie, Marshall Lacount, Jonathan Kaiser and Todd Chandler seem to divide their affections equally to both aforementioned cities (In "Colors" they address the issue; "Which town do you like the best / it's too bad there's no ocean in Minneapolis"). Though the album's liner notes read like a who's-who in Minneapolis rock, having been produced by Rob Skoro, mastered by Dave Gardner and featuring guest-drummer Martin Dosh. If you don't recognize those names then don't worry about it. I guess I wasn't talking to you.

Links: myspace.com/darkdarkdarkband sad-music.net bloodonion.com

 10/29/2008 09:40:50  ♥ written by andrew ()

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Soup wrote this:

 

Nothing Ever Happened Deerhunter Tour Dates 10/31/08 Microcastle Record Release Show @ Variety Playhouse w/ Pylon, Jay Reatard, Times New Viking Atlanta, Georgia 11/01/08 Orange Peel w/ Times New Viking, Vera Fang Asheville, North Carolina 11/02/08 Cat’s Cradle w/ Times New Viking, Lake Inferior Carrboro, North Carolina 11/03/08 Ottobar w/ Times New Viking, AIDS Wolf Baltimore, Maryland 11/04/08 Black Cat w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts WASHINGTON, Washington DC 11/05/08 First Unitarian Church w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11/06/08 Terrace F. Club w/ Knyfe Hyts, Times New Viking Princeton, New Jersey 11/07/08 Music Hall Of Williamsburg w/ Times New Viking, Knyfe Hyts Brooklyn, New York 11/08/08 Bowery Ballroom w/ Times New Viking, Vivian Girls New York, New York 11/09/08 DCU Center w/ Nine Inch Nails Worcester, Massachusetts 11/10/08 Paradise w/ Times New Viking, Vivian Girls Boston, Massachusetts 11/11/08 Theatre Plaza w/ Times New Viking, Neighborhood Council Montreal, Quebec 11/12/08 Lee’s Palace w/ Times New Viking, Neighborhood Council Toronto, Ontario 11/13/08 Crofoot Ballroom w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Pontiac, Michigan 11/14/08Grog Shop w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Cleveland, Ohio 11/15/08 Metro w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Chicago, Illinois 11/16/08 High Noon Saloon w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Madison, Wisconsin 11/17/08 Triple Rock Social Club w/ Times New Viking, Disappears Minneapolis, Minnesota 11/20/08 Richards On Richards w/ Times New Viking, BARR Vancouver, British Columbia 11/21/08 Neumos w/ Times New Viking, BARR Seattle, Washington 11/22/08 Hawthorne Theatre w/ Times New Viking, BARR Portland, Oregon 11/24/08 Great American Music Hall w/ Times New Viking, BARR San Francisco, California 11/25/08 El Rey Theatre w/ Times New Viking, BARR Los Angeles, California 11/28/08Casbah w/ Nite Jewel, Times New Viking San Diego, California 11/29/08 Modified Arts w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Phoenix, Arizona 12/01/08 Palladium Loft w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Dallas, Texas 12/02/08 Emos Alternative Lounge Outside w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Austin, Texas 12/03/08 Warehouse Live w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Houston, Texas 12/04/08 Chelsea’s w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Baton Rouge, Louisiana 12/05/08 One Eyed Jacks w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel New Orleans, Louisiana 12/0/08 Bottletree w/ Times New Viking, Nite Jewel Birmingham, Alabama Read More Atlas Sound http://weheartmus... Bradford Cox, singer of Deerhunter, has a solo project: Atlas Sound. Based out of Atlanta, Georg...

Microcastle is one of those albums it took me a while to figure out how to actually review, which means it's a good thing they gave us an absurd amount of lead time on it, and I've had it to listen to all summer (this thing has seriously been on my iPod for about the past two months or so). Deerhunter's last full-length, Cryptograms, explored noise and ambient music in a pop context, largely pushing the more pop tracks into the second LP. The vinyl edition came with the next EP, Fluorescent Grey, a largely pop affair, on the D-side, and they ran quite nicely into each other.

 

Microcastle picks up about where they left off and sort of comes back around full circle. After a short instrumental intro, they're in full-on pop song territory with “Agorophobia,” which might be one of the most explicitly sexual indie rock songs ever written. Blending a new wavey bass driven sound with sunny pop melodies seems to be what this album (or, at least, its A-side; I'll explain this shortly) is all about. “Never Stop” takes the pop element even farther, with a bigger guitar sound drenched in reverb and feedbacking all over the place with everything building into an ecstatic outro sort of reminiscent of The Arcade Fire, if they were too stoned to be excited about much. “Little Kids” slows things down a bit, drowns the vocals in reverb and lowers them in the mix, and then proceeds to drown everything else out into a strange noisy pop drone. The title track, “Microcastle,” seems like a strange contrast to this, with its sparse arrangement and relatively untouched (aside from a little reverb) vocal sound. It's not until the last minute or so the distortion kicks in and then the whole thing abruptly grinds to a halt. “Calvary Scars” is more a straight-up ambient thing that serves as a really nice lead-in to the Sigur Rós-styled piano of “Green Jacket,” a song that is almost staggering in both its sparse expansiveness and its brevity. The last third of this sandwich is “Activa,” which brings to mind the “swamp of noise” (because it sounds to me like someone writing songs around a bunch of sounds they recorded at some sketchy looking house in a swamp somewhere) sound of their last album. I get the feeling these tracks are probably intended to make the listener sort of uncomfortable in preparation for the album's first single, “Nothing Ever Happened” bringing the band back into full on pop song territory. This track is about as straight-up “indie rock” as these guys get. It reminds me a little bit of Yo La Tengo with its extended, sort of “jammy” instrumental outro, which takes up about half the time devoted to the song. “Saved by Old Times” is written around a bluesy guitar line and the actual song gives way to goofy samples of people yelling at each other incoherently played forward and backwards. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but the song itself is great and turns into a weird ambient post-punk thing at the end. The next track, “Neither of Us, Uncertainly,” is more an ambient thing with lots of reverb and a nice hypnotic melody. The outro leads into “Twilight at Carbon Lake,” which sort of reminds me of Built to Spill with its expansive sound and melancholy pop vocal melody, as well as its use of guitar interplay. Even Bradford Cox sort of channels Doug Martsch with his vocal style on this one. The biggest difference is that where Built to Spill would turn the song into an epic jam session, Deerhunter drowns it, bludgeons it, and destroys it with layers upon layer of guitars and feedback with equally majestic results.

 

So basically, this album is good. I like it about as much as I liked Cryptograms, but for different reasons. The last album was more about ambient strangeness. This album is pretty much the closest thing to a pop album they've written so far. It's really good and I recommend it highly.

 

These guys are headed out on tour with Times New Viking (who are also awesome in their own way). More info can be found at the band's MySpace page, and also at the blog where Bradford Cox posts a lot of song downloads, mostly for his other band, Atlas Sound.

 

 

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

 10/28/2008 10:50:22  ♥ written by vu ()

The first time I saw a picture of the The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, I thought, these are two very beautiful people. Their EP, Around The Bend comes out today, and you should get some "hot hot love from around the bend." Judging from their lyrics, they're from the UK. By the way, isn't "around the bend" something like a 60's term? No one uses that expression anymore, do they? Don't we mean 'around the corner'? Well, as it turns out this duo is from Denmark.

This is a very new band with Lars Iversen and Mette Lindberg; and apparently they are known for their debut single "The Sun Ain't Shining No More." This song is a bonus b-side on their Around the Bend EP; in fact there are two "Sun" songs (one a remix by Bruce Aishe, which is much more dancetastic and I didn't like it as much as the original mix). I have to say I was really blown away the first time I heard the "Sun" song - it is very much like 60's girl pop, but kind of having a eurodance background track.

Recently, their song "Around the Bend" is featured in advertisements for the new iPod Touch. Listen to the song and you can see why they are the hot and the happening. You have to love the catchy trumpets and horns, right?

Despite calling themselves 'tour', they are currently not on tour - but expect them to be when they will be promoting their debut full-length album in early 2009. For right now, you should enjoy the Around The Bend EP.

PS, I think the EP is a digital release-only on iTunes.

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - The Sun Ain't Shining No More The Asteroids Galaxy Tour See Also April March http://weheartmus... I was really excited to hear the English version to "Laisse Tomber Les Filles" at the end of Grin...

 

Links: theasteroidsgalaxytour.com myspace.com/theasteroidsgalaxytour 

DVDs: Hanson Brothers and Bob Dylan's Jesus Years

 10/28/2008 01:17:56  ♥ written by vu ()

I watch a lot of movies, recently loving the Target Bluray exclusives (the Iron Man mask packaging and Indiana Jones photo book), so I am hoping the industry moves to high definition soon before my vision goes bad with old age.

I am kind of a big nerd when it comes to categorizing and collecting rather obsessively! Please check out my Dragon Dynasty and Tokyo Shock's Shaw Brothers Enhanced Editions to see what I've been doing with my free time.

To celebrate, we have two DVDs I have received for review. Reviewing movies is so much different than audio CDs as you really need to basically pay attention visually and audiolly (that's not a word) so it's much tougher than music CDs.

Hanson Brothers-Stick Boy Hanson Brothers HANSON BROTHERS hansonbrothers.net ♥ myspace.com/hansonbrotherscanada The information I have on this It's a Living CD/DVD release is that it will be available sometime in November. At first glance, I thought those "Mmmbop" kids did not age very well. As it turns out, this is yet another long line of confusing 'Hanson' band names. However, since they are Canadians, I wonder sometimes if their name wasn't inspired by that hockey movie? What's nice about this release is that the CD and DVD are on the same disc, but holding the disc can be tricky since you don't want to touch the data surface. My DVD player had a bit of a problem reading the DVD side, but it eventually worked out. There are no menus; it's pretty much a direct VHS transfer. The show was recorded at the Coaldale Motor Inn in Alberta, Canada and shows off how punky and fun they are. Songs like "We're Bad" come off sounding really great (love that oui oui thrown in there). The song that I think the record label is using as promotion is "Stick Boy", which sounds like a late 70's UK song. When the bassline kicks in, it's the only sound you hear, except for the audience screaming. Like typical punk songs, most of these songs are straight under three minutes... so they can squeeze in 27 tracks - all under an hour. It's obvious to me these guys are into the 70's garage punk that the Ramones made famous, but tend to lean toward the Sex Pistols as well. Plus, they seem to have a love of all things hockey and cabbage. Fans of 70's punk with humor should definitely give this band a chance. I thought I should also mention that the DVD video is called "All Grain Brewing with Johnny Hanson". It was overall enjoyable and it made brewing fun and easy. Even with the cheesy/corny self-aware "acting" from Johnny Hanson this production was well thought out and actually looks like some work was done in production! By the way, I especially liked their Ramones cover, re-titled appropriately as "Blitzkrieg Hops" with such catchy lines as Hey you! Let's brew!. It's obvious to me that these guys take their beer seriously, yet do not take themselves too seriously as demonstrated by their humor. Good news is that they will be doing the touring thing: 11/27/2008 The Anza Club - Vancouver, BC 11/28/2008 King Cobra - Seattle, WA 11/29/2008 Berbati's Pan - Portland, OR 11/30/2008 Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA 12/02/2008 Harlow's - Sacramento, CA 12/03/2008 Echo - Los Angeles, CA 12/05/2008 Brick By Brick - San Diego, CA 12/06/2008 Hollywood Alley - Mesa, AZ 12/07/2008 Launch Pad - Albuquerque, NM 12/09/2008 Red 7 - Austin, TX 12/11/2008 Mojo's - Columbia, MO 12/12/2008 Reggie's - Chicago, IL 12/13/2008 High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI 12/14/2008 Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN 12/15/2008 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND 12/17/2008 The Bandlander - Missoula, MT 12/18/2008 Ray's Golden Lion - Richmond, WA 12/19/2008 Hell's Kitchen - Tacoma, WA 12/20/2008 Sugar Nightclub - Victoria, BC It's a Living is available from the band's own label, Wrong Records (this is a myspace page because my antivirus tells me their official site is infected with a worm).

Highway 61 Revisited - Hallelujah, I'm Ready Highway 61 Revisited BOB DYLAN bobdylan.com ♥ bobdylanjesus.com Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born Again (10/28/08) W♥M readers will have noted that I'm a big Bob Dylan fan and so I was pretty interested in the release of Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born... Again! DVD that's being released today, October 28th. Just for background purposes, fans who've followed Dylan's career would've noticed Dylan becoming all religious on them in the late 70's. This time period is better known as "The Jesus Years" and saw two albums of Christian gospel-inspired albums, Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980). Director Joel Gilbert tries to answer how a Jewish folk singer from Minnesota ends up finding Jesus through various interviews and theories. Some people think it's because Dylan was always searching for something or seeking truth; he needed help in the struggle of his life's problems (this theory might be moot since I think at this point in his life, Dylan was pretty successful and well-known). Some speculated that Dylan went through a religious/supernatural experience. There's a lot to like about this documentary. First of all, its vision and direction and pacing comes from mega-superfan Gilbert, who previously did at least four other Dylan documentaries - including Bob Dylan World Tour 1966 and Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974 Though the Camera of Barry Feinstein. He definitely knows what he's doing with his latest documentary. I also liked the editing style, which is filled with background music (so there aren't any awkward silences) and transitional relocations (such as driving) are done in a way that's interesting. There are things I didn't like - but these are very minor complaints. Some of the interviews I felt could've been dropped - especially if it's not of or relating to Bob Dylan. I didn't like seeing the director in many of the frames (sorry Joel!), I feel that the director should be behind the camera, not on camera... My main complaint is that their main subject, Bob Dylan, does not make an appearance. It's like tip-toeing around the answer, you know? There are obviously many reasons for this; I'm certain Dylan does not want any part of this to begin with. Despite my minor complaints, the documentary was put together quite professionally, features some great editing, is watchable, and definitely worth your time if you're a Bob Dylan fan. Bonus features on the DVD include new interview footage, interviews with the late producer Jerry Wexler and pastor Bill Dwyer, and the full movie soundtrack in MP3 format by Dylan tribute band Highway 61 Revisited. You can pick up the DVD (with bonus MP3s on the disc) at bobdylanjesus.com

Links: www.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com

W♥M029 and 030: Firefox AK, the Midway State, and Kate & Lara

Firefox AK - Winter Rose   The Midway State - Nobody Understands   Pavement - Shady Lane   Divinyls - Back to the Wall   Alina Simone - Half My Kingdom   Ben Folds Five - Brick   Ben Folds Five - Best Imitation of Myself   Ben Sollee - A Change is Gonna Come   Ben & Jason - Best Imitation Of Myself   It's Not Impossible

Subscribe to our show at podcast.weheartmusic.com, via RSS Feed.

Download Episode #29: Firefox AK and The Midway State (33 min)
Download Episode #30: Meet Kate and Lara (41 min)

Download excerpts of our shows at W♥M Excerpts.

I have to explain and apologize for some things: First of all, the phone Andrea was using came through really low and so the sound quality is not so hot. It also had a short delay (combined with low output) causing us to ask "what?" and pause a lot. Boo to the technical problems :(

The Midway State's interview was delayed by 30 minutes, plus the time zone thing kicked my ass! The problem with the delay was that I was on a tight schedule and could only record for fifteen minutes before having to export my audio and have the computer ready for another recording session in 10 minutes.

ALSO: talking to Kate and Lara ran nearly an hour, even after I threw away such spectacular questions such as "What's in your pocket?" and "I hear you collect comic books"; it still ran nearly 40 minutes. So I decided to make it into its own episode - consider this a bonus episode this week!

PART ONE: FIREFOX AK
firefoxak.com ♥ myspace.com/firefoxak
Please check out my previous article with Firefox AK. Spending her morning in New York to talk to us about:

• Her live shows descriptions
• Her exploration of New York and eating pancakes
• Working with Hello Saferide
• Tgr Lou
• Berlin
• Razzia Records and Minty Fresh Records
• Firefox AK Vs Laid

She's going to appear on some dates throughout Germany:

11/14/08 Budapest
12/03/08 Uebel & Gefaehrlich Hamburg
12/04/08 Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin
12/05/08 Forum - Visions Party Bielefeld
12/06/08 Live Station - Visions Party Dortmund
12/08/08 Schocken Stuttgart
12/09/08 Ampere München
12/10/08 Gare De Lyon Wil
12/11/08 ISC Bern
12/12/08 Schlachthof Wiesbaden
12/12/08 Projekt 7 Magdeburg

PART TWO: THE MIDWAY STATE
themidwaystate.com ♥ myspace.com/themidwaystate
Derek previously reviewed Holes by The Midway State, so I was more than happy to have Nathan on to talk to us briefly:

• Arlene's Grocery is not a grocery store
• Headlining tour throughout Canada
• Their funny Minneapolis story, trying to make it to a gig with Mika
• "Holes" to be released domestically in early 2009
• Touring with a piano
• Process of writing music (inspired by Beyonce haha)

Check out tour dates!

12 Nov 2008 Plaza Club Vancouver, British Columbia
14 Nov 2008 The Starlite Edmonton, Alberta
15 Nov 2008 Marquee Club Calgary, Alberta
16 Nov 2008 Amigos Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
17 Nov 2008 Royal Albert Hotel Winnipeg, Manitoba
19 Nov 2008 Cowboy’s Bar Guelph, Ontario
20 Nov 2008 Tattoo Toronto, Ontario
21 Nov 2008 Mavericks Ottawa, Ontario
22 Nov 2008 Le Studio Juste pur riere Montreal, Quebec

PART THREE: KATE AND LARA
kate.weheartmusic.com ♥ lara.weheartmusic.com
LOLing through it all:

• The secret orgin of Kate & Lara
• Upcoming concerts: Ben Sollee, The Hopefuls
• "Wisconsin doesn't count as a state."
• Music venues we hate
• "Screw the Current."
• Living in New York
• Music we're listening to
• The three Bens: Ben Folds, Ben & Jason, and Ben & Jerry
• Chromeo

Special thanks goes to Jennie at Minty Fresh Records, Andrea from Firefox AK, Myles from Sneak Attack, Nathan from the Midway State, Kate, and Lara. Music used in the show includes: Firefox AK, Hello Saferide, Ben Folds Five, Ben & Jason, Alina Simone, The Midway State, Pavement, Chromeo, and more.

If you would like to appear on a future We Heart Music Radio show, please contact . Thank you for listening.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com

�10/27/2008 09:38:58� ♥ written by vu ()