)
As a pretty big DC Comics geek, so I went to see The Dark Knight on opening day. I've been eagerly awaiting the film since Batman Begins and it just felt forever for the film to finally make it to the movie theaters. What made it worst, was I picked up the Batman Bluray and saw the first six minutes of the film, which made waiting for the movie even more unbearable!
So after watching it, I definitely wasn't disappointed. I thought maybe at the end, there was an over usage of sweeping orchestral music that seems to overpower the dialogues spoken. Maybe even Christian Bale's Batman voice is sometime over dramatic and the Gotham mafia is a joke, the movie is still pretty awesome.
By the way, I'm actually kind of surprise that with all the violence in the film, it was still Rated PG-13. I guess the rating board have laxed over the years, but if this movie was released in the 80s, it would've been slap with an R.
I'm sure all the critics will tell you what a wonderful villain Heath Ledger's Joker was. He was pretty frightening in the role, and I'm kind of sad that this will be his last role. In some ways, I hope they don't bring back the Joker in future films, especially if future actors won't be able to carry on the craziness of what Ledger brought.
Anyway, before I let spoilers slip, I'll just keep this short and sweet. Here are some Batman music.
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A couple of comments: I've previously mentioned Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman before, so check those out. The "Batman TV Theme" was redone, possibly in the late 60s by an outfit called The Dynamic Batmen. I've always loved this surf theme song, but it doesn't seem to suit the seriousness of what Batman should be. It is a fun song and I guess reflect the feel-good theme of the Adam West show.
Prince's "Batdance (Vicki Vale remix)" and had heavy sampling from the 1989 Batman movie. It is, as they say, funky, I didn't think belong in the "grim" and "gothic" Tim Burton film. However, Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Face to Face" fit quite well in the sequel Batman Returns. What a great single! Rounding out is R Kelly's "Gotham City", from the disaster that is known as Batman & Robin.
Links: thedarkknight.warnerbros.com
hans-zimmer.com
oingoboingo.com
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07/18/08 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
Album Discography
07/19/08 Goshen, IN Elkhart County 4-H Fair 07/21/08 Council Bluffs, IA Harrah's Casino - Stir Concert Cove 07/26/08 Oakville, CA Robert Mondavi Winery 07/27/08 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore 08/01/08 C Mesa, CA Pacific Amphitheatre 08/02/08 Primm, NV Star of the Desert Arena 08/03/08 San Diego, CA Humphrey's Concerts 08/05/08 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery 08/09/08 Aspen, CO Belly Up Aspen 08/10/08 Colorado Springs, CO Pikes Peak 08/11/08 Beaver Creek, CO Vilar Center 08/14/08 Silverton, OR Oregon Garden 08/15/08 Tacoma, WA Emerald Queen 08/16/08 Richmond, BC River Rock Casino 08/17/08 Coquitlam, BC Red Robinson 08/19/08 Medicine Hat, AB Esplanade 08/20/08 Regina, SK Casino Regina Show 08/22/08 ON Thunder Bay Comm Auditorium 08/23/08 MN Grand Casino Hinckley 08/24/08 Sault Ste Marie,MI Kewadin Casino 08/26/08 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino 08/27/08 Jim Thorpe, PA Penn's Peak 08/29/08 Lincoln, RI Twin River Casino 08/31/08 Bridgeport, CT Klein Memorial Aud 09/05/08 CA Chukchansi Gold Casino 09/06/08 Rancho Cucamonga, CA Lewis Family Playhouse
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I'm probably not qualify to write this article, as I thought I only knew a few popular songs ("Love is a Battlefield" and "Heartbreaker") from Pat Benatar, a pop singer who dominated the American charts in the 80s, but after giving Pat Benatar: Ultimate Collection 2-CD album a listen, I can tell you that I was familiar with a lot of her works!
Her songs, especially the early pop rock hits, reminds me a lot of Patty Smyth in Scandal, both having strong female vocals backed by a tight band, rocking out to music themes such as the heat of the night, children of the street, belonging to something, and promises of love.
There are many good songs on this collection, but I will only be mentioning a few stand-out tracks. "Heartbreaker", her major-hit debut single, originally released in 1979 from her album, In the Heat of the Night.
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot", I've always thought it was an Olivia Newton-John song. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this was a big hit for Benatar!
I was also surprise to hear "I Need a Lover", a John Cougar Mellencamp song! Her take on it emphasized more on her aggressive girl vocals.
"Love is a Battlefield", gives new meaning to synchronized dancing by runaways. I think the cheesy music video to this song, more or less, made the song really popular in the 80s. A little bit of trivia, this original release was on a live album called Live From Earth (1983). Out of this live album are two studio tracks, the battlefield song and "Lipstick Lies".
While the first disc covers most of her singles from her first five studio albums (1979-1983), the second disc covers the rest of her career, but only from her former record label, Chrysalis Records (1984-1993). What's interesting to note is her shift from rocker to a more mellow pop and even jazz, on such classic songs like "We Belong" (this sounds like a Journey song), and the jazzy "True Love" (lots of piano and brass instruments on this one).
It is kind of nice to see Benatar dipping into different genres outside of pop (she even does blues on "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss"), I suppose it's a sign that she was growing up in those later years. We're talking about thirty year's worth of music, although looking at her discography, there are huge gaps after 1993 that suggests she's in semi-retirement of recording original music? Her last album, Go, came out in 2003, but perhaps with this latest tour and Ultimate Collection that was just released might spark some interest to get her back to the studio?
Ultimate Collection is really meant for casual and new fans, but I think it will also appeal to hardcore fans, as it does a wonderful job compiling Benatar's hits with some misses. The forty songs on two CDs (and official digital tracks), with half of it were top 40 hits. For new fans, this is a great way of getting all these songs for a reasonably low price.
To coincide with the album release (June 24th from Capitol/EMI Records and can be found at all major record stores), Benatar went on tour since May. She's currently just finished up Knoxville, Tennessee, and probably heading to your town. If possible you should see her do live rendition of all her hits.
Links:
www.benatar.com
benatarfanclub.com
myspace.com/officialpatbenatar
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07/18/08 Ed Fest -w- Collective Soul Edmonton, Alberta
07/24/08 Les Saints -w- Missy Higgins Montreal, Quebec 08/05/08 Sudbury Arena -w- Avril Lavigne Sudbury, Ontario 08/06/08 Molson Amphitheatre -w- Avril Lavigne Toronto, Ontario 08/16/08 V-Fest UK Staffordshire, UK 08/17/08 V-Fest UK Chelmsford, UK 09/06/08 V-Fest @ Toronto Island Toronto, Ontario |
You wouldn't think The Midway State (MySpace) would be as good as they are...at least, not if you let some of the information provided on the one-sheet for their upcoming debut album, Holes, influence you. First of all, they were signed to Interscope Records, those wonderful industry giants who have brought you the likes of Soulja Boy and Queens of the Stone Age, by label president Jimmy Iovine himself. Strike one. They worked with "Stevo" from SUM 41 on the video for their second single. Strike two. Finally, they recorded their album with "multi-platinum producer" Gavin Brown, best known for his work with...Three Days Grace?! Strike three--get the hell outta the....
But wait. Have you actually listened to their stuff yet?
When you do, you'll find yourself kicking yourself in the ass for letting assumptions get the better of you. The Midway State are a great band, and if Holes is any indication, they've got quite a career ahead of them and, quite frankly, I'm glad they're signed to a label as big as Interscope, because they deserve to be widely heard. The world of mainstream pop/rock is in desperate need of an infusion of good, solid music that is both palatable to a wide range of listeners but is still creative and full of heart. The Midway State bring a refreshing shower of good ol' rock-n'-roll rich in melodies and sensitive lyrics to the desert of pop radio, but still evince enough "indie cred" in their music to attract the SXSW crowd.
In 2001, while still in highschool in Collingwood, Ontario, pianist/frontman Nathan Ferraro and longtime friend and drummer Daenan Bramberger teamed up with bassist Adam Beamish and guitarist Ryan Horning to form Midway State. After an inaugural tour that drew some well-earned attention, the four fellas moved to Toronto in hopes of Making It Big. After being noticed by producer Gavin Brown, the band replaced Beamish and Horning "after much debate" (read that however you like) with bassist Mike Kirsh and guitarist Michael Wise. The group then set out refining their sound, touring, and producing two EPs, 2006's Eponymous and 2007's Met a Man on Top of the Hill, the latter of which featured their first single, the incredibly radio-friendly "Change For You." Considering their history, it's very tempting to think of the band as just another "made for radio" Future One-Hit Wonder. But Holes, the band's first full-length album (which also features "Change For You"), is a legitimately good album that proves the praise the band's EPs have earned is more than warranted.
Vocalist and pianist Ferraro freely admits that he loves Coldplay and Snow Patrol (as well as Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, and even Carole King), and Holes captures the piano-driven sound of Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head without sounding derivative. In fact, though the Coldplay influence is obvious, The Midway State's sound is clearly inspired by the dramatic songwriting of the aforementioned Cat Steves and Carole King, and as such has a prominent '70s pop-rock feel to it--a sound familiar to fans of bands like Rooney and the Pernice Brothers. Each song is primarily built around lead melodies courtesy of Ferraro's expert piano riffs and Wise's catchy guitar lines, but regardless of the slick basslines and rockin' beats, Ferraro's gorgeous baritone voice and tender, personable lyrics are the main attractions, especially in songs like album-opener "Never Again" and the positively-beautiful "Nobody Understands." For some strange reason, I've heard The Midway State called emo...and though their songs are indeed built around melodies and lyrics that carry a lot of emotion (which gives them that magic authenticity that ensures listeners will relate to them on a personal level and therefore take them into their hearts), there is none of the overwrought hysteria and whiny melodrama that defines "emo" evident in even the album's most heavy-hearted numbers, "Nobody Understands"--which quite literally explains every relationship I've ever been in--and "Can't Stop Waking Up To You." Instead of crocodile tears and teenage poetry, Ferraro's lyrics capture the same artful truth of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," which is something that everyone from lovelorn teenagers to twice-married adults can identify with.
In fact, after listening to this album, I've become a fan of Gavin Brown's production despite his association with Three Days Grace. This is a perfectly-produced album. Unlike Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head, the piano leads do not sound weak and badly-EQed, but have the same robust sound you'd expect to hear live. The drums mesh seamlessly with the basslines, and the guitars are pristine. Best of all, Ferraro's vocals are always crystal-clear in the mix without dominating the music.
All-in-all, this is simply a great album that has songs to match every mood. I highly recommend it.
Oh, and here's a little interesting fact about the band: Nathan Ferraro, like me, is synaesthetic--that is, he hears colors and sees sounds. Says Ferraro, "Every song that really resonates with me comes coupled with a distinct colour palette. When I listen to any song on Holes I see a different shade. 'Nobody Understands' is dark rose red, 'Never Again' is a saturated royal blue. At least, I think so...the irony is I'm also red-green color blind, so who knows really!" Well, sir, you're absolutely right: "Nobody Understands" is indeed a lush, velvety red (shot through with tones of deep blue generated by the introductory synth-pad melody) and "Never Again" is definitely a deep blue, though my brain sees the lead guitar riff as a scintillant rusty orange. Needless to say, this is a great album for synaesthetes: the color/sound texture varies widely from song to song, which adds an extra dimension of pleasure for those of us with crosswired brains!
The Midway State are currently touring Canada, but will also be playing two dates in the United Kingdom this August. Check 'em out!
Editor's Note: Holes is on limited release July 22nd, a full official release in September. -Vu 7/17/08 10:06 PM
Here's a very nice post from Scott Bourne of MacBreak Weekly and the Apple Phone Show from last week: I Saw A Little History Yesterday Thanks to Leo Laporte.
Scott says a number of very nice things, including this excerpt:
Leo managed to make sure things kept rolling even though the iPhone was covered non-stop for 24 hours. Again, this is not easy. I was pretty excited by the variety of topics and opinions that were presented as was the audience.
Now let’s look at what really happened. At any given second, between 7000 and 8000 people were watching LIVE. The cumulative audience for the event was just under 300,000! These are cable TV numbers folks without the Cable TV! We constantly had about 600-700 people on chat joining in as well.
The streaming part of this was amazing. The folks at Stickam did a great job. Streaming media has come a very long way since I started delivering radio with the Internet at NetRadio in the 90s. We could never support an audience that large simultaneously.Many of my listeners commented that it felt like the old TechTV days. I have to agree.
Leo’s been on the bleeding edge of technology media from day one. He’s always innovating and always trying to find new ways to serve his audience.
As far as I know, nothing has ever been done like this in the brief history of new media. To do 24-hour, live, streaming coverage of a single event in front of an audience of this size is a staggering achievement.
I'm all about sludge and bands with a good ear for repetition. Anyone who's paid attention to any article I've written is probably well aware of that. And it's been a while since I wrote about a band that sent us something that's all about that, too. So with that having been said, Italy's Ufomammut combine a sludge assault reminiscent of early Isis with subtle psychedelic flourishes that tie it all together into something unique. Their new album, Idolum, is out now, and I have to say, I'm really digging it.
“Stigma” opens the disc with an oddly timed guitar riff that builds and layers, eventually adding reverb-drenched organs and some of the most “musical” shouted vocals ever recorded. “Stardog” is where they assert that they were just getting started. A heavy downtuned guitar riff provides a backbone, while strange, barely audible samples and the shouts of the singer take stabs at it, only to all come to a complete stop, after which everything comes back together into a jam session vaguely reminiscent of White Light/White Heat era Velvet Underground, with insane drumming and noisy, squealing guitar that sound quite graceful together. “Hellectric” reminds me a lot of Isis on Celestial. With that really mathy backbone making what could otherwise sound like a slow song at the beginning sound evil as it builds into pile after pile of oceanic waves of sound. The bass drum-heavy breakdown and the subsequent build-up, however, are the defining moment of this song. On the other hand, “Ammonia,” despite sounding really evil, with lots of what sounds like flanger and reverb all over the place, with whispered vocals subtly audible underneath parts of it, actually is that slow song. It's got that sort of pseudo-”Egyptian” vibe going on, with guest-vocalist Rose Kemp lending her rather impressive voice to the track, and it works pretty damn well. And, of course, just because it's slow doesn't mean it doesn't build up into into a heavy psychedelic stoner jam! Granted, it doesn't pick up a lot of speed, but it'll still melt your eardrums if you play it too loud. What more could you ask for? The next track, “Nero,” just kinda seems like a logical progression from that. An 8-minute dirge that instantly cranks the heaviness, but then dwells on that alone without worrying about the speed too much. Once again, what I like about this is how the vocals seem to exist solely for the purpose of cutting through all the sludge being laid down by the instruments. The psyched-out breakdown at the end is about as majestic as that sort of thing gets. With all that slow noodling, the full-on aggression of “Destroyer” is pretty welcome when it shows up. The psychedelia of the past couple tracks is still there, too, channeled into spacey breakdowns throughout. The last track, “Void/Elephantom,” actually two tracks tied together by a meandering, overly long middle bit is probably what I like least on here. The tracks themselves are good. And honestly, if I was listening to this on vinyl, I'd probably be a lot more forgiving, just because it is really hard to take a track this long when you have a music library sitting in front of you and you could change the song at the push of a button. But, unfortunately, that's how the vast majority of listeners are going to hear this, and I'd be willing to bet a lot of them are probably going to skip about half the track every listen after the first, if they don't skip it altogether. “Void” opens with a slow space rock thing with sung vocals buried under it. Eventually it gets heavy, and then it breaks down. Then it's a meandering ambient keyboard thing for about 15 minutes. The length of it is kind of overboard, and it could've used some trimming. Toward the end of it, samples start coming in and “Elephantom” starts up. It's a heavy thing, with lots of really cool samples and a sort of “jammy” vibe and a looser feel than most of the rest of the album.
This
album is out now, it's damn solid and worth a listen, and these guys
have a European tour coming up in November. Keep watching their
website for details on that. They sound like they'd be pretty sweet
live. The album is on CD and there's a limited edition double-LP for all you vinyl geeks. The transparent sold out, and as of this writing, there's about 200 copies of the black left; it goes for 40 Euros, so if you've got a lot of cash lying around to spend on records, and you like what you hear, you might be interested in that. The packaging is definitely pretty top-notch.
-Soup
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Ryan previously mentioned mister Pelle Carlberg in context to Belle & Sebastian. I've actually never thought Carlberg sounded that much like B&S, but with this latest single "1983 (Pelle & Sebastian)", I am proven wrong.
Sure, the song is about Carlberg's youth and his run in with some hooligan, but if you look beyond that, you'll find that he really apes the B&S-style really well.
Let's take a look.
The Title
This is pretty obvious, the nod to Belle &
Sebastian. The title and song refers back to Pelle and his friend
Sebastian.
The band B&S have several songs about characters called Belle & Sebastian. For instance, what casual B&S fans might not know is that there is a hidden track on the 3.. 6.. 9.. Seconds of Light EP, I think, called "Songs for Children" about two singers, Belle & Sebastian ("Belle and Sebastian on the radio, playing songs for children"). Plus Murdoch wrote a song about a fictional "Belle & Sebastian" on their debut EP, Dogs on Wheel.
By the way, anyone can tell you that Belle & Sebastian's name comes from a French children's book and television show, Belle et Sébastien.
The Year
Nostalgic reference to a certain year. While Carlberg keeps
referring back to 1983, Stuart Murdoch, the primary writer of Belle
& Sebastian, has a habit of using references to years, like 1975
& 1995 in "The State I Am In", 1990 in "Electronic Renaissance",
1972 in "Me and the Major", 1982 in "She's Losing It", etc.
The Music
Feels like feels like early B&S (when they
weren't so Christian), especially if you listen to Carlberg's singing
style on this song. It is quite similar to Murdoch's Scottish
folkiness. In fact, if you didn't know this was a Carlberg song, I'll bet you can fool people into thinking this is the latest single from Belle & Sebastian.
The Breakdown
There is a speaking part in this song, just
half imagine Stuart David taking over this part, talking about the
past. David is known for his speaking parts on such songs as "A Space
Boy Dream" (the original version of this song is from his Looper project) and on "A Century of Elvis" (a song about David's dad and, er, Elvis).
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Really, what this comes down to is that "1983 (Pelle & Sebastian)"
is a really good song. I kind of wish he hadn't made such a blatant
tribute with the title "Pelle & Sebastian" as this would draw
comparison between the two.
Look for Pelle Carberg's latest album, The Lilac Time out on August 27th on Labrador (Sweden) and Twenty-Seven Records (USA).
Here are previous songs from Carlberg.
Links:
pellecarlberg.se
myspace.com/pellecarlberg
labrador.se
twentysevenrecords.com
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07/16/08 Cleveland @ The Phantasy (w/ Filament 38)
07/17/08 Chicago @ Spin Nightclub (hosted by Die Maschine) 07/18/08 Minneapolis @ Ground Zero (hosted by The Next Element) 07/19/08 Billings @ The Perk (Perkapalooza) 07/21/08 Seattle @ El Corazon 07/23/08 Salt Lake City @ Club Vegas 07/27/08 El Paso @ Soho Lounge (hosted by Sunday Mass) 07/29/08 Nashville @ The Rutledge 07/31/08 Cincinnati @ The Dock (w/ Hungry Lucy) 08/01/08 Baltimore @ Club Orpheus 08/02/08 Boston @ O'Brien's 08/03/08 Pittsburgh @ Club Pegasus (w/ The Dark Clan) |
I'm gonna make an admission right up front here: all of the members of ThouShaltNot (Myspace) are pretty good friends of mine and I flatout love their music. I've gotten to know the members of many groups whose music I've appreciated in the past, but none as closely as Alexx Reed, Aaron Fuleki, and Jeremy Long--and a lot of that has to do with the fact that not only are they all awesome blokes, their music is so damn good that they could be complete assholes and I'd still support everything they do.
Today, ThouShaltNot is releasing a brand-new EP of five songs entitled New World. This EP is only available through the band's website and MySpace site,
or at any of the live shows listed below. If you like powerful synthpop
or industrial that is not afraid to take chances and break out of the
standard "4-on-the-floor" dance beats yet still rock
your ass both live and on CD, then get out to see these guys and/or
pick up their new EP. Trust Uncle Pegritz on this one: you won't be
sorry.
ThouShaltNot have been around for quite a while and have earned quite a reputation within the Goth/Industrial world for their energetic live shows and consistently ground-breaking albums, but they deserve to be known more widely, mainly because their music is not in any way confined to the G/I spectrum populated by such bands as The Cure, Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, and The Sisters of Mercy. Led by vocalist, lyricist, and primary arranger Alex Reed, who has a doctorate in music from the University of Pittsburgh, and supported by percussionist Aaron Fuleki and guitarist Jeremy Long, TSN's music combines elements of synthpop, oldskool industrial, post-punk, folk, indie-rock, and orchestral rock a lá Pink Floyd with an eccentric but definitely catchy pop feel that has earned them several club hits with "Inside Of You, In Spite Of You" and "Without Faith." But you cannot pigeonhole ThouShaltNot as "just another dance band," as each album from their original self-titled debut through this current EP has explored many different tempos, types of songs, and orchestrations. TSN is a band that is hard to pin down, but even so their music is crafted for the average listener and will be appreciated by a wide range of folks, not just musical esotericists like...well, me.
New World, in fact, is their most accessible effort yet. Beginning gently with skittery typewriter sounds, the first track, "New Year," builds to a furious beat and pulsing electronic bassline that form a nice, solid foundation for Reed's crystal-clear voice and the song's Alphaville-inspired synth lead and spooky spaghetti-western guitars. "April, We Can Break Through" is a solid example of the band's predilection for epic ballads, with its soaring melodies and lead guitar line that will hook in anyone who likes The Bravery or The Killers. If this song doesn't haunt you with its heart-wrenching chorus and the line "There is nothing real that separates / the vision from the eye," then you probably don't have a pulse. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?" turns U2's original jam into a lovely, propulsive club banger that sounds almost like a collaboration between the Pet Shop Boys and Camouflage. While most of TSN's music sounds very contemporary, this song almost yearns for the 1980s while still incorporating modern touches like distorted beats and heavily-arpeggiated synths. "State Road 25" is an eerie retelling of the Phantom Hitch-hiker story told from the point-of-view of the ghost, which gives the song an almost unearthly feel that is nonetheless nailed to earth by its very Roger-Waters-esque guitars and its rocking beat. "A Space Between," a mostly-acoustic cover of a Legendary Pink Dots song, actually improves on the original and provides a nice moment of relaxation after the fury of "State Road"'s conclusion. Finally, "New World" ends the EP with a thundering dance number that incorporates pounding beats, orchestral samples, a fist-pumping hook ("Dance into a New World!"), and...hell, everything and the kitchen sink--which I think I hear sampled somewhere near the end.
Don't take my word for it, though. Go see the band at one of the dates listed below and tell 'em that Pegritz sent you. Hopefully, they won't pretend they don't know me!
I'll have an exclusive interview with the band and review of their live show shortly after the Pittsburgh date, so stay tuned!
Although we typically post on Team Vox to let you know about things that are going on with Vox (to, uh, state the obvious), once in a while, we like to let you know about other cool things that are happening around the blogosphere. And we think the idea of four hilarious mommy bloggers traveling across the U.S. on their way to the BlogHer '08 conference - all the while blogging and video blogging the journey - is one trip you will not want to miss.
Four adventurous bloggers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group were selected to participate in the Summer Road Trip '08 and blog about their travels, hotel stays, media appearances, time away from their families, and life on the road. Six Apart helped them partner up with General Motors, who provided the blogging mommies with a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV to help make their journey comfy, safe, and a little more green.
In case you're not familiar with them, SV Moms is a group of over 200 bloggers who showcase the ups, downs, outrages, struggles, victories, and everyday humor of motherhood. There are currently nine regional and demographically tailored sites that give mothers from D.C., New Jersey, the Deep South, Rocky Mountains, L.A., and Silicon Valley a powerful voice and sense of camaraderie across the country. Whether you're a mother, a child, or just a person who enjoys a good blog, you'll really love reading the words of these amazing women.
The moms buckled into their Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV on July 11th and even got an encouraging message from Katie Couric to kick things off! They are currently somewhere in the middle of Americ