War-N’s Neighbors

Potpourri

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:49:11 -0700

09/06/2008 18:42:42 ♥ written by vu ()

Here are a few non-indie rock album reviews for you. One of the nicest thing about W♥M is that we don't necessary serve a niche music genre, so we're often sent a huge variety of music genre. Below are some genre of music that I don't normally listen to - but all equally enjoyable: oldies, reggae, death metal, and Christian.

By the way, someone should do an article called "putting the pot in potpourri" and have a series of, er, grassy music.

OPM
opmden.com ♥ myspace.com

OPM - Family and Friends

California's OPM's Golden State of Mind was released in August, and features a diverse collaborations with Jim Perkins (acoustic folk), Pato Banton (reggae), Big B (rap/hip hop) and Jamie Allensworth (soul/funk).

This album is mostly chill reggae, but with a small splash of rap - mostly through collaboration with Big B & Dirtball. This is also radio-reggae, so if you're looking for reggae dubs, you might want to look elsewhere - however fans of reggae should really enjoy the mix of rock, rap, reggae (and even punk!).

This band first exploded on the reggae scene with their major label (Atlantic) debut 2000 album, Menace To Sobriety, mostly due to their popular skater song, "Heaven Is a Halfpipe".

They left Atlantic and have been with Suburban Noize Records since 2004.

The one clear song that I think is such a good song is "Family & Friends". There are two mixes on this album, the Saber mix seems to stress certain music riffs/beats, but the original mix I thought was just fine - if not better as is. I think mostly because you can hear the vocals more clearly on the original mix.

It looks like they've been touring all summer long, and continuing:

15 Sep 2008 CROSSROADS Fresno, California
16 Sep 2008 FAT CAT Modesto, California
17 Sep 2008 FISHLIPS BAR AND GRILL Bakersfield, California
18 Sep 2008 JILLIANS Las Vegas, Nevada
20 Sep 2008 THE ROCK Tucson, Arizona
22 Sep 2008 HAILEY’S Denton, Texas
23 Sep 2008 EMO’S Austin, Texas
24 Sep 2008 THE ROCK BOTTOM San Antonio, Texas
26 Sep 2008 MERCY LOUNGE Nashville, Tennessee
27 Sep 2008 THE FIVE SPOT Atlanta, Georgia
28 Sep 2008 THE PARISH ROOM@ HOB New Orleans, Louisiana
29 Sep 2008 MARKET STREET PUB Gainesville, Florida
1 Oct 2008 JANNUS LANDING St. Petersburg, Florida
2 Oct 2008 CULTURE ROOM Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
3 Oct 2008 THE SOCIAL (TWO NIGHTS!) Orlando, Florida
4 Oct 2008 THE SOCIAL (TWO NIGHTS!) Orlando, Florida
5 Oct 2008 FREEBIRD’S Jacksonville, Florida
7 Oct 2008 THE MUSIC FARM Charleston, South Carolina
8 Oct 2008 THE NORVA Norfolk, Virginia
9 Oct 2008 RECHER THEATER Towson, Maryland
10 Oct 2008 JC DOBBS Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
11 Oct 2008 HARPER’S FERRY Allston, Massachusetts
12 Oct 2008 WEBSTER UNDERGROUND Hartford, Connecticut
13 Oct 2008 HIGHLINE BALLROOM New York City, New York
15 Oct 2008 MOD CLUB Toronto, Ontario
16 Oct 2008 THE SHELTER (downstairs St. Andrews) Detroit, Michigan
17 Oct 2008 THE BASEMENT Columbus, Ohio
18 Oct 2008 REGGIE’S ROCK CLUB Chicago, Illinois
19 Oct 2008 PEABODY’S Cleveland, Ohio
21 Oct 2008 THE ANNEX Madison, Wisconsin
23 Oct 2008 STATION 4 Saint Paul, Minnesota
24 Oct 2008 RECORD BAR Kansas City, Missouri
25 Oct 2008 GOTHIC THEATER Denver, Colorado
26 Oct 2008 THE BELLY UP Aspen, Colorado
27 Oct 2008 AVALON THEATER Salt Lake City, Utah
28 Oct 2008 THE BIG EASY Boise, Idaho
29 Oct 2008 HAWTHORNE THEATER Portland, Oregon
30 Oct 2008 MEDIA CLUB Vancouver, British Columbia
1 Nov 2008 EL CORAZON Seattle, Washington
5 Nov 2008 THE HOUSE OF BLUES West Hollywood, California
6 Nov 2008 THE HOUSE OF BLUES San Diego, California
7 Nov 2008 THE PHOENIX THEATER Petaluma, California
8 Nov 2008 SENATOR THEATER Chico, California
9 Nov 2008 SLO VETS HALL San Lius Obispo, California

PS, I never found out what OPM stands for. Is it for "Other People's Money"?

STEPHANIE
iamstephanie.net ♥ myspace.com

Stephanie - The Rain

You probably don't know this, but I often get interested potential writers with interesting proposals for music angles. One of them included someone who wanted to write about Christian music, so I requested some of this genre of music from our PR people. When it came to actually producing reviews, that person was never heard from again.

I haven't gotten a Christian album in a while, but this one recently turned up: the self-titled album by the artist simply known as "Stephanie".

Surely she must know that she's not the only musician called Stephanie? I had a heck of a hard time looking up her myspace/website.

With the exception of the live recording of "Wake up Arise", all of these songs are studio-recorded and mixed. It sounds very clear and professional - including the live song.

The closest "rock" song is the ironically named "Back to the Rock", featuring pianos and Céline Dion-style singing and wooing. I did enjoy her songs when it had more than a few instrument arrangement, like "The Rain", "Through Christ" (electric guitar!), and "Back to the Rock", as they seem to bring more of a full-music experience for me - at least for this album.

I can understand the route to keep it simple (either with just pianos or acoustic guitar), because I felt they were trying to spotlight Stephanie's vocals. If you like vocals and minimal music, songs to check out are "Now I Know", "Bless Those Beside Me", and "Take Away".

The overall feel of this album is that it's Christian pop music, at times inspirational. If you enjoy other Christian pop acts like Amy Grant, this should fit right in. After a few listen, you forget that it's even Christian, despite the obvious religious overtones.

If you're in the Texas area and just generally like pop music, you should check her out:

14 Sep 2008 Word of Love Church Hurst, Texas
28 Sep 2008 Lighthouse Fellowship Church Ft.Worth, TX
24 Oct 2008 Seekers Coffee Shop Hurst, Texas

THE PONSONBY DC'S
myspace.com/ponsonbydcs

The Ponsonby DC's - Just Another Kick

This band doesn't have anything to do with death, sans for their gloomy "Death Doom and Destruction". This song is actually pretty good, sampling some speech from George Bush.

This band have been around since 1984 (WTF!) and currently based out of Canterbury, New Zealand, according to their myspace.

By 1986, this band was in top form with their self-titled album featured in Spin Magazine and all over the college radio airwaves.

Their sixth and latest album is called That's What All The Girls Say, released this year. Just look at their cover art, featuring what looks like a "serious" Cubism style - yet showing a pop-art style of a boat captain to the right. Maybe I'm over analyzing it, but this has a very serious and a not-so-serious tone to it.

This also reflects in their songs, some songs have modern social commentaries to them, like the "Death" song mentioned above to "Pluto's Not A Planet Anymore". Other songs ("Son of a Street Fighting Man", "Girls!") are just fun.

Other trends I notice from this band is that they have a late 50s "oldies but goodies" feel to them. Check out "Little Baby You're Mine" and "Ponsonby Waltz", both are well worth a look if you love classic oldies songs - done by a modern band.

PS, Gavin Buxton's NZ accent definitely shows up on "Just Another Kick" and "Son of a Street Fighting Man". I love it!

NETHERBIRD
netherbird.com ♥ myspace.com

Netherbird-Forever Mournful

Since we already mentioned the life-inspiration songs of Stephanie, I thought it would be fun to balance it with a little bit of the Dark Side. Usually I reserve this sort of music for Dr Soup, as this is a death (read: Satan) metal band from Sweden.

I was actually pretty impressed with the production on The Bone Collector, it doesn't sound too "cookie monster" but it's clear that their inspiration lies in death metal. Even though I think some of their songs sounds like operatic metal (especially on "Carcess Symphony").

I thought "Forever Mournful" was the stand-out track on this album - and I'll tell you why. You have Nephente's demonic/agonizing vocals (I'm not even sure what he's saying!!) with a counterpoint of a sweet, angelic voice (no idea who's singing as the promo copy I have doesn't have any liner notes). The song lends itself to an epic feel as its theme seem to flow right into "Adrift Towards Eternity" (with its sweet violins and thunderstorm soundclip).

Speaking of epic, check out "Boulevard Black" - the very first song that Netherbird recorded. This is a fourteen minute, utilizing lots of guitar, bird sounds (crows?), pianos, and includes a semi-cheesy voice over that seems to sound like an old 80s horror movie. Even the reprise song have a feel of Phantom of the Opera with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

The most surprising thing I found out is that Target.com is carrying their CD. Wow, right? Apparently there is a standard release and a collector's edition - as usual, I always suggest getting the deluxe version if you can swing it.

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

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Remote Control Frequencies

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:48:27 -0700

09/05/2008 18:44:22 ♥ written by appples ()

Remote Control Frequencies-Escape Plan

Remote Control Frequencies

Ok I'm just going to start off by saying this sort of noisy, ambient, sample ridden cluster fuck of sound is so up my alley it's actually IN my alley. And to quote a famous new wave band, I just can't get enough. Remote Control Frequencies latest album Tempus is about 45 minutes of some of the coolest stuff I've heard in a while. It's all fuzzy guitar, echoplex madness, swirling drones, manic organs and vocals that are just buried under all that sound. Throw in a healthy serving of what sound like samples from late night infomercials and you've got yourself one hell of a party. I would really be hard pressed to narrow this down to one genre so I'll go ahead and describe this best as ambient post shoe gaze hip-hop.

Remote Control Frequencies is a two man wrecking crew of awesomeness consisting of R-Rock handling the vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass, noise, digital signal treatments and other effects with long time collaborator LG handling the drums. there are a few guest appearances on the album by Player 1, PJ Sumroc, and Sharkula. Despite all the sonic madness there is still an underlying pop sensibility here that is very keen. The hushed vocals do a great job of not overpowering the true artistry of the music, and overall R-Rock and LG have done a splendid job of taking elements from a diverse selection of genres and creating an pastiche of musical styles. I would definitely suggest this album for fans of psychedelic music and pretty much everyone with an open mind about music.

You can find out more about Remote Control Frequencies by visiting their myspace page at www.myspace.com/rcf (although they claim to have lost the password so it might not be updated), or by going to their label's web site at www.tslos.com, and as always be sure to stay tuned to W♥M for the latest in independent music. Next week I'll be dusting off the old phonograph to bring you a few gems from my vinyl collection. Yay records!

Stay classy internettes,
Appples

Links: myspace.com/rcf

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Leeone at Acadia Cafe, Minneapolis (09/04/08)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:37:23 -0700

09/05/2008 08:29:50 ♥ written by vu ()

Tour Dates

09/10/08 Boston Music Festival - Ned Devine’s Boston, Massachusetts
09/20/08 Atlantis Music Festival @ Smith’s Olde Bar (Atlanta Room) Atlanta, Georgia
10/02/08 Spike Hill Brooklyn, New York
10/05/08 Rockwood Music Hall NYC

Discography

[2003] in this life, on this road.	[2004] Hail to the Queen	[2007] Imaginary Biographies, B-Sides (Digital Only)
[2007] Imaginary Biographies

Set List ♥ Arcadia, Minneapolis (09/04/08)

Leerone - To Fill the Void

Leerone

The Acadia sits across the 400 Bar, but you wouldn't know it was called the Acadia as the signage reads "RIVERSIDE". I've seen this place from the outside through its numerous large windows and looking in at the band on stage.

I don't know how often these "Diverse Emerging Music Organization" (DEMO) shows goes on, but they seem to operate on donations and benefits local artists. I caught the last few songs of Backstories, a full band and all nicely dressed. I don't really know the band's back stories (haha), I'll bet they get that a lot. They have some songs available for download on their myspace.

Eli Ratner said it was his first time playing (I thought he meant his first gig ever), but I guess he meant at the Acadia. He seems really comfortable on stage with his acoustic guitar. It would seem, according to his myspace, that he's normally a duo with Peter VonDeLinde.

It's clear that the real star is Leerone, who earlier in the day appeared in St Paul's Station 4. The report I got was that her keyboard "got messed up" and she ended up renting a full Yamaha keyboard.

Her set was understandably short, lasting no more than 45 minutes, and included a "made up" a cappella song that's not written on the set list.

Highlight of the show seems to be the announcer calling her "Leeroni" and "Leerona".

PS, more details later, including pictures and art.

Links: www.leerone.com myspace.com/mynameisleerone

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W♥M Updates (September 2008)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:36:12 -0700

09/03/2008 21:26:18 ♥ written by vu ()

Love Psychedelico - Standing Bird

Love Psychedelico

The Valley Girl's swanky new hair

I can't believe September is already here.

Appearing tomorrow at the Temple Bar is Love Psychedelico, who we've previously mentioned a few times on W♥M.

It's too insane, this band sold out the 14,201 seated Nippon Budokan in Japan - several times, I might add - and the lucky people in Los Angeles gets to see them in an intimate setting.

Find out more details about the gig on our news.w♥m and their official (US) and myspace.

Also, tomorrow I'm supposed to be around for a free show at the Acadia Cafe to see singer/songwriter Leerone. I believe earlier tomorrow she will also be at Station 4 in St Paul for the "Concert for Change Festival". The republican convention happening in St Paul is just coincidental.

You can find details of her other appearances on her website or the 'space.

One last announcement: many of you probably don't know that I am a closet comic book fan. I am the creator of the almost-ten years george-perez.com and I got the announcement that Perez was involved in an auction to help save and preserve "the Superman House". It's all over the news, but I thought I'd mention it here as I feel strongly about it. You can read all about it on ordinarypeoplechangetheworld.com

By the way, the most interesting item in the auction is a hand-written draft of Neil Gaiman's upcoming book. It's currently at $530, way above my budget.

In actual W♥M news: the podcast is going strong!! Stronger than ever.

I'm pleased to announce the re-appearance of former W♥M writer Valley Girl on this Sunday's podcast. Now that I've embarrassed her, I can guarantee another awesome dudecast.

Also, I have just added radioexile.com to news.weheartmusic.com. If you have a blog and/or website and would like to be on our link roll, just send me an email.

W♥M #11

OH! Also, as a favor, I 'investigated' wordpress using a free version via weheartmusic.blogsome.com. I spent a lot of time looking its codes and I can tell you that if you ever want to customize your WP blog, you will need to really understand how CSS works. CSS have really replaced the original html, in my opinion. It's very flexible and it's also easier to understand.

My first impression is that it's half-manual and half-automatic. WYSIWYG doesn't always work, even with some of the best plugins... and if you really want to do make splashy posts, you still need to hand-code things (much like how I compose all my posts prior to putting it on vox).

I also like the ability to create users and "comment approvals". There's a lot of cool stuff, but you know, for new users, I would have to recommend them to check out vox and sites.google.com. I'm not afraid to admit that WP is too complicated.

OH2! Watch my crappy video! The music at the end is by Dylan Champagne, which I will be reviewing soon-ish.

Search Box!

UPDATE 9/4/08 8:40pm: People have complained about the vox search - I will admit it's not the best (I think it doesn't index anything older than 6 months). So starting today, you will see a box on the very low/right of the sidebar. The search also search W♥M News and Press Release, as well as any future websites in the WHM family. I have tested out IE and Firefox and even Chrome, but if you are having issues, please let me know.

Also, as a special bonus, is a drop-down menu of current writers. Clicking on a name will take you to their articles. If you're still active, send me a note and I will add your name to the list.

UPDATE 9/6/08 8:53am:

How to add Google Custom Search to your blog
1. Create a Custom Search via google.com/coop. This will be great if you have multiple blogs and/or websites. Unfortunately that also means duplicate results if you cross-post same articles.

2. Copy and paste this code into your blog's main page. On vox, the sidebar width is only 150pixels, so you may have to change the "size" to less than 15. Change "Search" to "Go" if you want to shorten the submit box - however this box is not necessary (the return/enter key should work just as well).

How to emb audio on your blog
One of the nice thing about vox, is that it allows anyone to emb media on any website that allows embedding.

Click on any audio and there is an option for "emb", which admittedly DEFAULTS to autoplay=true. You must change this to false.

If you're not too crazy about the 500 pixels (too large), you can change all "500" to "320" or "200". There is a small hack for 150 pixels, but you must "wi" in place of "pi" after 150 for the image and it will work. This probably won't mean a whole lot to any of you unless you start using the embed feature on your blog.

Another hack you might want to check out is to just place the "mediaURL" to your own MP3. Have fun and ask me if you're still having trouble setting up any of these for your blogs.

I have added our latest podcast on the sidebar, just click on the play button and it will automatically play.

Links: weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com

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Regurgitator - Love and Paranoia

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:04:06 -0700

09/02/2008 00:59:20 ♥ written by vu ()

Regurgitator - Blood and Spunk

Regurgitator

Tour Dates

09/07/08 KING TUTS, Glasgow, Scotland
09/08/08 ACADEMY 3, Manchester
09/09/08 ULU, London
09/11/08 Warehouse party, Hong Kong, Kowloon City

Discography

[May 1996] tu-plang	[Nov 1997] Unit	[Oct 1998] Unit Re-Booted
[Aug 1999] ...art	[Jul 2001] Eduardo and Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks	[Nov 2002] Jingles: The Best Of
[Nov 2004] Mish Mash!	[Sep 2007] Love and Paranoia

See Also

Regurgitator

http://weheartmus...

Regurgitator's secret origin is that the original three band members (Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, and ...

I was going to have Australian Sally take up writing Regurgitator's triumph return to music with their sixth album, Love and Paranoia - but I just found out that it's released today, September 2^nd (out in the UK yesterday), because they are doing a mini-tour of the UK. I am assuming if things are successful, they will eventually tour the US to promote the album.

Regurgitator - !

Regurgitator - I Suck a Lot of Cock to Get Where I am

Regurgitator - Everyday Formula

I previously have mentioned the 'Gurge before, regarding their most famous album, Unit. The album won ARIA Award for Album of the Year that the record company (Warner Music Australia) went back and re-released it as Unit Reboot.

The band is fairly well known in Brisbane, Australia, down to their "secret origin" of the original three band members (Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, and Martin Lee) meeting on a public bus in Brisbane, Australia.

The band was never popular in the US, despite their previous domestic efforts with Sub Pop's difficult title "I Suck a Lot of C*** to Get Where I Am" or on Reprise Records.

I obviously haven't kept up with Regurgitor, they had change so much from their beginning. With Love and Paranoia recorded in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in the Summer of 2007.

Starting off the album with "Blood and Spunk", which is very 80s-sounding (think Kraftwerk or Devo). I can see why this single got them a ton of airplay on Australia's Triple J, especially with its catchy "just let yourself go go go go go go" chorus. The song is a perfect three-minute pop dance song, that's all there is to it.

I can see Regurgitator's oh-so-ironic humor on songs like "Drinking Beer Is Awesome!", "Destroy This Town", and "Romance of the Damned". Speaking of "Romance of the Damned", this is the new single, and features new fourth keyboardist girl Seja Vogel on vocals. It's pretty catchy and humorous. I love the "google" reference in the song, too nerdy!

Regurgitator - Magnetic

Old fans might not like the addition of Vogel on vocals (she also sings on "Magnetic"), but I think she's actually pretty good! She has a very Humans League quality to her voice.

The last song on this album is a weird Yeomans vocals on "Armageddon Premonition". The vocals is obviously manipulated to sound like a robot with synth. I did enjoy this little experiment and the song left me wanting more.

If you love 80s synth and pop, you need to check out Love and Paranoia, it comes highly recommended by me. The album is available now (amazon is listing a ridiciously expensive price for a domestic version) and if you're lucky enough to be in the UK, be sure to check them out on a few tour dates.

Links: regurgitator.net myspace.com/regurgitators valverecords.com.au

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Tim Russ

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:42:22 -0700

09/01/2008 21:33:16 ♥ written by vu ()

Tim Russ - Crossroads

Tim Russ

Where we last left off on my Star Trek music coverage, we heard from Brent Spiner (Data) , Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and William Shatner (Captain Kirk).

Today, I am happy to report that I have Tim Russ's self-titled 2000 album that I picked up used. Fans of Star Trek: Voyager will know Russ as Lt Commander Tuvok, but if you follow Star Trek closely, you'd recognize Russ in other Trek roles (like the movie Star Trek: Generations).

The album is largely jazz-style, but there is a blues song that really stood out for me: "Crossroads".

The most interesting thing about this song is that it's based on Robert Johnson's most popular song, "Cross Road Blues". Johnson had a short (less than two years), but very influencial career as a Delta blues musician... and many believe that he made a deal with the Devil to become a famous singer (and hence his untimely death at the age of 27).

I'm not sure if Russ was a fan before starring as Robert Johnson in Crossroads (1986), but it's evident that Russ loved Johnson's song that he recorded his version of it on this self-titled album.

What makes Russ' version more compelling is that it's actually based on an interpretation of Johnson's classic song from Eric Clapton when he was in Cream (from the album Wheels Of Fire). I love the Clapton's version as well, featuring some great guitar-playing and his blues-rock vocals.

Tim Russ will be making some rare appearance: September 20^th at the Rhythm and Ribs in Sacramento, California and on October 11^th at the Tri-State Convention in Washington.

Below are some more Star Trekkin' goodness.

The Firm - Star Trekkin	Dennis McCarthy - Star Trek the Next Generation-Main Title	Brent Spiner - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone	Brent Spiner - Toot, Toot, Tootsie	Nichelle Nichols - Rock the World
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man	Tom Tuerff - Little Star Treks	William Shatner/Joe Jackson - Common People	Leonard Nimoy - Highly Illogical	Leonard Nimoy - Piece Of Hope

Links: timrusswebpage.net

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Waikiki Web cams to watch Roz

nobody@vox.com(InsideTWiT) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:45:44 -0700

Here are some webcams along Waikiki that may be able to zoom out towards the sea when Roz is coming in. Many run java. Some permit users to pan and zoom for 2 mins per user, users cue up. She may now be coming in as far as two miles offshore, so it's unlikely these will see her, but check it out anyway.

**Sheraton Moana Surfrider (Waikiki, Oahu)**
http://surfnewsnetwork.com/index.php?hidesitemap=1&content_type_id=12&content_id=12&webcams_id=8#webcams

*Royal Hawaiian* - hotel is undergoing renovation but camera works great.
http://seehawaiilive.com/rh-cam.cfm

ALSO SEE:

Waikiki Duke Kahanamoku Statue, just for fun.
http://www.honolulu.gov/multimed/waikiki.asp

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