Tuesday March 16, 2010 New Music

Normally I go in alphabetical order when listing new releases that I'm interested in, but I'm letting The Whigs cut the line because I am on my third listen today of their excellent new album In The Dark and I've listened to nothing else but because this record is just hitting the spot and I can't get enough. There is not a wasted track on here and practically every one is instantly memorable.

I've heard The Whigs called both alt-country and garage rock and both of those labels are grossly inaccurate. Their last album Mission Control was my #3 record of 2008 and there was nothing alt-country or garage rock about it...it was just a straight up fun alternative rock record. Hell, the second track on that album, "Production City" actually sounds like a lost INXS track (more "What You Need" than "Never Tear Us Apart"). This new record still has some elements of that late '80s alternative rock sound, but is more akin to the alternative rock that absolutely dominated modern rock stations in the '90s. If In The Dark had been released 15 years ago, then it would have ruled the airwaves and MTV along with Marcy Playground, The Toadies, Semisonic, The New Radicals, Smashing Pumpkins and another band that got a start out of the The Whigs hometown of Athens, GA, the legendary R.E.M. Now you might be scoffing and thinking that doesn't sound appealing at all, but I'm not saying that they sound like any of those bands or are in any sense a retro band at all. The record simply has a similar vibe to that sound....great playing, hooks, catchy choruses and nothing processed or fake sounding about it. And be honest with yourself and remember that you LOVED all those bands' hits and have a lot of their songs and/or albums on your iPod.

I can't recommend this record highly enough and fully expect it to be in my Top 10 for 2010, if not in the Top 5.

THE BEST OF THE REST:

Armored Saint is one of those bands that always got the respect, but never the fame. I mean, they weren't ignored to the degree that a band like Anvil was, but that is because they actually had fantastic songs (sorry, I think Anvil pretty much sucks and it is completely understandable why they never went anywhere...still loved the documentary though). I had always heard Armored Saint's name mentioned a lot when I was a teenage metalhead, but didn't actually get one of their albums until 1991's Symbol Of Salvation came out. After it was released, their singer John Bush left to join Anthrax and that was more or less the end of Armored Saint. They did have reunions and new releases after that, but I've never heard any of those albums. As time has gone on I've found that Symbol Of Salvation has really stood the test of time as has their excellent debut, March Of The Saint. That being said, I figure La Raza is worth giving a shot because the band has never had any misfires in their career that I am aware of, are great players and John Bush is a top notch metal singer.

I've written about my extreme fondness for the Drive-By Truckers and how excited I am about this album already, so I won't bore you with another gushing post about how they are one of the greatest bands on the planet, but if you aren't on board with this band already, then you need to get off your ass and get with the program. People talk about how The Hold Steady are going to save rock n roll, but even THS would tell you that the Drive-By Truckers are the true saviors of rock n roll and I have no doubt that The Big To-Do will be further evidence of that.

[Fun fact: Just like R.E.M. and The Whigs, DBT also calls Athens, GA home.]



Back in January, I wrote about this album's cover and how I was thinking about completely avoiding hearing Landmine Marathon and just buying the album based on the artwork and seeing if my instincts were right just like I did when I was a teenager. Well, I was unable to avoid hearing the band as my favorite metal website, MetalSucks wound up streaming the album in its entirety last week and I couldn't resist hearing it. While my will power may have been weak, Landmine Marathon's music is most certainly not. Sovereign Descent is definitely recommended for fans of classic Earache Records' bands like Carcass, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower and the like and for those who think metal-core, death-core and whatever else-core is boring, formulaic and severely lacking in creativity. And while it makes me feel a bit sexist to say it, I still can't believe that is a woman singing...she puts a lot of the boys in the metal game right now to absolute shame!

Speaking of female metal singers, Ludicra is another female fronted band dominating the extreme metal scene. I've been meaning to write a post about them since I was turned on to them a few months ago, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Along with Wolves In The Throne Room, Tombs, Liturgy and Black Anvil, Ludicra is part of a wave of bands (if not the leaders of said wave) putting American black metal on the map in a major way. The Tenant is their newest release and I actually picked up a physical copy of it this past weekend at Scion Rock Fest as they were playing there (unfortunately I didn't seem them play live for a couple different reasons, but basically because I knew they were playing NYC next month and that would be a better time and venue to see them live), but haven't gotten around to listening to it just yet. [And yes, you've probably noticed a pattern of me obtaining albums, but not having listened to them yet...any music junkie will tell you that it is hard to keep up with all these new releases and you don't want to listen to something until you are in the proper mood for that style of music because first impressions are hard to undo.] Their prior two releases Fex Urbis Lex Orbis and Another Great Love Song are jaw droppingly good and the band seems to have the right amount of momentum and buzz surrounding them for this album to be the one that takes them to the next level.

Firing More Of My Brain Cells

I'm always preaching about how much I hate reality television and telling people that I never watch it. The "reality" though is that I do watch a a few shows. Top Chef and Undercover Boss are two that I am hooked on, but the argument could be made that those are in a dramatically different league than say, The Real World (ie. they aren't trash television). But one show I did watch every single episode of that is in the same league as The Real World is The Jersey Shore. Arguably the lowest of the low in reality television, it is nonetheless a cultural phenomenon, so I like to say that the pop culture junkie and sociologist in me is what finds it so fascinating. And let's face it, there is something oddly charming about that cast of characters...well, maybe not The Situation...that guy is definitely a legit douche. The only other reality show I "watch" is not one I am a regular viewer of. Not unlike The Jersey Shore, The Real Housewives Of Orange County is akin to a bad car wreck....you don't want to look, but you do anyway. I don't set my DVR to record this show and I don't even know exactly when it is on, but if I stumble across it while channel surfing, then I definitely stop. I've probably caught in the ballpark of 10 episodes over the past two seaons and find basically zero redeeming qualities in any of these people, but can't help but watch these vapid idiots go through the motions for an hour (Vicki is by far my most hated....she is evil incarnate).

I've never watched Donald Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice or the original The Apprentice, but I am feeling compelled to watch the season premiere of The Celebrity Apprentice this Sunday. I'm not sure if my defenses have been weakened (ie. brain cells diminished) from watching The Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of Orange County, but the prospect of Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Goldberg, Sinbad, Cyndi Lauper, Holly Robinson Peete, Michael Johnson, Rod Blagojevich, Darryl Strawberry and a few other celebrities (who I'm admittedly not familiar with) in a competition run by Donald Trump is just too intriguing.

I'm thinking that I am dangerously close to falling into the abyss of reality television by giving this show a try. Could it be a gateway drug? Will I all of the sudden be making excuses for myself to watch Dancing With The Stars and American Idol? Or even worse....The Bachelor?

I'm scared.

Flash Delirium

MGMT's debut Oracular Spectacular was one of my Top 5 favorite releases of 2008. As much as I wanted to dismiss all the hype surrounding the band due to their association with the Williamsburg hipster scene, there was simply no ignoring how incredibly catchy, hooky and brilliant the album was. They have a new album coming out on April 13th entitled Congratulations and the first single from it, "Flash Delirium" is now making the rounds on the 'ol internet.

It sounds nothing like anything on Oracular Spectacular. The intro is actually reminiscent of a Flight Of The Conchords song minus the incredibly funny lyrics and then proceeds to head in a bunch of different directions...Jethro Tull flutes, The Beatles in their drug crazy Sgt. Pepper's/Magical Mystery Tour years, doo wop, spastic keyboard heavy garage rock from the '60s and probably a few other styles I can't quite identify just yet. It isn't as immediately catchy as their previous material and that doesn't mean it is bad, but this is one of those songs where I'm going to have to spend some more time with it before finding out whether I like it or not. I'm curious about the album...a buyer from Newbury Comics said in a Facebook post today that "Believe it or not, this is one of the LEAST weird songs on it [the new album Congratulations]." Hmmm...that's either a really good thing or a really not so good thing. Guess I'll have to wait until the album drops and decide for myself.

You can download the single for free from the band's website or listen to it on Pitchfork.

Tuesday March 9, 2010 New Music

I LOVED Coheed And Cambria's first album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, but they proceeded to lose me on the two albums that followed, In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 and Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness. By the time their fourth album, No World For Tomorrow rolled around, I had completely lost interest in them. Last year I caught them performing at the Austin City Limits Festival and found my interest in them rekindled. I had forgotten what a stellar live band they are and have been meaning to revisit their albums ever since. I finally got around to listening Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume One again yesterday and really got into it. So today when I got my weekly email newsletter from Amie St., I was psyched to see that they are offering a download of Coheed's new single "The Broken" from their upcoming album Year Of The Black Rainbow for free. I'm not sure if this is an edited version and if a longer, different version will appear on the full length, but this is a great 4 minutes of prog hard rock. As Coheed tends to be more of an album oriented band as opposed to a singles band, this shows promise for the rest of the record being pretty solid. We shall see come April 13th when it is released.

Dark Tranquillity are considered O.G.'s in the Swedish melodic death metal scene. I have two of their albums, Damage Done and Character and like them, but don't listen to them a ton. They are definitely one of those bands that I've always meant to spend more time listening to, see live, etc., but unfortunately simply haven't gotten around to it yet. Since they are considered fairly consistent in their output, there is a good amount of excitement surrounding the release of their new album We Are The Void. Personally, I'm more apt to first check out their 1995 album The Gallery which was recently inducted into the Decibel Hall Of Fame, but will hopefully get around to hearing both in the near future.



Just kidding.



I saw Titus Andronicus open for Los Campesinos! about a year ago and thought they weren't too shabby. The singer seemed like he was trying a bit too hard to be something or other, but the music was still fairly interesting. A friend of mine sent me a copy of their new album, The Monitor weeks ago and I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet, so if it you get it and it sucks, then don't blame me as I'm not officially endorsing it, but simply expressing some slight interest in hearing it.



I wrote about White Wizzard's Over The Top last month when it was only available on iTunes, but now it is available everywhere. If you love Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio, etc., etc., then this will probably be right up your alley.

Suicidal Scatterbrain Toys

I recently moved into a new apartment and miraculously managed to get more space for less money (I literally tripled my square footage) and still live in a safe, clean and nice neighborhood. I accomplished this by leaving my beloved, but grossly, criminally overpriced Manhattan to live across the river in Hoboken, NJ with my girlfriend. One of the many enjoyable things that has come of moving into a more spacious apartment is the fact that I have much more room to hang up all my framed posters, vinyl album covers and other various items. I have a man cave of sorts in the new apartment in the form of an office/music room where the majority of my music related "art" is being displayed. After the move, I realized I had wall space for a few extra items, so I set about getting some new and old belongings framed (eg. Faith No More and Queens of the Stone Age silkscreens from 2009 and 2007 respectively, Metallica "...And Justice For All" promotional poster from 1988) and I also called up my mom and asked if she could pass along my autographed band pictures obtained in high school that she had in storage in her house. I was never the biggest autograph collector in the world and only have a few autographed pictures (and a couple autographed ticket stubs) so the collection was easy to remember as it was only for three bands:

1) Autographed Scatterbrain 8x10:

I loved the first Scatterbrain album Here Comes Trouble so much that I actually joined their fan club. I wrote them a letter (handwritten as this was well before email) telling them how much I loved the album and they sent back the above autographed 8x10 along with another autographed 8x10 and a form letter that was actually signed by the guitarist that said "Hey Nick, Thanks for the note - Glen". Some may argue that the band probably didn't actually sign the pictures or the letter, but these guys weren't exactly huge rock stars and I'm fairly confident that they were taking the time to personally autograph things for fan club members (years later when I wound up working in the music business this confidence was further cemented when I got to see these kind of practices in action).

2) Autographed Dangerous Toys 8 1/2x11 torn from a magazine:

Dangerous Toys debut album was another personal favorite of my youth (and today). They did an in-store at a local Tower Records when they pulled into town with Bonham and The Cult. I didn't go to the show because at the time I wasn't a huge fan of either of the other bands (I would later learn to love The Cult and find that the Bonham debut is pretty solid), but my friends and I were at the in-store before the band arrived and after they left. They were the first band I'd ever gotten to meet and I was psyched. I got a couple magazine pics and my cassette copy of their album autographed, a few pictures taken (sadly I only have one and it isn't that great as my friend who I long lost touch with had all the good shots on his camera) and was even able to get a large drymounted promotional poster of the album cover from one of the store employees which I still have at my mom's house. I remember that being the biggest score and my friends being green with envy. Five years ago I saw the singer of Dangerous Toys, Jason McMaster, playing at a bar in Austin, TX with a new band, Broken Teeth. I went up to him after the show and relayed the story of meeting him way back when and he was just as gracious and cool as he was back then. Good dude and he can still sing his ass off.

3) Autographed Suicidal Tendencies 8 1/2x11 torn from a magazine:

Suicidal Tendencies were, you guessed it, another band that I was a huge fan of. They were on tour opening for Queensryche (who was touring behind the awesome album Empire) and doing an autograph signing in the parking lot before the show. Armed with a picture torn out of a magazine and my cassette copy of Lights...Camera...Revolution, I went to meet the band with my friends who I was going to the show with. We lined up to meet the band and unlike Dangerous Toys who took a few moments to chat with everybody, say hi, take a quick pic, etc., ST moved the line along quickly and singer Mike Muir was listening to his discman the whole time. Didn't even look up at me when he signed my stuff. I was so severely bummed. As I mentioned above about Scatterbrain, years later when I wound up working in the music industry, I would come to understand that kind of behavior and even be a bit sympathetic to it as I had an understanding of life as a touring band, but as a 14/15 year old kid I didn't get it at all and thought it was totally lame. In 1999, I wound up meeting Mike Muir, his wife and son briefly at the Vans Warped Tour and even put a sticker on his kid's skateboard (the one his mother didn't want him to put on the skateboard because it was too "big" or something like that, but I was a bit tipsy and not paying attention) and it was about as exciting as my interaction with him before the Queensryche show. Definitely in stark contrast to my interactions with Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys, but at the end of the day I don't care about the people behind the music (unless they are friends of mine of course), I just care about the music and both Suicidal and Dangerous Toys were and are awesome bands.

Scatterbrain "Don't Call Me Dude"



Dangerous Toys "Teas'n, Pleas'n"



Suicidal Tendencies "You Can't Bring Me Down"

Rockin' Out: Kreator/Voivod/Nachtmystium @ Nokia Theatre 03/06/10

This past Saturday or Night #2 of what had come to be known as "Metal Weekend", focused around the Kreator/Voivod/Nachtmystium/Evile/Lazarus A.D. show at Nokia Theatre. Having already been blown away by Kix the night before, I was a little tired, but rapidly got more energy as showtime approached. Having seen Kreator live before, I knew full well that they would not disappoint and I was also excited to see Voivod and Nachtmystium as they are both bands that I am a big fan of, but had yet to see live. I have heard great things about both Evile and Lazarus A.D., but they unfortunately were going on way too early for my liking and the prospect of getting to Nokia Theatre 90 minutes earlier than already planned and paying $8 for beers the whole time was not very enticing.

First up was American black metallers Nachtmystium. Their album Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1 is not only one of the most interesting black metal albums I've heard in a while, but simply one of the most interesting metal albums period. My main problem with black metal is that there seems to be a lot of perceived rules about what the sound can be and I find most of the bands that stick to those rules to be rather boring. Fortunately, there seems to be a strong wave of bands pushing the boundaries of the genre and Nachtmystium is definitely at the forefront of that movement. The band only played for 30 minutes and by the time it felt like they were really ramped up, it was time for them to go. That being said, 30 minutes was better than nothing at all and I'd love to see this band headlining at some point, so I can hear a full set. It'd be interesting to see if they would get saxophones and other instruments involved in the live setting like they did on their last record, the aforementioned Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1.

Next up was the legendary Voivod. When I originally heard about this tour I was pretty excited at the prospect of seeing Voivod not only because they are frickin' Voivod, but because I thought Jason Newsted (Metallica, Flotsam and Jetsam) might be playing bass with them. Unfortunately, he is not doing this tour, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. Now, I am definitely a fan of Voivod, but I'll admit to being pretty late to the game on this band. I haven't spent years listening to their albums religiously, so I'm not intimately familiar with their catalog. I do own 5 of their albums and like them all, so figured the show would be enjoyable. And what I saw of their set was definitely enjoyable even though the singer, Snake looked like he had been drinking as much as I had before they hit the stage. I did have to leave about 15 minutes into their set to relieve myself and refresh my beer and wound up getting sidetracked on my travels from the bathroom to the bar when I bumped into a bunch of people I knew. Shame on them for not being inside watching Voivod in the first place, but I have no one to blame but myself for opting to be a social butterfly and missing most of Voivod's set. I did at least catch their last song which was their excellent cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine". I'm not beating myself up too much for missing the bulk of their set though as I will actually get the opportunity to see them again this Saturday at the Scion Rock Fest in Columbus, OH. What I saw on Saturday was great and I look forward to (hopefully) catching a full set this upcoming Saturday.

Closing out the night was the mighty Kreator. Kreator is essentially the German version of Slayer and that either sounds awesome to you or terrible. I personally find it awesome and have for years ever since I was turned onto their classic 1989 album Extreme Aggression. What is interesting about Kreator is that their best efforts (in my opinion) have been their most recent material. Violent Revolution, Enemy Of God and Hordes Of Chaos were all released between 2001 and 2009 and all of them absolutely destroy which is an impressive feat for a band that released their first album 25 years ago.

At the ripe old age of 34, I am not much for maneuvering my way through mosh pits to get close to the stage anymore, but I got fired up enough during Kreator's set to do just that. My glasses were kicked off and momentarily lost on the floor at one point and my Blackberry was kicked out of my hand while I was trying to take one of the above pictures, but both were recovered unharmed, so no regrets about trying to pretend like I was a kid again. The band blazed through a set of classic material and newer stuff and since they don't have any ballads per se, it was just relentless.

Side note, at some point before my journey to the stage during Kreator's set, I did have a hilarious debate with an acquaintance of mine about what the t-shirt that the drummer of Kreator was wearing said. It was an acronym for something. He swore up and down that the last letter was "K", but I was convinced it was "R". He asked a few people around us and they all agreed with him, but I was undeterred in my stance that it was indeed a "R". I'm hoping a picture of the drummer pops up in a concert review on a metal website sometime this week with a nice clear pic of him, so I can either a) gloat when I'm proved right or b) pretend like I don't remember the argument if I'm wrong.

For two nights in a row this weekend, I saw two bands that many people probably consider "past their prime" absolutely smoke bands more than half their age. I definitely consider this "Metal Weekend" a smashing success and hope to have many more this year!

Nachtymystium "Your True Enemy"



Voivod "Astronomy Domine"



Kreator "Enemy Of God"



Kreator "Pleasure To Kill"

Rockin' Out: Kix @ The Crazy Donkey 03/05/10

Normally I start off my concert reviews with some terrible pictures of the band or bands taken with my Blackberry, but for this one I wanted to share images of the ticket stubs from the last time I saw Kix play live. It was at The Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA on December 28, 1991. Not only was it a great, great show, but my friend Matt and I were lucky enough to meet Kix's singer Steve Whiteman right after their set and get his autograph on our ticket stubs. This was not an easy feat at a 10,000 seat arena, but we pulled it off and were over the moon about meeting the guy. Now here I am about 19 years later writing about seeing Kix at a less than 1000 capacity rock club on Long Island. Like 99% of the bands lumped into the "hair metal era", Kix is well past their height of popularity, but I'll be damned if they don't still play like they are playing to 10,000 people regardless of how many are actually in the room.

And now the crappy Blackberry pics:





Friday night or Night #1 of what had come to be known as "Metal Weekend", Kix came out swinging and didn't stop until the final notes of the live favorite "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" from their debut album. With the exception of a brief drum solo from Jimmy Chalfant and a guitar duel between Ronnie Younkins and Brian Forsythe (who have really mastered the art of stealing Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood's fashion sense), it was a greatest hits parade for Kix fans in attendance as the band mostly stuck to material from their two best albums (and most well known), Midnite Dynamite and Blow My Fuse. As evidenced by a few of the above photos, you can see that the band even got some scantily clad women to dance around with them during a song or two just like it was the 80s. My guess is that the girls dancing had absolutely no clue who Kix was (and could probably care less too) and it was actually fairly creepy to watch the guys in the band (who have to be at least in their late 40s, early 50s at this point) ogle at these 20-something women while they danced. Regardless of the creepiness factor, it was still all in good fun from the vantage point of the crowd and did nothing but aid the atmosphere of an already fun rock n roll show.

This show really took me back to my youth and I had a great deal of fun watching these "old guys" kick out the jams like they were still in their glory days.

I've written more extensively about Kix in an old post, so check that out if you want to know more about the band and their music. If you consider yourself a fan of 80s hair metal and 70s hard rock, then they are absolutely essential listening.

And just one random side note, I hope that Kix's singer Steve Whiteman starts eating some more because that dude is unnaturally skinny. Like, unhealthy looking. Somebody needs to get that guy on a cheeseburger diet ASAP.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"



"Don't Close Your Eyes"



"Midnite Dynamite"

What To Listen To...

I'm going to see Kix tonight at The Crazy Donkey out on Long Island. I already explained my fondnesss for Kix a few months ago and considering I haven't seen them play live since 1991, I am very much looking forward to this show. By all accounts I've heard, they still kill it live. Sure, it is a total nostalgia show, but that doesn't mean it can't be good.

I've been involved in an email chain with the group of folks I am heading out to Long Island with to see the show and a few have mentioned how they are spending their day cranking Kix in order to get psyched up for tonight. I've never been a fan of spending an entire day listening to the music of a band or bands that you are going to see in concert that evening. I think maybe I didn't mind it when I was a teenager as I pretty clearly remember listening to a mix tape of all Pantera, Sepultura and Biohazard songs on my way to see said bands sometime in the early 90s, but it is definitely not something I do these days. Most people I know seem to enjoy this practice and will spend all day going through a band's discography (if they have more than one release) in order to pump themselves up for the show. I may listen to the band(s) in the days leading up to the show to reacquaint myself with their songs, but not the day of. If I wasn't pumped up to go see them, then I wouldn't have bought tickets in the first place. The only exceptions to this rule that I can think of in recent memory is tailgating in the parking lot before Iron Maiden and AC/DC concerts where their music was being blasted out of cars I was hanging out at or nearby ones and finding it thoroughly enjoyable. Those two bands also happen to be ones where it is considered acceptable to wear a t-shirt of said band to their show (the whole t-shirt rule is ridiculous, but I'm going to save my rant on that for next week), so there might be a connection there...who knows. All that being said, if the show blows me away, then I definitely wind up listening to the band a lot in the days following.

Anyway, at the end of the day I suppose it is all just a matter of personal preference and whatever gets your rocks off.

Scream For Me "Insert Your City's Name Here"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no denying that Iron Maiden is one of the greatest metal bands of all time. It is a simple, irrefutable fact and any one that tells you otherwise is lying or criminally misinformed. With the exception of a brief hiccup when singer Bruce Dickinson left the band for a period in the '90s, they have been kicking ass for the past 30 years.

Iron Maiden announced today that they would be embarking on a North American tour to promote their 15th studio album, The Final Frontier which will be released in the late summer of 2010. I really like the three studio albums they have done since the reunion with Bruce Dickinson (Brave New World, Dance Of Death, A Matter Of Life And Death), so I have high hopes this album will be another solid offering.

Having seen the band on the tour promoting A Matter Of Life And Death where they played that album in its entirety and then did an encore with four classic songs, I am hoping that they do not have a similar plan for this leg of the tour. It wasn't that it wasn't great to see Maiden live (that is always a pleasure as they are one of the tightest live bands out there), but they have such an extensive catalog that you really want and need to hear more than just four of the "hits". We'll see what happens, but either way it is worth attending.

You can read the full press release with a list of tour dates on the homepage of IronMaiden.com.

"Can I Play With Madness"



"Wasted Years"

Excuse To Eat Popcorn and Junior Mints: Cop Out

Last week I posted about how psyched I was for the new comedy film Cop Out. I stated that a film starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan was practically a guaranteed laugh riot and as I was writing the post I thought to myself "watch this post be a curse and I'll wind up not liking the movie that much". Well, curse or not, the movie unfortunately fell pretty flat. Perhaps I just had too high expectations for this film (much like I did with Zoolander) or perhaps the movie simply isn't that great. I got a few chuckles out of it because you can't help but laugh at some of Tracy Morgan's antics, but this was not the knee slapper I hoped it would be. The fact that there was an insanely rude couple talking throughout the film didn't really aid in my enjoyment (not unlike my experience with The Wolfman), but even complete silence in the theater wouldn't have helped save this film.

Save your money and your time and don't bother with Cop Out. All the funny parts are in the below trailer:

Cherry Orchards On A Cold Lake

Celtic Frost is considered an incredibly important band in extreme metal history and rightfully so, but I've never been a huge fan. I own almost all of their albums and will listen to them on occasion and find them enjoyable; however, I simply don't get into them as much as other people. Their 1988 album Cold Lake is considered to be a huge professional and commercial failure by most students and lovers of metal because the band "sold out" and went for a more glam look and sound that was all the rage at the time. [See the above picture for solid evidence as to why their fanbase was pretty upset....Metallica cutting their hair has nothing on that.] The video for the first single from Cold Lake, "Cherry Orchards", was my first exposure to Celtic Frost. I remember very clearly my friend and I thinking the video and the song were so bad when we saw it on Headbanger's Ball, that we actually liked it. We would walk around singing the chorus aloud and then laugh our asses off. Sure the song was bad, but it had the desired effect of any single...it got stuck in our heads and made us want to own the album.

I personally think Tom G. Warrior should loosen up and own this part of Celtic Frost's history. Better bands have made worse mistakes after all.

Amazon $5 MP3 Sale

Having grown up in the age where buying CDs (and even cassettes for a while) was the norm, I am still adjusting slightly to the concept of buying music digitally, but have nonetheless fully embraced it. The instant gratification and ease of buying your music online is a wonderful thing. Sure the appreciation of artwork and the packaging of recorded music has diminished greatly, but in my opinion the benefits of digital music far outweigh the need for the packaging as part of the overall experience of purchasing music. For one, digital music takes up far less space in our homes (and arguably reduces our carbon footprints), hard to find, out of print albums are now readily available again and the once popular hidden track on CDs (ie. the track hidden after 30 minutes of silence at the end of the album) is now more or less eliminated (for the life of me I have no idea how that trend got so popular...insanely annoying, especially considering that the waiting and/or fast forwarding more often than not wound up not being worth the effort). That being said, the one thing I do still truly enjoy about the experience of buying music in the physical format is the trip to the record store. The joy of digging through the racks to find albums to purchase is something I still try to do at least a couple times of year. Crazy to think that in my lifetime that record stores could completely disappear.

Anyway, back to digital music. I much prefer Amazon to iTunes. Amazon's selection isn't quite as extensive as iTunes, but they are catching up very quickly and I very rarely turn to iTunes to get something that isn't available on Amazon. iTunes also recently started charging sales tax (not sure if this is just a NJ/NY thing) which in one fell swoop permanently soured me on purchasing from them in the future. Not only are they charging sales tax, but they are more expensive than Amazon on everyday prices for the most part. And perhaps most importanly, Amazon is and always has been DRM free which is a HUGE plus in my book.

Every month Amazon has a $5 MP3 sale. It used to be 50 albums, but recently they have bumped it up to 100. I don't necessarily pick up something every month and I am often frustrated to see something I purchased for a higher price recently all of the sudden on sale for $5, but it is still a great deal nonetheless.

Each month, I'm going to try to highlight releases that I think are worth picking up as there is almost always a few albums available that I think are solid. So, here we go:

Albums I'm Thinking About Dropping $5 On:

• Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death
• Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
• The 13th Floor Elevators - Going Up - The Very Best Of
• Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas - Songs To No One
• Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities
• Tia Carrera - The Quintessential (not the actress)

Albums I Own and Think Are Worth Your $5:

• Spoon - Transference
• The Postal Service - Give Up
• Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
• Coldplay - X&Y
• A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms
• R.E.M. - Document
• The Buzzocks - Singles Going Steady
• Cracker - Kerosene Hat
• Husker Du - New Day Rising
• Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
• Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
• The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
• Alkaline Trio - Maybe I'll Catch Fire
• The Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia
• The Lawrence Arms - Ghost Stories

Tuesday March 2, 2010 New Music

I didn't think I was actually going to write a new music post for today, but this past weekend I read an article in the Washington Post's Arts & Entertainment section that got one of this week's releases on my radar. The article (which you can read here) was about Shooter Jennings and his new album Black Ribbons.

I don't know much about Shooter besides the fact that he is the son of the late, great Waylon Jennings and that his first name is pretty awesome, so this article was a bit of a surprise, especially this description of his new album:

His new album, "Black Ribbons," feels in tune with the rebel spirit of his father -- but certainly not the sound. Arriving Tuesday, it's a wildly ambitious, 70-minute rock opus splicing heavy-metal bombast with freedom-rock harmonies. There are pulsing synthesizers and Allman Brotherly guitar solos. There are songs about fame and Armageddon. There are backup vocals from Colter (ed. note: his mother, Jessi Colter) and skits narrated by novelist Stephen King. It feels like a country album mutated into something darker, even vicious.

Later in the article, this description is used:

"Black Ribbons" is nothing if not audacious. It's a sprawling, 20-track concept album bristling with end-times paranoia and a labyrinth of unexpected left turns. "Triskaidekaphobia" sounds like a futuristic Lynyrd Skynyrd probing deep space. "God Bless Alabama" finds the intersection of Southern rock and Brit pop. "All of This Could Have Been Yours" is a breakup ballad aimed straight at Nashville via David Bowie.

And Stephen King's role? The horror writer drops in to narrate every few tracks, playing the role of a late-night DJ named Will o' the Wisp, delivering sobering monologues on the eve of the apocalypse.

It has been my experience that music journalists whose particular area of expertise is not in heavy metal tend to misuse the term more often than not, so I'm taking the use of the term lightly, but nonetheless these are still very intriguing descriptions. And Stephen King "narrates" on it?!?!?!? Talk about something out of left field...

I purchased the album this morning and while I haven't had a chance to sit with it in its entirety yet, the few tracks and samples I've heard made it obvious that this is a straight up alternative rock album and Shooter's fondness for Nine Inch Nails that is mentioned in the article is definitely apparent (but not necessarily in the way you would think).

I can't find any recent videos related to this release, so just check out his Myspace to hear the first single "Wake Up!".

Someone Untied & True Like You

My earlier post about Steelheart got various 80's hair metal hits running through my head and eventually led me to Bang Tango. I think most people who were paying attention to hair metal would qualify Bang Tango as a one hit wonder for their song "Someone Like You". Definitely a great song, but I remember fairly clearly a video from their second album for the song "Untied & True". I can still hum it to myself and I haven't heard it in over 17 years, so I'd say it must have been moderately catchy as well. I have their debut album Psycho Cafe, but I have only listened to it once and that was a very long time ago. I've found that quite a few hair metal albums that I initially dismissed years ago when the genre was in its prime have actually aged quite well and that when I listen to them with a fresh perspective they can turn out to be really awesome (the Bulletboys excellent self-titled debut and the early Dokken catalog being perfect examples of this), so I'm going to give the album a spin and see what I think. In the meantime, enjoy two Bang Tango songs I know are good:

I'll Never Let You Go

The above came up on shuffle when I was working out earlier today. This is the only Steelheart song I know and if I had to venture a guess, then I would say it is probably the only one worth knowing. The very definition of a one hit wonder, but what a hit it is.