CONCERT DVD REVIEW #1

Review: "Awesome! I F___'in Shot That!"

The Beastie Boys release a new concert DVD that involves the audience...so much so that the "3 MCs" actually have their audience shoot the DVD.

The premise is that 50 Hi8 camcorders were given to 50 audience members spread throughout Madison Square Garden, and the recruited camera men and women were instructed not to turn the cameras off. The idea is brilliant -- not only because the viewer is bombarded by a fresh take on the show every few seconds, but also because of the "uncut" rawness of the footage (one scene takes us on an extended tour of the MSG restroom facilities).

Some reviewers have criticized the camerawork and editing of the film, calling it too choppy, even disorienting. This is an apt criticism (APT!), but this viewer felt it made the DVD more immersive. This "home movie-esque" technique allows the DVD viewer to feel almost
voyeuristic in watching someone else watch the show.

In the opening scene, the director titles the DVD while addressing the cameramen, "This is going to be great -- in 20 years you will watch the DVD and say, 'Awesome. I fuckin' shot that.'"

Regarding the performance, the Beastie Boys are still at the top of their game, getting better with middle age. The transitions are smooth, the banter is fun, and the teamwork is flawless. For everyone that hasn't seen the Beastie Boys live, this will serve as the appetizer --enticing the viewer to track them down. Mix Master Mike provides the Boys standard tracks with more than a little flair, making the old seem new and fresh.

Watch for a certain fellow New-Yorker former Rabbi, male-model, and dodgeball loser rapping along to "3 MC's and one DJ."

Special Feature Report: "A Day in the Life of Nathaniel Hornblower" showcases David Cross as the liederhosen-wearing Nathaniel Hornblower, director of the DVD and most of the Beastie's videos. Cross' career has had some moments of brilliant comedic timing, impeccable writing, and mind-blowing awkwardness, and this video short is spot-on the latter.

Even if you have no interest in the Beastie Boys as artists, rappers,New York City icons, trendsetters, contagiously fun individuals, or musicians (they play several of their tracks as a live band, such as "Gratitude" from "Check Your Head"), this DVD is still worth a Netflix simply for its innovative appearance.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Track Review: "When You Were Young" by The Killers

The Killers were everybody's favorite retro-rock band of 2004. Their debut album, Hot Fuss, was adored by both the corporate music world (the radio played them, Rolling Stone and Spin sung their praise, and U2 took them on tour) and the indie music world (their obvious Smiths influence as well as their exuberant anthem "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll" won them some credibility). Band leader Brandon Flowers has even become something of a heart-throb.

Hot Fuss was a near perfect debut; every song sounded like a single. The first song we probably all heard was "Somebody Told Me." A very fun tune, but I worried that they were just a New Order novelty band. And then the heart-on-his-sleeves lyrics of "Mr. Brightside" hit the airwaves and every emo kid and TRL viewer fell in love. But it really wasn't until "All These Things That I've Done" that I realized that this band has some real soul.

So how should an alternative rock band like the Killers follow up a top-selling, perfect debut like Hot Fuss? Should they go back to the basement like Nirvana did with In Utero? Or should they create a commerically-disastrous cult classic like Weezer did with Pinkerton? Or perhaps they should just cave in to the pressure and realize that you can only save rock and roll once, like the Strokes did with Room on Fire?

Or maybe the Killers should just try to take over the world. That's what "When You Were Young" sounds like. First off, it's better than anything on Hot Fuss. The guitars soar higher than "Beautiful Day." Yes, this is a guitar band just as much as it is a keyboard band. Now, the vocal melody might throw you a bit. The Boss? Yep, the Boss. Reportedly, American rock, like Springsteen and Tom Petty, is a great influence on the new album. This doesn't mean we won't hear that British influence anymore. It just means that the Killers might be the biggest band in America in 2007. How great would it be to have an American band (they hail from Las Vegas) be the biggest band in America again? Aw, shucks! I'm getting all patriotic!

Flag-waving aside, what is truly impressive about "When You Were Young" is the lyrical content. Hot Fuss had some fun and sometimes clever lyrics. But this single is definitely a step up. Brandon Flowers must have become a student of Bono's school of songwriting: the best songs are the songs about the search for God. "When You Were Young" is about a not-so-young woman who is waiting for "some beautiful boy" to come along and save her from "her old ways." (Regret seems to be a recurring theme in Flowers writing already.) Flowers writes that this beautiful boy "doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentlemen, just like you imagined when you were young."

Youth lost? Love lost? Salvation found? "When You Were Young" is available for download on Itunes now (or you can stream it for free on the Killer's official site, you tightwad!) Watch for the Killer's new album, Sam's Town, on October 3rd.

Wolfmother

Much of the roots rock revolution of the past five years has made way for the re-emergence of a power trio with sounds unheard for a generation enhanced by indie developement that pre-empt the usual pretentious pitfalls of such bands. If this sounds unbelievable, then make your way to www.wothermother.com

From the Vault: 40th Anniversary of The Beatles' Revolver

Forty years ago this past weekend The Beatles' released their transition studio album Revolver. The Beatles recorded this album in early 1966 during their last stint of touring. Within a month of its late summer release, The Beatles quit touring and became a exclusively studio band. Revolver is their first of many song books to never be performed live by the band. And although this served to weaken the authenticity of some of their later material, at this point the integrity of The Beatles as a band remained in tack.

Although the album is great, it often confuses non-fans of the Beatles why this album so often tops list of best all-time albums. Why not Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, or even Rubber Soul? What makes Revolver stand out?

In congruence with a prevalent Alien Corpse theme, the prominence and permanence of Revolver is that, at least on this album, all the instrumentation, experimentation, studio-trickery and stylization seemlessly serve the songs themselves. There are a number of Beatles' albums that contain greater songs, and a number of albums where the experimentation is even more groundbreaking and creative. But Revolver more than any other combines songwriting with musical progressivism. The result is that Revolver is not only interesting, but also enjoyable to listen to.

It is this combination of experimentation and good-old-fashioned songwriting that leads to Revolver being the most diverse Beatles' album. Many of their albums suffer from conceptual fancies or idiomatic narrowness that limit genuine musical diversity. Because Revolver is about songs, each song is molded organically into a style most fitting for the song. So Revolver contains everything from rock classics employing some the Beatles' best guitar work in both playing and sound ("Taxman," "She Said, She Said," "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Doctor Robert") to beautiful ballads using strings, harmonies, baroque arrangment, and even horns ("Eleanor Rigby," "Here, There and Everywhere," "For No One"). Both ends of the spectrum are held together by strong songwriting and musical arrangment that perfectly fits the songs as they were meant to be expressed. Even John Lennon's psycholedic exploits ("I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows") have aged well because the songs are so memorable in-and-of-themselves. And Paul McCartney's goofy pop songs ("Good Day Sunshine," "Got to Get You into My Life"
"Yellow Submarine") are still inherently enjoyable and surprisingly not distracting despite being nestled between progressive rock pieces.

The point is that all this diversity results in a cohesive album because the Beatles' songwriting is in the foreground. Bottom line: don't buy Revolver because it is influential (which it is), significant (which it is) or interesting (which it is). Buy Revolver because there you will find songs and music in perfect harmony.

RIP - Pedro the Lion

David Bazan officially laid to rest the Pedro the Lion name in January, but the spirit lives on with his newly released (June 13th) solo EP, titled, "Fewer Moving Parts."

The record doesn't break any new ground for those die-hard fans of Bazan's work with PTL and Headphones. But the listener gets the sense that Bazan feels a great deal of freedom in being out from under the Pedro the Lion moniker.

A recent article in Sojourners online magazine (thanks Erik Fisher) describes a Bazan who has grown into his faith and seems to understand/accept his role, though he still "bristles when others...casually place the Christian label on him." This is not a new statement, but the explanation is new to me --

“People who use it to describe me are generally using it to be reductive of what I do or to imply that it’s invalid simply because [of my faith], and that makes me pretty angry.”

The EP is 5 tracks recorded twice -- once acoustic and once fully instrumented. This sounds uninteresting, but it works often like listening to Iron & Wine's cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" (my favorite cover ever - new list idea); only Bazan is covering himself. The recording of "How I Remember" in the fully instrumented version is frustrating to me, because the vocals are too much in the background - almost sounding muted...

Jade Tree is set to release a full-length solo Bazan record in 2007.

Favorite Songwriters

This week I've been thinking a great deal about songwriting and the skill that is necessary in this process. There are two types of songwriters in my mind -- those that use powerful imagery in lyrics to get their point/story across, and those that ilicit the same response with music.

Many times the best songwriters are strong on one skill only, mixing subpar or not that exciting music with punchy lyrics (or vice versa). Though certainly we have seen the rare songwriter who consistently blows our mind with both lyrics and music.

The quickest way to identify into which camp a songwriter falls is to mentally scan the artists catalogue and identify whether you are remembering words/stories or guitar riffs/chord progressions.

It's interesting to think whether this is the songwriter's ability or the listeners paradigm...When I listen to music I more often than not hear lyrics, and only when a song is GREAT musically I take notice. This is definitely because I couldn't identify chord progressions or discuss music theory much beyond Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (and couldn't describe that at gunpoint either).

What do you hear? List your 5 favorite songwriters and why. Here are mine.
1. Blake Schwarzenbach - Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil -- My first taste of indie music was the lyric "I'm just a question knowing my answer, hope I'm wrong" Smart, punchy lyrics with tons of double entendre.

2. David Bazan - Pedro the Lion/Headphones/Solo -- If the first time you listened to the "Whole EP" alone didn't come close to crying you are heartless. Genuine storyteller. Also, wins award for "most likely to send letter bomb" with this pic.

3. Jack White - The White Stripes/The Raconteurs -- One of the only songwriters who makes me hear music first.

4. Gord Downie - The Tragically Hip -- More of a poet than a songwriter and the imagery he uses makes me wish I could write like that.

5. Pending further development -- Regina Spektor and Sufjan Stevens. Both have a keen understanding of music and lyrics that make me feel stupid, but write songs that have heart so I feel better after.

Top 10 Double Albums

This summer’s release of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium has brought up the perennial issue of the prudence of double albums. Are double-albums a good idea? Are they a sign of the sheer volume of genius? Or are they just the bloated expression of artistic hubris? Or are they simply the result of a lazy production not willing to shave a record down to its best elements?

As with so much in music criticism, the wise approach to this inquiry is not to evaluate the double-album as a medium in general. Rather, one ought to evaluate each double-album on its own merits. Although there are many terrible double-albums, there are also many great ones. I have provided a list of the Top 10 Double Albums (according to my humble yet impeccable opinion). Note: I am excluding all compilations and live albums.

Top 10 Double Albums:

10 – Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland (1968)
9 – Sonic Youth, Dirty (1992)
8 – Bruce Springsteen, The River (1980)
7 – Wilco, Being There (1996)
6 – Derek & the Dominoes, Layla and other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
5 – Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde (1966)
4 – The Beatles, White Album (1968)
3 – The Clash, London Calling (1979)
2 – Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street (1972)
1 – Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti (1975)

The interesting thing about this list is that a number of these albums could also be placed in the Top 100 albums of all-time. Also, about half of these records are considered by some to be the best albums produced by the respective artist. So, despite the dangers of the double album, sometimes the risk pays off.

Unfortunately for the Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium will likely be categorized among the many double-albums that would have been great albums if they just would have been cut in half. Albums such as Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Pink Floyd, The Wall (1979), Prince’s 1999 (1982), Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I & II (1991), Smashing Pumpkins’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) and Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/Love Below (2003) were all good records boasting great songs, but they lack what the albums above had: solidness. If you find yourself skipping through the filler to get to the next “real” track, the hubris of bigness has trumped musical integrity. Despite its size, a great double album should feel like any other great album: you love every song on it.

What double-albums would you add to and subtract from the above Top Ten list?
What double-albums should also be place in the “should have been cut in half” category?
What generalizations (if any) could be made about double-albums as a medium?

Cornerstone Diary, Day Five

Dear Diary,

I'm in love! John Davis, John Davis, John Davis! The former lead singer of Superdrag (Remember "Sucked Out" from '96? Me neither.) was saved a few years ago and started writing songs about his faith. Good songs. Really good songs.

The bold faith and the humility of his song writing and stage presence was unlike anything else at Cornerstone. John played two sets (Yes!) on the last day of Cornerstone, one on the Gallery Stage and the other at the Jesus Village stage. His Gallery Stage performance was very rocking, including some new jams (he's headed back to the studio in a couple of weeks). Then John broke it down on the keyboard at the Jesus Village to play some of his gospel-ish burners including, "I Hear Your Voice" and "Jesus Gonna Build Me a Home".

John's music and his show were all about his testimony: Jesus gave him hope when we didn't have any. John made no bones about it: He was there to testify to what Jesus did for him. The spotlight of his performance was Jesus, not himself. That, I guess, is what true humility is all about. It was the best church service I'd been to in a while.

So, C-stone is now over. My top five C-stone performers are as follows:

5. Relient K

4. Underoath

3. The Violet Burning

2. mewithoutYou

1. John Davis

A good year. Although I was puzzled as to why Danielson, Pedro the Lion or Damien Jurado were not there. Maybe next year, Cornerstone?

The amazing John Davis.

Cornerstone Diary, Day Four

Dear Diary,

Day Four at main stage was filled with family-fun from MxPx and Relient K, although both bands played slightly subversive cover songs. MxPx covered "I Would Walk" by the Proclaimers and "Surrender" by Cheap Trick. Relient K covered Kenny Logins' "Flight into the Dangerzone" from Top Gun. It had all the 30-ish somethings smiling. (What can I say? Alien Corpse had two older sisters who loved pop music in the 80s!)

But the real entertainment of the evening was all about the metal. Here now is an interview with the original Metal Freak, Neil Beard.

Which band totally melted your brain last night?
The Showdown! They stole it!

What songs did they play?
Some new songs: "The Snake Pit" and "Give Us This Day."

How did the new songs sound?
Excellent and a lot heavier!

Did they turn the crowd into a pile of skulls?
Yes!

Does liking the Showdown make us hillbillies, too?
Yes!

Good interview, Neil, ur...um, the Metal Freak.

Dave from The Showdown. Yes, he is wearing his own band's shirt. Yes, those are snakes coming out of the skull, and yes, the back of the shirt does say, "High Voltage Heavy Metal."

The Metal Freak hanging out with the number one heavy metal band, The Showdown.

Cornerstone Diary, Day Three

Dear Diary,

How lucky am I to be able to see mewithoutYou TWICE at Cornerstone this year! mewithoutYou opened main stage (!) on Thursday night with "Tie Me Up! Untie Me!" Hearing lead singer Aaron shout out, "Did you untie me, Lord? I haven't even thought about killing myself in almost 3 years!" rather than the 5 months testified to on mewithoutYou's brilliant record, Catch for Us the Foxes was an awesome testimony indeed. (If you are interested in checking out mewithoutYou, start with "January 1979" and "Paper Hanger" from Catch for Us the Foxes.)

mewithoutYou on Cornerstone Main Stage. Photo by Neil Beard.

The highlight of mewithoutYou's set was a new song they played last. They invited all of their friends to come out and dance with them on the last song, which included a ton of tribal drummers, a girl dressed in sackcloth, and man in a Native American-ish bird suit. I wasn't sure about the bird suit (hiding in the shadow of His wings?), but it was dramatic. The new song really demonstrated mewithoutYou's musical growth, adding much quieter elements to their songs, and much more melody as well. The song ended with Aaron shouting, "I do not exist!" over and over, a testimony to how a Christian can lose themselves in Christ completely.

mewithoutYou's set was awesome, but the best part of the day came as a surprise to me. I happened to wander over to the indoor stage and caught a set by the seminal, alt-Christian band, the Violet Burning.

First of all, the Violet Burning were a great break from all of the emo and metal acts that dominate Cornerstone. It was very cool to hear some British influenced rock for a change. My Bloody Valentine, Depeche Mode, U2 and the Cure could all be heard in the Violet Burning's set.

But what was most impressive about their set were a few short words by singer Michael Pritzl. Michael talked about how God loves all of us just as we are, which is a message you could hear at just about any evangelical church this Sunday morning. But Pritzl took it one set further and told the crowd that God loved the church just as it is. Yes, the church has its problem, and we should all want to change those, but God loves his church as it is.

In this age when so many intelligent young believers (David Bazan anyone?) are being turned off by the sins of the church, it was refreshing to hear someone stand up and say, "I need the church! God loves the church and so do I!"

Cornerstone Diary, Day Two

Dear Diary,

The Cornerstone Festival has always been the Christian music festival that was more open to alternative music. They always had the underground stage that featured all the newest punk, hardcore and indie rock bands. And there are always dozens of bands set up at generator stages throughout the festival campgrounds. But main stage at Cornerstone was always about the mainstream rock acts. You know, like DC Talk and Third Day.

But this year all that changed. Main Stage at C-stone day two was invaded by a bunch of hardcore, screamo and heavy metal bands.

The evening started with the beauty and blister of As Cities Burn. These guys define screamo. It sounds like these screamo bands have been listening to U2 or something, because their spacey, melodic riffs were more than enough to fill the whole arena. Well, their intro song was a Sigur Ros song(!), so what should I expect?

The Chariot was up next with their destructive, spastic hardcore. I actually feared for the welfare of the band during their set. But it didn't compare to the brutality of Norma Jean.

Norma Jean. Photo by Neil Beard.

The highlight of their set (and maybe of the whole evening) was when the lead singers of The Chariot and mewithoutYou came out to sing "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste." What a scary and inspiring song!

Next up was Ozzfest regular As I Lay Dying. Straight up metal with some melodic vocals. Not bad. But something could compare to the set Underoath put on. Underoath is definitely the biggest emo/screamo/Warped Tour-ish band in the whole world right now, and deservingly so. They played several songs from their new album, Define the Great Line, which sounded perfectly constructed for arenas and mass consumption. And I do not mean that in a bad way. Also, it was way cool to see all of the cell phones out when Underoath played their OC-hit, "A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White."

But what was most exciting about this whole main stage spectacle was a man named Chad Johnson. Johnson is the A&R man for Tooth and Nail/Solid State Records (he used to own Takehold Records before it went under). He came out just before the Underoath set and...well...preached a sermon.

It was shocking and wonderful. Tooth and Nail was one of the first to preach the "We're Christians in a band, not a Christian band," thing. And I understand that position. Not everyone has the spiritual gift of preaching, and we shouldn't always expect our art, including music, to be a tool for ministry.

But Johnson and Underoath showed the crowd that music can be a way of sharing the most important thing in the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ, with lost people. (Whoops, I hope you don't accuse Alien Corpse of being a Christian site now! :) ) Johnson's message was short and about how we sin when we turn rock artists into idols. Convicting.

Underoath was unashamed about their faith, as well, and the fact of them being a Christian band, not Christians in a band. "We are here to represent Jesus Christ," said vocalist Spencer Chamberlain. Now, I don't now if they say things like that when their on tour with Killswitch Engage, but they said it last night, and it was amazing.

What do you think, Alien Corpse readers? Is it OK to use art as a tool for the gospel. I think my feelings on the subject are pretty clear. But I am interesting in discussing this hot topic.

Posthumous Music -- Cashing in or Remembering Our Heroes?

With this week's release of the first American Recordings posthumous release from Johnny Cash, ALIEN CORPSE has been pondering the cash cow of life after death in the recording industry.

Is this practice simply the record company giving the fans what we want; giving us a way to connect with our fallen/tortured/misunderstood heroes? Or are we being taken advantage of, manipulated into spending money on typically subpar releases because our beloved is no longer with us?

There is certainly a great amount of attention received after a musician passes away that encourages a record company (or the surviving members of the band) to polish and then push a release of a "not quite finished" record. There is also the "dead artist" mentality that maintains an artist's work is more valuable after the artist passes on.

Also, many times the artist was in process or nearing completion of a project when they die, and it just takes their producer adding finishing touches to release the record, sometimes (especially in the case of Elliott Smith) giving the listener insight into their state of mind prior to their death (suicide).

As one being that has tasted death, ALIEN CORPSE has decided to take this stance: Immediate releases of unfinished work are acceptable especially in the case of suicide, greatest hits are acceptale, whereas remixes/"from the vault"/B-sides/other crap are offensive to fans and should be treated as such.

Here are some posthumous examples:

• Elliott Smith - From A Basement on a Hill(2004), Smith passed on October 22, 2003.

• Johnny Cash - Unearthed (11/03) (!), My Mother's Hymn Book (4/04), The Legend of Johnny Cash (10/05) American V: A Hundred Highways(7/4/06), Cash passed September 12, 2003.

• Elvis Presley - Too many to mention, the most notable is the FRIGHTENING 2002 remix of "A Little Less Conversation," Elvis passed August, 1977.
  

• Russell Jones (aka ODB, Dirt McGirt) - A Son Unique (expected 06), ODB passed November 2004.

• 2Pac - Greatest Hits (1998), Until the End of Time (2001), All Eyez on Me (2001), Better Dayz (2002), Ressurection (11/03), Loyal to the Game (12/04), 2Pac passed in 1996.

• Nirvana - Nirvana (10/02), With the Lights Out (11/04), Sliver: The Best of the Box (11/05), Kurt Cobain passed April 5th, 1994.

What are we missing? What's your favorite or (even better) your most hated posthumous release?

Cornerstone Diary, Day One

Dear Diary,

Well, Cornerstone Day One is officially over. Today was Tooth and Nail Day, with just bands that Tooth and Nail Records invited to play. There was actually a great variety of music to hear today, from the arena anthem rock of The Honour Recital to the goth-core of The Becoming. Even good old Project 86 was there (8 Cornerstones in a row?). Hearing the crowd sing along with Andrew Schwab, "I do not need anymore truthless heroes!" was truly one of the highlights of the night.

But two bands really stood out to me today: Becoming the Archetype and mewithoutYou.

Becoming the Archetype is straight up death metal. That's right, not metal-core, not some metal-emo hybrid, but straight-up finger tapping metal.

Here is the Jason of Becoming the Archetype. Yes, at times he did raise his hand as if he were holding a mystical energy orb to help him hit those really low notes. Photo by Neil Beard.

Alex of Becoming the Archetype. Photo by Neil Beard.

mewithoutYou definitely stole the show on the first day of Cornerstone 2006. What is so exciting about mewithoutYou is their creativity. NOBODY (secular or inspirational market) sounds like mewithoutYou. They started out as an art damaged hardcore band, but they have let the art damage finally take over. At this show, they used keyboards, maracas, djembes, acoustic guitars and a harp alongside their normal instrumentation to create a truly psychedelic experience.

mewithoutYou, of course, has always been a very visual band, as well. Lead singer Aaron is one of the most expressive and theatrical artists at Cornerstone, and he was in full form at this show, twirling and shaking out his vocals. I can't wait to catch their main stage performance on Friday night!

Road Trip

I, the great and mighty Alien Corpse, am going on vacation next week. Yes, even all-knowing, transdimensional beings like myself need a vacation every once in a while. I will be vacationing at (where else?) the Cornerstone music festival in the middle-of-nowhere, IL.

In preparation for the big trip, I've been putting together a few playlists for the road trip. Here's what I've got so far:

1."Birthday" by the Beatles. It's got a driving beat and is probably the catchiest guitar riff George Harrison ever wrote. "Gonna have a good time," is the best sentiment for the beginning of a road trip.

2. "Party Hard" by Andrew W.K. A totally underrated songwriter in my opinion. Nobody writes songs that are as fun as Andrew W.K. I wanna go on vacation with him!

3. "7/4 (Shoreline) by Broken Social Scene. Anarchist Canadians create a great driving beat that will just push you down the road.

4. "Incinerate" by Sonic Youth. Their new album, Rather Ripped, is so good and this might be the best song on it.

5. "Conventional Wisdom" by Built to Spill. Ok, time to wake back up with this great piece of pop rock that becomes a great indie jam. This is how I wish Phish would have sounded.

6. "Good Vibrations" by Brian Wilson. Smile makes me smile. And you can't think about summer, vacations or road trips without the Beach Boys.

7. "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols. This is side two, track one. The opening guitar riff (which is really just Steve Jones picking through an A power chord; brilliant!) sounds like the notes are bouncing off great expanses of the American landscape.

8. "Tough as John Jacobs" by Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. How could you create a road trip playlist without some good old Southern rock and metal.

9. "Nature Anthem" by Grandaddy. This song will either make you stop at the next scenic overlook, or go buy a Honda.

10. "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. "Crazy" is Alien Corpse's Number One Summer Jam for 2006!

11. "Walk on the Wide Side" by Lou Reed. This works as a great driving song because of the crazy bass line. Plus, it makes you want to do crazy things on your vacation like...um...cross dress and stuff.

12. "Learning to Fly" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
13. "Into the Great Wide Open" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Does anybody want to debate that Tom Petty is the best artist to drive to EVER?

So what are your favorite road trip songs or albums? Comment soon, because I can't wait to trash your taste!

Keane - Under the Iron Sea

Keane's first project - Hopes and Fears - was a well-crafted bit of ear candy that got some significant buzz going in the discussion of a new wave of "brit -poppers" (Starsailor, Travis, et al.) but somehow recently became a guilty pleasure album that was seared into the popular conscience not least when one of its tracks was used in the trailer to Keanu Reeves's and Sandra Bullock's new flick "Lake House". This would be an example of when britpop seems in my impression to no longer "work" - that is when it is no longer ironic - sort of like when the Oasis track "All Around the World" was sold as the new theme song for AT&T. ugh

Keane's new project was released in the US this week. As sophomoric releases go "Under the Iron Sea" seems in my impression to be somewhat of an archetype. It boasts of a kind of pseudo maturity that shows the band's growth in budget, but seems to lack real reflection and resorts too often to cliches and self-involvement in the struggles of newly found success. However, as to not isolate their quickly growing fan base they also include a number of elements that are reminiscent of the first album (with added string section and impressive new sounds from the keys - keeping the guitarless guitar-band vibe going). So in other words - if you liked the first album as I did - chances are while you can criticize the second one you might just enjoy it as well.

The band touted the writing on this album as a little darker than the first - representative of their experiences over the last two years having seen the "darker" side of life living on the road as mega-rock stars who deal with disillusionment with home and relationships. They also propose, however, to tackle broader sorts of "dark" issues like disillusionement with government and feelings of helplessness over not being able to influence decisions that will directly effect this generation's future (this is a self-proclaimed theme from their PR release on the album).

Most haters are going after the album saying things like, "the album is lyrically unimpressive and far too reliant on cliches". On the one hand the criticism is valid - but on the other I think it misses the point of Keane - and the broader britpop project which they may be described as having adopted. It is pop music insofar as the lyrics are broad enough to appeal to emotions that have no well defined carrier - could be about betrayal of a girlfriend or could be about perceived betrayal by Tony Blair and the New Labour Party. Contemp Christian music is master of these generalities by singing to Jesus and someone you are crushing on at the same time. So I don't think criticizing the album oon this front is appropriate without taking to task the broader pop project - can it work? Britpop was the tool to bring a new generation on board to overthrow Thatcherism and replace it with a younger more visionary government (see docu. Live Forever). In the end there was a lot of disappointment when britpop was left just as it had always been a tool - but there was no big idea or "something more" behind it. So this raises interesting questions as to whether it is the best method to pick up when one is criticizing New Labour and others for having abandoned the vision and betrayed their contingency. Is it effective? Could be - I don't know.

Okay well all of this is important to understand the context of the album - but here I have probably not given fair mention to the album itself: A synopsis will have to do.

1) If you hated the first album stay away - this is Keane to the power of 10 - new approaches but same methods.

2) If you loved the first album - you will love this one too probably - they have expanded on the elements of the first album - it is more produced but not to the point that it gets in the way - there is still no guitar - and yes Chaplin's voice does soar oh so high

3) If you are not sure - I still would reccomend Hopes and Fears as an entry point - there is too much polish on this album to make the old school britpop elements come through.

From the Vault: Frampton Comes Alive! 30th Anniversary

Thirty years ago, the album that ruled America's charts, AOR radio, and lava-lamp-lit bedrooms was Peter Frampton's live double record, Frampton Comes Alive! It topped the charts for sixteen non-consecutive weeks between April and September 1976. It was the album of the bicentennial summer. As Wayne Campbell puts it, "Of course I have Frampton Comes Alive! It was issued to suburban homes along with samples of Tide."

The question for this 30th anniversary retrospective is why Frampton Comes Alive! was such a big album and, more important but not unrelated, why is it still worth listening to today? It remains a mystery why the live versions of unknown material by this second-rate Humple Pie drop-out became standard AOR fare and endure as classics to this day. Live albums are usually used by established acts as time buffers after a long tour so they do not have to go back into the studio right away. I am not aware of any compiled live album to do for an artist what it did for Frampton. So what makes Comes Alive! different?

First, there's the gimmick. Frampton is credited for making significant use of the guitar voice box. He certainly was not the first to use it. But he was the first to make it a major part of his song writing and style. As can be heard on "Show Me The Way" and "Do You Feel Like We Do?" the audience goes nuts for his voice-box solos. It was a fresh gimmick then and so it created a buzz. However, now that the voice box has been relegated to Bon Jovi come-back singles, it is hard to get excited about the technique anymore. Some appeal remains for vault-listeners, as Frampton was one of the few who put the voice box to melodic use.

But the gimmick alone cannot explain its popularity then and classic status now. The 1970's where full of technical advances that do not necessarily result in great albums. Technique must accompany songs. And Comes Alive! does not lack great songs. Although it has been spoiled for many in my generation by a terrible 1990's cover version, "Baby I Love Your Way" was and is a perfectly simply love song worthy of its heavy airplay. In college I managed to loose track of the second CD on account of lending it out too many times to people wanting that song.

But more important than the love songs are the deep album cuts like "I Wanna Go To The Sun" and "Lines On My Face" that used to receive airplay on AOR stations before the Classic Rock format took over in the early 1980's. Ironically, now we can only hear singles from classic bands who made their names on an anti-single, anti-Top-Forty format. So every band between 1969 and 1978 (with the major exception of Led Zeppelin) are relegated to one-hit-wonder status, as we hear the same songs over and over, never realizing that these albums were full of songs much better than those on the air now. So Frampton Comes Alive! deserves a fresh hearing simply because it cannot be heard via radio the way it used to. Hopefully on-line digital music will help to resurrect a number of smaller acts that have become punchlines over the years.

So buy the CD, or at least a couple of songs on iTunes. Try to imagine what it would be like for a live rock record to be the number one album in the summer of 2006. Ponder what it would take to happen again. Better yet, get an old turn table and buy the vinyl for $1 at a used book store or yard sale, set it up next to your lava lamp and see if you can recapture the excitement of the first time someone heard the opening notes of the voice-box guitar solo on "Do You Feel Like We Do?" blare through a pair of over-sized earphones.

Worst album ever...

What is the worst album on your iPod/iTunes Library/CD Holder?

This could be a/an:

• Guilty pleasure
  
• Newly released album that came with high expectations and disappointed
  
• Recommended album that surpassed all levels of suckiness
  
• Album that you used to LOVE but now realize its true undeniable lowliness

Or any of your own criteria...I just want to see the seemy underbelly of your record collection.

Let 'er rip.

Review: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere

This is one thing that ALIEN CORPSE is thankful for: He is thankful that he lives outside of media saturation of music. This enables him to devour an album like Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere, and not have to worry that he will hear about the album at every turn. That can really ruin an album. It is ALIEN’s sense that the general public of indie 20 somethings will have already found this album to be sequentially: exotic, vibrant, skillful, tired, and annoying. Thankfully, ALIEN just hears the groove.

This collaboration between King Midas himself, DJ Danger Mouse (reputed for his “Grey Album” mashup of The Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album), and rapper/crooner deluxe, Cee-Lo Green, is a revelatory departure from everything else on the scene in 2006.

Blending Danger Mouse’s talent on the production side with Cee-Lo’s golden vocals was a match made in heaven. There is a nice combination between a hook-laden soul album with SOME genuine lyrics. Just when the listener has settled in for a long peaceful chill-out session, track 8, Transformer, rattles the cages and is a true Hip-hop song. Actually, the one-two punch of Just a Thought and Transformer is worth the price of the album alone.

Overall, this is a stellar release that embodies fun, uptempo music/lyrics and the skills of the greatest producer in the music scene today. Take that, Kanye!

Rating: 5 out of 5

RIYL: Gorillaz, DangerDoom, The Streets

List #2 - Top 5 Album Openers in the Last 15 Years

I think this list has only one solution. This is not preference, but rather the best Track #1s... in the last 15 years (1991-2006). These are the songs that best set the pace for the album they are opening, the most memorable opening tracks, and the most influencial opening tracks.

Let's assemble this list together. Feel free to add names/tracks.

12 Openers for Your Consideration (in no particular order):

1. The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002).
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana, Nevermind (1991).
3. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes, Elephant (2003).
4. My Name Is Jonas - Weezer, S/T (1994).
5. Leave Me Alone - Razorlight, Up All Night (2005).
6. Everything In Its' Right Place - Radiohead, Kid A (2000).
7. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart - Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002).
8. Small Stakes - Spoon, Kill The Moonlight (2002).
9. Untitled - Interpol, Turn On The Bright Lights (2002).
10. Break - Fugazi, End Hits (1998).
11. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen (1997).
12. Devil's Haircut - Beck, Odelay (1996).

Grandaddy, Just Like the Fambly Cat

Just Like the Fambly Cat is Grandaddy’s fifth album in ten years. It is also their final album. Despite being on a major label for their last three releases, getting to tour with Pete Yorn, and having a song in a Honda commercial, (Nature Anthem, “I wanna walk up the side of the mountain.”), Grandaddy just can’t pay the bills. It must be pretty depressing to be in a critically acclaimed rock band, get four star reviews from everyone, and then come home from tour totally broke and unable to pay your rent.

So Grandaddy has called it quits and Just Like the Fambly Cat reveals the pathos of a rock band breaking up. The sweet and sad sample of a little girl asking the question, “What happened to the family cat?“ on the opening track seems to say it all. Where did we go wrong? How can Modest Mouse sell a million and we have to work stupid construction jobs when we get back from tour? “Elevate Myself” expresses disillusionment with the music industry and the loss of ambition to write the perfect pop song and be the biggest band in the world: “I don’t want to work all night and day on writing songs that make the young girls cry.” Ironically, “Elevate Myself” sounds like the perfect radio song that Grandaddy’s been shooting for. But the album ends with the disillusioned resolution, “I’ll never return…”

What is so sad about this being the last Grandaddy album is that it is their best. Just Like the Fambly Cat is on another level than the psychedelic pop being made by the Flaming Lips or the Dandy Warhols. You will still find all of the ELO-inspired synth swirls (space out to “Rearview Mirror“), crunching Cars-esque rhythm guitars (that the Strokes wish they could capture) and the quiet, innocent vocals that define the Grandaddy sound. But what really makes Just Like the Fambly Cat stand out is that it rocks. “Jeez Louise” uses some loud guitars and dissonance to create a psychedelic sound that is actually pretty heavy. The hardcore punk of “50%” is exactly what previous Grandaddy albums have needed to spice things up.

So Grandaddy has saved their best album for last. There is hope, though, that we‘ll be able to hear the Nature Anthem sound again. The magic of the Grandaddy sound was created by one man: Jason Lytle (Jason played all the instruments on Just Like the Fambly Cat except the drums). How can a band break up when it’s basically one dude?

Jason Lytle of Grandaddy getting his nature on.

You can stream “Jeez Louise” and “Rearview Mirror” from Grandaddy’s official site.

Neil Young - "Living with War"

Release: May 8, 2006
Has anyone else noticed that mutual fund and prescription drug commercials have gone hippie? I am talking the spokesperson for Charles Schwab in bellbottoms and tie-dye throwing down the peace sign. Of course this is just a matter of knowing your target market. After all most of today's wealthy aged have one thing in common - they were all at Woodstock.

If you are one of these peace-loving flower grandparents you will love Neil Young's new album - in fact you will probably not think twice about shelling out 300 bucks to get in at one of the amphitheaters across the nation that are carrying the Crosby Stills Nash and Young “Free Speech” tour this summer.

Apparently, based on what else I have been reading regarding the reception of Neil Young’s newest album, I am one of only a few who is bothered by the “protest for old time’s sake” aura that this album seems in my impression to have been born out of (this is my way of saying – pardon my dissension). These songs are being touted for their raw authenticity – having been recorded and written in an apparently very short time – but to me this sense of saying the first thing that comes to your mind makes the album come across as little more than fluff. I simply could not swallow refrains like “let’s impeach the president for lyin’ and sendin’ our country to war” – Okay maybe not a bad idea, but can I have less Michael Moore in my monitor? This seems to me to be the double edge of Neil’s writing – his knack for stating things very explicitly seems to have worked in the past in songs like Four Dead in Ohio (for me that is an archetypal “protest song”) but at times this stating things in an explicit sort of way leaves one wanting for the deeper things. In my impression this album has the shelf life of a Nick Lachey album.

And now for a slightly more constructive conclusion – I liked the sound of Neil backed up by a hundred member choir. This comes through particularly in songs like “After the Garden”. “Roger and Out” is a well crafted song – unfortunately this makes it sound like it doesn’t fit on the album. Bonus points for fitting the names Obama and Colin Powell in the same song. Grace points for this album’s proximity to one of Neil’s all time best albums, Prairie Wind, which was released last year – there is enough brilliant songwriting in that album to make up for some duds – which is what I am classifying this ten-track Hollywoodesque soapboxing gem. I expect more from a Canadian.

Coke's White-wash

Have you ever wondered what the result would be if a global megacorp that stands accused of assassinating trade union leaders in developing countries hired a songwriter who once beat a rival bandleader's face into a bloody pulp to write a jingle about how nice love is, and how neat it would be if we all did nice things for each other? Wonder no more! Head on over here to sate your curiosity. The worst part is... I think that it's a great ad. Somebody check- do I still have a soul?

Dear Bruce Springsteen

Dear Bruce Springsteen,

This is an open letter from Alien Corpse, intergalactic music snob and fellow prophet to the masses. I recently encountered an over-priced copy of your latest souped-up CD "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" during a recent invasion of Starbucks (which must to my surprise is now posing as a music store and movie production company). I would like to share with you my initial reaction to your start-studded cover album of Pete Seeger classics.

First, thanks for introducing your listeners to the real roots of folksy protest music. In the wake of the latest war, 18-35 year-olds across the country have strummed their guitars in coffee houses singing whiny-though-intended-to-be-wise lyrics satirizing Bush. You have reminded us that Peter Seeger, Woody Guthrie and pre-electric Bob Dylan perfected this politically-charged genre as an actual art-form. May the corduroyed bards of our day take note. Perhaps your covers of Seeger will serve as a gateway drug to the classics of folk music.

Second, beware of turning backwards. Bruce, you are already established as a rock legend. Reaching back to pre-rock roots reminds us just how old you are. Yet you have so recently shown that your music can forge ahead. Cover-albums of classics are a common sign of decline for an established artist. As you enter the pantheon of rock, you have a choice before you. Do you want to go the way of Rod Stewart, who wastes his cock-rock chops on the "Great American Songbook"? Or do you want to go glory route of Johnny Cash, who under Rick Rubin's guidance covered contemporary songs in his third and final comeback? I suggest the latter as befiting your greatness, but this latest record runs the risk of ending up like the former.

Third, shame on you for allowing your CD to be processed in a composite DVD format that does not play on many CD players. This kind of packaging, which has little to do with offering a mutli-media product and more to do with preventing piracy, betrays everything that leftist folk music stands for. Thus the form of this record betrays the content to the disappointment of many who try to enjoy your music in a '91 Volvo.

Sincerely,
Alien Corpse

The Raconteurs

Interested in hearing Jack White collaborate and produce some near-pop music? Download the Raconteurs single, "Steady, As She Goes" from iTunes...FREE this week.


here's a link to a rolling stone article about the band.

Review: The Streets, "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living"

This is the third album from Mike Skinner, a.k.a. The Streets. This British rapper’s first two albums (Original Pirate Material, 2002, and A Grand Don’t Come For Free, 2004) are among the highest quality in lyricism, beat composition, and overall sound production. Original Pirate Material is exactly what you would expect: guerilla samplings layered over stunning beats, with occasional bursts of lyrical genius. “A Grand” is a bit of a departure and represents the first-ever British hip-hopera, according to my infinite knowledge at least. The sound is relatively the same with production skill, lyrics, and songwriting all elevated.

Skinner has a lot to live up to with “Hardest Way…” and he doesn’t disappoint.

Released on 4/25/06, “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” finds Skinner in a different place. This album is not about the struggles of a poor London boy, but rather about the trappings of fame. With songs about cocaine use (Pranging Out), destroying hotel rooms (Hotel Expressionism), and extravagant spending (Memento Mori), he loses the common man appeal that worked for him “when you wasn’t famous.”

In an exclusive interview on the iTunes version of the disc, Skinner states, “I don’t think this album is as much about empathy... it is as honest, if not more honest than the previous albums…I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me, and I think you could have done that on the previous albums.” This is interesting because he sees the transition to fame and is aware of the dangers associated, but still writes an honest record that shows (at least a little bit) of what ego does to a man of humble roots.

Skinner stands on his head producing this record. Listen to the opening seconds of “Pranging Out,” and be blown away.

Though due to his fame we lose contact with Mike Skinner on this album, he manages to not alienate us completely by just writing good songs.

RIYL: Dizzee Rascal, Sway DaSafo, DANGERDOOM

Band of Horses, Everything All the Time

The first thing you are going to think is this: “My Morning Jacket rip-off! They’re just jumping on the MMJ bandwagon!” Well, your first mistake would be in thinking there is a bandwagon behind MMJ. Ain’t gonna happen, my friends.

Your second mistake would be thinking that Band of Horses have co-opted the MMJ sound. Not so. I mean, there is the reverb thing. Everything All the Time is drenched in soggy reverb. In my intergalactic travels through the universe, I have never heard a record so wet (except on the last MMJ record). And certainly, the vocal style bares more than a resemblance to Jim James’ folk-y/Neil Young-ish warble. But once you swim past the reverb, you begin to see the wide variety of musical influences here.

Shoegaze-y guitars are featured prominently throughout the record, while most of the vocal melodies find their origin is the underground psychedelic rock of the 60s, a la the Shins. The jangly guitars of “Weed Party” make me think of R.E.M. and Tom Petty. The angular riffs on “Wicked Gil” could be found on any Strokes/Franz/etc. record today.

But by far the two stand-outs on this album are the majesty of “The Great Salt Lake” and the haunting riff and chord progression of “The Funeral.” Both songs feature incredible dynamics that make you forget all about MMJ. Lyrics like, “At every occasion I’ll be ready for the funeral,” hint at a deep sea of longing that could make Band of Horses great song-writers for a long time to come.

Download “The Funeral” from www.subpop.com or from Free Radio Sub Pop podcast on Itunes.

Band of Horse-sized Dogs

Lynchland: The Liam Lynch Podcast

Liam Lynch is the last guy I would have guessed to have the do-it-yourself spirit. I mean, he did a show for MTV (Sifl and Olly). He’s the guy responsible for that “United States of Whatever” song. He’s buddies with Jack Black. How could this guy possibly have an indie mindset?

But it’s true! Liam Lynch is a true blue spokesman for the independent media. He believes in the revolution, friends! Just check out his new podcast, Lynchland, which you can download from http://www.liamlynch.net/ or Itunes. Liam’s vision for the future of visual media is clear: 100% independent production, free from the touch of the corporate world, all thanks to the proliferation of technology! Why should the corporate world have so much to say about our entertainment choices? As one of Liam’s songs put so eloquently, “Internet killed the video star.”

Just think about part of Liam’s manifesto, which he’s been spewing on Lynchland: “Watching any TV show is becoming more and more frustrating and more and more a waste of time because you can’t access it at your own will…Podcasting is really to me cable access TV for the world except you can do it right out of your house. And to me that is so exciting: to just say, ‘Everybody jump on a surfboard that goes over and crushes every television station ever’….There’s going to be podcasts that are more popular than TV shows and these large companies are going to have to find a ways of getting their advertisement into some kid’s podcast that he’s making in his basement.”

It is an exciting vision for the future of entertainment. Will visual entertainment finally be freed from the shackles of the Clear Channel, Sony, Donald Trump, etc.? Liam’s passion for the independent media is inspiring, but what is really great about Lynchland is that it is so entertaining.

Lynchland is a variety show. Liam throws together his music videos, animations, absurdist comedy skits (a la Andy Milonakis) and spiel for a really creative mix. Sifl and Olly make some appearances, along with Chester. (Check out Chester’s recipe in episode two.) Liam is also a big tech head, so he talks about his animations, favorite video games and the future of robots in the home. I think the show will be worth following if for no other reason than to hear about Liam cloning his favorite cat, Frankie Forcefield (see episode five for more on cloning Frankie). Probably the best thing about Lynchland is that it is brimming with personality; the show is a representation of Liam and his friends, not an advertisement for zit cream. (That’s right! I’m calling you out, MTV!)

Apparently, Lynchland has over 90,000 viewers. Maybe Liam’s vision will come true sooner than later.

Review: Mates of State, "Bring it Back"

Although it may fit as an embedded lyric, the title of Mates of State's newest release is a striking misnomer. This album does everything but "Bring it Back." Jason and Kori, the matrimonious keyboard-and-drums duo, have made major changes to their sound this time around. Usually a sign of break-out record, these changes will likely alienate the fan base without impressing new listeners. What went wrong?

Alien Corpse first saw Mates perform as an opening act for fellow-Lawrence-Kansas-based indie rockers Appleseed Cast at Chicago's Fireside Bowl. I chuckled in the back as I watched them set up an ancient keyboard and stripped down drum set which faced each other instead of the crowd. By the end of the first song I had moved up to the front row, mesmerized by their impossible combination of quirkiness and power.

Unfortunately, their studio albums have faltered in capturing the strength of their live sound. Mates of State always sounds small and unimpressive on record. For me, their albums are best used to recollect and anticipate their live shows. Every record, they have had to search for a new producer to take on the daunting task of increasing the space of their studio sound without losing the powerful simplicity of their two-voice, two-instrument live show. Although the previous producers have fallen short in the power department, none of them has succumbed to the temptation of sacrificing the simplicity of Mates' arrangement. Such a caveat cannot be said of the production of "Bring it Back."

"Bring it Back" is boiling over with overdubbed vocals, extra pianos, splashes of guitar, strings, effects, etc. In order enlarge the sound, much of the uniqueness of Mates of State has been lost. Furthermore, the vocals are all set in a lower register, so that Kori never belts out her signature wail. Now I am no purist fan, intolerant of artistic development. But in this case, the changes didn't work. Although the mix is somewhat improved, the sound of the record remains small. The additions did not create space; they created clutter. And the vocals can be heard better than ever, but they are no longer worth hearing because they don't reach their usual harmonic heights. Let's hope that the accompanying tour will release these songs from their over-produced chains.

Although I wholeheartedly recommend Mates of State as one of the most endearing and enduring indie pop bands, I would encourage new listeners to start with a more representative record such as "Our Constant Concern" or "Team Boo."

Pearl Jam on SNL

Tonight was a historic night. Pearl Jam performed live for the first time since 1998, wow, I can't believe it's been 8 years...What? They've been performing all along, you say? Huh? They've released 2 studio albums (Binaural, 2000, Riot Act, 2002), a rarieties and B-sides album (Lost Dogs, 2003), a live "album" (Live On Two Legs, 1998), a greatest hits record (Rearviewmirror, 2004), and a string of 72 live concert CDs in the last 8 years? REALLY? Huh.

Anyway, I listened to this haggard quintet perform two new songs on tonight's episode of SNL, and I don't remember a single chord, growl, or harmonizing drummer's note. All I kept thinking was, "GEEZ, Vedder, you look O-L-D." I guess that's what happens when you've been in the spotlight for 15 years, well except for that 8 year stretch where we all forgot you existed.

I must admit, though, that after ripping Pearl Jam and sitting thinking about how this album will probably be their last, all I can hear is, "Don't call me daughter, not fit to, the picture kept will remi-i-i-nd me..." over and over and over.

Maybe these bands that do hold a place in our collective memory banks could get press every four or five years to remind people to pull out old albums, re-buy songs that skip from iTunes, or just put one solid album back into the rotation. That would at least keep us from listening to a new, SELF-TITLED, album from a band that's been around since before I could listen to "secular" music.

William Orbit - "Hello Waveforms"

Release Date: Feb. 21, 2006
Okay so before a few weeks ago I had heard of William Orbit in the same way the rest of the non-undergroundelectronichip world had - through his collaboration with Madonna on her last album "Ray of Light". I was reasonably impressed by this album while listening to any Madonna album is confined to the guilty pleasure category. I guess I had also heard his remix of Electrical Storm (U2) and maybe vaguely remembered something about his electronic remaking of classical pieces on "Adagio for Strings". I was not among the hardcore Orbiters who waited six years for this anticipated solo project - and who were therefore mostly disappointed - I mean six years is a long time to wait. I suppose this gives me a certain innocence/ignorance in reviewing this album.
The first track I heard was "They Live in the Sky" (Listen) I happened on it on the radio and craved it for a week until I could figure out where it came from. The song typifies what is beautiful about Orbit's distinctive sound - the sweeping synth sounds that you could never find on your sister's casio, the simple bubbling melodies, the sense of dynamic direction without abusing mechanisms typical of electro-pop like bass breakdowns and stereo flange. The songs are eloquent and carry this kind of brooding sense of anticipation. This anticipation is what most people seem to critique about the album - It anticipates but does not deliver leaving you nowhere. I was rather fond of the insatiated anticipation - the lack of resolve into quarter notes on the kick and a blaring anthem. The album seems to me to have been a bit like going out for a walk and finally deciding that actually getting somewhere couldn't be near as fun as the adventure of just exploring around a bit.
Other favorite tracks were "Bubble Universe" "Sea Green" "Colours from Nowhere"
I will say that my least favorite track on the album is the first single "Spiral". The album also seems to me to be a bit overly song-oriented. If an album brings on the chill I prefer a bit more continuity between tracks.

Review #1: The Appleseed Cast - Peregrin (Militia)
Release Date: March, 21, 2006

The Appleseed Cast is back with their 7th full-length in 8 years ("The End of the Ring Wars" was released by Deep Elm in '98). Apleseed is best known for their two-volume release "Low Level Owl Vols. I & II" (2001), which sparked interest in their music across pop-culture. It was not bizarre to hear Appleseed Cast songs on MTV or Abercrombie ads. The band has become more obscure in the ensuing 4+years, though that may all change with March's release of "Peregrin." Peregrin has all the spit and sparkle of Low Level Owl, mixed with some of the rampaging energy the band displayed with 2000's "Mare Vitalis."

The danger and the beauty that has always existed with The Cast's work is how one song folds into the next. This is dangerous because it so easily becomes noise, and beautiful because it's so easy to get lost floating around in their ambiance. If you're looking for a record to sing along to, keep looking. However, if you are interested in losing yourself in some layered, beautifully complex sounds, this is the record. The Appleseed Cast is one of the few bands still capable of constructing an "album," rather than a collection of songs.

Longevity Rating: 3.5 UFOs out of 5.