Posted on February 26, 2008 by Andrew. Categories: Music.
Here’s the new music releases for this week and there’s something for almost everyone. BTW, I’ll be back this afternoon with another post about the new Ghostland Observatory.
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree - High soaring dreamy female vocals from this band out of the UK. Electronic folk music.
Erica Badu - New Amerykah Part One - R&B with some funky bits sprinkled on top of Erica’s powerful and unique voice. She is a native of Dallas and has a few shows scheduled there soon.
The Afters - Never Going Back to O.K. - Clean Pop/Rock - Christian Band from Dallas.
Tift Merrit - Another Country - Indie Folk/Alternative Country. Tift voice reminds me of Emmylou Harris. She will be at the Parish first on 3/15 for SXSW and back on April 21.
Punch Brothers - Punch - Bluegrass/Folk - Chris Thile of Nickle Creek fame has started another band this one is a 5 piece. If you are into mandolin, banjo, violin, and some acoustic guitar this would be right up your ally. Chris sings on some songs too.
Pete Rock - NY’s Finest - Hip Hop/Rap - Of Pete Rock and CL Smooth fame. Rock has been one of the top producers of rap and hip hop in New York working with some of the best artist in this genre. As an expert on the decks he’s bringin some great beats and hooks. He has also plenty of guest rappers too.
Vallejo - Thicker Than Water - Rock with Latin tendencies. This Austin act has been around for many years, had various lineup changes but the core of AJ, Alejandro, and Omar are still there making solid rock music. They have several central Texas concert dates coming up if you want to see them. They typically put on guitar driven, energic performances for their loyal fans.
I didn’t get a chance to listen to Janet Jackson or Rocket from the Crypt but they have new music out today as well.
I’ll be back later this afternoon with a review of the new Ghostland Observatory, Robotique Majastique.
Posted on February 25, 2008 by Andrew. Categories: Music.
So I was looking through the SXSW bands last night and I started noticing some trends. There are 20 bands with the word “black” in their name. Such as: Paint It Black, Black Helicopter, Attack in Black, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Blackout, The Black Hollies, Black Diamond Heavies, Black Angels, The Black Keys, Black Joe Lewis, The Black Ghosts, Blackholicus, The Black, Black Tide, The Black and White Years, Black Mountain, Black Top Demon, Black Tusk, Black Earth, Blacklist. In contrast there are only 4 or 5 ”white” name bands (White Mice, White Rabbits, White Rainbow, etc). BTW the 2 out of this list that I have heard, The Black Keys and Black Angels, are really good bands. I’m sure if you wanted to hear what any of these bands actually sound like you could find them on myspace. More SXSW name anomalies coming soon.
So the Oscars were last night. I kind of stumbled upon them while doing my laundry. Anyway no real big surprises most all of the people I wanted to win, won. The Coen brothers winning for No Country For Old Men was expected. The Borne Ultimatum taking the technical categories was deserved. In my mind after seeing Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood there was no doubt he would take home the best actor award. I was glad to see the duo from Once performing and winning best original song. Also that Juno was able to win best original screenplay. John Stewart was really good as the host. I hope he will be back next year. Kind of a ho-hum awards night.
Posted on February 22, 2008 by Andrew. Categories: Movies.
Two movie picks for the weekend: Be Kind Rewind and The Signal. If you are going to see Be Kind Rewind go to an Alamo Drafthouse because they will be showing 5 minute movie remakes by Austinites before the feature presentation begins. Go to http://beta.filmmakingfrenzy.com/ to see all the entries. There are some really great/horrible/hilarious videos. That being said, I have no idea how BKR is going to be. The studio didn’t have any press screenings which doesn’t bode well. I do like the director, Michael Gondry and the two stars, Jack Black & Mos Def, so I will see this film, it just might not be great. I’m trying not to get my hopes up.
I originally heard about The Signal about a year ago from my friend who is one of the screeners for SXSW. He was really championing this movie to get the publicity it deserves. Here’s the basic story: All forms of communication have been jammed by a strange transmission which drives half of the population into a violence and murder. The film is apparently told from 3 different perspectives by 3 different directors. As their portion of the story ended they handed it off to the next director. This might make the storytelling disjointed and weird. It looks interesting and I will see it at some point I’m just trying to decide if it’s going to be a matinee or at home when it comes out on DVD.
Let me know what you think if you are able to check out either of these movies.
Occasionally we get promotional items for movies that are about to be released in theaters. Earlier this week we received an item for the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Can you guess what they sent??? That’s right a 10 foot (fake) leather whip. I’m not sure what we are going to do with it yet but now we have it, so beware. The Austintainer wants to shoot some video in the parking lot of cracking of the whip. We’ll see.
Posted on February 19, 2008 by Andrew. Categories: Music.
I am going to try to write on Tuesdays about what new albums are being released. I have only listened to snipits of these but here we go. Roky Erickson & The Explosives are putting out live music from his heyday, Halloween: Live 1979-1981. The Ravonettes new album is called Lust Lust Lust. If you’ve never heard this European duo, imagine harmonized female lead vocals over a 60’s era surf guitar. Also Steve Earle’s wife Allison Moorer comes out with Mockingbird today. There are several covers such as Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, U2’s Dancing Barefoot as well as her own soulful/country originals. Other new ones from: Ray Davies (lead singer of the Kinks), Davana, The Grand Archivies and Ursula 1000. There are some good ones coming out next week.
I had my first trip to the Alamo Ritz on Friday (2/15) to see the Master Pancake version of Back to the Future. If you have never heard of Master Pancake, the premise is several comedians sit up front with mics and make fun of the movie. John Erler is the ringleader of this group and he was his typical intelligently funny self while still being dirty of course. Comedian/flim maker Ben Bartley and local author/comedian Owen Egerton are making a guest run during this movie. Two thirds of the way through the movie the guys stop it so they can perform a skit. Doc Brown (John) was trying to read Marty’s (Owen) mind to see if he was in lust with his mother when he was back in time. Marty was extra excited due to the all the Pepsi he drank, oh and the onset of early Parkinson’s (their joke not mine). Afterwards the characters took questions from the audience with hilarious results (mainly of Owen dancing around). The only down side of the evening was the audience missed many of the jokes during the movie due to sound from the film being too loud drowning out the guys commentary. If you haven’t made it down to the Ritz, you should it is a beautiful theater.
A benefit for Meals on Wheels was last night called Shot Thru the Heart at Antone’s. The CW Austin was one of the proud sponsors of this event. Skyrocket played all the great hits from the 70s and 80s (Rock the Casbah, Night Fever, Any Way You Want It, Dancing Queen, One Way or Another, All Out of Love). These top flight musicians know how to get people on the dance floor. If you want to read more about them, the other bands they are in or their extensive song selection, check out their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/skyrockettheband It was a great night. Thanks for the big crowd that came out and supported Meals on Wheels.
We hosted a Christmas Party at the chic new 2nd Street Fuego Lounge this past weekend. The staff kept the drinks flowing and DJ Jericho One kept the party thumpin’ as we kicked off the season with old and new friends.
Check out Fuego’s MySpace page for live music and DJ schedules. Be sure to tell Jason and the gang hello from us.
Photos of our party are on the right in our Flickr photo stream.
That’s right, we’ll be at the Austin Music Hall for Duran Duran tomorrow night. We’re going to go back in time to the era of big hair bands and synthesizers. We’ll have our camera, too, so get ready for some fashion wrongs…courtesy of The Pulse!
