Video Of The Day: Broken Social Scene-Major Label Debut

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Beck: Modern Guilt Will Be Released July 7th

The fresh Danger Mouse produced album from Beck will drop on the 7th of July 2008. It will contain 10 new tracks and clock in at just over a half hour. Check out the tracklist:

Orphans
Gamma Ray
Chemtrails
Modern Guilt
Youthless
Walls
Replica
Soul of A Man
Profanity Prayers
Volcano

Also check out this clip from a June 9th live performence of some fresh material: LINK

New Movie: Gonzo- The Life Of Hunter S.Thompson

“America… just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”

-Hunter S. Thompson

A wise,furious. and psychotic man who has irrevocably changed the face of journalism and politics has a biopic coming out this year. It looks to focus on key ventures of Thompson’s life, such as his time with the Hell’s Angels and his involvement with George McGovern’s 1972 Campaign. Narrated by Johnny Depp, Gonzo looks to illuminate the genius of this important American icon to the masses who may only have him pegged as a drug addled buffoon in the film Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Look for it in limited release this Forth Of July.

Check the trailer HERE

New Of Montreal Album, Skeletal Lamping, Is Due In October.

Of Montreal front man Kevin Barnes has announced that all finishing touches for the upcoming album Skeletal Lamping, have been completed. The album is slated to be released sometime in October 2008. All indicators point towards this release being very complex and challenging. According to Barnes it can be perceived as one long piece with different movements that sometimes don’t “work”. Read his whole statement HERE

Concert Review: Movement 08- Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival

Detroit started the summer of 2008 off with a synthesized bang last month, with the annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival. The lineup this year was pretty eclectic, ranging from laptop superstar Moby to the smooth grooves of Carl Craig. The former capped off the evening I attended, encapsulating the sense of freedom and community that was accrued throughout the sweaty, flashing funk fest.

Approaching Detroit’s Hart Plaza, there can be no mistaking what is happening. A line of colorfully dressed characters stretches all the way down to Cobo Hall. They are grooving to the overflow of beats emanating from the wide range of stages within the plaza. The sun is heavy overhead, but contributes to the sleepy throbbing ambiance of the midday sets, prepping the crowd for the madness that nightfall will bring.

With each different stage, there is a completely different environment. The open air pit is a zone for congregation and light free flow dancing. The underground realm is a breeding ground for the intense folks, who don’t feel like messing around with the pesky sun. Armed with gas masks, glow sticks pacifiers, and a will to get down, these creatures of the night dazzle the senses with their swirling, grooving moves. Elsewhere break dance battles are rampant, as well as every other kind of interpretational dance imaginable. As the afternoon wanes, the crowd starts to swell and the evening begins with a rousing set by euro favorite Benny Benassi. Soon however, the attention begins to shift over to the stage overlooking the Detroit river with a fantastic view of Windsor, Canada, as the Cool Kids take the stage.

One member a Chicago native, the other hailing from Detroit, The Cool Kids definitely have a handle on the aesthetic of the Midwest, making them a particularly good fit for DEMF. In fact, their whole set seemed to be steeped in nostalgia, creating a wholly satisfying homage to the MCs that paved the way for them throughout the years. They hit tracks from their new release Fish Riding Bicycles as well as their two EP’s, Totally Flossed out and The Bake Sale. The centerpiece of the set was a montage of old school jams which they invited everyone to sing along with, including cuts from The Notorious B.I.G. and Skeelo. Full of energy and charisma, the Cool Kids appreciation of the fruits of Pop’s past was a perfect segue way into the set by Girl Talk.

I have always enjoyed the DJ stylings of Girl Talk, but was converted by his transformative live performance. Things really got rolling before the show even started when he took the mic and invited the crowd to join him on stage. This resulted in near pandemonium as legions of frenzied techno freaks leapt over security and started the party. The set started shortly thereafter with an announcement from the performer informing the audience that he was Girl Talk and that there were to be no rules at this show. This announcement was followed by an explosion of beats and a roar from the crowd. Girl Talk himself proceeded to run frantically around the stage betwixt writhing crowd dancers, jumping and diving, and eventually ripping off his clothes down to his boxer shorts.

The set was basically an orgy of classic pop hits fused together almost beyond recognition, including jams from The Notorious B.I.G., Abba,Elton John, Bruce Springsteen,Wu tang Clan, and Ace of Bass, among many many others. With the culmination of this set, the crowd migrated to the only remaining stage, where the smooth jazz stylings of the legendary Carl Craig were fused with beats and live session musicians. A cathartic, suiting climax to a long day of digital debauchery.

Video Of The Day: Pork And Beans (Acoustic, featuring Tay Zonday)

To commemorate the release of Weezer’s new Red Album, here is an offering that encapsulates the fun, zany spirit of the new release. Tay Zonday of Chocholate Rain fame joins Brian Bell for an acoustic rendition of the red hot single, Pork and Beans.

Album Review: Weezer (Red Album)

Let me preface this review by saying that no matter what direction they take, Weezer have left a mark on rock music that will not fade quickly. By staying in the business for over 15 years and consistently churning out monster hits, for better for worse, they have become inextricably melded to the great pantheon of classic rock and roll. The Blue album helped to usher in a new generation of alternative music, fusing the crunchy indie rock of Pavement with the soaring melodies of the Beach Boys. Their second album, Pinkerton, served as one of the great cult classics of the 90’s. Its emotive ramblings matched with Rivers’ gunslinger guitar riffs spread through word of mouth and this thing called the “internet”, eventually garnering platinum status and critics stamp of approval.

After a hefty hiatus, the aughts saw a new slick approach from the crew in the form of a Green album that clocked in under a half hour and contained powerful, calulated bursts of power pop with a decidedly simplified lyrical prowess. Maladroit ushered in an era of excess as Rivers eschewed the short pop dirges for longer, self indulgent guitar solo saturated tributes to his childhood shred head heroes such as Kiss and Slayer. The next album, Make Believe, marked the first traces of alarming stagnation. With warm production and goofy sense of humor in tact, the collection of songs lacked the spark and vitality of the rest of their discography. The lyrics and song structures were utterly devoid of irony and any faint glimmer of experimentation. I began to ponder with increasing trepidation about the concept of a one time flag carrier of underground music longing to live in Beverly Hills with a straight face. Questions began to arise such as, “Is Weezer still relevant”, and “Are they still capable of making an interesting and listenable album? The answers are yes, and sort of, respectively.

The Red album is all at once, fun, progressive, nostalgic, and devastatingly front loaded. It gathers an exilerating head of steam only to fizzle out and die at just over the half way point. But I digress, lets start from the top. Troublemaker gets things rolling at a respectable jaunt that stretches all they way to track 6, Dreamin’. The songs here still contain simple, ridiculous lyrics, but they feel more lighthearted and genuine than anything else they have produced this decade. They feel like the product of an aging man taking a look back at his long career and tipping his hat at it than the outcome of some form of sterile thesis on pop music structure. The songs lightly touch on nostalgia of youth, musical influences, and zany pop culture references. There are plenty of surprises in the production, a laser sound here, a handclap there, that give the album a warm lived in feel. The guitars soar and swell on Pork and Beans and Heart Songs, and chug along through Troublemaker and Everybody Get Dangerous.

The crowning achievement here is the single The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn). A multifaceted genre bending assault of the senses, TGMTEL is proof that Weezer still has importent things to offer in the future. Featuring rap, barbershop quartet influenced vocals, both power pop and grunge breakdowns, and an air guitar chorus, Rivers Cuomo has brought back the Blue Album esque giddy rock-out-in-your-room sensation for the first time since, well…the Blue Album.

The only thing holding the Red album back from being particularly memorable is basically the entire second half of the disc. The other three members of the group take over vocal duties for three songs respectively, and while this is not necessarily a poor concept, it results in zero accolade’s from yours truly. The vocal performances themselves are perfectly acceptable, its the songs themselves that are quite frankly just trite filler. Compared to the tracks that Rivers performs on earlier on the disc, these cuts are unadventurous, repetitive and cliche, fulfilling the AM gold prophecy foretold on Make Believe.

In time this album will sink into obscurity and be forgotten by the masses but beloved by aging Weezer fans who will no doubt confuse future generations with their six finger =w= salute and curious affinity for Happy Days reruns.