1AM Update...

I can't write even include a fraction of what I'd want to. Hence why this blog isn't updated like it should. Why Twitter is, but of course not many read my Twitter anyway due to not wanting and the fact it's private.

I got so many fucking albums to review, rate, rank. I can't. I can't even..don't even rather have the time to copy and paste all the brief reviews and comments I've made on rateyourmusic.com

I'd like to BUY TIME. It should be able to be done, shouldn't it? But see, I'm not that disciplined..self-disciplined. I had 5 1/2 days off, and I only accomplished about 1/2 at most, of what I wanted to, and should have. Bought clothes, shoes of-which gave me a blister or something on my lower-right ankle today. Too long a story to explain. I dunno if I'll keep em, but also if I'll get over to Rosedale to exchange them anyway. The cackie pants I got also not exactly a slamdunk..but washing them may help. I swear tho, there's not a perfect fit, as -they-are-made-new for ME. I have a weird body/metalbolism..and need to start working out. Easier said than done.

King's X live review..hopefully soon. I never got to it tonight.

Got the new issue of "Prog"..$16..too high-priced..they need less content and more ads so the price is lower. Then after a couple years, try raising the price. The sucker will not be at B&N or Borders within a year if they continue to sell it for the price of a cd or some books.


Blech..but yeah, so go to my rym (SoundscapeMN is the profile) and somehow if I find the discipline, many of those albums can be blabbed about on this blog soon. Maybe a Midseason report will happen.

Movies too: yeah, so I mentioned seeing like 3 or 4 of them of late. I still have planned to see the likes of: "500 Days of Summer" "The Time Traveler's Wife" (youtube trailer insert here l8ter as I saw it just tonight. Thoughts: kinda meh, but I love the book too much to skip it) "Where the Wild Things Are" (looks surreal, Spike Jonze, and I had the book as a kid)..and some others like "Downloading Nancy" for example.

TV: Catching up on In Plain Sight and funny enough "Fringe"..I never should have stopped watching that show actually. Feels weird watching episodes from January now, lol. The weather then I'd take in a second over the sauna that is Minnesota (and most of the Northern Hemisphere I imagine) right now. Finished Dollhouse a few weeks ago..gonna hopefully finish Pushing Daisies, My Boys too, and then go on to The Unusuals and some others. Burn Notice and the new show "Royal Pains" I am very much into as well the past few weeks. USA Network, for whatever reason, keep scoring really high with me. It really is baffling considering how much garbage NBC airs too. Even the Jeff Goldblum "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"? ain't bad now with him and Julianne Nicholson. When in fact those 2 are on the episode that airs.

"Breaking Bad" is definitely a top 10 tv show for me. It was addicting. I should try and write more about it soon. I have yet to watch the 1st season too. I also want to seek out Malcolm in the Middle ironically. Frankie Muniz is kind of annoying, but Bryan Cranston is gold. His meltdowns get me every time.

Warehouse 13 on SKEFEE I will watch.

I'd like to watch Trueblood, but also would go for Anna Paquin to become a vampire at some point. But I haven't seen it. DVD's or Hulu maybe. I also mean to borrow or rent Weeds (being so into Breaking Bad among other reasons) and Big Love (I have always had a thing for Chloe Sevigny. Plus I think that is the show Nick Stahl is/was in).

Kiss Kiss mock-leaked their album yesterday. Haha..yeah, it was kind of funny for a minute. But their album "The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left" I better be able to hear around July 3rd-7th as I pre-ordered 2 copies. I'm almost if not more enthused about the show they are playing @ The Triplerock, of course opening, not headlining, for Fake Problems on July 12th. Nearly 3 years ago August 2006..Kaddisfly + 3 and them..should have happened. Hopefully that show will be worth the wait.

The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death. I rated as 5-stars, but truthfully only heard the proper version yesterday for the 1st time. I may lower it, but I loathe those downraters on rateyourmusic. Realistically, maybe it finding it's way to rym's top 30 or 10 even was not there, but at least for now, I want to do all I can to help it. I think it's around 3.8 avg rating right now. It'll need a lot more 5-star ratings like mine to do so. But it sits at #6 right now on my personal list. After a few more listenings, I'm going to have a better idea if belongs up there with dredg and Umphrey's McGee or not. I have to say the last 3 tracks are ace no matter. The lines "but when we die, we die alone".."one of these days, he will learn to love again..one of these days he will learn to love again"..."..sad..they seem to be wonderful to close the album. A great goosebump section. But TDH are opening for mewithoutYou who I don't imagine I'll be too up for watching @ Station 4 on Thursday July 2nd. My 4th TDH show, but none where they headlined. The dredg paralells seem to be happening in some ways. Act III might be there CWA in terms of interest too. So maybe Act IV will be their TPTPTD?..who knows. A dredg/tdh tour could happen. All depends on what dredg and Drew feel about how similar they are I guess. It would feel kind of like the Ours/dredg tour in some ways.

New bands: 100Ft Snowman, Fluid Ounces (RIP?), Age of Rockets (this band is really good!), note. (I bought their cd already!), The Kris Norris Projekt..more to add as people know..I have too many. Plus I haven't scanned the likes of alltimegreatest, indie passion, we fucking love music and some others much lately and should.

here's the CALENDAR
Mew, Mute Math, Muse, As Tall As Lions (yes, their new song rocks on their myspazz), Born of Osiris, Porcupine Tree, Orphaned Land, Andre Matos, Midlake, Between the Buried and Me, Pain of Salvation (now not on Progressive Nation 2009..all of the 30min set they won't be there to play), Local Natives, Oceansize (EP), Annuals, Water & Bodies, Jared Micah & Hats, Self, Transatlantic, Menomena ...

In Vain = 2010

okay, that's all I have time for tonight folks. I could mention..I am seriously thinking of doing a babble-cast..call it that maybe. The microphone-to-speaker recording via Audacity (Picard..yes THE AUDACITY!)..I dunno. I have done them in the past, but I think, especially if I find a way to keep them like 30mins long or shorter, I could do them. Silly,..I know. Talking to myself, but Scarily, I actually enjoy hearing them myself, lol. And the web or I am lacking in more podcasts. I just need to find a way to play them at my office without having to pause them every 4mins due to all the talking nearby. Maybe Noise-canceling headphones solves that problem?

Hiromi

now after seeing her tonight, her, her band, and her music for me, works better live. But that's hardly anything unusual for a Jazz artist. I may find myself more of a fan now.

"Time Control" was 1 of the best parts of her set.

My take on her is most of her songs have some outstanding sections in them, but also have some slower sections that lend to being better live. It's like when I hear that on a studio recording, it doesn't get my attention and can at times kill any momentum. But live, my attention is more consistently focused on where the piece goes.

More than a couple of times she was playing on her keyboard and a piano simultaneously..ala your keyboard wizards Emerson, Wakeman, and of course Chick Corea. On another one, she was almost pounding up and down the ivories like hammer to nails. I'm thinking specifically of this 1 really funky song they performed. It was quite bombastic.

For someone who looks more like she should be playing classical, she was laughing and totally more animated than I'd expect.

Birthdays mean nothing for meeting women

at least for me.

Maybe it was just the way I was tonight. I hate the 7th Street Entry..especially on Saturday Nights. If I could have, I'd have chopped up the wiring on that dj's equipment. I basically spent most of the time at the show for Total Babe alone..then proceeded to leave. I then went to the Bryant Lake Bowl and bowled 2 games. Not a soul said a word to me. I did walk by the lesbian crowd outside 3 or 4 times, wanting to say something like "lesbians are hot"...which I finally did the last time as I was leaving around the corner and 1 of them agreed.

I'm intimidated by them..I totally have a cat holding my tongue around them. I think it's because I'm totally turned on by them, and am extremely scared to say it to them right to their faces. They wouldn't care I imagine, since of course, I'm a guy and they would get more from a neighborhood cat being turned by them.

It's always intimidating and awkward. A blessing and a curse I suppose; to be turned on and jealous of them. But then again their lives must be that way at times. But if I was in past-life 1, I wouldn't be surprised, and if I comeback as 1 in a future life I wouldn't mind/be surprised afaik.

Some fucking birthday.I guess it's good to know never to go to the Entry, ever again on a Saturday Night...and never to go alone to Bryant Lake Bowl..and preferably if I go there again, to go on a Sunday where it costs only $1 per game to bowl.

I did get mini-golf for free and saw 2 mediocre independent films: The Brothers Bloom and Easy Virtue. What is it with my birhtdays and mediocre movies? I wish either 500 Days of Summer or Where the Wild Things Are came out this week. But at least WtWTA is in October during "Oscar Season" so that may be nice if there is any shot it could get some award recognition. But so was Synecdoche, NY last year and did it get any Oscars?... of course not.

Local Natives

I just got back a bit ago. These guys still are my little brilliant secret I suppose, but they totally killed live tonight. I'd guess at least a dozen maybe more like 20 or 30 new fans were made in Minnesota. Verrrry much in the vein of what Annuals do live, with many members of the band getting involved in drumming support/jamming. It adds A TON of energy. They played all Local Natives tunes except 1, "Sun Hands" which they just released on vinyl, but was originally a song they wrote/released when they were still known as "Cavil at Rest." It was an awesome closing piece that some of the members of Blind Pilot, the headliner (who are about to start another tour opening for The Decemberists..who ironically are playing Mpls on Saturday at Rock the Garden, but not with BP) joined them on the 400 Bar's small stage. They had like 12 people on stage dancing, and drumming away to it, it was highly memorable.

Vocal Harmonies are outstanding live. They even have added a girl to play violin, which I guess she will be on their debut album "Gorilla Manor" when it does get released. They are still vague about it, but it sounds like they will either release themselves at some point, or sign with a label..that decision could be soon, but no later than October. That may sound kind of meaningless to those who don't know them, but for me, I've been a big fan of them for like 2 1/2 years now, hoping, trying to wait as patiently as I can, knowing how incredible they are. Highly talented songwriters and a great chemistry exists, and when I continue to see the likes of Animal Collective and maybe moreso last year in Fleet Foxes and 2009's answer in Grizzly Bear, I am baffled on how these guys are not even close to a fraction of as well known. But their album must be released 1st of course, and that time ain't too far away. But in the mean time, they've become incredibly tight, killer live band that now this being their 1st official tour (the show in 2007 was a special deal given they have some friends from MN, and even at that, only like 5 people including myself saw them at Station 4 that night), they may find their way back to our town again later this year. Annuals, Fair to Midland, Ours, now Other Lives..Local Natives belong in that company I'd say after the show tonight.

Twitters from the past few months.

Because I'm lazy and don't have time right now, here's what I've twittered (sorry, but "tweeted or tweets sound even more fucking gay) in the past few months. I suppose I can take a lot of these points and actually write and report on them more in detail when time allows.

Oh and since they are Twitters, someof this shit of course would be stuff I likely wouldn't write about in here. Daily comments, but overall, my Twitter doesn't do even a fraction of the kind of pointless daily stuff like "I'm eating a sald" that pretty much all of Twitter seems to be about sadly. It still is reporting/opinion just truncated. And it's a private Twitter, but if you request it, I'll likely allow you to follow..I just can't be sure I'll follow you. As long as the spamming doesn't get to the point where I'm getting emails and on lists. But it's still will be private..wayy too many out there. I'm just sick of getting requests and turning them down.

@Mew new album is called "No More Stories" and being released on August 19th.New EP will be out earlier on 7/1. http://tinyurl.com/q6vmlm
about 17 hours ago from web
can 't believe @B!theband opening for @KingsX I have got to purchase their disc there.June 23rd oh man, 6/23/09 my biggest day in music ever
about 23 hours ago from web
June 23rd @King'sX IS HAPPENING! and not at FirstCrapenue, but @Station4 instead. @Atheist is coming Sept 7th (MN Metal Fest)
9:23 AM May 8th from web
@localnatives are finally coming back to Minneapolis, June 17th @400Bar. Now, if only "Gorilla Manor" would have more details come out soon.
9:22 AM May 8th from web
@Stickist Michael Ian Black you refer to very well may the actor/comedian maybe best known from "I Love the 80's" (and 70's, 90's) on VH1
9:19 AM May 8th from web in reply to Stickist
I finally am getting to see @HiromiJazz June 21-22nd @DakotaJazzClub .She's beautiful & a master musician/composer! Just aday after my bday.
1:08 AM May 8th from web
@Mewband new album "No More Stories..."? could be delayed until August ;\ ..o well, that makes more sense at least.
12:22 PM May 7th from web
@TheOnionNews report on the new Star Trek movie hehe http://tinyurl.com/coxd2s
3:22 AM May 7th from web
@sourlullabies totally. See topic if you haven't on ktb http://bit.ly/MCzn4
2:09 AM May 7th from web in reply to sourlullabies
June 5th @karnivool "Sound Awake" is the release date. http://tinyurl.com/cded47 Heath "June 5th. Sorry folks but the last bit of the delay"
1:59 AM May 7th from web
"Ran Away to Tell the World" from @OursBand was used on the CBS show NCIS.
1:45 AM May 7th from web
I hate to say, but The Decemberists album has definitely fallen out the current AotY race. It's just not that addictive. Top 10 even soon.
2:25 PM May 6th from web
at least 1 new @Threetheband album very well may be out in October and called "Revisions Volume 1: ANYONE HUMAN"
12:18 PM May 6th from web
@agdfairplay yes. Most of isn't exactly *spam* but more people do a search and find my twitter and want to follow.Most I don't follow tho
9:22 AM May 6th from web in reply to agdfairplay
for fans @MEWtheBand are opening for @NineInchNails in Europe this Summer. Me? not a NIN fan + I don't reside on that side of the pond.
4:52 AM May 6th from web
the song "Ran Away To Tell the World" by @Ours was used on @NCISTVSHOW the other night. Someone plz put it up on youtube!
4:40 AM May 6th from web
my cdr only had 17 tracks of @dredg 's TPPD, lol. I believe it was "Cartoon Showroom" I missed. Fucking webrip scrued it with 1 folder+2zips
9:20 AM May 5th from web
A new Mew song is going to be called "Spilling." But the clock is ticking for both them and Karnivool. C'mon guys, it's May fucking 5th!
1:44 AM May 5th from web
oh, and a proper dredg leak finally happened a little while ago. Gee, I wonder why, lol.
1:41 AM May 5th from web
"Uniform" underwhelmed me., but a double-encore with their singer crowd surfing was unexpected, but it was the last show of their tour.
1:40 AM May 5th from web

Review of @BlocPartyBand concert. Fun, and the songs worked live, but what was missing was the *big* sound they have on the albums.
1:38 AM May 5th from web
for what it's worth, a WEBRIP of @dredg 's new album leaked. Seen mixed reactions about worth checking it out. I will with a grainofsalt
4:36 PM May 4th from web
Imogen Heap's new album it sounds like will be released on August 18th. A Press release isn't far away. & @SUEMCLEAN I guess is promoting PN
2:35 PM May 4th from web
Bloc Party tonight @FirstCrapAve and it pisses me off I couldn't find my WEEKENDINTHE CITY cd today to play.
2:34 PM May 4th from web
Russian Circles = last night May 3rd. Doh!..o well, I saved some $.
2:33 PM May 4th from web
good to hear 3 news songs are already in progress for @KissKissTheBand All part of their masterplan to take over the world, I'm sure hehe.
10:37 PM May 3rd from web
maybe the @ANVILMOVIE will begin late enough (9:45pm-ish) where I can make it and still catch @OTHERLIVES at the 400 Bar between 8-9:30.
12:01 PM May 2nd from web
I can't skip @OTHERLIVES tonight just for that reason. To tell them how I love them as @KUNEK
12:00 PM May 2nd from web
I can officially conclude @KUNEKBAND >> @OTHERLIVESBAND not sure why but the Other Lives album doesn't have what "Fight of the FLynns" did
12:00 PM May 2nd from web
@AgallochBand 's "The White" + Friday Afternoon = WIN
5:23 PM May 1st from web
2-weeks from today, @WATERANDBODIES http://tinyurl.com/cuu3gc Debut EP is being released. It could be a long 2-weeks damnit!
12:20 PM May 1st from web
@_MK_ yeah this topic http://tinyurl.com/ddppz9 inspired me to listen to Kezia today. It's still a superior record to Fortress to me.
12:14 PM May 1st from web in reply to _MK_
"A Sin I didn't care for, but a sin that paid my debts A sin that fed my children and burned my smiles and cigarettes"
9:29 AM May 1st from web
note to self: checkout this local band @ActorandActressesBand @BetweenTwoSkiesBand keep telling me about them +they are on the bill on 5/9
9:27 AM May 1st from web
I would trade @CHUCK coming back over @HEROES frankly. It'sway more consistently funny and well-written.
12:30 AM May 1st from web
@GARYUNMARRIED is possible, @CHUCK and @SAMANTHAWHO? are still on the proverbial *bubble* source: tvbythenumbers http://tinyurl.com/bheqlj
12:29 AM May 1st from web
Word is the follow shows will not be renewed:@REAPER, @CASTLE , @CUPID , @THEUNSUALS , @DOLLHOUSE @TERMINATOR @BETTEROFFTED
12:27 AM May 1st from web
Finally caughtup @BreakingBadTVShow It's still got my attn, but admittedly, @BobOdenkirk needs to go. He's not that funny. More annoying.
12:18 PM Apr 30th from web
@TheDearHunterBand ACT III: LIFE AND DEATH Cover Art http://tinyurl.com/ckhyyk
1:42 AM Apr 30th from web
trying get in touch w/ whoever, to do promo work for Progressive Nation is probably a lot more work than it's worth. Adonde Sue McLean?

Soon @OntheRoadWithJudas will have some thoughts about this unusual Indie film from 2008 that nobody saw or talked about
9:40 AM Apr 29th from web
I wish I had saved that girl's phone number from last year @LiveNation. Kristi or something, I forget. She was in Chicago.
9:35 AM Apr 29th from web
Not surprisingly, @LiveNation has absolutely no Human Resources Contact Info on their site. Sue McLean ain't in the office til 10.
9:34 AM Apr 29th from web
I can say a big FUCK YOU to Itunes by only making it available WHEN YOU BUY THE WHOLE ALBUM.Go Fuck Yourself Itunes!I buy CDs not M4A FILES!
12:28 AM Apr 29th from web
"Have You Fallen Asleep" is the bonus track on ITUNES from Paper Route's debut album "Absence"
12:27 AM Apr 29th from web
rest of the 2009 PN dates: http://www.mikeportnoy.com/...
9:56 PM Apr 28th from web
Progressive Nation 2009 =Friday August 21st @ORPHEUM &it's morsuitable-for-metal-soundsystem.Pain of Salvation =completely avoids our clubs
9:50 PM Apr 28th from web
@Jimmy Gnecco of @OurstheBand is starring in a new short film with David Carradine! http://tinyurl.com/c26as9
6:08 PM Apr 28th from web
new @RealOceansize live dvd/cd Boxed Set "Feed to Feed" http://tinyurl.com/dl7kdh out in June.
5:52 PM Apr 28th from web
@agdfairplay hehe yeah. That was kind of random. The way they wrote the episode,it could get canned, or maybe not.A few weeks and we'll know
9:31 AM Apr 28th from web in reply to agdfairplay
@TheDecemberists are appearing on the @ColbertReport tonight (4/27/09) on @ComedyCentral
2:38 PM Apr 27th from web
@sycro just a claim. I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned it on Traversing. http://tinyurl.com/dm58ha but if the rip sucks, it's kind of moot.
2:37 PM Apr 27th from web
On the other hand, @SamanthaWho? is getting usurped by that Bob Saget p.o.s show. Cuz @UglyBetty is back. ABC = Already Been Cancelled
12:23 PM Apr 27th from web
@Heroes and @Chuck have their Season finales tonight. Monday evening tv will seem a little bit liter now.
12:22 PM Apr 27th from web
Supposedly the whole dredg album leaked, but the rip quality ain't great.
12:21 PM Apr 27th from web
who the fuck played the British mgr dude in the Law&Order CI Jeff Goldblum-premiere tonight? I hate how this info requires 2 much googling!
11:17 PM Apr 26th from web
@dredg song "Ireland" leaked. 5 tracks now are out there, out of 18. The rest you'd think wouldn't be too far away.
10:56 PM Apr 26th from web
New @Karnivool track is up "Set Fire to the Hive" http://myspace.com/karnivool different but still good. The video shouldn't be far away.
1:19 PM Apr 26th from web
I can't believe this, but Sarah (Reklessfabl mikeportnoy.com) brother Bob Jeske died.I knew him,saw his band.He was REALLY YOUNG :((((
9:29 PM Apr 25th from web
but I can't find it. I did figure out the Coheed and Cambria song "The Light & the Glass" has a JON ANDERSON-like vox part 7:50min-8:25min
2:05 PM Apr 25th from web

I swear, there's a chanting part on Rush's VAPOR TRAILS that nearly blatantly quotes a YES keyboard melody from "Yours Is No Disgrace."
2:01 PM Apr 25th from web
@buffyfest not rumor. Its been pretty much mentioned ever since it got moved to Friday Nights.only possibility is if the movie does well.
9:42 AM Apr 25th from web in reply to buffyfest
just heard another new dredg song "Lightswitch" @3:27 it's pretty epic.
10:21 PM Apr 24th from web
HILARIOUS: A band already posted a TRIBUTE to an unreleased/leaked Dream Theater song, lol! http://tinyurl.com/dn6exr
9:59 PM Apr 24th from web
http://tinyurl.com/crdzxd the new Imogen Heap album is called "Ellipse" and due out in August. Sorry Immi, I gotta be the messenger :P
8:19 PM Apr 24th from web
there might be something to the odd-number of hours of sleep. I got nearly 7 hours last night and feel spent right now.
9:39 AM Apr 24th from web
Other Lives = new Coheed and Cambria, Appleseed Cast,Jenny Dalton or Cloud Cult w/ conflicts.may skip CC to see them on 5/2 w/ Elvis Perkins
9:38 AM Apr 24th from web
The Dear Hunter Act III: LIFE AND DEATH http://absolutepunk.net/sho...
5:07 PM Apr 23rd from web
new Mars Volta single "Cotopaxi" leaked. Of course I'm at work, thus will have to wait 7+ hours to check it out.
9:31 AM Apr 23rd from web
It's going to bug me until I come up with who she reminded me of.
11:25 PM Apr 22nd from web
Collette Wolf played the blonde @ the funeral on REAPER last night. She looked awfully familiar. But Tara Reid is the only name that fits.
11:24 PM Apr 22nd from web
Mew: their new album may be released on June 23rd as well. That would make 7 albums and my head exploding that day.
8:04 PM Apr 22nd from web
Janus playing THE ROCK on June 13th. 2 years ago I would have been floored by that news.
8:04 PM Apr 22nd from web
Burn Notice: returns JUNE 4TH! and there's ANOTHER new USA hour-long dramedy called "Royal Pains" that has Campbell Scott in the cast.
2:30 PM Apr 22nd from web
In Plain Sight: I dig this how. And it had Paris (Liza Weil) guest-star in the 2nd season premiere episode on Sunday.
2:28 PM Apr 22nd from web
I agree with Steven Wilson. Playing your mp3s on shuffle is interesting, but does not lend to much value when you love ALBUMS.
2:27 PM Apr 22nd from web
w/ no OT, hopefully dvr clearing and overdue diatribes can be added to the blog.Matter of sleep and this fucking ipod not freezing my pc up.
4:27 PM Apr 21st from web
How is watching television any MORE or LESS UNHEALTHY than watching a movie?Seriously,I don't believe there's any scientific proof it is.
11:57 PM Apr 20th from web
@howwastheshow wow thanks for those. Being new to Robyn's music, it'll help revisit those again.
5:37 PM Apr 20th from web in reply to howwastheshow
off to see Robyn Hitchcock. Free ticket, I'm game.
6:27 PM Apr 19th from web
I was impressed today when I asked him and found Chris Cornell knew who Kevin Gilbert was. Doesn't mean I care for his music still.
11:48 PM Apr 18th from web
@hadesraze http://tinyurl.com/d6y5mu try the "4/16" show about 10-15min in.
8:09 PM Apr 17th from web in reply to hadesraze
Streaming a new Dream Theater song "A Night to Remember" this isn't bad.
7:16 PM Apr 17th from web
See the new MUTE MATH Video for Spotlight: http://tinyurl.com/cgmwp2
2:40 PM Apr 17th from web
this has got to be the longest cold I've ever had.
9:32 AM Apr 17th from web
man, Ipods suck all kinds of ass.
6:35 AM Apr 17th from web
ironically, I'm now watching Bryan K Vaughan's Dayjob writing, Lost.
7:24 PM Apr 16th from web
"Y: The Last Man" = done. A review in the long blog should follow soon.
7:24 PM Apr 16th from web
but I loaded like 90 albums into the damn thing last night. The ICON on "My Computer" and there's NOTHING in the bloody thing today, lol.
12:13 PM Apr 16th from web
Ipods force you use ITUNES to load music in them?..what a fucking joke. That shitty software always slows my computer up.
12:13 PM Apr 16th from web
what-the-fuck.Ist got sick on Saturday. I felt pretty good Mon night. I got like 7hours sleep last night. This cold won't go the fuck away!
9:20 AM Apr 16th from web
"secular" = NON religious.Geez,for some reason I always thought "non-secular"referred 2 NON-RELIGIOUS.Maybe its like flammable & inflammable
2:57 AM Apr 16th from web
and it's official. TRANSATLANTIC are doing another album. Yay! I'd still like some quote from NEAL MORSE. Keep your Jesus-preaching AWAY plz
1:56 AM Apr 16th from web
@thefrontloader lol. Well 120gigs..I have a 200 gig external hd that's about 145gigs full lol.
1:03 AM Apr 16th from web in reply to thefrontloader
I bought a 120 gig ipod.i suck.I know.I sold out. And that $ should be for other things. But they forced my hand at work w/ no cdrom access.
12:16 AM Apr 16th from web
"(sic)monic" are pretty..well sick http://myspace.com/sicmonic They should play a show with The Stiletto Formal.
12:15 AM Apr 16th from web
Karnivool's new album "Sound Awake" is to be released in late May. Finally!
11:26 PM Apr 15th from web
new Water & Bodies tracks are fucking ACE. But those boys KNOW HOW TO WRITE SONGS. Regardless if it's K-Fly. SSTP and since is proof.
5:40 PM Apr 15th from web
@karnivool "not long now".until...you tell the name of the album, release date, artwork, and have a new track on your myspace? liketomorrow?
5:39 PM Apr 15th from web in reply to karnivool
a new Mute Math video for "Spotlight" debut on Friday...man I can't wait to get home tonight and sleep.
2:39 PM Apr 15th from web
people are expecting Water & Bodies to be Kaddisfly. Geezus. It's 2 songs, there are 5 more on the ep. And it's NOT supposed to be K-fly!
12:06 PM Apr 15th from web
Now I want to read Bryan K Vaughan's "Ex Machina" series too.
7:03 AM Apr 15th from web
the fact they kill off a key character in the last book pissess me off. But I want to read it anyway. I missed it by 9mos.
7:02 AM Apr 15th from web
The echoey stereomix is charming but ultimately wrong and a bit annoying.I finished the last Book of "Y:The Last Man"but realized there's +1
7:02 AM Apr 15th from web
APES AND ANDROIDS on George Lamb + WATER & BODIES PREMIERE A NEW SONG today. I'm not sure how much this recording will be worth revisiting.
6:59 AM Apr 15th from web
So the new Mars Volta album also drops on June 23rd. Count now 6 New Albums on the 3rd Tuesday in June.
7:22 PM Apr 14th from web
I need to get these tax forms finished on 1 of my breaks. Honestly, I think 1 of my main reasons for coming to work today was those, lol.
9:36 AM Apr 14th from web
Probably 1 of the best debut lps for 2009, but I don't know where it'll ultimately fall among every record.
9:35 AM Apr 14th from web
Paper Route's album is decent. However, the jury may be out for a little while as some of these songs didn't grab me right away at all.
9:35 AM Apr 14th from web
Shia LeBeouf as Yorick?..no. Please no.
12:42 AM Apr 14th from web
On the fence on what to do now. Just had some soup. I could have more and watch tv + take some advil. Or sleep, or read more. On Book 7 now.
7:23 PM Apr 13th from web
new Paper Route leaked finally.
7:22 PM Apr 13th from web
On Book 5 right now "Girl on Girl" and well, the title does not disappoint..hehe.
3:43 PM Apr 13th from web
forced to finish the rest of the Y: The Last Man series today.I've been sick @home.But no renewals avail as all of the books are on request.
3:42 PM Apr 13th from web
dredg: we got "It's Not Worth It".nice set/show despite sound problems/tech issues.They could be back in July. Cool the band remembered me
2:04 AM Apr 11th from web
Best Buy..more like BEST LIE, lol.
2:53 PM Apr 10th from web
correction: 2 days WITHIN or BEFORE the 30-day deadline.
2:45 PM Apr 10th from web
would have been in effect $170 down the drain. BestBuy better let me exchange it.
2:42 PM Apr 10th from web
I found my BLOODY RECEIPT! 2 days shy of the deadline to return what is now a broken portable dvd player. whewww! I want a smaller/compact 1
2:42 PM Apr 10th from web
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has it's Series Finale tonight as well. The new movie likely won't compare. TV Blog soon about.
12:13 PM Apr 10th from web
dredg concert 2night @VarsityTheater. The opener, From Monument to Masses I like a lot of, altho the political samples are milked at times.
12:11 PM Apr 10th from web
King's X opening for Porcupine Tree. That's fine, but I don't know why it would matter.KX are headling here in June, + PT won't play here.
4:28 PM Apr 9th from web
My Latest Novel - "Death and Entrances" now I GET the ANATHALLO comparisons. I was totally impressed (and expecting not to be).
9:25 AM Apr 9th from web
@agdfairplay sweet.I'm looking fwd 2 your post-SXSW show. Altho if it's over 75mins,I may have to try to split it (no mp3 player, just cdrs)
12:28 AM Apr 9th from web in reply to agdfairplay
Kiss Kiss - The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left is released on June 23rd. Now 5 albums come out that day, the day of King's X & my dad's bday
5:57 PM Apr 8th from web
dredg new album preorder: http://tinyurl.com/dzhpc5
2:34 PM Apr 8th from web
correction: it's My Latest Novel's Sophomore album. I had no idea.
12:22 PM Apr 8th from web
My Latest Novel's debut album "Death and Entrances" leaked!
12:04 PM Apr 8th from web
Born of Osiris "A Higher Place" is ALSO being released on 6/23/09 lol. Let's see: The Dear Hunter, Soundscape, Dream Theater +BoO.Kiss Kiss?
9:37 AM Apr 8th from web
if this what-feels-like blood-rush in the center of my left arm doesn't go away in another day or 2, I may have to see a dr.
12:06 AM Apr 8th from web
how does one feel like they have a tourniquet (sp?)tied around their left arm, tightly, for like 2 days straight?When in fact there is none?
12:05 AM Apr 8th from web
May 15th, is the release date for the Water & Bodies debut EP as well. That's officially very HIGH on my anticipation list now.
6:32 PM Apr 7th from web
4/15: 3 big things happen. 1) Passover is over.Bread again! 2) Apes and Androids on a live radio show. 3)WATER & BODIES new song is uploaded
6:31 PM Apr 7th from web
@Sourlullabies have you ever heard(of) NICOLAS MAGELLIS? Cabaret Punk guy. Really could appeal to DD'sAmanda fans http://tinyurl.com/4mgvv6
5:08 PM Apr 7th from web
gawd maudlin of the Well were so fucking good. I have on their debut album right now for the 1st time. On par w/ Bath/Leaving Your Body Map
4:40 PM Apr 7th from web
Transatlantic reunion rumors I want tobelieve,but until we get something official,all they are,are rumors.Neal Morseneeds to say something.
4:11 PM Apr 7th from web
Okay, you may be able to officially call me a fan of The Soft Machine 3rd epic piece on "Third" is right out of Syd Barret Floyd territory
2:21 PM Apr 7th from web
I really hope REAPER doesn't go South like Gilmore Girls did w/ these writers leaving.
2:20 PM Apr 7th from web
what a total borefest that National Championship game was. I swear, I think the CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS are the only thing worth watching now
10:55 PM Apr 6th from web
new St.Vincent seems a bit uneven. Could be wrong, but the level of emphasis on the distorted fuzz-guitar may hurt "Actor"

@Neesh "MB Album"? help me in what that is. They have 2 or 3 albums expected in '09,right? friend asked last night @Fair to Midland
9:23 AM Apr 6th from web in reply to Neesh
Fair to Midland ruled 2night.They played all of Fables but Wolf Descends.New songs sound intriguing.May not be til '10 tiol we hear them
1:58 AM Apr 6th from web
@JessicaAllyn everytime I see that, The Yes song with those lyrics "Into the Lens" my head. I-am-a-cammmurah. Camerah-Camerah.I-am-I-am!
1:56 AM Apr 6th from web in reply to JessicaAllyn
@JessicaAllyn it's Cliff Campbell of Fair to Midland's b-day today too.
1:55 AM Apr 6th from web in reply to JessicaAllyn
Fair to Midland @TheRockNightClubinMN in about 7 hours. Far From Falling= no thanks. Smiling Politlely = no thanks. Johnnyrook= meh,not sure
4:54 PM Apr 5th from web
I just finished "Cycles" the 2nd story in "Y: The Last Man" Graphic Novel Series. Took maybe an hour. I have like 8 volumes left.
4:54 PM Apr 5th from web
the new Kiss Kiss album may be dropping in JUNE.What a huge month: dredg, The Dear Hunter, Dream Theater, Mars Volta, Mew (prob), Soundscape
1:32 PM Apr 5th from web
Cheapo St.Paul=now closing everyday at 10pm :(..hopefully Uptown still stays open til Midnight on Fri/Sat's.
12:20 AM Apr 5th from web
debating between boiling pasta, or picking up lasagna +greek salad from Pizza Luce + a Cheapo stop. Problem is, I can't find my music list!
11:01 PM Apr 4th from web
new Wolfmother song "Back Round" is actually not bad. They may actually branch out a bit with their new album. Will add to calendar.
4:37 PM Apr 4th from web
St.Vincent dripped out of the cyber-faucet!..this is sweet!
9:33 AM Apr 4th from web
Bloc Party back on May 4th?..interesting. Too bad it's a) on a Monday again. b) 1st Ave.
8:58 AM Apr 4th from web
King's X - Crap Ave June 23rd. 6/23 is turning into the most eventuful day of the year.
9:05 PM Apr 3rd from web
Late of the Pier + Warpaint= 2 bands I heard today for the 1st time and like. How much, only time will tell.
6:08 PM Apr 3rd from web
@lisa617 interesting. Although unless it's filmed or tours, it's kind of irrelevant for someone unable to attend 1 of those performances.
12:26 PM Apr 3rd from web in reply to lisa617
someone remind me never try listening to a discussion podcast on Friday mornings. A 47minute file,& I'm about 30mins in after almost 2hrs
9:19 AM Apr 3rd from web
King's X as well (Black Like Sunday=80's songs) guess it comes downto writing vs actually recording (or in some cases writing in-the-studio)
4:24 AM Apr 3rd from web
Soundscape, Dear Hunter, Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, Led Zeppelin all released work later that was recorded (or demo-ed) long b4 other albums.
4:22 AM Apr 3rd from web
Let it Be rec in Jan '69,common knowledge?I knew it was controversial w the band,but sorry, it'll always be known as the last Beatles album.
4:11 AM Apr 3rd from web
ooh, we just got complementary Dilly Bars! Me: I chose a Heathbar crunch. Really helping that new health conscious diet!

:(

I guess there's been so many things in recent months I could-have and should-have mentioned in here, I feel like I did when I was in Calculus class in college and after struggling every night to complete 25 problems of homework, I got behind more and more.

So a ton..rather too many bands, albums, rumors to add.

TV Shows as well.

A Graphic Novel Series to review.

And even a few movies.

But to add to that, the fact I was sick 1 week. Maybe I had the Swine Flu and beat it, lol. No seriously, it might have put me out of my misery had I not.

I dated a girl..the 3rd girl since September in fact, but it was another 1-month relationship. I really wonder if I'm not cut-out for relationships. Call it timing, or not the right person. I continue to be lust and love's pathetic little bitch at times. Because I continue to seek it out, yet I have been disappointed and/or fallen-short with it my whole life. Perhaps I'm one of thousands, or 100's of thousands who have been through the same thing, many for much longer. But then I can just say I'm a fucking cliche too.

But maybe the biggest kind of hijacking has been on the proverbial boards. Most of the time, it very well could be me. Whether it be bad or fucked-up opinions/comparisons. Or just trying to be the messenger, but I only end up feeling like

a) I'm wasting my and many others time.

b) I'm really trying to boost my ego, but in fact I end up looking and at times ultimately feeling like a pathetic little bitch.

and people go about giving me shit for stuff..for doing things or writing things my way. Is it me?..perhaps it is. Or maybe it's just the nature. And at the same time, my nature/addiction cuz I should have left many of them a long time ago.

I mean if I did, I might be better off. Man, this is starting to read/sound like many of those whiney emo-entries I wrote earlier this decade, and then at times onto the okcupid journal I kept. But it's fucking true. I'd like to see what would happen if I was gone from all those boards. Perhaps some of those people would find a trail leading to here. But then again, perhaps they wouldn't even notice. Why should I care? There are many regulars from years past that I suppose I wonder what happened to, but I haven't tried to find them. So why would I be any different?

I'm human, but sometimes I think I try to not to be.

Soon

A ton more news, updates with music..if the stars align, a huge blog or 2,3 will be up this weekend. Problem is:

a) I got concerts from dredg and Paper Route Fri/Sat

b) The Masters is on, however much that hijacks my schedule

c) there's a ton to cover of course.

But let's just say June 23rd and June in general is to be maybe the biggest single month and date for new albums for me, that I can think of.

Briefly on June 23rd:

-My dad's bday, and it's 3 days after mine.
-King's X are playing Crap Ave. Their 1st concert our town in like 4 years.

Albums being released:
Soundscape - Grave New World
The Dear Hunter - Act III
Kiss Kiss - The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Born of Osiris - A Higher Place

and perhaps more, including the new Mew album.

The Mars Volta's "Octahedron" is released the week before.
dredg's new album "The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion" is released the week before that on June 9th.

Water & Bodies are making 1 new song stream-able on Wednesday April 15th, and their debut EP is being released on Friday May 15th. 7 songs. More to add later.

maudlin of the Well's new album could be available to download any day now. Also a new sideproject called "Baliset" I am intrigued by. Greg Baliset, I guess was 1 of the members of motW (and possibly Kayo Dot as well). It's his new project. I may purchase that soon too.

Apes and Androids will be on BBC 6 and George Lamb's show next Wednesday April 15th at 5AM to 8AM Central Time (10AM-1PM in the UK).

More New Music: Long Distance Calling, new OSI

Long Distance Calling - Avoid the Light (2009)



Track List and Observations:

01.Apparitions 12:18..7:30 sorta trippy/mathy/melodic rhythm..awesome build..a few mins later it fades with atmosphere
02.Black Paper Planes 7:19 ..the drums standout in the middle..the syncopation and interplay between the guitar parts..synths, and drums work really well
03.359 7:57...tight drumwork..more subtle spacey synths..5:10 it starts to pick-up again..the layers of clean guitars really work well as it builds..epic
04.I Know You, Stanley Milgram! 10:28..nice grindy rhythm..then goes kind of clean and reminds me of PT..it really builds into a heavy, spacey wall-of-sound
05.The Nearing Grave 7:50 ..Warm/TRIPPY/DREAMY kind of vocals..a bit like Minus the Bear's vox...NICE BELLS OVER DOUBLE BASS
06.Sundown Highway 9:10 ...ANOTHER ENERGETIC RHYTHM..ALMOST REMINDS ME OF dt'S lEARNING TO LIVE..love the acoustic ending.

Okay, this has impressed me a ton, only played it twice. This German-based mostly instrumental psychedelic-tinged progressive post-metal really have composed an energetic, without-filler 55min album here. I am a fan of some *Post* music..actually I'm lying, in the past couple of years I have really found a lot of music labeled as "Post" in some way, to be my thing. But really they either are:

a) NOT the traditionally thought-of Explosions in the Sky or in the case on metalic groups like Isis and Pelican (Mono and some others..most recently Irepress).

b) they are often HYBRIDS. Bands who have a prog rock or psychedelic aspect to their music, with some other quality that is found in "Post Rock"

c) they also focus on SONGWRITING or frankly, don't have length-ly passages that lose (or bore) me.

d) They use a chamber element like trumpet, violin, cello

Groups like Kacica, Oceansize, Do Make Say Think, Nomia, Mutyumu, Clann Zu, Murder By Death I'm thinking more-of.

in the "Post-Metal" vein. Long Distance Calling do belong in the same class with this album as Russian Circles and 2008's pleasant surprise, East of the Wall. And perhaps even a few others I've gotten into of late in Eroica and the Oceansize-esque Meniscus among others.

Atmosphere, muscle, punch, tight compositions, layers, and a nice melodic sense. And actually overall less being more. It's 55 minutes, but it doesn't necessarily feel that long. I put it on twice yesterday, and I couldn't help but have my attention focused on each second; not wanting (or seeming like it should) end.

Give it some more time, but it's a low 80's/4-star album. In my top 10 for 2009. Chances are it won't move-up much, but when it does get passed-up, it'll likely be due to other even better albums (as opposed to it not standing the test of time).

I probably require to checkout their 1st album now as well.



OSI - "Blood"..some thoughts.

a) "Terminal" and especially "Radiologue" are the 2 exceptional songs on this (at least the 1st cd that leaked).

b) OSI have changed and very much may be a 1-album wonder. The textures and layering they used in that wonderful debut record "Office of Strategic Influence" are not used (or incorporated) anywhere close to the same way on this new album nor "Free" overall.

c) I should take the three good songs off "Free" ("Go!", "Bigger Wave" and 1 other I'm forgetting) and burn them with those other two and perhaps the "re:Free" ep into one compilation.

d) A few samples, but pretty much they are limited.

e) My guess is Kevin Moore did a great deal of the songwriting (including the VOCAL-LINES) on both FREE and BLOOD. As opposed to Jim and him, and even Mike Portnoy doing more of it on the debut record.

f) The 1st album flows really well, and in some ways could be regarded as a *suite*. Most if not all of this new album and "Free" are just a bunch of songs really. The mood changes, and not that effectively really.

More specifically with "Blood"..I suppose it may be a little better than "Free" and I want to still hear the Bonus disc material, which includes an extended version of "Terminal" one of the two really good songs on this album. Plus it does have a track Tim Bowness of No-Man wrote and sang on for what it's worth (No-Man being Steven Wilson's maybe 3rd best project, but a big level down from even Blackfield). But "Terminal" I dig maybe mostly with the use of the Zeppelin-like Mellotron. "Radiologue" has a nice hook to it, and I guess features Jim's guitar work, the way I like it. Melodic, thick-toned but not too-in-your-face. And layered enough. I love Jim's guitar work; he 's perhaps my favorite (or like a top 5 or top 10 guitar player for me). But sadly on this album and "Free" there's a bit too few and far between.

His guitar work (writing) on the 1st album and especially the John Arch EP "A Twist of Fate" was incredible. Maybe he wanted to separate that style a little? Or maybe sadly, he hasn't had a lot of new ideas. C'mon Jim, whatcha been listening to? He should check out some of the newer, spacier guitar work of a lot of the alt-prog and mathy/post bands perhaps?..hell it was 1999, but Todd Rose of Soundscape's guitar work on "Grave New World," especially the diversity of tones he used are light years better and more infectious than much of the last two OSI albums.

So, OSI, they really have jumped-the-shark. I figured I'd give them an 1-album bump in-the-road. But sadly, I think due to Kevin's writing style and Jim's input they are a verrry different band now. And very well may be always. It's too bad. OSI could have been amazing. I can't deny, the potential to have Daniel Gildenlow sing that 27 minute piece on the 1st record I'll never forget. John Arch actually almost became their singer as well. And perhaps without Mike Portnoy involved, the direction changed a lot. And what seems like Jim's main focus musically now, all his Fates Warning ideas are out into this (as opposed to them not being put-into the 1st album?).

Sure it's fine they have Mikael Akerfeldt sing and write a song in "Stockholm" which does bring back that mellotron sound a bit. But it doesn't ultimately sound that much different than if M.A. wrote an Opeth tune with a little industrial feel to it. It sounds like something he left off "Watershed" in a way.

Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson (whose involvement with OSI actually was much better), seem to be the token prog-related players of late. Everyone kisses their asses, when to me, their recent work has become predictable as anything. I wish people would move-on and stop praising things, that are their fantasy music-formulas. And instead, evaluate what they put out FOR WHAT THEY ARE. Dream Theater..hell, even Marillion I try and do that for the most part with. If Marillion puts out a bad or less-than-par album, I am not going to kid myself or anyone else on my opinion.

No OSI are just another name in the underground music genre of prog that were cool when they 1st arrived, but haven't followed-up that 1st impression with nearly the promise they gave. The prog scene is like that. Really predictable, and cyclical. Not unlike a lot of other genres. But I know, just based on experience, there is better and more worthwhile music out there to discover; rather than kid myself into believing the similar style, even recipe-laden music that come from groups who were great in the past, have not *progressed*.

But a lot of the people who listen to OSI, will with this album, and continue-on likely with other albums, to praise their current direction. Sorry, they could have been so much greater than they are. I can't be down though, with the wonderful new album Archive and even that Long Distance Calling album I just posted above, this OSI album likely will become an afterthought. I wasn't expecting it to be great, but still hoped I'd be wrong. O well, people have different tastes for good reason I guess.

At least I will get to see Jim with Fates Warning in September at the 10th (Anniversary) ProgPower USA Festival. Even without Mark Zonder. Jim should be doing the Jim Matheos music I love I imagine.

note: I mean to write up a big TV entry soon. Mainly involving the passing of a lot of recent shows. And some thoughts about some good new ones. In due time. It's been a never-ending intake of music of late as to why, among others factors, it hasn't happened. Plus, I mean to wait until after the final show is done to put it together, which will be in a week or 2.

Archive - Controlling Crowds (2009)

the whole thing can be streamed on their myspace right now:
http://myspace.com/archiveuk

I'd recommend this album as it reminds me at times of Woven's "Designer Codes" album from last year. It often seems like a 76minute soundtrack like DC's was. It's more of a departure from some of Archive's work in the past like "You All Look the Same to Me" and "Noise." There's isn't as much prog rock, and more trip-hop. But the songs are still there, and it consistently keeps your attention, that it doesn't seem as long as the 1hour and change it clocks in at.

Here's my notes I wrote down the other day (sorry for the caps)

1 Controlling Crowds - "I'm sick of the controlling crowds, here they come"
2 Bullets1st single. Catchy.
3 Words on Signs - "There's no-bod-dee here for me right now-ow-ow"
4 Danger Visit - "so much writing on the wall" 10x's...sweet bass-line..nice effects on the pedals and repeated vocal-choruses "sing along, sing along, sing along, sing it"
5 Quiet Time - hip-hop..ambient wall-of-sound almost like Marillion..great build of energy
6 Collapse Collide - sad melody reminds me of Neverending White Lights..female vox..GREAT WALL-OF-SOUND AMBIENCE THAT BUILDS..GREAT ATMOSPHERE
7 Clones - NICE GUITAR RIFF/SYNTH COMBO W/ DISTORTION GOING IN AND OUT
8 Bastardised Ink - hip-hop..LIKE THE RHYTHM ON THE SYNTHS..VOX ARE BORDERLINE SINGING
9 Kings of Speed - ANOTHER NICE PIECE THAT BUILDS TEXTURALLY AND W/ LAYERS..ELECTRONIC DRUMS? OR DRUM MACHINE?..SOME BELLS AT THE END
10 Whore - FEMALE VOX..PIANO..NICE HUMMING IN THE OUTRO
11 Chaos - GREAT VOCAL HARMONIES W/ PIANO..THEN STRINGS LATER..EPIC BALLAD
12 Raised to the Ground - HIP-HOP..NICE TEXTURES AND DISTORTION WITH THE SYNTHS..FAT SYNTHS..REMINDS ME OF DJ SHADOW
13 Funeral - MOODY ENDING PIECE

A LOT OF THIS ALBUM SOUNDS LIKE REMIXES

82/100 and 5th place currently on the '09 AotY race.

Post-March Spring Break: St.Vincent and a lot of other music news

St.Vincent: her new album is called "Actor" and will be released on May 5th.



Tracklist:

1. The Strangers
2. Save Me From What I Want
3. Neighbours
4. Actor Out of Work
5. Black Rainbow
6. Laughing With a Mouth of Blood
7. Marrow
8. The Bed
9. The Party
10. Just the Same but Brand New
11. The Sequel

Pretty sweet new song "The Strangers" is up on her MYSPACE PAGE and her website



‘Actor’ is available for pre-order now. Early CD and LP orders come with a free limited edition 7” featuring the album track “Actor Out of Work,” and the exclusive, non-album track “Bicycle” on the flipside. more info

ST. VINCENT 2009 U.S. TOUR DATES
5/19/2009 Somerville, MA Somerville Theatre
5/20/2009 New York, NY Webster Hall
5/21/2009 Philadelphia, PA Unitarian Church
5/22/2009 Washington, DC Black Cat
5/24/2009 George, WA Sasquatch!
5/25/2009 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
5/27/2009 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
5/28/2009 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
5/30/2009 San Diego, CA Casbah
5/31/2009 Phoenix, AZ Modified
6/2/2009 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
6/3/2009 Omaha, NE Slowdown Jr.
6/4/2009 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
6/5/2009 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater
6/7/2009 Chicago, IL Epiphany
6/10/2009 Lexington, KY The Dame
6/11/2009 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
6/12/2009 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
6/16/2009 Birmingham, AL Bottle Tree
6/18/2009 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre
6/19/2009 Austin, TX Mohawk

I may have to do that pre-order deal. First Ave again?..BLECH! I should check The Entry's calendar. I suppose given Jeremy Messersmith and Amanda Palmer's acoustic/quiet sections of their show, maybe the lack-of-soundproofing won't affect Annie's show as much if it's more electric stuff. Dunno. It still won't eliminate interference between songs.

maudlin of the Well's free digital album will be available in only a few weeks online! I did put about $12 I recall towards that donation. I'm definitely looking fwd to it, and cautiously hoping the amount of Kayo Dot influence is minimal in the writing. motW = good, Kayo Dot = bad (mostly).

Sound & Shape - The Love Electric (EP) (2009)

Maybe the best EP of this early season. A lot of what I dig in the Mars Volta-kind of sound.

40/50

myspace page



Sholi - Sholi (2009)




Sholi's myspace

Bought this disc used a few days ago @Zia in AZ on vacation. I had sampled them previously, but wasn't certain about how much I'd like em. As it turns out, I do like them, but am not blown away or anything (yet). It's a consistent album start-to-finish. Riffy, experimental, somewhat stripped-down at times. Sort of a mix of Deerhoof and The Skeletons just guessing off the top of my head. A bit like the Grammatics album, with song-after-song having some part or energetic section that works, but overall I'm not sure if it'll place quite as high.

Closer to my kind of "experimental" music anyway.

70/100

a whole slew of new bands I'm checking out, but sadly, Sholi and perhaps 2 others The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra and Japanese "Progressive Post-Rock" band Presence of Soul are the only ones that have worked for me thus far. But I got like 15 or so new names between blogs and Alternative Press's new "100 Bands You Need To Know for 2009" issue. TFTBO and Sound & Shape, ironically were not among *the 100* though.

Mastodon finally leaked (a full version, the drop date is Tuesday 3/24 like the New Decemberists) and the new dredg album may not be far away either as the 1st teaser/review was posted there. Usually w/ new reviews -> many promos sent out -> a leak. June 9th it's been pushed back to, but we may have a similar CWA situation with a very early leak. I don't mind, the band probably overall doesn't either given they know they have a large and loyal fan-base that will buy it anyway.

Porcupine Tree: New album is due September 21st. It will consist of 2 cds. 1 being 1 single 55minute song, the other individual songs.

I seriously doubt this will be a top 10 candidate just based on how much filler this could have. Really fucking sad, as Steven Wilson seems to be getting highly predictable. But maybe I'll be wrong about that. a 3-album winning streak this decade (Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, Deadwing) would suggest potential comeback, but INSURGENTES sadly doesn't support the chances of that.


The new Dream Theater album comes out on June 23rd, like Soundscape. It's called "Black Clouds & Silver Linings." 6 Songs on cd 1. A 2nd cd of covers and then I guess an all-instrumental version of it on another disc depending on which version you get. Plus it's being issues on vinyl.

I'll likely, like some of it, but find a lot of it to be wanking filler and/or cheesy lyrics. But I'd love to be wrong. The band need a kick in the ass, but it hasn't come with their last 3. More piano and analog synths. More organic or even acoustic. But 6 songs for them means a few epic tracks, with in all likelihood will include the necessary extended proggy parts they enjoy. Fine. I just don't expect much more at this stage. But like I said, it would mean a lot for me, for them to comeback and make a statement like SCENES FROM A MEMORY or even 6 DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE.

also not a top 10 candidate just based on how huge and deep a year 2009 very likely will be. A top 50 likely, for what it's worth.

Blackfield also may have a new album out in 2009. Coheed and Cambria and Alter Bridge were a couple of others.

Oceansize has a new EP they are working on right now too that should be out in the Fall. They're on twitter if anyone is up for reading more about it. Keywords: Mike Vennart

The Dear Hunter are working on ACT III in the studio right now; really they have for a few months. They have I guess 14 or 15 songs (or movements), 1 being an in instrumental. Another having a working title "Poison Woman" that I guess has a ragtime feel to it. Their goal to have it out is "by Spring" but given how little info is finalized, my money is Aug/Sept-ish.

Subterranean Masquerade I got a message back from on myspace about "In Pastille Colors" the other day. But really no info about if/when it'll be out. Just that they've been working on it for the better part of 3 years.

Orphaned Land on the other hand will be finally releasing "The Neverending Way ORWarriOR" finally in October (projected). Steven Wilson is NOT producing (apparently, whatever that means), but will be mixing and playing keyboards on it. And done via mail/email I guess given schedule. Perhaps the reason he's not technically producing it now is due to that and not being able to be in Israel with the band. I put on 2004's "Mabool" last week and I can't deny, that album has some awesome moments throughout; that with Wilson on board and their progression as songwriters since, it could be a big sleeper for Metal album, or just plain a top 5 or top 10 album for '09.

fuck, I got a ton of other pieces to add, but of course time is always at a shortage. TV and the Synecdoche, NY DVD among others. I now have a portable DVD player.

Gophers (Men's basketball) lost badly to Texas in the NCAA's. It's not surprising. They weren't playing that well, and team's have figured out how to defend and score on them. If their press doesn't work (or they DON'T USE IT OFTEN, AND EARLY) they don't win usually. 2009-2010 is their year, but I'm not convinced Tubby's that great a coach (here at least, and yet). So far, my bracket looks pretty good like most, with mostly favorites winning. I'd rather have seen American beat Villanova just to screw up others brackets. I have Louisville beating North Carolina I recall in the National Championship game.

Catching up on TV. Castle is good. Breaking Bad I also am on board with. Bryan Cranston is very different, but still quite entertaining in it. I don't get what all the fuss is about that dry 50's drama Mad Men on American Movie Classics Channel. I was highly underwhelmed and bored. The audiences for Breaking Bad and that show seem pretty different, yet they air them back-2-back on Sunday nights for some reason.


Y: The Last Man I read the 1st graphic novel "Unmanned" over my Spring Break in Arizona. It's from Lost writer Bryan K. Vaughn Really intriguing Post-apocalyptic story. There's 8 more I guess, and I have almost all of them on request now at the library. Being a fan of Jeremiah and the use of that story setting, I am looking forward to going through the rest of the series. When I'm done, I'll try and write a more thorough review. It's nice to have some reading, even if they seem more like glorified, but closer-to-real-world comic books. They take a lot less time to finish (presumably).

Soundscape - Grave New World (2009)

Soundscape - Grave New World

Official release date: June 23rd, 2009

Soundscape is:

Rob Thorne (Rob Volpintesta) - Vocals, Keyboards, Piano, (and lyrics?)
Todd Rose - Guitars
Scott Waite - Bass
Lou Caldarola - Drums

Soundscape is a four piece Progressive-Rock group built on the philosophy that in the music industry music is what matters most, and everything else is secondary. Spiritual to thunderous and always precise, their music captures a wide range of expression through soaring melodies and dynamic instrumentation. This high standard of professionalism in composition, musicianship and performance was established in June 1996 with the completion of their first album Discovery. Containing over 78 minutes of music, the record is a virtual showcase for the band's skill, expertise, and talent for song writing. 12 songs take you on a journey through the life of a young boy into manhood as he comes face to face with the questions and realities of sex, religion, society, politics, drugs and war.

Featuring the soaring vocals and intricate keyboards of Rob Thorne, the guitar wizardry of Todd Rose, the explorative bass of Scott Waite and the imaginative drumming of Phil Suarez, the live show has been described as a "magical and intense journey," forging the path to a new musical experience that comes as a much welcomed breath of fresh air.

Soundscape's mypsace page
Soundscape link on Angelthorne Music's site
Todd Rose's website

This is what could be the 1st of many commentaries and reviews of this highly anticipated album, that was finally mixed and mastered and made available in 2009 (June 23rd, 2009 is the street date).

This is an early review, and I mean to note how a lot more will be elaborated and perhaps changed in some ways in further entries.

I do have a personal bias, given this band's lone full-length cd, 1997's "Discovery" is one of my absolute favorite albums of all-time. So, perhaps this review should be taken with a heavy grain of salt by others.

But for me, it is or feels like having an all-time favorite album come out again, but it's all new music. Like a 2nd time falling-in-love or something. I'm not sure how else to describe it. But the fact it's been 10 years of hoping, but doubting it would ever happen, to finally actually realize it is, is highly significant.


Some general observations:

The energy, layers, textures, melodies, experimental aspects, dynamics, tight and clean production, with bass and drums mixed incredibly well. This album's a monster. A ferocious force of chords and thick melodies, frequent time changes that experiment yet seem to all fit together well, not losing sight of the concept or the songs themselves.

This thing has balls-to-the-wall. The heavy synths coming at you left and right, and it's like a battle between all four band members. The drums, the crunching guitar textures and the hugely FAT bass lines. Lou Caldarola is a fucking beast on the kit at times.

One big thing that makes Soundscape standout to me, is they know how to be technical, yet still be melodic, and compose songs really well. Perhaps maybe even more on this album, they composed them within a large concept. You can't exactly label or pigeonhole their sound. Which in a lot of ways is the blueprint of what I love in music or art; and for that matter in theory anything "progressive."

They went deep this time with me and scored Big-time. Like 10 or 20 fold perhaps. They know when-to-be, and when not-to be epic or extend parts or songs out really effectively. Which seems to be pretty rare in most or any kind of music labeled "progressive" or "technical."

1. The Server 0:39

2. Grave New World 6:31
"Your Children are My Children, and your losing losing control. My Children are your children, a generation without a soul"

3. Digital Lover 5:05

4. Man and Machine 4:16

5. So Alone 7:54

Soothing synths work really well with the guitar. Very pretty, sad, and a gorgeous theme on guitar. The climax soars, which is a classic Soundscape writing element.

I love the part
"can someone see meeee in the loooookeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen glahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhsss"

The Man and Machine suite's production upgrade is impeccable. It's like they totally rewrote and re-recorded it.

6. Concentration 8:30

The ending is orgasmic to this song; it totally blows up. And then they say "Somebody unplug me!" referring to a computer or AI I imagine.

7. Big Brother 4:01

The lead bass-line rules on this piece, kind of Rush-like. Wonderfully catchy or poppy at times. I love the bridge with the trumpet-like patch. And the playful vocal harmonies echoing a previous vocal-line at the end: "Runs my fingers through my hair."

8. Age of Wonder 13:49

One part of this song that stands out is the (new?) use of experimenting with higher range double or triple tracked vocal harmonies.

I also like how they use sound-bytes here in the 1st movement.

Then it later has another great, soothing, ambient, synth transition section.

9. Generation Why 6:42

Very cool mystical vibe at the beginning here.

Soundscape's music creates an atmosphere that feels like magic at times for me. Very story-oriented, highly thematic. It's like they transport me to somewhere else, where the story is being told. I'm brought-in. It almost feels like a huge illusion at times.

10. Zombie Nation 7:41
A few lines I captured so far in text:

"Can you feel the waves washing over your mind?"

"A chemical reaction brings you back into the world again"

Is the story referring to something involving Virtual Reality? Perhaps influenced by stories (or movies like) The Matrix or Lawnmower Man?

"I've got your mind in this little pill" (not sure if this is exactly accurate, just a guess).

"What once was a gift became a curse!"

11. Resurrection 11:52

This piece is beautiful, and sadly the band's Swan Song. I love the piano/vocal intro. It's almost in the vein of "Spirit of Adventure: Dreamscape" (the final epic piece on 1997's "Discovery") A soaring epic ending song. It's like they took that to three or four more levels of extended beauty at times on it. And incorporated it with some additional elements.

"They took your soul, removed it whole, and filled the hole, with space, in cyberspace"? (a guess on the lyric)

"Will you return to milk and honey, or a technological doom?"

"look around you, remember the good times we had"

This whole song doesn't grab you right away..but after it's done and the whole album is done too of course, it sucks you (or me) in Big-time.

"One mind, One body, One soul in a Grave New World"

The vocal harmonies are effective singing the chorus. It's similar to "Discovery."

It then ends in a classic Soundscape fashion with a breathtaking, upper-range, clean guitar solo. Very fitting, extremely epic, and a perfect way to conclude this record.

Seemingly every part of this album are the way they are for a reason. The song structures, every nuance, every little texture, time change, emotion or emotional part.

I may be drinking the Soundscape Cool-Aid, but it really doesn't matter. This is not the kind of music I get to hear, especially for the 1st time, every day, week, month, year, or even decade I suppose. I honestly am

a) still in disbelief that this finally came out and I'm finally getting to hear it.

b) that I get to now explore another highly in-depth and 76 minutes worth of music from the band who over more or less the last ten years I had basically one 78 minute album to do so with. (Run-on sentence, I know). In other words, I got 3+ years in-depth with "Discovery" more or less, and then another six or so just holding it in a high place. Not ever thinking I'd get to do that again, especially from the same band. But I do.

The production work cannot be forgotten. I'm more or less shocked at how clean the bass and drums sound throughout this recording. Rob Volpintesta had it shelved for all these years I guess due to the lack-of quality for the mix. I totally know why he/they waited, as this is some of the clearest/cleanest and accurately mixed music I have ever heard, especially with how complex and layered it is. Maybe if Yes's "Relayer" were done now, the production might have come out something like this.

Time will of course tell a great deal. But I am thinking not if this album is a Classic, but how much of an All-time Classic will it be. An "Instant Classic" for sure. Perhaps the fastest ever for me. I loved it upon hearing the 1st note.

Many would scoff at this analogy, but among many I might make, I was thinking of The Beatles. When "Abbey Road" came out, how did it compare to "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"? In thinking about how "Grave New World" compares to "Discovery" the comparison to me, isn't that far-fetched. You got two Classic albums, different, yet still worthy of debate from an artistic point-of-view.

Right now I'm torn, but I would not be shocked if it became a stalemate.

100/100

The Decemberists - Hazards of Love (2009)

Some very early impressions (ot hopefully added/elaborated on soon).

The Decemberists - Hazards of Love





Well, even given the transcode and a big LACK OF HEARING THE SEGUES LIKE THEY ARE INTENDED TO BE HEARD (with annoying gaps)..I'm still already highly impressed by this. It's like they took what they were doing on THE CRANE WIFE and blew it up into a full-on Concept album or Rock Opera. A handful of tunes or *movements* are sung by female vocalists to voice characters..1 being "Margaret" I guess. SO the biggest thing is taking this whole thing in as a large work, rather than individual songs really. Seems like it's gonna be 1 that'll be the ole greater-than-the-sum-of-it's-parts.

Man 1 piece had a total Deep Purple section..and the theme in "The Wanting Comes in Waves" (and maybe even moreso, the REPRISE for it) almost sounds like something The Dear Hunter would write.

It's 17 tracks and may seem like a bit much to get through, but I'm just suspecting it'll be worth giving this thing some extensive time and see where it goes. It may not have any piece as great as "The Island," but still it very well could be their best work to date.

And it also could be their most accessible to any progressive rock fan.

dredg - "The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion" Info

dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion"

Tracklist -

1. Pariah
2. Drunk Slide
3. Ireland
4. Stamp Of Origin - Pessimistic
5. Lightswitch
6. Gathering Pebbles
7. Information
8. Stamp Of Origin - Ocean Meets Bay
9. Saviour
10. R U O K
11. I Don´t Know
12. Mouring This Morning
13. Stamp Of Origin - Take A Look Around
14. Long Days And Vague Clues
15. Cartoon Showroom
16. Quotes
17. Down To The Cellar
18. Stamp Of Origin - Horizon

here's some of that work live:

3. Ireland:



4. Stamp Of Origin - Pessimistic:



7. Information:



9. Saviour:




11. I Don´t Know:



16. Quotes:




17. Down To The Cellar:




Unknown:



also this also is (1 of) the real cover(s)

March: Bands, Prog Rock info, Concert Calendar

The new U2 album "No Line on the Horizon" I like. About 6 or 7 tracks especially I think work well. Not an AotY candidate or anything, but it's a nice change to being more experimental. Change in production and textures. I dig the piano and strings among others. The new single "Get On Your Boots" however, is probably the worst song on it, lol.

Doves hitting The Varsity Theater in May makes the upcoming concert plate a bit more frequent in April and May.

March:
20th Bridge Over Troubled Water
30th Bloc Party @ First Ave (maybe)

April
5th Fair to Midland (The Rock)
10th dredg (Varsity)
13th Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (The Triplerock)
26th Neko Case (State Theater) time/$ permitting
29th Mastodon (The Fine Line)

May
3rd Leonard Cohen (Orpheum Theater) time/$ permitting
15th Protest the Hero (Station 4)
28th Doves (Varsity)

I'm sure I'm missing a few dates.

OSI's "Blood" is released on May 19th in the US.

info



01. The Escape Artist
02. Terminal
03. False Start
04. We Come Undone
05. Radiologue
06. Be The Hero
07. Microburst Alert
08. Stockholm
09. Blood

Disc 2

01. No Celebrations
02. Christian Brothers
03. Terminal (endless)

Classic Rock (magazine) Presents: PROG

I'm definitely curious about this new magazine, as I have enjoyed Classic Rock Magazine's special "Prog" issues in the past. So it appears they're going to try to do a semi-regular publication on it.

CLASSIC ROCK PRESENTS PROG

The already burgeoning prog rock scene receives another welcome boost with the announcement of the imminent arrival of Classic Rock Presents Prog, a new quarterly journal of progressive music that's set to offer prog rock fans a wealth of coverage of their favourite bands, artists and music.

Issue one sets out its stall by covering true giants of the genre like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes and ELP all the way through to modern day protagonists such as Dream Theater, Coheed & Cambria, Queensrcyhe and Porcupine Tree. New acts such as The Reasoning, Frost* and Demians find themselves nestling alongside established prog heroes like Marillion, Rush and Asia.

Packed with exclusive interviews, news and reviews, the whole spectrum of astounding sounds and amazing music gets the Classic Rock treatment in March. Issue One hits the news stands March 25. It's a date you don't want to miss.

Oceansize's Australian Tour

I guess supporting Cog is a big reason how they are able to afford it.

Thu 4/06/2009 NSW Fremantle Metro
Fri 5/06/2009 SA Adelaide The Gov
Sat 6/06/2009 VIC Melbourne Hi Fi
Sun 7/06/2009 VIC Melbourne Hi Fi

Thu 11/06/2009 QLD Brisbane Hi Fi H
Fri 12/06/2009 NSW Newcastle Panthers
Sat 13/06/2009 NSW Sydney Selinas

my curiosity is, if they can afford that, perhaps they could afford something similar soon in the US.

Archive's new album is called "Controlling Crowds" and is listed to be released on March 30th.





The 1st single "Bullets" (youtube link above) I definitely like and am looking forward to this album a lot more than I expected. "Lights" from 2006 was okay, but not of the quality of "Noise" and "You All Look the Same to Me."

Fields album "Hollow Mountains" I've seen 2 release dates listed being March 2nd and March 9th. And of course "March." But with no track-list nor artwork, and some mention on their last.fm page about it's status and the band lacking a record label I guess, it's release date/time is really uncertain.

Kiss Kiss, Local Natives, even dredg to a point, kind of are (or were) in a similar spot. Local Natives at least, last night on the NBC show "Chuck" had 1 of their new songs "Airplanes" played for a short while in the background. Being a Street Team member and genuine hugely optimistic fan of theirs, my jaw literally dropped to the floor hearing that. The point being, they are a fucking great band, and more people should and I gotta believe will like them. Many of those Fleet Foxes ass-kissers (among others..Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Miracle Fortess even) are gonna find out when they get the exposure they deserve. They're just too damn good not to.

Water & Bodies began recording last week, what is I guess to be a 7-song EP that likely will be released digitally. CD and/or Vinyl as well, most likely available through their website and @ Concerts directly from the band. I'm extremely excited to hear these songs recorded after hearing samples live the past few months. I realize this is not Kaddisfly but it may be something even better for all anyone knows. And maybe best, going directly through them, it'll be available rather soon. Like perhaps by April or even earlier.

Soundscape's "Grave New World" I will be hearing in the coming weeks. It's been a 10-year wait, but I am without question overjoyed to finally get to hear it. Expect some kind of in-depth review on this blog among other spots soon after. My s/n on many sites isn't "Soundcape(MN)" for nothing of course :P. "Discovery" is a life-changing record for myself anyway. If GNW is even 1/10 of that, it'll be an AotY contender (to be honest, it already is).

dredg's new album "The Pariah, The Parrot, the Delusion" is coming out on May 19th (same day as the US release of OSI, wow!)

cover art:


Mew's new album is expected in June.

King's X are headlining 3 Rivers Progressive Rock Festival I guess. Honestly, this is pretty surprising. Maybe it's a $ thing or I'm totally off on their current approach live. I would never expect them to play a "Prog" festival. But then again, many years ago Porcupine Tree did as well. Hopefully they'll do some more touring in 2009 and comeback to Minneapolis, a place they used to never skip (I saw them 10 times from 1996 to 2005 for example).

Muse new album to have a heavy Classical music influence?

bbc article

By Georgie Rogers
6 Music News reporter

The band have their own recording studios at Lake Como in Italy
Muse's new studio album could see them move away from their traditional rock sound to create a more "orchestral", classical offering.

Frontman Matt Bellamy said: "There's some really brilliant songs coming out, some of our best material I think."

The follow-up to 2006's Black Holes And Revelations is expected later this year coinciding with an Autumn tour.

Last month, the Devon band picked up the NME award for best live band for the second year in a row.

Speaking to BBC 6 Music, Bellamy revealed the record's sound could see the band abandoning their traditional rock leanings completely. We'll be knocking on Classic FM's door, you know

Muse frontman, Matt Bellamy

"A symphonic album has turned up here, like a full collaboration with an orchestra," he said.

"There's definitely a few things on the album which are segueing into each other and it's all very orchestral, but that could take over the album, so it could actually be kind of classical act basically, and move away from rock all together.

"We'll be knocking on Classic FM's door, you know?"

Pure Reason Revolution "Amor Vincit Omnia" (2009)

Amor Vincit Omnia

1. Les Malheurs
2. Victorious Cupid
3. i) Keep Me Sane/Insane
4. ii) Apogee
iii) Requiem for the Lovers
5. Deus Ex Machina
6. Bloodless
7. Disconnect
8. The Gloaming
9. AVO

I've been playing the new disc, AVO, for about a month now and while I question it's long-term value compared to "The Dark Third," it's definitely an album I've enjoyed the more I hear it. Maybe more of a *grower* than TDT certainly.

Within the large emphasis of electronica, there still is a lot of the familiar PRR sound, at least I have noticed. The vocal arrangements (multi-part harmonies). And it flows pretty well much like TDT.

The 2 pieces most familiar "Victorious Cupid" and "Deus Ex Machina" are probably still my favorite parts of AVO, but "The Gloaming" and "Apogee" for example, have some wonderful sections to them. "Bloodless" as well, is a pretty ballad, somewhat in the vein of "Bullits Dominae" or "The Exact Colour."

"Disconnect" is perhaps the 1 track that a lot of fans will not care-for. I've grown to like it, but it's still the weakest part of AVO.

The title track or "AVO" is wonderful and I think works incredibly well to finish this album. The vocal arrangement is classic-PRR to me.

I also think it's a good thing they did not make TDT part 2, because they seem to want to "progress" of course, and while I suppose they didn't have to necessarily change this far into the electronic or trip-hop vein, say opposed to some other area. I think they pull it off for the most part.

Many people have already expressed both sides of where AVO has them going. Some pretty much have said this new stuff sucks and they lost what they had with their debut album. But some others are like myself, very pleasantly surprised how well they pulled off merging much of their sound and songwriting approach with a twist of electronica. I suppose it may come down to if you like, can tolerate, or dislike electronic music. Or if it may grow on you enough.

83/100 and currently #2 on my 2009 Albums of the Year Race

Oscars List and Fail List...

should be soon..along with a commentary about the cancellation of Kyle XY. People in charge of tv networks suck, but of course I shouldn't be surprised, even if it was a Cable show.

TV Update: Mid-Feb Sweeps

I gotta say, the pilot of Dollhouse was underwhelming. I'm gonna give it a couple of episodes to see where it goes, but on the surface it has the cast but I'm not sure about if they were cast well (the dude from Welcome to the Captain as a nerdy scientist?), nor if the story arc has much legs.

well if Dollhouse doesn't pan out, there's a couple of other new shows I'm at least curious about.

Trust Me I liked the pilot episode and have DVR-ed the last 2 episodes, but haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
Castle (Nathan Fillion show on ABC where he's a mystery writer and he works with that chic cop)
Better off Ted the previews show Cryogenics as 1 plot device.
Cupid the return of this show. Its Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas's old show brought back. Rick Gomez of What About Brian it'll be nice to see again.
The Unusuals Amber Tamblyn of Joan Arcadia's return to TV. She's a cop who moves departments. It replaces Life on Mars in April after Lost.

returns:
Psych very consistent this 1/2-season, which is a nice return to form for my favorite show on tv (other than Big Bang Theory)
Burn Notice I consistently enjoy this show. The 2nd half has been no different.
Kyle XY the plots are starting to heat up a bit with Latnok and what Kyle's involvement with them will be, and him and Jessi continue to evolve. It was a year-off, but hopefully after this run of eps is over, it'll return again this Summer like it did it's 1st 2 seasons.
Monk a nice string of episodes for Monk. Save for the 1 where he ended up in the wheelchair. It's sad to know that next Season, the 8th, will be it's last.
BSG I want all the loose ends to get tied up. All the back-story about the Cylons, motivations, will they find another Earth, will the President live? The origins of the Final 5, etc. Only a few left. Maybe the Prequel show will answer some questions that are ambiguous.
Lost Are they going back to the Island? When did Locke die? Will the time-shifts stop? Will Sun bring her baby? What is Ben's motivation? Widmore? What is the deal with Daniel and HIS MOTHER being that lady in the jewelry shop that Ben is working for? And Desmond..is he traveling through time just in his Dreams?..and Daniel is actually traveling through time? ..This show is still the best mind-fuck on tv when it's at it's best.
Life on Mars The show has been hit and miss. Last week's Hippie/Alien plot really worked, but the 1 the week before I struggled with. Following Lost I think the expectations got a bit high and not fulfilled what ABC hoped for. We'll see if the numbers come in, or their other shows have worse ratings, maybe it'll pull through by some miracle. I'm not betting on it based on the fact it's ABC. They just cancelled Eli Stone, Boston Legal and Pushing Daisies.

TerminatorThe return episode was good, but sadly the Friday time-slot may be the nail in it's coffin.
Reaper can't-fucking-wait.
In Plain Sight the new hit Summer show from USA about US Marshall's in charge of the Witness Protect Program. April 19th it premieres.
Samantha Who? Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Smallville

I haven't read anything about airings of shows like Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, or the 3 or Dr.Who specials...or any of the other stuff Scefee has in store soon as BSG will be done soon. The spin-off show Caprica I guess is supposed to star Eric Stoltz, but won't start airing until 2010?
Not a fan of Stargate Atlantis or the Annual summer show Eureka. That show that aired last Fall with Amanda Tapping I imagine bombed because nobody talked about it.

February 2008-February 2009 Movie Rankings

A. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation



This thing gets a separate category as it wasn't a movie that was made or made for the last 12 month movie season. And it 1st screened a few years ago. But it probably was the greatest achievement in movies I saw this year. In short, it was made BY KIDS during their Summer Breaks in the 1980's. Anyone who can't recognize how unthinkable and original of a work it was, is clueless. The people who failed to go see this the weekend of the Crystal Skull premiere, including of course those who read my postings but still ignored it, well it's a huge loss on their part.

I sincerely hope that 1 day this thing is either

a) released on DVD for everyone to be able to see it.

b) is made available to stream or download online.

It is NOT your neighborhood kids doing amateur theater. It is of the equivalent, or better to what The Musical Box have done for recreating the early Genesis concerts.



1. Synecdoche, NY

As the review I wrote about a few months stressed, this is 1 of the most original motion pictures to be made ever. Kaufman not surprisingly, makes you think, analyze, and become sucked-in to what exactly happens in the life of the lead character Caden and the people (mostly women) in his life. I honestly require more viewings to further evaluate and understand it all. But that is why it was so effective. Perhaps to the awards shows, it's too sophisticated. Admittedly, going-in (trailers) I was skeptical. But the comparisons to the more-or-less pointless waste of time "Primer" a few years ago do not add up. There is a puzzle to solve here, and if more people just let it sink-in and become swept away, they'll realize how unique and beautiful this movie is. Perhaps 5 or 10 years from now, that recognition will happen. The Jacket, The Science of Sleep among some others it belongs with.

95/100



2.Snow Angels Incredibly moving picture that next to nobody saw or talked about. I guess my original review didn't spoil the plot, but I'll add a bit more to that in there is a death and while it's incredibly sad, again with the thinking..the more you think about it and the characters involved, the more you realize what transpired makes sense, however sad it is. I guess you could say living with guilt is not as healthy as dying to relieve that guilt. Kate Beckinsale I would give an Oscar Nomination for, but like I mentioned, nobody saw or talked about this movie. And of course being released in the late Spring didn't help since it wasn't during "Oscar Season."

88/100



3. The Visitor Very compelling story about a man who finds some people living in his NYC apartment while he's away. The friendship and sad circumstances really make this movie powerful and worth repeated viewings. I'm glad Richard Jenkins got an Oscar Nomination for this. And Haaz Sleiman who played Tarek, received a Spirit Award nomination as well.

87/100



4. Slumdog Millionaire I was not wrong in how appealing this thing would be. After seeing it, I wondered if it could be my favorite picture of the year. I can't entirely say that after another viewing and I suppose a lot of the hype and some criticism about it. The ending is pretty typical Hollywood. But at the same time, I really wish more mention of the kids performance is given. It was nice to see some of the cast do that at the SAG awards.

85/100



5. The Reader Kate I sincerely hope and think will finally get her due. She was quite powerful and moving in this. Seducing the German kid, and then forming the bond with him, albeit secretively. The 2nd half, with the suspense of her trial for being a guard at a Concentration camp really added and put more sympathy towards her character. It was not an easy situation. Her character needed money, she wasn't sure what to do. The fact she was illiterare, I guess it was based real events. By the end of the movie, after seeing her serve her time and want to repent..the obvious difficulty she had, I couldn't help but feel as bad for her as the family's who lost their loved ones in that horrific incident. I hope people don't look at this as movie about Nazi-Germany, because it isn't at all. It's a character study and a love story with some humor, and a narrative and a lot of other things. Mind you, I really want more mentioned about Kate Winslet's career and the fact MANY OTHER ROLES SHE'S PLAYED DESERVED AS MUCH IF NOT MORE RECOGNITION. Namely: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and JUDE for example..a picture most people probably have never heard of. Because if she does in fact win the Oscar here, I really think people who liked her performance owe it to themself to seek out a lot of her other work. She's possibly the best Actor of this generation and more people could and should recognize that.

The film itself I can't forget to mention a few holes, and possibly why I don't rank it a bit higher. They never explained why young Michael didn't appear at the Prison after he made the appointment..and the point he made about how Hannah could be proven to not receive the punishment she did. She was illiterate, that piece the judge was using to prove her guilt very likely wasn't all her responsibility given the fact she was illiterate. But maybe the secret of their affair was too risky on his own part to expose. Another was when Hannah fled, and you see young Michael at her flat and it's empty. That and the whole process of her getting promoted by the Street Car co? There certainly were a few holes or unexplained parts of this for my liking for it to contend for Best Picture. But at the same time, I don't have a problem with it receiving a Best Picture nomination.

84/100



6. Transsiberian
Another under-seen gem. Emily Mortimer deserved an Oscar Nomination for this. The situations she faced, and difficult decisions. The plot was interesting. The suspense never left the viewer. Her relationship with that guy Carlos and the drugs, then later with Ben Kingsley's character and keeping track of where they are and where her husband played by Woody Harrelson, is. Sorry, but this should have been seen by more people, and was a lot more compelling and intriguing of a story than dozens of other movies this year.

83/100



7. Sleepwalking Another great performance from Nick Stahl that goes un-noticed. Dennis Hopper effectively plays the asshole redneck father. The plot about a mother who leaves town for $ which forces her younger brother to take care of his young niece. When he loses his job, he finds no option but to flee with her. The twists this story takes is reason enough to like this, even if Hopper's character was not the easiest to handle watching. I guess as a performance, it made it all the more effective. A bit like Sam Rockwell's in "Snow Angels"..you hate him, but eventually you respect the power of his perfomance.

82/100



8.The Bank Job Terrific Heist movie based on true events. The direction the plot takes leaves you glued to the screen. You want to side with the robbers, but you're unsure if they'll pull it off, and what each faction's ultimate motivation is. Black Mailing politicians being a big part of it. Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows definitely stand out among a lot of the rest of the cast. Did it receive much Award Season recognition?..of course not, lol.

81/100



9.The Good Night Some clever ideas are explored here in this fantasy/romance plot. It's not clear whether Martin Freeman's mid-life crisis is due to his struggling relationship with Gweneth Paltrow, or his dreams are effectively pointing him in the path he needs to go. Rather surreal. Danny Devito I think was a big part of what made this thing work. Simon Pegg also added some nice comedic support as his best friend.

80/100


Those are the 9-10 best pictures I've seen over the last 12 months. The rest of these below range from pretty good, to worth the curiosity, to disappointing, to highly overated, to maybe worth seeing for free.

73-79 range

10. The Wackness Interesting coming-of-age story. Kingsley and Olivia Thrilby were both good. Thrilby I liked more in "Snow Angels" however.

11. Forgetting Sarah Marshall On paper this could have been a near-classic. It wasn't. Jason Segel's exposure aside, it still probably was the best Apatow-related picture of the year.

12. The Wrestler The gore hurts this, but the perfomance by Rourke still made it well-worth watching. Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood added a bit, but honestly, Rourke carried this thing and he should win the Oscar (sorry Sean Penn, but he carried this film. Milk's ensemble cast hurts your case).

13. Iron Man Robert Downey makes a big splash in this comeback performance. As far as Superhero movies have gone, there may not be many if any better made to be honest.


14.Pineapple Express Not quite as good as SARAH MARSHALL, but pretty close. I suppose the typical over-indulgence of Apatow, along with some points in the plot seemed incredibly preposterous, kind of hurt this thing. But some of the jokes worked well-enough no matter. The Freaks and Geeks reunion was nice to see as well.

67-73 range

15. Time Crimes Funny, perculiar, mysterious spanish Time-Travel movie. Certainly another foreign film not nearly enough people saw. Eons better than "Primer."

16. Role Models It didn't look that great, but I saw this the same evening I caught "Zack and Miri" and it was clearly the superior movie. Some of the humor, especially the Nerd/Lord-of-the-Rings/Ren-Fest stuff hit home and like Big Bang Theory, proves how comedy using the Geek-element can be very effective. Not technically an Apatow movie, but pretty much on par with his best work.

17. What Just Happened
Why nobody saw this is also puzzling. It's Robert DeNiro..c'mon. And it's funny. The Hollywood exec who tries to please everyone, but isn't necessarily able-to. Some of the dialogue floored me. It reminded me of Sidney Pollack at times.

18. Religulous Bill Maher pulled this off pretty well. I wish he would have had Deepak Chopra somewhere in it, but overall, the sarcastic with religion was quite effective. Certainly one of the best Documentaries of the year.

19. Wall-E Even though it clearly borrowed from Short-Circuit, the charm and story still worked on a lot of levels. The best animated movie of 2008 certainly.

20. Vicky Christina Barcelona A bit of a comeback for Woody Allen. It was good, albeit seemed lazy in tone at times. No, it's not deserving of all the Awards-recognition it is, but was it bad?..no..it just seemed like a fantasy for beautiful women and a guy to hook up?..like a Romance Novel really. The acting wasn't amazing or anything though. And the guy who played Rebecca Hall's fiance was annoying as hell. Hall, however, should have been the one receiving the Oscar nomination, not Cruz. And I like Penelope Cruz, but in this?..her performance didn't stick out nearly as much as Hall's.

21. Tropic Thunder Part Andy Sedaris, part Steve Buscemi-movie-where-he-plays-a-director, part Leslie Nielsen. I could have done without Tom Cruise's werewolf chest, but Robert Downey fooled me big-time here. It wasn't bad, just not something I'll be wanting to see over and over again. Steve Coogan was better in this than "Hamlet 2" certainly.

65-73 range

22. Happy Go-Lucky Sally Hawkins should play Imogen Heap. Sally Hawkins won a globe for her role in this, and should have received an Oscar nomination. The film overall, wasn't breathtaking. Although the guy who played the driving instructor was hard-to-stomach, but a bit like Dennis Hopper in "Sleepwalking"..I can't help but respect his work here. The deep-accents and more or less the plot are what hurts this from being higher. A bit like "The Wrestler" in terms of ranking. Great individual performances, but the movie overall not as much.

23. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Of course the cast is reason to watch. Blake Lively is pure eye-candy, and more worth seeing here than on "Gossip Girl." About on par with the 1st, but they didn't involve the Pants themselves enough this time.

24. Kung Fu Panda Not as, but close to as good as Wall-E for Pixar. Jack Black can do voice-work like this well..especially with toned-down dialogue. I'm not huge into Animated stuff, but this was one exception.


25. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson A Documentary definitely worth seeing if you are an HST fan like myself. Johnny Depp appropriately narrates.

26. My Name is Bruce A parody of a parody in a way? A auto-biographical mockumentary at least. if you dug "Bubba Ho-Tep" this is certainly in that film's class. I mean many of the lines were good. I suppose my experience might rate this a tad higher, given the hilarious post-movie q&a Bruce gave. But on paper, it's worth seeing if you're a Campbell fan for sure.

27. Hancock Will Smith doing a Super-Hero. Jason Bateman was good, and the plot twist added something. Is it Will Smith's best work, or the greatest Super-Hero movie ever?..of course not. But it's entertaining, and at least slightly different spin on the Superhero genre.


60-65 range

28. Sex Drive Sean Anders is a talented film-maker. And while this wasn't as brilliant as 2005's "Never Been Thawed" it still wasn't bad. People didn't go that much for it; calling it a poor-man's Apatow or a Super Bad ripoff. But actually, I'd rate it higher than Super Bad. Super Bad is 1 of the most over-rated movies over the last few years. And while this wasn't brilliant, at least the gay-jokes and tones were done with some class. Seth Green wasn't bad either, and I had no clue the dude who played his brother was James Marsden.

29. Burn After Reading Silly plot and a bunch of actors playing characters you never fully want to pull for. This a Coen Brother's movie, which I've come to expect mediocrity, so pretty much they pulled that off. Not horrible..a few funny moments, but hardly Awards-worthy. It's sad they get some great people involved, but don't entirely make the most of them. Perhaps people like John Malkovich and George Clooney weren't looking to be highly featured. But it's like an album with a bunch of great guests, that ends up being better on paper than the finished product.

30. Let the Right One In Better than the piece of dung that was "Twilight" but in-truth, I wasn't won-over that much by this. The acting wasn't bad, I just don't fathom the pre-teen vampire-love story to work that well. And they're making an American version, lol.

31. Nobel Son Rickman and the supporting cast sounds great on paper. What you got is an uneven story and plot. You're not sure whether you hate Rickman, or the plot his son and ..well other son I guess end up trying to get away with.

Note: I have yet to see, but have rented, "Bottle Shock" which has some of the same cast and people involved. Perhaps that'll be better, or make this seem better relatively, once I see it.


25-60 range

32. The Rocker They tried to get tons of people to see this as I probably had 4 or 5 different chances to see this before it hit theaters. And they failed pretty miserably. In truth, it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't that great or moreso, unoriginal. Basically Rain Wilson channeling Jack Black. Okay. But it's nothing to tell people they need to see.

33. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist I just saw this last night. Kat Dennings is very good eye candy. And the plot was kind of fun. The gay overtones got a bit too overemphasized, plus Ari Graynor's sick/drunk persona got milked far too long. Michael Cera, while at times I liked him, he often seems too relaxed. He needs to show some balls. All in all, not wonderful, but not the worst thing I saw this year. Dennings I am looking forward to seeing more of in the future.

34. Hamlet 2 Steve Coogan can be funny, as his work in "Tropic Thunder" showed, but I'm not sure he can carry a movie. This might have worked as sketch or short-film better. Elizabeth Shue was good, and maybe my favorite part of this thing.

35. Smart People Kind of a dull romantic comedy/family drama. Page-channeling her Juno character, SJP being annoying and playing her character from Sex and the City. Thomas Hayden-Church was probably the best part. Quaid can be funny, and he kind of seemed like a poor-man's Harry Ford here.

36. Quid Pro Quos Well not everything Nick Stahl does is perfect. The idea seemed a bit more appealing than the execution. Sure, some chick having a fetish for a disability like being in a wheelchair could have some legs, but I fell asleep sadly. I dunno, maybe a 2nd viewing via IFC could change my mind.

37. Valkyrie Non authentic accents, and maybe worse, the process and direction just seemed way too Hollywood. The plotting wasn't bad, but unless you can see past the fact Tom Cruise was playing Tom Cruise in Nazi-Germany, it's hard to find much appeal for this. See a documentary or read a book about it instead.

38. Bill Aaron Eckhardt: 1 of like 3 or 4 movies he was in 2008. This 1 he was featured. It had a few funny moments..namely the kid who played his mentor and the back-and-forth with Elizabeth Banks (who also appeared in like 6 movies in the last 12 months), but overall I wasn't sure how much I liked his character.

39. Get Smart Carrell was the right actor, visually/physically to play the Don Adams role, but too much of the script was Steve Carrell playing Steven Carrell. I'm not certain if Hathaway was worth seeing more in this or "Rachel Getting Married" as I walked out of that one.

40. The Dark Knight Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated, Over-rated. This may go down in history as being the most over-rated movie ever. Maybe even more than "Little Miss Sunshine." Sorry, but I had a horrible headache walking out of this. It was painful watching the back-and-forth explosions and sound-in-your-face..much like "Children of Men"..how could I enjoy this?..seriously, wtf?..it was just a disgustingly dark and torturous experience trying to get through this. Ledger?..sorry, but his job couldn't wash Jack Nicholson's Joker's JOCK. He more or less was Al Franken/Carol Channing becoming a mental patient. Not funny, not entertaining, not even worth remembering. He was gross as all fuck. And maybe even worse..but the Oscar was given to him from the day he was cast. Wonderful, Hollywood. Just wonderful. Every family on the globe will know this picture and never see Synechdoche, NY and they'll know Ledger for his work here and not on ROAR or a number of other things he did previously. Thanks.

41. Zack and Miri Make a Porno Sadly, this didn't turn out as good as it could. Kevin Smith + Seth Rogen. Reminds me a little of "Be Kind Rewind"..even though I don't love everything Smith does, the formula sounded potentially good. I guess it's a bit of Seth Rogen, everything he does ends up being decent but not amazing. Knowing-that going-in probably would be good to keep in mind. We didn't even get Elizabeth Banks in the Princess Leia Bikini, lol. I suppose on the flip-side, Traci Lords did add something, but the Jason Mewes exposure negated some of that.

42. Yes Man Jim Carrey and Zoey Deschanel. Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda..Another romantic-comedy on paper that fell short. I suppose it's not the worst either has done, but the idea that people in Hollywood are consistently brilliant is a myth. They should have at least had the song "Tempus Fugit" or a reference to the band Yes, but did they?..on the DVD perhaps? Dunno if I'd rent it..except perhaps if Zoey and Jim do commentary.


43. Step Brothers Not very funny, but it didn't look that funny. The 2nd half actually was a little better. Jenkins and Steenburgen both did other work this year that was better. Sadly, Ferrell and Reilly I'm not sure if the same can be said.

44. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Nostalgia with a convoluted script. Lucas, Spielberg..both perhaps are shells of their former selves. The Raiders Adaptation made me forget about this one fast. They ought-to include it on the dvd. If only the world worked that way.

"Bottleshock" and some others may be added, but were not available at the original press time.

also note: an Awards Blog I mean to post soon as a follow-up. Who I would give the awards to, etc.

2009 Albums of the Year Race Begins...

A forum post in the 2009 Albums of the Year Tracking Thread



Prr myspace
Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia 3x's..different..very electronic, but it's growing on me. #2 already right behind Umphrey's.



myspace
Malajube - Labyrinthes..checking this out for the 1st time right now..digging a lot of this. The only concern early is it's not extremely different from their other 2...but they're other 2 albums are both excellent, so ain't-broke-don't-fix-it isn't so bad a mentality.

edit: heard the whole thing. I dig this. Quite trippy and heavy. This could be my favorite 'Jube record already.




Greg's myspace

Greg Herriges - Telluric Currents..really well composed and produced progressive ethno-acoustic-world-folk. Like 4 or 5 awesome songs, with these incredible riffs. "Rama B Good" "Uskudar" "Sabir Khan Song" and the closer "I Hear" are maybe my early fave's. Interesting hearing them recorded like this, after hearing them for a number of years live with him and his extremely talented ensemble. This is a cd for any Prog fan whose into ethnic and acoustic stuff (California Guitar Trio?)

myspace
City of Sound - "L'Implosion" - I'm not sure how addicted I will be to this thing long term, but I can't deny I do have reason to go back to it, as the majority of this disc has sections I like within the noisy, dirty, experimental stoner-blues rock. The acoustic and dreamy/psych parts esp..mainly in the last 2/3 of it.



myspace

The Rockwells - "Place & Time" ok technically this an '08 disc as it dropped on December 2nd, but I only heard it last week after finding a $5 copy @ Cheapo. The whole thing isn't flooring me yet, but the 2 times I've played it my head turned multiple times. Maybe the most notable, being the last 3 epic tracks. They remind me of The New Pornographers, without a female voice, but maybe more experimental at times. Another possible treasure buried deep under the radar.

So the new Umphrey's McGee album needs a review, but just to mention does hold the top spot in the young AOY's season. But PRR and Malajube could be knocking on the door. I need to do reviews soon about all of them and some of the others there, and some others. In due time.

1st though, I am determined to finally see THE READER and then finally get down some long diatribe/grocery list of my 2008 Cinema Rankings. I think it's close to 40, which for new pictures, may be a record for me. Kind of like 2007 with concerts where I attended something like 45 which also was a record-high for myself.

New TV of course too. Returns and premieres. SAMANTHA WHO? = not returning until late March?..wtf..o well, at least it's not canceled like PUSHING DAISIES and ELI STONE.

Notes...

Other Lives who used to be Kunek have their s/t debut LP out in March (vinyl) and April (cd)..and are playing THE ENTRY on Friday February 13th. Friday-the-13th..also the same day as Cynic/Meshuggah/The Faceless @ Station 4. Also the same night Terminator returns and Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" premieres. Wtf do I do?..I hate THE ENTRY, but the Cynic+2 show will be packed and more $. But it's probably a 1-time thing for them, but also for Other Lives perhaps. Fuck Fuck Fuck!..I hate it when this shit happens and I have to make a choice! Flip-c-coin or try a venue-jump. Maybe the timing will work. Not really clear on what Delta Spirit are like, who are on the bill as well at the soundproof-less 7th Street Entry.

I probably am going to see Umphrey's McGee on Saturday, January 31st @ 1st Ave and their lack-of-soundproofed-walls. "Mantis" is just too fucking good, and I'm way too addicted to not see at least 1 of their 3-night stand this weekend.

not likely an AotY contender..or top 30 even, but I should copy/paste this from that same topic on mp.com linked above.


Modern Skirts - All of Us in Our Night

myspace



This thing dropped on Tuesday like MANTIS, and while it's not blowing me away like the new UM, there is A LOT TO LIKE about it. Catchy, melodic, upbeat Power-Pop in the vein of The Beach Boys, XTC..even some Lou Reed can be heard. About 1/2 of it solid. A nice sophomore effort from this new Atlanta band.

Umphrey's McGee - MANTIS ..a few words..more to come

This album is awesome. The early leader for Album of the Year. They've definitely done a lot with arrangements and layering. Vocal harmonies, strings, epic, energetic, pieces with movements. A great return to form for these guys, and somewhat of an unexpected effort. We'll see how long this record stands up many months from now..how it compares in the '09 Album of the Year race. But it's certainly encouraging, as I plan to get a lot of mileage out of it in the coming weeks/months. Also very cool it was on the recent arrival shelf @ the St.Paul Cheapo for $8 on Sunday, lol. Maybe the fastest ever for a non-promo.

I also still need to hear the bonus tracks which are available as a d/l link with the disc (among other places of course).

More should be written about it eventually, but as a prelim rating.

82/100

Random Finds #2

Vaulting

pretty solid, less-is-more, experimental grindcore.
a 19 minute debut LP, lol. They may have surpassed Born of Osiris in the less-is-more department.

65/100

Strap the Button

wow..at times these guys KNOW HOW TO DO SPACEROCK! And all their music is available to For Free..plus a bunch of other bands there. I'm just a bit weary how spotty their music is. They have these great, heavy, layered sections that some songs build-to, but the filler is not lacking unfortunately. A lot of their stuff is recorded live there, which may be how they excel most. But when Space Rock is done well, it can be awesome. It's just like many genres, there's a ton of mediocre music made in it.


Farflung..also SPACE ROCK (is it becoming popular?)..saw this band featured on a new site I've been frequenting.

Calla..I'm curious but not expecting too much. They have a energetic darkness to them, yet still being pop. Sort of reminds me of Ours, but more so VAST. I'm not sure if their albums vary too much, especially the vocals..but if the music is good enough, if may not matter.

Sundance, Gophers beat the Cheeseheads, Galactica

Sundance Film Festival Updates

I should be there..maybe in 2011. I don't love how all their coverage of their OWN FESTIVAL is done ONLY ON THEIR WEBSITE, and not, on, the tv channel itself, lol. Wtf Robert, what happened to those cool "Dailies"??

I mean to try and compile some future blogs about films that I mean to seek out, as I see them every year in the festival coverage. But of course, most years I only am able to catch about 1/2 of them at best.

Gophers beat Wisconsin after playing poor and pressuring the last 3mins. I was saying they should have done that the whole fucking game lol. I mean it rattled Wisconsin in the 1st 4mins, and then Tubby stopped using it. On the positive tho, they did win there for the 1st time since I was a Senior in High School, lol. I am still not buying-in to their 16-1 record entirely as I know how that can be a mirage. But Louisville, Virginia, Ohio State, and now IN MADISON..they are better than many thought. Then again, just look at Tubby Smith's track record: his Kentucky teams would frequently win 25+ games. Tulsa too, and his Georgia teams usually went to the NCAA's..so actually this isn't that surprising. However, those Kentucky teams had more talent perhaps. The player who impressed me the most tonight: Westbrook of course, 29pts can do that. Damien Johnson..key blocks and DEFENSE down the stretch and in OT. and RALPH SAMPSON..that guy could be a stud. Mainly defensively. Maybe not his dad, but I hope he stays academically eligible and remains here all 4 years.

This should be a fun season anyway. And I loved hearing the Sconnie boos..mwuahahaha!

Battlestar Galactica is back finally for the last 10 episodes tomorrow night. Whose the last Cylon?..for some reason I could see it being the President. Makes a lot of sense. Watched McDonnell and Olmos on THE VIEW. Olmos was offered the Jean-Luc Picard role in fact in the 80's.

Kyle XY Premiere on Monday: It's been nearly a year, and to be honest, the premiere was kinda underwhelming and predictable. I did like the fact Kyle's going to be having more powers this season. And the thing with the DJ dude and Latnok could be interesting. It hit me last night, that is the same dude that starred in SEX DRIVE by NEVER BEEN THAWED Director Sean Anders. Perhaps some of the SEX DRIVE cast could guest appear on the KYLE SHOW?

I got a nice list of 2008 movies to post in here soon. And also a slightly more detailed thing about my current favorite band in Kacica.

more music notes...

dredg's album got pushed back to April..Ours=2008 dejavu?

Mute Math was on Leno..on my dvr, will watch before bed.

Pure Reason Revolution's new album some cover art.


new Appleseed Cast song was posted: I haven't heard it yet.

Karnivool's new album title and release date will be announced in the coming weeks as they are finishing up mixing/mastering this month.

Soundscape's album "Grave New World" is done..the whole question about whether it got picked up by a small prog or metal label is the only question. But it'll be announced probably within a month I'd guess, if not sooner.

The new Modern Skirts album isn't bad, but not anything I expect to be a favorite or top 50 likely. But I'm sure I'll hear a ton of much worse records this year. The Brian Wilson elements work for them, even as subdued as much of their music is.

this new German experimental grindcore band Vaulting has a 19 minute full-length they released in 2008. It's very much less-is-more and it works. I think they trumped Born of Osiris's full-22min debut record from 2007.

LOST is back next week..along with some others as the schedule in the last blog shows.

TV Schedule/Movies/Random Finds Preview/First Ave

Psych 1/9
Monk 1/9
Big Bang Theory 1/12
How I Met Your Mother 1/12
Two and a Half Men 1/12
Kyle XY 1/12
Smallville - 1/15
Battlestar Galactica - 1/16
Lost - January 21st
Burn Notice 1/22
Trust Me ...January 26th (on TNT)
Life on Mars - January 28th
Chuck/Heroes 2/2/09
Dollhouse Feb 13th
Terminator - Feb 13th
Castle... March 9th
Reaper March 17th
Cupid - March 24th
My Boys... March
The Unusuals ...4/8 (Amber Tamblyn lawyer show..replacing Life on Mars)

ABC shows w/ no info yet:
Better Off Ted
Good Behavior (Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars new show)

Party Down (also Rob Thomas..a show on the Starz network)

SAG's:
January 25th

IFP's:
February 21st

Oscars:
announced Jan 22nd
Ceremonies Feb 22nd

Sundance Film Festival 1/16-1/25 TV Coverage/Dailies?..last year I recall they did no daily specials, but just did a summary special. And then a lot of content was on the Sundance Website.

One of these years..I will go. Maybe if I started saving now, little-by-little, I could plan for not 2010, but 2011? The cost would probably be close to what Nearfest or ProgPowerUSA would be..with higher hotel + food cost, but not as much music (or DVDs/Merch?) to buy.

Caught some-of (and need to finish up the rest) Art School Confidential last night on Sundance. Ironically, I noticed GHOST WORLD was on local tv for the 1st time ever perhaps yesterday as well. Daniel Clowes getting the air time. I should finish ASC soon and clear it off my dvr. I remember liking it; especially the dude whose sort of the lead's friend in the drawing and sculpture class. I should look up the actor and see what else he's done; he looks and talks very familiar.

Kate Winslet wins: I love her, and more or less loathe Leonardo DiCaprio, as an actor. But maybe if I saw him in something I liked, my mind would change. I am quite eager to see what she gets nominated for with the Oscars. I am thinking now with the siberia-weather out tomorrow night, I'll skip the free-pass for the Toni Collette/Diablo Cody premier episode-movie-theater-advanced-screening and instead try and see "The Reader" in Oakdale. I'm not gonna expect Kate to win, but somehow this year feels different. Sadly, I still think the best thing I've ever seen her in was SPOTLESS MIND..but granted, THAT MOVIE ITSELF is so damn good, it helps a lot.

Once I get around to THE READER and perhaps BENJAMIN BUTTON..(also FROST/NIXON) and 1 or 2 others..I should post some kind of Ranking/Top Movies. I suppose my goal would be no later than the Oscars, but perhaps sometime in the next few weeks. I've been strapped-down and guilt-tripped with time and focus with this move I made. I moved, yes, but I have masses of material to organize and sort. Still, I have like a dozen blogs I want to do, and should do soon. On MLK day perhaps 1 or 2 of them since I'm getting my car maintenanced all day and will likely be at Dunn Bros to kill time.

The next random finds is close as I not only have increased my headphone time with Kacica of course, but also Oedipus and Run Chico Run a bit. But also, I think it'd be worth adding some names I discovered the last portion of 2008 that I never actually got to write about (that deserve it). Beyond those, I can claim 2 new bands I have caught-on to this week already in Strap the Button and The Sedan Vault. Some others as well, and some names I'm also meaning to sample soon. Estradasphere was/is one, and I played a live youtube video yesterday from them. They seem rather folky and almost Zappa-ish. They reminded me of these 2 guys who were Russian or perhaps from some Eastern bloc country doing jazzy folk music @ The Cedar a few years ago. Liars is another..then some stuff mentioned on some forums and some of the end-of-year lists still. Air France and perhaps Max Tundra (the comparisons to Self have me curious).

-A word on 7th Street Entry and First Ave. I enjoyed the Jeremy Messersmith/best Friends Forever/Caroline Smith show the other night, but it would have been a lot more enjoyable I suspect had this local establishment actually had soundproof walls To go along with a typical late start (10pm?, the 1st band started) and the capacity crowd which of course was pretty scarce to find a spot where some if not many of the crowd wouldn't shut the fuck up between and DURING songs.

Much of the sound issues happened at Amanda Palmer in the mainroom last month.

I wanna go see Bloc Party in March, but it's going to take a can't-miss for me to go back there again. If I know another band is playing in the other venue, and I'm even in the least bit on the fence, I will not go. That is probably near if not the least desire club in the town for me to see a concert now. Sorry, but the lack of soundproofing has lowerd their bar even further. I mean I never was that gung-ho about the place to begin-with. The people there and the crowd always seemed very scenesters and often girls who show up, just to be there (and not for the music it self. Those are the ones that spend the entire show walking back and forth and their ears/hands glued to their cellphones. I don't need it, and now multiple experiences with echoing sound from amplifiers during shows just makes me want to avoid that place like the plague even more. I wish someone would go to the people who run First Ave and get in their face about it. Who the hell wants to pay good $ for a concert that you end up hearing pumped in bass from the other side of the wall every 10 seconds. That's hardly getting your money's worth to me and I imagine others. Hopefully they'll get enough complaints to do something about it. But that may be wishful thinking.

ok, I'm horribly rambling..like Kate or Ms.Imogen-Heap-lookalike-golden-globe-winner-Sally-Hawkins, so I'll try and quit before this gets to be even more of a waste of space.

KACICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (re: Random Finds #1)

Man..I am continually being blown away by this newly discovered Japanese band. A few months ago Mutyumu, and in the last month Kacica.

I checked out their 2006 self-titled debut today



very moved again!..like Mutyumu, I'm not sure I'll become as addicted as their latest "Mosaic" but fucking eh..this is also without a bad track, and has a ton to like. Memorable and soothing vocals, wonderful textures, catchy riffs, etc..they opened for Minus the Bear in Japan I guess a few years ago supporting this record; and won over a lot of fans. I totally can see why.

Definitely my latest-favorite new band.

I also think it's sort of significant that they became the 100th artist/band I added to the "New Prog" Umbrella list on rym I made. Perhaps coincidence, but I suppose I like to think it was luck/fate/karma or something else :P.

A bunch more names should be added to a near-future random finds entry as I have been checking out a handful of groups over the last few weeks + have many to still check out, especially from many of the Albums of the Year lists I've read.

2009: Forecast Music: Studio Albums

The whole albums of the year practice, obsession, addiction, etc..that made 2008 so fun. And actually 2007 a ton of fun as well. But I have to say, I really would love to experience a calendar year that includes an incredible race. I mean where you got big name band or solo artist put out a record week-after-week and the level of quality record left and right comes at you nearly every week.

It sort of happened to an extent in 2007. 2008, it didn't quite get that far, although the last few months got to be a lot more interesting. 2005 and 2002 were the 2 years this decade, that I recall sort of in this process.

2007 did have Kaddisfly on top..Fair to Midland and then a bit later The Dear Hunter gave them a good run. And then September hit and 2 records dropped: Oceansize, which was good, but didn't quite rise up to Kaddisfly's level. And of course, the whole revelation of Between the Buried and Me.

That was around late September.

But '05 you had a nice battle between The Mars Volta and then Porcupine Tree..and then dredg came into the party and in some ways took over. Ultimately, the best records surfaced on my radar very late that year and nearly a year or more later in Coheed and Cambria's GOOD APOLLO 1 and then in 2006 and especially 2007 The Receiving End of Sirens' "Between the Heart and the Synapse. Sadly, neither of those were really around in my playlist, during-the-year, to qualify. But those among a whole assortment of others that I've heard the past few years has made 2005 my favorite year for music this decade. But looking at it, that was still possibly the closest top-heavy race I recall.

2002 I cannot forget though Pain of Salvation's "Remedy Lane" and Dream Theater's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" kind of duking it out. But PoS ultimately won and was the only classic record I considered that year, during the year. If only I'd known about dredg then of course.

So what my dream is one of these years, we get a really fun battle of a bunch of band's new albums trying to win the most headphone-time from me. Granted, as I wrote months ago, I firmly still believe as evidenced by Apes and Androids and dozens of others new bands whose albums have won-me-over that I am totally unfamiliar with. It's quite possible a bunch of records that will get the most attention from me this year ain't on my current radar. Why? I think it's because I am always trying to find new and original music. That being said, 2009 looks to possibly be the biggest top heavy year of the decade, at least since 2005.

Kevin Gilbert, Soundscape, Ours, dredg, Between the Buried and Me, Pure Reason Revolution, The Dear Hunter all are expected to put out records. Plus my beloved Kaddisfly's new active project "Water and Bodies"..not to mention a ton others that I enjoy and I certainly wouldn't be shocked by a classic record from. Mew, House of Fools, Karnivool, Oceansize, In Vain, Kiss Kiss, Imogen Heap. Vet bands like Dream Theater, U2, Muse, Pain of Salvation. And some intriguing and long awaited debuts from artists like Local Natives, Revere and Between Two Skies.

We'll see..perhaps the unknown bands will still come out on top, but among all these known bands, it could make up a very to-heavy but still deep top 25 records at least. Maybe the 4-star depth will reach in to the top 30?..60 some anticipated albums of known bands (and many known that are not on this list I didn't think to add yet) certainly supports the chances of that. And maybe, 2009 will have the most 5-stars, which would be incredible, but all the more difficult to select a top album. Perhaps co-album-of-the-year? in the last year of the decade?..it might happen.

Here's that current (1/5/09) list of anticipated records with the band's myspace pages linked. The calendar of known dates, more or less through March. And then alphabetical after that (in other words, many of the alphabetized list lower down could be dropping at very different times during the year).

January 20th, 2009



Umphrey's McGee - Mantis



Modern Skirts - All of Us in Our Night

January 22nd, 2009
Greg Herriges - Telluric Currents

February 9th, 2009



Kiss Kiss - The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left

February 10th, 2009


Malajube - Labyrinthes

February 17th, 2009



The Appleseed Cast - Sagarmatha



Asobi Seksu - Hush

Feburary (date tba)
In Vain - Mantra


In Reverent Fear - Sentimental Education

Synesthesia - Symbalousa


March 3rd, 2009

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

March 9th, 2009

Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia


March 24th, 2009


The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

dredg - tba


March


Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Fields - Hollow Mountains

April

Paper Route - tba

Artists expected to release records that have yet to announce release dates/months and most cases album titles.

Agalloch - tba
Battle Circus - tba
Between the Buried and Me - tba
Between Two Skies - tba
Born of Osiris - tba
The Dear Hunter - Act III (subtitle tba)
Doves - tba
Dream Theater - tba
The End - tba
Fair to Midland - tba
Kevin Gilbert - tba
Jimmy Gnecco - tba
Haken - tba
Imogen Heap - tba
House of Fools - tba
Immortal Technique - Revolutionary Volume 3, The Middle Passage
Karnivool - tba
Kaura - tba
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
The Mars Volta - tba
Scott Matthews - tba
maudlin of the Well - tba
Mew - tba
Midlake - The Courage of Others
Muse - tba
Mute Math - tba
My Latest Novel - Deaths and Entrances
Necrophagist - tba
Neverending White Lights - Act III (subtitle tba)
Oceansize - tba
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
OSI - tba
Ours - tba
Pain of Salvation - tba
Phideaux - Number Seven - tba
Porcupine Tree - tba
Revere - tba
Soundscape - Grave New World
St. Vincent - tba
Sufjan Stevens - tba
Subterranean Masquerade - In Pastille Colors
3 - tba
Thurisaz - tba
Devin Townsend - Ki
Water & Bodies - tba
Courtney Yasmineh - tba

Fish is not well :(

original lead singer of Marillion, FISH (Derek Dick) is not well. Possibly throat-cancer :(



his blog

I will admit I read this a little while ago, and he does go on for awhile. But part of me feels even more guilty about missing that Chicago and/or Milwaukee gigs last June. I just couldn't afford everything $-wise and time/vacation-wise.

Sometimes things suck. I just hope he recovers, and then perhaps one day is able to sing again.

Announcing some upcoming film reviews...

k, I am seeing the 1st 2 in the next few days, and the others I've seen recently or in the case of "Sex Drive" I recall in August. Yeah, they need reviewing, and I hope to quite soon. But of course my time doesn't allow them to fully yet. I will say, I can't claim I'd put any of them really in the class of "Slumdog Millionaire" nor "Synecdoche, NY" and probably not "Snow Angels," "Transsiberian," nor "Sleepwalking." However, every single one of them I liked and would recommend. The upcoming reviews for them should elaborate..



This was funny, albeit mostly slapstick biopic mockumentary. Meeting Bruce and the Q&A was half the fun.

75/100





A very



Really dug the action and perspective in this movie based on true events that occurred in England in the early 1970's. Saffron Burrows I knew from BOSTON LEGAL, and she's every bit as alluring and elegant in this. The gang members, the humor, and plotting between multiple factions into the ramifications of the actual Heist is what made it work well and kept you guessing until the end. I can't claim to have seen many if any other things Jason Statham has done, but I guess this was more plot/dialogue based for him, and he impressed enough. One of the better pictures of the year, that in retrospect, I wish I had caught in the theater now.

82/100





Maybe the best thing Will Ferrell has done. Other than OLD SCHOOL, nearly every thing he's starred in (and OS he was a support in fact) has not been too funny or any good really. But I'm not surprised this was good, since it was made by Marc Foster, who I liked both FINDING NEVERLAND and MONSTER'S BALL from. Emma Thompson and Queen Latifah are both as well. And while on paper it reminded me a helluva lot of THE TRUMAN SHOW, and I wouldn't go as far as to say I liked it as much as that movie; the plot and twists in the direction of the plot worked much better than I expected. Was he gonna die? Were he and the author possibly in the same world? It was a bit like Voodoo in a way I suppose. Sure, it wasn't that realistic, so I suppose you could sall this somewhat in the fantasy genre. It didn't really matter just based on intrigue on the story and where the characters were going. I also really liked Maggie Gyllenhaal. Verrry cute. I'd go for her baking me cookies any day : ).

80/100



I didn't have any interest in TWILIGHT, lol..save for the fact Mute Math had a song in the soundtrack. So I saw this instead. I liked this, but at the same time for a vampire picture, it didn't leave me that much satisfaction to be honest. The style and cinematography is nice. The acting is good enough; although generally foreign films have performances I appreciate more consistently. Maybe my biggest disappointment with this was how it was so subtle. The whole kids/vampire story almost always feels weird to me. Maybe based on the fact I like the whole lustful/romantic elements to vampire stories, I just couldn't fully embrace this thing.

The one really creepy moment does come towards the end when the vampire comes out of the dark so fast I jumped.

I guess with subtle, clever elements, I couldn't help but yearn for the very little-seen mini-series on the SCIFI Channel in the late 90's "Ultraviolet"..this movie seemed to tap into a bit of that vampire movie-that's-trying-to-hide-the-fact-its-one in that way, but I can't credit it for going far enough. However, I would recommend this still 100 times instead of the lovey-dovey melodramatic garbage that is TWILIGHT.

63/100

re: Random Finds #1

Kacica - Mosaic



I really like a lot of this. Very dreamy, but also catchy and energetic. Experimental, with some layering and psychedelic elements. At times quite bass-driven. Mixing elements from artists like Bjork, Mew, Deerhoof, and even Sigur Ros..the compositions are quite impressive at times.

Had I heard this early enough to include it in my 2008 AOY race, I could see this at least being in the top 30 if not top 20. I've been mesmersized and energized by this enough this week that it would belong that high, if not higher.

80/100



Oedipus - Humbility (2005)

They don't seem to quite fall into the category of "alt-prog" band whose trying hard, but ends up being mediocre and unoriginal. There's a nice diverse combination of styles here. I guess the bulk of this record reminds me of inter.funda.stifle-era Fair to Midland or even some of the Opus Dai and The Apex Theory work. But at the same time they have these unpredictable time changes in some of the songs that it keeps you entertained. One piece even features this gorgeous use of trumpet. Another band that I kind of thought of was Biffy Clyro, pre-PUZZZLE. They are probably not quite as experimental as a lot of that, but they do deserve points for trying to push some boundaries. This was released in 2005; so I'm quite curious where they might be at with a new record or even if/how active they still are.

I think it can't be stressed enough, how the beginning of this album didn't go as far. The 1st track esp was not an amazing opener. But many of the songs and the last 2/3 I suppose are rewarding to sit through.

75/100



Run Chico Run - Slow Action

Not blown away, but I did finally manage to get through this whole thing. The last 3 or 4 tracks surprised me. Maybe 1/2 of this thing works for me. I think I should check out some of their older work to get a better idea about this band. I must admit though, they/this album easily could have gone into the boring-category had I not made an effort here.



Akphaezya - Anthology II: Links from the Dead Trinity

I really am digging a lot of this. Very much like if Unexpect used a lot more clean vocals and were more refined and subdued in their experiments. A lot of great ethnic elements and jazzy sections. Give me a bit more time and I'll be able to start pointing out favorite tracks. It reminds me a little bit of earlier this summer how Subterranean Masquerade began to grow on me more and more.



Return of Simple - Saffron

Not likely as addictive as The Reign of Kindo, but I do like a lot of this. It's almost like catchy piano-driven raggtime jazz-pop with Beach Boy-like vocal arrangements at times. People who dig The Reign of Kindo should check this out no matter.

65/100

on deck: The Wildhears, Kalisia and some others...

Oh Man..ABBEY ROAD RETURNS!

http://www.collectiveunconscious.net/gigs.html


Abbey Road Returns!



* Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 7 pm
* St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Minneapolis MN
* Ticket information coming early 2009



* Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7:30 pm
* Little Falls High School, Little Falls MN
* Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm
* Paynesville High School, Paynesville MN
* Ticket information for both shows coming early 2009.


NOTE! Days & times are all tentative at this point, please check back for more solid information!

I saw them do ABBEY ROAD back in 2001..it was incredible. Everything was authentic and to-the-letter. McCartney's Rickenbacker, Hammond Organ..the whole 9 yards. It was certainly 1 of the most memorable shows I've ever seen. They even went barefoot! lol

To go along with this news about BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER. I haven't thought about Collective Unconscious for many years..these 2 gigs coming up in March certainly have put them back on my radar. I still really regret missing out on their PET SOUNDS w/ the Orchestra back in 2004 (or '05?, forget) in St.Cloud, MN.

Random Finds #1

ok, this is in effect the 1st of perhaps an unlimited number and frequency of blogs that will be posted at least in the coming year if I find it remains worth doing so.

This is, I hope/think of instead of just posting a new topic or whatever about said new band..and I'll include new movie or even tv show actually now thinking about it. But I'm not gonna kid myself, it will primarily be for the proverbial stumbling-upon said band likely on a blog/link/database. Perhaps on another board, $1-$5 Cheapo-find, Opening-at-a-concert-band or podcast, mix exchange, etc..or somewhere else.

These may be bands I checkout only once and forget about. They may have a song I like, but the rest bores me on 1st or 2nd impression. Or sadly, they may be a band I checkout and find ok, but it'll take some forum topic or suggestion to have myself discover to liking them.

Also of course mostly it'll be new albums..many leaks..or perhaps an album or band whose 1st work came out sometime in the last few years (I'm getting a lot of 2006 and 2007's..next year probably a lot of 08's will pop up as well). But it hardly is limited to something recent..could be a 70's or 80's band..could be older than that.

K (and of course that whole endless schpeel will not be re-posted in each one; just this initial introductory entry).


Oedipus - Humbility (2005) ..funny how I stumbled upon this NAME on my my most reliable source of links, but not that surprisingly, it was for ANOTHER BAND OF THE SAME NAME, lol. Not the 1st time that's happened (Alps for example). They sound rather Muse-like just from the samples. Findind a link for this guy wasn't easy, but I'm certainly glad I finally did.


Run Chico Run - Slow Action (2006) a random find at Cheapo a few days ago. I sampled like 3 unknown band's discs and this was the only one that got me to gamble with it...mainly due to the fact it was $2. The 2nd track I liked, but I'm not expecting a lot. And I guess this album is one a handful of discs in their back catalog; so it's possible I won't care for this, but maybe something else from their past.


Kacica Mosaic (2008) Japanese band whose vocals don't sound entirely Japanese. But kind of shoegaze-like in a Mew-kind of way. Like Run Chico Run, I suppose among the 5 or so names I checked today so far on unsaid database, this was maybe the only one that I'm gonna give a chance to.

The Wildhearts I could go after a bunch of theirs it sounds like. I am optimistic about their power-pop elements, however the stuff on their myspce that has vocals like Kurt Cobain I will likely skip. I hope this ain't another Better Than Ezra, and more of a Silverchair or Jellyfish.

2008 Albums Rankings Artwork/Comments/Links Part 1

Ok the podcast idea may have to put on hold as I started to do it the other night and my pc starting freezin up. However, that could have been due to many other factors including some spyware I hopefully ridded my pc of.

This is a write-up of the top 10. I will try and do a few more of these; but the difference I hope will be not as much time/length given to all 100+..I'll have to wing it I suppose.


1. Apes and Androids - Blood Moon

I love this album. The concept just sucked-me-in. The themes, melodies, creative arrangements among other things forced me to go back to it. Like Kaddisfly's "Set Sail the Prairie" this album spoke to me in many ways. It was one that I went back to whenever I needed an uplifting feeling, or an escape. I loved how it gave me this feeling of watching an 80's Scifi story. Emotional depth. For example the chorus that opens "Nights of the Week"..the guitar tone is such a goosebump moment.

It's also not to be overlooked how becoming a fan of this band, it opened me to discover other so-called experimental electro power-pop and related groups. Not the Elephant 6 bands, but the Matt Mahaffey stuff like Self and Wired All Wrong, and of course Brian Jacobs and David Tobias previous band Call Florence Pow.

The whole thing is greater than the sum of it's parts, so to suggest 1 or 2 songs wouldn't be the most effective opportunity to enjoy this. But to name a handful of the tracks: Riverside (1 of the most uplifting songs of 2008.."Nothing's Wrong"), Hot Kathy, Make Forever Last Forever, Johnny and Sarah (maybe my current favorite. It reminds me of a story about a Bonnie and Clyde couple, and the guitar solo just rules), We Don't Understand You ("Put Your Hands Up"), Radio, Sweetest Little Thing (one of the bigger growers), Golden Prize ("I don't think you know what girl's from the Midwest are all about")

Evidenced by the fact after 100 or more times playing the thing, I still am learning plenty of new things about it; the concept/story or even just understanding lyrics (for the better or worse).

This will be an album I will likely go back to again and again. My biggest curiousity is how they follow it up. They wrote it mostly in 2006 and 2007 I guess, and the 2 songs I've heard by them "Creepy Girls" and "Endless Dream" are of the quality of the work on BM. Jacobs and Tobias are impressive enough songwriters, I could see their next work being even better.


2. Burst - Lazarus Bird

A breakthrough record. I found myself being more surprised how much I enjoyed this record time after time. "Cripple God" has that great melodic section "I will..carry...I will carry youuuu...." and "We Watched the Silver Rain" with it's incredible rhythm. The melodies are so rich and cemented into your brain after you listen to this. It was the Metal release of the year. As a result, I may find my interest in a group like Mastodon to go up.


3. Ours - Mercy...(Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy)

I love this band, but after 6+ years of waiting for this (myself, admittedly about 3 since I became a fan during the Summer of '05), my expectations and excitement for this album was not what it would have been. But it managed to surprise me how polished every song was on here, that many of them seemed to have new life. "Worst things Beautiful" I love the catchiness too. Like U2 at their most catchy. "Willing," "Saint"..that one turned out a lot better than I expected. Contrary to many fans, the live version I had known never blew me away. "Ran Away to Tell the World" grew on me a lot. "Live Again" "Mercy" "Murder".."Get Up." It certainly was an album that didn't lack depth. I guess that's part of why it stood out.

I still doubt if it'll become the staple album their (10-years-in-the-making) debut record "Distorted Lullabies" is for me, but it does prove how Ours are a band who manages to record quality records. Maybe best, now that Jimmy Gnecco has announced the major label situation is over, the lack of studio catalog the group has had will not exist. 2009 another Ours record is expected, along with an acoustic solo album and a sideproject with April Bauer as well. Neverending White Lights perhaps too. Makeup for time lost given the fact he/Ours has dozens of unrecorded songs that didn't end up on this record. If he puts out more work like "Mercy" I will not be a disappointed Ours fan.



4. Mutyumu - Il y a

This was the record out of leftfield. The 2nd LP from this Japanese group. Vocals all in Japanese, in a subtle opera-style. I guess the strings and especially piano phrases just get me every time here. The emotional depth is echoed throughout this album.

Highlights: Kaenchō, Inori [prayer] are two of them. But I think like every record in the top 10, this is an album you put on and just enjoy the whole ride. Classical, Ambient, Jazz, hints of Hardcore. It's just a wonderful blending of styles with impressively written compositions.

I just wish I could somehow track down an affordable copy of this or their Self-titled debut cd. Maybe I'll find my way to Japan someday and a copy will be there to purchase. Or instead, they manage to get some import vendor to lower distribution costs to the Western Continents. Because I would call them somewhat of a brilliant secret. Maybe not for that much longer.


5. The Stiletto Formal - !Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta!

The energy on this record is perhaps my favorite part. The 1st 6 tracks had me going back to it a number of times over the last few months. The title track, and "We Are All Muckrakers" maybe being 2 of the best songs. I love the post-rock guitar over the hip-hop narrative on the title song. I won't deny the fact at 1st the Mars Volta similarities were unignorable. Like Portugal the Man. Except their singer wasn't singing as high as Cedric Bixler for one, and the fact they combined a much better melodic sense along with Violin and Cello, that it didn't matter. So in other words, energy, melodic sense, and strings pulled me in. And the whole record over time just got better. I dig Kiss Kiss and Murder By Death (1st 2 albums w/ out the Johnny Cash vox and with the Piano); and this band included a lot of elements that I love about those 2 (mainly the strings to be honest).

A step-up from their 2 EPs which I need to play more, but I don't recall enjoying quite as much. I expect to play this album a lot in the future.



6. Marillion - Happiness is the Road

It was totally free to download, and I decided to pass on the $40 pre-order deal after the less-than-impressive value for that with "Somewhere Else." But they are my favorite band still. This album was a lot to take in, and I honestly am still digesting a lot of it. The fact it was 2 full discs, 1 being "Essence" and the other "The Hard Shoulder"..as-a-whole it gives me reason to want to hear both albums back-2-back. The reason for that is due to the fact I enjoy both discs about equally. They both have many great Marillion-moments. And they also both contain much of the style/sound of this album. Wall-of-sound or ambient passages, that unlike some groups including Porcupine Tree, can often drag and bore me. But the slower sections on here, don't go on so long that I fall asleep. I suppose I would say they are worth getting through for the big moments. In fact, over some time, "Somewhere Else" I would claim the same about.

Among my favorites..

ESSENCE: "Trap the Spark," "A State of Mind," "Happiness Is the Road," "Half Empty Jam," (Ian Moseley does his best Neil Peart impersonation towards the end).

THE HARD SHOULDER: "Thunder Fly" "The Man From the Planet Marzipan" "Asylum Satellite #1" "Whatever Is Wrong with You" "Real Tears for Sale" (I always think of "The Last Straw" with this..big goosebumps)

This may not be a top 10 decade contender "Marbles" is. And it also could be one of their last records at least for awhile if not ever. But if that is the case, I can't deny that the boys finished on a big note.

Now only if they could manage to tour the States again without losing $..maybe someday. A tour with Porcupine Tree or on Progressive Nation perhaps?..we'll see. The Fan Weekend in Montreal, sadly I don't have $1200 to invest in right now.



7. Bend Sinister - Stories of Brothers, Tales of Lovers

I was very excited for this after loving their debut "Through the Broken City." Definitely one of the most addictive debut discs for me over the last couple of years. And that album had a ton of riffs and hooks that I loved. Crescendos that totally worked for me.

This album is a concept album, much like BROKEN CITY, but didn't catch my ear as much right out of the gate. However, it has grown a lot on me. Another one that fits in "greater than the sum of it's parts." Very thematic, and classic rock-sounding. best listened to all-at-once. Over some play I concluded it's for the better that it wasn't exactly about the individual song, but more about getting swallowed-up by the ideas and styles. To give a few highlights: "Give Into the Night" "Dr.Lee" "Jimmy Brown" "The News" and "Demise" is probably the one piece that had a build-up like some of the epic tracks on "Broken City." Overall though, I enjoyed this more and more and it probably has grown close to the same level of their debut record. The *progressive* tag still fits them for the fact it's quality, but not the same thing. I just still wish more people knew about them and they could manage to tour America.



8. Sculptured - Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God

The early leader. Folky progressive death metal project from Don Anderson of Agalloch. I love how this is less-is-more and how this is how progressive rock and heavy metal can work without an overly self-indulgence. The artwork even kicks ass. The title track is a 10 minute emotional build-up. The conclusion has this fading guitar melody over some sound samples from the David Cronenberg short film "Camera" about a man who has a dream he describes the experience aging rapidly from seeing a movie in a movie theater and waking up "terrfied" and aged.

Not a record I would say everyone will love (mainly due to it's methodical pace and the vocal style being slightly black-metal, but not in-your-face or anything), but for fans of Agalloch or progressive metal that isn't too Dream Theater-ish, this really worked. Less is in fact more on here. Like Agalloch or Subterranean Masquerade, the atmosphere and epic quality they create really won me over.



9. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Total grower. I think these guys fall into the category of Indie-band-i-never-expected-to-like-that-would-never-have-progressive-rock-in-their-sound-but surprisingly-do. The Decemberists, The New Pornographers, Midlake, Cloud Cult and a handful of others as well. There is this great, subtle epic quality in their music. Many songs seem kinda meh..but then they go into sections I just love. They rock out. Maybe it's how they arrange the keys and piano, I dunno. Their singer is nothing special; in fact on paper I'd call him slightly annoying, but like death metal vocals I suppose, over some time his voice grows on you. And the music is so damn good, it doesn't matter.

No this is one the Indie crowd got right. My favorite pieces perhaps are "California Dreamer" "Kissing the Beehive" and "Call It a Ritual" ..but again, I'd rather play the whole thing. I'm not as certain about their debut LP from a couple of years ago. But this record works really well start to finish.


10. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)

Finally a band from Minnesota pops into my radar and makes an album I grow to really enjoy. Finally a MN band is tapping into prog rock, that I like and know. I've known their name for many years, but always associated them to be 1 of a ton of "alt" bands that community champions that I can't stomach. Hardly here. These guys use strings well, and have a great energy and emotional element throughout this album.

Definitely an exception within the Pitchfork's playlist (and light years better than flavor-of-the-year Fleet Foxes). "Everybody Here Is a Cloud" is the one 89.3 played a ton of, and it is a radio-worthy song. However, pretty much every track on here works well and could work on the air.

The only thing I suppose I could say is, it never blew me away entirely. It was consistent, but not classic. But given it is without any songs or elements I'd skip, it managed to make the top 10.

11. King's X - XV
12. Woven - Designer Codes
13. Protest the Hero - Fortress
14. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
15. Demians - Building an Empire
16. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
17. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Not Animal
18. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Animal!
19. Adebisi Shank - This is the Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank
20. Arsis - We Are the Nightmare
21. Annuals - Such Fun
22. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
23. East of the Wall - Farmer's Almanac
24. She Said Destroy - The City Speaks in Tongues
25. Agalloch - The White (EP)
26. Anathallo - Canopy Glow
27. Gojira - The Way of All Flesh
28. Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - I Have Made My Bed In Darkness
29. Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City
30. God is an Astronaut - God is an Astronaut
31. The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord, & Melody
32. Bloc Party - Intimacy
33. Black Mountain - In the Future
34. Hills Like White Elephants
35. Eluveitie - Slania
36. Mason Proper - Olly Oxen Free
37. Distrails - Virginia Creeper (EP)
38. Gloria Morti - Eryx
39. Big Fresh - Big Fresh Forever
40. Panic at the Disco - Pretty Odd
41. Opeth - Watershed
42. Ebu Gogo - Worlds
43. Russian Circles - Station
44. The Faceless - Planetary Duality
45. Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
46. Darla Farmer - Rewiring the Electric Forest
47. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
48. Brendan Canning - Something for All of Us...
49. The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever
50. Foals - Antidotes
51. Paper Route - All We Are Forgotten
52. Damiera - Quiet Mouth, Loud Hands
53. Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
54. The Jealous Girlfriends
55. Textures - Silhouettes
56. Klimt 1918 - Just in Case We'll Never Meet Again (Soundtrack for the Cassette Generation)
57. Opus Dai - Touch the Sun
58. Skeletons - Money
59. The Atomic Bomb Audition - Light Will Remain
60. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
61. The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
62. !Forward, Russia - Life Processes
63. dEUS - Vantage Point
64. Brain Drill - Apocalyptic Feasting
65. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
66. Nomia - Nomia (EP)
67. Roger Joseph Manning Jr - Catnip Dynamite
68. Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
69. The Arusha Accord - Nightmares of the Ocean (EP)
70. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
71. Other Lives - Other Lives (EP)
72. Go-Neko! - Una Especie de Mutante
73. Andy Dixon - The Mice of Mt. Career
74. Metallica - Death Magnetic
75. Lehto and Wright - Between the Jigs and the Reels
76. Big Blue Ball - Big Blue Ball
77. Jenny Dalton - Rusalka's Umbrella
78. The Alps - III
79. Enslaved - Vertebrae
80. The Alps - Something I Might Regret
81. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving - Tiny Fragments (EP)
82. Pitchblend - Lines of Unreason
83. Braintoy - Vehicles
84. Blowing Trees - Blowing Trees
85. Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison
86. Radius System - Escape / Restart
87. Hate - Morphosis
88. Hieronymus Bosch - Equivoke
89. Eaten by Tigers - Solstice (EP)
90. Sleepin Pillow - Apples on an Orange Tree
91. The Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia
92. Hiromi Uehara - Beyond Standard
93. Janus - Red Right Turn
94. Mt.Helium - Faces
95. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (EP)
96. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
97. Evangelicals - The Evening Descends
98. National Bank - Come on Over to the Other Side
99. Cynic - Traced in Air
100. The Deer Tracks - Aurora
101. Tiger Lou - A Partial Print
102. Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
103. Black Milk - Tronic

Albums of the Year: 2008

Ok..well here's the deal. Instead of slaving-away trying to write something clever, I am gonna try something different this year.

Here's the list...k..cool
1. Apes and Androids - Blood Moon
2. Burst - Lazarus Bird
3. Ours - Mercy...(Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy)
4. Mutyumu - Il y a
5. The Stiletto Formal - !Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta
6. Marillion - Happiness is the Road
7. Bend Sinister - Stories of Brothers, Tales of Lovers
8. Sculptured - Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God
9. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
10. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
11. King's X - XV
12. Woven - Designer Codes
13. Protest the Hero - Fortress
14. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
15. Demians - Building an Empire
16. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
17. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Not Animal
18. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Animal!
19. Adebisi Shank - This is the Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank
20. Arsis - We Are the Nightmare
21. Annuals - Such Fun
22. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
23. East of the Wall - Farmer's Almanac
24. She Said Destroy - The City Speaks in Tongues
25. Agalloch - The White (EP)
26. Anathallo - Canopy Glow
27. Gojira - The Way of All Flesh
28. Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - I Have Made My Bed In Darkness
29. Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City
30. God is an Astronaut - God is an Astronaut
31. The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord, & Melody
32. Bloc Party - Intimacy
33. Black Mountain - In the Future
34. Hills Like White Elephants
35. Eluveitie - Slania
36. Mason Proper - Olly Oxen Free
37. Distrails - Virginia Creeper (EP)
38. Gloria Morti - Eryx
39. Big Fresh - Big Fresh Forever
40. Panic at the Disco - Pretty Odd
41. Opeth - Watershed
42. Ebu Gogo - Worlds
43. Russian Circles - Station
44. The Faceless - Planetary Duality
45. Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
46. Darla Farmer - Rewiring the Electric Forest
47. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
48. Brendan Canning - Something for All of Us...
49. The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever
50. Foals - Antidotes
51. Paper Route - All We Are Forgotten
52. Damiera - Quiet Mouth, Loud Hands
53. Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
54. The Jealous Girlfriends
55. Textures - Silhouettes
56. Klimt 1918 - Just in Case We'll Never Meet Again (Soundtrack for the Cassette Generation)
57. Opus Dai - Touch the Sun
58. Skeletons - Money
59. The Atomic Bomb Audition - Light Will Remain
60. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
61. The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
62. !Forward, Russia - Life Processes
63. dEUS - Vantage Point
64. Brain Drill - Apocalyptic Feasting
65. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
66. Nomia - Nomia (EP)
67. Roger Joseph Manning Jr - Catnip Dynamite
68. Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
69. The Arusha Accord - Nightmares of the Ocean (EP)
70. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
71. Other Lives - Other Lives (EP)
72. Go-Neko! - Una Especie de Mutante
73. Andy Dixon - The Mice of Mt. Career
74. Metallica - Death Magnetic
75. Lehto and Wright - Between the Jigs and the Reels
76. Big Blue Ball - Big Blue Ball
77. Jenny Dalton - Rusalka's Umbrella
78. The Alps - III
79. Enslaved - Vertebrae
80. The Alps - Something I Might Regret
81. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving - Tiny Fragments (EP)
82. Pitchblend - Lines of Unreason
83. Braintoy - Vehicles
84. Blowing Trees - Blowing Trees
85. Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison
86. Radius System - Escape / Restart
87. Hate - Morphosis
88. Hieronymus Bosch - Equivoke
89. Eaten by Tigers - Solstice (EP)
90. Sleepin Pillow - Apples on an Orange Tree
91. The Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia
92. Hiromi Uehara - Beyond Standard
93. Janus - Red Right Turn
94. Mt.Helium - Faces
95. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (EP)
96. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
97. Evangelicals - The Evening Descends
98. National Bank - Come on Over to the Other Side
99. Cynic - Traced in Air
100. The Deer Tracks - Aurora
101. Tiger Lou - A Partial Print
102. Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
103. Black Milk - Tronic

Now that I've lost everyone with 100 albums, that seem like 2nd nature to myself, what I will do is provide in a near-future blog..some "highlights"..especially of course Apes and Androids.

But the other thing I want to try and do is instead of a novel-size write-up..A PODCAST or 2,3..it's MUCH EASIER for me to do..takes a lot less time I imagine. I will try and at least provide some little snippets..etc at least..even if it's in the background.

2008 Albums that need refreshing/more play

Marillion
Margot
Gutter Twins
The Stills
Gojira
Annuals
Hills Like White Elephants
She Said Destroy
Opeth
Panic at the Disco
Brendan Canning
Jeremy Messersmith
The Faceless
Bloc Party
God is an Astronaut
Foals
Big Fresh
Damiera

Big Sleep
dEUS
Reign of Kindo
! Forward, Russia
Deerhoof
Roger Joseph Manning
Sigur Ros
Eluveitie
Andy Dixon
Pitch Blend
Alps
Alps
Brain Toy
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving
Shiny Toy Guns
Eaten By Tigers
Go Neko!
Sleepin Pillow
Mt.Helium
Mason Proper (CD)
Deer Tracks
Of Montreal
Radius System (not heard)
High Dials (not heard)
Dresden Dolls
Hate
Hate Eternal

Ra Ra Riot (not heard)
Guns N Roses (not heard)
Immortal Technique (not heard)

2009 Album Anticipation List: a thought too...

2009 Album Anticipation List/Release Date Calendar

a note: 2008 has been a ton of fun, but also not entirely reciprocated on many of the forums and message boards about posting album after album with a list. So, that was an experiment that while saw some benefits I guess, probably is not worth repeating. At least to the extent of this year.

The rym thing, yeah that was fun and fine to do.

Cutting to the chase, what I propose my hope/plan to do for 2009 is just to keep that to a minimal or at least a lower frequency. Instead, I logically see transferring that work and effort here in this blog and fwd-ed to the other personal spaces I have online (myspace, cupid, etc).

What that will mean is this blog will be updated at a much higher frequency. And it may often be very vague, short, commentaries. Not that much different than Twitter actually.

I guess I'll see, but at least in that case, I won't have to go through the disappointment of many of the albums and bands not catching-on. Looking like a clueless fool bumping the topic multiple times in-a-row with little to no evidence of it doing any good.

Now, on to that current list of upcoming records for the final year (in the Christian Calendar) of this 1st decade of the 2000's. I.e. 2009.

Kevin Gilbert
Imogen Heap
Umphrey's McGee - Mantis
Modern Skirts - All of Us In Our Night (1/20/09)
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Kiss Kiss - The Meek Shall Inherit What's Left (2/10/09)
Malajube - Labyrinthes (2/10/09)
In Vain (being mixed right now)
The Appleseed Cast - Sagarmantha (Feb)
Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia (3/9/09)
dredg (3/24/09)
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Mew
The Dear Hunter - Act III
The Decemberists - Hazards of Love
Scott Matthews
Neverending White Lights - Act III
Orphaned Land -The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Mute Math
OSI
Kaddisfly
Pain of Salvation
Necrophagist
Karnivool
Dream Theater
Maudlin of the Well
Revere
Doves
Between Two Skies
Oceansize
Thurisaz
Fair to Midland
House of Fools
Immortal Technique
Porcupine Tree
Between the Buried and Me
St. Vincent
The End
3
Born of Osiris
Muse
U2
Sufjan Stevens
Greg Herriges
The Mars Volta
Jimmy Gnecco

this is a nice list. But based on what's happened in recent years, I could easily see

a) not all of these albums making out. Mind you, some of them is purely speculation and guess-work just based on their schedules and how many years it's been since their last full-length record.

b) My favorite or what I get most into/excited about next year ain't there at all. Why?..the surprise/unknown/newness of those bands and albums that come out of nowhere each year. So I'm more *anticipating* or looking fwd to [unknown band] most. Apes and Androids, Kaddisfly..those 2 among many speak for themselves.

My 2009 AOY it's quite possible, heck I'd say it's probable ain't there and ain't a band I either

a) know yet

b) am not that into yet...or thought were good once, but their recent stuff hasn't been as good to me.

I guess since 2009 albums have already started leaking..the hunt has already begun. I hope I find the next Apes and Androids soon..as they kind of saved, esp the 1st half of 2008 from being mediocre. I guess this blog will be like a little news service for that and all those others as I track my 2009 album of the year race.

In the mean time, yes the 2008 aoy's are not far away. Short little blurbs about most as I am meaning to try and do. With the looming deadline for 1 board being Dec 19th/20th..I am gonna try and get them posted there by next week if not earlier. So in here, the timing likely won't be too different.

Packing/Moving is important. But still there is.

Amanda Palmer and Bruce Campbell's new movie on Friday and then Bruce again on Saturday.

Dean Magraw with John Williams on 12/13.

Also a note: Golden Globe Nominations are 1-week from Thursday 12/11/08. Wouldn't it be funny if PUSHING DAISIES got some..wouldn't surprise me. And now it's 86'ed of course, lol. Let's hope no SAG-strike happens.

2 movies in the latest Landmark email I wanna see including the new Catherine Deneuve French family x-mas picture. The other one is about time travel I recall, but the name escapes me at the moment.

New/mid-season/cable tv shows of course too are coming up. With some time available..I plan to elaborate some on that list I posted not too long ago of those shows. I think having an actual schedule will help, so it won't likely happen until the 1st or even 2nd week of 2009.

Synecdoche, New York and Quid Pro Quo

Synecdoche, New York imdb

Charlie Kaufman's latest work. Hmm, I guess I was thinking about this driving home how

a) this was a movie that very well would require multiple times seeing it to really understand well

b) there's a ton of elements to the story and perspective. And especially it being quite "introspective".

c) I've never seen anything quite like what Kaufman did with this movie in anything. I'm not certain any story has been told on-screen or even in writing, to what was explored here.

d) Charlie Kaufman should do something involving Metaphysics.

e) It would help to have watched Kaufman's movie "Adaptation" before or after seeing this just to grasp exactly where he's coming from.

f) I totally can see why this movie was not released for many years. I guess going back to 2005. It's to put it simply, a mindfuck, and one that many will either totally hate it, or totally love it. The IFP's will probably go to bat for it (although in recent years even they have let me down embarrassingly), but the Multiplex's I easily could see not touching this movie with a ten foot pole.

Enough about all that. This is one moving yet confusing movie. Over 2 hours in length. Phillip Seymour-Hoffman is his usual talented self playing the lead character, a man whose married and has an artist wife (played by Catherine Keener, who makes miniature-sized paintings) and 4 year old daughter. He is a stage director. His wife seems to lack passion for him and ends up going off to Germany with her daughter. Caden (PSH) believes he's dying. He also has clear advances from 2 younger women, 1 played by Michelle Williams, whose a lead in his current play. The other, whose job is to take tickets at the box-office, played by Samantha Morton.

When his wife goes away with his daughter, he then receives $500,000 Grant to make a new play. At that point he ends up mixing more with both of those younger women, namely Samantha Morton's character Hazel. That doesn't work out. She ends up moving into a house that is always on fire for some reason. He does hook up, gets married, and has another daughter with Michelle Williams's character Claire. Eventually it doesn't work through the process of making this huge production for a play of what is in effect his life, in this abandoned lot in a borough of NYC.

Confusion: He goes to Germany, which seems like not too long after, and they make note that his formerly 4 y/o daughter is now 11. Between that time they do flash a sequence of him at Claire's mom's funeral and then Caden and her getting married and having a daughter. But the way it looked, it very easily could have been imagination/dream sequence/fantasy.

Before you know it, 17 years have gone by. I would assume most of the same large ensemble of people working on his play are still doing it.

This is where it gets REALLY WEIRD. He then ends up casting people to play people who were playing him. Sort of like the chaos theory, a tv-inside-a-tv-inside-a-tv-inside-a-tv. He has a guy play him, and then a guy playing the guy playing him, lol.

Ya see perhaps why this was not released in 2005?..mind you, Kaufman not only WROTE this..but also for the 1st time DIRECTED IT.

So, not meaning to spoil..but I guess within the whole epic story, Caden ends up outliving all these women, including his daughter who somehow dies of ink-poisoning from her tattoo, or something, in Germany. His daughter Olive in effect grew up and was a German girl who became a young woman who ended up ultimately being tied to his ex-wife's best friend Maria played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.

But character after character dies, and while Caden does in fact age and takes a lot of meds. His medical problems seem to not be a focus as he gets older (which they are at the beginning of the film, being that he thinks he's having a mid-life crisis, and dying very lonely).

The play is still being written, rehearsed some 20+ years later. One possible idea is making the play is Caden's LIFELINE. As long as he is continuing to write, cast, and rehearse it, he is still around. But the people in his life are not ultimately of the same fate. The play is a metaphor for his life.

Getting past a few issues I have with using human waste (green poop? among others) and the way he derailed/faded-out both his 1st wife Adele (Catherine Keener) and their daughter's role in the story, this is as unique and memorable movie I've seen this year, this decade, or even ever. Like I wrote above, it definitely is one of those things if you are open-minded enough and have an imagination for, that will take your brain into a place I don't think you've gone before. Likely only someone like Charlie Kaufman could do that.

8.5/10



I am a fan of Nick Stahl. Namely movies like MAN WITHOUT A FACE, BULLY, and IN THE BEDROOM. And earlier this year, I thought he was quite good in SLEEPWALKING as well. In this, he plays a paraplegic who discovers an unknown population of wheelchair-admirers among other things. He also meets a woman, played by Vera Farmiga, who actually tips him off of this originally; but she claims to be different. She wants to get close to him, but also wants to share her desire to be like him.

The metaphors and characters were somewhat interesting, but the plot didn't go too far. I'm not sure if they found love, or just who they were. He ends up being able to walk and she ends up going through the charade of acting as if she was paralyzed as well.

The fetish and desire to connect via a handicap is not too known or typical as a basis for a love story; but I didn't entirely grow to connect to either of them even with their seemingly miraculous change in their physical lower-half's status.

5/10



Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City

This is just a brief, early review. It's climbed to #43 on my list

This has been quite the good year for music from my home state of Minnesota. Cloud Cult put out perhaps a *breakthrough* record in "Feel Good Ghosts"..Jenny Dalton you could say the same about somewhat compared to her last LP. And then this guy, Jeremy Messersmith also made a really polished sophomore effort. Fans of Sufjan Stevens who are yearning for something new..perhaps another *state concept album*..well for MINNESOTA, a state Sufjan has yet to do, this record is very much of the caliber of those albums like ILLINOIS and MICHIGAN. Some nice Beatles-ish moments among other elements. I like every piece on it, and it definitely fills more when heard all at once.

7/10

Just out of shear laziness/lack-of-time I probably will end up posting many reviews (copy/pasting) from my rym account or forum posts. If I were being paid for this, I'd find the time (somehow!), but of course I'm not so it very well may be the best I can do. I will mention though, I think when the final "List" is written up in here, and there will be one again..and it will be finished of course unlike last year's draining-of-steam and time. I plan to at least write up stuff about the top 10 (esp #1 of course..hehe!) and I was thinking today, maybe the best thing to do with the others is to just link the myspace's, give artwork, and do "Twitter" length reviews (140-200 characters max). Maybe a few key tracks, etc. Probably will expedite the process and allow the mass of 50+ reviews to come out. Honestly, it very well may be closer to 75 or more again.

Early November Double Features

On back-2-back nights this week I caught 2 movies in theaters. Tuesday, in order to avoid the election, I saw a couple of movies in Uptown. The following evening I ended up catching 2 more in Edina.



What Just Happened? imdb

For the 2nd straight year, De Niro has been in something I might describe as a redefining or at least a different kind of a role for him. 2007's "Stardust" playing a gay flying-pirate captain. And in this, a Hollywood producer; who while has a strong personality, he ends up having to do a lot more psychological examination of his clients and his own personal life. The portrayal of a high-stakes, high-stress lifestyle. And I think overall it was pulled off well.

This will remind many of the Tim Robbins movie "The Player." I suppose the comparison is quite valid in that it's a look inside one part of Hollywood. At the same time, possibly due to the tone or time it was made, "The Player" seemed a lot more subtle and dramatic, while "What Just Happened?" had a lot more constant humor. De Niro reminds me of among others, of the late Sidney Pollack, who had those meltdowns that were always worth seeing. One of those guys that either he made you laugh just on how he spoke, his interaction with others, or his sense of priorities were funny due to how he would communicate with people. Also, generally just someone I would enjoy being around I guess.

While the ultimate fates of the different clients and people he invests so much into dealing with is not entirely a "happy-ending" ("Indie" I suppose in that way), seeing the portrayal of different experiences a producer like him goes through is rewarding enough. Bruce Willis and the whole "beard" predicament. To hear De Niro mouth-off about that alone was priceless. The ending of the Sean Penn picture with the dog and how the director manages to con the Studio head (Catherine Keener); which is evidenced when it gets into Cannes. Everything with his ex-wives and daughter and the side-plot with the producer who dies, and Stanley Tucci.

While I doubt it'll be a classic many years from now, I pretty thoroughly enjoyed this. Quite funny, and without much if any filler.

7.5/10



Happy Go Lucky imdb

This was uneven. The 1st 1/3 I'd say or maybe about 1/2 of this was a lot of silly antics from the characters, mainly the lead Sally Hawkins who plays "Poppy." Perhaps her accent at times made it slightly difficult to follow, the personality she presented as a free-spirited, jolly young woman who found it easy to smile or laugh at most of her daily life experiences. Maybe my favorite scenes being when she ends up going to Flamenco dancing class with a co-worker. Poppy, and I think actually even more, the instructor were quite funny. "Myyyy spay-sss...My-spaysss!" I kind of wished I had been in the class myself!

But the Poppy character (and Hawkins I imagine) reminded me a lot of the british female musician Imogen Heap. Partially in her colorful style of fashion (she always wore multicolored knee-high boots among other things), and maybe more-so in her cheery persona that Imogen Heap could be described as having when she does interviews, or especially in her Youtube video blogs. In fact, I think it wouldn't be too big a stretch if it came about, for Sally Hawkins to portray Heap on the screen, which begs my curiosity if Imogen Heap is aware of Hawkins or this movie (and vice-versa).

The 2nd portion of the movie ends up getting a bit more serious. Mainly with Poppy's relationship with her driving instructor played by Eddie Marsan. I imagine this was an influence in his character from real-life, but Scott, Poppy's driving instructor, almost every scene is very on-edge and stressed-out. Poppy contributes to that while he's trying to teach her, but he definitely comes across as someone who has anger-issues. I guess the whole "backseat driver" symptoms come up with anyone who rides in a car with a new driver; but it's his job after-all, so you'd think he'd had enough experience to avoid stressing out over it. Perhaps it also was some strange way of displaying his love or at least social interest in Poppy. But that's kind of the challenge. He's so strong-willed and short-fused, that even SHE can't lighten him up.

But I also credit the actor for that. While that may not be everyone's cup of tea in terms of dramatic performances, he does a very good job of adding a in-your-face, serious character to what mostly is a less-than-serious story overall. At the same time, I guess the previews and entirety of this film didn't end up being as moving as I hoped; but it was certainly one of the more memorable pictures I've seen this year. And it introduces Hawkins, which added reason to see it as well.

6.5/10



Slumdog Millionaire imdb

Caught an advanced screening of this picture which on the surface sounded like a modern-day Bollywood work or some common foreign-language movie that I often see nominated during awards season. Well, it very well may get nominated during awards season, but I wouldn't call it exactly run-of-the-mill. Very cleverly edited and flashback + present day storytelling of an 18 year-old phone-center assistant who ends up appearing and having great success in East India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." He gets taken-in by the show's security in suspicion of cheating to continually getting question-after-question correct, with having very limited education and only being 18 years old. He's even tortured, as the police don't believe his story. But HIS STORY is where it gets quite interesting.

His mother is killed when his village is raided when he is very young. Him and his brother flee, and they end up meeting a girl named Latika who he immediately befriends. Through turmoil and his older brother's influence, Jamal ends up losing Latika, who is of course his first and he believes true-love. Eventually when they get older, Jamal and his brother Salim end up seeking out and rescuing Latika from what would be considered a child-slave trader, whose primary interest in the kids is to find the one's who can sing well and then blind them. Blind singers apparently command(ed) more money to perform or trade there at that time it's set in. After they escape, it is shown how much all 3 of them have changed. Salim unfortunately falls prey to what I'd describe as a mob-businessman; and he's forced-in to taking Latika to him. Jamal loses both of them at that point.

A few years later, he starts working at the cellphone customer service office and stumbles upon their database and both Latika and Salim's whereabouts. He visits both of them, and learns that not a lot has changed. Latika is still more or less a slave to the same wealthy mobster; but he manages to see her and also learn that she watched the Millionaire show. Jamal gets the idea that if he went on the show, she would see him.

What transpires at that point I won't spoil. But it definitely worked on many levels. Logistically I suppose some things didn't necessarily seem entirely realistic, like how would Latika be listed in the cell provider's listing if she more or less was a slave? But the story, flashbacks, and the way it ended up being told was very moving. I particularly liked the youngest portrayals of the three main character most.

It may not be my film of the year, but I would say it's certainly one of the best I've seen in many months. "Transsiberian" and of course "Snow Angels" might be it's biggest competition. I hope more people get to see this. It won some festival awards recently in fact, as the girl from Miramax, who appeared at the theater mentioned.

8/10



Religulous Religulous

Bill Maher somewhat channeling Michael Moore with an agenda that religion is all fiction and fairy tales more or less. This definitely was worth seeing for the amount of comedic value and one-liners. I also liked a lot of the different unusual people from many sects and angles into different religions. The black fella who was a minister I believe, who had been involved as a singer on a pop hit that it escaping me now was a laugh-a-minute. Claiming he was in the Jesus-bloodline, lol. The satanic priest who was a born-again; Maher had a field-day with him. I imagine like Michael Moore and a lot of these cleverly edited documentaries, a lot of footage was shot and edited out, that Maher had no comeback or debate with. But like Michael Moore, it's for entertainment value 1st and foremost, so it didn't matter.

I suppose one thing I wished he'd been able to do is cover more religions, more obscure perhaps like Buddhism, and many of the ethnic religions. Time and resources (money) being factors I suppose. Maybe a 2nd picture will consider doing that. Id' also have liked to have seen Deepak Chopra or at least 1 modern theologist interviewed. I wonder if Chopra declined.

Unlikely the funniest movie of the year, but still one I'm glad I got to see. Maybe since Maher made it, Michael Moore now won't have to.

6.5/10

The Wicker Man

These are a couple of a handful of reviews I mean to add here in the next few days/weeks as I'm starting to consume a fair amount of new films now.

My background with "The Wickerman" is this. I know a fella on some message boards who goes by that screen-name for one, but if I'm not mistaken, he takes it from the song that Iron Maiden wrote. Perhaps the song itself was inspired/named-after the movie or story.


The band Agalloch released an EP earlier this year titled "The White" which takes samples from it. Very folky, dreamy, acoustic. It's really a moving album in fact, and it certainly always made me curious of the source of the samples until I found out they were taken from that 1974 picture, which honestly, reminded of something taken from The Twilight Zone or perhaps The Outer Limits. Even Mysterious Island..when the sample referred to an island, pagans, and a heathen.

Well I happen to be a pretty big fan of Christopher Lee. Mainly a nostalgia and lover of the british "Hammer Series" Dracula pictures. Many others, along with Peter Cushing. He always commands a presence on screen.

Cutting to the chase. I finally saw the 1974 supposed *Horror Classic* which I rented for Halloween. The best things I can say about it is, I liked it more than the remake (not surprisingly), the performances were good from Lee, Edward Woodward (who may be best known for playing the lead role in the 80's crime-drama "The Equalizer"), Ingrid Pitt, and Britt Ekland who among many of the female cast, is hardly shy for the camera (hehe).

The biggest criticism I have are about it is

a) What was up with ALL THE MUSIC? I felt like I was watching a Ken Russell film at times, lol. I mean I guess part of the intent of the director was to make it creepy, in a subtle, lack-of-a-sense-of-reality sort-of-way. I guess. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who kind of got lost watching girls sing while naked over bonfires. And at the same time, I think Woodward's meltdown at them also added to it's lack of suspense.

b) I wished they'd shown more background on how Sgt Howie or whoever on the mainland got word of the girl's disappearance in the 1st place. I suppose it's not something they care about, but logically, it doesn't make a ton of sense for them to call the cops to search for a girl in an entirely different portion of land. I mean, part of it is the society there, but my 1st reaction if I were receiving the notice would be to ask if they have any authorities on the island 1st and foremost for that sort of thing. But that would defeat the purpose of the whole story of course.

I also didn't love how un-poetic the ending was. Had I written it, I'd have had Woodward escape out of the Wicker Man and somehow caused Christopher Lee's "Lord Summerisle" to die either at the hands of the Wicker Man or just from shear shock. It definitely is a film that didn't include the most complete resolution. At the same time, Lee has claimed it's his best or favorite performance of his career (or it was the best film he was ever in, I forget exactly what the bio info said on the DVD)

7/10

Now the remake from '06 at least did give more background on the girl and the fact Nicholas Cage as the cop, comes over to see an old flame and learn it's his own daughter who became missing.

They did try to make it more suspenseful or horror-movie-like. Maybe the best or most creepy thing they had were these two twin ladies who really could have been the much older versions of the two creepy girls that are flashed so freakishly in Kubrick's "The Shining." I genuinely felt creeped out watching them; although the fact it was in daylight didn't help.

The other real head-scratcher that the filmmaker Neil LaBute put in this adaptation was this scene at the beginning with Cage on the highway stopping this lady and her daughter; which eventually leads to a Semi hitting them and Cage attempting but failing to save both the girl or the mother. They kept flashing back to it, which I thought could have worked well, but their never really was any explanation about the significance of it. Was that supposed to be his daughter, Rowan Woodward? (last name I imagine used a cameo sort-of to Edward from the original) Was the fire supposed to be a foreshadow for things to come? It really ended up just being a random event that gives you only your imagination as to what the point of that scene was.

The love story I guess added something, but I would agree with a lot of the comments and reviews online about it. Cage did a good enough job, it's just the material was so predictable and trying to be creepy just for the sake of it, that it didn't add much or have the out-of-left-field approach that the original at least did. At the same time, I probably wouldn't go as far as to think it's the worst movie this decade or anything. Some reviews totally panned it, and I guess for me, it was watchable at least, especially for someone who hadn't seen the original (although of course I would recommend seeing that one as well).

4/10

Mid-season TV Shows to Look Forward To

No time to elaborate, but this is why perhaps the loss of Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone might not be so bad if mainly these new ABC shows actually are 1/2 as good as they sound. Rob Thomas is involved with 2 of them afterall.

Cupid

Good Behaviour

Reaper

Trust Me

Castle

Dollhouse

The Unusuals

Better Off Ted

My Boys

Psych

Monk

Burn Notice

Kyle XY

Lost

Battlestar Galactica

More to come soon..

Writing blogs: while it can be satisfying and maybe not as much of a chore as I think of it to be at times, it always seems to come down to thinking to do it, motivation, and of course the all important time.

I'm in a tough spot now, especially after learning about the potential of my apartment perhaps being required to get shown as early as sometime next month. I am moving out of this, to put it mildly, less-than-satisfactory (esp. in terms of noise, paper-thin-walls) flat on December 31st, 2008 presumably. And of course from now til then, I need to find a better, more acceptable place to live. I have done some research this whole year for places, especially within the last month. However, I still may not have done half of what I need to do still. And of course, all the physical work/time I will require to get my current place in suitable condition.

Plus, sleep, and my regular weekly activities of lots of tv, some films off and on, and concerts, which 1 biggie is tomorrow night in Ours @ the Varsity Theater in Mpls.

here's what happened at the last Ours headlining show in Mpls for me.



However, to summarize, my life has been somewhat hijacked by many things (family events included) in order to even put up in here a fraction of what I could and really should.

2009 = if all goes well, a larger volume of blogging in the AllMediaReviews library should have a chance to be added to.

But I suppose just to add a few things.

wire/news/opinions (music and other media/pop culture notes)

-I love this Japanese modern-Classical/Post Rock/Jazz/Opera/Ambient group
Mutyumu..pretty much blown away and addicted..perhaps to the level of Burst recently and even Apes and Androids. With more time, some longer text should be added about both of those bands/albums. Along with some others which are overdue of course.

-I saw "Choke"..also overdue..and a decent number of films out, coming out, or I hope to see..deserve some space in here as well.

-"My Name Is Bruce" is finally happening in December..and late November supposedly "Fanboys" as well..if not the DVD around X-Mas.

-"Life on Mars" I am digging and may be my favorite new show so far.

-Annuals upstaged Minus the Bear last week at the Varsity Theater..and former local-MN band Themes I enjoyed a lot too.

-New albums from Marillion and Bend Sinister released either tomorrow (10/21)..next Tuesday (10/28) or in November like the 11th i have seen...

-I'm a bit more intrigued by the upcoming album from progressive tech/death band The Faceless now after hearing samples from "Planetary Duality" on their myspace.

-Steve Wilson's "Insurgentes" seems to be getting a lot of hype..I passed on the $40 or whatever the pre-order was for the 2-disc version. I like the guy, but sorry, I passed on the Marillion pre-order after-all. I will be checking the album out when it's available soon still of course.

-Pain of Salvation's new DVD I guess is released on November 25th and to be called "Second Death of"

-Anathallo's "Canopy Glow" is probably not that far away from surfacing I imagine. The thing that did a few weeks ago I liked a decent amount of. Scary, but I may actually prefer it over the new Margot albums actually. It drops next month no matter.

-and of course maybe the biggest remaining record's uncertainty this year is my beloved Soundscape's "Grave New World"..I played the myspace songs again the other day..it may have an outside shot at knocking on the AOY door..the nostalgia is so powerful for me.

-I read about Karnivool in the studio tonight..their new album it doesn't sound like is too far away.

-the 10th dredg "Leaflet" was posted on myspace/youtube..such an f-ing TEASE. 1 of the parts sounded like an Apes and Androids thing..with the "lie lie lie lie lie lie lie"..it sounded like. dredg plays the Varsity Theater on Monday November 17th, 2008.

-I want the Rays to win the World Series. Like Brandon Roy, it's just so like a Minnesota team to get rid of a star-in-the-making in Matt Garza. It was no secret, the guy was a stud. And no Mark Redman or even Mark Prior perhaps. Minnesota = the training ground for players to get traded away eventually and become stars for other teams. Maybe we need different coaching/managerial staff if Garza wouldn't listen to the current coaches here. David Ortiz?..there's no denying there's history and a pattern. It might be a miracle if Liriano remains with the club for the next 5 years. Too bad: a staff of Santana, Liriano, and Garza could have been a potentially historic group. But coulda, shoulda, woulda..as a fan of sports in Minnesota, I should know better. 2-good-2-be-true.

blech..okay..so that's my music/media wire..maybe something like that could be a regular thing here..pics perhaps added over time..

Expectations for veteran artists: MUSIC

I posted this on a journal on another site back in August..and it's been bugging me to expand upon it for quite awhile now.

I'm not sure if I should be sad...or moved. I put on TREOS's BETWEEN THE HEART AND THE SYNAPSE today and it occurred to me how I should really write-up some kind of extensive appreciation for that album. How it may have been lightning-in-a-bottle..their peak and a debut as well.

So then it donned on me how a lot of my favorite albums, bands, even tv shows and directors have a *Peak* or a short window of their top stuff and the rest of their careers they fail to recapture that level. In some rare cases they do or top it..or even come close, but in a good majority they never do. It may not just be 1, but 2 or 3 works. Rush maybe being a big exception.

But many of them had short stints..short catalogs of work.

and to MY TASTE of course.

So it occurred to me what makes a lot of sense is always consider if not assume this to be the case with ANYTHING..any kind of art or entertainment. And then the whole depression that happens about a band splitting up, or a tv show ending/getting canceled that was great is more acceptable, almost better in a way. Even when a celeb dies..they gave us their best..their peak..enjoy the peak.

more to add about this..

MUSIC:

So, okay, that is the deal I guess. Mindset, etc. When I discover a band from now on, get into their back catalog too, the biggest thing to try and remember is to not expect them to move me with their future work as they did with the work that I fell in love with initially. Could this be due to it being *new* to me? Perhaps. Could it also have to do with the common situation of a band/artist trying (or needing) to prove themselves? Maybe as well. Or is it partly due to wanting nostalgia?

I just notice over the last few years especially, my most addictive new albums are from bands that I am new to.

Some examples:

2008: Apes and Androids. Totally out-of-nowhere. Their style is like nothing I really had heard before. So in a way it's like discovering liking a new food.
2006-07: Pure Reason Revolution, Mew, Oceansize, Kaddisfly, The Dear Hunter, Fair to Midland, Kiss Kiss, House of Fools, The Receiving End of Sirens, Between the Buried and Me. All of them were new to me. Styles, and the albums they put out seemed to be cases of them trying to make their mark.

On the flipside, it seems there a lot of cases of bands who put out new records the last couple of years that were disappointing and don't seem to have what I loved about some of their previous work.

2008: Mt.Helium (The Apex Theory), Klimt 1918, and perhaps now Janus whose album leaked last week and I had been anticipating for a couple of years.
2007: Coheed and Cambria, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, Marillion, Dream Theater, and even Rush.

Then there are the bands whose follow-ups of late are good, but not quite the classic hoped for, or of the past.

2008: Ours, King's X, Woven, Demians..some others..Marillion, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's?
2007: Blackfield, Oceansize, Three

So the latest that I'm unclear where it'll go is the new Margot releases. HYPE HYPE HYPE..really since the middle, or late last year. And now having heard both albums, I'm still a little worried it won't be as big a deal as I hoped/thought. I've heard it enough times to know I like a lot of it; and it's a step up from RETREAT overall. But as just a comparison: the new Burst album I love right now and it's jumped all the way up to #3 on my list..but it was right from the 1st time hearing it, impressive. I was wondering if finally with all of the work on both NOT ANIMAL and ANIMAL!, a band could put some pressure on BLOOD MOON, but I'm becoming skeptical now. It really reminds me more of the situation with the new Marillion album. A LOT of material there, and none of it really bad, but as a moving, coherent, cohesive, body of work on 1 release, both of them don't seem to have the desire for repeated play and repeated discovery.

SET SAIL THE PRAIRIE demanded that (repeated play, and repeated discovery) because it had so many styles and flowed so well from beginning to end. And BLOOD MOON does too. It's also just 1 of those things, an album that you put on and your energy instantly is raised. It brings a smile to your face. It goes beyond hearing sounds through headphones. When something moves you, or is effective therapy enough where when you need a boost or something to help you forget something bad, you turn to it and it bails you out. That, to me, is what separates a classic or just addictive album, from just a really good collection of songs. And as much as I'm someone who finds still has boundaries with the avant-garde, Rock Operas, or just some highly conceptual work; for some reason most of my favorite albums of all-time seem to be the ones that have a great cohesiveness to them. Their story, mystery, etc is what drives me to enjoy them over and over. Maybe it's my love for imagination, I'm not sure.

So that all being said, what I thought I also could do is sort of give a list of upcoming veteran bands who have albums expected in the near future and how I'm going to try to keep the *peak* theory in mind.

2009 Anticipation List

Kevin Gilbert: In this situation, it's pretty much gravy due to the fact the stuff that's going to come out soon is material he made many years ago. But instead of expecting another SHAMING or even THUD, I want to hope these will be good enough to demand some repeated play. At least to the amount of THUD which I probably only play maybe a couple of times a year.

Mew: In their case, I still don't think they've made a classic record yet. But given some other bands like Klimt 1918 for example, I want to avoid hoping they'll top FRENGERS or KITES even. If they do, cool, but if not, at least those 2 records will seem all the more better.

The Dear Hunter: This one is a bit tough since both ACTS are great and seemingly Casey Crescenzo can do no wrong right now. But given that in 2007 this groups sort of came out of nowhere and them/Casey have fastly become my favorite current songwriter today, I am gonna have to really work to avoid expecting another 4.5 star record here. He's just so good and has an awesome knack for songwriting and telling a story, this one may be one of if not the most difficult ones to avoid being disappointed if I don't love it. But then again, Rush, The Beatles, etc..they did it for many records in a row. However, if another Apes and Androids comes along next year, it still may hurt the amount of time it gets. Hopefully not.

Imogen Heap Her last record has a lot of goosebump-worthy songs on it and no songs I ever skip. Something magical about "Speak For Yourself." She's great, but I guess I don't want to expect her to have that same impact again on me; because if I do, I will be sad and perhaps even not regard her as my favorite female artist today, which she is. So I suppose expecting the new album to have a handful of songs that good might be best..if there's more, well then it's just cherries on the sundae.

dredg: Considering the level of expectations for CWA I guess after EL CIELO put them on the map, their new album I want to just consider mild expectations with. Look at Coheed last year. I still really love those middle 2 albums, but they were coming off my favorite record of theirs. The next dredg album I don't want to expect EL CIELO part 2, but I somehow question how much like CATCH WITHOUT ARMS it'll be. Actually, in a way, CWA was more addictive due to the energy and pop-like element to it. I suppose this next album's fate will be partly due to how good the energy is. If the quality is of CWA's I don't think it'll fall into the disappointment category. But, the fact is, this is the 1st album by them I do expect something since back in 2005 I had not heard much dredg at all.

Mute Math: Based on the samples on the videos, this new album from them sounds like it could be really good. And to add to that, I don't consider their debut LP to be that amazing over time. They became a superior band live. So if we get much of the same, well their status as a studio band goes nowhere. I like their chances of not disappointing me.

OSI: FREE was a good example of this problem. The S/T debut was a very good record, and FREE just lacked so much of what I loved about the debut. I suppose I could see this a bit like Mars Volta; the bar has been lowered to the point where it's very likely the only place they go is up. Besides, Jim Matheos hasn't done much since FREE as from what I've read. Hopefully he's come up with some new guitar riffs and tones, as well as Kevin Moore. Maybe having Gavin Harrison won't hurt either, but also expectations won't be too high since this is the 1st time he'll have worked with either of them I guess.

The Appleseed Cast: I liked PEREGRINE a lot, but not to the point of addiction. So I guess I'm not likely to expect anything better than that. I read something about their being a very small percentage of vocals on their upcoming record titled "Sagarmantha."

Kaddisfly: Similar to The Dear Hunter. Their last work was just so damn good, and addictive, I may struggle with not wanting another 5-star work. I have felt for a long time now, there's no way they'll be able to shock me like they did again; but at least I can't get past wanting a lot of the inspiration that PRAIRIE gave me. This one will be hard, but maybe the best thing is just to believe their peak was so high it won't matter.

Pure Reason Revolution:Actually I have some optimism here just based on the samples and new work, and how much less demand THE DARK THIRD has had over time. Topping TDT I'm not wanting to expect, but at least going back to their new record as much I don't think is outlandish. The trip-hop and electro style I've only grown to like MORE, so there new album may be pretty safe not to worry.

Pain of Salvation: SCARSICK lowered their bar. If they make another album like that though, they probably will be into Dream Theater's expectation area then. The issues could be the new bass player and drummer, and what Daniel Gildenlow really hopes to accomplish with their next work. I guess unless they go off the deep-end entirely into avant-garde styles, I don't really foresee why their next album may disappoint me. At the same time, I don't expect another record of the level of REMEDY LANE or THE PERFECT ELEMENT PART 1. Or even their 1st 2 records. I'd love a solid 4-star record honestly. If they go higher, well maybe it'll be considered a comeback.

Karnivool: THEMATA became an addictive album the last 12 months for me. Although, a bit like Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, it's not a perfect record or anything. But an impressive debut for sure. I suppose like Margot, if there's a lot of hype, the danger of high expectations might happen. But outside of Australia, this band is not well-known enough for that amount of hype. At least from what I've seen. So I guess at this point, an album that is at least of THEMATA's quality is all I will regard as an expectation. If it does not go that high, I suppose my feeling on them may be more of like Apex Theory or Brazil. One nice record, but that may be it. Hopefully not as they seem to standout among all those other alt-prog bands from down under. Dead Letter Circus might be the only one that could be in their league at some point.

tbc...

Film: Transsiberian and Burn After Reading. Music:Small Update

Transsiberian imdb link

Forget how much I saw on this prior to reading the summary and seeing it. But the premise sounded like my kind of Indie flick anyway. A couple choose to trek across much of the Russian territories via train instead of flying home to presumably their native USA. They meet another couple through their bunk who seem inviting enough to keep them company along the way; except quite early-on in that time amongst that couple their seems to be way too much more than meets the eye.

Emily Mortimer is very convincing as a woman in more than enough unstable situations involving death, deceit, and a few types of investigations on foreign soil. Ben Kingsley eventually shows up as a Russian detective whose ultimate motivations are not known until the climax of the film.

Woody Harrelson provides reasonable, but not spectacular comic-relief and naivete throughout. And Eduardo Noriega who plays Carlos is both creepy and charming. I guess the things that stand out about this film most are:

a) how dark the plot and story is.

b) Partial spoiler: but why the Jessie character was so paranoid, and time after time with the detectives, to not explain what exactly happened with Carlos. Self-defense among other things you'd think a normal person would consider, especially after all the questions. The guilt and lying seemed like it was eating her up. I suppose the writers did that intentionally; and perhaps the uncertainity of what could happen to her by explaining that in of all countries, Russia, was a big risk itself. But when they are torturing someone, you have no shoes and socks on and gun to your head..um, most people would break under that pressure I imagine.

c) Carlos and Roy ..when Roy disappeared, my 1st suspicion when Carlos picked up the crowbar or whatever it was, was, he was going-to and then did take out Roy then and there. Why he tried to act like he did not care at all when Roy disappeared.

d) the Carlos character, while he was clever in ways, he definitely came across as having alterior motives for many things he did. I suppose that is part of his character, but if the writer/directors of this picture wanted him to be more devious and masked, I guess he didn't really pull that off. Just his relationship with his girlfriend seemed half-assed to a point. But if that was the intention, it worked well since he seemed pretty untrustworthy throughout. But Jessie of course seemed to trust him more than I expected. Also what led to his demise, really, was one of those unrealistic events, that liberties I suppose a film fan can let slide. The effect still worked really well though.

Concluding that this was definitely in the vein of my top film of '08 "Snow Angels" and maybe moreso, the other Woody Harrelson film I saw this year in "Sleepwalking." Dark, character study; and one that has the characters changing/growing and enduring a lot to get past a current predicament. Also it does explore a bit of a theme I thought was interesting in Drug Mules. It reminded me of how they used that work as a plot element in the film "Maria Full of Grace." Dark, dangerous, business, that those who get involved don't always know how risky it is.

7.5/10



Burn After Reading
imdb link

I've never been a HUGE Coen Brothers fan, but I still have enjoyed stuff like "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo," for example. I guess my impressions of this based on the trailers were it looked a bit contrived and OVERCAST especially. You'd find yourself looking at the ACTORS and many of them left and right in a matter of seconds; instead of the characters they are playing. I suppose this movie didn't entirely avoid that, but it had enough mystery and love trapezoids (not a triangle..not a square even) to allow it to pull me in. The plot(s) were silly, but I didn't find myself taking each situation too seriously to care enough for it to hurt the overall impact.

George Clooney, John Malkovich, and Richard Jenkins I guess are worth watching in most work they do anyway. The loose ends were for the most part tied up save for Tilda Swinton and Clooney's wife. I also found it kind of ironic how Clooney and Swinton end up in so many scenes together, just after they were at huge odds in last year's Oscar nominated "Michael Clayton." Not intentional, but ironic, and ironic how the film up against that one at the Oscars was also a Coen Brothers in "No Country For Old Men."

The best Coen Bros movie? no. Film of the Year? no. Oscar Worthy? I wouldn't think so. Entertaining? Yes, if you don't expect huge comedic or dramatic genius. Coen Brothers I have never found to be nearly as brilliant as they are made out to be, but they are relatively consistent, so I don't imagine even the stack full of casting and the goofy twist the plot takes kills this one for me. Really, it's about on par with many of the recent Apatow films. Decent, but not brilliant.

6.5/10

Upcoming: Choke..more tba as I've caught some previews and reviews of late that I cannot recall at the moment (9/25/08).

Also coming soon/long overdue: a whole boatload of album and some concert reviews. Between the Buried and Me live may or may not happen next week for myself. I am absent from seeing Sigur Ros and Opeth this week, being out of town. 3, Minus the Bear, Brian Wilson, dredg, and Amanda Palmer are all on my concert calendar. Perhaps even seeing Terry Bozzio in St.Paul on 10/19.

in the meantime:
2008 Top Albums

2008 Anticipated

2009 Anticipated

some copying/pasting and more drivel probably could be absorbed here in the near future.

My most played record of the last week:
Burst - Lazarus Bird

Also addicted to:
Jared Micah & Hats - TCMOH

New to:
Friendly Fires
The Alps and The Alps (seriously, 2 different bands..different styles, both good)
Adebisi Shank
Exotic Animal Petting Zoo

Also some tv commentary shouldn't be too far off. FRINGE is the best new show I've seen thus far.

Fall TV Season 2008-09: Friday/Weekend/Cable

7PM

NBC has this show called "Crusoe" which really doesn't look like anything special, but the previews didn't look horrible at the same time. Sam Neil in like his 50th NBC show/miniseries. Based on the character from the Robinson Crusoe book of course.

8PM

The Ex-List: tv.com link



Premieres: October 3rd (CBS)

Creator Diane Ruggiero and 20th Century Fox Television brings The Ex List to CBS. When a woman visits a psychic and discovers that she's already dated the man she is destined to marry, she sets out to find out who it is by looking up past loves.

This looks good, and hopefully a somewhat suitable replacement for a show I really enjoyed last season in "Moonlight." Elizabeth Reaser I have liked from seeing her in Grey's Anatomy and the independent film "Sweetland" among other things. The premise sounds like it may have some legs as well. And as far as network tv, really this is the only thing I'm planning to watch/dvr for now regularly on Fridays.


9PM

Life: tv.com link

I never watched it last year. Some episodes were on my DVR. Donal Logue, who I liked in a few things I saw the past years, notably the film "The Dao of Steve" and "Knights of Prosperity," is joining the cast. I guess I may have to ask a friend of mine what he thinks before tuning in, but I wouldn't eliminate ever watching this.

Scifi Channel has a new show called "Sanctuary" which looks dark, but potentially interesting. It may depend. In looking up a bit of info about it the other day however, it seems like it's cast and writers come mostly out of the Stargate-franchise which for most part fails in my interest. Amanda Tapping: She joins the ATLANTIS show once SG-1 is over, and now she's in this?..mmkay. But, I again don't mean to entirely judge a book by it's cover, so I may check it out before writing it off.

Sunday:

8PM

Valentine: tv.com link



Premieres: October 5th (CW)

Greek deities Aphrodite and her son Eros have settled here on Earth and are in the matchmaking business in this romantic dramedy from The CW.

Valentine is produced by Media Rights Capital. 13 episodes have been ordered for the first season.

This sounds potentially good. And while the names in this case don't totally ring any bells, they look familiar for some reason. "Aliens In America" sadly is gone, but this could be the potential sleeper show like that one, they come up with this season (it seems they come up with 1 or 2, but still cancel them like AiA among others).

Also of course many show's info hasn't come out yet, but will be on the air this season. Battlestar Galactica has 10 episodes left and a movie I guess now. Reaper will be back and it may replace 90210 or Privileged (probably this) sooner than later depending on ratings, lol. Rob Thomas from VERONICA MARS has 1 or perhaps 2 shows coming out. One being the reprise/return of "Cupid."

And, of course the cable shows which are winding down their Summer seasons. Psych, Monk, Burn Notice, and Kyle XY. Dr.Who, Torchwood, and the Sarah Jane Adventures I haven't seen much on. There is to be a Christmas Invasion episode at least with the Cybermen returning, and a movie I guess with Tennant, there's talks about.

Also HBO's "True Blood" I'm in the process of seeking out. But I don't get HBO so that really has no set schedule for myself. But vampires and Anna Paquin plus some reviews have caused me want to check it out.

Fall TV Season 2008-09: Thursdays

7PM

Smallville: tv.com link



Premiere: September 18th (CW)

The one veteran show the CW has maintained and kept my attention in recent years (Gilmore, Veronica are gone now), and actually gets decent ratings by their standards, lol. Although, the show is near shark-jumping terriroty if it wasn't already. It should end soon, and I have read this is to be the last season (hopefully they won't pull a 7th Heaven on us). But, even that being the case, much of the cast keeps dropping off the credits; which actually that's happened each of the last couple of seasons. Really since Pete left if I recall. Yeah, they've added some new cast since, most notably Erica Durance as Lois, but that was inevitable for the Superman Universe. But apparently Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum are off the opening credits, along with the girl who played Kara last season. What we're left with I guess would be: Clark, Chloe, Lois, and perhaps Jimmy. And some new faces I recall reading.

I just hope we get some resolution with Lex finally becoming the evil foe we know him to be, and of course Clark has got to fly, lol. They could and should bring back Oliver Queen and the Justice League, which I heard they are, but the previews didn't include all the guys we knew from it (just Queen and Aquaman a friend told me). And the other kind of unresolved plot I have remembered is with the Martian who has popped up couple of times the last 2 seasons.

Yeah there are some continuity errors, and it is partially for Superman-fans and those into eye-candy. But given what else there is to watch, there's a lot of other things I'd get bored by.


Ugly Betty: tv.com link



Premieres: September 25th (ABC)

I'm not gonna say a lot here because frankly, I haven't watched this show in over a year. But I suppose I would not discount the idea of getting back into it due to the fact Thursdays have now become very light with TV (as opposed to a few years ago when it was the busiest night of the week). Like Battlestar Galactica, it might be worth a 2nd assessment/investment as I always enjoyed it, but not immensely or anything. I like America Ferrara and Rebecca Romijn should add reason themselves (even tho her plot has always seemed absurd..maybe more than the Patrick character on Men In Trees having a black biological father).

7-7:30

My Name Is Earl: tv.com link



Premieres: September 25th (NBC)

Somewhat like Betty and even Smallville. This show has very a very low amount of interest for me now. Frankly, it has jumped the shark as well. The writing isn't what it once was. Crabman: they don't even use or his lines aren't as funny as they had been. I have resounded to the fact I don't plan to watch this regularly. Maybe with a good guest, which at times they have had. But it was one of the best sitcoms on TV, just a couple of years ago sadly.


8PM

Grey's Anatomy

I stopped watching this show as well, even if Katherine Heigl is hard to ignore. Writing, and Hospital/Medical Dramas as a whole get too serious, too disgusting, and have very little appeal to me normally. This one did for a while with some of it's subtle humor and cast, but even that overall is gone. Heigl frankly is probably the only reason I'd want to watch it, and she even said publically how she thought the writing sucked last season.

9PM

Life On Mars: tv.com link



Premieres: October 9th (ABC)

ABC Studios, 20th Century Fox Television, and Kudos Productions are co-producing the remake of BBC drama Life on Mars . Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) is a detective from the 21st century who travels back in time to the 1970s after a car accident. Tyler clashes with new boss Gene Hunt who doesn't take his coming from the future seriously. Tyler ends up working on a case involving a serial killer...


Ok, I had the British show on my DVR and only was able to watch a couple of episodes of both seasons for various reasons. They disappeared sadly. But I liked it. It had the dude who played the Master in the new Dr.Who among others. Very 70's, very British, and very much an action/mysterious cop show involving the leads future life, etc.

So this comes out and it does look very similar. The new tradition it seems of Hollywood adopting a popular show from England.
It has Rachel LeFevre who seemingly has shown up on more than half the tv shows I watched the last few years as a guest (What About Brian, Boston Legal, Two and a Half Men..some others I'm not remembering now).

edit: apparently she's not on the show anymore. Gretchen Mol got recast I guess just from looking at the credits. Ok, fair is fair, but I was looking forward to seeing her. Gretchen Mol I like too, but that kind of sucks. On the other hand, Harvey Keitel and Lisa Bonet are also going to be on this. Cool. I recall Colm Meaney aka Chief O'Brien from the Star Trek franchises among others (Men In Trees most recently) was also going to be on this but alas, nothing is listed as far as I can tell.

David E Kelley is involved, for some controversial reasons involving blackmail with ABC 86'ing Boston Legal if he didn't I remember reading. No matter, I like his work too. Why I am optimistic this could be one of the best new shows this fall, and at this point it's not gonna have a lot of competition. "The Eleventh Hour" on CBS doesn't have much interest from me at 9PM or actually the entire evening. No, this very easily could be along with Smallville the only show I'm gonna watch/dvr on Thursday which in a way is a relief. Although, Lost's timeslot may determine what happens to this come Winter, but hopefully it won't impact it's fate entirely.

Fall TV Season 2008-09: Wednesdays

7PM



Pushing Daisies: tv.com link

Premieres: October 1st (ABC).

Bryan Fuller seems to have struck gold over and over with TV. Work on Deep Space 9, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Heroes, and now this show. Very Tim Burton-like, but also certainly has elements of 2 of those babies in DLM and Wonderfalls. The odd, inventive elements of nature, god, and science that we don't exactly know as well as we thought. Lee Pace stars, and I always liked him on Wonderfalls. The premise itself with Ned's ability to revive the dead for 1 minute, seems a bit short, but I guess that's part of it's appeal. And of course the whole having to touch them again within that minute or someone else dies is funny. Question being, is that always how the show will work? For now, yes, but maybe not as the show explores more ideas and plots. Everything with his non-touching love and lust for Chuck his childhood unfulfilled love interest. The Emerson character is probably as funny as anything on the show. I also really like hearing the narration from Jim Dale whom I will admit, really enjoyed his voice work in the Harry Potter audio-books.

Strike-impacted of course as it didn't return and only being it's 1st season last season like some others. We may be in for a treat as to what transpires for Ned, Chuck, Emerson, and talented Kristin Chenowith's character Olive. It should be interesting and also I'm still hoping to spot more DLM and Wonderfalls alumni at some point.

7:30PM




Gary Unmarried: tv.com link

Premieres: September 24th (CBS).


A newly divorced father of two balances life with his new girlfriend and his ex-wife to whom he was married for fifteen years. Jay Mohr ( Saturday Night Live )stars in this CBS multi-camera comedy. 13 episodes have been ordered for season 1. The show is being produced by ABC Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television .

Not that I'm a huge Jay Mohr fan, but he's not been horrible in some of the movies and guest-appearances I recall seeing him in. But I guess the biggest thing about this one is the previews looked pretty good. Not a totally unfamiliar plotline for a sitcom, but CBS has been batting a decent percentage with sitcoms this decade especially. I'm gonna give this a go. I like Paula Marshall too who I last recall seeing somehow replacing Jeri Ryan in-a-way on "Shark" the end of last season.

8:30



Do Not Disturb: tv.com link

Premieres: September 10th (Fox).

A glamorous New York hotel has a not-so-glamorous staff in this multi-camera comedy project from FOX.

I am guilty right now having not seen any trailers or anything for this (I'm sure they're online, I just need to find them). However, a sitcom set at a hotel with en eclectic cast of characters sounds like it could have something. Jerry O'Connell stars, and while not everything he has done I love, he has done some work I really enjoy. Sliders for example. He definitely has been and can be one of those actors I just like watching (and no, it's not due to his looks, no thank you. He is an attractive guy, but I don't swing that way ya know :P). He even was on an episode of "Samantha Who?" last season which he wasn't bad in. The rest of the cast, while I am not remembering their names, they look familiar anyway. Perhaps some of this could have a similar spontaneity and interesting adventure-style comedy that I enjoyed about a newer film with Wonderfalls's Caroline Dhavernas and Craig Ferguson called "Niagra Motel" (probably one that deserves a review itself). A story about a bunch of characters connected in some ways at a motel. Guess we'll see. But with Gary Unmarried and this on Wednesdays, there could be 2 of the best new sitcoms on 1 night. An odd combo if Lost returns as well to Wednesdays in the Winter.

9PM

Lost: (ABC):

edit: considering this is a mid-season start and

a) nothing I've found indicates if it'll be airing here again or Thursday like it did at the end of last season. And perhaps 8PM instead of 9PM.

b) It probably warrants it's own individual blog in fact. BSG and some others in fact may too.

the Lost review/preview/conflicts will have to hold-off for now.

Jeremiah (TV Show)

tv.com link

So after approximately 6 weeks of airing 4 episodes every Thursday, The Scifi Channel finished airing every episode of this show this past week. Albeit edited given the fact it originally aired on Showtime with nudity and profanity among some other non-censored elements.

My history with this show. I was/am a J Michael Straczynski fan of course with Babylon 5, one of the best Scifi or any kind of dramas on television over the last 2 decades. After that, he went on to start, but then get screwed over by TNT with the Gary Cole B5 spin-off show "Crusade." Which did air 13 episodes in the summer of 1999. I liked "Crusade" and have always felt it was a shame it was not picked-up by SCIFI or another network; but actually that Summer of 1999 I knew off the bat it was done sadly. So in a way it was like watching a Mini-series.

Fast-Fwd. Towards the end of Star Trek Voyager's run, the next ST franchise was talked about. And what ended up being the largely disappointing Rick Berman created "Enterprise," could have, and frankly SHOULD HAVE been JMS's next project. Maybe the failure of "Crusade" impacted that, but more likely, Paramount was still in bed with Berman, and JMS's pitch, much like it was turned down nearly a decade earlier, wasn't given much chance as I have read. Of course the whole Babylon 5/Deep Space 9 story many know about. The paralells, etc. I will just say that was certainly 1 case of when I'm glad they didn't give JMS the greenlight, since as a result, instead of having 1 classic Scifi show, we got 2. And DS9 also I will always trace back to my 1st real love of Scifi and Star Trek.

So, what I presume went down, JMS had this show "Jeremiah" which is somewhat loosely based on a comic-book series by a Belgian writer named Herman Huppen. A deadly plague known as "The Big Death" has wiped most adult humans, and the kids have had to grow up in the post-apocalyptic world. 90210's Luke Perry and The Cosby Show's Malcolm Jamal-Warner star.

I rented the 1st disc from Netflix a few years ago, but never got around to renting the rest of the 1st season, nor the 2nd season of course. The premise sounded interesting. Reasonable cast. And maybe best, it was from JMS.

Now finally having finished watching both seasons, I will say it was certainly one of the better Scifi shows to come out this decade. I really liked the adventures and uncertainities they explored about how the world was, rebuilding it, and starting-over. The 2nd season wasn't as good as the 1st, but they did add Sean Astin, which interestingly was maybe at his peak of stardom just following the huge exposure he got with the LOTR movies. His character towards the end of the show references humans re-setting of some kind. It's 16 years since the "Big Death" and now that the kids from then are old enough, they are going in a similar struggle as a race.

They also added another character the 2nd season in Libby, who has a connection to Jeremiah working with his dad at "Valhalla Sector." Not to spoil it entirely, but her character of course has more than one side, and she ends up connecting with Jeremiah when they meet through her dad at the beginning of Season 2. What transpires later with her and her work and life with Jeremiah isn't fully explained unfortunately. Bad enough her character does not stay throughout the whole season, but I really wished they'd told more about her background with coming to Valhalla Sector and everything else that led her to do what she did.

Overall, this show definitely stands out among stories I have read/seen about post-apocalyptic worlds. That idea, when done well, is an appealing story idea in Scifi and all fiction really. Although "Children of Men" sadly could have been done well in a similar way, but unfortunately I didn't feel it succeeded. The dark tone, and in-your-face war and violence kind of killed that movie among some other reasons. However, getting to experience this show and it's story, I have renewed faith that it can be created in a beneficial and entertaining way in Hollywood.

Put it up along side the likes of great short-lived shows like Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Freaks and Geeks, Brimstone, etc.

The biggest thing now I think is, it still leaves me wondering if/when JMS will get a chance to do another show like this. Just scanning his credits on imdb, it looks like he's doing a bunch of work in films now, which makes me curious. Judd Apatow's path became that in fact, maybe he noticed and is following suit. I still could go for him directing an episode of Lost, perhaps Battlestar Galactica (the show that reminds me most of B5 since B5 ended), and course someday still Star Trek. Hopefully Jeremiah can be another piece to add to why he should have those opportunities if he so desires them at some point.

Fall TV Season 2008-09: Tuesday...

These are a couple of links I like:

tviv: Somewhat updated Grid
wiki's helpful grid

7PM

90210 (The Next Generation..hehe): tv.com link



Premieres: September 2nd (CW)

I'm only vaguely curious about this maybe mostly due to the fact my recent discovery of "Jeremiah" and Luke Perry in that show. Very likely I'm gonna watch it once and maybe again only for certain guest appearances. Rob Thomas may not be involved much beyond the pilot. Kinda scary to think this is occupying Gilmore Girls longtime timeslot.

8PM

Fringe: tv.com link



Premieres: September 9th (Fox)

FBI agents Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop are faced with a rapidly spreading unexplained phenomenon of the threatening kind. In an attempt to stop the spread, they enlist the assistance of Bishop's estranged father, the institutionalized scientist Dr. Walter Bishop. Dawson's Creek 's Joshua Jackson will play the lead role of Peter Bishop, a smart guy with many gambling debts. The Secret...

The premise of this show sounds a bit like a very short-lived show from the 90's I used to catch reruns on Sunday Nights on the Scifi channel called "The Burning Zone." A secret government task force fight some dangerous diseases to save mankind. Josh Jackson I have liked beyond his Dawson's Creek work. And it is JJ Abrams for what that's worth. He actually has a bit of a similar history with tv as Whedon. Cult-fans, some great stuff that critics loved, and a few gambles that didn't pay off (see Six Degrees, The Nine..sadly even What About Brian). Between this and the Trek film, Hollywood has not denied him any creative chances. I'm cautiously optimistic. Depends on if it gets to be too detailed and serious. I don't need a 24 here.

Privileged: tv.com link



Premieres: September 9th (CW)

Originally called Surviving the Filthy Rich, this CW drama is an adaptation of the popular Zoey Dean novel How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls. In the series, Yale graduate Megan Smith recently moves to Manhattan with hopes of finding success in the field of journalism. However, when her plans go wrong, she accepts a job as the live-in tutor helping two wealthy high school students in Palm Springs get accepted at a top university. Privileged, from Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Network Television., has reveived a 13 episode contract from The CW Television Network. The executive producers are Gilmore Girls' Rina Mimoun and Gossip Girl's Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein. 30 Rock's Michael Engler directed the pilot.

I'm not huge into Teen Dramas. Dra-medy's however can work (Gilmore Girls, Men In Trees). I like Joanna Garcia (Freaks and Geeks, Welcome to the Captain), and the girl from the failed Bionic Woman show last year might add a bit. But let's just say, this only will get me to watch if there's nothing else, or it surprises me a lot. But, judging books by their covers I try to avoid. I wonder if Reaper will eventually return at this timeslot in the Winter. Very likely not.

The Mentalist: tv.com link



Premieres: September 23rd (CBS)

The Mentalist tells the tale of Patrick Jane who is employed as an independent detective working with the California Bureau of Investigation to solve crimes. He has refined his observations skills to a near perfect level and lends these skills to the CBI to help them solve cases. The team that he works with consists of the senior agent, Teresa Gibson, agents Kimball Cho & Wayne Rigsby and the rookie, Grace Van Pelt.

It has reminded some people of "Psych," a show I love and my favorite current program on all of television. But actually it sounds more like "Monk." It's just this guy doesn't have a partner or assistant. And likely not the same kind of humor nor much mystery on his ability to solve cases. Simon Baker's name is familiar, but his work isn't to me. "Devils Wears Prada" and a short-lived (rarely-if-ever-aired show) "Smith" are his only work I have heard about. Not a lot of optimism, but the other stuff it's up against I'm not either so it has as good a shot as any of finding my viewing or never crossing my consumer-palette.

8:30PM

The Goode Family: tv.com link



Premieres: Midseason (ABC)

"It's so difficult being good."

Mike Judge, creator of Beavis & Butt-Head and King of the Hill, brings us this new animated series about an obsessively "green" family whose politically correct liferesults in constant laughs.

ABC has so far ordered 13 episodes of this series. The show is scheduled to air midseason.

The show is being produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and Media Rights Capital.

I love Beavis and Butthead, and "Office Space" is very *Classic*. But "King of the Hill" I never got into. Mike Judge sadly may need the comforts of a lesser-censored format (Cable and movies) to excel the most. But, the premise to this sounds like it could have some potential. I do think he writes well when he's set in modern-day (as opposed to King of the Hill). Given it's a mid-season replacement show, and on ABC, this may not be on the air long enough to find it's audience. But by January the other stuff on at it's time may not be worth the time of day, so it could get some ratings by default.

9PM

Eli Stone: tv.com link



Premieres: October 14th (ABC).

Good show! Johnny Lee Miller I'll probably never forget for his work in the Angelina Jolie mid-90's film "Hackers." His role here isn't exactly like that one, but he still is quite good here as a protagonist lawyer; with visions of the future from a brain Aneurysm that seems to dictate much of his life's path whether he likes it or not. This show had good writing, a good albeit familiar cast (Victor Garber from Alias, Natasha Henstridge, Julia Gonzalo from Veronica Mars, Tom Cavanagh from Ed and Love Monkey). But it kind of came out of nowhere last year and lived up to the ads ABC force-fed the public during Lost, even with the George Michael obsession. The fact his condition got exposed to everyone may be the hardest thing to get past. Many good shows at 1st have a character with a secret, and once the secret comes out, the show needs something more. However in this case, it's a legal drama that with Boston Legal going away, it may benefit from filling those shoes regardless. It's even taken over BL's familiar 9pm timeslot on Tuesdays. We'll see how well it does and if some of the BL audience comes on over by the Winter when presumably it'll be the only law drama ABC will have on the air.

Fall TV Season 2008: Mondays

Mondays:
This is a cluster-fuck, like it was last year of course. And to complicate things more this season, the Terminator show is now on regularly and it's replacement in the Winter is to be the new Joss Whedon "Dollhouse" show which I'm at least curious about as well. I may either do some watching online (on the network's sites perhaps) or actually be forced to use my vcr in the case of 3 shows on at the same time. If a 4th comes up, like perhaps when KYLE XY comes back, well then the web or hopefully in that case, the common Encore at 10PM happens.

7PM:
Chuck: tv.com link



Premiere: September 29th. (NBC)

Good freshman show last year. Comedic spy dramedy. It never really got dull, and was a great lead-in to HEROES at 8. The only challenge may be to reproduce the charm and mystery it had. Perhaps it will help with the fact it only aired for 1/2 a season i.e. some of the good story ideas were casualties of the Strike. I wonder how long the writers will be able to keep Chuck's secret from his sister (and best friend). The hot blond, Sarah Lancaster and Adam Baldwin were all good along with Zack Levi of course. Tony Todd was a bit underused. A friend of mine thinks a good idea would be to bring in Rick Gomez who I last saw on "What About Brian" since his brother Josh plays the best friend of Chuck. Also it could be a bit of reunion since Sarah Lancaster also was a star on "What About Brian."

edit: apparently John Laroquette is joining the cast replacing Tony Todd. He was decent but not amazing on Boston Legal last season. I guess it'll depend on what kind of character he plays here. If he's the uptight CIA boss ready to meltdown, it could be good for some laughs.


7-7:30PM

Big Bang Theory: tv.com link


Premiere: September 22nd (CBS)

This was perhaps the best new show of the season. Well-written sitcom about 2 science geeks and their 2 other friends, who are living across the hall from a cute blond girl who is a kind of genius in her own way socially by being able to interact with them. The writers of "Two and a Half Men" may have struck even more shiny gold with this one. While it replaced a show I really grew to like in "The Class" I'd say it was more than worthy of the 7pm time-slot. The nerd/scifi humor, when done well (and not taken too seriously), is some of the best comedic material in entertainment today (see Freaks and Geeks, Fanboys, and a lot of the stuff Judd Apatow has done).

No, this show is a big winner, the only hurdle it may face is trying to repeat it's brilliance again. The ole "sophomore slump" that may not be too much of an issue given the writers have gone through it before with Two-and-a-Half-Men already.

7:30-8PM

How I Met Your Mother: tv.com link


Premiere: September 22nd (CBS)

Probably the best veteran sitcom around. A few years ago, this was by far the best thing going on network tv in the sitcom game (Gilmore Girls being more of a Dramedy). Neil Patrick-Harris has finally received the Emmy/Globe recognition on after a few years of utter brilliance for his work on this show. Barney still steals every scene. The backwards storytelling formula, while it hasn't changed drastically, has a lot staying-power. Even if they haven't added a 3rd female character (maybe to avoid the Friends paralells). Not sure what romantic twists the writers will do this season, being the 4th already. Maybe addressing who the woman was at that party Ted claims to have met the kids future mother at. Sarah Chalke played the love interest last year, but given the fact Scrubs is back (and on a new network in ABC) she may be written out of the show pretty fast. No matter, this is still a can't miss show, with an occasional dull episode. But the best ones I find are great therapy on a Monday evening after a less-than-upbeat day at work.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles: tv.com link



Premiere: September 8th. (Fox)

A show that didn't seem to be that intriguing from the previews. But actually, amidst the Strike-period of last Winter, it was great at filling the void along with Lost then. The story got interesting with them hiding out in the future; perhaps trying to reshape the future. And the characters you grew to like. Sure, it wasn't exactly like the movies, but it had enough of the darker, epic saga built-in the tone and style that it won me and I think a lot more people over than expected. Lena Heady was pretty good along with Summer Glau as the John Connor protective Terminator. We don't still know about her programming or AI perhaps changing her agenda at some point. And of course along with the black FBI Agent's motivations. Even the possibility of him being a Terminator which I recall in the 1st or 2nd episode we sort of see a glance of his eye with one of those red lights. However, he would be so evolved that there's no way he would be able to mask it all those years. I'm doubting it, but it wouldn't shock me if eventually it turns out he is. And while I'm curious about the Christian Bale film coming next Spring, I can't say my interest is as high right now as this show. By next Spring I may know more.

Dollhouse: tv.com link



Premieres: January 2009 (Fox)

The Dollhouse is a very secret, and very illegal, place where wishes come true. Clients with the right connections and enough money can hire "Actives", people who have been programmed to perfectly fulfill the needs, and desires of their clients. The Actives are people who have chosen, for their own reasons, to surrender their bodies and minds for a five-year stay in the Dollhouse. Now they can...

The premise sounds interesting. It includes Eliza Dushku and of course is a project of Joss Whedon, which may doom it for longterm airings (Firefly, Tru Calling). But that doesn't mean this will not be worth checking out. It also stars Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett and Harry J Lennix whose familiar from the 2 Matrix Sequels and the Anthony Hopkins/Gary Sinise film "Human Stain." Maybe the biggest issue will be if Terminator is as good as it was last year, will this be able to fill it's shoes (and bring in the same audience). The viewership isn't exactly the same (Terminator and Whedon) but pretty close it may be a good enough fit. Let's just hope it doesn't get 86'ed, just based on ratings. I know the Whedon contingency will be all over Fox if it does, lol (another Firefly?).

8-9PM

Heroes: tv.com link


Premieres: September 22nd (NBC)

The 2nd 1/2-season due to the Strike was honestly not as epic or creative as nearly all of the 1st season. Granted, there's your sophomore slump for you. Kristen Bell and some others didn't quite bring enough in, after the loss of likely a big part of the 1st season in writer Bryan Fuller. But, given Lost and BSG not on til '09, this perhaps is the best epic Scifi/Fantasy franchise on the air still. And given the abbreviated length of Season 2, like Chuck and some other shows, some of the best stories may have been shelved due to the Strike. "Heroes: Villains" is what they are advertising. Claire is evil now, Peter maybe has to choose sides. I guess given the way the trailers are done-up, I take them with a grain of salt. Peter and his situation with Adam Monroe is probably going to be early-on a big plotpoint. That and that whole group from the past with Mrs. Petrelli and Greg Grunberg's character's dad. That whole thing about a new character created by the viewers and "Heroes: Generations" hopefully will be addressed as well, although that still may come up during the break in the Winter. No matter, I am hoping some of the writing gets back to the quality of Season 1. I guess it may go in one of two directions. Either more of the Season 2 filler (the Mexican Brother and Sister's plot for example), or given the time off, the writers "Villains" plot gives the show a new intrigue. We'll know in a few weeks at least.

8-8:30PM

Two and A Half Men:: tv.com link



Premieres: September 22nd (CBS)

This show has been on for awhile, and especially compared to most other sitcoms on the air, it scores a lot lower in the dullness factor. Sort of a guilty-pleasure. Admittedly, the amount of guest-starring alluring women is enough reason to watch. But, how many more seasons are they going to be able to have Charlie get all the girls and Alan get pushed around? I do think they should bring back the Rose character as her abscence was felt last season. Maybe the writers felt they overused her, but the female characters that bug Charlie are some of the best humor the show has had. Additionally, Maya as well as Candy (Alan's gf and then wife) it may not hurt to bring back again. However, let's just hope it doesn't hang around too much longer ala garbage like Raymond and King Of Queens, which even though were far inferior shows, part of it had to do with the network milking them to death. This show may already be falling into that spot. Once the Jake character is in HS though, maybe it'll be enough for them to pull the plug, if not sooner. He was cute and funny as a little kid, but now he's just an annoying adolescent fat kid. The food and farting jokes have become pretty tiresome and old. Maybe the writers will finally realize that soon.


8:30-9PM

Worst Week: tv.com link



Premieres: September 22nd (CBS)

Worst Week , from the mind of Matt Tarses ( Scrubs ), is an American take on the British series The Worst Week of My Life . This CBS single camera offering centers on a young couple dealing with the groom's soon-to-be-in-laws during a family vacation. 13 episodes have been ordered for the first season. CBS ordered the show to series on 12 May 2008. The show is being produced by Hat Trick...

the premise and cast honestly don't do a ton for me, but I have found once in awhile with sitcoms that doesn't matter.

edit: Kurtwood Smith I do know as being the father on That 70's Show among other things, and Erinn Hayes looks familiar, but other than guest appearance or two, nothing in her credits rings any bells. I guess I figure this can't be much worse than the garbage they've trouted out in it's timeslot the last few years in the CHRISTINE show and RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. However, the one new show CBS put there last Spring "Welcome to the Captain" was pretty good, but of course not given a chance in hell. Suppose given the HEROES/SAMANTHA WHO? logjam already, if this thing bores me it'll at least save a portion of the evening's marathon.


Samantha Who?: tv.com link



Premieres: October 6th.

This was a case of a sitcom ABC actually stuck-with for once (unlike the likes of Knights of Prosperity, Help Me Help You, In Case of an Emergency just the year before) and it payed off apparently as it received a couple of Emmy nominations. Perhaps being a freshman show and maybe of late Christina Applegate's unfortunate battle with Breast-cancer (let's hope it wasn't a sympathy nomination). But it had a lot of familiar faces in slightly different roles and worked, even though the premise seemed more tv-movie/mini-series-like. Tim Russ, Melissa McCarthy, and Barry Watson were among the reasons to watch. It kind of struck a happy medium of comedic absurdity, but was light-hearted enough not to seem ridiculous. While I don't think it was the best sitcom on the air, I definitely looked forward to it every week. What's going on with her memory? What will she remember next? (the flashbacks are good) Her mysterious relationship with her parents, and what happens with her ex-bf (and her condo that he occupies), even just her 2 friends relationship (or lack-their-of). No, there was enough plots and subplots going on here that I hope this show stays on the air for awhile. Let's just hope Applegate's health doesn't affect that regardless of what control ABC has over it.

9PM

Boston Legal: tv.com link



Premieres: September 22nd (ABC).

I love William Shatner and James Spader has found a 2nd career in television with this show. Unfortunately the constant turnover has hurt it consistency for viewers. And as I read last Spring, I guess this will be the last season of the show and not without the regular turnover of cast. The only people back apparently are Shatner, Spader, Candice Bergen (whose the 3rd highest in the veteran quotient of the show), and the Christian Clemenson who plays Jerry. Much of the circumstances has to do with the creator David E Kelly and his new show "Life on Mars" which from another Spring gossip account, was forced-into working for to save BL even for 1 more season. Of course despite a bunch of Emmy nominations again, for what that's worth (obviously not much to the networks). And as I also recall, it's only to air 13 episodes and perhaps be gone in the Spring. ABC will be shuffling their programming around again as they always seem to do. But hopefully the show will go out with a bang. Better to quit while your on-top (or doing well) I suppose instead of hanging around for season-after-season (Law and Order, ER, The Simpsons, even the X-Files). But it will be sad to see it go along with some other shows this season (Smallville, BSG). Eli Stone I suppose may fill a bit of legal dramedy void after Shark and now BL's departure.


My Own Worst Enemy: tv.com link

Premieres: October 13th (NBC).



Edward Albright is a super spy. Henry Spivey is living the normal American dream in the suburbs with his wife, two kids and dog. The two men have one thing in common - they share the same body because Edward took part in an experiment several years earlier to create a split personality. Henry has never met his alter-ego Edward, and one day he receives an email from Edward saying that people...

Well..compared to some of the new shows and of course so much of the other crap on network tv, this probably fares ok. Given the evening it's on (for now) and not being that impressed by previews, I'm probably not even luke warm on this. I did like "Journeyman" last year, but that could be a coincidence since I didn't really get into "Studio 60" the year before. Maybe this will be the show that works following Heroes finally. And the cast isn't half bad with Slater doing what it appears many other film stars are (James Woods, James Spader, even Jeff Goldblum) taking-on a starring role on tv. Saffron Burrows was eye-candy on Boston Legal (ironically now at the same time as her former show), Madchen Amick as well. And James Cromwell I guess is cast too. I just hope the dark-tone of the previews is not entirely what this show has to offer. But I may give it a chance if I have the time.

10PM

Kyle XY: tv.com link



Premieres: Monday January 12th, 2009 (ABC Family).

Given the amount of time this will be pushed back, it's probably not worth going too in-depth about this. But the fact this show got pushed back this summer for a new show on ABC Family "Middleman" might make it's return in the Winter all the more satisfying. With so much programming on Monday evenings, at least this typically having an Encore being cable, at 10PM, will help lessen the congestion. Also the fact in January many of the network shows are in reruns also should help it's cause. But as for the show itself, it'll be interesting to see where they take the plot with Kyle and Latnok. Amanda and what happens with Jessi and her mom (Ally Sheedy). It's funny though, it seems like ages ago I probably need some refreshing. Also not to be discounted, the more they do with the Josh and Andy characters, the better. Josh is funny (Jean-Luc..they need Patrick Stewart to guest star and make a Picard joke!) and Andy is funny and cute. Honeymoons don't need to last that long (once the boy finds the girl, it can get boring) but in this case, and Kyle healing her cancer, I think their being a couple may have more legs than your avg teenage romance.

Fall Tv Schedule/Opinions...coming soon

1 thing to do this weekend having now looked over the tviv.org grid again and schedule for premieres and conflict nights. I have a little better idea of what to anticipate. However, I may have jumped the gun a bit on how many new shows look good. Truth be, there maybe are 4 or 5 shows that sound or seem potentially good. Some others I may check out but don't expect much.

Probably is more the fact there's a lot of stuff coming in the Middle of the year..KYLE XY, LOST, BSG..REAPER..the new Joss Whedon show DOLLHOUSE.

so to conclude, fall tv season I probably don't need to get up for as much as the stuff happening in early '09.

THE FLOYD

Well, suppose anyone on said site that comes over here will now know what I was chosen to write about. But this has been a lengthly, but fulfilling and quite enjoyable in many ways, task to rediscover one of my favorite, earliest, and widely regarded important groups/artists in the history of rock and frankly all modern music/art.

Wow..run-on sentence. I suppose it's not hard to do that when you can't help but wanting to say and complement something you greatly appreciate.

But on a side note: my absence has been partly due to a few things..but I still mean to and have a huge mass of topics of arts and entertainment to share with this site, myself, and anyone who seems to find reason to stumble upon here.

But without anymore further ado (I hope!)..here is my 2-weeks worth of intake and thoughts on the one and only, PINK FLOYD.




"Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"

Their name coined by their original front-man, the late Syd Barrett; it combines two blues musicians 1st names.

The group I and many other fans of so-called progressive rock have been able to reference to describe some of our taste in music to a wider demographic. They are the progressive rock band that everybody knows.

They took chemical influenced music to new places, forming, and what might be a founding of and leading to other genres. Including the use of the studio and audio-samples as an instrument.

They are so much about THEMES. Mood, layers, dreams/dreaminess, textures, and being perceived or described as *epic* (and not necessarily having to do with length). Their sound, tone, themes, moods, rich, dreamy atmospheres are as distinct as any artist in the history of Rock music.

It's not to be overlooked how much of their work is bluesy, yet their psychedelic element often disguises that.

Their music is often described as "Trippy" and explored new ground sonically at the time. The idea of creating sound that might be reached from experience with the sun, moon, and outer space and often referred as "Space Rock." Before them, it wasn't really known if music could explore that.

David Gilmour is a virtuoso in many ways, without being thought of as a highly technical musician. His guitar work is *epic* without being excessive or drawn-out. So much rich emotion in his playing, especially in his guitar solos.

Syd Barrett's impact cannot be ignored, even though his destiny never seemed to be meant for where they would go. His original input and influence had as much importance to them, what they would later create, and influence others as anything. Their early work, with and soon after Syd left (PIPER through OBSCURED BY CLOUDS), but before they found large success (DARK SIDE on) is greatly appreciated by much of their fan base. It is this material that many of the Floyd-connoisseurs hold in high regard, along with much of the live material from that period. Maybe best captured on the "Live at Pompeii" film.

They were down the hall at Abbey Road studios recording "Piper" at the same time The Beatles were recording "Sgt Peppers."

Often known for being surreal live, they are one of the most recorded and widely bootlegged groups in rock history. They also were one of the earliest groups to experiment with VISUAL ART live. Their concerts were often as much about a surreal visual experience, as they were an auditory event.

However dark their words were, they often were therapeutic at the same time. As the old adage goes, misery loves company. And often what comes out of that is beauty.

Questions:
Why the Gilmour-Floyd lacked ANIMALS material live. A Roger-thing?
Why was HEY YOU was not included in THE WALL the movie? 1 answer discovered is apparently it did not work well chronologically with the story. Which begs the question, how was that the case and not the case on the actual record.
Why no live album from their classic or peak period in the 70's? (save for the somewhat rare Dark Side Live record from '77)..Due to how much they were bootlegged?

A band not without their share of *deeper*, less-discussed,, commonly thought-of, or recognized songs and albums. Some examples I feel deserve appreciation I included on these mixes that include a selection from each primary studio recording and 1 early collection:

Mixes:

1:

Flaming
Remember A Day
Point Me at the Sky
Cymbaline
The Narrow Way Part 3
Summer'68
The Gold that's in The

2
Echoes
Time
Welcome to the Machine
Sheep
Goodbye Blue Sky
Your Possible Pasts
On the Turning Away
Lost For Words

2 of my favorite Pink Floyd tribute pieces. The 1st one especially I think if they have not, every fan of THE FLOYD should hear, if for no other reason, but the amount of thought that was put into it.

Shadow Gallery - Floydian Memories (25min)

"" Anyone who calls himself a Floyd fan and who hasn't heard it must listen to it ASAP!" (a user on another forum I'm on)

song quotes listing (it may be more enjoyable to listen to the medley 1st before reading that)

OSI - Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun

On a largely personal note, while I have always been a fan of THE FLOYD, I must say taking-in this much of their work over the past couple of weeks has made me appreciate them even more. Growing up I was into them, but they never really won me over quite of the likes of groups like Led Zeppelin and Rush. I think now, especially the Pre-MEDDLE material, I have found a deeper connection to them, than ever before, some 17 years after I 1st heard them for the 1st time.

TRAVELING PANT 2 = good DARK KNIGHT = overated

not a long review (maybe more later), but I feel somewhat similar about DARK KNIGHT as I did about CHILDREN OF MEN..it's like the equivalent of technical death metal on film. Over-the-top..non-stop masturbation of brutality and depressing tone. I respect some of the performances, but sorry, I don't foresee wanting to watch it or even considering it the classic so many others do. I'm not sure if it's even as good as the 1st NOLAN picture.

Nicholson > Ledger

Nicholson = Freddy Krueger or Al Capone
Ledger = Hannibal Lecter or Charles Manson perhaps

Ledger's Joker would fit in well with Ed Gein or Leather Face's family. Nicholson at least was funny, entertaining, clever. Ledger, while I'm sure it was a lot to pull-off, other than a bit of subtle sarcasm, was not funny or entertaining. He was just disgusting to watch frankly. He seemed diseased.

Eckhart, Oldman, Gyllenhaal, Freeman, Caine were all good, but it ultimately doesn't matter when a film gives you a headache and a sick feeling struggling to get through it. This is a classic-case of the mass of effects, violence, beating-you-over-the-head with negative tone, gets in the way of what could be a well-written screenplay. The cast and premise is there, but the end result just comes across as self-indulgent and heartless (and charmless).

6/10

A film from 2008 I'd suggest instead, that pulls off the dark tone, but is heartfelt and HUMAN enough would be maybe my favorite film of 2008 thus far in SNOW ANGELS



previous review:
SNOW ANGELS

A lot I could say, but to make it brief, I guess I can say the biggest thing about this was how a climax to a film..even as dark as it can be, stays with you and you understand more and more why it was done as it was. It's a film about a half-dozen or more people in a small Northern town in the Winter (it was filmed in Canada) that infidelity results in some tragic events. There are about 4 plots, but what happens during I'd guess the 3rd Act really brings one of them as the main focus of the film. The romantic plot involving a hs kid and this new girl at his school played by Olivia Thirlby from JUNO is charming but ultimately only a bit important to provide a break/comic relief.

People who enjoy films like IN THE BEDROOM and LITTLE CHILDREN may be worth checking this 1 out. A dark, moving film, that overall, to some, is pretty rewarding.

Cast: Kate Beckinsale (great performance), Sam Rockwell (HITCHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY) and Connor Paolo (Gossip Girl).



TRAVELING PANTS 2 was well done..similar to the 1st but without as much involvement of the pants themselves, and maybe not as many good secondary characters. Still, hardly suffering from sequel-itis.

7/10