Sunday, November 1, 2009

Apes and Androids Video/Interview + Halloween'09..

http://www.hilfigerdenim.com/gb_en/#/artists/page/apes-&-androids

Interview

Creepy Girls
Hot Kathy
New Song
Sweetest Secret
We Don't Understand You

the new song had a kind of 80's Dance element to it. The key solo almost reminded me of Marillion from that period.

I think that performance was taken from 1 of the shows they played in the UK last April. I'd love to find out more of what they are up to, as their web presence over the last 6 months has been pretty quiet. But for now, this will have to do. And it's cool that it is Halloween as they are kind of into costumes/dressing-up and Halloween in general.

Got much to add. Tons of leaks and new releases: Pain of Salvation, Devin Townsend + all the 10/27 released titles.

Biffy Clyro, Annuals and Revere are really the only known releases (that I can think-of/know-of) that haven't surfaced yet. Annuals EP "Hi-Hat" not even artwork has been put up nor a tracklist.

Goes back to my whole thing with end-of-year/last-minute release of info.

Pretty much, if your album doesn't come out or at least have a set-in-stone release date by the 1st week of October, it's pushed back until the next year.

December: nothing comes out. New movies? yeah, but with music, it's just Holiday albums, live stuff or compilations. And November is starting to be the same way.

Fuck, I'm tired, so i don't have the energy to mention everything I'd like to.

100Ft Snowman are in-effect broken up. The offer from some producer/mgr for a deal was going to have them give up 50% of their earned $. Yeah, right: as I posted on their page last week.

Oct 25 2009 11:03 PM

I just purchased an EP, t-shirt and DVD from your website store. I just feel really really bad about what you guys have to do. You guys are just WAY too talented a band to get insulted with a record deal as ridiculous as that, losing 50% of your revenue. Whose the clown who drew that up? Honestly, reminds me of the idiots at that at-1-time-respected-progrock label MAGNA CARTA who kept screwing band after band over contractually. Requiring rights to their master tapes and naming rights..all false promises and bullshit.

The music BUSINESS can be a dark, soul-less industry, and it pains me to see groups like you guys be the casualties. It's just not fair. But I guess at least if you guys will continue to make music, in other capacities, I am happy about that no matter. Best of luck Snowmen, in whatever the future holds.


without a potential debut album from them, it has me thinking about other groups whose debut albums are likely in the near future, but unfortunately 100Ft Snowman won't be included.

Local Natives (this Monday in the UK/March 2010 US likely)

Water & Bodies my guess is early 2010

Distrails

Warpaint (Spring 2010)

The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra (2010 it sounds like)

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving (2010)

Periphery (2010)

Between Two Skies (2010 depending on what happens with their demo)

The Bewitched Lot of songs, hopefully they'll find the time and $ as well.

Sound & Shape 2010 maybe?

Eroica it says "2006-2009" on their myspace name. I'm unsure if that means anything more than how long they have existed.

Dead Letter Circus 2010 seems likely.

Children of Nova

Meniscus 2010?

deretla 2010 perhaps?

Total Babe 2010 or 2011?

We Valedictorians 2010 possibly as well. It may depend on time and $ of course, but they are working on it currently which is a good sign.

the last 2 I saw last night (or 2 nights ago now) at The Music Box Theater in Minneapolis. A really nice venue. Small theater, but honestly, it would be great to see more concerts there. I guess they are trying to get a liquor license and that may open a lot more opportunities for them. Because between there and say The Entry, The Rock, The Triplerock, 400 Bar, Big V's, or even The Barfly, etc that venue is WAY nicer. Sure it's seated, but so what? if you have to stand, you can in the front.

The Ritz Theater and The Woman's Club Theaters are 2 similar venues I suppose, and I've attended 1 concert at both of them. But none since. That shouldn't be the case honestly. Guess we'll see in the near future.

Afa WV and Total Babe, both are very promising new groups. I just picked up Total Babe's new EP "Heatwave"



no idea how good it is as I won't be playing it until likely on Monday at work. But from seeing them live twice, and the myspace samples, they really have something I feel. Kind of experimental pop, but not too out-there. Less-is-more without being exactly derivative or half-baked. They're a group of mostly high school kids, so where their music goes is uncertain, but perhaps they'll find reason to continue doing music together for a long time. I certainly hope so.

And We Valedictorians also played last night and certainly got my attention. Jordan Gatesmith, it seems is the front-man and organizer of this group. He actually also is in Total Babe, so it's apparent he's a rather ambitious musician which is a good sign. Hopefully his work in both bands will flourish as some musicians are able to juggle multiple music projects well. When you're in HS as well? hopefully that won't be as difficult as it may sound.

Their sound, I'm still getting a handle on I guess I'd say. They're sort of wall-of-sound in that they have a large ensemble of different players in many of their songs. Violin, oboe, 2 drummers, cello, etc. They remind me of some of the chamber-pop/rock bands of the last 10 years especially in that respect. The Decemberists, The Dear Hunter, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, etc..even our own Cloud Cult perhaps. The Arcade Fire was the name mentioned as well..and I guess in being tactful, I'll just say I have a bit more intrigue about them than I ever have had with TAF, but that's more a matter of personal taste. I am not into Radiohead nor Tool of course, yet I dig dozens and dozens of bands who are similar.

So to conclude, Total Babe, WV, Jordan and The Music Box Theater (who should get The Musical Box Peter Gabriel-period Genesis recreation band to play. But of course the 2004 failed-attempt at The Fitzgerald Theater may always prevent that) are all something to take away from Halloween'09.

I also did see deretla ("Altered" backwards) last night at Big V's, and my friend Cr8tron was not there. He's not in the band anymore I guess, but still is working with them. Musically, they are not vastly different than many other progressive death metal bands. I do like when they have the clean guitars over the double-bass. The demo Creighton put up on his Minnesota Artists dot org page really impressed me. I don't question Creighton's perfectionist approach to working with them (depending on how much he actually does. I'm not sure exactly what kind of schedule and time-frame they and he will have with that just as an outside observer). So, certainly if and when they have their 1st release available, I'm optimistic at what they do based on seeing them last night and that demo.

Big V's otoh, i dunno how often I'll end up there again. Frankly, it made the Turf Club look big and nice. But, I suppose for bands, it's $ and better than some spots. If I end up gigging and writing music which may be a ways away, but that will depend on $. The fact is, I got music in my head, I'm certain of that. Just no current means to get it down in some format right now. I need actual ProTools (and not a demo-version) or a Mac for garageband.com. But I may not be as keen to end up there as some other places (Celtic Junction?..aka kind of the new Cedar).

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