Dream Theater - Distance Over Time (2018-2019)

2/9/19

"Paralyzed" video below.

only heard/watched it once. I don't like it as much as Fall Into the Light, but it's still not bad. It's short, concise, gets-to-the-point, etc.

The video reminds me of among other Man vs Machine movies/tv, the INTRO TO HBO's WESTWORLD. That and maybe a little bit of the style of I, Robot along with Ex Machina.


1/11/19

New track "Fall Into the Light"

Pretty good. Relatively tight, concise, but still virtuosoic.

I'm not falling for the whole "they're back!" really but it is refreshing to enjoy a new tune from the guys again. We'll see how the rest of the record compares, but I suppose potentially this could be an album I could enjoy as much as A Dramatic Turn of Events at least.

The piano section made me think of Six Degrees, but also I do hear a bit of Octavarium in this track as well.


12/7/18
yeah, haven't heard it the 1st single below "Untethered Angel". Comments support again how a producer could do them world's of good.

Or the idea, make 2 versions of the album

1) the album with JP producing
2) a version of the album with a producer. hell, at this point, I would take them writing and/or at least RECORDING a song with a producer.

Not happening..probably a much better chance the next Opeth album is purely death metal.

but, art is justifiably selfish, if they are happy making albums this way since SFAM (or even say Octavarium), than I am glad they are.

But I can only say  per the track list below, I will listen to this album more times than The Astonishing (which I listend to about 1/3-of once, lol), but I might predict this album will end where the new Janelle Monae album did this past year, on my list next November.

I do want to see them in March at The Ordway play SFAM again.

1	Untethered Angel	6:14
2	Paralyzed	4:17
3	Fall into the Light	7:04
4	Barstool Warrior	6:43
5	Room 137	4:23
6	S2n	6:21
7	At Wit's End	9:20
8	Out of Reach	4:04
9	Pale Blue Dot	8:25

11/8/18

Release date is February 22nd.

St.Paul, MN concert is at of all places, The Ordway, lol.

New album Distance Over Time coming in February 2019.


11/2/18
Tour dates below including St.Paul, MN on March 28th. The tour is the complete Scenes from a Memory I imagine. And the album cover is the same as the image below with the tour dates.

The clip below? ..doesn't bad, but also sounds like about 20 or 30 other songs from them in the past.

The whole game thing I honestly probably couldn't care less for at this point, but I know many fans will probably get into it.

I guess I just hope it is more back to their roots in some ways. But did they demo or have an outside producer come in? very unlikely, which based on that alone, I don't expect a ton from this album, but maybe they'll surprise me. At least they did SPEND MORE TIME MAKING THIS ONE, which was probably over a year, which may mean they may have demo-ed or refined, edited, re-recorded some stuff.








For Immediate Release

Dream Theater's upcoming release, "Distance Over Time", comes out in February, 2019. To announce the details of the band's most recent offering, Dream Theater has enlisted the help of fans to spread the word about the release and even to break the news of the record release date, cover artwork, and to share the first taste of never before heard music. With this album, a return to the band's roots, Dream Theater hoped to create a fan engagement experience unlike any previously undertaken.

To lead into the initial release of material, an Alternate Reality Game was launched. This game encompassed a "treasure hunt" whereby fans were able to search for clues hidden in various photos, video, social media posts, and more. Cooperation to host the Alternate Reality Game focused on various fan communities. The band's fan club, forum members and Reddit each brought in technical expertise to create puzzles for the participants. Each and every week, a new puzzle would be released, often in the form of a candid photo or video from the studio where Dream Theater recorded their latest album. This would contain a piece of the puzzle - a clue to be used in the process of solving that week's mystery. The puzzles were usually based on some encryption scheme or hiding information in the files, such as hiding a zipped file with text in an image file, or hiding text within the spectrogram of an audio file. One puzzle had the fans decoding Morse Code on a light diode of recording equipment, while another had the fans decoding a touch tone number from a phone call. Fans had to solve a sonogram, Sudoku puzzle, reverse engineer an encryption scheme to find a key that would decrypt a specific text. They had to solve crosswords and trivia games. Fans were eager to participate, and often worked together to collectively solve the puzzles within hours of their release.

Ultimately, there would be one person - one fan who would be the first to solve the final clue. As their prize, this fan would be the first person to possess previously unreleased Dream Theater content. The very first person outside the band to have possession of any new music, new artwork, new album title. It would be the fans who would solve the puzzle, complete the game and break the news of the release, disseminating this brand new Dream Theater news to the world from their personal online presence.

It is the hope of Dream Theater to have created a fun and engaging fan experience. A unique manner to amp up the excitement for the new release, and to involve the band's fanbase in a new and interesting way. On behalf of Dream Theater - congratulations to the winner, and thank you to everyone who participated. 

Freddy Jacobi was: James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess, John Petrucci, John Myung, Mike Mangini, Maddi Schieferstein, James T. Meslin, Jake Solomon, Kim Arthur Sakariassen, Victoria Montenegro Martinez, Jessica Lausen, Sean Arnold, Freddy Palmer, Roie Avin, mods of r/dreamtheater, dreamtheaterforums.org and Dream Theater World

Janelle Monáe - 2018 Summer Tour (MINNEAPOLIS 7/3/18)

Sunday July 3rd she's playing The STATE THEATRE! (@hey hipsters!)

Tix = Presale 10AM MayDay.





Janelle Monáe 2018 North American tour dates
June 11 — Seattle, WA @ King County’s Marymoor Park
June 12 — Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
June 13 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater
June 16 — San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
June 20 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
June 26 — Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theater
June 28 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
June 30 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
July 1 — Denver, CO @ The Paramount Theatre
July 3 — Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
July 5 — Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
July 6 — Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
Jul 7 — Grand Rapids, MI @ 20 Monroe Live
July 9 — Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre Detroit
July 10 — Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
July 11 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
July 13 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
July 14 — Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
July 16 — Toronto, ON @ Rebel
July 18 — New York, NY @ Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden
July 20 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
July 21 — Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
July 23 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
July 24 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
July 26 — Tampa, FL @ Jannus Live
July 27 — Miami, FL @ The Fillmore Miami at Jackie Gleason Theater
July 28 — Orlando, FL @ House of Blues Orlando
August 4 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle

New Videos: Kimbra, Sculptured, Dirt Poor Robins, The Family Crest

A couple of new videos, or 2 parts of 1 stream of consciousness of mostly music topics. 2 new cds and the Kimbra set list too.

Of course the 1st video was ended early per some people showed up while I was babbling about Dirt Poor Robins.

The 2nd part filmed like an hour later, largely per I came home and was on my own (filming videos doesn't work too well when the wife and mother-in-law are in the same room(s).

The Sculptured CD that I bought/showed there Apollo Ends is actually the 2nd Sculptured album and rym shows it being released in 2000. The 1st Sculptured album The Spear of the Lily Is Aureoled came out in 1998 (again per rym) and I have on order, but it has yet to arrive. But when The Liminal Phase does come out, I will try and do a longer feature on them I think, and hopefully show all their albums.

The Janelle Monae movie with Steve Carrell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger directed by Robert Zemeckis is called The Women of Marwen. Also the film from 2017 I was spacing on was Hidden Figures.

The Muse tune is "Thought Contagion"

details of course not always rememberd off the top of your head.

Anyway, more updates coming, podcasts and more physical stuff to show soon.



Kimbra - Set List 2/5/18
Sculptured - Apollo Ends
Dirt Poor Robins - The Raven Locks Act 1




Dirt Poor Robins The Family Crest The Dear Hunter Janelle Monae Muse

All Media Reviews Podcast #7: Modern Songwriters Pt 2

This is 14 mins long, with the new recorder which made it into an WMA file, lol. I had to convert that, but so be it.

I'm not sure if making them at a restaurant is the best process, but it was a 1st time/experiment.

I do want to try and make 1 of these for an Albums calendar. The thing I worry about is how long it does go (and requires me to make it), per how long some of the calendars are and how much I would talk about each album (obviously some may be awhile, while others very little).

I am in the middle, er, maybe 2/3 or more from getting through 6 of them which I anticipate publishing around the same time. So perhaps if not before then, I could plan to try doing 1 or more of those Albums Calendar Podcasts around that time.

Time permitting of course per January is looking rather busy at this point with concerts, doctor appointments and a trip to the Hollywood area.



Jim Matheos Andre Matos Colin Meloy Craig Minowa Janelle Monae Neal Morse Dan Moxon Amanda Palmer Mike Patton Yannis Philippakis Tomer Pink Mike Portnoy Jesse Ribordy Sheena Ringo Claudio Sanchez Robert Schneider Sufjan Stevens Timbre Mike Vennart Daniel Victor Brooke Waggoner Steven Wilson John Wright

James Corden w/ Jim Parsons "Dust in the Wind" (Kansas)

s'ok. I don't love Jimmy Fallon, but this idea kind of began with SNL and has been part of Fallon's schtick.

Corden's is the Carpool Karaoke, which Janelle Monae was on the other night, and it's too bad he didn't do that bit with her. "Tightrope" maybe?

That being said, the naivete of some of the people on YouTube and Social Media is almost predictable. Most of them likely have no clue which members of Kansas they are representing, or for that matter, even seen the original video.

Corden is Steve Walsh, and Parsons is buried in beard+wig is ROBBY STEINHARDT.

Hagrid?..again, Millennials, learn to do a little research,. If anything then, people should be describing Hagrid as having the Robby Steinhardt-look.

At the same time, a large part of Corden and the Social Media viewership likely didn't even know this song, let alone who the band Kansas are.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (short videos)

Here's some short little clips I shot during Joyce and my trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night in Cleveland as part of a private party with a boatload of desserts for the Archive Conference she is attending this week/weekend here in Cleveland.

We only had a couple of hours, so that is partly why they aren't longer I suppose, and I was trying to conserve battery and space in my camera.

I took a lot more pics which are on my personal Facebook page, and I imagine are not visible to those aren't friends with me on there.

But I'll try and share per uploading onto Photobucket I guess.

here's 1 (Janelle Monae's jacket and shoes).




As far as the Rock Hall itself, maybe not now, but perhaps in the next week or less, I may give a bit of a review about it, having now finally seen it, etc.

1 other note of course that I took a photo that's on Facebook, 2 Kevin Glbert connections are there, 1 being a LYRIC sheet for the Sheryl Crow song "No One Said It Would Be East" (which the title makes me think of the Cloud Cult song, which has absolutely no connection I don't believe).

And the fact there was a Herb Ritts exhibit featured there last night/currently, since of course Kevin or Johnny Virgil  mentions Herb Ritts in the song "Certifiable #1 Smash" which I'll admit to never having heard his name before then. But the Madonna connection with Ritts and Kevin's work with Madonna on the Dick Tracy soundtrack along with the Toy Matinee song "Queen of Misery" kind of follows how Kevin could have known about Ritts directly (if not also knowing the videos he made with her among many others).

Kimbra - The Golden Echo (2014)

8/25/14 12:07PM
I just watched it without sound, but I guess the mixing and some other elements of the song in this video differ. The video itself, meh, I guess if it has it's Madonna or Britney style to it a little, it's no big deal, as long as someone new to her doesn't pigeonhole her music that way (which I'll admit, I once sort of did with Janelle Monae).


8/11/14 1:01PM
Full Album Stream


npr again *rolls eyes*, although at least in this case they aren't being given an exclusive stream to a Metal album.

As far as the record, I am enjoying it a lot, although I would be surprised if I consider it as good as Vows ultimately, but time will only tell of course. "Carolina" may be my favorite track. "Teen Heat" "As You Are" and "Madhouse" also all have stood out in some ways, although I think every track on this album is worth listening to at this point.

I haven't heard those 3 bonus tracks of course, 1 of them includes Jonas from Mew.

7/26/14 1:06PM

cool lyric video for "Love In High Places" (previously posted below).



opener for the Fall US Tour is "Empress Of" although apparently not in Minneapolis according to that link edited in below.

7/21/14 5:12PM-7/22/14 1:40PM

Brief US Tour this Fall including October 30th @ The Fine Line in Minneapolis. I wonder if she'll get an opener (The Dear Hunter?..wishful thinking of course)

http://www.kimbramusic.com/tour

10/20 San Francisco, CA - The Independent*
10/23 Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy*
10/24 Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory*
10/25-10/26 Las Vegas, NV - Life Is Beautiful Festival
10/27 Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue*
10/28 Denver, CO - Sherman Street Event Center*
10/30 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Café
11/01 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
11/06 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom*
11/07 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live - Downstairs*
11/08 Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall*
11/09 Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall*
Edit: opener listed here:
* w/ Empress Of

"Miracle" dancey/disco-ish.



6/13/14 10:30PM

Jonas from Mew (along with Ben and Omar) are on Bonus tracks. Longstreth and Flying Lotus won't be on any version of the album at this point (but will come out).

article

UPDATE: Warner Bros. have issued a correction saying that while Kimbra worked with Flying Lotus and Dave Longstreth during the making of The Golden Echo, those songs will not appear on the album. They will eventually be released however. Also, "bonus tracks on the deluxe edition include appearances from Ben Weinman of the Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta's Omar Rodríguez-López, and Jonas Bjerre of Danish band Mew."

6/10/14 10:58PM

Released August 19th

2 new tracks "Nobody But You" and "Love In High Places."









Deluxe Edition (iTunes)  Tracklist (see the Preorder link in the YouTube videos)



1 Teen Heat
2 90s Music 3:36
3 Carolina
4 Goldmine
5 Miracle
6 Rescue Him
7 Madhouse
8 Everlovin' Ya (feat. Bilal)
9 As You Are
10 Love In High Places 5:15
11 Nobody But You 5:22
12 Waltz Me To the Grave
13 Slum Love (Bonus Track)
14 Sugar Lies (Bonus Track)
15 The Magic Hour (Bonus Track)

Daniel Johns/Can Dyke Parks? Omar Rodriguez-Lopez? Ben Weinman? more details I'm sure will include them, but Bilal appears to be the only name "featured" which honestly, might be a good thing with so much emphasis on whose-who of guest in the track titles on so many recent albums.

edit: ...
"with a list of collaborators including Flying Lotus, Dave Longstreth, John Legend, and Matt Bellamy."

6/3/14 4:15PM

Video for "90's Music"..dig the pop/culture (pop music) references. Playful video that at times resembles something Michel Gondry might do, which fittingly, the 1990's is when he was making music videos if I recall, lol.

Nice chameleon looks from Kimbra as well.

\


  5/19/14 5:25PM

cover art: see above

Billboard Link
"from the singer's second studio album, "The Golden Echo," due out in August on Warner Bros. Records." 


for the official release of the "90's Music" single, Kimbra's album title and release month were also included in the press release. What format and of course all the details of the track list and artwork probably aren't too far away.

Also kind of obvious now why her tour with Janelle Monae down under was titled the "Golden Electric Tour." Which it probably is worth adding how Janelle had to pull out of a show and the dates until May 26th due to some kind of health issue. I haven't seen any details, but Kimbra posted a get well wish to Janelle the other day after she had to bow out of a show the other night.

5/4/14 2:13PM



The first single is titled "90's Music" and I'm just guessing, but I think it was played on Triple J yesterday or early this morning and someone may have ripped it and it was shared on the Tumblr Link below.

Odd tune to say the least, but take this 1st track with a grain of salt given the assortment of guests showing up on this record.

Someone also claims on twitter, the album title and more details will be announced per Triple J in the next week or 2. The fact Kimbra has been teasing with cryptic comments on fb/twitter about it.



The beetle wings are rustling with whispers of what's to come!!!



http://empireofkimbra.tumblr.com/post/84701084271/kimbra-90s-music



Check Out/Stream a 90's music MIX Kimbra made


Also here's a live version of 1 of the new tracks "Madhouse."

Janelle Monáe: Electric Lady [Official Video]

Pretty cool, fun video. Not a grand concept or anything involving the whole ArchAndroid concept/story highly. But I do like how it is edited, seeing the likes of Kimbra, Esperanza Spalding and others.

The Electric Lady 8-track, hehe. And the almost retro look with the jacket and puffy hair (wig?).

Janelle coming a bit out of her shell (wardrobe/look/fashion wise).

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady (2013)

9/3/13 2:00PM

FULL ALBUM STREAM BELOW (or at the link)

vh1 link 

Get More: Janelle Monae,

The Guardian Stream (UK and others?)

8/19/13 9:03PM

3rd/New single "Primetime (ft Miguel)." Ballad. Not bad, but also not something I imagine will stand out on this record.


8/13/13 4:41PM

Wow, a double fucking album! I was a little wary about this record, and am still slightly compared to the ArchAndroid, but man, the way it looks both in concept/ambition and potential storytelling again, I'm now a little more optimistic about it.



link

Disc 1:


1. Suite IV Electric Overture

2. Givin Em What They Love (ft. Prince)

3. Q.U.E.E.N. (ft. Erykah Badu)

4. Electric Lady (ft. Solange)

5. Good Morning Midnight (Interlude)

6. PrimeTime (ft. Miguel)

7. We Were Rock & Roll

8. The Chrome Shoppe (Interlude)

9. Dance Apocalyptic

10. Look Into My Eyes

Disc 2:


11. Suite V Electric Overture

12. It's Code

13. Ghetto Woman

14. Our Favorite Fugitive (Interlude)

15. Victory

16. Can't Live Without Your Love

17. Sally Ride

18. Dorothy Dandridge Eyes (ft. Esperanza Spalding)

19. What An Experience

Bonus Tracks:

21. Q.U.E.E.N. (ft. Erykah Badu) [Wondamix]
22. Electric Lady (ft. Big Boi and Cee Lo Green) [Dungeon-Wondamix]
23. HYTB
24. I Want You Back

According to NME, the Miguel track, "Prime Time," will feature a sample of the indie-rock godfathers, The Pixie's, classic "Where Is My Mind?" 

We have a feeling this album is gunna push a lot of boundaries and bend a lot of genres. After all, this is the electric lady who adores talking about cyborgs almost as much as (and maybe more than) music!

Some background about the COVER ART

8/4/13 5:51PM-

This is apparently the cover art. I also noticed on Wikipedia, she is covering "I Want You Back" from the Jackson 5 as an exclusive bonus track with the Target store release.


7/3/13 2:13PM
New official video for "Dance Apocalyptic."

iTunes Preorder 

6/28/13 7:37PM
no embed of course. I never get why it isn't embed-able since it'll probably be ripped onto Youtube within a few hours anyway.

Cool, catchy tune anyway. Can't wait to hear the whole thing in the coming months.

Stream "Dance Apocalyptic"

edit: the official video teaser below confirms the video for this song will be released on Tuesday July 2nd.

6/27/13 10:48PM

Instragram Video announcing this album is coming on September 10th, 2013

embed? I can't find it.

I can share what I have seen on Wikipedia

Prince and Miguel will be among the other guests, besides Erykah Badu on the 1st single.

Some song titles mentioned below:
-Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu)
-Dorothy Dandridge Eyes
-Dance Apocalyptic
-Victory
-Primetime (feat. Miguel?)

Monáe's first single from The Electric Lady, "Q.U.E.E.N.", which features Erykah Badu, premiered on SoundCloud and made available for download purchase at the Itunes Store on April 23, 2013."Q.U.E.E.N" garnered 31,000 digital sales according to Nielsen Soundscan with the accompanying music video gaining four million Youtube views within its first week of release. Thematically, 'Electric Lady' will continue the utopian cyborg concepts of its predecessors, while presenting itself in more plainspoken, personal territory in addition to experimenting with genres beyond conventional Funk and Soul such as Jazz ("Dorothy Dandridge Eyes"), Pop-Punk ("Dance Apocalyptic"), Gospel ("Victory") and woozy, sensual vocal ballads ("Primetime", slated to be a duet with Miguel). The album will so far feature confirmed guest appearances by Prince and the aforementioned Miguel with production from previous collaborator Deep Cotton (a psychedelic punk act) and Roman GianArthur (a soul music composer), and is targeted for a September release date

11/5/12 1:45AM


In June 2012, Monáe performed two new songs, "Electric Lady" and "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes" — from her upcoming sophomore studio album, The Electric Lady — at Toronto's Jazz Festival.^[24][25] In July 2012, for the second year in a row, she appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz Festival in Europe as well as in the 46th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on the 14th.

Take the above source for what it's worth, being Wikipedia. Here's a couple of videos of the 2 songs mentioned about the album, live.

Certainly this album The Electric Lady, whenever it does come out (hopefully in 2013) is pretty high on my anticipation list. I doubt, but what if the name had some connection to either Jimi Hendrix or The Electric Ladyland studios.

Also a cool note I discovered over the weekend about Janelle in this link about Hidden songs the 8th track "Neon Gumbo" from The Archandroid (Suite II and III), when played backwards, sounds like a sequel to "Many Moons," from her debut EP Metropolis Suite I . "Many Moons" by the way, I have come to totally love, and find it as good if not better than anything off The Archandroid. There's even a cool short film/video of it.

Janelle Monáe The Electric Lady 2013 Fall Tour (Mpls confirmed!)

8/19/13 10:00PM
Many dates added (and more to come). Interesting to see both Chicago and Seattle of all places to have 2 shows, and different venues.

edit: the November 26th show is in ATLANTA, GA (not Seattle, and Seattle it appears only does have the 1 show on Wednesday October 30th).

8/15/13 5:47PM

Oct 13 (SUN)
The Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA

Oct 14 (MON)
Lincoln Theatre Washington DC

Oct  16 (WED)
House of Blues Boston Boston, MA
07:00 PM

Oct 18 (FRI)
Olympia Theatre Montreal, QC

Oct 19 (SAT)
Kool Haus Toronto, ON

Oct 21 (MON)
Vic Theatre Chicago, IL

Oct 22 (TUE)
The Skyway Theatre Minneapolis, MN
6:00PM

Oct 24 (THU)
Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO

Oct 25 (FRI)
In The Venue Salt Lake City, UT

Oct 26 and 27 (SAT and SUN)
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Life Is Beautiful Festival - 2 Day General Admission

Oct 29 (TUE)
Roseland Theater Portland, OR

Oct 30 (WED)
Showbox SoDo Seattle, WA

Nov 1 (FRI)
Warfield Theatre San Francisco, CA

Nov 2 (SAT)
Club Nokia at L.A. Live Los Angeles, CA

Nov  5 (TUE)
House of Blues Anaheim Anaheim, CA
07:00 PM

Nov 6 (WED)
House of Blues San Diego San Diego, CA
07:00 PM

Nov 7 (WED)
Kool Haus Phoenix, AZ

Nov 9 (FRI)
The Crescent Ballroom Chicago, IL

Nov 12 (MON)
House of Blues Dallas, TX

Nov  13 (WED)
House of Blues Houston Houston, TX
07:00 PM

Nov  15 (FRI)
Uptown Theater Kansas City, MO
07:00 PM

Nov 17 (SUN)
Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN

Nov 19 (TUE)
The Ritz  Raleigh, NC

Nov 20 (WED)
The Fillmore Charlotte Charlotte, NC

Nov 22 (FRI)
Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL

Nov 23 (SAT)
Fillmore Miami Beach @ The Jackie Gleason Theatre Miami, FL

Nov 26 (TUE)
The Tabernacle Atlanta, GA

89.3's post
which of course doesn't show the standard The Electric Lady cover art, but the Target alternate cover , lol. Then again, that's not new, I seem to recall their review of the new Local Natives album had the alternate cover art as well, lol.

But according to that, tickets to the GENERAL PUBLIC go on sale on Friday August 23rd at 10AM, PER TICKETMASTER: LINK HERE

However, The Presale should be available, and hopefully like many others, I won't have to deal with any Scalpers, thank gawd.

I'll pass along more of the dates if/when I get the chance. Minneapolis on 10/22 at the Skyway Theatre which I'm not crazy about, although in fairness, I've never actually seen a concert there (but "The Loft" I have, and I would not imagine seeing Janelle at that particular part of the bldg). I guess it was recently renovated too. And it is on a Tuesday night at least.

Rocktober now includes this, BTBAM (11th) and Radical Face (16th).

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories(2013) vs Janelle + A&A

1 Give Life Back to Music    4:34
2 The Game of Love    5:21
3 Giorgio by Moroder    9:04
4 Within    3:48
5 Instant Crush    5:37
6 Lose Yourself to Dance    5:53
7 Touch    8:18
8 Get Lucky    6:07
9 Beyond    4:50
10 Motherboard    5:41
11 Fragments of Time    4:39
12 Doin’ It Right    4:11
13 Contact    6:21

Okay, I may or may not elaborate more about this record. But 1st, I guess I'll share what I posted yesterday on FB

I can say, I do enjoy a lot of Daft Punk 's new record Random Access Memories . Namely some of the drum work on "Giorgio by Moroder" and "Contact." And I wouldn't be surprised to see it finish somewhat high in my 2013 Albums Countdown. HOWEVER, (I'll elaborate more soon in the blog hopefully), I am skeptical it'll reach the levels of Janelle Monáe 's The ArchAndroid and especially Apes & Androids "Blood Moon."

I'll admit, I am slowly, but surely forming a somewhat accurate take on this album. And even just today, playing it again, I can say tracks like "Within" and "Instant Crush" I am being won over by.

Within actually is really sad and pretty. Melancholic in a lot of ways. The vocoder vocals on that one have grown on me, and I suppose overall on this album they are starting to.

I will not forget though, like the of Montreal/Kevin Barnes kankersore track on The Archandroid, the Panda Bear featured track "Doin' It Right" frankly, sucks, and that largely has to do with Panda Bear and Animal Collective being as abhorable as they are. 

But this is epic, and not without some cohesiveness and flow. Although the 2nd track "The Game of Love" while not bad, I don't think allows the start of the record to flow as well as it could.

"Touch" is a tune, I enjoy much of, but the melodramatic/cheese factor almost gets tiresome to a point. I could edit that song down and make it much more re-listenable/enjoyable.

"Fragments in Time" is nice, especially the fun synthy instrumental bridge/outro

And I will not deny "Get Lucky" is one of the best songs of 2013, including much of the vocoder stuff that comes later in the tune.

The repetitiveness of that song/song's vocal chorus and some other pieces, I guess I am growing to accept given the music on many of these tunes is worth hearing repeated times. Tapping your foot or hand to, or at least imagine just dancing to like "Lose Yourself to Dance."

Maybe more to add later, but I would say this record very easily will finish in my top 10 for 2013, even AS HIPSTER as it is. I do want to hear the Tron Legacy soundtrack now even more. 

more about how it compares to A&A's and Janelle soon.

edit 1:

"Instant Crush" may not have received the comparisons elsewhere, but I can't help but hear the Tom Petty track "Won't Back Down" and as my girlfriend and friend John pointed out, very closely resembles the Alan Parsons Project hit "Eye in the Sky."

Also the vocoder use, while I guess is nothing new for Daft Punk, can't be ignored how the use recalls groups like The Apples in Stereo, Gotye and maybe more obvious, ELO.

Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. (FT. Erykah Badu) SINGLE Rel 4/22/13

5/2/13 9:30AM

damn.


4/22/13 7:00PM


STREAM IT NOW

verrry nice! the outro especially with the strings and rapping totally works!

"Categorize Me, I defy every label"

"And while you selling dope we gone keep selling hope! We rising up now you gotta deal you gotta cope!"

"Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies will you sleep Or will you preach?"

4/15/13 11:55AM


6:54 PM next Monday April 22nd


Should be nice to hear next Monday evening. Here's recent entries about Janelle:

Covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" on Jimmy Fallon
Electric Lady 1st Entry

Janelle Monáe: Covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" on Fallon

 Wow, I had no idea she was appearing, let alone covering a Hendrix tune. Damn, looking forward to checking this out later today. Now if we could only get some news regarding The Electric Lady.

Foals: Winter/Spring Tour 2013 (with Surfer Blood)

http://www.foals.co.uk/live.htm

02-11 London, England - Rough Trade East
02-28 Dublin, Ireland - The Academy
03-01 Dublin, Ireland - The Academy
03-02 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
03-04 Liverpool, England - O2 Academy
03-05 Glasgow, England - Barrowland
03-06 Birmingham, England - HMV Institute
03-08 Norwich, England - UEA
03-09 Leeds, England - Leeds Metropolitan University
03-11 Bristol, England - O2 Academy
03-12 Nottingham, England - Rock City
03-13 Portsmouth, England - Pyramid Centre
03-15 Brussels, Belgium - AB
03-16 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-18 Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
03-19 Berlin, Germany - Astra
03-20 Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall
03-22 Zurich, Switzerland - M4 Music Festival
03-23 Villeurbanne, France - Transbordeur
03-25 Paris, France - Olympia
03-26 Lille, France - Aeronef
03-28 London, England - Royal Albert Hall (two shows) +
04-10 Reno, NV - Knitting Factory #
04-11 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore #
04-12 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-13 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues #
04-18 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre #
04-19 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-20 Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
04-22 Mexico City, Mexico - El Plaza Condesa
04-25 Houston, TX - Fitzgeralds ^*
04-26 Dallas, TX - House of Blues ^*
04-27 Austin, TX - Emo's ^*
04-28 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues ^*
04-30 Atlanta, GA - Goat Farm ^*
05-01 Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre ^*
05-03 New York, NY - Terminal 5 ^*
05-04 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory ^*
05-05 Washington, DC - 930 Club ^*
05-06 Albany, NY - Upstate Concert Hall ^*
05-08 Providence, RI - The Met ^*
05-09 Boston, MA - House of Blues ^*
05-10 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda ^*
05-11 Toronto, Ontario - Koolhaus ^*
05-13 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues ^*
05-14 Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts ^*
05-15 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall ^*
05-17 Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe ^*
05-18 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre ^*
05-19 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall ^*
05-20 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue ^*
05-29 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom ^*
05-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore ^*
05-31 Seattle, WA - Neptune ^*
06-03 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot ^*
06-04 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre *
06-05 Lawrence, KS - Granada ^*
06-07 St. Louis, MO - Pageant ^*
06-09 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls ^*
06-11 Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head ^*
06-12 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel ^*

+ with Efterklang
# with The Neighbourhood
^ with Surfer Blood
* with Blondfire

I nearly saw Foals at the 7th Street Entry back in 2010. There's at least 1 long blog about it, and the fact it was the same evening Menomena was headlining at The Varsity Theater and Janelle Monae was opening for of Montreal in the Mainroom.

I bought a ticket, but had to eat it as the timing didn't work out to see both them and Menomena (with Brent Knopf by the way). I think/hope I made the right choice, even though I have only grown to enjoy Foals more and more, and Total Life Forever since. But, Brent isn't with Menomena anymore, and he may never play with them again. And Janelle, the show was sold out anyway. But I do mean to see her live at some point.

Anyway, Surfer Blood is 1 of the openers, 1 of the 2 acts they played music from at the 89.3 Music Meeting I didn't hate. 

This is another Spring show that adds to maybe the most insanely busy Spring concert schedule I've ever faced. But in fairness, many of the shows are for artists that are sort of Bucket List-acts, and I also wonder how many if any chances I'll have to see again.

Foals - Holy Fire (2013)

2/8/13 6:00PM
I'm enjoying this album over the last few days. The 2 standout tracks being ""Milk and Black Spiders" and "Providence"..great classic Foals builds/crescendos.

More to add, although only if I find the time. It'll be in the mix for the 2013 Countdown, but I'm skeptical if I will enjoy as much as their other 2 LPs.

12/15/12 12:30AM

New song "My Number" which compared to "Inhaler" sounds more like their traditional sound, which is fine, but I'm not as intrigued by. I kind of felt the same way about "This Orient" which I find works okay on the record, but as a single, is one of if not the worst songs on Total Life Forever. But anyway, this is still worth passing along of course.



11/7/12 2:04AM

Video for the new single "Inhaler." Pretty sweet groove. Also pretty heavy for them, which I'm not so surprised by actually.

10/29/12 9:25AM



This upcoming record drops on February 11th, 2013

http://www.facebook.com/Foalsforever/posts/10151109677538531

Hiiiiii

We revealed to you last week a name…and the name was ‘Holy Fire’. Now we have some more things to tell you.

‘Holy Fire’ will land on British shores on Feb 11th 2013.

You’ll be able to pre-order a copy of the album (case you forget) on iTunes from Nov 5th, upon which time you’ll get ‘Inhaler’ straight away.

A final announcement for our Australian contingent…we’ll be performing a one-off club show at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on Wed Jan 23. Tickets go on sale on Oct 30 at 9am from http://www.moshtix.com.au/ & 1300 438 849. See you there.

More news coming soon.

Foals
x

 Both of their full length records are excellent, so I can't help but be giddy about hearing this thing early next year. And hopefully if/when they play in Minnesota on tour, the show won't have Menomena or Janelle Monae conflict.

 

Kimbra live with Janelle Monáe's band 7/14/12

Kimbra starts jamming around the 8 minute mark. This is perfect, but also funny how I'm sure many of the people who are fans of "Somebody That I Used to Know" and the what seems like "Settle Down" (being the single that is being pushed to American audiences, which frankly, it should not be. "Cameo Lover" really should be instead), likely won't have

a) much if any interest in this, because it's not poppy or even all that dance-able (which might be debatable)

b) really have a clue what is going on, since they don't like nor understand Jazz, especially LIVE JAZZ.

But by some miracle some of them do, they'll have a chance to understand how fucking awesome this is.

Kimbra and Janelle Monáe 7/14/12 Montreux Jazz Festival

http://www.students.ch/nachtleben/ticketverlosungen/details/32997/Montreux-Jazz-Festival-Kimbra--Janelle-Monae

I've made the comparison between the 2 ever since getting into Kimbra last Summer, but maybe this will finally bring more folks to follow why (and make the same comparison).

Both released rather impressive and well thought-out, refined, arty debut records in the last couple of years that were many years in the making. Both also have this great sense of music history they draw upon, especially soul music.

Now, having them play the same stage/bill is one thing, it might be another thing for this to lead to either/or a tour together or a collaboration.

I am curious, Kimbra knows who Janelle is, but does Janelle know Kimbra? likely, but how well? it'll be interesting if any comments come from Janelle after this show, that is I guess closing out this Jazz (of sorts) festival in France at Miles Davis Hall. Miles, being a big influence on Kimbra and possibly Janelle as well.

Now, if only Imogen Heap were there too. Maybe we'll see Miss Kimbra connecting down the road with her as well.

Mayer Hawthorne

I'm sure many people know the experience of a significant other and their favorite band/singer etc. Well for me, I didn't really until I started seeing someone a little over a year ago. My girlfriend's favorite musician of all-time is Michael Nesmith, and her favorite band more or less of all-time is The Monkees.

But being that she is a music-head like myself, she has plenty of other favorites. And I'm not sure how long it has been, but at least within the last year, her favorite modern artist is this new Blue-Eyed Soul singer/songwriter/dj etc Mayer Hawthorne.

Now, I checked out Mayer's music out last year, specifically his new record How Do You Do, and while I didn't find it bad, I also didn't hear the genius behind it like she did. For one, his vocals at times, almost sounded like Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers. Which, I don't hate, but again, don't find a lot of motivation to go back to.

But in hearing more of his music, and revisiting some of the How Do You Do tunes, I suppose that specific side to his sound, is limited.

Last Fall, my girlfriend attended the concert at First Ave in Minneapolis that Mayer Hawthorne opened for Chromeo, another band she recently got into. Not as much as Mayer, but definitely one that I continue to hear around her, and also not a band I mind, but also don't find addictive up to this point.

Following that concert, she kept reminding me how it was the best show of the year, and how I missed out. And I did feel bad for missing it, but I sort of was having to pick and choose between something like 6 shows in 10 days, and it ended up being one of the shows I skipped in that short window of time.

She talked about how great Mayer was, how everyone danced, and how Mayer requested they dance, otherwise they didn't have any business coming. And later, she got to meet him not once, but twice at his Merch Booth. Including mentioning to him how I couldn't make it, lol. I suppose that part sort of hit me worse than missing the show.

So, the next time he came here, I really had NO CHOICE but to attend. And that show was last Friday evening, at First Ave again. A concert, a bit like the recent Gotye/Kimbra concert in Minneapolis at Epic (moved from The Varsity Theater), where the demand for tickets got so big, it had to move venues, from The Fine Line to the Mainroom at First Ave.

Luckily, I and my girlfriend (along with a good friend of hers) purchased tickets to this show right when they went on sale in February. Because this show sold out pretty fast, largely in part to the nature of radio stations like 89.3 and Cities 97, pimping it and a few of Mayer's singles to their hipster (sheep-ish) audience.

The crowd demographic reflected that to a large extent, as in observing the difference from the concert last fall, the people who went to the show on Friday night were not the R&B/Soul/Dance loving crowd that apparently were at the show last Fall. Which, I suppose ultimately shouldn't matter, as long as the concert and performance of the music is good. But sadly, Mayer has become Hipster to extent, so much so, I told my girlfriend about how I was reminded of the experience where "my little band isn't MY band anymore" with the likes of Local Natives and Warpaint to an extent.

And Mayer actually never came out to meet the fans, as far as we knew, after the show. Why? My girlfriend and I could only guess due to time. In fairness, we didn't hang around for hours; but it definitely seemed a little different from the other shows she had seen him.

The show itself though, I'd say more than lived up to the hype and expectations. His songs and namely his BAND are really worth the price of admission. They are a very TIGHT group live. The grooves were groovier, the playing is rather energetic, and Mayer does play to the crowd quite well. Although it's noteworthy how at times, he does sound like the DJ he is, just in his voice and vernacular.

But he's Caucasian, and perhaps even Jewish, 2 things I share in common with him among others, which is an ongoing (and maybe always will be) thing to smirk about with my girlfriend. Although she connects with him in a number of things as well, outside of his music; such as Thrift Store shopping, Food exploration and his love of Vinyl/Vinyl shopping. Along with just his background with music and love of Soul and R&B. Including for example Hall & Oates, another Blue-Eyed Soul Artist, whom Mayer covered "You Make My Dreams Come True." And I'll fully admit, I thought was a Billy Joel tune when I heard Mayer go into it, but I was of course corrected immediately by my girlfriend. Although, I'm pretty certain Billy Joel has a tune that is rather similar to it, but I can't come up with at the moment.

I'd surmise this show only had maybe 2 or 3 songs that lost me, which I believe were ballads. But even some of the ballads eventually I ended up enjoying. I more or less concluded Mayer Hawthorne is a superior live performer, than his studio work. Although I probably need to revisit his recordings again, after enjoying this show as much as I did.

He even performed what sounded like a new tune, that sounded like one of the lyrics in the chorus were "I'm on Fire." In glancing at a set list, the song I'm thinking of may have been the single "Love in Motion" by an artist named Sebastian, Mayer was featured on last year. It seemed to be funkier than anything else of the evening. I told my girlfriend, it almost sounded like Prince's song "Kiss" at times.

Although I'm not certain the track with the lyrics which sound like "I'm on Fire," may not have been another tune. But among the set list posted below, that's the only song not on either of his LPs.


Mayer is not Prog, nor Metal of course, and not really College-Rock either. Yet, he does seem to blend a bunch of styles simultaneously, without ripping any artist off. He receives the 60's Soul or Motown tag a lot, and he is from Detroit originally, so that almost makes sense. But there's also something uniquely modern about his songs.

I suppose he's pulling off, in some different ways, what Pepe Deluxé, Janelle Monáe, Kimbra and some others are, by paying homage to his elders and older influences, but still not sounding exactly derivative.

Plus the songwriting along with his band, are things that make his music more endearing to me, and why I can't avoid saying I'm looking forward to not only seeing him live again, but what he records next. Perhaps he'll even collaborate with some of them; Janelle I know he's a fan of anyway.

This is a set list taken from the Detroit show last Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure this is nearly the same (if not the same).

You Called Me
Make Her Mine
Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'
The Walk
One Track Mind
Love In Motion
No Strings
Shiny & New
Dreaming
You Make My Dreams Come True (Hall & Oates)
A Long Time
Finally Falling
Green Eyed Love
A Strange Arrangement
Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
Hooked
The Ills

Encore:
Maybe So, Maybe No
Henny & Gingerale

"Henny & Gingerale" may have been the biggest highlight of the show, as I and I imagine many others in the crowd, kind of felt we didn't want it to end. We wanted Mayer to stay and perform longer. That is one of those great live tunes, where all the band members got to jam a bit (but not excessively), so much so, I think it could have gone on for 10 or 20 minutes and not felt too long. The flow of it just works incredibly well live.

Mayer claims First Ave is his favorite venue in America to play, and I get the sense he may enjoy coming to play in Minnesota, more than some other towns. A bit like Fair to Midland perhaps in that sense. Why? maybe our History with Prince, The Time and the recent hip-hop scene here. He even has come and DJ-ed at First Ave, as that is actually his background. And it wasn't a tour, but just a one-off event of sorts I guess.

But depending how big he gets, and how much 89.3 and the Hipsters latch on to him, it may dictate how eventful his shows will become. We'll see if the *new-ness* factor wears off and maybe his crowd goes back to being more Soul fans like my girlfriend, and less flavor-of-the-month groupies that seemed to be the jist of the population on Friday night.



It's also probably worth adding The Stepkids opened, and were actually pretty interesting. They had a rather surreal, trippy color/lighting background, sort of in the Pink Floyd or you name your psychedelic/dreamy/space-rock approach. I was reminded of a few groups in watching them, namely The Besnard Lakes and School of Seven Bells and White Denim (the last bluesy/riffy/jammy tune especially). And I think seeing them in the settings I've seen those other groups I mentioned, where it may be more intimate and less spread out, might enhance how dreamy/trippy of an effect their music could have live. If they comeback and play say The Turf Club or Triple Rock, I'll definitely be interested to see them in a smaller environment.

Pepe Deluxé - Queen of the Wave (2012)

1. Queenswave 4:54
2. A Night And A Day 4:04
3. Go Supersonic 4:44
4. Temple of the Unfed Fire 2:48
5. Contain Thyself 3:52
6. Hesperus Garden 4:08
7. Grave Prophecy 4:33
8. In The Cave 1:51
9. My Flaming Thirst 3:48
10. Iron Giant 2:22
11. The Storm 3:43
12. Riders Of the First Ark 7:22

I have probably a lot more to say about this record, than I have time at the moment to (how many times have I said that? countless :p), but I guess I'm going to just do the ole as brief/quick review as possible and if necessary, edit in more later.

I am really digging this album. I discovered it and this group 1 day a few weeks ago scanning the rateyourmusic.com 2012 Chart, and this was #1 at the time. That and given the style being "Art Pop" and "Psychedelic Rock" I was at least curious what they may sound like.

So, now after listening to this new album of theirs, at least half a dozen times, I'm following why it was and still is rated/ranked so high. It's a rather impressive and cohesive album start-to-finish.

Specifically, I'd say the styles or comparison that come to mind are the *vintage* late 60's/early 70's tones. With instrumentation, production in some ways, and especially songwriting. This album is one of those records that I seem to romanticize about from that period. It sounds like it was made in 1967. Hammond organs, rhodes keyboards, harpsichord, flute, fuzz-guitar, tribal drums, horn, and the like.

Also a very big part of this album's style is the cinematic/soundtrack like element. Ennio Morricone is very likely a big influence on this band. Also I read one comparison to James Bond soundtracks, which I definitely can hear. But also specific artists, like Janelle Monáe come to mind. The orchestral parts that are very theatrical, namely the vocals.

edit: one other pretty obvious side to their sound is their Dick Dale Surf-Rock/Surf-Guitar. The arrangements/phrasings totally work on a bunch of these tunes. The riff on "The Storm" for example, sounds right out of the Dick Dale school.

The videos below seem pretty obvious, they are going for a cinematic or soundtrack-esque approach when they composed this record. It definitely tells a story (or stories?). Science Fiction perhaps, but also what reminds me of stories about Ancient or just biblical tales.

Other names to add might be the likes of Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and Carlos Santana and even perhaps The Who and Cream, specifically the lead basslines I have thought of John Entwhistle or Jack Bruce even on more than one occasion.

This record has balls, and upfront riffs. It's catchy, namely the track "Go Supersonic" which could easily fit on a James Bond soundtrack. It has a fair amount of groove and soul to it, perhaps coming from the female vocals especially. It's also a rather *thematic* album as some of those tales or adventures the band is offering up, seem to take me in. The 7+minute closing track "Riders of the First Ark" maybe most, as it's epic and rather *big* sounding. Even just the baritone? vocals about the Big Blue Ocean and a voyage "out of the blue" give a deep impression.

I would say this now has become my top record of 2012. It's not extensively long, but it offers a lot. It is consistent from track to track, including little interludes between some tracks. The layers, twists, energy, themes and many other parts of it have sucked me in. Will it end up on top by the end of the year? doubtful, but as of right now I haven't heard anything better or more interesting, and addictive in fact.

Adding to it, they have a decent history, going back to the mid 1990's, and having checked out their previous 2 records Beatitude and Space Time Machine, I would definitely say this is a breakthrough album of sorts, but it also seems they have transitioned their style, as less than 10 years ago, they were doing more electronic, trip-hoppy drum'n bass kind of stuff. Maybe a reinvention of their sound, that at this point I'm really happy to have heard. Although I'll confess those other records I've heard aren't bad, and I need to spend some more time with them. It's just they may have finally found a style that works for my taste with this latest of theirs.

I also am rather curious how they produced these videos. I gotta believe the cost was not cheap. But impressive no matter. I wonder if seeing them live might be as impressive, although they are kind of spread throughout the globe, with some members in Finland, but others in other parts like the US.

Kimbra - Cameo Lover ([Disco-like] Remix)/Article

I just noticed Kimbra post a link to this article on twitter which includes this "Cameo Lover" remix by someone named Shook. It's kind of odd remix, in that it makes the song sound like a disco tune. I'm not sure if it's good or bad really.

Also the article is from "New Philadelphia" which makes me curious if that's a city/area of NZ or Australia. But what it talks about, her song "Good Intent" showing up on the popular-yet-long-since-jumping-the-shark Drama series Grey's Anatomy. And the curiosity about how the American music industry will appreciate her and her album Vows when it gets released in the States this year.

I just wish these people would stop comparing her to Florence and the Machine. She sounds really nothing like them. But I suppose it's just the token easy comparison because they have nothing else as well known to compare her to. Except Imogen Heap or Janelle Monáe ?..but of course it doesn't happen.

Kimbra - Cameo Lover (Shook Remix) by Shook (Official)