Menomena - new songs "Queen Black Acid"

I'm unsure how new this is, but there's a video for a song called "Queen Black Acid." although it's kind of stripped-down for them.

edit: here's a couple of live videos courtesy of a new friend I made whose a fan on last.fm






shitforkmedia.tv

Certainly an encouraging sign given what that girl Mary and I wondered about at the Ramona Falls show back in September. Who knows, but hopefully this means they are in fact in the process of making a new record (and not ending). Perhaps they'll be a bit like Mew was in 2009. Rather quiet, but still once-in-awhile mentioning a bit about the record, and then one-day the details are announced and it's out in a few weeks after an ep and single.

Ramona Falls - I Say Fever video

"I Say Fever" - the first video from the Ramona Falls debut album Intuit. Directed by the ridiculously talented Stefan Nadelman, winner of a 2003 Sundance prize for his 22 minute film 'Terminal Bar', a prolific animator in the commericial field and the mastermind behind the Menomena Evil Bee video.

Ramona Falls is Brent Knopf's first solo venture, but he has an extensive musical resume as part of trio Menomena (an indie rock band from Portland, OR, that's snagged plaudits from such tastemakers as Pitchfork Media and the New York Times.)

Directed and Animated by Stefan Nadelman
Produced by Tourist Pictures
www.touristpictures.com

Short update: Ramona, Jeff Buckley..mtba

a forum post I made last night.
Ramona Falls 9/9/09

Ramona Falls were awesome, even being the 1st night of their tour. Their drummer was being fueled by adrenaline, pounding away. They did nearly the whole Intuit record I think.

Sucks, the 2nd local opener, Spiritual Mansions, had this big crowd there, and most of them took off after they finished. Reminds me of the RX Bandits Crowd leaving and not staying for dredg last month. Spiritual Mansions are a good band, but I wish more of their fan-base could have stuck around for a little while longer. So goes a weeknight I guess.

edit: I might add, i met really, a number of cool people there last night. Namely the band members from Spiritual Mansions and some of their fans, despite them leaving early like that. This guy whose a drummer named Steve who I knew from meeting him after the Protest the Hero concert last Spring. He needs to meet my friend Josh from Mike Portnoy's forum. I think as music fans, specifically Tech/Death and other progressive music, and being drummers, I think the 2 of them would enjoy talking. It'll probably happen eventually; the Twin Cities concert/metal scene isn't all that big a place really.

But perhaps most enjoyable, was meeting this girl named Mary who was sitting next to me. I did give her this blog's url, so if she actually were to come here, I wish I'd have been able to tell her it was nice meeting her and goodbye. But perhaps she will be at a future concert I am, namely The Dear Hunter concert on September 30th at The Triple Rock, a band she of course didn't know. But she was one of the only people who was there last night soley for Ramona Falls, and was a Menomena fan. So I think that among some other parts of our conversation, I wish I'd been able to say goodnight/goodbye. It didn't hurt that she was cute of course :P.

I received finally after 3+ months, my 3rd prize? for the Jeff Buckley "Grace Around the World" contest. I won Jeff's own personal cd copy of Led Zeppelin IV believe it or not. It even came with a certificate signed by Mary Guibert, Jeff's mother, whose in charge of Jeff's estate. While in a physical sense, it's just a copy of Led Zeppelin IV with a jb stamp on it. But from a collector's sense, it's kind of cool, and perhaps the most distinctive (and sentimental) piece to my music collection. Jeff maybe bought it in 1987 or '88. He was a HUGE LZ fan, and when their catalog came out on cd, I imagine he bought it along with the rest. The idea of musicians personal music collections, what would be significant. Kevin Gilbert's copy of Genesis "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" or Gentle Giant's "Octopus" maybe? If not dead, say Mike Portnoy's copy of "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" "2112" although those would be on Vinyl I suppose. Might make for a cool forum topic.

Phil Collins will never drum again. He has some kind of spinal condition that forces him to end his time behind the kit. Personally, this bugs me even more that Peter never rejoined them to do THE LAMB with Phil on drums. Damnit, Peter.

-Adrian Belew (King Crimson, Talking Heads, Zappa) plays The Cedar Cultural Center on Monday October 5th
-Wolfmother plays The State Theater (how? and bands like dredg don't sniff any of the Hennepin Ave Theater District. No justice) on Saturday November 14th
-The Swell Season play The State Theater on Saturday December 5th

Shadow Gallery new album is called "Digital Ghosts" and will be released on November 3rd via Inside Out music. A short clip is on their website.

Orphaned Land new album will be out late December/early January. I have grown more appreciation for their last disc "Mabool" from 2004. They will be playing on Saturday night at ProgPowerUSA. Hopefully they'll perform some of "The Neverending Way of ORwarriOR" their upcoming LP. Perhaps I'll have some time to talk to them, along with Enchant and the Fates Warning members about things. Guess I'll see and post whatever I can/feel worth doing/appropriate. I'm still down about missing Enchant tonight, but $250 extra I do not have, and that was BEFORE I had to purchase a new computer, lol.


Yikes..tired, need to pack quickly. No idea about free time in Atlanta over the next few days. If the hotel has web access, I may do some blog-work..namely the TV Previews. Emmys are not this Sunday, but the next thankfully. Not to fall on the NFL Week 1 stuff perhaps. Although I likely will be in Chicago 1-week from Friday for my new niece/nephew's baby naming/bris.

Update

Progressive Nation a fun time. I think it's more of a social thing than anything else. All the promotion I did was worth doing, even without Pain of Salvation. I particularly enjoyed Zappa Plays Zappa, frankly, for 1 hour, it was a perfect length (compared to the 2 1/2 hour show that I caught a few years ago).

Ramona Falls IS COMING!..playing the crappy 7th Street Entry on September 9th, same day those Beatles remasters are released. 2 days before ProgPowerUSA, 2 days after Minnesota Metal Fest which by the way, includes Atheist and November's Doom whose vocalist also is the singer in a band/project I'm really into in progressive folk-y death rock band Subterranean Masquerade. Now I desire to go. I ran into Nathan aka "The Sword Lord" this afternoon at Renaissance Festival.

Which likely will be my 1 and only trip out there this season, save for timing and my friend receiving more complementary tickets. I purchased a bunch of cool things, which may or may not find worthwhile in the long run.

-a Flask with a clip. Likely more portably than the mugs out there. As long as it doesn't leak.
-a small purple bottle of what seems like hard-to-remove glitter/fairy dust. The girl was cute selling it though. I caved.
-a small reddish/pink bottle of "Renaissance Passion" scented liquid. Some kind of aphrodisiac? no idea, but it does smell good. Ideally, to be enjoyed with (on) a female, but for now, all it'll be is some kind of little perfume bottle. It did include a naked (female) angel trinket at least dangling on the string.

Muse may have finally leaked.

edit: negative. These clowns who put up these fake leaks are really a waste of bandwidth. Haha, you're hilarious. And for that matter, the people who keep passing them along. I suppose from experience to CHECK STUFF 1ST before being sure. But how long has this garbage been going on? like 10 bloody fucking days already. Ya'll are pathetic and need to stop. Will it? I doubt it, but it's only for bands as big as Muse I suppose. It's really getting old, really fast. You can go back to living in your parents basements already, okay?

Midlake it appears will be releasing "The Courage of Others" their 3rd album now likely in February 2010.

article

When can we expect the new album to be released?

Unfortunately with release schedules and such, it's looking like February 2010. If I'm not mistaken, (if we are indeed an anticipated album for next year) this will be the third year in a row that we're one of the most anticipated albums for Under the Radar. Shall we celebrate with a cover?!

I like how they jokingly mention 3-years-in-a-row lol.


TV reviewed some of the upcoming fall schedule tonight. Good enough prep for my upcoming previews I think. What I can say is much is gone, some potentially good new shows, namely V and Eastwick which sadly, aren't original story ideas. But the Monday clusterfuck is gone, Tuesdays has almost nothing, Wednesday and Thursday look lite, and Friday is much busier. The cable shows factor and schedule not entirely known save for Monk which in it's final season, will air through the Fall.

But the previews, hopefully will be up by Mid September if not sooner, especially given the Summer season now winding down. Royal Pains I think is the only show that's on from earlier in the Summer, and it's season finale is this coming Thursday. Being Human on BBC America I need to revisit having only caught the pilot episode which was ok.


I never caught Shrink nor The Time Traveler's Wife. In due time. Still looking forward to Where the Wild Things Are of course, but additionally, Extract the new Mike Judge picture with Jason Bateman and Mila Kunis, and Couples Retreat. And most recently added the Taking Woodstock among a few others. The Terry Gilliam picture with Heath Ledger and movies from Gilmore Girls stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel.

Then again, I've been meaning to try and rent the following:
-Galaxy Quest
-Logan's Run
-Dogma

among some others.

well, more to be added to..hopefully my albums list will have new discs from Muse, Thrice, and BLK JKS on it within a few days. Leaks, Release Dates, and announcements of records that won't be out until 2010 are coming-in like they need to, slowly but surely.

also next weekend is the Dean Magraw benefit concert which begins I guess at 1:30PM next Sunday, September 30th. A long marathon of a show, but frankly, Dean is MORE THAN WORTH IT.

Also, the podcasting hopefully is 1-more step closer to happening as I bought, but have not installed ProTools and a new external soundcard. The price? I hope was worth it. A new Terabyte HD also is nice to finally have, and saving at least $70 on it too.

Ramona Falls - Intuit (2009)...DT, PT, KC

Original: 8/3/09 10:41AM
Bumped 8/6/09 7:21PM



ramona falls myspace

this review makes me want to hear this album even more. Granted, it and some of the comments read like a fanboy's. But as someone whose interest in Menomena has only increased more and more over the last couple of years, this is definitely something I can't help but be really excited to hear.

It's kind of pointless to elaborate more about it since I haven't heard it, but of course the moment I'm able to (a leak, or when I'm able to purchase a copy in a few weeks), I certainly look/hope to add a great deal of content about it.

edit: 8/6/09 7:20PM
Sucker leaked!


Some things on the playlist today:


Dream Theater - Uncovered (2003-2008) ..nice selection live cover songs and good to hear them mastered. However, it would have been even greater had they (Mike) included both Rush's "The Necromancer" and Pink Floyd's "Sheep." Hopefully in another future edition.

edit: apparently "Sheep" was on the "Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Dark Side of the Moon." Silly me for not realizing that fact, lol.


Porcupine Tree - Recordings I liked a fair amount of this. "Buying New Soul" and the extended version of "Even Less" I suppose. But for those who rave about this thing, I guess I don't follow how it's even close to as good as Lightbulb Sun. Still, given it was from that and the Stupid Dream period, and LS being my favorite PT album, it was certainly worth hearing now and some times in the future.


King Crimson - Discipline Better than "Three of a Perfect Pair" certainly, but like that record, it only has 1 catchy, highly melodic piece in "Frame by Frame." Some others like the almost ethnic rhythm in "Thela Hun Ginjeet" and some of the proggy Frippertroniks (sp?) add something to the mix, but overall, this does seem like another record that a lot of people grossly over-rate. I'm not surprised of course. But having never heard "Beat" the follow-up, I imagine this will seem like a classic by comparison. So I suppose I'll keep that in mind if and when I find the reason to do so.