1. Circles
2. Sixes & Sevens
3. You Can't Take It With You
4. Go Easy
5. Duermete
6. In Case of Rapture
7. We's Been Waitin'
8. Is This Tomorrow?
9. Sleepyhead
10. The Narrows
11. Lost My Mind
12. Home Is Where You’re Happy *
13. That’s What You Get *
14. Sleepyhead (demo) *
if this thing is as good as I hope, I shall be ordering that version. I haven't heard it yet as myspazz doesn't stream at my work. Hopefully a webrip or a proper leak will come soon enough.
edit: it officially surfaced on what tonight. Tomorrow Friday the 14th I'll get my 1st taste.
Not certain on my agenda tomorrow, Thursday August 13th, but with a company picnic planned in what's supposed to be another sweltering heat-filled day, it may not go on as long as planned. Thus my afternoon may allow for some matinees.
-In the Loop and Shrink are 2 pictures that are showing at Landmark theaters in Minneapolis right now. However, they aren't at the same theater unfortunately. But the distance is not that bad between Uptown theater in Minneapolis and the Edina theater.
So, if the stars align tomorrow, I may find a way to catch both of these at matinee prices. Ironically, I may have a pass for District 9, which does not appeal to me much at all, lol. But depending on what happens, I may end up seeing it anyway.
And with my luck, both of them will be at Lagoon within a week or 2.
-The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) and their new album "Strict Joy" drops next month. Here is the cover art
They also posted a blog earlier about a live acoustic performance they did with NPR last week. You can stream their 7-song performance over there.
-Australian band Dead Letter Circus just posted another new song "Space on the Wall" I believe is the track, on their myspace; and it's the title/support of their upcoming tour. I'm not sure what I think of it or everything they've done since their debut ep. I want them to be a class or 2 above that group of alt-prog bands down under (The Butterfly Effect, Cog, Sleep Parade) and more in line with Karnivool. But I'm on the fence currently. A lot of that style ends up sounding a fair amount like Chevelle and just alternative hard rock, even if it has an odd time signature or something. And some of that has to do with their singer. The debut EP from 2007 I thought he sounded pretty good. But the single from last year "Next In Line" and the others since haven't grabbed me like their ep. Time should tell pretty soon. I do like the artwork for the single at least, for how much that is worth.
-Another more well-known rock band from down under, Wolfmother and their upcoming album, Cosmic Egg's info.
COSMIC EGG IS COMING THIS OCTOBER!
Brothers and sisters the time has come for the long-awaited return of Wolfmother. This October will mark the release of Wolfmother’s second opus, Cosmic Egg. You can get your first taste of the record with the new single, “New Moon Rising” which will be making its world-wide debut at radio and online on August 14th.
Starting this Friday, visit Wolfmother.com for details on pre-ordering the album in your part of the world. Cosmic Egg will be available in a number of formats including CD Album / 2LP Vinyl / CD Album + Vinyl combo / Limited Edition Box Set and more.
COSMIC EGG
1. California Queen
2. New Moon Rising
3. White Feather
4. Sundial
5. In The Morning
6. 10,000 Feet
7. Cosmic Egg
8. Far Away
9. Pilgrim
10. In The Castle
11. Phoenix
12. Violence Of The Sun
Cosmic Egg available in Japan on October 8th
Cosmic Egg available in Australia, Germany, and New Zealand on October 9th
Cosmic Egg available in Europe on October 12th Cosmic Egg available in USA on October 13th
Though I tried relentlessly to finish this thing proper and with full intention to release it to you this fall, that simply won't be happening.
I refuse to put something out just for the sake of it. It has to be just right. I believe I'm one of the few artists out there (at least penetrating the mainstream, in one country anyway) who still has the need to bleed for a record. To take every note, stroke, and nuance so very serious. To the point where its just worn me down.
There will be no perfect album. That in itself is not perfection. No. But there will be a record that fills the requirements of this next direction and step into the expanding world that is NWL. My records are epic. Layered. And with much attention to detail. I refuse to let that stop just to hurry something out.
It's difficult, after all these months, and the past two years, to say that this record won't surface until 2010, but that's what has happened. And though I wish this wasn't the case, I've come to accept it now and feel it will do the record more justice. And really, if you believe in fate, or at least the idea that when your in a situation, your in a situation no matter how you dress it up - you'll understand that there's no point in explaining it further or making excuses. This is actually for the better.
All the long days of work and blurry clouds of creativity that stormed over me for the past year have been waiting to clear. That hasn't quite happened. However, they have broken and allowed a light to shine through. And though the skies are still grey, hope is on the horizon.
I will continue to work on this record into the fall. Until its finished. It is my hope to release a single early in the new year, followed but the full album. This will give the NWL team time to properly map things out, and it will allow this year to run out and bring us into a fresh start.
In the meantime though, I will post at least 2 new songs in the upcoming months to keep you close by. And also to give you a sense of the new direction.
So, bittersweet I'd say. But also kind of exciting.
*deep breath*
Onward....
xo
~d.v
"d.v." is Daniel Victor the mastermind behind Neverending White Lights. He's been blogging rather frequently as you can see there about many things, but much about the 3rd Act of course. Frustrations, etc.
I'm not too unhappy as I'd rather him make the record the best way possible, rather than rush it. In many cases (dredg for example) it turns out for the better.
So, another one down for '09, and to add to the growing 2010 list. At least NWL actually keep/kept us updated unlike way too many other artists whose online presence isn't what us fans would prefer I suppose.
At least we have both Acts 1 and 2 to listen to still. It would be nice to read that Jimmy Gnecco is involved again, but maybe we will eventually.
Well, there's not unfortunately at this time a ton of info to pass along, but I did check out myspazz just a bit ago and 2 noteworthy bits to consider.
1) Their current status says "currently mixing album 2..." and the last login was Friday August 7th.
2) an "Album 2 Intro Demo" is up. Chances are it was uploaded a few months ago given it has 11,000+ plays. But it's the 1st I've heard/known of it.
So, perhaps some details will be announced within the next month or so given that is the case. Their self-titled debut album from 2007 was pretty impressive. And while that intro demo sounded a little different; more acoustic, it does have me a little more up for hearing their next work now. I hope it's soon, obviously, but 1 reason is they have kind of been unmentioned over the last year or so, after a big splash in 2007. I don't know if many of the fans of their debut record even have any idea they likely have a new record coming out relatively soon.
But then again, the band Fields are in the same boat, and their 2nd LP was expected out in March, lol. But that was a bit like the Insideout situation where their record label went broke. I'm guessing Stateless are not running into that dilemma with that status mentioned on their myspace.
bumped 8/10/09 12:05PM
The 2nd Video documentary. Nice humor I guess, the all-too-brief bits of his bass and the clip at the end may only raise more questions, but that hardly lowers my excitement.
original 7/6/09 @ 9:10PM
Yeah, so here's 1. Most of the boards have already seen it, but anyone using search.blogger.com maybe has not.
hello everyone... writing to update everyone on whats going on with us at the moment. we have FINISHED! tracking our new record and we are spending this week mixing/mastering and all that fun stuff. its hard to believe we've been recording for 5 weeks already. everything went really smooth and we are very confident in the fact that this is some of the best material we've ever created. can't wait for all of you to hear it! we have LOTS of footage from the studio that will hopefully be part of a special edition dvd that will come with the new record... we will also be posting some studio videos in the next few months. our touring plans are starting to come together and we'll be putting up dates tomorrow, so be sure and keep checking back for that info. below is the album's title and tracklist. more updates as they happen! hope everyone had a good weekend.
-tommy w/ BTBAM
"The Great Misdirect"
1. Mirrors
2. Obfuscation
3. Disease, Injury, Madness
4. Fossil Genera - A Feed from Cloud Mountain
5. Desert of Song
6. Swim to the Moon
OUT OCTOBER 27TH
What I can add is among the albums that we know will be released in 2009, this is among a short-list that I personally consider potential Albums-of-the-Year candidates. Mind you, that I/we know will come out in 2009
And 2007's "Colors" is a classic. A genre defining record, and bridge-album for myself and many other fans into various areas of death-metal. So to expect big things would be, well, expected. At the same time, I do not expect them to top Colors. But something close-to, especially given they are in a highly creative period as songwriters, that something that isn't addictive, will end up being a disappointment.
It also adds to the list post-September releases: 3, Orphaned Land and potentially Oceansize, Transatlantic, Local Natives, Thurisaz, and The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra
It begins.
As of today, Epic has given the green light to begin tracking the third margot album. Sessions will begin in a week or two. First up will be the recording of three songs, "earth to aliens: what do you want?", "Let's paint our teeth green", and "nobody knows the names of all those birds". There are some major changes afoot in the nuclear camp, but a record is beginning, and that's something to smile about. Wish us luck. We will update, in typical margot fashion, as things progress.
Lovvves,
Margot and the nukes.
8/7/09 they just got the greenlight from the record label to start recording. Odds are still against it, but if their next lp doesn't make it out by the end of this year, it'll likely be early in 2010.
It's not a matter of material as they have a ton of new songs written (partially due to the fact Animal! took almost an extra year to come out, but partially due to how prolific of songwriters they are).
I truly believe they are a band who have their best work still ahead of them. I.e. a classic album is certainly a possibility for them. They have too many talented cooks in that band for it not to be. And in truth, Animal! might have been close had they used the best songs from Not Animal (or vice~versa).
-My aoty tracking list (aka "index," perhaps a new term to use in the future) is nearing 100, lol with some recent additions of Ramona Falls and Mute Math. Time allowing, it'll hopefully have some more extensive prattle soon. Although 1 factor may hurt that fortunately/unfortunately, hehe.
-Psych premiered tonight, Burn Notice ended last night. Monk as well. More soon on them hopefully too along with In Plain Sight, Warehouse 13 and Royal Pains. True Blood? if only I find a way to see it soon.
-I hopefully will catch new/recent indie movies both Whatever Works and Shrink this coming week.
and the events besides the big Psych premiere this weekend.
@Station 4
-"Exit Stage Right" and "Animus" the Rush and Dream Theater tribute concert is tomorrow night August 8th
-dredg for the 3rd time since November along with co-headliners RX Bandits and opener As Tall As Lions are Sunday August 9th.
the heat index may be much higher to my liking unfortunately, but I plan on bringing a towel among other things.
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.
Awesome show. The "Summer Finale" airs this evening on USA Network. Sad but happy how BN exits tonight, and tomorrow, the best show on TV, Psych premieres.
finally, even though it's just an Entertainment Tonight montage. I'm not sure how I feel about this now. I might agree Mark Wahlberg could ruin this thing, and it does seem potentially, overly-serious. Dead Like Me had some great comic-relief, which is why this-kind-of premise worked in its case. I know the stories are a lot different, but when you get into full-on intense-drama, the charm or I suppose scifi intrigue of this story can take a back seat sadly.
We need less Sixth Sense, and more The Jacket, and I'll start to be more interested again. Some of the castings aren't bad Michael Imperioli (Life on Mars), Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Rachel Weisz. So that is worth keeping in mind along with it being Peter Jackson.
I was pleasantly surprised how good this ended up being. Sure, I wanted to see this for the jaw-dropping Katherine Heigl, but as it turns out, Gerard Butler stole this movie pretty much. He was brutally honest, yet insight-fully intelligent at the same time about the way the male brain thinks. The dialogue he has, almost came out of a Judd Apatow movie, but actually was better and more accurate.
The plot was not too different than plenty of other Hollywood movies, one specifically I thought of was the Eric Stoltz/Mary Stuart-Masterson HS movie "Some Kind of Wonderful." Except in this case, the girl needs the guy-friend's help to impress someone they admire.
Heigl did win some points too, as I'm surprised to say this, but she was effectively unattractive when she became clumsy. I actually saw her more for her character as the movie went on, rather than how drool-worthy she usually looks.
Save for a bit of filler (length), in particular the 2 scenes (the ballgame and especially the restaurant with the kid. That whole scene seemed like the When Harry Met Sally orgasm-scene done in a less funny way/situation) that were exaggerated more than I needed, it really had no other flaws.
Heigl needs to do more guy-centric comedies like this and Knocked Up as they seem to suit her. And for those who think this is a chick-flick, the kind of language and writing that Butler's character has would seem the furthest thing from it.
I have 2 potential free movies to see tonight. "Adam" and "Bandslam" both of which hold next to no interest from me based on premise, cast, and trailers. So instead, I think I will finally try and check out the Katherine Heigl (she's still a ton of eye-candy to me :p) picture "The Ugly Truth."
A Review hopefully should be coming soon after along with perhaps 5-10 other recent movies I've seen. More than likely, just a copy/paste from my comments on rateyourmusic (yes, they have a *movies section* now).
Not anything major in the leak department, but Porcupine Tree's new single "Time Flies" ..a 5 and a half minute edit surfaced earlier today. More folks are watering at the mouth about it, I'm sure. I hope it's good enough to up my anticipation. If I recall, it's the track/movement that has the lyric "I was born in '67, the year of Sgt Pepper (ah)" which from the teaser, was easily the most intriguing thing I heard.
yeah parts of it sound an awful lot like Queen. I dig the symphonic elements. I think it's being ripped-on a bit unfairly just due to the Queen-quoting. This could end up being 1 of the better parts of the record. I got no problem with a band sounding like Queen, if it's good. See how many other bands?
"The United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)"
Yeah it sounds like Dr.Who (or Battles?) but I'm just echoing countless others saying the same thing. "Uprising"
Interview
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
not a whole lot to notice, save for the bit in the last 5 seconds or so, and some of those fills. Their drummer does look a bit intense, which I'm not sure if that's just how he is normally in the studio, or if it was done for the camera.
Surreal, as pretty much every Mew video is. I dig the way they use nature; although admittedly, the stuff in the video is not what I pictured in my head when I listen to the song.
But I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who claimed they will be doing the full The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway on Halloween in that part of California.
Kevin Gilbert's band Giraffe of course did most of it at ProgFest'94 but of course that was now 15 years ago, lol. And the much gossiped reunion of Genesis-including-Peter_Gabriel became a long-winded series of rumors and *gossip* and nothing more than that.
Who knows if Dream Theater ever considered it, it's too long a record for 1 of their classic album shows anyway. Plus I'm kind of skeptical beyond Mike and Jordan, if the other members really are into Genesis that much unfortunately (unlike Yes).
So, this may be 1 of the last chances to hear it, now, some 35 years later. The recordings will surface and I'm sure it'll be 1 of a handful of new official bootlegs from them. Which frankly, I'm not all that crazy about save for those cool Halloween classic-album shows. But I may have to look for a recording when it surfaces still.
I still say more people need to know-about and try the Dark City The_Lamb movie/album synchronization thing. I mean c'mon, they both even are exactly-100_minutes in length!, lol.
For one thing, the whole "Camera-Phone" issue the girl brings up, of course I follow and respect Steven's take on it. But this goes back to the bs that many of these advanced-screenings of movies where they make people go back to their car and leave their cellphones inside.
Okay, most of the cellphones that have camera's and can shoot video:
a) the quality is rubbish
b) the amount of space that can fit in like 75% or more of them, wouldn't be able to record even 10% of the movie, or in this case, the concert.
c) he doesn't stress actual *live recordings* or AUDIO to be more specific.
I've somehow in the past managed to get in an undesired argument with some folks over Porcupine Tree's approach to bootlegs. While I have said in the past, and will continue to believe; they may not be 100% promoting the practice; places like this and this exist for a reason.
Ya know, they aren't like The Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident or Umphrey's McGee in that level of taping and trading isn't like that of a jamband. But it's silly to say the band feel so strongly about taping that they make a big deal out of trying to stop it. And that is why it was made such a big deal, back in the fall of 2006, they specifically tried to police it. And the reason behind that was because they were playing their entire upcoming/unreleased album live; something I don't believe they had ever done before. They wanted the 1st experience of people hearing to be the studio version.
At any case, that won't exactly be the case after September 21st, but perhaps before then, the camera-phone (and other audio-recording) restrictions will happen. But it's not primarily based on their or Steven's view of it. Because the fact is, taping their shows has gone on really since they started gigging in the 90's, that if they did have such a problem with it, why did it just take until 2006 for them to say anything about it?
Another point that I'd like to stress from this interview. The part about King Crimson and the remastering. There's many Porcupine Tree fans who have absolutely no clue who Robert Fripp or King Crimson are. It may not matter, but it would be nice to notice some of these people now checking out their music. And perhaps many of the other early progressive rock. Genesis for example.
The ole Porcupine Tree sound alternative and recently Metal; prog rock? huh? It's people like this that piss me off. It's like to say prog rock to those people..let's be honest, kids, or people 35 and younger. A lot of them in their teens-to-early-20's. To them, prog rock is The Mars Volta and Coheed and Cambria. Not Genesis, Yes, or King Crimson. And why is that? it's because places like SHITFORK and myspazz forces their brains to think that.
There's too many kids who don't trace back the roots of the music they listen to enough. And way too many magazines and music journalists who scoff at the P-word. To them, it's like a crime to mention interest in ELP or Dream Theater. They stereotype and decide that something's bad before they've even heard it.
That's where I fall into No-Man's Land. And it seems to be a never-ending life's struggle. Enjoying different related, but not-the-same, styles. Retro and modern. Poppy and technical. Simple and complex. And in some cases, all at the same time.
Why can't these kids that like Porcupine Tree, also like Marillion or Gentle Giant? Seriously? maybe it's just a matter of them finally getting old enough to realize the errors of their earlier/naive ways. And at the same time, why can't old fogeys who attend Nearfest and however many other prog rock festivals (RosFest, Three Rivers Prog Fest, CalProg, ProgDay, Summer's End) also start branching out and realize there's a ton of OTHER music out there that has what they enjoyed about prog rock, but it doesn't sound exactly like it. And within both camps, the Metal side as well. As I've said, some of the best younger songwriters are doing different kinds of Extreme Metal. And then within that group, those folks should not overlook both the classic progressive music and the *new prog* stuff as well. Also the better *post-rock* but that style is closely related to the *new/alt/indie* prog that separating it doesn't really add much.
But the fact is, there really aren't a lot of people who find appeal in all of these areas. In moderation I suppose, but I happen to be one of the only music fans who seeks a ton of this stuff out. Mind you, I will never mean to make myself out to be the most schooled in all of these (save for the *new prog* perhaps which is probably my favorite of them all anyway). I'm not a Savant in older progressive rock or Extreme Metal. Nor Post Rock for that matter compared to many others. But I have enough knowledge, and a constant desire to experience more from each of them.
So with Steven Wilson producing the 5.1 King Crimson mixes, will it cause some of the PT fanbase to go out and discover the band? Probably not many; perhaps a few, but not nearly enough in my mind. I'd love that to be wrong.
However, I can't forget to add the fact the one album I have from the 80's King Crimson, "Three of a Perfect Pair," other than the title track, the music bored the fuck out of me. Also the 90's-present King Crimson is nothing compared to the classic period ('69-74). The people who constantly kiss the ass of the modern Crimson baffle me. Is it horrible? no, but it's a bit like Yes. There really is no comparison.
