It would appear that I am in a hip hop sort of mood tonight. That’s not such a bad thing you know…
Shwayze’s Cisco Adler has created his own music video for the hip-hop duo’s new single “Get U Home” off of their upcoming album Let It Beat. The video gives you a look into the fun and crazy lifestyle that the Malibu-based duo lives behind the scenes and on tour.
P.O.S. continues to drop cool videos, his latest is for “Purexed” and it debuted via MTV2‘s Unleashed and on MTVu earlier this week. I love this song and the idea of the video just makes it that much more appealing. Check it out here:
I got the chance to check out the opening track of the album and thanks to the good folk at Thirty Tigers I can share it with you. The song titled “If You Ever Get Famous” really has this haunting Simon & Garfunkel feel to it. I really can not wait to check out the rest of the album.
Check out The Duke and the King in their cabin kitchen performing “The Morning that I Get To Hell”:
The Duke and the King are going to be on tour too:
Aug 4 – Mercury Lounge – CD RELEASE SHOW – New York, New York
Aug 6 – LOCAL 506 – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Aug 7 – EDDIE’S ATTIC – Atlanta, Georgia
Aug 8 – BOTTLETREE – Birmingham, Alabama
Aug 10 – THE BASEMENT – Nashville, Tennessee
Aug 11 – SOUTHGATE HOUSE (PARLOUR) – Newport, Kentucky
Aug 13 – LOCALS ONLY ART & MUSIC PUB – Indianapolis, Indiana
Aug 14 – SCHUBAS – Chicago, Illinois
Aug 15 – CLUB CAFE – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 16 – IOTA CLUB & CAFE – Arlington, Virginia
Sep 11 – SALISBURY – End Of The Road Festival Southwest
Sep 12 – SWANSEA – THE CHATTERY Wales
Sep 13 – GLASGOW – KING TUTS Scotland
Sep 15 – LEICESTER – THE MUSICIAN Midlands
Sep 16 – LEEDS – THE BRUDENELL Northwest
Sep 17 – NEWCASTLE – THE CLUNY Northeast
Sep 18 – LONDON – THE GARAGE (Club Uncut) London and South East
Sep 19 – NOTTINGHAM – THE MAZE Midlands
Sep 20 – BIRMINGHAM – THE GLEE CLUB Midlands
Sep 22 – BEDFORD – THE CIVIC East
Sep 23 – BARCELONA – BAM FESTIVAL Barcelona
Sep 27 – BELFAST – Open House Festival Northern Ireland
Minnesota hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities just dropped a new video for the song “Junk”. The song was taken from their latest release By The Throat that was released in late July. I have always appreciated the duo as artists with their interesting beats and fast paced rhymes. Hearing this song today is making me think that they are taking a darker approach with the almost industrial sounding guitars. Still the song is interesting as the Matrix inspired video that accompanies it.
"A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness." - Miller
Back in 1984 a certain movie came out focused around a group of men who ideally remove people’s cars from their property once the owners failed to pay the bank what was owed. The movie, Repo Man, of course was not just about stealing back cars for the bank and had a twist of sorts including aliens, drugs, and also offered one of the best punk rock movie soundtracks to date. The movie is a comedic sci-fi cult classic to many and still to this day one of my favorite movies to watch.
Starring a young brat pack Emilio Estevez (The Outsiders, St. Elmo’s Fire, Men At Work) as well as Harry Dean Stanton (Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Escape From New York) the movie focuses on Otto (played by Estevez), a young punk kid with hippie parents and no plans on life. Soon Otto meets up with Bud (played by Harry Dean Stanton) who takes him under his wing into the twisted world of booze, drugs, hi speed chases, and of course hot wiring cars. Soon Otto is part of the repo crew and he is slowly discovering a sense of maturity.
If the movie sounds boring to you then maybe I should also mention the hunt for a certain 1964 Chevrolet Malibu from New Mexico driven by crazed old man who has something hidden in the trunk. I am not going to ruin it for you but I can tell you the contents in the truck emit incredible heat and also vaporize anyone who opens the trunk door to see the actual contents. With a hefty reward for repossessing the car no one will stop at trying to get it.
Add a crew of druggie punk rockers raising hell in the city, a girl who wants to help the said aliens, and the lady with the tin foil hand this movie really goes all over the place. This crazy trip through the mean streets of L.A. is one hell of an adventure.
One of the highlights during the film for me is to see punk rockers The Circle Jerks playing as a lounge act at a bar that Otto visits. The song they play is a slowed down version of “When The Sh*t Hits The Fan”. I also loved all of the generic food products in the movie. Beer is labeled “Beer” and chips are labeled “Chips”. So generic yet so perfect for the movie especially when Otto eats of an open can of “Food”.
The soundtrack to the movie was one of the first of it’s kind as it was full of punk rock songs from major punk acts of the 80’s. Featuring Iggy Pop, The Plugz, Suicidal Tendencies, and Black Flag just to name a couple the soundtrack was like no other soundtrack of it’s time and remains a classic to this day.
I had actually purchased the soundtrack on cassette when I just was a young kid before I even saw the movie. Seeing a soundtrack featuring Iggy Pop and the Circle Jerks was good enough for me. I eventually grabbed a VHS copy of the move and watched that movie over and over. It was really one of the first movies I repeatedly would watch. Once DVDs came out a good friend of mine bought me the Repo Man collector’s DVD tin box that includes the movie and the soundtrack on CD. Score.
This movie is not going to ooh and aah people who are looking for something serious. It is a comedy action sci-fi punk rock movie with no structured plot other than a bunch of hoodlums trying to get the car to get the reward. Punk music backing up a movie about repo men, guns, drugs, violence, car chases, and a surprise ending. Can a movie get any better than this?
The heavy on the synthesizer pop act Lights, also known as Valerie Poxleitner, has been getting a lot of hype for not even having a full length release out yet.It could be solely from her beauty seeing as she is capable of turning one or two hundred heads, but in all honesty this girl is more than just a looker.She is a musician and has the voice to prove it.
The Canadian born singer actually wrote her first song when she was only eleven years old.At twenty-two Valerie Poxleitner was discovered when she casted to be a model for corporate giant bastards Wal-Mart.The modeling supervisor asked if she was a musician while looking at a picture of the hopeful model holding a guitar.Without hesitation she began to sing for them and the rest is pretty much history.
Her songs were first featured in Old Navy commercials and before long,Lights was playing the Facebook party at the 2009 SXSW, appearing on Canada’s MuchMusic, and even playing live for MTV.After grabbing a Juno award for being the best artist of 2009 she jumped on board for a summer tour with the Van’s Warped Tour.All of this happened within a four year period and Lights is still going. With plans on releasing a full length album this September and also acting as a supporting artist for a Fall Keane tour, Lights certainly as a lot on her plate.
So what is the hype about Lights you ask?Trust me I was asking myself the same question.While at the Warped Tour this summer I missed out on seeing this Lights act everyone was talking about. I read the schedule wrong and completely missed her set.Finally I have obtained a copy of her EP and I must say it was an interesting listen.
Opener “Ice” reminded me of all the cheap pop acts out there I just never cared for.You know, the one time Mousekateers that grew up to be pop stars that have everyone else do the work for them while they look pretty.I had to keep reminding myself that this was an honest musician.This song aside from the poppiness was catchy and I loved the Vanilla Ice throw in.
“Drive My Soul” was down shifted a few gears from the opening track as was “February Air”.At times I though of Gwen Stefani when she ditched No Doubt to go solo.The one song I actually enjoyed was “I Owe You One”, a thank you song for someone special.I think if Ben Gibbard did some back-up vocals on this track it would have been awesome.I guess it’s me, but I feel the song was very reminiscent of The Postal Service.
Think of a modern day Cyndi Lauper, Tiffany, or Debbie Gibson with keyboards galore and that pretty much sums up Lights.Honestly while listening to the EP I kept hoping for Lights to break into “Goonies Are Good Enough” cover.All I could image was 80’s style throughout the six songs.It was just too much for me.
Björk may be Lights’ most major influence but there is not any egg laying on the red carpet crazy experimental anything going on in this EP.It is straight forward syth-pop music for all the pop fans out there and not for me.
Lights certainly has an amazing voice, and the looks as well. I think it is just the music that backs her vocals that turned me off from most of the tracks.I think with a full band backing her she would sound amazing in my ears and others for that matter.With her full length debut The Listening dropping in a little over a month I can honestly say I am curious to see what is to come.
“Drive My Soul” video:
This music blog could have a driver's license by now…
