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I generally don't think much of mashups. Some of them are really creative--"The Ghosts That Feeds," combining Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters" and Nine Inch Nails' "The Hand That Feeds" is brilliant, as is the entire-musical-spectrum-raping insanity of Pittsburgh's Girl Talk--but for the most part, mashups are almost always poorly-thought-out, and even more poorly-executed exercises in the cut'n'paste aesthetic that Negativland and Emergency Broadcast Network pioneered but few, few, can master as well.
WHA?! Studios latest mashup monsterpiece, Summer of Love 2008, proves that there are brilliant mashup artists Out There who can combine elements of various songs into mind-melting frankensongs that manage to transcend the mere sum of their parts. Yeah, it's cool to hear Jim Morrison's laconic vocals from "Rider On The Storm" synced up to Blondie's "Rapture," but are you prepared for the sheer musical chimerism of "Buffalo Springfield VS 808 State VS Deee-Lite VS Prince VS Duran Duran"? Because that's exactly what "What's That Sound?" by World Famous Audio Hacker, on Summer of Love 2008 is.
The whole idea behind Summer of Love 2008 can be succinctly described in the words of WHA?!'s press-release for the comp: "[Summer of Love 2008] is our tribute to the second Summer of Love, the acid house and rave culture which started 20 years ago in the UK. It was just as important as the first Summer of Love in the late 60's. So we took songs from the Flower Power era and we took songs from the Acid House Revolution and mashed them together." And that's exactly what you get. Album opener, "Step Together," by the brilliantly-named Phil RetroSpector, combines the Happy Mondays with The Beatles, while "Pinball Wizard in the Drivers Seat" splices together elements from The Who, Dogtooth, and Cook's County. I'd have to say this is my favorite track, because it turns The Who's "Pinball Wizard," one of my alltime favorite Who tracks, into a synthpop dancefloor destroyer that sounds more like a strange, contemporary remake of the song rather than a traditional remix. Bobby Martini's "Here Comes the Sunscreem" is a seamless mercuric amalgamation of Sunscreem and The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun." Though sometimes the vocals don't quite match up with the music, it's still an incredibly ballsy track that will electrify hippies and britpop fans alike and will keep dancefloors rocking. Flying White Dots' shiversome "Land of Oz" is a beautiful, almost ambient space/dance/trance track built from pieces of Manuel Gottsching, Latino, Grace Jones, Pink Floyd, The Orb, Opus 3, Björk, Masters At Work, and The freakin' KLF to boot! We're talking ten minutes of space music so lush and mindblowing it proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt...this one track proves that music is better than acid for achieving altered states of mind. Yes. There. I said it. It's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Again, what makes this compilation work so well is that it's not a one-trick pony. Yes, it's built around a basic gimmick, combining music from two different eras, flowerchildren plus early rave culture, blah blah blah--but it only uses that gimmick as a starting point, not an endpoint. These individual tracks achieve much, much more than simply stitching together the familiar hooks from a bunch of random pop songs from the late '60s and the late '80s/early '90s. The combination of Summers of Love produces vibrant new music, not merely zombie tracks consisting of reanimated samples from old songs. A few of them, the first two tracks in particular, sound like remixes--but good remixes that do what remixes should do: create all new songs out of the components of previous tracks. But the other tracks...the other tracks are truly unique examples of, and triumphs of, the mashup genre.
Best of all...the entire EP is free! Free as Love! First, you can listen to all songs in streaming format at the album's homepage, then you can download the entire album here (Divshare link), or, even better, you can download it as a torrent. Plus, the torrent version contains a special extra: "The Caravan of Love Collection is the bonus gift of the Summer of Love 2008 compilation. Each artist from the album has designed a VW bus and you can find them in a handy print ready booklet feature in the zip file. Print them all and set up your very own Caravan of Love!" That's right, you get a collection of papercraft microbuses to print out, fold up, and display proudly in your cubicle while you blow your coworkers minds with the psycherobodelic sounds of Summer of Love 2008!
It really has been a while since I wrote a post other than some advertising here and there of releases, and general randomness.... So, I am going to take you back to February of this year and go forward from there :)
Beginning of Feb, we packed up all our stuff in our car and a 16' Budget rental truck and moved back to Maryland, where I grew up. A pretty uneventful drive, though by the end of day 3 when we arrived I was damn sure happy to not be driving that truck anymore. Man was it uncomfortable. The seats in those trucks suck, especially for a 1100 mile drive and you cant get the thing to go over 65mph because it is loaded down with a houseful of stuff.
Moving back here was probably one of the better ideas we have had - with one of the best PROS of it that we have got the grandparents here for our daughter for the babysitting, as well as my sister to take on some of those duties hehe. Back in FL we were hardpressed to find a sitter as we really didnt have any family in the immediate area. The closest family was my grandparents 80 miles away in St Pete and Elle's aunt and uncle way up in Jacksonville.
Played a small slot at Club Five in DC after first getting here in Feb, which was pretty interesting gig. I forgot the adapter to my headphones so I couldn't plug them into the mixer, and none of the other DJ's were there yet, so for the first three tunes, i just let them ride and faded em like a top40 DJ. Fortunately, no one was there yet, as I was just filling in an open slot for the night that my friend who was throwing the party hooked me up with. I wasnt even on the flyer, thats how short notice it was haha. After the 3rd tune, I noticed the Xone mixer they had there had a jack for 1/8th in plugs too. Man, I felt like a biscuit haha. I could have been actually mixing the whole time if I had noticed that little hole when I first popped on the first tune of the night. After that, it was a decent lil gig, more peeps showed up and I got to play about an hour even though it was supposed to be like 30 or 45 minutes...
The job that me and Elle were working, the owner of it turned out to be scamming us essentially, so we quit and started up a new company ourselves doing the same thing, but also expanding into other products and services. If you scroll down, you will see my spam for it, :). Things are going decently with it, we are operating in the black, and I get to work from home in my underpants, drink beer, and take breaks whenever and however long I want to :)
Running the business was pretty much all we did in March, until the 29th, when I was booked to play up in philly at a party called Dance Out Loud (scroll down to find a mp3 link to my set.from that night). That was a fun party. The event was held in a Private Airport for small planes and corporate jets and cessnas. The whole place was rockin, and I played a damn good set hehe. Back at the hotel, the TV had the porno on channel 6 for free, so that was rather interesting, coming back from a dope show, chewing my face off ;) and watching lesbian midget porn while in an altered state of consciousness. Needless to say, you didnt catch us acting out any scene from that movie, :shudder:
April was pretty uneventful, I am trying to remember anything notable that happened, and cannot for the life of me come up with anything to tell you about. There was Easter of course, and we had the family here for dinner - about 15 total. We were cooking all day the day b4, and all night, as well as half the day to get all of the food ready for everyone. I made a fucking delicious glazed ham, if I do say so myself, as well as a bunch of other goodies. Oh, the apple honey butter.... that was the shit. Take 2 lb of butter, a jar of honey and a jar of apple butter, and blend it all together, then let it harden and scoop it out to serve with a melon baller alongside rolls, and man, that is some good shit. You need to try it sometime, I am telling you... shit is good...
May was even more uneventful, as there is absolutely nothing myself or Elle can remember notable that happened at all. Not even a holiday celebration. May was MEH.
Come on to June. June was a blast. I got to play the Starscape Festival which was the sickness. At least 12,000 people were there, at Fort Armistead Park, overlooking the same part of the chesepeake bay where the star spangled banner was written. The musical bombs were getting dropped and were bursting in air and ears of the people who caught my set that night. My good friend Lynne, who is BT's assistant, stayed with us and came to the event with us as well. When I went to pick her up from the airport, there was a dude there holding a starscape sign, looking for BT because he was supposed to come off a flight from chicago from a gig the night before, but the gig was cancelled due to him not being able to make it - his flight to chicago was 86'd due to weather. It was rather funny tho, I eavesdropped in on his phone call to the starscape promoters for a little bit, and he was all like "I dont know where he is, I cant find BT anywhere!!!" FREAKING OUT, hehe.... We finally went up to him and let him know bt was not going to be on the flight as he was already in MD because he never left. LOL. Anyway, same day I got to meet one of the people I will be collabing with, a vocalist named Renee (who also happens to be HOT lol), to whom I was introduced to through Lynne. We are working on a new pop styled act, breakbeat and edm oriented, that is going to be sick. The stuff I have been writing for this is very progressive, but funky, and very "pretty" at the same time, with lots of melody and harmony and some good solid hooks. Stay tuned to this spot for audio samples in the near future so you can hear the progress of this collaboration. At starscape, I also had a film crew with me that taped multiple angles of the entire set, so look for clips of that to be posted at my lesiure. Check the post below for one of the videos I created out of the footage taken from the event. Oh, back to the event, RIGHT when we got there, this nasty thunderstorm came, and ripped thru the area, we even got caught in a little mini twister in the car on the way in to the event. The lightning was AMAZING though. There is a really sick video of it, with a guy glowsticking in front of it - go to youtube.com and search out Starscape 2008 and the vid is in the list, I cant be arsed to put a link in here right now, but it is easy enough to find if you want to see it. I was pretty gutted at the event though, as the two acts I really wanted to see - Slick Rick & Bassnectar, had the same exact timeslots as me pretty much for the event on other stages, and I missed both of them because of it.... Oh well... After starscape, and a day of recovery, we took off for a few days to Ocean City MD to relax on the beach, chill in the pool, walk the boardwalk and take our minds off of things. It was a well needed mini vacation. Speaking of Lynne and collabs, she also set me up with this guy who goes by the name "Delta S" who I am going to be working some nasty industrial breaks edm stuff while he does the vox. That project is going to be the motherfucking SICKNESS. I cant wait til we have our first tune ready...
Which now brings us up to July... July has been a weird month to say the least. Instead of doing the 4th of july at some park, we stayed home and set off fireworks ourselves here. Weeee! lol. I jammed a show at Transit in fairfax VA, which was aiight. It was a mixed genre night and I came on to close the night off with some nasty breakbeat action. The crowd seemed to like the more progressive sounds i played over the heavy nasty tearout, so thats a lil something to remember for my next local gig :) The other day, I had an irate customer call me because the pins they ordered from me that we told them would take 30 days, werent there in 21 days, and they were going to "lose $20000": because of it. Yeah, they were going to lose 20 grand because the $900 order they placed with us hadnt arrived yet. then to top it off, customs held the merchandise for inspection an extra day, so they refused shipment when they arrived. I am totally expecting to get a chargeback any day now for that, yippie, LOL. Also, to top it off, for the ridiculous shit this month so far, I just found out some faggot (pardon my un PC language) from staten island is using a variation of the cereal killaz name, to release crappy music under. Cease&Desist and InjunctionLand here I come!
So now, we are pretty much up to date as to what has been going on. Theres a big party on Aug 2nd with 85 other Dj's that I will be playing on Aug 2nd, I got a gig in Baltimore on I think the 23rd, another gig in Baltimore on sept 4th, and a gig in the dayton Ohio area on sept 13th. I will post up the flyres for these in my photos section in the next couple days, so if you live in these areas, hit up the events and come check out my set :)
Check out htis little video I put together for my performance reel for my new booking agency, Cyclops Kitty Ebntertainment. It includes footage from Starscape 2008 of myself and the people dancing as well as some crazy background letterbox animations I created to add some more color to the video. The best thing I think of the entire video, besides the music, lol, is the intro logo animation I created ... lemme know what you think :)
What's the closest thing you have to a time machine?
Submitted by Verisimilitude.
So it has been quite a while since I have posted, lots has gone on, new releases coming up, new collabs in the works, and all that jazz. So what a better way to start back with a fresh post on the QOTD... The closest thing I have to a time machine, I would have to say is my back catalog. I can revisit my musical past by listening to music from all ages of my life, and remember times I had around the times the music was created, as well as bring back memories of what was going on in my head and how I was feeling at the time I created it. It truly is amazing to me to be able to do so, I guess it is sort of the same feeling as a non musician when you hear a certain song from the past and it brings back memories of whatever you were doing at that time to that song... Good stuff
That's all for now, I will be posting later tonight all the details of what has been going on in the life of a cereal killa :)
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As a pretty big DC Comics geek, so I went to see The Dark Knight on opening day. I've been eagerly awaiting the film since Batman Begins and it just felt forever for the film to finally make it to the movie theaters. What made it worst, was I picked up the Batman Bluray and saw the first six minutes of the film, which made waiting for the movie even more unbearable!
So after watching it, I definitely wasn't disappointed. I thought maybe at the end, there was an over usage of sweeping orchestral music that seems to overpower the dialogues spoken. Maybe even Christian Bale's Batman voice is sometime over dramatic and the Gotham mafia is a joke, the movie is still pretty awesome.
By the way, I'm actually kind of surprise that with all the violence in the film, it was still Rated PG-13. I guess the rating board have laxed over the years, but if this movie was released in the 80s, it would've been slap with an R.
I'm sure all the critics will tell you what a wonderful villain Heath Ledger's Joker was. He was pretty frightening in the role, and I'm kind of sad that this will be his last role. In some ways, I hope they don't bring back the Joker in future films, especially if future actors won't be able to carry on the craziness of what Ledger brought.
Anyway, before I let spoilers slip, I'll just keep this short and sweet. Here are some Batman music.
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A couple of comments: I've previously mentioned Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman before, so check those out. The "Batman TV Theme" was redone, possibly in the late 60s by an outfit called The Dynamic Batmen. I've always loved this surf theme song, but it doesn't seem to suit the seriousness of what Batman should be. It is a fun song and I guess reflect the feel-good theme of the Adam West show.
Prince's "Batdance (Vicki Vale remix)" and had heavy sampling from the 1989 Batman movie. It is, as they say, funky, I didn't think belong in the "grim" and "gothic" Tim Burton film. However, Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Face to Face" fit quite well in the sequel Batman Returns. What a great single! Rounding out is R Kelly's "Gotham City", from the disaster that is known as Batman & Robin.
Links: thedarkknight.warnerbros.com
hans-zimmer.com
oingoboingo.com
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07/18/08 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
Album Discography
07/19/08 Goshen, IN Elkhart County 4-H Fair 07/21/08 Council Bluffs, IA Harrah's Casino - Stir Concert Cove 07/26/08 Oakville, CA Robert Mondavi Winery 07/27/08 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore 08/01/08 C Mesa, CA Pacific Amphitheatre 08/02/08 Primm, NV Star of the Desert Arena 08/03/08 San Diego, CA Humphrey's Concerts 08/05/08 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery 08/09/08 Aspen, CO Belly Up Aspen 08/10/08 Colorado Springs, CO Pikes Peak 08/11/08 Beaver Creek, CO Vilar Center 08/14/08 Silverton, OR Oregon Garden 08/15/08 Tacoma, WA Emerald Queen 08/16/08 Richmond, BC River Rock Casino 08/17/08 Coquitlam, BC Red Robinson 08/19/08 Medicine Hat, AB Esplanade 08/20/08 Regina, SK Casino Regina Show 08/22/08 ON Thunder Bay Comm Auditorium 08/23/08 MN Grand Casino Hinckley 08/24/08 Sault Ste Marie,MI Kewadin Casino 08/26/08 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino 08/27/08 Jim Thorpe, PA Penn's Peak 08/29/08 Lincoln, RI Twin River Casino 08/31/08 Bridgeport, CT Klein Memorial Aud 09/05/08 CA Chukchansi Gold Casino 09/06/08 Rancho Cucamonga, CA Lewis Family Playhouse
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I'm probably not qualify to write this article, as I thought I only knew a few popular songs ("Love is a Battlefield" and "Heartbreaker") from Pat Benatar, a pop singer who dominated the American charts in the 80s, but after giving Pat Benatar: Ultimate Collection 2-CD album a listen, I can tell you that I was familiar with a lot of her works!
Her songs, especially the early pop rock hits, reminds me a lot of Patty Smyth in Scandal, both having strong female vocals backed by a tight band, rocking out to music themes such as the heat of the night, children of the street, belonging to something, and promises of love.
There are many good songs on this collection, but I will only be mentioning a few stand-out tracks. "Heartbreaker", her major-hit debut single, originally released in 1979 from her album, In the Heat of the Night.
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot", I've always thought it was an Olivia Newton-John song. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this was a big hit for Benatar!
I was also surprise to hear "I Need a Lover", a John Cougar Mellencamp song! Her take on it emphasized more on her aggressive girl vocals.
"Love is a Battlefield", gives new meaning to synchronized dancing by runaways. I think the cheesy music video to this song, more or less, made the song really popular in the 80s. A little bit of trivia, this original release was on a live album called Live From Earth (1983). Out of this live album are two studio tracks, the battlefield song and "Lipstick Lies".
While the first disc covers most of her singles from her first five studio albums (1979-1983), the second disc covers the rest of her career, but only from her former record label, Chrysalis Records (1984-1993). What's interesting to note is her shift from rocker to a more mellow pop and even jazz, on such classic songs like "We Belong" (this sounds like a Journey song), and the jazzy "True Love" (lots of piano and brass instruments on this one).
It is kind of nice to see Benatar dipping into different genres outside of pop (she even does blues on "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss"), I suppose it's a sign that she was growing up in those later years. We're talking about thirty year's worth of music, although looking at her discography, there are huge gaps after 1993 that suggests she's in semi-retirement of recording original music? Her last album, Go, came out in 2003, but perhaps with this latest tour and Ultimate Collection that was just released might spark some interest to get her back to the studio?
Ultimate Collection is really meant for casual and new fans, but I think it will also appeal to hardcore fans, as it does a wonderful job compiling Benatar's hits with some misses. The forty songs on two CDs (and official digital tracks), with half of it were top 40 hits. For new fans, this is a great way of getting all these songs for a reasonably low price.
To coincide with the album release (June 24th from Capitol/EMI Records and can be found at all major record stores), Benatar went on tour since May. She's currently just finished up Knoxville, Tennessee, and probably heading to your town. If possible you should see her do live rendition of all her hits.
Links:
www.benatar.com
benatarfanclub.com
myspace.com/officialpatbenatar
in a way it should be renamed the 50th element, so many film releases, yet TV stations have only bought 4 films, one of them being the 5(0)th element... so relentless is their insistence on battering us with endless repeats... its an ok film, but not when its been on 500 times, who is watching all this stuff ?? and typical CH4, anything good like the Sopranos, Larry David is on about midnight, who is up at this time ?? I have to praise the new comedy LabRats, old format, which actually looks quite innovative compared with the endless tripe masquerading as comedy at the moment .. it just goes to show the 'whacky' does not necessarily a good comedy make, just good writing and believable characters,,, another winner from Armando Iannucci , I am a big fan of 'In the Thick of It'... this is one consistent and quality writer, great stuff.. if only TV had more people like this...
I am thinking of writing a song called 'Id wish Id had a life of crime'.. it would be a field day for those trying to spot grammatical errors... it could be semi-autobiographical, I can hear the chorus now, "I'd wished I'd had a life of crime, but all that's happened has rubbed my nose in the grime" to a Dolly Parton sorta tune... I can see myself at the Country Music Awards now, 'many thanks for this brilliant Award, I'd like to thank my vocal coach and the postman'.. because crime (not grime!) does pay... look at the News of the World, consistently crap, a crime against paper, yet raking it in, who buys this rubbish ?? then Canada... environmentally friendly types with prison for anyone not separating their waste in to 20 different types of recycled materials, and Jail for anyone found catching a lobster before all the Inuits have had theirs... and irony on irony - most of Alberta is now turned over to the most environmentally damaging form of surface mining, extracting Oil from sand,, greedy wee people churning up their land for a few extra dollars... a life of crime, I wish I had it in me to defame the public and rape the landscape,,, big money for all.. what a world.. eerrr 'News of the World'
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07/18/08 Ed Fest -w- Collective Soul Edmonton, Alberta
07/24/08 Les Saints -w- Missy Higgins Montreal, Quebec 08/05/08 Sudbury Arena -w- Avril Lavigne Sudbury, Ontario 08/06/08 Molson Amphitheatre -w- Avril Lavigne Toronto, Ontario 08/16/08 V-Fest UK Staffordshire, UK 08/17/08 V-Fest UK Chelmsford, UK 09/06/08 V-Fest @ Toronto Island Toronto, Ontario |
You wouldn't think The Midway State (MySpace) would be as good as they are...at least, not if you let some of the information provided on the one-sheet for their upcoming debut album, Holes, influence you. First of all, they were signed to Interscope Records, those wonderful industry giants who have brought you the likes of Soulja Boy and Queens of the Stone Age, by label president Jimmy Iovine himself. Strike one. They worked with "Stevo" from SUM 41 on the video for their second single. Strike two. Finally, they recorded their album with "multi-platinum producer" Gavin Brown, best known for his work with...Three Days Grace?! Strike three--get the hell outta the....
But wait. Have you actually listened to their stuff yet?
When you do, you'll find yourself kicking yourself in the ass for letting assumptions get the better of you. The Midway State are a great band, and if Holes is any indication, they've got quite a career ahead of them and, quite frankly, I'm glad they're signed to a label as big as Interscope, because they deserve to be widely heard. The world of mainstream pop/rock is in desperate need of an infusion of good, solid music that is both palatable to a wide range of listeners but is still creative and full of heart. The Midway State bring a refreshing shower of good ol' rock-n'-roll rich in melodies and sensitive lyrics to the desert of pop radio, but still evince enough "indie cred" in their music to attract the SXSW crowd.
In 2001, while still in highschool in Collingwood, Ontario, pianist/frontman Nathan Ferraro and longtime friend and drummer Daenan Bramberger teamed up with bassist Adam Beamish and guitarist Ryan Horning to form Midway State. After an inaugural tour that drew some well-earned attention, the four fellas moved to Toronto in hopes of Making It Big. After being noticed by producer Gavin Brown, the band replaced Beamish and Horning "after much debate" (read that however you like) with bassist Mike Kirsh and guitarist Michael Wise. The group then set out refining their sound, touring, and producing two EPs, 2006's Eponymous and 2007's Met a Man on Top of the Hill, the latter of which featured their first single, the incredibly radio-friendly "Change For You." Considering their history, it's very tempting to think of the band as just another "made for radio" Future One-Hit Wonder. But Holes, the band's first full-length album (which also features "Change For You"), is a legitimately good album that proves the praise the band's EPs have earned is more than warranted.
Vocalist and pianist Ferraro freely admits that he loves Coldplay and Snow Patrol (as well as Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, and even Carole King), and Holes captures the piano-driven sound of Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head without sounding derivative. In fact, though the Coldplay influence is obvious, The Midway State's sound is clearly inspired by the dramatic songwriting of the aforementioned Cat Steves and Carole King, and as such has a prominent '70s pop-rock feel to it--a sound familiar to fans of bands like Rooney and the Pernice Brothers. Each song is primarily built around lead melodies courtesy of Ferraro's expert piano riffs and Wise's catchy guitar lines, but regardless of the slick basslines and rockin' beats, Ferraro's gorgeous baritone voice and tender, personable lyrics are the main attractions, especially in songs like album-opener "Never Again" and the positively-beautiful "Nobody Understands." For some strange reason, I've heard The Midway State called emo...and though their songs are indeed built around melodies and lyrics that carry a lot of emotion (which gives them that magic authenticity that ensures listeners will relate to them on a personal level and therefore take them into their hearts), there is none of the overwrought hysteria and whiny melodrama that defines "emo" evident in even the album's most heavy-hearted numbers, "Nobody Understands"--which quite literally explains every relationship I've ever been in--and "Can't Stop Waking Up To You." Instead of crocodile tears and teenage poetry, Ferraro's lyrics capture the same artful truth of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," which is something that everyone from lovelorn teenagers to twice-married adults can identify with.
In fact, after listening to this album, I've become a fan of Gavin Brown's production despite his association with Three Days Grace. This is a perfectly-produced album. Unlike Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head, the piano leads do not sound weak and badly-EQed, but have the same robust sound you'd expect to hear live. The drums mesh seamlessly with the basslines, and the guitars are pristine. Best of all, Ferraro's vocals are always crystal-clear in the mix without dominating the music.
All-in-all, this is simply a great album that has songs to match every mood. I highly recommend it.
Oh, and here's a little interesting fact about the band: Nathan Ferraro, like me, is synaesthetic--that is, he hears colors and sees sounds. Says Ferraro, "Every song that really resonates with me comes coupled with a distinct colour palette. When I listen to any song on Holes I see a different shade. 'Nobody Understands' is dark rose red, 'Never Again' is a saturated royal blue. At least, I think so...the irony is I'm also red-green color blind, so who knows really!" Well, sir, you're absolutely right: "Nobody Understands" is indeed a lush, velvety red (shot through with tones of deep blue generated by the introductory synth-pad melody) and "Never Again" is definitely a deep blue, though my brain sees the lead guitar riff as a scintillant rusty orange. Needless to say, this is a great album for synaesthetes: the color/sound texture varies widely from song to song, which adds an extra dimension of pleasure for those of us with crosswired brains!
The Midway State are currently touring Canada, but will also be playing two dates in the United Kingdom this August. Check 'em out!
Editor's Note: Holes is on limited release July 22nd, a full official release in September. -Vu 7/17/08 10:06 PM
in a way you need a lot more bottle to be an artist now, (in comparison to say,,, the 70's or 80's, or even the 90's) whatever idiom you are working in, because of the web... any print media, its here today, gone tomorrow, but, the web is constantly there like an ever looming, impending disaster, its hard to think what benefit the web has had,, hundred's more tonnes of Porn, never ending lawsuits, fights, insults, web rage, terrible badly written reviews by student journos, novices, all-in-all, any sense of mystery, & irony has gone,... the web is really ruled by huge conglomerates, and 15 year old kids surfing around, no wonder its all uTube, mySpace & Bebo... I am trying to think of the benefits but its hard to imagine this-morning.. I know a couple of people who don't really get on the web and there lives aren't lacking in anything... the idea that you can get education, buy goods cheaper, get better service is a bit of a 'no', as the quality of their lives seems little different, and may be better, so, I am thinking , it won't be much longer before I take all my stuff down,,, it doesn't make the music any better does it?, and getting comments from 10 year olds who lack the brain power and any experience or irony or appreciation of anything apart from High School Musical is all too depressing... it must be even worse for people like Madonna and Chris Martin, for every adoring fan there are dozens of insults (including mine) and bad behaviour... the money I am sure is a buffer, but when your gone all that terrible stuff is still there, hardly fitting tributes to lives spent making an Art.. the web is like the big bully looming in your life, although the point being one can walk away anytime... and that time is coming I feel... does the web ever cheer anyone up?, perhaps some bored office workers who are sending strange funny pictures to each other or going on tiny. web sites seeing how many bums can fit over the face of a dog... will it all implode, probably... the snooping, gathering of info' from you, the whole big brother thing.. its all gone too ffaaarrr.. I am trying to think what demonstrations, what revolution, what protests or change have really been made by the web and I struggle.. it is still all down to human endeavour and little of what can be appreciated in life is on a screen in front of you..
My Groups
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Unsigned Bands Updated: 46 minutes ago
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