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Skate or die: Danny Way
While clean-cut superstar Tony Hawk was perfecting the all-American style that would land him big contracts with the likes of Gillette, no-one noticed young tyke Danny Way sneak in the back door. As a young 14 year-old he popped up briefly in Powell's Public Domain video, before he moved over to the more punk H-Street label and quickly excelled on both street and vert. By 1989 he was nipping at Tony's heels - and the H-Street video Risk It ended with a tantalizingly cut-short clip of a 15-year-old Danny apparently landing a 900, the holy grail of vert skating.
Danny Way started Plan B skates in 1991, and invested in DC Shoes in 1993, with fellow bad boy Colin McKay. With DC hitting the big time, funds were available for bigger and crazier stunts - including the aptly titled 'megaramp' (above, from the DC Video), the helicopter Bomb Drop (can't find a clip of that, but it's a drop out of a chopper onto a half pipe?!), and a bizarre jump over the Great Wall of China (below).
Bonus Fact: Danny Way broke his neck surfing in 1994.
Musical Legacy: Meh.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
News Flash: Steve Jobs Doesn't Have Heart Attack
Not sure what Paxman would have to say about this iReport.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Changeling
Clint Eastwood has a new movie in the can - a period kidnap drama called Changeling, with Angelina Jolie and Malkovich. Watch it here.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Da Font
For my reference as much as yours .....check out Da Font for a vast array of great free fonts to re-design your tired, aging website with.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: Volume V
I had been trying trying to keep the current Song of the Day playlist from getting too Canadian-heavy, but after this weeks live Dudes/Ladyhawk double bill that just wouldn't be representative. Both have been on constant rotation since the show, so I'm going to make this a special Song(s) of the Day double bill.
First up, The Dudes' track Do The Right Thing, from Brain, Heart Guitar. A straight-up broken-hearted love song. Listen to the track, and the whole album at Last FM - although watch the fact that they have the album listed under the wrong dudes.
Secondly, I've been waiting to squeeze Ladyhawk in since the album arrived in February, and Fear is one of the best (of many) tracks on the record. Perfect for a drunken rock-a-long. It's an awesome album, pick it up here.
P.S. It's not too late for some Dudes action - they're playing at the Windmill in Brixton tonight.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
AC/DC: No Bull - The Director's Cut
(dir. David Mallet)
Sony
This 'legendary' concert from 1996 was shot on AC/DC's Ballbreaker tour, before a bull-ring full of adoring Spanish fans. A brief intro sees a giant polystyrene wrecking ball crash through a giant polysterene set, before Angus Young rushes through the rubble and the unforgettable chords of Back In Black deliver exactly whay you would want from this video.
Shoot To Thrill, Hell's Bells, Rock 'n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution..... all my Back In Black favourites are well represented, as well as a host of other classics (Thunderstruck, Girl Got Rhythm) and surprisingly few 'new' favourites. Some minor theatrics lead into Hells Bells, with Johnson swinging on a giant (polystyrene) bell, but otherwise it's pretty straight-up meat and potatoes from this great band.
The aged Angus (a mere 41 when this was shot) still pulls off the school boy shorts without a problem, often looking like the star of an 80's Peter Jackson horror movie - effortlessly Chuck Berry-ing around the stage with his casual style never dropping a note. Brian Johnson's smokey vocals sound forever stretched, but never quite crack - and while there's nothing spectacular about the filming of this concert, all the money is on the screen.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Ari Gold vs The Dude
Great homage to the Jeff Bridges classic Against All Odds in last week's Entourage, as Ari Gold's new Ferrari and his ego took a battering during a race through LA's Hancock Park - against the even more obnoxious Adam Davies.
2nd Oct 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Re-Mobilized
Looks like Scorcese and De Niro might be back in the ring to make another mob movie - "I Heard You Paint Houses" about a gangster who claims he murdered chief Teamster Jimmy Hoffa. God knows De Niro needs a decent film to focus on.
2nd Oct 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: W
More extensive trailer up for Oliver Stone's W biopic over at Myspace's Trailer Park. Wait, that's our franchise.
Looks like a fairly hilarious comedy.
2nd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Get Stone
Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard has some new material out over at the PJ website and you can stream it / but it / watch videos etc. It's not his first side-project of course, he had a solo album Bayleaf in 2001 and was a major part of Brad with Shawn Smith, who have had three albums of varying success.
2nd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The War On Drugs / The Dudes / Ladyhawk
Borderline, London October 1st 2008
"Bryan Adams. Celine Dion. Ladyhawk. Neil Young. The Dudes." According to The Dudes lead singer Dan Vacon, two of Canada's favourite five bands are on stage tonight, and while that song Run To You was pretty good I'm going to have to agree.
As an added bonus, The War On Drugs provided last-minute support for the evening, after their European tour with the Hold Steady was cancelled. They managed to shake off their Waterboys image with some hard-rocking jams from Wagonwheel Blues stretched out into psychedelia - although they did display a tendency to drag every song on a little long. They're not quite Neil Young just yet.
The pace of the evening changed dramatically when The Dudes took to the stage, with their well travelled bar room rock lifting the atmosphere immeasurably. The band were fast and tight, power-housing their way through much of Brain, Heart, Guitar with an immensely charismatic charm. As expected, the sound of the band's slightly over-polished debut was peeled back live, to reveal a rock-loving, hard-jamming machine - with drumming like you have never seen. Best of all, the band looked like they were enjoying what they were doing, as they brought a Thin Lizzy-like honest simplicity to a raft of great tracks like Don't Talk, The Fist ("one-hand claps will do if you're holding a beer") and Dropkick Queen Of The Weekend. "In case you're wondering, white jeans and a mustache are not cool in Canada either."
Luckily we're not talking Hoxton mustache here - and I'm happy to report another entry into the "Beards+Guitar+Canada = Rock" stereotype, as Ladyhawk provided another whole level of great. "Fast and loose" doesn't mean a band can't be super-tight, as Ladyhawk powering through the best of their two albums, segueing between their own songs. "Ladyhawke is in the toilet, she'll be here in a minute" mocked singer Duffy Driediger, which probably provided an explanation for some of the bemused looking crowd. No sign of dance-pop from songs like I Don't Always Know What You're Saying and Ashtray, as this distinctly Canadian band beefed up an already great album - blending heavy rock with instantly accessible, sing-a-long song-writing.
A rousing rendition of Fear rounded out a great bill of live music, before an as-yet-unidentified encore provided a powerful end to the evening. With The Dudes down the front providing sing-a-long vocals, the band all switched places leaving Duffy Driediger to roam free and bust out his most comical Freddie Mercury-like vocal moves from the open plains of the dance floor. Awesome.
The War On Drugs - 2.5 stars
The Dudes - 3.5 stars
Ladyhawk - 4 stars
2nd Oct 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
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Death of Sister Ray
Some interesting points-of-view surfacing about the death of Sister Ray (1,2) as well as this BBC piece from last year about the demise of Berwick St in general. I confess to ending my weekly spending spree about a year ago. I just don't want a cupboard full of CDs anymore.
1st Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Canadian Borderline
The Dudes AND War(terboys) On Drugs AND Ladyhawk are all playing at the Borderline tonight.
10pm Ladyhawk
9pm The Dudes
8pm The War On Drugs
7pm doors
See you down the front. Or maybe at the back by the bar.
1st Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Soup Of The Day
Domino's Max Tundra is adding some value to his latest soup recipe (Kosher Chicken), by giving away two free albums with it. One is his new studio album Parallax Error Beheads You and the second is a bonus disc of covers called Best Friends (a "reinterpretation" of Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be by some of Max Tundra's friends).
Buy the soup and you get download codes for the music from Domino's download store.
29th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
R.I.P. Paul Newman
Butch couldn't dodge that final bullet and has died, aged 83.
27th Sep 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk may be the undisputed king of vert now, but at the time he was a bit of a dweeb - having evolved through the pastel drenched skate style of the early 80's before street skating kicked in. He was always too gangly for that stuff and seemed uncomfortable anywhere other than 20 feet up in the air ....despite what his Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game might suggest. Have a look at his cameos in Police Academy IV and Gleaming The Cube and you'll see what I mean.
Either way, technically he was a genius and 1987's Powell Peralta video The Search For Animal Chin put him on the map - skating on the monster ramp they built for the video out in the desert (see above).
Desptite putting his retirement on ice since the 90's, he's continued to skate and set some major benchmakers over the year's - beefing McGill's McTwist into first a 720 spin, then even a 900 in 1999 (see below).
Bonus Fact: Hawk's 16 year old son Riley Hawk has been on pro on Tony's own Birdhouse label for several years.
Musical Legacy: None.
26th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
TV On The Radio
Dear Science
4AD
Sweeping and ambitious in scope, this is an eclectic record with so many levels it will take literally weeks to properly decode. Near impossible to predict, the record twists and turns, changing key, pitch and tempo - but never seems disengaging.
Halfway Home starts the album with pounding drums, hand-claps and a be-bop harmony building up the pace and pressure quickly and steadily. The track is a perfect gateway into the album - to the point that that it momentarily seems to have escalated things prematurely to a momentum that cannot be maintained. Just when it can't build anymore, a last minute tempo shift takes things up another notch - leaving you floating on the full steam of this relentless album. Like a crash course in TVOTR you are now schooled and ready to proceed.
Described as having a 'pop edge', that edge could at its most accessible be described as being as equally inspired by the likes of N.E.R.D. or Outkast as by the more rock roots of T.V.O.T.R.'s previous records. The rapped vocals of Dancing Choose stray dangerously close to cringeworthy, holding strong on just the right side of Blondie or the Edge's embarrassing efforts for long enough to balanced out by the delicate chorus - just one of dozens of unpredictable changes in the electric song-writing of the album.
The sound may be wide, but never seems scattergun. It's radio friendly but still relatively weird - and as a band TV On The Radio seem thoroughly cohesive and dedicated to the task at hand. Dave Sitek's production is immaculate, polishing and smoothing the uncountable elements into a densely packed whole - from the Bob Marley-esque bass-line of Golden Age to the twisted ballad Family Tree, which slows the pace a little, pitched perfectly at the old "end of side one / start of side two" point on the record. Close in style to 4AD's own This Mortal Coil, the track layers slow vocals over delicate string arrangements, building beautifully in momentum to end with trip-hop drums.
Red Dress and Love Dog provide side two highlights, and by the time you make it through to the electric frenzy of DLZ, or the anthemic drums and brass-band of Lover's Day it's all become something of a rousing finale, bookending the record by maintaining the momentum of the opening track so totally, that there's an almost euphoric atmosphere as the last note passes. There's a substantial range of bonus track and limited-edition type versions of the album, but after the logical conclusion of Lover's Day I can't imagine they'll do much to improve the shape of this perfectly paced and superbly crafted album.
TV On The Radio set the bar pretty high with Return To Cookie Mountain, but I'm happy to report that their 2006 album now seems like The Bends next to Dear Science's OK Computer. Both great records for sure, but this seems like an evolutionary leap forward and a shoring up of the band's sound and ambition. A certain contender for 2008's best-of lists and a consistently rewarding listen.
26th Sep 2008 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
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Screening Room
With more and more films embracing digital distribution - and the average cinema experience getting less capable of surpassing the chimp screening room experience - it's not surprising that YouTube is starting to seem like a good way to promote films.
With Wayne Wang releasing two films this year, one of which - The Princess Of Nebraska - is premiering at You Tube's Screening Room, a site which is already hosting a range of longer-format films. The plan is that the exposure from that will drive punters to the cinema to see Wang's other film, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
The Princess of Nebraska premieres on You Tube on October 17th. More details at Variety.
25th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Vote Wilco
You might not be a US citizen, but you can still plan to vote in the upcoming election .....and score yourself a cover of the BAND by WILCO and FLEET FOXES. Boom. Boom. Boom!
24th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
BBC Downloads
It looks like the BBC might be continuing is tech-savvie growth and launching a music download store, making its vast collection of radio sessions and live performances available online. They already release quite a few things on CD, such as Led Zeppelin sessions, Beatles sessions and even less commercial stuff like The Wedding Present and The Cocteau Twins - often from Peel sessions.
24th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Double Bluff
Be careful if you're looking for a leak of the new Ben Folds album Way To Normal, it might be a fake. Ben Folds himself has leaked a fake copy - under the same name. Not sure what recording some sub-standard songs and releasing them under the same name as a real upcoming album will do for his PR, but it's certainly a novel approach.
24th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Unleash The Android
Google's first Android mobile debuted today. Looks pretty good so far, and will hopefully drive down prices and drive up uptake on smart phones.
23rd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
You talkin' to me?
Sopranos henchmen Bobby Bacala and Paulie Walnuts in new Muppet Movie. Badabing!
23rd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Dirty Hank
Hank's back for a new series of the excellent Californication. More lifestyle disgust/envy starting Sunday 28th on Showtime in the US, but I'm sure Channel 5 will turn that around pretty quickly over here.
23rd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skypedya
Following in the footsteps of advertising wet-dream Sleeveface, website Skypedya provides the creative basis for next year's Christmas cards.
23rd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Last Wordle
Tired of working out what they're saying for yourself? Wired have a wordle friendly summing up of political speeches. Barack Obama and John McCain above.
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Broaderband
In case the recent introduction of airplane WIFI wasn't enough for you, you'll soon be able to keep in touch with your Facebook buddies from outer space, thanks to the development of delay-tolerant networking protocols. You wouldn't want to miss out on that Chinese Democracy leak, now would you?
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Re-set your beeper
The Count and Sinden have a new EP in the works, following their killer single Beeper. The Hardcore Girls EP is out on Oct 13th.
Secret gig lined up in Shoreditch on Saturday October 11th if you're capable of staying up until 5.30am.
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Who You Gonna Call?
There's all sorts of talk going on about a possible third Ghostbusters movie, seemingly stoked by the cast re-uniting for an upcoming video game and a possible return to form for Harold Ramis with his upcoming movie Year One.
Ramis' involvement in the US version of The Office, plus his connections with Judd Apatow through Year One seem to be shaping things, with Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky allegedly writing a script - and a possible franchise re-boot on the cards with talk of Seth Rogan and other Apatow regulars assuming the main roles after some kind of handover from Ramis, Ackroyd and Bill Murray. Only problem is, Ghostbusters II was pretty weak and the first one was hardly flawless...
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Catfish Haven
Devastator
Secretly Canadian
With an introduction that will make you almost sure you are listening to a legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd bootleg, Catfish Haven's third album Devastator kicks off with a confidence and enthusiasm that makes them hard to place. Your immediate assumption might be that the band are a 70's rock tribute act, and while the album is unashamedly retro there's a wealth of great material on here - worthy of many of of the band's obvious influences.
If Aretha Franklin has refused to let Matt "Guitar" Murphy quit the cafe and put the band back together, Jake and Ellwood Blues might have called on second choice backing band - Duane and Gregg Allman. Their southern rock could have pushed the Blues Brothers into a whole new territory, adding a heavy-rocking boogie to their Sam Cooke-influenced soulful style. Surpringly enough, Catfish Haven are not a sprawling 11-piece rock orchestra, but just a three piece from Chicago - with a very big sound.
The party train leaves the station on opener Are You Ready, before passing through the infectous Prince-tinged guitar of Set In Stone (an unmissable highlight and certainly a future Chimpomatic Song Of The Day, mp3 here), as George Hunter wails "There's a train, that leaves the station of my mind". There's no slowing down for the foot-stomping piano on Buying My Time, or the furious instrumental workout of Full Speed as this unstoppably entertaining listen plows full steam ahead, right through to the very end.
This is one retro sound that has been long in need of re-invention and thankfully the band remain firmly on the side of homage rather than pastiche - more Black Mountain than Wolfmother. You can either jump on board right here, or at the very least dust off some Allman Brothers and leave your blues at home.
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Skate or die: Jason Jessee
"Who's in there?!" Jason Jessee was a pretty high flying star in the old days of hand-plants and big air - and down but not out, he was still around for a pretty tough cameo in the finale of Consolidated #1 in 1995.
Musical legacy: The Minutemen with Streets of Fire, not to mention the Tears For Fears revival way before Donnie Darko.
Bonus fact: Jessee was a semi-pro boxer for a while, and even had a film made about his various erratic exploits. Check out the trailer here.
19th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
How Green Is Your Label?
First Eurostar are financing movies, now Mountain Dew are releasing hip hop. As the record industry continues to re-shape and evolve, some major brands are starting to see music as a business that they can get in on - and perhaps rightly, some musicians are seeing the partnership as a way of getting their music out there.
Pepsi-owned Mountain Dew is the big brand behind Green Label Sound, a new label putting out singles from a range of artists. While Jack Black might not be happy about Coke appropriating his new James Bond theme tune (wait, what about that ad he did), the likes of The Cool Kids are happy to be getting the internet airplay that free single Delivery Man is getting them.
19th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Synecdoche New York
Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut Synecdoche New York has a trailer up and running.
Kaufman's put together a pretty stellar cast for the film (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Diane Wiest, Michelle WIlliams, Tom Noonan), which looks more Malkovich than Carrey.
19th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Perez Hilton
Wired have an extensive article on the rise of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, charting his rise from struggling actor to coffee shop-based uber-blogger. Not exactly the template chimpomatic has been aiming for, but an interesting read.
19th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Fact Checker
Internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee has stepped in to back up Puskas' stance that sites (including us) are doing an irresponsible job of covering some news and promoting a fair amount of gossip, unchecked fact and idle speculation.
After last week's powering-up of the L.H.C., it is being reported that the world has not been sucked into a black hole and life goes on. While I was genuinely interested in the story, it may be argued that the semi-serious tone of much of the reporting on the matter could be over-looked and many people were expecting trouble. With Berners-Lee suggesting some sort of ratings guide to gauge how reliable sites might be, I would suggest that anything written on chimpomatic should be rated 'pinch of salt'.
18th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Propaganda!
Great collection of North Korean propoganda posters from North Korean Posters: The Daid Heather Collection.
The nurse with the syringe might look like the Re-animator poster, but it actually says “Prevention and more prevention. Let’s fully establish a veterinary system for the prevention of epidemics!” while the right-hook says “Let’s drive the US imperialists out and reunite the fatherland!”.
More details at calitreview.com
18th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Re-labelled
Nice run-down on the re-emergence of the indie record label over at The Guardian.
18th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Mogwai
The Hawk Is Howling
Wall Of Sound
Scottish post-rockers Mogwai are back, with The Hawk Is Howling - their sixth studio album. Wall Of Sound are the label this time, with Matador releasing the record in the US.
The obtusely named I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead starts with a delicate piano, before building slowly as bass, guitar and drums layer on top of each other, steadily heightening the intense atmosphere. There are no vocals or lyrics of course, and as Jim Morrison didn't play guitar it's hard to know what he's saying. In fact, without lyrics the song titles are all we do have to decode this album and work out what Mogwai are trying to say. Thankfully "The Sun Smells Too Loud", "I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School" and "Thank You Space Expert" spell it out in black and white.
While titles like these might offer little in the way of explanation - seeming more like very personal thoughts and ideas - they do add a certain intensity and suggestion to the music, however misleading they may in fact be. Eschewing some of the more left-field experiments of previous records, the album plays a fairly straight bat - with most songs concentrating on a slow-burning intensity that leads to eventually reward, rather than the more pummeling up/down sound of some of their post-rock contemporaries. Where Explosions In The Sky virtually never fail to deliver an unmitigated rock-out, some of these songs do tend to boil a bit too long - failing to bubble over and ending instead in anti-climax by going for a more constant atmospheric approach, raher than hugely distinctive peaks and troughs. As a result, much of the album can slip by unnoticed - all thorurughly fine, but just slightly dis-engaging.
Mogwai have always seemed to have a bullet-proof mystique to them, from their cult name, through obscure concerts on Scottish islands, to the superior artwork of this and other records - dismissing potential commercial projects to work on the likes of the Zidane movie. The Hawk Is Howling does nothing to damage that reputation, instead just becoming another piece of a diverse cannon of work, much of which doesn't quite encapsulate the band as it seems like it should.
18th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsDigital Cinema
Digital cinema has really been picking up steam recently, with major movies (Star Wars, Collateral, Miami Vice) now being shot and distributed in digital formats, rather than on film. Oakley Sunglasses founder Jim Jannard's set up Red Digital Cinema is 2005 and their camera has now developed into a fully-fledged product. Taking much of the thinking behind the top-end digital cameras, the relatively cheap ($17,500 for the main camera) records RAW data on a Super 35mm sized censor, at up to 4096x2304 pixels (4 x the res of current HD).
The company also have a 3k handycam sized model "Scarlet" forthcoming for $3000, and a 5k camera "Epic".
As well as all that, the camera can shoot up to 120fps for slow-motion, which overcomes a huge advantage that film always mainstained over video. Check out the Red Users group on Vimeo for some examples.
Peter Jackson filmed a short (Chasing The Line) to test the system, and more recently Steven Soderbergh shot his Che Guervara project (Guerilla / The Argentine) using the system.
If none of that floats your boat, you could try Letus, which cleverly allows you to use lenses from your 35mm camera on a standard video camera. Cheap(er) and cheerful.
17th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Manhunt!
David Simon, creator of The Wire, is teaming up with Oz creator Tom Fontana for HBO's Manhunt, the story of the hunt for Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.
David Simon and Dominic West were also on BBC Breakfast this morning discussing The Wire's slow-burning cult following. Secret English posho Dominic West recounted how it was only a couple of years ago that baffled Londoners started to recognise McNulty in their local corner-shop.
17th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Unsung Heroes
Maxim has a nice round-up of Unsung Heroes from the Star Wars movies - featuring the likes of "Fake Mace Windu" and "Cliff From Cheers".
17th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
IMDB Mobile
There's no official mobile version of IMDB, but Nolan Brown's iPhone optimised site is a pretty good option. It's stripped down and fast, so sometimes worth using even on a desktop browser.
Meanwhile IMDB's main site continues it's WEb 2.0 update, centering the content. Boom!
15th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: Tom Knox
Another one from the 1989 Santa Cruz video Speed Freaks this week, as nervous teenager Tom Knox shows us round his So-Cal home turf.
The best thing about this clip is the absolute barrage of non-stop tricks this guy pulls in quick succession. All the time. No-complies, judo ollies, shove-its, ollie blunts, airwalk-ollies, as well as a ton of gnarly pool skating action. Fast and furious, with an awesome fluid style on a board the size of an aircraft carrier.
BONUS FACT: He'd just turned pro on that video and still skates every day. Check out this Thrasher interview for more info.
MUSICAL LEGACY: I was already investigating fIREHOSE after the Natas clip, but this introduced me to the album fROMOHIO, which featured this killer track - In My Mind.
12th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
How the Soviets Drilled the Deepest Hole in the World
The title says it all.
12th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Wi-Fly
Another barrier smashed! You can now check your email every two minutes when you are flying, thanks to onboard WIFI installation on 15 transcontinental American Airlines routes. AirCell is providing the tech for AA, beaming up signals from the ground which can apparently lead to a sometimes slow connection. The alternative system uses satellite transmission and an onboard dish for a more weather-independent system.
I'm flying AA pretty soon, I'll drop you a line mid-air and let you know that it's working.
12th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Kings Of Leon
Only By The Night
Sony
With relatively little fanfare, Tennessee's London's favourite sons the Kings of Leon are back with Only By The Night - their fourth long player in 5 years, and a mere 18 months since the barn-storming Because Of The Times. I'm not sure why that merits a mention, but in a world where The Verve just ambled out number four it seems prolific - particularly when The Kings seem to have spend the last 18 months playing Brixton or Hammersmith every other week. However, next to The Doors (6 in 5 years), Led Zeppelin (8 for 10) or even The Beatles (13 for 7) that shouldn't really be something to write home about.
Moody opener Closer starts the album, before grungey lead 'free download' Crawl does little more than offer an introduction to the band's new fuzz-drenched sound. In contrast, actual single Sex On Fire provides the most obvious link to the band's previous successful formula, as Caleb Followill wails over great drums and moody guitars about being seemingly double-crossed by another Black Hearted Woman. As usual, it's a formula that works - producing perhaps the most succesful song on the album.
Although the band are claiming to be 'ready to tackle their southern roots again', this album is even more of a departure from their original sound - a transition mirrored perfectly with their beards getting shorter and jeans getting tighter. The lyrics and story-telling here seem more and more detached from the band's image - and stories of life on the wrong side of the tracks, ramblin' in the desert and calling 'shotgun' with some hot fresher just don't reconcile with the dude I've been seeing in the gossip columns, hanging out in VIP London hotspots with famous rock-star daughters.
17 starts off like it's their contribution to a Now Christmas! album, as Caleb croons "She's only 17...!" , while the cowbell heavy I Want You, or dragged out soft-rock anthem of Cold Desert seem to match the Hill Valley sentiment of "I'm gonna be somebody!" - with added 80's rock producton that would have graced a Bon Jovi ballad. Manhatten echoes the sentiment with "Gonna show this town!" and you start to feel like there's a confidence crisis going on somewhere. Surely they are somebody by now? Or maybe this is all about the band's still relative lack of success stateside - and NME hasn't made it to Tennessee yet.
With these guys, rather than having a new album's worth of great material it seems like perhaps a shift of branding might be the cause of the quick turnaround - as the band try and play the credibility card and crack the elusive US market, where they still only sell around 200,000 copies per album. The result is unfortunately a strange mix of too much effort and not trying hard enough.
12th Sep 2008 - 4 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2.5 star reviewsSong Of The Day: Volume V
White Denim are well-overdue a place in our current playlist, staying on pretty solid rotation since we got wind of them. The soaring mini-extended jam of Heart From Us All makes the cut. Check it out on their Myspace, or Last FM.
11th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Get Yourself On TV
An no, I'm not talking about that recent viral that was going around (above). Saysme.tv is a new service aimed at getting content distributed across cable access TV in the US, for as little as $6 for a 25 second spot. New York Times has the details.
11th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet