March 2008

Indie rock hottie Liz Phair has joined a new record label and is preparing to re-release her 1993 debut album Exile in Guyville.  She’s signed up with ATO Records (Dave Matthews’ record label) who will be releasing a new package that includes four previously unreleased songs and a DVD containing Guyville Redux, a documentary about the making of the album.

Exile in Guyville is a classic album.  One of my favorites from the 90s.  So it will be nice to see it get an update, and I’m definitely jacked about seeing a documentary about it.  Hell, I’m pretty happy to see anything with Liz in it…

Liz Phair - Flower

The new package of Exile in Guyville is due June 24th

via Billboard

Let me tell you a story.  It’s a typical boy meets girl story.  Well, it’s a typical boy meets girl, joins a band with girl, marries girl, girl forms side band with other boy, boy and girl get divorced, girl and other boy get married story.  Got that?

The full story goes something like this:  In 1991 Robert Schneider was introduced to Hillarie Sidney through mutual friend Jim McIntyre.  Sidniy and McIntyre were in a band, and soon asked Schneider to join.  That band became The Apples in Stereo.  As the band grew closer together so did Schneider and Sidney.  Eventually they got married and had a kid.  Apparently things didn’t go so well however, as by 2004 the couple divorced. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, summer. Beaches, Baseball, and Blockbusters. With the summer movie season fast approaching…

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A few new pics from Iron Man are out, and they finally give us a glimpse of the showdown between Iron Man and his nemesis, Iron Monger.  Iron Monger looks a lot like the original Iron Man suit that Tony Stark builds.  Since I’m not a big fan of the Iron Man comics, I have no idea if that’s what it’s supposed to look like or not.  However I do think it’s pretty cool to have the new Iron Man fight the old Iron Man, so I’m going to go with it.

As always click for full-sized goodness.

A few more pics from the upcoming Speed Racer movie have surfaced, and while there’s nothing exactly unexpected, it’s nice to see some more of the film’s distinctive visuals.

Along with the photos comes some news about the racing sequences in the film. Muhen Leo, an effects supervisor on the movie, says:

You’ve heard of kung-fu–and there’s plenty of it in Speed Racer–but how about car-fu? “[The brothers] realized that real racing wasn’t what they were after. So the idea of cars fighting one another came about early on. The idea is that drivers have such elaborate control over the cars that they could do kicks and spins and hit each other.

Um, what? Car-fu? Easy there guys. The trailers and photos have me completely hooked. Don’t go gettin’ all crazy on me now.

Now here are the pics. As always, click for the full-sized versions.

Speed Racer is due out on May 9th.

All of the McDonalds family is in mourning after the death of one of their beloved visionaries. Herb Peterson, the man who invented McDonalds’ most popular breakfast sandwich, the Egg McMuffin, died on Tueday at age 89.

The rebellious Peterson created the Egg McMuffin at a time when McDonalds didn’t even serve breakfast. While McDonalds president Ray Kroc liked the idea, Peterson was reprimanded for serving breakfast behind the company’s back. That’s the sort of thanks he got for creating the idea that now accounts for at least %20 of McDonalds’ sales.

Now, personally I hate the Egg McMuffin. If I’m going to eat breakfast at McDonalds it’s probably going to be the artery-clogging yumminess that is the Sausage McGriddle. That being said, I salute you Mr. Peterson, for giving us overeaters a morning outlet for our compulsive eating!

via CNN

If you haven’t already seen the Big Dog Robot video that’s been circulating teh intrawebs take a second to watch it:

Pretty amazing/scary/incredible/creepy, isn’t it? Kind of makes you want to welcome our robot dog masters, doesn’t it? Well it turns out a lot of work went into it, and the early versions were slightly less successful:

The good folks over at SlashFilm have turned up a bunch of new photos from the forthcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Nothing terribly earth shattering, but interesting nonetheless. overall it looks like the movie is going to look just like an Indiana Jones movie. That may sound obvious, but it’s still kind of comforting.

Click on the pictures for the full-sized joints

It seems that the fine folks at Dr. Pepper are as sick of waiting for Axl Rose to release Chinese Democracy as everyone else is. They’re offering a free Dr. Pepper to everyone in America if the album comes out in 2008. Well, almost everyone. Apparently Slash and Buckethead don’t get one. Something tells me they won’t mind…

Dr. Pepper’s statement says:

“It took a little patience to perfect Dr Pepper’s special mix of 23 ingredients, which our fans have come to know and love,” Dr Pepper director of marketing Jaxie Alt says. “So we completely understand and empathize with Axl’s quest for perfection — for something more than the average album. We know once it’s released, people will refer to it as ‘Dr Pepper for the ears’ because it will be such a refreshing blend of rich, bold sounds - an instant classic.”

They also setup a blog to push the promotion. Someone claiming to be Axl posted a comment on the blog, saying he appreciates the support and that he’ll share his Dr. Pepper with Buckethead.

Now, my bullshit detector is going off here, so this could all be completely fake. Take it all with a grain of salt. But, if it is BS, they managed to fool Billboard, Pitchfork, and NME.

UPDATE:Axl released a statement on the GNR website thanking Dr Pepper. Maybe this is real…

The day we’ve been waiting for since last year week is finally here. The Raconteurs have finally released Consolers of the Lonely, after months days of anticipation.

So far I have to say I love absolutely everything about this album. I love the band’s commitment to getting it out into fans’ hands as quickly as possible. I love the fact that it’s available in a ton of different formats. I love the first half of the album (though to be fair, that’s all I’ve heard). And I love this video, for the first single, “Salute Your Solution”. It’s made up of over 2,500 still photos.

Ok, enough is enough, go buy Consolers Of The Lonely!

I know, I’m a big dork, but I think this is hilarious. Don’t get it? This might help.

From the twisted genius David Friedman at Ironic Sans

New Jersey is known for many things: The Sopranos, a lack of left turns, acid-washed jeans, guys with fake tans, medical waste on beaches. Musically it’s most famous sons are Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen. The Ergs! are about as far away from those all of these things as you can possibly get.
Read the rest of this entry »

I figured I’d pick something topical this week for the Random Cover of the Week. And since both The Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkely made headlines for pushing up the release dates of their respective albums (with The Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely coming out next Tuesday and Gnarls Barkely’s The Odd Couple already out). So what better way to celebrate that with The Raconteurs covering Gnarls Barkley’s ubiquitous “Crazy”?

In yet another shameless attempt to cash in on my childhood Paramount Pictures is making a live-action G.I. Joe movie, creatively titled G.I. Joe. It’s being directed by Stephen Sommers, the mastermind behind The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Revenge of The Mummy, and Van Helsing. Wow, that’s a tour de force of shit. Can’t wait to see how he rapes my cherished childhood memories…

The movie is currently filming, and it isn’t due out until August of 2009. While you wait anxiously for the release, here’s a few things we know already: Read the rest of this entry »

This guy is directing a
Muppet movie…

The motley crew that revolves around Judd Apatow is set to take on their next challenge: a new Muppet movie. Jason Segal, who played one of Seth Rogan’s friends in Apatow’s Knocked Up, and is the lead in the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is set to direct a new episode in the Muppets canon.

Segal promises that the movie will be closer to The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper than Muppets in The Old West or Muppets from Space. He plans to bring back the Muppet tradition of lots of cameos, with Apatow regulars Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, and Paul Rudd already on board. No estimate on a release date yet, as Segal has another project ahead of it on his schedule.

Via MTV

From Jonathan Coulton friends and opening act Paul & Storm’s site comes this disturbing tale of backstage terror. Filmed before the JoCo show at the Birchmere in Alexandria, the video tells the tale of Paul & Storm’s ill-fated attempt to flee a mysterious and terrible force. Watch it, if you dare…

On a lighter note, here’s a bit of fun during the opening act of the same show:

Gnarls Barkley’s response to The Raconteurs’ announcement that they’re releasing their album ASAP? “Anything you can do we can do better.” The duo’s new album, The Odd Couple, was scheduled to come out April 8th. The band announced today that the album will be available everywhere sometime this week. Their press release explains:

Initially slated for an April 8th release, The Odd Couple will now be available at various online and physical music retailers across the week of March 18th.

“They felt the timing was right to just go for it,” said an unnamed spokesman for the band. “With the shifting seasons, furtive romantic entanglements and fierce college basketball rivalries, the latter half of March can be confusing. People need to be soothed and inspired now.”

This may be a reaction to the fact that the album as already leaked (not that I would know…). Whatever the reason, I fully support any band that gets their music into fans’ hands as soon as possible.

Gnarls Barkley - Run

via Idolator

Jack Black is up to his old tricks again. Never one to waste time, White took the time he had off from The White Stripe (while Meg recovered from her exhaustion, anxiety, or whatever it was that was wrong with her) and used it to record a new album with The Raconteurs. That album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be available EVERYWHERE next Tuesday (March 25th). Why is that a big deal? Because they only finished it two weeks ago.

There was a time when it was normal for a band to record an album, get it mixed, mastered, pressed, and released within a matter of weeks. Sadly that time was loooong ago. Now the process typically takes months, leading to situations where finished albums leak onto the internet weeks before they hit stores. Jack White apparently doesn’t like that, so he and the band have worked to the album out to fans as quickly as possible, and in as many ways as possible. What does that mean? According to the press release:

“Album” meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and “everywhere” meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band’s own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn’t move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).

You gotta love the band’s spirit here. They want to make the album available in as many ways as possible so that fans get to consume it whatever way works best for them. Rock on!

The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes

via Idolator

Ben Stiller is making a new movie. It’s called Tropic Thunder, and here’s what I know about it:

• The plot is basically this: a group of actors is making a movie about a war in the jungle. The people who live in this jungle don’t know it’s a movie, so they start fighting back. Oops.
• Ben Stiller plays a badass action hero
• Jack Black plays a gross-out comedian making his break into serious film
• Robert Downey, Jr. plays a method actor so dedicated to his craft he undergoes plastic surgery so he can play a black guy in the movie. That’s right, Robert Downey, Jr, a white actor, is playing a white actor playing a black guy.

Got it? No? Then watch the trailer:

Tropic Thunder hits theaters August 15th.

“You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” is one of the best songs on Spoon’s most recent album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. The video is a little odd. Not trippy like the Modest Mouse one, but odd nonetheless. Check it out:

This classic Saturday Night Live sketch is one of my favorites from the Dana Carvey/Phil Hartman/Chris Farley/Mike Myers crew. The sketch starts off pretty weak, but around the 1:50 mark it becomes pants-wettingly funny. As I remember it was one of the sketches very late in the episode, a spot usually reserved for weird or weak sketches. This was both, until the magic happened. It’s a perfect demonstration of what can go wrong on live TV.

Today’s my second-favorite holiday that honors a guy that allegedly drove snakes from a place that had no snakes (my favorite of course being Whacking Day). In honor of “Saint” Patrick, here are the three most musically gifted Muppets — Beaker, Animal, and The Swedish Chef — preforming “Danny Boy”, a song that everyone thinks is Irish but actually isn’t.

via BoingBoing

Piano, cello, upright bass, and ethereal, childlike vocals are the hallmarks of The Tiny, Stockholm’s orchestral pop meisters. Two solid albums have earned them worldwide acclaim, but if not for an icy fall they would have never formed.
Read the rest of this entry »

The last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is loooooong. Over 700 pages long. So long you wonder if it’s really meant for kids. But I digress…

It apparently been quite a challenge making the equally long fourth, fifth and six Potter books, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and The Half-Blood Prince fit into one movie. The writers and directors have accomplished this by trimming unnecessary storylines. Apparently they don’t want to do that with the last book however, because Warner Brothers announced that The Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies.

Here are the estimated release dates of the final three Potter movies:

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - November 2008
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I - November 2010
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II - May 2011

So it looks like there will be lots of Potter dorks fans going through withdrawal in May 2011. I have visions of pawn shops will be filled with wizard robes and wands…

via SlashFilm

If you didn’t see Be Kind Rewind let me catch you up a little bit. The movie centered around the concept of “sweding”, which is basically remaking a movie using whatever materials you have on hand. In the movie they swede a bunch of movies, ranging from Ghostbusters and Robocop to Driving Miss Daisy.

Sweding seems to have caught on with the movie’s fans, as a bunch of homemade swedes have started appearing on YouTube. Jurrasic Park, Die Hard, and even Back to the Future have been remade. But the best so far is Star Wars:

It starts out ok, but really kicks into gear when the X-Wings and Tie fighters come in. The guy making the Tie fighter noise just kills me.

One word isn’t even enough, it isn’t even enough, it isn’t even enough to describe how strange this new Modest Mouse video is. It’s for “Fly Trapped in a Jar”, from We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, and it looks kind of like Dr. Seuss directed a Robert Palmer video starring the bad guy from The Incredibles. While doing acid. And mushrooms. Not that I would know.

Here’s the fourth trailer for The Wachowski Brothers’ upcoming live-action cartoon version of Speed Racer. This time we get to see Speed Racer as a kid, as well as some other footage we haven’t seen before (including 50% more monkey!). Basically the more we see of this the better it looks. Suddenly May 23rd can’t come soon enough…

What do you get when you cross The Beatles with Van Halen? A surprisingly good mix of “Runnin’ With the Devil” and “Drive My Car”. It uses David Lee Roth’s isolated vocal track from “Runnin’ With the Devil”. If you haven’t heard it, go listen to it. It’s good for a laugh.

via BoingBoing

Today’s a big day for Bruce Banner fans. They finally get their first glimpse of the big green dude in this summer’s The Incredible Hulk. The film is a reboot of the franchise, not a sequel to 2003’s suckfest Hulk. That CGI Hulk was cartoonish and unbelievable. Would the new CGI Hulk be better? Check out the trailer, then we’ll discuss:

So, after watching that, what do we know? Well, Ed Norton seems like an upgrade over Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. Liv Tyler is still hot. The Hulk’s nemesis Abomination looks kind of like The Sandman from Spiderman 3. And The Hulk himself? He still looks pretty cartoonish. Hmm. I’m a little worried. Based on how awesome the trailers for Iron Man have been, I think The Incredible Hulk has a long way to go to be the best comic book movie of the summer. Oh, wait, I forgot about The Dark Knight. Ok, it has a long way to go to be the second best comic book movie of the summer…

The Incredible Hulk hits theaters June 13th.

The New Pornographers have a new live album out today exclusively at iTunes. The album was recorded live at the Apple Store in SoHo, and features a bunch of tracks from the band’s past albums. It also features a cover of ELO’s classic “Don’t Bring Me Down”. Check out the NPs grabbing a hold of the tune and throwing it down on French TV:

There’s a lot of energy in this song, and everything about it just works. In fact, the only problem I can see is that Neko Case isn’t with the band on it. Ah, Neko. One day you’ll realize you’re going to marry me…

Can’t wait to see these guys live in April. Keep posted for a review of the show.

Are your Lego men boring? Do they lack a certain something? Are they a little too goody two shoes for you? Well finally there’s a solution: automatic weapons. That’s right, you can finally have that AK-47 or RPG to complete your “Day in Iraq” scene.

BrickArms is a small toy company based in Redmond, WA that specializes in creating custom Lego figures as well as weapons for the little brick men. Prices are reasonable, so head over to their site and arm your miniature “freedom fighters”.

via Gizmodo

Jack Bauer will be making his comeback to TV a couple months earlier than anticipated. Fox is working on a prequel to next January’s season 7 of 24, focusing on the two years between seasons 6 and 7.

Once the writers strike started Fox announced season 7 would be postponed, since the show is typically presented with no repeats or breaks in its schedule. The prequel will be two hours long and will appear in the fall, with the full season following in January.

I, for one, welcome any excuse to enter a world patrolled by Jack Bauer. What do you think?

Hollywood Reporter has the full scoop

High School. Depending on your experience the words either bring waves of nostalgia or cringes of fear. Most people remember high school as either Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or The Breakfast Club, with little in between. Either way high school is a touchstone. That’s probably why NY punk band Lost Locker Combo poses as a group of private school kids who formed a band, and why they sings songs about the mundane details of high school life.
Read the rest of this entry »

Two new international trailers for Speed Racer are out, and they show even more of the Wachowski brothers’ innovative visuals. From what we can see here it really looks like they’ve succeeded in creating a live-action cartoon. I’m not a fan of the original cartoon, but the movie is really starting to look interesting…

I had the opportunity to see The Godfather of Geek Rock, Jonathan Coulton, live in concert last night at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Va. Coulton lived up to his nickname, playing Don Corleone to a sold out crowd of geeks both young and old. His witty banter helped string together songs with topics as diverse as maniacal evil geniuses in love, the noisy solace of a Shop Vac, how zombitude affects office politics, and the romantic difficulties caused by a futuristic robot war.

The evening’s best songs came with the aid of opening act Paul and Storm. Scary mood lighting brought new depth to “Creepy Doll“, Poe-esque tale of a possessed toy. And injections of Eagles and Beatles covers made “Soft Rocked By Me” the comedic high point. But the true highlight of the show was the the Plushie Angel: Read the rest of this entry »

I love to see one of my favorite artists take a national stage and just tear it up. That’s what Josh Ritter does on this clip from Letterman, playing “To the Dogs or Whoever” like the stage is on fire…

From Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, one of last year’s best albums, comes the video for “The Wolves (Act I & II). The video does a great job capturing the rural Wisconsin setting where Justin Vernon sequestered himself and made the album.

PCWEI favorites The Apples in Stereo have a collection of rarities and B-sides called Electronic Projects for Musicians coming out April 1st (no fooling!). But, in what’s becoming a theme this week, you don’t have to wait to hear a sample. Check out “On Your Own”, a song that sums up what it’s like to get out into the real world for the first time.

The Apples In Stereo - On Your Own

Pre-Order your copy of Electronic Projects for Musicians today!

Pop music’s Felix and Oscar have a new album coming out in April. Oddly enough it’s actually called The Odd Couple, and it’s due to hit stores April 8th.

But you don’t have to wait until then to get a taste of what Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse have up their sleeves; the first single from the album is out now. It’s called “Run”, and the video features Justin Timberlake as the uber-dorky host of a Soul Train/American Bandstand wannabe. Once you get past his part the video’s actually good…

On top of that, ?uestlove (the drummer for The Roots and all-around cool guy) has posted a video of him lip synching another of the groups new songs, “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?”
Read the rest of this entry »

Synthesizers, strong beats, and a whiff of nostalgia are key components in How I Became the Bomb’s distinctive flavor of indie pop. The band came together when a group of friends at Middle Tennessee State University asked a classically trained pianist who didn’t listen to pop music to play with them. Initially they did it for the thrill of playing and making music, but soon they realized that they were good enough to get paid.
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