Well half of the United States may think the band broke up over the feuding brothers back in the late 1990's, but there's a big legion of Oasis fans that were still buying records and selling out their inexplicably huge arena shows (despite the lack of noteworthy commercial success in the states since (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Still, it seems that time finally caught up to the belief that the band had split yesterday when lead guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher posted a short message on the bands website declaring that he'd left Oasis after an altercation with his brother before a show in Paris.
How do I know? Well, it's not the worlds best kept secret, but I'm one of them. Although for the past six years I've been referring to myself as more of a Noel Gallagher fan than an Oasis fan.
Today, a few more details are starting to appear and Gallagher has posted a more formal letter on oasisinet.com: Dearly beloved, it is with a heavy heart and a sad face that I say this to you this morning.
As of last Friday the 28th August, I have been forced to leave the Manchester rock'n'roll pop group Oasis.
The details are not important and of too great a number to list. But I feel you have the right to know that the level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable. And the lack of support and understanding from my management and band mates has left me with no other option than to get me cape and seek pastures new.
I would like firstly to offer my apologies to them kids in Paris who'd paid money and waited all day to see us only to be let down AGAIN by the band. Apologies are probably not enough, I know, but I'm afraid it's all I've got.
While I'm on the subject, I'd like to say to the good people of V Festival that experienced the same thing. Again, I can only apologise - although I don't know why, it was nothing to do with me. I was match fit and ready to be brilliant. Alas, other people in the group weren't up to it.
In closing I would like to thank all the Oasis fans, all over the world. The last 18 years have been truly, truly amazing (and I hate that word, but today is the one time I'll deem it appropriate). A dream come true. I take with me glorious memories.
Now, if you'll excuse me I have a family and a football team to indulge.
I'll see you somewhere down the road. It's been a fuckin' pleasure.
Thanks very much.
Goodbye.
NG.
So, sad news for true believers in the Manchester outfit, but a sigh of hopeful relief from the section of the fanbase who've been clamoring for Noel to start making solo records. I suppose now's as good a time as any.
No official word from "the band" (liam) yet as to what the future holds for Oasis, but needless to say, without Noel Gallagher, Oasis simply ceases to exist.
More on this as it comes in.
Music News :: Holy Crap! Noel Gallagher Quits Oasis!
Music Review :: Jet - Shaka Rock
Artist :: Jet
Album :: Shaka Rock
Release :: 25 August, 2009
Label :: Atlantic Records
Genre :: Garage Rock Revival, Rock N Roll
Long before my days slagging 90's anime robots and covering the occasional random album release here on Oh, Tetsuo, I used to sling reviews at a pretty huge public music community that shall remain nameless. I found, though, after about five years, that I truly loathe most people who consider themselves avid music fans. If asked to explain this seemingly irrational hatred of a pretty sizable group of people, I like to use Jet as a prime example.
Jet crawl under the skin of the Animal Collective collective, like nails on a chalk board or. ..um. well ...Jet. A harmless poppy throwback rock n roll band with catchy songs and some fist-pumping guitar riffs. But, harmless fun being the bane of the average indie music fan, this clueless bunch of Aussie rockers with a severe Beatles and AC/DC addiction have managed to become the antichrists of audio to the pitchfork media crowd, which is reason enough to love them to death.
Over on that there site, I've explained about a hundred times that I'm a fan of pop music, yet I still get a constant stream of private messages and site references about my "perplexing taste" ...because I think TV on the Radio are cool, but I also thought there were some good songs on Paris. Which isn't really all that hard to understand really. I'm someone who really enjoys music and spends absolutely zero time attempting to impress anyone with my taste. Sometimes Fleet Foxes make one of the best albums of the year and sometimes I like to listen to Journey really loud in my car in a non-ironic way.
Now, that said, there's more to my love of Jet than that Pitchfork can't stand them.
The problem I had with much of the garage rock revival of '01 was that every band needed a gimmick. Unique or not, someone was releasing vinyl exclusively or had silly back stories like The Hives. Hell, The Vines had a legitimately mentally handicapped singer, although I don't think anyone knew that when they came out. Especially being as close to Detroit as I am, the dirty non-art artrock garage nonsense was thick.
Then along came these four kinda thickheaded guys who played some furious guitar riffs and the singer shouted "yeah" a lot on top of some really catchy tunes. Months after learning about these guys and going to see them live they wound up with a huge hit that was a ripoff of an Iggy Pop song (which I might add is dramatically better than the song it lifts from) and... well... that was pretty much the end. There wasn't much else by way of mainstream success in the States. The story of Jet that most people are aware of.
The more well-read folks know that there was a second album, but not many people bothered to listen to it, which of course didn't stop anyone at the aforementioned league of hipster douchebags from shitting all over it. It charted higher than the band's debut in the US, but that's slightly misleading because of the dramatically more abysmal chart sales conditions at the time. Which was really unfortunately because the album itself was spectacular. Excellent harmonies, pounding drums, classic-rocky solos, great songs, all kinda uplifting stuff on account of the singer and drummers father had recently passed away. A lot less AC/DC and a lot more Beatles (god forbid.) Just a really enjoyable album from top to bottom without an ounce of pretense.
So that leaves us with a major hit, a solid debut of fun rock songs, and a pretty amazing sophomore effort full of some ambitious classic pop. How fucking horrible is Jet, right? Obviously lacking the talent of the legendary Panda Bear who is the only man brave enough to loop sounds for seven minutes while guys with indie beards have their jaws drop in Rodger Rabbit-esque fashion.
...but I digress.
Needless to say I've been anxiously awaiting their third LP, Shaka Rock (yes, I'm on to the actual review now.) Which was increased tenfold upon hearing the lead single "K.I.A. (Killed In Action)" which seemed like more of a take on their first record but utilized a marching band drumline, and that's always enough to make my clap my hands like a seal.
Finally getting my grubby little hands on it today I exercised extreme digital-music-collector OCD protocol. I loaded it into J. River Media Center. Got 500x500px album art. Got my display on my secondary monitor up. Loaded all my genres, styles, label info, tags, etc. Finally when everything was absolutely perfect, I hit play.
There it was! "K.I.A.!" Hell yeah! After being in an M. Ward / Mountain Goats indie folk kinda mood all week, 24 seconds into the song I was suddenly ready to squeeze into some flares and drink Rolling Rock at some shitty club in The D. I was ready to go. I was here for the party. ...but a funny thing happened after that first 3:28.
...the rest wasn't all that great.
I mean, it's perfectly good, but I was dishearten to see that this wasn't the Jet I'd known and loved and most fucking importantly defended a LOT.
The second track "Beat on Repeat" in is easily the worst of the bunch, serving as a sort of creepy, slimy disco funk number sung in part by drummer Chris Cester who's now apparently singing in full accent (never a good idea. Nice one, Ringo.)
There's still plenty of decent stuff on Shaka Rock. "She's a Genius" "La Di Da" and 80's-ish "Let Me Out" (Jet have heard music from the 80s?) all make for excellent editions to the catalog, and I'd still take Jet and a steak knife to the shoulder over Portishead any day of the week, but there's just something missing here.
Shaka lacks the urgency or instant gratification of the first two records, which, are really all Jet are about in the first place. They also seem to be broadening their musical influences, which I'm not sure how great of an idea that maybe for a band who are essentially a really awesome tribute act.
So it's worth checking out, and worth a couple listens to see what all clicks. If you like your catchy rock tunes that still sound like four guys playing them in a room instead of a grand mess of glossy production magic, Jet are still here for you, suffering the slings and arrows of the indie militia to bring you a fond and fleeting memory of what rock music used to sound like.
New Rating System
I used to be a firm believer that film should always be rated on a four-star basis, but, honestly it's not worth it to have nine different sets of star graphics for the blog here, so we've instituted a new rating system that runs across the board (I'll have to go back and adjust the rating guide accordingly.)
Here's the quick run down, although the wacky graphics probably are decent enough indicators on their own:
I like to think that this might be pretty self explanatory.
2-2.5 tends to be mostly reserved for fans (music) are hardcore completionists (everything else) who absolutely have to watch, absorb, and then be able to reference everything in the history of time. Not recommended except in some cases of being bad, but somewhat interesting to see/hear for the experience alone. 
As a general rule, I like more things than I hate, so 3-3.5 is where the good stuff kicks in. From 3, which is usually worth a spin or a viewing to 3.5 which boarders on "damn good" territory. 
Again, these are the things you should be hitting the refresh button on the piratebay every few hours to see if they've leaked yet and buying a retail copy (or two) the second they hit the shelves (or the in case of my old-ass anime reviews, hop in your car and go pick up a box set asap.)
Once a year, maybe, something comes out that is too impossibly good for words. Just crazy retarded excellent in every possible way.
I am making an active effort to take some of the mystique out of five-bombs, though. I get tired of them being reserved excluslvly for Akira or Beatles and Dylan albums. Believe it or not, "perfect" albums have been released since the 1960s. I'm all for classics worship, but, hey, it's a modern world and eventually I've got to beleive that not everything new that comes out is crap.
aaaand there you have it. We now have a unified system. All hail big brother. All hail west texas. Cheers.
Anime Review :: Key the Metal Idol
Director :: Hiroaki Sato
Language :: English Dub
Runtime :: 15 Episodes (13x30 min. 2x90 min)
Genre :: Drama. Sci-Fi. Cyberpunk.
A truly great short anime series is the kind of thing you can bang out on a Sunday afternoon. It'll start with lunch and poppin' on a new title and before you realize it the final credits are rolling, it's dark outside, and you can't believe how quickly the day's gone by. I can remember sitting totally lost in the beautiful world of Kino's Journey or laying in bed with a cold but still enchanted by the whimsy of Jing: King of the Bandits. However, it seems like an entire lifetime has gone by in the time it's taken me to painstakingly drag myself through Key The Metal Idol. In fact, in some ways it has...
Since I first stepped into the world of Key, my dad's passed away, I've moved, and my best friend has gotten married. Albeit that those things just happened to all taken place over the span of a month, it really does feel like a significant amount of time has passed since I was first introduced to the little robot girl who spoke exclusively in the third person on her quest to become human.
In the first installment of Key, the leading robo-lady's grandfather passes away and in his final message to her he reveals that she only has a short time left on this world before her battery runs dry, but there is a way for Key to go on. If she can make 30,000 friends, Key can become a real girl. Upon learning the rules of the world I'd entered into, I sat at my computer with a gob struck look on my face and could only muster up a quiet "oh god" as I realized the fate I was doomed to for the next nine anime-hours of my life.
I can remember the first day I excitedly started the series just to realize that, what seemed like hours later, I'd actually only watched three episodes. I can also recall the joyous feeling I got when I assumed I was nearing the end only to find that I had completed a mere eight episodes. Now, I may be painting a grim picture of the series and it's not completely without some decent qualities. The world itself is inventive at times and the villain is a right dick who's well constructed and pretty haunting, and if you can stomach the pop idol worshiping nonsense that story itself isn't terrible, but the pacing. My god, the pacing. 
The thing that takes what could have been a cute little robot-girl-Pinocchio story into such a grueling task is the fact that there's very little cause for what's happening on screen the majority of the time. What one minute seems like establishment of character relationships the next winds up irrelevant. Development often happens only to then be undone or explained away as a fluke as the cast are randomly exploded, ripped to shreds, or simply vanish into the scenery. (Not that the series is particularly violent, but when they time is right, Key does like to go for the gusto.)
There's also the assault of very annoying quirks peppered throughout like Key's third-person speak and meanwhile-back-at-evil-headquarters cutaways that rarely make sense or serve a purpose other than to establish "yeah, these guys are jerks."
The most exciting episode, ironically, is the first feature-length one, "System" wherein two of the characters (one from the good camp and one from the baddies) deliver simultaneous monologues explaining all the story that the series had yet to bother with before the final confrontation. That might sound like an exaggeration, but I'm not kidding, the entire episode takes place in a park and the aforementioned evil headquarters. No development. No action. Nothin'. Just a conversation and a soliloquy. And, yes, it really is the best 90 minutes of the entire series. Mostly because after all that work making it to that point, you're finally rewarded with a glue-and-duct-tape together explanation of why everything you saw over the last seven hours mattered in any way. The final episode is the inevitable showdown at "the big concert" ...not to give too much away.
The decision to end with two feature-length mini-movies is something that I'd have loved were Key a more enjoyable experience. I can't imagine how fun it would have been to have FLCL or either season of Black Lagoon end with a couple of movies that close the story arc (as opposed to the usual anime move of tossing in an out-of-sequence unrelated movie at the end. ...I'm lookin' at you Cowboy Bebop.)
Despite coming together fairly well in the end and certainly not being the worst thing I've seen (or rated for Oh Tetsuo) I can't in good conscious recommend anyone go dig up this series simply for the sheer amount of time and will-power it takes to plow through.
Music Leaks :: Say Anything "Hate Everyone"
Upcoming single from Say Anything hit interwebs. Good to see the boys fought the law and the law won...
Music Leaks :: New Weezer Single "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To"
The first single off the mysterious new Weezer album has hit the internet and despite sounding almost entirely un-Weezer-like, seems to have their fanbase raving that after three premature declarations of "Weezer Are Back!" Weezer Are Back! I suppose time will tell. Maybe they'll finally have their fans stop hating their guts after almost a decade. The song itself is downright pop-punkish, but I have to admit it's quite the catchy little number. Enjoy..
Music News :: The Verve F**k Off for the Hundredth Time
The Mirror might be about as reliable source of music news as my uncle who's knee starts to hurt when it's going to rain, but given the sheer believability of this story, it's probably true.
Rumors are aflutter that Wigan's little britpop band that always almost was has decided to call it a day yet again as Nick McCabe and Simon Jones gear up their new project The Black Ships (not to be confused with Black Lips, or The Black Keys) and presumably Richard Ashcroft is locked in a studio somewhere looking at photographs of himself. Though no official word has been released about "The Big V" the story has been creeping around that a combination of McCabe's drinking and Ashcroft's ...Ashcroftness seem to have made the band's umpteenth reunion more short-lived than usual.
Still, if every ten years they insist on coming back to put out one good song and then go away again, I suppose that makes them better than most bands. So here's to you, The Verve.
Music Tidbit :: Say Anything Frontman Slams Lady Gaga Via Twitter
Sure, it's not really news. ...at all. ...in almost any way. But Say Anything frontman Max Bemis took a nice little shot at Lady Gaga on twitter tonight.
maxbemis: recording a cover of @eisley's "telescope eyes" for their new ep..... really curious if lady gaga indeed has a penis. i hate her.
HA! Okay, sure, it's mostly that I'm a closet Say Anything fan and I absolutely can not stand Lady Gaga, but I thought that'd be fun to share.
Maybe NME will post some super-frivolous headline about it to grab some attention for their upcoming self-titled full length coming in a couple months? Here's hopin'
Anime(ish) Review :: Dragonball Evolution [2009]
Director :: James Wong
Runtime :: 82 Minutes
Genre :: Action.
Barring a handful of very well executed exclusions, comic book adaptations are always a hard pill to swallow. It's never an easy task to take decades of story and character development and jam them into the first ten minutes of a feature film so that the audience understands "well that guy with the visor is called 'cyclops' and he shoots beams out of his eyes." It's always hamfisted and it's usually terrible but we accept it anyway because we've got a talky to make it through. And, since as a culture we've totally run out of movies to make, it's a necessary evil.
As you'd probably expect, the same rules apply for the anime adaptation. When previews for Dragonball Evolution came down the pike I imagine every self-respecting anime fan took a deep breath and went "oh boy. this is gonna be a tough one."
...which of course it is.
But still, to take the piss out of Db:E almost seems detrimental to our cause. We're going to have to start suffering a lot of these americafied anime remakes and it's probably a good idea we start learning to live with them instead of screaming "not our fault" every time one shells out an unsuspecting theater (or... dvd rack.)
Now, that isn't to say I'm trying to defend it as good, and lets get that out of the way early. Dragonball appeals to no one, the action sequences range between par and bad, the special effects are dated, the acting is silly (but that means nothing in a comicbook adaptation), and the story is too convoluted for children and too ridiculous for adults. If this movie has a target demographic outside of "anime fans" then it's probably 13-15 year old boys who are a little too weinery to like the violent grown-up action flicks yet.
Additionally, one point of awfulitude I haven't seen brought up anywhere is the movies unchecked schizophrenia with regards to setting. Goku lives in some sort of mountain temple-house yet rides his bike every day to science-fiction futurama valley highschool (a cross between Clueless, Never Back DOwn, and the Jetsons), which is apparently two towns over from a mud-and-grass hut village and two hours from an active volcano.
Still there are some decent points. Justin Chatwin plays a remarkably likable Goku. James Masters has less than ten lines as Lord Piccolo. There are bright colors.
Okay, so there's not much going for it even if you are an anime fan. But still, I never once sat watching it and wondered when it would be over, or laughed at how absurd anything was. I simply watched and did what I could to enjoy, taking it for what it is... a live-action movie about magical glowing space balls that summon a wish-granting dragon.
If you go in expecting The Shawshank Redemption, you're probably gonna want your money back.
(yet still sort of worth seeing once)
Music News :: Julian Casablancas is Making a Solo Album
Every member of The Strokes seems to be a pretty advantageous and prolific artist, so long as it doesn't happen to be in regards to the band itself. Recently NME reported that between his busy schedule of doing guest spots and shoe commercials, Julian Casablancas will soon be releasing a solo album, Phrazes For the Young, which came with an accompanying trailer. The album is produced by Jason Lader with additional production from Mike Mogis, who you may know from his work on... nearly every album saddle creek has ever released. The trailer itself appears to be more of the 70's Sci-Fi imagery that's grown ever present on The Strokes promotional material and videos. Gone are the days of the dirty New Yorkers hanging out in dive bars and shit-talkin' with Slash, it seems.
Meanwhile, it's also been announced that The Strokes have started thinking about considering work on a new album and they've written A new song. Strangely lackadaisical for a band once praised for their work ethic, but hey, not everyone can be Kings of Leon.
Is Jon Peters The Dumbest Man In Comic Book Movies?
I was reminded earlier today about the Kevin Smith Superman project that died back in 1998 which led to me re-reading some of the stories about it, and re-igniting my hatred for Jon Peters. This part of the Wikipedia entry really sums up most of the problems with Peters quite nicely:
Kevin Smith pitched to Jon Peters his story outline in August 1996, in which Peters gave him permission to write a screenplay. However, Peters presented Smith with three rules, such as wanting Superman to wear an all-black suit, feeling the more traditional suit was "too faggy"; not wanting to see Superman fly, saying that Superman would "look like an overgrown Boy Scout." (In order to deal with this, Smith wrote Superman flying as "a red-and-blue blur in flight, creating a sonic boom every time he flew."); and have Superman fight a giant spider in the third act. Smith accepted the terms, realizing that he was being hired to execute a pre-ordained idea. Peters and Warner Bros. forced Smith to write a scene involving Brainiac fighting polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude, and Peters wanted Brainiac to give Lex Luthor a space dog, stating "Chewie's cuddly, man. You could make a toy out of him, so you've got to give me a dog." Smith claims this was because of the recent re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy, and claims that Peters wanted Brainiac's robot assistant L-Ron to be voiced by Dwight Ewell, calling him, "a gay R2-D2 with attitude." Peters was able to recycle his giant spider idea in Wild Wild West, a film he produced.Yes, Spiderman vs. Giant Spider, Braniac vs. Polar Bears, non-faggy black suits, and a gay R2-D2 with attitude (how much more gay can you make a robot than R2-D2 by the way?). Now, Kevin Smith was probably going to end up turning the movie into a turd anyway as he had casting choices in mind like Jason Mewes as Jimmy Olson, then Tim Burton came in and was going after guys like Tim Allen for Braniac. It was likely going to be a disaster no matter what direction they went. I have no doubt that Smith's story was as good as one could expect given limitations like polar bear battles seeing as how most of his actual comic book work has been solid to great. But the world was spared a potential "worst movie ever" when the studio canned the film after $30 million was spent on absolutely nothing.
As if Peters ideas weren't dumb enough with Superman, he also got involved with attempts to bring Sandman to the big screen. Again Wikipedia gives us the scoop:
Jon Peters involvement in adapting the critically acclaimed and highly popular Sandman comics has also met with controversy. One draft, reviewed on the Internet at Ain't It Cool News, was met with scorn from fans. Sandman creator Neil Gaiman called the last screenplay that Warner Brothers would send him "...not only the worst Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read." Gaiman also has said that his dissatisfaction with how his characters were being treated had dissuaded him from writing any more stories involving the Sandman characters, although he has since written Endless Nights. By 2001, the project had become stranded in development hell.Yeah, another giant mechanical spider. This guy wanted one in Superman, then put one in Wild Wild West, and then wanted another one in Sandman. Am I out of the loop? Are giant mechanical spiders box office gold? Who the hell is in Jon's ear telling him the public is clamoring for giant mechanical spiders? It's as if he has the most absurd manifestation of OCD possible. Oh well, at least I enjoyed his work on Clue.
In a 2005 interview, Gaiman summarized the Peters approach as follows: "But Sandman movies, they just got increasingly appalling. It was really strange. They started out hiring some really good people and you got Elliott and Rossio and Roger Avary came in and did a draft. They were all solid scripts. And then Jon Peters fired all of them and got in some people who take orders, and who wanted fistfights and all this stuff. It had no sensibility and it was just...they were horrible."
As with other films, Jon Peters insisted on the inclusion of a giant mechanical spider.
Music Video :: "Remedy" by Little Boots
"Bulletproof" it ain't, but La Roux namechecked Little Boots in NME today and I'm in some sort of hella electropop revival kinda mood the last few weeks, so here's the latest Little Boots jam.
oh maybe it's watching my present yet-to-be-named MMO downloader move at a snails pace or perhaps the rustle of the wind through the forest while I vodka the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks up, but some nice glossy 80's inspired pop seems to hit the spot just right this evening.
Music Review :: Spinnerette - Spinnerette
Artist :: Spinnerette
Album :: Spinnerette
Release :: 2009
Label :: Anthem Records
Genre :: Alternative Rock
Farewell Brody Dalle, it feels as though we hardly knew ye.
In the tradition of finding backing bands that sound like cover versions of whatever her husband's band sounds like, as is "Brody" Bree Joanna Alice Robinson-Dalle-Armstrong-Homme's way, it comes as no surprise that the ex-Distillers frontwoman's new band, Spinnerette, sounds startlingly like Queens of the Stone Age (Dalle is hitched to QotSA's Josh Homme incase you live under some sort rock or wet board.)
Now, my qualms with Queens of the Stone Age are pretty simple: It's painfully simple music played with zero energy and little-to-no lyrical perspective. There's no context to any of the music, which all seems to be by the grand design of Homme who never manages to get the result to sound 10% like I assume it does in his head, and yet, as Peter from the Family Guy said regarding The Godfather... "It insists upon itself."
So it's not really the biggest surprise of my lifetime that Brody Dalle's crappy knock-off QotSA band doesn't exactly strike a chord with me on any sort of significant level. Muddy and ugly. Plodding and with a total lack of energy despite all the shouting. Brody's sexy venom that made The Distillers more than just one of a thousand other faceless crappy punk revival bands never once gets the chance to emerge from under the distorted murk and shine on Spinnerette.
Sure, I understand she's trying, and that Cortney Love-esque voice of hers is still top-shelf, but it seems to have nothing to cling onto musically. Like a lioness scratching hopelessly at a smooth steel wall, Brody makes a lot of sparks but no actual traction.
The only notable highlights here are "Ghetto Love," which had been previously released late last year on their Getto Love EP, and "Impaler" which is the only track that manages to develop a little personality between the clouds of thudding distorted one-note bass riffs. I suppose the closest other thing to a highlight would be the tacky crotch-shot cover art, as, even if her musical career seems to all but made it's final circulation of the drain, at least she has very nice hips. 2/5
Video Games :: Final Fantasy XIV Trailer / News
So sure, Final Fantasy XIII has yet to see the light of day and won't in the states until the first quarter of 2010, but that's no reason we shouldn't all start salivating over the next item in line for Square's epic RPG franchise. Rest assured I'll be no where to be seen for months after the release of Final Fantasy XIV, the hundred-and-twenty-ith-or-so FF release to date and the series' next take on the MMORPG format, this time doing away with Sony's horrendous PlayOnline system.
Developers say to have been greatly inspired by the layout and features of World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online this time around and have taken many player-based suggestions into account for their second trip up to the plate in the world of MMO gameplay. The announced formats thus far are Windows and Playstation 3, so, tough shit and get out of Sony's house for Xbox players once again despite early word that Xbox 360 would be included.
Regardless of what's said about the upcoming Aion MMO, I've maintained for years that if any company can compete with Blizzards ability to give their subscribers severe social anxiety disorder, it's Square. And, if they're attempting to take on the WoW gameplay model, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that we could finally see a dethroning of Warcraft in the states.
Here's hoping.
Go get 'em boys! Kupo!
Music Video :: "King Rat" by Modest Mouse
Much like Elvis or 2-Pac, Heath Ledger seems to be getting just as much play post-mortem as he did in life, this time as the director of Modest Mouse's new video for their track "King Rat" off their EP "No One's First, and You're Next," released last week.
The video itself is... well. Hey, give it a spin for yourself. I suppose it's about time rock music took a hard stance against whaling. Someone call up Bono, we'll need an all-star benefit.
Music Review :: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Artist :: Arctic Monkeys
Album :: Humbug
Release :: 2009
Label :: Domino
Genre :: Indie Rock, Post-Punk Revival
To impressionable American youth, if Oasis made Manchester seem like party central in the early 1990’s, then Arctic Monkeys have done fine work in painting Sheffield, England as the boiling mouth of hell from which there’s no return.
On their third full-length, Humbug, Alex Turner and company make the dark and seedy stories on 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not sound like fresh-faced optimism and wacky teenage hijinks with Turner now deeply submersed into the world that he and his friends used to point and laugh at from their high-tops at the bar.
The most notable difference from their debut is that the overall tone of the songs has changed dramatically. A change that was foreshadowed by their sophomore effort Favourite Worst Nightmare in which the more sinister chord progressions and creepy reverb became present, but still took a backseat to the furiously fast guitars and Turner's never-ending verbal assault. This time around Turner and company ease off the throttle enough to let that creepiness come through with great success.
There are no "Brainstorm"s or "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor"s this time around, just slow-paced strut and tangled webs. The lead single, "Crying Lighting," is the closest the band get to the furious energy from what seems like forever ago. But where the drunken teenage anthems have become a thing of the past, Turner has developed into more of a songwriter with a far more poetic tongue as opposed to a one-trick-pony who's only musical device is telling a sixty page story in three minutes thirty seconds.
Among the albums strongest moments are the lead two tracks. "My Propeller" which opens the affair as not only the records best track but also a musical mission statement for what's about to come. Slow burning and swaggering as it builds towards the songs instantly memorable final thirty seconds, where it explodes into the atmosphere as Turner pleads "my propeller won't spin..."
"Crying Lightening" carries on in the bands fine tradition of seedy stories about sketchy people, only with seemingly a more personal twist.
Humbug is another excellent entry into the Arctic's catalog that showcases a tremendous amount of growth and poise. For anyone wondering what the Arctic Monkeys would sound like grown up, this is your first glips. Still, though, with this new turn in direction, there's something to be said for that frenetic energy from the first two records. Spastic barroom tales and clever lines put on the shelf it seems everything in music must change or it'll eventually die. It's good to see the Alex Turner and company have chosen the former. 3.5 / 5
Music Videos :: Do You Like Garage Rock and Murder?
Much thanks to Brent for pickin' up some slack while I've been draggin' ass. Between Pops passing away and moving a month earlier than expected, the last few weeks haven't exactly been conducive to anime and indie rock. As amped up as I am to sequel about the new Arctic Monkeys or complain about Key the Metal Idol, there's a lot of moving, calling, and paperwork to be done. I seem settled in at present though, so hopefully things will start getting back to normal.
In the mean time, in my little bit of free time, I've been playing Gunz: The Duel a lot, so it seems fitting that I have two wonderful new videos for those of you who like you both 70's inspired garage rock and violent, violent murder. First we have Jet's "K.I.A." from their upcoming album Shaka Rock. There are leaks floating around, but all early indications point to ultra-bogus bullshit.
Followed by "Treat Me Like Your Mother" by The Dead Weather, a new band composed of Alison Mosshart of The Kills fame and Jack White of... Jack White fame. Do you like The White Stripes? Do you like The Raconteurs? Do you wish there was a band that kinda sounded like both of them at the same time?!?! ...good news:
Comics :: Cover of the Day - August 3, 2009
I won't be doing these every day or anything, but for the sake of getting some content up sometimes I'll just post a cover or page that I really enjoy. Today is a cover that I really enjoy from Geoff Johns' run on The Flash.
This was a "modern story" with a cover that just feels nice and old school. That "here comes a wacky story that we'll explain on the cover" thing is really sweet compared to just a portrait of the hero on the cover or whatever.
It was just in recent times that I got into DC characters beyond just Batman & Superman. Green Lantern has developed into one of my favorite characters ever and I decided I needed to give some of the more modern runs of Flash a try. Something about Flash just always felt lame to me because his rogue gallery was dorks like Captain Cold. However, I have since learned that Captain Cold will freeze and punch your goddamn jaw off:
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