Man of Steel, Man of Heart

I saw Superman Returns last night and it was pretty decent. I think the characters were very well acted, but I just don’t really see what’s exciting about watching a man without any flaws or weaknesses. I’m led to believe that Kryptonite can make Superman die, but without completely spoiling it for you, it really doesn’t do much to stop him except for weaken him for a couple minutes. I was also confused at the ending but that’s probably because I don’t follow the comics. Either way it had some enjoyable visual effects and Kevin Spacey is always fun to watch.

Rhino Records is releasing a compilation of Superman songs (mostly covers) that you might enjoy if your into the mainstream punk/pop scene. I’ve listened to most of the songs and R.E.M. cover sticks out as a good one, and I’m sure many of you will be interested in The Flaming Lips cover, which is pretty well done. I had high hopes for the Motion City Soundtrack song but unfortunatley it doesn’t retain any of the qualities from that I liked from their “I Am The Movie” days. Here’s two songs, if you like them go here and order Sounds of Superman:

MP3 Sun/The Academy Is – Superman
MP3 Nightmare of You – Waitin’ for Superman

I was suprised that one of my favorite Superman songs, “The Superman” by David Bowie wasn’t included. It’s one of Bowie’s earliest songs and the drumming at the beginning is really unique. I saw the man perform it live and he said something like “I love this song, but I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote the lyrics”. Check it out for yourself –

MP3 David Bowie – The Superman

Get The Man Who Sold The World

Asthmatic Kitty Contest: Reshape and Resize

If you didn’t already love Asthmatic Kitty enough, now they’re giving you the chance to win 300 dollars, their whole back catalogue, and a t-shirt (not to mention international fame). All you have to do is tinker with the Shapes and Sizes song “Wilderness” in the Audio-Editing software of your choice and then submit it to a judging panel of “elite”, “specialy selected” bloggers (of which I somehow am included).

You’re allowed to cover, remix, mash-up, and reinterpret the song in any way you like and we’re going to be judged based on creativy and intriguing-ness. The international fame part comes when your selection is put on Asthmatic Kitty’s website for the whole world to download and critique. You might want to come up with a cool DJ name with your submission also (optional), because that might effect my judging. Visit here for the contest rules. Here’s the MP3 for your listening and remixing pleasure:

MP3 Wilderness

Here’s another Shapes and Sizes song that I particularly like but that you will get no prizes for remixing:
MP3 Island’s Gone Bad

Arrested Development Season Three DVD Specs

The Evolution of "Crazy"

Origin: You all have heard Gnarles Barkley’s “Crazy” (it’s pretty much impossible to get away from at this point), but have you heard “Nel Cimitero Di Tucson”, which is essentially a raw instrumental form of Crazy. Unless you check alot of random world-music blogs (like me) you probably haven’t. It seems that Gnarles Barkley heavily sampled the song, which comes from the soundtrack of the film, Preparati la bara! (IMDB link here).

It’s very interesting to listen to the original version and be able to hear the progression to it’s current chart-topping form, most noticeably the trumpets from the original were replaced with strings for Gnarles Barkley’s version, but the bass line stays the same nearly the whole song though.

Gianfranco Reverberi – Nel Cimitero Di Tucson

The blogger that found this goes by the name Guuzbourg and he writes for The Spleninda Project. The original post is here. Great find, Guuz!

Covers: You can’t mention the song without talking about the covers, three of which feature an acoustic/stripped down version of the song and one (Twilight Singers) which turns it into a soulful piano jam. Time will tell, what Paris Hilton will do with the song when she covers it. Here’s all four versions:

MP3 The Kooks – Crazy
MP3 Ray Lamontagne – Crazy
MP3 Nelly Furtado – Crazy
MP3 The Twilight Singers – Crazy
MP3 Mates of State – Like U Crazy / Crazy (Gnarles Barkley Cover) update*

Live: Finally, the live performances of Crazy have all have had variations. The MTV version varies the least, other than some wind effects and added a piano melody on “who do you think you are”. The Top of the Pops version slows down the tempo and adds in marching drums, and the Conan version is completely remixed with some funky sound effects at the end. View all three:

Crazy @ MTV Movie Awards – Darth Vader
Crazy @ Top of the Pops – Airplane Pilot
Crazy @ Conan O’Brien – Bathrobe
(courtesy of YouTube)

Overall, I’ve heard this song more than any other single played this year, and I still enjoy it. Does that me crazy? possibly…

The Format / Anathallo / Ranier Maria Tour Dates!

What a lineup this is! If you’ve followed the site you know that I love all three of these bands, and their making 40 stops this July/August all over the U.S. (even Arkansas and Connecticut get in on some of the action) in what’s being called the “Dog Days of Summer” Tour. I’m marking my calendar for August 18th in Chicago. Part of the proceeds of this tour is going to charity, so you’ll be supporting good music and also the less fortunate.

Here’s some music and a brief description of each of the bands. Follow the jump if you just want the dates…

The Format: Undeniably catchy power-pop who have recently majorly expanded their sound.
MP3 She Doesn’t Get It
MP3 The Compromise

Ranier Maria: Veteran female-fronted band from the “emo” era. Their latest album is arguably their best and most consistent to date.
MP3 Burn

Anathallo: self-described “intensely celebratory and theatrical marching band gone wild” cursed/blessed with frequent Sufjan comparisons.
MP3 Hoodwink
MP3 Hanasakajijii (Four: A Great Wind, More Ash)
(myspace links – left click to download)

Side note: Street to Nowhere is also playing but I haven’t been able to listen to them yet. Any good?

The Dog Days Of Summer Tour Dates:
07/14 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre
07/15 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
07/16 – Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum
07/18 – Dallas, TX – Gypsy Tea Room
07/19 – San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
07/20 – Houston, TX – Numbers
07/21 – Austin, TX – The Parish
07/22 – Little Rock, AR – Juanita’s
07/23 – Nashville, TN – Exit / In
07/25 – St Petersburg, FL – State Theatre
07/26 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – The Culture Room
07/27 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House Of Blues
07/28 – Jacksonville, FL – Fuel Coffeehouse
07/29 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
07/30 – Greenville, NC – Green St. Club
08/01 – Norfolk, VA – NorVa
08/03 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre
08/04 – Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Icon
08/05 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
08/06 – Rochester, NY – Water Street Music Hall
08/08 – South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
08/09 – Providence, RI – The Living Room
08/10 – Boston, MA – Axis
08/11 – Hartford, CT – The Webster Theatre
08/12 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
08/13 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony
08/15 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre Of Living Arts
08/16 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom
08/17 – Detroit, MI – St Andrews Hall
08/18 – Chicago, IL – Metro
08/19 – St Louis, MO – Mississippi Nights
08/20 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom
08/22 – Denver, CO – Cervantes
08/23 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
08/25 – Seattle, WA – Corazon
08/26 – Portland, OR – Loveland
08/27 – Orangevale, CA – Boardwalk
08/28 – San Francisco, CA – Slims
08/29 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
08/31 – Hollywood, CA – Avalon
09/1 – San Diego, CA – Soma
09/2 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues Courtyard
See the tour dates…

The Waifs

Out of all the songs I’ve heard recently the one I find myself going to back to with the most frequency is “London Still” (MP3) by Australian folk band, The Waifs. Perhaps it’s for sentimental reasons or maybe it’s just because I can’t get the melody out of my head. The band that sings the song is called The Waifs and they’ve been around quite a while (long enough to score a tour with Bob Dylan and have a Greatest Hits album). If it weren’t for their accents, The band wouldn’t feel to out of place in a Nashville bar as country music and blues are strong influences in their music. If you enjoy Neko Case, Bright Eye’s last album, or alt-country in general, I’m positive you’ll find much to like about this band.

MP3 London Still
MP3 Lighthouse
MP3 Spotlight (live)

Visit The Waif’s site and myspace. The first two songs are from this album.

Read Matt and Nathan’s Desmonda and Bonnaroo coverage (and look at a ton of sweet pictures on both sites). Kentucky Blogs are so hot right now. Also, Lizzy echoes my sentiments about Sleeping At Last at Come Pick Me Up.

More Desmonda here and here.

Australia's Own – The Cat Empire

Sucks to be USA right now, but people couldn’t be happier here in Australia. Before I watched the soccer game I went through a friend’s music collection and ripped everything good I could find onto my computer. Luckily, they had The Cat Empire which is the perfect band for the moment. Celebratory, danceable, Latin/Salsa inspired beats. Here’s their myspace-approved description:

“Where the hip-hop community dance to Gypsy, the jazz purists jump to hip-hop, the Latinos bop to reggae, the rastas shake to latin, the elderly sweat to funk, the youth swing to dancehall, and everyone wakes up a little happier.”

“Hello” is their funnest song, think Bottle Rocket by The Go! Team redone by a salsa band. I love when they scream out “Pablo, Pablo” in the middle of the song. “How to Explain” isn’t far behind on the fun factor with loud trumpets, shifting percussion, and tempo changes all over the place. The Hotel California cover is from a CD series called Like A Version which you’ll be seeing much more of.

MP3 Hello
MP3 How to Explain
MP3 Hotel California (Eagles Cover)

Go buy it.
Listen to four more at their myspace.
The Lollapalooza schedule is out! Recent additions have been Cold War Kids, Ranier Maria, Ben Kweller, Violent Femmes, Assassins, Kelly Holtz, and Kill Hannah.

Arizona, here we come.

Arizona should get more credit. Musically, they’re the state that gave us Jimmy Eat World, Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, The Format, Fleetwood Mac, and Linkin Park (ok, its not all good). But now you can bump them up another notch, because they’re the namesake for the great upcoming band, Arizona. The band is from New York, but you can’t just go around calling a band New York though, can you?

Arizona is much more fitting of their sound, which you’ll understand when you hear tracks like “Some Kind of Chill”. The falsetoed voice and the folk/country undertones reminds me of After The Gold Rush-era Neil Young, but add that to some wonderful harmonization and a guitar solo that will make you question whether this is really their first album. All together one of the best songs I’ve heard this year, and if you live in the NY area you can hear it live (dates at their myspace)

Here’s the fore-mentioned song plus two more via their myspace page (left-click to download)
MP3 Some Kind of Chill
MP3 Splintering
MP3 Surviving the Savior

Read Connor’s much more eloquent review of the band.

The End of The World

The End of the World are a four-piece band that have been rocking the east coast in preparation for an upcoming full length release with Flameshovel Records (Maritime, Chin Up Chin Up). They’ve had some great response to their music both in their home at Brooklyn and at SXSW where they played earlier this year.

There’s not much info out about the band right now, so I’m going to speculate on their band name, because “The End of the World” garners some questions in my mind. Is the apocalypse a reoccurring theme with their music?, is it a political statement?, are they making a so-obvious-it’s-not-obvious R.E.M. reference? Whatever the case, I’m digging their music. Take a listen and buy their debut EP if you like it.

MP3 Last Cast
MP3 This Little Theatre

Listen to one more at their myspace.

Australia's Own- The Grates

Sorry for the lack of postage, I’ve been out of it the last couple days (It’s all that late night soccer). But part of that time I’ve been researching new music everywhere from local Perth records shops (78’s is really cool) to local shows. Being such, I’m going to be posting a few Australian bands that I think you’ll really enjoy (in a series I call “Australia’s Own”).

I’m starting off with one you all should know, The Grates. The song Sukkafish is especially crave-worthy. It starts off with a shoegazy guitar line and then goes into some Boy Least Likely To banjo and then moves towards a grunge-ish sound for a few seconds before going back to the banjo. Sound interesting? It should. The other song is one I’ve heard on the radio a couple of times (they have a couple good stations here). It’s a jumpy good-for-a-party tune with lyrics like “Shakin’ like you don’t know what your waiting for / Shakin’ like a bacon ice cold it’s floored.”

MP3 Sukkafish
MP3 Inside Outside

Listen to more at their (very well designed) myspace.
Stream the CD here
If you live in Toronto, Montreal, New York, San Fransisco, Vancouver, or LA, The Grates are coming your way.

Can anyone think of a better name then Australian’s Own for this posting series, I thought of that in two seconds and it seems kindof corporationish. I’ll send you a hand carved boomerang if you can think of a better one. (not really)

Review of iTunes Celebrity Playlists – Jack Black

Reading through Jack Black’s playlists made me realize a few things. First off, that Nacho Libre had already opened in theatres (I don’t want to read the reviews, but I’m guessing they’re horrible. Anyone seen it?). Secondobly, that Jack Black’s sister-in-law is the artist I did this post on (He includes a Petra Haden song in the list). I also realized that Jack Black has got very very interesting music taste.

His playlist includes Eagles of Death Metal (which he was in a music video for), Soul Asylum, and Cat Power. He also picks a few songs that are in similar vein to his own band, Tenacious D like Ween and Liam Lynch. Very fun list to listen to, tons of variety, keeps you guessing. The descriptions are often good but I wish he would shown a little more of his personality sometimes. I guess, the song selection speaks for itself. Here’s a couple tracks from his playlist which you can check out at the Celebrity Playlists section at the iTunes Music Store.

MP3 Silversun Pickups – Kissing Families (featuring Jack Black’s wife on the cello!)
MP3 The Pixies – Crackity Jones

How did I miss this? Danielson and The Walken got added to the Pitchfork Music Festival Roster. Woohoo!