Buzz Rant & Rave

Goes Cube Blog Post #77

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:33:54 -0500

Over at Ear Farm, Goes Cube gives up on From the Inside Looking Out: Goes Cube (premiere of “Clenching Jaws”) : EAR FARM :: music information helps grow ears: "Not long ago, we decided that 'Goes Cube Song 58' should be called 'Sorry, Were You Sleeping?', 'Goes Cube Song 59' should be called 'Read Right,' 'Goes Cube Song 61' should be called 'Loose Ends,' 'Goes Cube Song 62' should be called 'Gravestones Like Chess Pieces' and 'Goes Cube Song 63' should be called 'Clenching Jaws.' 'Goes Cube Song 60' will change, too, but it’s an instrumental and not recorded, so we’re taking our time picking out a real interesting title for that one." I will be horribly disappointed if they never get around to writing and recording "Goes Cube Song #√-1" (square root of -1, in other words, the imaginary number i)

Zombie Stalin

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:47:38 -0500

This video has been making its way arund the web and is pretty awesome. Fear Zombie Stalin!
GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.

Keeping Score

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:08:51 -0500

Here's a mashup that re-contextualizes scenes from Ferris Bueller's Day Off by combining them with the score from Requiem for a Dream: This demonstrates how strongly music affects mood and how we perceive scenes synced with a score. In the Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall interviews the composers for Lost and Battlestar Galactica: Michael Giacchino and Bear McCreary, score keepers: "The trend in television music of late has been towards wall-to-wall songs, like on "Grey's Anatomy." But a handful of series still use traditional scores, and some composers - notably Giacchino on "Lost" and Bear McCreary on "Battlestar Galactica" - have been able to do transcendent work in an area that's too often underappreciated. On most TV shows, the music is the most important dramatic element that you notice the least. With "Lost" and "Battlestar," it's impossible not to notice, or to think of either series without some composition or other by Giacchino or McCreary coming into your head." And here are Sepinwall's transcripts of the interviews with Giacchino and McCreary.

Mancino: Bringing the Awesome

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:05:39 -0500

Mancino is one of the most interesting and fun bands playing rock music in New York these days. Their songs tend to veer off in unexpected directions, but always rooted in a groove and built around strong melodies. They don't take themselves too seriously, but also have a very unique sound. Plus, I have to at least give props to any rock band that uses some clarinet. Last night's show at The Delancey shows that the Mancino train is rolling along with some great new songs and a polished and musical live show. I can't add much about Gold Streets set since I was running late and the venue has actually starting bands on time. The Delancey upgraded the sound in the live room somewhat recently, which is a nice change. Via Stereoactive NYC, here's video of Mancino playing "Buy My Product" at an earlier show at The Delancey.

Old 97's play Cylon-occupied club

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:43:20 -0500

The video for "Dance With Me," off of Blame it on Gravity-- Rhett Miller and company's first studio album in 4 years-- features Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer ("Number 6") and some cool nerd kung-fu fighting : The Old 97's play Webster Hall on August 1.

Opera Today

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:47:23 -0500

The NY Times reports on a rare occurrence at the Met-- an encore of an aria, Ban on Solo Encores at the Met? Ban, What Ban?: "After the tenor Juan Diego Flórez popped out his nine shining high C’s in “La Fille du Régiment” at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday night, the crowd rose and cheered. Mr. Flórez obliged with something not heard on the Met stage since 1994: a solo encore. He sang the aria “Ah! Mes Amis” again, nailing the difficult note — a kind of tenor’s macho proving ground — nine more times. It was one of those thrilling moments that opera impresarios live for." The Journal goes behind the stage to explore the rarely-seen world of opera prompters-- which aren't screens scrolling libretti, but people prompting the singers, It's Not Over (Yet) for Those Who Cue Divas: "The prompter's job combines the skills of a conductor, musicologist and linguist, with an unusual ability to listen to the orchestra, keep time with the hands and deliver the singers' lines a moment before the downbeat."

Six Degrees of Jay Landsman

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:09:44 -0500

In the midst of my all-consuming cram session to catch up with 5 seasons of The Wire, I also picked up David Simon's book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. One of the Baltimore homicide detectives Simon wrote about in Homicide was Sgt. Jay Landsman. Landsman was the inspiration for Detective John Munch in the Homicide: Life on the Streets TV series. Richard Belzer has gone on to play Detective Munch in Law and Order:SUV as well as in cameos in Arrested Development and other shows. In The Wire, Delaney Williams plays Sergeant Jay Landsman Developing as a recurring role in season 3 of The Wire, Jay Landsman plays Lieutenant Dennis Mello. Fader interviewed Landsman (the original) at the end of season 4.

The Wire, BSG and TV on DVD

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:43:00 -0500

All has been quiet on the blog front for me lately, because I've been too absorbed in catching up with the 5 seasons of The Wire that I somehow missed. How I managed to ignore the best and most important show on television is surprising, so I've been trying to catch up. At this point, I'm up to the beginning of season 3. The first two seasons are full of brilliant little moments, broad strokes of observation about the global economy, modern urban crime environment, the criminal justice system and humanity with an attention to detail and continuity unmatched by another series on television. More than any other series (particularly because of the "naturalistic" approach to using music cues), The Wire feels immediate and real. Watching TV on DVD is a fundamentally different experience than watching episodes as they first air. Instead of having a week or so to digest the last episode, you can jump right in and binge on a 3 episode marathon. For a hour-long drama on a commercial-free network, that translates to 3 hour viewing session. Sure, the average American television viewer watches 4 and a half hours of television per day, but 3 consecutive hours in a single evening is a lot. The participatory aspect of talking about TV in person or on the internet is perhaps the main impetus for watching live-- to be part of the community. There aren't many live discussions going about shows that aired five years ago. In contrast, for shows that are on now, being able to participate without being spoiled, is a major motivation for watching live or slightly delayed. One of the leading contenders for title of "Best Show Currently on TV" is certainly Battlestar Galactica. (I'd put Lost, 30 Rock and The Office in the mix, too for different reasons.) Some insightful discussion of episode 4.01, "He That Believeth in Me" at Sepinwall and The House Next Door. Galactica composer Bear McCreary discusses the score on his blog.

SXSW Day 3

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:43:16 -0500

The culinary highlight of day 3 was lunch down at Polvos south of downtown. If nothing else, SXSW is a great excuse to eat a diet consisting exclusively of BBQ and Tex-Mex. As far as music, the most notable day party was the Mercury Records one where I went to meet up with Mr. F and caught a couple of bands. The first, whose name I didn't catch, is worth noting for no other reason than they do have a sax player in the band. Represent! And while I never caught up to Vampire Weekend (with a stake), the buzziest act I saw at the festival was probably Duffy. Pitched as the next Amy Winehouse, Duffy has the vocal chops to fill that role, but her backing band didn't have anywhere near the soul of the Dap Kings. Went over to catch up with Brooklynites Gold Streets who were sounding good, despite some equipment troubles and a venue that didn't seem to host rock bands outside of SXSW week. Ran from there over to the WFMU show to see The Homosexuals (the touring lineup includes members of NYC's Apache Beat and the Unsacred Hearts.) This was a great energetic set that felt like it was in fact time-shifted from decades ago. After having to consult iPhone's maps a bit too much, ended the night over at the After the Jump house party to see These United States again -- in a yard in a residential Austin neighrborhood. Outside on a Friday night, this was amplified music going on with other houses nearby and it wasn't shut down by the police just after starting. Wow. Here, saw Salt & Samovar, Oliver Future, These United States and The Lisps. And that was it for BRR at SXSW 2008. Because of waiting too long to book flights, the only reasonably priced flights I found required returning to NYC on Saturday morning. On a connecting flight, through Chicago.

SXSW Day 2

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:08:18 -0500

While I found a good amount of worthwhile music on day 1, day 2 was somewhat less useful. The muical highlight of the day came early, at the CEA's Digital Freedom Campaign DC day party, with These United States. They were joined on stage for a couple of songs by Le Loup Otherwise, just a couple of street scene photographs of note. No great finds yesterday as far as music. Music seems to get significant support from the city of Austin: The human parade milling about downtown Austin during SXSW may be more interesting in the aggregate than most-- if not, any-- of the bands performing.

SXSW Day 1

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:52:26 -0500

BRR started out SXSW by going over to the Creekside Lounge to catch Goes Cube with their day show. Unfortunately, we got there too late to have New York's loudest trio punish our eardrums, but we did catch up with them and their impressive tour beards. They're off to play shows in Laredo and Corpus Christi before coming back to Austin for their official showcase on Saturday at Maggie Mae's. (Goes Cube arrives back in NYC with a show at Union Pool on Mar. 28) We did manage to catch The Midgetmen's brand of fast, catchy punk rock, centered around an awesome clear bass guitar. Then, I walked through downtown Austin a bit to get bearings and lunch. This is my first time here and I'm amazed at the extent to which SXSW takes over downtown. Stopped by Mog's day party to see the Raveonettes. Ended up seeing this band first. From Phoenix, they are dudes with beards making music for dudes with beards. Then, Austin's Black Angels came on and brought their reverb-drenched noisy rock to the stage. They were the BRR find of the day. Of course, I didn't manage to take a photo, but they're playing again today at the Red Eyed Fly at 5:30 with A Place to Bury Strangers. The Raveonettes came on and were surprisingly loud with some heavy and nasty (in a good way) pre-recorded loops. This was when forgetting my earplugs in my bag became a poor choice. BBQ anyone? Later, stopped in on Walter Meego and their dancey synth-rock, highlighted by some nice unison dual-guitar work. On to day 2....

SXSW: Day 0

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:28:00 -0500

I'm writing this stuffed into a middle seat on the flight down to Austin, TX. For the first time ever, BRR will be bringing you partial team coverage from the SXSW Music Festival. We'll be on the ground with the best coverage that you can find on this site.

Elevators Everywhere Weep

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:04:03 -0500

101.9 FM in New York is no longer CD 101.9, the home of smooth jazz (music made by computers, for computers) but is instead now 101.9 RXP - The New York Rock Experience, which claims that it will focus on variety, intelligence and local acts. Between the death of Jack FM (music programmed by computers) and now CD 101 (music written by computers) and the return and creation of rock-focused stations with DJ's, this looks like a realization that radio is more than just playlists. Radio is about the connection between the music, the DJ and the listeners.

FNL and the Second Half Collapse

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:07:19 -0500

Even with three months of the strike behind us, I'm still almost not quite caught up with Friday Night Lights. I started with the season 1 DVD in the fall and am now only two episodes behind with episodes. But for everything that the series did right in season 1, season 2 just hasn't clicked in the same way. The football games have fallen to the background, which seems out of place when season 1 established that the most important thing in Dillon is Dillon HS football. Or, as usual with most things TV-related, go read Sepinwall:

"I've had lots of problems with "FNL" season two, but none moreso than the way the show has completely lost track of the damn team. We've seen, what, six games in 13 episodes? (With Smash playing terribly in almost all of them, which makes his big college recruiting story seem doubly baffling.) And now there are only three more before the playoffs start? And we spend an entire episode with zero football action or practice, but with a subplot devoted to the girls' volleyball team? I know the company line is that "FNL" isn't really about football, but that's just a lie to lure in the people who would otherwise refuse to watch a show about football -- and who, based on the ratings for season two, aren't going to watch anyway. Season one was absolutely about football, and that's what made it great. It was about how a town defined itself through this team and how the pressure of being that defining element shaped the lives of the coaches, the players and their friends and family. There was plenty of action that took place away from the gridiron, but the season was always there in the background. We were always aware of how the Panthers were doing, how Saracen and Smash and Riggins were playing, how secure Eric's job was, etc. Football was the foundation on which everything else was built, and now it's become this obligatory thing that the writers feel like they have to bring up from time to time, when they'd rather be spending time on another romance or crime plot."

The pressure on the coach and the team from the talk radio, boosters, and everyone else in Dillon shaped characters and relationships, but we haven't seen that since Coach returned to Dillon. That's one reason why the characters seem to be in a vacuum. Foorball is what brings everyone in Dillon together, and without it, the characters are all off in little groups doing their own thing without any other context. If there's going to be no attention to the football details that were the basis of the world of Dillon in season 1, why not keep season 2 in the same school year after the championship? This way, there's no need to fudge that Riggins and Lyla weren't also originally seniors in the same class as Street. How does the show reboot for season 3 (assuming that there is one)? First, bring in new characters to fill in for Smash and Riggins on the team and maybe add some more non-QB, non-RB characters into the mix. A lineman, a wideout, a backup. At the same time, don't lose Smash or Riggins. Wouldn't The Smash not be quite the big fish in college he is in Dillon? How would Riggins deal with graduating and being stuck in Dillon (besides dating the MILF next door or living with the town Meth dealer)?

Great Moments in Keytar History - 2008 Grammys

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:05:29 -0500

This is apparently going to be a series-- if not the entire raison d'être of the blog. At the Grammy Awards last night, Morris Day and the Time reunited to rock some awesome keytar action (and play with Rhianna):