Earlier this year, “The Home Of Animation” website Aniboom held a contest in conjunction with Radiohead to help create a new music video for the band using a song from the band’s recent release In Rainbows. A cash prize of $10,000 was to be awarded to the winner of the competition who could come up with the best storyboard and video-clip to astound Radiohead themselves and Aniboom.
The result was 5 finalists with video-clips that Radiohead collectively voted on. Radiohead was supposed to choose only 1 of the 5 finalists to create a full length video. Radiohead decided that they liked the 4 grand finalists so much that they contributed and extra $30,000 to help create each of the four videos. Not only did the 4 winners collect some serious cash for their creative talent, they also each have their own bragging rights.
Each have their own style. Check them out. I like the video for “Reckoner” the most.
The Faint bring yet another installment of their new wave/dance/indie tunes to your ears with Fasciinatiion. Once a solid staple to Saddle Creek Records, the band parted ways in spring of 2008 stating they would be releasing material on their own label blank.wav. This is their first album in four years and is also the first to be entirely fashioned by The Faint. Fasciinatiion proves that this five-some has no problem doing things all by themselves.
Formed in Omaha, Nebraska around 1995 the band lured me in thanks to the release of 1999’s Blank Wave-Arcade. Their unique sound that had similarities to 80’s dance but with indie rock and even a little punk rock flair; something I had not found myself getting into before. Soon thereafter, I was listening to them on almost a daily basis. They were one of the original bands that introduced me to Saddle Creek records and helped get the indie label some well deserved recognition.
The Faint
I was excited to check out their latest release seeing how I really have not listened to The Faint in quite some time. Fasciinatiion started out strong with “Get Seduced” refreshing me on their dance rock style. Their electronic rock music was not missed by my ears. It would appear even after four years the band still has it.
“The Geeks Were Right”, the band’s first single off the album, was my favorite track. The more indie pressed song reminded me of She Wants Revenge and Interpol, but heavy on the electronic side. The music video for the song is extremely interesting too almost visualizing what a Max Headroom acid flashback might look like. Even better there are remixes of this track floating around on the internet; my favorite was “The Geeks Were Right (Does It Offend You? Yeah Remix).
The album seemed to stray away from the Faint’s unique sound I had grown accustomed to with more experimental tracks like “Machine In The Ghost” and “Fulcrum And Lever”. The vocals were a tad too robotic for me and the sounds were too experimental and unhurried.
The funky “Psycho” saved the album for me as it took direction back away from the slow, unusual songs previously mentioned. Deep blimps and bleeps at the beginning of the song kind of exceeded it’s welcome, but soon it mellowed out building for an good listen. “I Treat You Wrong”, with poor lyrics, really was a good track but was nothing to dance about.
I really feel that The Faint created a roller coaster effect on Fasciinatiion. The album does not seem nearly as constant and up-tempo as prior releases nor was there any of that punk rock flair that could be heard on Wet From Birth. It is one of their more unique albums, but certainly not their best effort. I am not saying this album is bad, but it does not compare to their more recent efforts.
I am probably one of the last people who has not talked about Metallica‘s Death Magnetic. Everyone out there has their opinion on the CD. My pal over at Pitriff wrote a few things about it earlier as did many other music lovers. Some said it was a comeback album while others find it brittle.
I think it is great. It’s hard to say Metallica is back to what they used to be because let’s face it, age and the battle of life takes its toll. I think Death Magnetic is the best album the band has done in years and I really enjoy listening to it. I am not going to sit here and pick through songs and say this one could have been better and this one was perfect.
I will just say that in a whole, the boys did a great job. Way to grab another #1 album! That right there is impressive. The album makes me think back to the first five albums and forget about the last few. It’s nice to see that they still have it.
I finally got to see the video for “The Day That Never Comes”:
Reminds me of the video for “One”. Very sorrowful video.
Metallica is going to be touring in support of Death Magnetic. The sad thing is that they are hot hitting Cleveland yet but they will be in Columbus. Some of me wants to see them again. I have seen them 3 times now but they were all tours in support of the albums I could care less about. I really want to see them rock out.
I also want to see this tour because Down is opening for them…awesome.
I was just killing some time tonight when I came upon a post on Punknews.Org stating that Face To Face has started a reunion tour. Excuse me??? Apparently I have been out of the loop because I thought the band called it quits for good in 2002. I really hadn’t heard anything from them since.
Face To Face is a So.Cal punk rock band that was one of my favorites in the late nineties. Their one song that got major attention was “Disconnected”…
I am not sure yet if the band is going to only tour a couple of cities at this time in the US and overseas or if they will take it one step further and create and album together. I would love to see a new Face To Face album as they are one of those punk bands I wish never broke up.
I have been aware that front man Trevor Keith has been doing his own thing since the band split. In fact he has been doing a few things…a few things I was not entirely aware of.
First there is his solo material he has been working on and his label Antagonist Records. I had no idea Trevor Keith has been working on creating music on his own. Earlier this year he released his solo album Melancholics Anonymous. The album is available on his website via download for 5 bucks or you can send him some of your cold hard cash and he’ll send you a CD if he has any left. I am going to be dishing out 5 bucks myself so I can check it out. He has the album streaming on his site and from what I hear I like so far.
Then there is Legion Of Doom, a mash-up project like no other featuring Trevor Keith and producer Chad Blinman. The duo remixes emo, punk, and hip hop songs as well as creates original material, some of which have been featured in films. I have been a fan of this project for a couple of year now when I accidentally came across a remix of Senses Fail and Coheed & Cambira….
I love the sound of the two bands clashing together, it’s perfect (but you have to like the bands to appreciate it too of course). I also got a kick out of Claudo’s shorter hair on the video…. This song and others were released on Legion Of Doom’s debut CD called Incorporated. The CD is well out of print but you can find it out there in the digital world, I know I did.
Today would be the day where I wished I lived in North Carolina.
My good pal Matt already talked about this event a few weeks back on Addicted To Vinyl. I previously had heard about it before he reminded me it was not a dream but had not had time to write anything about it until now.
Ben Folds once had a hit this big.
Thanks to MySpace, Ben Folds Five reunited tonight to play a special show in their native homeland at the University of North Carolina. The band helped launch MySpace’s new music feature “Front To Back”. “Front To Back” pretty much sums up the idea, a selected band will play an entire album of theirs front to back for a special benefit show that later will be available on the “Place For Friends” website for public viewing.
Ben Folds was asked to play the premier “Front To Back” show originally solo but chose to contact his past band mates to see if they would get together for a special situation. Thanks to good timing, bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee agreed to perform. The band never really broke up but then again they never have stayed together. In fact it has been just about 10 years since Ben Folds Five released their last album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner – the very album they played front to back tonight. All three members agreed to play their last recording live to many lucky fans who nabbed tickets to the sold out show.
Proceeds from the sales of the show will benefit Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization that helps children with facial deformities.
Ben Folds Five does not plan on continuing to tour after tonight as they all have their own projects going on. I just hope that perhaps one day in the future they will come together and put out a Ben Folds Five album once again.
Ben Folds has his new album Way To Normal dropping at the end of this month and I can not tell you how excited I am to hear it.
And for those of you that hadn’t heard, Ben Folds himself leaked Way To Normal to the internet himself. The catch was that the leak was actually 6 fake songs the artist recorded in only 8 hours. You can read more about it on RollingStone.Com. The guy is a hilarious genius.
Here are a few more videos from Ben Folds & Ben Folds Five I enjoy:
This is a cover of The Postal Service I randomly came accross… Such Great Heights
