I just now heard about this amazing album and downloaded it immediately. Its a cover of Radioheads "OK Computer" featuring many awesome bands. I will just copy the play list here since I don't feel like typing it up on my crappy keyboard.
If your a fan of Radiohead its definitely worth checking out. Even though I am not the biggest fan of cover music I think its really cool when good bands get together to cover great bands work.
Muse has just announced the release date to their fifth album today. The album "The Resistance" is set to be released on September 14. It is supposed to be very different then their previous four as the band says that they will be getting away from their usual sound and more into instrumental. Sounds different, but something tells me they won't disappoint. This news really brightened my day and I hope it brightens your if your Muse fan as well. Hope they tour the US I plan on making it to the closest city they come to.
bands I have seen that were the best shows I have been too and you must go see if they are ever playing in your area.
Muse no brainer here. Won the best live act in Britain in 2005 and they sold out Wembley.I saw them in 2007 opening for My Chemical Romance...awful shame in Atlanta and Muse still killed the crowd. The best single set I have ever seen performed I really hope they start coming to the Southeast in their upcoming tour.
Black Lips If you don't know about this band, you should. Hands down one of the funnest shows I have been to. Saw them at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta and the crowd was insane for the this local band. People throwing beer and articles of clothing everywhere (well one article a Jacket that eventually found its way on the stage). Definitely a must see if they ever come near you.
Matt and Kim Blogged about them so go read that, but another great live act. A powerful duo full of energy and spunk that always creates amazing dance parties during their shows.
MGMT I was able to see MGMT at Bonnaroo last year and I became a fan that day. I really did not know to much about them, but I went anyways (The best part about Bonnaroo) and they tour the stage down. Sounded great live and was not in the slightest distorted. I really want to make it to one of their actual shows outside of a festival in the future.
Vampire Weekend Also saw them front row at Bonnaroo and easily made the festival complete for me. A very unique set list as well that contained new songs for the most part which really made the show interesting. I like it when a band plays new music at their shows it really gets the crowd involved and gives you bragging rights until their next album comes out (which I believe is this Fall!)
Sigur Ros Last but not least, Sigur Ros live performance are the most relaxing/trippy shows I have ever been too. I laid down for a bit to just listen and take it all in and when I stood up there was an entire marching band walking across stage, which was really cool. I have to see this band again.
I really should have made this list sooner, but I will keep updating you with more bands that are amazing when I think about them.
I've been posting on my schools blog so I can fulfill my requirements for my class. This is an entry I posted today
Disclaimer: What you are about to read is the absolute truth and the truth about the truth is that those that really know the truth worked really hard to cover up the truth and they don’t want you to know the truth but after extensive research across Wikipedia I have discovered that the truth cannot be kept secret from us any longer and I have learned the truth and I am now writing this to tell you all about the truth. Its 4:42p.m. in the afternoon and I have places to be soon so lets begin.
What is contained below here is the truth, just like fiction about the truth is always true and true statements on exams are always 50/50 right this information is like that in that it is T and not F which is probably what you would normally guess if you were to read this on an exam, but know this what I’m divulging to you is the truth about the truth of English History.I have obtained this information merely by being here and there is no other way I could have obtained this if it was not for this trip.
It all began with aliens.Not aliens that you would normally imagine when you think of aliens, but think about that Will Smith movie Independence Day those aliens, because well that movie is based on the truth as well (ever wondered why it rarely plays on TV) Well Roland Emmerich knew what was up when he created Independence Day, but we will come back to this later.So don’t forget it.
Aliens once lived on our planet roughly 5000 years ago give or take.They were prosperous creatures and they created a powerful world and like us dominated over nature.Until one day they had literally exhausted there natural resources and animal surplus (we would later discover these remains and they would become known as dinosaurs).So the aliens built massive spaceships that spanned their entire continent (if you study geology at all you will see that once there was only one continent, its name has been discussed for many years and is usually called Pangaea, but those of us in the know, know it was called Jumbuous) and blasted off this planet (which put a large crack down the center and would later span to separate the continents) They attempted to destroy their entire civilization with fire, but the alien in charge of flying over the continent after everyone left to make sure that everything was gone stopped about halfway because it was very bored and very hungry so it checked “all destroyed” on its list and beamed away to the mother ship.This is fortunate for us that he didn’t make it to a little area that would much later become to be known as Salisbury or else he would have found the one structure that was left, Stonehenge.
This is all very good and fortunate for us, but let us fast forward a little bit all the way to after the Jumbuous broke up and focus on one particular region Europe, and more importantly England.
Let us talk about the year 1381 or more like allow me to enlighten you on what really happened this year.History would have one believe there was a peasant revolt in this year over some silly little thing like taxes.History would also tell you that in the 1340’s there was an outbreak of a little something called the Bubonic Plague (I imagine you’ve heard of this).Well the Bubonic Plague was actually an outbreak of another character that history tries to cover up and is merely the contents of horror novels, the Zombie.In the 1340s there was a large outbreak of zombies. Not the zombies we know today, but simply undead.They would mingle with society perfectly fine, but the only negative thing about them was they smelled awful, but other than that were mostly harmless. Edward III did not care for zombies and is quoted as saying “Zombies are just such a disgusting and inhumane creature” so he banished them all to Southwark.Many zombies were swept up in the middle of the night and taken from their homes and their human families and pushed across the LondonBridge.It was a very similar scene from American history called the trail of tears, except with zombies instead of Indians.This occurred in 1349 and it took the zombies 32 years of oppression before they finally revolted into what is now known as the Peasant’s Revolt or the Great Rising (whatever tickles your fancy).It was all thanks to the infamous zombies John Ball, Wat Tyler, and Jack Straw.The revolt failed however and Ball and Straw were beheaded (ever wonder why they were not simply hung? Well if you know anything about zombies you must know that a zombie without a head cannot live).After the uprising the English government abolished taxes as a favor for its citizens for having to put up with the retched zombie attack.The remaining zombies were abolished completely off England.They tried to take up root in France but the French (not being fans of awful smelling things) would not allow them on their land either.It is really unknown where the zombie kind eventually ended up (some people say it was in Greenland while others claim that they definitely took over Sweden, but then there is a small group of historians that say it was Canada) but I digress where the zombies wound up will forever be a mystery.Some truths my friend can never be discovered.
There have many documented zombie outbreaks across the history of the world but the last major uprising came in the 17th century, commonly called the Great Plague of London of 1665-1666, once again its real name for those who lived it will forever be the Great Zombie War of 1665-1666.It began in 1645 when there was a sudden surge of zombie population in the middle of London.King Charles II did not want another uprising on his hand so he gave the zombies a chance to live peacefully with society.Many complained and the zombies believed it was a matter of time before they were cast out like their ancestors.They waited for years putting up with extreme segregation and racism, and pleaded with King Charles II to put a stop to the separation going on in the city, but Charles II turned a blind eye to their needs.He believed that by allowing them to live amongst them he was already doing them a major favor.So why should he make their stay comfortable?Zombies were not allowed in parliament nor entrance to church.Finally one day in 1665 a band of zombies gathered in a peaceful protest.Charles II tried to quell the protest with force.This only caused more problems and the protest erupted into a full fledged war.Zombies tore through the streets of London killing any human they found and feeding on them.What was a protest turned into a year long war and the zombies were finally defeated when Charles II ordered London to be burned to the ground on September 2, 1666. This day is still celebrated and is known as Z-Day. This is a picture from the festivities.
Well friends it is now 6:00p.m. and I have to go and watch a play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (fun fact Shakespeare is actually debated to have been a zombie.Which is why he was able to write so many plays, he never slept) there will be more on this later in the history of England the Deuce (or II whatever).
Some things just should not be considered art. I mean seriously guys I know art is all around us and all but some people take it way to far. I just got back from the Tate Modern Art Museum and while it was very cool and full of the whose who of Modern Artist I just saw some things laying about that didn't really strike me as museum worthy "art". For example, I walked in one room to find a rope lying on the ground. Not particularly arranged in a way to show something it was just piled upon itself in the middle of the floor. I was amazed by this but not for the reason I was there. I was amazed by the fact that this was here and lying on the floor and that the artist is probably making money for taking a mooring line from a dock. I mean seriously is this what art is coming to now? I feel like artist nowadays strive hard to be different and not bound by society. They try to be different for the sake of being different and everyone wants to start the next great thing and it has now gotten to the point of using the simplest object and saying it is art. Another object I saw in Tate was simply a mirror... no frame... no text or any image on the glass a simple mirror and is now art. The excuse for this being art is a mirror of the world so what better way to have a mirror of the world than an actual mirror. Which is all very poetic, but the thing is the artist didn't write a poem about the mirror, he didn't create the mirror, someone else did he just handed it to Tate and walked away. Maybe I'm not a purveyor of modern art as much as I thought I was...sometimes I'm just to much a of a realist. Then again though I feel like I'm a pretty creative kid and I do like to look at art its just I think there should be a limit you know? I could probably make it big by throwing up on canvas or cardboard or something.
Thats enough bashing of the pieces in Tate though, there were some awesome paintings and sculptures to be found here. Some crazy steel or iron structures that look very mechanical and of course Picasso, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Dali, Matisse, Hockney, Bacon, and Rivera can all be found here. So it's definitly worth the look, but if you do go mind your step and look out for ropes you might just be tromping on a masterpiece.
Last night took a trip to Old Street to the Old Blue Last to see a little powerful duo called Matt and Kim for the second time! They were just as good over the pond then they were back at the states. It was was one of the craziest shows I have been to in a while, and it almost didn't happen. When I showed up they were supposed to get on stage at 8p.m. but something happened to the PA system it like exploded or something so we all had to sit down stairs waiting for them to fix it. They finally got the system all fixed and everything situated and began the show at 10pm. Now this might have put a damper on a lesser band but not Matt and Kim. They took the stage with so much energy and played as fast as ever. The crowd just exploded in dancing. I was kinda in the back of tier 2 (Refer to my girlfriend's wonderful blog if you don't know where tier 2 is goodafternoonbrad) but I was quickly shoved forward into tier 1 and the very front of the stage as soon as they played Cinders and that is where I stayed until the end of the show. Near the end of the set Matt had soaked his keyboard so much in sweat that it malfunctioned a little bit he said it was the first time that it has happened out side of Brooklyn and Kim broke her drum stool at the very beginning of the show, but still did not faze this eccentric duo. If they are touring in your area you have to go no questions asked. You are guaranteed to have a great time I promise! I'm pumped about seeing them in Chicago this summer at the pitchfork festival and probably before that in Atlanta. A picture from the first time I saw them in Birmingham at the Bottletree Cafe
Refer to their Myspace for tour dates: Matt and Kim
Took a trip to Warwick Castle today... and man was it a trip. We arrived to find a full blown renaissance festival going on with people dressed exactly as they would have in those days. If only someone had informed before hand or else I would have worn my stockings. I couldn't help but laugh because I remembered that South Park episode "Super Fun Time". Where the school goes to that pioneer day and no one will break character. At one point I received a phone call near some guy playing a lute, and when I answered it I half expected him to call me a witch or something. "Where'd you get that fancy device stranger...you must be a wizard!" It was hilarious even though I felt like I was back in Disney World or something. Its one thing when you have a Renaissance Festival in the middle of some forgotten field, but its another thing when you have it in the middle of a flipping castle... that has been standing for centuries. Its almost like shaming history in a way when you turn a monument to medieval culture into a theme park. There was a Joust as well which well... was kinda cool except for it was so scripted I could tell who was going to win the "princess" hand in marriage before the thing had even begun. I still cheered for the Black Knight though, because he was pretty cool. Got some ugly looks from children though.
Speaking of children what the hell is with some of these British parents. I mean don't get me wrong some parents are great, but others are pretty poor. My friends and I were sitting under a tree and some halfass father wheeled his baby under this tree and parked it. He then mosey'd off to the gate to stare at the dirt while waiting for the joust began. The baby sat quietly for like 1.2 secs and then began bawling! I mean c'mon dude. I wanted to go kick him, but instead we all got up and went to get food... I'msure the baby was fine. That dude I posted at the top stood in a circle breathing fire for a good 40mins. That really can't be healthy for you in the least, but after watching him spit flames for so long I feel like I can do it too... maybe I will try next time i'm around a bonfire or something. He also told us there was a dragon or something living in the tower and that if we yelled loud enough the dragon would come out. I shamelessly believed him and, with the rest of the 5 year olds in the auidence, stared yelling for the dragon to come out... of course he didn't. Sometimes I'm just so stupid, but its wishful thinking that makes this world interesting.
There was a also a Falconery exhibit (to quote Joe thats my "Verb" haven't heard that in YEARS!) This was cool except for the damn bird kept flying in a tree and disappearing. He also had a Bald Eagle (AMERICA!!) which he made fun of and said its his least favorite bird. Then he made some quip about flying over a McDonalds and the audience laughed...bastards. Learned though that Bald Eagles bully smaller birds into giving their food up to them...ah the spirit of America!
We walked along the ramparts of the castle and looked off the towers pretty sweet scenary you could defintely get a good view. However, due to this festival there was grafitti along some of the walls. Funny that for centuries you cannot see anyones name, but then you enter the 21st century and suddenly the walls are coverd in carvings with stupid things like "Bobbo wuz here!" and this picture "Ho-Bama" wtf??
What the devil is going on here? You have come across a blog about whatever and anything but mainly music (and other entertainments.) So sit back listen to music and enjoy your stay.
