Royskopp
Junior

If you have never listened to these fantastic Norwegians now is the time to start. Royksopp’s new album Junior (despite it’s unoriginal name) is chucked full of creativity. Their arrays of techno and dance beats are similar to their pervious albums, but the uplifting mood of Junior makes not listening to it all the time very difficult.

Featuring Swedish singer Robyn, and the familiar voice of Karin Dreijer Andersson from their previous albums, this is the perfect album for devoted fans or new listeners because it is divertible, yet innovative. The string instrumental interlude in the song “Royksopp Forever” and passion filled vocals of "You Don't Have a Clue" takes this album way beyond the run-of-the-mill electronic music. This is truly is crafted art.

However, the joyful laughter at the beginning of the first track sealed the deal for me. Every time I start this album (which has been 4 times in two days) I am instantly excited for the electronic journey about to fill my ears.

Despite contrary belief, you do not need any sort of drug enhancers to enjoy this music, (shocking, I know!) because there is something distinctly enjoyable about these guys and the way they create their beautifully lucid music.


5 out of 5 Dragons...you better believe it!

I'm in the process of dying my hair purple. Yes this COLOR. Holy Frack! you say?

Holy Frack indeed.

I have no clue how this is going to turn out, either way I'm documenting it.

So this is me now...waiting for the dye to take.

"Oh Herro!"

This is me wayyyyyy later with *crosses fingers* Purple Hair?



Purple Hair Fail. *sad*

It's more noticeable in person bc this picture was taken with shitty photobooth. I'm sad it's not what I wanted but I knew it wouldn't be cuz I messed up on the bleach. I still like it though. Next time...

Oh yeah! The funniest thing about this whole ordeal is that I am wearing laytex gloves right now bc my hands were a bit purple and it was coming off on the macbook (lol)

I went to see The International tonight, which looked like an interesting political thriller staring Clive Owen, so I think, "this movie HAS to be excellent." Oh how wrong I was.

The beginning was great. It started off with tons of action in the midst of the story. This guy has a heart attack, Clive Owen gets hit by a truck, you find out the heart attack was really a cover for an assassination attempt because of a HUGE conspiracy. AWESOME! "Gimme more! I want to know!" I soon realized that I would literally not know anything that was going on for the next hour and a half. The plotline was insanely complicated and was difficult to discern because it could only really be explained through dialoge. In fact, the only thing that was made obvious was that the villain of the story was a bank. Yes, that's right...a bank; debt is power and it can never be defeated. Way to throw the supposed latent content of the film into our faces, and make everything else unnecessarily complicated!

Right about the time I was about to gnaw off my fingers with boredom a completely ridiculous shoot-off erupts in the middle of the New York Guggenheim. In my mind the movie went from zero to awesome in 2 seconds. (Not to mention the chuckles that arose from me every time they said the word Guggenheim). It really was one of the most interesting action sequences that I have seen in a while, which was amazing since the rest of the film was almost as exciting as watching Dr. Phil.

One of the major flaws in this film was that there was a complete lack of emotion in the film, with the exception of Clive Owen’s constant anger. This made a possibly intelligent movie seem flat and not worth caring about. The only instant in which there was any attempt of emotional interaction was when the paid assassin, a man that Owen’s character was hunting down and had known for ten minutes, was shot and Owen yelled something along the lines of, “Don’t you die on me!” That may have been when I started to enjoy the horribleness of this movie.

Finally I start to see the light at the end of the unnecessarily long movie tunnel; the pace picks up, things start to makes sense as the story unravels and truths are exposed. But wait! Let’s drag this story out some more and take you to YET another country, because apparently we're not international enough yet, and keep you wondering, “Oh my god is this movie ever going to end! And how!? Nothing has really been solved.”

I’m not actually sure if the film ever ended. It could still be going on now, because, no joke, the story miraculously continued on even through the credits! Apparently 2 hours was just not enough time to explain that banks are evil and money is corrupt. Bad banks! Bad! No cookie for you!

Despite the fact that I have used 500+ words to bash this movie into the ground I’m glad I paid nine dollars to see it. I haven’t been this angry at a movie since Hellboy 2, and it's nice to let out all of my anger about the film industry every once-in-a-while.

And now this review/rant is officially as long and drawn out as The International.

Goodnight!

In the mist of shuffling around members, signing to Marjodomo Records and getting into a fist fight with Jack White it’s surprising that The Von Bondies found time to record their third full length album Love, Hate and Then There’s You. Despite all of their troubles in the past five years The Von Bondies once again gave it everything they had and produced an enlivening album.

The album begins with so much energy you can’t help but get pumped up for the rest of it. “This Is Our Perfect Crime” is literally an anthem for the underground. It sets the tone of the album perfectly, reinforcing the notion that these Detroit rockers could kick your ass in the streets of the underground, but also break your heart with Stollsteimer's passionately strained voice. “Pale Bride,” the single that was released early on in 2008 shows the softer-side of the Von Bondies that I am glad has not disappeared. Love, Hate is definitely more serious than Pawn Shoppe Heart, it shows the maturity of the band taking their music to the next level. “Only To Haunt You” displays this quality perfectly because like the title suggests it is a haunting song, but in no way depressing because the remarkable energy of the group still stands.

My favorite song on the album is coincidently the shortest song, clocking a whole 1:25. You know a band is talented when they can exhibit the entire persona of their music into a little over a minute. Everything I love about The Von Bondies is in that song: electrifying guitar riffs, the rawness of Stollsteimer’s voice when he sings with all of his breath, and of course the gitchy female vocals that give this band their uniqueness.

I highly recommend this album, even if you are new to The Von Bondies, because they are a fun group who produces raw, genuine music. Every time I put this record on I never want it to end.

Rating: 5 out of 5 dragons




"Pale Bride" Music Video

Five years of waiting for these fabulous Scots and here it is…Tonight: Franz Ferdinand.

The first time I put this album on I literally jumped out of my seat. The first track “Ulysses” struck as sheer Ferdinand brilliance. They are often accused of having every song sound the same and I was sure that this was it! This was their breakthrough!
And then I was thoroughly disappointed.

The mixture of rock and dance beats on “Ulysses” was fluid and Alex Kapranos’ horse, sexy voice suggesting me to get high was so unlike Franz Ferdinand’s self-titled debut album. I was ready for this new Franz Ferdinand and then they fell slightly flat.

The second track “Turn it On” sounded like the good old Franz Ferdinand that we know and love but with a few extra quirky electronic sounds. I guess the 1980’s are coming back into style and bands are starting to add dance beats to rock again.

“No You Girls” is definitely the “Do You Want To” of this album because it is extremely catchy with repeating lyrics and clapping in the background of the chorus. Don’t get me wrong, this song is still great, it catches you right away with a strong bass line and high-pitched guitars leading into sexy lyrics: “Ohh kiss me/lick your cigarette then kiss me.” Overall the Ferdinand muddy guitar riffs are great in this song. The rest of the album is unsatisfactory though. It just all sounds the same and there is nothing else that really stood out again. How can an album have such excellent tracks and have the others just flop completely?

Wait. I lied. There was one other track that intrigued me: “Lucid Dreams.” It was like Franz Ferdinand took Making Music Like The Faint 101 and this was their homework. It has really great potential but it also has all of the bad qualities of a techno song. It drags on too long and the poor production quality of the electronic sounds ends up being distracting instead of invigorating. I am still torn about whether I like this song or not. It is very innovative for Franz Ferdinand, and it is definitely apparent that they are trying to expand their horizons, but if you are going to make a dance album you have to make sure the techno beats are superb, otherwise the audience that would be in love with this song or album end up hating it.

I personally may have expected too much from this talented band. Overall, this is still a good album to own, especially to put on during a party because it is definitely a fun album and designed to be danced to.

Rating: 3 out of 5 dragons

After falling in love with The Faint I started to poke around in this whole new genre of music that I never knew existed.
It's the two things I love most in the world: Punk and Techno!
This article about Moving Units made me happy so I'm gong to post it up for all to see!

SCRATCH PUNK

Saves The Day’s sixth studio album Under the Boards is part two of the band’s trilogy of self-discovery, including their previous album Sound the Alarm and the upcoming release of its conclusion, Daybreak. Under the Boards was co-produced by Saves The Day (original members Chris Conley and David Soloway along with Manuel Carrer and Durijah Lang and Marc Hudson and Eric Stenman) and proves that this band has come a long way since their high school days, yet have managed to maintain their characteristic sound.

The first track, which shares the album’s name, is a solid transition between the rage-filled songs of Sound the Alarm to Under the Boards continual tone of desolation. Introducing melodic duel vocals singing beautifully sad lyrics, “I want to lie/below the weight of the sky” with simple guitar work, yet the most unique Saves The Day has ever done. The song seeps beneath your skin and leaves a haunting feeling to take with you through the entire album. The song segues straight into a more upbeat tune, “Radio” which seemed to be a reach into the Through Being Cool days and didn’t’ seem to fit within this album.

One of the tracks that stood out for me, mainly due to the vocals—Chris Conley is finally using the high-pitched voice for good and not evil—was “Can’t Stay the Same.” The song is fairly straightforward yet the chorus is perfectly endearing even through its surrounding themes of pain and death. “Get Fucked Up” seems like a familiar Saves The Day song and could be the next “Freakish,” but in fact it is even better. Their musical maturity is displayed with an excellent drum and guitar break down towards the end of song. Drummer, Durijah Lang has definitely brought his talents from Glassjaw, and gives the drums predominate role in this trilogy, which is nice to hear from a band that loves acoustic guitars.

Hands-down, the most interesting track on the album is “Getaway.” The first twenty seconds is literally something you would hear in an elevator in some Hawaiian resort, consisting of an aesthetically pleasing guitar. The atmosphere is suddenly disrupted with an explosion of invigorating drums and intense guitar riffs. The song triumphs with some of the most depressing lyrics next to the late Ian Curtis of Joy Division, “I don’t need nobody, not at all/’cause I’m going to end it all in the light at the break of dawn.” Just when you think the oddities of this track have dispersed a tribal chant of “oogacha” interrupts the song, which was almost too weird for my taste but served as a good buildup for the last chorus. Honestly I did not like “Getaway” the first time I heard it, but it shortly became my favorite track. It was just too unique to deny, and was full of the same charged energy that I loved in Sound the Alarm.

The last track of the album is almost like an epilogue because the character is “stuck under the boards again” but this time he is trying to escape this despair and the song leaves an optimistic feeling that will surely be reflected in the final album. Saves the Day truly put their heart and souls into this album and it is an interesting look into the complicated mind of Chris Conley.

Rating: Four out of Five Dragons