Brooklyn HARD rock upstarts Goes Cube are going to be touring throughout the month of March, and if you live anywhere near where they’re playing, you should check ‘em out. And no, I’m not saying this because one of the dudes is in my band. These guys shred like nobody’s business, as you can tell from their MySpace page or their website. Live, they slay.

They have a new EP — “Not What We Thought” — they’ll be selling on the tour, which starts tonight in DC. Full list of dates after the jump. Hold onto your shaft, kids.

Read More »

Spread the word!

According to The Daily Mail, The Kinks are set to hop aboard the reunion train.

Lead singer and guitarist Ray Davies said the band’s original members, which included Davies’ brother Dave on guitar, Mick Avory on drums and Pete Quaife on bass plan to play together for the first time in nearly four decades in 2008.

Davies, 63, said a full reunion is on the cards next year for the first time in almost 40 years.

Awesome. But seriously dudes, you can skip “Lola.”

Spread the word!

As if that headline wasn’t odd enough, one of the opening acts at these free concerts will be none other than Dethklok themselves! Now this concert tour makes a little more sense. The band will be promoting their new album, Metalocalypse: Dethklok The Dethalbum, while the tour’s second headliner, Witchdoctor, will be promoting his new album, Diary of an American Witchdoctor.

The shows kick off in Albany and will travel across the country to wrap in Albuquerque.

Spread the word!

Man, does this sound amazing – Gorllaz co-creators, Damon Albarn (Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl) are premiering their new opera “Monkey: Journey To The West” at the Manchester International Festival in 2 weeks. Looking at the Wikipedia article, this thing sounds like it’s gonna be a true spectacle, with animation, live action, acrobatics and a full musical orchestra. Here’s hoping they decide to do an international tour once the festival is over

From the creators of Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett with acclaimed director Chen Shi-Zheng, this dazzling new opera premieres at the Manchester International Festival on 28th June – 7th July. Based on the ancient Chinese legend (and popular 80s TV series) of the Monkey King, this epic journey to enlightenment features Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, Tripitaka and a cast of more than 70 musicians, singers, Chinese martial artists, acrobats and contortionists (Dalian National Circus of China). Working within the operatic tradition, it is entirely groundbreaking with its mix of live action and animation.

Spread the word!

Word is that DLR is indeed set to join Edward and Alex and possibly Ludwig Van on the tour bus this summer. And the other big, hell-must-be-frozen-over news to my 8-11 year old self is that The Police are also planning a reunion tour.

Yes, both of these could be gigantical busts — VH especialmente. The only time I’ve seen Eddie in the last few years, he looked like he’d just mainlined about seven different anti-depressants. And I’m really not sure if old Roth can still bring the rockness without hurting himself somehow. But hey, we’ll see. The Police have a much better shot at putting on a legitimately good show, even though Sting transformed and rolled out into Lite Adult Soft Rock Jazz territory like 20 years ago. Should be fun, either way.

Thusly:

Spread the word!

In a sly move obviously meant to attract the offspring of their aging baby boomer audience, NPR is posting complete concerts online by some hot shit music acts popular with those of us in that filthy 18-35 demo.

Naturally, the selection leans heavy towards the critically acclaimed-indie-rock side (New Pornographers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Iron and Wine). But there’s also some quality major label acts (My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Stripes), the overrated Brit band of the month (Arctic Monkeys), and laudable stabs at diversity (James Brown, Sinead O’Connor does reggae).

All in all, a lot of great stuff. Plus it’s free and sounds great, so go to town.

And if you still don’t think this is a blatant attempt at targeting honky hipsters, check that PBR sponsorship. Where are the trucker caps and ironic 80s tees, people!!

Spread the word!

Though this site’s layout and design may sometimes disagree, I’m a graphic designer by trade, mostly pulling freelance gigs here and there. One of the things I’d always wanted to do and hadn’t had a chance to was create flyers for local bands. I know, it may not seem exciting to some folks, but there’s a certain beauty in seeing remixed illustrations and graphics being used to promote a show at a local venue. Normally you see appropriated movie images or photographs used, and when comic book imagery is exploited, it’s most often things like Batman, Superman, Spawn, etc. I’ve long felt that 1970s comic book cover art was a vein that needed to be tapped for this particular area of art, and last week, I finally had the chance to contribute.

Spread the word!

Big thanks to DevilDucky for hosting video of the Gorillaz live performance of ‘Feel Good Inc’ at the MTV Europe Music Awards. For some reason MTV feels that the rest of the world wouldn’t be interested in seeing Borat host a show full of major musical acts, so I almost missed out on the Gorillaz seductively odd performance. I understand it was done via some sort of old school Victorian parlour trick technique rather than overpriced hologram tech. Whatever the means, the end result is like something out of ‘The Dark Crystal’, but without the muppets.

Amateur animators could create their own chart-topping multimedia project at home with a glass mirror, candle, a piece of black fabric and a grounding in GCSE physics.

However, a state-of-the-art software package and the vision of Jamie Hewlett, a graphic designer and founding Gorillaz member, would be needed truly to match the effect. Ms Speller added: “Our Gorillaz aren’t holograms because holographic technology isn’t quite up to what we need. It is digital animation projected on special transparent foil in a way that appears holographic.�

Gorillaz have held discussions with George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic studio about incorporating further advances in 3D computer technology for a global tour in 2007.

Spread the word!