WATCH: The Kills "Blood Pressures" Documentary

The Kills recently shared a short documentary, named after their new album, Blood Pressures. In it, the duo (Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince) talk about the creation of the album, their relationship, and reflect a bit on the past 11 years as a band. In addition to providing an inside look into the band, the short film also features two stripped down performances of Blood Pressures songs "Baby Says" and "The Last Goodbye" that are both intimate and incredibly beautiful for their undeniable sincerity. thirtytwo directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace capture The Kills in their element and visually depict the rough, weathered character of the band with faded colors, high contrast, and an aged film aesthetic.

Ben Sollee Ditches the Van, Tours On His Bike

Louisville, Kentucky singer-songwriter/cellist Ben Sollee just kicked off his Ditch the Van Tour. What makes the tour so special and noteworthy is that Ben, along with friends/bandmates, is touring via bicycle instead of a van. Although the tour is all about traveling on two wheels, riding with no support vehicles, Ben admits that there are times when other modes of transportation are necessary to make the tour possible. "With the train we can keep a show that next day," he says. "If we didn’t do this we’d be treading water, and, like I said, we can’t afford to do that any more than any other business."

Ben explains that the tour is more than just a way to be environmentally friendly.

This tour is not about going “green,” even though it will have a smaller over all carbon footprint than a more traditional tour by van. Instead, its about re-humanizing the pace of the road. The bicycles provide the limitation on a local level. However, we have to be real. I have a family and we all have bills to pay so we can’t afford for this tour to be a musical vacation by bicycle. And, it’s important to us to demonstrate that biking to our business can be financially sustainable. We want biking to be a compelling choice to other businesses and artists. So, through some trial and error we’ve discovered a few things.

The entire trip is being filmed. After the jump, watch the inaugural video and see if Ben and co. will be hitting your town on the tour.

José González Subject of a New Documentary

By Frederik Egerstrand

What do you know about swedish musician José González? Probably not all that much aside from his work as a solo artist and his new/old band Junip. Well, we're about to know a whole lot more about González with the debut of a documentary called The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of José González. The film is the product of three years of work compiling video diaries, surveillance camera footage, concert footage, tour documentation and animation. It follows him through scenes shot during work on his second album, In Our Nature. Through a diary, based on personal voice recordings, the piece captures González's everyday reflections from thoughts on a photon's path from the sun to our eyes to Darwinism to the struggle to write songs.

It was shot on location in Sweden, Japan, Singapore, United States, South Africa, England, Chile and Argentina. Mikel Cee Karisson and Fredrik Egerstrand directed the film and Erik Hemmendorff produced it for Plattform Produktion. Karisson has made videos for González as well as Fever Ray, among others.

See the teaser trailer for The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of José González after the hop.

Singer/Model VV Brown Releasing Her Own Comic Book Series

Some may know VV Brown as a model. Some may know VV Brown as a singer. Some may even know VV Brown as both of these things. But how many people know that VV Brown also writes comic books?

The English songstress is a huge fan of graphic novels and comic books and recently collaborated with friend David Allain and illustrator Emma Price to create her own comic book series entitled "The City of Abacus". It's a mix between THX 1138 and 1984, following the lives of the brainwashed citizens of Abacus. Much like THX, people's lives are governed and controlled by a higher power. The mind-numbing MX-41 device keeps the citizens in a "complacent state of conformity" and allows evil Queen Virusos, the monarch of Abacus, to have absolute control over her people. No one rebels or contests her rule as everyone in the city loses any original thoughts to the weekly MX-41 brain scan. The Queen knows all because, much like 1984, the ruling body requires nothing be a secret, nothing be outside the view of the authorities.

Volume One of the series entitled "MX-41" was recently released and quickly introduces us to the complacent state of Abacus. We learn that one girl, a stubborn yet shy 19-year old orphan named Freeda is the only one who seems immune to the affects of the MX-41. After it is discovered that the technology has no effect on Freeda, authorities go to apprehend her for questioning, but before they reach her, a rebel named Juduso grabs Freeda and escapes with her, running away past the city walls. It is here that Freeda learns about how things used to be many years ago and discovers that her father was the one who built the MX-41. The volume gives just a few details and, appropriately, leaves you wondering what's next as Juduso and Freeda head back on the run, continuing deeper into the outskirts of the city as Abacus authorities pursue them.

"The City of Abacus" is sort of a dramatization of our own world, providing social commentary on how we have let technology, celebrity culture, and TV become such integral parts of our lives to the point that they are negatively impacting our world. The MX-41 represents this social decay.

Watch the video preview and interview with VV Brown after the jump to learn more as Brown discusses the story and the creation of the series.

Ted Leo Signs to Matador Records

Ted Leo announced via his website today that he will be releasing a new album on Matador Records. Ted says the album will most likely be released sometime this coming spring. While Matador was associated with major label Capitol for some time, Leo points out that Matador is now a part of the fully independent Beggars Group. Below is the full post direct from tedleo.com:

Wednesday - 09/23/2009

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HAPPY 60th TO THE BOSS!!
But there's another announcement, too, and of only slightly less importance!
Soooooooooooooo, as many of you know, our beloved Touch & Go Records was forced to shut down most of its operations early last spring, leaving everyone mourning and filled with more questions than we thought we'd have to keep asking ourselves in 2009, and leaving us, specifically, again label-less. In this day and age of uncertainty and upheaval, that's not necessarily the worst place to be, but I conisder myself lucky to have encountered and developed relationships with so many good people in the punk and "indie" worlds over the years, that when thinking about trying to work with a new label, and having the necessary conversations, that thinking and those conversations are all done between and among friends, mitigating any potential cons or fears with the knowledge that whichever way you chose to go, you will be helped along by brilliant, rational, and caring people WHO LOVE MUSIC. And I spoke to a lot of them - all of them admirable, all of them alive and vital for all the right reasons, all of them "no-brainers." During a recent conversation over an iced coffee (and then a couple of shots of Jamesons, if I'm going to be completely honest) with Gerard Cosloy in Austin, Tx., however, I thought, "I should hang out with this guy more often," then later meeting the rest of the incredible staff at the office, and counting myself unaccountably blessed at the uncountable bounty of amazing people and labels that I had before me to potentially work with, I made up my mind to join the Matador team.
There are so many options and so many opportunities to do so many things with the music that one makes, but I feel GREAT that as I head off to start mixing some songs this weekend, I can say that I now do so in preparation for an album to be released on Matador Records, most likely sometime in the coming spring.
It's a weird position to be in - being able to look back from my middle age on an adulthood that has largely been spent working with some of the great labels that I so admired since I was but a young pup, and who's output and associations shepherded me along and helped me develop into the person and -ulp- "artist," for lack of a better term, that I am. "In the midst of all of the action," we sometimes can't afford to take in the broader perspective on our life's trajectory but I'm pleased to be able to sit here this morning, look back proudly on all I and we have done with Gern Blandsten, Lookout!, Touch & Go, and others, and then look ahead with drive and excitement to "the Matador years."
Olé, indeed!
(Ah - and just in case you were wondering, Matador is not affiliated with any major label - it's now part of the Beggars Group, which is fully independent and owner run.)

Live Nation Introduces Club Passport

Sure there's that whole Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger thing that is going down which would equal trouble for the independent market, but I have to admit this is an interesting concept. Live Nation's Club Passport is just what the image above says it is: pay $49.99 and gain access to shows without buying a ticket. Of course, the catch is 1) you won't get in to a show if it's sold out (i.e. no guaranteed access) and 2) the deal is only applicable to venues that Live Nation owns:

VENUE - CITY
Avalon - Los Angeles, CA
Bogart's - Cincinatti, OH
Egyptian Room at the Murat Theatre - Indianapolis, IN
The Fillmore Auditorium - Denver, CO
The Fillmore Charlotte - Charlotte, NC
The Fillmore Miami Beach - Miami Beach, FL
The Fillmore NY at Irving Plaza - New York, NY
The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
The Fillmore Detroit - Detroit, MI
Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY
Hollywood Palladium - Hollywood, CA
House of Blues Anaheim - Anaheim, CA
House of Blues Boston - Boston, MA
House of Blues Chicago - Chicago, IL
House of Blues Cleveland - Cleveland, OH
House of Blues Dallas - Dallas, TX
House of Blues Houston - Houston, TX
House of Blues Las Vegas - Las Vegas, NV
House of Blues Sunset Strip - West Hollywood, CA
House of Blues Myrtle Beach - North Myrtle Beach, SC
House of Blues New Orleans - New Orleans, LA
House of Blues Orlando - Lake Buena Vista, FL
House of Blues San Diego - San Diego, CA
Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
Theatre of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
The Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA

The deal lasts until the end of year. So to take Sir Mix-A-Lot's lyrics out of context: "jump on it!"

For more information and to purchase Club Passport head to Live Nation's website.

NIN Mash-Ups: But What Would Trent Say?

It goes without saying that Trent Reznor takes his art very, very seriously so it would definitely be interesting to hear what he thinks about these mash-up videos. No words will be able to properly preface what you are about to see. Check it out.

Nine Inch Nails...rickrolled.


You can download this mash-up by heading over to the BRAT Productions website.

And next up, we have "Discipline" by Nine Inch Nails soundtracking John Travolta's classic dance sequence from Saturday Night Fever. It's kind of ironic to hear this song accompanying the movie -- think about it. Outside of his love for dancing and garnering all that attention, I distinctly remember that the only other thing Tony Manero was into was "makin' it" with girls. Tony's got his vices and so does (i.e. did) Reznor. Deep down, Tony's looking for something better in life and, in the song, Reznor lays out a similar sentiment. There is a parallel at some level, and I've got to say that's pretty bizarre.

Whoa Whoa Whoa, Graham Tyler and Matt Safer in Julian Plenti?

EDIT: It was not Graham Tyler. I jumped the gun seeing that Epiphone and hair. It was actually Mike Stroud of Ratatat on guitar. Thanks to "Anonymous."

So, Julian Plenti (aka the solo moniker of Interpol's Paul Banks) just performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Upon this first listen, I can't say the song really did anything for me or that it was stronger than Banks' output with Interpol but there is something worthy of note here: Graham Tyler Mike Stroud and Mattie Safer were in the backing band.


(Graham Tyler performing w/ The Mooney Suzuki)

This is awesome. For one, Graham Tyler was a member of The Mooney Suzuki during what I consider to be the band's greatest era (Electric Sweat). He left the band to pursue a career in graphic design and I was under the impression that was the end of his professional music career. This makes it all the more surprising -- and awesome -- to find him on network television, of all places, playing his treasured Epiphone. It's also surprising to hear him play this type of music considering his musical background. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see he's still strumming away.

Considering The Mooney Suzuki went from a straight-up garage rock/pure rock 'n' roll band -- so authentic you could believe they were ripped out of the '60s -- to a psychedelic rock band, I can see why Tyler gradually grew disinterested in playing with the band. It always seemed his true passion and height of his tenure with the band was when they were one of the best nu-garage rock bands of the present day. The Mooney Suzuki is a band that has seen frontman Sammy James Jr. go from a mod-styled, energized rocker to more of a West Coast/California hippie rocker circa mid to early '70s. It's late so maybe my descriptions are vague or somewhat inaccurate, so I apologize for any shortcomings in this respect. If you go The Mooney Suzuki's official website, you'll see the spider logo that was used back during the Electric Sweat-era. Maybe the band is going to have a renaissance of sorts. Maybe.


(Mattie Safer performing w/ The Rapture)

And then there's Mattie Safer, former vocalist and bassist of The Rapture. When I heard a number of weeks ago that Safer was leaving the band, I was a bit shocked. He always seemed like such an integral part of The Rapture's sound. I hadn't heard anything about what he was up to, so it's a double whammy, if you will, to find Safer performing on TV like this. I think Julian Plenti's sound is definitely a bit closer to Safer's background than it is to Tyler's.

I can't tell you who the drummer was.

Interpol, The Mooney Suzuki Ratatat, and The Rapture are all from New York so, really, it's not all that surprising that these three guys performed together. In any case, kind of a supergroup though, no?

Julian Plenti's new LP Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper is available now via Matador Records.

The Osmonds Were A Rock 'N' Roll Band, Too

I was always under the impression that The Osmonds was a family band, priding itself on its wholesome pop music. They are a Mormon family that I always felt was kind of a commercial epitomization of that happy, well-behaved, obedient, religious family. Rock 'n' roll was always deemed the "devil's music" and not something a religious person would get involved in.

Anyways, I imagine a scenario something like this:

MOM: "Honey, I don't want you near any of that devil's music -- none of that Black Sabbath or Rolling Stones nonsense. It's pure evil. It'll ruin your life...make you want to do bad things...skip class and smoke doobies. You don't want to spend your life in prison, do you?

KID: "No, mother, but..."

MOM: "Hush up! Now The Osmonds are a great wholesome group. They're the kind of people you can admire, too. They love their God and they are responsible. Nothing wrong with them!"

The Osmonds - "Crazy Horses"

Like me, I don't think Mom was aware that the Osmonds were also a rock band, as well. Granted, whichever Osmond is singing lead doesn't sound as if he's necessarily suited to be a rock singer -- just a bit too much of a clean, pop tone for this number. I don't know which Osmond is on bass, but he has that rock voice, which comes across best in those "demonic screams." Honestly, this song is quite awesome. The first time I watched the video, I thought, "That song slays." I mean, did you ever think you'd hear this coming from the Osmonds?

Really, though...I totally dig this song. That guitar riff is killer.

(video via the tumblr of Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua)

Microsoft Songsmith: Uh, FAIL

Recently, Microsoft unveiled a new program called Songsmith. Basically, the program adds musical accompaniment to a vocal track, whether it's to something you sing live or to a pre-recorded song. The first time I heard about it, I thought it was pretty cool. I was optimistic that it could be a great program for recording/writing on PCs -- a possible Garageband-like program for those non-Mac users. I never exactly understood the whole craze behind the "FAIL" and "EPIC FAIL" phenomenon, but I believe this lingo would be appropriate here.

Here are some songs that people have plugged in to Songsmith:

Van Halen - "Runnin' With the Devil"


FAIL?

I think there's an issue with the program if it's not even correctly matching up the key/pitch of the music and vocal track. And just listening to Diamond Dave howl...can you imagine what it must have been like to be in the studio recording and only hearing that? Just so we are clear, I happen to like Van Halen and I am a David Lee Roth man...not a Sammy Hagar man. Sure, Sammy's got a great voice but I always felt that Van Halen with Hagar was all about the ballads while Van Halen with Roth was all about the rock. By now, I think you know which style I favor.

Now, look what Songsmith does to "Roxanne" by The Police. I mean, I think the program is taking the whole reggae chord progression to the extreme. I mean really. And any sense of sincerity this song ever possessed has kind of been sucked out.

The Police - "Roxanne"


FAIL?

Knowing Metallica they'll play until they no longer can, but if they ever feel too old to play their music, they can at least take up a career playing cruise ships. I think Songsmith's take on "Battery" is perfect evidence. It's got that Caribbean feel to it, but with that metal tempo. Uh huh.

Metallica - "Battery"


Right.

One last video to display the powers of Songsmith. I don't know if anyone ever heard it, but a year, two years ago the vocal track of an unreleased Smash Mouth song was circulating. It's just singer Stever Harwell singing, with nothing else. Grizzly Bear had it up on their blog a while back, which is where I discovered it. Lucky us, someone on the web took said vocal track and dropped it into Songsmith. Enjoy some bluegrass Smash Mouth.

Smash Mouth - "Days Like These"


EPIC FAIL?

You can download a trial version of the program. See what you get.

Film Fishin': Rap Battle Translated

In this edition of Film Fishin', I present to you a follow up video for my previous post about the origins of rap. This video kind of connects the dots...kind of.

The Justice Cross House

Okay, I'll admit that aside from "D.A.N.C.E." I am not really familiar with Justice's music. I've been meaning to check out their debut LP for a while and still have yet to get around to it. I remember being out in California two summers ago, walking around the San Francisco Virgin Megastore and seeing the big cross emblazoned on the cover. It's certainly a striking image and one that had me quite curious as to what the nature of the music was. It certainly isn't a gospel worship album. No, no it's not. I think that's safe to say.

So, why am I discussing Justice if I am absolutely not familiar with their output? Because architects at Planda are planning to build a house based on the cross! You see that big bold image up there, that's going to be a house. There actually are cathedrals (ex. 1, 2, 3) that have been constructed in the shape of a cross, but they weren't modeled after an album cover of a French electro house duo. How awesome is that? Even more awesome is where they plan on building this thing. Watch the video below direct from Planda to see it all.


GENESIS † HOUSE from PLANDA on Vimeo.

Lil Wayne the Rocker

Apparently, Lil Wayne is working on a rock album.

He does play guitar.

Now, Where Exactly Did Rap Music Come From?

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According to a new theory, rap music originated from Scotland via the art of flyting. I mean, when you think about it...rap battles are essentially a form of verbal jousting.