Archive for June, 2010
Mastodon “Jonah Hex: Revenge Gets Ugly EP” Album Review
When it was originally announced that Mastodon would be writing music to serve as the score to the film Jonah Hex, I was pretty psyched. I had never heard of Jonah Hex before and for the most part I think film adaptations of comic books and graphic novels are always a letdown (The Dark Knight notwithstanding), but none of that mattered because we are talking about Masto-fucking-don, the best metal band out there in my ever so humble opinion (but I’m right).
But then as the supposed release date got closer and closer, word started to spread of how disjointed and troubled the film’s production had become. This movie was going through reshoots almost right up to its final release it seemed. Composer John Powell was originally tasked with working with the band to incorporate the music into the film, but as the reshoots delayed things, Powell had to abandon the project to begin work on other films he had committed to. So the producers basically scrapped everything Mastodon had written thus far and brought in a new composer, Marco Beltrami, at the last minute and expected him to get all new music for all the new scenes that were being thrown together at the last minute.
Yeah, sounds promising.
A reader named Eric sent us an email recently suggesting that we check out Diablo Royale, a New York-based hard rock band. Well, your wish is our command.
Here they are playing their track “Resistance” live:
It’s pretty obvious that this group grew up listening to a lot of Alice in Chains. The singer even tries to sound like Layne Staley, which works some of the time and sometimes it doesn’t. Of course, Diablo Royale don’t exhibit nearly the amount of depth as AIC, but they readily admit that, saying “This band is all about the music and giving fans something they can get off listening to it, not something deep and intellectual you need to take hours to understand.”
OK, that’s fine. I’d much rather hear a band admit that up front than pretend to be something they aren’t. They make easily digestible, if not very filling, generic radio rock. At least these guys are ten times better than Nickelback and Hinder.
Diablo Royale’s latest release Greedy Dogs can be heard in its entirety at the group’s Bandcamp page. And best of all, they are going the Radiohead route and letting their fans name their own price if they want to buy it. Which means you can spend as little as one red cent to get the whole thing. That’s pretty rad. So go check it out. What do you have to lose?
-Sam
If you’ve never watched the TV show Scrubs (first of all, what is wrong with you?), then you wouldn’t be familiar with lowly lawyer Theodore Buckland, aka Ted, and his unassuming band of barbershop quartet a cappella buddies. In the show they are known either as The Worthless Peons or simply Ted’s Band. In real life, the four guys (Sam Lloyd, Philip McNiven, George Miserlis, and Paul Perry) actually are in an a cappella group together called The Blanks.
I’m a huge fan of Scrubs (minus the unnecessary and derivative ninth and final season) so it was with much delight when I was walking around Annapolis, MD that I saw a poster on the window of a restaurant/small concert venue announcing that The Blanks would be playing a Sunday matinee show this weekend! Count me in.
What started as a relapse led to a recovery – and possibly the rebirth of a recently directionless career.
It takes a lot of guts as an artist to scrap an entire body of work that is almost completed in favor of starting anew with a clean slate because the old material simply didn’t reflect who you are at the present. Deftones recently were in such a predicament due to the serious injuries suffered by one of their members. But that’s a much different situation than the one facing Eminem.
Em himself writes off his most recent work in “Talkin’ 2 Myself,” saying, “them last two albums didn’t count/Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushin’ ‘em out/I’ve come to make it up to you now no more fuckin’ around.”
And anyone who’s seen a minute of Celebrity Rehab knows that when you’re on drugs and in the spotlight, some stupid shit can happen and proper decision-making processes probably aren’t happening. That’s why it’s so commendable that Eminem was actually able to step back and take an objective look at his own situation, decide that he wasn’t on top of his game, and change courses.
I’ve already touched on Paul Gray’s death a couple times on this site, so I suppose it makes sense to wrap things up by letting you know that the medical examiners have officially ruled his cause of death as an accidental morphine/fentanyl overdose. He did not have a prescription for the drugs.
According to the report, “Fentanyl is a synthetic form of morphine that may be hundreds of times more potent than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. . .Its effects are indistinguishable from the effects of heroin.”
You’ll remember that at the time of his death, he was found in his hotel room surrounded by needles and pills, so this finding isn’t exactly a surprise. It’s just another sad case of a someone letting their addiction get the best of them.
I don’t know about you guys, but where I was today, it was hot as hell. I’m talking oppressive, humid, balls sticking to your leg hot (for the ladies, I’m sorry, I don’t know the equivalent metaphor).
But what’s the one thing that can cheer anybody up on a sizzling day like this?
That’s right, the ice cream truck and it’s beckoning jingle! This guy knows what I’m talking about. He loves the ice cream truck so much he made up his own slow-churned boogie to bust out while he waits for it to show up at his door. Although, given that he looks like Tweedledee, he might want to lay off the frozen treats for a while. That dance clearly ain’t a calorie-burner.
-Sam
Every riff and every band in heavy metal owes its existence in some part to Black Sabbath, the originators of the genre. So it’s no wonder that so many current bands model their sound after that of their musical forefathers.
Some just take it a bit further than others.
And if imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, then Black Sabbath should be feeling pretty exalted these days.
Just look at Austin, TX’s The Sword, whose first two albums basically sound like Sabbath tribute discs (they still rock though!). And now we have Massachusetts-based Black Pyramid, who not only sound just like Sabbath, they even went so far as to ensure an appearance right next to them on my iPod – just so I wouldn’t forget, ya know?
you get this utter mess of a video.
I feel embarrassed for this guy. I’d really like to know if this was his idea or if his students and/or colleagues put the idea in his head. In any case, I can pretty much guarantee that no young, impressionable mind will be won over to the cause of stem cell research as a result of this video. In fact, it will probably drive some away because, you know, kids these days are mad cynical and judgmental.
If you really want a song to rally the troops around stem cells, look no further.
-Sam
Holy hell, this video is saccharine.
It’s oozing with enough sugary confection to give you diabetes…through the computer screen. If you already have diabetes, make sure you have your insulin shot nearby. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Now I dare you to get the song out of your head. I’m not gonna lie, I actually kinda like it, in some guiltily shameful way (and besides, who can resist those eyes Ms. Perry has?). My only gripe – what’s with that Miley Cyrus “Party In The U.S.A.”-style autotuning on the “Oh, oh, ohhh” parts of the pre-chorus. Katy’s got a pretty good voice, and that autotune shit is annoying.
-Sam
We here at Suds get music suggestions and recommendations from time to time. Sometimes they come from the artists themselves or the label/management, other times they come from the readers. They are always welcome (and you can send in your own tips to tips@sudsonbleeker.com), but just be prepared for the possibility that we may say your suggestion (or your music if you’re the artist) sucks. Hey, win some lose some, right?
So with that said, let’s talk about Mister Fusty.
Mister Fusty (aka Rob Gibson) is a British dude who makes “lo-fi electronic/acoustic pop musical confections.” Well, I don’t know about that. It’s certainly lo-fi, but to me what it really sounds like is jazzy elevator Muzak mixed with mumbly lyrics, all desperately trying to sound something like slower Gorillaz stuff. Some of this music sounds like a crappy knockoff of the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack /a drugged-out version of the intro to the Land of Make Believe on Mr. Rogers. But that music was either purposefully ironic or genuinely retro . This stuff sadly isn’t.
Apparently, Senor Fusty has a new EP called Connect coming out next week. If what I’ve written thus far has actually intrigued you, well then go listen to the whole thing at his website. At least he’s donating all the proceeds to charity.
Hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?
-Sam