evade the noise™
Seriously, these guys are the “Pixar” of viral music videos. Check out OK Go’s latest video for “All is not Lost” below. If you havent seen their videos before, check’em all out. This time around, it’s a human kaleidoscope and its awesome! And I think they just invented a new font. Create your own messages here.
Self proclaimed as “talk music”. I seriously have no category for this.
This new endeavor looks to be half greatest hits and half unreleased miscellaneous stuff. And from the pretty thorough info release on benfolds.com, I must say I’m excited.
“Legacy Recordings is proud to announce the release of Ben Folds The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, the long-awaited career-spanning anthology chronicling the musical adventures of pops quintessential post-modern singer-songwriter-pianist, available everywhere Tuesday, October 11.”
-via benfolds.com.
Last week, The Walking Dead’s Executive Producer, Gale Anne Hurd, announced that the series would be returning for season two on Sunday, October 16 to the AMC cable network. The Walking Dead, based on the hit comic book series by Robert Kirkman, follows a group of survivors after the dawn of the zombie apocalypse.
Season one of The Walking Dead originally aired on October 31, 2010. The show was nominated for three Emmy Awards: Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special, Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series, and Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series.
Season two will feature 13 episodes and will follow the band of survivors during their escape from Atlanta into the countryside.
The show’s website describes the plot as:
an epic, edge-of-your-seat drama where personal struggles are magnified against a backdrop of moment-to-moment survival. A survivalist story at its core, the series explores how the living are changed by the overwhelming realization that those who survive can be far more dangerous than the mindless walkers roaming the earth.
View an extended trailer for the second season of The Walking Dead here.
This looks great. Check out the Trailer.
“Pearl Jam Twenty chronicles the years leading up to the bands formation, the chaos that ensued soon-after their rise to megastardom, their step back from center stage, and the creation of a trusted circle that would surround them-giving way to a work culture that would sustain them. Told in big themes and bold colors with blistering sound, the film is carved from over 1,200 hours of rarely-seen and never-before seen footage spanning the bands career. Pearl Jam Twenty is the definitive portrait of Pearl Jam: part concert film, part intimate insider-hang, part testimonial to the power of music and uncompromising artists.”
New Thrice album Major/Minor due out September 20, 2011.
The Polyphonic Spree’s last album, The Fragile Army, was released over four years ago in 2007. Thankfully, since then the band has continued to write new music. The song Bullseye is the first single from a collection of songs to be released by Good Records Recordings, states the band’s website.
For this first single, The Polyphonic Spree teamed up with Moonbot Studios to create an interactive music video for the iPad and iPhone, which is being sold for $1.99 on iTunes. A portion of the iTunes app description is below:
Moonbot Studios and The Polyphonic Spree together have created an interactive, character-based narrative music video. Play through an expansive and changing world as You-Me, a small creature, striving to find his way in the world. Bring plants and creatures to life in a video where you see, hear, and touch the world around you.
An interactive app is certainly a unique way to introduce the world to new music. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything quite like this. Bullseye, the song, is lovely. The music video is creative and visually interesting. The interactive elements built into the music video are initially fun and novel, though quickly become monotonous and distract from the beauty of the music and video. The interactive experience comes to an end by settling on a tree covered in lights, that as you tap, release tiny explosions of light and tonal sound. Nice.
View a sneak peek of the app before purchasing here.
If you’re a Tumblr user then the new NPR Music Tumblr will be something you’ll want to check out and follow. Nice clean page with the latest goods from NPR Music.
Although Angels and Airwaves put out an album of the same name last year, this time LOVE is being promoted as a film. Yes, that’s right, a film. And not only that, on Wednesday, August 10th at 8:00pm Angels & Airwaves will appear LIVE on movie screens across the US for an exclusive one night event featuring the debut of LOVE followed by a live band performance and Q&A.
I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Angels and Airwaves, however I do enjoy people who try new things and I look forward to this endeavor. I’m not sure it will be as epic as it is advocating, but it looks pretty good and certainly sparked my sci-fi interest. Check out the Trailer Here.
A press release announcing season five of the web series The Guild was recently made public (and all of the geeks rejoiced!). The series will return on Tuesday, July 26th to MSN Video and the Zune Video Marketplace (available on PC and Xbox Live).
The Guild is a web comedy that follows the dysfunctional lives, online and off, of the six members of an online guild (The Knights of Good) in a MMORPG. The story revolves around the life of Cyd Sherman, known as Codex to the guild, who is trying to live a normal life despite her social ineptitude and addiction to an online video game. The previous four seasons of the series have plunged the players into having to uncomfortably deal with real-life situations together. Season five continues to build the story around the characters’ off-line relationships by sending them to a gaming convention.
From the press release:
The Guild stars writer/creator Felicia Day (Eureka, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog) as Codex, a lovable geek gamer addicted to an online role-playing game. Season five follows the characters of The Guild as they travel to a gaming convention called MEGAGAME-O-RAMACON. “Conventions like San Diego Comic-Con and Penny Arcade Expo have been a part of our experience promoting The Guild and connecting with fans,” says Felicia Day. “I wanted to bring that unique experience of going to a con to the screen.” In addition to regular cast members Vincent Caso, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh and Robin Thorsen, season five will feature recognizable guest stars from the science fiction and genre community as well as over 200 extras.
The Guild has won several awards, including the SXSW, YouTube, and Yahoo Web Series Awards and three Streamy Awards. Previous seasons of the show are available on MSN Video, the Zune Video Marketplace, The Guild Website, YouTube, DVD, iTunes, Netflix and Hulu.
Jack White’s Third Man Records label recently released a single with independent Detroit Hip Hop artist/emcee/producer Black Milk. According to a blog entry posted by Black Milk, White contacted his manager out of the blue asking to work with him. After getting over the surprise of White even knowing who he was, his response was, “Hell yeah! When and where do I need to be to make this happen?”
The two collaborated on and co-produced two tracks together, Brain and Royal Mega. Members of each artist’s bands also contributed to the jam sessions. White left his fingerprints on the two tracks by playing guitar on Brain and drums on Royal Mega. The songs were recorded in two days, and were recorded to tape. The time constraints while recording the songs and the method used to capture the musicians helps to give the tracks a fresh and raw sound. These are two funky, soulful tunes.
After the recording sessions were over Black Milk and his band gave a performance at White’s Third Man Records studios which was recorded and will be released on vinyl as Black Milk Live at Third Man Records.
The two tracks can be purchased digitally on iTunes or on 7” Vinyl from Third Man Records. Check them out!
Warner Brothers recently released a teaser poster for the third release in its current Batman franchise. The poster features the “Bat Signal” shown in a cloud-cast blue sky, created by the outline of the crumbling buildings of Gotham City. The poster was released on The Dark Knight Rises official website. No other information is currently posted on the site.
The Dark Knight Rises will still star Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (Catwoman). Morgan Freeman will return as Lucius Fox and Michael Caine will return as Alfred.
