5 posts tagged “best buy”
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Suburban Noize Records have been around since the mid-90s, catering to a very certain market of young hip hop, herb culture, and punk fans. We have a few items from them for review.
For starter, SubNoize Souljaz (myspace) is like the all-star supergroup, consisting of 15 or so Suburban Noize artists, including members of Kottonmouth King, Big B, and Jared Gomes (singer of Hed PE).
Their third album, Blast From The Past, just dropped late last August. While I am unfamiliar with some of these titles, I almost knew all the cover songs from hearing them on the radio. Except this album are all done in the style of that only Subnoize can deliver. With the variety of rappers and lead singers - the music is somewhat uneven, but at least the vocals stands out from each other. Particularly, I was impressed with Judge D's cover of LL's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and a funky The Dirtball's cover of RATM's "Microphone Fiend" (the bass is really good on this song) and Slick Rick's "Children's Story" by Daddy X.
It's evident that these guys owe a lot to influential bands that came before them (NWA, 2Pac, Snoop, Dre), so this album is a tribute to them. If you like old-school rap, particularly Death Row Records, as much as anyone that grew up in the 90s, you will definitely do yourself a favor and check out Blast From The Past.
 Tour Dates
11/15/09 El Corazon Seattle, WA
11/16/09 Satyricon Portland, OR 11/17/09 DNA Lounge SF, CA 11/18/09 Boardwalk Orangevale, CA 11/20/09 Starline Fresno, CA 11/21/09 Modesto Virtual Modesto, CA 11/22/09 Chain Reaction Anahiem, CA 11/23/09 Karma Victorville, CA 11/24/09 Roxy Los Angeles, CA |
Anyway, Brokencyde is a "crunk"-core band (apparently this genre is a fusion of hip hop and electro, and possibly other genres like punk and rock). The band embrace the brand, and even have a song called "Get Crunk!".
The album actually did chart on the Billboard 200 at #86, which kind of impressed me, considering that many of the artists I hear about, they never chart. I think the high debut might possibly be due to their presence on this year's US Warped Tour. However, despite the success, the album was critically condemned. My favorite is (name redacted) review from NME: "even if I caught Prince Harry and Gary Glitter adorned in Nazi regalia defecating through my grandmother’s letterbox I would still consider making them listen to this album too severe a punishment." Critics who hates them, I don't think they understand that the album was meant for them... certainly the album is not meant for me. I am curious what the band will sound like when they've matured a bit. Although, I will have to confess that I did smile a bit when I heard "pee pee" sung on "Sex Toys" and "let's get retarded" on "Rockstar".
They look and sound very young (hey, FYI, their singer is called Se7en), which makes their debut album I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It even more-so ironic. I did feel that despite their youngness, that
Stronger songs on the album are: "Freaxxx" (with the catchy "let's get freaky" lyrics), and "Yellow Bus" (boasting about sex with groupies like Miley Cyrus??? WTF!).
If you don't mind the naughty messages, some autotune, some screamo, some electronica, check out I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It at amazon.
 Tour Dates
11/13/09 Budweiser Event Center* CO
11/14/09 Mid America Center*, IA 11/15/09 Uptown Theater* Kansas City, MO 11/17/09 Val Air Ballroom Des Moines, IA 11/18/09 Aragon Ballroom* Chicago, IL 11/19/09 The Fillmore* Detroit, MI 11/26/09 Grove of Anaheim, CA * with 311 |
Their latest release is Hidden Stash 420, an epic 2-disc album. This is basically a collection of unreleased tracks, b-sides, remixes, demos. The packaging is also nice, it's a fold-out digipak. Hardcore fans will want to purchase the album directly from Subnoize Store or Best Buy stores, as that comes with a bonus DVD called The Lost Adventures of the Kottonmouth Kings.
While it's easy to just dismiss the band as pot smokers, that all their songs about weed, and although it's true, I believe they also deceptively paint a vivid picture of what their lifestyle is like. Check out tracks like "Take a Ride", as it describes California and family, all under a catchy chorus of "west coast is the place for me, never know what you'll see". But it's not all serious, there's a goofy song called "Late Night Call" with cultural reference of "me so horny", "facebook" and "myspace".
The collection is mostly older songs, and it's interesting to see some of their experiments. One song, "Tangerine Sky", seems like it's paying tribute to the Beatles LSD song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". "Tangerine Sky" comes off as being more melodic and slower than most of their songs. The other non-conventional KMK is a poppy song "Let the Music Play". I wish I knew the story behind this song, but what I can tell you that it sounds very happy and 60s love. Perhaps Jackson Five?
Anyway, my favorites are usually the faster-constantly rapping songs with a loopy DJ backback, like "Evolution" and "Got It Get It". The later is a new Kingspade (a division of Kottonmouth King's rap duo, Johnny Richter and D-Loc) venture, which may be important for fans, as they haven't released anything under Kingspade in the last two years.
Hidden Stash 420 is out now. A perfect Christmas gift for any stoner in your family.
11/10/2009 18:05:38 ♥ vu (
) ♥ suburbannoizerecords.com ♥ suburbannoizejapan.com
[1] LIE TO ME/DOLLHOUSE
I have to confess that I have always had Roth and Gary Oldman in my heart ever since they played the tragic characters in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), and very happy to see that the two actors are still doing quite well.
If you can't view the three minute preview I've put up, the show is about these human lie-detectors. The show kind of reminds me of Life, but not as quirky. Apparently the show is based on real-life psycholists and body language expert, Paul Ekman (who proudly display the truth on his website).
Celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday (February 12th), The Low Anthem (thelowanthem.com/myspace.com), in association with End of the Road Records (endoftheroadrecords.com), are releasing a special 7" called Charlie Darwin from their album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (I think the title is pretty clever... like "homosexual, my ass!")
I was only given the title song, and it sounds very folky. Think Simon & Garfunkel and think hippy and running around naked in the woods and you get the general idea. DJ Steve Lamacq reckons they are this year's Fleet Foxes (hear Ceji & my opinion on Fleet Foxes on our podcast).
The band is out on tour, full dates on their 'space and will end up doing SXSW this year.
We like folk, so check back soon for more folky reviews coming up.
[3] GOOGLE HATES US
It's quite interesting how, incidentally, google no longer promoted dictionary.com from their ranking, when it was acquired by rival Ask.com. It used to be when you typed in a word, dictionary.com got higher rankings - now it's replaced by meriam webster.
Anyway, my new default search engine is now Yahoo, which I've switched over on all my devices and browser toolbars.
By the way, I am happy to see that yahoo has also index our sub pages, news.weheartmusic.com as well! Speaking of which, you can now subscribe to the press announcements via RSS.
01/13/2009 07:42:42 ♥ vu ()
♥ weheartmusic.com
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news.weheartmusic.com |
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In 2001, Universal Music started re-releasing landmark albums in their Deluxe Editions. These reissues are in deluxe digipaks, usually with an extra CD. These Deluxe Editions are really targetted towards collectors, casual fans might be happy with just the regular album as the prices are sometime really expensive. Prices range from $15 to $40, but if you're a collector or mega fan, they are well worth it for the rare/obscure tracks and booklets that comes in these sets. The album are in digipacks and fit inside a clear plastic slipcase (note: these are not interchangeable with other Deluxe releases).
Since the series is pretty successful, there are a few imitators in similar formats, notably Rhino/Elektra/Sire releases of Depeche Mode, R.E.M., and The Cure, although I should point out that these special editions have cardboard slipcases, not the clear plastic.
Also note that "Legacy Editions" from Legacy Recordings and "Collector's Edition" from Sony should not be confused with the Universal Releases.
I've compiled a listing based on umeportal.com, livingwithmusic.com, and wikipedia: W♥M's guide to Universal's Deluxe Editions.
I may return and add in Legacy Editions and Rhino re-issues, if anyone out there is interested.
By the way, some Deluxe Editions are available only in certain countries because they're popular in certain region (for instance, I think all the Pulp and Orb Deluxes are available only in the UK).
For collectors, you might want to see if you can get your hands on the free Best Buy's Deluxe Edition: Sampler. There's nothing really special about the 12-track disc, it comes in a standard jewel case.
We've previously mentioned a few Deluxe albums, so I've include a few links on the sidebar for you to read more.
Below are reviews of six Deluxe Editions that is in my collection:
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GREASE - 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Grease is the word, is the word that you heard! Aw, who doesn't love this movie and soundtrack. The double LP album went on to the Deluxe Edition, released last year. All the classic songs are on here, "Grease", "Summer Nights", "Hopelessly Devoted to You", "Greased Lightning", and "We Go Together". The bonus second disc contains mostly "sing-a-long" version, which are essentially instrumentals. Although some instrumentals, such as the title track, "Grease", is amazing with the Gary Brown saxophone. The "megamix" and "dream mix" are dance medleys, which are kind of nice, but it couldn't really take the place of the originals. Also worth mentioning is the lyric booklet are designed as a school three-ring binder. |
ELVIS COSTELLO - MY AIM IS TRUE
I've been waiting for Universal to release all of Elvis' catalogue - and I was pleased to see that This Year's Model (the album with Pump it Up) was released a few months ago. My Aim is True (1977) is the first in the reissues, and it's a good start, because it was the first Costello album. Over thirty years later, the Deluxe Edition expands on the original release with some early demos. The bonus disc features the entire live concert from The Nashville Rooms (Aug 7th, 1977) as well as the soundcheck from the same venue. The live recording is from soundboard and sounds just as good as a studio environment. Trivia: I've seen Elvis Costello twice in my life, at a live concert in Berkeley and, strangely, at the Arctic Monkeys show as one of his bodyguard pushed me aside. |
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WEEZER - THE BLUE ALBUM
There's no additions to the original album, the first disc is relatively short, being barely 40 minutes long. The second disc made up for it, with fan-favorites such as "Mykel and Carli", a song about two of their biggest fan (who died while driving to a Weezer concert), "Jamie" (a song about their attorney, originally appearing on DGC Rarities, Vol. 1), and "Susanne". There are some pre-production recording, such as "Paperface" and "I Swear It's True", that's nothing more than glorified demos, but it's still nice to have it collected on this reissue. The best thing about this Deluxe Edition is all the original lyrics were reprinted from the original hand-written notes from Rivers Cuomo. At the same time this was released, Geffen also issued their first DVD called Video Capture Device, which made a nice addition to any Weezer fan's collection. |
VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
I've always thought this album was called Andy Warhol, but apparently the official title is Velvet Underground and Nico. What's interesting to note is that Warhol is the band's manager at this point in their career and he was the person that courted Nico to collaborate with the band. I'm actually not that thrilled about this re-release, partly because the extra is basically "the mono version" of their album. Let me put it this way: if you were to buy a bluray movie "deluxe edition" and the only extra is a VHS, it's really not worth paying extra, right? I suppose, they had to put something on the second disc as, by now, there was little undiscovered VU music. The extra bonus are five songs from Nico's album Chelsea Girl, originally released in October 1967. |
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SONIC YOUTH - DIRTY
This was the first of a series of Sonic Youth releases from Universal/Geffen. It contains a bunch of extras, mostly rehearsal recordings on the second disc (which includes songs not released on Dirty). What's important about this album is that it was originally the first album to make Sonic Youth a household name, with their massive hit "100%", even though they were previously getting airplay with "Kool Thing" (from Goo; also released as a Deluxe Edition). Photo extras includes a glimpse into the notes after their first proof print of the Dirty album, although I was disappointed to find out that they didn't reprint the pornographic image on the original album. I suppose it's all in good taste. |
TEARS FOR FEAR - SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR
This Tears for Fear's biggest hit album, finally released in Deluxe format. The original album only ran 44 minutes, so they added 7 B-sides, filling up the rest of the disc. The second CD contains 7" and 12" remixes, which was pretty common at the time (usually the 12" is a dance mix). The band really started to fit in radio in 1985, along such other smooth mellow soul 80s sound such as Simply Red and Sade, and their biggest hit at the time was "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout". Songs from the Big Chair hit #1 in the US, Canada, and Germany, making this one of the most successful album from this British band, although surprisingly they only hit #2 on the UK charts. The booklet contains a 10-page article about the importance of this album from Paul Lester, editor at Uncut Magazine. |
It snowed non-stopped yesterday and it finally stopped this morning. I've been pretty much housebound today, watching The Food Network, Best Week Ever and Smallville.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to compile some snow-winter-related bands and songs.
We really have to start off with Dean Martin's "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!"
He's actually not the original singer (Vaughn Monroe was), but Dean "The King of Cool" Martin certain made it famous for his 1959's Christmas album, A Winter Romance.
Jonathan Richman is always fun. This is a pretty typically fun song from Richman, "Abominable Snowman in the Market". I think the title pretty much sums up the song :)
I'll have to do a full entry for Richman later, because he's been around for years and years. A quick history on Richman: he is from Massachusetts, who moved to New York trying to break into the music industry. He eventually left and came back to Boston where he formed The Modern Lovers, around 1972.
Loads of stuff happened, but you probably remember seeing him in "There's Something About Mary"
From Glasgow, Scotland, is Snow Patrol. I first heard of them through Belle & Sebastian's UK record label, Jeepster Records. They left that label for their third album (which proved a massive hit for them) Final Straw.
My favorite Snow Patrol song has got to be "Run", which is the strongest song on Final Straw. Whenever this song is done live, Gary Lightbody's heavy Scottish accent really shines through. You can find the live version on Live Lounge, or if you live in the US, you can find an exclusive EP from Park Ave CDs in Orlando, Florida.
Speaking of "college" band, Keane is my next band. I guess I'm not that keen on Keane, but I did want to talk about "Snowed Under" mostly because I have it through a Best Buy Compilation. I think Best Buy discontinued this tradition of giving away Sweet Tracks album around Christmas time (at least I don't remember getting one last year).
The Sweet Tracks are usually in a tin case and are given away if you shopped at their store and are a Reward Zone member. I've managed to scam a few extra tin by shopping multiple time ... which I'll have to admit is fairly easy for me as I go there every Tuesday. Anyway, perhaps I'll do a full article on each of the Sweet Tracks this xmas if anyone's interested in reading more about these... er... sweet tracks.
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Tour
12/05/07 The Beat Kitchen Chicago, IL 12/06/07 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA 12/07/07 House Show - Norman, OK |
Lara uploaded "Snow in Berlin" - I thought it was just perfect to use for this Snow-related entry.
It seems like an odd title for a band from Austin, Texas, but this is Chris Simpson's latest project. I talked to someone who was big into his old band, Mineral and The Gloria Records, who seemed really excited about Zookeeper's debut album Becoming All Things, telling me about how diverse each of the songs on the album were.
They're currently wrapping up their tour, but you can still catch them for the first week of December.
Yes, there's probably a lot of Snow-related songs out there (including a Stars song, but I think we talk about them way too much!).
12/03/2007 00:14:12
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
I recently bought Heroes Season One on DVD (which by the way, I felt cheated when I found out that Target has an exclusive "Collector's Edition") and was making room in my television section on my shelf and found out I had the Æon Flux boxset. I had forgotten I bought this animated series a while back when the Æon Flux live action movie, starring Charlize Theron, came out.
I have always loved the style of animation that Peter Chung created for the series. It's a very distinctive look and the story is insanely bizarre, making the show a giant acid trip.
The shorts made its debut on MTV's Liquid Television, which also helped launched Beavis & Butt-Head.
This DVD set
I have includes the complete animated series, plus all the shorts from
Liquid Television as bonus features on the third disc. This was also a
Best Buy edition which came with an 11-track Soundtrack. The soundtrack was composed by Drew Neumann, and old friend of Chung.
According to the production notes from Peter Chung, the DVD contain personal archive materials and the negative were cleaned and digitally remastered.
Also, some of the episode had additional dialogs and animation added, as mentioned by Peter Chung:
Four of the full-length episodes - "Utopia or Deuteranopia?", "The Demiurge", "Reraizure" and "Eand Sinster", have been selected dialogue rewritten to bring characterization into better continuity with the series as a whole. Denis Poirier and John Lee returned to the studio to record Aeon's and Trevor's new lines, while the character of Clavius, the ex-leader of Bregna, has been recast and re-recorded (by a special guest performer). The original audio clements have been remixed for 5.1 surround sound.
PS, I was sorely disappointed in the live action movie :(
September 8, 2007 12:06 PM
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.aeonflux.com
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