7 posts tagged “mtv”

Did you noticed Curve's "Hell Above Water" on the trailer to this summer's Iron Man film? Apparently the trailer was so wildly popular from San Diego Comicon 2007, that even the hilarious The Onion took a stab at making fun of it.

Sadly, their song will not be made available on the official Iron Man Soundtrack from Lions Gate Records.

Since I've been a fan of Curve since their 1992 video of "Faît Accompli" and "Horror Head" on 120 Minutes, I thought it would be nice to do a tribute article on this forgotten band. If you're a fan of Garbage, you should really pay attention to early Curve.

Early Curve seems to be more shoegazing, with a fusion of goth rock, trip-hop, however their music shifted to more more industrial and dance - navigated by the two core band members, singer/songwriter Toni Halliday and guitarist/bassist Dean Garcia.

So let's take a look at some all the Curve releases throughout the years:

Curve - Faît Accompli DOPPLEGANGER (1992) This Curve's debut album, and my favorite album. It contains some really great rock music driving music such as "Faît Accompli", but also has its moment with the slower, but heavenly lush, sound of "Horror Head". Doppelgänger went on to become Curve's best selling and highest charting (#11 on the UK charts) and established Curve as a well-known alternative group, at least in 1992. It should be noted that the US version of this album contain an extra track, "Clipped".	Curve - Ten Little Girls 1 comment PUBIC FRUIT (1992) Often mistaken as "Public Fruit", this album compiles the band's first three EPs (The Blindfold EP, The Frozen EP, and The Cherry EP) with a bonus song from The Faît EP. Depending on US regional locations, their EPs were often hard to find (especially since this was pre-adoption of the internet), so their record label, Anxious Records, made a smart move by releasing this US-only release shortly after Doppelgänger. Fortunately, I found Pubic Fruit used at Rasputin's in Berkeley in 2005, even though I had already owned Frozen and Cherry.
Curve - Superblaster CUCKOO (1993) By this time, Curve was already famous, and their sophomore album shifted gears to more industrial / non- traditional sounds and experiment. It still contain some of Halliday's trademark sugarsweet vocals, but this time backed by even more aggressive layers of guitars. For the first time, you started to hear and see more of the other band members, notably Debbie Smith (who would later go on to join Echobelly[W♥M] and drummer Monti. The album did not perform very well, and was practically ignored in the US - which lead the band to take a temporary break a year later.	Curve - Chinese Burn COME CLEAN (1998) I remember when Curve returned as just Toni & Dean. Wow, they had gone compeletly electronica "dance" with their lead single of "Chinese Burn". It was completely different, yet still retain that familar Curve sound. Absolutely a favorite of mine from this time period. "Chinese Burn" was later picked up by Joss Whedon to appear on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer[W♥M], featuring sexy vixen Faith (Eliza Dushku) and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) dancing to this song at a rave.
Curve - Nowhere OPEN DAY AT THE HATE FEST (2001) Universal Records, at the time, had decided to not release Curve's fourth album, Gift, due to the comercial failure of Come Clean. What's a band to do? Toni & Dean decided they were going to compile some of their best new tracks as well as early rare tracks on this internet-only release called Open Day at the Hate Fest. Seeing that there were still fans buying up Open Day at the Hate Fest directly from the band, despite absolutely no advertisements other than word of mouth, Universal went back and decided to release Gift.	Curve - Hell Above Water GIFT (2001) I picked up Gift for $3 at Down in the Valley Record Store, and I have to admit, after listening to it in my car I can see why Universal initially didn't want to release this album. It is my least favorite album, mostly because it was all techno and industrial driven. It is, what it is, and when it comes down to it, I thought it was just a bland album with nothing really standing out. The only light on this album is probably that "Hell Above Water" that was used in the Iron Man trailer. Apparently this song was also used in PS3's MotorStorm, so obviously someone out there must love Gift (just not me)!
Curve - Till The Cows Come Home 1 comment THE NEW ADVENTURES OF CURVE (2002) I'm pretty sure by this time, Universal had dropped the band. They decided one last hurrah and release The New Adventures of Curve which had a mish-mash of songs they've made available for free download as well as exclusive tracks. Once again, the album was only available directly from the band with absolutely no marketing or advertisements.	Curve - In Disguise 1 comment THE WAY OF CURVE (2004) What a horribly awful name for a Curve's greatest hits album, right? Only 10,000 copies were printed and includes one CD of their best hits and the other containing rare and unreleased material. The real gem in this set is "In Disguised" was was never made available anywhere. Although you would think that this is the final installment, apparently there is another "Greatest Hits" in the works.

According to a message from Halliday, she is no longer part of Curve:

Before I start I would just like to thank all of you for your loyalty and commitment to Curve over the years, it has been a lifesaver on many a dark night. Unfortunately after much thought and consideration I have come to the realisation that I can no longer continue with Curve on a musical level and have therefore decided to pursue other avenues. I won’t go into details but a few things happened to me last year that really drained me of any confidence I had and made me realise it was time to move on or be in danger of becoming bitter and twisted and losing my love for music. I have also felt less and less fulfilled with my position in Curve over the last few years and seemed to be no longer enjoying my work as much as I have in the past. I do intend to do small one off projects in the future but nothing that needs the time and commitment of a full time band. I hope that you understand my feelings on this, we have been together a long time and I feel that it has come to it’s natural end with a lot of good work achieved in the last 15 years.

- Toni Halliday

It really wouldn't be Curve without Halliday, so in my mind, Curve are no longer a band... but their music lives on in my heart.

 04/27/2008 23:31:08  vu my♥posts www.curve.co.uk

Tour 12/13/07 Freakin Frog - Las Vegas, NV 12/14/07 Applesauce & Tea House -Flagstaff, AZ 12/15/07 Big Fish Pub - Tempe, AZ 01/12/08 Tangier's - Los Angeles, CA Album Discography [2001] Alabaster Flesh [2005] Shadowed [2007] Lovers and Leaders Band Members ♥ Sacha Sacket (vocals/keyboard) ♥ Jennifer Trani (guitar) ♥ Anna Maria Rosales (bass/vocals) ♥ Alexa Brinkshulte (drums) Influenced By Bjork, Coldplay, Tori Amos, Radiohead, Damien Rice, Joni Mitchell, Elliott Smith, Squarepusher, DJ Shadow, Rage Against the Machine, Sinatra, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Belle and Sebastian, David Bowie, Sarah McLachlan, U2, Nick Drake, Travis, Velvet Underground, Dashboard Confessionals, Sonic Youth, Beck, Postal Service, Catpower, Chevelle, Ani Difranco, Rufus Wainwright, Incubus, and much much more.

Sacha Sacket - Brandon Boyd Sacha Sacket 4 comments

Sacha Sacket is the luckiest guy in the world, isn't he? He has a gorgeous all-women band, a new album for 2007 (his third album), an MTV-ready/style video ("Judy"), and he's starring in an upcoming movie called November Son the sequel to October Moon (2005).

He was born in Iran, then moved to California at the age of one. It seems that his music career didn't really take off until 2005, with his second album being played in over 150 radio stations (as well as NPR).

It's easy to spot his influences in songs like "Brandon Boyd", which sounds as if Thom Yorke decided to take Radiohead back pre-Kid A (this is a good thing).

The song, "Brandon Boyd", seems like he's mocking "the cool kids", such as with lyrics like "keep the fat chicks/and the fags in line".

I was interested in the song enough to look up who Brandon Boyd was - apparently this is the lead singer to the band Incubus.

Upon further reading, Boyd and Sacket (and those guys from Linkin Park & Hoobastank) were old classmates in high school. There are lines in the songs that suggests that they were really tight friends:

I'll smoke, would you smoke. I'll choke, if you'll choke. I'll joke if you joke.

Funny, but the song dedicated to Boyd sounds nothing like an Incubus song, haha.

His latest CD is called Lovers and Leaders, released by Golden Sphinx Records, and he's currently wrapping up his major tour for this album.

 12/10/2007 08:36:06  vu my♥posts sachasacket.com myspace

You know I love Midasuno, and I went to see them play in my home town Leeds on Tuesday. They were great, even though they had to play to one of the smallest crowds I've ever seen. Also on the bill were some young whippersnappers who looked, and sounded, like a cross between Hadouken! and Slipknot. If that sounds wrong, then believe me, it was. Ohh how wrong it was...

Luckily, sandwiched in between the two were a surprisingly good band. Perhaps the greatest support band I've ever seen play. And that's not an easy feat when you're playing to all of three people. Yes, three. Count em, I did. One, two... and me. Well so much for the musical taste of Leeds' youth. Anyway, I'll get to the point... Livingston is what they called 'emselves. Had funny accents like they were from India or somewhere but looked Australian. And apparently, although it didn't look it, they are quite big. Here's a video of them playing at MTV somewhere, though don't get your hopes up. They're a great live band, but the recorded stuff I've heard on their MySpace ain't so good. Ah well. Here's to all bands around the world playing to crowds numbering less than the band members themselves.

- Christopher ( pepsi_max2k)

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

I've been having internet problems these past weeks, anyone experiencing really slow performances like I have?

So, I wanted Cristina to write about Daisy Chainsaw, because it's actually a band I wanted to mention for a while. They've been around since 1989, but I hadn't heard of them until I saw them on MTV's 120 Minutes. I thought KatieJane Garside was a dirty little elf-like girl. And when I say dirty, I mean, she was constantly in soiled dresses.

Then, at the height of their popularity and fame after their release of Eleventeen in 1993, KatieJane, decided to call it quits. The rest of the members decided to continue on as Dizzy Q Viper.

About seven years later, KatieJane had a dream about a warrior named Queen Adreena, who cut off her left breast so she could use the bow more efficiently. She took this as a sign to come back to music to form a new band called QueenAdreena. In 2000, teamed with guitarist Crispin Gray (previously was also in Daisy Chainsaw) to release their debut album, Taxidermy. 

KatieJane hasn't changed much since Daisy Chainsaw, she seems to be the same cute little girl, although a little more explicit (see official press photo and live photo, the first one is not work-safe).

She also has a few photo & art exihibits that she's been putting together since 2004. She's also released a solo album called Lalleshwari last year. You can find out more details on her website, but it seems the limited digipak version of her album are all sold out.  See Dale's comment for more details.

 July 25, 2007 9:48 PM  vu my♥posts vu@weheartmusic.com queenadreena.net katiejanegarside.com

Dale wrote: Jul 26, 2007 9:05 AM

[this is good] I have the limited edition of her album - it's not a digipak, that's the regular edition. It's a plastic case that's about twice the height of a normal CD case. It's hand numbered and (mine) has her actual hand print in purple paint on the booklet inside, although I believe this is different for every copy.

The music is very hit and miss as most of it is just Katie-Jane and a four track recorder, but as trinkets go, it's an absolute catch for Queen Adreena fans.

Love in October, based out of Minneapolis, is described by their biography as Swedish Pop meets Midwestern Indie Rock. I don't really know about the Swedish part, but they do sound pretty good.

I checked out this great video their song "A Day in the Life Of", and I can only describe the video as Marie Antoinette-y, but with an eyepatch. They seem like a really fun band that doesn't take themselves too seriously (despite the fact that they get dressed up in "rock outfits").

Their website have even more videos. The homemade videos ranges anything from answering viewer's fanmail to behind-the-scene stuff. I suspect one of the band member, or close friend, is really into video as these videos looks like they were put together with at least some sense of direction in mind.

I was also really impressed to find out that they've charted #20 Top Add on CMJ (College Music Journal) and have left good impressions on these publications: Rift Magazine, City Pages, and Pioneer Press. Plus they are one of the finalist in Lollapalooza Last Band Standing contest. The winners have not been announced, but I think they might win based on what I've heard.

They look like they are going to be on tour, notably MTV Summer Concerts series with the Plain White T's (August 17). I'm going to post their tour dates, check them out if you're in the area.

"A Day in the Life Of" might be an unconscious nod to the Beatles (who had a song with the same title) and they there are these lyrics which includes Lucy and Sky together :)

Breakout the bottles of champagne
And raised the glass to the sky
Lucy said that she loves me
I turned back to disagree

It seems too much of a coincident that I had to point that out.

 July 15, 2007 9:06 AM  vu my♥posts vu@weheartmusic.com loveinoctober.com

I was going to post Puffi AmiYumi today, but I see that Vu already has, so... I was browsing tracks by Puffy AmiYumi and came across an album they appear on called I Love Guitar Wolf... Very Much and noticed that Cato Salsa Experience was on it too. I remember a couple years back watching MTV2's video block (it wasn't Subterranean, but the one that played in the wee hours of the night) and they featured their music video for "So, the Circus Is Back In Town". The drums grabbed me immediately and the beginning riff was catchy. Then the lead singer started singing about a circus and I fell in love with the song.

They also have an interesting video for "Lovesick" in which the video starts out as them playing as aged men and over the course of the video progressively get younger. While watching the video, you'll notice that there are only three band members. That's because their keyboardist, Nina Bjørndalen (aka Nina Delay) left the band in August 2003 "to pursue further education" (source). No hard feelings between them though; it was a respected decision.

After Nina Delay's departure, the band replaced her with Bård Enerstad and recorded 1 album as Cato Salsa Experience and 2 others with jazz trio The Thing and jazz musician Joe McPhee as Two Bands and a Legend. They created a live five-track EP called Sounds Like a Sandwich and a self-titled studio album featuring covers of songs by PJ Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Led Zeppelin, and others. Both feature plenty of prog-rock/jazz pieces, but the track that's a more conventional jazz song would be "You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me". It features a soft, melodic tempo as opposed to their other tracks that are high-energy and hectic. The studio album was released this year, but I'm not sure if Cato Salsa Experience are working on new material since their website doesn't offer information on any upcoming releases. Perhaps they'll be working more with The Thing and Joe McPhee.

jason | jason@weheartmusic.com // Cato Salsa Experience | The Thing | Joe McPhee | Two Bands and a Legend