Thanks to E. for tipping me off that the new AC/DC single is out. The song is called “Rock n’ Roll Train” and it’ll be on the album Black Ice, which hits stores October 20th. And now the shocking news: it sounds like every other AC/DC song. Which means it’s perfect holiday weekend music. Turn your ears on:
You think that artwork is intentionally designed to look like a liquor ad? Keep in mind this album is being sold exclusively in Wal-Mart. Not sure they’d approve of such things…But next time you’re in a bar, you can try ordering a “black ice” and see what happens.
Wow, so lots of people seemed to dig that Terrence Howard tune. Good for him and thanks to all who chimed in. We’re going to shift gears a little bit today though and just look at some videos. It’s sort of a moot point in 2008 to complain about MTV and its sister channels, all of which basically show no actual music videos at all anymore. The lone exception seems to be VH1 Classic, which is a pretty great channel in its own right but obviously one with a fairly narrow focus. You’re not going to see a video by the Mars Volta on VH1 Classic, for example. You might see them on MTV2, but chances are it will be late at night and sandwiched by seven minutes of the worst commercials you’ve ever seen in your life. So, is the music video even a relevant endeavor in this day and age? I’m not sure it is, sadly.
The argument, of course, is that the videos haven’t changed only the distribution method has. Instead of MTV, there’s YouTube and the internet. I can buy that, but at the same time I don’t really pine to watch the latest music videos on YouTube with anywhere near the same excitement I felt watching music videos on MTV in the 80’s and early 90’s. I hate to say it, but I miss MTV. I do. I would love to just sit down on the couch, put it on one channel and leave it there, soaking up some music videos. There may be a day where we can do that with high quality YouTube streams on our televisions, but even then that requires searching and typing and the kind of effort MTV didn’t demand.
Fortunately, there’s some light in all this music video darkness. YouTube has given birth to an entirely new genre of music videos: the fan-made variety. You’ve probably seen several already just be-bopping around and chances are they were routinely horrible. But occasionally you run across a gem or two and that’s what I thought I’d share today. First up is a clever idea to simply pair film and music that’s really well executed. The song is the Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage” from their great Neon Bible album, and the footage is from the film Once Upon a Time in the West. Have a looksy:
Next is a slightly odder interpretation of the Radiohead tune “Nude” from their album In Rainbows. Here the song is actually remixed and recreated and the video is used to highlight the “instruments” used to do so. It takes about a minute to really get into the tune, but it’s kind of fascinating I think.
Any other good ones out there? Enjoy the Labor Day weekend and watch some VH1 Classic in between hot dogs and beer. Back Monday.
Well now here’s a post I didn’t expect to write. Actors making albums is such a non-event these days that not only do I not raise an eyebrow when I hear about the next one making the venture, I don’t really even have a passing curiosity to hear so much as a single note. But Terrence Howard? Really? Did anyone see this coming?
Hustle Done Flowed
You know Terrence Howard. He was incredible as the lead in Hustle & Flow and has been in other flicks like Iron Man, Crash, and Ray. Turns out the dude can also sing and play the guitar. He’s got an album called Shine Through It coming out next week and the song I want to look at is called “Love Makes You Beautiful.” Not the most creative title, sure, but there’s something about the song I like. Howard’s not reaching for R. Kelly type vocal gymnastics or the kind of R & B that’s so melodramatic you just have to laugh at. In fact, I don’t know what he’s reaching for. There’s nothing current I’m familiar with that I can compare this to. Instead, there’s a vibe to this song that feels a few decades too old. I imagine him singing this on stage while wearing a tuxedo for some reason. I can’t even put my finger on it. All I know is that when the kids come in with their backing vocals singing “la-la-la-la,” I’m oddly hooked. Have a listen:
Click on the picture up there for the amazon link to his album if you want to read a little more. If nothing else, it’s not a rock song from 2002-2003, so at least I’m making an effort to mix things up a bit here. And so is Terrence Howard. Okay, now you may proceed to ridicule us both. More tomorrow…
Well, let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat. There’s another new Metallica single entitled “My Apocalypse” available over at the iTunes music store. You can find a stream on YouTube as well if you don’t want to buy it just yet. There’s no mistaking this one; it’s full on thrash metal. This doesn’t mean the results aren’t mixed but I’ll save that discussion for the comments area if there’s any interest and we’ll just move on.
So, at some point when I was trying to cross the country in the last two days Holepuncher crossed 1,000 visits since I started the blog a little over a month ago. And, no, wordpress doesn’t count visits from the author in its stats (and, yes, I double checked). Even with purposefully using Metallica to generate search traffic I’m still surprised it reached this number so quickly. I guess it just really goes to show you that people will google just about anything…Seriously though, thanks for visiting and thanks to those who have mentioned Holepuncher to others. Now, on to the music!
Black Hawk Impressionistic
Since I like the number 1,000 today’s song is one with that very number in the title. “1,000 Times” comes from the 2002 album In Our Gun by British band Gomez. I realize that a sharp observer of this blog might think that 99% of my music collection consists of albums from 2002 or 2003, but that’s just how it’s worked out. Promise. Don’t hold it against Gomez, because they’re a really good band and In Our Gun is a really good album. They’re a tough act to categorize and this album is one of the main reasons why. At times you can find influences of classic rock, blues, britpop (whatever that means), and alternative rock in Gomez’s music. On In Our Gun, the band added electronic sounds to that mix . Currently, it seems a lot of folks think of Gomez as a jam band. Maybe it’s because they’re on Dave Matthews’ record label or because they’ve played Bonnaroo a couple times or aren’t afraid to use instruments like banjos, but forget all that hippy nonsense. Gomez is a rock band who just happens to be able to do a lot of different things well. There. Settled.
Want to hear something a little loopy? I first heard Gomez while on hold with Gateway Computers’ customer service. That was 1999 and I still remember it though, shoot, I can’t remember exactly which song it was now (“Devil Will Ride” from Liquid Skin is my best recollection). Point is they were a band that stuck out to me even over the phone and much of this has to do with singer Ben Ottewell. Ben’s just one of three men who share vocal duties in Gomez, but he’s got a very distinctive, big voice and Gomez knows exactly how to use it. If nothing else, homeboys know how to delegate. Even when one of the three singers is featured less or not at all in one of their songs the end result still feels like Gomez. They have a collectively singular identity. “1,000 Times” isn’t a tune that wouldn’t even crack my top ten list of Gomez favorites, but it’s nonetheless a pretty good showcase of Ottewell’s voice.
If you like this tune, you’ll like Gomez. But if you don’t, you might still like Gomez because there are so many other songs that sound nothing like “1,000 Times.” Take, for example, “Catch Me Up,” from 2004’s Split the Difference:
No rest for the travel weary, so I’ve got a link to give you something to listen to until tomorrow. Some dudes from Thursday, Glassjaw, and Converge made an album of love ballads under the moniker United Nations and you can stream the entire effort over at their Myspacepage today. No idea how long that will last so check it out on the quick. And how great is that album artwork? That’s probably a lawsuit waiting to happen, but until then it sure is nice to look at.
Of course, everybody knows you can’t talk about the United Nations without talking about Boutros Boutros-Ghali. And, naturally, you can’t talk about Boutros Boutros-Ghali without talking about Ali G:
