Brief Movie Reviews: 'Dreamscape' (1984)

Movie: Dreamscape (1984)
Director: Joseph Ruben
Rating: 3.8/5 Stars ***'
Definitely an 80's era sci-fi film, and personally I found this film more interesting than its fancy effects/over complicated, grand-child-film Inception. Dennis Quaid's character, who has some telepathic and psychic abilities, is reluctantly recruited by a covert government experiment on dreaming, and trained to enter other people's dreams via use of special lab equipment. After a few benign dream tests Quaid discovers that there is more to the experiment than any of them had bargained for. Check this one out, it is a classic.

Turntable.fm

Sorry everybody, been spending heaps of time on Turntable.fm, you should check it out if you haven't already, after all everyone wants to be the DJ!
http://turntable.fm/

Your Daily Feature: 'Cold Dust Girl' by Hey Champ (2010)

Today's feature song is Cold Dust Girl by Chicago-based indie-electro band Hey Champ. Hey Champ have been active in music circa 2004 and consists of members Saam Hagshenas (Vocals and Guitar), Jonathan Marks (Drums), and Pete Dougherty (Synths). Cold Dust Girl comes off of their debut album Star, which was released in July of 2010. If you like the song then you can visit their website HERE for more music and info.

A Brief Movie Review: 'The Thing'

Movie: The Thing (1982)

Director: John Carpenter

Rating: 3.4/5 Stars ***'

This is the 1982 John Carpenter version, and I just noticed they've remade it again for 2011. I haven't seen the old-old one or the new one, but this one was pretty good as far as 1980's slimy-alien-sci-fi flicks go. I have been getting into John Carpenter movies a bit lately so you may see a few more reviews coming up for them. There's always more coming.

Your Daily Feature: 'Midnight City' by M83 (2011)

Today's feature song is Midnight City by French dream-pop/shoe-gazing artist M83. M83 (named after the spiral galaxy, Messier 83) is French musician Anthony Gonzalez who has been active on the scene since around 2001 and is based out of Antibes, France. Midnight City is a single release off of M83's upcoming Hurry Up, We're Dreaming album, which is set for an October 18th, 2011 release, so definitely look forward to that. If you like what you hear go to the website HERE and if you do it soon you can get a free mp3 download of this there!

A Brief Movie Review: 'One Crazy Summer' (1986)

Movie: One Crazy Summer (1986)

Director: Savage Steve Holland

Rating: 2/5 Stars **

One Crazy Summer is a classic 80's comedy that falls in line with other goof-ball/jock vs. nerd comedies like Revenge of the Nerds, Caddyshack, and Police Academy. So if you dig those movies you will definitely like this one, as it has all of the same awkwardly acted scenes and humor. I wonder what Demi Moore and John Cusack think now when and if they watch this movie nowadays?

Your Daily Song: 'Dig a Little Deeper' by Peter Bjorn and John (2011)

Today's feature song goes to Swedish indie-rock group Peter, Bjorn, and John and their song Dig a Little Deeper.  Peter, Bjorn, and John  have been active on the rock-music scene since 1999, they are based out  of Stockholm, Sweden, and consist of members Peter Morén (vocals,  guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals)  and John Eriksson (drums, percussion and vocals). Dig a Little Deeper comes off of their new album titled Gimme Some, which was just released on March 28th, 2011 and which has in my opinion been extremely under-rated by all the music critics. If you like what you hear then head over to their website HERE for more music and band info, Enjoy!

Your Daily Song: 'Go Ahead' by The Rosebuds (2011)

Your daily feature song for today goes to American indie-rock band The Rosebuds, and their song Go Ahead. The Rosebuds are and indie-rock/dance/folk band from Raleigh, North Carolina who have been active in music since 2001 and consists of duo Ivan Howard (vocals/guitar/ drums/ bass/keyboards/programming) and Kelly Crisp (vocals/keyboard/drums/guitar/accordion). Go Ahead is a single from their Loud Planes Fly Low LP, which was just released on June 14th, 2011. If you like what you hear you can head over to their website HERE for more music and band info.

Brief Movie Review for 'Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979)

Movie: Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979)

Director: John Sayles

Rating 4.5/5 Stars ****'

Well done for a low budget movie, and this was apparently director John Sayles's first movie! This movie is all about the dialogue and character interactions, so don't expect too much action or cinematography or anything of that nature. Apparently the 1983 movie The Big Chill was almost completely based off of this one, so if you liked it you will probably like the original.

Clear And Connect Intro

Your Daily Feature: 'Death As a Fetish' by Starfucker (2011)

Today's daily feature song is Death As a Fetish, by American indie-pop group Starfucker. Starfucker originate out of Portland, Oregon USA and consists of members Josh Hodges, Ryan Biornstad, Shawn Glassford, and Keil Corcoran. Death As a Fetish is a single release off of their 2nd studio album titled Reptilians, which was just released in March of 2011. If you like what you hear you can visit the band's MySpace page HERE, or you can head over to their Facebook page HERE.

Your Daily Feature: 'Sister Wife' by Alex Winston (2011)

Today's feature song is Sister Wife by American indie-pop-rock artist Alex Winston. Alexandra Winston is 23-year old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Sister Wife is a single-release/title track off of her 2nd EP Sister Wife, which was released out in April 2011. If you like what you hear you can head over to her MySpace page HERE, or her official website HERE. On another note I hope that you all like the new blog-name, I was getting a bit tired of the old one and felt it needed an upgrade of sorts.

A Brief Movie Review: 'Watchers' (1988)

Movie: Watchers (1988)

Director: Jon Hess

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars ***'

This movie was actually a lot better than I thought it would be all things considered. A teenaged Corey Haim comes across a lost dog who turns out to be a grim reaper of sorts as the dog is telepathically linked to a genetic mutant killing machine made by the US military to replace soldiers. The only problem is that this franken-squatch has escaped the lab to terrorize a nearby town in search of the dog. Check this one out if your looking for some cheap and easy entertainment, its on netflix too.

"They Live" - Truth Sunglasses (1988)

A great clip from and an awesome 1988 cult-classic movie by Master Director John Carpenter, and an interesting metaphor for the economic downturn. The whole movie is up on YouTube if your interested. 

Your Daily Feature: 'What Am I Supposed To Do?' by Sietta (2011)

Your Daily Feature track for today is What Am I Supposed To Do? by Australian electronic-soul duo Sietta. Sietta is the duo of James Mangohig (producer/instrumentalist) and Caiti Baker (vocalist) and they originate out of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Now its interesting because when I first heard this song I thought it was a new Beyonce song, but turns out its this great new duo from Darwin! What Am I Supposed To Do? is a new single release, and it can be heard and downloaded for free on their Facebook page HERE, so check that out if you like it.

A Brief Movie Review for: 'One Fine Day' (1996)

Movie: One Fine Day (1996)

Director: Michael Hoffman

Rating: 3/5 Stars ***

One Fine Day is a romantic comedy from the 90's starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer. There isn't much substance in this film (much like most romantic comedies) as the focus is all on the star-power of George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer, which is really what makes the movie worth watching. So if you like romantic comedies you will probably like watching this one.

Your Weekly Classics Shuffle: 'Dancing In The Moonlight' by King Harvest (1972)

Your weekly classics shuffle has landed on the 1972 hit song Dancing In The Moonlight, by American band King Harvest. King Harvest were formed out of a group of four American-expats living in Paris, France in 1970, with core members (amongst many fluctuating members who came and went) Dave "Doc" Robinson (lead vocals, bass guitar, and keys), Ron Altbach (keys), Ed Tuleja (guitar), and Rod Novak (sax), all of whom had previously attended Cornell University. Dancing In The Moonlight was the group's most well known song, and it reached #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was released as a single in 1972, and can be found on the self-titled King Harvest album. Another classics-post will come next week. Stay cool out there.

Your Daily Track: 'Meet Me Under Neon' by Pluto Jonze (2011)

Today's daily track, which has hardly been daily as of late, but I hope to start getting back into the swing of posting daily so bear with me. The track is Meet Me Under Neon, by Australian indie-electronic artist Pluto Jonze. Pluto Jonze ( Lachlan Nicholson) originates out of Sydney, Australia and Meet Me Under Neon comes off of his forthcoming EP so looking forward to that. For more artist info and music you can head over to his MySpace page HERE, or you can visit his Facebook page HERE. Summer is here everybody, so get out there and play!!Pluto Jonze

A Brief Movie Review: 'The Burning Plain' (2008)

Movie: The Burning Plain (2008)

Director: Guillermo Arriaga

Rating: 3/5 Stars ***

This is not a light-hearted film, but rather serious, dramatic, and intense. The plot follows what seems at first to be different characters but turns out to be the same characters at different ages in their lives and then ties it all together towards the end. Charlize Theron is quite good at playing those haunted/serious characters and seems to have landed lots of roles like these since her Oscar win, and it has been ages since I've seen Kim Basinger in anything. This movie is worth watching once, but again, it is a tragic-drama, and not unbelievable.

Your Daily Feature: 'Run' by Elke (2010)

Today's daily feature track is called Run, and its by Australian indie-electro band Elke. Elke, which consists of members Zack, Joel, Dave, Jim, and Jesse have been making music together since 2007. They originate out of the Brisbane, Queensland region of Australia, and they in my opinion they are severely under-rated, and I find it shocking that they haven't been signed by a major label. This band also operates as the band Dolphins, which does mostly indie-surfie style rock, which is also incredible stuff that I recommend checking out! Run comes off of the groups latest EP release simply A and B. You can check out most if not all of that EP at their Soundcloud site HERE, and if you just want some more artist info and such then head over to their website HERE.   Run by elkeband

The Last Days of House: 'It's Too Late (Dirty South Remix)' by Evermore (2006))

This week's Last Days of House feature is the 2004 song It's Too Late (Dirty South Remix) by New-Zealand-band Evermore, and remixed by Australian DJ Dirty South.  Evermore are Originally from New Zealand, but are now based out of Australia and they started out in 1999 and consist of brothers Jon Hume (guitar and vocals), Peter Hume (keyboards, bass guitar, piano, and vocals), and Dann Hume (drums and vocals). The original version of It's Too Late was released in 2004 on the band's Dreams album. Dirty South remixed the song into a house-version in 2006 where it achieved the #1 position on the Australian Club Charts, and it can be sound on various house compilation albums.

A Brief Movie Review for 'The Hangover' (2009)

Movie: The Hangover (2009)

Director: Todd Phillips

Rating: 3.9/5 Stars ***'

Allright, so after many people telling me how good this movie was, and then hearing that the sequel is already old hat, I decided to finally watch the first one. I must say that this movie was funny and worth watching once, although I doubt I will watch the sequel as its been reviewed by others as a just quick and easy money-maker for Hollywood, and just a poor re-make of the first one. What makes this movie funny really isn't the situations or the formulas, but the actors and their ability to play off of each other well, which I think most people would find funny. So, watch the first one at least, its good to have a dose of humor once in awhile.

Your Daily Feature: 'Bumper' by Cults (2011)

Today's daily feature is a song called Bumper, by Manhattan-based indie-pop band Cults. Cults started out in 2010 with New York University-collegues and duo Brian Oblivion (vocals, guitar, and percussion) and Madeline Follin (vocals) who rose to fame with the release of their digital 3-track EP in 2010. Bumper comes off of their debut self-titled studio-album Cults, which was released on June 7th, 2011 and is still pretty fresh. Head over to their website HERE for more music and info. 

Steve Judd's Global Forecast for July 2011

http://stevejudd.com/forecasts/