Song of the Day for August 2, 2010

And the song is...Heads Will Roll, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band from NYC, and have been around since the year 2000. The band consists of 3 primary members as Karen O (vocals/piano), Nick Zinner (guitars and keyboards) and Brian Chase (drums). Heads Will Roll is the 2nd track off of their latest album titled It's Blitz, which was released last year in March of 2009. This song has a bit of a dance/house feel to it; the album received good reviews, and Rhapsody (online music service) called it the 12th best album of 2009. So check em out, I reckon they are a bit under-rated.

Brief Movie Review: "Triage" (2009)

 4/5 Stars

  

Another realistic movie, this time about War and Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, or as George Carlin so aptly reminds us that the more appropriate and less watered-down term is "Shell-Shock." All those people who worship/idolize the military and wars so much would do well to be exposed to the not-so-glorious side to wars and conflict. The landmine scene was horrific, and of course the triage scenes leave their mark. 

Song of the Day for August 1st, 2010

And the song is...Telepathic Head, by Australian artist Machine Translations. Machine Translations is a solo-artist and multi-intstrumentalist named J Walker (anything to do with Johnny Walker perhaps??). Not a whole lot more info out there about him, and I CBF today, so look him up on lastfm if your keen on more info. Blah! Youtube of course does not have the video, so you will have to do it the old-fashioned way and go to the myspace page and click an extra link, you can find that myspace page.

Brief Movie Review for "Crazy Heart" (2009)

Ok, so I have decided I want to start doing some more movie/tv reviews, but brief ones. I did a few in the past on this vlog/blog, but ultimately I found myself not wanting to do long ones. Now, I do short and quick ones (some extremely short) on flixster for facebook, so I figure I will just transfer those over to the blog here and enrich the content a bit more. These are just going to be movies that I end up watching, not necessarily new ones only or anything. The brief review is as follows:

4.5/5 STARS

Well done, the alcoholism bit is pretty realistic, and its probably true that about 85% of Americans go about their day, drive their cars around, and function at some level with a constant measurable blood-alcohol level and/or dose of pain-pills. By far the best acting job I have seen Jeff Bridges do ever, and perhaps that is why he got the Oscar for it.  


Ok, so that was a sample first "brief movie review." I will add more as I get to them. Woot!

Song of the Day for July 31st, 2010

And the song for today is....Where I'm Going, by Aussie synth-pop band Cut Copy. Cut Copy originate in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) and consists of Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards, and guitar), Tim Hoey (bass guitar and sampler), and Mitchell Scott (drums). Cut Copy started out in 2001 with Dan Whitford who is both a DJ and a graphic designer, and in fact Whitford released the first single and EP on his own before he recruited the other band members that comprise the band today. I have had the privilege of seen Cut Copy live on two occasions, and I highly recommend checking them out live if you ever get this chance, a very good show. Now, I am not sure if Where I'm Going is the first song off of their new album (TBA in 2011), or if is being released as a single, but its a goodie for sure, and it can be downloaded free in mp3 format at their website if you join their email list. Go out and pick yourself up a copy (no pun) of their In Ghost Colours album (released in 2008), which I would personally sum up as a mix between Duran Duran and Radiohead. Enjoy one of my top fav bands!

Steve Judd's Global Forecast for August 2010

Another tense month, but perhaps the last one for awhile.

#69 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Yes we are back to the 80's once again. This time presenting #69 of the countdown. And the song is....Goodbye Horses, by American singer Q Lazzarus. Q Lazzarus is well known for this song, as it was no doubt her one hit wonder of 1988. I don't know why, I just know that I am a bit stoked to put this song on my countdown, it just doesn't show up on other 80's music radars much if you know what I mean. Goodbye Horses may be best remembered for its appearance on the soundtrack of Silence of the Lambs, as it was featured as serial killer/skinner character Buffalo Bill's theme song in that movie (ugghh, but I never associated it with that, and maybe that is why so many others don't like the song much due to that association). That said, this same song was also featured on movies Married to the Mob, Clerks II, Lakai Footwears' Fully Flared tv commercial, as well as on the Grand Theft Auto IV and Skate 3 video games, and TV shows Family Guy and Nip Tuck. Its a song that gets around, that is for sure, and funnily enough and unintentionally it has ended up as #69 on VJ Samsonite's Top 100 Dance Hits of the 80's Countdown, you know, just in case you forgot already ;-) A few more interesting trivia tidbits that I discovered on wikipedia.com are that Q Lazzarus actually appeared in the 1986 film Something Wild (with Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels) and performing the song The Candle Goes Away. She also appeared in the 1993 Tom Hanks Oscar winning film Philadelphia, performing the Talking Heads song Heaven. Another interesting fact is that for a little while she worked as a taxi-cab driver in NYC. Now the video is a bit strange, but really the most normal appearing video of this on youtube, in fact you should check out all the different videos that have been made for this song on youtube if you get the chance. Well, if you want more info, look her up on wikipedia or lastfm, now get out there and dance!

Song of the Day for July 30, 2010

And the song is....We Bleed, by Aussie electronic band Karton. Karton consists primarily of duo Paul Beohm and Paul Richter, who come out of Canberra in the ACT. Cris Clucas has also been added to the band as extra vocals on some of their tracks. There isn't a whole lot of info out there on them, so if you are interested in more check out their myspace page here. The youtube video was the only one I could find of this song, and again if you want to check out their other tracks head to their myspace page.    
 

Song of the Day for July 29th, 2010

And the song is......Burn Bridges, by 3 piece Aussie rock band The Grates. The Grates come out of Brisbane, Australia and consist of Patience Hodgson as vocals, John Patterson on guitar, and Alana Skyring on drums. The Grates are known for their highly energetic songs and live shows and were formed back in 2002. Since 2002 they have released 6 EP's and 2 full length studio albums with a 3rd coming out soon. Burn Bridges was released in Australia back in June of 2008, and was the first single release off of their 2nd full length album titled Teeth Lost, Hearts Won. It reached #34 on the ABC's Triple J Hottest 100 for that year. Check em out, and see what you think.

Song of the Day for July 28th, 2010

And the song is....Young Blood, by New Zealand indie rock band The Naked and Famous. This song was just released out in May, 2010, and the song charted at #1 on the New Zealand singles chart, making them the first Kiwi band to produce a #1 hit in at least 3 years in their own country (although I would have thought that Ladyhawke had produced a #1 more recently, but maybe not). The Naked and Famous are a 5-piece band consisting of members David Beadle, Thom Powers, Aaron Short, Jesse Wood, and Alisa Xayalith. I would compare the sound of this song to MGMT for sure, but there full release and debut album is set to come out next month (August 2010). Enjoy the song, and note that it is available as a free download at this link, along with a few other new songs.

Song of the Day!

And the song is...She Never Wants to Dance, by Aussie indie rock band City Riots. City Riots emerge out of Adelaide in South Australia and consist of Ricky Kradolfer, John De Michele, Matt Stadler, and Dan Kradolfer. She Never Wants to Dance is the first released single to come off of their debut album which is still yet to be released in full. In late 2008, City Riots were nominated for Triple J’s Unearthed Artist of the Year Award. Not a heap more info out there on them, if you fancy you can get more info on them HERE.  City Riots

#70 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Here we are, another 10 hits down, and its #70! And the song is....I'm Goin' Down  by the all-American rock-singer-songwriter Bruce (The Boss) Springsteen! I'm Goin' Down was the 6th song to be released off of his #1 hit Born in the U.S.A. album, originally released back in 1984. As it was the 6th single release from that album it resulted that it would reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in fall of 1985. There was no music video ever made for this song (bit of a bummer as its my personal Springsteen favorite), and it was one of those forgotten great songs as it was released amongst so many other giant single released from that album. According to wikipedia: "There was some controversy surrounding the release of yet another single from the album, which had been out for well over a year at that point. Cliff Bernstein, manager of Def Leppard and Dokken, said "I think a sixth single is a little bit of overkill." Now, youtube doesn't have the recorded version of this song, only the disappointing live versions, which are not even worthy of posting here in place of the recorded version in my opinion. So, go to Itunes or Amazon or whatever you use and check out what #70 really sounds like, and I am talking about the the studio recorded version of the song. And so there it is, #70 in all its glory, now here's to the Boss!

The Song of the Day!

And the song is....Rio, by Aussie indie rock group The Salvadors. The Salvadors originate out of Adelaide in South Australia, and consist of Tom on vocals and guitar, Eddy on guitar, Jeff on bass guitar,  Eugine on drums, and Cat on keyboards. There is not a whole lot of other info I could easily find on them so look them up here if you want more info. Just blame it on Rio!