The News Review:
- The Star nline eCentral – Music – Malaysia Entertainment
- The isle is full of noises; Cuban diary; In the twilight of Fidel…
- The definitive top 10 albums of the year
- With drummer to beat other bands (+44) takes the breaks as they come
- Action on the small screen
The Star nline eCentral – Music – Malaysia Entertainment
Malaysia Star – Dec 13, 2006
The Weirdness is produced by Steve Albini and is currently being mastered at London’s legendary Abbey Road studios. “Some of it is exciting and some of it is scary and I don’t care to go over there. But at the end of the day I know these guys. I don’t know anybody else quite that way” frontman Iggy Pop said of the album.
The isle is full of noises; Cuban diary; In the twilight of Fidel…
Free with registration – Global Agenda – AccessMyLibrary.com – Dec 13, 2006
But this tourist trade does little justice to the range of music you can hear by listening a bit harder. Isolated as Cuba may be in other ways globalisation has pushed and pulled its music in all sorts of directions old and new. It is not only the traditional influence of Africa that is significant but of rap and hip-hop and reggaeton punk and hard rock strains of folk music and jazz and the ubiquitous salsa―which Cubans have turned into an edgy and innovative variant called timba. Yesterday I went to see a rhumba band. r possibly a rumba band.
The definitive top 10 albums of the year
Guardian – Dec 13, 2006
com a comment I considered a little rich given that they placed both Bob Dylan and The Feeling above the Glaswegian rock and rollers and that I listened to this album twice before it disappeared from my ears and my grey matter forever. The other mouthy debut tying for 10th was much more up my rua (that’s Portuguese for “street” you dirty devils). Gold stars to CSS the Brazilian post-punk bawlers who brand Paris Hilton a bitch deem music “my hot hot sex” and tell listeners to “suck my art tit”. “A vibrant testament to that age-old adage that sex sells” wibbled Rough Trade rather mindlessly while the NME’s critics put it in at No5 lapping up every filthy moment. 8: The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers (15)Mojo’s No1 album of the year by Jack White and Brendan Benson’s bluesy rock “supergroup” also raised the pulse to a pace on tiscali. music (their No6) got me air-drumming on the bus home as happens most evenings but flatlined completely in the polls elsewhere.
With drummer to beat other bands (+44) takes the breaks as they come
San Diego Union Tribune – Dec 13, 2006
And during “No It Isn't” a scathing song about former blink singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge Barker smoked a cigarette with his right hand while he played a pile-driving beat with his left. For added impact he dramatically exhaled at precisely the moment he played a cymbal crash. But if Barker deserves the rock 'n' roll trooper of the year award his injury also impeded the live potential of (+44)'s music which at its best adds new depth and maturity to blink's patented pop-punk roar. Flanked by guitarists Craig Farbaugh and Shane Gallagher Hoppus 34 and Barker 31 played their hearts out from start to finish. But their performance which included all 12 songs from (+44)'s debut album and a spirited version of The Descendents' “Christmas Vacation” lasted a mere 51 minutes. And while Barker never wavered in his hard-hitting attack the music too often became static and failed to reach its full potential without the manic drum fills and hyperactive rolls that have become his trademark. The concert began with “Lycanthrope” the charged opening cut from (+44)'s album “When Your Heart Stops Beating… Flanked by guitarists Craig Farbaugh and Shane Gallagher Hoppus 34 and Barker 31 played their hearts out from start to finish. But their performance which included all 12 songs from (+44)'s debut album and a spirited version of The Descendents' “Christmas Vacation” lasted a mere 51 minutes. And while Barker never wavered in his hard-hitting attack the music too often became static and failed to reach its full potential without the manic drum fills and hyperactive rolls that have become his trademark. The concert began with “Lycanthrope” the charged opening cut from (+44)'s album “When Your Heart Stops Beating. ” The next five numbers were performed in the same sequence as they appear on the album which tended to limit even the possibility of spontaneity. So did the use of prerecorded keyboard and vocal lines to fill out the sound. The best songs such as “No It Isn't” and The Clash-inspired “Cliffdiving” and “When Your Heart Stops Beating's” infectious title track were performed with admirable precision.
Action on the small screen
The Age – Dec 13, 2006
Possibly the easiest method is by using Apple’s media softwareiTunes which connects to the iTunes online store. iTunes isavailable for PC or Mac and will work with a video-capable iPod andother devices. It’s a matter of getting online starting iTunes andgoing to the Music Store section then selecting “podcasts” then”video podcasts” or looking at the “featured video” section. Choose something to download and when the process is completeit should be visible in the podcast directory in your iTuneslibrary. You should only need to connect your device and iTuneswill load the video on to the device for you. Pixar animated shortfilms can be bought from iTunes for $3. 39 but most videosavailable to Australian customers are free… But when it comes to mobile TV shows most of the top-ratingstuff is still limited to snippets most of which have already beenaired on TV. Expect to see a clip of Chef on South Park not a fullepisode. Vodafone also has clips from Punk’d Jackass and TheSimple Life for those who think Paris Hilton is under-exposed. Thank goodness there are also pranks from The Chaser’s War onEverything to beef up the Australian content. Mobile operators have explored other options such asinfotainment in their bid to find content. A Jamie liver recipeis squeezed into about the time it takes to play his TV theme song- and there’s still time to watch his friends pig out.