Posted by Chris on December 3rd, 12:04 pm (5 hours ago)
Critically acclaimed indie-rocker Neko Case is releasing her new album Middle Cyclone in March. It will undoubtedly be awesome like everything else she’s done, but I’d buy it just for the cover art (below). She’s surfing a muscle car, holding a fucking sword. First of all, muscle cars are bad ass, and you can’t argue with that. I wonder if the original thought was to just have Case on the car. A cyclone is pretty fierce though, so that just didn’t do it. Throw a sword in there with Case looking ready to jump off the car and slay a dragon, and it’s an instant classic. I don’t even need to see any other album coming out in ‘09, Case already has Album Cover of the Year wrapped up in my book.
Creed has been in the news with possible plans for a reunion in 2009. It looks like it’s going to happen since the non-singing members of Creed that formed Alter Bridge are losing their lead singer Myles Kennedy to the Robert Plant-less Led Zeppelin reunion. Scott Stapp must have promised to play nice and a reunion is bound to make buckets of money, but here are 10 other reasons for a Creed reunion that you might not have thought of.
10. Spiritual, Christian-ish rock just isn’t “hard” without them.
9. The Eleventh Commandment is actually “Thou shalt to be forced to listen to Creed to redeem your sins.”
8. They have a score to settle with Nickelback.
7. Scott Stapp needs the money for more black t-shirts and hair-care products to keep his hair shimmering like a “Jesus Halo”
6. Scott Stapp spent all his money on crucifixion portraits where he takes the place of Jesus.
Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the high-class hooker that former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer got busted with earlier this year, signed with Violator Management to launch her music career. Violator helped 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes break-out.
Violator must think the scandal will drive record sales. Dupre’s single “What We Want” is up on her MySpace, it sounds like bad hip-hop. Don’t we already have one bad hooker hip-hop star with Lil’ Kim? Frankly, that’s enough for me.
As long as I’m writing about hookers making music, I suppose I should mention that Paris Hilton has finished work on her second album. She’s looking for a record label crazy enough to release it.
Just in time for final exams and the mistletoe season, Red Cup Media has launched its latest masterpiece: College & Sex.
Our very own well-established sex columnist brings a wealth of sex & relationship material for all college students. Her witty yet simple style of writing is sure to arouse your web browser, so log on to http://www.collegeandsex.com for everything from blowjobs to significant others.
Kanye West’s new album 808’s & Heartbreak is an ambitious effort by the Chicago rapper to switch his style up. The album definitely stands out as unique compared to West’s other work. In fact, 808’s & Heartbreak is such a huge change for Kanye that he should have released it under a different name to avoid confusion.
The biggest change is that West doesn’t even rap on a good number of the songs on 808’s & Heartbreak, instead opting for auto-tuned singing. On the CD’s first two singles, “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless,” West has great success with not rapping. Of course, both songs use addictive, unique beats that help drive them. “Welcome to Heartbreak” uses this same combination of unique beats and singing well. “Paranoid” is another great song, it’s also a little more up-tempo than a lot of the other tracks. The use of infectious dance beats makes it one of the most fun songs on 808’s & Heartbreak
On other songs, like the opening track “Say You Will,” Kanye’s singing becomes a little tiresome, especially when complimented by down-tempo, minimalist beats. “Coldest Winter” also faces the same challenge of keeping your interest with minimalist beats. Eventually, both songs become repetitive and you’ll be longing to hear Kanye rap. “Amazing” shares the same problem.
808’s & Heartbreak does have moments of creative genius and it’s good to see West trying new things. However, many of the songs are simply not as good as the ones on his previous albums. I’m looking forward to hearing Kanye rap again.
In case you need to be caught up, Dr. Pepper promised every person in America a free can of soda if Chinese Democracy came out this year. The folks at Dr. Pepper set up a website on November 23rd where you could get a coupon for a free can, but coupons were only available on the 23rd. Of course, this is hardly a free can for everyone in America, but it seemed like a good effort.
If you’re disappointed that you didn’t get a can (provided you are a U.S. citizen), you’ll be happy to know that Axel Rose is fighting for some corporate honesty out of Dr. Pepper.
Rose’s attorney Alan Gutman sent a letter to the CEO of Dr. Pepper today. The letter claims that the website crashed and the redemption scheme was “clumsily implemented” causing the whole offer to be “an unmitigated disaster which defrauded consumers and, in the eyes of vocal fans, ‘ruined’ the day of Chinese Democracy’s release.”
Guns N’ Roses is seeking a public apology through ads in newspapers, more time for people to get a Dr. Pepper and monetary damages.
Funny, I thought a mediocre album ruined Chinese Democracy’s release. A frosty can of Dr. Pepper sure would make me feel so much better!
Chinese Democracy took Axel Rose nearly two decades to put together. He’s been touting it as the triumphant return of Guns ‘N’ Roses (even though he’s the only original member), and Best Buy has been calling it the “most anticipated album of all time.”
Unfortunately, Chinese Democracy gives you that same feeling that getting socks for Christmas gave you when you were a kid: You feel a little cheated, but at least it’s good for something.
At certain points on the album, Axel and the replacement Guns recall the sound that made the original Guns so successful. The album’s title-track “Chinese Democracy” opens with a “Welcome To The Jungle” type introduction, and it has a guitar solo that would have made Slash proud. However, the song is over-produced and eventually the verse sections become repetitive and boring.
Axel Roses’ vocals sound as powerful as they ever have on a few of the tracks. “Better” and “Madagascar” serve as a great examples of the shrieking voice that you’ve come to expect from him.
While there are numerous songs that feature great guitar playing on Chinese Democracy, the album really suffers from over-production, especially compared to the stripped-down sound on the band’s most famous album, Appetite For Destruction.
The rampant over-production of songs like “Catcher In The Rye” and “There Was A Time” make you miss the hard-edged, unapologetic sound of the original Guns.
Chinese Democracy doesn’t have any songs that are truly impossible to listen to, but in the end it’s full of mediocre songs that hardly live up to all the anticipation.
W. is enjoying his lame-duck presidential privileges and pardoning a bunch of crimes. Usually, pardons go to a bunch of rich dudes that get out of tax evasion, but Bush’s most recent pardon forces us to ask, “is he a Fugees fan?”
Bush pardoned former Fugees producer John Forte today. Forte, who also has two solo albums, was convicted of carrying $1.5 million worth of cocaine through the Newark airport in 2000, and was originally sentenced to 14 years.
If you’re tired of all those traditional Christmas tunes (”O Holy Night” is so played out) you’ll be happy to listen to Swedish punks The Hives and Cyndi Lauper’s new collaboration.
“A Christmas Duel” seems friendly enough with its 60’s Motown sound. Before you put it on during Christmas dinner at grandma’s house, listen to the lyrics.
Hives’ front man Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist opens the song with, “I bought no gift this year and I slept with your sister. I know I should have thought twice before I kissed her.”
Lauper responds with, “I bought no tree this year and I slept with your brother, I wrecked your daddy’s car and went down on your mother.”
The song is available for free download November 28-30 here. Listen to it below.
Gwen Stefani is tired of shit being bananas and has decided to get back together with the boys of No Doubt to release their first album since 2001’s Rock Steady.
The band made the announcement through a pseudo-instant message conversation on their website. There’s no word on a release date for the album, but it looks like No Doubt will tour in 2009 before the new release drops.
Stefani writes, “I think if we go out on tour it will inspire us to write. I need to see the fans out there.”
It’ll be interesting to see if No Doubt returns to rock like they did on Tragic Kingdom, or if it will be more bad dance-pop like Rock Steady and Stefani’s solo work. The band is reportedly working with Mark Stent, who produced Rock Steady as well as Stefani’s solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., so I’m remaining skeptical about what promise a reunion holds.
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