25 October, 2008

"Wilderness" by Sunny Day Sets Fire

[I will be posting a "review" later. <3]


19 October, 2008

"Hip Hop" - Dead Prez



"Let's Get Free"

18 October, 2008

The Definition of Hardcore

I've been missing real soul-lifting, earth-shaking music as of late. Not because there is a lack of great music, but instead because I have been unable to stop and smell the proverbial roses for the last couple of months. I hate being busy, but at the same time, I love what I am doing (and I always want to do more).

Tonight I was reborn, refreshed, and reinvigorated by the sounds of Broadcast Live, a more-than-just-hip-hop/rock outfit from Albany, New York. The quartet form a quirky collaborative who - in the same concert - covered Dylan and Dead Prez. The music of Broadcast Live is charged with the musical activist electricity of Rage Against the Machine, and their instrumentation is tightly layered and interwoven. Songs draw on jazz, classic rock, folk, punk, hip-hop (old and new), hardcore, and jam while still remaining cohesive and natural.

Playing a mix of songs from their older album Underground, and their yet-to-be-released (sure to be amazing) album Boomerang Metropolis, the band touched on issues that cannot be ignored (gentrification, homophobia, racism, oppression, modern day US slavery, disenchantment, radicalism). At the same time the music flowed and gelled, providing the words steady passage without detracting from their weight. It is difficult to do justice in words alone to a band that uses their own poetry of words and music to convey their beliefs and spread their knowledge. All I can say is that if you are a fan of music, and a fan of justice and the beauty of free expression, listen to Broadcast Live.

Broadcast Live website

Broadcast Live MySpace

14 October, 2008

Clips from La Chinoise by Jean-Luc Godard






La Chinoise - Trailer

13 October, 2008

Soundtrack to my Fall: Glasvegas

This fall has landed in my heart holding hands with a massive case of deja vu. I cannot disconnect the two. It isn't that I can remember past events more clearly than I can the rest of the year. Those snapshots of life are still blurry. What is different, and slightly disconcerting, is that I am feeling closer emotionally to the "self" of last year, than I am to my current "self". There are only shades of difference between the two selves, and yet I often feel as if I am being haunted by my own ghost. I suppose this feeling is appropriate given my proximity to Halloween, but it is still slightly confusing.

I found the most appropriate music to soundtrack this feeling: Glasvegas by Glasvegas.

This album is epic in a way that I have not heard since Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (Wow, I just felt a wave of strong deja vu. Black Holes and Revelations happened to play a big role in my life last fall). There is a certain glamor and sheen surrounding Glasvegas which is unusual to find in new artists. I am not certain that I can even do justice to the album with the words at my disposal. In fact, I am not sure that I can process this album with constant replays of emotions from last fall running through my head. Suffice it to say that "It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry" and "Lonesome Swan" fill some of the deja vu ridden areas of my brain, allowing me to focus on both the present and the past. Without music, I would be a real mess.

Go watch "Daddy's Gone" on YouTube: "Daddy's Gone" - Glasvegas


Then listen to It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry - Glasvegas