The 404 419: Where Alison Rosen is shrinking Video
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The 404 370: Where we're still up at Alison o'clock
Our favorite comedian Alison Rosen joins us on today's show to talk about her new daily video show, TheDailyAlison.com. Also, be sure to listen in to hear why Wilson Tang left the premiere of "Transformers 2" scowling and cursing the name of Michael Bay.
Goldfrapp have released their new video for "A&E", the first single from their upcoming album SEVENTH TREE. The video's produced and directed by Andrew Duffus and features Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory relaxing in a dense, leafy forest.
The Butchies? fourth record is like alpenglow (a reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise of the summits of mountains) absorbing into your pores ? it simply commands a high-energy, emotionally-stuffed response. Make Yr Life is a colossal, intimate connection between the unrivalled punk-rock trio and their audience. It?s like waking from a coma, or like having your dog lick away your tears, or like the first kiss with that sexy girl with moonlight splashed on her face. But it?s also true that Kaia, Melissa and Alison?s intent with this record is simple: World Domination. If after listening to this 10-track cream dream you don?t feel like you just had one of the biggest epiphanies of your life, you clearly voted for Bush, and are immune to evolution. Make Yr Life is undoubtedly the record that will facilely evolve the music world as we know it (Mothership not included.) Make Yr Life is technically produced more ?professionally? than the previous records, but nothing about it is polished in a plastic, stiff way. The Butchies? latest cd lives in the same world as 3 (2001), Population 1975 (1999) and Are We Not Femme? (1998), but it oozes with more maturity, focus and self-reflection/connection. The trio ritualistically stripped down to the buff and finished recording in 10 days ? it wouldn?t have even taken that long, but Melissa was appointed Thermostat Butchie, and therefore had to stop drumming in 20-minute intervals to stave off the cold. (It takes this kind of dedication to achieve world domination.) As in her Team Dresch days, Kaia squeezes and molds words into an atomic release of emotions that most of us keep darkly lacquered. Her vocals are somewhere between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the suspended time right before your head spins off into orgasm. Her pipes, combined with nectar-sweet basslines, and thick, thumping drums immediately pull in the listener with the opening track, ?Send Me You?: ?She says I?m crazy, I said oh, really? I?m going to jump on you on the bed/Make me a monkey, make me fall over, make me a cradle, hold me instead/I?m not going to say it, OK, I?ll say it?? Soaring, mammoth guitars wash over you like a tidal wave in ?Lydia,? which repeatedly asks the question, ?Did you get what you?re asking for?? ?17,? which previously has only been recorded on a KRS comp, is included. And since it?s one of their all-time best songs, it?s sure to quench even the most insatiable Butchies fan. The closing track is a remake of the 80s band The Outfield?s ?Your Love.? Live, The Butchies perform this one at a faster tempo than the original. But for this record, producer Greg Griffith urged the band to slow the tempo down, transforming it into a sad, beautiful ballad. The result is divine, as Kaia practically whispers the first few lines: ?Josie?s on a vacation far away, come around and talk it over?There?s so many things I want to say?you know I like my girls a little bit older?I just want to use your love tonight?I don?t want to lose your love tonight?? The title track encompasses all of what this record is about: ?Make your life, souls and stars, swimming with dogs and fish and sharks, fake your fear, fake face, face your fear?? The song is a Stewart Smalley kind of affirmation. It urges the listener to create their own happiness, to grab it and hold on to it. This song is also the one that has a super-secret embedded message, but you have to find your way into the mood of the entire cd before hearing this message, which is simple: We are The Butchies. We will not forcefully overtake the world, but cleverly win it over with raw, honest songstressing ? making the kind of music that sticks, that matters, that truly reaches into the listener?s chest and makes them feel again. Amen. All hail The Butchies! The Make Yr Life tour kicks off SXSW in mid-march. The nationwide tour will begin in mid-April. And it?s no coincidence that this tour takes place in the election year 2004.
Natalie Walker. Urban Angel. Biography. Born and raised in Indiana, vocalist Natalie Walker is an artist whose lilting, melodic voice and lyrical reveries reflect a life journey of determination and self-discovery. With musical influences ranging from Alison Krauss to Portishead, Jewel to Lauryn Hill, Beth Orton to Bjork, the former lead singer of downtempo electronic group Daughter Darling now delivers her own unique, haunting sonic landscape that is at once organic, ethereal, elegant and entrancing. ?Creating music is my outlet,? says Natalie. ?I was born to sing. When I don?t, I feel empty. When I do, I feel fulfilled. It?s that simple.? Urban Angel, her solo album debut, was co-written by Natalie and two-man production team Stuhr. ?I worked with two really great producers out of Brooklyn, Dan Chen and Nate Greenberg. They?d send me the rough copy of a song and the music would just evoke emotion,? she explains. ?Its like fitting pieces of a puzzle together. When you?re in the studio recording its all very raw and real. I try to make a song new each time I sing it. I want it to be unforgettable. My producers are amazing. They forced me to develop my real voice. I?ve improved my vibrato and my tone. Stuhr delivered exactly what I asked of them. It couldn?t have happened more perfectly.?
Filmmaker Paul Weitz--whose comic explorations have ventured into the synergistic halls of corporate culture ("In Good Company"), the perils of psychological isolationism ("About a Boy") and the vicissitudes of losing one's virginity ("American Pie")--now delivers a comedy yanked from right-now popular culture...where the nation's shrinking attention span is more focused on "what's hot" than on hot-button headlines: "American Dreamz." On the morning of his re-election, the President (Dennis Quaid) decides to read the newspaper for the first time in four years. This starts him down a slippery slope. He begins reading obsessively, reexamining his black and white view of the world, holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas. Frightened by the President's apparent nervous breakdown, his Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe) pushes him back into the spotlight, booking him as a guest judge on the television ratings juggernaut (and the President's personal fave), the weekly talent show American Dreamz. America can't seem to get enough of American Dreamz, hosted by self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), ever on the lookout for the next insta-celebrity. His latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally (Mandy Moore), a conniving steel magnolia with a devoted, dopey veteran boyfriend (Chris Klein), and Omer, a recent Southern Californian immigrant (who just happens to be a bumbling, show tune singing, would-be terrorist awaiting activation). When both Sally and Omer make it to the final round of Dreamz--where the President will be judging along with Tweed--the stage is set for a show the nation will never forget. The film also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Coolidge, Seth Meyers, John Cho, Judy Greer, and Sam Golzari.
Digital City No. 32: Electric cars in NYC and reading the iPhone tea leaves
Episode 32 of the Digital City, where we discuss the hurdles for electric cars in NYC, read the tea leaves on new iPhone hardware at WWDC, find out why Craigslist is (sort of) dropping sex ads, and ponder the improbable physics of Star Trek's black holes.
Buzz Out Loud 636: New rule: Press "record"
You'll get most of a really great podcast today, just not quite...all of it. First day of CES jitters mean we sort of lost the first 10 minutes or so of today's podcast, but that's OK--it gets really good after that. Trust us.
The shrink-wrap isn't on for long! Rich DeMuro shows you what's inside the packaging of Apple's eagerly anticipated set top box.
Intel pitches pocket-size 'personal server'
Intel researchers are working to shrink a server to the size of a deck of cards and still offer useful storage and wireless capability. Correspondent James Hilliard talks to the researchers working on a variety of applications for what may become the "personal server."
The 404 458: Where daylight comes and we want to go home
Jeff didn't get the memo about daylight-saving time and misses today's episode of The 404 Podcast, but luckily our good buddy Mark Licea of The Green Show set his clock back and helps us out with today's Halloween recap, as well as a few stories from around the Internet.
