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Holloway Street: "This Morning"
This is the second video from the self-titled album Holloway Street. We had a blast making it and hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it! It started out on my back porch and the rest is history. Who hasn't had a huge night, only to find out you can't remember a thing. Well, take a look and remember how it feels. If you would like to purchase a copy of our debut album, simply visit our website for delivery to anywhere in the world. www.hollowaystreet.com
Goth, Techno, Metal, Industrial hybrid sound. Taken from the album 'Overload' on Metech Recordings
In this episode, CNET News.com's Neha Tiwari and CNET Download.com's Jessica Dolcourt explore their options in online avatar creation. Which avatar generator captured Jessica's curly chestnut ringlets? Was the one in virtual world Second Life able to accurately re-create Neha's copper skin tone? Find out here and by also linking to this
As much of the country, and punk music, broke into political ambiguity and disinterest at the turn of the century, Richmond, VA.'s Strike Anywhere bucked the trend with Change is a Sound. Unintimidated by the recent "uncooling" of politics, vocalist Thomas Barnett wears his convictions on his sleeve, referencing Zinn, Goldman and historic antifascist movements. The band, meanwhile, makes no secret of its influences, playing melodic, energetic punk in the realm of Avail, Soulside or 7 Seconds. At home in a sweaty basement, a warehouse or a yawning club replete with stage lighting, Strike Anywhere comes with a cynics advisory warning.
"South Beach Sounds: Miami Music Week, Volume 1"
South Beach Sounds-Miami Music Week Volume 1 is a sensory souvenir of the world's largest dance and electronica event, the Winter Music Conference. Recorded in 2005, the DualDisc (and separate DVD, both released on March 21st via Immergent) captures the magnitude of the weeklong event, where over 10,000 people from 60 different countries came together for round the clock parties, industry panels, and cutting edge technological demonstrations. Electronica fans and professionals alike attend the conference, now in its 21st year. The DualDisc version of South Beach Sounds is dominated by tracks from some the conference's most electrifying acts. Trance master Steve Porter, house duo Murk, the jarring and intense Australian electronica trio Infusion, and the influential British DJ Pete Tong offer a dizzying sample of what the best performances of the conference were like.
Jason From the Lake: "Not Now"
Jason From The Lake sound like no-fi surf goth and look like Jarvis Cocker stalkers with a restraining order. Subversive drum machine? Check. Spacey drone guitars? Check. Mumblecore vocal delivery? Check. Fantastic melodies and precisely controlled songcraft? Absolutely. Think a big city. Think a small country. Jason From The Lake are named after a horror film and they are horrifyingly good.
Dri has spent her music career lending her vocal and keyboard chops to bands like the much missed first wave emo-band The Anniversary, and Saddle Creek's Art In Manila. Her sultry debut "Smoke Rings" is a collection of kisses (and kiss-offs) blown to past and present loves; a swirl of stoned immediacy with feelings and melodies coming to life in loose perfection. A departure in sound from her previous work "Smoke Rings" is a diverse soulful affair taking influence from the classic sounds of Motown and Stax as well as modern R&B.
Jose Gonzalez: "Down the Line"
With his crystal-clear singing voice and vibrant, classically-inspired playing, Jos? Gonz?lez is one of today’s most remarkable artists – testament to the irrefutable power of one man and a guitar. His debut album 'Veneer' captured his magical sound in its purest state, simply beautiful and beautifully simple. Touching on a remarkable array of influences, from folk to classic pop to a dazzling spectrum of world music, 'Veneer' touched audiences across the globe. Originally released in Sweden on Imperial Recordings in 2003 and on Hidden Agenda in North America in 2005, 'Veneer' was re-issued in the US on Mute Records in 2006. In September 2007 Gonz?lez will release his sophomore album, the highly anticipated 'In Our Nature' (released in the US on Mute). 'In Our Nature' sees Gonz?lez coming into his own as a songwriter – with songs that are as instantly accessible as they are brimming with darkness and brooding intensity.
Motion City Soundtrack: "Everything Is Alright"
The way it works, everyone likes the first record better. You're a music fan, presumably, so you probably understand the idea here that, when placed in historical context, a band's initial statement to the world is often seen as its most lasting. Motion City Soundtrack began in Minneapolis in 1999. Two years ago, they released their first album, I Am The Movie, crawled inside a van for seemingly the end of eternity and shot a video with their friends back home for "The Future Freaks Me Out," a loud and instantly enjoyable anthem that has become such an undeniable apex at the band's live shows that it is no longer sung by singer/guitarist Justin Pierre as much as it is sung back at him. But as ubiquitous as it became, the song perfectly captured Motion City's allure. Irresistible and unhinged, "The Future Freaks Me Out" was a reference point for what was to come with Commit This To Memory, ironic considering they wrote the song in mere hours and it almost didn't even make it onto their debut. "Two weeks before we went in, [guitarist Joshua Cain] played the part and I sang those words and that's what came out," Pierre says now in amazement. "It was completely random. But that's how we work. It's funny when there's talk about how this record could 'make or break us.'" He laughs. "This band has always gone on its gut instinct."
Motion City Soundtrack: "Hold Me Down"
The way it works, everyone likes the first record better. You're a music fan, presumably, so you probably understand the idea here that, when placed in historical context, a band's initial statement to the world is often seen as its most lasting. Motion City Soundtrack began in Minneapolis in 1999. Two years ago, they released their first album, I Am The Movie, crawled inside a van for seemingly the end of eternity and shot a video with their friends back home for "The Future Freaks Me Out," a loud and instantly enjoyable anthem that has become such an undeniable apex at the band's live shows that it is no longer sung by singer/guitarist Justin Pierre as much as it is sung back at him. But as ubiquitous as it became, the song perfectly captured Motion City's allure. Irresistible and unhinged, "The Future Freaks Me Out" was a reference point for what was to come with Commit This To Memory, ironic considering they wrote the song in mere hours and it almost didn't even make it onto their debut. "Two weeks before we went in, [guitarist Joshua Cain] played the part and I sang those words and that's what came out," Pierre says now in amazement. "It was completely random. But that's how we work. It's funny when there's talk about how this record could 'make or break us.'" He laughs. "This band has always gone on its gut instinct." Last year, by way of the unrelenting schedule they kept behind I Am The Movie, the band was asked to join Blink-182 on a tour of Europe and, then, Japan. Somewhere backstage and in between, bassist Mark Hoppus modestly mentioned to the group that he was interested in pursuing production work once Blink took a necessary pause later in the year. Though he didn't know it at the time, Hoppus had just found his first client. "We thought of it almost as a joke,'" Cain recalls. "But on our last day of tour I asked him, point blank, 'Do you want to produce our record?' When he said, "Fuck yeah" I was like, 'Okay... can I get your phone number then?'" Stretching out in Los Angeles later that fall and occasionally propped up by some of their other famous friends, Commit This To Memory finds Motion City the sort of definitive record usually reserved for much later or---to really bring this full circle---slightly earlier in a band's career. "Everything Is Alright," the album's first single (with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stumph and Limbeck's Rob MacLean and Patrick Carrie there in the background), isn't about writing off their past as much as it is putting a fine point to it. With Hoppus' encouragement, Pierre, alongside Cain, bassist Matthew Taylor, moogist Jesse Johnson and drummer Tony Thaxton have begun stepping back from---and outside of---their roles when necessary. "Any time we wanted to take a chance with Mark he would go for it," Cain recalls. "He was so supportive. He would always say, 'Your name is going to be a lot bigger on the front of the record than mine will be on the back.'" The relationship that they developed with Hoppus may have helped hone Motion City's uniquely and cinematic sound of sound but, more importantly, it encouraged them to open the windows and allow themselves room to breathe. The space inevitably allowed Pierre's charismatic personality the room it has long since needed. A former film school student who has always likened himself to a director first, a musician second, and now some fascinating form of the two, is projecting his own life here. Songs like the plaintive, near-ballad "Hold Me Down" and the incredibly candid "Resolution" are among the most personal that he has ever written. "I think I tried to be as honest as possible on this record," he stresses. "I was less inhibited on this one from hiding. In the last two years this was what was going on." While it's true that Commit This To Memory can trace itself incredibly close to Pierre's personal life, with repeated listens it's clearly more the work of five musicians, finding themselves and turning to one another. "We've learned the reality of what we were doing," Cain says humbly. "When we left [I Am The Movie producer] Ed Rose, we left with a record that was better than our band. So we went home and had to become that good." Which is otherwise what they've done. But really, it's also where all these rules about second records and inhuman expectations begin to reverse and turn in on themselves. Motion City should have been trying to outdo themselves this whole time with Commit This To Memory. They found themselves instead. "I really think we've achieved everything we can as human beings playing music," Pierre says with a slight hint of laughter. "Really, we just played in our own city, selling out a show at [First Avenue], which is where we saw all our favorite shows. And that was something that I've wanted to do since I was 14." In a way, Commit This To Memory recalls the lost indie heroes Cain and Pierre spent those formative years in Minneapolis poring over, but there's also a slight irony in the fact that this is the one record that seems destined to lead to their own version of this. "I would love to say that I don't care what people think," Pierre stresses. "But you know, I am like most people. I do hope people like it." Whatever you make of the second Motion City Soundtrack album is now left up to the songs you're currently holding onto. As for us? We couldn't possibly be any prouder.
