Journey - "Seperate Ways"

This is an old post but I forgot how funny this is:

My friend Michael and I were discussing the sheer genius behind ESPN Page 2 writer Bill Simmons' take on Journey's "Seperate Ways" video:

• "29. Journey - Seperate Ways: A recipe for bliss: Take one of the cheesiest-yet-enjoyable bands of that era (Journey), bring them to an empty shipyard, have them play invisible instruments and lip-synch the hell out of their best song, throw in some ridiculous slow-motion closeups and multi-picture edits, and have a hot girl with a bad haircut walking around for no reason whatsoever. And if that's not enough, lead singer Steve Perry gives one of the greatest performances of the last 35 years -- he throws himself into this thing like DeNiro or Pacino. It's incredible. Everything about this slays me. If somebody gave me five minutes to sum up the '80s, I would just show them this video and be done with it."
  

You Tube disabled the embedding function so you can find the video here and Bill Simmons' entire article can be found here.

Album Quick Hits (The Antlers, Swan Lake and Handsome Furs)

I have to admit that my blogging has been a bit lazy of late but that does not mean that my appetite for new music has been subdued. Currently here are some quality releases that I would whole heartedly recommend in this almost 5 months into 2009. EDIT: Mp3's are up now.

The Antlers - Hospice

The Antlers are new to me but this album is so hauntingly beautiful and bitter sweet that I just cannot get enough of it. My initial impressions of the album were that it had quality tracks in "Kettering", "Two" and "Bear" but that as an album on the whole it was lacking. However, these initial impressions were quelled this weekend when I gave the entire album a more careful listen and could not have been more wrong as it is beautiful in its entirety. The honesty and emotion conveyed in Hospice can only be described as 'real' (sorry but I'm not going to the thesaurus here). At the present, Hospice is my front runner for album of the year but I beat Mr. Krug has something to say about that this summer. -(9/10)

The Antlers - "Kettering"
The Antlers - "Two"

Swan Lake - Enemy Mine

Speaking of Mr. Krug, he has teamed up with indie greats Dan Bejar and Carey Mercer for another installment of Swan Lake or as I will refer to them as the Band That Doesn't Tour (imagne this with announcer voice, tons of reverb and echoes). In all seriousness though I was not expecting much out of this album as I had never embraced Swan Lake's Beast Moans. Don't get me wrong as I believe Beast Moans had moments of brilliance but for the most part I could not get into Mercer's offerings. Well Mr. Mercer slapped me in the face with awesomeness in Enemy Mine as "Spanish Gold 2044" and "Warlock Psychologist" have blown me away. I still need to give Beast Moans a few more spins as maybe a fresh perspective will change my mind. In other news, Spencer Krug is brilliant here too... -(8.5/10)

Swan Lake - "Spanish Gold 2044"
Swan Lake - "Paper Lace"

Handsome Furs - Face Control

A familiar band around The Ego Handsome Furs were honored with having one of My Favorite Albums of 2007 and their latest offering Face Control does not change up their winning formula much from Plague Park. There are awesome songs such as "All We Want Baby is Everything", "Thy Will Be Done" and "Radio Kaliningrad" but on the whole the album just doesn't grab me like Plague Park did. Maybe some more time with the album will change my opinion but after such great offerings by Dan Boeckner in Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer I felt kind of disappointed with Face Control's inability to carry that momentum. I really think that Boeckner's music would be better served with a real drummer and not a drum machine... -(7/10)

Handsome Furs - "All We Want Baby Is Everything"
Handsome Furs - "Radio Kaliningrad"

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart" (Dragonslayer Version)

When I have trouble sleeping there is often frustration coupled with despair, but things have taken a great turn this sleepless morning. I was visiting one of my favorite music/whatever Bill is into blogs Vague Space and low and behold Bill has posted an album version of Sunset Rubdown's "Idiot Heart". Most Sunset Rubdown fans are familiar with the Daytrotter version of the song and while this album version carries many similarities it has a new personality out of Sunset Rubdown for the studio effort. Waking up at 4am when you were planning on sleeping until 7am sucks but it must be the hands of the indie gods that guided me to the awesomeness that is "Idiot Heart". Enjoy!

Sunset Rubdown - "Idiot Heart"

Billy Bob Thornton is a Prima Donna Douche

I saw ZZ Top and Billy Bob Thornton's band The Boxmasters at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, Texas. I left the concert blown away by Billy Gibbons and company but was whether underwhelmed by the Boxmasters. Well, Billy Bob Thorton must not have had his morning cup of joe and decided to take out his frustrations on the interviewer. I think the interviewer did a great job in handling the brat and Billy Bob's pompous attitude makes me never want to support the jerk off again... DOUCHE!

NOTE: The video starts to pick up around the 7 minute mark.