<$BlogDescription$>

My Top 10 CDs of 2002

powered by FreeFind

 

Village Voice article on the rise of Indians in the media.   Link courtesy of anil dash.   Some interesting info on there like the misrepresentation most of the media gives to Indians, Mira Nair venture into family sitcom for ABC Family, and Raje Shwari - a new Timberland protégé (featured on this week's Bobby Friction and Nihal Radio 1 show.)  Unfortunately no mention of my favorite Indian-American actor (Kal Penn), who usually plays stereotypical roles, but is still funny as hell.

posted by Fawaz at 11:01 AM

 

First Clay now Ruben.  OK many of us have known this for a while now, but I just have to restate it ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE SUCKS!

posted by Fawaz at 9:54 AM

 

My cousin, who is taking the NY Bar exam as I write this, gave me a heads up on some sweet new Stussy t-shirts from their Customade line.   It's been years since I looked into Stussy, it's probably been since college (yeah that long ago) since I sprang for some new Stussy gear.   I used to rock my green Stussy-logo baseball hat all around campus, and I even still sport a red Irie-Tribe 'T that I think has '91 printed somewhere on it.   (OK from that fact you know they make quality stuff and their designs are dope as hell.)   Well their new ones really are dope - bringing back some of the classic eras of hip-hop's golden ages.   Similar to the ones I have here there is a '88 Vapors and '94 Hypnotize (OK that last one is questionable)    The Cream and Scenario shirt are classics, but the Humpty nose and sunglasses is my favorite.   Check the site and see for yourself.

 

posted by Fawaz at 11:08 AM

 

Finally more and more info is trickling out about the new Free*land (or Freeland) CD from Nu-Breaks DJ extraordinaire Adam Freeland.    OK he has been playing the first (excellent) single 'We Want Your Soul' for the better part of a year now in his live and radio mixes, but now it really seems to be blowing up everywhere (England that is.)   It's been played to death on Annie Nightingales show, but now Zane (and I think Zoe Ball) have named it 'single of the week'.   Other tracks have leaked out recently on other Radio 1 shows.   One World had the excellent 'Mindkiller' on a couple weeks ago and "Big Wednesday' was released on the Animatrix soundtrack, but really since the live stuff Freeland did on Lamacq's show and the live showcase on One World, but  for people who have not been able to experience the (from what I've heard amazing) live show, we have not really heard much else.    And then finally... the excellent Marine Parade site has been updated.   Info on the video for 'We Want Your Soul' and the album are up.   The single is release on September 1 and the CD 'Now & Them' is coming out soon after on September 25th.   Then I come across a couple ebay listings for the promos of the CD and the Single.   Both with tracklistings and cover art.    I doubt that I'll win the auction for either of these items, but I hope that none of you outbid me.    I can't wait to buy and hear the new CD.  I expect big this from Freeland based on the excellent stuff that Adam has put out before in forms of remixes, mix cds, live mixes, radio mixes and on his magnificent label, Marine Parade.   I urge people interested to check out the label site and download some of the amazing mixes available as mp3s from not just Adam, but label-mates ILS and Evil Nine who also have new stuff coming out soon.   Hopefully the video will be up there soon as well as the amazing Essential Mix that Adam did in May that was should have been up on the site by now.  Make sure to check it out.

Freeland - Now & Them

1. WE WANT YOUR SOUL.
2. MIND KILLER.
3. BURN THE CLOCK.
4. BIG WEDNESDAY.
5. HEEL ‘N’ TOE.
6. PHYSICAL WORLD.
7. SUPERNATURAL THING.
8. REALITY 3~D.
9. L.I.F.E.
10. NOWISM.

 

 

Freeland - We Want Your Soul

1. RADIO EDIT.
2. PRODUCT 01 REMIX.
3. INFUSION REMIX.
4. ED RUSH AND OPTICAL REMIX.

posted by Fawaz at 10:55 AM

 

Damon agrees with me about "Crazy Beat."

posted by Fawaz at 11:17 AM

 

Although this is kind of old news now I thought this picture was pretty funny.

Other cool news is that the creator of the excellent blog themodernage got published in NME.com (info courtesy of whatevs)

 

 

In strange celebrity news: (courtesy of imdb)
British star Kate Beckinsale has pulled out of several promotional interviews for her new movie Underworld - fearing questions about her relationship with the film's director Len Wiseman. Brunette Beckinsale left her partner - and father of daughter Lily - Michael Sheen in January for Wiseman, and the pair are now engaged. And the Pearl Harbor star also canceled a high-profile Maxim cover shoot, reportedly embarrassing her publicist Lisa Kasteler so much she sent flowers to apologize to the magazine's West Coast editor Claudia Nicolayevsky. Kasteler has now parted company with Beckinsale.
Damn, that Maxim issue would have been nice.

 

posted by Fawaz at 10:59 AM

 

Here's a nice promotional site from what must me some kind of promotion or management company. Check out the Big Hassle. You can read bio's and download high-res promo pics of Badly Drawn Boy, Kings of Leon, BRMC, the Strokes, Rooney, Radio 4, and many many others.

Dark Horizons has some news about the new alternate ending of 28 Days Later being shown after the credits roll of the movie.

"28 Days Later: US fans of the currently playing Danny Boyle zombie flick may have new reason to head back into theatres. Here's the latest news from 'Sax Russell the Green': "On Wednesday I received an email from Fox announcing that 28 days after the release of 28 Days Later they would be releasing an extra reel to be attached to the film. For those lucky viewers who sat through the regular film as well as the credits would see a simple title card appear after the credits end. The card will read "What if...?" and then an alternate ending to the film will play. It runs for a little over four minutes and will be a much darker ending than the original". Thanks also to "SWERJ' & 'Ovi'"

Good thing I haven't seen it yet.

Mediaeater has some nice images from some Robot exhibit in NYC.

posted by Fawaz at 3:49 PM

 

New official South site to coincide with the upcoming release of their new CD "With the Tides"   Check it out since you can hear the excellent new single "Loosen Your Hold."  the CD is going to be released at the end of August.  From the sound of the single and from talk on the livebetweenthelines message board it sounds as if they have dropped the Lavelle influence.

posted by Fawaz at 1:27 PM

 
More on the crazy hype about the Kings: 2003.07.11 Astoria Show Review and the KOL EPK
I love how the NME gets behind fresh young bands and then acts like they are the greatest thing in the world.

posted by Fawaz at 10:43 AM

 
OK, I am seriously pissed. My family and I moved from the 'burbs of Chicago to Kalamazoo, MI last summer for job reasons. I am seriously missing living near a city that has good concerts. Of course when living near Chicago I never took full advantage of all the shows there, I could never attend as many shows as the NYC blogger crew does (see themodernage and braquage for examples) but I did see my fair share of excellent shows. Of course now living in the middle of nowhere (not really but it feels like it) I constantly see listing of bands that I love or bands that I am discovering coming to places like the Metro, Abbey Pub, or Double Door. I really wanted to see the Coral earlier this year, I really liked their Zappa-ess debut CD and know I am really loving the new single 'Pass it On'. So just now I was looking up some stuff on them when I can across a review of the show I wanted to attend and would have if I lived near Chicago. Kings of Leon + The Coral - PopMatters Concert Review So not only did I miss the Coral, but I missed seeing what I think will be the hottest new band this year. I already missed the Strokes opening for Doves at this small venue two years ago. Oh well. At least I got to see my hero Richard Ashcroft there.

posted by Fawaz at 3:35 PM

 

Some really cool Coldplay stuff on Radio 1 this week.   First of all Steve Lamacq has a nice half-hour documentary titled: The Ticking Of Clocks: Coldplay In America, there is an uncut interview with Chris Martin from which sound-bites make up some of the doc.   And lastly there is Lamacq Live from Monday where part of Coldplay's set from this past weekend show at the T in the Park Festival up in Scotland.   New Coldplay song 'Moses' is included.    Some interesting stuff in the doc and interview, The talk about how great the Hollywood Bowl shows were and which celebs showed up, Chris kind of addresses him and his 'high-profile' girl friend, Chris talks about the new songs and how they aren't going to be playing anymore since the ones they have played all get out on the internet instantly and they want to save the really good ones until later.  (can't wait for the new album.)    But one thing I found puzzling is that Chris mentions how even though they play the game of kiss-ass with radio stations they haven't sold out by doing adverts.    If they haven't done adverts who exactly is the band playing over a ton of HBO spots.   'Yellow' was pretty prominent in a ABC networks promos advertising their show line-up a couple years ago and now 'Clocks' is featured in the trailer for 'Peter Pan'.   Maybe the band don't know about this. (I read in this review on a St. Louis show from the excellent looking hotandcoldplay : 
   "Once inside, the conversation goes back to American television and I tell them that I've just gotten a call (from my son) to tell me that that night's episode of "Alias" featured one of their songs ("God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.") They had no idea. So I tell them that last week's "ER" featured their song "Clocks". They say they never know when a television show will use their music."
Or maybe like A-list US celebs hawking stuff in Japan they don't consider adds outside of the UK and adverts.   Anyway I think hearing Coldplay songs so much on TV tied to some promotion of some show or movie cheapens their music and I really hope they stop soon.

You can't hear the Coldplay set on the archived Lamacq Live show, but you can check out live songs from Kings of Leon, the Charlatans, and the crappy Darkness.

The excellent picture below can be viewed along with a ton of other excellent shots from the Coldplay show at Red Rocks (played 20 years to the day as U2's legendary show) on this page from this site: the Scientist.

posted by Fawaz at 10:48 AM

 

Could a band like this be the kings (of leon) of cool rock in 2003.   Looks like with the buzz building in the UK (and of course in NME) that they will be.  The NME review stated that their new CD 'Youth and Manhood' is the best debut since 'Is This It?'      I do agree some songs are great rockers, not sure if I really like the CD, but it took me a couple months to like the Strokes, after I got over how retro they sounded.     Just like the Strokes they sound retro although taking a different musical style as a source (Southern rock instead of NYC new-wave garage) and just like the Strokes they have the right UK pop icons going to their shows.   Unlike most bands the NME hypes I agree that they will become popular.   Check 'em out on left cost Lolla' shows.

posted by Fawaz at 4:28 PM

 
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Reason #1 We have a new beautiful baby daughter. Reason #2 A complete lack of sleep.


I am listening to the new UNKLE CD right now, it's pretty good, and I'm sure it's a grower. Check out this Mixmag cover article in full
posted by Fawaz at 12:45 PM

 

So Glasto 2003 is over, looks and sounds like it was a great success.   Looks spectators didn't see a lot of rumors pan out like a live acoustic set by festival go-er Noel Gallagher, a performance by Paul McCartney, or Wayne from the Flaming Lips singing his song with the Chemical Brothers, people did get to see Bez jump on stage during the Rapture's performance of 'House of Jealous Lovers'.    At first I thought that it was strange then I recalled how the new Punk/Rock//Dance scene and how it happened years ago with bands like the Stone Roses and of course the Mondays.   The 22-20's and Kings of Leon got the best star turnouts with Travis, Doves, and Primal Scream turning out for the Kings and the always gorgeous Kate Moss the 22-20's.  Radiohead, Doves, Super Furries, etc, etc seem to have played excellent sets.  I am going to forget my dreams of Coachella and concentrate on getting to Glasto soon.

Also NME has an funny Glastonbury survey.   How about a survey for people who only experienced this years glasto from updates on NME, dotmusic and listening to Radio 1.

NME.com is accepting votes on which poster to include in the July 12th issue.  Some of them are pretty cool.  But 3 Har Mar shots, please no more.

posted by Fawaz at 3:05 PM