Category Archives: Entertainment

CD Review: Raditude [Deluxe Edition]

Band: Weezer
Label: Geffen Records
Release: November 3, 2009

1. “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”8.9
2. “I’m Your Daddy” – 8.0
3. “Run Over By A Truck” – 7.8
4. “The Girl Got Hot” – 7.5
5. “The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World” – 7.9
6. “Can’t Stop Partying” – 4.4
7. “The Underdogs” – 5.5
8. “Put Me Back Together” – 6.4
9. “Tripping Down The Freeway” – 7.3
10. “Love Is The Answer” – 7.7
11. “Let It All Hang Out” – 6.5
12. “In The Mall” – 6.1
13. “I Don’t Want To Let You Go” – 5.8
14. “Turn Me Around” – 6.2

Background: Weezah! Okay I’ve spent maybe 30 minutes total in my lifetime listening to these guys. I think”Undone” is pretty sweet as well as “Say It Ain’t So” and maybe their cover of “Velouria” too. I do remember listening to their 2008 release a little bit. Pretty average from what I remember.

The Real Deal:
Not going to joke around here, I was hoping this album would be worse than Bonnie “Prince Billy’s Beware. That was effectively the worst album I’ve heard all year.  This album starts off pretty great, I’m not going to lie. “I Want You To” is a nice upbeat pop number. But then… “I Can’t Stop Partying” is just dumb. It’s like “I Gotta Feeling” except even more pathetic. Besides maybe three songs maximum (that sound similar to something out of the Louis XIV catalog), I get a sense that Weezer is just dabbling in a plethora of rock genres. It seems like they recorded a bunch of intrinsically different songs and simply slapped them on here. So yeah, this is the worst album that I’ve reviewed all year. Got anything worse?

Final Grade: 6.9

The Best of Me + You

Gotta remind myself that this might be worth the $5:

The Best of Me + You Vol. 1 compiles over 30 exclusive interviews and songs recorded at the Viva Radio’s Brooklyn studios between 2007 and 2009 for the station’s signature original program. Hosted by the inimitable Tedward, Me + You gives listeners an intimate and often whimsical look at artists that both shy from the spotlight and swarm to it like white on rice.

The Best of Me + You features interviews and songs from true-blooded American rock singer & composer Andrew W.K., French electronic minimalist / sex enthusiast Sebastien Tellier, DIG darlings The Dandy Warhols, brother-sister concept artists The Fiery Furnaces, drone and ambient duo Growing, Memphis rock n’ roller Jay Reatard, Columbus Ohio low fi purveyors Times New Viking, legendary punk pioneers The Homosexuals, new school punk torch bearers The Black Lips, Brooklyn frenzied instrumentalists Fiasco, and many many more!

The digital compilation comes with a beautiful 32 page zine documenting the behind-the-scenes hijinx with pictures and insider anecdotes. The compilation is available with purchase of the limited edition Me + You t-shirt or separately for the nice price of $5.00. Pick up your copy today!

CD Review: Tarot Sport

CDReview

Band: Fuck Buttons
Release: October 14, 2009
Label: ATP Recordings

1. “Surf Solar” – 8.8
2. “Rough Steez” – 8.6
3. “The Lisbon Maru”‘ – 8.1
4. “Olympians” – 9.2
5. “Phantom Limb” – 8.2
6. “Space Mountain” – 8.9
7. “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” – 9.2

Comments: The only thing I know about Fuck Buttons is their song “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” consistently scares me. It’s strangely amazing and epic, because of a roaring synth that’s echoed to 20 on a scale of 1-10. If you can actually bare to listen to a song of the 9 minute, 41 second variety, I congratulate you, my friend. Because that roaring synth turns into a variety of synths and stuff before screaming voices come in. I’d call it noise rock, but this shit’s child’s play compared to the likes of Lightning Bolt, etc. “Sweet Love…” is the kind of song that you might listen to on occasion just to get an ear on the roaring echo-synth. Other than that, it doesn’t really do much. Enough rambling about a song that came out in ’08. This album takes up almost a 1/10 a gig and is nearly an hour long. I’m going to admit that I made some judgments without listening to the whole of all songs. Sorry. I bet the likes of Pitch-dork did too. K so this album is pretty good. Lots of good sound effects. If that’s what you like in music, then this shit is totally awesome. For me, I find it kind of exciting, yet anti-climatic just because of the length. I only see slight value in listening to this music on (A) long plane flights (B) long car rides (C) raves. That’s all. Hell, I’m pretty damn sure Fuck Buttons even sampled “My Girls” by Animal Collective on “Space Mountain.” Maybe. They even knocked off “Brother Sport” by naming this thang “Tarot Sport.”

Grade: 8.7