Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles 2

The electronic Toronto based brats, Crystal Castles, are back with a new album unfortunately to those that started to hate their diva like antics. Fortunately for those that only paid attention to the destruction in their music and not their stage antics. They’re welcome back with their second self titled new album, Crystal Castles 2. Crystal Castles comes back more focus, as if to make their artist statement, to show they’re here to stay for awhile.
Crystal Castles consist of singer/screamer, Alice Glass, and producer, Ethan Hawke sounding like a never ending game of Mario Brothers mashed with Atari on their first self titled album, Crystal Castles. They became known for their chaotic stage antics and Glass’ temper towards rude males in the audience. They were the bratty darlings of nu-wave electronic house, their music violent but danceable.
Rumor has it that the duo met well both were serving community service, their punishment for their crimes was reading to the blind. After Hawke heard Glass sing in her noise-punk band, Fetus Fatale, he decided that she was the voice he had been looking for his music. He gave Glass 60 tracks to record over and she came back with 5 that became their first EP, Alice Practice. They became involved in two controversies in art and sampling music and it seemed that they were only good for one album. It’s only so much screaming and video game noises one can take. They were screamo music to a group of young people that did not want to push each other around with the help of guitars but heavy bass and beats.
They seemed to had disappeared for awhile and in their replacement heavier but danceable bands such as Salem appeared. Salem hailing from Chicago, Illinois influenced by Southside juke music and chopped and screwed Southern hip hop along with dark gothic like imagery. Lo-fi female vocals, demonic male rhymes and heavy bass beats consisting of members, John Holland, Jack Donoghue and Heather Marlatt. They also became known for their don’t-give-a-fuck attitude towards the media but Crystal Castles returned rejuvenated and slightly pissed that no one missed them, so it was a pleasant surprise when Glass banshee- screamed on their first single, Baptism , as if to say, “you’ll never forget about is again.”
Experimenting with distortion, tight snare drum claps, shoegaze synth on tracks, Empathy, Suffocation and Celestica. Singer, Alice Glass, normal riot girl inspired yelps from Crystal Castles’ first album are only calmed down to become audio-able for the listener to understand what is being said still eerie and distorted, it’s just this time they’re maturely trying to scare the shit out of you. Almost dreamy drug enfused songs Vietnam and Year of Silence.
Crystal Castles 2 shows that Crystal Castles is willing to make leaping over the boundaries of their genre. They collaborated with the Cure, Robert Smith, on track, Not In Love, and a band like this must be taken seriously if a gothic house hold name is singing , ‘Cause it’s cold outside/ When you’re coming home/ ‘Cause it’s hot inside/ Isn’t that enough. They are becoming young household names unfortunately for the haters.

Tv On the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes was avant-garde experimental doo wop band, Tv On the Radio, 2004 debut album and it was indeed a debut of melancholic tangled guitars, heavy loops, Motown soul harmonizing and the birth of a band that could easily straddle becoming mainstream "indie" darlings. Through each track the lyrics are well thought out and beautifully structured from soul wailers, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone even in hidden track "You Could Be Loved"( Emptied on dirty kitchen tables/oh late night, late night/ you could be loved).

Angela's Ashes

Published in 1996 and winning the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, Angela's Ashes, was author, Frank McCourt, most well-known books. He tells of his lovable alcoholic father, worried-ill mother, Irish-Catholic guilt and of the deaths of his younger siblings during the 1930s and 40s. His story is told from the voice of his younger self, Francis (Frank) McCourt, growing up in poverty stricken Limerick City, Ireland. His voice becoming less naive and knowledgeable of the world's hardships as he matures from childhood to young adulthood in this tragic hero memoir of a hard-knock life.

Dancer in the Dark

When avant-garde director, Lars von Trier, cast avant-garde Icelandic pixie singer, Bjork, to star in the musical drama,Dancer in the Dark, they created ,together, one of the best films of 2000. Bjork stars as Selma, a Czech immigrant that moves to the state of Washington in the early 60s. Selma works in a factory to support herself and her son, Gene. She spends her free time performing in the community theatre and going to the picture show to watch her favorite musical though her vision is starting to fade. The more her vision starts to fade, the more surreal and musical the film becomes. Bjork did not only star in the film but she wrote most of the sound track, Selmasongs. When Bjork coos I've seen what I was/I know what I'll be I've seen it all/ there is no more to see, you envision the blur in Selma's eyes.

The Fader

If one wants music, style, art, culture, television and recommendations of blogs then The Fader is for you. The website is an advertisement of sub culture life and how cool it is to be cool. The site is sprawled with advertisements of the latest underground music and independent movies that people should give a listen to as well as playing tribute to alternative veterans (riot grrl queen, Kathleen Hanna was previously interviewed for her documentary). When you click onto the music section you are automatically presented with at least five artist per page and have a free listen to their singles. The style section consist of abstract jewelry, colorful graphic tees as well as tailored suits, basic striped t-shirts and influences from film and music that make people dress the way they do.
Art & Culture is broken down into four sections (interviews,news, video and fader television channel) from gallery spaces to hidden treasure photographs (a picture of a shirtless and chubby Fidel Castro playing ping pong).
In their blog section, Fader offers you other websites to check out and support. Dollars to Pounds is a website that covers music from literally from across the pond for hip Americans that like to say at parties, "Oh you haven't heard of them because they're from Europe and did I mention they're underground?" Around the World With A-Trak is ,also, another favorite of Fader with A-Trak (producer and Kanye West touring Disc Jockey) reviewing hotels and his global excursions.
Fader isn't the website if you want to know what your latest pop tarts are up to but if you want 'good' music by the definition of hip this isn't the website for you either. Fader is simply a website from the alternative of main stream and it gives you a large variety of what one might be into if they like both worlds.

The Aqua

Chicago is known for its' beautiful skyline. The Sears Tower, the John Hancock, the Aon Center and now the "Aqua". Aqua meaning water in spanish is meant to purify and can be used as a representation of birth, new beginnings. One can guess this might have been on the mind of architecter, Jeanne Gang, in 2006.
Four years later the Aqua joined the skyline as the 40th tallest building in the world and is the first skyscraper in Chicago that will contain apartments, retail space and a hotel. The Aqua is the best name to suit the 86-story, 858-foot building because when one looks up from below it favors an exotic waterfall that many mid-westerns have probably never seen before. The balcony curves around the building that gives the illusion of water falling. The design is unique and stands out like a sore thumb from the rest of the buildings in the sky line. The Aqua recieved the Skyscraper of the Year by Emporis, an international building database.

Jason Buhrmester, Black Dogs

The year 1973 was a weird year. The first cell phone was created, there was the Watergate Scandal, and $203,000 was stolen from the rock gods, Led Zeppelin, at the Drake Hotel in New York City. Who could have stolen all that money without anyone knowing?
Former editor of Playboy and current editor of Inked, Jason Buhrmester, have an intriguing answer to the question of who might have stolen the money in his debut novel, Black Dogs. Unlike Adam Rifkin’s film, Detriot Rock City, where the main character ,Lex, (played by actor, Giuseppe Andrews) and his three burnout friends plan to sneak into a Kiss concert in Detroit.
Readers are introduced to nineteen-year-old, Patrick Sullivan, returning to his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland from New York City with the plan to rob Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden. Sullivan proposes his idea to his “black acting” friend, Alex, who has just been released from jail for Patrick’s crime, Frenchy (his musician friend that lives with his hot young mom) and Keith (his tool headed mechanic friend that steals back stereos he installed in rich people’s cars).
What seems like a good idea to Patrick and his band of misfits turns into twist and turns of trying not to get caught. They get involved with the Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang and even the Misty Mountain Hoppers Led Zeppelin Fan Club. If you do not like Led Zeppelin or have any knowledge of the band prior to reading Black Dogs, this is not the book for you. If you like a good heist book with grit and a Reservoir Dog appeal than you’ll love it.
Patrick is a huge Zeppelin fan. It seems that no one understands his connection with the band and though it is not explain throughout the book why he loves them so much, readers can connect with being young and loving music.
There are a lot of great rock mysteries that will never be solved. Did Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, really kill himself, what really happened between Nancy and Sid Vicious in the Chelsea Hotel that night? Buhrmester intrigues the reader with this answer and you might believe it after reading Black Dogs.

Lipstick & Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling

Who would have thought that the old women that power walk in the malls around America could have been women wrestlers. Well they were in the 1940s and 50s. Lipstick & Dynamite,Piss and Vinegar:The First Ladies of Wrestling, a documented film by Leah Leitman, that follow veteran female wrestlers to explain the history of its beginnings. Money hungry, over confident The Fabulous Moolah is one of the many shining stars in this bitter sweet documentary of hard working women. Lipstick & Dynamite is a good movie for a night of procrastination and still wanting to learn of unknown American history.

At The Drive-In "This Station is Non-Operational"

Angry suburban teens around the USA were into At The Drive-In. Not quite screamo or emo with influences from The Smiths and Black Flagg there's was nothing in the late 90s to compare them to.
When there is nothing to do in a small town like El Paso, Texas were ATDI was based respectfully before they disbanded and went on to create other successful bands (The Mars Volta and Sparta) one can see why they're angry. Teenagers are naturally angry because NO ONE understands or at least this is what one would be led to believe after listening to This Station is Non-Operational. Loud and fast paced. Singer/screamer, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, wails about things that no longer seem that important. The only time there seems to be true sadness of a man that has lived an actual hard life is when they cover The Smiths "This Night has Opened My Eyes" were Zavala coos , "You did a bad thing and I'm not happy and I'm not sad." When one listen to This Station is Non-Operational on a nostalgic binge they will feel the same way.

Toro y Moi - Causers Of This

When one comes from South Carolina, well-known for its hot, humid summers and beautiful beaches, it's easy to see why musician Chazwick Bundick ,who goes by the stage name Toro y Moi, would create chill-wave music.
Unfortunately Bundick released his LP, Causers of This, in January 2010. Maybe Bundick decided to release his LP in winter to get listeners prepared for the beautiful summer ahead or maybe he didn’t but the breeziness of Causers of This anticipates for late nights with friends, summer romances, abrupt break ups, and being young during a hot summer.
Like the first day of summer, Bundick’s first song “Blessa” welcomes the listener in with airy vocals and guitar beautifully intertwining with electronica. Bundick must have been sashaying during the process of Causers of This like he does infamously on stage because by the third track, Imprint After, he brings in one of his biggest inspirations, 80s pop music, with tenor vocals and texturized synthesizers. “You Hid” is the slow jam where he takes his sad lyrics, with his pop melodies and mellowed instrumentals while he howls to the girl of his dreams, You might as well waste your time with me/if you're gonna be here. By the next and second to last song, “Low Shoulder” Bundick picks up the beat from a sad romantic to a romantic that has a girl! His last song ,also titled Causer of This, ends like an elaborate end of summer dance party with a bass lines that comes in at the right time to give you a break from clapping your hands to let you bob your head. Through Causers of This, Bundick lets you know that he is the product of the 80s and there is no shame because he’s preparing you for the summer of a lifetime.