Bell X1

Bell X1 are an Irish rock band, which once featured Damien Rice. Rice left the group in its infant stages, but since his departure the band has gone on to release three critically-acclaimed albums. Their most recent Flock is the first to be made available here in the States. I had the pleasure of reviewing for WVFI and highly enjoyed it. Bell X1’s sound is not easily described, but I venture if you put Radiohead minus the computer/binary craziness and a more fun Coldplay in a blender, you’d get something pretty close. Think modern pop-rock with a soothing atmospheric texture accompanied by lyrics that amuse and amaze.

Some recommended tracks are: “Rocky Took a Lover”, “Eve, the Apple of my Eye” (video above), “Bigger than Me” and “Just Like Mr. Benn.”

For more about Bell X1 head to their myspace.

The Jesus & Mary Chain Stay Together

After a reunion performance at Coachella, the Jesus and Mary Chain are now back together recording a new album, their first since 1998’s Munki. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked to read this but I guess 2007 is the year of the reunion so why not make an album while they’re at it. The most pressing concern regarding this matter though is whether Scarlett Johansson will guest on the album.

Check out the full story with comments from William Reid here.

American Gangster

Thanksgiving evening i went with friends and my brother to see American Gangster. I’m not blogging to review the film, although i certainly recommend it. Instead though, i’m blogging to point out something spectacular in the movie.

In the movie, the character Moses Jones (played by the RZA a/k/a Prince Rakeem a/k/a Bobby Digital) sports a prominently featured Wu-Tang Clan tattoo on his left arm. Now some people, including imdb, cite this as a minor mistake in the film. However, true fans of the Wu will tell you that this need not be a mistake simply because the movie was set in the 60s… as the Shaolin, Wu Tang, and Supreme Mathematics (the founding principles of the Clan) have all existed since at least the 15th Century in the Chinese Dynasty if not the beginning of time.

So was it a goof by the editing folks? Perhaps. But it’s just as feasible that the RZA convinced the editors that the Wu is eternal and therefore it was left in.

Ready for some Christmas music?

Well, here is your first offering from Las Vegas’ The Killers. Check out their new video for the song “Don’t Shoot Me Santa”

the day the music (read: post-hardcore/post-punk/thrash) died

experimental, post-hardcore group the blood brothers have announced that they are breaking up. this is bad news for fans of their music, but good news for mothers of the world as the blood brothers are no longer coming for your children.

New Releases – 11.06.07

Here are some albums hitting the shelves tomorrow that might interest you:

Angels and Airwave – I-Empire
Demon Hunter – Storm the Gates of Hell
Jay-Z – American Gangster (this is indeed related the upcoming film of the same name)
Operation Ivy – Operation Ivy (remastered)
Plain White T’s – Stop
Sigur Ros – Hvarf/Heim

Of the above, I have heard the Sigur Ros album thus far (as I have the pleasure of reviewing it for WVFI). I recommend it if you’re a fan of the Icelandic group. A nice collection of hard to find material plus acoustic versions of material from their previous studio albums. A detailed review of the album will hopefully grace this webpage within the next few days. *fingers crossed*

Christmas shopping yet?

Well if you are and you’re shopping for someone like our humble co-editor c-wod, here’s a potential gift idea: Radiohead will be re-releasing their first seven LPs in a collector box set. The set, which will be released December 10, will contain the six studio albums spanning from Pablo Honey to Hail to the Thief plus the live disc I Might Be Wrong. Not included though is this year’s In Rainbows which is still available for digital download or in the spiffy discbox (which will only cost you something like $82 provided the exchange rate with the pound holds, which it won’t).

There are various formats of this box set available too.  There’s the standard seven disc set. Or there will be an online download available (I doubt you’ll get to name your price this time though). Additionally, you can purchase the collector’s set in the format of a USB drive.

If your friends just aren’t that in to Radiohead.. I guess you could get them something else. I hear the kids are digging that World of Warcraft game lately.. oh wait, that’s just me. Oh well, time to go level my undead priest.

The weather’s getting colder… but the water’s getting warmer

Former Gainsville rockers Hot Water Music have confirmed that they will be playing a few shows next year to celebrate the release of their singles and b-sides collection Till the Wheels Fall Off. At this time the band says that they are not sure how many shows they will be playing or what material they will be playing, but they have provided the following three dates for which shows are confirmed:

Jan. 19: Orlando, FL
Jan. 25: Sayerville, NJ
Feb. 2: Chicago, IL

Hopefully more dates will be scheduled, but I for one am satisfied because there is a Chicago show. More info at MINDset as it’s made available.

Decemberists cancel tour

noted library rockers, the decemberists, have canceled the rest of their “the long and short of it” tour citing illness. this is quite unfortunate as it was quite a tour. each city had back-to-back nights booked with one show devoted to their longer pieces and another dedicated to their shorter, more poppy songs. i for one would have love to have seen the long of it as i’d like to see “the crane wife 1 and 2″ in its entirety live.

as of this entry they have not announced plans to reschedule, but here’s hoping they do.

so apparently we do miss the 90s…

well, it appears that britney’s new album Blackout sold 124,000 copies its first day on the shelves and is projected to sell roughly 330,000 copies in its first week of release. this is certainly no 957,000 copies like Kanye’s Graduation, nor is it anywhere near Oops! I Did It Again’s 1.3 million copies in week one. but i guess it’s still a pretty good sales total considering that her own friends were urging people not to buy it.

this is semi-impressive too given that britney has done zero promotion for the album (save that trainwreck of a VMAs performance). Apparently Jive has zero faith in her being able to promote this record, so they’re handling promotion and leaving britney out of it. She doesn’t seem to mind, as she told ryan seacrest on KIIS-FM that she spent the release day eating fried chicken and watching movies. I guess that’s cool. Listen to the audio clip here.