Monthly Archives: August 2008

The best soundtrack EVAR!

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I needed to do that dumb intentional misspelling. Just to be oddly poignant. Because let’s be honest, spelling words “EVAR” of “TEH FUNNAY” could be one of the dumbest things ever. If you do it? You should be locked up in a room with Robert Downey, Jr., and have a bag of coke thrown on you. Good luck surviving that.

But that’s a total sidetrack. Here I just wanted to discuss the best soundtrack ever. No, it doesn’t feature anything by Bette Midler. I know you’re disappointed. In all honesty, if you’re a fan of Bette Midler, I’d have to question your overall character. Hey, to each their own, I guess. Sorry. The sarcasm is flowing like PBR off tap into my mouth today.


So for the honors of best soundtrack? No offense to Trainspotting‘s wonderful soundtrack, but this flick holds it down. Which movie? Why, it’s one of the more underrated ones, in my opinion. Judgment Night features Denis Leary and his band of merry thugsters. They chase Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Jeremy Piven through the rough streets of a full on ghetto and it makes for a pretty good flick.

The best part is the soundtrack. It features hip-hop artists – circa 1993 – with alt-rock and metal bands. The listing of tracks is as follows:

1. Just Another Victim – Helmet/House Of Pain
2. Fallin’ – Teenage Fanclub/ De La Soul
3. Me, Myself & My Microphone – Living Colour/Run D.M.C.
4. Judgment Night – Biohazard/Onyx
5. Disorder – Slayer/Ice-T
6. Another Body Murdered – Faith No More/Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
7. I Love You Mary Jane – Sonic Youth/Cypress Hill
8. Freak Momma – Mudhoney/Sir Mix-A-Lot
9. Missing Link – Dinoasur Jr./Del Tha Funky Homosapien
10. Come And Die – Therapy?/Fatal
11. Real Thing – Pearl Jam/Cypress Hill

So now I guess I should give you the best part – the music! So here are two tracks from the movie. “Disorder” – by Ice-T and Slayer – is one incredibly angry tune! But if this doesn’t make you get fired up and breaking stuff, then you need a therapist. Because all of that pent up anger inside just does you no good. For real. The other one I’ve chosen is on the other side of the emotional spectrum. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien is part of the Hieroglyphics crew. It consists of other hip-hop artists from the Bay Area such as Souls of Mischief and Casual. He’s teamed up here with Lou Barlow’s Dinosaur, Jr. for a really mellow jam called “Missing Link”. Well, in comparison to “Disorder”, that is.

And again, please buy it if you like it! In this case, either the movie or soundtrack will do. They’re both worth it!

she matters when everything is meaningless

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It was FATE; it had to be. I was stressing about a topic to write about for inALLcaps.com, and struggling with writer’s block. It was then that I turned on the TV and caught the last half of the movie Natural Born Killers.

I have watched this movie hundreds of times. I even wrote a thesis on Natural Born Killers in college. The epiphany came at the end of the movie: The reminder that Trent Reznor had produced the soundtrack to this excellent movie. FATE! I knew then that I had my idea!

For almost a decade I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that “The Fragile” was the best album ever put out by Nine Inch Nails. This was an epic album but it got shit on by just about everyone. “The Fragile” never got the respect it deserved.

It was the kind of album that, when the volume was cranked you could lie in bed with your eyes closed and imagine it as the brilliant soundtrack to an even better movie. This movie might have everything you would want in cinema: drugs, sex, violence, and maybe something redeeming for the twisted main character. At least that’s what happens in my version.

Let’s stop here; this post won’t be about that old ass album. (But really…if you don’t own it…buy it ASAP)

This post is about HALO 26, otherwise known as Ghosts I – IV. 4 CDs – 36 tracks.

Reminiscent of “The Fragile”, yet “Ghosts” is a completely instrumental album. The packaging and artwork on this album is amazing, just like most NIN albums of recent release. But this whole piece of work is very different then anything Nails has put out thus yet.

So let me get you started with a tune from Ghosts:

[Download Track 29]
This track is more upbeat than much of the rest of the album, chosen in order to pique your interest.

Trent Reznor explains, “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective – dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference.”

It’s this soundtrack concept that I love. I like the fact that I can just get lost in the music. Maybe even better than “The Fragile” is the lack of lyrics to get in the way. I wanna just let my mind wander.

I want to remind you that this not the industrial rock that you would expect from Trent. This is, as Reznor has explained on his website for the album, an unexpected surprise from experimentation. 10 weeks with no agenda and driven by impulse.

Trent elaborates:

We began improvising and let the music decide the direction. Eyes were closed, hands played instruments and it began. Within a matter of days it became clear we were on to something, and a lot of material began appearing. What we thought could be a five song EP became much more. I invited some friends over to join in and we all enjoyed the process of collaborating on this.

The album was initially released digitally on the Nine Inch Nails official website without any prior advertisement or promotion. They even created their own torrent to distribute 9 tracks from the album. Actually, check out this from a text file inside the official torrent:

Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label, we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them.

[Download Track 7]
I want to stress again…this is not about one great track. Much like a concept album I feel like it needs to be listened to from beginning to end. You don’t have to…but just do as I say, you’ll be happier in the end. /smirk

Trent is my hero. If you had a NIN sticker on your car I instantly think you are probably someone I would like to hang out with. Check out this album, however you get your hands on it. Then comment here. I want to know what you think about this album. Truly. Let’s become friends.

This is where I would normally put the Amazon referral links here so you can buy the album and we can hope to make 10% commish. Put the best deal for this album is direct from Trent: ghosts.nin.com $5 gets you the album in digital form. Tough to pass on that right? You spend more than that on a coffee in the morning…

If they catch us, and dispatch us to our separate work camps…

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I’ll dream about you… I will not doubt you…

It’s possible you’ve heard of the band Say Anything by now. Their release “Alive With the Glory of Love” enjoyed some decent circulation on TV Shows and throughout video channels, such as FuseTV. “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” was an instant teenage sensation since it repeated the thrillingly provocative “called her on the phone and she touched herself” line, not to mention an appearance by Henry Winkler in the video. If you missed these, maybe you heard “Baby Girl, I’m A Blur” which did receive national airplay.
Here is one of my favorite tracks from their first major abum, “…Is A Real Boy”. Check out “I Want To Know Your Plans”:

“You don’t think I’d say those words to you today?”

This blog is being written because I want you to meet the Say Anything from before “…Is A Real Boy” or “In Defense of the Genre”. You see, the band as a whole and their songs are very special to me and I am missing someone quite a bit right now. The day this blog goes live will hopefully be the day I get to see that person again. The way we had to go about discovering the band, tracking down early recordings, and what we went through to finally see them live makes it all the more important.

As I write this blog I am listening to some of these old tracks, and this is what I hear:
It’s always been for you
I sing every song for you
And every single day I’m falling down
I never want to say you’re mine “right now”
A tear rolls down your cheek, it hits the ground
I’m falling down

Max Bemis is the lead singer and songwriter of the band. He began penning tunes after a bad breakup in the year 2000, and fortunately for us, at least a hundred (and counting) articulately written songs about love, loss, society, school, the music scene, and hypocrisy followed.

Unfortunately, Bemis’ past decade has been full of ups and downs related to his mental disorder. At least one tour has been cancelled as a result of his paranoid delusions, quite possibly stemming from his decision to replace prescribed meds for Bipolar Disorder with illegal drugs. But a string of successful tours (currently on Warped Tour) and recordings have followed those harrowing times and Bemis and Co. are working on not only recording another Say Anything album, but several side projects with well-known industry pals as well.

It’s still difficult to find these earlier recordings on standard music purchase sites. But there is plenty to find on P2P sites. I suggest you check it out… Or purchase their new albums below.

On the EP “Menora/Majora” in 2002, Say Anything recorded one of my favorite tracks, and one that thankful fans were overjoyed to hear played live on the last tour. Please enjoy “A Walk Through Hell”:

Even earlier still, the band produced a self-released album called “Baseball”. Now tell me, whatever happened to the rock and roll in your eyes? Check out “Shameless”:

It didn’t kill me to be shameless. Is anyone getting a toothache from this post yet?

If you’re not sappy like I am and you enjoy witty observations of society, there is still plenty for you in the music of Say Anything. Throughout all their albums, they’ve been able to convey distaste and disillusionment, whether through the use of metaphor or an outright calling-out such as in the track “Admit It!” off “…Is A Real Boy”. But until then, the video that still gives me chills: Watch “Alive With The Glory of Love”:

All this time… It’s my favorite pastime, chasing after you.

I’ve got the Good Book open too

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But I’m reading different words than you


Paper Rival is currently on tour with The Honorary Title and The New Frontiers in support of their first full-length album, called “Dialog”, released Summer 2008. The band hails from Nashville, TN and by all accounts they appear to hold true to the stereotypical southern charm and chivalry. Read a live review and you’ll find stories of polite, grateful behavior (and perhaps a bit too much humility) on behalf of this Indie group.

The album is titled “Dialog” to represent the feel of the lyrics throughout the album: as if a conversation is taking place between two people, or between an artist and the world. It’s easily heard and understood, as well. In fact, “The Kettle Black” takes its lyrics from actual World War II-era letters between singer Jacob Rolleston’s great-grandparents!

An open dialog can be found in the track titled “Keep Us In”, eloquently attacking Tennessee’s backwards views on same-sex marriage, and family identity seems to be addressed in “Are We Brothers?”

I appreciate this album because each track holds true to the core identity of the whole, of the sound of the band, while exploring different techniques. You can hear piano, upright bass, and even accents of a fiddle depending on the track. My favorite track, though, is the raw “Bluebird.” Click to listen:

They’ve been compared to The Receiving End of Sirens (a band I wanted to introduce you to, but they’re defunct!), Moros Eros (also no longer together), Envy on the Coast, and Manchester Orchestra. They do have a strong sound with some weighty lyrics. Previously known as Coda and as Keating, their roots were emo, but they have shown their maturity by throwing out a lot of their early influences and flourishing together by limiting the drama and getting truthful when the personal lyrics come out. I appreciate honestly like that in music.

Check out the video for “Cassandra”, put out just days after the release of the album:

I hope you enjoy.