A friend of mine recently released a text-less version of one of my cartoons to the salivating masses. The results made me LOL. So I’m going to release it to you, my fine readers as an open invitation to re-caption my cartoons.
Simply write in the speech bubbles and send the result to me at azltron@yahoo.com
Here’s a sweet smattering of what’s been done so far:
Just when you thought that there couldn’t possibly be any more indie/pop/electro duos capable of creating a beautifully haunting album here comes the Fever Marlene. A two piece band that hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their expansive electro-rock styling calls to mind the carefully internationally aware pop songs of Jens Lekman and the raw balladic power of the Flaming Lips. of course the emotive beats and blips of the Postal service. Definitely one to watch.
Scott Reynolds and the Steaming Beast is the project of a few friends getting together to make some music. The Steaming Beast’s debut effort, Adventure Boy features the work of Scott Reynolds, Steve Drozd of the Flaming Lips, and multi-instrumentalist David Friedmann. The sound of the Steaming Beast is multi faceted there’s strong songwriting, each song could work on just an acoustic guitar, but it’s not folk. Each song has more than a little bit of heart and occasionally a slide guitar, but I wouldn’t call it alt. country because the structure and lyrics are too quirky. I think the best fit of genre would be the late 80′s early 90′s alternative label, although don’t think this is old fogy music, there’s occasionally electronic blips and beeps to keep the kids these days interested in the bouncy tunes and witty narrative.
There’s quite a bit of variety on the album, and the fun the musicians are having translates well into the recording and makes me think that a live performance would be just as fun.
I went and saw Juno, it is a wonderfully cute film. Ellen Page is cute, Michael Cera is cute. I want to somehow visit their world and be part of the overwhelming cuteness.
On a different note I’ve largely neglected the Secret Machines on my blog. This is unfortunate because they are one of my absolutely favorite bands. I saw them in Syracuse a year ago. Fantastic show even though it was small and on campus. They hit a spot somewhere in between Beck, the Flaming Lips and Led Zeppelin. One of indie rocks most underrated bands I’d have to say. Ten Silver Drops was a fantastic album, even if critics kinda panned it. Their Dylan cover “Girl from the North Country”, despite being eight minutes long, doesn’t get old and the sparse soundscape amplifies the tender ache of love long since passed.
The new Spider-Man soundtrack seems to have put away mainstream radio chasing in favor of songs that have a more indie flavor. Well, they’ve still got that one sentimental opening track that will probably end up being synonymous with the summer movie and the romance between lead characters Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, but many other tracks seem somewhat out of place for this series of soundtracks. Granted, the first soundtrack had The Hives and The Strokes, and the second album had… Jet, but all the remaining spaces were filled mostly with forgettable no-name mainstream rock, be it the gaudy guttural groans of Nickelback or the histrionic whining of Dashboard Confessional.
This Spider-Man soundtrack differs from the first two soundtracks in that it not only has an indie song here and there on the album just to make the compilations more bearable, this album actually gets tracks from notable indie bands and puts them all up front. Snow Patrol, The Killers, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, The Walkmen, The Flaming Lips and… Jet, all contributed new or previously unreleased tracks to the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack. Maybe a record executive decided to make a soundtrack that would best fit the movie seeing as though it’s going to do well anyway because it has the Spider-Man logo stamped across it. Maybe indie music is gaining enough popularity to cross over into the mainstream and this is just a helping hand for the “on the radio” boost? That’s probably a little idealistic, but either way, this album has some surprisingly good tracks from notable indie artists.
There’s of course the down-tempo Snow Patrol ballad “Signal Fire” (1) that probably will be crammed into our temporal lobes all summer long, which is also the only blatant bid for radio air play. After that, it gets pretty good. The Killers contribute “Move Away” (2), which sounds like The Cure jamming with a strange preacher cowboy that Brandon Flowers seems to have become. It’s actually one of the hardest rocking songs they’ve done. Ever. I can see how the sound of it would fit perfectly to a Spider-Man movie, it has that “depth” defying guitar swing that Spider-Man seems to like so much. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs contribute a slower but no less intense continuation of guitar rock in “Sealings” (3) again, another seemingly perfect fit into the spider-sound-scape.
After that, the styles start to break up a little, starting out with the rumbling drums and Jangly Guitars of the Walkmen on “Red River” which is actually the next single lined up after Snow Patrol. Also, there’s the Flaming Lips’ addition to the soundtrack “The Supreme Being Teaches Spider-Man how to be in Love” (7) which is a pleasant venture into their trademark sonic envelope specially tailored for Spidey. There are several other notable tracks on here; “Portrait of a Summer thief” (13) has the kind of emotional clout that could get them on the radio. The final note of interest is that former Phantom Planet drummer Jason Schwartzman contributes an almost acoustic song with the aid of actress Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson) on backing vocals. Some surprising contributions here, to be certain. If the soundtrack is an indicator for the quality of the movie, I think we’re in for a treat.
A friend of mine recently released a text-less version of one of my cartoons to the salivating masses. The results made me LOL. So I’m going to release it to you, my fine readers as an open invitation to re-caption my cartoons.
Simply write in the speech bubbles and send the result to me at azltron@yahoo.com
Elstatec:
Wilco:
EDIT!!!
