The Zone

by **TheButcher** on Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:20 am

In LA Next Week? Join Lalo Schifrin For Two Classic Films That Are Sure To Dirty Your Cool Hand!

by **TheButcher** on Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:00 am

Alex Da Kid Working On Skylar Grey’s Debut Album

by **TheButcher** on Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:49 pm

IT'S A SIGN: Singer/Songwriter Skylar Grey Signs With WME

Daniel Miller wrote: Singer/songwriter Skylar Grey, who sings on and penned Dr. Dre’s new single, “I Need a Doctor,” has signed with WME for representation in all areas.

Grey was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2011, including Song of the Year for writing Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.”

She also performed “I Need a Doctor” with Dr. Dre and Eminem at the awards show last month. Grey can also be heard on several other songs that she has written, including Lupe Fiasco’s “Words I Never Said” and Diddy Dirty Money’s “Coming Home.”

Grey will continue to work with her manager Todd Mandel, attorney Paul Rothenberg, and publicist Jessica Erskine of Rogers & Cowan.

by **Wolfpack** on Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:14 pm

Anyone hear the album from Liam Gallagher's new band?

by **magicmonkey** on Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:16 am

As the list of Gadaffi family pop creamers grows, so does "50 ways to Libya lover" Charlie Brooker's ire. Gotta love those last paragraph song titles.

by **TheButcher** on Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:56 pm

Kanye West Closes Out SXSW With All-Star Set

by **Tyrone_Shoelaces** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:50 pm

Decade-Old Unreleased David Bowie Album ‘Toy’ Leaks

by **Tyrone_Shoelaces** on Sun May 08, 2011 1:07 am

How Amanda Palmer & Pals Cut an Album in One Day
One of those pals is her husband, Neil Gaiman.

by **Fievel** on Sun May 08, 2011 3:16 am

Tyrone_Shoelaces wrote:How Amanda Palmer & Pals Cut an Album in One Day
One of those pals is her husband, Neil Gaiman.

Too fucking cool! I've never heard of her, but know of the three guys and have a deep respect for all three.
I'm going to have to check that out. Oh look - check them all out here.
But really.... with all that natural creativity in that group... you fucking better be able to crank out X-number of songs. Ben Folds' spur-of-the-moment improv songs in his concerts are better than most of the shit out there.

And final random thought - I wonder if Gaiman does a good Alan Rickman impersonation. I'll bet he does. I'd like to get him drunk and find out.

by **DennisMM** on Sun May 08, 2011 2:27 pm

Robert Johnson was born 100 years ago today -- May 8, 1911.

by **minstrel** on Sun May 08, 2011 3:44 pm

DennisMM wrote:Robert Johnson was born 100 years ago today -- May 8, 1911.

Happy Robert Johnson Day! Gotta go listen to "Crossroads" to celebrate. (I'll pick Cream's version - that Clapton solo is scorching!)

by **TheButcher** on Sun May 15, 2011 7:55 pm

First Listen: Danger Mouse And Daniele Luppi, 'Rome'

Stephen Thompson wrote:The long-anticipated brainchild of producer-composer Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi, Rome benefits from a bit of context. More than five years in the making, the project assembles many of the surviving performers of classic '60s and '70s Ennio Morricone scores — and, in half a dozen memorable cases, pairs them up with the vocals of Norah Jones or The White Stripes' Jack White.

Naturally, Rome can't possibly exceed the sum of its parts, with its successful composer and arranger in Luppi, its groundbreaking producer and composer in Danger Mouse, countless combined years of orchestra experience, a painstaking recording process with vintage equipment, and the juxtaposition of White's fatalistic moan with Jones' coolly detached croon. It almost has to sound better on paper than in practice, but it's terrific in practice, too, as it alternates appropriately cinematic instrumentals with a handful of nifty showcases for its headliners.

Jones is long overdue for an image makeover: All those tens of millions of records sold and armloads of Grammys have made it easy to forget that she's still a remarkably cool singer. Here, Jones at times channels the wounded iciness of Metric's great Emily Haines, while still lending her own brooding Punky Power to "Season's Trees," "Black" and "Problem Queen." Of course, White makes the most of his own three appearances, from the tone-setting portent of "The Rose With the Broken Neck" to the album-closing "The World," which helps conjure mental images of rolling credits. But Jones and White aren't the only scene-stealers in Rome: Edda Dell'Orso pops up in the album-opening "Theme of Rome," picking up where she left off in the soundtrack to 1966's The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

If it weren't for the unmistakably contemporary voices among its ranks — White's in particular — Rome could just as easily have emerged from a vault, sealed 40 or even 50 years ago. That's clearly the point: From start to finish, the album provides a timeless, arduously arranged backdrop to past generations' visions of panoramic vistas and blood-stained betrayals.

by **TheButcher** on Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:53 am

The bizarre musical instruments behind classic scifi movie sounds

by **Hermanator X** on Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:20 am

Off to see Primus sharing a stage with motorpsycho tonight. Should be interesting at least.
Quite fitting to see them in a sleepy mountain town.

by **Fievel** on Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:55 am

Hermanator X wrote:Off to see Primus sharing a stage with motorpsycho tonight. Should be interesting at least.
Quite fitting to see them in a sleepy mountain town.

Primus sucks!!

Having seen them multiple times, I've never seen a bad show from them.
Enjoy!

by **DennisMM** on Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:59 pm

No, no -- they really do suck.

j/k -- Les is an amazing talent. It's just that I can't stand their music.

by **Hermanator X** on Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:43 am

I strongly recommend reading the entirety of this article. Some brilliant stories, and I laughed a lot.

Musicians worst gigs in their own words

The gem of the crop is the Jonas Brothers, which against the preceeding tale made me roar with laughter. Talk about opposite ends of the scale.

by **Tyrone_Shoelaces** on Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:03 am

Rare 1992 Smiths Documentary Surfaces

by **TheBaxter** on Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:11 am

R.I.P. R.E.M.

by **so sorry** on Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:56 am

TheBaxter wrote:R.I.P. R.E.M.

Didn't realize they were still together. Seems like an odd announcement. Anywho, liked them when I was in college, can't say that I've listened to them since...

by **TheBaxter** on Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:29 pm

so sorry wrote:
TheBaxter wrote:R.I.P. R.E.M.

Didn't realize they were still together. Seems like an odd announcement. Anywho, liked them when I was in college, can't say that I've listened to them since...

i saw them (for the first and apparently now the last) time a few years ago when they toured for their last album. their best music was still in the 80s and early 90s, but they sounded great live and i was glad i got to see them. especially the highlight was when johnny marr (who was playing guitar for modest mouse, who were opening for them at the time) came out during the encore and played guitar on Fall On Me, one of my favorite guitarists playing probably my favorite REM song. i'm glad i got to see them at least that once.

their previous album was pretty good but sounded nothing like REM, sounded almost like they were trying to be a punk or garage band. the last album i haven't listened to yet. their newest material never lived up to the classic stuff, but they could still write some good music. it's probably about time they hung it up though, so i can't be too sad about it.

by **Fievel** on Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:08 pm

Thanks to an older brother, I got into REM around '87. I really liked them at the time, and then in the early '90s I left them behind (around the time Stipe left his hair behind). Then in 1995 they went on tour for the first time in ages and my girlfriend at the time and I went and saw them. I appreciated their live energy and so did the crowd. But afterwards I felt like it was just another check mark on bands I wanted to see. I saw them, that was it, move on to the next. I never again got into any new music of theirs, but have recently become extremely nostalgic towards their older music.

by **TheButcher** on Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:21 am

From Collider:
Chris Milk to Direct Movie Based on Danger Mouse Album ROME and THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS

Brendan Bettinger wrote:The concept behind this summer’s Danger Mouse album Rome was a neat one, especially for Collider readers. Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi were inspired by the music from spaghetti westerns. They recorded the album using vintage equipment, often with musicians from the era who worked on spaghetti western soundtracks. The process is about to come full circle, as Rome will soon be turned into a movie. First, though, things will take a sharp left into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Music video director Chris Milk will helm the project, based on the Alden Bell novel The Reapers Are the Angels. The story centers on a young girl who “can’t remember a time before the zombies”; she struggles to survive as she wanders the desolate landscape, plagued by inner turmoil.

I don’t know the album or the book enough to tell you how they fit together. Maybe you can deduce the link yourself after the jump with the full book synopsis and a few cuts from Rome.
Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks. [Amazon]

“Two Against One”

“The World”

“Season’s Trees”

Nope, I still don’t have a great grasp of what’s going on. But I admire the ambition, and look forward to watching the synergy bloom. According to Variety, Anthony Bregman (Our Idiot Brother) will produce alongside the ineffable Megan Ellison (True Grit).

by **TheButcher** on Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:22 am

Danger Mouse album headed to the bigscreen - Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison to produce film based around 'Rome' disc

Rachel Abrams wrote:Good news Danger Mouse fans: The eclectic producer's soundtrack concept album "Rome" will be turned into an actual movie.

Pic's story will be based on Alden Bell's novel "The Reapers Are the Angels" and incorporate "Rome" as an underpinning for the tale, which centers on a girl born into a post-apocalyptic world who must survive by her wits while finding moments of simple joy.

Musicvid helmer Chris Milk will direct the project, which producers say will tap multiple media platforms as part of an interactive narrative. Milk previously fostered such transmedia creations as 2010's Arcade Fire musicvideo, which allowed viewers to input their Google Earth address to customize the video.

Anthony Bregman will produce under his Likely Story banner along with Megan Ellison for Annapurna Pictures, the latter of which will finance the project.

"Chris Milk is perhaps the most innovative creative voice working in any art form today, and the 'Rome' project criss-crosses at least a dozen of them, including music, animation, live performance, film, web, literature, musicvideos, and graphic novels," Bregman and Ellison said in a statement.

Danger Mouse and producer Daniele Luppi conceived "Rome" as a sort of soundtrack to a film that didn't exist, and was inspired by the scores to classic spaghetti Westerns. It includes performances by Ennio Morricone's original 40-piece orchestra, an eight-person choir and contributions by Jack White and Norah Jones.

UTA and Hannigan Salky Getzler negotiated the book option while Loeb & Loeb reps Likely Story. Ziffren Brittenham represents Annapurna Pictures and WME reps Milk and Danger Mouse, the latter of whom is also repped by Monotone.

by **TheButcher** on Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:43 am

From BAD:
The Beatles And TheButcher Cover

The time that The Beatles released an album cover featuring raw meat and dismembered baby dolls and everybody freaked out.

by **The Vicar** on Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:43 am

Black Sabbath is back! Hide the women and children. And knowing Ozzie, your pets.

by **DennisMM** on Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:58 am

An amazing story of a little-known day of masterpieces.

It's long, but give it the 13 minutes; it's enlightening and joyful.

by **tapehead** on Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:21 pm

Thought of putting this in the thread for Hugo, given the connection both share with Melies - French electro-Gainsbourgers Air have composed a new soundtrack to the first ever Science Fiction movie, Melies' Le Voyage Dans La Lune, and they've found the exercise so fruitful they are expanding on the 16 minute sound track into a full fledged new album, coming out next February. Looks and sounds like this. Heard this version of the film was screening at BNAT this year.

by **TheButcher** on Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:46 am

From The Playlist:
Watch: Trippy, Animated Video For Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi's "Two Against One" Ft. Jack White Directed By Chris Milk

by **TheButcher** on Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:53 pm

From Rolling Stone:
Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, Norah Jones - 'Black'

Catherine Fuentes wrote:
Norah Jones and Danger Mouse took a break from recording her upcoming album – which Danger Mouse is producing – to film a clip for "Black" from Danger Mouse's album ROME.

Director Chris Milk considers the video to be "an experiment in raw minimalism." There was no crew, and no hair, wardrobe, or makeup people to assist on the set, which Milk says was fine because Norah "still looks completely radiant." Milk used the lack of a large crew to his advantage because "there is an intimacy and life within the clips that is sometimes difficult to capture with a crew of 100, lip-syncing, wind machines, and everything else I've certainly indulged in."

The video – which was shot solely by Milk on two Canon 5D SLR cameras, a light disc reflector, and a sound engineer to record the live vocals – only took nine takes. "Brian, Daniele [Luppi] and Norah hadn't really performed live together and it took me a minute to figure out how to run two cameras simultaneously by myself," Milk says. "We did 'Black' nine times, which is why Norah faux collapses at the end of the take. We used the ninth."

Danger Mouse explains that the decision to use Norah Jones' vocals on the track came out of a need to have a certain kind of female voice. "Once I kind of put the female part together, it was kind of clear that it needed a softer voice – somebody who could be an any girl or any woman, kind of thing," he says. "I was talking to Jack [White], and we talked about Norah Jones and I called Daniele [Luppi] and he thought it was a great idea as well. I didn't know Norah at the time but I really loved her voice. So I approached Norah and she was up for it . . ."

From Billboard:
Norah Jones Teams Up with Danger Mouse for 'Broken Hearts' Album

by **TheButcher** on Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:38 am

From Wired:
Exclusive: Behind-the-Scenes of Gorillaz’ ‘DoYaThing’

Angela Watercutter wrote:The world of virtual band Gorillaz is hypercolored and surreal, like being in Alice’s Messed-Up Wonderland. So for the video for the group’s collaboration with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Outkast’s André 3000, director (and Gorillaz co-creator) Jamie Hewlett had to bring his characters’ bizarre universe into that of a real-world apartment (although a decrepit one).

In the exclusive clip above, we see how Hewlett brought animated Gorillaz frontman Murdoc into the music video for the track “DoYaThing,” along with ‘toon versions of Three Stacks and Murphy. The behind-the-scenes video also delivers a small taste of how Hewlett, who created Gorillaz with Blur’s Damon Albarn, incorporated his illustrations into the pad where the film was shot (hint: computers). We also get some insights on the A-game-level pants (or lack thereof) in the song’s goofy video.

“DoYaThing” was made as part of Converse’s Three Artists, One Song program, which brings together musicians from different disciplines to make one track together (a previous collaboration consisted of Soulja Boy, Andrew WK, and Matt and Kim). Along with the song, Converse is releasing a line of Chuck Taylor All-Stars featuring Hewlett’s designs.

Check out the behind-the-scenes video above, then look below for the original “DoYaThing” video.

From Wired: Issue 13.07 - July 2005:
Keeping It (Un)real Part 1

Sci-fi master Neil Gaiman meets the Gorillaz, the world's greatest live, pre-recorded, re-mixed, all-animated pop band.

Keeping It (Un)real Part 2

by **so sorry** on Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:50 am

TheButcher wrote:, then look below for the original “DoYaThing” video.

Ooooooooooooooooooookay. That was, um, ?. I'm gonna go with almost unlistenable.

From Wired: Issue 13.07 - July 2005:
Keeping It (Un)real Part 1

I kinda like the Gorillaz. Demon Days is a cool ass album. That was a good read.

by **TheButcher** on Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:09 am

From Geeks of Doom:
Album Review: Richie Branson’s ‘The Wing Zero EP’

by **DennisMM** on Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:42 pm

Bob Marley admitted that he shot the sheriff. So, who shot the deputy?

by **Ribbons** on Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:09 am

Peter Tosh?

by **DennisMM** on Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:12 pm

Tosh was probably stoned out of his mind.

by **TheButcher** on Tue Apr 03, 2012 7:53 pm

Green Day to Induct Guns N' Roses Into the Rock Hall, but Will Axl Rose Show Up?

by **Nice Marmot** on Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:13 pm

Remember back in the day when crowds WANTED him to show up . . . ?

by **TheBaxter** on Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:33 am

screw axl. it's nice to see some of those backing bands like the Crickets and the Comets getting recognition.

by **Fievel** on Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:02 am

Nice Marmot wrote:Remember back in the day when crowds WANTED him to show up . . . ?

I laughed out loud at that one.

by **TheButcher** on Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:54 am

From Business Insider Oct. 24, 2011:
THE AGE OF RICK RUBIN: He Made Half The Records You've Ever Bought And Billions For The Music Industry

by **Wolfpack** on Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:21 pm

TheButcher wrote:From Business Insider Oct. 24, 2011:
THE AGE OF RICK RUBIN: He Made Half The Records You've Ever Bought And Billions For The Music Industry

Buy? Records?

by **Al Shut** on Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:47 am

Is there anything more depressing than one of your favorite bands having a new album and you don't like a single song on it?

by **TheBaxter** on Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:22 am

Al Shut wrote:Is there anything more depressing than one of your favorite bands having a new album and you don't like a single song on it?

yes. cancer.

by **Fievel** on Sun May 06, 2012 1:02 pm

Coldplay's tribute to Adam Yauch.

by **Wolfpack** on Sun May 06, 2012 10:02 pm

Fievel wrote:Coldplay's tribute to Adam Yauch.

Excellent find.

by **TheBaxter** on Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:30 am

so i see that the "smashing pumpkins" are back... with a female bassist who's not d'arcy, an asian guitarist who's not james iha, and a white drummer who's not jimmy chamberlin. gee, billy corgan, can you try any harder to form your little doppelganger band into even more of an exact replica of its former self? i mean, the chick isn't even blond, and the drummer i'm pretty sure isn't a heroin addict. surely you can do better than this. then your transformation into a sad little troll-man trying to recapture former glories will be complete.

by **Wolfpack** on Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:42 am

TheBaxter wrote:so i see that the "smashing pumpkins" are back... with a female bassist who's not d'arcy, an asian guitarist who's not james iha, and a white drummer who's not jimmy chamberlin. gee, billy corgan, can you try any harder to form your little doppelganger band into even more of an exact replica of its former self? i mean, the chick isn't even blond, and the drummer i'm pretty sure isn't a heroin addict. surely you can do better than this. then your transformation into a sad little troll-man trying to recapture former glories will be complete.

If "This is Spinal Tap" has taught us nothing else, it's that rock bands go through drummers like Caligula went through little boys.

by **TheBaxter** on Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:35 am

this man will not be dancing with himself at his birthday

by **TheButcher** on Tue Nov 06, 2012 3:49 am

RZA on The Man With the Iron Fists, Wu-Tang, and Writing With Eli Roth