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Man-About-MySpace: Radioactive Sandwich

March 19, 2008 / Dr. Flucke

This one’s for the club freaks out there, who like their music mixed and remixed, uptempo and downtempo. Radioactive Sandwich, an NYC duo, does the breakbeat-psychedelic thing MySpace style, and even offer tips and tricks for getting their records free on eMusic, a pay site. They make in the Man-About-MySpace space solely on the strength of one of their three album titles, The Earls of Sandwich. How awesome is that?

Radioactive Sandwich—Slice One and Slice Two, their stage names—consider a ton of bands, rappers, and deejays among their influences. In fact, checking out that list on their MySpace profile, it’s easier to name who they don’t (Echo & the Bunnymen and Pat Boone, I think, aren’t on that list and that’s about it). Perhaps no two are startlingly contrasting as Black Sabbath and Crystal Method. Whatever. Check out a pre-prime time video experiment for “Svalbard Vault” (my first MySpace video embedded in the ESD blog…wish me luck):

Man about MySpace

American Idol: Too Much Beatles

March 19, 2008 / Mike Farley

Too much of a good thing can be too much of a good thing. Much the same way that your second doughnut does not taste nearly as good as the first one, two straight weeks of “American Idol” contestants singing Beatles songs was a bit, say, watered down? Or maybe they all just chose the wrong songs. However you slice it, last night was a bit disappointing. Let’s go to the recap….

THE GOOD

David Archuleta was very good last night, and back to form, but I was not nearly as impressed as Simon Cowell was. David sang “The Long and Winding Road” and it was about an 8 out of 10 on my Archuleta scale. Randy said David was back to his game but that it was a bit safe, Paula said David is identifiable, and Simon said that while last week David’s performance was a mess, this week he was “amazing.” Seriously, I was practically insulted by that…but still, this kid is really good.

David Cook was once again “amazing”…sorry, Simon. He sang “Day Tripper” and strapped on his guitar Continue reading »

Alternative, American Idol, Country, Pop, Rock

WTF?! Rewind – MC Skat Kat

March 18, 2008 / Captain Capm

The Adventures of MC Skat Cat and the Stray Mob

Boy, the early ’90s sure were adventurous times, weren’t they? We had Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer tearing up the charts, and just around the bend there would be Nirvana and the whole grunge scene. Alternative music was going to hit an unforeseen high in both sales and radio play. It felt like anything could happen.

And well, anything did happen.

As we all know, Paula Abdul once had a very profitable music career. She couldn’t sing to save her life, but like many other artists of the time, her videos sold her music. It was all about the image. And so, while she was riding one of her higher than high crests, she recorded a song with MC Skat Kat. That song was another big hit for Abdul. Of course, it was “Opposites Attract” and once again the video was eye candy for any MTV viewer. However, Paula was seen getting her groove on with an animated MC Skat Kat who was literally a feline. Was this the beginning of the downhill plunge, or was it when she had Keanu Reeves do his cameo bit in “Rush Rush”? It matters not.

The point is some record exec thought that MC Skat Kat could be the next big rap artist and went about getting the kitty his own recording contract and LP. It was 1991 and, well, this was no longer the days when something like Jive Bunny and the Master Mixers were tearing up the charts. A lot of changes were happening constantly, and needless to say an animated cat making a rap album wasn’t going to be taken any more seriously than Vanilla Ice.

But Ice sold a shitload of records. MC Skat Kat on the other hand sold…well, I’m thinking if I can’t remember, then it must not have been much. Of course with songs like “I Ain’t No Kitty,” “”No Dogs Allowed,” “On the Prowl,” and “Kat Stories” one begins to wonder if this damn thing wasn’t actually targeted at actual cats. Paula Abdul showed up rather expectedly to lend some “credence” to the project and duetted once again with Skat on “Skat Strut,” but no one really gave a shit (although the video was a hit on MTV). And if they did, surely they were kicking themselves sometime shortly afterward for actually buying the thing.

According to Skat Kat’s Wikipedia page, he later returned one more time in 1995 in a star-studded ad about recycling (the spot also featured such heavyweights as Kenny Loggins, Lita Ford, and Bugs Bunny), along with a new song called “Take it Back.” The song was released as a single. And once again, no once cared. Skat Kat has not been heard from since.

Now if his name had only been “MC Scat Cat” then the moniker would have gone along perfectly with the product. Ba-doom-ching.

WTF?! Rewind

New Tunes on Tuesday – A.K.A . Meat Loaf’s party IS started!

March 18, 2008 / Captain Capm

Howdy doody, dear fans of fresh new CD releases! Here are some of the latest and greatest arriving on your favorite music store’s shelves this week:

The A.K.A.s (Are Everywhere!) are releasing Everybody Makes Some Noise! today. Have a listen over at the band’s MySpace page.

Bone Thugs returns with the new Still Creepin’ on Ah Come Up. Interesting title.

You must call her “Dame” Shirley Bassey now, kids. The Dame’s latest disc, Get the Party Started is finally being released in the US this week. Bullz-Eye’s own Will Harris gave his review on the disc for us last week.

Daniel Lanois’ Here Is What Is is heading your way this week, it is, it is! For the official B-E opinion, go check out Jeff Giles’ review of said disc, won’t you?

What? You say Meat Loaf’s back again? This is news indeed! Yes, Mr. Loaf has done up the soundtrack for “In Search of Paradise.” More info on the project can be gleaned right here.

The Switches’ Lay Down the Law hits the shelves today. I wrote it up last year, actually. But hey, listen to it here on the band’s MySpace.

Danity Kane’s Welcome to the Dollhouse is arriving today. Again, the band has a MySpace haunt to check out the sounds.

And to top it all off, Groove Armada is back with Soundboy Rock, another previously UK-only release finally making the rouns here in the States. Where can you hear it? Why, a MySpace page designed by the band, of course!

New Tunes on Tuesday

Less Talk, More Music: Manic Street Preachers on “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross”

March 18, 2008 / Will Harris

The Manic Street Preachers are kinda the alt-rock version of Status Quo, given that they’re an institution in the UK but barely cause Americans to raise an eyebrow, but as a dedicated reader of Q Magazine in the ’90s, I’ve followed them since the beginning of their career, back when Richie Edwards was carving slogans into his flesh and trying to be his generation’s Sid Vicious. As it turned out, he was a bit closer to being his generation’s Amelia Earhart, given that he vanished into thin and and is presumed dead, but that’s beside the point. The band’s music is arguably more powerful now than it was when Edwards was in the band, probably because they’re a decidedly less self-destructive unit without him in their ranks, but their debut album, 1992’s Generation Terrorists, nonetheless captured lightning in a bottle, combining the best bits of The Clash and Guns ‘N’ Roses and making them into one of the classic records of the decade. This performance of the epic “Motorcycle Emptiness” is actually from the ’00s, so it’s without Edwards, but a decade on, the song itself remains just as powerful.

Alternative, Artists, Less Talk, More Music, Rock, Songs, Videos