JACKIE ROCKS BAND CHAMPIONED BY
Streetlight Records, Santa Cruz, CA SLUGSHELL CHAMPIONED BY
The Exclusive Company Milwaukee, WI SANUK CHAMPIONED BY
Indy CD and Vinyl, Indianapolis, IN HANDED TO THE THOUSANDS CHAMPIONED BY
Eyeconik Records Franklin, NJ PAUL DOBBS AND THE POON PIRATES CHAMPIONED BY
The Exclusive Company Green Bay, WI
White Stripes
Under the Great White Northern Lights (DVD & Blu Ray)
The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights 92 minute documentary film covering The White Stripes’ tour of Canada for their 10th Anniversary. Northern Lights documents one of the biggest bands in the world playing to small crowds in small towns across all of Canada. Blu Ray, DVD and Double DVD available.
The T.A.M.I. Show Collector’s Edition
The T.A.M.I. Show The 1964 feature film, the first concert movie of the rock era. Never before on video and hasn’t been seen in its full length version since its initial theatrical run.
In 2009, Record Store Day held a High School Battle of the Bands across the country. Nine finalists were chosen and on April 17, Record Store Day, an LP of their music will be released. Check it out at participating record stores across the country and on www.recordstoreday.com
ZOMBACALYPSE CHAMPIONED BY
Independent Records Colorado Springs, CO BORDERLINE ZERO CHAMPIONED BY
Disc Go Round, Corpus Christi, TX I REDEEMER CHAMPIONED BY
Gallery of Sound, Wilkes-Barre, PA THE PRESTIGE
championed by
Dimple Records, Sacramento, CA
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music
new tunes in stores this month
Michael Kurtz & Lars Ulrich of Metallica
Independence Day
Exploring the brief but eventful history of Record Store Day by Alli Katz
T
h e r e a r e h u n d r e d s of thousands of people who love record stores,” enthuses Michael Kurtz, co-founder of Record Store Day. “They love the experience and the culture. We just tapped into it by accident.” Record Store Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of every April. Artists and labels create special tracks, vinyl runs, CDs and T-shirts to celebrate the culture and community that surrounds independent record stores— tiny, personal Meccas for millions of music fans around the world. Chris Brown, of the Bull Moose record store chain, came up with the idea in 2007. It’s modeled after Free Comic Book Day, an event where comic book stores around the world give away free specially-made comics to their customers.
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Record Store Day embraces the unique love artists and music fans have for their indie stores. “Even the worst record store is special,” says Kurtz. “People even talk about the smell of them, the combination of the records and T-shirts and posters.” Kurtz, along with co-organizer Carrie Colliton and a collection of other passionate record store owners, came together to set the ball in motion. They pitched the idea to other owners at an event called Noise in the Basement. The overwhelmingly positive response assured them that they’d hit on a good idea. Then the hard work started. “To make it happen, we tried to connect with the artists,” explains Kurtz. The organizers started sending out emails, making phone calls and reaching out to labels they knew. But the first success was from a surprising
source. “The Starbucks Company was one of the first labels to work with us. They were putting out a Paul McCartney album.” Cue a successful note to McCartney. genre come out to make special pieces for the event. “He wrote us an email saying he loves record stores.” Some are limited releases or numbered prints. There That’s what made the big difference for the organizare compilations and in-store events. “Each piece is ers. “It turns out all the people who work in the industry special,” says Kurtz. “The thing Slayer made last year love record stores,” says Kurtz. “It was all these crazy was wonderful. I could go on and on.” little things that came together and exploded into this The first year, which saw a few hundred stores in the huge deal.” US and amazing turnout, was hard to top. Then, serArtists came out of the woodwork to get involved and endipity happened. “The people at Coachella, arguably make special pieces, including Tom Waits and comedian the greatest music festival in the world, approached Patton Oswalt. The people at Bull Moose even went deep us,” says Kurtz. The pitch? That they build an indie reinto the pop world, calling up the American Idol judges cord store at the festival, complete with vinyl, T-shirts, on the show the night before, asking what records the posters and toys. The store was open to the more than judges planned to buy the next day. 80,000 music fans at last year’s festival. “The people Finally, on April 19, 2008, Metallica launched the first who run Coachella are music lovers. They’re mutants Record Store Day during the Rasputin Music Festival like us.” in San Francisco. That’s the goal of Record Store Day—to celebrate “It really set the bar high for the next one,” says the special connection between music fans, whether Kurtz. they be artists, owners or just passionate customers. The success was surprising to all, but it also gave the And people have responded. There are now over 1,400 organizers a tool to reach out to other stores. “It was participating stores around the world, and hundreds of very exciting and very exhausting,” Kurtz notes. “There’s thousands of people come out to see performances, buy been so much negative press about record stores. They special releases and support their favorite store. “For a have decades of bad experiences and lot of record stores, it’s a bigger day cynicism.” The first year, breaking than Christmas.” through that stigma was difficult. “What kind of crazy person would Even the worst “I wrote blog posts responding to run a record store in 2010?” Kurtz emails from store owners. It was unrecord store is asks. The enthusiasm of everyone nerving, dealing with a lot of folks involved, from world-famous muspecial. People with evil feelings.” sicians to teenagers buying their The energy surrounding the even talk about first vinyl print, shows why. “In a event, however, has changed a lot lot of ways, everything now is so the smell of them, of minds. “Thankfully almost all of homogenized—the rough edges that is gone now,” he says. “It’s all the combination have been smoothed off. It’s all very very positive.” corporate.” of the records and With the success came even more “Record stores exist in their own enthusiasm from artists and labels. T-shirts and posters. universe,” says Kurtz. “People who Each year, musicians from every are hip to it fall in love with it.” —michael kurtz
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RECORD STORE DAY! Celebrate falling in love with your favorite bands at a record store... Remember when you met these folks?
Ramones Ramones
Built to Spill
Deftones
Muse
Keep It Like A Secret
Around the Fur
Origin of Symetry
Flaming Lips
Flaming Lips
Muse
Soft Bulletin
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Absolution
MUSIC YOU LOVE
$9.99 OR LESS ALL MONTH Titles and prices vary by store. MORE MUSIC YOU LOVE $9.99 OR LESS EVERY DAY AT INDIE RECORD STORES!
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4 + record store magazine + April 2010
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Devo Greatest Hits
➽ Y A D R E C O R D STO R E
IF S O ,
join us at our pop-up record store! We’ll have dozens and dozens of Coachella artist signings and all the pieces that make the RECORD STORE DAY tent a real live record store. Right there in the middle of Coachella.
W IL L B E AT
W IL L YO U ?
➽ NOT PLANNING A TRIP?
Get a special Record Store Day Presents: Coachella magazine and CD sampler at participating record stores celebrating Record Store Day! WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. STORES DETERMINE HOW THE MAGAZINE/CD SAMPLER IS DISTRIBUTED.
MASSIVE
music ON SALE NOW AT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT RETAILER
SOIL
PICTURE PERFECT IN STORES
DROPS
APRIL 27
April 6
PRIESTESS HEIDEVOLK
PRIOR TO THE FIRE
UIT OUDE GROND
AVAILABLE FOR
[
April 2010 + record store magazine + 5
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music
new tunes in stores this month
Take a Bow (Wow Wow)
Dr. Dog’s friendly songwriting competition yields their best album yet by Shane Mehling
“I
t u se d t o j u s t be a bu n c h o f g u y s our age , standing around drinking beers. Now kids are showing up, and it’s cool because everyone’s still rowdy.” It’s not surprising that this is what Toby Leaman sees from the stage. The bassist/co-vocalist has, along with the rest of Dr. Dog, won over a massive and varied flock of partying fans by skirting hipster trends and rocking their collective asses off.
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Formed officially in ’99, the Philadelphia group has found inspiration equally from the heyday of alt-rock and the layered pop of the ’60s. This timeless quality has been aided by the band’s homemade recordings, where every aspect from the ground up was overseen by the members themselves. But for their sixth fulllength, Shame, Shame, they decided to learn a couple new tricks.
When I hear Scott write a new song that’s awesome, I get so excited. I love it. Then I can say the thing you didn’t really get to on this song, I’ll work on, and it builds and works out great. –T o b y L e a m a n “Since we’ve never worked with a producer before, the first two weeks were pretty difficult,” Leaman admits. “The way we did things never seemed strange, and it took working with someone else to realize how backwards our approach was.” With seasoned producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck) on board, the five members were forced to make decisions early and stick with them. “Before, we’d pile stuff on a song for like seven or eight hours, pick it apart and then go back and re-record what worked. But with Rob we had to play our part, get it right and then move on. It was hard to make those decisions because we didn’t want to commit to something without hearing everything else. But we ended up with a record we’re really, really happy with.” We doubt the band’s going to be alone in their excitement. With most technical aspects left up to someone else, Shame, Shame is a band jamming on all cylinders. While Leaman and guitarist/co-vocalist Scott McMicken delved into some darker subject matter lyrically, the music itself is often celebratory. From the funky, pulsing opener, “Stranger,” to the soulful psychedelics of “Where’d All the Time Go?” the album is an uplifting experience. Even the bleakly titled “Jackie Wants a Black Eye” is a hand-clapping stomper filled with firework harmonies. But the most impressive aspect is that, while the band had the opportunity to fill the studio with orchestras and children’s choirs, they chose to go as raw as possible. “We wanted to record the album completely live, but we just weren’t prepared enough. So, instead, we kept the instrumentation sparse. No horns or strings, and there’s rarely more than five things going on. We can actually play the whole song. There isn’t the problem we had with our other records, where we needed to figure out how the hell we were going to pull it off live. When we first started making the record and working on preproduction, there were songs that would have sounded great with horns or strings, but when we cut songs they didn’t make it. The ones we kept were better without anything extra. We always service the song, and none of these called for it.” Not that there aren’t plenty more songs to tinker with in the band’s proverbial shoebox.
“There’s always a back catalogue,” Leaman says. “We’ll have a bunch of songs floating around, and we’ll just pick the ones we want to work on. It’s pretty strange because you might have a song you wrote a couple weeks ago you think is the best thing you’ve ever written, and then you work on it and realize it’s just failing. But then you wrote a song five years ago and now it’s working. We’ve never been a band that’s willing to force a song, and fortunately we have enough material.” This is aided by the fact that Leaman and McMicken have been in a healthy songwriting competition for the last 16 or 17 years. “When people think about competition, they think about the negatives,” he says. “But it’s definitely a positive thing. When I hear Scott write a new song that’s awesome, I get so excited. I love it. Then I can say the thing you didn’t really get to on this song, I’ll work on, and it builds and works out great.” As anyone who’s seen the band live can attest, though, building upon ideas doesn’t stop once they leave the studio. “I don’t think anyone in the band would be happy playing the song live the same way [it is] on record,” Leaman says of the constantly evolving music. “That’s the great thing about playing live. We have to get the basic elements of the song down at first, but they’ll change. There may be parts that are cut or extended or have different harmonies. Maybe different solos. Sometimes the more nuanced stuff doesn’t come off very well, so you end up switching to something that actually works. It’ll take months to figure out and we’re all really looking forward to that.” But no matter what the critics think or how songs of Shame, Shame end up sounding a year from now, the important thing is that Dr. Dog’s growing audience continues to have a blast. “That’s the crowd we love,” Leaman says. “I’d rather play in front of them than people who are more attentive. That’s what you feed off of up there. You’re jumping around acting like an asshole, screaming your head off. You don’t want to be the only idiot in the room.” Shame, Shame hits stores April 6 from Anti
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The new CD sampler featuring tracks from the best recent releases!
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Get Your Copy NOW Before They’re Gone! [
April 2010 + record store magazine + 9
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music
new tunes in stores this month
waveform Music comes to us faster than ever, so we’ve decided to slow things down a bit by concentrating on a notable new song—one second at a time. —Michaelangelo Matos
0:16: After loose electric strumming and hi-hat warm-up, Jimi’s voice enters faintly: “Yeah!” The groove is established; the far-right speaker placement is an indicator that this is definitively a studio work, not a live one, as so much posthumous Hendrix is.
Jimi Hendrix “Valleys of Neptune” 0:31: “See where I-I used to be wounded”—Hendrix’s voice goes off-key for a second. It’s a good example of his unique charm as a singer—a limited voice, but an expressive one, his openness to wonder a major part of its appeal. “Wounded” recalls for the listener that Jimi did time in the Army.
0:59: “Valleys of Neptune is rising, rising”—he’s dreaming utopian, as usual. But the repeated “rising” has a tinge of the revolutionary terms common at the time—like he’s internalized the rhetoric even if it’s not his own.
Deposing Castro
Jason and his dreads had more influence on American Idol than you might think by Lee Stabert
I
’ m a n A m e r i c a n Idol geek—I watch every week, and devour recaps by Michael Slezak on EW.com (earnest) and Richard Lawson on Gawker (ironic)— yet I’ve never bought a single album by a contestant. Never even came close. This is the rub with Idol. Yes, it’s a tremendous platform, but also a strange vice. It’s hard to really think of these singers as “artists.” In some ways, it seems to be even worse for the winners. With the exception of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, they have struggled to break through. The most successful alums have gone a completely
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different route. Elliott Yamin went indie label and Chris Daughtry put together a band, while Adam Lambert is betting there’s a market for a male version of Lady Gaga’s flamboyant, performance-art-as-pop style. So, how about Jason Castro? He of the dreadlocks and the shrugging and the what-the-hell-am-I-doinghere humility. He is also trying to crack the code, dipping his toe in the water first with a digital EP, and now, two years after his run on Idol, a full-length, self-titled debut. His formula: patience, and signing with a major label (Atlantic) that is wholly separate from the Idol machine. []
2:39-2:59: On this largely instrumental section, Jimi’s guitar is barely inflected; it’s clearly where the solo was meant to go. But years of minimalist rock has taught us to appreciate the space of a groove, and this one works fine on its own.
2:16: On “rising,” his voice goes faint; it becomes clearer that this was probably a guide vocal, not something he wanted released till he re-sang it. It’s noticeable on the guitar playing, too—he’d likely have overdubbed something more pyrotechnical before putting it out.
The first thing that strikes the listener is how much stronger Castro’s voice sounds. He always had a nice tone, but here he really sings—there is a zip and a confidence that is unexpected. The palette is sunny and beachy; a nice little serving of guitar-pop candy. You can see why people who responded to Castro on the show might actually buy this thing. Well, if they remember him; two years can be a lifetime in pop culture. To be honest, this record will probably live or die on whether or not they can mine a hit out of it. There are a few promising candidates, including the infuriatingly catchy lead
3:31: Listen close and in the background you can hear what sounds like a stray bit of studio callback—like there was a mistake that got left in the mix. Jimi’s methods were methodical, but also loose. That’s one reason so much was left in the vault to begin with.
single “Let’s Just Fall in Love Again.” So, is Idol worth it? It’s interesting that this year’s crop of hopefuls features a plethora of performers in the Castro mold—guitar slingers with a bit of style and moderate pipes (RIP Alex Lambert). What remains to be seen, though—for them and for Castro—is if they can translate a weekly audience of 30 million people into even a moderately successful recording career. If not, at least they got to meet Seacrest.
jason castro arrives April 13 from Atlantic
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THE ROLLING STONES. RECORD STORES. A match made in heaven. Get these classics and more from The Rolling Stones at special low prices in April at participating record stores.
Through the Past Darkly (Big Hits vol. 2)
rolling stones full Some Girls
Her Satanic Majesties’ Request
Sticky Fingers
Beggars Banquet
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
Emotional Rescue
Individu ally numbe featurin red g B-s “All Dow ide n The Lin e”
And on Record Store Day, celebrate the release of a very special, very limited 7” of “PLUNDERED MY SOUL” — an UNRELEASED TRACK from the Exile on Main Street sessions. PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED, but it’s seeing the light on Record Store Day.
Both the tracks on xile gE upcomin Street on Main d expande In editions. ! /18 Stores 5
TITLES AND PRICES VARY BY STORE LOCATION. NOT ALL STORES PARTICIPATING.
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12 + record store magazine + April 2010
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listening party Natalie Merchant
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim
Leave Your Sleep
Here Lies Love
Rounder Records’ 40th Anniversary Concert
IN STORES
4/6
IN STORES
4/13
Featuring performances by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck and more! IN STORES
4/6
Joe Bonnamassa
Black Rock
BoDeans
Mr. Sad Clown
noise violations Immolation Majesty and Decay
the Dillinger Escape Plan
Option Paralysis
Eluveitie
Everything Remains As It Never Was
White Wizzard Over the Top
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music
new tunes in stores this month
In which we break down one incredible indie record store you need to check out ASAP by Brian Baker
W
h e n a c u s t o m er enters your record store, has a great experience and blogs about it throughout cyberspace, that’s pretty cool. When Jon Spencer and Henry Rollins rave about your space, that’s beyond cool. For Shake It co-owner Darren Blase, there’s no difference between the two reactions. “It’s great when cool touring bands come in and go, ‘This place is amazing,’” he says, “but it’s just as great when some average Joe comes in and says the exact same thing.” Located in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood, Shake It was launched 11 years ago by Blase and his brother Jim; in addition to the store, Blase also operates Shake It Records, a label that showcases local, regional and national talent, including 4156 Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati’s Wussy (two of the band’s Cincinnati, Ohio CDs wound up on critic Robert Christ513-591-0123 Blase is also committed to programgau’s Albums of the Decade list). shakeitrecords.com ming frequent in-store appearances fea“Our latest project is a series of turing a diverse cross section of musical 7-inches featuring the songs of Eddie talent. Last year, Shake It observed Record Store Day Hinton covered by a variety of extremely cool artists,” with an in-store performance by the Breeders, an event says Blase. “The first two are by Greg Dulli and Drive-By covered in USA Today. And three years ago, country muTruckers, and there’s plenty more coming this year.” sic legend Charlie Louvin recorded his performance at Shake It’s nearly 6,000 square foot ground floor/ the store, which ultimately became his 2007 release, basement space is loaded with 25,000 CDs and 18,000 Live at Shake It Records. vinyl units—new and used—and an astonishing array of “We do tons of in-stores,” says Blase. “But we also peripherals, including DVDs (movies, TV and music), sponsor a lot of art openings and book signings, and magazines, books (on music, film and every conceivable that’s opened the door to all kinds of offbeat pop culsub-category of pop culture), T-shirts and specialty toys. ture stuff.” Inventory fluctuates with demand; whatever customFor Blase, the satisfaction of creating Shake It isn’t ers want, Shake It stocks, and that keeps their clientele in making it the store he envisioned, but in seeing the coming back. store that his customers created with their loyal patron“We started with an open blueprint that would be age. determined by the people who walked in the door,” says “The cool thing about independent record stores is Blase. “What’s amazing is the older guys who bring that you can get the feeling of a neighborhood or city their kids who are in high school and have never been by walking in,” he says. “They’re living, breathing things to a record store before and are blown away. And they that reflect their communities. Our store is determined become regular customers. Music is a tangible experiby who’s playing across the street or around the corner, ence, not these zeros and ones you save on your hard and actual people asking for real items and our reaction drive. And it’s a visual experience, or else all records to stocking them and trying to be the best store we would be issued in a plain white sleeve. That’s the niche can be.” that we occupy.”
Shake It
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photo by alison hillard
Five Degrees of Ratt Going round and round (and round) with the hair metal icons
I
t’s 2010, and there’s a new Ratt album out. Yeah, we can’t believe it either. Cleverly entitled Infestation, it’s the band’s first studio album in over a decade. Since forming in 1976 under the Mickey Ratt moniker, these hair metal stalwarts have had their fair share of lineup changes over the last 34 years. Here’s a snapshot of the variDokken ous current and ex-memBreaking the bers’ greatest hits. Chains, 1983 —J. Bennett
Before splitting to join Ratt in 1982, bassist Juan Croucier played in Dokken for four years. He stuck around just long enough Ratt to appear on their 1983 debut (originally Out of the Cellar, released overseas in ’81) and to co-write Mötley Crüe two of the tracks within. As rumor has it, 1984 Mötley Crüe, 1994 Croucier’s old high school buddy and This triple-platinum glam slab put voAfter the Crüe kicked Vince Neil to the curb Ratt drummer Bobby Blotzer played calist Stephen Pearcy and the boys into in 1992, they brought in John Corabi, thensome uncredited drums on heavy MTV rotation. Featuring the super-hit vocalist/guitarist for the Scream, an L.A. band this one as well. “Round and Round” (which would land at #12 that also featured current Judas Priest drumon the Billboard charts, their biggest single ever), mer Scott Travis. The resulting eponymous disc Weird Science soundtrack cut “Wanted Man” marked the death of the Crüe’s songwriting and an early photo of future Whitesnake abilities, but Corabi would go on to form to fantasy headache/wife of David Covertwo bands with ex-KISS guitarist Bruce dale/wife of Chuck Finley/raging cokeKulick (Union and ESP) before joining head Tawny Kitaen on the cover, it Ratt as a touring guitarist from would also be as good as it 2000 to 2008. got for Ratt.
Love/Hate Blackout in the Red Room, 1990
Ozzy Osbourne Bark at the Moon, 1983
Best remembered for their terrible fashion sense (tight green velvet shorts, embroidered pink leather vests with no shirts), Love/Hate conjured a hellish but timely fusion of funk metal and the Cult’s Love era before vocalist Jizzy Pearl split to join L.A. Guns in the late ’90s and eventually replaced Stephen Pearcy in Ratt from 2000-06. Check out the video for “Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?” for an eyebleeding chuckle.
Before Ratt, there was Mickey Ratt, the band Pearcy originally formed in San Diego in the late ’70s. In ’81, they moved to L.A. and picked up guitarist Jake E. Lee, who would later join Rough Cutt (with three other ex-Ratt members) and start Badlands with onetime Black Sabbath members Eric Singer and Ray Gillen. Most famously, Lee played on two Ozzy albums—1983’s Bark at the Moon and 1986’s The Ultimate Sin.
[
april 2010 + record store magazine + 15
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RECORD STORE DAY RELEASES!
MUSICAL CANDY FOR THIS SPECIAL, SPECIAL DAY!
HOLE Skinny Little Bitch 10”
ON THE RADAR introducing you to the best new Urban artists from Atlantic records
THEM CROOKED VULTURES
DEVO
10” Picture Disc!
Two new Devo tracks
HAND SCREENED VINYL edition of upcoming album. ONLY 600 MADE!!! (new album in stores 5/4)
Features “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” along with unreleased track “Hwy 1 (Live from Sydney)” Numbered and limited!!
on a 45 RPM 12” disc “Fresh”/“What We Do”
THE FLAMING LIPS AND STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS w/ HENRY ROLLINS & PEACHES
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
GODSMACK
limited edition 10” vinyl
Brand new music on a limited edition orange 7”
RSD Releases Full
WHITE VINYL 10” Record Store Day exclusive! First Hole Album in ten years coming 4/27!
a compilation CD
THE HOLD STEADY
Heaven Is Whenever LP
Two rare live tracks: “Wrecking Ball (Live at Giants Stadium)”/”The Ghost of Tom Joad (with Tom Morello)
Doing Dark Side of the Moon a beautiful, limited edition seafoam green vinyl 12” just in time for Record Store Day!
COHEED AND CAMBRIA 7” picture disc New music and a rare, unreleased track: “Guns of Summer”/”Pearl of the Stars (Big Beige Demo Version)”
[
ATTENTION: ALL RELEASES ARE2010 LIMITED, 16 +PAY record store magazine + April
JAKOB DYLAN/ COURTYARD HOUNDS split 7” New music from Jakob and the Courtyard Hounds (Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks)
“Cryin’ Like A Bitch”/ ”Whiskey Hangover”
JOHN LENNON Singles Bag 7” box set individually numbered, packed with three 7” singles, three postcards, 24 x 36 poster, and custom 45 adaptor hub
] SOME TO A CRAZY SMALL NUMBER! NOT ALL STORES WILL STOCK ALL PIECES, CHECK WITH YOUR FAVORITE RECORD STORE AND SEE WHAT THEY’VE GOT COMING IN. INFORMATION ON ALL TITLES SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
music
the best of the rest of this month's new releases
APRIL 6 2Cents Dress to Kill 8Ball & MJG Ten Towes Down Air Supply Now & Forever/Air Supply Ancient Bards The Alliance of the Kings Annotations of an Auto... Before the Throne of Infection Atlanta Rhythm Section Atlanta Rhythm Section/ Back Up Against the Wall Atlanta Rhythm Section Underdog/Boys From Doraville Auras New Generation Gene Autry South of the Border Awesome Color Massa Hypnos Chris Barber & His Band Chris Barber at the BBC Vol. 2 Dave Barnes What We Want, What We Get Dame Shirley Bassey Performance Pat Benatar Greatest Hits Green Box Pat Benatar True Love/Gravity’s Rainbow Black Prairie Feast of the Hunter’s Moon BlesteNation Mbugout City Blood of Heroes Blood of Heroes Carey Blyton Choral Music The Bodeans Mr. Sad Clown Richard Bona The Ten Shades of Blues Born to Lose The Dreams of Kids David Bowie David Bowie Brawdcast Quest for Human Completion Cary Brothers Under Control Pieta Brown One and All Buggirl Blood, Sweat & Beers
Crazy Lixx Bing Crosby Cuete Cypress Hill Darkthrone Delta Moon Dgtlmonkey Danny Diablo Diabolic The Dirty Heads Dirty Sweet The Do The Doors Doves Downchild Dr. Dog Dr. Hook Duran Duran Duran Duran Jakob Dylan Earth, Wind & Fire Eerie Von Grandpa Elliott Emery Finger Fleetwood Mac Debbie Friedman Judy Garland GBH Goodbye Thrill Lou Gramm
New Religion Centennial Anthology Love Stories 2: The Notebook Rise Up Circle the Wagons Hell Bound Train Land of Dirty Beats and Bananas International Hardcore Superstar Liar & A Thief Any Port in a Storm American Spiritual A Mouthful When You’re Strange (Songs From the Motion Picture) Best Of I Need a Hat Shame Shame Bankrupt/A Little Bit More Duran Duran CD/DVD Seven and the Ragged Tiger CD/DVD Women and Country Raise/Powerlight Kinda Country Sugar Sweet Are You Listening? Still in Boxes 1990-1994 Perfect in Every Way One People Judy Takes Broadway Perfume and Piss Keepsakes Ready or Not
« in stores April 6
Slash, Slash
Velvet Revolver still doesn’t have a new singer, so the top-hatted shredder enlisted friends famous and bizarre (Fergie) for a one-off. Solomon Burke Nothing’s Impossible The John Butler Trio April Uprising David Byrne/Fatboy Slim Here Lies Love Kimberly Caldwell Without Regret Chalie Boy Catch Me at Relays Claude Challe Presents Lovely Reprises Roger Chapman/Shortl... Live at the Y 2001 Chap/Whit:Streetwalkers First Cut Ray Charles Genius+Soul=Jazz Charlotte Medusa Groove Cheap Trick One on One/Next Position Please Civil Twilight Civil Twilight Judson Claiborne Time and Temperature The Classic Crime Vagabonds Codeine Velvet Club Codeine Velvet Club Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen Very Very Live at the 100 Club Common Loon The Long Dream of Birds Conditionblack When I’m Not Rita Coolidge The Lady’s Not for Sale/ Fall Into Stpring Julian Cope Peggy Suicide (Deluxe Edition) John Cowan The George Massenberg Sessions Crackin’ Crackin’ Crackin’ Makings of a Dream Crackin’ Special Touch
John Grant
Queen of Denmark
Stephane Grappelli/David Live
Vivian Green Groundhogs Gucci Mane Hacienda US Haggard Haggard Merle Haggard
Beautiful Blues Obituary The Burrrprint Mixtape Big Red and Barbacoa Awakening the Centuries Eppur Si Muove Out Among the Stars/A Friend in California Harlem Hippies Russell Haswell Value Jeff Healey Last Call Heart Greatest Hits 1985-1995 Green Box Heidevolk Uit Oude Grond Robyn Hitch.. &Venus 3 Propellor Time Ikonika Contact, Want, Love, Have Incognito Live in London: 30th Anniversary Luther Ingram Absolutely the Best Insane Clown Posse Bang! Pow! Moom! Javelin No Mas J-Dawg Behind Tint 2 Jefferson Airplane Thirty Seconds Over Winterland Norah Jones Come Away With Me Sharon Jones/Dap-Kings I Learned the Hard Way Jonsi Go
Joyous Kalmah Kanipchen-Fit Junior Kelly R. Kelly Angelique Kidjo Kristy Like Trains & Taxis
Pleasure 12 Gague Multibenefit Red Pond The Lowdown Oyo My Romance Tales From a Revolving Door Lord Luther I Am the Lord The Macaroons Let’s Go Coconuts Machines of Grace Machines of Grace Madonna The Sticky & Sweet Tour CD/DVD Nick Marino Nick Marino Laura Marling I Speak Because I Can Esther Marrow/Sister Wo Esther Marrow Bobby McFerrin Vocabularies Mi Ami Steal Your Face Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-1978 Green Box Marilyn Monroe Solid Gold Monster Movie Everyone Is a Ghost Amanda Morra Amanda Morra PJ Morton Wwalk Alone Mr. Criminal Love Jams Volume 2 Murder by Death Good Morning, Magpie Junior Murvin Police & Thieves: Deluxe Edition Naturally Letta Mbula Nazareth Close Enough for Rock ‘N’ Roll Negura Bunget Maiestrit New Heavenly Blue New Heavenly Blue Nice Nice Extra Wow Omega Lithium Dreams in Formaline John Parish She, a Chinese Original Soundtrack Patrick Park Come What Will Alan Parsons Eye to Eye: Live in Madrid Peter Pan Club Top House Session: Vol. 2 PM Today In Medias Res Pocket Ft.Tanya Donelly Jars of Fireflies Poison 20 Years of Rock Green Box Putumayo Presents Latin Party The Radio Dept. Heaven’s On Fire Kenny Rankin After the Roses Marty Raybon At His Best Red Sparowes The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer Kathy Sanborn Small Galaxy Secret & Whisper Teenage Fantasy Sally Seltmann Heart That’s Pounding Martin Sexton Sugarcoating Karen Clark Sheard All in One Sight Below It All Falls Apart Frank Sinatra Classic Sinatra Green Box Sinbreed When Worlds Collide Slash Slash The Slits Cut Elliott Smith From a Basement on a Hill Elliott Smith Roman Candle Snapline Future Eyes Stephen Sondheim A Little Night Music Fabrizio Sotti Inner Dance Soundtrack Black Girl Phil Spector Early Productions Squeeze Arbybargy: Deluxe Edition Chris Standring Blue Bolero Staples Family Tree Staples Pass It On Staples Unlock Your Mind Joss Stone Colour Me Free Sly Stone Listen to the Voices: In the Studio 1965 Svartsot Mulmets Viser T.I. White Label Floyd Taylor All of Me
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music
the best of the rest of this month's new releases « in stores April 20
Ian
Thomas Band Still Here Tjay Take a Seat Toxic Lab Rats Intoxicated Trae Traebute Trash Burnin’ Rock Treat Coup de Grace Robin Trower Twice Removed From Yesterday Tunng And Then We Saw Land Under Byen Alt Er Tabt Unleashed As Yggdrasil Trembles Unter Null Moving On Upon a Burning Body The World Is Ours Various Artists 214 Mixtape Various Artists A Tribute to Thin Lizzy Various Artists Absolute Belter Various Artists Amalfi: Buon Viaggio Italiano Various Artists Beginner’s Guide to India Various Artists Breathing Fire: Live in Jamaica Various Artists Capri: Buon Viaggio Italiano Various Artists Christian Radio #1 Hits Various Artists City Lounge Vol. 7 Various Artists Double Cookin’: Classic Northern Soul Instrumentals Various Artists Down South Slangin’ 59 Various Artists Endzeit Bunkertracks Act V Various Artists Golden Crest Story Various Artists Happily Ever After Various Artists Industry Shakers II Various Artists London Fashion District Vol. 3 Various Artists One Voice Various Artists Shapes 10:01 Various Artists Smooth Jazz Tribute to Gorillaz Various Artists Ultimate 2000s Various Artists Ultimate ‘60s Various Artists Ultimate Country Classics Various Artists Ultimate Soul Classics Various Artists Ultimate Woman Various Artists X2010 Veil of Maya Id Vibes of Truth 3 Pieces Victory Cathedral Choir Smokie Norful Presents Villa Delle Rose Presents Gambafreaks Bill Withers +Justments Expanded Edition Peter Wolf Midnight Souvenirs
APRIL 13 108 808 State 808 State Aceyalone Aceyalone Tony Allen Amber Pacific Antena Jennie Arnau Astral Doors The Back-Up Plan Jeff Beck Bison BC Black Robot Black Sunshine Blacklisted Bleeding Fist Bleeding Through Blestenation Harlan T. Bobo
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18:61 Don Solaris Gorgeous Accepted Eclectic Hip Hop and the World We Live In Secret Agent Virtues Bossa Super Nova Chasing Giants Requiem of Time The Back-Up Plan Emotion & Commotion Dark Ages Black Robot Black Sunshine No One Deserves to Be Here More Than Me Macabrum Bestia Ex Abyssus Bleeding Through Mbugout City Sucker
18 + needle + april 2010
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Alcest, Ecailles De Lune
Tons of American bands try to re-create MBV’s Loveless, but this French act takes shoegaze in exhilarating new directions.
Braid
Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five Suicide Season Deluxe Season Laura Bell Bundy Achin’ and Shakin Busy Signal D.O.B. Cancer Bats Mayors, Bears, Scraps and Bones The Candles Between the Sounds Jason Castro Jason Castro Child Abuse Cut and Run Richard Clayderman Classical Collection Richard Clayderman Essential Richard Clayderman Plays the Music of Abba Nels Cline Initiate Coffinworm When All Became None Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow Anat Cohen Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard Sonny Condell Camouflage The Contrast God of Malfunction Crazy Dreams Band War Dream Dead Country EP Deep Purple Live at Long Beach 1976 Disappears Lux Dosh Tommy Drunkdriver Drunkdriver Edguy The Savage Poetry Eulorhythmics Green St. & Avers Everly Brothers Very Best of the Everly Brothers The Flatliners Cavalcade Flying Lotus DJ Kicks Freelance Whales Weathervanes Serge Gainsb/Jane Birkin Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg Glee Cast The Power of Madonna Aaron Goldberg Home Gummibar La La Love to Dance Clutchy Hopkins The Storyteller Iggy & The Stooges Raw Power: Legacy Edition JBM Not Even in July Lorraine Jordan/Carolina Carolina Hurricane Kaki King Junior Korrosive Money Rules Everything Lair of the Minotaur Evil Power Legendary Shack Shakers Agridustrial Tom Lehrer The Tom Lehrer Collection Letlive Fake History Letter to the Exiles The Shadow Line Charlie Louvin Hickory Wind Janiva Magness The Devil Is an Angel Too Mantler Monody Matt Pond PA The Dark Leaves Natalie Merchant Leave Your Sleep Natalie Merchant Selections From the Album Leave Your Sleep Jo Dee Messina Unmistakable Love MGMT Congratulations Raul Midon Synthesis Monarch Mer Morte Nazareth Greatest Hits Justin Nozuka You I Wind Land and Sea The Ocean Heliocentric Jon Oliva’s Pain Festival Ov Hell The Underworld Regime Zeena Parkins Between the Whiles Passion Pit Manners Bring Me the Horizon
Pavlov’s Dog Pavlov’s Dog Powersolo Christian Prommer Chris Pureka
At the Sound of the Bell Pampered Menial Bloodskinbones Drumlesson Zwei How I Learned to See in the Dark Rafter Animal Feelings Revolting Cocks Got Cock? Carr Rodriguez Love and Circumstance Rosetta The Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift Rosetta Three Way Split W/ East of the Wall and Year of No Life Sightings City of Straw A Silent Film The City That Sleeps Son of Aurelius The Farthest Reaches Soundtrack No One Knows About Persian Cats Special Request Ft. Rey T The Red Album Straight No Chaser With a Twist Subhumans Same Thoughts Different Day Mark Sultan $ The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt Tinsel Teeth Trash as the Trophy Trampled by Turtles Palomino Uriah Heep Celebration CD/DVD Steve Vai Where the Other Wild Things Are War of Ages Eternal Woe of Tyrants Threnody Yu Before Taxes
APRIL 20 4Troops Airbourne Alcest Anarbor
4Troops No Guts. No Glory Ecailles De Lune The Words You Don’t Swallow The Apples in Stereo Travellers in Space and Time Aqualung Magnetic North Fred Astaire Standards Autoryno Pastrami Bagel Social Club The Back-Up Plan The Back-Up Plan David Ball Sparkle City Richard Barbieri Things Buried David Benoit Earthglow Big Doughski G Doughski by the Zone Blunt Mechanic World Record Jason Boland/Stragglers High in the Rockies Boyz N Da Hood Lost Sessions Caribou Swim Chalie Boy I’m Here Joe Chambers Horace to Max Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise Patsy Cline Sweet Dreams Cognito Automatic Concept Insomnia Perpetuum Mobile The Consulate General Person Number Cornershop Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast Crossfire Dirty Games Danny Boy It’s About Time Dark Time Sunshine Vessel Pierre De Reeder The Way That It Was
Destroyer Destroyer Destroyer Devin the Dude Dictee Dirty Little Heaters
City of Daughters Streethawk: A Seduction Thief Suite 420 Liber Novus Champions of Imperfection D-Ray My Mixtape Is Killing Your Mixtape Ereb Altor The End Roky Erickson/Okkervil.. True Love Cast Out All Evil Everest On Approach Jason Falkner I’m OK, You’re OK Faraquet The View From This Tower Ella Fitzgerald Standards The Flamin’ Groovies Replay: Groovies Greatest David Ford Let the Hard Times Roll Free Electric State Caress Nnenna Freelon Homefree Game Da Bottom 12 Judy Garland/Liza Minnel Live at the Palladium Stan Getz Standards Stan Getz/Kenny Barron People Time: The Complete Recordings Rosario Giuliani Lennie’s Pennies Go Radio Do Overs and Second
The Monotones Wes Montgomery Ruth Moody Lucinda Moore Jim Moray Mr. Knightowl Mr. Mister Kate Nash Nedry Willie Nelson Ninjasonik Shuggie Otis Ozomatli Painted Hills Peeesseye & Talibam Periphery Oscar Peterson The Poppees Ratt Relient K Lou Rhodes Rikets Aldo Romano
Are… The Revolution! The Sound! Plays the Hits The Garden Blessed, Broken & Given A Beginner’s Guide Konvicted Felon Welcome to the Real World 25th Anniversary My Best Friend Is You Condors Country Music Art School Girls In Session Fire Away Painted Hills Peeesseye & Talibam Periphery Standards Pop Goes the Anthology Infestation The First Three Gears: 2000-2003 One Good Thing All American Death Cult Origine
« in stores april 27
hole, Nobody’s Daughter
Fresh off losing custody of her only daughter, Courtney Love tries to salvage her wildly uneven career via this oft-delayed comeback.
Chances Flower of Disease Baal: The Book of Angels Vol. 15 Gotan Project Tango 3.0 Grateful Dead Crimson, White & Indigo: July 7 1989 JFK Vince Guaraldi Peanuts Portraits Taylor Hawkins/Coattail Red Light Fever Hed Kandi Twisted Disco Billie Holiday Standards Horse Feathers Thistled Spring Ian Hunter Live in London Juvenile Lost Sessions 4 Karunesh Path of Compassion Kayo Dot Coyote Khamsa Khala All Rites Reversed Kings Go Forth The Outsiders Are Back The Kissaway Trail Sleep Mountain Kottonmouth Kings Long Live the Kings Kurupt Street Lights Jonny Lang Live at the Ryman Lean Left Vol. 1 Christopher Lee Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross Les Discrets Septembre Et Ses Derniers Pensees Levi/Werstler Avalanche of Worms Yasmin Levy Sentir Ramsey Lewis Plays the Beatles Songbook Lil Keke Addicted to Fame Lisa Lynne Seasons of the Soul Shelby Lynne Tears, Lies and Alibis Jackie Martling Snart Medications Completely Removed Midas Fall Eleven. Return and Revert The Miracles City of Angels Moby Grape Live MonkeyJunk Tiger in Your Tank Goatsnake Ben Goldberg
Wallace Roney Xavier Rudd Sevendust The Slackers Sleepy D Snapper Soundtrack Soundtrack Storyhill SSweet Apple Art Tatum Trio Tiffany Trans Am Tre Lux Trombone Shorty Truthlive Tubsy Van Canto Van Canto Various Artists Various Artists Various Artists Various Artists Various Artists Various Artists Various Artists Rufus Wainwright Doug Wamble Grover Washington Jr. Whitesnake Chuck Willis The Wolfmen John Zorn/Fred Frith
If Only for One Night Koonyum Sun Cold Day Memory CD/DVD The Great Rocksteady Swindle Sleepy Deprivation Connect 3: The Streets Are Watching Drawn Together MacGruber Shade of the Trees Love and Desperation The Jazz Biography I Think We’re Alone Now: ‘80s Hits and More Thing A Strange Gathering Backatown Patience Jatt Sheran Varge A Storm to Come Hero 18 & Ova Riddem Driv American Velvet: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground Down for the Core 2010 Incredible Gospel Vol 2 Jook Joint Blues Vol. 2 Motown Around the World Tribal Beats Vol. 2 All Days Are Nights Doug Wamble Plays the Hits Whitesnake CD/DVD The Complete Chuck Willis 1951-1957 Married to the Eiffel Tower Late Works
APRIL 27 1349 Abominable Iron Sloth Acid Tiger Anodyne Arma Gathas At the Soundawn Balkan Beat Box Big Audio Dynamite Bloods & Crips
Demonoir The Id Will Overcome Acid Tiger Corrosion Dead to This World Shifting Blue Eyed Black Boy This Is Big Audio Dynamite Bangin’ on Wax Greatest Hits Bone Thugs N Harmony Uni5: The World’s Enemy Zac Brown Band Pass the Jar Bullet for My Valentine Fever Canned Heat Woodstock Homecoming Mary Chapin Carpenter The Age of Miracles Cirque Du Soleil Ovo Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Olvd. Cleric Regressions Commitments Commitments Miran Cosgrove Sparks Fly Cream Disraeli Gears Daddy Was a Driver Daddy Was a Driver Dark Room Notes We Love You Dark Matter Reema Datta Here’s My Heart Drowning Pool Drowning Pool Dru Hill Indrupendence Day Freddy Fender Absolutely the Best Peter Frampton Thank You, Mr. Churchill Marvin Gaye I Want You Hole Nobody’s Daughter Hot Club of Detroit It’s About Time Howling Wind Into the Cryosphere Katrina & The Waves Katrina & The Waves Carole King The Essential Carole King Albert King/Stevie Ray V In Session CD/DVD Kon & Amir Present Off Track Vol. III: Brookyln Linfinity Martian’s Bloom Daniel Lioneye Vol. II Lodger Flashbacks Lonestar Party Heard Around the World Lonestar Simply the Hits Lynyrd Skynyrd One More From the Road Juan MacLean DJ Kicks Mantric The Descent Manual Drowned in Light Bob Marley/The Wailers Legend Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell Mount Carmel Mount Carmel Mouth of the Architect The Violence Beneath Mushroom Naked, Stoned & Stabbed My Education Sunrise Naked on the Vague Heaps of Nothing David Newman To Be Hone Oomph Truth or Dare P.B. Maa Unconditional Brian Posehn Fart and Wiener Jokes Nathaniel Rateliff In Memory of Loss Johnny Shines Too Wet to Plow Sean Smith Eternal Sons of Sylvia Revelation Starkey Ear Drums & Black Holes Sursiks I Didn’t Know I Was Singing Vol. 1 Jacky Terrasson Push Trashcan Sinatras In the Music Twilight Monument to Time End Two Door Cinema Tourist History Ty Special Kind of Fool The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground VNV Nation Crossing the Divide VNV Nation Live: Toronto 7.16.2009 Fats Waller Performance Warbeast Krush the Enemy Wave Pictures Instant Coffee Baby White Fence White Fence Wounded Lion Wounded Lion Yo Gotti Live From the Kitchen
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music reviews
new tunes new intunes storesinthis stores month this month
She & Him
Pronoun Pros
Second time’s a predictable charm for Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s super-duo
I
Ward has perfectly matched that sly, sunny t ’ s h a r d n o t to reflexively hate the charisma with a ’60s and ’70s pop palette. She & Him project just a little bit—indie These songs sound like a summer afternoon. darling Zooey Deschanel could not only The first single, “In the Sun,” channels that steal your boyfriend in a heartbeat; she can nonchalance with a catchy little piano part, sing, too. Yeesh. and guest vocals from Tilly and the Wall. Volume II is the second collaboration be8 The slow stuff provides a better showcase tween the actress and singer-songwriter/ She & Him for Deschanel’s deceptively emotive style. producer M. Ward, and it’s definitely a step Volume Two Dreamy ballads like “Brand New Shoes” and forward for the pair. Deschanel isn’t necesmerge “Me and You” have a lovely lyrical simplicsarily a great technical singer, but there’s ity, and Ward’s soulful guitar work provides the proper something charmingly flawed and endearing about grounding. For all the buzz about the lush beauty of the earnestness of her efforts. You can tell she loves to She & Him’s arrangements, the spare moments provide sing. That said, none of this would work without Ward, the album highlights. a master at synthesizing vintage musical stylings into This stuff will still be too precious for some, but on something rich and interesting. their second go-around, Ward and Deschanel seem to The album features 11 original songs and two covhave an even better handle on their formula. The songs ers—NRBQ’s “Ridin’ in My Car” and Skeeter Davis’ feel tighter and catchier—plus, this is music that just “Gonna Get Along Without You Now.” As an actress, sounds nice. Which isn’t always such a bad thing. Deschanel has that certain je ne sais quoi—a bit awkward, —Lee Stabert but oddly transfixing. Her music has the same allure.
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The Apples in Stereo 7 Travellers in Space and Time Yep Roc
The future of retro is here today When Apples in Stereo mastermind Robert Schneider says of his band’s latest album that he “wanted to make a futuristic pop record,” he mostly means that he’s taking cues from bands in the ’60s and ’70s that were making those sorts of records. That’s the era in which the Apples have always been rooted, plucking the best parts from the Beatles, Beach Boys and Zombies into their sunny pop-rock. No, when Schneider envisions the future, he imagines ELO are the biggest band in the world, and Travellers in Space and Time is the Apples’ ELO record. After a long hiatus, the Elephant 6 collective’s flagship band released New Magnetic Wonder in 2007 and trimmed much of their psychedelic sprawl for a fairly straightforward, guitar-centric record. On Travellers, keyboards play the most prominent role, with “Dignified Dignitary” standing out as the album’s lone rocker. The majority of the tracks are dedicated to groove-oriented early R&B and proto-disco, with a sizable chunk of Steely Dan sneaking into the mix; and, like any good sci-fi plot, there are love stories (“No One in the World,” “Nobody but You”). But it’s doubtful that the antagonist in “Told You Once” has much to worry about, as it’s hard to imagine Schneider swooping in and stealing anyone’s girlfriend. The future still seems a hairy place for the nice guy. —Matt Sullivan
David Byrne/Fatboy Slim 5 Here Lies Love Nonesuch
They’d like that in a pump and a loafer Where to begin? A double-CD pop opera about former first lady of Panama, Imelda Marcos, by a very strange team-up that only gets more unusual when you see the other 21 names attached to it: the album’s finale is a duet between Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos, for starters. Like so much else David Byrne has done over the past couple decades, Here Lies Love is a skillful album that doesn’t leave much of a mark. The music, which Fatboy Slim largely co-authored, is swift, but a little anemic. (Slim’s party-hearty tendencies are largely subdued, though they make appearances here and there, such as on the disco groove of “Ladies in Blue,” sung by Theresa Andersson.) But this is clearly a theater piece, and listening to it makes you wonder what you might be missing onstage.
Byrne’s Marcos is not unlike Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan of I’m Not There, each era or facet a different person altogether—or here, singer. But it’s hard for Byrne to make social, biographical, historical and political details sing. The Charmaine Clamor-sung “Walk Like a Woman” (“I’m gonna learn how to dress, how to dance / I’m gonna learn how to make an impression... for the love of this man”) feels odd coming as it does on an album credited to two men. A number of singers put their lyrics over anyway: Kate Pierson (of the B-52’s) could sing her Twitter feed and it would sound like a party. Even if this doesn’t succeed as a complete work, it is a rather nice showcase for a lot of great female singers. —Michaelangelo Matos
Cypress Hill 7 Rise Up E M I / Pri o ri t y
Nothing nü under the sun Wrap your glassy-eyed little noggin around this: If you had conceived a child during the Saturday Night Live episode when stoner-rap pioneers Cypress Hill got banned for smoking a joint on national television, that child would almost be old enough to vote. Think about that for a second—is your mind officially blown yet? If not, the fact that the Hill’s new album, Rise Up, is actually a damn solid piece of heritage-hop should probably blow that mother out, especially considering the disappointing rap-rock descent of the group’s turnof-the-century output. Sure, there’s a cringe-worthy guest appearance from Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, and nobody really needs to hear Everlast interpolate Doors’ lyrics, but the collaborations with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello— the title track and “Shut ’Em Down”—are way better than they have a right to be. Rise Up excels when the core group of B-Real, Sen Dog and DJ Muggs stick to what they do best: getting super-stupid high and spitting stoned-silly rhymes over funky beats. It’s a formula that has made them fixtures in dorms across America, and it’s a formula that still works.—Sean L. Maloney
Free 8 Free Forever Eagle Vision
Liberation transmission No hagiography of classic British hard rock is complete without genuflecting at the fleeting altar of Free. Though they were together for less than six years, vocalist Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, bassist
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music reviews
new tunes new intunes storesinthis stores month this month
Andy Fraser and guitarist Paul Kossoff were masters of the hard blues/tight pants idiom that the likes of Clapton, Zeppelin and Bad Company (of which Rodgers and Kirke were later members) took to the stratosphere. Yeah, “All Right Now” is the still-ubiquitous 1970 mega-hit that everyone can hum in their sleep, but Free’s catalog of soulful ladykiller jams goes much, much deeper. All the footage on this double-disc set is from that very year, when the entire band was under 21 (Fraser and Kossoff were still teenagers) and already the musical equals of many a more prominent forbear. Of the three sets of footage on disc one, the runaway highlight is a brilliant five-song performance from British television, shot multi-camera style with gorgeous angles, zooms and all the appropriate lens flare of the era. Disc two is mostly surround-sound audio, containing the band’s full set from the massive Isle of Wight Festival, though video is included for three songs in vintage concert split-screen style. Kossoff would be dead at age 25 from drug-related heart failure less than six years after this was shot, but his rightful legacy—and Free’s—rides on here. Maybe even forever. —J. Bennett
Lali Puna 8 Our Inventions Morr Music
Mother necessity For better or worse, Adam Young’s solo project Owl City defines the state of lo-fi bedroom pop in 2010. Owl City’s detractors tend to dismiss last year’s breakthrough, Ocean Eyes, as an inferior rewrite of the Postal Service’s 2003 full-length, Give Up; the group’s booster club traces clean ancestral lines back to the radio-ready hooks of New Order. Young has done well to communicate warmth with Owl City, but the best pop music should aspire to more than surface tensions. There’s a sly nod or two to the Postal Service (the glitchy opening of “Remember”) on Lali Puna’s fourth full-length, Our Inventions, but the German quartet’s palette of influences (Stereolab, Boards of Canada, Unrest’s Imperial f.f.r.r.) are much deeper and more refined. Valerie Trebeljahr’s make-up-or-break-up lyrics still stand in opposition to the fanciful, loop-happy arrangements, but the focus of Our Inventions is more interpersonal than past releases. It’s also somewhat of a return to form to 2001’s Scary World Theory, with synths as the dominant musical element (as on the shimmering instrumental “Future Tense”). Of course, the emotional heft of something like “Move On” is undeniable: With or without guitars, Lali Puna write some of the most heartbreaking songs around. —Nick Green
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MGMT 6 Congratulations Columbia
Difficult second album-itis When the Grammy-nominated Brooklyn duo MGMT emerged in 2007 with Oracular Spectacular, they were closer to the Bee Gees than anything heard since Travolta hung up his bell bottoms, but they also had one foot in the Flaming Lips’ psychedelic wonderland. Using dance-appropriate synths, basslines and dreamy grooves, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden infused songs with a radiance that surged to and fro. The hit singles “Electric Feel,” “Kids” and “Time to Pretend” toyed with time and headspace, and created a kaleidoscope of musical revelry. MGMT’s sophomore album, Congratulations, is a more high-strung affair. Songs offer Laurel Canyon-type melodrama alongside Casio-curated psych- and electro-pop, but the mood is shifty and neurotic. With a few exceptions, the music is pinched and cynical, with MGMT’s sonic ebullience in short supply. “It’s Working” rides a warm wave with dark undertones. “Love is only in your mind, and not your heart,” they sing from the bottom of Alice’s rabbit hole. The 12-minute multiplepersonality pastiche “Siberian Breaks” declares, “It’s not the life lesson I’d’ve guessed / If you’re conscious, you must be depressed.” MGMT have woken up from their dream and gotten spanked with reality. They’re not exactly pleased, but at least they secured a position in the spotlight. Congratulations? Maybe, maybe not. —Jeanne Fury
The New Pornographers 7 Together M ata d o r
United by fate The New Pornographers spent two albums being almost too immediate, and then two more burying their hooks a little. Together splits the difference somewhat: it’s more immediate than either Twin Cinema or Challengers, but it’s also got those albums’ calmer surface. Lead songwriter A.C. Newman’s songs are full of takeaways: “The Crash Years,” sung by Neko Case, with its huffing-and-puffing up-and-down riff, piping organ and easy melody, can switch gears at the end, finishing with what sounds like a bridge with a cryptic lyric: “Tonight will be an open-mike.” The splashy, glammy “Silver Jenny Dollar,” one of Destroyer singersongwriter Dan Bejar’s contributions, is even brighter, thanks in part to Kurt Dahle’s splashing drum fills, and
Brian Posehn
even more to a tune that’s both compact and endlessly unwinding. Some of the melancholy that suffused Twin Cinema and Challengers is here, too, most notably in the delicately rendered “Valkyrie and the Roller Disco,” with Newman, Case and Kathryn Calder singing with and over one another while wispy guitar and organ peel off small, subtle lines. Together even has a splashy finale, “We End Up Together,” nearly six minutes long, with strings and classic-rock start-stops. It fits perfectly. —Michaelangelo Matos
Brian Posehn 8 Fart and Weiner Jokes Relapse
And even some poop gags, too Brian Posehn’s a realist. The gangly, bearded, fortysomething comic— who has ascertained justifiable cult standing from Mr. Show and The Sarah Silverman Program—knows that he’s never going to do a sex scene in a movie, but he’s certainly qualified to be in one… as the “creepy janitor or the inbred redneck hotel owner who just climbed in through the window” watching hot teens fornicate and muttering, “Git that shit, boy! Hoo doggie!” Such is the basis of the (many) laughs on Posehn’s second comedy album for underground metal kingpins Relapse—he’s a king-sized, shut-in nerd whose four hobbies are smoking weed, playing Xbox, masturbating and crying. If you can identify with any of the aforementioned—and knowing our audience, we bet there’s plenty of four-for-fours out there—you’ll find Fart and Weiner Jokes an endearingly offensive, 50-minute diversion. Well-known as an extreme music lifer, Posehn
throws in another original metal tune at the very end, à la Live In: Nerd Rage’s “Metal by Numbers.” “More Metal Than You” isn’t nearly as funny, nor is a palm-muted version of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” that follows, but no biggie. They can’t all be Denis Leary’s “Asshole,” can they? —Andrew Bonazelli
Tim Chad & Sherry 9 Baby We Can Work It Out Cleft Music
Shaken and baked Nashville boogie proprietors Tim Chad and Sherry’s name might not be falling off the tongues of our nation’s hipster massive quite yet, but you can expect all of your too-cool-for-school buddies to be bumpin ’em on the stereo by the summer. The brainchild of Silver Jews drummer Brian Kotzur, TC&S’s dadaist dance rock— think Joe Walsh and Lee Perry making a disco record— has been drafted by indie-rock patriarchs Pavement to get the dance floor moving at this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, and if Baby We Can Work It Out is any indication, not a single ass will be left un-shook. From the deep house vibe of “Love on the Dancefloor” to the sexy, smooth R&B of “Don’t Disturb This Groove,” TC&S exhibit an obvious love of their source material that’s neither painfully ironic or so gimmicky that it becomes parodic—a difficult balancing act that few bands can achieve these days. Like a mix tape of obscurities from the kid that’s too cool to hang out with coolest kids you know, Baby We Can Work It Out is a mind-expanding, rump-shaking voyage that will surely be a staple of this summer’s cookouts and impromptu hipster dance parties everywhere. —Sean L. Maloney
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music
new tunes in stores this month
The Runaways, 1976
Female Trouble
first, XX chromosomes second. And they were determined to make their mark, no matter what it cost. As it turned out, it cost a lot. Fowley verbally abused the A comprehensive tribute to the legacy of groundbreaking girls, drugs and drinking took girl-punks the Runaways by Jeanne Fury hold, members actively resented each other, and shortly after the Runaways found worldwide fame o l l y w o o d , 1 9 7 5 . A teenage drummer named with a string of sold-out shows in Japan in 1977, the Sandy West contacts a teenage guitar player named band imploded. Fox and Currie quit. Vicki Blue became Joan Jett with the intent of starting an all-girl rock the new bassist, while Jett took over vocal duties. But it band. Record producer Kim Fowley steps in to assume didn’t last. In April of 1979, the Runaways were done. the role of manager and finds other female members Jett and Ford continued on with solo careers in music, to complete the band, the Runaways. He recruits Lita but for the other girls, it was the end of the road. Ford on lead guitar and Cherie Currie on vocals, and the Die-hard rock ‘n’ roll fans may have heard the Runband chooses Jackie Fox to join on bass. A revolution aways’ most popular song, “Cherry Bomb,” but history promptly began. more or less forgot about the band. That’s changed, Back then—and, unfortunately, even now—tough thanks to Floria Sigismondi’s feature film The Runwomen in rock were an anomaly. Save for Jett’s heroine aways, starring two of the most recognizable young and leather-clad bassist/singer Suzi Quatro, the world actresses in the world. Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanof loud, fast guitar music was for guys and guys only. ning had never even heard of the Runaways when they Fowley saw an opportunity to cash in on the sex ap- were approached to play Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, peal of underage girls playing provocative songs. The respectively. And from every interview the two have Runaways simply saw an opportunity to play real rock done since, it’s clear that their lives have been altered ‘n’ roll and give the middle finger to a world that told by the roles, not just professionally, but personally. them girls couldn’t and shouldn’t attempt something There’s an almost frightening amount of reverence for so traditionally male. The band members didn’t ignore the band that Stewart and Fanning can’t mask. their gender or put it on the back burner—they loved Read on for a primer on all things Runaways, and being girls who played rock ‘n’ roll—but they also how the band influenced other prominent women in wanted to play on the same field as the boys. Music rock. []
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photo by tom gold
Discography 1976
The Runaways ★★★★ The debut had one priority: to show that girls could play hyper-sexual rock ‘n’ roll and be just as nasty, confrontational and fearless as any boy. The highlight is “Cherry Bomb”—a predatory come-on with motorcycle-revved riffs and orgiastic groans, the song defined the Runaways. Jett and Fowley wrote it on the spot for Currie to sing during her audition. 1977
Queens of Noise ★★★★★ Of all the band’s studio albums, this is the most self-assured and fleshed-out. Songs
Movies
like “Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin,” “I Love Playin’ With Fire” and the title track are flashy, dangerous and as arrogant as any of the Runaways’ male contemporaries. Ford’s guitar snarls the intro to “Neon Angels,” and Currie wails, “No one here gets out alive.” What listeners didn’t realize was how far along the “road to ruin” the band actually was. 1977
Live in Japan ★★★★★ The Runaways had Beatles-like success overseas, especially in Japan, where they played a string of sold-out dates in 1977. The live album captures the youthful
bravado of the band better than any of the proper studio albums. Jett’s leadership and command of the stage is undeniable, Currie’s vampiness reaches its apex, Ford’s solos are positively on fire and West’s outstanding strength as a drummer shines. But this was the beginning of the end. By Fox’s account in Edgeplay (see below), it was during this trip that she attempted suicide and decided to leave the band. 1977
Waitin’ for the Night ★★★ By now, Currie had quit, Jett was on vocal duties and Fox was replaced by Vicki Blue. Though
the album contains one of Jett’s best songs (“School Days”), it doesn’t deliver the goods with the same amount of fervor. 1978
And Now... The Runaways ★★ The final album indicated the growing musical rift between members that would ultimately split them apart. Ford and West wanted to explore heavy metal, while Jett went for punk and glam. Standout tracks are “Saturday Night Special” (written by Earl Slick) and a cover of Slade’s “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.”
Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways 2 0 0 4 Directed by Victory Tischler-Blue (ne Vicki Blue), this documentary is a raw, intense look at the dynamics of the band, featuring each woman’s take on what went down. (Jett vehemently refused to participate.) An absolute must-see for any music fan. The footage of Sandy West is especially gutwrenching—she was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and died of a brain tumor on October 21, 2006 at the age of 47.
The Runaways
2010
Loosely based on Currie’s book Neon Angel, Floria Sigismondi’s movie feels very much like Hollywood’s depiction of the truth—much of the struggle and abuse the girls were subjected to is glossed over. But Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning deliver excellent performances (Jett and Currie signed on as co-producers and coached the actresses). One can only hope that the movie inspires girls (and boys) to see beyond gender stereotypes, and encourages new generations of rockers. []
Fanning and Stewart in a scene from the upcoming The Runaways
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music
new tunes in stores this month
reflections
Jennifer Precious Finch
The Donnas
How the Runaways Influenced Me In 1984, Jennifer Precious Finch was in the San Francisco band Sugar Baby Doll (also called Sugar Babylon) with Courtney Love (later of Hole) and Kat Bjelland (later of Babes in Toyland). She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and assumed bass and vocal duties in the revered all-girl band L7 for 10 years. When I was young, the Runaways seemed to me like a fake group. I grew up a full generation after them, and the music I listened to was much less commercial, and it made the Runaways sound tame. The only way the Runaways influenced me, at that time, was not to be like them. Later, in my early 20s, I grew to appreciate them, but more because I was granted a better sense of humor. In L7, I became more aware of how women fit into the music scene, but only because I was told over and over that there was something wrong when it came to being female. I was truly free to just be me, until everyone told me that wasn’t the case. In the music industry, there is always the burden of being compared to those that had come before you. When is comes to the actual music, I don’t mind. But assuming that I would have been influenced by another musician just because she is female is plain dumbass ignorance. So, in saying all of that, I will say now that I fully appreciate the Runaways, but not because of their music, not because I am told I am supposed to. What influences me are their personal stories. As people, they have collectively and individually faced a lot of shit. They have had to face real life on real life’s terms, and have done what they
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needed to do to survive. And from what I see, they did so with grace and dignity. They influence me now not because they are fems—it’s just a human thing.
The Donnas’ Brett Anderson and Torry Castellano have been singing and playing drums, respectively, along with Allison Robertson (guitar) and Maya Ford (bass) since 1993. The Palo Alto, CA band will release their eighth studio album this year. Castellano: We specifically set out to have an all-friend band. We all wanted to be in a band with each other because we were friends first and we all loved music. When we started in the eighth grade, all of the boys in our class who were in bands made fun of us and started rumors about us. They would spy on us while we were practicing in my parents’ garage. I think that their reaction did make us want to prove that girls can play and have a band, too. Anderson: The Runaways were an example of young girls that made rock ‘n’ roll despite the notion that it was only for guys. That was good for us to see because in our school, sexism was alive and kickin’, and it was nice to have some proof that our “peers” were wrong when they told us that girls can’t play and sing rock music, and that we should go home and play with our dolls. Castellano: The Runaways were sexy, but also very tough and hard. They showed people that girls playing rock didn’t have to be soft, nice or sweet. They were willing to work and sweat for the music. []
books
Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway
Joan Jett by Todd Oldham (2010, Ammo Books)
In addition to detailing Currie’s life with the band, the book is a naked account of the drug addiction, sex abuse and violence she endured during and after her time in the Runaways.
The fashion designer’s homage to Jett includes an introduction by Riot Grrrl pioneer and Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. Curated by Jett herself, the book includes rare photos, ephemera and interview excerpts that span her 30-year career.
by Cherie Currie with Tony O’Neill (re-released in 2010 by It Books)
A spread from Joan Jett (courtesy Ammo Books)
Theo Kogan was still in high school when she became the lead singer of New York’s all-girl punk band the Lunachicks, who toured the globe and shared bills with the likes of No Doubt, Rancid and the Offspring. I discovered the Runaways when I was 14 or 15, and was totally blown away. They were so put-together. The songs were so good and so tight—so “rock.” And it was hard to believe how young they were. I hate the sexism of it all, but they really did show that an all-female band could be everything that the dude-bands were at the time, and have better songs, and also be totally hot! [The Lunachicks] wanted to be an all-girl band, but it was more by default. We had all these friends—both guys and girls— in bands, and when some of our [favorite bands] broke up, we figured, “We all like good music—why don’t we start a band?” So, we did. We didn’t have a female drummer at the very start, but we really wanted one and ended up getting one, because it just seemed cooler to have it be all girls. When we were coming up with band
names, for a hot minute we had one that was a play on the name “The Runaways.” We thought we might call ourselves “Go Home” or “The Go Homes.” It’s so bad, but pretty funny when you think about it now.
Theo Kogan
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movies
new dvds in stores this month
Entrails of Tears Dead Snow and the twisted, emotionally charged insides of the recently raised by Jonah Gruber
D
ead Snow rounds off a decade of cinema defined by an unrelenting zombie insurgency. As the era of “sophisticated slashers” (Se7en, Silence of the Lambs) came to an end, the year 2000 saw zombies outsourced to Japan and Hong Kong, where they were reanimated in ways that were often befuddling to Western moviegoers (SARS War, Versus and Guitar Wolf’s Wild Zero, for instance). With Resident Evil fueling a wider audience’s hunger for decaying flesh, we got our sophisticated zombie movies as well (the 28 Days franchise and the brooding festival hit Les Revenants). Dead Snow certainly owes a lot to the early comedic gore-athons of Peter Jackson, and even contains a homage to Shaun of the Dead wherein a zombie melee battle is performed alongside a rock anthem, skulls smashed to the beat, improvised weapons annihilating their rot-
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ting targets with precision. In that regard, Dead Snow could be called the last of the zombie movies with comedic leitmotifs: A vacationing group of privileged med students find a Nazi treasure looted from Norwegian villagers during the war. Nazi zombies, in their infinite greed, want their treasure back, and rise from the snowy plains to retrieve it. What unfolds is a typically hilarious splatterfest with mild pretenses of being a commentary on materialism and slavery (in this case, fascism as a form of mindless slavery and spoiled youth being little removed from it), two tropes that the genre has been well-acquainted with since the time of Bela Lugosi and White Zombie. Part of the joy of the film is in seeing Norwegian youth adopt—self-consciously and to humorous effect—the mannerisms and subcultural trends of American upper-
class college students. When a mysterious but irascible wanderer invites himself into their cabin, he demands a cup of coffee. “Do you like it?” a dreadlocked student asks. “No, it tastes like shit,” he says. “It’s ecological,” she asserts, as if this makes up for everything. We are also exposed to the ubiquitous Fun Montage at the opening, a tradition in horror movies that serves to fill the audience with dread. “They will not be inner-tubing on jet skis to Scandinavian alt-rock for long,” we think, and in a way this highly effective ploy reminds its mostly comfortable audience that their lives can be engulfed by apocalypse at any moment, that they should never be too comfortable, and that they cannot defeat death itself no matter how many pleasures of the flesh they indulge in. To drive this idea home, horror audiences are used to seeing slaughter ensue at the same location as a previous sexual act, as if orgasm itself was a distraction from the inevitable. Ultimately, and unfortunately for moviegoers who grew up with zombies and want to see them put to the test, Dead Snow is a delightful breeze through the genre and little more. It doesn’t rise above, nor does it try to rise above, a typical revenge tale pitched against the shallow power of wealth that was embodied in men who came to represent white entitlement itself, the Nazis. The subject of slavery is written into the DNA of the zombie, the Haitian origins of the term serve to exemplify the terror of slavery among its populace, and Europeans, while they may not be aware of it, have appropriated it as a means of coming to grips with their own traditions of being both slavers and slaves to the sins of their ancestors. Even in the lightest of zombie films is our greatest fear, the loss of freedom, and worse, the apocalyptic vision that somehow we deserve to lose our freedom because of what we’ve done. Yet there is no doubt that as far as these types of zombie films go, Dead Snow is in the upper echelon. It is practically impossible to not laugh at a man hanging off a cliff by a 30-foot intestine while simultaneously battling an undead SS officer. But where to now? When silliness no longer garners an audience, when a film is but a series of references to past glories, the only way to climb is up. So now the zombies are being beset by works that are imbued by self-exploratory impulse. Something deeper this way comes. Deadgirl, a grotesque but insightful exploration of teenage sexuality, portrays two loner boys performing necrophilia on a girl’s undying, flesh-eating corpse. In
this case, we are forced to confront our own issues with objectification and what really constitutes love and lust. Frank Darabont is tied to a new zombie drama series, The Walking Dead (AMC), simultaneously categorized as a horror and a drama, and we’re bound to see elements of Six Feet Under from a director who delivered pathos in films such as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. Even George Romero, in his mostly overlooked 2008 release Diary of the Dead, was slowing down his takes, reducing his edits and asking us what our zombies really mean to say about their audience. So, what does the future entail for our favorite shuffling meat? Look for zombies that think, love and weep, zombie films helmed by “respectable” directors. In other words, zombies are about to go the way of the vampire and the werewolf. Time to push the couch against the door. Dead snow is out now on DVD from IFC Films
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so bad he’s good T
by andrew bonazelli
Nic Cage cracks up in a ludicrous Bad lieUtenant reboot
h e e a r l y ’ 9 0 s will be remembered tion of tics, spasms and affects perfected in for the final iconic performances from the masterful Raising Arizona and executed to many ’70s titans. After GoodFellas, De diminishing returns almost everywhere else. Niro inhabited physical arch-villains in Cape When it was announced that this goof was Fear (1991) and This Boy’s Life (1993); Pacino taking the Keitel role in a sort-of-but-notoffered searing character studies in Glengarry really remake of Lieutenant (see: the useless, Glen Ross (1992) and the title role in CarliDTV-style subtitle), directed by none other to’s Way (1993). Nicholson single-handedly than Werner Herzog—well, the Razzies were opened and closed your dad’s DVD collection made for crap like this, right? with A Few Good Men (1992). But nobody was And yet, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Whatever as committed to the craft as Harvey Keitel, Whatever was without question 2009’s most Bad Lieutenant: who delivered 1992’s grittiest double-decker: entertaining film. Cage does pretty much Port of Call not just Reservoir Dogs, but Abel Ferrara’s every awful thing Keitel’s original did, yet New Orleans harrowing Bad Lieutenant. The latter is one in a different order and with a markedly FIRST LOOK PICTURES of the most aggressively unpleasant films different plot structure (dull drug kingpin of the decade; as the unnamed eponymous protago- nonsense straight out of a CBS procedural), but Herzog nist, Keitel balances dope fiend, degenerate gambler, ingeniously decides to play nearly all of it for laffs. While absentee father, corrupt cop and redemptive avenger, there were concrete spiritual and physical ramifications tracking down two thugs who brutally raped a nun on for Keitel’s terrible decisions, Cage plays the role like the altar and acknowledging his own innate evil during Daffy Duck pinwheeling off the ceiling and walls shouta protracted descent. ing “WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO.” It’s not a Nicolas Cage, on the other hand, can be best described “quality” performance by any stretch, but it’s memoat this point as “fucking clown.” His last efforts at play- rable as hell and Cage’s cracked-out iguana hallucinaing anything resembling a human being were 2005’s tions should be Oxford’s principal image under “bad in imperfect-but-underrated combo The Weather Man and a good way.” Bonus: If you have a questionable moral Lord of War. Otherwise, his career is by and large a collec- compass yourself, it’ll be that much more satisfying.
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The Lovely Bones
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s c l a s s i c a n d un-eff-withable as the LOTR trilogy is, Peter Jackson just isn’t that well-reviewed an auteur away from J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material. At least, his big-budget material isn’t—while Jackson excelled with limited resources as a splatter visionary (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles) and youth dramatist (Heavenly Creatures), his studio releases (King Kong, The Frighteners) have largely been duds. The Lovely Bones, adapted from the once-ubiquitous bestseller, is a smart hybrid—it applies Jackson’s unique empathy for young women to an evocative dreamscape that befits his runamok imagination. And, yet again, it flopped. But that may have more to do with the cringe-worthy subject matter. A 14-year-old girl (nicely underplayed by Saoirse Ronan) is raped and murdered, leaving her parents (Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz) to alternately mourn and hunt the killer. No spoiler alert— it’s the next-door neighbor, played chillingly by the almost always game Stanley Tucci. Bones’ journey isn’t about solving that mystery, but Ronan and her folks coming to terms with their respective purgatories. In Stores April 20 PARAMOUNT
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
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an, “squeakquel” is hard to spell. As are most words that don’t exist, and were invented only to infuriate people with brains. But seriously, it’s hard to remember the second “q.” Anyway, uh, what else to write about here? Hmmm… oh yeah, remember when the first one came out and Patton Oswalt gave David Cross shit for starring in it? How, when he blogged that, “Both Brian Posehn and I were offered the part [in Alvin]. We both threw the script across the room in disgust. David Cross caught it,” that was actually a reference to a line Cross shot at Oswalt three years earlier for stooping to appear in Failure to Launch? Funny stuff right? Let’s see, what else? Uh, Jason Lee was pretty funny in Mallrats, right? Then he was in a bunch of irredeemably god-awful movies with, like, Tom Green and David Schwimmer. Then, out of nowhere, My Name Is Earl. Then he’s a Scientologist. Yet he’s a skateboarder. WTF, right? Like the existence of a sequel to a CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks, let’s leave it at WTF. In Stores Now 20th Century fox
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
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he big trouble with superstar voice casting in animation is that you wind up picturing George Clooney squabbling with Meryl Streep, not an actual characters communicating with each other. Wes Anderson employs a lot of his regulars in this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic kiddie tale—Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson—and all of them have pretty identifiable speaking voices (well, except Dafoe when he’s hamming up some foreign concoction, which is frequently). But in the case of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, it actually makes sense to have Clooney’s charmy/smarmy persona in the title role— Mr. Fox is a rogue whose otherworldly overconfidence compels him to routinely endanger his family. Hell, Streep’s character (Fox’s wife) is smarter than just about everyone, prudent and witty. So, if anything, Fox is the rare film that eludes the pitfalls of stunt casting; in this case, that’s critical, so you can spend your time marveling at the intricately crafted stopmotion effects. This is the nicest thing I’ve ever written about Wes Anderson, so I’m just going to stop now. In Stores Now 20th Century Fox
Party Down: Season 1
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a m n y o u , S ta r z ! Why do you have to have original programming that’s actually funny, hence justifying our outrageous cable bill? This distinctly L.A. series (co-created by Paul Rudd, the dude responsible for Veronica Mars, and a couple more budding geniuses) focuses on a group of caterers who would clearly rather be doing something creative and interesting, but are stuck at the bottom of the show biz food chain. Adam Scott (Will Ferrell’s asshole younger brother in Step Brothers) is the perfect deadpan lead; he’s more than willing to give up his Hollywood aspirations and move home, but gradually falls for co-worker Lizzy Caplan (the best human thing about shit sandwich Cloverfield). Nihilistic comedy is provided in spades by burnt-out Martin Starr (Bill from Freaks & Geeks), suck-up Ken Marino (The State, Role Models) and the great Jane Lynch, who unfortunately had to split for a watered-down role in the more-popular Glee. Best stoner series of 2009, without question. In Stores April 6 Starz/Anchor Bay
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Sherlock Holmes
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e i n g f a m o u s i s a good idea. You may get addicted to coke and heroin, and you may relapse multiple times, but you can also be 45 and have a personal trainer good enough to get you the abs that Robert Downey Jr. rocks in his cage fighting scene. Yes, the last three words of that sentence were “cage,” “fighting” and “scene” and the two above this paragraph are “Sherlock” and “Holmes.” The reason it all fits together into a multimillion dollar box office bonanza is Guy Ritchie (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch) directs. Which explains why Watson (Jude Law, who is a good actor and all, but really needs to green-light a sixpart reality program about his hairline) is a… you know, “pugilist” is just the kind of word the studio would love us to use here; he kicks ass. Rachel McAdams fills the duplicitous love interest who can’t act in the same room as the male leads role. In Stores Now Warner Home Video
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
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h e r e ’ s a r e a s o n Neil Young’s infamous lyric “It’s better to burn out than fade away” still holds so much credence among artists—it’s true. Now, that doesn’t mean your favorite director/actor/musician/ painter should pull a Kurt Cobain the second they feel like they’re beginning to lose touch, but the allure of truncated greatness is a powerful thing. Hence, Heath Ledger—despite starting his career in piece of shit after piece of shit—is an “enormous loss,” not merely another young Hollywood cautionary tale. The dude certainly went down swinging—Brokeback Mountain, I’m Not There, The Dark Knight, then this Terry Gilliam fantasia certainly went a long way towards erasing A Knight’s Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You. Christopher Plummer plays the eponymous theater ringleader, who is in danger of losing his daughter’s soul to… Tom Waits. Vintage Gilliam, obviously, and that’s just the leaping-off point. Ledger plays a failed philanthropist who enters a soul-collecting contest for the young lady. As he passed away during filming, Gilliam ingeniously replaced him with different physical manifestations befitting the plot (Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, Jude Law). A fitting epilogue to a man who was just starting to expose us to new identities. In Stores April 27 Sony Pictures Classics
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Steven Seagal Lawman: Complete Season One
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t the e nd of Mad magazine’s parody of Under Siege, Steven Seagal asks Erika Eleniak, “How does it feel to kiss a hero?” She replies something along the lines of, “Kind of like falling face-first into a bowl of mashed potatoes.” BURN PATROL. And that was 18 years ago, boys and girls! So, it is not pleasant to see the beyond-washed-up action great participate in this crushingly boring reality show—and even more so if you’re actually an unironic fan of his unimpeachably radical first six movies. Tall, quick, menacing and lethal, Seagal in his prime gave his fans an experience far more visceral than the cameraaided acrobatics of Jet Li and Jason Statham (both of whom had better not blow Stallone’s forthcoming ’80s throwback The Expendables). The three minutes of this show I could tolerate entailed our former ulna-snapper doing rote Cops shit, throwing down a Cajun affect and encouraging kids to gain self-confidence through martial arts (fair enough, the last one’s important, but let Chuck Norris do it). Snoresville. In Stores Now A&E Networks
Brothers
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o , To b e y M a g u i r e ’ s a marine, Jake Gyllenhaal’s a car thief. They walk into a bar with a priest and a rabbi and… just kidding. Weird casting, but we’ll go with it. Anyway, when Maguire heads off to Afghanistan, leaving behind two rugrats and wife Natalie Portman, it’s reported that his chopper’s shot down and that’s that. Thing is, he’s actually taken prisoner. Not-good-at-all things happen to him in the clink, and sibling Gyllenhaal slowly begins to consider canoodling with Portman. This probably sounds a lot like Pearl Harbor, except the principal cast and director are not interested in making one of the worst movies of all time, but in fact something good. Brothers comes pretty close. Maguire’s definitely an actor with limitations, but his experiences here are truly bleak and dire, and the film doesn’t veer into predictable melodrama when, to everyone’s surprise, he comes home alive. Little wonder this was—like pretty much every post-9/11 war movie except The Hurt Locker—quietly and quickly dismissed. In Stores Now Lionsgate
MAN CANNOT LIVE BY SOUND ALONE Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but the record store is also a great place to stock up on M OV I ES . Whether your format of choice is DV D or B LU - R AY , we’ve got a lot of scandalously low prices on them for Record Store Day weekend (April 16, 17 and 18). Check out your record store’s DVD and BLU-RAY section on RECORD STORE DAY. You’ll never think of a record store the same way again. On Sale Now!
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
Precious
It Might Get Loud
Sinbad: Where U Been?
South Park: Complete 13th Season
Capitalism: A Love Story
Mad Men: Season Three
Up In The Air
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Sorority Row
500 Days of Summer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
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Yellow Fever
Al Jean reflects on what made THE SIMPSONS the Best. Animated Show. Ever. Interview by Kurt Anthony Krug
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f i t f e e l s l i k e The Simpsons h a s b e e n o n t v forever, you’re not too far off. The 20th season of Matt Groening’s animated sitcom was recently released on DVD. The titular characters—lovable patriarchal buffoon Homer, put-upon sweetheart Marge, hellion underachiever Bart, vegetarian overachiever Lisa and sharp-shootin’ baby Maggie—have become worldwide icons. Time even declared The Simpsons the best television series of the 20th century. Beyond that, it’s become a permanent fixture in the American collective consciousness. Executive producer Al Jean spoke about his continued involvement with Matt Groening’s ever-expanding cast of thousands. What gives The Simpsons its staying power? Average people like these shows because they reflect what they are. They see themselves. It’s bizarre. It’s a job to me and it’s something I never experienced as phenomenon from the outside. I think it’s incredibly gratifying when you do something and people love it and can’t wait talk to you about it. It’s so relatable. Everybody brings to the show things from their childhood. We try to stay fresh and have shows stay current 10 years later. One of the key things about the show is that it’s a family. The way you survive is through the love of your family. Homer would never cheat on Marge, as I see it. Homer even loves Bart. Did you expect it to last 20 years? I could never say I expected that. When I started, I wanted the show to last 20 weeks. I’m thrilled by all the years it’s lasted. It’s all been unbelievable. Who’s your favorite character? They’re all great. I have a soft spot for Lisa. Many of my scripts feature Lisa; you can get intelligence and emotion [from her].
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Talk about Marge posing nude for Playboy. Playboy approached us, and we thought it would be fun. Marge is the only woman to appear on a U.S. stamp and in Playboy the same year. Anything else to add? I think at the beginning it was a terrific show. It’s the best thing I ever worked on… The secret is to never take it for granted and treat each show like it’s the first one you’ve ever done.
Arresting Citizen
Richard Linklater tests his comfort zone with the colorful Me and orson WellEs by Bret Mccabe
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riter/director Richard Link l at e r works best when plot is more a mere suggestion, rather than an actual road map. From 1991’s Slacker through his casual romances Before Sunrise and Before Sunset—and even 2006’s A Scanner Darkly—Linklater appears to thrive in movies where a story gets stitched together through a series of interlocking moments, accruing emotional and narrative momentum en route. His more conventional fare—The School of Rock, The Bad News Bears remake—is perfectly entertaining commercial filmmaking, but lacks the engaging freeness that marks his other outings. Linklater is one of the few directors who thrives when coordinating Altman-esque chaos into a appealing mix of comedy and drama. Linklater might have found a way to thread his meandering spirit into a more conventional screenplay with Me and Orson Welles. Based on Robert Kaplow’s novel of the same name, the movie peeks behind the 1937 production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar by the Mercury Theater, the famed troupe co-founded by John Houseman and a young force of nature named Orson Welles. The troupe, which included such eventual stage and screen legends as Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotton, scored a theatrical hit with its interpretation of Caesar, setting it in then contemporary Fascist Italy. In 1937, though, Welles hadn’t cranked out War of the Worlds or Citizen Kane. Welles (Christian McKay) was a mere precocious 22-year-old actor absolutely convinced of his own genius. McKay does a remarkable job of channeling Welles’ ironclad self-confidence, and even that impish awareness that the entire production might explode in his face—which might be even more fun than reinventing Shakespeare as an anti-fascist screed, though it would certainly irritate Houseman (Eddie Marsan). McKay’s Welles blows into scenes like a drive-by manipulator, his ego bouncing off actors such as Cotton (James Tupper) and George Coulouris (Ben Chaplin) before running off with his mistress. Back-
stage, the production is a circus, but it’s a high-wire act that, as the movie reveals, damn near electrifies its audiences. Just as Dazed & Confused was a view of high school’s end as seen by freshman Wiley Wiggins, this theatrical coup is witnessed through the eyes of Richard (Zac Efron), a 17-year-old actor who stumbles into a small role in the production. Richard is a mere witness to this production, rather than one of its brokers, but that modest distance lends the movie an approachable awkwardness. Richard is fascinated by Welles and the Mercury players, but he’s a bit more smitten with the older production assistant Sonja (Claire Danes). And it’s this slightly off-center focus—as much about a peripheral young man as it is an eventual historic moment—that gives the more conventional Me and Orson Welles a touch of that breezy, episodic Linklater levity. me and orson welles is out soon on DVD from Freestyle Releasing
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movies
new dvds in stores this month
Unnecessary Evils
April yields a twin billing of “reboot” inanity via Clash of the Titans and A Nightmare on Elm Street by justin smith
I
n the coming months, we’ll have many new theatrical releases continuing the onslaught of “reboot” mayhem. Of these, Clash of the Titans and A Nightmare on Elm Street in particular shed light on this rampant phenomenon. Both of these originals were made in the first half of the 1980s, begging the question: Is 20 years as long as a movie lasts these days? This 1981 version of Titans channeled the myth of Perseus in the greatest technology available at the time, i.e. not very good. In light of this “deficiency,” the CGI era of super-editing has risen to the muffled call. Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson head up the 2010 remake, surely to offer a bastardized mix of Harry Potter and Avatar, minus Lord of the Rings’ credulity and likeability. Detached from the unquestionable abilities of the many great actors involved, it is doubtless that this re-creation will run no shorter than three hours and feature an array of computer-assisted industry tricks. These elements in concert ensure the hackneyed delivery of a story that most people—thanks to the decline of literacy—barely know. On the bright side of things, Olympians, demi-gods and mere mortals will undoubtedly fight this one out in what will soon be a 20-disc special-edition box set to be released just in time for the vapid holiday season. Conversely, the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street,
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which first appeared in 1984, throws an interesting cog in the apparatus of repetitious film culture. Brought to us by the same company that remade The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and The Amityville Horror, it leads one to question: Are we stuck in a Tarantino-esque “remake as reverie,” or rather the Vince Vaughn version of Psycho that lacks any poignant or stylized changes? And if so, what the hell did we do to deserve this? In terms of horror, remakes often add little to the contextual value of a film, and are frequently set and edited as exact copies of their predecessors. So, how could the new version outdo Wes Craven and the mysteriously absent Robert Englund, the signature names of the original(s)? Such mind-contorting questions could only be answered in the darkest recesses of the human psyche. These films in and of themselves are not particularly evil, but they reflect a larger movement of cinema in the last few years verging on ineptitude. Have we run out of ideas, or is the ability to make something more awesome, aesthetically pleasing or gruesome wholly the forte of the computer generation? We must obviously decide for ourselves, but the only bifurcated outcomes I can see are curiously entertaining standalone films, or monstrosities so awful we bang our heads on solid objects hard enough that new ideas will hopefully spring from the injury hallucinations.
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illustration by j.p. flexner
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movies APRIL 6
Izzy and Moe Jade Warrior Jordon Saffron: Taste This Keepin’ the Faith: Momma’s Got a Boyfriend King of the Hill Season 6 Kingdom Come & Johnson Family Vacataion Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami Lady Jayne: Killer Lake Eyre Lions of Punjab Little Hercules Lord of the Rings (1978) Lucky Star Lucy Calls the President Malpractice Marley & Me & Firehouse Dog & Because of Winn Dixie Mary Tyler Moore: Season 1 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 2 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 3 Mary Tyler Moore: Season 4 Meet Dave & Dr. Dolittle 1 & 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: Season 2, Part 1 Modern Love Mrs. Doubtfire Murder.com My Friends Tigger and Pooh: Super
211: Anna Adventures of the Black Stallion: Season 1 Ah My Buddha: Complete Collection Air: The Musical Ally McBeal Season 2 Alvin & The Chipmunks & Flicka & Space Chimps Anarchist Cookbook Autumn Awakening of Spring Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series Beatnicks Beeswax Big Gay Musical Big Momma’s House 1 & 2 &Black Night Black Crescent Moon Blood Forest Blood Red Moon Blood Ties: The Complete Series Bloody Faces of Terrorism Bon Jovi: Round and Round Boycrazy Catalina Classic Quad Set 4 Collector Courage to Love Damned Danny Bhoy: Subject to Change Dimples Dirt: The Movie Dodo Dolan’s Cadillac Dragons or Dinosaurs?: Creation or Evolution Easier With Practice Ed D. Wood Jr. Collection Ed’s Up: The Best of Season One Essential Games of the Detroit Tigers Everyone’s Hero & Firehouse Dog Eye to Eye: Live in Madrid Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 Family Guy V01 Family Guy V02 Fighter in the Wind Finn on the Fly Flicka & Because of Winn Dixie Float France Franklin: Franklin in the Dark Franny’s Feet: Under the Sea Fraternity Garfield: Movie & Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties Gatekeeper Gnomes and Trolls H.I.M.: Born Again Romantics Harlem Aria Heartland: The Complete First Season Heartland: The Complete Second Season High Plains Invaders Home of the Giants Horton Hears a Who & Toys & Mr. Magorium Wonder Housewives From Another World Ice Age & Robots & Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest Icons of Suspense: Hammer Films I’m No Dummy In My Father’s Eyes Inside the Forbidden City: 500 Years of Wonder, History and Power Into the Pride Irene in Time Italian Straw Heart
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the best of the rest of this month's new releases Six Degrees of Helter Skelter Skateboard Madness Soap: The Complete First Season Soap: The Complete Fourth Season Soap: The Complete Second Season Soap: The Complete Third Season Song From the Heart Space Chimps & Meet Dave Storm Suicide Girls: Guide to Living Take a Seat Taste of Relation Taxidermia Tekkaman Blade: Complete Collection Things That We Used To Things We Carry Thugs & Guns Collector’s Set UFC: The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 War Eagle Arkansas Weathered Underground Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Wubbzy Goes Green WWE: Hart and Soul: The Hart Family Anthology Yes Men Fix the World Yes: Rock of the ‘70s Yesterday Was a Lie
« in stores April 13
pirate radio
Philip Seymour Hoffman spins his wheels in self-congratulatory comedy about illicit rock-peddling UK seafarers in the ’60s.
Duper Super Sleuths My Stepmother Is an Alien Mysterious Island/The Ten Commandments Mythbusters: Collection 5 Naruto: Shippuden Vol. 8 National Geographic: Canyonlands National Lampoon’s Ratko: The Dictator’s Son New Adventures of Black Beauty: Season 2 Nim’s Island & Eragon & City of Ember Numbers Game Party Down: Season One Pete’s Meteor Plunder: The Crime of Our Time Poe: World Premiere Performance Prince Igor Queen Riverside: Reality Dream Robots & Little Robots: Big Adventures Rookie of the Year & Sandlot Roswell: The Complete Second Season Roswell: The Complete Third Season Seduced: Pretty When You Cry Seeker & Eragon Sensored Sesame Street: Love the Earth Seventh Brings Return: A Tribute to Syd Barrett Sex Galaxy Shadowplay Shadows of the Orient Sharpe’s Peril Simon & Simon: Season Four
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APRIL 13 2010 Vancouver Olympics Highlights 8½ Acceptance Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective All My Friends Are Funeral Singers American Bellydance Legends American Experience: Dolley Madison America’s Legendary Heroes of Aviation Barney’s Imagination Island Best of the Donna Reed Show Bikefest Vol. 4 Blessed Is the Match: Life and Death of Hannah Senes Brief Encounter Canvas Clean Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection Country Remedy Courage to Love Cowboys and Angels Creature of Darkness Crimes of the Past Daisy Chain Dallas: The Complete 13th Season Dan Cummins: Crazy With a Capital F Daniel Dravot: Card Counting: The Definitive Blackjack Course Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy Defendor Definitive Western Collection Director Dora the Explorer: Explore the Earth Double Crossed: In the City of Angels You Can’t Trust Anyone
Emergency! Season Six Entrapment Essential Art House Vol. 5 Faces of America Femmes Fatales Collection Final Storm Floating Weeds Front Man Frontline: Digital Nation Genshiken: Season 2: Premium Collection Gone With the Wind Great American Snuff Film Growing Art of Bonsai Gunslinger Western Collection Hansel and Gretel Happy Endings? Haunted Heroes of Horror Collection Heroes of WWII Hollywood Hoodlums Collection Ice Twisters Ice Twisters/Storm Cell Infection: The Invasion Begins Jim Henson’s Animal Show With Stinky and Jake: Lions, Tigers & Bears Jim Henson’s The Song of the Cloud Forest and Other Earth Stories John Leguizamo’s Freak Jules and Jim Kapo Lira: Live in Concert: A Celebration Living for the Day After Tomorrow: Complete Collection Looking for an Echo Lovers and Friends Show: Season 1 Lovers and Friends Show: Season 2 Loves of a Blonde Madeline: Lost in Paris Marines in the Pacific Mental Scars: Special Edition Missing Person Murder & Mayhem Collection My Dad the Rockstar Nat Geo: Africa’s Lost Eden Nat Geo: Expedition Great White Nightmare on Elm Street Collection Nova: Riddles of the Sphinx One Last Dance One Night Live One Peace at a Time Pacific Battlefront Pirate Radio Pony Adventure School of Life Silent Victory: Submarine Warfare in WWII Slammin’ Salmon Smile Space Ranger: Complete Collection Speed Sport Fishing With Col Prince Stick Tricks Story Suicide Girls: Italian Villa Supershopping With the Coupon Queen Tenderness Tenure Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon Tom and Jerry Tales: The Complete First Season UFC 100: Relentless Veer Ventilador Wall Street We Believe Wedding for Bella When They Cry: Complete Box Set WWII Battlefront WWII Movies
APRIL 20 35 Shots of Rum Adopt a Sailor Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela Ana Vidovic: Guitar Artistry in Concert And the Winner Is Angelo Moore: Showtime Band From Hell Battleship Potemkin Battlestar Galactica; Season 2.0 & 2.5 Beginning of the End Big Heart City Bleach Vol. 27 Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan Blue Tooth Virgin Cannibal Lolita: A Love Story Cheech and Chong’s Hey Watch This Chip Ritter and the Pedal of Boom Chip Ritter and the Pedal of BoomCheech and Chong’s Hey Watch This Citizen Duane Cloud 9 Comrades in Dreams Crimes of Fasion Deadly Impact Dojin Work: Complete Collection Drawn Together Movie: The Movie Dubliners: Live at Vicar Street Duska Earth Days Edgar Broughton Band Elvis Presley: All Hail the King: A 75 Year Tribute Escape From Darwin Evening Primrose Every Other Day Is Halloween Ex Drummer F Word Series 4 Falcon Beach: The Complete First Season Family That Eats Soil Farewell Show Fish Bum II: British Columbia: Metalhead Fish Out of Water Fork in the Road Fraggle Rock: Dance Your Cares Away Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island Getting Into the Vortex: Law of EP XII Gianni Versace: Final 24: His Final Hours Godspeed Gospel Comedy All Stars 3: Don’t Judge Me Handy Manny: Big Race Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season 1 Heroes: Seasons 1 & 2 Hi-5 Season Four Hiking Trip Homecoming Horse boy House: Seasons 1 & 2 How Weed Won the West I Can Tell the World Icons Among Us Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Vol. 3 Incognito: Live in London: The 30th Anniversary Concert Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures: Africa Janis Joplin: Final 24: Her Final Hours Jazz Guitar Workshop John Abercrombie: Solos: The Jazz Sessions Junk Dreams Keith Moon: Final 24: His Final Hours Kings & Queens Knife Edge Lesson With Louie Bellson
Life Less Ordinary Unauthorized Lord, Save Us From Your Followers Lovely Bones Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind Mammoth Maria’s Story Martial Arts Essentials Vol. 7: Best of the Best Series 2-6 Merlin: The Complete First Season Mick Taylor Band: Tokyo Concert Monk: Season One and Two Motorhead: The Early Years Live 1982-2002 My Fake Fiance My Life to Live My True Self Mythic Journeys Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry Naruto: Shippuden Box Set 2 Nature: Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves Nature: Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air Necrosis Nick Zedd and Reverend Jen: Electra Elf: The Complete Series
Streets Los Angeles Streets Melbourne Streets NYC Streets Toronto Summer Hours Surviving Crooked Lake Take Tales From the Script Tapes of the Unexpected Tiger Next Door TNA Wrestling: Cross the Line 3 Transformers: Seasons Three and Four Uncertainty Unspeakable Vamp Vixens: Vamp Bangers Go Wild Vampire Double Feature Vampire of Quezon City Voyeur Wake Windman Wordz Project WWII in the Pacific Xena: Warrior Princess Season One Year in Italy Yiddish World Remembered: The Story of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe Young Victoria
Exploitation Cinema: Lonely Wives/ Sorry Wrong Number Exploitation Cinema: Wacky Taxi/ Superagro Falling Star Fear Chamber Fear Files: Zombies! Feast of Diesels Five Minutes of Heaven Frank Yankovic: America’s Polka King Frontline: Flying Cheap Fugitive Kind G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 2 Georgia O’Keeffe Getting Cake Ghost Hunters: Season Five Part 2 Giants: Friend or Foe Gintama: Collection 1 Girl, Positive Greydon Clark Drive-In Double Feature: Hi-Riders/The Bad Bunch Hidden Camera Hills: Season Five, Part Two Histories of the Holocaust: Buchenwald 1942-1945 Hitler and Stalin: Roots of Evil Homage to Chagall Homecoming Hong Kong Godfather Horror of the Blood Monsters House Beautiful: Baths and Bedrooms House Beautiful: Flexible Living House Beautiful: Natural Environments House Beautiful: Vibrant Design How to Live in the German Federal Republic Humperdinck: Hansel & Gretel I Love Lucy: The Movie and Other Great Rarities Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus In Search of Beethoven Is Everybody Happy But Me? It’s Complicated It’s Garry Shandling’s Show: The Complete First Season Jesse James’ Women Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox Vol. 1: Sexy Like a Fox Kid With the Golden Arm Land of Legends; Mysterious China Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1982-1983 Legend of the Witches Life Blood Looney Tunes Super Stars: Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire Looney Tunes Super Stars: Daffy Duck: Frustrated Fowl Mad Doctor of Blood Island Magic Knight Rayearth: TV Series Season One Malice in Wonderland Man From Gun Town Manu Dibango: King Makossa Marked: The Complete Season 1 Mary, Mother of Christ Megapiranha Meshuggah Nuns Michelangelo: Self Portrait Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight Mist: Sheepdog Tales – A Helping Paw Modern Marvels: BBQ Tech Modern Marvels: BBQ Tech Modern Marvels: Corrosion and Decomposition Modern Marvels: Corrosion and Decomposition Monster Bash Monster Bash More of Me More of Me
« in stores april 23
it’s complicated
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin vie for Meryl Streep’s attention, parlay solid box office into underwhelming Oscar co-host gig.
Nicole Brown Simpson: Final 24: Her Final Hours Night of the Pumpkin Northern Exposure: The Complete First and Second Season Office: Season One/Parks and Recreation: Season One Official Inaugural Celebration Oh My God Orlock the Vampire 3D Paramedics Vol. 1 Peacock Perry Mason: Season 5, Vol. 1 Portrait de Petite Cossette: Complete Collection Pressure Cooker Prom Wars Realistic Rock for Kids Reefer Madness 75th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Return to Hansala Return to Tarawa: Leon Cooper Story Rolling Stones: Rare and Unseen Sars: The Dead Plague Secret Shorts Secrets of Congolese Drums Self+Medicated Southern Softies Speed Racer Vol. 1 & 2 Spider-Man: The Return of the Green Goblin Spring Break Massacre Stoic Storm Seekers Stowell Plays Stowell Streets Atlanta Streets Barcelona
APRIL 27 Alice Neel Ambient Colors American Eats: Pizza Anna to the Infinite Power Arabian Nights: Secrets of the Desert Barbara Stanwyck Collection: Universal Backlot Beast King GoLion: Complete Collection Beast of Blood Belzec Biography: Wall Street Black & Blue Blade of the Phantom Master: Shin Angyo Onshi Blood of the Vampires Bobby Slayton: Born to Be Bobby Brides of Blood Buddha Burlesque Beat Clash of the Dinosaurs Colorado Steam Comets: Prophets of Doom Conquest of Hawaii Crime of Passion Dark Nature Descent: Part 2 Dialogues of the Exiled Dinah East Disgrace District 13: Ultimatum Dogfights: The Greatest Air Battles Dogora: Ouvorns Les Yeux End of Poverty? Euro-Fantastico: No Survivors Please/ The Black Cobra
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movies Mr. & Mrs. North Vol. 10 Mr. & Mrs. North Vol. 10Mist: Sheepdog Tales – A Helping Paw Mr. Celebrity Murphy’s Law: Series 2 Mystery of Sherlock Holmes Naruto Uncut Boxset: Season Two Vol. 2 National Geographic: Five Years on mars Native American Wars: The Apache Next Nostradamus Night of Evil Nova: Ghosts of Machu Picchu Old Enough Old Partner Operation Zeitsturm Opium and the Kung Fu Master Oresama Orson Welles: The Paris Interview Passed the Door of Darkness Perfect Victims Possible Films Vol. 2: New Short Films by Hal Hartley Pride and Prejudice: Mini Series Racing for Tme Rangers Round Up Red Rowan Reflections Ride With the Devil Riders of the Law Rita Rocks: The Complete Season One Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Set 2 Robin Hood: Quest for the King Roy Cohn/Jack Smith Roy Rogers With Dale Evans Vol. 15 Runaway Ralph Sanctuary Satan’s Sadists Save Our History: Defining Documents Science of the Movies Secrete Societies and Global COnspirary Secrets of the Ancient World: Oracle of thte Delphi Secrets Revealed Sex and the City: The Complete Series Sherri: The Complete Season One Six Centuries of Verse Slow as the Lightning Smiling Maniacs Soul Belly Dance Spectacular Spider-Man: Vol. 8 Spirit Strange Egypt Surviving Desire Survivors: Complete Seasons One and Two Survivors: The Complete Original Series Sweden Rock Festival Sweet Teen Sympathy Tales From the Darkside: The Third Season Teenage Hitchhikers Thunder in Carolina To Be Fat Like Me Transylmania Tundra Two Mr. Kissels UFOs and Close Encounters Unquiet Death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Venus Ranger: Complete Collection Voyage Round My Father Voyeur Waves of the Future: Hip-Hop and House Dance Wholphin: Issue 10
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the best of the rest of this month's new releases
Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy Wild West Tech: Brothel Tech Wild West Tech: Gambling Tech Wild West Tech: Gang Tech Wild West Tech: Train Tech William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Without Trace
MAY 4 9 to 5: Days in Porn According to Jim: Season 2 American Experience: Road to Memphis Animal Atlas: Super Hero Animals Anything Goes Awkward Kings Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation Beautiful Mind Before You Say I Do Bloodmyth
Go Diego Go: The Great Panda Adventure God of Vampires Greek Pete: Year in the Life of a Rent Boy Growing Op Hamlet (2009) Harlemm Hostel Hellbinders Honeymooners: The Second Honeymoon Honeymooners: Valentine Special House of Usher Incredible Hulk: Original Television Premiere Iron Man: Armored Adventures: The Complete Season 1 Iron Man: Complete Animated Series Johnny Test: Game Time Ladies of the House Ladron Thief Leap Year Little Bear & The Master Lost Souls
« in stores may 4
The Whitest Kids U’ Know— The Complete Third Season
While they’re not close to the standards of, say, The State, this sketch group occasionally hits surreal heights on their IFC series.
Shaolin Iron Men 4-Film Set Space Girls in Beverly Hills Suburbia TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: War TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Westerns Tokyo Sonata Tony Palmer’s Film: Strange Case of Delfina Tony Roberts: Wired! Tracy Ullman’s State of the Union: Complete Season Two Tribal Beyond the Four: 20 Years of Music, Art and Brotherhood Two Brothers UFC 110 Ultimate Samurai: Miyamoto Musashi Vampegeddon Vandread: Ultimate Collection Velvet Underground: Vanishing Point Virtuality Visions of Nature: Timescapes Voltron: Lion Force Part 1 Voltron: Lion Force Part 2 Whitest Kids U Know: The Complete Third Season Wolverine and the X-Men: Revelation World Unseen Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Escape From Dino Island WWE: Wrestlemania XXI X-Men, Vol. 5 You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle Collection 2
MAY 11 Bobby Dogs Bobby Fischer Live Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story Bound by a Secret California Dreamin’ Care Bears: Share-a-Lot in Care-a-Lot Cast Away Chelsea on the Rocks Chosen Cold Storage College Boys Live Confessions of a Lonely Wife Dirt: Season 2 Dirty Dancing Do Not Use Do the Right Thing Doctor Who: Dreamland Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon Doctor Who: The Masque of Mandragora Doctor Zhivago Dove Family Double Feature DragonBall Z: Dragon Box Vol. 3 DragonBall: Season Four Dudley Do-Right Dukes Ed Escaped Exiled/Dynamite Warrior Eye for an Eye Facts of Life: Complete 4th Season Fallen Fallen: Beginning Fallen: Destiny Field of Dreams: Anniversary Edition Flash Gordon Flawless/Quid Pro Quo/Boarding Gate Freud Gatekeeper: Unlock Your Worst Fears Get Curious, Not Furious! Communicating Your True Colors Get Even
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Man vs. Wild: Season 4 Marcus Welby M.D. Season One Mars Rising/Race to Mars Matinee Meadowoods Mighty Machines: Revvved Up Mine Moment After 2 Monsters Resurrected Mother’s Day massacre Murdoch Mysteries Season Two Muse My Chemical Romance: Road Less Travelled Nanny Express National Geographic’s Most Incredible Photos Nine Njinga the Queen King: The Return of a Warrior No Time for Sergeants Nova: Extreme Cave Diving Obam Nude On the Road With Charles Kuralt: Set 2 Paper Covers Rock Penn & Teller: B.S.- The Complete Seventh Season Perfect Combination Pulse/Sick Nurses Race to Mars Ranchero Redirecting Eddie Ripple of Hope Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Rozen Maiden/Rozen Maiden Traumend Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s Vol. 1 Saving Grace 2-Pack Shades of Pale
4 and a Half Terrorists 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Addiction After Autumn Aids Jaago Amerikana Bandit of Sherwood Forest Better the Devil You Know Big Fish Billy Owens & The Secret of the Runes Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Boeing B-29 Stratofortress B Cancer Conquest Circo Computer Wore Tennis Shoes/The Strongest Man in the World Cooking Italian 2-Pack Curing Depression Daria: The Complete Animated Series Day I Became a Women Daybreakers Dead Man’s Walk Deadliest Warrior: Season One Disposal of a Corpse Divine Souls Diving Adventures Dolphins in the Wild Emma/Shakespeare in Love/Proof Essential Planes Collection Essential Robots Collection Essential Space Collection Father of the Bride/Father of the Bride Part II Fire From Below Fisherman’s Paradise Fishing & Diving Flesh for the Beast: Media Mix Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete Fifth Season Frozen Land Gendarme Desconocido George of the Jungle/George of the
Jungle 2 Goth Grail Herpers Homeland In Passing Indian Comedy Tour Jermal Kate & Leopold & Serendipity & Raising Helen Kung Fu Magoo Legend of the Tsunami Warrior Legion Life in the Graveyards of the Pacific Mago Maneater Triple Feature 3 Maui Island of Enchantment Mini Mirush Mr. Magoo in Sherwood Forest My Wife & Kids Season 2 National Geographic: Camp Leatherneck Nature’s Splendor Nature’s Tapestry Notes From Underground One Deadly Summer One Piece: Season Two: Seventh Voyage Pacific Dreams Prince of Thieves Raising the Bar Season 2 Raymundo: The Revolutionary Filmmaker’s Struggle Robin Hood: Men in Tights Rogues of Sherwood Forest Rules Ruthless People/Down and Out in Beverly Hills/Outrageous Fortune Samurai Harem: Complete Collection Shinchan: Season One Shinchan: Season Two Shipwrecks of the Pacific & Tasman Sea Shrek Signs/The Village/The Sixth Sense Sita Sings the Blues Slavoj Zizek: Reality of the Virtual Spy Kids Collection Stem Cells Streets of Laredo Sub Tropic Tour Supermen of Malegaon Sword of Sherwood Forest Thief Thirtysomething: The Complete Third Season Tidal Wave Tornado Valley Toy Story Toy Story 2 Tree That Remembers Underwater Hotel: Life on Artificial Reefs Volar Joven Volbeat: Live: Sold Out 2007 Westbrick Murders Whales, Dolphins and Seals Who Killed Pixote Woodenhead World’s Most Beautiful Beach World’s Most Beautiful Water Xenosaga: The Animation: The Complete Collection
MAY 18 30 Days: The Complete Series 9 Songs Air: The Complete Series American Bandits: Frank and Jesse
James American Radical: Trials And Then Came Lola Area 51: The Alien Interview Barbara Stanwyck Show Vol. 2 Barney: Let’s Play Outside Book of Lore/Grave Mistakes Chihuly: Fire & Lights Chocolate Sundaes Comedy Show: Live on Sunset Strip Criterion Collection: Eclipse 21: Oshima’s Outlaw Criterion Collection: Walkabout Defamation Dick Tracy: Saga of a Crimefighter Disappeared Disney Parks: Where Dreams Come DragonBall Z Kai: Season 1 Part 1 Everyman’s War Eyeshield 21: Collection 1 Fille Du Rer Film Noir Classic Collection First Earth
Hillcrest Sometimes in Life Southern Gothic Sunrise/Sunset Tales From the Three Stooges This Is the Way I Do It Tokyo Gore Police Tweeny Witches: Core Collection Urotsukidoji #1: Legend of the Overfiend Vamps and the City Veiled Voices Waiting for Armageddon Watercolors WWE: Best PPV Matches of’09-’10
Inner Circle Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis Joy Joy and Joan Kamikaze Hearts Kenich Season 2 Part 2 Kenichi Season 1 Landlord Leverage: Second Season Love Games Making Mr. Right Most Distant Course My Dog Mystery Team National Geographic: Wild – American Serengeti Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset Owl & The Sparrow Panic Room/Glass House Pep Squad Pocket for Corduroy Queen to Play Rain Fall Real End of the Great War Real Housewives of New York Season 1 Real Housewives of New York Season 2 Red Skelton America’s Clown Prince Collection Red Skelton America’s Clown Prince Funny Man Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live: Start Me Up Royal Pains: Season One Rurouni Kenshin: The Complete Series Sandokan the Great Shadow Within Silent Victory Submarine Warfare in WWII Stagecoach Straight Up Illin’ Submission of a Woman Tale of Robin Hood Talkin’ and Walkin’ New York Tell Tale Testament Top Chef: Masters Season 1 True Blood: The Complete 2nd Season UFC 111 Ultimate Machine Girl Unidentified Virginian: Complete Season 1 Visions and Miracles Visual Acoustics: The Modernisms of Julius Shulman Voyager Waiting for God: Season Five Waiting for God: The Complete Series What’s Underground About Marshmallows: Ron Vawter Performs Jack Smith White Wall WWE Backlash 2010 Yesterday Girl Uncertainty Unspeakable Vampire Double Feature Vampire of Quezon City Wake Where’s Spot Windman Wordz Project WW2 in the Pacific Xena: Warrior Princess :Season One Year in Italy Young Victoria
MAY 25 Adventures of Champion Air Gear: The Complete Collection Alice Goodbody America: Story of Us America’s Legendary Heroes of Aviation
« in stores may 25
True Blood— The Complete Second Season Twilight for thirtysomething hipsters, this season with Saw-style underground torture chambers, plus the usual rampant cleavage.
Five Gamera Gangland Ghost Hunters: Military Investigations Gunfight at La Mesa Gunslingers: Down by Law Collection Hit Favorites: Being a Friend In Memory of Michael Jackson: 1958-2009 Incredible Human Journey Invasion of Carol Enders/Come Die With me Iscariot Jeff Dunham Show Kinks: You Really Got Me – Story of the Kinks Knights & Eric Jacobsen Law & Order: Criminal Intent: The Fifth Year Liquid Vinyl Long Knives Night/Reporting From a Rabbit Hutch Louis L’Amour Western Collection: The Sacketts/Conagher/Catlow Misconceptions Murder in Fashion Mutant Vampire Zombies From the Hood National Geographic: Border Wars Season One Navy vs. the Night Monsters New Daughter North Face Poliwood Prodigal Sons Race Road Rage Sex and the City: The Movie Shadow of Fear/Nightmare at 43
Ancients Behaving Badly Babysitter Wanted Barney: On the Go 3-Pack Beyond the Barbed Wire: An Artist’s View of the Holocaust Blood Ties: The Complete Series Bottom Land Butterfly Dreaming Chiefs City of the Living Dead Confessions of an American Bride Costa Rican Summer Creature Feature 4-Pack Crimson mask Criterion Collection: By Brakhage: An Anthology 1 & 2 Dairugger: Collection 2 Dany Laferriere: In How to Conquer/ On the Verge Death Kappa Digimon Data Squad: Collection 2 Finale Flashbacks of a Fool Flashpoint: Second Season Formose Betrayed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2 Gene Autry George Gently: Series 2 Godkiller Guild: Season 3 Hard Ride to Hell Hell Girl: Two Mirrors How I Married My High School Crush I Do But I Don’t I Know What I Saw I Me Wed In Desert & Wilderness In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great
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games
new video games in stores this month
by Chris Dick
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT It’s all thug life all the time in DEAD TO RIGHTS: RETRIBUTION
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o t h i n g i s e v e r r i g h t i n g r a n t c i t y. But the sun shines slightly brighter on the crimeridden metropolis when police officer Jack Slate and his trusty K-9 sidekick Shadow are on patrol. In Dead to Rights: Retribution, the first Dead to Rights title for current-gen consoles, developer Volatile Games and publisher Namco/Bandi Entertainment take you back to the beginning—where it all started for Slate and Shadow. With sick graphics, a streamlined, kick-butt-all-day control scheme, wicked kill moves (one is called the “teste-kill”) and a riveting narrative, Dead to Rights: Retribution hybridizes third-person action and shooter games into one revolutionary (and shockingly brutal) concept. Ben Fisher, Design Manager at Volatile Games, fills us with lead and leaves us for dead.
barely stand, staggers to a nearby bar and begins explaining the story to a mysterious woman. In flashback, he begins to piece together a story involving his father Frank, Shadow and a sudden epidemic of gang violence that threatens the entire city.
What are Jack Slate and Shadow up to in Dead to Rights: Retribution? It doesn’t sound like Grant City’s getting any better. Grant City’s the kind of place that only ever gets worse. This should be obvious from the opening moments of the story where Jack, so beaten up he can
What improvements, apart from the usual current-gen graphics tweaks, did you make for Dead to Rights: Retribution? It’s not simply the unique action-noir visual identity that has received a makeover; every single element of the game has been rebuilt from the ground up. We
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What’s so interesting about Jack Slate and Shadow’s story that you wanted to reveal it in Dead to Rights: Retribution? Dead to Rights: Retribution is a “year zero” origin story for a modern gaming audience. Storytelling in games has grown, matured and become a deeper art form since the original Dead to Rights. We wanted our approach to the game to reflect this, and took the opportunity to explore nuance and texture in Jack and Shadow’s unique partnership. Without giving too much away, both heroes seek retribution for past wrongs.
Quantum Theory X360, PS3 [Tecmo]
Never before has violence been so beautiful. In Quantum Theory, militant protags Syd and Fillena must frag ‘n’ slice their way to the top (of a “living” tower) to destroy a life-threatening black material known as Erosion. Initial reactions are that QT looks like Gears of War, but come game-time this third-person shooter is going to blow minds.
Monster Hunter Tri Wii [Capcom] truly started from scratch, which allowed us to take the core Dead to Rights identity in exciting new directions. You’ll find changes in the integrated melee/ranged combat system, the addition of new detailed buddy commands for Shadow and new unique mechanics in playable Shadow sections. The combat control scheme has changed the most over previous Dead to Rights titles. Can you tell us about it? For me personally, this is perhaps the most exciting innovation we made in this game. We have a streamlined, integrated control system, which gives you access to all melee, ranged and Shadow commands at any given time. No mode switching, no context-control buttons— just melee, ranged and buddy control. Describe the action vs. story balance. The action/story balance can best be described as “two parts Die Hard, one part film noir.” At every stage of development, the balance of core gameplay and compelling narrative remained crucial to us. With all the marquee titles available to gamers at the moment, why should someone pick up Dead to Rights: Retribution? From the brutal close-quarters gameplay to the mature noir-themed storytelling, Dead to Rights: Retribution provides an experience unlike anything else out there. Dead to Rights: Retribution is out April 13 for PS3 and Xbox 360
Arguably one of the most impressive looking titles on the Wii, Monster Hunter Tri posits you (and a few friends via online mode) as a hunter looking for big game. These are just bison and buffalo, though. You’ll have to take down giant sea dragons and other monstrous fiends using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction X360, PS3, PC [Ubisoft]
Two years after Splinter Cell: Double Agent, ace Sam Fisher has gone rogue. His former employers, Third Echelon, are after him, but as he evades the NSA branch in search of answers to his daughter’s murder, Fisher stumbles upon a much bigger and more dangerous plot against Washington DC.
NIER X360, PS3 [Square Enix]
The Black Scrawl virus has infected Nier’s younger sister Yonah. So, he sets out, with hermaphrodite sword-slinger Kaine, to find a cure by whatever means necessary. Action roleplaying games have long been a strong Square Enix attribute (Parasite Eve or Vagrant Story, anyone?), so NIER should wow us.
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa X360, PS3, PSP, [Wii EA] Every four years, the FIFA World Cup pits the best against the best. With 199 FIFA-approved nations to choose from, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa isn’t just about playing Italy against France to see which will hoist the Cup. In fact, we’re just as delighted to see India and Pakistan wage footie war.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper X360, PC [Dreamcatcher] Sherlock Holmes and Doc Watson must sift through the grimy clues in the Whitechapel district of London to figure out who is Jack the Ripper. Along the sordid trail, Ripper mocks Holmes, but the ever-ambitious detective has not just his wits, but the terrified local populace to aid in Ripper’s capture.
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SSoommeething e n o y e r e v e r o e ffor IN STORES
4/13 IN STORES
4/6
MISHKA
PASSION PIT
RED SPAROWES
TALK ABOUT
FEAR IS EXCRUCIATING BUT THEREIN LIES THE ANSWER
MANNERS:
DELUXE EDITION Featuring members of the Decemberists IN STORES
4/13
ONE ESKIMO
BLACK PRARIE
THE LIVING SISTERS
ONE ESKIMO
FEAST OF THE HUNTER’S MOON
LOVE TO LIVE
FREE COVERS RECORD WITH PURCHASE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
IN STORES
4/6
CODEINE VELVET CLUBB CODEINE VELVET CLU
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THE APPLES IN STEREO CE TRAVELLERS IN SPA AND TIME
JOE ROGAN
TALKING MONKEYS IN SPACE
Just a few of the goodies we’ve got in store for you on INNER THE COOL LDS O H T E K C PO INGLE YOUR 7” S S! E TREASUR
A VINYL LP FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP with
A PRIORITY RECORDS ANNIVERSARY CD SAMPLER, curated by
CHOICE CUTS from great artists!
Snoop Dogg!
A SPECIAL EDITION DECIBEL MAGAZINE brought to you by RED, with info on free digital downloads from all the bands featured!
ORES
IN ST
27 APRIL
A RE-USABLE BAG FROM WARNER MUSIC GROUP to
carry around all your Record Store Day treasure! THESE PIECES AND MORE ARE FREE ON RECORD STORE DAY, BUT ALL ARE LIMITED AND EACH STORE WILL DETERMINE HOW THEY ARE GIVEN OUT. CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL PARTICIPATING RECORD STORE DAY STORE.
hard
time slash Slash
ratt Infestation IN STORES 4/20
AVA ILA BLE
MARCH 3RD IN STORES 4/20
IN STORES 4/13 IN STORES 4/20
AVAILABLE FOR
airbourne
No Guts. No Glory.
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coheed and cambria Year of the Black Rainbow LIMITED DELUXE EDITION ALSO AVAILABLE
April 2010 + record store magazine + 45
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games
new video games in stores this month
Street Fightin’ Men
The classic one-on-one brawler gets a much-needed 2010 facelift
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t r e e t F i g h t er ’ s ba c k … again. Ten new characters, additional stages—including the classic bonus rounds—new ultra moves, balance tweaks and all the original content of IV comprise Super Street Fighter IV. Is it more than an expansion, or does Super warrant the $40 price tag? You can decide on April 27, but for fighting game aficionados like Seth Killian, community manager and special Street Fighter consultant at Capcom, the game’s a day-one purchase. Here, Killian unveils tips players of any level should remember, and gives us some behind-the-scenes info on what it was like balancing SSFIV. I’m faced with this question a lot, but I want to see how you answer it: How does someone rise to Street Fighter competitive play? Is it just practice, practice, practice? There are a lot of good answers to this question, but—in my opinion—the first thing to realize is that, although practicing your basics and combos is important, once you’re confident in those, SF is essentially a mind game. Try to think of every move you make in Street Fighter as a bet (since it is—you could win damage or an advantage, or take damage or lose something), like in poker. Play your match, but then look back at it (use the new recording feature in SSFIV), and ask yourself, “Was that move a good bet?” “How much could I have won from that bet, and how much did I risk?” Just like in poker,
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by Kyle Stallock
you’ll sometimes lose even placing good bets, but there’s a lot less randomness in SF than in cards, and consistently good bets will win you matches. If you’re getting beat down, it’s probably because you’re predictable, so also be aware of patterns in your own play. Has any one fighter proved to be particularly difficult to balance in SSFIV? Also, how has the inclusion of new characters affected balance and/or movesets of the previous characters? The SF3 characters were very tricky. First it seemed like they might be too weak, but when all of their SF3 tricks were powered up, they were actually too strong. The chain combos in particular are really powerful—Ibuki’s air chains prevent people from trying to focus her out of the air, or to backdash against her pressure, and there’s the same issue on the ground. She’s also got an Ultra throw and another Ultra that’s very easy to combo into, so she’s been a complicated puzzle. The second part is a book-length question, but the new characters will have a dramatic impact on the balance, and they include some of the strongest characters in the game. Super Street Fighter IV is available April 27 for Xbox 360 and PS3.
games WEEK OF APRIL 5 Borderlands: Zombie Island Jakers Let’s Explore Shepherd’s Crossing 2
the best of the rest of this month's new releases
WEEK OF MAY 17 PC, X360 PC, Wii NDS, PSP
WEEK OF APRIL 12 Arcade Shooter: Ilvelo Wii Blood Bowl PSP Dawn of Heroes NDS Mystery PI: Lost in Los Angeles PC Ship Simulator Extremes PC Splinter Cell Conviction X360, PC
Alan Wake X360 All Star Karate Wii Attack of the Movies 3D X360, Wii Blue Dragon:AwakenedShadow NDS Borderlands: Zombie Island PS3 Legend of Kay NDS Lost Planet 2 X360, PS3 Prince of Persia Forgotten... PSP, Wii, NDS, PS3, X360 Red Dead Redemption PS3, X360 Shrek Forever After PC, Wii, NDS, X360 Skate 3 PS3, X360 Split Second PS3, PC, X360 Tournament of Legends Wii Trauma Team Wii
WEEK OF APRIL 19 Autobahn Polizei Beat City Dementium II Dream Diary Fashion Week Jr: Fashion Life Flips Twisted World
X360 NDS NDS NDS NDS Wii Harvest Moon:Hero of Leaf Valley PSP House MD NDS Learning to Spell NDS Mind Over Matter NDS Monster Hunter Tri Wii Sherlock Holmes vs....Ripper X360 Think Kids Logic Trainer NDS Thinksmart Advanced NDS Thinksmart Family Wii
WEEK OF APRIL 26 Dead to Rights Retribution Farmtopia FIFA World Cup 2010 Just Sing Let’s Play Garden My First Dollhouse Nier
PS3, X360 NDS PSP, Wii, PS3, X360 NDS Wii, NDS NS PS3, X360 Record of Agarest War:Limited Ed. X360 Super Street Fighter IV X360, PS3 YamahaRacingSBKSuperbike... PS3 Yard Sale Hidden...: Sunnyville NDS
WEEK OF MAY 3 Crackdown 2 Iron Man 2 Monster Racer Picross 3D Reader Rabbit 1st Grade Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade Reader Rabbit Kindergarten Reader Rabbit Preschool Thomas: Hero of the Rails Total War Battle Pack What Did I Do to Deserve...2
X360 NDS,PS3,X360,PSP, Wii NDS NDS Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii, NDS PC PSP
WEEK OF MAY 24 10 Minute Solutions Agency Backbreaker Football Backyard Sports Sandlot... Blur Commander Europe at War Crazy Garage Free Running Hexyz Force Horrible Histories...Romans Kid Adventures: Sky Captain Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4
Wii PC PS3, X360 NDS, X360, Wii PC, X360, PS3 NDS Wii, PC Wii PSP NDS, Wii, PC Wii PC,PS3,X360,NDS, PSP,Wii Let’s Play Ballerina NDS, Wii Making History 2 War of World PC Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker PSP Personal Fitness Men NDS Personal Fitness Women NDS Pirates Plund-arr Wii UFC Undisputed 2010 X360, PS3, PSP Windy X Windam NDS
WEEK OF MAY 31 Alpha Protocol Club Penguin Elite...Revenge Hot Shots Tennis Kane & Lynch: Dog Days Learn Science Grades 1-4 ModNation Racers Morphx Prince of Persia Forgotten... Puzzle Quest: ...Warlords R.U.S.E.
P, X360, PS3 NDS PSP X60, PS3, PC PS3, PSP X360 PC NDS PS3, PCs, X360
WEEK OF JUNE 7 Disgaea Infinite DK Snake Safari Naughty Bear Sin & Punishment...Successor Tetris Party Deluxe Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
PSP NDS PS3, X360 Wii Wii, NDS X360, Wii, PS3
WEEK OF JUNE 14 WEEK OF MAY 10 3D Dot Game Heroes Aztec Treasure Hunt Naruto Shippuden Ultimate...3 Obscure 2 Zooloretto
PS3 PC, NDS, Wii PSP NDS PC, Wii
100 Classic Books NDS Bass Pro Shops The Hunt X360, Wii Boys vs. Girls Wii Galaxy Racers NDS Naval Assault: The Killing Tide X360 Toy Story 3 PS3, X360, NDS, PSP, Wii, PC Witch’s Wish NDS XG Blast NDS
in stores MAy 3
iron man 2
Use Tony Stark to square off against either Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash or game-only classic villains like Crimson Dynamo.
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MORE THAN RECORDS AT YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL RECORD STORE!
American Gangster
Casino
Serenity
The Chronicles of Riddick
Jet Li’s Fearless
Death Race: Unrated
Hellboy II
Miami Vice
Fighting
Pitch Black
The Kingdom
Ridiculous prices on these Blu Ray discs. APRIL 12 through 18 ONLY Titles and prices vary by store.
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indie record stores in your own backyard
Here’s where to find a local retailer that carries the MonitorThis! Sampler and even more treats!
Bull Moose Maine, N e w H a mpsh ire
CD Warehouse Ot tawa , O n tar io
Graywhale Salt Lak e City
Independent Records
Dimple Records Sac r amento
Ch arl eston , SC
The Exclusive Company
Silver Platters
Rasputin Music San F rancisco & berk el ey
Vintage Vinyl fords, nj
Seattl e
Sunrise Records
Zia Record Exchange
Toronto, Ontario
Ariz ona & Las Vegas, NV
wi sc o nsin
P e n nsy lvan ia
Syracuse & baltimore
Col orado
Monster Music & Video
Gallery of Sound
The Sound Garden
For a complete locations list, special offers and more, visit www.monitorthis.com
RedD t COLLECTOR’S
AC/DC Iron Man 2 in es stor 4/19
CD/DVD $12.99
15 classic AC/DC songs plus 50 minutes of career-spanning videos including the brand new video for “Shoot to Thrill”.
EDITION CD/DVD $29.99
15 classic AC/DC songs plus 50 minutes of career-spanning videos including the brand new video for “Shoot to Thrill”. Also includes an exclusive, limited edition Iron Man comic book reprint with a custom, variant cover by Adi Granov, AC/DC stickers and poster.
in stor es 4/19
ac/dc Iron Man 2
CD/dvd $12.99
slash Slash
CD on sale 4/6
barenaked ladies All in Good Time CD on sale now
raisin’ | sony | Dik Hayd