Recently by Sam

Don't ask me how I ended up reading this. I don't know. There is something compelling about this. Let's study it together.

Hey friends. Me and my band finished our record today. You can hear it in its entirety on the myspace if you want to, and higher quality mp3s and CDs will be available soon!

day8ts: ...
we should make real time chess
me: haha
tempo
day8ts: it could work
resource managemnt
me: pay for moves
2:56 PM day8ts: it could work
the below world feeds the upper world of the chess board
me: right. have to figure out how to allow or not allow pieces to occupy same place at same time
2:57 PM day8ts: well the same matter cant ocupy the same space
you could waste a move getting bumped back
2:58 PM the meta rules of chess could still apply
little resources to move pawns
tons to castle
queen is still light on resources so not nerfed
im thinking about this too much now
getting 2 turns in a row in chess would be insane
maybe
2:59 PM me: yeah, it would unbalance it unless something checked it, like on second move no piece could be captured
queen with two moves would be unstoppable
3:00 PM day8ts: maybe theres a dividing wall in the middle, that falls
the people underneath can either build it up or destroy the foundation
horsey can jump over it though
me: ha
day8ts: you should cut and paste this onto thatsplenty
me: alright

Oh Lou Reed. Why are you broing down with Moby at SXSW. Why. You are better than that. Aside from your legendary records and founding VU, don't forget that you played Mok, the rock n' roll sorcerer in Rock And Rule. You don't need anymore cred. And even if you did, hanging out with Moby is the wrong move man. Your name is Mok, thanks alot.

Weird/crappy Brian Froud cartoon from 1981. I vaguely remember being super into this when I was six. Also features the voice of Hans Conried, rad voice actor who was the magic mirror in numerous Disney spots, Snidley Whiplash, Thorin from the hobbit cartoon, and Dr. T from The 5,000 Fingers of Doctor T.

parts 2 & 3 after jump

Ok thatsplenty, forgive me some audio nerdness, but this is pretty big news in the music technology world. Melodyne has done something that I, and most everyone else considered impossible: individual editing of voices/notes/instruments from an audio file. This is a huge leap in technology, one that I assumed was decades away, which will have vast repercussions in the world of music. The only reason I'm posting about it here is that while playing guitar hero with many of you the discussion has come up: "I wish we could import any song we wanted..." or something like that, and I would say "Thats impossible, a computer can't hear individual instruments". Well, sike. I am now officially wrong. This is as close to magic as I've seen. Thank you, Herr Germans.

After watching everyone's favorite simulated television personality I was reading about him on the ole wikipedia and came across this fun fact: Apparently in 1987 some dudes in Chicago successfully attempted broadcast signal intrusion, which is basically hijacking a television station's broadcast by broadcasting on the same wavelink. During the local broadcast of Dr. Who they cut in with a video of what appears to be one of them dressed up like Max Headroom in their garden shed. This incident is one of only 3 confirmed events in America, and the only one featuring Max Headroom.

I don't know if Ryan already posted this or not, but its awesome.

I got this idea to sample some music from the pre 80s disney animated movies to use in future songs. I remember some of them had really cool and weird sounding choir arrangements, fed through that neat 60's plate reverb and analogue tape stuff. I don't want to pad disney's pockets, so if any of you guys have any of these movies, preferably on VHS, let me know. I wants to borrow em.

Some genius made a web comic out of the infamously unfunny garfield strips by editing all the garfield out of them. Surprisingly compelling

Spore looks amazing. This is, at this point, kind of an old video. However, I watched it again today and I am still excited about this game. Coming out on my birthday (9/7/08) this year.

So, most of you dear readers know that my band has been working on a record since the beginning of December; or, if you count writing and rehearsing the songs, much much longer. It is almost finished thanks to Mike Rugnetta and Bailey Math. Anyway, to let off some art steam I'm doing a project this week on the side. Lets call it a side project. I'm going to try to write and record and mix a 5 song EP in one week. I'm calling it Unforgiveable Birthday, a name boosted from a video project a kid worked on at my job about his birthday falling on 9-11. Hilarious! Wish me luck, I'll be throwing the songs up here as they are finished.

...is depressing. I just rented it up on netflix, because I love Watershipdown and Plague Dogs is the lesser known sequel. Anyway, it's really good, so get it if you can. After doing some brief internet research, it appears there are a few cuts roaming around, but very few uncut releases. However, I found a ten part upload on youtube that has everything left in. Totally brutal.

Me and Andrea were asked by the troubadour to make out in the new new pornographers video. view it here
(Update: Embedded the video here! -steve)

That new student center is weird.

Thanks to Heather, Tom, and Joe for pointing this out to me. Adam Curtis is a documentarian for the BBC whose work mostly centers around the imposition of ideologies on societies. All of his series are up on Google Video. I highly recommend watching the four part Century of the Self. Adam Curtis sez: "(The Century of the Self) is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." Check it out! The other one I made it through was The Trap, which is about the use of game theory applied to the ordering of society.

Seems like a strange way to go, but Red Octane announced that they are working with Devendra Banhart and the Animal Collective dudes on a new folk version of the game. Contributors will include Will Oldham, Akron/Family, Angels of Light and the high priestess Joanna Newsome. Its hard to imagine ripping through tracks off Ys, but I'm pretty excited.

Read the press release and full artist list here.

This week the Apophis fans at the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) are petitioning the UN for contingency plans for the 1 in 45,000 chance of a collision on April 13, 2036. Apophis was first spotted in 2004 by astronomers worrying about a collision in 2029, but this was later discovered to be nearly impossible. However, after it passes us in 2029 it will swing around again be much closer to hitting us. Contingency plans may include the use of a gravity tractor to push it off course. The Planetary Society is also offering a $50K prize for planting a tracking device on the harbinger of doom. If it does in fact hit us damage is expected to do between 800 and 1400 megatons worth of damage, roughly twenty times the damage of the largest nuke ever made, possibly creating impact winter. Mark your calenders!

I'm probably running the risk of blogging about stuff no one but me cares about here. I spend literally hours a day on the Guitar Geek guitar rig database. If you fetishize musical gear in any way you must do yourself a favor and check this page out. It is the shit. What makes it so cool is it has handy little pictures of individual player's gear set-up, including signal flow. All the gear is cross referenced. Shown here is the Joy Division guitar set up. Awesome

They put a new song on their website. Forget anything I said earlier this week. It's amazing. Way to go guys.

It is hot today. I don't mean unseasonably hot. I mean regular old no long sleeves hot. In New York. In January. Al Gore is right. What are we going to do without Cold Miser?

Arcade Fire "Intervention" 2007
So Arcade Fire, the biggest indie band of 2005, is about to embark on the release of their sophomore album, a journey that blog-fav bands these days find to be on the same level of difficulty as destroying the Ring of Power in Mt Doom or playing Miserlou on expert in GH 2. I'm sure if you Google the phrase "Arcade Fire" and "Intervention" you'll come across plenty of belly-aching about this track. I don't want to add to the freak out, but I will say this: a)Pipe Organ +1 b)Production -1 c)Arrangement +1 d)"The Boss" style delivery -3. I'd bet 50 bucks McCool is all about this track.

King Crimson "In the Court of the Crimson King" 1969
I heard this track for the first time since high school in Children of Men and I can't stop listening to it. So awesome.

Is great. Really great. I would put this movie on the highest of high tiers of film making. Perfect acting, music selection, casting, and above all cinematography. it's all perfect. I guess the highest complement I can pay this movie is that it makes 99% of every film ever made seem amateurish. Please That's Plenty, go see it in theaters; the small screen isn't going to cut it. I unfortunately had to sit about 5 inches from the screen and it was still totally awesome. I think I'm going to have to see it again, there is alot of small details all over the place. Also big points for use of King Crimson. Go see it. Take off work if you have to.

spoiler to follow

"Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Joel Zumaya missed three games of the American League Championship Series thanks inflammation of the forearm and right wrist, something everyone assumed was brought on by his pitches.

But it turns out that like yours truly, Zumaya is a Guitar Hero addict and the prolonged gaming was what actually brought on the injury..." kotaku

Barcade tomorrow at 8. I'm totally going. Flyer after the jump.

Joshua over at Roadside Picnic has a bunch of great podcasts up right now. Aside from the regular radio show/podcast he's got an awesome field recording section up with submissions by members of Sun O))), Mountains, Diskona, and Hazard. Go check it out

From Billy...

thanks adam

This thing looks crazy. Link to story on SEE IN IN.

Although it is generally acknowledged that the once interesting and insightful Wired Magazine has become gadget porn, I did read the new cover article entitled The Crusade Against Religion by Gary Wolf, based on the recent publications of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. It provides an overview of the current hyper-polarized religious world in which we live, mostly centering on the so-called New Atheism movement. I was expecting a Rah Rah science article, but instead discovered that I have Atheist guilt.

Radness! I'd like to hear everyone's initial impressions of That's Plenty's most eagerly awaited game! Please leave comments on what you think!

If you needed another sign that the power structure of the music industry is shifting then look no further than CMJ. The long running annual music event at one point was viewed as something akin to an independent music festival. However, along with SXSW and Cochella it has slowly turned into a trade show; a week long junket for the New Industry Insiders made of the Pitchfork-led blogosphere.

I found old "Private Snafu" shorts while looking for Warner Brother's cartoons on youtube. WB has of course had all the Bugs Bunny cartoons removed, but left the Snafu shorts, which they produced for the War Department between 1943 and 1945 to show to the troops as part of the Army Navy Screen Magazine reel.

I linked two of em after the jump

I'm playing on Saturday at Sin-E with Judah Johnson and Lions & Tigers. Please come if you can make it!

Instead of sleeping last night, I downloaded and played a number of the old DOS adventure games that I grew up with. Its odd, but I feel way more nostalgia for these old PC games than any of the old NES or SEGA games. I think maybe its because "NES-Culture" is still being parlayed by plenty of Williamsburg Artists types Nintendo itself, and Beck. The Sierra and LucasArts game series, such as Quest For Glory, Monkey Island, Kings Quest or Liesure Suit Larry, take me instantly back to being curled up in front the ole 486.

This game binge fest was brought about by my discovery of DOSBOX, a Dos emulator for both Windows XP and all flavors of MacOSX. Want to get down with it? I linked up everything...

via Cartoon Brew

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness: "The Owl"

Well, Emmanuel Ho made it. This is probably the best music video I have ever seen.

So now you can rock under the watchfull eye of microsoft...although this probably means that you'll be able to rock over the interweb with strangers. What it definitely means is there will be downloadable content for the 360 version.

Yo, me and the TKO boys just got our EP back from the producer...we put most of it up on the ole myspace. Check it out and let me know what think. Hard copies soon to follow as soon as we pick some album art. If you guys have any idea what kind of visual theme we should go with, hit me up.

I'm trying to quit smoking again, and it is really hard. What is strange is that although I don't want to smoke anymore, I don't regret having smoked up until now. Wish me luck.

Tons of new tracks revealed, after the jump...

This is 100% personal opinion, but please allow me to Vice out for a second. Girls, you got to be careful with the ink. Easy does it. Unless you are a biker or actually metal, tattoos send out signals to the fellas. Here are some common occurances:

I had to work tonight, which is ok normally, but it means that I missed 80-year-old Jimmy Scott playing in the city tonight. I'm not the biggest jazz fan in the world, but I love this guy's voice. He may in fact be the best. He was born with Kallmann's syndrome, a genetic defect that stunted his growth. But just like in the X-Men, his mutation has given him a super-human singing voice. He's been playing since World War II, but had a major comeback in the early ninties after an appearance on Twin Peaks. I could listen to this guy sing anything. Check out this clip from a PBS documentary, singing "Motherless Child", and dear god, check him out in The Black Lodge after the jump...

New announced songs for GH2:
1. You Really Got Me - Van Halen
2. Strutter - KISS
3. Who was in my room last night - Butthole Surfers
4. Warpigs - Black Sabbath
5. Arterial Black - Drist
6. Psychobilly Freakout - Reverand Horton Heat
7. YYZ - Rush
8. John the Fisherman - Primus
9. Shout At The Devil - Motley Crue
10. Madhouse - Anthrax
11. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
12. Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N' Roses

Hey Folks, The Kiss-Off is playing the following shows this month:

Wednesday 8/30-Death Disco party at the Annex. Probably going to be $5, but I can put anyone on "The List" if they let me know before hand, so leave acomment if you want to skip the cover. possible drink specials. From the website:

BUNNY ZED 10.30pm
THE KISS-OFF 11.30pm
Plus! Back from Ireland!
Your DJ and host BP FALLON
with The Queen Of The Hop
MATHILDE HILDEBRANDT

Friday 9/1Party Below party at the Culture Project. Pretty sure this one is free. Pretty sure its free beers too. Here's the Flyer.

and Tueday 9/12 Playing at the Annex again. Its gunna be way sweet though, cause not only is there an open bar but all of the bands playing are totally rad: The King-Left, Sigmund Droid, and The Urgency. Here is the silly Flyer I made.

So, a good portion of Thats Plenty lives in the same building as Four Eyed Monsters, the more-indie-than-indie film makers/video podcasters. Their stuff is crazy entertaining, and they are awesome folks aside from that. That being said, this post is a more general shout out to all Bennington College alumn who frequent Thats Plenty to check out the new episode, as it features one of our own fairly prominently.

I know I've slacked off on the music section here on thats plenty, I've gotten quite busy with non-blog music projects. But fear not music fans! I am currently at work on a three volume Mix CD for a friend of mine, and I shall share it here for the common erudition. The theme of this anthology is simple: a chronilogically ordered history of music that I think is sweet from 1967 to present day.

Gamespot has put up details about the GH2 practice mode as well as gameplay videos which leak additional songs...

Anthrax - "Mad House"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Trippin on a hole in a paper heart"
Motely Crue - "Shout at the devil"

Julie over at Goodie Monster wrote an inciteful article about our generations lexicon that also makes me look like a douche bag. Please, go see for yourself

We are suddenly playing a show tonight at pianos at 9:30. It is so sudden in fact that no one we know will be there, so if you are around please stop by.

Alright, as of 5 minutes ago I've finished mixing my band's awesome entry (Go listen now!)to the Be a Guitar Hero contest. Wish me luck! If you want to submit a song, you have till midnight tonight.

So, last night I went to a friend's birthday party in south Williamsburg. I left at around 2:30 AM, fairly trashed, and low and behold two desperate youths approached me at the intersection of Keap and Hope, demanding "the money". Unfortunately for them, drunk people are difficult to mug and "the money" consisted of 3 crumpled, sweaty dollars. As I handed them the money, the blinding halogen headlights of a black SUV suddenly turned on, and the driver started the engine and peeled out toward us. The blood-thirsty babes quickly handed the money back, and ran off. Thinking nothing of it and being drunk, I continued on my way toward the subway, when the SUV pulled up beside me. The driver rolled down the window.
"Those guys were robbing you, right?"
"Yeah, they tried to. Thanks."
"No problem. Have a good night."
In my mind the guy also calls me "Citizen". Thank you so much Brooklyn vigilante!

They played their first show a month ago, but I've already heard about them from a few different sources, including Gothamist today. From their myspace page and the videos available it would seem that they are pretty fucking awesome, and whats more they are playing on saturday at Sin-e. For the record, I am calling it right now, this is going to be a quick rise to fame for these lucky awesome bastards. Check it all out now.

Angelo Badalamenti "The Pink Room" from Fire Walk With Me 1992
Angelo Badalamenti "Red Bats With Teeth" from Lost Highway 1997
Angelo Badalamenti is, without question, my favorite film composer. Although some of his best work has been for Jean-Pierre Jeunet films, he is better-known as the composer for pretty much all the David Lynch films, and for good reason. Without his mix of smokey lounge/jazz, 50's instrumental guitar, and early Romanticism the Lynch films would never achieve the insiduous brooding nature for which they are known. We here at the Juggernaut threw a Lynch themed party a week ago, and it was a pleasure to break out some choice Badalamenti cuts on the decks, two of which are presented here. I definitely count him as a large influence of my own stuff. Interesting side note: David Lynch usually plays all the guitar in Badalamenti scores.

Best jingle ever. Take a guess what publication this ad is for.

We Feel Fine is an amazing applet that allows you to read snipets of personal blogs in countless, incredibly interesting ways. The is one of the most beautifully put together interfaces I have ever seen, go look at it now!.

What do you get when you mix Tv On the Radio, Peter Murphy from Bauhaus, and Trent Reznor singing for about 15 people?

The greatest-song-ever-written's first public performance, live in 1983 on the BBC's "The Tube".

It must be a slow news day over at Pitchfork, cause they posted a YouTube link-fest of a hundred random music videos with short reviews. They aren't, in a very un-Pitchfork mannner, ranked; they do however vary from being good to being "so-bad-its-good". Ah well.

Presented here is Dave Guion's lecture "Spy Rock", from Brooklyn's own Little Gray Book Lecture series. Enjoy.

Joshua over at Roadside Picnic has put up a new edition of his awesome podcast. Check it out

My bros the Bellmer Dolls are playing tomorrow night at Union Pool. Not only are they one of THE BEST NYC bands, but they were recently included in Paper Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" issue. They are really really The Birthday Party-ish. The video above is pretty much exactly what you can expect. Sidenote: all their clothes are designed by the bassist, Anthony Malat. Here's the Info:

I found this really great hour-long Velvet Underground documentery on youtube. It's got a ton of great footage and interviews with all the members. Here is part one, and the rest can be found here

Wouldn't normally do this, but I am really proud of the solo song I just finished...cause it has harpsichord in it! The coolest instrument on the whole damn planet!

Hail SATAN

Thom Yorke "Black Swans" 2006
Thom Yorke "the Eraser" 2006
Here are two tracks off the Yorke solo record coming out next month. I don't know how you guys feel about radiohead; maybe you are obsessed, maybe you hate on the hyped up Kid A period and what not. Either way, stop reading this right now, dust of your copy of Ok Computer and crank it up. Remember? The guys deserve some worship. I say guys plural, because the Yorke by his lonesome is not making the big ass super-radiohead record alot of people are hoping for. Its pretty good, don't get me wrong, but unless mid/late 90s Aphex beats really blows your hair back, then don't get too excited. Ah well, if anything I would say this bodes well for a pretty big departure on the radiohead record due out next year. Nigel Goodrich, their long time producer and producer of The Eraser will not be touching it. They got the Keane guy. We'll see.

So, I basically spent my weekend on YouTube. I don't know why I never thought of this before, but I started searching for things live "echo bunnymen live", "MC5 live", and "Stooges live". Turns out there is a ton of footage on youtube of the greatest bands of all time. Really amazing stuff. I started looking for the earliest live footage of all my favorites. Its great to see these legends before the drugs and what not, when they are good looking babies who are utterly invulnerable.

The above was taped in 1970.

One of those big Critirionical Kollection style 12 disc set DVD versions is getting released for the gold standard of sweetness: Blade Runner. Its going to have all of the various versions, plus a new one that is re-mastered. There is also a possible theatrical release. I want to know when the soundtrack is going to get a proper release...
CNN has the story

Icarus Line "Big Sleep" 2004
It's RaWK day on thatsplenty, and frankly I am shocked that the sheer, brutal force of Icarus Line hasn't made them super stars. This band blisters. Its all there, the falling-apart rhythm section, the atomic battling guitars, and the menacing and incredible singer. After being taken on tour with Ink and Dagger before any of them were 20, the Icarus Line went on to eventually record the incredible Penance Soiree LP in 2004, confirming themselves as the greatest working band from California.

Turn Pale "Slow to Drown" 2004
Turn Pale is one of the best gothish bands running around today. What is so refreshing about them is that although Joy Division is vaguely involved in their music, they obviously really don't give a shit about any of the now-hip goth sound IE: they sound nothing like interpol. Fantastic live.

I remember seeing this painting in some text book in high school. Turns out the admiral's race was painted on in the 70s. Very odd. Link to NPR story.

I usually don't follow Eurovision, because it usually isn't much more interesting than American Idol. I mean sure, its been around since our parents were born, and sure its country VS country, AND SURE its whole bands instead of prancing pop stars, but by in large it usually ends up being the same thing. ANYWAY, this year a band called Lordi won, apparently on costumes and make-up alone. If we must have competetive "music" shows, please let us see a demonic/silly "metal" band go up against TATU or whoever. I want to see pre-teen blood.

Go see The Proposition. Its awesome. Real awesome. I think it ended up awesome because there are a few topics that Nick Cave is qualified to write about:

1)Cowboys
2)Murder
3)Evil
4)PJ Harvey
5)Australia

This movie contains 4 out of 5 of those things.

Our own Sena Clara Creston's last show of her photography just got reviewed in New York Arts magazine, on stands now. Check it out! Way to go Sena!

So, this isn't really the biggest news, but the last and largest human chromosome has been sequenced. Link to Reuters

Reverend Horton Heat - "psychobilly freakout"*
KISS - "Strutter"
The Kinks(van halen version) - "you really got me"*
Black Sabbath - "war pigs"*
Butthole Surfers - "who was in my room last night?"
Rush - "YYZ"*
Drist - "Arterial Black"#

* denotes sweetness
# denotes fake band from first game

Screen shot? Sure:

My top ten list of songs I want in Guitar Hero.

The Stranglers "Nice and Sleazy" 1978
Man, listen to that bass. Every now and then I hear a song where all the instrument tones sound exactly right. This is one of those. Getting all the tones right is one of the trickiest and most over-looked part of making rock music, yet all the greatest bands of all time are masters of it. I think it counts for like 75% of that feeling you get when listening that says "This song I'm listening to right now, a real band made it." It's whats lacking in your roommate's brothers band who writes really good songs, but something's missing. Its the reason the Strokes are famous. Check it out, want to hear another example?

Love & Rockets "Mirror People" 1987

Ign put up an in-depth interview with RedOctane's Exec Producer about new stuff in GH2, including the new songs (Toadies anyone?), the different instrument parts, and the feauture I want the most, the practice mode.

How big are the balls on this man? As big as they need to be. Watch now, as Stephen Colbert makes the President and 1,000 invited cronies very uncomfortable. Today the man is a GOD. My question is, who is the genius who booked him to speak at the White House press corps dinner?

She Wants Revenge "Red Flags and Long Nights" 2006
Oh man. My band mate, Catherine Bates and I got comped a few months ago by Geffen to the Electric 6 show at Bowery. Free drink tickets in hand we made our way to the completely empty VIP balcony, prepared to be ironic.
Some by-the-numbers NYC band, I think it was Rock Kills Kid opened to a throng of nodding friends and associates, the She Wants Revenge started setting up their stuff. I had forgotten they were opening too, and I was eager to mock them, as I had read nothing but shit talk on the ole Internet for this "indie" (Major Label) band. The main things I heard were:

1)Far beyond Interpol's wildest dreams of Joy Division rip off. With a name like "She Wants Revenge" and song titles like "Tear you apart", it was mimicry enetering the territory of satire.
2)An unfortunate combination of JD riffage and songs about wanting to bang out chicks.
3)Made by band wagon pretenders. Apparently the two main guys were trying to make it as hip hop stars in the 90s.

A multitude of 18 year old B&Ts came pouring in to see them play. They knew all the words. As me and Catherine laughed and laughed and as I drank more and more something sinister started blossuming inside me. I started to get in to it. I heard a neighbor listening to it a few days ago and I buckled and picked it up. Bottom line, this is the only actual guilty pleasure I've ever had. I can't even explain why I like it. It IS NOT GOOD. IT IS BAD. What is wrong with me?

PS: Does this sound like DOOM music to anyone else?

Radio 4 "Dance to the Underground" 2001
Off the top of my head, aside from a few Basement Jaxx songs, this is the only other cut I can think of that makes me feel shame to listen to, that I own. This song seemed really rad in college, but now sounds really dated. I believe this song has a great future in car commercials for years to come.

Sorry everyone, I swear I'm still cool.

Glass Candy & The Shattered Theater "Love Love Love" 2003
Now that the YYY's sophmore album officially suX0rz, Glass Candy's naysayers might give them another look. Unfortunately for Glass Candy's Ida No, post Yeah Yeah Yeah people trashed her for "copying". Little do these people know that Glass Candy had 3 releases before the YYYs played their first show. Anyway. This song is rockin. PS: Everyone in Glass Candy is h0ttttt.

The Flesh Eaters "Digging My Grave" 1981
In my version of histroy, there are two LA punk bands. X, and these guys. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't have saxophone in your punk band you are a bunch fags. You hear me Dead Kennedy's? If you can find A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die buy it. Its out of print and way too good.

Oblivion came out earlier this month for XBOX 360, and PC(and I suppose Macs, bootcamp anyone?). After playing it for a month I'm no where near completing it, but I assure you, this is the big one. Have you been waiting for the Citizen Kane of interactive entertainment? This is it friends. Read on as I review the greatest video game ever made.

Talk Talk "Life's What You Make It" 1986
Today's theme is music to wake up to, and music to go to sleep to. Put this Talk Talk track on real loud as you drink your coffee and get ready for a day full of awesome. Could also be put to effective use in a training montage.

Prick "The Universe" 2002
Prick lost their record deal with Interscope after what I can only imagine to be dissappointing sales of their incredible, highly underated, way ahead of its time, self-titled debut in 1996. They put out a new record in 2002 titled "The Wreckard" (Get it?) on their website. This is the closing track, and is sweet before bed music. Also good for a suicide montage.

I don't know why I'm even linking to their myspace page. Their songs aren't great. Most of em aren't even good. That being said, I can say without a doubt that Denmark's The Blue Van is one of the greatest rock bands that has ever lived. So, if you check out the tunes online and are unimpressed, I won't blame you. This is one of those things that has to be experienced live. I'm not the only one. I saw them last night at Shindig, and they blew the place up. So, the show on sunday at Mercury Lounge is probably going to sell out, but follow these fuckers around. You have to see it.

Joshua over at Roadside Picnic has put up his new monthly updated section of submitted field recordings. This month's theme is Silence. Check it out

Hey kids, my band The Kiss-Off has a show tonight at Fat Baby at 10pm, drop by if you are around.

We are putting down guitar hero long enough to throw a kick ass party.
Tonight! TONIGHT!!!

Golf Pros VS Tennis Hos at the Juggernaut Unlimited LTD
Socks. Skirts. Pleats. Cleats.

at Party O'Clock

950 Hart STREET, Studio 106

Take the L to Dekalb

Call one of us to get in, or sneak in if you are crafty. shoot me an email if you are confused.

Tired of this?

Now you can turn your SG controller WIRELESS, thus allowing you to pull off the jump-off-the-coutch-windmill.

NYPress's annual list of horrible shit heads who live with us is out. Check it out

Our good friend Joshua over at Roadside PIcnic just put up another installment of his transcendent radio show/podcast. If you are in to good music you haven't heard, then this is for you.

I know, we haven't been posting as much. Even now, my fingers are almost too swollen and bloody to type. We tried, we honestly did...but an overwwhelming force of awesomness has taken over our lives, never to surrender them. What is it, you ask??? Mother Fucking Guitar Hero.

Sonic Youth "Superstar" 1994
It's Sonic Youth cover day here at That's Plenty. First up, SY's '94 cover of the Carpetner's hit, proving once again that the Carpenter's songs all kick ass plugged in. Maybe we'll have Carpenters day soon (You hear that McCool?!). Don't worry folks, my cover of Solitaire is just around the corner.

Wylde Ratz "TV Eye" 1998
So, in the late '90s Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Ron Asheton of the original Stooges, and Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth started a "RAWK" cover band called Wylde Ratz, recorded an album, put a cut (this one,covering the Stooges) on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, and promptly broke up. The album was never released...However, it did make it on to the Internet as things have a tendency to do, and promptly fell on to my hard drive. After listening to these songs, I think Sonic Youth should stick to covers...just kidding...kind of...

The Chameleons (UK) "Paradiso" 1986
The Chameleons deserve as much credit for influencing the current post-punk sound (esp. the 8th note guitar sound) as the oft-name-checked-on-press-release-darlings Joy Division, Gang of Four, or Wire. If you are into this stuff check out their record Strange Times. Easily 70% of the kids at Interpol's first shows were wearing Chameleons Tshirts. This is my favorite song of theirs.

Echoboy "Telestar Recovery" 2000
Echoboy's other songs on, "Vol 1" and "Vol 2" have almost nothing in common with this sweet track; ie: they aren't sweet tracks. I wonder if Echoboy knows this. I wonder if when the Echoboy guy wrote this he was like "Man this is awesome...Oh well, enough of that, tiime to get back to my true passion: writing music no one likes." Seems to me like once you take the first tender steps down the road of awesome one cannot turn back. Maybe the the light of awesome was too blindingly beautiful and terrible to embrace, like when Frodo offered Galadriel the One Ring. I'm just saying.

From the desk of Julie Lou,
Holy shit, the father of modern chicken died on Monday, and the NYTimes has the funniest obituary I've ever read. Goodbye Robert Baker, your pioneering in the field of poultry will not go unnoticed... Read the obit.

Q Lazzarus "Goodbye Horses" 1988
A friend of the Juggernaut family was over last night, and somehow this song came up in conversation. The song has some sort of magical essence in it, I'm convinced. It first appeared in "Married To The Mob" in 1988, but didn't really reach anybody until its appearence in "Silence Of The Lambs" in 1991. Much to music fan's annoyance, it was not featured on the soundtrack, but apparently the band released a single to capitalize on the movie. Anyway, the band broke up. This, as far as anyone knows, is the the only song they ever made. It's incredible.

Gerard McMann "Cry Little Sister" 1987
Speaking of awesome songs in movies, LOST BOYS MOTHER FUCKER. If you have ever been to a bad goth night anywhere, then they probably played this. That doesn't make this song less awesome though.

If you are like me, then you are sad that both the Myspace secret tracking sites, Spyspace and Whospyme, no longer work. It was a lot of fun seeing who viewed my profile everyday on myspace. But just when that forbidden knowledge was beginning to corrupt my very essence, that old shit head Tom (pictured) and his bastard underlings ruined our fun. I would have posted about it earlier, but secret tools must remain secret to be effective.

However, it appears Spyspace is evolving into something else....

Lou Reed "The Kids" 1973
Many VU fans have yet to pick up Lou Reed's Berlin, because of song over lap or poorness. Well, pick it up. It is his best album. Whats that you say? Transformer? Oh, I think this track begs to differ. From AMG: "...To ensure that the horror of the song truly hit home, producer Bob Ezrin set up a tape recorder in his own home then, when his children returned from school, told them that their mother was dead. At least, that's the legend, and the uncontrolled howling with which the song ends, fading in over the skeletal guitar and boiling percussion, certainly does not contradict it."

Banbarra "Shack Up" 1975
Sorry to bum you out with that last track. Don't cry children, the funk starship just landed!

This week I shall be seeking employment anew. As most of you are no doubt aware, I am a musician with a music degree, and without any practical skills....Or am I? This is the question that shall be answered over the next month as I try to find someone or someones to pay ME for WHAT I KNOW.

Its real nice

Einsturzende Neubauten "Alles" 2000
If you are already down with the Neubaten, skip down to the next song. Alright, yes their name is really german, yes many of the songs are in german, and yes they build their own instruments. This band has been around for so long and has consistantly broken barriers and evolved that I think they should get some kind of award. If you are in to good music, check them out. I can't say enough good things about them. Basically if you start a band and make all the right decisions for 25 years you end up as Einsturzende Neubaten.

Cordel do Fogo Encantado "Na Veja" 2001
I know next to nothing about these guys, aside from that they are from Brazil and their album is awesome.

György Ligeti Lux Aeterna 1966
I hate 20th century composition, as well as so called "new music". If you aren't familiar with this particular genre, you'd best stay clear of it, which will be easy because, by design I might add, the only people who like it are academic musicians. They like it, but even they don't listen to it. This piece however is straight amazing. Sung by a mixed 16 person chorus. Somedays I think its beautiful, other days terrifying.

Brian Eno "The Big Ship" 1975
I couldn't find the John Cage cut I wantedto put up today, so here's some brian eno. Who doesn't love Eno? If you aren't in to Eno, then think of him as the guy who made up all that stuff that radiohead got credit for in 2001.

Holy shit! That video of Karen dancing to Mr. Pop was linked on Gothamist! Now all of New York loves you Karen!

Echo & the Bunnymen "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue(Live)" 1985
One of the greatest bands ever play one of the greatest songs ever. It really doesn't get much better than this. Echo has been easing its way deeper and deeper into my heart for the last five years or so. If I had to make a top three list right now I'd put them right below Bowie and Joy DIvision...I know you guys are keeping track.

The Human League "Seconds" 1981
No other song about assasination gets me this juiced. Play at maximum volume. I highly recommend this for city-walking music. Oh, and pick up Dare! if you haven't already. Its got a bunch of songs on it you like.

Tomorrow: My only foray into 20th Century composers this site will ever see

Hey, I haven't played it yet, but this looks to be a RISK+Settlers of Catan MMO game. check it out: http://www.travian.com/

Psychic Ills "January Rain" 2006
Psychic Ills play the kind of stuff that, no offence to them, is great background music. Their new album is a great background album, joining the ranks of Music For Airports, all the new Einstruzende Neubaten records, and every Godspeed album ever. I like it. SIDE NOTE: Brooklyn gets a lot of pats on the back for having the awesomest music scene around. That's most of the reason I moved here. However, most (99.99999999%) of the bands I see here I don't particularly like. This may seem like a pretty low regard for our music scene, but keep in mind there are, by my last count, about one hundred trillion bands in Brooklyn, so that still leaves around around 100 good bands here, including Psychic Ills, the Bellmer Dolls, TV On The Radio, The Rapture, The Liars, all of DFA Records, and every band that I am in (Not so fast there Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, get back in line). Does your town have one hundred good bands? Shut up Montreal.

Antarctica "Absence" 1999
If Antarctica could have held out for another few years until post punk and New Order got cool again then they could have gotten the respect, acclaim, and piles of money they deserved. They'd be on MTV2 and Volkswagen's cash would be buying their girlfriend's drinks. Oh well, at least they got that one sweet album off. This is the first song on that album and is also mixtape gold.

Pete Shelley "Telephone Operator" 1983
Not alot of Buzzcocks fans like to talk about Pete Shelley's solo career following the breakup. Its a sore subject. Punk rock legend turns New Wave; it makes purists uncomfortable. So, it isn't surprising to learn that not alot fo people know just how good at new wave Pete Shelley was.

Macha "No Surprise Party" 2004
Good production and instrument choices can make a good song a great song. Just ask Eno. I love this song alot, its the kind of album closer that brings the house down.

I highly recommend finding people you went to high school with on myspace. Every now and then they will make bulletin posts that are comic gold. Submitted for your approval, I call this piece "fuck georgia", llifted directly from myspace. Read every item, and be glad you no longer, or never have lived in the south. My favorites are:
"20.fuck shows my mom doesnt let me watch but i watch them anyway x___x"
"47. Fuck whoevery doesnt listen to z100 on the radio"
"53. FUCK cancer&&disease"
"172.fuck snakes"
and who could forget
"17.fuck books"
enjoy:

Welcome to March, That's Plenty! As a march 1st treat, two of my favorite bands "leaked" their new albums to the internet...
TV On The Radio "Province" 2006
Yes Virginia, that is David fucking Bowie singing on this track. I honestly don't know who I'm more envious of, Totr for getting Bowie in the studio, or Bowie for getting to hang with these guys. My roommates already know how big of a totr fanboy I am, but let me tell you: whenever I see Dave, Tunde, or KIp out on the town I make a complete fool out of myself. Just imagine that girl or boy you had a crush on in 5th grade, and how you approached it. Its that bad, and the new album isn't helping me get over it. (its great).

The Black Heart Procession "Not Just Words" 2006
Don't worry Black Heart fans, the new album is pure BHP...except this one, which my personal jury is still out on. Is it really ok for these guys to write this kind of song? I mean, I'm sure they really really wanted to, what with all the gloom. I guess its ok.

Leadbelly "In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down" 1944
Constantly beating the shit out of people, killing like eight dudes, and getting out of jail by singing to the governor, Leadbelly is a complete badass. Songs he wrote and/or popularized include "House of the Rising Sun", "Goodnight Irene", and "Where did you sleep last night". I mainly like to imagine him beating up Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Devendra Banhart after drinking all their booze and telling them to pack it the fuck up.

Entrance "Wandering Stranger" 2004
Guy Blakeslee may be a johnny-come-lately to the blues biz, but this mother fucker can sing, and is from Baltimore.

Mr. Flagio "Take a Chance" 1983
When I was assembling my DJ set for our past vs future party last month, I stumbled on this gem. My friends who are in fact real DJs already know about this one, but its new to me. I've liked Giorgio Moroder and Yello for a while, but I haven't been able to find any other proto-disco or italo disco trakcs that suit my fancy, until this one. I'm pretty sure Larry Tee already mined the irony out of this kind of music, but I really like it. Wikipedia on Italo Disco.... DFA, Prins Thomas and Lindstrom really have the right idea about what parts of old, cheesy disco records to reference...

Lindstrom remixing LCD Soundsystem "Tribulations" 2005
I guess this turned into dance music day. I listened to this track for about four days straight when I first got it. Something about that bass line and sloppy hi hat really stroke some dark, secret part of my soul; a part that is constantly giving itself haircuts and sniffing coke off of dorm room keys. I'll post some obscure rock tracks tomorrow, I swear...just give me a few more moments on my idealized dance floor.

we're a week old. yay.

Apperently when viewed on IE our site has gigantic font size. It looks like it was made for blind people. Can anyone fix this?

Yngwie Malmsteen "Far Beyond The Sun" 1984
In my version of history this song lead directly to the creation of Castlevania. You can hear the Simon Belmont all over this mother fucker, whipping stuff.

The Tubes "White Punks On Dope" 1975
This song is the answer to the riddle: How can you possibly get away with the lyric "Hang myself when I get enough rope"? This is the classic indictment of wealthy punks...you know, the St Marks kids. Also contains:
1) an out of nowhere choir at the end
2) the "fake" ending

As has been suggested, my daily song picks are now on our server. Let me know if anything doesn't work and I'll bang on it till it does.

Celebration "Lost Souls" 2005
Oh my god, if you haven't got this album yet, get on top of it. Speaking of getting on top of things: me and every other hipster on the planet has a big ole cruch on Katrina Ford, the singer for Celebration. Last time I saw them was at the bowery opening for Calla. They pwned it hardcore, so much so that I think I heard Calla say "Ah fuck it, lets go home and play XBox."

The Call "I Don't Wanna" 1987
I don't know how exactly to catagorize this song. Imagine a Journey without notalsgia, or humor, but with all the bombastic progressions and lyrics. Tell me if I'm crazy to love this song. Maybe my sense of kitch has gone so far it doubled back to sincereity. I honestly don't know. What I do know is when I'm listening to this on the subway or on the street, life takes on a whole new purpose and clarity, and we race towards the future, hands on brows towards the horizon. Fuck you.

This is from our friend eric's brain:

Frank Miller Has the Crazies

Ugh.

For those of you out of the know, there was once a great comic book author by the name of Frank Miller. You’ve probably heard of him if you’ve ever asked that friend of your’s who’s really into comics for a place to jump into the world of tights and flight:

“Dark Night Returns. I know it’s a superhero comic, but give it a try. You’ll love it.”

We’ve all said it and we all mean it. Frank Miller has produced some of the most defining works of genre literature in the history of sequential art (fuck off, I like the term). From his revolutionary noir storytelling in Sin City, to his reinvention of superhero morality in Dark Knight Returns, this dickhead has blown a lot of overweight, acne-scarred minds.

And then he stopped.

Niccolo Paganini "No. 3 in E Minor" ~1815
Niccolo Paganini was, in most people's opinion, the greatest violinist who ever lived. He is also credited with being one of the first musicians to tour, if not the first. From wikipedia:

"A pervading myth about Paganini is that he sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his fearsome technique, a rumor which he delighted in and may have even started himself. During a performance his eyes would roll into the back of his head while playing, revealing the whites. His swaying stance, long unruly hair and thin, gaunt stature would add to this rumor. He played so intensely that women would faint and men would break out weeping."

In my opinion he is the first rockstar.This is my favorite of his compositions.

Angels of Light "My True Body" 2001
If you are a fan of the Southern Gothic asthetic in any way, this is your new soundtrack for being a badass. Press play, pull on your black boots and dusty coat, pull out a hand rolled cig, light a strike anywhere on your leathery palm and blow smoke through your nostrils, you embodiment of awesome you.

Asa-Chang & Junrei "Parlor" 2005
Self-proclaimed experimental musicians in other countries use musical devices other than Noise (capital N). Come on America, lets get it together, there are lots of good, new ideas out there that people actually want to listen to...as this track shows us. I'm not saying you can't get drunk, pummel your guitar, wreck your vocal chords, and give your drummer a heart attack. I'm just saying that sort of thing is being moved out of the "experimental" section and put in the "budget" section of your local record store.

Freur "Doot-Doot" 1983
Alright, I've been OBSESSED with this song for well over a year now. "Obsessed" in the deeply personal, emotional way, not in the wacky irony way. On paper, it doesn't sound that good:
-Made by guys who went on to be Underworld
-The chorus consists only of the words "Doot Doot"
-Contains serious amount of roto toms (the Phil Collins drum sound. You know what I mean.)
-Featured at the end of Vanilla Sky
But believe me, this is a great piece of music. Throw this on a mixtape to a girl and watch the pants fly off.

The Knife "One Hit" 2006
Their 2nd album just came out, and Pitchfork gave it really high marks. Most of the album is pretty run of the mill, but three tracks are amazing, and this is one of them. Kate Bush + Basement Jaxx.

Sparks "Tryouts for the Human Race" 1979
If you ever find yourself walking down the street and saying to yourself "I need the next six minutes of my life to rock....hard.", then this is the track for you. This is the best Sparks and Giorgio Moroder collaboration song, and easily one of the greatest dance songs ever made.

Monday: Wolf Mother, Black Lips at Mercury. I don't know anything about Wolf Mother, but I do know that having "wolf" in your band name is cool yesterday. The Black Lips suck really bad, but they know how to act like rock and roll douche bags better than anyone, they are from atlanta, and they're cute!

Tuesday:Nothing

Wednesday: Nothing

Thursday: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at bowery ballroom. However you feel about them, you should see this show. If you like them: they are playing stuff from the new album (early demos I heard are Zinnerific[that means rad]). If you hate them, then its your duty as a hater to call "SOPHMORE SLUMP!" during the quiet parts.

Friday: Gotta go with Bad Brains at CBGB. I mean, you haven't been there since you moved here, so this would be a good time. Start buying a t shirt and then say "sike".

Saturday: Weird War at the Syrup Room. I don't know where that is either, but Weird War is killer live, Ian hasn't lost "IT" yet. Still sassy.

Sunday:Nothing, unless you like RJD2, which I don't.

Some people might say that it is a little late in the game to start a blog; that all the niches are filled, and the top dogs will continue to dominate their respective fields. I agree with these people.