index

Update

Sat, 16 May 2009 04:05:27 +0100

All posts from the news section will now be posted under their appropriate genre. Please click on Music or Movies/DVD to view news and updates as well as the newest reviews. A category index has been added on the left side of each page for your convienence. All former news stories that appeared in this section will also be archived for future reference.

Thanks,
Joseph Bridges
Editor
RealSoundTheory.com

Myspace Music Letting You Hear It Now!

Sat, 16 May 2009 02:38:36 +0100

MySpace Music, the world's premier music community, is excited to announce six exclusive album debuts within days of each other. MySpace users can find the highly anticipated albums from Eminem, Tori Amos, Lionel Richie, Busta Rhymes, Method Man & Redman, Kate Voegele and Phoenix available only on MySpace Music. Fans are able to stream the albums in their entirety days before they hit store shelves.

Eminem
The highly anticipated new album, Relapse¸ from hip hop artist Eminem makes its official debut on MySpace Music beginning today, Friday, May 15. Additionally, tune into FOX's Family Guy on Sunday, May 17 for more MySpace news pertaining to the hip hop star. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Eminem to stream his entire album for free: http://www.myspace.com/eminem.

Tori Amos
Multiplatinum and Grammy nominated recording artist Tori Amos will premiere her brand new album titled Abnormally Attracted to Sin exclusively on MySpace Music in the U.S. beginning on Saturday, May 16. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Tori Amos to stream her entire album for free: http://www.myspace.com/toriamos.

Lionel Richie
The new album from legendary artist Lionel Richie is currently available for free streaming exclusively on MySpace Music. Just Go marks the singer's ninth studio album. Check back to MySpace Music for more exciting news about the singer in the coming weeks. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Lionel Richie to stream his entire album: http://www.myspace.com/lionelrichie.

Busta Rhymes
Grammy nominated rapper Busta Rhymes is set to debut his eighth studio album Back on My B.S. exclusively on MySpace Music beginning today, Friday, May 15. To celebrate the release of his new album, Busta will also perform for his MySpace fans at a special MySpace Music The Release show on Monday, May 18 in New York City. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Busta Rhymes to stream his entire album for free: http://www.myspace.com/bustarhymes.

Method Man and Redman
Hip Hop and rap duo Method Man and Redman are set to debut Blackout 2, the highly anticipated follow up to their platinum selling 1999 release Blackout, exclusively on MySpace Music beginning on Saturday, May 16. The duo will perform in a special MySpace Music The Release concert on Thursday, May 28 in Los Angeles. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Method Man to stream their entire album for free: http://www.myspace.com/methodman.

Kate Voegele
Singer/songwriter Kate Voegele premiered her second full length studio album A Fine Mess exclusively on MySpace Music this week. The singer is currently on tour and providing her MySpace fans with exclusive content. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Kate Voegele, sponsored by University of Phoenix, to stream her entire album for free and to access exciting videos and blogs especially for her MySpace friends: http://www.myspace.com/katevoegele.

Phoenix
French alternative rock band Phoenix will debut their new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix exclusively on MySpace Music beginning on Monday, May 18. The band consists of Thomas Mars, Deck D'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai, and Laurent Brancowitz. Visit the official MySpace Music profile of Phoenix to stream their entire album for free: http://www.myspace.com/wearephoenix.

MINUS THE BEAR WORK ON NEW ALBUM

Thu, 14 May 2009 23:07:49 +0100

Seattle-based quintet Minus the Bear are currently hard at work on their highly anticipated fourth studio album, still untitled. Excited to expand on their inimitable brand of rock n roll songwriting and explore their existing love of audio ingenuity, the band teamed up with Grammy Award winning producer Joe Chicarelli (My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes) to lend a helping hand. Loved for their brilliant countermelodies and progressive arrangements by legions of fans, the band plans on taking their endless creativity and craft, which has been praised by the likes of Spin, Alternative Press, Paste and others, to new heights on this new album.

Minus the Bear will take the opportunity to self finance their new album, giving them full control in an evolving industry. The band plans on releasing their new album on a yet to be announced record label.

The band recently released a seven track EP, ACOUSTICS, which was available exclusively online and on their recent headlining tour which included sold out dates at New York's Webster Hall, Chicago's The Vic and The Gothic Theatre in Denver.

Minus The Bear will release their new album this fall.

www.minusthebear.com
www.myspace.com/minusthebear
www.twitter.com/minusthebear
www.flickr.com/photos/minusthebear

John Huston's Wise Blood on Criterion DVD

Thu, 14 May 2009 23:04:59 +0100

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN AND HELL

It must have seemed nearly impossible for a movie adaptation of Wise Blood to successfully translate Flannery O'Connor's idiosyncratic flavor and weirdly wonderful characters. But John Huston 's 1979 version of O'Connor's debut novel, about a God-fearing young Georgia man named Hazel Motes, who sees himself as a prophet and starts the first Church Without Christ, is thoroughly satisfying and astonishingly vivid, and a gift to fans of both the novelist and the director. And in an essay commissioned for Criterion's new special edition of Wise Blood, acclaimed author Francine Prose writes, "Flannery O'Connor would, I believe, have been purely thrilled by the film that was made from her novel." See for yourself, as Wise Blood is now available for the first time on DVD.

No one does fire and brimstone better than Hazel Motes, as this clip of the preacher man (played by a furious Brad Dourif) attests.

Split Sides DVD

Thu, 14 May 2009 23:02:07 +0100

Merce Cunningham's Split Sides (2003) captures the iconic modernist choreographer's most radical use of chance procedures. As the title implies, the piece is divided into two parts. Each 20-minute part features one of two options for the different creative elements of the piece: set design, costumes, lighting, music, and choreography. The order in which each element appears during a given performance is determined by an onstage dice roll before the performance, captured on full screen for the live audience. There are thus 32 possible combinations for any performance of Split Sides. In addition to Merce Cunningham's two choreographic segments, the work features two set designs (one by Robert Heishman and one by Catherine Yass), two sets of costumes (by James Hall), and two lighting plots (by James F. Ingalls). Original scores, composed specifically for this collaboration by the British alternative rock group Radiohead and the Icelandic experimentalist group Sigur Rós, offer the two choices of music.

This two-disc DVD set, by giving viewers the opportunity to alternate soundtracks, presents 4 of the 32 possible variations of the work. Filmmaker Charles Atlas masterfully captures the dance with Merce close at his side. Cunningham calls the films Split Sides 45 and Split Sides 46, because they capture the 45th and 46th performances of this epic collaboration.

Contents:

Split Sides 45
Choreography “A” followed by “B”
Music in the basic presentation is Sigur Rós followed by Radiohead
A lternative sound options are Radiohead followed by Sigur Rós or silent with the same dance footage
(Total Running Time: 2:06:00)

Split Sides 46
Choreography “B” followed by “A”
Music in the basic presentation is Radiohead followed by Sigur Rós
A lternative sound options are Sigur Rós followed by Radiohead or silent with the same dance footage
(Total Running Time: 2:06:00):

One For The Team are busy bees this spring

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:35:28 +0100

One For The Team have been busy bees this Spring. You know, building gardens among other endeavors.

They're about to leave for a string of West Coast dates before jumping over to Europe. Never the type to sit around on the couch, they've been making videos and tinkering with their favorite songs.

Check out the acoustic session Grace and Ian just made with Tapes For Life. The two give a performance of the song "Best Supporting Actress" as they hang in their apartment and stroll through their home town Minneapolis. Action kicks off around 0:40
http://vimeo.com/4496459?pg=embed&sec=

The track appears on their recently released EP Build A Garden.
Download the mp3 for "Best Supporting Actress" below and feel free to share.
https://www.yousendit.com/download/dVlxRGwrdzh1Yk4zZUE9PQ

SPRING 2009 TOUR DATES

MAY

16 - Minneapolis, MN - Art-A-Whirl
18 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
19 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
20 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Sho
21 - Davis, CA - University of California - Davis
22 - San Francisco, CA - The Retox
25 - Phoenix, AZ - The Phix
26 - Albuquerque, NM - The Telos
29 - Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews

Eclipse Series 16: Alexander Korda's Private Lives

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:32:19 +0100

ECLIPSE SERIES 16:
ALEXANDER KORDA'S PRIVATE LIVES

Alexander Korda ("Britain's Only Movie Mogul," as Charles Drazin's biography proclaims) was the larger-than-life Hungarian-born producer, director, and writer who built the famed studio London Films from scratch, and who masterminded such spectacles as The Thief of Bagdad, That Hamilton Woman, The Third Man, and Richard III. Drawn to stories of behind-the-scenes (and beneath-the-sheets) historical intrigue, Korda began his career in England, making irreverent, sparkling biopics. With this month's Eclipse series, Alexander Korda's Private Lives, get acquainted with Korda's early films, dazzling and frisky period pieces all, including his first big career boost, the Oscar-winning The Private Life of Henry VIII.

So persuasive was Charles Laughton's breakthrough role as Henry VIII that it's become the culturally definitive portrait. Click here for a taste of Laughton's kingly appetite.

FOUR-DISC BOX SET INCLUDES:

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII

Charles Laughton stars, in his first of many iconic screen roles, as King Henry VIII, the ultimate antihusband. Alexander Korda's first major international success is a raucous, entertaining, even poignant peek into the bedrooms of the infamous king and his six wives.

THE RISE OF CATHERINE THE GREAT

The future empress of Russia and her husband, Grand Duke Peter, enact a Hepburn and Tracy-esque battle of the sexes over the Saint Petersburg throne.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. delivers his big-screen swan song in Korda's deliciously satiric deflation of the Don Juan myth. After having faked his own death and escaped Seville, the aging lothario returns, only to find that he has been forgotten. Perhaps Merle Oberon's beauty can coax him back into business.

REMBRANDT

Charles Laughton once again teams up with Korda for this moving, elegantly shot biopic about the Dutch painter. Beginning when Rembrandt's reputation was at its height, the film then tracks his quiet descent into loneliness and isolated self-expression following his wife's death.

Available Now at Criterion.com or our store here!
$59.95

BIG MAN JAPAN opens in LA and NY next Friday, May 15th!!!

Sat, 09 May 2009 23:14:57 +0100

To watch the trailer:

http://sixshooterfilmseries.com/bigmanjapan/

A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato’s job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters. But while his predecessors were national heroes, he is a pariah among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes. And Daisato has his own problems –an agent insistent on branding him with sponsor advertisements, an Alzheimer-afflicted grandfather who transforms into a giant in dirty underwear, and a family who is embarrassed by his often cowardly exploits. A wickedly deadpan spin on the giant Japanese superhero, BIG MAN JAPAN is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic but truly unique hero.

BIG MAN JAPAN is the final release of Magnet Releasing’s SIX SHOOTER FILM SERIES - six films from the vanguard of quality worldwide genre cinema. With each film hailing from a different country, the series aims to bring fans of horror, sci-fi, alternative comedy and Asian cinema a mix of the most intelligent, genre-bending titles available from the around the globe.

ZAP MAMA AND CARE PARTNER TO HONOR MOTHERS

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:45:30 +0100

(New York, NY) -- ZAP MAMA is teaming up with CARE to honor mothers around the world. Beginning May 4th, Zap Mama will donate to CARE a percentage of the proceeds from the iTunes download of their song, "Hello To Mama," the first single off their upcoming album ReCreation, due out on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, on May 26th, 2009.

In the developing world, one woman, every minute of every day, dies giving birth. The proceeds from iTunes download sales of "Hello To Mama" will help CARE's efforts to reduce persisting high maternal mortality in the world's poorest countries.

"A percentage of the hard earned money paid for this track will go to CARE with the vision and hope of setting the people of the world free through truth, love, and education," says Zap Mama's Marie Daulne.

View Zap Mama's new video for "Hello to Mama": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dzGcN_eQv4

For more regarding CARE and its partnership with Zap Mama, visit: http://www.care.org/zapmama.

Zap Mama has added new tour dates including appearances at Lollapalooza and the Essence Festival, as well as kicking the tour off with an intimate residency at Joe's Pub with special surprise guests:

5/27/2009 Joe's Pub, New York, NY
5/28/2009 Joe's Pub, New York, NY
5/29/2009 Joe's Pub, New York, NY
6/17/2009 El Rey, Los Angeles, CA
6/18/2009 Bimbo's, San Francisco, CA
6/19/2009 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Boonville, CA
6/20/2009 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
6/21/2009 Triple Door, Seattle, WA
6/23/2009 Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
7/5/2009 Essence Music Festival, New Orleans, LA
8/7-9/2009 Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL

Please also visit:
http://www.myspace.com/zapmama
http://www.zapmama.be

MYSPACE PRESENTS THE LIST CONCERT FEATURING GREEN DAY

Wed, 06 May 2009 21:44:36 +0100

LOS ANGELES - May 6, 2009 - MySpace Music today announced The List concert series will feature Green Day performing live in New York City on Tuesday, May 19. The band will perform at Webster Hall for a small group of lucky fans, mere days after their new Reprise Records' album 21st Century Breakdown hits stores on Friday, May 15.

The List is a live concert event where MySpace users are provided a chance to see the biggest bands by responding to a series of blogs and bulletins posted from the program's official profile at http://www.myspace.com/thelist. Fans across the world will then be able to watch the performance when footage of the entire show is presented on MySpace Music shortly after the concert. The List is presented by Sunkist. Past shows have included My Chemical Romance, The Roots, LCD Soundsystem, Smashing Pumpkins, Taking Back Sunday, and Serj Tankian.

Approximately 300 MySpace users will be granted admittance to the special Green Day concert for free thanks to The List presented by Sunkist. Additionally, a portion of the tickets to this concert will be sold to the public beginning on Saturday, May 9.

Green Day - vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool - were three kids from working-class backgrounds who came of age in the underground punk scene in Berkeley, California. Even though they had released two records prior (1039 / Smooth Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk), they announced their arrival with 1994's Dookie, a blast of punk-pop that spoke to bored teenagers everywhere. The album eventually sold 15 million copies worldwide, earned the band their first Grammy Award and inspired a raft of imitators. Over the years, Green Day continued to top the charts with their subsequent studio albums Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning while entertaining millions of fans with their frenetic live shows. But it was their landmark 2004 album American Idiot that launched Green Day into the stratosphere. An artistic leap forward, American Idiot is a punk rock opera and sarcastic middle-finger salute to the Administration that captured the cultural and political landscape at that time. "Jesus of Suburbia" set the tone by telling a tale of choosing between self-destruction and redemption that resonated with listeners of all ages, nationalities, and political persuasions. American Idiot debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and went on to sell more than five million copies in the U.S. and 12 million worldwide. It spawned five hit singles, earned seven Grammy nominations (winning two including Rock Album of the Year) and raised the bar for modern rock and roll. On Friday, May 15, 2009, Green Day will release 21st Century Breakdown and launch a world tour soon after.

For more information about The List featuring Green Day and other The List concerts, visit: http://www.myspace.com/thelist.

Check out Green Day's official MySpace Music profile for details about the band's upcoming album, tour dates and news at: http://www.myspace.com/greenday.