Music Bender

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“Hope I die before I get old…”

The oldest and greatest rock band in the world - meet The Zimmers and their amazing cover of The Who’s “My Generation”.

Lead singer Alf is 90 - it’s quite something when he sings “I hope I die before I get old”. And he’s not the oldest - there are 99 and 100-year-olds in the band! The Zimmers will feature in a BBC TV documentary being aired in May 2007. Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can’t leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes. The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming together to stick it back to the society that’s cast them aside - by forming a rock troupe and trying to storm into the pop charts.

Some massive names from the pop world have thrown their weight behind The Zimmers… The song is produced by Mike Hedges (U2, Dido, Cure), the video shot by Geoff Wonfor (Band Aid, Beatles Anthology), and it was recorded in the legendary Beatles studio 2 at Abbey Road.
Look out for the single being released from May 21 - with proceeds going to a good cause.

More info available at their Myspace.

What a freakin’ awesome idea. Mad props to whoever thought this up. Seriously.

A guy walks into a bar and sits down to get a drink. At the other end is a pirate with a steering wheel on his crotch. The guy tries not to stare, but after a few drinks he is emboldened enough to go talk to the pirate. He asks the pirate, ‘Did you know that you have a steering wheel on your crotch?’ ‘Aye’ the pirate replies, ‘It’s driving me nuts.’

Sorry, I had to get that joke out of the system. Anyway…

Apparently there is this singer called Mika who is BIG in the UK. I can certainly see why his single “Grace Kelly” made #1 on their charts in January earlier this year. It’s just so freakin’ catchy!

Grace Kelly

Something that amazes me is how good he sounds live! Some bands like this are completely studio bands and shouldn’t be allowed on the stage unless it’s to set-up for a better band. But Mika sounds just as good, if not better than the recorded versions live!

Live

Okay, well I knew I would like Hellogoodbye when I saw the name of their latest album that came out in 2006. “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!”. Come on, folks, seriously.

However, they’ve got a rather pop-ish sound, which will definitely turn a lot of people off of it. It’s so up beat though, that I feel like just taking this CD and cruising down the highway with not a care in the world. Their single “Here (In Your Arms)” is incredible, and I can’t get enough.

Here are a couple of videos, pretty well done, if a little cliche.

Here (In Your Arms)

Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn

hellogoodbye, Here (In Your Arms), Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!, music videos

A relatively new band, The Raconteurs, have put out some pretty great songs and videos. My favorite song by them is their single: “Steady As She Goes”. The video for “Broken Boy Soldier” is rather creepy, so it’s my favorite Raconteurs video.

Broken Boy Soldier

Steady As She Goes

the raconteurs, music videos

All of these bands have members in common, so I figured I’d show some of my favorite tunes and videos from all three. Blink 182 was formed way back in the day, in the early nineties. Recently they split, and the singer, Tom DeLonge went on to form Angels and Airwaves, while the bassist, Mark Hoppus, and drummer, Travis Barker, founded +44.

Since I have a huge amount of respect for all three members of one of the most definitive punk rock bands of the 90’s and early 00’s, I’ll feature all three bands, right here.

First Date - Blink 182

One of my favorite songs. Ever.

What’s My Age Again - Blink 182

Awesome video. Bet they had fun making it.

The Adventure - Angels and Airwaves

Their single, for obvious reasons. It’s goood.

When Your Heart Stops Beating - +44

Good song, definitely memorable enough to make +44 its own band.

Why is America addicted to a singing talent show?

Firstly, because of the awesome lack of talent in the beginning. Speaking of which, New York’s lack thereof was hilarious. More on that later.

But then, later in the season, everyone starts listening. Everyone actually sees the hard work that these truly talented people put into the show. And that’s when America gets involved, physically and emotionally.

There will always be naysayers for the show. But this is a reality show that I can actually get behind and say that I enjoy it, because there is something good that comes out of it in the end. Most of the finalists get record deals that they deserve.

Back to the fun stuff though, tonight’s featured artist: Sara Goldberg. Wow. She was insanely bad, and admitted as much. She then proceeded to tell the judges off, because in her opinion, the next American Idol didn’t have to be able to sing.

Uhhh. Ahahahahaha. I laughed.

But anyway folks, stay tuned because more fun and games are yet to come. And how about showing a little more talent next time NBC? (This showing we saw 10 out of 35 contestants who made it through to Hollywood…)

I’ve got a goal. And that is to spread the love for bands that I think deserve it, and to get people hooked on new music that they haven’t heard before.

Well, apparently there are other sites that have a shared goal, and one in particular, when it was pointed out to me, actually stood out to me as one damn decent site!

Digital Music Planet does everything that I do on a small scale and explodes it onto a big screen so that you can take in the whole picture.

Digital Music Planet (DMP) is committed to changing the way that people listen to music! So take a moment and check us out. We have searched the globe to find the hottest personal digital music products and music artists found anywhere in the world, so that you don’t have to! So register today, look around, have some fun, and let us know what you think. Make sure to tell your friends too!

Well, I’ve been poking around the site for about an hour now, and I keep coming across new features that I didn’t notice before. The only thing about the site that I didn’t like was a weird cut-off problem underneath the “Articles” Header, but that could have just been my browser acting up. So check it out, I’ll definitely be going back.

“The Best Dam Thing”, a follow up to 2004’s “Under My Skin” will be released in April of 2007. The single of the album will be “Girlfriend”, which is to be released in February.

Regardless of her image, I’ve always enjoyed her music, and find it rather annoying when people won’t listen just because it isn’t cool.

This latest album is described by Avril as “fast, fun, young, bratty, aggressive, confident, cocky in a playful way, all the good stuff.”

Sounds good, but we shall see.

This CD surprised the hell out of me. With the album art, the band name, and the album name, I had some incredibly wrong preconceptions about Teenage Graffiti. I figured that it would be an offbeat indie sound that I wouldn’t really like that much.

So, I was wrong.

First and foremost, The Pink Spiders are a punk pop group, with heavy alternative influences. Their sound is so diverse, with a song like ‘Modern Swinger’ sounding like a higher energy Bowling for Soup, and yet also a completely unique sound coming from songs like ‘Adalae’ and ‘Hollywood Fix’.

In general, the album is very upbeat, high-tempo, and happy, standing out as a feel-good record against the world of bands who insist upon sad lyrics written into sadder songs. Not to say that Teenage Graffiti doesn’t have it’s serious moments, but the overall feel of the album remains light-hearted for the most part, the notable exceptions to this style being ‘Hey Jane’ and ‘Secret Song’.

Favorite line of lyrics:
‘Secret Song’
“If you’re alone/
And I’m alone/
Let’s be alone together”