To briefly describe the series, its a sexy, violent, smart series that features a cast of characters you grow to love. A rag tag group of bounty hunters with past lives so dark and intriguing, you can't stop watching. You must know how the series ends. I love all the characters - Spike, Jet, Ein, Ed and Faye. The anime became an instant classic and I recommend that you watch it if you haven't already. Also watch the movie Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (that's the original title before it was changed to Cowboy Bebop: The Movie).

As promised, Goldfrapp returns to the States with a handful of dates (its always a handful of dates). And once again, the Midwest is screwed because there are no dates whatsoever for that region. Interestingly, this second US leg of the tour brings the band to larger seated venues and higher ticket prices. $75 is the most for better seats while the crap seats are at $39.50. The band is indeed moving on up... Radio City Music Hall. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for dancers, pole dancing and theremin play.

US & Canadian Dates (Autumn)
09/12/08 New York, NY, Radio City Music Hall
09/14/08 Toronto, ON, Danforth Music Hall
09/16/08 Vancouver, BC, Commodore Ballroom
09/17/08 Seattle, WA, Showbox SoDo
09/20/08 San Francisco, CA, Treasure Island Music Festival
09/21/08 Los Angeles, CA, Orpheum

Tickets for the Radio City show go on sale Friday 7/25/08 at 12PM on Ticketmaster.

And then there's mention on Pitchfork about the iTunes Original Sessions that will release August 12. This is what's on tap:

01 iTunes Originals
02 "It Was the First Song Will and I Wrote Together"
03 Lovely Head
04 "It's Quite an Unusual Song"
05 Paper Bag (iTunes Original Version)
06 "It Was Recorded Outdoors"
07 Deer Stop
08 "We Like the Slow-y's"
09 Black Cherry
10 "I Never Get Tired of Doing It"
11 Strict Machine (iTunes Original Version)
12 "It's Got a Certain Quality About It"
13 Forever
14 "It's Another One We Really Like Playing Live"
15 You Never Know (iTunes Original Version)
16 "I Think I Was Going out With a Guy at the Time"
17 Satin Chic
18 "Keep Telling People It's a HillBilly Version"
19 Ooh La La (iTunes Original Version)
20 "It Was a Message to Me Really"
21 Eat Yourself (iTunes Original Version)
22 "Sentiment of the Song Is This Idea of Traveling"
23 Road to Somewhere (iTunes Original Version)
24 "I Was Inspired by a Friend of Mine Who Lives in Spain"
25 Little Bird (iTunes Original Version)

Folks have been visiting blogs to find out about the song that was used for the Watchmen trailer. Its Smashing Pumpkins and the song is "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning". I remember the other track, "The End is the Beginning is the End", making an appearance on the film Batman & Robin, you know the film Batman fans and theater goers want to forget . It was a lot faster though, more hard rock. I love this track and its found on their release Rarities and B-Sides. So anyway, if you don't want to bother visiting the Apple site for the trailer, then look out below:

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Some of you may have already heard about the Watchmen trailer that is playing prior to The Dark Knight in theaters. If you want to take a glimpse, the trailer is online now and exclusively on Apple. That means you can download it onto your iPod and salivate over it while acting all crazy weird over the trailer.

Click to see the Watchmen trailer.

Here's the trailer as featured on a Japanese morning show (you will have to suffer through their banter as they suggest that characters are moe kawaii and make reference to the 9-year-old girl singing the theme song).

But what makes this release different from "Howl's..." or Academy Award winning animated feature "Spirited Away" is the fact that Miyazaki has shunned digital animation for hand-drawn pencil animations -- returning to good ol' pencil art. The entire project , which took about one and a half years to produce by 70 staff members, was drawn by hand. About 170,000 hand-drawn cells were used to animate characters, objects and background. The film also uses numerous other manually drawn pictures as the background -- with the succession of screens creating a slightly jittery atmosphere to the film.

"All things in the world are moving. I became an animator in order to move everything in the world. It's not only human characters that move," Miyazaki said. "Not only grass vacillates; the ground can move, too. I think delicate fluctuations give life to our production," he said. "The world is a living thing. Small children know it."

The director said he has been working to "create a world that five-year-olds understand."

"Five-year-old kids do not think with reason but rather they understand the true nature of the world instinctively," he said.

In a message posted on the Ghibli website, Miyazaki said the upcoming film "animates the sea not as background but as a main character."

I anticipate this to be as magical as "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Kiki's Delivery Service". It will be kawaii.

Source: Yahoo News

What's that? You can't wait for August? You need to see Feist and those Muppets now? Ok.

"1234... I love counting, counting to the number 4...." All those kids will now be Feist fans.

Here's an excerpt from the memo to staff:

"These are early days," Hands said. "And it can be misleading to look at just one quarter in isolation due to the timings of releases. "As we all know, the recorded music business is extremely volatile and we cannot count on future quarters always being this good. Nevertheless I believe these numbers are a demonstration of EMI Music's significant progress and all your enormous efforts to transform this business."

The quarter ended just when Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends was released worldwide. So the next earnings report should bode well since it would show the carry over of sales from Coldplay units.

Its still too early to pop champagne corks though. There's still too much work ahead and more cost cutting to make. Plus on the flip side, EMI is hiring the best talented executives from various sides of the entertainment and tech biz to get EMI fitted for a digital future. And let's not forget Guy Hands' vision of corporate sponsorship of musicians. The artist advance will have to be re-invented in such a way that certain corporations will end up being matched with particular artists. That's my view. Instead of EMI taking the risk at 100%, the advance will most likely come from a corporate sponsor or 50% from the sponsor and 50% from revenue share sales. I can see that happening.

Source: Reuters

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

Coincidentally, the store owner is related to the filmmaker Chris Chan Lee, whom I had interviewed several years back for indieWIRE for his feature Yellow.

The opening act was Norwegian band Datarock. The jumped onstage with their signature jumpsuits and got their few faithful fans to scream for joy. The rest of the patrons just stood and watched while the band performed songs "Computer Camp Love", "I Used to Dance With My Daddy".

Datarock - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

Datarock - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

The band performed a new track called "Snake" which one person from the floor yelled for joy. The band was energetic and knew which side of the venue they were getting the most love from. Ket-Ill jumped off stage and propelled himself to the front row where he took the liberty of dancing amongst the crowd. They tried really hard to get the crowd going. Eventually, the patrons started to loosen up and began dancing to the tune "Fa-Fa-Fa".

Datarock - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

They performed for about 30-35 minutes and left the stage. At that point, the venue was cheering (some really cheering for the band, most really cheering that the band was done and that Ladytron is on next). Honestly, I liked Datarock. I wasn't gushing or expecting much from them but their shows are exciting, funny and entertaining. They kinda remind me of NY band Peelander-Z with their high energy hi-jinx and crowd interactivity. I have a feeling I'll be seeing Datarock again.

Ladytron finally took the stage at around 9:30 PM and the patrons got rowdy. There is a song that is playing in the background before the band gets onstage. No one seems to know what that song is. I wish I knew too. At first, I thought it was Bulgarian but fans seem to hear some Chinese. Whatever it is, its really cool and alluring.

Ladytron - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

They started with "Black Cat" and the bass was just pounding through my body. The sound was really loud and there was no way I would've tolerated it without earplugs. The thing about Ladytron live is that they always wear black on stage. I think to Ladytron, a live gig is more akin to dressing up for a swanky cocktail party rather than a rock show.

Helen Marnie of Ladytron - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

The patrons were dancing to tunes "High Rise", "Ghosts" and fan fave "Seventeen". The setlist was a good mix of classic and new which really got the floor grooving. I am somewhat surprised that they didn't perform "Tomorrow" or "Versus". I really like those songs and wanted to see them performed live - especially to see the Daniel Hunt/Helen Marnie duet in "Versus". I guess the band felt that those tracks would've been slow but it would've been a good test to see how the crowd reacted anyway. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that. The band doesn't speak much but when they do, its usually a "thank you" or the name of the next tune. Helen actually said that the band is so glad to be back in New York.

The blooper of the night belongs to Mira Aroyo when she told the crowd that the next song was "Deep Blue" but it was actually "Predict the Day". Mira realized the mix-up and looked to Helen and smiled and acknowledged her mea culpa. It was really funny and quite cute to see Mira taking her right palm to her forehead - her "Doh! moment. "Deep Blue" is definitely a song meant to be performed in clubs. Its got that sultry rhythm and haunting lyrics that gets people to really grind their hips on the floor. I witnessed a couple dry humping next to me. I didn't want to notice but they just kept on going and going and I thought well, they got the idea of the song.

I noticed Helen Marnie was having a bit of the monitor sound issue during the first half of the set. I think it was during "I'm Not Scared" that she gave icy glances over to the monitor board off-stage. It was really obvious when she kept raising her right arm to signal for them to turn her up. Not just her sound but keyboards also. After the song, she walked off-stage to get this whole thing sorted and she returned several seconds later to the stage. At least the power didn't go or that Helen's mic wasn't turned down.

Mira Aroyo of Ladytron - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

Mira was really loose and totally dancing, twirling, dancing a jig while performing "Fighting in Built Up Areas". You could see her with a smile on her face as she thanked the crowd repeatedly. Daniel got into it as well. Even though he was stationed in the back, he would occasionally say the next tune. The only member of the band who doesn't have a mic is Reuben Wu. And he's always stationed in the back behind Helen. I did notice their bass player who kinda looked like a double for 1990s era Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes. And their touring drummer was tucked in the back where the multitude of lights and strobe lights gave a good portion of us epilepsy.

Daniel Hunt of Ladytron - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

Their encore featured the newest fan fave "Kletva". Helen got really into singing "Burning Up" and I'm venturing a guess that the tune is the next single - that's my guess. I think it was during this song that Ket-Ill from Datarock appeared on stage with his saxophone and performed alongside Helen and Mira. Mira smiled while Helen rocked hard and was smiling at the craziness Ket-Ill brought on stage.

To end the encore, Helen tells the crowd how grateful they are to the people who came out to see them and said something along the lines of, "I know you were all waiting for this...Here's Destroy Everything You Touch!" and the place went nuts. The best part, Helen gets on the drum kit platform and does a semi-jump off to end the song and the tiny cannons positioned at both ends of the stage shot off confetti to the crowd on the floor.

Helen Marnie of Ladytron - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

Crowd showered with confetti - Photo by Amanda Nanawa

And the gig ends and is entered into Terminal 5's archives as one hell of a loud ass show. BTW, Daniel mentioned to the crowd that Debbie Harry was in attendance. That's cool. But I still wanted the band to play "Versus" live. Maybe next time.

That brought a whole new perspective to the new single "Caravan Girl". Add that song to songs to strip to. There's a full version clip of the "Caravan Girl" performance all the way at the bottom of this post.

In addition to that, Alison brought the theremin out of retirement and returned to her magical fondling moments with the mobile theremin. At one point, Alison used her left breast to play the theremin which wailed and squealed with excitement.

Imagine if the band had a lot more access to touring funds. The show would've been that... dancers dressed in white dancing, stripping and pole dancing. Plus, Alison said she wanted "scantily clad Morris Dancers"... if they were added there would've been an orgy on stage similar to the pub scene from "The Wicker Man" (the one with Edward Woodward - remember that).

In the end, Alison says "I wish I could do that!"

And in case you were wondering how that Union Chapel gig went down earlier this year, check out the psychedelic version of "Little Bird" when it made its debut.

"Little Bird" Live at Union Chapel, UK

The video is available on the Maxi-CD release of "Caravan Girl".

And Goldfrapp will finally make their way to The Land Down Under. Here are those Australian dates:

Sunday 28th September - Melbourne - Parklife Festival
Monday 29th September- Perth - Parklife Festival
Saturday 4th October - Brisbane - Parklife Festival
Sunday 5th October - Sydney - Parklife Festival

Midsummer Madness!

Its interesting how the band mixes old gear with the new.

What will you see? This:

Apparently, the video was directed by Dougal Wilson at Colonel Blimp. But that hasn't been confirmed by the production's site yet.

What's different about the video? Everything.

First off - it seems most Goldfrapp fans have this strong, passionate expectation to expect the unexpected from this band. I mean, who would've thought the band would release a video that was so American that it doesn't resemble any shred of Goldfrapp DNA of past videos - namely Alison herself. The video is sans Alison - visually - and really a typical video. That's the surface review.

On the flip side, because the video is so American it might get more video rotation on music cable nets. I know that sounds crazy but that was the immediate feeling I got when I first viewed it. It also felt like I was watching a commercial for some clothier or perfumer like Calvin Klein or Abercrombie & Fitch or Billabong.

So for Goldfrapp fans, its a video that is somewhat left to be desired. For other people who have no idea who Goldfrapp is, this video is perfect for them... especially for you sk8ter girls out there.

Seriously, they should've gone all out and did some "Girls of Summer" type of video. That would've at least made some people forgive the band for a milisecond before saying the things I just wrote above. Or better yet, held a contest for fans to produce a video. Why not? It can still happen. I hope the band would at least consider an alternate version of the "Caravan Girl" video by fans.

And then there's the "Caravan Girl" Maxi CD & 7". Here's the cover:

I listed the track listings in a previous post but just to refresh:

Maxi CD
1. Caravan Girl - Live Choral Version
2. Monster Love - Live Acoustic Version
3. Little Bird - Live at The Union Chapel (Video)

The live choral version sounded ok. Can't tell from just hearing it as a 15 second clip. I would imagine the live acoustic version of "Monster Love" will sound laid back. The video clip from their Union Chapel gig is the one that has most fans happy.

Now the 7" number picture disk has this track listing:

7" numbered picture disc
A. Caravan Girl
B. Little Bird - Animal Collective Remix

The Animal Collective remix is rhythmically challenged. I say that with all sincerity. I don't know what it is but Goldfrapp seems to have a penchant for off-the-wall, rhythmically challenging remixes thus far. I have to say, honestly, I don't like the Animal Collective remix from the clip I just heard. Its my least favorite from the Seventh Tree singles so far. Plus, looking at the tracklistings for the "Caravan Girl" Maxi makes me say why are you guys crapping out on this?

But, all in all I do appreciate the fact that the band and Mute released the video first on the band's site. Plus, I really enjoyed watching "Alison's Message to the Fans" clip that was circulated among the fan mailing list recipients.

Caravan Girl video

- UK
- Ireland
- Europe (except Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain)
- Australia, New Zealand
- Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
- India
- Russia
- Canada
- Brazil

And yeah, the album did leak as of this past Wednesday. At first pass-through, you'll notice how mellow the album is and yet it still manages to rock out. Its the kind of album that you put on while driving or working in your drawing room. Its a hopeful album. Sure there are some forlorn messages but its heavy on optimism. Really light on Chris Martin's crooning. EMI hopes that you buy it.

What's nice on this recording is that the band brought in Davide Rossi, the violinist extraordinaire who has played for Goldfrapp countless times. His handiwork shines on the tracks "Yes/Chinese Sleep Chant" and "Viva La Vida". You probably remember him on the Supernature tour as the man who looked like Jesus on the keytar. That's him. He's awesome. Watch him perform live as he's on tour with Goldfrapp.

Goldfrapp's Will Gregory chats with Nick Batt (who has done some programming for the band) about the band's sound and various synthesizers in the studio.

Source: Sonic State.com

Photo by Stephane Gallois

I am standing by my first proclamation and that is Velocifero rocks hard. It really rocks hard. I think its their most un-shoe gazey sounding release yet. Sure it has some elements that remind us of their earlier works in songs like "Runaway", "I'm Not Scared" and "The Lovers" but the rest of the album is driven by strong percussions and more Mira Aroyo. The album is balanced with equal vocal duties between Helen Marnie and Mira while Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu continue to shine on keyboards. What's really interesting about this release is that each song is well-done rhythmically. The band literally had one day off after wrapping up their never ending Witching Hour tour last year before they flew to Paris, France to start recording. To hear these tracks, you have to appreciate the band and their work thus far. Also of note, the band never seems to keep the same label with every album release. This time, the band signed with Nettwerk - home of Sarah McLachlan and Avril Lavigne among others.

Back to the album. All the tracks are memorable and strong. You would think that the album would crap out after "Season of Illusions" but thankfully it doesn't. In fact, it gets stronger, faster and better. There's no half-way point in this album that divides the listening exeperience. It is what the title suggests - it brings speed. "They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name", "Ghosts", "Black Cat", "Deep Blue", "Tomorrow", "Versus", "Burning Up", "Predict the Day" are all good tracks. One song, "Kletva", has Mira covering a famous Bulgarian tune that apparently every Bulgarian born after 1970 would know by heart. At first, I didn't think too much of it. But after delving on the net to find out what the lyrics were, I now have an appreciation for the song and why Mira wanted to cover it. Here's the song in its Bulgarian Broadway show-like glory:

The clip is from a Bulgarian movie titled "Vchera".

Nine Inch Nails collaborator Allessandro Cortini and Vicarious Bliss helped co-produce the album. It explains why some songs sound heavier while others seem to remain within its synth roots.

Now I will post my personal highlights - first reactions - from each track.

1. Black Cat - The first track is a song sung by Mira Aroyo. Yay! And in Bulgarian... wait, this is the first track? Wait a second... has this happened before? Wow, listen to those drums and the synths. Pretty strong.

2. Ghosts - Catchy tune. Makes sense why its the first single. Although, I wish Helen had more lyrics. Otherwise, I like the tune.

3. I'm Not Scared - Remnants of previous Ladytron releases can be heard in this. Its fast and dark.

4. Runaway - New wave opening notes harken back to circa 1980. I think Helen sings about a unicorn being killed. I dunno. The track is all about synths.

5. Season of Illusions - Mira Aroyo sings in English. Holy crap! This track is the kind that grows on you. At first pass-through you're thinking this can't be Mira. But then you slowly accept it and start grooving to it.

6. Burning Up - I like this tune. I'm partial to songs about burning yourself up for someone or something. Like that Springsteen song "I'm on Fire" - one of my faves. Anyway, Helen sings "I've set myself on fire without you... without you..." and I'm thinking boy Helen really liked that person a lot... or maybe she's alluding to menopause or extremely high levels of mitochondria or masturbation. You be the judge.

7. Kletva - This song is a fan favorite for the sheer fact that Mira is covering a famous Bulgarian song that's rife with political overtones, brotherhood and freedom fighting. Translation of the song title - "oath". It sounds nothing like that video I posted above. Nothing.

8. They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name - My first reaction to the tune was is this about clones? Robots? I like dancing to it. But I can't help conjuring this picture in my mind of some sort of artificial intelligence. Maybe its about an iDog?

9. Predict the Day - The tune is cluby. At least it starts off that way with the whistling sounds. Then it switches up into a rock tune with churning guitars and drums pounding; it sets you into a dance frenzy.

10. The Lovers - Columbian band Somekong put some caffeine into this track. I swear to God that was my first reaction. The song itself is short. Really short. Its the shortest track on the album clocking in at 2:39.

11. Deep Blue - This is my favorite track on the album. There's something about the beat of this song that reminds me of Grace Jones. Mira sounds sensual on this track. This is the kind of song you expect to hear in a club where people are grinding their hips and whatnot against each other on the dance floor.

12. Tomorrow - Catchy track. I have a feeling this would be the second single. Its got that hook. What is Helen singing about? A car or a f*ck buddy? Or something else.

13. Versus - Daniel and Helen duet! Its almost like a nod to Lee Greenwood (who passed away last year) and Nancy Sinatra. The lyrics make no sense but that doesn't really matter. The song is all about similie.

So there you go. To compare it to Witching Hour would be a disservice. The album stands on its own. It has a life of its own and you can sense that the band has an idea of what sound they feel comfortable pursuing. I like the album. I also like the fact that i have repeated the entire album 6 times already and have replayed "Versus" over 13 times. Obviously I like the weird song.