music blog

It’s not too late to catch the movie DeathNote in theaters. you can still be among the lucky movie goers to get to experience the manga-come to life film on the big screen. under special arrangement with over 200 movie theaters across the country, Death Note is being shown only on May 20th and May 21st at 7:30pm. talk about a limited engagement!! but that just makes this event all the more special, in my opinion. the plot centers around a supernatural notebook that will kill the person who’s name is written in it.

An university student named Light Yagami happens upon the notebook and eventually decides to use it to rid society of evil doers. based on a popular japanese manga series, the film topped the japanese box office back in the summer of 2006. the film has now been re-dubbed for the U.S. audiences and is ready to delight fans of the manga series around the nation. man, can you imagine finding something that gave you supernatural abilities? instead of having the ability to kill others like Light Yagami, I think the power to read and change other people’s minds would impact the world even more. not only can you then know what others are thinking but you then have the ability to alter their thoughts to your own benefit. that would be amazing. what supernatural ability would you want?

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the Weepies on the blogosphere? the darlings of music bloggers worldwide, The Weepies, released their latest album, Hideaway about a month ago. the CD has been playing practically non-stop in the car ever since the official release date. you know, I consider the album “easy-listening” ..and not in a derogatory way as in “Barry Manilow” or “Engelbert Humperdinck” but for it’s immediacy and melodic tunefulness.

Deb Talan and Steve Tannen make it all seem easy the way they come up with catchy hooks and sweet sounding harmonies. and even though they seem effortless, the songs are actually well thought out with marvelously intricate arrangements that blend perfectly with one another. and I absolutely love the way some of the darker lyrics balance out the pleasant sounding melodies and harmonies in songs like “How You Survived the War” and “Wish I Could Forget”.

The only thing negative I can say about the album is the production/mixing. all the instrumentation and vocals seem to be highly compressed and mixed to the foreground so that everything that’s going on the mix is right in your face. I suppose that’s the “modern” way of mixing these days but I would have liked a more “subtle” approach to the mix to compliment the gentleness of the songs. with everything being compressed this way, we’ve lost any sort of “dynamics” in the songs. but fortunately, the writing and the performances captured here transcends the claustrophobic mix.

I’ve been on a Freaks and Geeks kick these last few weeks. I’m not sure why especially since I wasn’t that taken by the show back when it first aired on NBC. but it’s now probably in my top ten of all time favorite TV shows. thank goodness Shout Factory released the complete series on DVD for us late-comers. apparently it’s a licensing nightmare (not to mention expensive) to release a series like this on DVD because of all the music featured in each episode. (Thanks Shout Factory!)

Man, the “I’m with the Band” episode is just simply SPOT on! kudos to Judd Apatow, Paul Feig and the rest of the Freaks and Geeks team. Anyone who’s been involved with a band growing up can relate to this episode. the episode captured some great moments from Nick’s (Jason Segel) frustration with his band’s lack of motivation down to Nick’s heart-breaking realization that he’ll never make it as a professional drummer. oh and the contrast between what’s being heard in Nick’s headphones compared to how Nick actually sounds playing along to Rush is just pure genius! I can just go on and on about this episode along with the whole series but I’ll spare you the verbal diarrhea. and what can I say about lovely Linda Cardellini. she was absolutely perfect for the role as Lindsay Weir.