Electric Valentine
Automatic
Electric Fantastic Sound
8/10
When nights get colder this winter, don’t expect the dance floor to cool off with them because Electric Valentine’s first full-length album Automatic is red-hot and jam-packed with summertime energy that lasts all year round. Based in Huntington Beach, California, Grammy-award winning producer, Chris Qualls teams up with Broadway singer, Lauren Baird to make beautiful electropop music together- it’s an ideal fit that it has more staying power than a Kardashian-Odom marriage.
First of all, “Body to Body” is a great pop song and the energy is reminiscent …

This week started off with the fall heard around the world…Brad Pitt, Father of the Year, took a spill on his motorcycle when he was trying to maneuver between cars at a red light in LA. I think all of his facial hair is weighing him down and throwing off his balance.
Lisa Rinna and her husband, Harry Hamlin owe a Los Angeles shopping center $635,083.73 in unpaid rent. They signed a ten year lease in 2005, but closed down shop 6 years too early. They obviously need to start saving …

AFI Festival Update
Shorts Programs
I was really taken by the quality of the Lunchfilms set of shorts which did a pretty impressive job despite the constraint of the filmmakers having to use an extremely limited budget. Mike Plante is the mind behind Lunchfilm, a project based on the idea of buying filmmakers lunch and having them pay back the favor by making a movie. The catch is they have to do it for under the price of what it cost to buy their meal. Most were at the very least intriguing …

Curtains for You
What a Lovely Surprise to Wake up Here
Spark and Shine Records
7/10
There are two types of bands.  The moody, highfalutin kind, obsessed with lyrics and imagery (vintage R.E.M., circa 1980’s-early 90’s), and the technical, melodic version (think The Beatles, and just about any band, British Invasion or otherwise, pre-1967).  Curtains for You, definitely falls into the latter category.  Despite their similarity to their idols, the Seattle based band is anything but derivative.  Fusing the do-wop, rockabilly sound of previous eras with the grungy sensibility of their native city, they …

An Evening with Peaches
At what would otherwise be an age where most musical artists would consider winding down their raucous stage antics, going on hiatus, or perhaps foraying into the world of jazz, the now forty two year-old electro-clash queen Peaches is still on a seemingly never-ending quest to “Whip this party in to shape,” as the dictatorial party anthem “More” would imply. From her entrance to the end of her 2nd encore, Madame Peaches was hell bent on ensuring us that slowing down was indeed not even the last …

The Ghouls were one of the hardest hitting punk bands to come out of Philadelphia, PA. Releasing their EP It’s Your Time to Die on ADD Records, and a full length Stand Alone on SOS Records, their fan base grew. Touring constantly throughout the entire US, as well as Canada and Mexico, and sharing the stage with Abrasive Wheels, The Exploited, Funeral Dress, Krum Bums, and ICB, they made a lot of friends in the industry and their reputation as a solid street punk band was confirmed.
When the singer of …

Tarrus Riley
Contagious
VP Records
7/10
In this full-length album, Tarrus Riley incorporates everything but the kitchen sink as far as mixing together different reggae styles. As the son of Jimmy Riley, former member of the 1960s group the Techniques, Tarrus Riley outdoes himself musically and lyrically with his third album, Contagious. After its early August release, fans now have the chance to hear this talented artist cover all sorts of issues on top of a soulful groove- it’s a dynamic and intriguing partnership.
The infectious beat on the first track, “Living the Life of …

I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does
In part 4 of the “Deck” series, we explored the impact of the hipster culture on Black America. Now we explore a topic that is near and dear to hipsters everywhere: the dating game. Online, in the bar, it’s all the same- only the contest has gotten cheaper, financially and otherwise, with sometimes humorous results.
Since time immemorial, men and woman have gone to extraordinary lengths in order to woo …