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03.27.06 by Rob Levy @ 11:30 pm While the rest of world pays attention to college basketball and that terrible Wachowski Brothers film, I've spent most of the last month hiding in my bunker listening to loads of new music. This is the best time of year, loads of new bands are releasing music and lots of bands are on tour. What this means for music junkies are that we get to OD on soundage for awhile. One of the newest bands out there is Tapes n' Tapes. They have a new album called The Loon that is just smashing.  It has been ages but The Flaming Lips are finally rolling out At War With the Mystics, their latest record. The album's lead single, "The Wand," is getting some play on bad commercial alternative radio stations now. Look for them to launch a new touring extravaganza soon. Gary Numan has released Jagged, his first new album in five years. Categorized as: Columns
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02.03.06 by Rob Levy @ 1:39 am Happy New Year and all of that! Now that the holidays are over, we can all get back to our miserable lives and consume mass quantities of popular culture.  It is an exciting time to be a Doctor Who fan. The small taste of the Tennant era given to us with The Christmas Invasion has whetted our appetites for even more of the new series. All signs indicate that the upcoming season will prove to be just as exciting as the last. A few thoughts on the new season, I am excited to see K-9 and Sarah Jane coming back. However, I am cautiously optimistic about the return of the Cybermen, my all time favorite Doctor Who baddies. Obviously I want them done right. So you can imagine that I was worried when I saw the new "C" on their chest and the sort of clunky Iron Man outfits they've made for them. I do think though that Mr. Davies will do something interesting and develop them in an interesting way that will quickly ease my nerves. Categorized as: Columns
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12.20.05 by Rob Levy @ 12:32 am Tis’ the season and all of that nonsense. What the Yuletide season is really all about is your money. This is the time of year when record labels release loads of really stinky Christmas compilations, box sets, greatest hit packages, live albums and beefed up reissues. It is quite maddening really. I mean, as the David Geffen’s and Clive Davis’ of the world count their money in their ivory towers, their minions set out into the world and release some really scary records to an unsuspecting mass public. This year it is happening again. Johnny Cash is hugely hot, He has an action figure, a box set, a best of and several DVDs out to compliment both his newest batch of reissues and that Walk the Line film that stars that dead guy’s brother as Johnny Cash. The reissue market has never been busier. This holiday season sees reissues with glossy liner notes and extra tracks from amongst others, The Human League, Kinski, Killing Joke, T-Rex, The Eurythmics, Brian Eno and Bruce Springsteen. Categorized as: Columns
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11.16.05 by ScottC @ 12:20 am  Yes, it's been a while, but they are only so many hours in the day, even for a Pop Cultural Horologist. One way you can help your humble clock-watcher is passing along any bits of news you think warrant a shift of the Hands of the Clock. It might not show up but any help is appreciated. How Networks Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Download? ABC, CBS, NBC. Letter combinations that have meant entertainment and news since most of us were in the cradle. Are they about to go the way of the dodo? Categorized as: Columns
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10.23.05 by Rob Levy @ 10:09 pm I apologize for the delay with getting this out. I have been insanely busy and I had to kill vacation time from work or lose it, so I've been in a state of flux since early September. Finally the autumn has arrived to save us from humidity and yucky hot weather. I always like this time of year. It's the time right before winter where it's cool enough to wear black boots, leather jackets, groovy scarves and boss overcoats without consternation form others. Plus somehow wearing all black is much more acceptable. It's also a great time to see the leaves change and generally enjoy more time indoors reading or hanging out. It also means I can bust out my Liverpool soccer scarves! Speaking of books, I am one of those boring people who bounce around form book to book with no reason. I also am so backlogged with stuff to read that I shouldn't buy anything new. Nonetheless, I have spent a lot of time in transit over the last few months and have found time to read a whole bunch.  I have thoroughly enjoyed Drawn & Quarterly's The Push Man & Other Stories. Besides featuring a nifty intro by Adrian Tomine, The book collects the work of Japanese comic pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Tatsumi's work has a pulse that beats emotionally through every page. This is great stuff with feeling, wit and poise. The third issue of Or Else is out. It's an indie mini-comic from St. Louis comic artist Kevin Huizenga. I am also finally getting around to reading Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, which is much better than I expected. I also am the last person on the planet to read Identity Crisis, which is sad I know. James Chace's 1912 is a must read for fans of politics, Teddy Roosevelt or political non-fiction. But enough of that…. Kate Bush has returned from a twelve year hiatus with a new album entitled Aerial. The two-disc record picks up where she left off and shows us all that that amazing voice is still in great shape. With Kate Bush coming back I guess Tori Amos will have to get a new shtick. I for one am eager to see Saw: The Musical. Seriously though, they should cross Saw with a big musical like Rent. That would be great. Limp Bizkit is covering The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." And then there were three: this winter, Blur will go into the studio and record a new album for a tentative late 2006 release. Lead singer Damon Albarn is also working on his first solo album. The band will release a new EP early next year. David Byrne and Fatboy Slim are collaborating together on a musical based on the life of Imelda Marcos.  Massive Attack is readying their new record for mid-2006. The yet to be titled album will feature guest vocals from Liz Frazer, Beth Orton and Horace Andy. How stupid is Boy George? Stupid enough to get caught in NYC with oodles of cocaine. Doh! He is due to in court next month and faces a possible prison sentence. Kate Moss needs a sandwich. Ex-KLF and Orb member Jimmy Cauty is curating an exhibition of stamp designs for London's Disorder Gallery. Q and Not U has split up. INXS should have split up ages ago. You'd think that the dangling lead singer would've been a big hint. But no, they had to go out and recruit a no-talent scrub to sing. What's worse, carrying on with a no talent scrub, or getting a no talent scrub to sing someone else's songs? Really, the whole thing is just a sad progression of the myth that aging rock stars can't let it go. The aging Morrissey is getting ready to record Ringleader of the Tormentors with David Bowie and Dandy Warhols producer Tony Visconti. V for Vendetta is going to be T for Terrible. There is no metric measurement for the joy I feel at the cancellation of The Simple Life. Now Paris Hilton can stop being a TV star and go back to being a celebrity whore. It was sad to see Serenity do so poorly at the box office. Over the next few months Yep Roc Records will be reissuing back catalog material from Billy Bragg. Bragg's first 3 albums and two EPs (dating from 1983-1990), will come out early next year with re-mastered sound, a liner note book with notes from Bragg himself and extra tracks. Composer Paul Hiller has put together a tribute CD to Avant Garde/Modernist composer Arvo Part. "Arvo Part: A Tribute" features Hiller conducting various groups and symphonies. Maybe it is just me, but I am getting tired of seeing The White Stripes everywhere.  Sufjan Stevens has been issued a cease and desist order from DC Comics. It seems the folks at DC did some detective work and discovered the likeness of Superman gracing the cover of his recent album, Illinoise. Bill Griffith and Jaime Hernandez are just two of the big named comic vets involved with the newest Ramones compilation, Weird Tales of the Ramones. This box set features three CDs, a DVD and a fifty-two page comic book about the band drawn by different comic artists. I don't know about you but I am a bit tired of them mining the same old Ramones back catalog and repackaging it as something new. Enough already! Big Audio Dynamite drummer Nick Hawkins has passed away at the age of 40. Midge Ure of Ultravox recently recently received what every tired, boring British solo artist eventually receives, an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen for his involvement in Live Aid and Band Aid. Bloc Party will record their second full length album this February for a summer 2006 release. If you can't wait until then is always their recent Silent Alarm Remixed which has just been released. Isobel Campbell (ex Belle & Sebastian) has teamed up with Mark Lanegan (ex Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) for her new solo record, Ballad of the Broken Seas. Lanegan produced the album and sings on several tracks. Campbell recently signed to V2 records.  It is just a matter of time before The Rakes make it big on this side of the pond. Depeche Mode needs to stop now while they are behind. Their new CD, Playing the Angel is a mish mash with a few good songs and lots of disappointment. The magic is clearly gone and they need to turn their tails and run. Bill Berry recently rejoined REM for a short set in Athens at the wedding for one of their friends. Garbage recently announced that they are going on hiatus. The Futureheads return next month with a new EP entitled Area. Okay, I am going to lay it out for you. It was so good to see many of you at this year's Dragoncon. It's always weird to match faces with online aliases, but most of you did look like your mug shots at the Post Office. I'd like to thank the three people who read this column for saying "hi" and being polite. For the most part I had a great time this year. The guests were mostly nice and cordial. The Walk of Lame wasn't as proliferated with has-beens this year as in years past. For the most part all of the guests were actually still working on something. (Where have you gone Soupy Sales, a con turns its lonely eyes to you….) Most of the music acts were still the same. Maybe some year they'll have two or three industrial band/EBM bands that don't sound alike. Maybe it is just me, but Luke Ski's act is getting kinda old. There's this guy named Weird Al Yankovic who does it much better. Danger Woman was in full effect again this year, but nowhere near as annoying as in years past. Her cabaret show was hilarious. The dealer room sucked ass buts that ok. I needed the money for hookers and crack. The Needcoffee panels and programs were always fun and lively and good natured. As I said, it was good to see all of you, even the one guy who spat at me for making fun of Paris Hilton. I enjoyed most of the panels I went to. Dean Stockwell's panel was terrific fun and LeVar Burton's solo panels were too. It is a shame that Marina Sirtis is still telling the same stories at her panels that she did in 1994. As I prep for 2006 I only hope that next year's Dragoncon sees a tighter, better rounded set of track programming. Many of this year's tracks were a mess. The panels started late and really had no direction or focus at all. Maybe I am being biased but it looks to me like everyone and their brother is trying to copy the Gonzo Film Fest. With that in mind, imitation is not always the fondest form of flattery. For one, in order to make a good film festival you have to suffer. You have to stay up late before during and after. You have to genuinely love your target audience, and you have to be able to work with people. Nuff Said. Next month I'll take on the evil bastard known as the Christmas CD and look at some of the year end releases that will be out to annoy each and every one of us. Categorized as: Columns
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08.09.05 by Rob Levy @ 10:30 pm  We are less than a month out from DragonCon 2005 and the wheels are turning all over the place. Despite another year of hassles, crowds and scheduling mishaps with The Man the DragonCon Posse will again be in full effect. We’ll be everywhere, literally. Although I’ll be doing a lot of Brit Track stuff, the powers that be and those better in the know than I will be feeling flash and hosting panels in the X-Track and Young Adults Track. So come out and say hi. Having said that I encourage anyone coming to DC to get out and get involved by actually contributing to a panel by asking non-dumb questions and giving con staffers honest feedback about what they like and don’t like about the Con. This year’s big draw seems to be Joss Whedon and the cast of Firefly. There also are some more Trek actors coming in like LeVar Burton who could be interesting as well. But if that doesn’t entice you enough, there will again be the usual collection of Hollywood Has-beens, Also Starred Ins and Barely Famous Cameosters to hobnob with. Categorized as: Columns
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06.29.05 by Rob Levy @ 2:46 am  It may seem strange to start off this column by writing about Paul Anka. But that's exactly what I am gonna do. That's because Anka has just released a new album, Rock Swings, which takes rock standards as reworks them as lounge songs with surprisingly freakish success. Anka's material is diverse and strange, ranging from popular rock anthems like Van Halen's "Jump," Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face." He also offers warped covers of the Pet Shop Boys' "It's a Sin," R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Softer things like Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" and Spandau Ballet's "True" are also included. Anka has somehow managed to reinvigorate these songs, many of which were crap to begin with. The Kinks' Ray Davies has signed to V2 records. Categorized as: Columns
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06.17.05 by ScottC @ 9:37 pm  Welcome once again to the ticking time bomb of civilization, the Cultural Apocalypse Clock. On the left there, you'll see where we ended up last time. This update deals with the perils and rewards of looking back and building on what has come before. First, the perils. Below is a list of released and soon to be released Disney DVDs that we snagged from UltimateDisney.com. Out
To Be Released
In Production for 2006
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06.08.05 by ScottC @ 9:44 pm Let's see, reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, reboot the tachyon emitter, the gerbil is on his wheel. Let's start this baby up.  Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE! Yes, the Cultural Apocalypse Clock is back. For those not familiar with the Clock, it's our own particular spin on the Doomsday Clock run by the magazine The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. By changing the minutes till the Clock reaches midnight, it shows how close the world is to nuclear Armageddon. Now we at Needcoffee are not experts on nuclear proliferation or international politics, but we do know pop culture. So we decided to start the Cultural Apocalypse Clock to show how close we are to cultural Armageddon. Now we’re not exactly sure what exactly that would be like, but we theorize that Paris Hilton is involved somewhere. So when a news story or trend moves the culture forward or backwards, our experts will converge around a large pizza and out of those discussions and feeding frenzy, we will change the time on the Clock appropriately. Categorized as: Columns
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05.14.05 by Rob Levy @ 9:03 pm  I don’t know about you but my April was pretty boring. Sure there was the advent of baseball season and lots of big time movie and musical releases to listen to. There was even basketball and all this crazy Pope business to keep my ADD going. However, nothing prepared me for the burst of spring that is The Kaiser Chiefs. It’s always good to see a band make fun songs that are lyrically sharp and musically catchy. This Leeds band creates songs that are simultaneously angular and poppy without having it all unravel in a big heap. Yeah they sound like some other bands, but who doesn’t these days. They’ve learned when to reign in the music and tighten the lyrics to create songs with substance and emotion. In a perfect world this is the album that should put them on the map. I’ve also been listening to Open Season by the always interesting British Sea Power. BSP dress up in WWI outfits and cover their stage with plastic animals and bracken to give their set a more pastoral feel. British Sea Power are also playing a gig this summer in the middle of the North Atlantic. The concert will happen at the Principality of Sealand, a deserted oil rig just outside of British water space. Besides that there is Feist, a singer who has won several Juno Awards in Canada (which may or may not be a big deal because even Corey Hart won a few of those). Her new album, Let It Die, is melodic and emotional without sounding contrived. Just because you can make a sequel to XXX, doesn’t mean you should.  Clay Aiken is playing the Indiana State Fair this month. Which begs me to ask, shouldn’t they quarantine the entire state? You may have thought that after dominating last summer’s concert season that The Pixies would take some time off. Well if you thought that, you were wrong. The band has decided to do it once more with feeling by mounting a high profile three week tour of venues they missed out on last summer. Before last year’s mega-reunion singer Frank Black hunkered down in Nashville to record new material. The result is Honeycomb, his first solo effort in quite some time. Cobra Verde’s latest, Copycat Killers, is a masterful album of covers. When you delve into the record you’ll find unique reinterpretations of songs from the Rolling Stones, Hawkwind and The Fall as well as classic covers of New Order and Donna Summer. Cobra Verde even take their touring mates The Undertones to task by covering "Teenage Kicks." I am the bearer of sad news this month because one of Scotland’s best pop bands, The Delgados has called it a day after a decade and five solid albums. Despite the split, the band members will continue to run their label, Chemikal Underground.  Fellow Scots Sons & Daughters came out of nowhere last year to deliver a wonderful debut EP, Love the Cup. They currently are prepping their long awaited debut album, Repulsion Box, with a new single, "Dance Me In." Electrelane have once again joined forces with Steve Albini for their crunchy new album Axes. The band, currently on a short US tour, recorded the album over the holidays last year in Chicago. Albini’s Shellac recently mounted a short four day tour of the Midwest. The dB’s, one of the 1980s most important and most underappreciated bands, have reunited and recorded an album’s worth of new material for release sometime next year. Kid Loco has scored the music for Eban & Charley director James Bolton’s new film, Graffiti Artist. For the last decade, Liverpool’s The La’s have made one song ("There She Goes") go a very long way. They are trying to recapture that magic again by recording a new album. Lollapalooza lives again! Sort of. The retooled and scaled down festival has been revived for a two-day festival on July 23-24 in Chicago’s Grant Park.  Son Volt returns next month with a new album, Okemah and the Melody of Riot. If you can’t wait until then, Rhino Records has released a comprehensive compilation of the band’s previous work, A Retrospective 1995-2000, which also features five previously unreleased songs. If you have to actually see Jay Farrar in action, check out the just out DVD of Son Volt’s 1997 performance on Austin City Limits. June also sees the release of V2 Records' At The Drive In compilation, This Station Is Non-Operational. The collection includes several unreleased songs from ATDI, including covers of songs from the Smiths and Pink Floyd. The reformed Dinosaur Jr is spending most of July on the road, including a spot at this year’s Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. "Jetstream," the new single from New Order features guest vocals from Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters. Thom Yorke may help out with guest vocal duties on the upcoming album from Felix Da Housecat. "Hello Tomorrow," the new single from Squeak E. Clean features vocals from Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  Nick Zimmer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs has turned up in a new band called Single Frame. Their debut, Body/End/Basement features the annoyingly catchy "People Are Germs." It has been awhile since anyone heard a peep out of ex-Ride Vocalist Mark Gardener. Lately he’s been holed up in a New York studio putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album. Latvia and Lithuania should merge and form Latveria. Oh nevermind… If you remember the Stereo MC’s and wondered where they buggered off to, fret no more. They have resurfaced once more with a new studio album entitled Paradise. Depeche Mode is currently in California working on their new album which should be coming up early next year. Nick Carter was recently arrested for drunk driving. He should have been jailed ages ago for making terrible music with the Backstreet Boys. It is truly the end for us humans. That’s because Robert Smith has provided lyrical support for Billy Corgan. The duo teamed up to record a version of the Bee-Gees' "To Love Somebody" for Corgan’s debut, Thefutureembrace. David Essex is helping out Saint Etienne on their latest Tales from the Turnpike House by singing vocals on the track "Relocate." In the meantime they’ve released the record’s first single, "Side Streets." The band will tour in support of the record this spring.  The soon to be huge Art Brut have a finally released their much hyped debut CD Bang Bang Rock & Roll. It is probably just me, but the Michael Jackson trial seems to be going on way too long. The Boredoms have signed to Vice Records. Never forget, Sith rearranged spells "shit." Author Nick Hornby will be supporting one of his favorite bands, Marah, next month. If you’ve haven’t read Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master & The Margarita then you are missing something. Maybe the next version of the Patriot Act will do something to address the menace that is Hilary Duff. There should never be another Herbie the Love Bug film. Unless of course they find a way to put Don Knotts in it. Which is worse, Spielberg remaking War of the Worlds, or Tom Cruise starring in a remake of War of the Worlds? Jack Dangers is taking a revamped Meat Beat Manifesto on the road for a summer tour.  It is a true tragedy of celebrity when an artist has to tour to celebrate the anniversary of their only good record. I am talking about Alanis Morisette who is currently mounting an acoustic tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill. That’s just wrong. Finally, you, the mighty reader, are going to be bombarded over the next few months by critics and friends to see a bunch of new movies or listen to a bunch of crappy high profile new releases. As a warning to you, stay away! Just hide away and read a book or go somewhere new. But no matter what, don’t believe the hype and discover things for yourself. Categorized as: Columns and Music
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