Music is Everywhere

Meet Pogo, a native of Perth, Western Australia. Pogo likes to combine and remix clips and sound bites from movies into chilled-out new musical pieces.

Something like this has plenty of potential for epic failure, but Pogo’s pretty good at it:

For Mother’s Day, Pogo decided to leverage his skills into a unique gift:

I bet you just took your mom out for brunch.

Round-a-bound – now with 100% more sand art!

Saw this on Star Wars Day:

This lady must be lots of fun at the beach. Listen for Apocalyptica at around 3:30 and again later in the piece.

Les Paul: 1915-2009

Lester William Polsfuss, better known to the world as Les Paul, died of pneumonia yesterday in White Plains, New York. He was 94.

Best known for the line of solid-body electric guitars that bear his stage name, Polsfuss was also responsible for inventing or discovering many recording techniques that are taken entirely for granted in the modern music industry. These include overdubbing, tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording. Due to these innovations, Les Paul is widely regarded as one of the grandfathers of rock & roll.

Solid-body electric guitars first began appearing in the 1930s; Adolph Rickenbacher marketed one in the early part of that decade, and Leo Fender invented his own version around the same time as Polsfuss did, in the late 30’s. The eponymous Les Paul guitar, built and sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, remains one of the best-known and most popular models of electric guitar in the world.

This Week In Miscellanea: “Junkspace”

1. Interested in dead spaces? Like poking around ruins? Try watching television. Susan Boyle is an emotional phenomenon! The most emotional and inspirational thing we’ve seen since exactly the same thing happened in season one. My heart is not full for this woman, or for the people who like her. My heart is empty, bled by the temptation of catharsis. Susan Boyle makes me feel like this:

2. It’s been 10 long years since the Columbine Massacre. How have things changed? What did we learn?

3. Read the terrific Bruce Stirling short story “White Fungus” online! Guaranteed to teach you more about junkspace than this post!

Metal+Games = Guitar Hero: Metallica, Brutal Legend

It seems that Guitar Hero: Metallica is coming together and should be ready for release in Q1 2009.

According to Internet rumours and Game Informer magazine, the expansion pack is nearing completion. GI‘s preview stated that GH:M will feature 45 songs, including 28 by the headline band. Assuming this expansion follows the model set by Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, players can expect the remaining tracks to be from bands inspired by or who have played with Metallica.

The Metallica songs confirmed so far include:

Enter Sandman
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Fuel
Hit The Lights
King Nothing
Master of Puppets
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
Wherever I May Roam

There are also reports that GH:M will include a new, Expert+ mode!

Other bands expected to feature on the disc include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foo Fighters, Queen, Judas Priest, Mastodon and Slayer. So far the Metallica song list doesn’t look too bad, and there’s still room left for  songs from Ride the Lightning, …And Justice For All and Kill ‘Em All. Fingers crossed!

In related gaming news, we have word that  Tim Schafer’s heavy metal-inspired action adventure Brutal Legend has found a new publisher. The game was originally slated to be released by Sierra in 2008, but was dropped during the Activison-Blizzard merger. Now it seems that EA has picked up the title, and are expecting to release it on Xbox 360 and PS3 in Fall 2009. You can find more details on the search for a new publisher here.

Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, a heavy metal roadie dragged into a fantasy world based on rock culture. Armed with his lifelong knowledge of the subject, Eddie calls forth an army of “axe-wielding rock-strocities” to restore the world to its former glory. The game features Jack Black as the voice of Eddie, as well as voice talent from Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and Ronnie James Dio of Dio and Black Sabbath.

Schafer says that the game world is “a combination of every single thing I’ve ever thought was cool in the world altogether in one place.” Here’s a neat interview with Tim. And here is a more recent trailer. Rock on!

PH can’t misc

I know this is usually Rusty’s gig, but I feel bad for not posting much lately so here goes, minus pictures and other amenities :

Recognize this voice? It should be pretty familiar, and the ensemble the actor in question has created to showcase his talents in is – probably intentionally – pretty hilarious.

MWA HA HA! … so that’s you know, coming along.

OG FATAL BAZOOKA! PUt1!!!mdr! bah c chien pour les filles koi… sa existe des mecs putes !lol

… I’m never going to do this again =P

Fratello Metallo

Molotov can’t be bothered to post this himself, so it falls to me to invite our readers to check out a pretty cool Capuchin monk.

Rock on, brother. Rock on.

This Week In Miscellanea/Metal: “Cunning Stunts”

1. GTA 4 stunt jumping: Rusty compulsively hunts jumps. See Rusty jump. Jump, Rusty Jump!

2. Care to listen to some brand new Dragonforce? Stream “Heroes of Our Time” from the new record, Ultra Beatdown, due out August 25th!

3.  Are you like Tanith? Do you seek to release your inner goth? Poisonblack will release A Dead Heavy Day on September 1st. Balm for the ears of those, like Pale Horse, who lament the demise of Sentenced.

4. How many DS handhelds will O514 buy in order to play a Chrono Trigger remake? Probably at least two. To celebrate our impending defeat to Brain Age advertising, here are a few hundred fan art images of your favorite DS characters, and by “characters,” we mean “hot girls.”

Full Metal Racket

“We’ve been getting threats… ‘we’re going to get you, one by one.’ If we go, we go together.”

The story of Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda over the past three years. Interesting!

This Week In Metal: Opeth, Raunchy, Estonian Idol vs. Lacuna Coil

Opeth have a new record out. This is big new for metal fans, prog junkies and hot topic wannabees across several continents. Trendy though wearing their shirts may be, the band does deliver the goods. There may be too much synth on “Watershed,” but the overall quality is very high.

For those searching for something a little more melodic, Danish “futuristic hybrid metal” pioneers Raunchy have streamed their entire new album on MySpace. The aptly titled “Wasteland Discotheque” is full of catchy hooks and dystopic rhythm passages. Does the record match the lofty standards set by 2004’s “Confusion Bay” and 2006’s “Death Pop Romance?” Time will tell.

In less relevant but more titillating news, Estonian Idol winner Jana Kask performed Lacuna Coil’s “Swamped” as part of one of the show’s final episodes. Apparently, two of the judges thought her version was better than the original. Better than the original?  Video evidence below-

Jana Kask – “Swamped”

Lacuna Coil – “Swamped”