Blog: Air & Sea Battle

We did the first ever of the monthly round-ups , A&SB constributor Andrew Bates met MAE and personL in Orlando at a charity gig and took tons of photos and videos, your humble Managing Editor was in the background of a kickass music video made on the cheap, then I recalled the time I chilled with Galactic in France, Chase Pagan's "Bells & Whistles" is sumptuous , Tortured Soul rocked you and your mom , Joel Dobbins' Investment [...]

Purchase song @ Amazon From Wikipedia... "The Del-Vikings , also known as The Dell-Vikings (the name was variously spelled with and without the hyphen), is an American doo-wop musical group who recorded several hit singles in the 1950s and continued to record and tour with various lineups in later decades. The group was notable for being one of the few racially integrated musical groups to attain success in the 1950s. "Come Go [...]

Drag Me To Hell is the best kind of nostalgia. See, back when I was young and impressionable, I saw a movie called Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. The flick is extremely, gut-wrenchingly violent; chock full of rotting flesh, blood, boils and even a dismembered hand. It's also one of the funniest films ever made. The thing is, while director Sam Raimi saw the sheer terror involved in calling up the spirits of the dead, he also saw the absolute absurdity of the situation. Mr. Raimi brings this same [...]

Stream At Hulu | Purchase At Amazon | Netflix As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can't help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our 'Documentary Summer' feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot [...]

I'm a little ashamed to say I'd never heard Metric until just a couple of weeks ago. The name of the band gets thrown around in conversation all the time, although never by me, and it's generally thrown in my direction along with other bands I pretend to have heard. Like Placebo. Go ahead and laugh at the jerk who never heard Metric . When you're done laughing, I'm going to punch you in the face and tell you how rich I am. It will be a soft punch and I'm actually quite poor. In [...]

Stream | Purchase (sans music) What do you get when you mix songs written and recorded by Danger Mouse & Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse , topped with guest spots from The Flaming Lips, Frank Black, Jason Lytle and Iggy Pop and accompanied by breathtaking visuals by David Lynch ? You get a record that might not ever be released due to a legal battle with EMI . The incredibly ambitious album [...]

Listen Joel Dobbins' free online release Investment is almost astonishingly well produced. And Dobbins certainly has an ear for the grand, but this album is too epic for its own good. From the first track Tears of Joy - an impressive sonic accomplishment - you can't help but feel that Dobbins is walking a tightrope over mindless pop oblivion. And you can't help but cover your eyes for fear that he won't make it to the other side. He doesn't make it. But Dobbins doesn't die in [...]

Fullsteam Records (Finland) is a force to be reckoned with in Scandinavia and thanks to Paper Tiger AV , a new label & management company based out of the US, Fullsteam Records will finally be bringing their exceptional catalog to North America for the first time. Widely recognized as the #1 record label in Finland, Fullsteam is looking towards an exciting year of releases in North America that includes new records from artists like Rubik, Lapko, Damn Seagulls, Michael Black Electro & Disco Ensemble. As a way of saying "come on in and get [...]

by Zach Huff - A&SB Contributor Smooth jazz doesn't get nearly as much props as it deserves. Enter Tortured Soul to save the day and gently rock you and your mother. The band cleverly maintains a soft jazz edge on their album Did You Miss Me while merging it with dance and elevator music. A lot of funk and groove is laced in the bass lines and keyboard riffs, but it's never anything too hectic or sweat-inducing; you'll find yourself tapping your toes and swaying with the [...]

Sumptuous - The adjective that comes to mind when Chase Pagan's upcoming album Bells & Whistles comes whirring to life on your CD player. But instead of asking why the hell I still use CD players, you should ask yourself why you've never heard of Chase Pagan . His second release is a fun, bouncy pop rock wonder that shows off Pagan's tremendous range without, well, showing off. What makes Bells & Whistles a truly special work is that Pagan's range is so broad that the listener never even considers [...]

Galactic makes Frenchies scream with listenable rap You know what I was doing last night? (Besides watching totally awesome episodes of House and 24 [Pay me later, papa Rupert, I'm busy]) Listening to Galactic . Then I got to thinking '.. shit.. I haven't listened to these guys in waaay too long.' All that thinkin' reminded me of an interview I did with the band in 2007 while I was in Rennes. I am still tired from that trip, but right now, Galactic is touring South America. [...]

A lovelorn ghost seeking companionship receives solid advice from a mysterious waiter at a cafe. "Elevenses" is from Neil's second solo record "Oh! Mighty Engine," released by Brushfire Records. Check out this video from our buddies @ $99 Music Videos . Not only is the video a crafty creation that demands your attention, but this song will get branded into your head and you'll be humming it's melody in the shower tomorrow morning - be warned. And I should know: See the guy in the background of the Cafe scenes at [...]

by Andrew Bates - A&SB contributor Wednesday night I saw MAE/personL/Barcelona at the Social here in Orlando . This is probably the best show that I have seen this year. First of all, I've been looking forward to seeing this show since earlier this year when dates were announced. I would like to say 2 things: Dave Elkins and Kenny Vasoli are two of the most genuinely kind people in the scene, and are two of the most approachable people I have had the pleasure [...]

New A&SB contributor Zach Huff thinks the Yeah Yeah Yeah's needed some enhanced interrogation techniques to rein in Nick Zinner's guitar. Superchunk's Misfits and Mistakes EP is bright and refreshing. Loney, Dear's video for Airport Surroundings is my favorite of the year . Early to bed early to rise doesn't help with our creative side . Delay Trees manages to tenderly melt the ears right off your head. New London Fire's Dave Debiak [...]

Though we are impatiently waiting for a US release date for the new Rubik record, we are held over by the release of their new video for the track "Wasteland". Check it out above and check back soon because we will be posting up the release date when it comes in.

*and tell me this show has been canceled Whether it's the lame, hackneyed writing, painfully forced pop culture references or the predictable, predictable plots - this show is the bane of television. As advertised, this is a blog that promotes positivity. And the most positive thing that could ever happen to television is for the remaining tapes to be mysteriously lost in a tire fire or shot into the Sun. Believe me, if you haven't watched this show, don't. Research suggests Lie To Me's characters are archetypes of other TV drama archetypes. [...]

Do yourself a favor and get familiar with Fullsteam Records . The first thing you can do is download a free 8 song sampler (c/o AbsolutePunk.net) featuring 8 amazing tracks from some of their upcoming artists. The second thing you can do is visit FullsteamRecords.com and take some notes. This is going to be your favorite label so you're going to want to be as familiar with it as possible. TRACK LISTING: 01. Rubik - "Wasteland" 02. Disco Ensemble - "Stun Gun" 03. Michael Black Electro [...]

Joensuu 1685 is worth checking out for those who love shoegaze, video feedback and opium. Well, maybe not opium. Either way, just check out the video above and visit them on MySpace for more songs. We hope they can eventually get a release here in the US.

Okay, so we haven't been updated as frequently as I like, but there is an explanation - your humble editor is on vacation in Milwaukee visiting family and friends (and totally not watching Maury ). Problem is, the stone ages of 56K modems are still alive and well in his old house. Isn't it funny? When the Internet began we were all yelling at that shit to load faster, and now that it loads faster, we yell at that shit when it has to load at all. Remember how different your music life [...]

BUY $8.99 | MYSPACE I'm just going to come right out and say it: Doves can do no wrong by me. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of their records, each one well crafted and beautifully recorded. I've spent a considerable amount of time picking apart their distinctive sound, unlearning what I already know about mainstream music and having the Doves slowly reteach it all to me. They have spent weeks on my play-list and because of that I'm known to drive co-workers to the point of [...]