The Day the Church Music Died...

First off, this has nothing to do with religion. You go ahead and believe whatever you want. Just don't try to force it on me. My Spaghetti Monster and I are in a very happy relationship, thankyouverymuch. No, this is more a rant against the music played in Christian churches, specifically of the Lutheran variety I suppose. Seeing as this is pretty much a music blog, I might as well post it here.
This whole thing started today right after my Journalism class. We discussed Martin Luther's role in the World of Communication and somehow got off on a tangent about how Martin Luther's songs were typically written in taverns. The way they're played in church today is, in my opinion, all wrong. They're meant to be upbeat and get people energized with their toes tappin' and whatnot. Instead, what typically goes on is pretty bland. Sure, there's Christian rock songs, but let's face it: if you can't teach, teach gym, and if you can't make music, switch to Christian rock. I used to give the courtesy of at least lip-syncing (this was more due to the fact that I can sing about as well as a howler monkey) along to the songs that we come to hear each and every week, but I found myself giving even that up years ago.
Unfortunately, religion has changed since the days of Martin Luther. It's not as much in our culture as it used to be. There are more atheists and agnostics in the world than there ever were, and the church seems to be sticking to its conservative roots while logic continues to press on into the future.
So, I guess it boils down to the fact that it will stay the way it is forever. The elders rule the church, and the elders hate change. Plus, I don't think someone could pull off a solution to this music problem anyway without creating something unbelievably and irrevocably lame. Unless, of course, they do this.

Apple iPad

Apple debuted the new iPad today. Here's an exclusive play-test of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRWRJtIY5to#t=0m34s

Avatar Film Review

Plot: Dances With Wolves...in Vietnam...IN THE FUTURE! IN 3D! Also, The Matrix (biological network cables) and Star Wars (biological The Force).

Characters: I liked the fact that the main guy was crippled. It added some depth to it. But come on. You're supposed to be the guy who saves the planet, and yet from the start you can't follow a simple order from a trained professional doctor like "Please sit down on the table after your brain has jumped to a completely new body. We would really appreciate it."
"NO WAY! I GOTZ ME SOME LEGS NOW! GOTTA GO PLAY BASKETBALL! OUTTA MY WAY!"
I would ship that guy back home in a heartbeat.
And Sigourney Weaver. What the hell? I thought she'd be really good, but her whole role felt phoned in.
"Where's my cigarettes? I got me some more Aliens to kill. Or save. Whatever. Where's my paycheck?"

Colors: Like, all of 'em, man. They were, like...everywhere and a part of us, man.
Actually, there were some really well done transitions when they switched from the beautiful landscapes (they truly were beautiful) to the dull-looking human areas.

Summary: As cliche as the movie itself may have been, I was still drawn to Pandora's box...I mean world. It was beautiful, clever, and fun to look at. Unfortunately, it suffered from Transformers 2 Syndrome: it was too long for a movie that focused all of its attention on effects over anything else. Sure, you may love riding The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride at Universal Studios, but would you really want to ride it for 2.5 hours?
The effects also don't exclude James Cameron from making a decent plot. Look at Titanic. That had pretty-to-look-at special effects with the ship and the water, AND it had a pretty good story to boot, all within a 2.5 hour time frame.
Now here's where I get to make my spiel about movies in 3D. First off, I think it's a total fad. It's not going to last forever, let alone another decade. Second, I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this, but I hate when they make certain objects pop out at you that end up being blurry because the camera is too busy focusing on something else that ISN'T in 3D. It was starting to give me a headache.
All in all, though, Avatar was exactly what I thought it would be: a theme park ride. You don't ride them and mock the poor scripts or sub-par acting. You ride them to be entertained. And I was entertained.

UPDATE: I've since written a better, more-organized rant, er, "review" that you can check out here.

Aloha AND matt pond PA new releases!

Well, as cliche as it may sound, I can't come up with a better way of saying it:
Next year is going to be an excellent year for music.

First of all, my favorite band ever (Aloha) is going to be releasing a new album in March of 2010. This will be their latest release since their acoustic EP Light Works, which came out way back in 2007.

Now today, I just found out matt pond PA will be releasing a new album called The Dark Leaves in February. They will also be releasing a series of EPs to promote it called Threeep (playing off of their previous release the Freeep). There will be THREE EPs in the series, each with a single from the album plus two unreleased songs, making for a total of THREE songs each.

I am happy.

Be sure to check out my interview with Cale Parks of Aloha here and my interview with Matt Pond here.

The Beatles - One Love

The last two Beatles albums are One and Love, both of which are not actually new material from The Beatles themselves. This can only mean one thing: Paul McCartney is dead. He's now friends with Bob Marley in the Afterlife and wants us to listen to him.

There is no other explanation.

Sidestream Radio Show - Episode 4 (11-10-2009)

Here's what Peter has to say about Episode 4 of Sidestream Radio Show:

"In this episode, there's a special tribute to my dad in the beginning who just had surgery for colon cancer that morning, hence the 80s music in the beginning. There's a problem with the mics, so that's why my voice sounds so bad. "

Episode 4 Playlist:

Alice Cooper - "Poison"
AC/DC - "Thunderstruck"
Aerosmith - "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)"
Def Leppard - "Rock of Ages"
Porcupine Tree - "The Yellow of the Evening Train"
Porcupine Tree - "Time Flies"
Porcupine Tree - "Degree Zero of Liberty"
The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice - "Surrounded"
The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice - "Scorpio Rising"
The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice - "Emerging"
Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven"
Sunny Day Real Estate - "Faces in Disguise"
Jeremy Enigk - "A New Beginning"
Jeremy Enigk - "Been Here Before"
Jeremy Enigk - "Mind Idea"
Jeremy Enigk - "Late of Camera"
Mock Orange - "Song in D"
Mock Orange - "Ms. Brown's Morning Cup"
Mock Orange - "Old Movies"
Marcy Playground - "Sex & Candy"
Marcy Playground - "It's Saturday"
Marcy Playground - "Bye Bye"
Marcy Playground - "Blackbird"
Marcy Playground - "Gin and Money"
Marcy Playground - "Good Times"
Aloha - "The Sound Between"
Aloha - "Perry Como Gold"
Aloha - "We Get Down"
The Police - "Masoko Tanga"

Enjoy the show!

Sidestream Radio Show - Episode 3 (CHERRY FLAVORED!) (10-27-2009)

Alright, if you still don't know what Sidestream is all about, then really, just go back a few posts and read the description that the great Peter Henckel wrote about his own show (no biases, I promise!). We've got a whole lot of new and generally unheard of music to show you guys this week, so please check it out and, most importantly, enjoy the show!

Peter says, "On this special spooky episode of Sidestream, I get a listener from the UK and play a few songs in celebration of Halloween."

Episode 3 Playlist:

The Blanks - "Superman"
The Blanks - "Six Million Dollar Man"
31Knots - "Welcome to Stop"
31Knots - "Corporal's Lament"
31Knots - "Compass Commands"
matt pond PA - "So Much Trouble"
matt pond PA - "Several Arrows Later"
matt pond PA - "The Moviegoer"
Tunturia - "Panic Attack"
Tunturia - "Echoes of the Unmoved"
Tunturia - "Cast Shadows on Clouds"
Jack Conte - "Push"
Jack Conte - "Passenger Seat"
Jack Conte - "Kitchen Fork"
Easy Star All-Stars - "Time"
Easy Star All-Stars - "Let Down"
Easy Star All-Stars - "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Monkees - "Randy Scouse Git"
The Monkees - "Porpoise Song"
The Monkees - "Mommy and Daddy"
Maritime - "Someone Has To Die"
Maritime - "Adios"
Maritime - "Pearl"
The Blanks - "Happy Halloween"
matt pond PA - "Halloween"
Bobby "Boris" Pickett - "Monster Mash"
The Police - "No Time This Time"

Enjoy!