Beyond Fate is a new 20-track double album from Brooklyn band Die Pretty. The band formed in 2008 and this is their 2nd studio album. Since it is so many tracks I’m not going to do a track by track with a ton of detail, but I’ll walk you through some brief impressions.
Haley Bowery & The Manimals are new to me. I’ll be totally honest and say that I discovered them through a press release. I normally don’t even read press releases, they tend to go straight into the garbage but I was grabbed by this one and the style that seemed to be present. I thought there could be something here that I might enjoy. So I grabbed their debut album and now I’m here to let you know how it is, and if it’s worth checking out.
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Dumb Blonde is the first solo album from Miss Guy, front person of beloved NYC glam/punk band the Toilet Boys. I’ve talked about Miss Guy and The Toilet Boys in the past, both opening for Guns N’ Roses and singing for 3/4 of Hole at the Hit So Hard premiere. Miss Guy has been a part of NY’s independent rock scene for a long time now and he pops up nearly everywhere. So when I had the chance to check out some new music from him I jumped on it.
When you think of music and film, particularly rock music, the first name you probably think of is Cameron Crowe. His films capture musical moments and how important it is in our lives in a very special way. So when it came time to celebrate Pearl Jam, a band that appeared in one of his early movies (Singles), he was the perfect person to put a documentary about them together. And that’s what he did with Pearl Jam Twenty. The 2 hour long documentary is comprised of modern day interviews with the band and ultra rare footage from throughout their 20 year career together.
Pearl Jam Twenty is a new book compiled by Jonathan Cohen and Mark Wilkerson telling the day to day history of Pearl Jam, starting with the individual members early histories and going all the way through 2010. The book is broken up into a chapter for each year from 1990-2010 with special chapters focusing on each album’s recording. Along with these there’s also chapters about Into The Wild, the Roskilde tragedy, Mirror Ball, and Temple of the Dog. The book is filled with tons of photos and things like early lyric drafts and setlists (even an ATM receipt showing Eddie Vedder’s bank account balance pre-Pearl Jam). Pearl Jam is a band notorious for keeping to themselves and this is them finally releasing 20 years worth of their history as they saw it, along with many others such as Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Chris Cornell, Dave Grohl, and many more people involved with the band in some way.
Foo Fighters: Back and Forth is a documentary from James Moll following the band from their creation all the way up to the recording of their latest album, Wasting Light. It uses both current interviews and archival footage as well as newer footage to tell the story of the band and the drama that’s often surrounded them.
I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Except When I Hate It): Extremely Important Stuff About the Songs and Bands You Love, Hate, Love to Hate, and Hate to Love (full title) is a new book from pop culture writer Brian Boone (Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series, LoveHateSociety.com). It’s a miscellany of stories about music and the things surround it like ridiculous merchandise items, where the metal devil horns hand gesture originated, how bands got their names, chart trivia, and a ton more.
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Hit So Hard: The Life and Near Death Story of Patty Schemel is a documentary about rock drummer Patty Schemel’s battle with addiction and her rise to fame with the band Hole and her consequent fall. It’s told using a lot of archival footage Patty herself shot on Hi-8 (it’s what they used to use in video cameras, kids) or had shot for her during her time with Hole and includes things like never before seen footage of her and close friend Kurt Cobain. The film is fleshed out using modern day interviews with people who know Patty, including all of her former Hole band mates.
Don’t Sleep With Your Drummer is a comedic trip through the world of rock & roll told through the eyes of 28 year old Jenny Troanni, who decides to quit her boring job and start a rock band. Along the way she finds out what the lifestyle is like, how to best deal with a flaky best friend, and what making it big might really be like, oh and why it’s a bad idea to date a member of your band. The book is told through journal entries, complete with little sidenotes reminding Jenny of the various lessons she learns along the way.
Live On Ten Legs is Pearl Jam’s latest release, a sort of sequel to their Live on Two Legs
) live compilation made up of various performances from their 1998 tour. Live On Ten Legs is made up of songs collected from their world tours from 2003-2010. All the songs have been remixed and remastered for this release. The track listing is below.