On “Take Control,” Fat Ray & Black Milk do what they do best: create catchy, well-written hip-hop that is cerebral and yet still rattles your trunk. Fat and Black take one turn each to lay down verses that illustrate the essence of their being; they’re committed to taking control of every facet of their music, from the business to the creative. First Black Milk spits, “From the rhymes to the styles and cadence to the noun and phrases / the way I amaze is major” and then Fat Ray follows up with, “Might as well face the facts we spit the crack / even Jay-Z had to Fade To Black…Milk that is/ till we filthy rich, better make room like 50’s crib.” Read the rest of this entry »

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A free .mp3 download of a live version of The Kooks‘ new single, “Always Where I Need to Be” at London’s Astoria is available Read the rest of this entry »

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Rev Theory is revving up to release Light It Up on June 10th. The Brian Howes (Hinder, Puddle of Mudd) and Josh Abraham (Velvet Revolver, Korn) produced album features the raucous single “Hell Yeah” and Wrestle Mania XXIV theme song “Light it Up.” Read the rest of this entry »

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The Last Detective, Series 4 / 2008 Acorn Media / 342 Minutes / http://www.acornmedia.com /

The Last Detective originally started as a mystery/drama show on ITV, before being shown at different times on different channels in different countries. The series is centered around Constable “Dangerous Davies”, and takes a great deal of influence from the similarly named set of novels by Leslie Thomas. Peter Davison (fifth Doctor Who, All Creatures Great and Small) is Davies, while Emma Amos (Goodnight Sweetheart, The Fastest Clock in the University) plays eir ex-wife Julie. The fourth series of The Last Detective shows an evolution in the relationships held by the characters; Davies finally gains more in the way of respect from eir colleagues. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tommy Emmanuel – Center Stage / 2008 Favored Nations / 14 Tracks / http://www.tommyemmanuel.com /

Tommy is from Australia. Furthermore, ey is a two-time Grammy nominee. “Center Stage” is a live album, and was recorded at the Sierra Nevada Brewery (Chico, CA). While individuals may not be familiar with the solo recordings of an Emmanuel, ey cut eir teeth in the John Farnham band. If one can remember back to 2000, ey also performed at the closing ceremonies at that year’s Summer Olympics. Over the last 30 years, Emmanuel has released over 20 albums. So, ey has a tremendous amount of material with which to work, and which individuals necessary expect from a live show. This show starts out with “The Finger Lakes”, a newer song, and finishes up with “Questions” (a classic cut from 2000’s “Only”). A number of other releases are revisited during this lengthy concert.  The work of Emmanuel is bolstered throughout a number of tracks by the masterful work of harmonica player Bob Littell, and the presence of some tracks will be exciting to those that have not had the chance to see or hear Emmanuel live at some point. This means that there is a version of “Ruby’s Eyes” that will tattoo itself into the minds and hearts of anyone that may be listening in. Read the rest of this entry »

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I am always looking for the best alternatives to Facebook, Myspace and the like. I have noticed that a number of these social networking web sites that promise to replace the big dogs are pretty weak, or have so few in the number of users that signing up is a futile effort. However, 3gb (3gb.biz) is a social networking web site that adds upon the Myspace and Facebook style. This means that individuals will be able to access and edit their profiles at a speed that is impossible with other web sites, and it is done in a very classy, Web 2.0 style. Everything that an individual can do is limited to a toolbar at the top of the page, which provides individuals with Photos, Blog, Friends, Groups, Messages, Radio, Chat and Settings Tabs. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hilary McRae – Through These Walls / 2008 Concord / 12 Tracks /  http://www.hilarymcrae.com /

“Through These Walls” starts off with “Every Day (When Will You Be Mine)”, a track that has a timeless nature to it. That means that the brass that backs up the vocals and the rest of the normal instrumentation (drums) provides hints of the seventies, while McRae’s vocals on this track are very current and modern. The result is a funky type of track that will undoubtedly be on rock rotation even if the style is something pretty unique. McRae’s vocals link together Pink and Tracy Chapman, ensuring that the subset of interested listeners is sufficiently large enough to ensure ey has a large fan base. “Consider Me Gone” is the next track on “Through These Walls”, and it shows McRae in a slightly different light.

The soulful sound of eir vocals is present as it was during “Every Day”, but there is a little more in the way of blues influence present during this track. The song will slide in nicely with the Amy Winehouse style of popular music, and while the instrumentation present is softly-stated, it works well with the vocals. “Let’s Stop” is another strong track by McRae; it blends the two styles that were present during “Every Day” and “Consider Me Gone”, while adding enough unique flair and style to the track to keep individuals listening. While McRae is not a huge star at this point, continued work in regards to live shows and an active fan base should be enough to push McRae’s already solid work into the stratosphere.

The twelve cuts on “Through These Walls” avoid the pitfalls inherent in a number of current artists’ releases, in that there is nothing that individuals should avoid on this album. So, if you like the works of a Kelly Clarkson, Pink, or the like make it a point to pick up “Through These Walls”. Chances are good that a devoted subset of fans will dig this album, and the next release for McRae will be the one that establishes eir as a star. So, grab this album and you can say that you knew about McRae before anyone else did.

Top Tracks: Waiting, Hostage

Rating: 6.8/10

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Obscene Emission #2 / $? / :45 / 64M / 109 Arnold Avenue, Cranston, Rhode Island 02905 / 

This is the first crust-punk zine that I can honestly say I’ve had the pleasure to read. As I should have guessed, there is not much in the way of white space in this issue, with inverted-color paragraphs (black backdrop with white text), and surprisingly, the quality of writing in this issue is well above-average. Sure, I have absolutely no clue who ninety percent of the bands that are mentioned or featured in Obscene Emission are ( Amana, Victims, Exhumed, Asatru), but I feel that actually focusing on bands that aren’t being pushed by their label or various PR companies actually do more to help the independent scene than anything. The zine is interview-heavy, so if someone is looking for more of a light read or a differing focus, I can’t honestly say that Obscene Emission will be a good read, but a great number of these interviews in some way have to do with the current political atmosphere. Obscene Emission gets made props for actually devoting a large section of this issue to zine reviews (7 full pages!) , and for having incredibly few advertisements (with none of the big labels one usually sees in a zine) for the amount of content to be found in this issue. No idea how much this costs, so I would suggest that you throw a few bucks into an envelope and prepare to be rocked by the focus on everything that is heavy about music.

Rating: 6.5/10

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Massachusetts’ THE ACACIA STRAIN have confirmed a return trip to Europe with support from Annotations of An Autopsy and Knights of the Abyss, including a show with Converge, Inegrity and Coliseum in Germany. Heading across the pond in July and August, this marks the band’s first return after offering direct support to Hatebreed in April of 2007 and first set of tour dates after THE ACACIA STRAIN’s plans to headlining shows throughout the US on the Sun Your Bunz Summer Tour with support from All Shall Perish, The Warriors, Eternal Lord and Since The Flood.

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NPR
“The Felice Brothers: ‘Young, Broke, and American’ - They are so much the
real deal.”

The LA Times
“More than delivered on that initial promise…. always ragged but right, it
was the way this sort of thing is meant to be, though all-too-rarely
actually is.” Read the rest of this entry »

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The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume 3 / 2008 Paramount / 660 Minutes / http://www.paramount.com /

With the new Indiana Jones movie coming out very soon, it makes tremendously good business set to release the final installment of the “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones” box sets.  What individuals may not know that, while this boxed set closes out the episodes that were actually aired, that George Lucas had over forty other episodes planned out that never saw the light of day. For individuals that were not previously familiar with the show, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones had more of an educational and historical focus to the episodes than the original movies did. Read the rest of this entry »

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I know that we here at NeuFutur talk about www.lifelock.com a decent amount, but I just love the fact that their advertising has an individual putting out their social security number (SSN) for everyone to see. I’m so sick of individuals thinking that their SSN is a magical tool where individuals can just immediately take away their livelihood. I mean, they could conceivably do that, but it would be a hard task to do. However, if you want to make sure that all of your valuable information – not just your social security number – is safe, I’d have to urge you to go to www.lifelock.com . Read the rest of this entry »

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I’d like to introduce you to singer/songwriter/slack key guitarist, Makana. An innovative artist who transcends labels, Makana takes the centuries-old Hawaiian music tradition and blasts it into the 21st century. Read the rest of this entry »

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Heralded Indianapolis, IN doom metal masters THE GATES OF SLUMBER have completed work on their new album, entitled Conqueror. Conqueror will see a May 27, 2008 North American release date via Profound Lore Records.

Weaned on Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, the melodic might of Iron Maiden and a host of classic bands from Thin Lizzy to Rainbow to Mercyful Fate, THE GATES OF SLUMBER draws deep from heavy metal’s most powerful blood and delivers doom in its purest form. The band’s previous releases and powerful live performances have garnered waves of acclaim within underground circles, with tGoS being called “a breath of fresh air within the doom / true metal underground.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Cloverfield / 2008 Paramount / 84 Minutes / http://www.paramount.com /

Pretty much anyone that is savvy in pop culture knew about the buzz that was surrounding Cloverfield when it first came out. However, the buzz actually was correct in portraying Cloverfield as this new, almost visionary, type of film. Where the shaky camcorder style is obviously reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, the rapid shift in the moviue’s plot shows that J.J. Abrams still has what it takes to keep individuals on their feet and wondering where the film will ultimately take them. The DVD has enough in the way of features and interesting twists and turns that it really follows well in the spirit that the advertising of the film originally had. Read the rest of this entry »

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Based on their song A Thousand Words To Say But One, Let’s Go Caps! can be downloaded from a special page Darkest Hour have set up www.myspace.com/letsgocapsmusic
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There have been a number of web sites that provided guitar and bass tabs, but they have all bitten the dust in the decade or so that I have been online. There is one web site that still provides the goods for anyone that is looking for tabs, lyrics, or anything of that sort. That web site, Flametune (flametune.com) has a diverse collection of tabs, whether they be for piano, guitar, bass, or other stringed instruments. This means that there are a lot of popular bands on there, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This means that there are Red Hot Chilli Peppers Lyrics Read the rest of this entry »

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Rightfully regarded as the L.A.-based psychedelic folk-rock pioneers’ finest achievement, Love’s FOREVER CHANGES is an indispensable masterpiece. Often compared to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pet Sounds, the third and final album by the original Love lineup remains a timeless musical experience four decades after its Elektra release. Read the rest of this entry »

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