Coconut Records

It's been a bit quiet around here I know, but I've got a few questions for you...

Have you heard of Jason Schwatzman?

You may have seen him in films like Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees or The Darjeeling Limited.

But did you know that he was the original drummer in a band called Phantom Planet who are probably best known for their song 'California' as it's the theme for The O.C.

More importantly though, did you know that he's now in a band called Coconut Records?

Well, it's more of a solo project with a band name. The debut album by Coconut Records 'Nighttiming' was released in 2007 and was one of my favorite records that year. Originally it was released as a download only, but when the CD came out and you ordered it from Young Baby Records you even got a one of a kind Polaroid taken by Jason with the album. There were also bonus tracks, which were most of the album in demo or alternate form. Great, independent stuff.

Thankfully this wasn't a one-off. It's just been announced that Coconut Records will be releasing a new album in January, called 'Davy'. First single, 'Microphone' is available as a free download now from Amie Street, where they will donate $1 for each download to the Mr Holland's Opus Foundation, which donates new and refurbished musical instruments to undeserved schools, community music programs and individual students in America. Pretty cool if you ask me.

You can also isten to it here, there's not much to watch though:

Creepy Doll

Neil Gaiman is one of my all time favourite authors. His writing style and imagination never fail to draw me into his world whenever I read anything by him. Amercan Gods, Stardust, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) are all wonderful books, not to mention the awesome Sandman comic series and so much more, it's so hard to pick a favourite.

Recently he made a guest appearence at a Jonathon Coulton show in Manchester where they performed 'Creepy Doll', a song from Coulton's 'Thing For A Week' album.

Gaiman did a spoken word version of the second verse. The lyrics work really well this way and almost sound like something Gaiman would have written himself. I'm currently reading 'The Graveyard Book', his latest novel and really loving it.

Here's a clip of 'Creepy Doll' with Mr Gaiman...

You can download the annoyingly catchy 'Creepy Doll' here.

Halloweenhead

Happy Halloween!

Five Long Years

It's five years today since we lost Elliott Smith. I wish I could visit Solutions Audio in LA to write on his memorial wall featured in these videos. The wall has recently been repainted due to grafitti obscuring most of the original work and fan notes/writing, including those seen below:

Too Many Bubbles

The Wildhearts release their 'Live In The Studio - A Film By Tim Smith' DVD tomorrow. Mine turned up in the post early and I'm just watching it at the moment. It captures the awesomeness of The Wildhearts live in a very intimate environment. And it's so funny! The talk and antics between songs very tongue in cheek and hilarious. Check out this clip:

The DVD see's the band playing their 2007 self-titled album in full. As well as the promo videos from that album, including the awesome 'Destroy All Monsters', which is really messed up.

Here's the video for 'The Revolution Will Be Televised' from the DVD:

The DVD can be ordered here and here.

MAdM

Melissa Auf der Maur released her debut solo album four years ago after working with Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins. Since then not much has been heard from her.

In an interview in 2007 she mentioned that she had finished her second album, which would go hand in hand with a graphic novel and a concept film. The album would be released under the name MAdM, whereas the comic and film would go by Out of Our Minds (OOOM for short). Other than a website with teasers being set up in 2007, not much has happened with these projects, until recently.

A MySpaz page sprung up for MAdM in September and a live date has been announced for November 1st in Montreal. No other details have been anounced as yet.

The trailer for Out of Our Minds looks pretty cool:

It's Thursday...

I thought it was Friday.