Monthly Archives: September 2010

Punk Rock

Brian Fallon answers all your questions about Gaslight Anthem

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Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem has posted a new FAQ answering some of the many and frequent questions people ask about The Gaslight Anthem. For example, he explains where the name came from:

There was a club in New York City from 1958-1971 called The Gaslight, where Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Odetta, and other great folk artists got their starts. To us, it seemed cool to refer back to when people who became legendary were just starting out, everybody starts from somewhere. It also was a collective, each person learning from watching others, honing their craft. The “Anthem” came from the central song, or idea of this place, which reminded us of our basement collectives we had growing up, throwing and playing shows.

He addresses the issue of a “solo” or acoustic album, something hinted at by past solo performances Fallon has done:

I doubt I’d do an acoustic album or a “solo” album, but I would like to make a record people can listen to in the night time. I think I’d like to do that with a band name and some friends where we can dress like the Bad Seeds, in suits. Seriously.

Check out the first part here. He promises a second FAQ soon.
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Punk Rock

Director of Ted Leo’s “American Idiot” parody talks

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Tom Scharpling , the director of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists‘s new Bottled in Cork video talked to Pitchfork about why they choose to make fun of Green Day‘s American Idiot musical and how it all came together. He explained:

I paid $125 for a Saturday matinee. You know, it’s hard for me to stick it to the musical. I will say, the performers in the musical are some of the most super-talented people I’ve ever seen. They’re dancing like crazy; they’re singing; they’re on wires 30 feet above the stage, doing aerial ballet. It’s the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen! But the whole time I was like, “Why is all of this awesome effort and talent being used for Green Day?” It had barely any connection to Green Day. This might sound harsh: it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it was one of the more pointless things I’ve seen. I just didn’t know why it existed.

t’s $125 to get into the punk musical, first of all. I will admit that for some reason I bought like a seventh-row seat. That’s on me. I could’ve probably gotten in for $75. But still, it’s on Broadway, and it’s punk, and you get handed a thing in crazy punk lettering– as if you’re getting handed fliers at a rock show– saying, “No photos! No video! No cell phones!” It’s like, “Hey, this is all edgy! This whole thing’s punk and outrageous! This is not Les Mis across the street, guys! But seriously, don’t film it with your cell phone. It’s our intellectual property.” It’s a funny experience. We had the idea for the video, and then I want and saw it, and it was like, “OK, we have to do this.

Check out the rest of the interview here.
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Punk Rock

Tom DeLonge on musical direction of new Blink-182 album

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In a new interview with Rock Radio, Blink 182‘s Tom Delonge discussed what people can expect from the trio’s comeback record:

I feel like a little kid full of wonder. I can’t comprehend the size of these shows. We’re getting on better than we ever have, and there’s a confidence there now. We love what we do and we know we do it pretty well. “The record will be very modern, relevant, fast and fun. It’ll be a mixture of drum’n’bass, indie rock and stadium rock. I can’t say we’ve done that before, but you can see the tip of the iceberg on the last record. Anyone who listens to my band Angels and Airwaves will know where I sit musically. If you imagine that, mixed in with what the other guys do in their spare time, you get it. It’s going to be a really great collaboration of the best of three different genres of music.

The band last released Blink 182 in 2003.
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Steam Powered

Magic: The Gathering – Expansion 2 Now Available

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The second expansion for Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers is now available via Steam.

Take on Magic’s ancient vampire Planeswalker Sorin Markov, one of the new opponents featured in the second Duels of the Planeswalkers expansion. Plus, three new playable decks; three new unlockable cards for each of the eleven previously released decks, three new achievements, five new puzzling challenges, and host migration for multiplayer. Put your spell-slinging skills to the test and defeat the new single-player campaign to unlock Nicol Bolas’s “Eons of Evil” Planeswalker deck!

If you’re just getting started, check out the Duels of the Planeswalkers – Complete Pack which includes the base game, both expansions, and 22 decks for one low price.


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Punk Rock

Glen Matlock and the Philistines: “Born Running”

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Glen Matlock and the Philistines, the eponymous project from the bassist of the legendary Sex Pistols, have posted their new video for “Born Running.” The track appears on the band’s upcoming album of the same name, Born Running, due out September 28, 2010. The album features the last recordings of guitarist Steve New, one of Matlock’s oldest friends and fellow founder-member of The Rich Kids, who died in 2010. Also in the band’s line up is drummer Javier Weyler, the current drumming incumbent with The Stereophonics, as well as guitarist James Stevenson.

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Punk Rock

Tours: No Age (supporting Pavement, with Lucky Dragons)

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No Age have announced a run of tour dates over the next few months supporting their imminent new Sub Pop Records album, Everything in Between which is due out September 28, 2010. The band will be spending some time opening for Pavement as well as headlining some dates of their own with support from fellow LA band, Lucky Dragons.

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Punk Rock

Worn In Red (No Idea Records) performs live on People Who Hate People Radio

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Worn in Red recently visited DIY radio show, People Who Hate People to record an interview and performance. The set was capture at the Stairway East Recording Studio and features live performances of tracks from In the Offing and one song from their recently announced split.

Check it out here.
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Steam Powered

Tidalis Updated

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An update for Tidalis has been released:

Notes From The Producer: August 18th, 2010

This official release includes a lot of new stuff for players to enjoy, a lot of it suggested by fans. It adds the new VS – Race multiplayer ruleset for use against the AI or against other players, as well as a new Boarded Up block type. It has a lot more flexibility in what fullscreen resolutions players can use, even if their graphics card/OS doesn’t report a resolution that they want to use as being supported. There is also a revamped sound subsystem that lets the game load faster, play multiple copies of the same sound effect at once (which sounds much better), and which avoids some issues on OSX.

Also included are 12 new Brainteaser levels created by players, a new visual block style created by a player, and updated stream graphics that look a bit fancier. Music tracks also now fade in when starting, which is a noticeable aural improvement. Aside from the above, this release has a number of bugfixes and other, more minor player-suggested tweaks.

All in all, an exciting first bit of free DLC, both with Arcen-created content and community-created content. Enjoy!

–Christopher M. Park

Beta Updates Cumulatively Included In This Official Release

* August 5th, 2010: 1.004 Beta (AI-Related Bugfixes)

* August 4th, 2010: 1.003 Beta (VS Race, Boarded Up Blocks, Experimental Sound Subsystem)

* July 27, 2010: 1.002 Beta (Bugfixes)

* July 26, 2010: 1.001 Beta (Guided Tour Improvements, Fullscreen Resolution Additions)

New & Updated Levels

  • A new folder has been added to the Brainteasers section of the game, with a “Community-Created Brainteasers” folder. The goal here is for us to over time package a good selection of the community-created brainteasers into the main game itself; not all players know to look for custom puzzles on our forums, and since the puzzle files are tiny it is easy for us to package them right into the game for everyone to enjoy.
    • This first version includes 12 player-created puzzles: 3 by Ixiohm, 2 by jkefka, 2 by PLivesey, 2 by RCIX, 1 by The 9th Sage, 2 by triggerman602. Special thanks to all of them for taking the time to submit such great puzzles!

New & Updated Art/Music/Sound

  • Music tracks now fade in when they are first loaded, to provide less jarring transitions between fast-paced and relaxing tracks and vice-versa.
    • Thanks to RCIX for suggesting.
  • A new player-created block skin has been added to the game: eRe4s3rs Glow Blocks. Special thanks to Hans-Martin Portmann for creating these!
  • The stream graphics have been improved with extra glow effects that makes them look more modern.
    • Thanks to Hans-Martin Portmann for suggesting.

Misc

  • Post-level screen now no longer reports an achievement that had already been achieved globally (but may have just been achieved for that particular adventure).
    • Thanks to kout for pointing out that the previous behavior was confusing.

  • The loss objectives panel now includes a note about the move limit for levels with a move limit. This is already shown on the screen in the form of the “moves remaining” counter, but now it’s more obvious and consistent with other loss conditions.

Bugfixes

  • Fixed bug where Cutscene Index and Adventure Stats buttons would show through onto the main menu after playing an adventure level.
    • Thanks to Balthier for reporting.

  • Enter And Escape now function as confirm or cancel (respectively) when a confirm dialog is being shown. Previously Enter would open the chat box instead, which was problematic on several counts.
    • Thanks to SmileyFace for pointing out the problem.
  • Fixed bug where AI thought it could do a direction-redirect through an inverter or energizer.
    • Thanks to Ogtacular for reporting.

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