Getting my rant on.

/ Lisa

Paramore – having finally announced an NZ show, they still haven’t come up with the candy.

Over the last week or so there have been several music related things that have just ground my gears – I feel this may become a weekly thing, a series perhaps? Yay or Nay?

Chris Brown – Lil Wayne is not going to revive your career and if I can transform ya is a metaphor for your career, stop now because there is no way anyone will respect you any more, no matter what Phil Bostwick says. You sucked in the past, you suck in the present and the future doesn’t look very bright either.

Paramore are coming to NZ – the announcement came last week over twitter, but any details are still forthcoming. You’ve announced. You’re fans want to know the deets. Hurry up already. People have been waiting a long time for this – I know I have.

And what was with that pitiful second announcement for the BDO? Are they serious? They needed to announce a few more big headliners and everyone knows that the third announcement won’t have anyone big, just the little Kiwi and Aussie bands, which most aren’t worth seeing. This round – I’m only keen for Jet and The Veils. Then there is the controversy with Beanie Man – are they going to announce another act to replace him? Seriously. FFS.

Sean Kingston is back. I wish he wasn’t. Especially when he is number eight on the NZ top 40. Say what!? And what is up with the video? A cartoon version? Someone help us.

However, absolutely loving Gin “Oh My”. Enough said.

Finally picked up the New Moon soundtrack. First listen I wasn’t that impressed, but it is growing on me slowly. The music is different from the Twilight soundtrack, but as New Moon takes a sudden turn, the music fits the 180. Look forward to seeing the movie later in the week (!!!). Will post reviews of both when I get around to it.

Rant: DONE.

This is war begins with a ride.

/ Lisa

30 Seconds to Mars are back (yay!) and after all the legal struggles they have been through have managed to produce another album, set for release on December 8 (here’s hoping that means NZ too.) The first single, Kings and Queens is set out like a movie and is once again the work of Bartholomew Cubbins.

I personally have been waiting a long time for this. I fall into the category of liking 30 Seconds to Mars for more than just Jared Leto. They actually produce some pretty amazing music as well as producing some fantastic videos for said music andKings and Queens is no exception (From Yesterday is one of the most expensive videos ever made clocking up a $13 mill price tag.) Although I have yet to hear it play the airwaves and it probably won’t get featured on C4 until the CD is released or some other such’n’such nonsense.

Anyway, the video for Kings and Queens has dropped and is directed by Bartholomew Cubbins – probably one of the worst kept secrets of the music industry he actually is Jared Leto, but can also be found as a character in a Dr Seuss book The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.

Titled “The Ride”, the video follows several hundred cyclists through the streets of LA, led by the band with most wearing comical attire. Breaking up the ride are scenes of the band playing atop, one would expect, a building. It has images of the California hills’ fires and a cyclist getting hit by a car, but then getting up and continuing his ride.

One question I have is, what is with the white horse galloping along the street? Seriously. FFS. And that dude on the really tall bike must have been scared shitless at some point and how in the world did he get up there?. I totally WANT ONE.

Also, how did they manage to shoot scenes of deserted LA street? Sure it was dark, so therefore less traffic, but come on this is LA there can’t just not be any traffic – even Auckland at 3am in the morning has traffic. I’ve just always wondered how they did it, because there must be a way.

And, thankfully, Leto has tidied himself up a bit, because his appearance in recent months has just been shocking. Shocking I tell you.

The video even clocks up an awesome 8:55 length, which you know is going to be cut once it makes it on to music channels. Do music videos really need to be this long? But this is what 30 Seconds to Mars do – From Yesterday (the full version) was 13 minutes long, I guess a million a minute. But it all adds to the listening/watching experience. Their ideas for videos are always well thought out and produced to perfection. Watchers and listeners are transfixed by the video, they don’t even realise how long one is.

I say kudos 30 Seconds to Mars. Kudos indeed.

The time for Brownie is upon us.

/ Lisa
UPON US: Apple brownie with cinnamon, sprinkled with icing sugar – a great easy dessert
Brownies are easy and tasty. This recipe I came across at Brownie Recipes is very simple. I was wanting to use up some of the granny smith apples my Mum had given me so to Google I went. I played around with it a bit a second time, because I didn’t like it much the first time, but unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the second lot.

Brownies can be eaten as an afternoon snack or with coffee after dinner. But as the picture shows they can also be a quick easy dessert when you don’t have much time or when you just want to whip something up without having to go out and buy ingredients.

I find that I usually have all the ingredients in my cupboard/fridge at any given time and I only ever eat granny smith apples – so you’ll be sure to find them in the fruit bowl at my house.

Ingredients:

125g margarine.

1 cup of sugar.

1 medium egg, beaten.

½ cup of chopped nuts. (optional)

2 medium apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped.

1 cup of flour.

½ teaspoon of baking powder.

½ teaspoon of baking soda.

½ teaspoon of salt.

½ teaspoon of cinnamon.

Preparation Instructions:

Cream the margarine, sugar and egg beating until smooth.

Stir in the chopped nuts and apples.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; then fold into the batter using a spoon.

Turn the batter into a greased 20cm by 20cm baking pan.

Bake at 175°C for 40 minutes.

Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Tips:

The second time around I omitted the cinnamon and instead added 3/4 cup of cocoa. I liked the cocoa brownies better than the cinnamon – but that is probably because I’m a sucker for anything chocolate.

Because the apples are very moist once they are cut up it would be worthwhile letting them sit on paper towels for a bit or to try and squeeze some of the water out of them before you add them to the mixture. This is because the brownie comes out quite moist and turns very sticky after a day or so.

Instead of greasing the pan, lining the pan with baking paper means the brownie can just be lifted out of the tin with absolutely no sticking and easy clean up!

One of the most important things to do when baking is to have fun – if baking is not fun and turns into a chore, you’re doing it wrong. So when making these brownies I decided to have a little fun with peeling the apples – it’s much easier to show you:

SKILLS: I has them. One continuous peel from an apple. Impressive, if I do say so myself.

Not just another brick in the wall.

/ Lisa

This review first appeared in AUT University’s student newspaper Te Waha Nui.

Brand-New-Eyes-paramore-6866084-600-600

When Paramore announced they were cancelling six shows on a European tour because of “personal issues” it looked like the end for a band that was only just making the big time. But with a break and another member added to the group they are back with their third album that blows all doubt about their existence out of the water.

Brand New Eyes shows Paramore aren’t just another band trying to stay in the lime light after their break-through album Riot! It shows they are here to stay, so move over No Doubt, you’re old school. Meet your replacement.

The first single off the album, Ignorance, is set to take over the summer airwaves as the song to rock out to. As the song goes “ignorance is your new best friend” – if you haven’t heard it yet, get to know it intimately as it’s going to be around for a long time.

As any album produced by Rob Cavallo, who has fashioned such albums as Green Day’s American Idiot and My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, it holds great expectations – ones that are met and exceeded, exponentially.

Brick By Boring Brick has been announced as the second single off the album, but yet to hit airwaves. It is definitely not a boring brick. Everything about it creates imagery that many a song never manages. The line “ripping wings off butterflies” serves as the inspiration for the album cover.  These guys really know how to pick their singles – it is a great follow up to Ignorance, making two of the strongest songs on the album probably the two best songs to rock the summer with.

Brand New Eyes is a great mix of the typical Paramore rock, but they show their fluffier side with The Only Exception and Misguided Ghosts by going acoustic.

Fans will be happy to know Decode, the song Paramore wrote for Twilight, is a bonus making up this 12 track album.

Brand New Eyes is more adventurous than Riot! and is Paramore’s re-invention album, which cements them as one of the best bands of current times.

This is the summer album, if you don’t have it; you’re just another boring brick.

Cobra mess up.

/ Lisa

This review was published first in AUT University’s student newspaper Te Waha Nui.

Cobra Starship’s third album Hot Mess is just that, minus the hot.

It gets off to a great start with Nice guys finish last and Pete Wentz is the only reason we’re famous. Both songs have superfluous amounts of energy.

To tie off the beginning and best part of the album Good girls go bad with Leighton Meester, from TV’s Gossip Girl, is a smash hit. There is no denying it is a great song, great single, and people love it.

But once those three songs are said and done, the energy dissipates like air out of a balloon.

The remaining eight songs, one would think there is something good, when you have some of the biggest names in music, writing and producing the majority of your album.

When Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Kara DioGuardi, Kevin Rudolf, and the biggest surprise of all, pop duo Daryl Hall and John Oates litter the liner notes, some form of magic has to be going on. Alas, this is not Harry Potter.

Although You’re not in on the joke brings back sounds of Snakes on a Plane, those sounds do not stick around, unlike that tune.

You are pulled in to a false sense of ending well, when ultimately all it does is fail with The world will never do.

Written on the back of the front cover booklet is “Cobra starship is still a band”…well maybe they shouldn’t be.

Maybe that is a little harsh; they do have a keytar player, so they already stand apart from most other alternative bands in existence.

But for being one of the up and comers, who produce an amazing live act, this album is a let down.

Perhaps the down fall was titling one of their songs Pete Wentz is the only reason we’re famous, at least they have been consistent in the Decaydance record label of having obscure song titles.

It does have potential to be one of those hidden treasures that with time, and maybe a little bit of torture, can be rather enjoyable and even great.

But for now, if this is how their live shows are heading too, there will be one less fan in the crowd come March.