Audio Post: The Tangent
Like some heavy jazz influence with your prog? Here’s progressive band The Tangent with their song In Earnest off their 2006 album A Place in the Queue. It’s a really chill album with some playfulness scattered throughout it.
Audio Post: HORSE the band
With a group of friends I saw a band over a year ago (was it a year ago?) whose show still remains one of my favorites. It was intimate with a lot of crowd interaction.
Here’s HORSE the band with their song Big Business off their 2009 album Desperate Living.
Milli Vanilli Gets Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEcTK2Jy5cw
Florian Gallenberger will write the screenplay and direct the film on the scandal of 80s popstars Milli Vanilli. This will be the German-born filmmaker’s first Hollywood movie.
German record producer Frank Farian hired dancers Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan to be the face of the singers of a band he put together; portraying them as the actual singers for the songs. Their looks were used to propel the songs on the charts. Rumors gradually spread that they lip-sync onstage; leading to empirical evidence when during a live performance, the recording they lip-synched to began skipping. The duo panicked and fled the stage.
Rob and Fab then had a change of heart and refused to promote another album unless they get to really sing, but Farian opposed it and revealed the charade to the public. The two attempted a legitimate music career despite the shame, but eventually the scandal overcame Rob who died from a drug overdose.
As an 80s kid, I am genuinely looking forward to the film. Milli Vanilli were huge and the scandal felt surreal; no one involved was innocent, and it ended tragically.
Gallenberger won various German film awards, including an Academy Award for his short film Quiero Ser — the story of Milli Vanilli is in good hands.
(Deadline)
Audio Post: Porcupine Tree
Here’s Fear of a Blank Planet by prog band Porcupine Tree, off their 2007 album of the same name.
It’s an excellent album and one of my favorites.
You can buy Fear of a Blank Planet HERE.
Let It Be Music Video
A group of 80s and 90s stars sing Let It Be in this video for a Norwegian show. It’s nothing short of surreal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cNHCP3juQ&feature=player_embedded#!
Daft Punk’s Derezzed for Tron: Legacy
A new trailer for Tron: Legacy has been released, which heavily features one of Daft Punk’s songs for the soundtrack entitled Derezzed. Too excited; I cannot wait.
Nine Inch Nail’s Year Zero Moves Forward as HBO Miniseries
In 2007 Nine Inch Nails released a concept album entitled Year Zero. Coupled with it was an alternate reality game to further the concept that dealt with a fictional future where politics leaned heavily towards evil intentions and fanatics drowned out sanity.
Trent Reznor wrote the album during his frustrations with the Bush Administration, but put a spin on the music instead of writing a straightforward protest album. With a dash of science fiction in a form called, “The Presence”, Year Zero had an underlining horror element.
Now, why am I talking about it? Because Year Zero is finally moving forward to become a miniseries like Reznor has hoped for. Daniel Knauf of Carnivale is penning the pilot with BBC Worldwide Productions as the studio. It’s planned to be an HBO miniseries — which is smart, given the subject matter. There’s no word yet on a release date.
Sure, the inspiration for the concept is now dated, but the story was captivating. And there’s a lot that can be expounded on in a television format. It’s bound to be a very intriguing miniseries.
Sacha Baron Cohen in Queen’s Freddie Mercury Biopic
GK Films, Tribeca Productions, and Queen Films have combined efforts to film a biopic on the front man of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Peter Morgan is penning the screenplay which will focus on the formation of the band to Queen’s 1985 appearance at Live Aid. Not too surprisingly, Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast to play Freddie Mercury.
The biopic has secured the rights to a catalog of Queen’s songs, although, it’s not clear if Baron Cohen will be singing or if they’ll use Mercury’s vocals. Yes, Baron Cohen is capable of singing, but Mercury’s singing is hard to match. He was unique. Nevertheless, Sacha Baron Cohen looks remarkably like Freddie Mercury, and he does have acting chops.
“Queen is one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and a music brand all unto itself. Freddie Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer, so with Sacha in the starring role coupled with Peter’s screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success.”
-Graham King of GK Films
Roger Taylor, Brian May, and John Deacon of Queen gave the okay for the licensing and music publishing rights for the first time for a movie about the band — and went as far as creating Queen Films to become a part of the production team. It’s strongly evident that they have faith in the film project. I’m entirely looking forward to the Freddie Mercury biopic.
[Deadline]