Saturday, August 22, 2020

Around the Tubes: August 22, 2020


I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Binge, The CircusTaylor Swift, Snow Patrol, Jeremy Zucker, Shannon Labrie, CHAI and HINDS, LLusion, Ryland James, Tears For Fears, and Moonbase 8.

Binge Day is fast approaching so get ready with the new official trailer for Hulu's upcoming original film THE BINGE from American High. THE BINGE premieres Friday, August 28, only on Hulu.  Set in a time where all drugs and alcohol are illegal, the only day anyone can participate in the "fun" is on Binge day.  The film stars Skyler Gisondo, Dexter Darden, Eduardo Franco, Vince Vaughn, Grace Van Dien, Tony Cavalero, Zainne Saleh , Marta Piekarz, Esteban Benito, Brittany Garms, Natalie Goldberg, Affion Crockett, Elon Gold, Jessica Kirson, Godfrey and Eileen Galindo. 



THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE CRAZIEST POLITICAL CAMPAIGN ON EARTH continues its fifth season this Sunday with an inside look at the Democrats' high-stakes, all-virtual 2020 convention. Hosts John Heilemann, Alex Wagner and Mark McKinnon, along with guest contributor Jennifer Palmieri, go behind the scenes of the planning, speechwriting, and media coverage of an unprecedented convention, culminating with the Democratic Party's historic nominations of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. For a preview, go to: https://youtu.be/fRAx2Te7-0U.

Ten-time GRAMMY® winner Taylor Swift has teamed with Vevo to reveal the carefully placed Easter eggs and deeper meanings within her latest music video, “cardigan,” from her critically-adored new album, folklore for a brand new episode of Vevo Footnotes. Vevo Footnotes dives into all the behind-the-scenes details, from social distancing standards to the cinematic styles that influenced Swift’s vision for this project.  WATCH “TAYLOR SWIFT - THE MAKING OF ‘CARDIGAN’ | VEVO FOOTNOTES”  I was inspired by the feeling of isolation and how that can be either freeing or terrifying,” Swift tells Vevo exclusively about her creation process during a worldwide pandemic. Swift was inspired by some of the period pieces and fantasy films she was watching in quarantine. With a health inspector on-set, Swift did her own make-up, hair and wardrobe styling, while the photography crew, used a “techo crane” for closeups to ensure social distancing at all times.

Snow Patrol released a brand-new EP. Written and recorded during lockdown, The Fireside Sessions is made up of five songs written with the band’s fans during a series of streams on Instagram Live dubbed ‘Saturday Songwrite’. In a nod to this collaboration, The Fireside Sessions will be released under the banner of Snow Patrol And The Saturday Songwriters. The EP was produced by Iain Archer.  Check out Snow Patrol And The Saturday Songwriters The Fireside Sessions EP HERE!

Platinum-Certified singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker made his late night television debut performing his new single “supercuts” on The Late Late Show with James Corden—watch the performance HERE!  The live performance, shot socially distanced at New York’s MAISON 10 art gallery, brings Zucker’s feel-good summertime anthem to life. In just a few short weeks, “supercuts” has amassed over 10 million global streams nearly 2 million lyric video views, as the song was hailed by UPROXX as a “feel-good single” and praised by HYPEBAE as “a bright, summer anthem.”

- Following the recent announcement of Shannon Labrie’s upcoming LP release, Building, available on Sept. 25, the “Firewalker” singer-songwriter has delivered a new track off the album, titled “Raining Hallelujah.” A timely song centered on perseverance and resilience, journalist Johnathan Frahm with For Folk Sake recently spoke about the track, calling it “a reminder that kindness and healing is just around the bend… packaged in intimate roots rock that speaks straight to the heart of overarching society.” “Raining Hallelujah” is now available and can be heard HERE. LaBrie’s upcoming album, Building is also now available for digital pre-save HERE and physical pre-order HERE.


CHAI and HINDS have released collaborative single "UNITED GIRLS ROCK'N"ROLL CLUB" which is out now via Heavenly Recordings.  Featuring lyrics in Spanish, Japanese and English, the track is accompanied by a clip of the artists exploring Madrid, celebrating the pure joy of women uniting in artistic collaboration. Watch "UNITED GIRLS ROCK’N’ROLL CLUB" HERE.  "UNITED GIRLS ROCK'N'ROLL CLUB is a song that screams GIRL POWER!” the bands say. “You might be from different countries, different languages, but at the end of the day, the music speaks for itself. You can hear it, you can feel it!  It's that type of song! Take a listen!"

LLusion is an artist and producer based in Orange, CA. He has teamed up with NYC-based artist Cautious Clay and Bay Area producer HXNS on the track “Sad4good,” streaming everywhere now—listen HERE!  The track will be featured on an upcoming mixtape from LLusion. LLusion has recently gained attention for his remixes of artists like 24kGoldn and Selena Gomez on TikTok. His previous single was a collaboration with mxmtoon on “walk but in a garden.”

Rising star and platinum selling artist Ryland James released his debut self-titled EP today via 21 Entertainment/Republic Records.  Get the EP HERE.  Ryland also revealed the music video for his new single “Water,” which is sure to make you want to hold onto summer all year long. Watch the official music video for “Water,” which premiered earlier today via Just JaredHERE.  Of the track “Water,” Ryland says: “This song is one of my favourites to perform live and one that a lot of my fans have been patiently waiting for. I wrote it on my first trip to LA and got to create the video close to home so it has a lot of exciting and sentimental value attached to it.”

Over thirty years on from its original release, Tears For Fears' third long-player The Seeds Of Love has taken on mythical status for its scope, ambition, timeless musicality, and the fact that it took over four years to record.  For music fans and audiophiles the world over, the album continues to astound with its depth and sheer audacity, which is why three decades on it, has barely aged a day.  As Roland Orzabal puts it, "Out of all our albums, I'd probably rank it highest. I think it surprised a lot of people, a lot of our peers as well, people who maybe we were being compared to in the mid-Eighties." Curt Smith "The tracks I liked then, I still like now. 'Woman in Chains,' 'Badman's Song,' 'Sowing the Seeds of Love,' and 'Advice For The Young At Heart' have all stuck around. We still play those live."

RELEASED OCTOBER 9th, 2020 ON UMe/VIRGIN

Super Deluxe Box Set https://tearsforfears.lnk.to/TSOL
D2C Picture Disc https://tearsforfears.lnk.to/TSOL


SHOWTIME has picked up MOONBASE 8, a new half-hour comedy series from A24 set to debut this fall. Starring Emmy® nominee Fred Armisen (Portlandia), Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) and Golden Globe®  and Academy Award®  nominee John C. Reilly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), the six-episode series is a workplace comedy that follows three subpar astronauts living at NASA’s Moon Base Simulator with high hopes of being chosen to travel to the moon. Created, written and executive produced by Armisen, Heidecker, Reilly and Emmy nominee Jonathan Krisel (Baskets), who also serves as series director, MOONBASE 8 is produced by A24 and Abso Lutely Productions. The announcement was made today by Jana Winograde, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.  “In a year when we have all been forced to come to terms with life in close quarters, we are happy to have landed this offbeat take on life in captivity with dreams of escaping to something grander,” said Winograde. “While the show was produced before the pandemic, its subject matter is timely – and thanks to Fred, Tim, John and Jonathan, its humor is timeless.”  

Sunday, August 16, 2020

57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 16, 2020


The Alienist: Angel of Darkness : Did they not have handcuffs in the early 20th century? Maybe this is why the invented them and instructed cops to search a subject. That was pretty stupid to turn his back on a murder suspect. Almost as dumb when the team entered the house of someone they knew had a gun. At least the brother with a vendetta just happened to tag along too.
You can download The Alienist: Angel of Darkness on iTunes.

The Chi: Oh wow, Ronnie was able to free Keisha with a couple episodes to go. I wonder where they go next. Is that dude dead? If not, could he sue Ronnie for breaking into his house/assault? I know the police cannot do it, but what if it is a citizen? But lucky Kevin, gets caught almost forking someone’s daughter, but saved by a phone call about his missing sister. Kind of have to cut him some slack there.

Stargirl: Of course I was right that Brainwave Jr. was not dead… oh wait, that was really his dad. And Wildcat just slit his throat. Ouch. Shiv just killed her own father. And the little brother just shattered Icicle. Man, they just offed most of the Injustice Society. Yet Hourman Jr. just let Solomon Grundy just bolt. Um, just where is some from the swamp halfwit going to go. But they did tease a few people to show up in season two. Granted I had no clue who the shady dude was or what was going on with the gem. But I did recognize the not dead Starman. But is that really Starman.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: When all those SHIELD agents show up in darkness, when they finally stepped into the light, I thought maybe they would be recognizable people. Oh well. And that was a pretty convoluted explanation of what was going on with Fitz this whole time. That probably should have been longer. And since Mac and YoYo were in Russia, I wonder if that was supposed to tie into the Black Widow movie that was supposed premiere this spring. I also wonder is the there was supposed to be an end credits tie in like usual, maybe to the Winter Soldier which was supposed to premiere this month but has not been able to finish because of the Coronapocalypse.
You can download Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Selena + Chef: I want Selena's knife set. So if anyone want to get a jump on Christmas shopping for me, there you go. But that first dude really needed subtitles. Not good when the wife has to step in to "translate" him.