interview: jerome mendoza aka panda (2008)

first off, i am way too bored at work. hence why this is even a real post. on topic of discussing jerome's laziness, we came to the conclusion that he is permanently on indefinite hiatus. to prove he is even more lazy than previously thought, I WROTE THIS FOR HIM:

hiatus (2008-2011)

yo i'm on a permanent indefinite hiatus, and may or may not post 30 more times in the next year.

-jerome

p.s. most of my updates will be about the clothes i've bought or the tattoos i've gotten.

in a brief interview (in between his meth binges at work)with the panda, he did mention this to the devout weworemasks readers:

''i, panda, do panadly swear to update the blog at least 3 times a week for the rest of the year. if i fail to do so, i will listen to the bc-13 album and claim it as my AOTY.''

-jerome mendoza

you heard it here first, folks. enjoy your halloween.

-grizzly, on behalf of panda.

royce da 5'9 - give back your guns f. talib kweli and raekwon (2009)

epic collaboration is epic collaboration. as if this wasn't gonna be the case, every single dude goes in on this song and they all hold their own. not sure who produced it, though.

download:

royce da 5'9 - give back your guns f. talib kweli and raekwon

-grizzly da 5'8

glc - i ain't even on yet mixtape (2008)

glc where wuz we?!

fresh mixtape (with one of the dopest titles ever) from glc and g.o.o.d. music featuring guest appearances and production from snoop dogg, r kelly, dr. dre, and kanye west, among others. don't sleep on this one.

glc on myspace.

download i ain't even on yet:


- panda

mick boogie and terry urban present: viva la hova (2008)

AWWWWWWWW SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT. the ROC is definitely in the building.. and he brought some friends from across the pond. fresh mash-up release from mick boogie and terry urban that features production assistance from the likes of 9th wonder, coldplay, the amps, 6th sense, and so on.. get your grubby little hands on this and throw your diamonds in the sky (from on top of a mountain overlooking the english countryside).

official viva la hova blog/website.

download viva la hova:


- viva la panda

charles hamilton - the L word mixtape (2008)

WORD. fresh new mixtape from the leader of the soul sonic force. this kid is definitely on his grind. dig.

charles hamilton on myspace.

download the L word mixtape:



- the P word

interview: thrice (oct. 27, 2008)

so i got the chance to sit down with riley breckenridge of thrice, and it ruled. they've been one of my favorite bands for a long ass time and this was my 16th time seeing them. all fanboy-isms aside, here's the interview. for those of you on the fence about the gaslight anthem/thrice/alkaline trio/rise against tour, PLEASE GO.

texas was lucky in the sense that we didn't have to see rise against play the same song 20 times, but the rest of the lineup was stellar. alkaline trio played all sorts of old shit, ranging from "cringe" to "i lied my face off" to "hell yes" and "goodbye forever." thrice did their usual varied set with some surprises..."blood clots and black holes" and "betrayal is a symptom" anyway, i'll stop rambling and let you read the interview with riley, in which he discusses deadbolt, the alchemy index, and the upcoming CD/DVD release among other things.

oh and for the record, i'm bhatt, he's RB. we just happen to share the same initials, so i needed something to differentiate the two.

Interview with Riley Breckenridge of Thrice
October 27, 2008
Houston, TX


Roshan Bhatt, The Daily Cougar: What is your name, and what do you do in Thrice?
Riley Breckenridge, Thrice: I’m Riley Breckenridge, and I play drums for Thrice.

Bhatt: How’s the current tour going?

RB: It’s been cool. One of reasons we wanted to do this tour besides being friends with Alkaline Trio for 7 years and Rise Against from a couple Warped Tours was because it was going to give us an opportunity to play for people that might not have seen us before. It’s been awesome, but it’s been a little bit of an adjustment. The last three years of touring we’ve done have been headlining tours or [direct] support tours, and this one, we’re 2 of 4, and playing for 40 minutes. Our night is over at 8:30. It’s taken a while to get used to but now we’re finding our stride.

Bhatt: What are the main differences between supporting and headlining?

RB: Headlining, obviously you’re a lot busier. You load in earlier, you get nightly sound checks and you have to deal with more press. With this tour, it’s just like “Holy crap, what am I going to do all night?” It’s just a lot more of just sitting around, because we’re not sound checking, the press load is a lot less, and we’re only playing for 40 minutes, but it’s easy. It’s like a vacation. There’s a lot of time to hang out with the other bands.

Bhatt:Last time I saw Thrice and Alkaline Trio tour together was the Vans Warped Tour in 2002. I don’t know if you’ve toured together since then, though.

RB: No, we haven’t toured since then. We’ve run into them a few times at festivals and stuff.

Bhatt: On the Circa Survive tour, there were several obnoxious kids yelling “Deadbolt!” all night and Dustin even had to say something. Is this commonplace for Thrice?

RB: [Laughs] That happens at every show. It happens more than I think any of us would like it to happen. I understand people want to hear that song, even though we haven’t been playing that song on this tour. But mainly because we’ve been playing it at every show since 2002. The only time that it’s a bum out is because there are some songs like “Come All You Weary” or “The Earth Will Shake” or “The Whaler” where a lot of that song has to do with the mood and trying to set up this mood for the audience. Like if it was just Dustin with an acoustic guitar or just even a really mellow keyboard line, it’s important that it’s quiet. A lot of that song has to do with the mood, and when you have someone yelling “DEADBOOLLLLLT” during the middle of it, it ruins the moment for the people who actually want to see it. And we’re not gonna play it any quicker if you yell it at us. It’s usually last or towards the end, so just because you yell it at the end of every song, we’re not gonna be like “Oh yeah! We should play it.” We’ve even had people yell it AFTER we just played it. Like really? Some people go to shows for music, and some go to be seen.

Bhatt: Are there any plans of formally retiring the song?

RB: I don’t think so. The only song we’ve beneficially retired is T & C, mainly because Deadbolt was the new T & C. At certain times, it’s just like you need to put a song to bed for a tour or a year, then you go back and revisit it, like we revisited “Blood Clots and Black Holes,” which we’ve played every night this tour.

Bhatt: Are there going to be any more tours for The Alchemy Index?

RB: Nope. The plan is to go home after this tour. We started sharing ideas for the next record, so we’ll take a month off to relax and write on our own at home. At the beginning of 2009, we’ll start writing and recording for the new record.

Bhatt: What did you hope to achieve with The Alchemy Index, and do you think you achieved it? And what is your personal favorite EP?

RB: I think the goal with the index was just to try a lot of new things and not worry about turning a part or turning a song that felt “Thrice-ish.” Songs like “The Whaler,” which has Rhodes keyboard and electronic drumming, just really mellow. The idea for that on previous records would be wondering how to fit this into a song or transform it to something more like Thrice. With this, we just let the ideas be what they were instead of molding. The overall goal was to experiment and push ourselves in new directions and to record our own record. I think we were successful in all aspects and we learned a lot from it. We are really energized and excited about what’s next because of it. My favorite EP to play is Fire, because I’m drawn to the physical side of drumming. with Fire, I’m as active as I can be. But to listen to, I really like the Water disc.

Bhatt: So most of the members of Thrice have families now. Is thrice everyone’s priorities? Are we going to see more albums?

RB: Yeah, you’ll definitely see more albums. Obviously, the guys with families have their families as their top priority. So the only thing that’ll change is instead of touring 8-10 months out of the year, we’ll tour 6 months. Since the guys have had kids, they obviously need to spend more time at home, and that’s always ok. So we’re touring less, but the desire to create and write music is still there, and that’s still everyone’s top priority.

Bhatt: Considering your musical evolution and progression, do you feel detached from material from The Illusion of Safety and The Artist in the Ambulance?

RB: A little bit. It kinda depends on the song. A song like “Trust” from IOS still feels good now, because it has a little bit more “feel” than the other stuff. The thing that we’ve tried to learn since the old days is we’ve tried to play with more feel, or groove or how to create space. Since the old days, it was all about playing fast and how many riffs can we stuff into this song. “Feel” never entered our minds. So now, after playing and concentrating on feel, you go back and feel tense again, because it’s uncomfortable to play. So I don’t know, not necessarily detached, just in a different space. Detached makes it seem like you’re permanently done with it, but I just think we’re in a different headspace now.

Bhatt: So you guys have a CD/DVD release, Live at the House of Blues coming out soon. How’d that come about?

RB: Well it’s coming out December 9th. It was a hometown show at the Anaheim House of Blues, and LiveNation had some HD cameras set up and wanted to film the show, and we just decided to make a DVD out of it. So we played the longest set we’ve ever played. It’s 25 songs, so we recorded it, and Teppei mixed the audio. I saw some of the edits and for not having a massive budget like My Chemical Romance or Coldplay, I think it came out really good. I think people will enjoy it.

Bhatt: What does your current playlist look like?

RB: Well there’s this band called Intronaut, that’s like tech-ish, progressive metal. I’ve been listening to the new Kings of Leon, the new Stills record. We played with this band called Rosetta in Westchester, and I’ve been into them for a while, but I got the chance to see them live and it got me back to listening to them again. I’ve been doing a lot of iPod shuffling. I like everything that’s on there now and the best way to keep from getting stuck on one thing and to keep getting influences from different types of music.

Bhatt: What about books? Is there anything you’ve been reading lately?

RB: I’m reading “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” by David Foster Wallace. I did a blog post about this. I was an English major and I’ve read a few of his essays on accident because they were assigned, and after he died I read all these tributes and letters by authors I really like. Writers like Dave Eggers, Chuck Klosterman and Bill Simons, who is a sports writer for ESPN. All of these guys are coming out of the woodwork saying Wallace was a huge influence on them, so I’m thinking I need to see where these guys are getting their influence from.

Bhatt: So I heard you’re playing Helter Skelter [by the Beatles] on this tour? Why a cover? I haven’t seen you play a cover in a long time.

RB: Just to switch it up. Since this is the last tour on this record, and we’ve been playing these songs for a while. We just wanted to switch it up and instead of playing Deadbolt for the 50,000th time; we just wanted to do a Beatles cover. It’s in the middle of the set and it kind of just gives us a break.

Bhatt: Ok well do you have blisters on your fingers? And who’s yelling that tonight?

RB: I do have blisters on my fingers. And maybe I will [laughs].

Bhatt: Well that’s pretty much it; would you like to add anything else?

RB: Thank you to anyone who has been supporting us whether you’ve been listening to us since 2000 or you’re just getting into us. We’re just lucky to be doing what we’re doing, so thanks.

enjoy. setlists in the comments.

-grizzly

attn: weworebanners (2008)

new banner courtesy of jerome. holla at kate moss.

check out banner, michael!

-weworemasks

video: lost - season five trailer (2009)

get excited! february 09.

-grizzly

concert review: portugal. the man (october 19, 2008)

caught portugal. the man sunday. did a write-up. you know the drill.

readddddddddd

-grizzly. the man

designer drugs (2008)

for those of you who are currently located in houston, hit up boondocks for one of the better parties to hit this town in a while. designer drugs will be spinning tonight and bringing nothing but heaters to shake to. 10PM/no cover.

designer drugs on myspace.

download (right click, save as):

hail social - heaven (dd remix)

fake shark real zombie - designer drugs (dd remix)

iamx - spit it out (dd remix)

mariah carey - i'll be lovin' you (dd remix) - REAL TALK!

-designer grizzlies

dj green lantern and russell simmons presents: yes we can mixtape (2008)

can we kick it?

dj green lantern put together this pro-obama mixtape, and russell simmons hosts this solid compilation. a lot of hot names on this one. now, we're not the most poltical bears, and i'm not trying to speak for panda, but i'm 100% positive we're on the same page. here's the version with split tracks. hit the comments for a tracklisting.

dj green lantern on myspace.

download (right click, save as):



-grizzly

interview: wintersleep (10-16-08)

i recently interviewed mike bigelow from wintersleep/holy fuck (on behalf of wintersleep, though). wintersleep is a melodic/indie/rock band out of halifax, nova scotia and are recommended if you like band of horses and similar acts. i'll be catching them open for portugal. the man come this sunday, so it should be a good show. holler at these guys on myspace and check some of their tunes out. if you dig, hit up the 40+ date portugal tour that started earlier this week.

read the interview/show preview here.

download:

wintersleep - archaeologists

check out their video for "weighty ghost" here:



-grizzlysleep

video: jay-z - live at the palladium (10-15-08)

here's a recap of hova's show last night in hollywood for the re-opening of the palladium. he's in screwston doing the grand opening of the house of blues, and i'm hating every minute of my life knowing i can't go. unfortunately, a $225 dollar ticket is not the most friendly expense for my bank account at this moment, and there wasn't a chance in the world for press to happen.

for anyone who somehow manages to get to the jigga set tonight, i hate you. i hope you have a horrible time when he plays a two hour plus set with a 12-piece backing band and dj am.

click this to catch him and tip doing their thing on "swagga like us."

and head over to miss info to catch a bunch of clips from the show.

-g to the izzo

p.s. i've spent the last 30 minutes at work watching these.

the knux - fire (2008)

dude's dropped a new hot ass (no pun intended) track off of their album, which is due out in a few weeks. don't sleep on it.

the knux on myspace.

download:

the knux - fire

-grizzly

one year in the bag

so it turns out, we've been doing this blog shit for over a year now. we've managed to stay afloat and have yet to get shut down by google, despite all the piracy (that neither of us are apart of..i mean we find links online and just happen to post them). in typical bear fashion, this post is about 11 days late, so just pretend we posted this 11 days ago.

here's to another year of lazy and late blogging.

holla at cha boys.

-wwm

album review: senses fail - life is not a waiting room (2008)

Artist: Senses Fail
Album: Life is Not a Waiting Room
Record Label: Vagrant Records
Release Date: Oct 7, 2008



It's completely understandable that Senses Fail follows the formula that garnered it recognition and praise in the past two years. Regardless of preference, it's hard to deny the progression the group made from its debut LP Let in Enfold You to Still Searching. However, if the formula wasn't that extraordinary to begin with, there will continue to be detractors, and for a band as contrived and generic as Senses Fail, it's no surprise that Still Searching sold more than 750,000 albums.

Life is Not a Waiting Room is the New Jersey quintet's third full-length album and second on Vagrant Records. Like every band that is on the brink of releasing a new album, this is the group's "best music to date." Singer Buddy Nielson described the songs as "having a real sense of urgency" and having a lot of "grit and power." Guess you could say most of us are still searching for that. Bad puns aside, on to the album.

Waiting Room kicks off with "Fireworks at Dawn," which is more or less the album's best song. The drumming intro sets a cadence that is hard to ignore, but the band fails to follow through after this. The rest of the album is uninspired and cliché, as it is song after song of dark and haunting themes over melodic and moderately heavy music.

The main strengths in Senses Fail are the musicians, namely the guitarists. Heath Saraceno and Garrett Zablocki do a pristine job at handling the guitar duties, with tip-top solos in "Lungs Like Gallows" and "Wolves at the Door." The drummer, Dan Trapp, is talented as well, albeit generic. The group even teamed up with producer Brian McTernan, whose work behind the boards is definitely something to write home about, and the production on Waiting Room is equally glossy.

Since the release of its 2002 EP From the Depths of Dreams Senses Fail has yet to progress lyrically. Nielson still writes with the same childish metaphors and imagery that has graced every past release in Senses Fail's discography. In "Garden State," the lyrics "There will be a riot in my heart soon / It wants to beat beneath the open sky" seem to be derived from a 15-year-old's LiveJournal.

Vocally, Nielson is proof that anyone can become a singer. As a 24-year-old, his vocals lack the depth and range that would validate a good singer. Because talent is generally lost with Nielson, it would be in the group's best interest to find a frontman who doesn't hold the band back from reaching its potential.

In short, if you can manage to make it through Life is Not a Waiting Room without a cringe or even mild to heavy laughter, then this is the album for you. Senses Fail brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Yes, they managed to progress once in their career, but the end product is still contrived and lacks any real substance. Overall, Senses Fail epitomizes what you should not be listening to.


Grade: F

yeaaaah. only reason a review for this exists is because of school.

-grizzly

jim....jones?

there's really no purpose to this post but to flame jim jones. this clown said "fuck nas" and that nas "has never been on his level." woooooooooooooooooooooow.

i hope to god for all things hip-hop nas goes into the studio and cooks up ether part two and lays this dipset jerk-off to waste.

i mean, seriously? the dude who wrote "we fly high" is goin' in at who 90% of people consider top 5 of all time. riiiiiiiiiight.

source.

The Diplomats' newly-appointed leader also made it known that after problems with Jay-Z, he now sees Nas as a foe, if the Queensbridge emcee were at Jones' status. "Fuck Nas. I don’t give a fuck about Nas. He’s a rapper that just lost his pizazz. When I was in high school, he was the shit. He was the nigga that got us hype. 'New York State Of Mind,' Illmatic and all of that."

The Harlem rapper revealed that while with business consultant and longtime friend Dame Dash, the two ran into Nas recently at a Los Angeles Ferrari dealership. "Dame seen him and was talking to him. I was laying back on a couch laughing. He didn’t know what to do. I was looking dead at him. [Laughs]. And then Dame was like, 'You know Jim?' He started [stammering], 'Ah? Ah?' Dame is just burnt out. He not thinking about none of that frivolous [beef] shit. Me neither for the most part. Nas was never on my level ever. Ever."

-grizzly

concert review: gym class heroes/estelle (october 10, 2008)

i know all you assholes hate the GCH posts, but i had to review the show for school, and it's always nice to post things, right? this will be the last GCH post, at least for a while. so as a final plug, get on the quilt. shit's hot.

either way, i've included the stressed out remixes (itunes bonus tracks) of live a little, cookie jar and blinded by the sun as a thank you for ignoring what i wrote.

read the show review here.

download:

gym class heroes - stressed out remixes (live a little, cookie jar, blinded by the sun)

-grizzly

video: thrice - live at the metro theatre (2008)

holy shit. this is a great set from thrice, and you can stream the entire thing. thrice is the band i've personally seen more than any other band (15 times, currently) and they never cease to amaze me. one of the best all around bands of all time (yeah!) and one of the better live performers that i've seen. this set has a lot of goodies you won't see at every show; the whaler, of dust and nations, all that's left, cold cash, etc. i just spent the last hour watching it, and now you should too. can't wait to catch em on the tour with alkaline trio.

the stream is very HQ and i was able to stream it perfectly fine without any major buffering issues. and i have really shitty internet.

catch thrice's live set at the metro theatre here.

-of dust and grizzlies

iamx - spit it out (designer drugs remix) (2008)

it's funny, because i just spun the alternative the other day and this remix just surfaced over the past few days. designer drugs do a great job with the remixes and teamed up with iamx this time around for a dope remix of the best track off of the alternative. the vocals have been tweaked a bit and sound great. anyone know when corner is droppin' a new album? holla at jerome for puttin' me on to this weird ass dude, but unlike the thing from tokio hotel, corner is actually talented.

iamx on myspace.
designer drugs on myspace.

download:

iamx - spit it out (designer drugs remix)

-iamg

moving mountains - with one's heart in one's mouth (2008)

about time i heard something new from these guys. their last album, pneuma, was literally the first album i posted about here on weworemasks, and was my #2 of 2007. brilliant album, and this song is no different.

go preorder foreword.

listen to "with one's heart in one's mouth" on moving mountains' myspace.

get excited. oh, and if you live in new york and don't catch this band live with as tall as lions, i officially hate you and want you to die.

-moving grizzlies

movie recap: eagle eye (2008)

caught this flick last night. to clear up: i'm a sucker for governmental/cia/crime/terrorist/whatever movies, regardless of how shitty they looked. i mean i rented the sentinel for the sole reason that kiefer sutherland was in it. (24 REPRESENT!) but seriously, what the fuck was this?

this was one of the most disconnected, unrealistic and downright ridiculous movies i've ever seen in my life. visually speaking, the movie's incredible. cgi just keeps getting more and more realistic. but getting framed and being able to escape from a maximum security prison in less than 8 minutes of film time among COUNTLESS other things are just ridiculous. in my time, i've let the most outlandish things slide in the name of entertainment. first thing that comes to mind is jack bauer landing a fucking plane on a los angeles freeway.

several people told me that this movie was "great," "awesome" or "badass." but if i had to describe the movie in three words, they would be "shitty," "shit" and "shit."

shia laBUFF [sic] is a great actor. i mean, he's come a long way since even stevens, which was still awesome. even though this movie is a tanker, he's great in it.

so if you like completely unrealistic action movies, and can suspend disbelief for around two hours, then this is the movie of the year. otherwise, save your 8 bucks. stream it from a website or something.

grade: NO.

-grizzly's eye

le castle vania - zero machine (2008)

dylan's got his shit on lock. i don't think he's done a remix or a track that hasn't been better than most of the generic electro shit that is pumped out of whatever blog on a daily basis. with "zero machine," he gets his genre-bending on and samples smashing pumpkins' "zero." so good.

le castle vania on myspace
always never entertainment

download (right click, save as):

le castle vania - zero machine

-le grizzly vania

movie recap: nick and norah's infinite playlist (2008)

so i finally managed to get into a movie theater (twice in one week!) and i ended up catching nick and norah's infinite playlist on opening night. yes, i realize i'm a little late, but that's just a part of being a contributor to this blog. aside from the inevitable "overrated" tag that this movie is going to get, it was a solid movie.

completely entertaining, not too long, decent cast and of course, a typical indie-based soundtrack to cater to the wannabe pitchforker's out there. the premise is your standard run of the mill teenage heartbreak-turns-confusion-turns-sad-turns-bitter love story between cera and his ex-girlfriend, which ultimately leads him to his musical soul mate, kat dennings. dennings was a mediocre choice for the role, and to be honest, ellen page would've nailed this. unfortunately, that would be retarded...you know, with JUNO and all.

if you liked juno and its dry humor, you'll probably like this one. nick and norah pales in comparison to juno, as far as flicks with michael cera go. he's a cool dude, but from the looks of it, he's been typecasted into this certain role for a long time. he has a lot of potential, but until that breakthrough falls into place for him, i don't see many more movies coming from him. i really don't care though. HE WAS GEORGE MICHAEL ON ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

the soundtrack rules for the hipster douchebag in all of us. from vampire weekend to devendra banhart to band of horses, the soundtrack definitely has a fair share of credible namedrops.

but to sum up, the movie is entertaining and cute enough to bring a lady along for a date.

grade: C+

p.s. am i the only one who wishes where's fluffy? was real?

p.p.s. here's vampire weekend's (sorry jerome) brand new track, featured on the soundtrack:

vampire weekend - ottoman


-grizzly's infinite playlist

music video: kanye west - love lockdown (2008)

dude can pull off boat shoes. nuff said.

-grizzly

scion presents: fool's gold remixed (2008)

here's the thing. i love this record label. and truly, i love i heart comix. but something's wrong with franki chan. the label gave out FREE copies of their last mixtape/sampler, yet when blogs posted them up for download, he had them take it down. am i not understanding something? whatever. so to avoid getting stabbed, hacked or robbed by franki chan, i'll just point you over to IHC's website to download four remixes of fool's gold records artists for your listening pleasure. especially to the latter two.

i'm sure i'll end up with a box of 200 samplers one day, except instead of samplers, it'll be some sort of explosive courtesy of franki chan and iheartcomix.

*THESE ARE NOT MY LINKS*

download DIRECTLY FROM FRANKI CHAN (right click, save as):

jokers of the scene - baggy bottom boys (jots remix)

nacho lovers - acid life (surkin remix)

kid sister - pro nails (rusko remix)

kid cudi - day n nite (jori hulkkonen remix)

-r.i.p. grizzly

music video: atmosphere - you (2008)

panda's not a co-signer on slug, but i personally love the football jock from minnesota yelling his raps at me at a different (much louder) frequency. i kid i kid. but seriously, when life gives you lemons...is a regular bump on the ipod, and it was pretty shady not to catch atmosphere's show last monday (even though it would've been free). i mean sometimes, i actually study and go to school.

but seriously, don't ask jerome about slug or atmosphere.

atmosphere on myspace.

-grizzly

mstrkrft - bounce (a-trak remix) (2008)

a-trak has done it again. even if 5,000 people remix the same song, then a-trak can remix it and put them all to shame. shit's heat. now i'm just waiting on him to do a remix to love lockdown. seriously.

a-trak on myspace

download:

mstrkrft - bounce (a-trak remix)

-grizzly

music video: common - universal mind control f. pharrell (2008)

fresh fresh fresh video for common's new track "universal mind control". dope video, but i wish pharrell was in it. diiiiiig.


- universal panda control

spotlight?

sorry about the lack of spotlight artists. i'll talk to roshan so we can get on something. if you think there's artists we should be featuring (or just joints we should be posting about in general).. let us know via the shoutbox, aim, email, myspace, cell phones, love letters written in blood, knocking on our windows at 3am, etc. wlu.

- bearz

p.s. bad music = no.

video: justice - a cross the universe teaser (nsfw) (2008)

epic. epic. epic. epic.

trailer for justice's upcoming (nov. 24th) documentary/live cd/dvd. get ready.

- panda

p.s. LOLOLOL @ the video capture.

shad - the old prince (2007)

you might remember shad from my earlier post about his first album, when this is over. well the poetic emcee is back with his 2007 follow up, the old prince.

shad's ability to ride a beat with his impeccable flow shines even more than on his debut, and his word play is definitely on point. all you common, talib, and phonte fans need to be dropping this dudes name in threads on your favorite forums. just be sure to tell em who sent ya.

shad on myspace.

download the old prince:


- panda

pollen

pollen were one of the last truly talented bands to release an album through fueled by ramen (and contrary to most fueled by ramen bands, there's a huge lack of photographs of them on the interweb). sounding like texas is the reason, gameface, jimmy eat world, and the descendants started an all star power pop group, pollen released four albums before disbanding in 2000. fans of newer-school bands like the get up kids and hot rod circuit would also certainly be into this. huge guitar riffs, insanely catchy choruses, and an intricate rhythm section to boot.

drummer/principal songwriter/lyricist bob hoag has gone on to record some of your favorite bands (including little compass, dear and the headlights, the format, the bled, and the first band i ever sang for.. heist at hand) at his flying blanket studios in arizona. he was also recruited as keyboardist/pianist for the ataris on their last album/tour.

flying blanket studios.

fan run pollen myspace.

download chip:


download peach tree:


- panda

video: kanye west - heartless live in L.A. (2008)

obviously this video is making the blog rounds, and i'm sure many of you have seen it.. but what kind of bears would we be if we didn't report on our boy?

short video of ye performing the second single from 808s at T.I.'s myspace show:



word is the album has been turned in and is set to be released on november 25th. kanye on the 25th and hov a week later???! greatest. birthday. week. ever.


- how could you be so pandaaaaaaa?

RJD2 - since we last spoke (2004)

rjd2 knows how to make music. he knows how to make incredibly diverse music. yet he goes under so many people's radars it's criminal. take one part wax tailor, one part gorillaz (minus the novelty), one part dj shadow, and add in a lot of musicianship and soul.. that should help give you an idea of what's going on here. i've had this album since it came out in '04, and it still sounds as fresh as it did the day i first heard it (especially "making days longer".. incredible). put this one on in your car at night, roll the windows down, and let rjd2 take you on his ride (and don't forget to come back here and thank me). safe.


rjd2 on myspace.

download since we last spoke:



- panda

music video: the knux - bang bang (2008)

man this album is going to be a sleeper this year. hopefully enough hipsters get on this tip immediately. i'm loving what i hear. anticipation building.

-grizzly

t.i. - paper trail b-sides (2008)

this album had A LOT of hype and is just overall one of the best hip-hop releases all year. i can't stop bumpin this shit. no filler on this album. here are some b-sides. the first two are itunes bonus tracks, and propane (yes, t-pain even teams up with t.i.) is off of a mixtape or some shit.

listen to paper trail.

download:

collect call (itunes)

i know you missed me (itunes)

propane (f. t-pain)

-grizzly trail