If you've been with HIP from the beginning, you've been sent three terrific videos from Bloc Party: one for "Banquet", another for "Helicopters", and a third for the lead U.S. single from A Weekend In The City, "I Still Remember". The three clips introduced viewers to some seriously altered states - the "Banquet" video introduced the group with a trippy, restless camera effect, "Helicopter" was an animated phantasmagoria, and "I Still Remember" used a passenger train as a visual metaphor for the impermanence of memory. The message is clear: sure, Bloc Party makes you want to dance, but theirs is head music too, thoughtful, multidimensional, and often subtly mind-expanding. And as Kele Okereke's writing has become more sophisticated and emotionally nuanced, directors have paired his songs with images that reflect that development.
Walter Stern's (David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Spiritualized, Massive Attack) clip for "The Prayer" continues that growth. Superficially, it's the story of an evening out: a typical evening spent clubbing among a set of stylish twentysomethings. The camera finds the four members of Bloc Party relaxing on sofas in a London night spot; around them, other young men and women take to the dance floor, but they're reticent, watching the interaction from easy chairs. Their expressions are uneasy and their postures are slightly defensive - it's not that they don't belong or that they don't appreciate the comely dancers, it's that they're guarded, cautious, uncomfortable with ostentatious displays of sexuality, worried about getting burned. Ironic, then, that the song itself - which peaked at #4 on the U.K. charts earlier this year - is a wild wish for dance-floor abandon and sexual confidence. With its gigantic beat and its insistent riffs, it's a departure for Bloc Party - at once the most club-friendly track they've ever recorded and something utterly unlike anything else on contemporary radio. "The Prayer" is a song destined to further the quartet's claim to be America's favorite British rock band.
The band was formed by singer Vaden Todd Lewis (formerly of Toadies) and drummer Patrick "Taz" Bentley (formerly of Reverend Horton Heat, Tenderloin, and the Izzy Stradlin Band) in 2002.
The band can be regarded as a Texas rock supergroup since its members were all members of other Texas-based bands (of varying success and popularity) before joining the Burden Brothers. Guitarists Corey Rozzoni (formerly of Clumsy) and Casey Hess (formerly of Doosu and Jump Rope Girls) and bassist Zack Busby (formerly of Slow Roosevelt and Halls of the Machine) round out the band.
Butch Walker is a recording artist, songwriter, and record producer.
Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia and stood out as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the '80s including Bad Boyz and Byte the Bullet. In 1988, he took Byte the Bullet to LA and they were signed to Virgin Records within the year. The band changed names to SouthGang and released two albums, Tainted Angel in 1991 and Group Therapy in 1992. SouthGang was one of the first bands to tour China in the early '90s.
Afterwards, Butch took over lead vocals and with ex-SouthGang members Jayce Fincher and Mitch McLee formed several bands in the 90s including Floyds Funk Revival, The Floyds, and the popular pop-rock band Marvelous 3 which had a relatively successful hit with the song "Freak Of The Week." After the break-up of the band in early 2000, Butch then began a solo career, releasing the albums Left of Self-Centered in 2002 and Letters in 2004, finishing 2005 playing over 200 live shows across both the U.S. and Japan. Butch Walker was recently featured as a headlining artist on the My Space promoted Inaugural Hotel Cafe tour - supporting independent artists from the Los Angeles Venue of the same name.
Several of his songs have been hits for other artists, including Bowling for Soup's "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" and Avril Lavigne's #1 Hit "My Happy Ending". He has written and produced records for such artists as Bowling for Soup, Pink, Lindsay Lohan, Avril Lavigne, Lit, Sevendust, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi and SR-71.
In late 2005, he released his first DVD "Live At Budokan." On July 11th, 2006, his newest record was released, entitled "The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites," which he recorded with his backing band, the Let's Go Out Tonites. Butch Walker was named Rolling Stone producer of the year in 2005. He will be the producer for the new Rockstar:Supernova group.
Walker was a guest judge on the second season of the American reality television program Rock Star, during which, in consultation with Walker, Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke, and Jason Newsted will select a lead singer for a new band, Supernova (Rock Star band), to comprise the three, the first album of which Walker will produce.
Cake (officially capitalized "CAKE") is a band from Sacramento, California. They have had several hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s from six albums. Check this video out on Xyzmp3.com!
Chevelle (pronounced sh?-VELL) is an alternative metal/hard rock band from Chicago, Illinois founded in 1994 by brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler with the later addition of Joe Loeffler in 1996 (who was replaced by the Loeffler's brother-in-law, Dean Bernardini). The band's name refers to the Loeffler brothers' father's favorite car.
That audience already knows all about Chromeo from the underground hit She's In Control - a synthpop-R&B explosion that favorite that spawned several dancefloor favorites. Walk into the hippest bar you know and wait until midnight; chances are, the deejay will start spinning Chromeo. Fancy Footwork, the follow-up, features everything that made She's In Control so irresistible - but this time out, the beats are bigger, the colors are brighter, the subject matter is sexier, and the synthesizers are dizzier, catchier, more intricate, and more mesmerizing. "Tenderoni" is a good case in point: Dave 1 and P-Thugg augment their vocoderized melody with synths that bubble and twitter around the edges of the mix; each time a new sound is introduced, the song slips a gear, and becomes even funkier and more propulsive.
Crossfade is a post-grunge/hard rock band from Columbia, South Carolina. The group was formed in 1999 with singer and guitarist Ed Sloan, bassist and backing vocalist Mitch James, and drummer Brian Geiger as the power trio The Nothing. The band changed its name to Crossfade in 2002, and later added singer and DJ Tony Byroads. Crossfade attracted the interest of the Los Angeles, California A&R company Taxi, which ultimately led to the signing of a record deal with the Earshot division of Columbia Records. They released their first full-length album on April 13, 2004.
Crossfade's latest album, Falling Away, was released on August 29, 2006 on Columbia Records.
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