hmvblogs - blogs by hmv

blasts from the past

I'm playing the new Extreme album right now & it made me think that there's been a fair bit of this late 80's early 90's rock getting released about now. This is a brand new album from three quarters of the original lineup who got back together after a decade or so apart & really could have been recorded back then too. Other releases come from former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach (which features Axl Rose on a few tracks), Journey and there's a new Backyard Babies on the way. Perhaps they're all spurred on by the Guitar Hero phenomenon, or the imminent arrival of Chinese Democracy?

One That Passed Me By...

I saw a great film while i was visiting friends in Madrid last weekend (where i got nice and sunburnt). Children of Men totally passed me by when it came out, although it received a great deal of acclaim at the time. Set in 2027, in a world where the population is no longer capable of reproducing, a woman miraculously conceives. Clive Owen agrees to escort her to a safe area, where scientists hope to find the key to saving the human race. There's a hint of sci-fi in the film, but mostly its purpose seems to be to make you think. No explanation is given as to why humans can no longer produce offspring, or to why this one woman suddenly does, and we are left to ponder the implications of this. It's very 1984, and quite, quite brilliant. The second to last scene seems to be one long take, with a battle taking place, and it's genius film making. I really enjoyed Michael Caine's small role as a pot smoking hippy - it was a refreshing change from his usual cockney sterotype. If you've not seen the film, i give it a nine out of ten...I can't believe the same director (Alfonso Cuaron) made Y Tu Mama Tambien. This is a major achievement.

Iconic moments in gaming: episode one

Final Fantasy VII: about 30 hours in, probably around half way through the second disc. You’re buried deep in the story, and are close to mastering most of your materia. You’ve captured almost all summons, but are still missing the one that you heard some kid in Year 9 talking about – Knights of the Round.

Hours of hunting, breeding and racing Chocobos ensues, until finally you breed an illustrious Gold Chocobo. You then travel to an otherwise inaccessible north-eastern island, where you discover your prize, equip it – before unleashing hell on some unsuspecting low-levelled monster. You sit back, and watch the entire, jaw-dropping attack in all its glory. Awesome.

A Short Guide To 'Tweecore'...

Over the past few years, twee indie (twindie!) has become one of my favourite little avenues of music. Maybe i'm getting old, but at some point i suddely decided that bands who wear nice patterned jumpers and sing about the ultra mundane are alright with me! I suppose my interest began with Belle and Sebastian's 'Dog On Wheels' single, or maybe with the Vaselines (who are recently reformed - hurrah!). Their first three albums are personal favourites of mine, especially lyrically. I saw them play 'If You're Feeling Sinister' at the Barbican a couple of years ago, and i have to say that it was a near perfect evening of tweeness. Recent months have yielded a good crop of tweeness too, with Los Capesinos putting out one of the best indie albums in ages. I saw them play at ATP earlier this year and was amused at their endearing overuse of glockenspiels and earnest (if a little silly) posing. The singer had a little cry too, being a bit overcome by the crowd's adulation. Bless! Antarctica Takes it and Johnny Foreigner have also put out excellent records recently, with both flying the twee flag highly. I've been listening to a lot of Camera Obscura recently too, and

more »

fancy a quick trip down sunset blvd?

We were over at Rockstar London yesterday, where they talked to us about some of the games they’re working on at the moment. They told us a load of really exciting stuff that I’m not allowed to tell you about just yet, but one thing I can talk about is the new Midnight Club Los Angeles game, which we saw up in action - they even let us have a go at a few online multiplayer races.

It’s an open-world racing game, built on the RAGE engine that was used to power the awesome GTA IV. The sense of speed is amazing, as is the game world, which is based on Rockstar’s vision of LA and is littered with all the landmarks and billboards that make up the real-life city.

What really impressed me was the customisation on the cars – changing the hood is one thing – but adjusting the colour of the lights on the dashboard?? Only Rockstar would go to such awesome lengths. It’s out in October, and is one of the best racing games I’ve ever played.

one cool cat...

Being a fan of photographer Bruce Weber I got quite excited when I saw that his documentary 'Let's Get Lost' on square-jawed jazz musician Chet Baker was gonna be re-released on dvd.  Weber followed Chet on a year-long trek, from the West Coast, to the East Coast, to Europe--including a stop at the Cannes Film Festival. Remember seeing this in the late 80's when I was at college, it's all very cool, shot in Weber's black and white signature style with interviews from Chet's friends, family and lovers all inter-cut with performances from the 50's and modern-day.  It's all pretty compelling and gives you a rare insight to one of the coolest guys around...

mighty underdogs

If you're a fan of Solesides/Quannum Projects, then you're gonna love this. Comprised of Lateef The Truth Speaker (Latyrx), Gift Of Gab (Blackalicious) and producer Headnodic, this hip hop supergroup will be releasing their debut album 'Droppin Science Fiction' this October.

Check this video out (by Ben Stokes) for 'Gunfight' featuring the Metal Faced one they call MF DOOM!

great new album, simple as that...

I've been listening to a promo of the Friendly Fires debut album and i have to say it really is rather good. I wasn't sure at first but on the second and third listen it's really grown on me. It's got big harmonies and reminds me of The Delays and Beck in places with a bit of XTC thrown in for good measure. I think we'll be hearing a lot from them in the second half of this year...

Who you gonna call now?

Sad news, ghost-busting fans: the rumours that are slowly hitting the internet appear to be true. Development of Ghostbusters: The Videogame, originally planned for release later this year, is to be cancelled, as the project gets left in the cold following the colossal Activision-Vivendi merger.

It also looks like 50 Cent’s upcoming second game Blood on the Sand will also be canned, as well as new rock-music adventure game Brutal Legend.

A quick phone call to Vivendi this morning confirmed that the Sierra-developed games won’t be getting published, and that the licence to the likes of Ghostbusters would be for sale in due course. However, family-friendly titles Spyro and Crash Bandicoot will be published by Activision in the future (what a surprise).

the greatest games of all time

I was reading an interesting article on The Telegraph website today, where they’ve done a poll of the greatest games of all time. Good to see the old skool classics still hold a place in gamers’ hearts, with Super Mario Bros topping the chart. What’s your favourite game of all time? We’d love to hear from you, so get in touch by leaving a comment!

The greatest games of all time (source - www.onepoll.com)

1. Super Mario Bros.

2. Pac-Man

3. Tetris

4. The Sims

5. Sonic the Hedgehog

more »

color me impressed

I love The Replacements. I love Paul Westerberg. So the fact that he released a new album this week for 49c is obviously great news. That's only 26p! The concept is that it's 49 minutes for 49 cents, not a bad one at all. And it is actually a great album. Having played it a couple of times now, there are some really great tracks on there. There's also some weird stuff - some tracks end abruptly & there are some instances of 2 songs playing at once. But on the whole it's really good, & for that price you can't really go wrong. Fans of The Hold Steady or Ryan Adams should definitely check it out.

never too late

Over the last few weeks I've been enjoying the new album from Dr Dog called Fate. I'd hesitate to say it was great but it's one I keep coming back to so it's definitely got something going for it. Maybe it's because I've avoided them for so long (it's their fifth) and that has largely been because of the bland descriptions of them that made me guess they'd be a Phish style jam band or something. This one makes me think of Ben Folds meets Abbey Road and if someone had told me that I would have listened sooner.

This clip is from the last album but gives you an idea..