Tenacious D does Karate.

(note: strong language and serious karate contained in these vids...not reccomended for work or kids)
And here's the live version fer poops and giggles.
 
 
John Sez: Cover tunes are a fun way for a musician to stretch out and pay homage to their influences (or make some money, in the case of wedding and event musicians or when a record company thinks that a band’s original music on a given album isn’t strong enough to create a buzz). I’ve heard some great cover tunes over the years, and I’ve caught a few on Youtube as well – two of which I will share at the bottom of this post.

One of them is a cover of a tune called “Entangled” by Genesis which simply blew me away. The video is very well done and the music is absolutely sublime. I’ve done a symphonic version of the same song so I know how tough it is to put together properly (not that its overly complicated as far as prog rock goes, but it does have a certain intangible ‘feel’ that’s challenging to capture), and the folks who did this one absolutely nailed it. It’s definitely among my top favorite covers on Youtube and well worth the listen.

Another is a cover of UK’s ‘Time to Kill’ by a Japanese group called UnKnown. Now the vocals are a tad off key in places and Asian accented (which only means they speak at least one more language than I do) and the sound on the clip isnt exactly high-fidelity, which might draw some criticism from musical snobs. But there is no denying that the tune is a tough one to conquer musically, and the band does a great job of pulling it off (live no less).

Here are the videos for both tunes. Check ‘em out and ENJOY!
 
 
John Sez: A couple of months ago I posted about a French law that was up for vote which contained a similar measure. Now, it seems, that France isn’t the only place that is trying to institute such draconian measures…it’s now the world – or at least some cockamamie group of unelected officials who are trying to impose their ‘order’ on the rest of us.

According to the leaked report, it works like this: if you are accused (note: not convicted, not brought before the courts, not arrested, simply ACCUSED) of illegally downloading material from the internet three times, you will lose your access to the internet. Even on its face, such a law or treaty obligation is complete and utter rubbish, and rife with the possibility of massive abuse by whatever ‘council’ is in charge of filing and enforcing on these accusations.

What if a teenager is DL’ing in his home and hits the three strikes and you’re out rule? Will the rest of his family be forced to suffer the penalty of the loss of the internet?

What about erroneous accusations? I have personally heard of many stories of people being accused of illegal uploads of THEIR OWN music, which they owned all rights and copyrights on. Will people loose thier access due to a faulty charge?

How about people who leech bandwidth, or net cafes and libraries with WIFI access? Will they lose their internet service due to criminal activities beyond their control?

I would also think that it would be all too easy for governments to target political opponents or dissidents in their country and force a loss of internet access, thus promoting censorship and a loss if individual rights and liberties.

Also noted in the report is that ISP’s need to proactively police copyright violations. Considering the cost to carry out such a mandate in man hours and legal costs this will, in effect, mean the end of Youtube, playlist.com, online file storage companies, and millions of personal web sites.

The way that a great many governments have been clamping down on freedom of expression of their citizens (notable are  the US, France, China, Iran, and England) I wonder if this is not so much a play to protect copyright owners (of which I am one and I HEARTILY DISSAGREE with this proposal) and more of an outright attempt to wrest control of the internet from the hands of the people and have it regulated, seized and sterilized by the governments involved in the treaty.

Story from Raw Story:

Global treaty could throw file-sharers off Internet after ‘three strikes’

File-sharers could be jailed under proposed ACTA provisions

Leaked details of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated in secret by most of the world's largest economies suggest Internet file-sharers could be blocked from accessing the Internet if they are repeatedly accused of sharing copyrighted material, say media and digital-rights watchdogs.

And the worst-case scenario could see popular Web sites like YouTube and Flickr shut down because of a provision in the treaty that would force them to monitor everything uploaded to the site for copyright violations.

Internet law professor Michael Geist published details of "leaked" portions of the discussions on ACTA on his blog Tuesday, as a new round of ACTA negotiations began in Seoul, South Korea. The US, along with all the countries of the European Union as well as Japan, Canada, Australia and a handful of other countries, are involved in the negotiations.

"The provisions would pave the way for a globalized three-strikes and you're out system," Geist blogged Wednesday, referring to a proposal from copyright holders to have Internet service providers cut off service to anyone accused at least three times of illegally sharing copyrighted material.

READ MORE

 
 
A Genesis cover tune that i put together a while back that i though came out pretty well.

Enjoy!
 
 
Clutch is one of thoes bands which make you wonder, "how come a major label is not dropping some serious jack to promote these guys. My guess is that although they have some awesomely crunchy guitar riffs and catchy melodies, they are a bit too focused on lyrics that make your brain work a bit, as opposed to waxing poetic about bling, babes, bootie, whining, and cash.

Take, for instance, the chorus of the tune, "The Mob Goes Wild":

"21 guns, a box made of pine
a letter from the government sealed and signed
delivered federal express
to you mothers doorstep"

That's some powerful stuff, folks, considering what our military is going through and what potental recruits might be thinking before they sign on the dotted line. Clutch just might be a bit too dangerious to be bandied about on the music video stations or mainstream radio. All the more reason for me to dig em. Maybe you will too.

Here's the vid for "The Mob Goes Wild". Enjoy!
 
 
Nice cover of a classic Andrew Sisters tune.
 
 
The Shukar Collective are a group who bring together a great many musical flavors into any given track  they put out. They have a penchant for mixing modern electronic music with instruments and vocal phrasings of traditional Romanian music. Although the two genres are worlds apart, the Shukar Collective finds a way to make it work…very, very well.

This video is the first track of theirs I had heard, and makes for a good introduction to the band. I don’t speak Romanian (so don’t ask for a translation), but sometimes the emotion and pure musicality of a song transcends spoken language.

Enjoy!
 
 
Gomez is one of thoes bands that gets little to no airplay on US mainstream radio. An unfortunate situation, as they make some great music. I saw them as an opening act here in the states once, and very few people seemed to pay attention - but the ones that did were obviously very pleased. See and hear for yourself and ENJOY!
 
 
John Sez: Sure, one can decry this as a pubicity stunt. But, to me, this affirms that there is still a bit of magic in the world. We just have to find it...or in the case of these folks, cast the spell for ourselves.

Hit Play and have a smile.

 
 
John Sez: Apparently that poor excuse for afterbirth, Glen Beck, was praising the new CD by the band Muse(a band I’ve been diggin’ for years, since I first heard the track 'Muscle Museum' on a CMJ compelation CD) on his show. It seems that someone associated with the band heard his faux fawning, and it wasn’t long before Beck received an e-mail from a representative of the band telling him to cease his praise.

Beck (and I spell that with a capitol MORON) has been trying so very, very hard to co-opt as many grass roots movements as he possibly can over the last couple of years. He has tried to stamp his ‘brand’ on tea parties, ‘end the fed’, the Ron Paul Revolution, and just about every other topic covered by radio host Alex Jones. And speaking of Jones, he’s a fan of Muse (and they are fans of his, apparently) and has even had them on his show a couple of times.

Not to be insulting, but anyone who follows this mewling simpleton Beck need s to take a step back and re-evaluate their gullibility quotient. He’s nothing more than a modern day snake-oil salesmen. Like Limbaugh…and Hannity….and O’rieley…and Cooper….and Blitzer…and Zakaria….and Olbermann ( I had really high hopes for him)…and Scarborough…and Sanchez…and Tony Harris of CNN – in my opinion, the award winner for the most simple-minded TV news presenter.

Story from the London telegraph:

Muse tell Glenn Beck to retract endorsement

Glenn Beck, the Fox News commentator, was forced to withdraw an endorsement for the British rock band Muse after they complained that he misrepresented their political beliefs

Beck, an outspoken conservative known for his caustic attacks on Barack Obama, praised a song on the band's new album The Resistance for warning against the dangers of "one world government".

Describing their music as "absolutely fantastic", Beck implied that the band members shared his concern about the centralisation of power by liberal politicians.

He repeatedly compared the lyrics of United States of Eurasia to George Orwell's anti-totalitarian novel 1984, in which the world is divided into three superstates including Eurasia.

"These guys are brilliant, they know the time that we live in. They are libertarians from England," he said on his nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Glenn Beck Program.

"All of the lyrics are... dead on, on what's coming our way."

But Beck withdrew his recommendation after being emailed during the show by a representative of the band.

"They would like me to retract my endorsement," Beck told listeners. "My apologies to Muse for saying that I like them. I didn't mean to destroy all their credibility and all their coolness.

READ MORE

And here’s one of my favorites from Muse: