Comic book writer/artist Jeffrey Brown’s latest work, Incredible Change-Bots, is a comedic, romantic, action-packed tale of a war-torn planet full of robots that can turn into vehicles. An homage to Transformers, the book chronicles two groups of robots — the good Awesomebots and the evil Fantasticons — and their battles after their arrival on Earth.
Jeff Tweedy, Steve Albini, Will Oldham to Appear at Second City Benefit
Esteemed comedy troupe The Second City has announced its sixth-annual 24-hour benefit event, “The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa,” which gives presents to needy children and families in Chicago for the holidays. The event takes place on December 4 at 7:00 PM and lasts for 24 hours.
The Dillinger Escape Plan: Ire Works
Ire Works, the third full-length album by The Dillinger Escape Plan, is the innovative tech-metal quintet’s most diverse release to date. Like many decade-old bands, the New Jersey outfit’s progression in style follows a natural path, but an ever-shifting lineup is just as responsible for the change in course.
Black Mountain to Perform at All Tomorrow’s Parties
There are good things in store for international Black Mountain fans. Since the band’s esteemed 2006 invitation to the UK’s All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival in Minehead, Somerset, the psych-rockers have agreed to return to the 2007 festival next month.
Mixing rockabilly with punk, the revved-up howlings of Matt Verta-Ray’s Speedball Baby and Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion form Heavy Trash. The band spoke with author Tom Vale for ALARM’s fall cover story.M.I.A. Exudes Live Energy Despite Clichés
Bhangra beats and Atari-era visuals inundated a sold-old audience at Los Angeles’ Wiltern LG on Friday as musical nomad M.I.A. took the stage. Provocative, fresh, and funky, the Sri Lankan singer/rapper rounded up a small posse of her hip-hop doppelgangers to deliver a frenetic hour-long party.
Primes: Facades and Pink Forms
Vancouver-based group Primes — consisting of snythesist/vocalist Tanya Pea, bassist/vocalist Jack “JJD” Duckworth, and synthesist Erik West — is back with eleven tracks for its sophomore release, Facades and Pink Forms. With this release, technology’s heavy influence has not loosened its grip on Primes.
The Art of Ill Will: The Story of American Political Cartoons
On May 9, 1974, the Pennsylvania Gazette published an editorial regarding the lack of unity in the colonies. The author, Benjamin Franklin, also provided a woodcut drawing of a snake cut into eight initialed parts (one for each colonial government) with the text “Join, or Die” underneath.
No Country for Old Men
Hollywood’s favorite cinema pranksters, the Coen Brothers, return with another cinematic mish-mash in No Country for Old Men. The film combines two of their most mined sources of material, shop-worn film noir themes and sly Southern colloquialisms, into one unsatisfying whole. It could be Fargo, Texas, but without the hospitality.
Bouncing Souls Frontman and Wife Author Children’s Book
The Bouncing Souls frontman Greg Attonito and wife Shanti Wintergate have created a children’s book together, titled I Went for a Walk. Illustrated by Attonito and written by Wintergate, the story touches on lessons of equality, tolerance, beauty, and variety.
Taraf de Haidouks: Maskarada
In 1908, Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was so intrigued by Eastern European folk and Gypsy music that he began fusing it with his classical compositions. Now, 100 years later, Romanian troupe Taraf de Haidouks returns the favor by giving Bartok’s classical pieces a Gypsy makeover on their new record, Maskarada (Crammed Discs).