Star Trek

Hows it going guys. Joe here again. Just seen the new Star Trek movie "Into Darkness"
Got to admit i went in not expecting much what with it being a sequel but my god did J.J. Abrams deliver. This movie was good. There were times where it did drag but during those scenes it gave you information that you needed. I don't want to give to much away but I have to say Benjamin Cumberbach is genius and Delivers. This is worth seeing people.

If you have seen it let me know what you thought.

Rock & Roll will save your soul! Or at least document it.

A Review of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2013 Induction Class

     After a long day of work and mind numbing traffic on the 10 Freeway, we make it to Downtown LA and the glorious bum infested streets that call her home. My dad and I walk to the Staple's Center and I show him the new Kareem statue and he's totally stoked (we're a Laker's house FYI). So we stand in line at the Nokia Theatre and just stare at all the music industry types all self-obsorbed and egotistic like the world revolves around them. I'm just like, "Hey we're here to see Rush!" and the lines outside explode with "RUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHH!" Much to our surprise some of these stuffy looking suits were die-hard fans of Rush. Hell yeah it was gonna be a damn good night!
    So we forge our way through all the crowds and find our seats for $500 a ticket we had some pretty good seats but nothing really spectacular. I forget that music is hurting with all this piracy business, or so they claim but still I had heard to get a table in front of the stage it'd cost you $3,000. Yeah I'm good on that my seats were now "awesome". So the first induction was Randy Newman, of course you have to know the song "I Love LA". He also had a jam my dad called out earlier when they announced him "SHORT PEOPLE!". Randy came out on his piano and opened with "I love LA" he also had backing help from Tom Petty and a few other rockstars of past times. It was great hearing about his life and the good times he had back in the day. He also did a lot of work writing film scores for "The Natural" and "Ragtime". It was also pretty funny finding out most of his songs were satire, so Randy's "love" for LA may not be all that it's cracked up to be.

    
After Randy Newman's set a spotlight is fixed on two figures standing at a podium. Who else but Cheech and Chong, my dad immediatly started busting up and they didn't even say anything yet. I mean come on, who's not going to applaud these two stoner rock & rollers? Up in Smoke is all you need! They began to speak about Lou Adler a recording engineer and producer from the 60's or more notably "the dude that sitts next to Jack Nicholson at Laker's games." Lou Adler did a lot of work with The Mamas & The Papas, Cheech & Chong, Carole King, Sam Cooke, Johnny Rivers, The Grassroots, and Scott McKenzie. After he accepted his award we were graced with a performance by Carole King. According to my dad she sounded exactly the same as the albums. Her voice was still strong as ever and they say you lose it after the years, bullshit you got it, flaunt it.

After Miss King got down another spotlight appears fixed on a single woman, standing there in all her glory we saw Operah. Operah?! Hell yeah I wasn't seeing things she was really there and introducing Quincy Jones to the stage. I guess Quincy had discovered Operah from the film "The Color Purple" and she was distraught when she was turned down for a role in a movie. She said he held her hands and said, "Baby, your future is so bright it hurts my eyes." and now Operah's one of the richest women in the world. Quincy Jones just has a gift and an ear for sure. He has the most grammys and awards in history, he didn't do it alone you know this little teenager named Micheal Jackson approached him about making a solo album and it was kind of a big deal, then some albums like "Off The Wall" and a tiny album called "Thriller" would be the most popular album of all time, who knew?

Donna Summers was the next to be inducted and introducing her was Kelly Rowland, damn she looked good. Sheer black dress all see through, Kelly is badass all around. I wasn't ready for that jelly but I'd give it a try for sure! Jennifer Hudson came out and belted out some "Last Dance" and she kicked major ass! She sounded so close to Donna it was crazy and she didn't look too bad either. Let's just say my eyes were into it.

Next was Albert King's induction a clean cut John Mayer was standing at a podium with a Gibson Flying V in hand. He began to talk about how when he was kid he heard Albert King and his playing just blew him away, he modled a lot of his early playing after Mr. King. John then started talking about the different styles of blues players and how they all just had a distinct bend or feel for each note they put out. Albert King wasn't a little guy either, he could bend the shit out of a string with ease, he was also a tractor operator before he started playing music full time. He was a super humble guy by a lot of accounts and pretty much felt that if he didn't make it in music hey, I'll just go back to running my tractor. John Mayer went on to do a super cool blues jam and just tore the song apart. His bends were wailing so hard the PA started giving feedback and it couldn't handle the output. FUCK.

One of favorite bands was up next but who else but Chris Cornell would introduce them. My favorite ladies of rock Heart were next to be inducted and I couldn't wait. Chris said that he had played his first show with some cheap ass band and the show was something awful. He walked out back of the club and was in an alley loading gear up feeling like a loser when he saw a garage to a studio open up and smokin' red head with a gang of guitars in the backseat drove away playing Led Zeppelin loud. He thought to himself, "Damn. She knows what she's doing." and that pushed him to step up his game and start moving in the right direction. Anne and Nancy Wilson the dynamic duo that formed Heart are like the first ladies of hard rock on some accounts. To me they're just bad asses that love Zeppelin. The music is what got them here though, no gimic, no bullshit, just the love of rocking and rock is what they do best. They got on stage and played "Crazy on You" slowed the mood down and played some "Dreamboat Annie". That was a great experience to behold, I had no idea Anne could play flute and she nailed a solo in the middle of the song. At least it wasn't Jazz flute right? Lastly they brought the band back out and closed it with some "Barracuda". Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains came out and jammed with them on it, handling the solo duties like a boss, like Jerry does.

Now for the main event everyone was waiting for RUSH! Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins were standing there with the usual smirks on their faces like always. It was like little kids talking up their superheroes I don't even they believed they were there introducing Rush. It came time for the performance and we saw three figures dressed in white togas ready to jam. The intro to 2112 started playing and what do you know it started going down. The first notes hit and the lights went up and it was Dave, Taylor, and another dude jamming, when the solo hit Rush came out and smashed on it! They then jumped into "Tom Sawyer" and "Spirit of the Radio". They sounded fresh as ever almost like age hadn't even touch them. All in all it was a great show and a great time. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings I know I do. -Wes

Iron Man 3

Gonna start off and come right out with it. I didn't really care for this movie. I honestly felt that they tried to make to many jokes and the way they went with the villain was really horribly done.

It was an alright movie. Don't get me wrong. I would recommend watching it but not for 12 bucks in the theater. Rent it when it comes out in theater. It just fell short of what it could of been. 

At the end of the movie they have the little tag clip that all marvel movies have to hint towards the next movie. I was hoping for a hint towards the next Avengers movie or something but instead they went to throw in one more joke which they threw in every five seconds. i don't mind laughing but you need to break it up and make it work for the movie. Not shove them down our throats. 

If you seen the movie let us know what you thought. Throw a comment in and share your thoughts. Do you agree or disagree.

INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US

I've been play this game for a few days and got to say it is really well done. It has a good sized amount of characters and they aren't just the straight forward everyone knows these characters. Netherrelm studios actually dug deep and pick great characters based on their abilities and how they would work in the game. of course you have your standard Batman, Super man, Joker, Lex Luthor but they also added in Black atom, Shazam, Killer Frost, and Aquaman. (I know, i thought that was going to be dumb to do but they make Aquaman look bad ass.)

They also went and thought out their arenas for the fights and did a good job of picking places people will recognize like metropolis and wayne manor but they also did a nice little touch and throwing in the fortress of solitude and Crime alley. (talk about iconic for us comic readers)

As for the story it ties together very nicely and follows how DC does things within their own universe by linking multiple universe. I don't want to give to much away but it does have to do with two different universes and alternate reactions to various outcomes. Love the way the alternate superman goes about making things happen and also the cause to how everything starts.

lets turn away from the story so i don't give anything away and lets dive into the character set up. This is my favorite part because they designed each character to be different. (I know you are thinking that shouldn't be hard to do but believe me, i thought they were going to make Sinestro and Green lantern have similar fighting moves and style) My favorite thing that i seen and pointed out to others that not everyone thinks about is Joker and his crowbar. I was fighting batman, (i'm joker because i love me a good villain) and i went to do my heavy attack right off the bat and i see joker pull a crow bar out of his coat and proceed to work over batman. I immediately lost it and stopped the match to start one with Nightwing instead of Batman. (Not the Jason Todd but as close as i'm going to get to Robin unless he is released as DLC later on) I then began to reenact the Death in the Family Scene. (Not precisely because this robin fought back) but i work him over none the less.

If i were to give this game a numerical score i would have to say it is a 8.75 out of 10.  As with everything it isn't perfect. There are some characters i would of liked to have seen and played as but i'm sure they are coming as DLC later. but if you like fighters i highly recommend this and do feel its worth paying full price.

Please Explode!

     Howdy ya'll I just heard some new jams from a band called Columns. Dude it's raw grindy goodness the recording is so raw it almost feels as if you were watching them live! Really good stuff to say the least. On further researchering these dudes I found out the vocalist is none other than Adam Cody formerly of Glass Casket (one of my FAVORITE bands), Zero System, and currently in Wretched. That blew my mind because well I've heard Wretched and never once did it sound like him singing.
    To be honest I think the last time I heard of Columns it was 2007 or so? All I remember is them posting some demos on the glorious MySpace Music pages. I do miss those days. :'( As far as this EP is concerned if you don't have 8 minutes to spare I don't know what the hell you're doin, but 8 minutes is like the equivilent of taking a quick shit or changing your clothes or something. Just check it out it's GRIND. With that being said Jason Skipper (drummer) wreakes fucking havoc on his set with spastic stop start beats and just blasts like a freakin mad man. On the song "Drifter Aftermath" you get those slow Slayer groove rhythms. So it's a lot of fun to listen to.
  The Bottom Line: If you're a fan of good old Grindcore, thrash, or punk check this shit out. You won't regret it.

Support Columns on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Columns/152554091440459

If that's not your thing hit up their tumblr: http://columnsmusic.tumblr.com/

And shit whynot pick up the "Please Explode" on their Bandcamp, it's name your price ;): http://columns.bandcamp.com/

Well I'm outty here's a taste of "Bottom Feeders" Lates! -Wes

If you're wondering....

This isn't just a music blog, I'm just an avid writer of music. Haha that being said I got 3 other publishers on here that will be posting shortly. Stay tuned and you'll read something from them.......eventually?

It's Monday!

And I fucking hate it! Blah! Work's insane and I feel like I'm stuck in quicksand. So I stumbled across a pretty "old" video of an entire set of The Fall of Troy Live at Chain Reaction. They were just one of those bands that called it WAY too fast and they were TOO good! Anyway, check out this set lots of jams and a good soundtrack to whatever you're doing!

On the brightside though Tom (guitarist/vocalist) is in Chiodos now and Craig's back AND they're working on a new album. Call me stoked for their newest release, while I'm at it here's some Chiodos to chill on too!

Happy Monday!

Bored to Deth?

Feeling a little bored? Megadeth is previewing a new song on their website and you can even play a little match the album arts to uncover their new cover art for "Super Collider". Go hit up http://megadeth.com/

and get to clicking!

Oh yeah, if you didn't hear yet. Iron Maiden and Megadeth will be playing a few shows together in September, and us lucky Californians get this gem of a show. Be jealous ;) Tickets go on sale tomorrow 4/12/2013 @ 10:00 AM PDT. I got you covered, buy tickets here: http://concerts.livenation.com/event/09004A82D1477924?crosssite=TM_US:735341:73734 

-Wes

It's Just Not Black Enough For My Taste...You Got Any Everblack?

No review or anything just a new Black Dahlia Murder track "Into the Everblack"! Sounds a little different recording wise and I for one am pretty happy about that. New tones are new tones! This albums has some sick artwork from the looks of it. I wonder what the booklet's gonna look like? Hmmmmmm. Well I'll shut up and let you hear the jam!

Everblack tracks:

01 – “In Hell Is Where She Waits for Me“
02 – “Goat of Departure“
03 – “Into the Everblack“
04 – “Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn“
05 – “Phantom Limb Masturbation“
06 – “Control“
07 – “Blood Mine“
08 – “Every Rope a Noose“
09 – “Their Beloved Absentee“
10 – “Map of Scars“

Everblack drops on June 11th here in 'Merica and  June 6th and 7th everywhere else...damn Europeans!

If your panties are all sopping wet you can pre-order below.

Pre-orders: http://www.metalblade.com/bdm/

-Wes

You Don't Have a Home? Oh Fallujah, you're so Nomadic!

     The Bay Area Melo-Tech heads make their return with "Nomadic" a digital EP released on 4/2/2013. If you've never heard of Fallujah that's already strike one in my book. They blend different elements of atmosphere, melody, technical riffage, and some good ole' fucking death metal, and with this EP I feel they are discovering what they truly have to bring to the table.
     On their Unique Leader debut "The Harvest Wounds" they had shown more of a Blackened Tech-Death style with touches of Atmospheric musings, but seriously those leads, the guitar work was just beautiful. The first time I heard that album I was sitting at my computer with my mouth open looking like Eli Manning mouth breathing and all. That being said, yes I have known about Fallujah for a while now since the "Leper Colony" days, trust me if you listened to "Leper Colony" and then listened to "Nomadic" you'd think I was fucking with you. So for me to hear "Harvest Wombs" I was blown away all together. So when I heard Fallujah was releasing a new EP my inner fan-boy got me all giddy. So lets break this bad boy down!
  
The Dead Sea - Starts off in true Fallujah fashion building growing and boom you get hit with the drums. Lots of choppy guitar rhythms and heavy hitting riffage. The Melodic leads soon lead you through into a great atmospheric break. Fallujah does a great job of keeping life in the atmosphere and not just making reverberated drones like most have come to expect. The layering of guitar work is genius nothing is overpowering and everyone is balanced in the mix.
Silent - Is an Instrumental track that fits like a bridge between the songs. I found it a fitting track to give you a breather and reflect on what you just heard and kind of catch up as this is only a 3 songer and "The Dead Sea" and "Venom Upon the Blade" are two totally different animals.
Venom Upon the Blade - The final track of the EP and my personal favorite. There's so much depth to the writing and composition of this song I could go on for days! The track starts off BIG with heavy riffing, a wailing lead, and hard hitting drums. The guitars put in a massive amount of work in the beginning of the song and don't quit. The leads on this song are just tastefully done, and one thing I can say about this recording is the guitars don't have that weird overactive noisegate punch tone to them. So it sounds like real playing versus some real studio magic where they had to half-time record some parts (cough cough Rings of Saturn. Controversy I know right?) and the drums don't sound fake at all, triggers alright I'll give you that, but no programming here. Now when they drop you into another atmospheric part here is where I flipped out the most. This part is just beautiful, again the headroom on these parts amazes me. It sounds like I'm in the middle of their recording. The only question I have is, was that singing or guitar effects? As for the singing it almost sounds female and if not maybe it's a little nod to Cynic with the use of a vocoder. Anyway as I pull my pants up now, the drums just fuck you up and go hyper speed like, "Yeah that was pretty. But watch this." and boom they're off! So good.

The Final Word:  For this being a 2-3 song EP it is amazing, engaging and thought provoking through and through. The overall quality of recording and feel of the music is just stellar. I still can't wrap my head around how good this sounds and how they got the recording to have so much headroom. It feels like I'm fully encompassed by the music. Great music by great hardworking musicians, do yourself a favor and pick up this EP. I leave you with a little "Venom Upon the Blade".

Follow Fallujah on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fallujahofficial
or check out their tumblr: http://fallujah.tumblr.com/
and if you really don't want to do that buy Nomadic here: http://fallujah.bandcamp.com/

-Wes

  

Evil Dead Movie Review

        In a world where everything that has ever been done, hollywood has turned to putting out remake after remake. Hell, there have been remakes of remakes. And hollywood has dropped the ball time and time again. And as a fan of the evil dead franchise i was worried. Then seen the red band trailer and gained some hope but still was reluctant. Then i heard that sam Raimie and Bruce Campbell were producers on the film and that they were very happy with the movie as well. I then found hope once again in hollywood. 

I went last night to watch this movie and was happy to say the least. Even though they had removed the Ash character the movie had plenty of little nods towards the past films and did a wonderful job not to make a mockery of itself much like others have done in the past. (I.E. nightmare on elm street, Friday the thirteenth, and My Bloody Valentine. Although i will be the first to say that Nightmare on elm street would of been good if not for the originals and Robert Englunds performance as Freddy Krugger.) Evil Dead is a wonderfully done horror movie and i feel can stand up to the originals.

If you are a fan of this franchise or a fan of horror movies in general i highly recommend you see this movie. Even though I am praising Evil Dead for being great there are a few problems i have with it. For one thing the movie is a bit short running for A hour and a half. Although i understand they had to cut out a fair amount of footage to keep the rating a R. If not then they would of gotten a NC-17 which would mean that no major franchise theater would show it. (Just wait for the BlueRay version of it and watch the Directors cut.) Also at times when there is a serious moment they had plugged in a slight joke to break the tension. Its my personal opinion that they should leave the jokes for the beginning of the movie so that the feeling of dread, terror and hopelessness that is being conveyed in the movie be put out there better. 

Aside from those two small short comings i feel this was a amazing flick and recommend to all. it disturbs and frightens as all horror movies should.

  

P.S. Don’t forget to stay after the credits to see a nice surprise.

http://youtu.be/pvDLWlxxcak

Welcome!

     Hi welcome to The View From The South! Here on the blog, we'll review music from local to mainstream acts. Give you a run down of live shows we go to. Talk about bomb ass food places we like and other fat shit we stuff in our faces. Probably argue with each other on certain topics, and a hell of a whole lot more. Stay tuned to the blog and if you want us to review something feel free to email us at southersubmissions@live.com.

Just tell us a little information about whatever you're submitting and we'll give you an opinion and no there's no exceptions on genres or what kind of project it is. Just submit it to us and give us something to do besides our ordinary jibber-jab. If you do submit music, shoot us .mp3 or bandcamp links por favor!

Now I'll leave you with what I'm listening to a little Opeth and a little jam called "The Leper Affinity" Enjoy!

-Wes