Entertainment hourly.
You've gotten your movie fix with the week's DVD releases, ready to a amp up your music, too? Here are the three biggies shelves today, and good news — they're all great and uniquely individual. Heartbreak warfare: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned — but it can make for an amazing album. Kate Nash sings about cheating and breakups on her latest album My Best Friend Is You. Not that the Read more
If you saw me at my desk this afternoon then you would no doubt notice all the chair dancing I'm doing to the new Apples in Stereo song, "Dance Floor." Besides being recorded with retro-futuristic instruments like vocoders, vintage keyboards, and Mellotrons, the video is all sorts of geeky. In it, actor Elijah Wood plays a middle school science teacher (corduroy jacket, sweater vest, and all!) Read more
Elijah Wood is really immersing himself in the music scene. Not only does the actor own a record label, but he also continues to lend his talents to one of its acts, The Apples in Stereo. After directing a video for the group's track "Energy," now he's stepping in front of the camera for a catchy tune titled "Dance Floor," off their new album to be released later this month. In the music video, Read more
It may not seem like it yet, but Spring is right around the corner, as are all the warmth and flowers that come with it. Even if your location is being stingy with the sunshine, you can get it another way: new music! The next few months hold a ton of fresh new albums, and I've gone through them and picked out the ones I'm most excited for — and hope you will be too. Read more
I didn't get a chance to review the new Apples in Stereo CD, but the veteran psych-pop-rock outfit's New Magnetic Wonder is getting plenty of praise. What's cooler is that the album is the product of a joint venture between Yep Roc Records and Elijah Wood's Simian label. As a result, we're now treated to a really retro-cool video directed by Frodo himself. Plus, this Beatles-esque sound is bound Read more
I'm always torn when it comes to Apples in Stereo. I like the band's retro-futuristic, lo-fi sound, but sometimes I find the relentless perkiness and Robert Schneider's nasaly vocals a bit grating. However, I really like what I've heard off the upcoming album, New Magnetic Wonder, which comes out Feb. 6 on Yep Roc and Elijah Wood's label, Simian Records. I particularly like this track "Same Old Read more
Arguably one of the most important tech inventions of our generation, the MP3 player didn't just invent itself. For that, we can thank Kane Kramer. He may not be a household name, but Kramer developed the first portable digital audio player 20 years before it became industry standard. In 1979, he designed the IXI digital audio player, the first of its kind to transfer and store music to-go. The Read more
Geeks nostalgic for the all-in-one look of vintage Apple products can now add a dash of retro to their gadget with the iStation, a docking device reminiscent of an Apple I desktop. What set Apple apart in the early days of personal computers was the bundle design that integrated the keyboard, speakers, and monitor within one shell. Even those not wistful for technology designs of yore can Read more
We've gotten giddy over Libratone's sleek speakers before, but since the goods were only available in the UK, we could only dream of a Scandinavian-influenced home stereo experience. Design geeks will be happy to hear Libratone has officially brought its minimalist look to the US with the launch of the wireless Live and Lounge speakers. They use Apple AirPlay technology to stream music from their Read more
