World Tour Playlist 31/3/10

Men Without Hats- Safety Dance (Canada)
Eiffel 65- Blue (Da Ba De) (Italy)
John Desire- HOT LIMIT (Italy)
Rednex- Cotton Eyed Joe (Sweden)
Ome Henk- Neem Een Ander In De Maling (The Netherlands)
Artist Spotlight: Daft Punk
Daft Punk- Technologic (France)
Children of Bodom- Oops I Did It Again (Finland)
Hurra Torpedo- All The Things He Said (Norway)
Trilogy of Tracks: Comedy Songs
"Weird Al" Yankovic- Hardware Store (USA)
Tubaina- Deus E O Diabo Em Sorocaba (Brazil)
Flight Of The Conchords- Robots (New Zealand)
Polysics- Catch On Everywhere (Japan)
The Cartoons- Witch Doctor (Denmark)

Next week I'm changing the show to Beard's Asian Tour playing music from Asian countries such as China, Korea, Thailand and Japan.

Kick-Ass Film Review

The film Kick-Ass is based on the Icon series of the same name created by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr about Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) becoming the world's first costumed crime fighter (I loathe to use the term superhero because that implies he gets powers) Dave as Kick-Ass becomes an internet phenomenon inspiring copy cats such as Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the homicidal Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her father Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and it isn't too long before they're noticed and targeted by mob boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) who's business is being interrupted by this wave of vigilantism.

The movie is an almost faithful if not toned down version of the comic, Aaron Johnson does a great job as Dave/Kick-Ass, making Dave come off as goofy and awkward without stepping into Peter Parker territory while making Kick-Ass even goofier after all this is a fanboy dressing up as a costumed crime fighter. However when the other costumed characters get involved, Kick-Ass becomes a sidekick to these characters, he becomes goofier when he teams up with Red Mist with Red Mist being the more heroic of the duo.

Likewise when Hit-Girl and Big Daddy hit the scene in a brutally violent way infront of a scared Kick-Ass, he acts as the largely ignored moral compass to the father-daughter team, and is even belittled by both of them, which is funny especially coming from the 11 year old Hit-Girl.

Hit-Girl is definetly the scene stealer in this film, her fight scenes are unbelievably crazy and violent, though her language is certainly colourful. Big Daddy on the other hand is intense until he starts to talk, in. An imitation. Of. William Shatner's. Broken sentence. Speech pattern, though Nic Cage pulls off the part of doting father well, even when he's shooting his bulletproof protected daughter.

There are a few comic motif's used in the film such as the comic book style captions, Kick-Ass also features art from original series artist John Romita Jr who's artwork translate's well on screen even when it is rendered as 3D art when telling Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's origin story. Romita's gritty and line heavy art is a perfect to the film's gritty and mostly realistic examination into what would happen if someone put on a costume and fought crime. The film's final battle between the costume vigilantes and the mob veers into pure comic book fantasy without being to absurd and works well as a Deus Ex Machina.

As I mentioned, Kick-Ass is somewhat faithful to the original source material there are some parts of the film that really work well in the movie compared to the comic, mostly because it has been changed, such as Dave's love life which, while clicéd plays out somewhat more logically. D'Amico's mob crew also get fleshed out a bit in the film compared to the comic no longer feeling as two dimensional as they were drawn. Lizewski's posing in the mirror is also a welcome addition to the film bringing some lighthearted and comedic moments such as Kick-Ass's search for a cat called Mr Bitey.

Kick-Ass brilliantly balances the violence with comedy very well, all the costumed characters have their own unique fighting style. The violence is gritty and very much grounded in the real world though the finale does feel like a 180 degree departure from the overall tone of the film however it is a great ending to the film.

Artist Spotlight: March- Daft Punk

Welcome to my Artist Spotlight, every month on my World Tour show (Wednesday's 3-4pm KCC Live) I select an musician or band and play tracks from their discography, and on this blog I'll be writing about the artist or band in question. This month's Artist Spotlight is Daft Punk from France.

The dance duo consisting of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel Du Homem-Christo originally started their musical career in the band Darlin' back in 1992 with Laurent Mazzalai who went on to join Phoenix a French indie band. A journalist from Melody Maker referred to Darlin's album as 'a bunch of daft punk' which is how the duo go their name and in 1993 Daft Punk was born but it wouldn't be until 94 before the released their first song The New Wave which eventually became Alive on their debut album Homework released in 1997 which also featured the hit single Around The World.

With the duo's second album Discovery the duo came up with the idea of making an animated musical to accompany the album with the albums music forming the soundtrack to the animated film that the duo collaborating with Visual Supervisor Leiji Matsumoto made. Interstella 5555 The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem told the story of four blue-skinned musicians from an alien planet being kidnapped by a record producer who then alters them to look human reprogramming their minds in the process and becoming Crescendolls a new music sensation on earth. The film was segmented into music videos for single such as One More Time, Digital Love and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Along with the release of Interstella 5555 The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem Daft Punk also released Daft Club, a collection of their music remixed by the likes of Basement Jaxx, The Neptunes and even Daft Punk themselves.

They released their third album Human After All in 2005 with hits including Robot Rock and Technologic, they also directed a film which was originally supposed to be the music video for Human After All but they decided to turn it into a feature length film following two robots as they go on a journey.

Currently Daft Punk are working on the music score for Tron Legacy and are rumoured to make a cameo appearance in the film. They also appear in the game DJ Hero.

World Tour Playlist 24/3/10

MaNga- Beni Benimle BIrak (Turkey)
Panda- Nunca Nadie Nos Podra Parar (Mexico)
A-Ha- Analogue (Norway)
Trilogy of Tracks: Songs produced by Japanese Producer Yoko Kanno
Origa- Date Of Rebirth (Russia)
The Seatbelts- Ask DNA (Japan)
Scott Matthew- Lithium Flower (Australia)
Artist Spotlight: Daft Punk
Daft Punk- Human After All (France)
t.A.T.u- All About Us (Russia)
Aramachi Masahiko- Through The Night (Japan)
Rammstein- Engel (Germany)
Justice- D.A.N.C.E. (France)
Dragonland- Rusty Nail (Sweden)
Akurat- Fantasmigorie (Poland)

Five For Friday 17

5. Malice Mizer- Beast of Blood


The track has a gothic feel from the get go with the hauntingly melodic organ playing throughout with some menacing guitar sounds and chilling vocals
4. Polysics- Catch On Everywhere

I love how quirky this track is, the bass and drums really stand out and the vocals from Hayashi are mad. It's as though your listening to the Japanese version of Alvin & the Chipmunks and not Polysics.
3. Versailles- Aristocrats Symphony

The classical elements mixed with the heavy metal riffs really complement each other well though the classical elements on its own really boosts the song, it reminds me of the style that Opera Metal group Nightwish have.
2. Brown Eyed Girls- Abracadabra

The track sounds really simple and well organised with each the four vocalists taking a part of the song and making it their own.
1. Dragonland- Rusty Nail

A heavier version of the X-Japan song, while the guitar solo sounds out of place from the rest of the song, the vocals sound really strong and the vocalists ability to hold notes longer gives this version a more epic feel, that and it's strange to hear a Swedish metal group covering a J-Rock song and making it sound convincingly Japanese.

World Tour Playlist 17/3/10

MC Sniper feat Room 9, BK, DJ R2, KTCOB & Outsider- Better Than Yesterday (Korea)
De De Mouse- East End Girl (Japan)
Alina Orlova- Lijo (Lithuania)
Trilogy of Tracks: Ireland
The Undertones- Teenage Kicks (Ireland)
U2- City of Blinding Lights (Ireland)
Wallis Bird- Blossoms In The Street (Ireland)
Artist Spotlight: Daft Punk
Daft Punk- Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix) (France)
Abingdon Boys School- LOST REASON (Japan)
Panda- Procedimientos Para Llegar A Un Cómun Accuerdo (Mexico)
Whitest Boy Alive- 1517 (Germany)
Guano Apes- Big In Japan (Germany)
Electric Eel Shock- Sugoi Indeed (Japan)

World Tour Playlist 10/3/10

Vavamuffin- Hooligan Rootz (Poland)
Sondre Lerche- Good Luck (Norway)
The Dø- Coda (Finland and France)
Trilogy of Tracks- Final Fantasy
Gackt- Redemption (Final FantasyVII: Dirge of Cerberus) (Japan)
Kyosuke Himuro feat Gerard Way- Safe and Sound (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete) (Japan and USA)
Masashi Hamauzu- Blinded by Light (Final Fantasy XIII) (Japan)
Artist Spotlight: Daft Punk
Daft Punk- Digital Love (France)
Trilogy of Tracks- Eurovision Song Contest Winners
Alexander Rybak- Fairytale (2009) (Norway)
Dima Bilan- Believe (2008) (Russia)
Marija Serifovic- Molitva (2007) (Serbia)
Little Dragon- Looking Glass (Sweden)
Os Mutantes- Anagrama (Brazil)
An Cafe- Respect Mommy (Japan)

World Tour Playlist 3/3/10

The Very Best featuring Ezra Koenig- Warm Heart Of Africa (Malawi)
After School- Bad Guy (Korea)
DODA- Katharsis (Poland)
Versailles- Zombi (Japan)
Mar De Copas- Al Pasar De Las Horas (Peru)
Artist Spotlight- Daft Punk & Trilogy of Tracks (French Music)
Daft Punk- Da Funk (France)
Nelson- People and Thieves (France)
Prodige Namor featuring Rockin Squat- Mission (France)
Röyksopp- It's What I Want (Norway)
Skunkrice- Blue (Japan)
Sigur Ros- Hoppipolla (Iceland)
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Over (Japan)