Action Action is an indie rock band from Long Island, New York who combine a New Wave aesthetic with a swirling guitar-driven sound reminiscent of The Bolshoi, Bauhaus, and other proto-goth bands prominent in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

The group was formed in 2004 from the ashes of the bands The Reunion Show, Count The Stars and Diffuser. The chemistry between its members was immediately apparent as they formed their unique blend of sound - dark, moody and melodic combined with buzzing 80’s electronica and greety guitars.

Action Action spent the majority of 2004 and 2005 touring. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Thomas Kluepfel tells that “Most of the record was written on tour in the back of our van on my laptop, twice, to be specific. The first set of songs was written on my previous laptop, which was stolen along with everything else I owned, after a show in Chicago. That left me to reconstruct as much as possible, and in some cases, start over.”

With fifty thousand records sold of their debut album, Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion, Action Action is ready to conquer the world. By now they have released their second album, An Army of Shapes Between Wars on Victory Records.

Kluepfel’s razor sharp pop sensibilities and love of offbeat audio came into play on every song on An Army of Shapes Between Wars. Building guitar pedals and synthesizers for particular songs on the album gives it individuality sonically that is a perfect compliment to the dreamy kind of lyrics.

Like most bands, Action Action is continually evolving, but their particular evolution showcases a depth and richness with each effort would be the envy of any one attempting the same thing. Pop punk gave way to power pop which in turn gave way to synth-driven rock and dancey dark wave songs that make it impossible to listen to impassively. Action Action defiantly breaks down the barriers between genres with a smash!

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2006 was one of the best years for Hip-Hop music. Even mediocre artists had their fine moments and it looks likes this genre defiantly didn’t say its last word.
Here’s a review of some of the best Hip-Hop albums of last year!

Ghostface Killah-Fishscale
There’s nothing left to be said about this album or about Ghostface Killah really. All you can do is debate whether or not he’s the greatest rapper of all times. At this point, he’s released five classic albums but let’s be honest with ourselves, only Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint can hold a candle to the consistent brilliance of Ghost’s five gems.

The Game-Doctor’s Advocate
As far as I’m concerned there is only one reason to dislike Doctor’s Advocate. The reason is its album cover which doesn’t exactly make you forget that the Game used to be a male stripper… Doctor’s Advocate is an important second step in that direction. The album is a masterpiece of blazing beats, confident rhymes and extra tough vocals.

Camp Lo-Fort Apache
Nearly five years after their last album and a decade since the classic “Cooley High”, Camp Lo returned to planet Earth to drop the year’s best mixtape. This long hiatus is what makes Lo’s Fort Apache so good and because of that, the mixtape album seem even more impressive than it already is. While most of NYC hip-hop scene wasted the last decade squandering their good will with half-baked albums, Camp Lo’s time off only made them hungrier to proclaim their claim and to build upon their legacy.

Lupe Fiasco-Food and Liquor
The first time I heard it, I thought it was a fine but on repeated listens, Food and Liquor reveals itself as one of the finest hip-hop records of the decade. Patterned after It Was Written, Food and Liquor certainly has its moments of Nas-like filler, most notably in “Outro” the 12 minute thank you note tacked onto the end. Food and Liquor secures Fiasco’s place as one of the 10 finest rappers in hip-hop today.

The Roots-Game Theory
Left for dead after the twin failures of Phrenology and The Tipping Point, Game Theory marked a return to form for one of hip-hop’s best groups. While it might not match the brilliance of Things Fall Apart, Illadelph Half Life, or Do You Want More?, the fact remains that the 4th Best Album from the Roots is better than most groups’ masterpieces.

AZ-The Format
AZ’s previous five albums had their moments but none matched the brilliance of The Format. In this album, AZ’s flow sounds confident, self-assuring and sharp. The lyrics might dwell a little too much on tired guns, drugs and BLINGGG, but the excellent production allow you to cut AZ’s lyrical geniusy some slack.

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TV on the Radio

I remember hearing these guys back in 2003 when their Young Liars EP just came out, and now I feel like a nerdy super-fan of this band. Besides being so cool, they’ve easily become one of the best bands innovating rock music today. They considered by many as the most unique band existing today as they have melted so many genres together to create a pulsating sound of their own.

Gnarls Barkley
With GB, Cee-lo really finally gets what he deserves. He’s a crazy entertainer, a great vocalist, a true showman, and a great MC with his band. He’s the king of future soul and his costumes are so cool. When indie heroes go mainstream and do a great job, it’s got to be said.

Timbaland
Most people would call him a producer, but surely he’s also an influential artist who has consistently made the most interesting and future-thinking pop music of the last decade. Somehow, he still has the power and time to re-invent Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake with two great albums in the same year!

Hot Chip
Friendly, funny, and charmingly quirky, Hot Chip is the kind of band you’d want to be set up with on a date. What makes them soooo great is defiantly their remarkable control of songwriting abilities. Awesome.

Switch/Solid Groove/A Bruckner
If you haven’t heard his remixes of Lily Allen, Futureheads, Spank Rock, Dr. Evil, Fatboy Slim, Hot Chip, Pharrell, MIA, Bonde Do Role, etc., go to some blog and find them, then go on your blog and post them!

Booka Shade
This duo has a talent for emotive synth work and subtle build-ups that undercuts Depeche Mode (for whom they opened a show in Berlin). Their 2nd album, Movements, contains ecstatic music that sounds like all the best parties wrapped into one.

And now… for our:

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Shakira

I’m staring at my screen with absolute repulsion every time she’s on TV. She can’t sing, she can’t dance, and she’s an offense to people that can actually yodel properly. Pure torture.

This holiday’s music selection will be dedicated entirely to X-Mas! Here are the best Christmas pop songs made by pop idols turned all cuddly and sugary…

The Kinks - Father Christmas
Check out the bad boys of the 60’s scene becoming all familiar…

Carpenters - Merry Christmas Darling
Who would be more suitable than the Carpenters to produce a X-Mas song…

Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
Check out the best combination between pop music and the holy bible…

Paul McCartney -Wonderful Christmastime -
Paul was always considered to be the geekiest beatle of them all…

Wham! - Last Christmas
No Christmas will be perfect without this one…

Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town
This piece speaks for itself…

U2 -Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Even U2 have a Christmas song!

Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas (Is You)
All I want for Christmas is Mariah…

Shakin’ Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
Shakin’ Stevens shakes all his was to the church…

Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday!
This might be the worst Christmas song ever made…

… and finally. The MAN that needs no introduction.

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To start the end of the year summaries, and to welcome 2007 with an open hand, here are your truly’s 7 favorite pop albums of 2006.

Hot Chip – The Warning
There was no warning from London’s Hot Chip about the width and depth of their latest release, before it came out. From the gritty guitar work in the extremely catchy “Over and Over,” to the slow build-up in “Colours”, Hot Chip showcases a remarkable control of songwriting abilities.

Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
With such a hilarious pseudonym, who could have expected anything interesting to have been produced from this duo… Then again, how could the combination of soul-man Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse, arguably the most important musician of the 21st Century, possibly go wrong. While “Crazy” took the world by storm just in time for the release of St. Elsewhere, music fans hungry for hip-hop got some tasty sound bites, from the devastating emotion of “Just a Thought” to the sweet soul of “Last Time.” Brilliant.

Robbie Williams – Rudebox
With the help of producer/songwriters William Orbit, Mark Ronson, Jerry Meehan, Joey Negro and Soul Mekanik, plus guests as diverse as The Pet Shop Boys and Lily Allen, Robbie Williams has achieved a most radical transformation. The slick, pop-rogue of the past is gone and in his place comes a new Robbie that raps, embraces club beats and prefers depth over cheesy pop.

Spank Rock – YoYoYoYoYo
Reflecting the party rap atmosphere of Baltimore’s club scene, Spank Rock arrived as one of the best things to happen to both underground hip-hop and dirty rap, a pair of styles that rarely mix. YoYoYoYoYo brought up a new sound, featured bruising beats to a succession of pop songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and the 80’s.

Christina Aguilera – Back to Basics
Back to Basics is Christina Aguilera’s first disc in four years, refines and clarifies sexy feeling surrounding this platinum masterpiece. Aguilera is without a doubt the best artist of the class that counts Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears on its roll call. On this album, Christina has turned her attention to love songs of many kinds, such as the funky “Ain’t No Other Man” to stunning ballad, “Save Me from Myself”, for another.

Bob Dylan - Modern Times
It’s well-known that aging icons will often receive a free pass from fans and critics alike, for hastiness in the twilight of their careers, but there’s no need to look the other way where Bob Dylan is concerned. Modern Times completes a trilogy of latter-day albums that showcase Dylan in fine form, as a timeless songwriter who still lives up to his legendary status.

Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
One play of FutureSex/LoveSounds and it’s hard to believe that Justin Timberlake was ever a boy-band hunk. No modern day male artist beats him when it comes to single-minded self assurance and confidence. Timberlake’s appeal is his sweet but newly thuggish-sounding voice. Here’s a good kid gone bad, and he’s determined to convince us of it with such lyrics as “I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave”…

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Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler 1958 in Bridgetown, Barbados) is a hip hop musician and DJ and considered to be one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing and mixing. He is responsible for developing and perfecting time precision on the following DJ techniques: Cutting (repeating a beat or Musical phrase by moving the record back and forth), Back Spinning (repeating a beat or phrase on a record, by alternately spinning both records backwards to the desired beat or phrase; thus, repeating it), and punch-phrasing (playing certain parts of a record on one turntable in quick volume surges, while the record plays on the other turntable).

Saddler’s family immigrated to the United States, and he grew up in the Bronx. He became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries. Learning from Pete Jones and Kool Herc, he used duplicate copies of a single record and two turntables (for cutting) but added a dexterous manual edit with a mixer to promote the break. Flash got his nickname in school due to the fact that he hung around with another guy named Gordon (from Flash Gordon) and “Grandmaster” originated from after playing a party and being approached by someone who said he was the equivalent of a chess grandmaster.

Flash played illegal parties and also worked with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. He formed his own group in the late 1970s, after promptings from Ray Chandler. The initial members were Cowboy, Melle Mel and Kidd Creole making Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs. Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem and Scorpio, to create Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Soon gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five pioneered MCing, freestyle battles, and invented some of the now-classic phrases in MCing.

Signed to Sugar Hill Records in 1980 by Joe Robinson.The classic “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” released in 1981 was the best display of their skills, combing elements of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust“, CHIC’s “Good Times” and samples from Blondie’s Rapture .

The group’s most significant hit was “The Message” in 1982 as it went platinum in less than a month.

In 1983, Flash and Mel released a 12″ single, “White Lines” which went on to become one of their signature songs.

In 1983, Flash sued Sugar Hill in over the non-payment of royalties, and in 1984 the group split between Flash and Mel before braking up entirely. They reformed in 1987 for a charity concert, to release one album and then broke up again. There was another reunion of a kind in 1994, although Cowboy died in 1989 from a drug overdose due to the effects of his crack cocaine addiction. Justice was made recently, when Flash won the BET “I Am a Hip Hop Icon” award.

This weekends’ music selection will bring you some of the best classic proto-punk-rock, just to help you realize that this music wasn’t invented by Green Day… LOL

Let’s begin… in the beginning. Iggy and the Stooges were an American rock band, heading from Detroit, which was active from about 1967 to 1974. They sold rather few records in their original existence and often performed for indifferent or hostile audiences. Nevertheless, The Stooges are often regarded as hugely influential both on the then-developing heavy metal, and later on punk rock. Singer Iggy Pop and his wild onstage moves were often the focus of attention. Here’s a rare clip from a live show they made in 1970.

The MC5 (short for Motor City Five) was a hard rock band also formed in Detroit (the motor city was a rock Mecca at the same times it was a soul one), in 1964 and active until 1972. Finding relatively little success during their career, the MC5 are now seen one of the more important hard rock groups of their era: their three albums are regarded as classics, and they exerted an influence on hard rock, metal and especially punk rock. Here’s their biggest hit “Kick Out the Jams”.

The Ramones were also American and was often considered to be the first real pure punk rock group. While acknowledged as defining the sound and attitude of mid-1970s punk, they never achieved the commercial success of their contemporaries The Clash or the notoriety of the Sex Pistols, but still had an immense impact on the punk and alternative rock scenes. They are often referred to as the “Godfathers of Punk and played 2,263 concerts throughout their career - they performed virtually non-stop for 22 years until disbanding in 1996 after a final tour with the Lollapalooza music festival. Three of the original band members—Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee Ramone died within a few years of the break up. While they were always regarded as influential, the band’s fame is now arguably greater than while they were actively performing and recording. Here’s one of their most known tunes, “The Blitzkrieg Bop”.

The Damned were heading from the other side of the ocean and formed in London, England in 1976. They considered to be the first British punk band to release a single (New Rose), put out an album (Damned, Damned, Damned), and tour the US. The Damned are generally regarded as one of the founders of gothic rock, and their earlier music was an influence on the hardcore punk sound of the United States. They have incorporated many different styles into their music and image, most notably from garage rock, psychedelic rock, theatrical rock and the New Romantic genre. Here’s “Neat Neat Neat” from 1977:

We’ll finish this weekend’s selection with another canonical British punk band, The Stranglers. They began their career in 1974 as a sinister sounding, hard-edged pub rock group, but eventually branched out to explore other styles of music. Since 1976 The Stranglers were associated with punk rock, due in part to their opening for The Ramones’ first British tour. The Stranglers were also associated with new wave music as well as gothic rock, but their open minded approach never fitted completely within any musical genre. Bassist and singer JJ Burnel has however said in an interview, “I certainly considered myself to be a punk-rocker”. In another interview he went further saying, “I would like to think we (The Stranglers) were more punk plus and then some”. Here’s a rare live 1977 footage of them, playing their classic song “Peaches”.

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is an American indie rock band. Group members are Alec Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh. The band members live in Brooklyn, with the exception of Ounsworth who lives in Philadelphia. Their debut album, titled, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005.

The songs on the album went from the soulful “Details of the War“,

… to one of the best indie/pop/rock songs of 2005, “In This Home on Ice“.

It takes a few listens to get to know Clap Your Hands, and then take a few more listens to learn to love them.

The band, whose members met at Connecticut College, started out by playing weekly shows at “Pianos” record shop in Manhattan. They are notable for achieving their initial recognition and commercial success through the internet rather than through a record label. Shortly after the release of their first album they received attention from numerous MP3 blogs and a favorable review from Pitchfork Media, who gave the band a “Best New Music” commendation. Those reviewers often compared the band to seminal new wave group Talking Heads. The similarities are notably in the David Byrne-alike ecstatic vocals of leader Alec Ounsworth.

The ensuing demand for the debut album was so great that the band was forced to repress the CD, as the initial production run was too small. They garnered even more press after David Bowie and David Byrne were spotted at some of the band’s shows in 2005. In the end of 2005 the band received praise from Rolling Stone as the ‘Hot New Band’ for that year.

The band will release their second album, title, Some Loud Thunder on the end of forthcoming January, as reported by Pitchfork Media.

Today’s time travel will reveal for us the story of possibly the most influential group of the electronic pop music age, Kraftwerk.

Kraftwerk (German for “power station”) was founded in 1970 by Florian Schneider-Esleben (flute) and Ralf Hütter (keyboards), while the pair setting was up its Kling Klang studio in Düsseldorf. The two had met as students at the Düsseldorf Conservatory in the late 1960s, participating in the experimental music scene of the time which the UK music press named “Krautrock”. Early Kraftwerk line-ups (1970-1974) fluctuated, Hütter and Schneider working with around half a dozen other musicians over the course of recording four albums and a few live appearances - most notably guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger, who left to form the band Neu!.

What is generally regarded as the classic Kraftwerk line-up formed in 1975, for the Autobahn tour. This saw the band presented as an electronic quartet, with Hütter and Schneider joined by Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos as electronic percussionists. This quartet would be the band’s public persona for their renowned output of the latter 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1973, the band began to move closer to its “classic” sound, relying more heavily on synthesizers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerk’s first use of the vocoder, which would in time become one of their musical signatures. Kraftwerk’s lyrics deal with postwar European urban life and technology — traveling by car on the Autobahn,

traveling by train,

using home computers and the like. Many of Kraftwerk’s songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life — a strong sense of alienation existing side by side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology.

Their most successful song was “The Model”, which was dealing, using their high developed sense of sarcasm, with the cold fashion world.

“The Robots”, on the other hand, revealed to the public a description of the casual life of man-machines.

Live performance always has played an important part in Kraftwerk’s activities. Also, despite their live shows generally being based around formal songs and compositions, live improvisation often plays a noticeable role in their performances. Some of the band’s familiar compositions have been observed to have developed from live improvisations at their concerts or sound-checks.

The completion of the 1981 Computer World tour then saw almost a decade-long brake in Kraftwerk’s live activities. They did not perform again until 1990.
In 2005, the band released their first official live album, Minimum-Maximum, recorded on their 2004 tour. Here is the song “Man-Machine”, performed live and taken from the Minimum-Maximum tour DVD.

Ying Yang Twins’ latest offering, “Dangerous”, brings back the sound of the mighty Hip-Rock hybrid! The formula of combining heavy distorted guitars with a funky hip-hop tunes, seems to be one of the freshest and most surprising sound of the last 25 years.

It all started in the beginning of the 80’s with Herbie Hancock’s classic track, “Rockit”. Till than, Hancock was a respected Jazz musician and keyboardist, who helped to develop the Jazz-Funk sound of the 70’s. When the hip-hop sound first emerged with artists such as Afrika Bambatta and Grandmaster Flash, Hancock took advantage on this new hype and mixed it with distorted guitar samples. The result changed pop music history forever:

The second attempt to mix those two genres was of course, with Run DMC and Aerosmith’s hit, “Walk This Way”, which took the formula even further – 3 black rappers were rapping on top of a classic hard-rock tune… what a blast!

Then came the Beastie Boys with their own white trash version of what Run DMC and Aerosmith did…

Sleazy 80’s rapper, Tone Loc, used thrashing distorted guitar riffs on top of his mega hit “Funky Cold Medina”. BTW, this song lyrics deals with a love potion that Tone gets from a friend, tests on his dog, and then brings into battle with a few unintended consequences… Hilarious…

We’ll finish this weekend’s selection with the heaviest bomb of them all – The ’91 collaboration between thrash-metal band, Anthrax and the godfathers of political rap, Public Enemy. P.E. invited Anthrax to add their signature heavy distorted sound for this remake of their ’87 underground hip-hop hit. The result was one of the most original tunes hip-hop world has ever produced.

Turn it up!!!