…because they all look like this:

Ta Moko (feat. Whiri Mako Black)

The Way You Dream (feat. Michael Stipe & Asha Boshle)

Passion (feat. Michael Franti)

Racing Away (feat. Grant Lee Phillips & Horace Andy)

Ghosts (feat. Eddi Reader)

Ma_ Africa (feat. The Mahotella Queens & Ulali)

My Culture (feat. Robbie Williams & Maxi Jazz)

Bushes (feat. Babaa Maal)

Daphne (feat. Eddi Reader, The Mahotella Queens & Revetti Sakalar)

Dunya Salam (feat. Baba Maal)

Braided Hair (feat. Speech & Neneh Cherry)

All Alone (feat. Eilean Shona)

I just wanted to post a shameless plug for my own website, Inner Ear. Inner Ear is a music website that used to focus solely on promotion, but because I do pretty much everything myself, it was kinda hard to keep on doing a good job on that. So the focus has shifted more towards reviews & interviews. Things are going slightly better again lately, after a few months where things were quiet (well, i had to graduate too).

You can also find us on Myspace & Last.FM

As for interviews and reviews that we feature so far:

Interviews:

Jim Gaven
The Craze
Honor Society
Republic of Letters
Lazyeye
Kendall Payne
Rosemary’s Sons
AM
Days Difference
Elseworth
Lisa Redford
Carbon Leaf
Kill The Alarm
Chad Perrone
Fenix Tx
Patrick Park
Fiction Plane
Fedchenka
Syd
Mark O’Shea
Joe Hedges
Rooney
Dakota Fate
JJ Appleton
Francis Martin
the Tom Glenne 5.5
Ernie Halter
SLAB
Cordless
Alphaspin
Mike Finley

apart from the 4 reviews that are expected soon, we are also negotiating interviews with several other artists and bands, but none of these have yet been confirmed. I hope to get answers from these people soon and I will let you know!

Reviews:

(the italic reviews listed are to be expected (relatively) soon)

1 Giant Leap – 1 Giant Leap
2nd Place Driver – 2nd Place Driver [EP]
2nd Place Driver – Leave [EP]
2nd Place Driver – …1
2nd Place Driver – The Hungry Ones
2nd Place Driver – Full Speed, Bare Naked
3 Doors Down – The Better Life
3 Doors Down – Away From The Sun
3 Doors Down – Another 700 Miles [EP]
3 Doors Down – Seventeen Days
3 Doors Down – 3 Doors Down
12 Stones – 12 Stones
12 Stones – Potter’s Field
12 Stones – Anthem For The Underdog
30 Seconds To Mars – 30 Seconds To Mars
30 Seconds To Mars – A Beautiful Lie
39 Reasons – 39 Reasons [EP]
a balladeer – Rumor Had It [EP]
a balladeer – Panama
Aaron Lines – Living Out Loud
Aaron Lines – Moments That Matter
All She Wrote – Coshade
Alli Rogers – Always Eden
Alli Rogers – One [EP]
Alli Rogers – The Day Of Small Things
Alli Rogers – At Sea
Alli Rogers – You & The Evening Sky
Alphaspin – Through The Solar Waves
American Hi-Fi – American Hi-Fi
American Hi-Fi – The Art of Losing
American Hi-Fi – Hearts On Parade
Augustana – Midwest Skies & Sleepless Mondays
Augustana – Mayfield [EP]
Augustana – You’ll Disappear [EP]
Augustana – All The Stars & Boulevards
Augustana – Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt [EP]
Augustana – Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt
Billy Boy On Poison – Sweet Mess [EP]
Blyss – Diff’s Lucky Day
Chad Perrone – Used To Dream
Chad Perrone – Wake
Clockwork Noise – Myspace Tunes
Cordless – Something Real [EP]
Cordless – Bright Lights
The Craze – Introducing.. The Craze
The Craze – Get Up! [EP]
Dan Wilson – Free Life
David Beebee – dB²
David Beebee – David Beebee [EP]
The Fray – Reason [EP]
The Fray – How To Save A Life
The Fray – Live @ Electric Factory
Honestly – Have A Nice Life
Honestly – Ghosts Of A Brilliant Past [EP]
HoneyHoney – Loose Boots [EP]
Honor Society – The Green Light [EP]
Honor Society – A Tale Of Risky Business [EP]
Hotspur – Myspace Tunes
Hotspur – Beta
Hungry Hungry Hypocrites – Rock, Roll, Fire & Magic
JJ Appleton – 500 Moments
JJ Appleton – Uphill To Purgatory
JJ Appleton – Someone Else’s Problem
JJ Appleton – Black & White Matinee [EP]
John Taglieri – Leap Of Faith
John Taglieri – Half & Half
John Taglieri – NOW!
John Taglieri – Wide Awake & Dreaming
Keaton Simons – Currently [EP]
Keaton Simons – Exes & Whys
Keaton Simons – Blink [EP]
Keaton Simons – Can You Hear Me
Keith LuBrant – Searching For Signal
Lazyeye – Lights In The Attic
Lifehouse – No Name Face
Lifehouse – Stanley Climbfall
Lifehouse – Lifehouse
Lifehouse – Who We Are
TMATSMM & God Is An Astronaut – Split 12″ [Vinyl]
Matt Swachman – Uncharted Territory
Mike Finley – Mike Finley [EP]
Mike Finley – The Way We Are [EP]
Missing Leg Compartment – Myspace Tunes
Nephu Huzzband – Papers [EP]
Patrick Park – Loneliness Knows My Name
Patrick Park – Mondays In Spaceland
Patrick Park – Stickbirdsongs [EP]
Patrick Park – Everyone’s In Everyone
Patrick Ryan Clark – Translation
Radiohead – Pablo Honey
Radiohead – The Bends
Radiohead – OK Computer
Radiohead – Kid A
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Republic of Letters – Spirit Or A Ghost [EP]
Rocco DeLuca & The Burden – I Trust You To Kill Me
Rosemary’s Sons – Misery Loves Company
Rosemary’s Sons – All In Hand
Rosemary’s Sons – St. Eleanor’s Park
Rosemary’s Sons – “The Others” [working title]
Seven Mary Three – Day & Nightdriving
SLAB – Betray The Past.. Infect The Future
Snow Patrol – Songs For Polarbears
Snow Patrol – When It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up
Snow Patrol – Final Straw
Snow Patrol – Live & Acoustic @ Park Ave
Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
Souls A Fuse – Under The Spotlight [EP]
Three Days Grace – Three Days Grace
Three Days Grace – One-X
the Tom Glenne 5.5 – .married
the Tom Glenne 5.5 – White Soul
the Tom Glenne 5.5 – Free Rock

reviews for (among others): Untyde, Making April, Dakona, Fiction Plane, Silkstone, Rooney, Erny Green, Solo, Radford, Steve Bertrand, Emerson Hart, Avion, Voicst, Racoon, Krezip, Days Difference, My Favorite Highway, Jim Gaven, Kill The Alarm, Leaf, Alamo Race Track, Little things that kill, Big City Rock, We The Living, T.E.A. & Marwood are expected to follow.

People are amazing. I just saw a really good TV program tonight about music, and it restored my faith in human nature — and believe me, I needed that!

As I watched and listened, it struck me that people are amazing — amazingly similar, yet amazingly different due to developing cultures.

Yes, I know that the collective fear is that technology (such as mobile cell phones, the internet and TV) will make the world’s peoples converge and become uniformly bland — and possibly also able to be manipulated easier. But I don’t subscribe to that fear; people are always coming up with new stuff. I couldn’t believe skateboarding, body-popping, moon-walking or BMX tricks — or, more recently, Sébastien Foucan & co with their ‘parkour‘ (free running).

When you think about it, it’s probably down to economics, because economics has changed everything; it has turned the “arts” into an investment and pop entertainment business.

It follows that the “real” value and worth has to be “culture” (rather than “art”) — in other words the inventive product of groups over that of individuals.

And I am perfectly happy with that.

Good old economics has also made world travel, tourism, and technology available to more and more people. This means that more people can experience other cultures and appreciate the sheer diversity in humanity.

We can take snapshots and video clips and post them on YouTube, or blog our trips directly to WordPress, or through Facebook, Bebo or MySpace. But I liked what I saw on Channel Four’s What About Me? This is an highly original project dreamt up and carried out by Jamie Catto of ‘Faithless’ and Duncan Bridgeman, the producer of ‘Take That’. I had caught the tail end of last week’s program, and was intrigued — leading to my waiting until midnight to see tonight’s ‘Episode 4 – Love and Need’.

This is what the MySpace website states:

When Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman joined forces to create the project 1 Giant Leap, they embarked upon a global journey that included Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, America and Europe, equipped solely with a digital video camera, a laptop and a vision — to capture and weave together a unique fusion of sound, image and spoken word from some of the world’s most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers and to explore ‘The Unity in the Diversity’.

Their treasure hunt brought many unexpected collaborations with such inspirations as Michael Stipe, Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, Dennis Hopper, Brian Eno, Asha Bhosle, and Baaba Maal. The resulting double-Grammy nominated DVD consists of 11 short films – INSPIRATION, MONEY, FAITH, SEX, DEATH, CONFRONTATION, TIME, BLASPHEMY, UNITY, MASKS, HAPPY, and 30 behind the scenes movies. You might have seen ‘The Making Of 1 Giant Leap’ which has been broadcast globally by National Geographic Channel. Or perhaps you’ve seen them playing live with their 10 piece band and cinema screens.

[ from: http://www.myspace.com/1giantleap]

It’s a crazy idea to mix up music in this way. It is possible because of TV, because of the music software, because of the laptop, the internet, and because of cheap flights around the world!

Sound on Sound’s Matt Bell wrote a really good article back in 2003, about the methods and equipment they used.

1 Giant Leap –Duncan Bridgeman — Travels With A Laptop Studio
Many people love the idea of laptop recording, but few have put it into practice like 1 Giant Leap. Their acclaimed album and DVD project was recorded on an Apple Powerbook during a six-month journey round the world — with a little help from some friends…

[From soundonsound.com]

They have various websites…

• www.whataboutme.tv/
• www.1giantleap.tv/
• www.1giantleap.com

But www.myspace.com/1giantleap has a player, so you can listen to the music. However, I think that seeing the people in their local settings and natural habitat is what makes this, so try to catch the TV show if you can. If you cannot, then check out the various clips posted to YouTube.

This is what Channel Four ought to be doing, this is the antidote to rolling news, reality TV, sport, game shows, 100 best lists, and celebrities! They have a shop for buying the DVD, but it has a videoplayer embed, so might be worth a wee visit! [Play.com].

Our alternative perspective on Halloween, in which we explored the relationship between the dead and the living, took place on Friday 3rd November.

We started by showing 1 Giant Leap’s short film on Death. After that Tim Victor
gave a succinct and fresh appreciation of the Celtic notion of the “thin place”.

Each person then remembered a dead ancestor, either blood relative or spiritual inspirational figure. In addition a few ventured to say how they would like to be remembered.

We took a communion of popcorn and cider, and Tim then spoke of the Great Ancestor and Nic read from Hebrews, chapters 11 and 12.

The evening turned out not exactly as planned; for one the crucifix pumpkin had decayed severely and instead of being a proud mysterious reminder of G-ds bounty, was transfigured into an icon of decay, and our invited speaker on African Ancestor veneration didn’t make it.

The evening was met with various responses. Some expressed concern at the morbid nature of the film, which featured people from various cultures discussing death, as well as extensive footage of a Hindu funeral pyre. Others were simply uneasy talking about death. But a few found the unorthodox Eucharist intriguing, and entered into their veneration and remembrances whole heartedly.

It was a solemn but a necessary reflection on the great taboo of our society.
 

The blah, blah, blha of an Average Vietnamese American.

Soundtrack
1 Giant Leap
Girl600
Regina Belle
Tim Corrimal
Christophe Goze
Matt Blender
Filter
Cheryl Merkowski
Radio LCF
Podsafe Music Network

MP3 File

Inheritance (and my 300th post!) from LCF on Vimeo

Honorable mentions can be found in the Links section

radiolcf [at] tpg.com.au
vjnetcast [at] gmail.com

If you haven’t been listening to my podcast you might not know that I recently got a good deal with my cable company. I was offered to switch to digital cable for the same price that I was already paying for my analog cable service. I basically get the same channels plus “On Demand” and a few extra channels.

Today, through “On Demand” I watched an independent film called 1 Giant Leap. There was mention in the film that stuck out at me. That times have become unstable in the world. There was a belief or practice about planting an olive tree. Even though it may not mature in your lifetime, there was faith that your children will benefit from it’s fruit (are olives fruit? lol, I don’t know). Now a days people have become concerned with the now and not investing in the next generation, partly because we are unsure that there will be one. Click out the trailer below.

1 Giant Leap – Trailer

“1 Giant Leap is a collaborative dvd project for the 21st century, which fuses music, words, sounds, rhythms and images from over 25 locations in 20 countries around the globe to celebrate diversity of musicians, story-tellers, authors, filmmakers, artists, entrepreneurs, artists, and thinkers from many different cultures. 1 Giant Leap is a title, a philosophy, a leap of faith that sprung from the minds of visionary UK musicians/visual artists Jamie Catto (Faithless) and Duncan Bridgeman. It is the embodiment of the unity in human diversity and a cross-cultural exploration of universal truth that is a global journey unto itself. 1 Giant Leap features: Kurt Vonnegut, Dennis Hopper, Ram Dass, Tom Robbins, Anita Roddick, Brian Eno, Michael Stipe (REM), Robbie Williams, Neneh Cherry, Speech (Arrested Development), Stewart Copeland, Baaba Maal, and many more.” ~ Palm Pictures

“Braided Hair” music video from 1 Giant Leap

Hear the Amazing music…