Nevermind The Posers

See ya in the pit.

Perfect Teeth Comic Book Series November 22, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 8:50 AM
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Review by Angela Blasi

What do you do when the world seems to be obsessed with the idea of vampires and you’re a punk rocker?  Why, you create a comic book hybrid of both those things!
 Paper + Plastick Records along with Viper Press have unveiled its newest project in the form of comic book series called Perfect Teeth.  In this fictitious world, art imitates life as vampires aren’t seductive predators, they’re dominating Billboard charts.  In real world fashion, other major music labels follow suit, booking talent from some of Halloween’s most recognizable faces.  If you have a Twitter account, you can download the comic for free here.  But wait, there’s more!  Not only has Paper + Plastick created a comic based on a group of blood sucking rock stars but they’ve brought the experience to life.  Owner of Paper + Plastick Vinnie Fiorello, along with Stephen Egerton (Descendents) and Jon Snodgrass (Drag The River) have teamed up to create a single under the guise of Perfect Teeth that is to be released later this month.  Visually, I enjoyed the content; its satirical nature and the whole look of it in general.  It’s a cool, creative medium jam-packed with sarcasm.

 

Paper + Plastick Releases Compilation to Benefit NJ Publicist Rey Roldan November 11, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?! — NVMP @ 9:00 AM
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In the wake of a serious house fire that claimed thousands of dollars in personal property damage, Paper + Plastick Records has teamed up with other labels and friends to present a 40-song digital compilation to help New Jersey-based publicist Rey Roldan.
“Rey is a friend who works in music and for that reason, getting together this benefit was the most logical thing we could do,” said Paper + Plastick owner and Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello.

Roldan, who owns Another Reybee Production, Inc., has 16 years of experience in the music industry as a journalist and publicist. His reputation as an industry lifer is built on his work with clients ranging from independent punk bands to large mainstream artists.

The compilation features 40 songs from bands like Yellowcard, Chuck Ragan, MC Lars, He Is We, Less Than Jake and The Sounds, and can be downloaded based on a pay-what-you-want donation. The minimum donation is $1.

Fiorello, who has worked with Roldan through his own band, Less Than Jake, and Paper + Plastick bands for over five years, said pooling together the compilation was almost second nature.

“Rey has been an ally with everything I’ve been doing in music for a while now,” Fiorello said. “So when I heard about the fire, I figured, ‘What better way to help Rey that by using what he has given himself to for almost two decades?’ And that’s music.”

We would appreciate a post linking to the compilation. All of the proceeds from the donations will go straight to helping Roldan in his recovery attempts.

Tracklisting:

1. The Photo Atlas – Jealous Teeth
2. City Rain – Montage
3. Arts and Crafts Movement – Los Angeles
4. Chuck Ragan – Wash My Feet In The Waves
5. The Gamits – Delusional
6. Edelweiss – Icarus
7. Have Nots – Louisville Slugger
8. The Front Bottoms – More Than It Hurts You
9. MC Lars – Bill and Sarah Wedding Dance
10. The Stereo – Home (Acoustic)
11. Strung Out – Firecracker
12. The Waltz – The Capitol Of Everything
13. Mike Felumlee – We’ll Find A Way
14. Brian McGee – Hold Sway
15. Hypernova – Extacy
16. King Raam – The Hunter (Shekarchi) (Feat. Esfund & Shara)
17. Red City Radio – Captioned For The Hearing Impaired
18. Veil Veil Vanish – Change In The Neon Light (Black Cloud Remix)
19. Reverse The Curse – The Space In-Between
20. Samiam – Dead
21. Landmines – Black Tide
22. VNV Nation – Nova
23. IAMX – Fire And Whispers
24. Killola – Stop It. I Like It
25. Polar Bear Club – Kneel On Nails
26. Picture Me Broken – Dearest (I’m So Sorry)
27. The New Rochelles – This Is My LJ
28. Candy Hearts – Good Enough
29. Direct Hit! – Monster In The Closet
30. Plow United – Header
31. Great Cynics – Twenty Five
32. Hank & Cupcakes – Hit
33. Yellowcard – With You Around
34. He Is We – Pardon Me
35. Weerd Science – Heaven Burns (Demo)
36. The Sounds – Something To Die For (MFMB Mix)
37. Miss Derringer – Bulletproof Heart (Live)
38. Meat Beat Manifesto – Easier Listening
39. Morning District – Bullet And A Brightside
40. Less Than Jake – Goodbye, Mr.Personality

 

Warner Bros. Label and their Blatant Abuse of Copyright Law Enforcement September 15, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,music news — NVMP @ 7:53 AM
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by Mark B.

What had been a random moment of scouring the Internet (Facebook in particular) during a boring period at work quickly escalated into a truly “Holy SHIT” moment, as before my very eyes I stumbled across a quick blurb from none other than BT at the very top of the Live Feed, featuring this very interesting piece of information.

Background info on following tweet from BT today:
- They’ve banned YouTube videos of mine they didn’t own!
- Not to mention emailed Warner Bros for 8 months about returning my masters to IMA & ESCM (both out of print for years.)  Guess what they did?  Warner Bros never responded & re-released both albums.
- Don’t pay Warner Bros for IMA or ESCM. I will release more complete new versions when I can.

What on earth was he talking about?  Who did what and why?  Thankfully, Mr. BT provided a link to help shed some light on this murky, yet increasingly intriguing post.  So without further ado, feel free to click on the link below and judge for yourself.

http://gizmodo.com/5839739/warner-bros-sued-for-copyright-fraud-and-abuse

***And extra props go to BT, as without him pointing out this travesty on a Facebook post, yet another MAJOR fuck-up by the industry at large would have skimmed by unnoticed, and the public might have missed the chance to witness a nail being hammered into the coffin of not just the music industry monoliths, but the entertainment industry.  Cash rules everything around us.

 

MTV CEO STEPPING DOWN…SHOULD WE CARE? June 26, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Rants — NVMP @ 11:39 AM

A response to the 5/11/11 Barbara Ortutay AP article found here.

Written by: Klone

So, on the one hand this Judy McGrath person should be commended for making MTV what it once was, but at the same time I feel like it’s ABOUT TIME the idiot who took MTV from being MUSIC television to MEANINGLESS television should NOT be celebrating a career of success.

I mean, seriously?  ”Jersey Shore” and “16 and Pregnant” are accolades?  Why aren’t the conservatives trying to do something about the fact that MTV is glorifying ignorance on ALL levels by promoting “guidos/guidettes”, ruining a state’s reputation with the rest of the nation and making TV stars out of teens who become pregnant unintentionally and out-of-wedlock, or more likely intentionally, seeking celebrity.  Would seem a ripe target….

MTV doesn’t seem to know the difference between exacerbating a problem and bringing to light a scary new phenomena.  I think at one time it did know, which is why they put together their multi-chaptered documentary series called “Sex in the 90s”.  Now, there was a liberal approach to a socially taboo subject (at the time) that went out of its way to bring all sides of the debate to the table and let the viewer be educated.  If this series were done today, it would actually be an under-cover, mainstream porno show.  Somewhere between the 90s and the turn of the century, MTV completely lost its way, and began laying down with dogs to make celebrities of society’s fleas.
I remember a time when MTV was all about celebrating the fun side of life.  If America was the small town in the movie Footloose, MTV was Kevin Bacon, getting the entire nation’s youth to get up and dance.  We had ACTUAL MUSIC VIDEOS that were shown IN THEIR ENTIRETY all day long.  You had ground-breaking sketch comedy shows like “MTV’s The State” and even something for the comic book/art fans with their many animated shows like “MTV’s Oddities: The Head”, “MTV’s Oddities: The Maxx”, “Liquid Television” (a truly under-rated, yet amazing variety/sketch show), and who could forget all the fun game shows like “Remote Control”, “Singled Out” and “Idiot Savant”. The network literally had the world in the palm of its hand, when enter Mary Ellis-Bunim…the mother of reality television and the garbage program of which she was the executive producer, “The Real World”.  Nothing would ever be the same.

Now what are they?  The virtual graveyard for the leftovers from the last decade of decadence (how I miss Motlëy Crüe…I know they’re still around, but like all things of the old days of MTV, it’s just not the same.)  I actually pity today’s kids, who have no concept of a world not accessible through an iPhone.  The kids have no idea what it’s like to have a wide array of artists constantly on display, but never on-demand.  It’s a sad, sorry state of affairs, and I for one think Ms. McGrath failed one generation after helping define the previous one.  I may be a harsh critic, but I must have missed the memo where we pretend that failing to follow-up on your previous successes was the new “in”-thing to celebrate.  MTV…WTF?!  Oh wait, I know…it’s all about the money, stupid.  Ha.  Silly me.

 

The Westboro Baptist Church Protest a Less Than Jake Show in Pensacola, FL May 2, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?! — NVMP @ 11:01 PM
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by Angela Blasi

The Westboro Baptist Church has capitalized on the old saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity, even if you’re in poor taste.  Which they are, all the time.  The group of old Testament, like religious zealots are notorious, if not infamous for their protests at events such as fallen soldiers’ funerals and pop culture events.  However, their  latest endeavor on 4/20/11, protesting the beloved ska band Less Than Jake, makes even the more apathetic of us raise an eyebrow.  Really guys?  Apparently somewhere in Leviticus it made a reference to skanking being the dance of the devil or some shit.  See?  And you thought all that gyration was wholesome.

Faced with slightly more than a dozen picketers with “signs that talked about whore mongering, adultery, sin,” Vinnie Fiorello was a bit perplexed by the reaction.  ”It had to be a slow night at the bible study last night… Or they heard the truth that we are a traveling band who love Satan but hate guns,” he told AltPress.com.

Clearly, none of these Westboro Baptist Church members have ever been to a Less Than Jake show, or any ska show for that matter.  If they ever did open the narrow scope of their ignorance-coated blinders, they would see a community of kids all coming together for music; picking each other up off the floor from pits, skinny baby-faced boys with arms out to keep the girls from getting hurt and a color spectrum of skin tones and flushed cheeks.

What exactly is “whore-mongering” anyway?

Less Than Jake recently re-released expanded versions of 1996′s Losing Streak and 1998′s Hello Rockview on their own label Sleep It Off and are gearing up for some major announcements shortly.  The band just wrapped up a handful of Florida dates and are preparing for the entire Vans Warped Tour this Summer.

 

For The Love Of Music, Or The Money? April 14, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Rants,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 8:25 AM
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by Angela Blasi

So Drake was momentarily out of Young Money after an alleged argument and shoving match between him and Lil’ Wayne.  According to the rumor mill, like most celebrity fallouts, Drake got heated when discussing the possibility of restructuring his contract and while also inquiring about royalties.  He threw some words around to which Lil’ Wayne, the badass he is, basically told him to get the fuck out.  Days later the internet is a buzz with media citing that, oh, he was just kidding!  Drake, you so funny.  From interviews given by both Drake and Lil’ Wayne the two have cited nothing but the utmost appreciation for one another and are in fact still a part of the Young Money machine.

While this sounds like a sweet tale of bromance, the cynic in me can’t help but wonder how big a role money played in this smoothing over.  I imagine Drake throwing a bitch fit over royalties, starting to get an inflated sense of self (when most people know you’re from Canada and played the handicapped kid on Degrassi) and popping off at the mouth.  Fast forward a day and everyone realizing that, holy shit, we make a lot of money to do this, are you fucking stupid?  Smile for the cameras boys.

 

Men at Work Lose Song Plagiarism Appeal April 12, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Music Questions,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 4:54 PM
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Thoughts by TNT

Men at Work may come from a land down under, but after a recent court hearing, the band will have to pay royalties after the judge ruled their hit single from 1982 “Down Under” was partly copied from popular folk song “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree” by Marion Sinclair.  It was a portion of the flute riff that mimics the classic tune.  Can you hear the similarities?

“Fact of the matter is that it went unrecognized for 27 years because it was unconscious, it was innocuous, naive” states Colin Hay

Now, as I can clearly hear the Kookaburra tune in the flute riff, I wouldn’t call this copyright infringement, especially since it went unrecognized for 27 years.  Marion Sinclair, a school teach from Australia, wrote this song in 1932 and it was copyrighted in 1934.  Ms. Sinclair passed away in 1988 and the rights to her song were renewed, or better yet, purchased by Larrikin Music in 1989 for $6,100.  The owners of the copyright saw an episode of ABC’s Spicks and Specks (an Australian music-themed comedic television quiz show) in 2007 and it prompted legal action against the band for the similarities.  Copyright laws state that the original composer gets life plus 70 years.  I’m sure none of this would have happened if Larrikin Music did not have the rights, and this is why I find the case to be unfair and unjust.  Men at Work was ordered to pay just 5% of royalties from the hit song dating back to 2002 and of course future royalties, which is better than the original asking of 40-60% of ALL royalties since the creation of “Down Under”.  Poor Colin Hay and Ron Strykert.  What do you think about this case?  Is this fair or unjust?

Anyone know what the song is about?  Apparently, “Down Under” paints the picture of an Australian backpacker touring the world, making references to chunder, Vegemite sandwiches and beer.  Wanna laugh?  Think about myself or anyone taking these dance moves to a club today (1 minute and 35 seconds into the video, second guy from the left).
 

Scare Off Wolves by Blasting Creed February 2, 2011

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 1:14 AM

Review by Zach
On January 21st, 2011, a boy named Walter Eikrem was on his way home from school in Norwegia, in a town named Rakkestad.  Eikrem was on his normal route from the bus stop and noticed that four wolves had appeared on the path.  At the time, he was listening to music on his cell phone so he decided to blast the volume and started playing “Overcome” by Creed in hopes of scaring off the wolves.  He didn’t want to run because he knew if he did, the wolves would have run him down.  So he let the song play and the wolves dispersed.  ”They didn’t really get scared,” Eikrem said.  ”They just turned around and simply trotted away.”

Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,740680,00.html

In summation: Don’t run away from a pack of hungry wolves, just flail your arms around, yell and blast Creed.  After all, if you heard someone blasting Creed, wouldn’t you turn the other way?

 

Katy Perry on Sesame Street? Really? September 29, 2010

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Rants — NVMP @ 7:59 AM
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By Alexander Stigz Castiglione

We all saw it on the news.  We all read about it on MSN.  We all know what happened.  If you don’t, allow me to kick over the rock you’ve been living under.

Apparently, Katy Perry, pop-singer and one-hit wunderkind, was in a sketch on Sesame Street that was deemed too racy.  Check it out below.


Now that your brain cells are fried and ears bleeding, let me go on with my rant.

First off, what crack smoking CEO or acid-laced talent manager booked the same person who made the breakout hit “I Kissed A Girl”?  What rum soaked PR agent spun this, and offered a broad who sings about bikini’s and daisy dukes to a children’s program?  And we wonder why kids are getting dumber and dumber…we’re not leading by example.  (“We” being the people who are supposed to be adults).

I got to give it up to Elmo though, because for a red furry little bastard, he gets mad play.  Although the clip was more amusing to watch because of Katy Perry’s laughable acting skills, and even more atrocious lip syncing, I wouldn’t say it went into the category of “racy.”  So all you soccer moms that are up in arms: stop acting like it was Elmo catching some dome while the Cookie Monster hit it from behind.  It wasn’t that bad.  It was dumber and more irrelevant than offensive.

On a side note: Isn’t Sesame Street supposed to be about learning?  I don’t remember much about the show, but I remember the alphabet and counting skits, not skits about how to chase around a 3 ft ball of red fur to play dress up.  What are we teaching these kids in the subtext?  Be a level 7 clinger that chases around guys?  Don’t take no for an answer when you want some Muppet ass?

We, as a collective America, complain about violence on TV or risqué ads in the media.  We bitch about violence in movies.  We complain about sexually explicit language in songs.  Yet these same parents will take their kids to see Britney Spears hump chairs, or let them be fans and look up to the most recent abhorrence in Hollywood dumbfuckery: Lindsey Lohan.  But that’s a whole other story.  They let kids act out violence in GTA or Call of Duty but don’t want them seeing a movie with titties.  Newsflash folks, every kid on this planet has seen tits: They actually spent the first few years of their life equating them with sustenance.

My point in this rant?  The Katy Perry Sesame Street cameo was inane.  It wasn’t thought out.  And it may (and I stress may) have been to risqué for young children.  However, there are other things to be up in arms about.  Like the double standard we perpetuate when it comes to “controlling what our kids watch/listen to.”  Personally, I’m for open season and not sheltering any child.  The world is a scary place sometimes and acting like it isn’t doesn’t make it go away.  I’m sure not all of you agree with me, but if you’re going to do something, don’t be a hypocrite.  Do it unilaterally.  My other point, is that parents today would rather have their kids being fat little shits playing Xbox and blocking them from the world, rather than…say, here’s a thought, parenting.  Explaining.  Teaching.

Let’s not worry about having the same lesbian-curious-theme song singer on Sesame Street.  How about the pharmaceutical ads that dominate daytime TV, and spout bullshit like “do you ever get tired/do you ever get depressed/do you ever have anal leakage” and make everyone think that there is something wrong with them because they are not windsurfing or playing in a field of sunflowers?  Can we stop trying to sell people gum or makeup or Dr. Scholl’s Insoles with the false assertion that it will somehow make you a more complete and happy person?

There are better things to object to, and some no talent hack and billboard hooker trying to tickle a Muppet’s Elmo is not one of them.  Lady Gaga being the role model for 8-year-old girls…now that’s a problem: “Let’s have some fun/this beat is sick/I wanna take a ride on your disco stick” is not something I want to hear a second grader say…ever.

 

On behalf of our readers and the fans of music that we know still have brains and the ability to think… September 10, 2010

Filed under: Can You Believe This?!,Music Videos,Rants,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 6:30 AM
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…we, the editors of NeVerMindthePosers are officially boycotting the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in protest of the overtly engineered marketing machine, designed to narrow the focus of popular music to a small pool of already over-exposed artists.  MTV has for some time been distancing itself from the point of its inception, altogether dropping music videos from their regular programming.  As such, we feel that they have lost touch with the popular music scene, and have instead been co-opted by a select group of record labels and producers, to effectively hijack the audience they once lovingly embraced and exposed to more music than free public radio was ever able to.  The list of nominees for this year’s awards show is irrefutable proof that the network has a specific agenda and is strategically manipulating its audience to control their opinions.  We at NVMP are all for marketing and supporting artists, we understand that the music industry is as much a business as it is an artistic endeavor and phenomenon.  However, we cannot in any good conscience support MTV’s decision to all but handout awards to a handful of pre-selected artists that they are poising to be the ONLY artists that their audience should be listening to.  What legitimacy is there to an awards show where the same group of people are up for ALL the awards?  Even the Academy Awards (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) has categories designed to widen the scope of artists being prominently featured and considered for honor.  MTV’s 2010 VMA Nominee list is a slap in the face to the music loving public, and should be taken as such with no room for excuse or explanation.  Therefore, we will not be covering this event, and we strongly discourage anyone out there from wasting their time by letting MTV tell them who they should be listening to.

Signed,
Dave ‘Klone’ Maresca
Tina Nicole Teresi
Alex ‘Stigz’ Castiglione
Angela Blasi
Mark B
Daniel Edward Petrino
Hoverbee


Out of 16 categories and their nominees, here are some interesting facts:

- 16 categories are broken down into 9 artist categories and 7 professional categories.
- Lady Gaga is nominated in 11 out of the 16 categories (The 5 categories that were not crazy for gaga?  Best Male Video, Best Hip Hop Video, Best New Artist, Best Rock Video, and Breakthrough Video).
- Lady Gaga has 13 total nominations (nominated twice for Best Choreography and Video of the Year; “Bad Romance” and “Telephone”.)
- Eminem is nominated in 8 categories, all for “Not Afraid”.
- The only category we will acknowledge is Best Breakthrough Video- Dan Black “Symphonies”, Gorillaz ft. Bobby Womack & Mos Def “Stylo”, Coldplay “Strawberry Swing”, and The Black Keys “Tighten Up”.  Four great artists, four phenomenal videos. Is this still MTV?  If you had any insight to good, new music (or read NVMP) you would have already seen these videos, so still, we boycott.
- 16 categories with 5 nominations each should leave 80 spots available for nominees.
- A total of 36 artists make up the 2010 nomination list.  22 artists are nominated once, 5 appear twice, and that leaves 9 artists nominated three times or more to fill the rest of the spots.  No thank you, I do not want my MTV.


A little background on the TV monster that MTV has become.
by Stigz

MTV in the late 80s and early 90s used to selectively air music videos based on their content, and even banned Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, presumably for racist reasons.  MTV only wavered when Jackson’s label claimed to pull all of their other artists from the channel.  This led to a massive PR campaign to get away from their racist image.  MTV’s answer?  They concocted “The Real World.”  For any onlooker to the first season, a very liberal agenda is pushed, and they consistently make things out to be a race argument; this is no coincidence.  Even though it is unscripted TV, they select the most diverse arrangement of people imaginable and throw them into the mix with each other.  This, coupled with their more liberal selection music, “racially informing” PR and programming campaign, and sympathetic stand towards the AIDS epidemic, gained them the support of the masses and diffused attention and racist claims from them.  Back then though, up until the late 90s, they ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC VIDEOS; and these videos hit a lot of different genres, artists and age demographics.  Soon after “The Real World,” something went terribly wrong.  Now there are a bunch of MTV Channels and good luck finding a music video.  Pack a lunch; it’s going to be a while.  Now that the history is out-of-the-way, let’s talk about the present.

MTV’s stagnant pool of brainless programming, rigged music scheduling and general lack of respect for anybody outside of the Billboard Top 5, is abhorrent.  I, as a music fan and mindful citizen of our culture, must object.  Until diversification of content, or at the very least, programming which doesn’t make anyone with an IQ over 17 go searching for a straight razor, you will be given no refuge here.  Music is not a soda pop.  Music is not a line of cocaine.  Music is not a brand of shampoo.  Music is not a personality contest.  Music is freedom, and sadly, MTV, you are the jailer. Boycott the “MTV Video Music Awards,” if you can call them that.  Find your music elsewhere.  Watch other shows.  Tell Snooki to “Fuck Off.”

 

 
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