I heart glitches (part one)

Here is a result of experimenting with mods on my all time favorite glitchiest game ever, Left 4 Dead 2.

album of the week: 1.2

LCD Soundsystem

London Sessions

Virgin

why you'll love it: Brilliant live performances of great songs

why you'll hate it: something something hipster something

Continuing the leftovers of 2010 this January… none of the songs on this "live in studio" LCD Soundsytem session are new, but it all feels quite new. They're one of those live bands that really enhance and add to their songs in performance. In some cases, it's simply a change of synthesizers sound ("Daft Punk is Playing At My House"). In other cases it's unrefined gang vocals ("Get Innocuous"). The real highlight is "Pow Pow", where Murphy keeps the awkward ranting of the original recording fresh by cooking up all new lyrics on the spot.

This release is created in the spirit of the much loved John Peel radio sessions that ran in London. These recordings live up to the comparison. They're proof that LCD Soundsystem is much more than just sequenced beat club music with no live attributes. They also sound incredible. Good enough to even be considerd ike alternate versions of your favorite LCD Soundsystem songs.

ZOLO

The first few days of 2011 are being well spent as I catch up to what I didn't play in 2010.

First up is Sam & Max Season 3 (The Devil's Playhouse), which I finished the first episode of last night. It's quite enjoyable.

Other than that, it's been the masocore retro platformer, VVVVVV. I've been rocking through it pretty well, but the last hidden item is one of the hardest things I've ever done in a videogame.

Here is the last 8 and a half minutes of a 45 minute mind melting torture session of trying to get this damn thing.

album of the week: 1.1

Streetlight Manifesto

99 Songs of Revolution: Volume 1

Victory Records (2010)

why you'll love it: Any Streetlight is good Streetlight?

why you'll hate it: It's just covers, dawg

Before the new release drip of 2011 begins, lets look at some leftovers of 2010. First up is Streetlight Manifesto's long promised cover album. Like nearly everything promised by TK, this project was long delayed to little fanfare in the end. 99 Songs of Revolution was first proposed in 2001. So if we're only seeing the first volume now, I've got a feeling this will also be the last.

Counting the remake of Keasbey Nights, Streetlight Manifesto now has as many cover albums as they have original LPs; which is a great waste of their talent. Some of these covers they have been playing just about as long as they've been a band. I heard them perform "Hell" live back in 2003.

These are good for covers, which is nicer than saying "good covers for a ska related band". Radiohead's "Just" is probably the highlight of the bunch. It's just a bunch of damn covers, though. Big whoop!

ZOLL

Here are the big three video games and albums I'm psyched for in 2011.

Portal 2 - In things like films and albums, the follow-up release is usually cursed. Games seem to get away from this stigma, because the first game is usually an unrefined blueprint, where the second takes all the good ideas and makes them better. All the wacky ideas being promised in Portal 2 look to put it alongside the great sequels such as Mega Man 2 and Resident Evil 2.

Bit.Trip Flux - It looks to be a sequel to Beat, but that isn't all that bad to begin with. And I know it's going to be a bit more than that, knowing it is the grand finale to the much praised Bit.Trip saga.

Uncharted 3 - 2 is retroactively my favorite game of 2009, and I don't play enough third person shooters to become tired of the formula yet. I'm totally onboard for more Drake.

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Deerhoof Vs Evil - This will be their first non-Kill Rock Stars LP in a while, which makes me a bit nervous, but I don't think the band has shown any signs of losing steam. It seems the new guitarist they got on the last album has only strengthened them.

Polysics (yet untitled: still recording) - Last month's EP hasn't made up my mind on if this band has jumped the shark without their synth player yet.

Obits ::: Moody, Standard and Poor - I wanted to love I Blame You (2009) but only kinda liked it. I've read a few interviews that promises more condensed and focused songs, rather than ones that just sit back and jam. I assume the band is more comfortable with what their niche is now, so I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out.