Last Week's Rundown and 2 CD Reviews (Coz I suck)

Yeah, there actually is an update this week (last week was a fluke)! Here's the playlist:

Zilch - Electric Cucumber
Kagrra - Jajauma Himedan
*NEW ROCK* MUCC - Gerbera
Gazzette - Cassis
*Myspace Prostitots*
Asian Kung-fu Generation - N.G.S.
*We Want Your Ass*
*NEW ROCK* Rentrer en Soi - Protoplasm
*NEW ROCK* SID - Hosoikoe
Gazette - Anti-pop

*The "Music So Heavy You'll Shit Your Pants" Block*
Dir en grey - Obscure
Kagerou - XII Dizzy
Gazette - $ocial Riot Machine$
Dimmu Borgir - Puritania
Deathgaze - Chaos
Coaltar of the Deepers - Dead By Dawn
Strapping Young Lad - Detox

The Pillows - Ride On Shooting Star
*NEW ROCK* Hyde - Season's Call
D'espairs Ray - Forbidden
Hora - Modulate God
*Featured Artist of the Week* Raphael - Hanasuku inochi aru kagiri
Buck Tick - Muma The Nightmare
Johnny Cash - Walk The Line
BLOOD - Vengeance For BLOOD
*NEW ROCK* Alice nine - Fantasy
*NEW ROCK* Ayabie - Japaneses ROUREZO caramel town
*Featured Artist of the Week* Raphael - Lost Graduation
*NEW ROCK* Phantasmagoria - kyousoukyoku ~Cruel Crucible~

Major sorries go out to those, and there were many of you this past week, who's requests I didn't get to. As you can see, we had alot planned with the heavy music block, the bundle of New Rock, the Featured Artist of the Week, and the talk break that generated the highest response in TR history, Myspace Prostitots.

For this talk break, we responded to the local media's presentation of young children on Myspace. The one I saw on NBC 10 in Philadelphia was one warning parents to safe guard their kids against impropper use of the site, such as lying about age and posting sexually suggestive photos of themselves. In a 180 from what we usually do at TR, Craig and I actually took the new's side, only to go further and call out the young teenagers that do this and the parents that let them, and speaking our mind about how these kids are complete and utter Jackasses. And, as stated before, this prompted the largest response a talk break has ever generated on TR. We had so many IM's from listeners responding to the subject that it'd take an entire hour to read them all! Unfortunately (and I use that term loosely), we couldn't find anyone with a different point of view from us, as we generally like to see both sides of an argument represented, but all of you seem to believe these kids should stop lying and put some damn clothes on! Pat yourselves on the back! You actually all have some common sense!

However, in true TR form, one song later we were asking for pictures of your asses! Nightmares, Dreams, Whispers and Screams is going to have a collage of (clothed) butt pics as the cover of their next album and they need your help! Post all of your (clothed) butt pics at http://www.myspace.com/ndws and it will appear on the cover of their next CD No Asses Left Behind, and even sung about!

We also held our block of "Music So Heavy You'll Shit Your Pants", and it seems like that was no lie for some of you! We held a contest that who ever could cause the most destruction and chaos inspired by that block would win a goodie bag from http://www.nocturnalmovements.net! We weren't disappointed! Some of you sent in some CRAZY pics, but only one of you could win. They'll be annouced tomorrow.

Other than that, we debuted a shit load of New Rock for you all, listed up in the playlist, and featured an almost forgotten band as out Artist of the Week, Raphael.

Speaking of which, I owe you guys 2 CD reviews! The first is last week's artist of the week, SIN, and below that is the review of Raphael's Singles Collection.

SIN - Errare Digital EST


SIN was a little gem that I happened to find as I was scowering through a stack of industrial artists. Almost immediately upon turning the the on, I was very pleased with what I was hearing. It was only gonna get better from there. Almost immediately you are swamped with this futuristic sound that wouldn't surprise me if it came straight from The 5th Element soundtrack! The vocals, which go back and forth between singing and screaming, are there, but they don't take center stage. They seem to be there more to spice the actual product here, which is the music. Infact, there are several instrumental tracks on the CD. Throughout the CD, the weapons of coice are heavily distorted guitars, synth beats, and keyboards. As the album progresses further, it keeps that same futuristic feel, but a little more gritty. This kind of sound, for me, would perfectly fit in futuristic first person shooters, such as Perfect Dark, Deus Ex, or Codename: Tenka (Most of you will have to look that title up. Those of you who don't deserve a prize). Seriously, this CD had me pumped to go out there and save the earth from either A. Space aliens or B. An evil, all-controling 1984 style government/company. Deeper into the second half of the CD, however, the CD gets dark and ambient, and sets a bit of a spooky mood. However, it still fit that nature of the dark futuristic FPS. If I had to pic a favorite track, I would go with the instrumental "Hard Ebm". It opens with this hard driving, frantic feel, slows down to a somewhat peaceful, bewildering medly in the middle, then slowly crawls back to where it started. I strongly recomend this to people looking for something a little different from the usual idustrial rock band who are prepaired for a rollercoaster ride of furturistc sounds, riffs, and thrills.

Official website - http://digital-sin.net/
Nocturnal Movements - http://www.Nocturnalmovements.net
CD Baby (Carries SIN CD's) - http://www.cdbaby.com

Raphael - Singles Collection


Sorry for the redunculous small pic, but it was the largest I could find, which shows you something about this band... They're being forgotten, and thats a sin (no pun intended). Raphael is a band I've heard of for a while, but never heard until recently. Many of the older VK fans have been telling me for a while "You gotta hear these guys!" and I've always been like "Yeah yeah, I will"... then I did... wow. Granted, I started with a pseudo "best of" collection, but I assume its a great place to start with these guys. Their concept, as I said on the show, is the complete opposite of many of the bands in the scene, who use dark, chaotic, disturbing imagry. This guys, instead, take on the concept of angels. Their music reflects it too. The very first song on the CD is a Christmas song! Don't expect the CD to have the flow of a real album. Alot of the times it jumps from song to song with dramatic difference. However, they all have the same style. Wheather it be a soft ballad, or a double bass driven jam song, they all retain that heavenly sound. No, I don't mean the Cristian Rock/Creed version of heavenly. Think more along the lines of Tchaikovsky or Uematsu. While the entire album is great, my favorite is by far the epic "Hana saku inochi aru kagiri". That song just hits me on all of the right spots: it's fast, great guitar licks, violins, keyboards, morgans, and ohhh that double bass pedal (heart). You gotta hear it... infact, you can on our myspace! (linked above). It's sad that most of us in the newer generation of VK have no exposure to this incredible band hopefully, this will spark some renewed interest in the band and incourage people to go out and purchase what's left of their CD's!

Raphael Lable's Official Website: http://www.forlife.co.jp/raphael/
Promise Raphael Fansite: http://www.entichie.com/promise/
Raphael Fansite: http://www.geocities.com/totchi_no_miko/raphael

This week, there IS a show, however, on the 16th we will be on Spring Break, so please take the time to do some homework, or bake some cookies and send it to us!

-Roger