Caffeine-Headache

We lost the 'weblog' in our adress...we are now just Caffeine-Headache.net. Please update your bookmarks folks, there's more Mp3 links, reviews, and trailers on the way.

Posted by jay at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My current five minute crush is Josh Ritter...I am fairly new to Josh and first heard about him via an NPR broadcast. Ritter who hails from Idaho has risen from obscurity and his fan base has continued to multiply. HBO's decision to use the excellent "Come and Find Me" (on Six Feet Under) from Ritters sophmore Golden Age of Radio no doubt came into play. After hearing his excellent track "Wolves" I must say that my heart is his (at least for now). Ritter, an accomplished troubadour has just released a new album titled The Animal Years. The album is a largely sober affair built around a pair of anti-war songs. "Girl in a War", with it's references to Laurel and Hardy is a sweet take on the dire political issues of the day, while "Thin Blue flame" is a startling epic of war and it's consequences which starts out as a languid ballad and slowly builds into a raging rant.

Have a listen:

"Wolves"

"Thin Blue Flame"

"Girl in A War"

Get more downloads from Josh Ritter's MySpace (where you can launch the e card, and listen to the album in it's entirety) or his Official Site.

*Ritter performs June 9 at the El Rey (Los Angeles) and June 10 at The Casbah (San Diego)

Purchase The Animal Years here.

**********UPDATE**************
Here's a link to a live performance from Josh Ritter on April 21 in Chi-town, courtesy of The Late Greats blog.

Posted by Quinn at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Mark Ryden has an uncanny ability to evoke both glee and revulsion in his paintings. My particular favorite is "The Estacy of Cecelia", a piece that contains no less the eighteen eyes!!! Ryden has a new book out titled Fushigi Circus (that's 'mysterious circus' to those who are unfamiliar with the Japanese language), a clothbound collection of the works of Mark Ryden. It features new works, including Blood, Sweat, Tears, and The Creatrix, and a plethora of Ryden's most compelling works from past shows to the present. Ryden himself will be at MOCA in L.A. on May 13th in all of his eerie glory to sign copies of his latest attempt to make money....I mean enthrall us with his work.

Purchase Fushigi Circus here.

Posted by Quinn at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Word 'round the web is that Lily Allen is going to blow up this summer. She's already been hailed as a 'female Streets' and drawn comparisons to Lady Sovereign, but I think she has more in common with Nellie McKay...and I don't mean that as an insult. Lily is the daughter of Brit. actor/soccer anthem composer/ New Order collaborator Keith Allen and she has recently signed to Parlaphone Records. "LDN" will be the first single from her forthcoming album, and If you've already heard the track then you know why. The song has a catchy pop ska rhythm backed by a sample of Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp". "Smile" is said to be the second single.

Within the last few days her songs have been popping up all over the inkernet, Here's all the links you need:

"LDN"
"Knock Em Out"
"Cheryl Tweedy" (Courtesy of Yeti Dont Dance)

"Smile" (Courtesy of Heart On A Stick)

"Alfie" (Courtesy of Eardrums Shall Fail)

"Nan You're A Window Shopper" (Courtesy of Pardon My Freedom)

"Shame For You"
"Everything's Just Wonderful" (Courtesy of Homo Eclectic)

Visit Lily Allen's MySpace for more info.

Posted by jay at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If Tom Waits can do theater, then Nick Cave can write a screenplay. The Proposition is an anti-western set in Australia. The film stars Guy Pearce and Emily Watson, was written by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat.

Synopsis:
Set against the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the 1800’s Australian outback, The Proposition is a visually stunning tale of loyalty, revenge and the quest for justice in a land without rule. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is a renegade living in the lawless frontier who, along with his two brothers, Arthur (Danny Huston) and Mikey (Richard Wilson), is wanted for rape and murder. When local law enforcer Capt. Stanley (Ray Winestone) captures Charlie and Mikey he offers Charlie a bleak choice in an attempt to end the brutality that surrounds them. The only way to save his younger brother Mikey from the gallows is to track down and kill Arthur, his psychotic older brother, whom Capt. Stanley believes to be the ringleader in the violence. Both men face an impossible moral dilemma that leads to a murderous climax.

The Proposition opens in L.A. and N.Y. on May 5...View the trailer.

This is one of my favorite Nick Cave songs, which is actually a Barry Adamson song featuring Nick Cave (from the album Oedipus Schmoedipus, purchase it here)...

"The Sweetest Embrace"

Hear more from this Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds MySpace.

Posted by jay at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The top story today are the Day Without An Immigrant Rallies, here's some links in case you haven't gotten enough coverage:
NPR
LA Times
NY Times
SF Chronicle
Miami Herald
CNN
Yahoo News
OC Register

...and in the protest spirit, Neil Young's new album Living Without War plays like one long anti-war outcry. The album features some catchy sing along chorus' backed by a 100-voice choir. You can stream the album in it's entirety here.

Posted by jay at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

View tons of Coachella photos from Buzznet or checkout some horrible quality YouTube'd Coachella performances.

A Day Without Immigrants Rallies are taking place all over the country, get the scoop from NPR...and keep those wallets closed today.

Hugh Jackman brought an X3 clip with him on Jay Leno the other night. No oncreen action, but a sentinal no less...watch the scene from MovieBox.

I'm trying to get into this live set from The Raconteurs (courtesy of Phish & Chips blog), it's not really sinking in, but perhaps it will for you.

I'm in more of a mellow mood this morning so Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris' album All the Roadrunning seems to be doing the trick...stream the album here.

Posted by jay at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
- Walt Whitman

“I’m a walking contradiction,
Like bullets and love mixing”
- The Coup

The Coup are Oakland duo Boots Riley and Pam The Funkstress. Their new album Pick a Bigger Weapon features a backing band that includes: Tom Morello, Dwayne Wiggins, and veterans of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Gap Band, Toni! Tony! Toné!, Jesse Johnson, and Maze. This album showcases Boots' signature humor/rage storytelling that produced the classic "Me & Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night" (from Steal This Album).
You may remember hearing about the controversy surrounding their last album, Party Music, which was scheduled for release shortly after 9/11, but became a cultural flashpoint amidst Cheney-Ashcroft hysteria. The album’s original cover (completed three months prior to 9/11) depicted The Coup setting off an explosion in the World Trade Center using a guitar tuner and drumsticks. The band's label, 75 Ark, pulled the cover immediately after the attacks. "As far as the record industry was concerned, it was the end of my career," Boots says. Instead, the album's became an underdog favorite making many year-end critic's lists.
Here's a couple tracks from Pick A Bigger Weapon that I especially dig. "I Just Wanna Lay Around All Day" features Boots is talking to his gal towards the end, tellin' her 'We go together like grits and cornbread, we be in bed together like Bush and Hussein', funny stuff. And I just can't seem to get this hook from "Laugh/Love/Fuck" out of my head...'I'm here to laugh, love, and drink liquor/ and help the revolution come quicker'...

"Laugh/Love/Fuck"

"I Just Wanna Lay Around All Day"

Hear more from The Coup's MySpace.

Stream the album in it's entirety here

Purchase Pick A Bigger Weapon here.

Posted by jay at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)