Band of the Week: Patricia Wake, Circus Contraption, Jill Tracy & assorted Minecraft wotsits

Oh my, Band of the Week? The joy.

Well, maybe not joy, but hey - Band of the Week is here again! It's now probably more like Band-of-the-whenever-the-hell-I-remember-to-post, but it'll do. Let's kick off with the glorious acoustic loveliness of Patricia Wake - a little dark, sometimes sad and some odd references to entropy... Inner geek is loving the entropy references.



Following that, the joyfully sinister madness of Circus Contraption. Let's call it dark carnival - very jazzy with big chunks of cabaret and an overall circus vibe as helpfully hinted in the name of the band. Check out their awesomeness HERE.

Next up, the ever wonderful Jill Tracy. She's just released a Christmas album. Yes, I know it's only October. Trust me, you need to listen to this. Christmas songs + Jill Tracy = hauntingly beautiful magic. Have a listen, you'll see.



Finally, some assorted Minecraft-related goodies. Minecraft is a game. It's awesome. Even more awesome - THIS:

 And THIS:

And finally, this:


Does that make up for the lack of posting? Probably not but check them out anyways and pass it on.

Band of the Week: super-mega-awesome feature... again

Yeah yeah yeah, blog neglect. But anyhoo, I has music scrummies to share.

First, earthtone9 and particularly their new EP For Cause & Consequence. I don't think it's available digitally (and legally) anywhere outside of PledgeMusic, but if you can find somewhere to listen to it, DO IT. And you can always get hold of a physical copy. I only started listening to them after getting their greatest hits compilation free sometime last year and I've still not got round to properly checking out their material, but they're a pretty great British alt-metal band.

Next... hmmm... choices. How's about There For Tomorrow. I only know a couple of songs by them, but they're a decent alt-rock/pop band. Lovely stuff.

That'll do on the artists front. Now for some songs.

Japanese Voyeurs just released their new video for Cry Baby. Awesomeness as always.

Then, there's this epicness, which I already posted yesterday, but it's awesome so I'm posting it again.

And then this, because I think I've fallen in love with the Wicked soundtrack. I should probably point out that I usually hate musicals. Something about them just grates on me, but I love this. And I just had it stuck in my head all the way through my Tasmanian Fauna exam.

Anything else... Lady Gaga's Judas has become a bit of a guilty pleasure. Although, I wouldn't exactly call it a guilty pleasure - I try not to feel guilty about anything I listen to.

And this. I've never listened to Yellowcard and then I got a free sampler from Hopeless Records last week. This track's pretty cool.

And to finish, one of my favourite videos of all time to go with one of my favourite tracks of all time. I'm not much of a fan of Avenged Sevenfold but this is just epic.

For some reason the official video doesn't show up when I search via Blogger. How odd...

Randomness: Minecraft

Dear god, I haven't posted for ages. Blame end of term, coursework and now exams. Anyways, felt the need to blog. There might be a few more posts in the next few days, but first, MINECRAFT.

I can't even begin to explain why it's so addicting. It's a sandbox game. You dig stuff, craft stuff, build stuff and try not to get killed. And even with the monsters turned off, that's not always straightforward. The amount of times I've accidentally fallen into lava or off a cliff is ridiculous. Or all the way down my main mine shaft...

The graphics are basic. Everything's made of blocks, it's all pixelly and I LOVE IT. My housemate hates the graphics (because he's a graphics snob), but I think it's charming. It wouldn't be Minecraft without the pixelly graphics.

Almost more awesome (and definitely more awesome than anything I've done in Minecraft) are the videos on youtube. Current favourite: the Yogscast playing Minecraft. Two guys, trying not to die. Hilarity. X's Adventures In Minecraft is also pretty awesome, but nowhere near as funny. And then there's this.

Awesomeness.

Basically, before I just babble on and on for hours about how awesome this game is and the stupid shit I've managed to do (like accidentally opening my under-construction drawbridge while I was standing on it and falling to my death), go and check it out. You can play Classic for free online, but all you can do is build. You can't die, you can't craft and the world is small. If you like it, buy the beta. That's all there is at the moment. It's decent value and you get all the functionality, plus all updates. Or you could wait and buy it when it's officially released in November, but then it'll be more expensive.

Go go go!