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Tenacious D – Rize of the Fenix
Tenacious D confirmed on Friday 2/3 that the band – actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass – is in fact working on a follow-up to the Pick of Destiny, which was released back in 2006 to not-so-critical acclaim. It will be titled Rize of the Fenix (website with teaser clip).
Assuming this album is more like their debut (in 2001) and not so much like PoD, this may be some of the best music news of the year.
~Dan – np: Buckethead – Electric Sea
Tenacious D working on Album #3
Tenacious D news, as reported in Paste…
Four years have passed since Tenacious D released The Pick of Destiny, but a new album from the D-ynamic Duo should be released by the end of the year.
Jack Black and Kyle Gass will be returning to familiar subject matter on the new record. “We’re gonna be talking about love, there are gonna be some songs about sex and there’s gonna be songs about food,” Black recently told Spinner.
At the moment, The Greatest Band in the World’s new album is still untitled and lacks an official release date, but Black says that they are about halfway through the writing process. “We need another few months,” he said. “But you can look for it at the end of 2011.”
Black added that another feature film adventure starring The D might not be out of the question either. “This is strictly a musical endeavor, but I would not rule out another film,” he said. “Although it would probably be on the lower-budge.”
Read more on Spinner, too. Hopefully it’s as good as their debut, and not like that deuce they dropped with Pick of Destiny. I could use another “Tribute“-like effort…
~Dan – np: Michael Kelsey – Submerged 
Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage
OK, so before the main thrust of this post, here’s a short word from Jack Black…
With that being said, I think “piracy” might only relate to something that’s supposed to be sold and someone steals it? I dunno… regardless… since 2001, indie quirky folkster Sufjan Stevens has made “Songs for Christmas” EPs and distributed them to friends and family. In the fall of 2006, his record label Asthmatic Kitty released the first five volumes in a kick ass EP boxset (for a really great price – – 5 EPs for $14.99):
Since then, he’s done three more volumes… for friends and family. Well, Volumes 6 & 7 haven’t made their way onto the internets, yet*… but Songs for Christmas, Volume VIII: Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage has been made available by one of Sufjan’s friends and/or family. So… I guess we’re all included in his friend’s list this year. Click the picture/tracklist below to go to another blogger’s post who has download links at the ready:
01. Angels We Have Heard On High*– By “yet,” I mean… if you find Vol 6 or 7, tell me, yo! :)
And, kids… just like when Volumes 1-3 got leaked in early 2006… when the official product comes out, you gotta support the artists (with your wallet, not your mouse button)! I know I’ll buy it if it comes out… but until then, enjoy it as a Christmas present from Sufjan’s friend and/or family who likes to re-gift.
Happy Festivus tomorrow!
~Dan – np: Medeski Martin & Wood play John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Zaebos
Prop 8: The Musical
All the buzz today on my RSS feeder… then I finally watched it and saw why there was such a buzz…
Written (by Marc Shaiman) in one day, recorded the music the next day, and shot in a day… here is Prop 8: The Musical featuring Jack Black (as Jesus) with Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Rashida Jones and others:
(click pic goes to the funnyordie.com exclusive video)
~Dan – np: Hotel Lights – Firecracker People
Dr. Horrible’s School of Rock 2
Three mostly-unrelated motion picture entertainment awesomenessess from this week…
Joss Whedon‘s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog is now live. Act 1 was online (and on iTunes) on July 15th, Act 2 came out yesterday (July 17th), and the endcap Act 3 comes out tomorrow (July 19th)… all episodes are in the 13-minute range (40-ish minutes total). It features Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) and Nathan Fillion (Capt. Tightpants from Firefly / Serenity). It’s great so far… I’m looking forward to how it turns out tomorrow…
Wil Wheaton likes it; so you know it’s gotta be grood. I mean good… and great. It’s a fun, musical romp a la Joss‘s Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling musical episode.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Next up… Jack Black and School of Rock 2. Per this Paste Magazine blog, the plans for a sequel are underway. Woot.
Oh, and in other Jack Black news (and Ben Stiller / Robert Downey Jr)… Tropic Thunder looks like it’ll be a fun (but quite silly) movie…
~Dan – np: Probot – Probot
Tenacious 3
Per Paste Magazine‘s blog, Tenacious D (Kyle Gass & Jack Black, below) are working (even if slowly) on their 3rd album…
Kyle Gass announced that he and his brother-in-rock Jack Black are back in the studio and should have their new album out soon. But Gass also says they have a mere one and a half songs wrapped up for the LP. This could largely be due to Gass stating the album is slated to become a masterpiece, so please plan your year-end list accordingly.
“We’d like to do one final masterpiece. I think we both know we’re approaching death, as it were, and we’d like to have a lasting legacy,” Gass told Billboard.
The album remains untitled and there is no confirmed release date.
“It might take the rest of our lives, but I think it’ll be worth waiting for,” Gass says.
No word on when it’ll be done or if Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl will help out on drums again. I loved their debut. The Pick of Destiny (movie) was good (even though it was cheesy). The Pick of Destiny (album) was, well… too short and too much like a skit/trailer for the movie.
Here’s hoping the 3rd is a return to form…
~Dan – np: Ornette Coleman – Something Else!!!
Michel Gondry
Well, I’m excited about his upcoming Be Kind, Rewind with Jack Black and Mos Def. I loved what he did with Björk’s latest video for “Declare Independence” (as I was with his prior work with Björk and others). I’ve loved his prior movies (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep to name a couple). Now he’s already working on a new one…
Although his latest film hasn’t been released yet and he already has several projects in the works, Michel Gondry told the MTV Movies Blog that he’s currently writing The Return of the Ice Kings. Gondry’s still at work on the screenplay, but the name alone sounds fascinating, and the content, well: “I’m writing a story about kids who invent a water that makes you hear music when you drink it,” Gondry said. “It’s going to be a scientific story, but completely unrealistic.” Sounds more whimsical than scientific, but Gondry would probably be the expert on these matters, as he spent last year as MIT’s artist in residence and has come up with some fantastic technologies before.
~Dan – np: Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
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