!!! live at Soho in Santa Barbara

Oh Tuesday nights, how slow and uneventful you are. Especially in the tiny corner of America known as Santa Barbara, what to do, what to do? I used my power of the hook up and got me and a fellow on air radio dj coworker Bernie Bags to come get some serious funky bass action on a Tuesday night. Much to my surprise he was ALL about it once I mentioned that it was a !!! (chk chk chk) show. I had 1 stipulation, we had to check out the opening act, Wild Belle, I have spun them on New Noize and only had their single so I had to check it, get it? More on that in a bit.

Stroll into Soho, a tiny venue with a whole lotta character, around 930ish (perfect timing by the way) and Wild Belle was just getting on stage. Things that you note at first glance included, theres like 5 people in the band, damn that chick can sing and shes super fine, does that dude have a saxophone? He does! and he plays guitar? and 2 keyboards, plus he's gonna sing.

Wild Belle was a nice, mellow opener of what was to come. This band must have started out as a reggae crew, as they were pulling some classic reggae movements, base lines and melodies mixed with their own sound. Did I mention the lead singer was not only strikingly beautiful, but her voice was, well strikingly beautiful. All in all check em out, I dug em and would definitely see them again.

Ok time to get down on some !!! Before going to this show I was super tired, I mean its a Tuesday night, the venue was at 75 % capacity tops, I wasn't having any fermented beverages and my bed was calling my name the whole night. Then !!! decide to come out. The only time I saw them was at a Coachella in like 2006/2007, it was in the middle of the day and I was 1/2 passed out during that show due to heat and sweaty hippies. I have only heard good things from hipsters and non hipsters a like.

Another quick side note about Soho. Its one of those venues that has a staple over 40 crowd that goes to any show they put on. This is especially good people watching when you mix an all ages show, as was the case this past Tuesday night.

!!! take the stage and withing seconds anyone who was feeling blah (like myself) instantly morphed into a dancing fool. !!! had 6 people killing it onstage, and at some point youngings would get on stage and shake it up until security threw em of stage, silly rabbits.

When you are talking about !!! your talking about funky bass, a WHOLE LOTTA FUNKY BASS. The bass player was like the pied piper and the crowd was in a total dance trance as he and his fellow band members forced the crowd to involuntary pull the crazy dance moves that would embarrass the most brazen tween. Oh white people, sometimes you just make my night.

Talking about white people, the lead singer, Nic Offer, is one bad motherfucking Motherfucker. His ability to uplift and maintain the groove level of the crowd at a steady high was uncanny, his dance moves would dissolve your retina's and his voice will make any ear hole bleed to make room for more sound to get in. !!! took a Tuesday night and kicked the shit out of it, so yeah they kicked ass, shoulda' been there.

On the Console - Road Rage, Demi-God Anger and Shanks

Oh the ps3, its my mistress and like any good girlfriend on the side I have to constantly shower her with new things. The last couple of weeks she has been getting a-lot attention.

Twisted Metal

I have been waiting 11 years since Twisted Metal Black dropped and I am happy to report that this 2012 version of Twisted Metal kicks some serious ass. I am currently running through the Campaign/Story mode (normal) 3 things jump out at you.

1.- These cut scenes are AMAZING. Great storylines, sadistic subject matter, and Calypso is a twisted dude. Eat Sleep Play did a wonderful job meshing live action with special effects to create a unique visual storyline experience. According to the almighty internet they are making a movie out of Twisted Metal which in all honesty does not need to happen, just look at these cinematic scenes. I force my human girlfriend to sit down and watch the "The Twisted Fate of Sweet Tooth" She was thoroughly disturbed by the imagery and asked me if what we were watching was a movie. She shook her head and proceeded to make my dinner. (perks of a human gf).

2. THIS GAME IS HARD!!!!! As stated earlier I am playing on Normal and this game is not for the faint of heart. This adds to the gameplay plus I love challenging games but the main reason I am having so much difficulty is that you use every single button on the controller. The learning curve is a bit steep, but I am sure once my muscle memory kicks in I will be ready for playing the game on Twisted. Currently I am stuck on the dollface race, so HARD.

3. These levels are huge. Twisted Metal shines when it comes to level construction. One of my favorite moments in gaming was in TM2 when you got to blow up the Eiffel Tower and it crumbled right before you, no cut scene, no camera redirect, it just blew up in real time wherever you were in the game. The same can be said about the level construction for the most recent Twisted Metal, only this time there is a lot going on, stages are HUGE, moveable parts, lava pits, electric fences, and break away buildings only scratch the surface of the level madness. Eat Sleep Play better have held on to those programming cats who put some serious love into each and every level.

Truth be told I havent gone online just yet, have to beat the game first. I did set up a clan, but again havent been able to bust that feature open just yet. Wanna be part of my TM clan? Friend me on the PSN, name is MenglerMeng, in the body put "theroamingronin" and mention that you read this and boom, we will get down!

Totally get your road rage one and pick it UP

Asura's Wrath

Finally a game with a brown dude who is not a terrorist! Well sort of, but I'll take it. Far to long have Pakistani's, Indians' and people of Middle Eastern decent have watch as every other race's gets some serious shine while we make up side characters or villains. Sure you have Dhalsim , but no one plays with Dhalsim (fuck that noise) Rikku (FFX) Zasalamel (Soul Calibur) and Altai ibn-la'ahad (Assasins Creed) to name a few. That my seem like a substantial amount of representation, but its not. No one I know, especially the Pakistani's and Indians will even play with Dhalsim, Rikku was amazing in FFX/FFX-2 a few appearances in Kingdom Hearts but never the main character. Surprise, surprise Zasalamel is not in the latest Soul Calibur and dont get me started on Assassins Creed. How are you gonna steer away from a bad ass like Altir? I know we will make an even more bad ass version of this dude, but this time make him white from France, and we will base all of our future sequels on this, WHITE character. Ok, time to climb off my political horse, thanks for bearing with me.

Asura's Wrath is the best non video game video game I have ever played. The buzz on all the gaming blogs is how much of a non game it is, and for the most part they are all right, Asura's Wrath is much more than a game, its an experience to behold. Sure its riddled with quick time events, but oh these quick-time events are god of war epic. Each level is broken down into a T.V. episode format, with intro credits and a too be continued messages tagged at the end of every episode. Even the fill-in single picture anime sequences with subtitles had a old school film feel to it giving it an almost 8mm look. The gameplay is pretty fun, to bad there is not enough of it, not nearly enough. Have I beat the game yet? Nope, but when I do I'll tell ya.

This game is great for the people who like to watch video games, its got humor along with some serious action and a whole lot of yelling in the narrative, at times I though Asura was going to go super saiyan, but instead of getting all blue eyed and blonde (racism is killing me inside) you grow some extra arms, try doing that Vageta....

I am not going to ruin any of Ashura's Wrath with any spoiler alerts but I will say this, the story-line is all over the place, drawing a-lot of their lore from Hinduism and Buddhism yet there are references to western divinity as well (Mithra is Asura's daughter, Mithra is a god in ancient Rome {technically Mithra started out as a Persian/Hindu god but was incorporated into the roman god system}) Whoa I just dropped double parentheses, word.

As far as gameplay goes its like this, there are a lot of qte's. Though it does not make the game extremely challenging it makes the experience very dynamic. Throw in the fact that it is done "episode to episode" format instead of traditional level by level and each episodes gameplay is totally different from the last you have a very unique and FUN experience. For example the opening sequence I am flying through space killing Zerg-like starships, then by the next episode I am action platforming, etc etc.

So to die hard fans of Capcom and anime buy this game. Hardcore fanatics of game play should check this game out as well, the story is really REALLY good. Hopefully Capcom will make this into a Franchise Series and with a bit more actual game play this game could be a game changer.

Fuel your anger Asura Style and if your brave enough young gamer, go for it.

Shank

YES!!!!! The sequel to one of my favorite games ever. If you haven't played with the first Shank go out and download a copy. From the storyline to the cartoonish graphics to the voice acting kudos to Klie for making a truly kick ass true sequel.

The story picks up right where the last Shank ended. Only this time you just don't play as Shank, on certain levels you play with the female protagonist, Corina. There are some differences between the 2 Shank games, but for the most part Klie has improved this game hand over fist. This is not to say that its perfect, far from it. Klie took out the Story driven Co-Op (which was my favorite) and messed with the pick ups that you get in the game. Instead of Co-Op story mode Klie decide to make the survival mode Co-Op (both local and online) and the survival modes are crazy fun and get crazy hard. The furthest I have gone is to level 28, and after every10 levels or so there is a bonus Zombie round. Currently am working on beating the game on hard mode and have yet to hit level 30 in survival.

The game is only 9.99, so pull out the homemade shank and force your peoples to BUY IT!!!!! Best investment in gaming right now. Hopefully they will support remote play on the PS Vita, it would be the perfect game to play on that handheld.

Check out my picks and leave a comment. Let the trolling begin!!!!

On the Console

Simply put, a new segment featuring games I am currently running through. Most video game bloggers and journalisst get advanced promotional copies of games that we "normals" have to buy in real time. So these will have elements of review-like-posts, but wont be full blown reviews.

New Music Tuesdays

School of the Seven Bells - Ghostory

The twins are back, with Benjamin Curtis to release their new album Ghostory. This being their 3rd SOTSB sound is more mature than any of their previous works, in fact it sounds like Air if anything. My suggestion is to pick this album up and unwind after a long stressful day.

Soft Swells - Soft Swells

Originally from NYC and now purely California, the new self titled Soft Swells album is a solid record that any indie or alternative kid should own. I could on to say that they have blended their beach/garage rock with elements of pop that should send this record for regular spins on commercial radio, but I'm not cause it impossible to get added to regular radio spins of a song. Should you buy this? Sure

Surfer Blood EP

So this "new" ep (Taro Classic) isnt that very new anymore, but who cares cause they are finally coming to Santa Barbara. I like this band you should like them to. The show is @soho 2/23/12 , I'll bet im the only Pakistani there. And if you haven't picked up this ep or their full length then you are definitely lost touch with reality...

New Noize 2/19/12

I am a DJ at 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock and one of the cooler things I get to do is host my own hour called New Noize where I get to slice your ear drums with new sounds. Below you will see my playlist plus a hyperlink to the radio page where my playlist resides...Click on a song and get rerouted to the audio, do it, go ahead and just touch it.....

http://www.kjee.com/MUSICt.html

2/19/12 New Noize on 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock
Hosted by Haaris Ahmed

1. The Mars Volta "The Making Jewel" wb

2. Santigold "Big Mouth"

3. M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

4. Sleigh Bells "Crush" mom+pop

NO VIDEO

5. Nero "Crush on You" mercury

6. Example "Change the Way You Kiss Me"

7. Air "Seven Stars"

8. School of the Seven Bells "Lafaye" vagrant

9. Of Montreal "Malefic Dowry" polyvinyl

10. Surfer Blood "Miranda" playing @ Velvet Jones 2/23/12

11. Wild Belle "Keep You" open for chk chk chk @ soho 2/28/12

12. The Magnetic Fields "Andrew in Drag"

13. Gardens & Villa "Black Hills" jagjaguwar playing @ Casa de la Raza 2/24/12

14. Grimes "Oblivion"

Special shout out go to Robbie Rodriguez, who suggested i just embed my entire playist via youtube. Follow him on twiiter: @RobbiRodriguez

New Music Tuesdays

Another Tuesday and another day to talk about some new music that will be dropping or has just dropped.

Nero - Welcome Reality

Where did these guys come from? A duo from the UK these cats take the current trend of "dub step" and make it there own. The album has a very aggressive undertone but manages to still retain a pop like quality to it that most dub step/electronic music lacks when it comes to meshing theses styles. I have never seen them live, but in order to survive in the gamne right now their live show better be as big as their sound. It has to be with people like deadmous5, Skrillex, and Daft Punk putting on insane live spectacles that produce more light and suck more power in a single night then most third world countries would use in a day.

Now check Nero's video for "GUILT", If your into florescent lights, Japanese business men and pole tricks by chicks who are rocking the Mileena (mortal kombat) face masks then this is the video for you.....



Puscifer - The Conditions of my Parole

Maynard is back with a second album from his other other band, Puscifer. Is The Conditions of My Parole different from the first album? Very. Is that a good thing? Very, no one like the same old sound. I wouldn't call Puscifer slow by any means, its just much more subtle when it comes to their movements, then before your know it your drowning in some heavy audio. I do have a bias so just pick up the album and formulate your own opinion. Check the cgi video:



Ashtar Command - American Sunshine

I don't know if i like this band or not just yet. Check out this video for "Gravity", its is bizarre

New Noize 2/12/2012

I am a DJ at 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock and one of the cooler things I get to do is host my own hour called New Noize where I get to slice your ear drums with new sounds. Below you will see my playlist plus a hyperlink to the radio page where my playlist resides...Click on a song and get rerouted to the audio, do it, go ahead and just touch it.....

http://www.kjee.com/MUSICt.html

2/12/12 New Noize on 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock
Hosted by Haaris Ahmed

1. The Big Sleep "Valentine" frenchkiss
2. Ashtar Command "Gravity"

3. Pucifer "Man Overboard" playing @ Fox Theater 3/17/12
4. ††† (crosses) "†elepa†hy"

5. A Place to Bury Strangers "Onwards to the Wall" dead ocean

6. Nero "Doomsday" mercury
7. M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

8. Skrillex feat sirah "Bangarang"
9. Bon Iver "Holocene" jagjaguwar playing the Santa Barbra Bowl 4/22/12
10. The Chieftains feat Bon Iver "Down In the Willow Garden" black rock

11. Sleigh Bells "Comeback Kid" mom+pop
12. Of Montreal "Dour Percentage" polyvinyl
13. Lana Del Rey "Video Games"
14. WAZU "Murder 1" anti-language

Free Tunes

Ok so originally I was going to go on a small rant about how all third party videogame publishers should make their indie games available on all platforms despite how much it would cost to convert their games format over various platforms, needless to say my argument would not be sound. Thats why their labeled "Indie Game" or something along those lines. If you read the earlier posts, I went on an indie game spending spree, Shank 2 and Ghost Trick were both purchased, and that sparked me to look up an indie game by Ska Studio's, specifically "The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai". Sadness soon crept in due to the fact that Ska Studio's still hasn't ported to the PSN or the iPhone. It looks like the only place it lives is on X-box live, which is a shame cause I don't have an X-Box.

You might be asking, what does all this bullshit have to do with free music, patience young Jedi. The Dishwasher has a killer sounndtrack, KILLER. I went to Ska Studios website and saw that they have posted all their music with the "pay what you feel" model. Needless to say I picked up all 3 albums for FREE from this model. Since you can set your own price this should be a no brainier. How do you get these free beats?

http://music.ska-studios.com/

And if you like em, throw in some cash.

BOOM

Digital Downloading Freeze

So I am gearing to go up north, like 9 hours up north with the girl friend. So in keeping with proper preparation educate I went on a virtual spending spree. To bad the PS Vita didn't come out sooner, it would have been the perfect senario to break in the new tech. So what did I get?

Reactable Mobile

First on the list was Reactable Mobile. I wanted this dj set up ever since Bjork used it in Coachella performance in 2007, then I found it it was something like 8,000 Euro's. Luckily for me and every other broke ass wanna be dj Reactable has made a mobile app, and its pretty robust. Its $9.99 and have just scratched the surface of how effective of a tool this really is. I will say this, the learining curve is pretty steep. This maybe due to the fact that I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to using this interface and yet Reactable was smart enough to include both a quick guide and an in depth online instructional manual right into the App. Full review is coming, but check it out in action: You can see the shit get real at minute 4:47

also check out their site: http://www.reactable.com/

and buy it here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/reactable-mobile/id381127666?mt=8

Tapper World Tour HD

Whoever was a kid in the 80's and remembers arcades will remember this game. I consider it one of the first "tower defense" game I ever laid my hands on. The concept is simple, your a bar tender and you serve drinks by sliding them to thirst patrons as the start piling into your bar. If the patron gets to close to your edge of the bar, you lose a single life. The patrons also slide back empty glasses, lost a glass lose a life. You lose all your life its game over. I bough this 2.99 gem for nostalgia purposes only, and I had to TEAR myself away with the fear I was going to play it all night.

Check it: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapper-world-tour-hd/id421477146?mt=8

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Capcom makes great handheld games, the only problem is that I really don't have a handheld gaming device. I do, however have an iPhone and when I hear Ghost Trick was coming out I had to check it out, plus the first 2 levels are free! It was like a mature ghostwriter (all the kids from the 90's chime in). You play a ghost of a recently murdered by this blue faced dude, and there is another ghost helping you with your new found powers (called tricks) as you shadow your killer shadowing and trying to murder a witness to your murder, a nosey redhead. How will this mystery unravel? I'll let you know in a review. One more thing to note, the music is FANTASTIC. Currently looking to download it all over the internet, throw me a comment if you know where to get it.

Check out the first 2 levels for free, then spend 9.99 on this sweet game: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ghost-trick-phantom-detective/id489113377?mt=8

And the whole reason I stayed up all night is:

Shank 2

The sequel to one of my favorite games on the psn (Sooned to be named "SOE"), Shank is back in the aptly named Shank 2. Klei cleaned up the animation, switched up the controls and messed with how you roll with weapons. Again, I just started playing the game but already I know every time I fire up my ps3 this is what I am playing, that is until the new Twisted Metal drops on Valentines day. The only reason I stopped playing the first Shank was I got all the unlockables and trophies, and I am not an achievement whore by any stretch. It still in heavy rotation when I have friends come over. The new one is harder, but that's not a bad thing. Ill let you know all the bloody details in an a review, but for now just download it so later I dont have to tell ya, "I told you so" Plus its only $9.99 Now if only I had a vita and could download it there as well.

There you have, stimulating the economy 1 digital download at a time. I'll hook you up with reviews once I have logged in some "real" game time.

New Music Tuesdays

Simply put, new music comes out on Tuesdays, and I will be hooking you up with my recommendations to new music that has just come out or is about to come out.

A Place to Bury Strangers - Onwards to the Wall EP

This is they type of music that they wished they could make in the 80's. This ep is very LOUD and I am pretty sure that someone forgot to level the sound out during the master recording session causing this audio to blast all my other music into nothingness. Its dark, it's got a new wave 80's touch and is hyper aggressive.



††† (crosses) - EP ††

Another EP review? Yup and this one is a side project from Chino of the Deftones. Throw Far's guitarist Shaun Lopez and Scott Chuck and you get some crunchy noise and orchestrated distortion that can only be created in Los Angeles. All you gamers might recognize ††† from the track "Years" which is on the Arkham City Soundtrack (and apparently that track can only been found on the soundtrack). The new EP came out last week and has been in constant rotation in this guys iPod. I will admit it, at first I dismissed this band entirely and I can't tell you why. Then after receiving the second ep, I quickly went back to the first EP to see what the problem was. Safe to report it was me, I must of been having a bad day or something cause the ††† rule! Here's a song off EP †† about one of my favorite years, 1987



Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks

Like I wasn't going to give you a full length too look forward to. Of Montreal's new one is out as of today in all of its glory. Taking ques and building upon their previous sound, Of Montreal has incorporated a dizzyness of abstract noise with their signature flare. Paralytic Stalks reflects Of Montreal's live spectacle when they preform. You might be scratching your heads out there on that last statement but anyone who has ever seen this band preform live knows what I am talking about. Colorful, tragic, sublime, dark, blood curling and confused are just some of the adjectives that touches on Paralytic Stalks variety of concepts and feel. Pick it up sun!

Click here to buy the limited edition Fuchsia double vinyl.

New Noize 2/5/2012

I am a DJ at 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock and one of the cooler things I get to do is host my own hour called New Noize where I get to slice your ear drums with new sounds. Below you will see my playlist plus a hyperlink to the radio page where my playlist resides...Click on a song and get rerouted to the audio, do it, go ahead and just touch it.....

http://www.kjee.com/MUSICt.html

2/5/12 New Noize on 92.9 KJEE Santa Barbara's Modern Rock
Hosted by Haaris Ahmed

1. First Aid Kit "Lions Roar" wichita

2. Sleigh Bells "Comeback Kid" mom+pop
3. ††† (crosses) "Fron†ier"

4. A Place to Bury Strangers "So Far Away" dead ocean
5. Pucifer "Telling Ghosts"

6. M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

7. Lana Del Rey "Video Games"
8. Of Montreal "We Will Commit Wolf Murder" polyvinyl

9. Jack White "Love Interrupted" thirdman

10. Duane "Postcard From Hell" thirdman

11. Cursive "The Sun and the Moon" saddle creek

12. Wiley "Boom Blast" bid dada

13. Tremor Low "Kingmaker"

14. Shearwater "As You Were" sub pop

15. Memoryhouse "Walk With Me" sub pop

Welcome to The Roaming Ronin

I swore I would start a new blog in 2012, but was waiting for a sign from the universe to launch this new venture. Yesterday's Superbowl amazingness provided me the excuse to open the flood gates to execute "The Roaming Ronin". This blog will highlight any and everything I encounter. I will provide you with my comments, opinions, reviews, and observations. No subjects shall be taboo, and I encourage the use of free speech. So welcome internet troller's and surfers alike to "The Roaming Ronin".

So if you somehow skipped the first paragraph of the new blog, THE NEW YORK GIANTS WON SUPERBOWL XLVI!!!!! Thats like 4 different roman catholic numbers. This win just solidifies the fact that Tom Brady CAN NOT win a superbowl against the NY Giants no matter how good he or his team is. Eli Manning is an "Elite" Quarterback, 2 superbowl rings against one of the best teams in NFL history. Dynasty? I think the monolith known as Brandon Jacobs said it best, check the video sunn:

The other story from the superbowl is Madonna's dull as all hell lip synced halftime performance. WTF. The NFL should just rotate the Boss, Tom Petty and Paul Mccartney to preform during the ultimate bathroom break. I am a huge M.I.A. fan and was not surprised that she flipped off all of the NFL viewers, its M.I.A. To be honest I totally missed it (unlike the nip slip of 2004, that was awesome) but thanks to instagram via twitter it was up in moments, check it:

http://instagr.am/p/oip2b/

Plus did you see her boots? She was looking mad hot.

All Comments are welcome and encouraged. Walk with me......

Follow me on Twitter @shogun00