Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: The Darkness 2 Edition

Every other Wednesday, I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for relevant terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and uncover hidden gems. Make requests to @USPodcast on Twitter.

The Darkness 2 was the most uncertain sequel of this generation: rumors of a sequel rumbled for years without an announcement, Digital Extremes got their hands on it instead of the prequel's proven developers Starbreeze, and made some bold stylistic changes. Those gambles paid off, and Digital Extremes kept the focus on first-person storytelling while improving on the first-person action. They also provided a reason for a playlist of songs about demons, angels, and Hitler.

Four Bands That Should Dip Their Toes in a New Medium

With The Aquabats' show premiering, and the mc chris cartoon on its way, it seems like musicians are stepping out of their normal routine and dabbling in new forms of media. That might not work for every band, but there are plenty who could benefit from trying out some new ways to entertain. Here are four bands that I'd love to see put out something other than music.

GWAR -- TV Show or Video Game

You knew they'd be on my list. GWAR has quite a storied history of sometimes completely nonsensical mythology behind them. Whether it be from their live shows, countless DVDs, or actual music, they're always telling wacky tales that beg to be made into an equally goofy, adult-oriented cartoon. Just look at the popularity of Metalocalypse for proof that this show could work.

I'd love to tune in weekly to see who GWAR was doing battle with next. Maybe they're feeding the human filth to The World Maggot; Maybe they've gone to space in search of Cardinal Syn; Or perhaps they'd just be sitting around their Antarctican fortress snorting crack. No matter what, it'd have to be entertaining.

If that doesn't work, make it a video game. Brutal Legend is your example there, just, leave out the RTS elements. Apparently people don't like that stuff.

Shuffled #28: Not to be Confused with...

Every other Wednesday either Matt or Alex C-Y share their love of music in an assortment of ways. Shuffled is a podcast whose format is as varied as their tastes in music, so hopefully you won't ever be bored and everyone can find something to enjoy.

What's in a name? A miserable pile of secrets! No wait, I think I may have my lines crossed

How important is a name to a band? I know every time I try to figure out one for Rock Band I come up with something lame. This week we take a closer look into bands with similar or the same name. Creating something from scratch, like music, is a tough job. I don't believe in giving flack to the copycats out there when it comes to creating an identity to a specific sound. Just keep making awesome tunes to grove to. That's my philosophy. Be sure to check out some of the links after the jump. There you'll find extra tracks and other bands (some for free!). Who knows? You might find something new to like!

Seven February Music Releases You Should Listen To

If you were a listener of my Monthly Music Wrap-Up podcast you might have noticed its been absent from the site lately. Time constraints lead me to choose writing more over the excessive amount of effort I was putting into the podcast. (I'm currently working on a hosting solution to make all the released episodes available again, but for now just email me if you missed any.) Don't worry though, I'll still be pointing you toward great new releases each month, in the form of this here article series.

2012 is looking to be a great year for music, and February was where things really started off. So, which of the newly-released albums are worth your time? Well, I can't claim to have listened to everything put out in the month of February, but here are seven album releases that I quite enjoyed, and think you should give a listen to as well.

Music Review: Useless ID's Symptoms

Symptoms is Israeli punk band Useless ID's eighth full length...and it shows. They know what they're doing, and they've gotten pretty good at doing it. I like it quite a bit, but there's still something about it that nags at me, and it's probably completely in my own head.

The record is chock-full of extremely well-formed songs. The music isn't particularly ground-breaking or unique, but it doesn't really need to be. Pretty much every track on the album is brilliantly structured. There aren't any lulls in the entire thing; the momentum just pulls you straight through to the end. Plus, almost every song has numerous little cool moments that help punctuate them, be it an awesome drum fill, a killer riff, or a really sweet transition. Still, despite the quality song writing, I don't really see myself listening to this more than the occasional revisit every few years.

Director Jay Cheel Seeks Funds to Make Next Feature-Length Documentary 'How to Build a Time Machine'

Crowd-sourcing your project's budget has become all the rage, especially amongst indie-type creators. And why wouldn't it, what with all the success stories lately. Well Canadian director Jay Cheel is hopping on the bandwagon and asking for help to fund his second full-length documentary, How To Build A Time Machine. The movie will dig into the tale of John Titor, a supposed time-traveller from 2036, who travelled back to 1975 to obtain an IBM 5100 computer, then stopped off in the year 2000 and set off the imaginations of an Internet community of time-travel enthusiasts with details about the future and how his time machine works.

But you've already donated to several projects just in the last month or so and you feel plenty of warm-fuzzies having given to deserving endeavors; Why should you care about yet another? All you'd have to do is watch the simultaneously fascinating and hilarious campaign video after the jump, but I'll tell you why else you should.

Australian Comedian John Robertson Crafts a Maddening and Hilarious YouTube-Based Adventure Game

24 hours ago I'd never heard of John Robertson, but now I can't get his voice out of my head. Mainly the words "dark", "room", and "light switch". That's because about two hours of my Friday afternoon were used desperately trying to find a solution to his devious YouTube-based adventure game. For the record, I beat the shit out of it, entirely by myself. Ain't no GameFAQs walkthrough for this game, son!

You start your quest with Mr. Robertson's angry-looking face -- ominously floating in the darkness -- informing you that you've awakened in a dark room. From there you can decide your next actions by clicking on the choices given to you via annotation links on each of the videos.

It might seem pretty simple, and therefore easy to conquer, but trust me, he pulls some clever little tricks to keep you guessing. I was convinced at least three times that I'd figured out his trick, only to discover that it was merely a red herring. When I finally figured out one of his tricks and started down the correct path, there was still quite a mental hurdle to get over before the fabled "good ending" was playing on my computer screen.

It was an incredibly frustrating journey, but having a comedian narrating it for you quells some of that growing anger; and finally figuring out the solution is remarkably satisfying for a series of YouTube videos. It's easily worth it. Hit the jump to start your adventure...if you dare.

Streetlight Manifesto Incite a Boycott Against...Themselves?

Ska band Streetlight Manifesto -- fronted by Tomas Kalnoky, founder of Catch 22 -- have asked their fans to stop buying their albums and other various merchandise. Well, at least from any source that isn't their own website or at one of their concerts. It's all part of their increasingly stressed relationship with the label to which they are currently signed; Victory Records.

The post on their website eschewed mentioning specific grievances, likely to keep things as lawsuit free as possible, but they don't speak favorably of Victory in general. "...artist-hostile, morally corrupt, and generally dishonest company, with whom we have had the displeasure of being associated due to a contract that was signed years ago." are some of the more choices words.

The band has their third proper full-length in the works for this summer, which will complete their contract, and they aren't concerned with how you get your hands on it as long as it doesn't involve giving money to the label. In situations like this, I always wish bands would just record an hour of themselves randomly yelling obscenities into a microphone and release it to fulfill the label's requirements, then put the real album out with someone else. That'd be much funnier.

If you want to read up on some of the lawsuits and battles Victory has had with their own signed artists, their Wikipedia page has a fair amount of examples. Otherwise there are some Streetlight songs after the jump to entertain you.

Propagandhi, The Lawrence Arms Both Vaguely Tease New Albums

Two punk giants have started talking about their new albums. Propagandhi's Chris Hannah has been tweeting during the studio sessions for their upcoming, as-of-yet-untitled sixth full-length, and vaguely slated the release of the album for this summer. "Label secure, but TBA. It's more mysterious that way." He joked. This may be a bit sooner than expected for most fans of the band as their last several albums have had more than four years in between and we've yet to pass three years since Supporting Caste's release.

But even Propagandhi's biggest gap between albums has nothing on The Lawrence Arms. Its been nearly six years since the release of Oh! Calcutta! with nary a peep out of the Chicago natives. Alright, there was that EP in 2009, but I've been whining for a proper follow-up to the new frenzied sound on their last LP for years now; and I might finally get it later this year. Bassist/Co-Singer Brendan Kelly has also taken to Twitter and briefly mentioned an otherwise unannounced new album. No word yet on a release date, name, track listing, number of songs...really anything, but just the fact that they're working on one and it might be coming out this year is enough for me at the moment.

Unfamiliar with these two amazing bands? Hit the jump for some song samples to get you stoked for their upcoming releases.

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Catherine Edition

Every other Wednesday, I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for relevant terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and uncover hidden gems. Make requests to @USPodcast on Twitter.

Catherine is drenched in adult themes and alcohol. That makes for a varied playlist of fun blues, rock and roll, and funk about drink; and introspective post-punk and folk-rock about love and marriage.