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By Andrew Bates - A&SB Contributor

Mashups aren’t anything new to the world of music, but rarely do we get to hear a truly well produced and well crafted set of songs. In the case of Viva La Hova, Terry Urban and Mick Boogie do a fantastic job showcasing some of the best songs from Jay Z’s library to date, by meshing them with the smooth sounds of Coldplay. The result is undeniable satisfaction resonating through the listener’s earlobes.

Viva La Hova is a collection of twenty mashups, several produced by Boogie and Urban, and the work they do here is fun to dive into. Things get moving quickly with “Public Speeding” as Jay-Z’s infectious beats chime in with the introductory lines “Allow me to re-introduce myself/ My name is Hov’, OH, H-to-the-O-V/ I used to move snowflakes by the O-Z/ I guess even back then you can call me/ CEO of the R-O-C, Hov’!”

The chorus to this mashup is reserved for the distinct vocal prowess of Chris Martin as the Coldplay song “Higher Speed” takes off in the chorus. While a strong start, the sounds only get stronger.

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by Tim Williams - A&SB Contributor

You don’t know it yet, but a certain moving picture is lurking in the dark corners of the Internet, waiting to worm (warm?) its way into your heart, and kick It’s a Wonderful Life to the curb. No, it’s not Italian Spiderman Part II. You may, however, be able to hogtie it, push it down, into some snakewater, and then illegally watch it on your computer.

This would be a travesty of justice. And not just because the Flaming Lips’ giant plastic concert bubble is starting to show its age and could use a tune-up. Also because The Flaming Lips need to make enough money on this to fund another movie.

Yes, it’s Christmas on Mars, and the universe has never felt so alive. I would summarize the plot for you, but all you need to know is: It’s the resulting explosion that would occur if David Lynch and Frank Capra had teamed up to make the musical adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Frontman Wayne Coyne has admitted as much, although with the caveat: “It’s sometime in the future; Mars has been sort of conquered, and there’s a space station on it, but the space program has gone into decline and these people are kind of stuck up there. The whole thing ends up very dilapidated, very un-futuristic, un-2001. There’s an element of confidence among the scientists, but the overall view is that things seem kind of doomed.”

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$12 Buy | Stream

From the first tones of the opening track “Genesis,” an epic makes itself apparent. Forgive Durden’s latest album, Razia’s Shadow: A Musical, is just that - an ambitious piece performed as stagecraft and backed by instrumentation reminiscent of the orchestra pit.

What stands out most, however, is the endlessly imaginative writing of Thomas and Paul Dutton, who construct a world, inflict it with love and tear it all down over the course of 13 tracks.

Indeed, Razia’s Shadow is a reminder that the best music isn’t all that different from a good book. Each builds a landscape in your mind with full characters that are enriched - not confused - by an endless smattering of new detail.

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by Alex Truong - A&SB Contributor

The duo of Joey Burns and John Convertino have been known for the range of instruments contributing to their eclectic sound. Calexico’s latest album, Carried to Dust, aspires to capture part of the struggle of the writer’s strike that has just barely left our recent memory. Part of is it a sort of folksy, adventurous tone that utilizes a lot of instruments (including an accordion!) to achieve its soulful chillness. The sound is distinctly latin-southwestern with a definite nod to Calexico’s last albums, but the tracks come out not nearly as soft and lulling as their work with Iron and Wine.

They define themselves quickly in tracks like “Crystal Frontier,” and then elaborate on that vision with tracks like “Going to Acapulco with Jim James.” Sure, the album is a collection of horn-heavy strife-ridden anthems, and the loose affiliation with an otherwise get-over-yourself type of protest comes off as a little pretentious. Despite the message, the tracks are solid and definitely worth a listen. Check it out if you’re willing to chill for a bit, but don’t want to fall asleep.

$10 Buy Carried to Dust | Calexico on Myspace

The hip hop world has a unique history of artists co-opting each others’ work, a phenomenon that probably has more to do with the process of producing a rap album than some special culture. When a rock outfit wants to pay tribute to another band, they learn the chords, do a half-assed impression of the singer’s voice and get on with it. Not so in rap, where downloading a beat and rapping the same words over it could be accomplished by a functioning moron. (We’ll ignore all the functioning morons who write their own verses for now.) Instead, rappers big and small take collections of hot beats someone else probably bought from a producer and re-write the songs to create a mixtape. But does this constant recycling of material stifle hip-hop’s progress?

Believe me, I would love to steal all of his ideas. But for now, this will have to do.

It’s time for this editor to debate the only person with the stones to take himself on. Here’s a little feature we’ll call: Challenging Opponent™.

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by Tim Williams - A&SB Contributor

If you want to experience the sequel (“sequel” is too crass a word; Mother 3 makes everything that came before it look like a basement experiment) to the beloved SNES game Earthbound, you’ll have to work a little, although you won’t have to leave your computer. (See the bottom of this column for instructions). This is a shame, because once you start playing Mother 3, it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Do you remember the first time you played a video game, in your own living room? Although, if you’re of the Playstation generation, maybe this seems as ordinary as your cell phone being your alarm clock.

Let’s start over. This is not about video games. This is not about nostalgia. But I want you to remember the first piece of art (lowercase) that seized you by the throat, and said: “This! This is what it means to be alive.”

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by Alex Truong - A&SB Contributor

Frank Caliendo, the “man of a thousand voices,” returns with another season of Frank TV - the sketch comedy celebrity parody show that YouTube built. Unless you’re a baby boomer stagnating in suburbia or the child of such a middle-ager who is forced into quantity family time, this show isn’t for you. Filling the void of clean, politically correct comedy in the vein of The Wayne Brady Show, Frank TV doesn’t innovate or bring anything new to the table. In fact, it is solely based around more bad impressions of James Gandolfini and George W. Bush. Admittedly, some of the impressions are decent (like Charles Barkley), but some are just awful (like Yoda). Joining Caliendo this season are a pair of paltry performers, a safe white guy and a safer black guy who also do impressions. Though bastardizing pop culture references left and right, the gang still stays in the safe zone of bland inoffensiveness. The canned laughter played throughout even turns into cheesy stunned silence when a way-too-skinny Samuel L. Jackson commits a minor act of violence. Getting stoned wouldn’t make this show funny. For the daring, Frank TV premieres October 21st on TBS.

THE FRANK TV HOMEPAGE

What music lover doesn’t appreciate a perfectly appropriate album title?

Stars’ latest EP, Sad Robots is laced with beautifully arranged digital noise that sound like the whale cries of the robotic depressed. Oddly enough, that’s a compliment.

The six track digital release is anchored by slick piano melodies that form the foundation of a warmly-produced extended play that could have been the soundtrack to Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky.

The music really begins with the second track, “A Thread Cut With A Carving Knife.” Here, the earnest, melodic voices of the Canadian 5-piece pop outfit begin their glide over often distracting and often brilliantly arranged sound effects, including heavy computerized bass. Each track is accented by bright, static-y notes that rise above a fog that clears as each verse progresses.

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Who am I? A journalist who works for a major metropolitan newspaper. I have come to review music and live performances on an almost daily basis and write the occasional inane web column. The following is the latter. If you have recommendations or want to be reviewed once A&SB gets going at full strength, reach me @ bassey@airandseabattle.com.

Nobody ever really wants to watch a judge show, but you know the scenario all too well. You’re sitting around at home all day downing some leftover codeine and eating Cheetos when all that’s on is crappy infomercials, professional bowling reruns and some defendant with horse hair extensions explaining to the court that she made a verbal agreement with her roommate that she wouldn’t have to pay any rent for 6 months.

So after you order that Hawaii chair, got about a dozen highly qualified TV judges staring you in the face. But which one do you watch? Fear no longer, because Air & Sea Battle is the only judge fit to review the TV courtroom multiverse (you can thank us later).

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