Metal Lungies

The trusty Allmusic weighs in. Here’s a excerpt:

Like the series, this isn’t an easy swallow and it’s not supposed to be. The fact is, though, that it carries its own punchy swagger. It’s not sequenced for approval; it’s sequenced as art — low, high, popular, "edgy," whatever you want to call it. It’s art man, period. It stands on its own, apart even from its obvious referents in the dialogue snippets. This is what radio used to be like back in the day; you never knew what you were gonna hear from one minute to the next. What was radio at one time? It was the soundtrack to life, and in that sense, at nearly 80 minutes, this whompy, unwieldy, unlikely wonder of a mixtape is a representation of that same thing for characters in The Wire.

Read the whole thing here.

Is anyone picking this up or already heard it? I just got into The Wire recently, so give me about 5 late passes. I’m only on season 2 and I’m hooked.

Bonus: My man Jesse from the Sound of Young America interviews The Wire actors Andre Royo (Bubbles) & Wendell Pierce (Bunk).

Listen below or download an mp3 of the interview here.

The Sound of Young America: The Wire’s Bubbles & Bunk

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings within a single bound, and no need for a pick-up line, Superman saves the world time and time again from nefarious villains bent on global domination and/or the destruction of humanity. But when he’s not averting nuclear disaster, plugging dams with giant boulders, or tying bank robbers up with steel beams, what does our favorite not-a-bird not-a-plane superhero do?

Perhaps in his Fortress of Solitude, after a long day’s work of saving humanity yet again, our Man of Steel takes off his cape, pops a bag of popcorn, puts on his noise-cancelling headphones, and flips on his MP3 player (full of legally purchased music). Rhino Records’ Sound of Superman is a refreshing collection of songs, new and old, that might be his playlist. It accompanies the recent film Superman Returns, and much like Brandon Routh, the young man chosen to succeed Christopher Reeves on the big screen as Clark Kent’s alter ego, this soundtrack does very well in paying tribute to another generation of Superman fans as well as defining its own.

Paramore’s acoustic rendition of “My Hero” by the Foo Fighters holds its own very well, without needing the stadium-filling grandeur of the original. The Films’s cover of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” is a delight for the headphones, and Nightmare of You’s version of the Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ for a Superman” is another song you might find yourself singing incessently. Plain White T’s, Maxeen and Motion City Soundtrack all put their songwriting skills to use, helping this soundtrack live up to its name.

And for those of you who are still wondering… no, Three Doors Down is not on this album.

-JP

http://www.soundofsuperman.com/
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/

Recent and Upcoming:

June 13, 2006 – Sound of Superman

Tracklisting:

1. The Academy Is… – Superman
2. Plain White T’s – It’s So Easy
3. The Sun – (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
4. Motion City Soundtrack – The Worst Part
5. The Films – Sunshine Superman
6. Maxeen – Save Me
7. Paramore – My Hero
8. American Hi-Fi – The Rescue
9. The Spill Canvas – Saved
10. Jack’s Mannequin – Meet Me at My Window
11. The Receiving End of Sirens – Superman
12. Royal – Brainiac’s Daughter
13. Sara Routh – You’re Never Gone