TheRetroCritic

From punk supergroup Osaka Popstar (John Cafiero, Jerry Only, Marky Ramone, Dez Cadena, Ivan Julian) comes a couple of anime intro songs done in their own, unique way. You can find them all on their 2006 album Osaka Popstar And The American Legends Of Punk . Of course, Youtube being Youtube, it was pretty easy to find people who made fan videos from those songs so here's Sailor Moon , first off: Now, how about some Astro Boy ? Unfortunately the video's modelled on the CG movie rather than the original series but hey, it still works really well: Alas, Shaolin Monkeys may not be a real anime series (even though it really should be) so the song didn't get its own video but here it is regardless: Besides, the Shaolin Monkeys have their own website , and in my book that means they're real. You can also find a cute little flash animation for one of the band's songs called Wicked World : More cool stuff on the band's website: osakapopst

Anyone who knows me knows I have worshipped Metric since their kickass breakout album Old World Underground (Where Are You Now?) .   Their unique blend of punk rock attitude and electro pop acting like a kind of best-of-music-I-like for me. Since that album, a few others followed, all good, so I had high hopes for Synthetica . The result? Well it is indeed good, about as strong as Grow Up And Blow Away  I would say. It opens with the very Metric "Artificial Nocturne" which never fully takes off the way "Help, I'm Alive" did, for example, but which nonetheless lures you hypnotically into the album. It has a great build-up. "Youth Without Youth" is next and adds a bit of Black Keys-style blues to the mix. Again, it doesn't have that extra level to it but it's still a cool tune. "Speed The Collapse" brings with it a darker tone and is all the better for it. One of the best songs on the album, definitely. The following song

Well, The Offspring's long-awaited new album Days Go By is out and, having grown up listening to the band (among others), I thought I'd give this one a listen and *gasp* a review. Days Go By is a mixed bag to say the least. On the one hand you've got those decent new Offspring tunes which, though hardly groundbreaking, are always fun. " The Future Is Now" kicks off the album on a high note, " Secrets From The Underground" follows and, as familiar as it sounds, it's still energetic and enjoyable enough to justify its existence. Then we get title song " Days Go By" , a remarkably dull effort. I can never seem to listen to it all the way through. It's not "terrible" I guess, the chorus is fine at least, but it never takes off. I just couldn't get interested in it at all. Thinking about it, this one would work on a Green Day album with Billy Joe Armstrong's voice more suited to this type of tune. " Turning I

You ever wonder what would happen if the Guns N Roses , Duran Duran and The Sex Pistols all got together somehow and made an album? Well, why wonder when you can HEAR? Boys and girls, I give you: Neurotic Outsiders. A supergroup formed back in 1995 made up of Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Matt Sorum (Guns N Roses), Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) and John Taylor (Duran Duran). I’ll let the awesomeness sink in. The band only really made the one album (with an EP the following year), a self-titled release which I recall owning back in the day. I loved it but being French the lyrics were lost on me, which was a bit awkward since songs like Nasty Ho were pretty graphic throughout. “Oh nasty ho…” You know, for kids! Regardless, it was great. But how does it stand up today? Well, lets just say it more than lives up to the term “supergroup”. Vocally, Steve Jones may not be Axl Rose but he fits in perfectly in this punk/grunge/metal hybrid and although the prospect of the band being led

Never a big fan of the original Tron myself, I can't say the prospect of a sequel to Disney's 80's creation got me jumping up and down with anticipation. Then I heard Daft Punk were doing the soundtrack. Then I saw the trailers...So I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately what annoyed me about the first Tron remains but what worked in the original thankfully still works here, in a different way. Visually, Legacy looks amazing and, with a good script, could have potentially surpassed both Matrix sequels at least. This neon-lit world is definitely worth letting yourself be immersed into for a couple of hours. And needless to say Daft Punk's fantastic score adds a welcome 80's feel to the whole thing and pumps up the action scenes perfectly. Bridges does well, even with the dodgier lines ("Bio-Digital jazz, man!"), Olivia Wilde is stunning and Michael Sheen effortlessly steals the show as a dodgy and delightfully camp club owner. Then there's G