Inter-Boro Funk With the Pop-Ups
587302
Ever want to host a dance party for your kids but not want to hire a DJ? Here's a quick solution  subscribe to Amazon Prime Music and stream The Pop-Ups first digital release, THE GREAT PRETENDERS CLUB. Brooklyn's Jason Rabinowitz & Jacob Stein are futuristic guinea pigs for kindie music; boldly going where few artists have dared to travel. You can still purchase a physical CD, but the primary method of distribution for their fourth collection is the Internet giant's attempt to combat Spotify and Pandora.

Ask most adults and they'll tell you that pop-ups (meaning ads) are totally annoying. Ask most teenagers and they'll say pop-ups are for kids (meaning illustrated books with parts that protrude from the pages). Working against that inherent double standard, J & J take their electro-acoustic music and challenge your expectations. Bolstered by a packed video wall featuring tracks from across their recordings, The Pop-Ups want to amuse and work out your children. If the kids learn something in the process, that's they're own fault.

"Bird and Rhino" is kind of a fire prevention song. The primary rhino stomps out fires when he sees and smells them. Dancing is his secondary goal. The narrator of "On the Air" hosts his own imaginary radio program (not a podcast, incidentally), sings songs, and interviews the family dog. I can see my son Matt (approaching 5) graduating to that activity once he gets past re-enacting every live concert he's ever attended, in our living room. Are you and your kids forever losing things around the house? "Treasure Hunter" makes it an adventure. "Animal Birthday Party" disco-fies the typical "party with [insert critter]" concept:

You might say it smells a little unsavory
But I'll celebrate with every animal family
'cause I'm at an animal birthday party.

It's a brave new world for kindie music, with videos, streaming, DVDs, apps, as well as the traditional methods of CDs and LPs (I'm looking at you, Red Yarn). Those who do not embrace technology or at least try to keep in step with the bandwagon may not be here in 5-7 years for the next wave of their audiences. The Pop-Ups are making the leap. In fact, they are encouraging children and families to make the leap with them. Take a listen, embrace the pretend, and leap with eyes open.
3130492
Filter has got a lot of good ideas. They can turn on a dime from happy pop/rock to menacing stalker soundtrack to ambient sample loop weirdness. At their best, they will either make you cower in fear, or nod your head to the pop candy.
2353602
Children really adore pop-up books, especially those with little windows to open, wheels to turn to change the image, and levers to push and pull.  The maximum fascination seems to come from ages 2-4, and this book is a cornucopia of pop-up fun for such a child.  If your children are like mine, they will spend many hours happily interacting with the materials in this book.  Each time, they will want to manipulate each item at least once!
The story is the weak part of this book.  I graded the book down to reflect this weakness, although I thought the book's design and use of pop-ups are terrific.
To put all of those pop-ups together, the scenes had to change a lot.  The book opens (pun intended) with Hilda Hippo reading her letter from Lowly Worm to find that she's been invited to his birthday party.  To go to the party, she takes a bus to the train station.  On the train, she has a fine meal.  The train arrives at the dock where she boards an ocean liner.  After she debarks, she drives in a Hippomobile at an airport.  There, she gets a ride in Rudolf von Flugel's private plane.  The last page describes what happens when Rudolf and she arrive at the party.
The travel process doesn't make much sense, so you'll just have to encourage your child to laugh at the silliness and enjoy it.  The story only progresses on pages 1, 11, and 12.
Here's how the book is designed.  Each time you open a page, you are looking at a giant pop-up scene that fills half the area (and blocks out the back, which you cannot see).  The pop-ups are all over the page, so there are many different items.  In addition, windows and other items to manipulate are everywhere, with some on the pop-ups and some not.  After you have read all of the pop-ups facing one way, you turn the book upside down (from your original perspective) and read it going the other way.
In the end, Lowly Worm says, "Why, this is the best birthday ever."  I suspect that you and your child will be saying that this is the best pop-up book ever.
Such a large and complicated pop-up book is undoubtedly going to get heavy use.  Some parts will be torn and rendered unusable.  You should plan to reinforce any parts you see starting to wear as soon as that happens.  These are cardboard items, so Super Glue and transparent tape work well.  If you think your child may want to have a fairly pristine copy to treasure for future generations, you could buy more than one and store one of them away for when your child is physically easier on books.
If your child likes this book, I also suggest getting other interactive books for your child.  My four children all went through many copies of Pat the Bunny as their starting point for "touch and see" books.
Another good activity to use with your child is to play plenty of peek-a-boo starting before age one.  Pop-up books are all about peek-a-boo, and allow you to continue the wonderful fun!
Have a ball!
3836233
Much better than the pop filter I had, but still have to edit out a few pops.
2808403
This EP came as part of a bundle off TMBG's official site, so I can't complain about its price. Anyway, I'm a fairly new fan of TMBG, having just recently made my first purchase: "Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants". The "Holidayland EP" is not bad. I like all the tracks on it, my favorite being "Careless Santa", an unbelievably weird tale about (I'm assuming this) a guy hiring Santa to help him rob a bank. It's also got "Feast of Lights", the second song I've ever heard about Hanukah (the first being Adam Sandler's song, of course). I also enjoyed their covers of "Santa Claus" by the Sonics and "O Tannenbaum" in its original German.
4197315
This regards the quality of the vinyl: on two different records, there is a background "lub-dub, lub-dub" for the first few minutes on side A. One on record it popped every time it did this, but not on the other. There is also significant surface noise and popping throughout, even after being cleaned. The performance is great, but the quality ruins the listening experience. I don't think I will bother trying a third time to get something acceptable.
2422593
This is an interesting release; not as comprehensive as RANCHO TEXICANO or even GREATEST HITS, but it does offer a couple of curiosities that might make it worth your while.  Firstly, it features the (minor) hits "TV Dinners" and "Burger Man", which are on neither of the aforementioned compilations.  If you're a big enough fan of ZZ Top that you want ALL of their singles, but not a big enough fan to invest in all of their individual albums (which describes me to a "T"), then pairing this release with RANCHO TEXICANO is the golden ticket (or pair it with GREATEST HITS, if you gravitate only to their '80s sound)--just keep in mind, you'll be buying this for basically two tracks only, so look for a nice, low price.  Secondly, this release oddly has its audio tracks lifted (in high quality, mind you) from each song's respective video, so you get all of the lead-in dialogue and sound effects (lots of the ambient sound of "The Elimiator" car pulling in for its next adventure) along with the music proper.  Strange, but never irritating.  Lastly, please do not be concerned about the small blurb on the back of the packaging that says "Contains Live Recordings"; I have verified that each and every track is the original studio version (again, just with video dialogue and sound effect extensions added).
1276201
Frankly I do not understand this CD, nonetheless it is quite enjoyable. The first half features songs punctuated by wheezing brass horns, with heavy emphasis on the tuba no less. Then the second half of the CD abruptly cuts over to a pronounced techno pop sound.  One minute the listener is entranced in a sleepy sunny plaza somewhere south of the border, and then suddenly whisked off to a disco in Amsterdam. Why the discontinuity in the music ? Why not make two CDS ? Who knows, but somehow it works and is kind of cool in the juxtaposition of sounds. This listener enjoyed the second musical alter ego a little more. The lyrics hovering in and out, over electronica, are seamless and rather haunting.
4932709
Funkstorung is a lot more than "hip-hop vs. electronica" as referred to in another review. Sheesh! They've really upped the ante in my opinion. This is no "old school vs. new school" commercial trash.
Funkstorung is much more easily comparable to the Warp UK duo of Autechre. Autechre is definitely influenced by Hip-Hop but are not about loops and samples. It's more about the dissection of breakbeats, reinventing them, layering and so forth while creating an audio landscape of amazing depths.
After a few albums of Auetchre you're impressed, but you know where they're coming from. Funkstorung is a couple of steps to the left and has newer sneakers on.  Instead of sly references to their influences, they've made their influences more of a wholehearted part of their music by infusing MC's over some of their glitch-tech-hop beats.
Not afraid to make a head nod or inspire a feverish daydream hallucination Funkstorung's vision is pretty fresh.
The maxi single has a few versions of one of the Hip-Hop MC laced tracks, Grammy Winners, which adds a nice new look at one of the more commercial-inspired singles.
The Designers Republic have also been doing their packaging artwork (as well as for Warp, and Schematic among others). Included on this CD is a full length Quicktime video they've created for '...Winners'. It's done amazingly, seemingly having used Flash vector art to incorporate flowing icons, filtered landscapes, photos of the Funkstorung members, and great uses of typography.
A perfect blend of music and motion graphics. Pick this up now!!!
1471609
I can't quite shake the feeling, after listening to this alien music for the past week or so, that I've been duped.  And though I think Prog is somewhat of a recovery after Give and (esp.) Suspicious Activity, I can't bring myself to totally sign on.

I have thoughts like these as I listen:  Wow, Dave King brings something to his kit that few jazz drummers ever have (although I could do with a little less bombast and heavy-handiness).  Or, Ethan Iverson's displaying some awesome chops (although he still strikes me as awfully mannered).  Or, Reid Anderson actually has some pretty attractive songs on this disc (although the band unnecessarily beats "Physical Cities" to a bloody pulp).

Bottom line--I can't convince myself that these boys aren't stuck in unwitting self-parody.  That is, attitude trumps substance.  To be expected, I suppose, when a band comes with this much hype--and apparently believes it.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty much bowled over by the covers (unlike some of the other reviewers), especially the laconic tumescence of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "This Guy's in Love with You."  "Tom Sawyer" strikes me as funny, and "Life on Mars" as appropriately weird.

Actually, in a lot of ways, this is a pretty killer disc, although, it must be said, the vibe pretty quickly wears thin.  Consequently, I find myself not picking it to listen to for the pure pleasure it gives, but to access its quirkiness.  Which, unfortunately, tends to relegate it to novelty status.

That said, it's quite an attractive novelty.  Somewhere between 3 and 5 stars.
3713355
Great pictures, and different ticket stubs are shown. The text leaves something to be desired. Popoff tries to use complicated words to make himself sound "intelligent" or something. Nothing in the text that I didn't know before, and the album reviews are lame. Don't get me wrong, I'm a die hard Rush fan, and it's always great to have something like this on my coffee table.
4392100
Definitely not exactly like older BBABH but they really show some versatility here. Some of it can sound a little poppy at times but i still love the style of play. Good job guys! now come out with one just like pedal to the metal
2283598
We need a pop-up flash and electronic viewfinder.  You're on the right track, but please finish the camera design. Very impressive, so far.
323033
OK, maybe some of these tunes are not destined to be standards thirty years from now, but this volume does cast a broad net over the singles on the top-40 charts during the later 70's.  Some one-hit wonders, some teeny-bopper fluff, some more substantial musical works and a few lesser-charting follow-ups show up in this near-the-end volume in the series.  And rather than being a detriment, the inclusion of other charting hits by artists who had other more popular tunes is actually a refreshing benefit.  Who needs to have the same oft-repeated stuff show up for the umpteenth time on a 70's collection?  But this grouping is not of slouches by any means as nearly half of the included tracks were top-10 pop charters.

As with other volumes in the series, there are readable trivia for each of the included tunes and while nothing revelatory is evident, the sound quality is respectable with all tracks in stereo.  Contrary to what seems the general consensus, this volume does offer collectors of the era's pop music more pluses than minuses and is definitely a worthwhile addition to the series.
2768844
I enjoy the Reinhart illustrated pop-up books with Mr. Reinhart's paper engineering but it is cool to see him employ his pop-up mechanics to other artists, in this case DC comics super hero comics! While there are Marvel hero pop-up books as well I would think that Stan Lee, if he saw this pop-up hero book, would want to hire Matthew Reinhart to make a pop-up display book of his marvel characters because this pop-up book is just out of sight!! As I type this review Wonder Woman is poping right out of this book twirling her golden lasso made out of gold coloured string while her paper black hair blows in the breeze and her pop-out bosum curves outward while her long legs kick down and outward from the pages!! WOW!! There is also a mini transparet acetate jet with her inside flying it! Super cool!! The Batman pages have the caped crusader poping out over the Gotham city rooftops with his cape in classic batwing shape while the batsignal lights up! Book page tells me what batteries to get when the power runs out! Mini pop-ups of Robin and Batgirl are also cool as is the pop-up batmobile and a grusome Joker face!  Written text accompaning the pop-ups remind me of some of the revisions done to superheros that I don't care for like Lois Lane and Clark Kent getting married and Robin becoming Nightwing! But I can ignore all that and enjoy these classic pop-up moments of our heros in their classic prime!

An impressive group pop-up of the various Green Lanterns in flying formation and mini Pop-ups of Aguaman on his sea horse and Hawkman and Hawkgirl with wings spread also impress! And a pop-up Flash runs on the left of this pop-up 2 page spread! On the next pages the evil Darkseid and his flying alien minions spell pop-up evil and a mini pop-up of over musgular  Bane with Catwoman, Penguin and Riddler and Twoface are a menacing group of baddies! Ya gotta be careful closing this mini pop-up, otherwise Catwoman's head gets snagged on Banes biceps!! The last pages have so many super heroes and supervillains fighting each other that it's a good thing the figures are numbered and there is a chart nearby to identify all of them! It took quite a while for me to spot the ones I'm familar with and see which names go together with the ones I didn't know! And there is bound to be dissapointments with fans, "Hey where is Poison Ivy!? Why isn't she with Harley Quinn?!" Speaking of Harley, who was invented for Bruce W. Timm's animated version of Batman the animated series, the art here is much more detailed then those cool cartoons that I prefer watching over the live action movie versions of these characters! Maybe a pop-up version of Bruce W. Timm's Batman and Superman shows will be made by Mr. Reinhart in the future! Anyway these have a great animated feeling to them! As someone who has made his own pop-ups in the past as well as animated drawn cartoons, I appreciate the talent and creativity that I see here! Highly recommended!
3276784
I Love this Pop-Up Book.  It even has sound.  It was recommended at my Club and that is why I bought it.
1197862
This is the one.  Any of the pop-out maps are great.  I might supplement this map with the free map given at the tourist office (TI office in Oslo), as that one has more streets, but this was a MUST on my recent trip.