focused music news for week 09 : February 27 to March 5 2011

March 1 - Everyone’s favorite Irish American Celtic punk/hardcore punk/have a drink band, the Dropkick Murphys return after a four year drought. Loaded with new stories to tell, Going Out in Style will toss you back to your younger days when the Dropkick Murphys CDs were stuck in your CD player.

March 4 - If you are more of an angry drunk then a fun one, perhaps X-Fusion Thorn In My Flesh is your flavor. One of many projects by Jan L., X-fusion will delever that aggrotech happiness that one would expect.

- Mike

At NY fashion week, Betsey Johnson showed two fall 2011 collections.  First was her Black Tag line which was full of velvet, black, flowers, and animal prints.  There were many dark, goth and punk style ensembles but all with a Betsey feel.  Each model was wearing an animal print pantyhose bodysuit, which is questionable in general but in some outfits works surprisingly well, and a ruffle neck-corset-esque choker, which I have seen all over the place lately from “alternative” designers, an interesting trend for Johnson to pick up.  I love the exaggerated shoulder coats and the huge floral attachments on just one shoulder of many of the pieces.

In addition to her Black Tag collection, Betsey Johnson revealed her new Pink Patch line.  The models for this collection were Betsey Johnson employees and friends all in matching blonde wigs.  It’s refreshing and fun to see regular sized and shaped women on the runway at something like NY fashion week.  Instead of going to big-box stores to create a lower price point line, Johnson did it herself and created a line full of her signature looks, poofy party dresses to kitschy and floral bold prints, with all items priced at under $100.  I love this because it means it will be easier to get some Betsey items into your wardrobe but everything from this runway show that I am truly lusting after is from the Black Tag collection.

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A Kiss Could Be Deadly – Farwell EP

release date : June 22, 2010
released by : Metropolis
info : 6 tracks . akisscouldbedeadly.com
genre : fusion, punk, new wave, electro
reviewed by : Mike Kieffer

Two years ago A Kiss Could Be Deadly released their self-titled debut album an upbeat fusion of punk, electro, and new wave with a female singer, it was a recipe that dared me not to love it. Fast forward two years and their name pops back onto my radar with a six song EP with two original tracks, a cover, and three remixes, titled Farwell. The original songs “I’ll Be Your Anti-Hero, Baby” and “Only In Darkness” are more punk in flavor then the 2006 release. The two songs are both good, full of great hooks, and really make me wish there was more. The three remixes of “Acoustic Romance”, “Damage Control”, and “I Guess You Didn’t Mean It” are all strong as well and make you immediately dig through your old files (or CDs) and find the original release.

Inside the booklet you will find, what I will assume, a sign that there will be no more material from them. Underneath the copyright 2010 hidden into the background of the artwork is the phrase, “it is finished.” The band lineup is listed as “is/was”. The title of the album is Farwell. This all points to the fact that the band did break up in the end of 2008 and they are now in separate bands.

I hope I am wrong and some resurgence of popularity will pull them back together…  like Futurarama (new series starts June 24^th).

recommended tracks : all of them
if you like you may like : The Birthday Massacre, Helalyn Flowers
overall 8 . music 7 . lyrics 8 . recording quality 7