Burnout 3 and a burnt out Chris Kattan...among other things

First off, it looks like The Bravery have officially signed with Island Records...Which is absolutely incredible for them. These guys have been CentralVillage darlings literally as long as this blog has existed...from way back when I declared them the next big thing in my first week of posting...I guess this is a big step towards fulfilling that prophesy. Congrats.

Sunday night I went out to Motherfucker to see Stellastarr*, who were great, and played a bunch of new shit I have to imagine will be on their upcoming album they are about to record. It all sounded very good.

Last night, I went back out to the US Open to Watch 48 year old Martina Navratilova beat 17 year old Maria Sharapova in a mixed doubles match. To put it in context, Maria won 8 Wimbledon Singles titles before Sharapova, the defending Wimbledon winner, was even BORN. Yikes. Honestly one of the more impressive sports victories I've ever witnessed.

On my way home I stopped into the Virgin Megastore and saw an old and wrinkly looking Chris Kattan buying HIS OWN SNL GREATEST HITS DVD!!!!! How awful is that?? I mean, don't they give him a copy? Does he really have to go to the store at midnight to get it the second it comes out? jeez.

Over the weekend I picked up the Rouge Wave CD, as well as Archecture in Helsinki. Both are very good. Rouge Wave will get the usual Death Cab/Shins comparison, and while I don't think they are close to that level, it is a perfectly good listen. Architecture in Helsinki was recommended to me by a friend, and it is very Blonde Redheadish I guess...I like it. Rouge Wave is playing at the Sub Pop CMJ showcase Oct. 16th at Mercury Lounge, and AIH are recording their second album now in Australia, but surely will be back in NY soon.

Finally, I know I wrote last week about how I don't really play video games too much anymore, but Burnout 3 looks to be an exception. While the game surely stands on its own, the soundtrack has some rather exciting names on it. I mean, the Von Bondies and Franz Ferdinand are in every game these days, but...The D4?? The Futureheads?????? Big ups to EA for showing a little foresight with their music picks...and big ups for coming out with a game good enough to support the quality of some of the music choices.