Welcome back to our guest post series, LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, where we invite artists we freak over to takeover. The deal is, they can write whatever they like, only 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. This week, featuring the musings of Pablo Cubrale, the brains behind Contramano, easily one of our favorite new bands (or at least, new to us). Think Argentine Clash with a whole lot of cello. Weird? Perhaps. But also woooooooooonderful. Like the below.

I mean seriously, how brilliant is this? Buy every record Contramano has ever made.

LETTERS FROM THE ROAD: Pablo Cubrale/Contramano

Dear Lou and Laurie,

Did you ever get my e-mail about the BBQ at home?

Man it was a real Argentine asado! And you were the only ones that didn’t make it. I guess it’s because you don’t read e-mails? Or maybe just my e-mails.

I mean, I understand if you don’t like computers, Lou, but come on, Laurie, I know that you’re pretty good with the knobs…

I really wanted you to come and talk about your song we are playing. That’s right, Small Town. I couldn’t figure out the piano part so I replaced it with the drums. I know, you might think that’s weird but it really works. Trust me. Now the song sounds more like Argentine Punk :). Can’t wait to show you [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

By Carl Hanni

Digging in Tucson Pt. 2

Here are some more recent finds from crate, yard and estate sale digging in Tucson. Again, none of these cost more than a buck, and quite a few were a quarter. All of them play well. 

George Jones, George Jones Sings; Grand Ole Opry's New Star, Mercury/Starday Custom High Fidelity + The Hillbilly Hit Parade Volume 1, Starday Records. I believe these are Jones' first two LPs. Young George looks like an angel in a cowboy hat and sings with glorious, lung clearing abandon.  This is the good, raw, rocking honky tonk of the late 50s before the Nashville music machine fully took over and blanded everything into baby food and laxative.

Sabicas, Flamenco Variations on Three Guitars, Hi Fi Decca Records. The great Spanish Flamenco master triple-tracks himself to terrific effect on 10 Sabicas originals. Adapting various traditional forms into his originals, Sabicas presents a primer on soulful, passionate Flamenco playing. Perfect for seduction, deep thought, soul-searching and falling in love with. 

Bela Babai, Gypsy Love, Columbia Records. Subtitled King of the Gypsy Violin and His Orchestra. Although not gypsy himself, the Hungarian violinist and band leader Bela Babai is still the real deal, a virtuoso who helped keep the sounds of traditional European gypsy music alive during some pretty dark times. A child prodigy on the violin, Babai grew up to be one of the masters of the form, and Gypsy Love is full of his incredibly moving playing.

Nino Rota, Juliet of the Spirits original soundtrack, Lumiere Records, French import. I generally avoid the term, but Juliet of the Spirits is whimsical in the best sense of the term. The Nino Rota/Federico Fellini relationship was one of the most fruitful collaborations between a filmmaker and composer in cinema history, and it's difficult to imagine Fellini's films without Rota's music. Juliet of the Spirits is full of the kind of bittersweet, slightly cockeyed compositions that Rota pioneered decades before Danny Elfman came along and picked the shop clean. 

Dylan Thomas Reading Vol. 1, A Child's Christmas in Wales and Five Poems, Caedmon Records. Spoken word speciality label Caedmon's first recording finds Thomas in an expansive and musical mood. Indeed, the revelation here is the musicality in Thomas' readings, a rhythmic, sing-song cadence that brings the famous short story of the title and 5 of his poems into tight focus. Thomas' peerless diction, precise 4-4 timing and inviting brogue finds the tricky middle ground between the pub and the academy, perfectly animating these much loved and often quoted pieces.  The textured, wood-block print cover is also a classic. 

Red Simpson, Roll, Truck, Roll. Clean-as-new British import copy. A true trucker classic from 1966, and one of the original, genre-defining releases. This helped set the mold for clean, hard, Bakersfield/Buck Owens'-styled trucker music. Includes standards like "Truck Drivin' Man," "Give Me Forty Acres," "Six Days on the Road" and "Nitro Express." Owens co-wrote two numbers with Simpson. 

Truck and Country, Nashville Records. This compilation includes tracks by trucker country stars Red Sovine, the Willis Brothers, Merle Kilgore and others. Includes the classics "Big Wheel" by Ray King and the hot instrumental "Phoenix After Hours" by Glen Campbell. Ok, I'll admit it: what really makes this record is the four cowboy-hatted gals on the front, who look like they were all hired from a model agency specializing in corn-fed, cheerleaderrific all-American girls. The likeliood that they they were probably all Nixon-supporters diminishes their hubba hubba appeal a wee bit, but nothing serious.

Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, High Priest of Love; 1986, Warp Records 1, British import. Thus is so great I played it thru 5 times right off. You remember Grebo, right? The uniquely British, greasy biker psychedelic/hard rock sub-genre briefly popularized in the mid 80s by...Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. Like an even-more sex-obsessed Motorhead dosed with vast amounts of psychedelics and booze, Zodiac Mindwarp didn't catch on much here in the States, but had a brief fling w/the British rock press and public back in the day. From the cover: "Stars blazing behind mad eyes, we descended to Earth in a broken Cadillac drawn by swans. We crafted music from the air and scattered it across the teenage frequency. We were born in the fifth dimension. The twilight goddess pays our wages. Tell the government the Love Reaction wants the world." This is, most likely, the devil's music. 

***

You can leave comments below or e-mail them to me directly at modmedia@theriver.com .

Carl Hanni is a music writer, music publicist, disc jockey, book hound and vinyl archivist living in Tucson, AZ. He hosts an occasional concert and film series at The Screening Room in downtown Tucson, "The B-Side" program on KXCI (Tuesday nights midnight - 2 a.m.) and spins records wherever and whenever he can. He currently writes for Blurt, Tucson Weekly, and (occasionally) Goldmine and Signal To Noise.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels with Blurt's roving shutterbug (7/15 - 7-31).

By Scott Dudelson

(above) Laura Marling  - Live @ The El Rey (www.theelrey.com) -7/29

Jeremy Messersmith - Live @ The Mint (www.themintla.com) -7/18

Dead Meadow - Live @ The Spaceland (www.clubspaceland.com) - 7/18

Train  - Live @ The Grammy Museum (www.grammymuseum.org) - 7/20

Ingrid Michaelson - Live @ The Greek Theatre (www.greektheatrela.com) - 7/21

Keane - Live @ The Greek Theatre (www.greektheatrela.com) - 7/21

The Dodos - Live @ The Music Box (www.themusicboxla.com) - 7/25

Imaad Wasif -  Live @ The Music Box (www.themusicboxla.com) - 7/25

New Pornographers (Neko Case) - Live @ The Music Box (www.themusicboxla.com) - 7/25

New Pornographers (AC Newman) - Live @ The Music Box (www.themusicboxla.com) - 7/25

New Pornographers (Dan Bejar) - Live @ The Music Box (www.themusicboxla.com) - 7/25

Sahara Smith - Live @ The Hotel Cafe (www.hotelcafe.com) - 7/27

The Villagers - Live @ The Hotel Cafe (www.hotelcafe.com) - 7/27



Dylan LeBlanc - Live @ The El Rey (www.theelrey.com) -7/29

***

Scott Dudelson is a music journalist and concert photographer based in Los Angeles.  Scott is also the Chief Operating Officer of Prodege, LLC, the company behind www.swagbucks.com.

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."

- Robert Fripp

We stand on the edge of national metamorphosis armed with hope and lengthy dreams, and the desire to leave the mistakes of the past far, far behind us.  Some wake to a blessed plague of amnesia hoping never to recover the damage that was done. Some keep marching forward feeling the heavy ache of everything they wish to change about themselves and our nation dragging behind them like a long, prolonged shadow. And still others shine above the sun, sparkling like raging cosmonauts, propelled by the strength and power of their pathological optimism.

I tend to slingshot between all 3 of these distinct planets with unruly fortitude. This is where art comes in. It helps me deal with my compulsive randomness, and allows me to abate life's repressions while exploring all possibilities of transformation and growth.

And for this, I am eternally grateful.

When I first began thinking of putting a band together it was out of sheer panic. I was almost homeless, jobless, a sadistic scribbler, my life had no direction, and I was headed negative north with a bullet. To top it off, the energies that had fed my hungry soul through illustration and poetry had all but dried up. I knew, without the magic of creativity, I would surely be lost. And then I rediscovered a band, The Velvet Underground, and was transformed. They were painting pictures on silence. They were writing poetry with sound. Then it hit me.  Whatever I could create in prose, whatever I could lay down on paper in the form of a sketch or rambling tirade would come alive if shaped and remodeled into something hallowed, into song.

Madness? Sure. But I am one of those insatiable heretics that still perceive art as sacred. For me, making music is not recreational. It is a powerful spiritual experience that permeates every atom of my being. Each note that we write, every syllable that slips from my lips, every riff change, bridge, intro, outro, chorus, and interlude is as important to me as transcribing sacred verses was to the prophets of old. Through song, I am attempting to speak with forgotten gods and heroes, to uncover the great mysteries of existence, to seduce a lover, slay a tyrant, write a wrong, or to unravel the hidden places of my being. In doing so, I can explore all of the spiritual, philosophical, sexual, and intellectual freedom that I secretly hunger for.

This is why plankton like Britney, Lindsey, and the rest of the Slack Pack sicken me.  Granted, collectively, they have sold more records worldwide than the number of Mormons in Utah, but that does little to sway my opinion of these swine or their music. These prefabricated plastic mammoths of industry (& their handlers) have learned the Lemming song and know just how to change it so it appears somewhat different on every lazy album that dribbles from their noses.

But I digress.

Music is the fluid in the spine of imagination. Its origin predates written history. Some believe the first songs were imitations of nature. Crude flutes and other wind instruments have been discovered at paleolithic dig sites. The earliest written records of musical expression have been found in India, China, and Mesopotamia. For me, music is the secret language of the soul. It transcends time. Empires may fall, but their art persists. Music is the grand uniter. People from all varieties of background, socioeconomic status, religion, race, sexual orientation can find solidarity in one piece of music. Throughout history, music has been used to strike the emotional chords needed to propagate revolutions, to celebrate victories, commemorate tragedies, motivate, seduce, destroy, and invigorate.

It seems, as a species, we have always needed music.

Many ask me for advice on how to write, how to start a band, how to kill the demon of writers block. I think the simplest and most powerful method is to begin a foundation of immovable principles. One of my literary heros, Charles Bukowski, wrote:

"if you're doing it for the money or fame, don't do it. if you're doing it because you want women in your bed, don't do it....when it is truly time, and if you have been chosen, it will do it by itself and it will keep doing it until you die or it dies in you. there is no other way. and there never was."

It's that time of year again (although I feel as though I'm still recovering from March)... prepping for SXSW 2011. And again, I'm asking for your help. Voting takes less than 30 seconds and while I realize it's a minor pain in the butt to create an account and sign in, I'm asking you to do just that. Your thumbs up = mega bragging rights for yours truly, and hopefully, increased client base, fingers crossed. After all, we've got a wedding to pay for around here!

Click HERE to vote.

I'm truly counting on you guys. Thank you from the bottom of my rock 'n roll heart,

--- Kate [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels with Blurt's roving shutterbug (7-31 - 8/15).

By Scott Dudelson

(above) Frank Stallone - Live @ The Mint (www.themintla.com) -7/31

Dave Mason (of Traffic) - Live @ Valley Cultural Center - 8/1

Keesha Scott - Live @ Saint Rocke (www.saintrocke.com) - 8/2

Kinky Friedman - Live @ Saint Rocke (www.saintrocke.com) - 8/2

Benga - Live @ Hard LA 2010 (www.hardfest.com) - 8/8

Switch (DJ)- Live @ Hard LA 2010 (www.hardfest.com) - 8/8

The Twelves (DJ) - Live @ Hard LA 2010 (www.hardfest.com) - 8/8

Green Velvet & Erol Alkan (DJ) - Live @ Hard LA 2010 (www.hardfest.com) - 8/8

Rebirth Brass Band - Live @ The Mint (www.themintla.com) -8/11

Pearl - Live @ Gibson Amphitheatre - 8/12

Scott Ian (of Anthrax & Pearl) - Live @ Gibson Amphitheatre - 8/12

Meat Loaf - Live @ Gibson Amphitheatre - 8/12

***

Scott Dudelson is a music journalist and concert photographer based in Los Angeles.  Scott is also the Chief Operating Officer of Prodege, LLC, the company behind www.swagbucks.com.

Yes, it's another edition of IN SHORT, our monthly cornucopia of stuff --- sometimes music stuff, sometimes not. This month's theme: The Good, the Bad, and the Badass.

1. The Devil's in the Quilt

Introducing "Quiltsrÿche: Heavy Metal Quilts, Made with Hate."



How can I put this on my wedding registry? Seriously. Thanks to Zed Equals Zee for the find.

2. Speechless. More Than a Drummer. Much, Much More.

From the Huffington Post:

Prepare to get your ass handed to you. While we're not sure what that actually means, we guarantee you that this guy is certainly capable of it [...]

A Triple-A radio programming veteran, Kate has served as Music Director of the Loft at XM, Midday Host at WYEP, Evening Host at both WNCS and WUIN, as well as Content Supervisor for Pump Audio. Currently, she's the CEO of Outlandos Music, a new-music discovery service for grown-ups. Kate has been nationally recognized for her ardent presentation of music and her ability to champion talented, compelling artists.

An Interview with Stephen Egerton

The Descendents/ALL guitarist cuts a solo record.

By John B. Moore

In the world of pop punk, Stephen Egerton is practically royalty, lining up there right next to Joe Queer, Screeching Weasel's Ben Weasel and The Vandal's Joe Escalante.

The guitarist for The Descendents and their offshoot ALL, Egerton has helped influence a slew of younger punk rockers from Anti-Flag to The Copyrights.

Though both The Descendents and All are still somewhat active, Egerton has carved out a whole new career recently as recording studio owner and occasional producer. 

Between working with bands like MXPX and Lagwagon, Egerton booked some time recently for himself to record a solo album, Seven Degrees of Stephen Egerton. Along with writing all of the songs, Egerton played every instrument and recorded every piece of music, before sending the demos off to a slew of friends to lend their vocals. Among those who took him up on the offer were Chris DeMakes (Less Than Jake), Jon Snodgrass (Drag The River), Chad Price (ALL/Drag The River), Scott Reynolds (ALL/Steaming Beast) and John Speck (The Fags).

Egerton spoke recently about the project, the logistics and who he couldn't get this time around.

So how long have you wanted to put together an album like this?

I always thought it would be fun to make a record where I played all the instruments... just as a challenge. I've played drums and bass as long as guitar, and since I have a recording studio, and no regular people to make music with where I live, it seemed like a good time to take a crack at it. 

Did you know right away who you wanted to sing on this album?

No, that part took a while. I had already recorded the songs before my wife had the idea of having my friends sing on it (anyone who's heard me sing knows how great an idea it really was), so I would just listen to the song, and imagine different friend's voices singing the melodies. Fortunately, I have a lot of VERY talented friends. 

Anyone you wanted to bring in to sing, but was unavailable?

Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) and George Reagan (Hagfish) were each going to do one, but got too busy with other things, and had to postpone. Hopefully that will happen sometime in the future. Ginger Walls from The Wildhearts too. 

How long did it take to record and how did you handle the logistics?

The whole project took about a year to complete. I did all the music over a couple of months then spent a couple of months figuring out who would sound best on what song. I only recorded one of the singers. Each guy did their song at a friend's place, or by themselves. Fortunately vocals can be recorded pretty easily, so I got lucky.

Any plans to put together another record like this one?

I'd like to do another record. I've still got a lot of songs. After the dust settles from this one, I'll start listening to what I have, and thinking about who might sound good on each song. 

Obviously it would be tough to tour, but any plans to play shows with any of the vocalists?

I did do a couple release party shows in April with five of the singers. I'd like to do that a few more times. We had a blast!

So any more reunion shows planned for ALL?

I expect ALL will do some more shows. We've had a great time at the one's we've done recently. We'll see if anyone asks!

Also wanted to ask you about the recording studio you own. What types of bands do you work with?

Mostly punk rock bands, but some alt country and occasionally metal bands. Over the last couple years, I've done more mixing and mastering than recording, but I've got several full length recording projects coming up in the next few months. I stay very busy with the studio. I really enjoy mixing, and since recording budgets are pretty small these days, it works well for a lot of bands to record locally, then send me the music to mix and/or master. 

So what's next for you?

Just forging ahead with making music and recordings. I've recorded some instrumental music of my own, as well as with the band Slorder, and I'll be releasing that as well as a record I played drums on with a fantastic Tulsa band called John Moreland and the Black Gold Band. John sang one of the songs on my record, and is one of my favorite singers and songwriters. Other than that, taking care of my family. I'm a very busy man!

Column #9: Mafia II, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, And Yet It Moves, Grease The Video Game, Ivy The Kiwi?, Madden NFL 11. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, due on newsstands in mid September.

By Aaron Burgess

Mafia II

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Developer: 2K Czech / Publisher: 2K Games

ESRB Rating: M

Becoming a wiseguy ain't all it's cracked up to be: For every step you take toward made-manhood, there's a bigger chance you'll be betrayed, ripped off or whacked by the up-and-coming gangsters beneath you. So when you step into the shoes of Mafia II's complex, conflicted lead character, Vito Scaletta, you do so with the accompanying psychological weight of being in "the family."

The sequel-in-name-only to 2002's 1930s-era hit Mafia, Mafia II starts in the winter of 1945, when Vito, home on leave from the service, is an immigrant son looking to get his family a piece of the American dream. And, with help from a few friends with ties to La Famiglia, that's just what he does over the ensuing years during which the game takes place, in just the crooked ways any Goodfellas fan would expect. (Unlike Henry Hill, however, Vito is a surprisingly sympathetic character.)

The game's fictional city, Empire Bay, comes to life with period detail that extends from the snippets of anti-Hitler propaganda heard on the radio to the gaudy '50s-era decor that gives Vito's pad a touch of, er, class. Though the basic story is typical Mafia fare - young gangster moves up in the business, evades whacking along the way-the realism with which it's conveyed pulls you into Vito's story. Add top-notch animation and voice acting, and you feel like you're in the sandbox with Scorsese. Until you get to the gameplay, at least.

Though it has all the trappings of a sandbox game, Mafia II is organized around missions, which means you can free-roam your way through Empire Bay only insofar as it gets you to the next job-or, depending on how good you are at evading the law, the next police stop. This causes frustration when you're itching to interact with your environment and end up hitting an invisible wall instead.

Divided by some incredible cutscenes, the action in Mafia II is standard third-person shooter fare, which means you'll spend your time shooting, punching, hiding and crouching (not to mention driving-a whole lot of driving) to complete missions. You'll do a lot of mundane stuff just to make it through the day, of course-and it's the inherent potential of these routine activities that, explored to its fullest, could help the next Mafia become more than just a great shooter.

Rating: 8

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Developer: IO Interactive / Publisher: Square Enix

ESRB Rating: M

The uneven (and, in some cases, controversial) critical response to 2007's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men made it seem as though the nascent franchise might ironically realize its title right out of the gate. So consider it surprising that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is arriving so soon after its predecessor-particularly since the game doesn't fix the wonky fundamentals that hampered Dead Men's potential.

Aesthetically, Dog Days hits all the right buttons, amplifying the grimy world of Adam "Kane" Marcus and James Seth Lynch through intentionally amateurish camera work that makes it feel as though you've stumbled into a bootleg documentary on the two criminals. (Depending on the scenario, you may also feel like you're watching a torture video.) Set in Shanghai's underbelly, Dog Days magnifies the city's seedier aspects to a nauseating degree, and adds enough profanity, gore and wanton violence to make even a sociopath feel dirty behind the controls. Unpleasant stuff, to be sure-but it really works in making the game get under your skin.

You play the basic campaign as Lynch, re-teaming with estranged partner-in-crime Kane for the proverbial "one last job" that, of course, takes you both 180 degrees from what's expected. Despite an attempted emotional subplot, neither character has gotten any more likable since the Dead Men days-and the basic strategy of "shoot, kill, don't look back" doesn't instill much depth in either. Compounding things, your enemies pack frustratingly smart AI and a cover system that rivals your own, and with a few exceptions (hint: go for the shotgun), your weapons don't live up to their promise. You wind up on a playing field that feels unnecessarily level, especially since there's nowhere else to go beyond it.

Luckily, Dog Days' single-player repetition gets broken up with a handful of co-op, multiplayer and Arcade modes, the best of which (the returning Arcade mode "Fragile Alliance") finds you playing the subtleties of a tenuous multiplayer relationship that could turn traitorous at any moment. It's a fun way to get mileage out of the single-player campaign, so here's hoping the game's developers decide to add more of this type of substance to their style the next time around.

Rating: 6

And Yet It Moves

Platform: Wii (WiiWare)

Developer: Broken Rules

ESRB Rating: E

Already available on PC, And Yet It Moves delivers a new experience-whose tactile feel arguably comes closer to the game's intent-in its newly released WiiWare form. The award-winning indie game, whose title lifts from the Galileo quote "Eppur si muove," plants you in a fantastical world that literally looks like remnants cobbled together from an artist's studio: Pencil-drawn figures, ripped-paper backgrounds, cardboard scraps and crumpled textures abound.

Physics, meanwhile, is the science that makes And Yet It Moves' art truly, well, moving. As you run and jump in standard left-right formation throughout the platformer, you can rotate your entire world up to 180 degrees to reach seemingly unattainable goals. What sounds easy in theory turns into quote the challenge in execution: Your momentum stays constant no matter which way your world turns (no easy braking system here, pal) and you can easily do yourself in by miscalculating the degree to which your world turns.

Rating: 8

Ivy the Kiwi?

Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS

Developer: Prope / Publisher: XSEED Games

ESRB Rating: E

Do one thing very well: That's the concept Ivy the Kiwi? developer Pope seems to have taken with this unique little platformer, and it pays off in the game's Zen-like simplicity. You don't play so much "as" the game's titular character as with her-Ivy is a cute kiwi hatchling in search of her mum, and it's your job to guide her from point A though points B, C and beyond by "drawing" vines on the screen. (In the DS, you do this with your stylus, while the Wii version lets you use your Wii Remote to point and click.)

Hazards abound, of course, so Ivy's journey is beset with creatures and pitfalls of all shapes and sizes-but beyond merely drawing paths around these dangers, you can create obstacles and simple machines that send Ivy over and around them. The basic game is simple enough that even novices can pick it up and start playing, but you can add up to three friends in multiplayer mode to enjoy deeper challenges and team up for even more inventive obstacle-dodging fun.

Visually, the game is just as delightful, thanks to an artistic vision that grafts the warm, hand-spun feel of an A.A. Milne storybook onto the kooky platforming style of Kirby: Canvas Curse. However, despite any similarities to worlds we've seen before, Ivy the Kiwi? offers a new experience, complete with new challenges whose complexity (the later levels in particular will test your dexterity's limits) is couched in simple pleasure.

Rating: 8

Madden NFL 11

Platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PS2, PSP, PC, Nintendo DS, iOS

Developer: EA Tiburon / Publisher: EA Sports

ESRB Rating: E

The annual release of a new Madden title is as much an event as the Super Bowl that defines the game's money shot-more so, if you consider that Madden NFL 11 will keep you busy long after Feb. 6 has come and gone.

As in years past, developer EA Tiburon has packed enough obsessive detail and (artificial) intelligence into this year's Madden to rival the experience of running your own NFL franchise. Of all the nuances, play calling gets the most attention in Madden NFL 11, via the new "GameFlow" option that draws its logic from actual NFL game plans as well as from the real-life tendencies of each team. Though it's less a cheat sheet than a new layer of realism, GameFlow significantly cuts your time in the huddle, which means games that previously took an hour-plus can be wrapped in half an hour.

The ultra-realism also extends to the most basic player controls, thanks to tweaks that fine-tune everything from your sprinting speed to the capability of your blockers. This, of course, is just the view from your end of the controller-with a new Online Team Play experience (just one of Madden NFL 11's online features), up to three players can share responsibility for winning the game-or getting smack-talked out of it.

Rating: 9

Grease: The Official Video Game

Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS

Developer: Zoë Mode/Big Head Games / Publisher: 505 Games

ESRB Rating: E10+

If a video-game version of Grease never existed, would we need to invent one? Probably not, but when you get past its oddball premise, Grease: The Official Video Game works well enough as a simple party game to be, er, the one that you want.

Combining karaoke-style play with simple mini-games and calorie-burning events, Grease casts an ambitious net across generations and playing styles. Sure, you'll appreciate the game more if you already have a social context for the world of Pink Ladies and T-Birds (Mom and Dad, we're looking at you), but the variety of challenges ensures that even Grease newbies can find an outlet at Rydell High.

Feel like channeling your inner John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John? Pick up your Wii-compatible USB mic and start belting. Got an urge to do the hand jive? The dance competition awaits you. Ready for a race? Hit Thunder Road and go, go, Greased Lightnin'. Replay value may not be stellar, but for those who tend to break out their consoles primarily for special occasions, Grease is the word.

Rating: 7

***

Our game guru, Aaron Burgess, lives digitally but dreams in analog down in Round Rock, Texas. Contact him at first2letters@gmail.com  / AIM: First2Letters

As a service to the Blurt readers...for those who treasure live music above all else.
Cheers,
Johnny