Today we are implementing two new weekly features here on the old Synthesis blog, to complement our already fucking radical badass Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of…Of the Day!!!111: The Next, which will highlight shit that we think is coming up real BIG, and New This Week, which will preview each Monday one new release set to drop in a given week. While Ryan Prado is busy formulating the latter, I will be bringing you the former…in…about….RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!

What It Is: What It Is is  a collaboration by former Militia Group publicist / Canadian tuxedo aficionado Paul Maziar and Cold War Kids bassist / Visual Artist Maust. I’d try to explain it, but as it’s getting to be almost 5 PM and I’m getting thirsty for booze, I’ll let the press release do the talking:

Experimental, sincere and “mercurial” prose and poetry—married with equally sincere, gorgeous, deconstructed yet meticulous, typography and photo-driven design. Each facet drawing inspiration from the absurd as much as the divine, with a radical and keenly self-conscious sense of itself—aiming to surpass and uphold the mid-twentieth century and modern luminaries which inspired it, with concerted disregard for the conventions that structure perceptions about design and writing. Unable to recognize the differences between poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, the refined and the coarse, in both creation and living. Continually seeking to shift the pathways between unaffectedness and vivacious existence.

Images and Metrical nods to unassailable romantic life. The beauty and oddities, which we cannot ignore—what we must somehow capture, or go mad completely.

Themes including, leisure and the revolt against mechanized living (or non-living), love, derangement of the senses, homelessness, metaphysical mysteries: life, death and transcendence. Inspired by Coffee, The Letterists, Thelonious Monk, Bill Cosby, Jackson Pollock, Bob Dylan, Abraham Lincoln, Tom Waits, Rancid, Dennis Hopper, The Old Testament, The Beats, Warhol and (equally) The Velvets, Doc Brown, Sylvia Plath, Derrick Brown, The Clash, Fozzie Bear, Billy Bragg, Dracula, Bugs Bunny, Kurt Vonnegut, Leadbelly, and all our friends and lovers.

If you don’t think this sounds fucking rad, you’re seriously not doing nearly enough drugs. The book sees the light of day next month, at which time you can expect some more elaborate coverage courtesy of yours truly. But for now, satiate yourself by checking out the book’s Myspace page here.

Rumaging around www.etsy.com, I found an artist named Pinkytoast. She loves all things sweet, sour, and pouty. Check her out:

You can find more here. And here’s her MySpace.

When you’re a dude with a bachelor’s in English Lit who only read shit from the 17th century and earlier, you don’t have many chances to show off what you’ve learned. Mostly because no one cares about 9,000-line Old English poems about shepherds boning nymphs anymore. Which is why I was so stoked to hear that avant-metal guitar wizard Mick Barr, under the moniker Ocrilim, will be releasing his new album Annwn on Feb. 5th. You see, I took this Celtic literature class once, and we had to read a collection of Welsh tales called The Mabinogion, which took place in a magical place called Annwn, an “otherworld” which was filled with witches, cauldrons, horse goddesses and bleeding lances. It’s my favorite thing ever. And no, I’m not 12.

I’ve only heard one track off Annwn the album and it sounds similarly fantastical. The whole thing was created using multiple guitars shredding simultaneously. Drums and bass are lame anyway. Check out the 13-plus-minute “Part Five: here.

so. much. cocaine.

30th anniversary of a legendary performance. You’refuckingwelcome.

Maybe I’ll get around to chiming in on Julie Abra Fischer or EMI cutting 1/3 of its workforce later. I have something even better to tell you about.

Element 115 from Phoenix, AZ. Holy wow.

First, a little background on our Band You’ve Never Heard of Band of the Day. We Synthesis folks have a SonicBids account, and bands hit us in hopes of us writing about them on our blog or in our magazine. Most of these bands are pretty terrible. Real shitty. Shitty, shitty, shitty. Just plain awful. There are some fairly decent bands too, but most of them are only barely so. It’s mostly stinky poo-poos. But, then there are the bands who are really doing something…er, different…who capture the imagination of we bloggers, and rise from among the soiled ranks and into our hearts. Element 115 is one of those bands, and for God’s sake I hope they take that quote and put it at the top of their damn bio.

You should of course have been listening to Element 115 from the link at the top of the page this whole time. If you’re not, please open another window and do so now.

See? Holy wow!

Here’s the rundown:
1. Classic rock style band with original classic rock songs. About cars and aliens.
2. Band leader “Michael” belts out hair-raising hair-rock howls like woah.
3. Their drummer is an alien being that plays with the band live via interstellar video conferencing.
4. Read that last bit again.
5. In full support of Ron Paul (god bless them).
6. Headset mics.
7. No full songs on their page, just clips (no one rides for free…)
8. Dude’s rocking a Gibson Explorer. LEGIT.
9. Bring their own light and stage show.
10. “the band GUARANTEES a memorable event when they play.”
11. LISTEN TO THAT ROCK! FUCKING FUCK!

I’m really honestly confused right now. I am caught between ridiculing this band and genuinely appreciating their cheese factor. Is this infatuation ironic or genuine? I’m not sure! As I’ve been listening to them for an hour straight I imagine I must actually like this band, and God help me. The amount of work that has gone into this band is seriously staggering. It’s just the music is the most mind boggling mix of pop metal and prog-rock, and I bet they have no idea how funny and awesome it is.

I kinda want to join this band.

Seriously out of this world.

Below the jump you will fine the real-time, non edited AIM conversation between me and Editorial Director James Barone about Element 115.

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Synthesis magazine cover alum Alex Pardee revealed over MySpace his artwork for the new In Flames album, A Sense of Purpose, which is due out in April. It looks pretty sick.

According to Pardee in his MySpace bulletin:

So, as i wasn’t allowed to even mention this before, I have been working feverishly with one of the greatest modern metal bands in the world, IN FLAMES, on their new album artwork and packaging for their new album, “A Sense of Purpose”.
Those guys are not only Swedish, but they are also amazing and hilarious. Its like a heavy-metal 3-for!
The cover artwork finally got revealed today.
It was a very involved project, as IN FLAMES had a very specific vision for the look of this album, and i had a LOT to live up to since their last album was designed and illustrated by none other than one of my major influences, Derek Hess!

The liner notes will also contain a 20-page booklet illustrated by Pardee.