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Top Picks: The Digitech TRIO Band Creator, the movie 'While We're Young,' and more

The Receiver's album 'All Burn' features music so chill that you'll play it when you turn on the air conditioner, the PBS program '1913: Seeds of Conflict' shows a time when Jews and Arabs lived near each other with more peaceful relations, and more top picks.

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John Kehe/The Christian Science Monitor
  • By Staff

Faux Trio

Do you play electric guitar and wish you had a band to play with? Well, cue the trio! The Digitech TRIO Band Creator is a guitar pedal that “senses” where your guitar progression is going as you play and adds drums and bass with the tap of a foot switch. It offers seven musical genres in 12 styles and even has guitar effects built in. It can learn as many as three song sections (verse, chorus, bridge) and play along endlessly, without tiring. It’ll even show up for practice on time!

Did you know that?

Brush up on your American history in time for July 4 with Internet sensation John Green. In the video Who Won the American Revolution?, Green provides a refresher on that watershed and clears up a few myths about it, too. Green and his brother, Hank, created the entertaining and educational YouTube channel CrashCourse, filled with fast-paced smarts and edgy humor. Each course is less than 15 minutes long. Just how revolutionary was 1776? Get the scoop at http://bit.ly/johngreenrevolution.

Friendship couples

While We’re Young stars Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a Generation X couple in limbo who find themselves happily ensnared in a new friendship with a Millennial couple. As with director Noah Baumbach’s other films (“Frances Ha,” “The Squid and the Whale”), the movie is full of sharp urban insights and brainy comedy. “While We’re Young” is available on DVD and Blu-ray June 30.

Time of peace

The PBS program 1913: Seeds of Conflict looks back at the region known as Palestine at the end of the Ottoman Empire, when Jews and Arabs lived near each other with more peaceful relations. What changed, and what can we learn from this time period? This one-hour documentary, directed by Ben Loeterman, airs June 30 at 9 p.m.

Summer’s coolest tunes

Not all summer music releases are meant to be blared through open car windows. Case in point: The Receiver’s All Burn. The Ohio duo creates music so chill that you’ll play it when you turn on the air conditioner. Casey Cooper (keyboards, bass) and his brother Jesse (drums) operate in a guitar-free zone that will appeal to fans of English rock band Keane and French duo Air. Their voices harmonize on mellow synthesizer pop songs such as “Transit” and “These Days.” 

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