Music Monday:

For Nathan Dunn:

Iron and Wine: Naked As We Came

The One A.M. Radio: In The Time We've Got

Dear and The Headlights: Sweet Talk

Passion Pit: Sleepyhead

Saturday Matinee: The James Dean Story

Kick-back and enjoy: the story of my favourite actor's short life.

Wednesday Wrap Up: The Plot Sucks But The Killings Are Gorgeous

I decided the rating system I devised is too limiting and will be switching to an A, B, C rubric. Here is the first Wednesday Wrap Up with the new grades in place:

Motion City Soundtrack: My Dinosaur Life

Rating: C+

File Under: The Lyrics Digress While the Music Grows Up

1. "Worker Bee" - 2:25
2. "A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)" - 3:23
3. "Her Words Destroyed My Planet" - 3:38
4. "Disappear" - 3:12
5. "Delirium" - 3:29
6. "History Lesson" - 2:35
7. "Stand Too Close" - 2:48
8. "Pulp Fiction" - 3:53
9. "@!#?@!" - 3:00
10. "Hysteria" - 3:05
11. "Skin and Bones" - 3:36
12. "The Weakends" - 4:48

Motion City Soundtrack have been around for quite a long time. They came onto the scene in 2003 with their stellar breakout I Am The Movie. Now, seven years later, not much has changed for MCS. With the exception that their already catchy and quirky pop-punk has become ever more quirky and tight. Some of their solid instrumental sound is owed to producer Mark Hoppus, who reigns in the frenetic energy and condenses it into twelve radio-ready bites.

The guitars are heavy and quick, years of honing their instrumental chops has allowed Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain to sound bouncy and lively while maintaining technical proficiency. Every note resonates clearly and at its strongest the guitars don't pretend that they are doing anything more that three chord punk. The rhythm section holds it down solid as always, Tony Thaxton is still one of the most energetic and inventive drummers in his genre. While his band plays simple songs, he is constantly pounding away off-kilter beats and dynamic tempos. If it weren't for him, the band would be venerable to sounding bland and unrecognizable.

The lyrics aren't superb, in fact they are down right whack. Every line sounds like the musings of a washed up adult in a dying genre filled with children. (Also See: Rivers Cuomo) Justin Pierre opens up his diary to us after four years of writing and all we get is profanity and trite cultural references. His voice jumps from restrained to ridiculous, crooning his happiness to spitting out his emotional disgust, and at its best his vocals are smooth and comforting... much like peanut butter. Too bad I don't want to stick peanut butter in my ears. When he was younger and more mentally torn apart, Pierre could weave a short story of improbable lovers or an inexplicable fear of the future, but now he is empty. His band gives it their all and the vocals are so disappointing they fail to meet the bombast of the instrumentation.

A middling effort from a once-stalwart band, although they dial it in for the instruments, they phone it in for the vocals. The songs are quirky and fun, but not groundbreaking. It's a good listen a couple times but everything that is done right on this album was done just as well, or even better, by The Matches. For a genre that is falling to pieces, Motion City Soundtrack's emo tinged pop-punk sounds very much alive, too bad the words don't match the attitude.

Music Monday: A Day Late

Thanks to a day off from school and blogging, Music Monday is happening on a Tuesday.

And here we go:

William Control- Tranquilize

Depeche Mode- Enjoy the Silence

Heavens- Patent Pending

SONNY - MORA from Shawn Butcher on Vimeo.

Sonny Moore- Mora

Saturday Matinee: Battle Royal

To cleanse the palate after yesterday's massive misstep, today's matinee is one of my favourite Japanese films, Battle Royal. (This film is rated R and contains blood and violence, all involving children, like Lord Of the Flies on speed.)

Friday Films: Super Imposed Muscles, Computer Animated Executions and Animal Ear Headbands

Ichi The Killer

Rating: D

File Under: Lost In Translation

I was first introduced to director Takashi Miike in his short film Imprint, which he directed for HBO's Masters Of Horror. Although the episode never aired due to its graphic depictions of torture and tender subject matters, it still remains available on DVD and viewable on the internet. In that one hour film Takashi Miike truly shines as a director and as an artist. But sadly, this is not a review of that stellar mini-movie. Instead it is about a two hour waste of my time.

The worst part of Ichi the Killer is not the brutal violence or the disgusting gore or even the unneeded nudity/sex, no, this movie completely falls on its face in the plot. The dialog is solid and for the first forty minutes, you are compelled by the convoluted story line. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes later, you realize that you actually have no clue what is going on and neither does the movie itself. It bounces around from scene to bloody scene trying to tie together the loose ends left by the story.

Originally adapted from the manga of the same name, Ichi the Killer follows the story of Kakihara, a Yakuza enforcer who receives great pleasure from giving and taking beatings, and freely deals out visually disturbing and graphic torture. The extent of his depravity knows no real bounds and in many scenes he is seen orchestrating, or actually perpetrating, acts of obscene violence. His physical appearance reflects his lust for pain, his face is scarred and at one point he cuts off the end of his own tongue, in addition the corners of his mouth are bound together to keep closed the, most likely, self-inflicted Glasgow smile he wears. When the story opens all seems to be well for the Yakuza, until the Anjo mob boss, Anjo, is brutally murdered by the mysterious Ichi, Kakihara sets out to find and punish the man responsible for his mentor's death... then let the sub-plots ensue.

I'm not even going to go into the horribly conceived story that begins to take place from there, instead I am going to take a moment to share where Miike does do a great job. The camera work in this movie is unbelievable, Miike takes the pulpy and gritty style of Guy Ritchie (circa. Snatch) and deftly blends it with the oddball camera angles and non-panning scenes of Quentin Tarantino (Circa. Reservoir Dogs). The city jumps by at a schizophrenic pace while conversations are reverent and intimate, never does someone leave a building without the filter becoming grainy and racing through the streets but when they pause to speak with another person, the camera pulls in close and focuses intently. Yet even here, at his strong point, Miike fails the movie. If the shot is interesting for a few moments, the director drags it out to death, literally to the point where you forget whether you had liked it or not, in the first place.

The bad news continues when you realize that the characters are vapid and foolish with absolutely no dimensions or levels of depth, there are not strong emotional ties to any one character in particular. If the movie is going to be a blood bath, there needs to be some way that we can connect with the one person left on camera the entire time. Instead, Tadanobu Asano gives the viewer a swaggering, self loathing and totally unsympathetic caricature of a sadistic torturer, devoid of any charm or wit. It's tough to enjoy a movie when there isn't one single solitary character to relate to, or even cheer on.

This movie was a waste of my evening, I should have picked another to review. Takashi Miike should either: stick to original plots and never do another adaptation again, or just do short films where he can cram shock and beauty into such a compact space that it will force the viewer to remain riveted.

If you are going to watch this movie... don't. Just find a copy of Imprint and watch that instead.

Wednesday Wrap Up: Chutes and Ladders Leaving Me Where I Begun

Cold War Kids- Behave Yourself Ep (Downtown Records)

Rating: Treat

File Under: Finally Catching My Attention

#	Title	Length
1.	"Audience"	3:02
2.	"Coffee Spoon"	3:54
3.	"Santa Ana Winds"	2:31
4.	"Sermons"	4:33
5.	"Baby Boy (CD Only)"	0:37

When Cold War Kids debuted in 2006 with their self titled album, they were raved about and applauded for being original and talented. Naturally I skipped over them, because I insist on being contrary to everyone else's opinion. When I went back in 2008 to see if it was cool to like them yet, I found myself disappointed by the music they played. Now in 2010 they have finally caught my attention with a short 5-song Ep featuring previously unrecorded material. It was initially released in digital only copies on iTunes last December, and then a hard copy follow up in 2010. I even passed up the Ep when it was originally released.

This Ep comes out of the gate toting Maroon 5-esque vocal melodies that would even put Adam Levine to shame. The guitars are smooth and sharp, each chord punctuating the end of every line. The rhythm section is solid and creates beats you want to clap along to, never dominating the songs. Although, still not the most original sound ever, their soul infused song delivery is fresh to hear in a climate dominated by glam, pop and dance.

I give Cold War Kids credit for sticking to their style. The popular genres fluctuate and when an artist stays steadfast in their ways they run the risk of becoming irrelevant. This Ep spits in the face of "irrelevant" and continues making music that is honest and this time around, catchy.

While it isn't brilliant, while it isn't extremely original, and while it isn't super exciting, Behave Yourself is good and should be a short reminder to soul influenced rock bands, that this is how it is done.(I'm looking at you Jack White, Kings Of Leon, and Julian Casablancas). Now if they could just produce a full album that I enjoy...

Spoiler Alert: She Dies in the End

Brittany Murphy's first shot at posthumous stardom. With a classy tagline like "Focus Your Fear" there is no way that this isn't a winner. Let me quick sum up the plot without even seeing it, the main character Alice is all cracked out and starts seeing stuff and then has a really shady death... but wait haven't i heard this one before, and didn't it star Brittany Murphy already. Oh no wait, that was real life.

Too Soon? Maybe.

I Know Its Not Wednesday, but Here's a Bonus Wrap Up

Gucci Mane- Diplo Presents: Free Gucci [Best Of The Cold War Mixtapes] (MadDecent)

Rating- Treat

File Under: Class A Beats with Class D Rapping

This very special edition of the wrap up is brought to you by DIPLO, the genius behind such acts as Major Lazer and Hollertronix. This time he has compiled a mixtape featuring fifteen original remixes from some of the scene's hottest electronic and dance artists. Here's the catch, they are all Gucci Mane

songs.

The problem with this mixtape right off the bat is that Gucci Mane is a down right bad rapper. His rhymes are trite and corny, his flow is weak and his monotone delivery is mediocre. I have no good news for Gucci Mane, if he wants to break big, he needs to become a different person.

Now for the good news, every single beat on this mix is killer. Song after song, note after note, kick after kick, every single bass wobble and synth run is the work of a brilliant artist. It is strange for a mixtape to have consistently stellar beats but this one doesn't fail to deliver time and time again.

My favorite outing comes from Memory Tapes, a low-fi indie band with huge potential. It takes the normally pathetic rap song "Excuse Me" (seriously, who says: "my watch so stupid icy / I can't even tell the time"?) and puts it on a bed of tinkling synths driven by a light snare beat. The star of this song is the beat switch that invades at the half way point of the track. Heavily bass driven and totally phased out, it finishes out the song is a melodious and tasteful way.

In total, Gucci Mane is a really bad rapper and if this wasn't a free mix tape, I would not own it, but these remixes are outstanding... Gucci should just recruit indie artists to do his tracks for him.

Wednesday Wrap Up will continue tomorrow with a new album but for now enjoy this review and download the mix for yourself.

Track list:

Music Monday: Cargo Ships Move Past Tracing On The Horizon Line

Botch- To Our Friends In The Great White North.

These Arms Are Snakes- Red Line Season

Russian Circles- Malko

Minus The Bear- Pachuca Sunrise

P.S. How are these bands all related to one another...

I Needed a Pet.

This adorable little cretin is a real stuffed baby unicorn. Apparently there is a huge market for feakish taxidermy on eBay. For a nominal fee of $649 it is possible to own this creepy centerpiece.
It used to be a circus sideshow but its now being thrown out to the collector wolves. It will be a terrible shame if this doesn't go to a home that will cherish it and show it off to everyone. It's huge in size, it could very easily be in the entryway of your home, greeting everyone as they come in. Forget having a table or a mirror, a Baby Unicorn could complete the home.
Unicorn not your tastes? How about a two headed cat, for your closest loved one.
Or perchance a deformed freak pig? Because, who doesn't like to give someone a sideshow freak for a wedding present. Everyone jump on this chance to own a tiny part of history. I am sincere, if you want to gift me one, feel free to.

Stealing From the Bloglin: Saturday Matinee

The Mishka Bloglin does Saturday Matinées, I love the idea so much I am going to take part in it myself. So to kill some time this afternoon, I give you Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie. ENJOY!

Friday Films: Good-Bye To Horses

I would like to take this time to introduce another (hopefully) staple segment that I like to call Friday Films. I will attempt to review a film that I have never seen every Friday, this being my first one. They will be based on a very simple A, B, C, D, or F rubric that I laboriously pick out of a hat. And it begins with a mixed bag:

Clerks II

Rating: C+

File Under: Lackluster Sequel with a Great Supporting Cast

I love Kevin Smith, I love Jay and Silent Bob, I love Clerks, and I love gross jokes. This movie had all of those, but unfortunately it just didn't do it for me. I felt like the whole time the characters were trying to pedal a cliche message by thinly veiling it with potty humor. There are only so many times I can watch Jay do the Buffalo Bill Dance from Silence Of The Lambs without any sort of substance underneath the jokes. I understand that it is a sequel and sequels never live up to their predecessor, but I frankly expect much more out of Kevin Smith.

Many people insist that Quentin Tarantino is the master of colloquial dialog, but I strongly disagree. I think that Kevin Smith's writing much more accurately portrays average human life, but if that is the case, why is he wasting his time writing crap like this movie. I understand Dante and Randall are terrible employees, we established that in Clerks. It gets really stale when 75% of the jokes in the film are about the one fact that we are already familiar with. Even if he had just filled dead space with more of Jay and Silent Bob I would have been fine with that.

All together the movie feels rushed and phony, like the writer/director felt the audience needed closure for these characters, and he was going to do it in the most mundane and predictable way ever. In the View Askew-niverse things never go normally and for the movie to end on a high and happy note that everyone saw coming from miles away, it feels like a cheap and sad send off for this portion of Kevin Smith's career.

All bad words aside, it was entertaining to watch once, although I doubt I would watch it again, it was nice to see Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith take up their classic roles for one last go, and watching someone dance to "Goodbye to Horses" is always insanely funny. Watch it once, chuckle to yourself, laugh out loud once or twice, and then just watch the original Clerks. Its funny enough for the both of them.

It Tickles My Innards

Much to my delight the Pepsi Co. has re-re-released Mountain Dew Throwback. The magic of this edition is that it is flavored with real sugar instead of laboratory synthesized sugars. The United States soft drink companies insist on using that garbage to sweeten drinks while all other countries use real cane sugar to do it.

Mountain Dew first debuted in the 1940's as MOUNTAIN DEW, the formula was developed by Barney and Ally Hartman and is now the fourth most popular Soft Drink in the United States. Unfortunately the amusing and whimsical logos were removed and the name was changed to read MTN DEW. The Hillybilly logo did not appeal to the sense of rugged and manly adventure that the brand was gearing towards marketing to. This limited edition run has brought back the classic Images as well as the flavor that won the hearts of American consumers.

Seeing as I have been a serious Mountain Dew fan for a few years now and drank it in the US and in Africa (where they still use cane sugar and glass bottles), I can safely say there is a marked difference in the taste of the fake sugars versus the real ones. The throwback Mountain Dew is an opportunity for soda drinkers to have a tiny taste of nostalgia and it displays American advertising before it was in vogue to streamline and be sleek. I personally love the Throwback and would never go back to regular MTN DEW if I had the choice.

This release of Throwback also has been extended to Pepsi Throwback and Dr. Pepper Heritage, give them a taste and let me know what you think of them.

The First Roll of Color

Finally it has arrived. My first roll of color shots. Not too much to say about them except that i love them all. Including the pinhole shot of my bed room, and the flares because of poor rolling exposure.

Here they are:

Bedroom (pinhole shot)

New Year's Eve Full Moon (pinhole shot)

Christmas Tree

Kristin D. Dominguez

Stuffed French Toast at IHOP

Local Bowling Alley

Nathan E. Dunn Bowling

Horchata on Broken Glass

Here's the link to the Vampire Weekend song Horchata that shamelessly rips off Annie Lennox. Just incase you wanted to hear it. You can listen to is on GrooveShark.

Sorry for the boring post.

Wednesday Wrap Up: Looking Psychotic in a Balaclava

This is the debut of Wednesday Wrap Up. Every Wednesday* I will review one new album that was released the day before. I'll give my good with my bad and it'll be up to you to listen to the albums and decide for yourself. The albums will be graded on a carefully devised system. A good album is a DIAMOND, a decent album is a TREAT and a terrible album is a TURD. We begin this segment with a total disappointment:

Vampire Weekend- Contra (XL)

My Rating: TURD

File Under: Overproduced Indie Nightmare

#Title
1."Horchata"
2."White Sky"
3."Holiday"
4."California English"
5."Taxi Cab"
6."Run"
7."Cousins"
8."Giving Up the Gun"
9."Diplomat's Son"
10."I Think Ur a Contra"

I am going to be honest, I don't like Vampire Weekend. I haven't ever liked Vampire Weekend. Even their name is a turn off to me. What is a Vampire Weekend? and why does it play such pretentious music? But, despite my already present loathing, I thought that i would give these indie darlings a shot. Maybe they had grown up, maybe they were done aping on other people's work, maybe they were suddenly original. I was wrong in all of my assumptions. When Ottoman came out on Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, I had hope. My hopes have been shattered, where is the Ottoman on this album?

Right off the bat this album opens up with the band stealing the chorus melody from Annie Lennox. Straight down to the pizzicato symphony strings, and Maribma driven grooves. So, strike one straight out of the gate. Now, I am not saying that this CD is un-listen-able, but the lack of originality, or even effort is crippling. Every other song lifts guitar tones from Paul Simon's Graceland.

Dear Vampire Weekend,

I understand that you are trying to have an Afro-pop infused indie band but that does not give you permission to blatantly rip Paul Simon off. Homage and thievery are two different things. Although you seem to be under the impression that it is cool or artistic to be a clone of your forefathers in the genre, it is not. Playing on the ignorance of the hipster market does not make you avant-garde, it just makes you a boring and unpleasant blemish upon the ears of people with enough sense to understand that this band is just trying to fake their way through celebrity.

Love,

Antonio M. Silva

Oh and the thing I said about it not being um-listen-able? Its a lie. The first 5 songs have been tailored and altered enough for them to come out as appearing enjoyable, but after those it is a cluster of noises that are grating on the nerves and damaging to the psyche. All in all this CD is terrible, it lacks a real direction, it has been too edited to appear to be interesting but conveniently radio ready. The only good words I have for this album are the song Giving Up the Gun is completely enjoyable. Its not Ottoman but it is a straight forward and uncharacteristically "rock" song.

So for my first Wednesday Wrap Up I give you Contra: A CD that just should have quit.

*not promising every wednesday.

I Want To Interview Bloggers

I like blogs. They are interesting and everyone can have one, but we don't necessarily learn who a blogger is or what they are trying to achieve just by what they post on a page. I would like to periodically get behind the scenes with bloggers and look at who the man or woman behind the website is.

If you are a blogger and might be interested in sharing a little bit about yourself, please feel free to contact me, or just drop a comment down in the comments zone. I can't promise that I will get back to you right away, but if you have a blog and I like what I see, you can bet that I will eventually reply.

For those of you without blogs, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Why don't you have a blog yet? There are providers all over the internet that have free domains for you to just login and type away. This blog is run through BLOG SPOT. It doesn't cost me anything and I get to think outloud on the interweb.

"BUT I DON"T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY!!!" Yes you do. What about all those thoughts you have throughout the day that you are wondering, postulating, mulling over, or just swimming through? Wouldn't it be nice to get those out? Wouldn't it be nice for someone to come across your blog and see that they are having the exact same thought as someone else? I think it would, infact I know how awesome it is to blog. I have started one, two, three of them.

image belongs to blogger.com

Post Birthday Party

Today I have actually discovered that Manchester Orchestra are playing at The Great American Music Hall. "What day?" you may ask. And I may answer...

The day after my birthday, Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro and O' Brother will be in San Francisco tearing up GAMH. If I am to attend this incredibly fortunately timed event, it will be my third M.O. concert, and second Biffy Clyro.

For those of you not in the SF area. The rest of Manchester Orchestra's headlining tour schedule is as follows:

Jan 29Salt Lake City, UT Salt Palace Convention Center
Jan 30Denver, CO The Fillmore
Jan 31Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep
Feb 02Tulsa, OK The Marquee

Feb 03Little Rock, AR Juanita's Cantina Ballroom

Feb 04Memphis, TN New Daisy Theatre

Feb 26Orlando, FL House of Blues

Feb 27Jacksonville Beach, FL Freebird Live

Feb 28Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution

Mar 02Houston, TX House of Blues

Mar 03Austin, TX Emo's

Mar 04Dallas, TX The Palladium Showroom

Mar 06Tempe, AZ The Marquee

Mar 07San Diego, CA House of Blues

Mar 09West Hollywood, CA Troubadour

Mar 10West Hollywood, CA Troubadour

Mar11

San Francisco, CA

Great American Music Hall

Mar 12Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater

Mar 13Seattle, WA The Showbox @ The Market

Mar 15Boise, ID The Knitting Factory

THIS WILL NOT BE A CONCERT TO MISS

Manchester Orchestra- My Friend Marcus (Acoustic on Spin.com)

Poto found @ ManchesterOrchestra.com