Bomb track Thursday! BOMB TRACK THURSDAY! It's like regular Thurusdaassssy! Only with traaaaaaacks! *music fades out* Ah, yes I have missed thee. For those who are new to the game, I go around on the internet scouring for fresh downloads and put them all on here as a virtual sound menu of sorts. Go on, take a bite. You won't get fat I promise. And for everyone else who's been missing these, I'm hoping that now that I finally got my Albums You Might Have Missed edition for August 12th up, I can finally get caught up and get back to a regularly scheduled program around here. Thanks for being patient :) And now without further ado..B-b-BOMB TRACKS!
A$AP Ferg - "Reynolds" (fet. Danny Brown): Hailing from the A$AP Mob (known for kick starting the career of the more prolific A$AP Rocky) , Ferg proves he's no slouch when it comes to serving up his own dope lines. The lackadaisical delivery paired up with the lazy summery beat and guest verses by Danny Brown (who effects a dead ringer Cypress Hill impression), all just come together to make this feel like a perfect slice of forgotten 90's. (Hip Hop)
Body/Head - "Actress": Former Pixies bassists has returned with a brand new band a a popping new track for their upcoming debut, Coming Apart (due out September 13 on Matador). KG's voice and bass take the forefront on this minimalist experiment, sounding decidedly more avante garde then anything she's done before. Her bass plods along beneath an eerie guitar whine, with chanting and pipped in sonic dissonance. (No Wave/Nosie Rock) Cage The Elephant - "Come A Little Closer": New track from the boys from Bowling Green from their upcoming album, Melophobia due out 10/8 through RCA. While their early album had them ridding to the top of the charts with a decidedly more "southern rock meets garage revile" sound, this song is no "Ain't No rest For The Wicked". "Come A Little Closer" is less on the heavy and more on the angst, and sounds more like a continuation of that post-punk sound they were chasing on Thank You, Happy Birthday. It's a depressing, haunting melody held down by tight drumming under a more chaotic style of guitar. (Post Punk Revival) Crystal Stilts - "Future Folklore": New cut from Crystal Stilts third upcoming album, Nature Noir, due out September 17th through Scared Bones. "Future Folklore" is probably the best way to describe the song, which pays equal homage to early American psychedelic folk and the Crystal Stilts minimalist approach to garage rock revival. . (Garage Rock Revival/Folk) Drumgasam - Drumgasam:What do you get when you place Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, Wild Flag drummer Janet Weiss, and Death Grips drummer Zach Hill on the same album? A better question would be, what would you get if you had an album that was simply NOTHING BUT those three drummers drumming. You'd get what could be described as nothing else but a Drumgasam, thus making the band name and the name of their first album, perfectly sensible. The entire albums is available for streaming on Spin.com, and suffice to say it sounds like nothing else you can imagine. Unless you're good at imaging what 3 proficient drummers would sound like if they were invited to the world's most awesome drum circle. . (Experiemntnal) Forest Swords - Engravings:Forest Swords is the stage name of Liverpool native Matthew Barnes, who set the blogosphere alight with his relatively quite release, Dagger Paths, back in 2010. On his first full length, available for streaming through Pitchfork and due out August 26 through Tri Angle Records, he hones in those same composer skills that made his EP such a underground treasure. It's difficult to lump him in with other EDM musicians because he blends in a number of influences ranging, from post rock to film scores, complete with creative sampling, to create a very different sounding album. (Experimental/R&B/Post Rock) Of Montreal - "She Ain't Speaking Now": New Of Montreal, sounds like the Athens outfit simply chasing their Flaming Lips influences at first. It starts off as a light psychedelic pop tune, before catching the listener by surprise with the crunch of bluesy guitar riffs. Of Montreal switch back and forth between playful psch pop and foot stampin swamp rock and somehow make it work. "Speaking Now" is off Lousy With Sylvianbrair due out 10/8 through Polyvinal. (Pyshdeilc Pop/Garage Rock) Parquet Courts - "You Got Me Wondering Now": After being the DIY heroes of the 2012 with the surprise success of their debut album Light Up Gold, it's great to here Parquet Courts weren't merely one hit wonders. Beneath the lackadaisical chaos that is their beer soaked, fuzz drenched, lo-fi garage rampaging, lie some pretty damn crafty musicians. "You Got Me Wondering Now" is the teaser from their upcoming EP Tally All The Things That You Broke, due out 10/8 through What's Your Rapture. The song itself sounds like what would have happened if Stephen Malkmus from Pavement took over the vocal duties for The Stooges. (Gargare Punk)
Phoneix - "Trying To Be Cool" (fet. R. Kelly): "Trying To Be Cool" is the track from Phoenix's Bankrupt! album from earlier this year. And by all accounts it was just perfect the way it was; a seriously cool bit of modern disco with a tight-club ready swing in the choruses. So, how to make it better? Why not add R. Kelly to contribute some of his own guest verses? Say what you will about R. Kelly, the man has cool to spare when he sings and he brings "Cool" to a whole new level of it. (Nu-Disco/R&B)
YACTH - "Party At The NSA": This new YATCH song sounds like an old forgotten relic of 80's synthrock. The choruse is practically begging to have a post-ironc music video featuring the band dancing in a wasteland from Mad Max before bumping into those other guys who had to put on shades. All the bells and whistles, synths and computer modulators, are out on full force daring you to not dance. But its fun filled melody and retro goodness hides a pretty dark message if the song title didn't give it away, and it's one that the normally fun loving YATCH are serious about. The song was not released as a teaser for an upcoming album but as a download for sale in which all proceeds will go to "to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who will defend us all from living in a total surveillance state". (Synthpop/Synthrock) Yuck - "Middle Sea": After having such a warmlyreceived debut back in 2011 and a successful bit of touring, fans were dealt a sudden rough blow with the leaving of band founder and front manDaniel Bloomberg back in April of this year. It seemed to be the kind of move that would kill a band dead just as it was starting to gain momentum, but Yuck still pushed forward, announcing a new album, Glow & Behold, due out September 30th. New singer "Max Bloom" doesn't quite have Bloomberg's youthful sounding wail, but manages to bring something new with his own daydream, dead-pandelivery. And those same sun soaked, Dinosaur Jr. riffs that made their debut so nostalgic show no signs of going anywhere anytime soon. (Noise Rock/Power Pop)
If that nifty little hint provided by my weird wording of this week's edition of "Might Have Missed" didn't tip you off, I've been dare we say it, AWOL for the past couple of weeks (since mid July if my internet history's anything to go by). After cracking my laptop screen into what has to be something like a million pieces thanks to a faulty backpack strap, wet pavement, and what some would argue, the massive amount of negligence that comes from assuming a backpack that's over 6 years old will continue to function...I've been laptop-less for what feels like almost a month.
BUT! Extra shifts of dish washing, weeks of replacing blown tires, and the selling of one box of childhood memories (vauled at $10), has returned my laptop to me! Just in time to save myself from going completely mad :) One of my only links to grabbing any kind of music and doing any kind of writing has always been my laptop. The 20 minute computer rentals at the public library don't quite cut it. And after catching up on all the gratuitous amounts of porn music that I've missed out on, it please me to bring you the albums of last week that you (and most definitely me) might have missed.
Bloc Party
The Nextwave Sessions (EP)
(Frenckiss Records)
August 12, 2013
Didn't Bloc Party JUST get of hiatus? Did I just imagine all those shows they started doing about a year back, the rumors about a follow up to their comeback album Four, and all those interviews where they said they were "really excited" to be back together making music? Imagined or not, After a brief whole year of being back together and touring North America to tease new material for their EP, The Nextwave Sessions, Bloc Party has announced yet another indefinite hiatus. Odds are pretty good that it's safe to stop holding your breath for a comeback. But before they parted ways, they did live a pretty nice going away present in the for of 5 new songs. Rerecorded as part of a completely separate recording session from Four, Nextwave's hints at a new sound the lads of Bloc Party might have been perusing before shelving the whole thing. While "Ratchet" roars right out the gate with that oh so familiar and irresistible, groovy ball-room blitz the boys are usually know for, things take a decided turn for the more "R&B" flavored on the reaming tracks. "Obscene" has an slowed down, icy beat and features Kele Okereke doing his best Prince impression on the vocals. While "Montreal" opts to go for a more experimental atmospheric feel. There's no doubt this could be anything but Bloc Party on the cusp of trying something new, and while it's certainly something different then what the fans are use to, it's an actually pretty cool turn. At the very least, it sounds like the band wasn't content with merely re-recording "Helicopter" and "Hunting For Witches" for the rest of their career. However short that career in question turned out to be.
Don Cavalii
Temperamental
(Everloving Inc)
August 13, 2013
Don Cavalii may very well be a textbook case for why you shouldn't give up. Long after most humans would surely have found something else to do that was less soul crushing, Don Cavalii has trucked on since the 80's in a number of rockabilly outfits, slowly expanding his repertoire to include power pop, swamp rock, blues, and a little bit of soul along the way. Finally finding the success he was long since overdue with his 2007 solo album, Cryland, Cavalii went on to enjoy the fruits of success for a bit, play in what has to be every hole-in the wall club ever, before returning for a follow up 5 years later. Anything worth doing well is worth taking your time on, is apparently his ethic. But the quality shows. Keeping up with that delicious, southern fried blend of swampy, poppy, garage tunes, Cavalii manages to successful integrate different sounds across different decades. From the funky grooves of the 70's on the title track, to the lazy guitar pop of the 60's on "Garden of Love", to gospel by the way of The Beatles on, "Gonna Love You". Time is nothing but a number to a man who's been at listening to and playing with more bands than I'll ever know.
Deltron 3030
City Rising From The Ashes
(Bulk Recording Inc.)
August 13, 2013
A sticking point that I've always had with rap is the unwillingness to peruse more fantastical concepts on their albums. I mean real concept albums, in the sense of I dunno, say "this is the story of how I became the God Osiris and declared war on an alien planet in the far flung future 3030". Something like that. But lucky for me, my man Del The Funky Homosapien (better known to most as the ghost Del, who posses the drummer Russel in the fictional band Gorillaz, featured famously on their song "Clint Eastwood"), gets me and has returned with the project Deltron 3030 to record a brand spanking new follow up to their debut back in 2000. It's 13 years overdue but all is forgiven with this leaked EP debuting 3 new tracks from their upcoming Deltron Event II (due out in October), because the concept of said album is percsisley what I just described. Did I mention the title track of this EP features guest vocals by Mike Patton? And you still haven't downloaded it yet?
Jagwar Ma
Howlin'
(Mom + Pop Music)
Agust 13, 2013
The Tame Impala comparisons I figure are damn near unavoidable, even IF Jagwar Ma didn't also happen to come form them same continent of Australia. But what you have here is another psychedelic rock group ,hailing from Sydney as opposed to Perth, that manage to succeed in dragging out the sounds of funky British influences from decades past. But whilst Tame Impala were content to borrow the playbook from the Beatles and add their own weird noodling to it, Jagwar Ma seek the tap into the crazy "blink and you'll have missed it" decade of decadence that was Madchester on their debut album, Howlin'. Invoking the trippy dance rock sound of Happy Mondays and the fuzzy haze of acid-house, Jagwar Ma bring something to music scene that frankly hasn't really been heard for about twenty years. And, provided you've never actually heard of Happy Mondays, it'll be new to you as well.
Moondoggies
Adios, I'm A Ghost
(Hardly Art)
Agust 13, 2013
Seatle outfit, The Moondoggies have been enjoying their comfortable niche of paying homage to the LA band sound of the 60's; blending the harmonies of The Byrds, the country vibes of The Flying Burrito Brothers, and the swirling guitar rhythms of Buffalo Springfield, with exactly NO homages to "the fucking Eagles" (statistically speaking, you read that in the Dude's voice). Their third album, they show no signs of changing that formula too much here. Adios, I'm A Ghost finds the Moondoggies pushing themselves to have a more varied sounding, and subsequently longer album. The 6 minute long "A Lot To Give" features psych heavy swirls of guitar complete with keyboard. But "Red Eye" comes in as a jaunty, country-romp that channels the Grateful Dead at their most playful. There's even the incredibly depressing "Pride" , and "Back To The Beginning" that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Neil Young's After The Gold Rush. The mood across the album is an ever changing one, and the boys of Moondoggies manipulate it well.
Scott and Charlene's Wedding
Any Port In A Storm
(Fire Records)
Scott and Charlene's Wedding is the awkward name of the music project by one Australasian Craig Dermody, who's since taken residence in New York City. (and by he sounds of the no less dozens of references, it's safe to say he's taken to it quite nicely) But clumsy name aside (evidently it comes from the name of an old sitcom), Dermody's Port In A Storm is a pleasantly, enjoyable slice of lo-fi garage rock goodness under the awkward band name. The album is not a thrashing one, and opts for a wall of playful guitar harmonies as opposed to fuzzy revereb drenching every note; but it's stronger for it. Rather then try to beat you over the head with overt aggressiveness, Any Port In The Storm eases you in with a pretty wall of guitars, simply drumming, and Dremody's sentimental croon. Think early garage rock meets the sonic melodies Pavement by way of Dinosaur Jr.
You know the drill. Pipping hot tracks that internet has served up for your listening pleasure. Also, this feel like the perfect platform to air out social grievances. The Lone Ranger is garbage, but thankfully not too terribly racist garbage as I had feared. Merely long, plodding, uninteresting, disjointed, poorly written garbage.
AlunaGeorge - "Bad Idea" (Relatively young, UK electro duo AlunaGeorgia, preimer a new track from their upcoming album, Body Musi,c out July 29th. George Resies provides the cool as ice, synth beats, while Aluna Francis serenades with that sweet as honey voice.) Electronic/Trip Hop Beck - "I Won't Be Long" (These days Beck finds himself in the awesome position of being able to do whatever the hell he wants. For instance, where most artists would be testing the waters with a new single as per some record label obligation in order to build anticipation for an upcoming album, as far as I can tell, Beck has made no such announcement; other then hinting at a possible two albums in the future with no title or release date. And on top of that he's mum about whether this single is even on either of them. That being said, you'd be crazy to think he'd make a whole album sound like anyone song. Which is sort of a bummer, because "I Won't Be Long" is a nice ambient blending of a simple, hypnotic guitar line with some fuzzy dream pop synth layered over for good measure. But then, knowing Beck, he'll probaly find a way to surprise with something better anyway.) Alternative/Indie Rock/Dream Pop Andrew Cedermark - Home Life (When Andrew Cedermark's not banging out almost interesting garage rock with his band Family Portrait, he's banging out almost interesting music while going solo. Andrew Cedermark's just still too new to the scene to have an established identity yet, and hasn't done enough to make himself stand out; other then play in a band that frankly, sounds like a family friendly garage rock band. The fact that his voice is dull as dirt is just more salt in the wounds. On the bright side, Home Life does display him sounding more interesting, using some slightly more creative sonic techniques beyond "hit these three chords while I wail over them". So there's that tentative step in the right direction. Also it's free till July 19th on NPR, so there's that to.) Lo-Fi The Chills - "Molten Gold" (Early 80's power pop band from New Zealand, that was on the verge of making it but never quite did. At least in America. By all means they've always been very popular in their home country and have never not been popualr-ish. "Molten Gold" is the first new song The Chills have put out since 1996, in commemoration of their front man, Martin Phillipps's celebrating his 50th birthday. It's a light, breezy, summery bit of flawless sounding guitar pop.) Indie Pop Holograms - "Meditations" (The teased single released by from the thrashy Swedish post-punk outfit. Their sophomore album, Forever, is due out on September 3rd through Captured Tracks.) Noise Rock/Post Punk Torche - "Leather Feather" (Torche are the band that are probably best known for having the term "thunderpop" coined to describe them. They're sludgy, they';re poppy, they're aggressive, they're melodic, and they seem to be incapable of making a bad song. "Leather Feather" is a little more on the sludge metal side of things then some of their earlier work, and finds them channeling the aggressive riffs of The Jesus Lizard with the soloing of Tommy Iommi respectively. The track is a B-side to their song "Keep Up". Now both available for purchase as a single 7'') Sludge Metal/Stoner Metal
Okay, so my initial repose to The Pixies releasing their first new song in over 9 years? Elation. Hyper elation. Elation so great it may have even been enough for me to shove out annoyingly naggy thoughts like "not really that great of a song" and "Kim Deal left the band for this?". Dammit, I was in the mood for Pixies and I was completely willing to overlook the fact that I wasn't in high school anymore, and hadn't really listened to the Pixies as religiously as I use to for...well about 9 years actually. "Bagboy" sounded pretty awesome and it hinted at a possible new Pixies album in the the future; The Pixie having missed the "everything old is cool again! I think the kids call it retro" bandwagon, that everyone from Soundgarden (semi-successful) to Alice In Chains (arguable successful), to Pavement (No new music for you! But an enjoyable short-lived reunion? Sure!) to The Offspring (the exact opposite of successful or enjoyable) had managed to jump onto a few years back.
Not that I mean that to sound bitter. With plenty of new acts since 2000 rising in prominence, filling the void those phenomenal late 80's early 90's groups left, those same groups returning for another shot at glory through big name festival appearances and a couple of new tracks here and there, doesn't quite reek of desperation or the equivalent of the big kids returning to the playground to take back their ball. So by all means, I was thrilled to hear that the new Pixies track on their website. (it served as a nice bowl of ice cream to get over the heartache of Kim Deal announcing she'd was leaving the band just days prior).
What I'm not so thrilled with is the god awful video the band decided to put their seal of approval on. The video for "Bagboy" depicts an annoying asshat of a kid who NEVER wipes that shit eating grin of his face. Though, the fact that I found the kid off putting at first may have more to do with my irrational prejudices (such as classifying people's faces by how punchable they are. In his case it hovered somewhere between "very" and "desirably so") then anything else. Fair enough. What becomes troubling is that as the video proceeds to show this kid grabbing a credit card to make a grocery run for way to much milk, their's this slight bubbling feeling of dread that you can't quite shake. As if something's kinda wrong but you can't quite put your finger on what it is. That eerie feeling gets juxtaposed with the deliriously silly chorus and Francis's tongue-in-cheek vocal delivery. It's like he wants you to enjoy the song but something just feels off.
The video concludes with the boy vandalizing his own home with a combination of whipped cream, spilled milk and cheerios (which he bathes in at one point) and smashing objects to death with a baseball bat. So far, so very punk rock with a spot of ol' David Lynch.
Then you get to the last 5 seconds and TADAH! The revel is that that annoying little glasses wearing punk didn't own the home! The camera pans away as he leaves the home to revel the real owner to be a frightened black women, tied up on her bed. See, turns out he just broke into her house, presumably subdued her with violence before tying her up, stole her credit car, made a shit ton of purchases, vandalized her home, then rode off into the sunset on his bicycle without freeing her, with an air that implies he's done this before and to others. Oh, you silly kids you! What kind of adventures will you think up next?
So yeah, for now damn reason. NO DAMN REASON the video decides to simultaneously offend African Americans, women, and African American women (all who actually do live in threat of this "charmingly" decapitated violence) with an ending that just drops of a black women being tied up to have her home and sense of security vandalized by a young white man, like it's no big thing. It's just the careless of this that gets me worked up. I understand artistic creative and the whole artistic license thing. I get it. Really I do. But what was the point? What was the friggin point of just contributing another casual image of racial violence and violence against women in a rare double whammy? I can't shake the feeling that Kim Deal wouldn't have put her name anywhere near this abomination of video. Not on her watch.
Hey maybe I'm barking. But the videos bellow. Feel free to think whatever you'd like. But their was no reason this video couldn't have done anything, literally anything else. Oh and by the way Francis? Turns out, having an awful video helps your audience to take the first steps in realizing that your first new song in 9 years may not be as awesome as you think it is. And once the aging hipsters have stopped jerking you off and the new age hipsters have finished blogging your praises to high heaven (reminding you no doubt for the 50th time how influential you were), you can enjoy that quite lull that comes just before you realize you might not have it anymore. That the creative well may really be finally dry and Kim Deal leaving just confirmed it. And your instances on an awful video calculated to be "shocking" without giving a damn whom it might possibly be offensive to or what kind of message you might be sending, was just the first nail in the coffin.
I mentioned something about it a little earlier last week, but it seems that Franz Ferdinand have finally put out a proper music video for that deliriously jazzy single, "Right Action". It's a title track of sorts (the full album name is technically Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action but now I'm just being a stickler), and anyone with a passing familiarity of the oddity Franz Ferdinand like to get into with their hyper trippy music videos, knows exactly what to expect. In a hyper minimalist, bizarrely busy, music video, Franz Ferdinand manage to somehow capture the EXACT sensation of falling asleep on your open Chemistry textbook during a particular boring class. In hindsight, that's a terrible way to sell a music video let alone describe it. But I'm also pretty sure that's the only way to possibly describe what you're seeing. You know that feeling you get in your skull when you can't quite describe what's happening but it feels kinda awesome? Franz Ferdinand have been finding a way to get balls deep in there since 2002.
Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is due out August 26 via Domino
Bomb track Thursday!..After being somewhat delayed thanks to sleeping of a 4th of July hangover. Happy Freedom day by the way yall! So while my sense are still with me and the sleep medication hasn't kicked in it, downloads of the week to behold!
Blondes - Swisher(full album available for streaming on YouTube right now, but due out 8/6. Chill, mellow, surprisingly adequate for either a summer day or a spacewalk) - Deep House/Electronic Action Bronson - "Heel Toe" (a leftover track from Actin Bronson and Harry Fraud's collaboration album SAAAB Stories. I can't for the life of me figure why it wasn't included. It is quite simply a tight hip hop flow over Journey's bass line in "Who's Crying Now?" with the jazziest damn sax ever. - Hip Hop Dan Deacon - "Why Am I On This Cloud?" (Adultswims sexy summer singles program delivers again. Dan Deacon's always been an experimental bloke who seems to get off on juxtaposing expectations. But combing the sounds of a pulsing street riot with an icy synth line before morphing it into what can only be described as a "Transformers rave party" is pretty bold.) - Experimental/Electronic/Avant-Garde The Dodos - "Substance"(A fresh cut form The Dodo's upcoming album Carrier, due out 8/27. From the sound of things, they're not quite nixing their folk niche anytime soon, but The Dodo's show a surprising amount of new found muscle on this track) - Indie Folk/Indie Pop Franz Ferdinand - "Love Illumination" and "Right Action" (A double whammy of new tracks from Franz Ferdinand's new album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, due out 8/26. Dancy, groovy, with those enjoyable peppering of early 200's nostalgia kick in quite nicely) Indie Rock/Post-Punk Revival Maps - Viccisitude(Maps new album will only be up and available to stream on NPR till it's July 9th release date) Electronic/Dream Pop Zola Jesus - "Avalanches" (New track from Zola Jesus's album Versions, out 8/28. Beautiful, haunting, could be adequately described as "Like Florence Welch for goth kids"? Zola Jesus.) Lo-fi/Noise Pop
One of these days. ONE OF THESE DAYS! Bam! Pow! STRAIGHT TO SUNDAY NIGHT! Or if this pattern continues I may end up just having an edition of "Might Have Missed" go up on Tuesday. Hmm, weird. Keeping a tight if sorta inconvenient schedule is not normally how procrastination works. Damn it procrastination! You take the fun out of procrastinating!
Bass Drum Of Death
Bass Drum Of Death
(Innovated Leisure)
June 25, 2013
I really dug these guy's debut album, GB City back in 2011. It was criminally underrated then and they were a criminally underrated band. After it seemed like everyone was getting into the stripped down, rock n' roll, two-piece free love (and the little fact that The Black Keys were ridding really high about that time), Bass Drum Of Death just seemed like another flash in the pan trying to catch some of the sweet, sweet critical acclaim before their descent into obscurity. But GB City didn't sound like every other wannabe trying to sound like Ty Segall. The reverb soaked production was there, but if you removed all that fuzz you got the feeling you'd still get some tight songs; the kidna songs that actually hearkened back to the early days of 60's garage rock (The Sonics, The Kingsmen, The Trashmen. Lots of The _'s) as opposed to sounding like some 20 somethings who heard the word "garage" and assumed that was indie for "NEEDS MORE REVERB." That proto punk swagger of The Stooges mixed in with the bluesy swing of the Mississippi Delta is still present on Bass Drum Of Death, andJosh Barret's only gotten better as song writer and arranger. Since moving to Innovated Leisure and getting more of a paycheck this time, it's safe to say his days of recording entire albums in his basement with shitty equipment are behind him.That's not to say that the allure of a paycheck has tamed the blistering furry that is Bass Drum Of Death. No, you still get the half hour of foot stammpin', hook heavy, fuzzy, shake rattle' n' roll, you got last time around. Just a lot more of it with cleaner sounding production on top as a bonus.
Bosnian Rainbows
Bosnian Rainbows
(Sargent House/Rodriguez-Lopez Productions)
June 28, 2013
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has returned with yet another brand spankin' new band. After The Mars Volta ran it's course (Omar got bored) and he announced that new At The Drive In material was never going to happen and he'd like to move on (after being informed that a majority of people actually LIKED At The Drive In more then Mars Volta), he retreated back to his home in El Paso, and reemerged with a new band and sound, Bosnian Rainbows. While I still hold reservations of Omar being the exact kind of person anyone thinks of when the word pretentious gets thrown around, I will say that Mars Volta actually sounded like a pretty good idea for a few albums before he got so far up his own ass and it became a pointless 8 minute long, jerk-off session. But Bosnian Rainbows restores my faith in believing Omar CAN still make cool music when he acknowledges that maybe his ideas are a little much. With Bosnian Rainbows, the band is much more of a think tank trading ideas, and it finds the balance between pushing creative boundaries while still being accessible. The prog rock rhythms of Mars Volta have been traded out for some gorgeous electronic soaked experimental rock trappings. There are grooves, there are melodies, There are even honest to god enjoyable lyrics. And the crooning, seductive vocals of Teri Gender Bender (presumably her stage name), complements the music nicely.
India.Arie
Songversation
(Motown)
June 25, 2013
India.Arie's an Atlanta girl and because of this, I've got a knee jerk reaction to spotlight the accomplishments of the talent of my city. But man, if you haven't heard of India.Arie, her latest is as good a place as any to get on board. This girl for the lack of a better word can "siiiing". Her voice might be considered a bit weaker if you compare her to titans like Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera; But rather then letting her voice be a weakness she turns it to a strength. The production on Songerversation complements her well, highlighting her whisperer, soft croon with some creative song arranging. From the more in your face, hook heavy up-tempo numbers to the slower piano and guitar ballads (instruments which she plays on by the way), to dazzling in some jamming bossa nova tunes on one practical song, India.Arie's not afraid to experiment with the neo sou/R&B format to make something that stands out. Her creativity as producer shines through, even when her lyrics are a bit lacking.
Lighting Dust
Fantasy
(Jagjaguwar)
June 25, 2013
Lighting Dust is something of an enigma to properly describe and it's existence is even harder to explain. The duo of Amber Webber and Joshua Wells from the Vancouver based heavy rock/psychedelic band Black Mountain, decided to nurse a side project that started off as a showcase for their sparse, sad acoustic songs that didn't fit in with Black Moutain. Then Lighting Dust evolved to include hazy electronic elements, drone, and some flirtatations with goth rappings. Now on their latest album, the stripped down effect is still present, but where its usually been stripped down guitars up to this point, Fantasy showcases stripped down synths that sound lifted right out of an 80's Casio. The result is a confusing but enjoyable mix of slowcore, ambient electro grooves that, if left on in your car, might make you feel like you've suddenly woken up in time for the final act of Drive. Palms
Palms
(Ipecac Recordings)
June 25, 2013
After Isis decided to formal dissolve with dignity back in 2010, the music world has been somewhat curious as to what they would do next. Their latest project, Palms, has been in the works for a little over a year now ,but when rumors had began circulating that they were going to try something different from Isis, with Chino Moreno of Deftones contributing vocals, my initial response was.......I kinda would have liked it if you COULD just be Isis with Chino on vocals because that sounds kinda kickass. But after hearing their debut album as Palms, I can say that it kicks ass in a different sort of way. The heavy stoner-riff sound of Isis is traded in for a more atmospheric, post-metal feel that just sounds beautiful. The gentle sonic swells sudden shifts into chaotic crescendos are just the kind of patterns that Chino's voice seem made for. But that's not to say Palms don't bring any of their Isis past with them. The jazz-tastic guitar noodlings, the crashing highs followed by quite lulls, and the creative sound exploration are inherent to Isis's indentity after all. But it's nice to hear them be gung-ho about trying to use those Isis powers on something new and enjoyable.
Rose Windows
The Sun Dogs
(Sub Pop Records)
June 25, 2013
Continuing our trend of debut album from a new band we have Rose Windows from Seattle, who tentatively describe themselves as hard hitting hippies. That's the kind of phrase that's so perfect at describing their sound, I wish I had thought it up. Rose Window sure don't sound like they're just recording their first album, and for having a band of 7 members, they manage to balance everyone out so it doesn't all sound like so much aimless cacophony. Their sound easily invokes the flue playing antics of Jethero Tull, the spaced out heavy hitting keyboards of The Doors, the guitar soloings of Led Zeppelin, the other worldly feel of Genesis (The Peter Gabriel one), and the vocal stylings of Jefferson Airplane courtesy of Rose Window's primary vocalist, Rabi Qazi.
Smith Westerns
Soft Will
(Mom + Pop Music)
June 25, 2013
The Smith Westerns are very much still a band that's growing up trying to figure out ultimately what they're going to end up sounding like. While their debut album was the sound of a bunch of teens banging together instruments in a flurry of lo-fi, garage rock goodness, you got the sense that there wasn't a lot of depth behind the noise. Sure it sounded good but kinda disposable. But then their follow up album, Dye It Blonde in 2010 showed some surprising new variety. Smith Westerns toyed around with a lot less fuzz and a lot more crafty song writing to make a creative throw-back, power pop record. Now with Soft Will it seems they're still trotting in that direction of "less in your face guitars" and more" attention to gentle melodies"; but while Dye It Blonde felt like a strong step forward, Soft Will sounds a lot less sure of itself. The power pop hooks are toned down for an almost alternative country twang, and there are far fewer uptempo rolickers. The word boring would be an adequate word to throw around in describing this album, but I prefer the term "slow burner". True it doesn't sound as fun as their debut or as compelling as their follow up. But if your in the mood for a more introspective sounding album, Soft Will fits that description nicely.
Transplants
Warzone
(Epithath)
June 25, 2013
This band was sold to me as Travis Barker from blink-182 on drums (yes he looks docuhey but he's much MUCH better then everyone gives him credit for) and Tim Armstrong of Rancid on vocals. Surprisingly enough, an idea that awesome has only put out three records and Warzone is by far the strongest yet. After nixing that hokey rap-rock format of their's, Warzone cuts right into what you'd wanna here from a union like this; tight, hooky punk rock lifted right out of the sun drenched early 90's with Armstrong's growl and Barker's drum fills. It's fun, it's catchy, and a dream come true for anyone raised on Solcal neo punk.
Wale
The Gifted
(Maybach Music Group)
June 25, 2013
Wale has certainly grown bigger in the rap game, and The Gifted may be his most ambitious album to date; featuring collaborations from Ne-Yo, Nikki Minaj, CeeLo Green, 2-Chainz, and Jerry Seinfeld (that last one's not a typo). Not a bad place to be in for a guy who essentially started out by being good at spitting out club anthems who's lyrics really didn't matter as long as you had someone or something to bump n' grind too. But here Wale uses that husky deliver of his to actually put out some heavier lyrics dealing with some pretty depressing subjects; loneliness, isolation, the futility of wealth and fame, crushed dreams, and failed heroes.... So yeah! Probably not going to be featured at any club anytime soon. But Wale's flow is still incredible and the outro featuring Jerry Seinfeld has to be heard to be believed.
Movies are either too expensive or you've been successful banned from every theater withing 20 miles of your house. What to do now you ask? You get your ass on Netflix, order some take out, and scour the interwebs for these rock movie classics. Sure when you think the quintessential rock movie it's easy to rattle of the big ones; This Is Spinal Tap, Tenacious D and the Pick Of Destiny, Hard Day's Night, Almost Famous, that shitty movie where Mark Walhberg fronted Judas Priest. But beneath the more obvious choices, there are plenty of underrated classics in the making. Or technically cult classics, I suppose. Which in hindsight may have been a better title for this entry....
BUT! My journalistic mulling aside, 10 rock n' roll adventures that are worth checking out.
10) Airheads (1994)
Far too many for my liking are woeful unaware of Airheads; the under the radar 90's comedy starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler as musicians in a shitty rock band. When the trio's band, The Lone Rangers, fails to get any radio play, they settle on the relatively simply plan to cut out the middle man, (for rock n' roll!) break into a radio station, arm themselves with super-soakers filled with hot sauce, and force the station manger to play their EP over the airwaves. Needless to say this plan quickly derails right around the same time they realize 1) they are about as competent at hostage negotiations as they are at playing music (which is not very), and 2) radio stations do not at all work that way. (Speaking as a jaded radio DJ myself I can safely say the power of radio to promote artists has only waned since this movie came out). But that's all right! Because what they may lack in musical chops or sense, The Lone Rangers make up for with their unbridled enthusiasm for "rocking all night" , and "partying ever day"; a simple message that endears them to public. If you've ever had at least one friend who believed in air guitaring at every show you went to, no matter how silly he looked, you'll know exactly where these guys are coming from.It's funny, with cameos aplenty (Bevis and Buthead call in to harass a DJ, Lemmy Kilmster stands there and looks impossibly cool), and expounds the message that as cliche as as it might seem, it really is "all about the music man". Not being cool, or even being very talented. But knowing in your heart you're doing what you love. Even if it does make you look a little crazy to everyone else.
9) Purple Rain (1984)
Weirdly enough, more people are aware of this being the name of a Prince and the Revolution album rather then the title of a movie; concluding for themselves that the movie was made first as an afterthought, and the music that Prince cranked out for the soundtrack was just so damn good, it become a chart topping seller over night. Purple Rain is less screwball comedy like Airheads, and more of a surprisingly good drama piece that borrows heavily from Prince's actually life; even the part where Prince foreshadows never wanting to have a normal name ever again, by calling his charter "Kid". This in a movie that uses every single opportunity to use real people's names. (including Morris Day and The Time as the Cobra Kai to Prince's Daniel-san. Yeah that's right. THAT Morris Day) The story centers on our protagonist, Kid, growing up in an abusive household, taking out his frustrations on his band, becoming a bizarre closed off control freak, and nearly torpedoing every relationship he holds dear thanks to his obsession with success and not wanting to be like his father...
So maybe a lot less "borrowing from true events" from Prince and more "re-living every low point of my life in front of everyone I know". I'm starting to wonder if writing Purple Rain simply started out as a therapy project that got of hand. Suffice to say the music is incredible, and if you don't cry at the ending when "Purple Rain" plays, you are dead inside.
8) Rock n' Roll High School (1979)
I could almost swear Rock n' Roll High School was written by a think tank of actual high schoolers who happened to be Ramones fans; which in the year this movie came out, consisted of approximately all of them. The movie is cheesy wish-fulfillment fantasy at its best, and has a plot that feels like the exact kind of thing that would end up being mined by future generations for Saturday Morning cartoon lineups. But that sheer earnestness of it all makes it impossible not to love. Oh and the fact that The Ramones play themselves as high school dropouts doesn't hurt things. But the real draw is the heroine of our story, the awesomely named Riff Randle,who gets the whole school hooked on The Ramones (and subsequently expelled if the ending's anything to go by), through a combination of her optimism, blatant disregard for public education, and dancing like a manic at every given opportunity, when she's not describing her increasingly elaborate fantasies involving her and one Joey Ramone. Yeah, she's kinda awesome is what I'm trying to get at. And the "all Ramones all the time" isn't a bad addition either. CAUTION: Getting "Rock n' Roll High School" out of your head (even after reminding yourself it's basically just "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" in a slightly different key) will be harder then forgetting your now growing crush on scarily adorable, but hyper unstable 70's women.
7) Rock Of Ages (2012)
Yes, I said it. Damn it, I don't care what your citric said, I don't care that ever fiber in your being is reflexively screaming "IT'S A MUSICAL! DOESN'T COUNT!" Put aside the bias for a sec and believe me when I say that Rock Of Ages, is a surprisingly good movie. Is it silly? Yes. A bit camp? Oh sweet mother yes. But that fact that it's a jukebox musical of a ton of 80's glam rock hits that you must have heard at some point in your life (don't deny it), makes it the ULTIMATE karaoke movie. The plot's the simple, "guy meets girl, he wants to rock, she wants to be a song writer, they work at the same bar, and hilarity ensues!", kind of fodder that's sweet if you're into that sort of thing, but if you're not is barely there to distract you. Think of it like those glittering animated screens in DDR. And Tom Cruise as the fictional rock star Stacye Jaxx, is an hilariously dead on depiction of any number of rock stars from the Sunset Strip. Though my money's on equal parts Axel Rose and Jon Bon Jovi. As rock n' roll movies go, this one's gonna hinge more on how you feel about the kind of music. And if you hate hair metal bands, odds are nothing will get you to like this movie so it's a safe skip. But if you're indifferent to it or in fact love it, this movie's much better then most think.
6) SLC Punk (1998)
If you ever wanted to know just what all the thrashing was about amongst punk rockers, have wondered just what it was that those gangly young men did when not loitering around malls hissing "poser" under their breaths ever five minutes, or just needed a good jumping board to get into punk rock and hear what you missed, this relatively unknown classic fills all those needs. Boasting a killer soundtrack consisting of The Specials, The Exploited, The Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, and more, SLC Punk follows two punk rock fans in Salt Lake City who struggle to keep true to their punk rock/weekend anarchist identity in the face of everyone the know growing up and moving on...okay so full disclosure; it's kinda a depressing movie. But still, I highly recommend it. Even if it does seem like a cruel bait and switch to make you fall in love with the punk rock scene before pulling away to show its characters growing increasingly jaded by it. The ending will have you debating your friends for months over what it really means, but there's some good news. A sequel has been green lit for 2014 entitled Punk Is Dead. It looks like you'll have at least a year to see if you were right all along.
5) Singles (1992)
What SLC Punk did for punk, Singles did for grunge. Both in boasting a "best of" soundtrack of sorts for the genera (Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, and The Screaming Trees), while also airing out the dark realities of the Seattle scene (drug use, self-loathing, narcissistic musicians). The story centers on a group of 20 somethings living in an apartment block in Seattle. Think Friends onlywith a grunge soundtrack if you will. It gets the extra bonus points for 1) Cliff Poncier (played by Matt Dillion), the douchey musician who just steals the show every time he opens his mouth and 2) his band mates all being real-life members of Pearl Jam; including Eddie Vedder being his self-esteem whipping boy. Also Alice in Chains swing by as themselves playing a basement show. There's even a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo by Chris Cornell as "confused looking guy standing next to a car alarm". If you recognize half of those names, and own a stitch of flannel, this movie is worth a gander.
4) 24 Hour Party People (2002)
Continuing out trend here of music genera specific movies, we have 24 Hour Party People. This time, the genera of choice is that enticing brand of experimental punk rock of Manchester, from the earl 80's to the late 90's; centred on the exploits of one eccentric record label owner who was at the center of it all. Steve Coogan plays Tony Wilison, the head of the famous Factory Records; the very same label that signed groundbreaking post-punk acts like Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, and Happy Mondays. The great thing 24 Hour Party People does is have a great sense of humor about itself. If your a fan of this genera of music, you already know there's a level of pretension that's unfairly associated with its fan base. And to be fair, it was a reputation that was almost as equally encouraged by musicians as it was by the fans and journalists. What 24 Hour Party People does is take the real events, spice them up with a sprinkle of dramatization, and deconstructs the whole scene as having been spawned entirely off the suggestions of a couple of really drunk men. A lot of the humor form the movie really relies on you having done your homework to appreciate the more subtle jokes. But if you're all ready well versed in the history of Factory Records and the names being thrown around (and have an appreciation for dry British wit) you'll be delighted.
3) The Harder They Come (1972)
Ohhhh shit. Now were are getting into the really good stuff. I'm really, REALLY glad I get to tell you all about The Harder The Come (No it's not a skin flick, despite what the cover would have you believe). When it comes to understanding reggae, Bob Marley is used as the starting point. Not to take anything away from Bob Marley (though Exodus was and still is overrated as shit), but to start with him, criminally overlooks the early days of reggae; back when it had a much more stripped down, rock steady, dance hall ready beat; the days of musicians like Prince Buster and Aton Ellis who laid down the groundwork for what would would become ska and rocksteady. And from the scene, perhaps no artist was more influential then Jimmy Cliff, who blended those sounds with his own funky experiments, creating the earliest notes of reggae. But that's not what we're here to talk about. No, what's at issue here is the classic story of The Harder They Come, where Jimmy Cliff, playing an exaggerated version of himself, struggles to find work before becoming a star reggae singer. And that's where you'd expect the story to end. The artist struggles to break into the music industry, makes sacrifices, learns lessons along the way, and finally makes it. But in The Harder They Come, Jimmy Cliff reaches this zenith with still another 40+ minutes of movie to go. Thats' when you realize the rest of the movie is actually about how Cliff became a marijuana runner; fighting of hordes of rival gang members by day, while maintaining his music career and packing the dance halls by night. It answers the question "what if Walter White from Breaking Bad had a part time job as a lounge singer?" years before anyone thought to ask it. Throughout the movie Jimmy Cliff is basically a mis-mash of Han Solo, Shaft, and Jimmy Cliff (which is a full time job). The fact that this soundtrack may have single handily broke open the US markets to other young reggae artists (like Bob Marley for instance) is just the icing on the cake.
2) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure/Bogus Journey (1989/1991)
I'll admit, I cheated a bit on this one. While there's no doubt in my mind that Bill & Ted is anything BUT underrated, I'd feel like it's an easy one to skip over in terms of a rock n' roll movie. Granted, the time traveling phone booth and the journeys through time and space and hell ARE kind of the center pieces of these movies. But the rock n' roll cream filling is ultimately what really ties these movies together. Bill and Ted you see, aren't just destined to be the best rock band in the world. They're destined to unite to world and bring about world peace by the sheer brilliance of their hard rocking (demonstrated throughout the course of two movies by them playing really shitty covers). I'm putting both movies in because while Excellent Adventure is the better movie, Bogus Journey, had the better soundtrack, featuring Steve Vai shredding all over the damn place.
1) Wild Zero (1999)
What happens if you took Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park, made it not suck, made the band anyone else but Kiss, had that new band give a damn, and then crossed their adventure over with a forgotten George Romero script? You'd have the single greatest rock n' roll movie of all time, Wild Zero. It stars the Japanese garage rock band Guitar Wolf. Its members are in order: Guitar Wolf (the dynamic leader), Bass Wolf (the charming, if occasionally violent stoner), and Drum Wolf (the endearing team heart). When aliens arrive to earth and raise the dead, aspiring musician Ace knows the only smart thing to do is to turn to his idols, Guitar Wolf , (self proclaimed the coolest band in the world), and hope that they happen to be as good at killing alien zombies as they are at being awesome. SPOILER ALERT! They are. Armed to the teeth with exploding motorcycles, laser guided musical instruments, and enough guns to put 50 Cent's crew to shame, Guitar Wolf spend the movie's entire 98 minute run being awesome. How rock n roll is this movie? The fact that the band take the time and energy to enthusiastically shout "Rock n' Roll!" in broken English throughout the course of this movie every time someone so much as sneezes, puts somewhere between "very" and "ridiculously so".
A nifty little feature I'm doing weekly to spotlight any singles released for the week. With the time of tracks being rapidly released almost hourly from a whole swath of musicians thanks to this new fangled "internet" upon us, it's easy to get overwhelmed by everything that's out there. And through being overwhelmed it's easy to forget that a lot of this stuff that's out there is free! DISCLAIMER! No, not free as in "and herp ba derp, hear's how you can torrent that shit!". But free as in the artists genuinely WANT you to download their tracks. Think of it as a free sample at an all you can eat buffet that's totally legal. Frankly, I'm the one saving YOU money.
Sooo without further ado, here's a sample plate of what's been released on the intertwebs lately for your listening pleasure....
In the grand scheme of things, it can be argued that Big Star where just a foot note in American music history. They didn't have a powerful, chart-topping single. They didn't start a revolution. They weren't even commercial successful. They released three power pop albums from Americans heartland that failed to chart thanks to terrible mismanagement by their record label, seemingly lost band members with ever record, and eventually broke up, convinced that they hadn't accomplished anything. But for some reason or another, Big Star's lack of commercial success led to them becoming the grandfather of indie rock. Big Star was optimistic, in retrospect almost naively optimistic, that they would be something great. When Alex Chilton meet Chris Bell those dusty years ago in that awkward place when the 60's where over and the 70's hadn't yet begun, they shared a vision that could only be dreamed up by the optimism of youth. They reasoned that the 50's had Buddy Holly. The 60's had The Beatles. The time was ripe for the next icons in music. They would simply fill a need.
Taking their name from a nearby big box store, and naming their first album #1 Record, may have been tempting fate. Naming their follow up album Radio City in hopes for more air play didn't help things either. But for all their missteps, and crushing blows delt by the reality of a poorly run record label, Big Star trudged on with more jaded optimism till eventually the tank burned out. Chris Bell left the band after their second album failed to go anywhere thanks to the album simply not being available in record stores, and died in a car accident a few short years later, believing he was a failure. The rest of the band simply fizzled out to be forgotten. But miraculous they weren't. Thanks to the simple merit of, that while few could get ahold of their records, those that did loved what they heard. Without being aware of it, or wanting it, Big Star woke up years later to find out that the music world decided to make them into cult heroes without letting them know.
And THAT's the magic behind Big Star. Those three albums, #1 Record, Radio City, and Third, may have been simply known as a trilogy of great power pop albums that would be staples of classic rock radio today, along side Cheap Trick, and Tom Petty. But because they weren't' successful, they become something so much more. Without intending to, blinded by the simple love of wanting to play the music they wanted to hear, they inspired a legion of bands; from R.E.M to Dinosaur Jr., to Nirvana, to Pavement, to Built To Spill, and so many more indie rock staples. Basically, anytime you've heard an album form a band that you liked that did something cool and you loved, Big Star played it decades ago to empty rooms and deaf ears. And maybe that's their contribution in the grad scheme of things. To a generation of aspiring guitar heroes and garage bands, Big Star set the bar for indie rock years before it would be called that, and created a legacy without knowing.
Anyway, now that I've gotten all my fanboying out of the way, I was trying to simply say that Big Star have got a documentary out that's been finished since March 2012. It's finally getting a limited screen showing in select cites starting July 3rd. The documentary, called Nothing Can Hurt Me, looks fantastic and the accompanying soundtrack to the film is a literal "Best Of" of sorts by Big Star, containing mastered tracks.
Coinciding with the release of the movie to select cites, Kurt Vile, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey, and Jody Stephens (the sole surviving member of Big Star), are speaheading a concert in Central Park New York on June 30th. Look for video aplenty to be posted. Till then enjoy the trailer bellow.
Rejoice true believers! Believers in the case being anyone who remembers buying Oracular Spectacular freshmen year of college, and being thoroughly disappointed with this band sine afterwards. After months of teasing and speculation, MGMT have finally cleared September 17th as the release date for their self-titled album on Columbia Records. So far all that can be gleaned from it is that one single the band prepped for Record Store Day, "Alien Days" (which can be heard here). It's probably premature to judge an entire album based on that one little song, but it's certainty telling that MGMT have announced that for the new album, they're scaling back from the big band set-up used on Congratulations, to that old day set up of them just being a fuzzy electronic duo. This is by all accounts, a good first move. No bones about it; Congratulation kinda sucked. Or to be more politically correct about it, it was a "challenging album". I'm not expecting MGMT to stay the same kids who banged out feel good grooves like "Time To Pretend", and "Electric Feel". I understand that that they do need to grow up. But if that's the case, I can accept Congratulations as a product of their awkward teen years; the ones when they started experimenting with shitty drugs, and found out that they didn't make them more interesting.
Weirdly enough "Alien Days" sounds reminiscent of Radiohead. And if that's a hint as to what direction MGMT is heading in now, they could do alot worse. Tracklist posted bellow.
01 Alien Days 02 Cool Song No. 2 03 Mystery Disease 04 Introspection 05 Your Life Is a Lie 06 A Good Sadness 07 Astro-Mancy 08 I Love You Too, Death 09 Plenty Of Girls in the Sea 10 An Orphan of Fortune
The release date for Disney's, The Lone Ranger Soundtrack, has been green lit for July 2nd, and will feature artists ranging from Iggy Pop to Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Iron & Wine have their contribution to the album "Rattling Bone", available to be streamed at SPIN.com here. And for all intents and purposes, it's a great one. I'm a sucker for westerns and I feel like Hollywood's been spoiling me lately with them every year. What with, that remake of True Grit, staring the Dude and that remake of 3:10 To Yuma, starring Batman...okay so a lot of remakes staring people I liked in other roles. But still, I can't deny the love I get from a good ol' fashion western, and a soundtrack that capitalizes on that trend in the best way, is a win for me.Iron & Wine's contribution starts off as mellow folk rocker, before turning things up, and I'll admit, I'm a bit emamoured with it.
In slightly other news, I understand that a lot of decent people (key word here is decent) are worried that Johnny Depp's' portrayal of Tonto (a fictional charter made up by white men in Hollywood to be caricature of a culture they didn't give to shits to bother understanding) might veer on the offensively bad side. And there's also the worry that Johnny Depp, for all his posturing about not meaning to offend anyone, will hide behind the bullshit "it's art" excuse used by so many Hollywood elite to perpetuate racial stereotypes. Believe me, I get it. I loved Django Unchained, but looking back it felt very uncomfortable; especially being the lone black man in a room full of white people that I felt might be laughing a bit too hard at Samuel Jackson's nigger tirade. However, it does look the film crew and Johnny Depp did their best to incorporate some real historical elements into Tonto's charter (for starters giving him a damn tribe and actually asking people of that tribe for input; The Comanche). I understand that everyone's doing their best job to add some real depth to what was organically a horribly racist character. And I also understand that some of the Native American communtiy will be understandably offended anyway, as it's well within their right. But so far, Disney gets my applause for really trying.
By the way, a fun little comment I found from a poster on the Huffington Post article where I got most of the details from (which I suggest reading). It's a great comment to have in reserve the minute anyone starts going off on a "everyone's too sensitive these days", rant.
People were always offended by this kind of thing. It's just that in decades past they didn't have the power to say so. Which made everyone else assume it was somehow okay.
