Fighting the Youth - Music and Movie Analysis

One Word Reviews: Source Code

2012-02-03T12:25:00.001-03:00

63: Jagged

One Word Review: Unknown

2012-02-01T12:22:00.002-03:00

26: Deceptive

One Word Review: TRON Legacy

2012-01-30T12:20:00.001-03:00

63: Shiny

One Word Review: The Family Stone

2012-01-27T12:17:00.000-03:00

18: Insulting

One Word Review: Bridesmaids

2012-01-25T13:07:00.000-03:00

85: Froward

One Word Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2012-01-23T13:22:00.002-03:00

64: Hyper

One Word Review: Who's Afriad of Virginia Woolf?

2011-09-02T14:28:00.002-03:00

73: Vicious

One Word Review: The Fighter

2011-08-31T14:24:00.001-03:00

81: Vigorous

One Word Review: Hall Pass

2011-08-29T14:22:00.000-03:00

49: Unripe

One Word Reivew: Cedar Rapids

2011-08-26T14:16:00.002-03:00

54: Dusty

One Word Review: Paul

2011-08-24T14:13:00.002-03:00

75: Impish

One Word Review: Win Win

2011-08-22T14:08:00.004-03:00

83: Unwonted

One Word Reivew: The Company Men

2011-08-18T14:04:00.000-03:00

58: Cursory

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #14: Radiohead - In Rainbows

2011-08-17T13:43:00.005-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

This project was supposed to be long over. I made my list when there still remained six months in 2009, and I was hoping to be done before the year was out. Here we are halfway through 2011, and, well, we're getting there slowly but surely. Part of my reason for starting early was to get a jump on all those other lists that I knew would surely be arriving. Something about the best plans of mice and men something something. So all those lists finished way before me. I had made no predictions about what others would say when they compiled their opinions, though I must say I was not so surprised when Radiohead finished on top for many. The difference being that those sites all loved their 2001 release, Kid A. A fine disc, but more of a continuation of what they had started with OK Computer than a record that marks this decade in any way or broke much new ground.

And they continued on in that way throughout the years that followed until, quite suddenly, they gave away 2007 record, In Rainbows. The method of release was considered wildly innovative (though Smashing Pumpkins had done the same thing seven years previous). The bigger shock was how abruptly compelling their music had become. From the akbum-opening scuffling of “15 Step,” it was clear that the band had, if not exactly reinvented itself, done a refresh that would pay dividends throughout the record. For the first time, they were allowing the rhythm a certain catchiness. Not that this was house music, but a talented DJ could shoehorn it in if the vibe was right.

The whole album is chocked full of charming moments, and each song has something unique about it making it worthwhile. But there are some notable standouts. “Reckoner,” with its thumping percussion may be the best song Radiohead has ever made, and certainly their best in 10 years. And “All I Need” is a wholly unique take on forlorn obsession. Contrast this with Death Cab for Cutie’s obtuse “I Will Possess Your Heart” from their 2008 release, for example. We don’t get an epic concept record, but that’s OK. Like different short stories in a great collection, each one delivers intricacies in its own way.

I had gradually written this band off as each successive album seemed to get mathier and more remote. But the album is a reminder that a talented act always has potential for that next record to be their “best work in a decade.” Ten years from now, Kid A will be an old chestnut, dusted off for nostalgia’s sake, while this one will keep its groove. I’ve listened to In Rainbows more than anything else they’ve done. It even works at parties…

Previous Entries:
#15 - Interpol - Antics
#16 - Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
#17 - Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens
#18 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
#19 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

One Word Review: Rango

2011-08-16T16:59:00.003-03:00

61: Riffy

Why Do We Hate Billy Joel?

2011-05-05T09:51:00.004-03:00

This is as decent a summary as any. I'm in the 12%. I'm in all the other rows, too, actually.

Long form quote of the day

2011-04-27T08:00:00.003-03:00

I sure wish I could write like this:

     "I looked at my watch and this high-powered publisher was already twenty minutes late. I would wait a half an hour and then I would leave. It never pays to let the customer make all the rules. If he can push you around, he will assume other people can too, and that is not what he hires you for. And right now I didn't need the work badly enough to let some fathead from back east use me as a horse-holder, some executive character with a paneled office on the eighty-fifth floor, with a row of pushbuttons and an intercom and a secretary in a Hattie Carnegie Career Girl's Special and a pair of those big beautiful promising eyes. This was the kind of operator who would tell you to be there at nine sharp and if you weren't sitting quietly with a pleased smile on your pan when he floated in two hours later on a double Gibson, he would have a paroxysm of outraged executive ability which would necessitate five weeks at Acapulco before he got back the hop on his high hard one.
     "The old bar waiter came drifting by and glanced softly at my weak Scotch and water. I shook my head and he bobbed his wine thatch, and right then a dream walked in. It seemed to me for an instant there was no sound in the bar, that the sharpies stopped sharping and the drunk on the stool stopped burbling away, and it was just like after the conductor taps on his music stand and raises his arms and holds them poised.
     "She was slim and quite tall in a white linen tailormade with a black and white polka-dotted scarf around her throat. Her hair was the pale gold of a fairy princess. There was a small hat on it into which the pale gold hair nestled like a bird in its nest. Her eyes were cornflower blue, a rare color, and the lashes were long and almost too pale. She reached the table across the way and was pulling off a white gauntleted glove and the old waiter had the table pulled out in a way no waiter ever will pull a table out for me. She sat down and slipped the gloves under the strap of her bag and thanked him with a smile so gentle, so exquisitely pure, that he was damn near paralyzed by it. She said something to him in a very low voice. He hurried away, bending forward. There was a guy who really had a mission in life.
     "I stared. She caught me staring. She lifted her glance half an inch and I wasn't there any more. But wherever I was I was holding my breath."

From Raymond Chandler's "The Long Goodbye." I swear the whole book is like this. I am convinced that Chandler just had some kind of innate genius or labored over each pronoun like the screws on the space shuttle. See? I can't do what he does. But I am enjoying the hell out of reading it.

5ive-larious

2011-04-26T12:27:00.000-03:00

Just had to share this one...

On the Lollapalooza Lineup

2011-04-26T08:21:00.006-03:00

One of the hardest things about living abroad is missing Chicago's amazing music scene. It's something that kind of hums in the background. I notice when I bother to think about it, but most of the time, I'm busy with other things and don't realize that nobody swings their tour this far south. But the Lollapalooza and Pitchfork festivals are big reminders that tend to stick out. Lolla just released their lineup, and here's how it looks.

Headliners are Eminmem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, and Muse, none of which are exactly groundbreaking artists at this point. But let's run down the entire list, grouping (the bands I know) by category.

Washed up nostalgia acts: Big Audio Dynamite, Foo Fighters, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley & Nas, The Cars, Ween, Flogging Molly

Foofy mainstream mediocrity: Coldplay, Muse, A Perfect Circle, Eminem

Lollapalooza meta nostalgia acts: My Morning Jacket, Cage the Elephant, The Kills

On the list of today's popular indie-rockers, but not exactly cutting edge. Also including bands you may like, but I would prefer to be at the snack bar: Mountain Goats, Black Lips, Bright Eyes, Arctic Monkeys, Best Coast

Interesting acts who most would pay to see play in a club: Rival Schools, Imelda May, Titus Andronicus, Deftones, Cee Lo Green, Explosions in the Sky, Ratatat, Crystal Castles, OK Go, Beirut

Desconozco - bands I know nothing about: A ton of others. And here's where the big problem lies. Obviously, I'm out of touch these days, but I'm not the only one. Over the last several years, Lollapalooza has demonstrated an inability to bring worthwhile acts to the side stages. My last time in town for the festival was 2008, and I discovered precisely three new worthwhile acts thanks to the festival. Contrast this with Pitchfork where pretty much every band on the lineup brings something interesting to the table. In sum, the festival has no street cred.

I'm fairly certain that even if I was in Chicago, I would definitely not be visiting Grant Park this time around. I mean seriously, Coldplay? That's actually a band that came to Argentina and I still didn't bother to see them. Would it be worth listening to their Joe Satriani-inspired fluffrock while getting jostled by sweaty masses that actually want to see Coldplay?

No thanks.

Top Ten Sidney Lumet Movies

2011-04-19T21:01:00.005-03:00

I'm on my honeymoon, so no blogging. But wanted to let anyone who may be following here that I wrote another Top Ten list for Scene Stealers. Click here for the Top Ten Sidney Lumet Films. Rest in peace, Sidney. You're greatly missed already...

One Word Review: Being John Malkovich

2011-03-28T08:52:00.003-03:00

84: Brainy

One Word Review: Scanners

2011-02-23T11:18:00.000-03:00

70: Igneous

Unyielding Commissioning Jealous All Over Again

2011-02-21T13:10:00.000-03:00

Hulosing Out - As you may know, I live in Argentina. That brings with it all kinds of benefits. The world's best ice cream. No real winter. Beautiful natural wonders and beautiful women. But there are limitations to living abroad. One of those is that we can't get on Hulu. This has been slightly bothersome as there have been moments when I wanted to remind myself of an old Saturday Night Live sketch or watch whatever random crap may be available. But now I am really upset.

The Criterion Collection has been made available on Hulu Plus. I have no idea how much Hulu Plus costs, but whatever it is, it's worth it. You may not like all the Criterion films, but there are so many hidden gems and landmark cinematic experiences that your life will surely be enriched for this feature. Mine, sadly, will not as Hulu has yet to figure out a way to make themselves available in foreign countries. Just another reason why everyone here pirates all their movies. Also, a letter from Hulu's Eugene Wei on the announcement.

Just givin' the people what they want, depending on the people - I love the Oscars, even though much of the program is utterly boring. The reason it's always given me a thrill is that when on its game, it is a great celebration of cinema. Apparently this year they are looking to celebrate other things. The Hollywood Reporter is, ahem, reporting that there will be fewer montages and more songs this year. Maybe the Academy assumes that fans of movies will tune in no matter what and they hope that all those Randy Newman die-hards will boost their ratings. Either way, it is a disappointing decision.

- Roger Ebert unveils his Best Art Films of 2011. Many of these films have gotten a ton of great buzz, and I want to see them all. Who knows when they'll arrive down here.

Maybe he should have listed BabeIn other Ebert news, my buddy PMaz (rightfully) sticks it to one of At the Movies cohost Ignatiy Vishnevetsky's selection of the five films that made him want to become a critic.

They obviously haven't been reading this blog (#nobody_is) - This is now old news, but Grammy fans across the globe were outraged that Arcade Fire won Best Album. And there's a hilarious tumbler of their twitterings.
My take on the Grammy. Uh, I guess it's good for the Arcade Fire. The Grammys are the least relevant major awards show around. I've never watched their broadcast. I can't now pretend to care simply because one of my favorites was honored by them. I'm fond of saying that the Oscars get it wrong about half the time. But the Grammys don't even care about whether things are wrong.

New Blog Alert!! - Check out Positive Spin. Do it now! They have just recently launched and have been busting out a dozen or so postings every day. As best I can tell, the overall premise is to be as codgery as possible while still celebrating the best rock music to have come down the pike. Many entries are Youtube clips, but they're all rare finds worth your time. I recommend this one to get you started.

Surprised at how many of these I have - Greg Kot lists 10 classic albums from Alligator Records in honor of their 40th anniversary. I'm especially happy to see Luther Allison's comeback on the list. That dude could really play - a great mix of soul and Chicago blues, and a fantastic live performer.

Watch it all - Yet another long video. Yet another that's well worth it! DJ Cheeba puts on a visual and musical mashup that will keep you moooovin'! (HT, my man Chili)

DJ Cheeba - Revenge of The Nerd from Solid Steel on Vimeo.

One Word Review: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

2011-02-15T11:49:00.000-03:00

70: Excused

SS - We're open to other views

2011-02-11T16:47:00.002-03:00

Here's someone else's take on Commando.

If that didn't whet your appetite for the original Schwarzenegger Sunday synopsis, well, you're a cold bastard then aren't you?

Unyielding Commissioning Predicted the Future (again?)

2011-02-10T15:51:00.006-03:00

This is too much film for you - Time Out New York lists the 50 most controversial movies of all time. Usually I like to be a snarky jerk about these kinds of lists, but there is virtually nothing to argue with here.

Function and Form - Some of you may recall this blog's look at the Biggest Paycheck Hounds in Hollywood. Over at Scene Stealers, they've got a Top Ten that looks similar. Well, the concept is the same anyway. There are plenty of differences in practice. I happen to disagree with a number of technical points regarding the order its author chose to use. Though the goals may be the same, the criteria is obviously not. My main point about this difference is that bad movies were not necessarily done simply for the cash. Sometimes they just don't work out, and you can't always blame the star. But when an actor admits that his involvement in a film was solely because he could buy himself a "terrific house," well, that's a pretty strong data point right there.

Then, just a week later, Scene Stealer's next Top Ten List highlighting chick flicks for guys made a nice complement to FtY's look at the chickiest chick flicks that ever flickered.

I used to think the brain was the smartest part of my body, but then I thought, well look who's telling me that. - Tony Comstack, noted erotic documentarian takes a stab at the evolution of the X/NC-17 ratings.

But in Italian, it sounds even better - Criterion's quote of the day is pretty creative, and from someone who knows what the hell he's talking about.

Ready to press start? - One and a half hours of live Arcade Fire recorded at MSG last August. Enjoy!

One Word Review: Winter's Bone

2011-02-08T14:55:00.001-03:00

74: Tenebrific

On Ebert's New Show

2011-02-02T10:28:00.003-03:00

As you have probably heard and hopefully even seen, Roger Ebert returned to television with his new show, Ebert Presents At The Movies. Since he lost the ability to talk following complications from cancer, the fate of his long-running "At The Movies" endured a series of blows before finally being shut down. First, Buena Vista put a pair of mismatched hosts, one of whom was designed to appeal to the "average" movie fan. This completely failed. Ebert deserves credit for having the gumption to restart the program, doing it the way he wants.

After seeing the first episode, here are my reactions. The format is nothing new. It's the same one that Ebert created with Gene Siskel 25 years ago. Two critics debate the latest releases, and get it over with quickly enough to cover five or six movies in a half hour plus commercials. And that's probably OK. The only real reason the last show ended was that Ebert couldn't perform anymore.

Now, all eyes are on Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and Christy Lemire. I have to feel for them. Siskel and Ebert were able to start with a complete void of expectations. Nobody was paying much attention. Now these two are expected to carry the mantle while everyone watches them get their sea legs. And it's clear that they don't have them yet. Every movie discussion feels like they are a couple on a first date. They're both polite and when they disagree, they don't really want to get into an argument. Both are still hoping they'll hit it off and at least make it to date #2. And in that respect, the chemistry will simply take some time.

Perhaps more worrisome is that both hosts are clearly reading their parts. Yes, I know this is how television works. But it's important to keep in mind that these are writers, not talking heads. And it is also going to take them a while to feel comfortable being in front of a camera. They will surely improve, but the question is how soon. In this area the show may have made a miscalculation. For me, I don't really give a damn. If they are giving insightful commentary and an interesting take, I don't care if they stammer their way through the half-hour, but what I think doesn't matter so much

What is important is that a show like this succeeds. Because the movie industry is steadily devolving into marketed products. As Erik Lundergaard recently pointed out, whether a movie is, you know, good or not plays a bigger role in how it fares commercially than movie executives would like to think. But that's because most movie executives don't really care about seeing quality movies. They are marketers who are looking to get return on investment. And they feel that if they can get their movie's toys in Happy Meals across America, they will make a profit.

A show like this has power to combat that. It can bring more attention to the best movies, and get more people to shun the awful ones. But that will only happen if the show is good. People like you and me are going to find our own movie news and opinions. If the show fails, we will have our other outlets online. And there are only so many of us, anyway. What I would love to see is this show having the same impact on the public at large that Ebert's previous show did.

I know. I'm judging this output way too quickly. We owe them a fair shake. Watch as much as you can. Write the TV stations and tell them you want more. Because it's the best chance we have for worthwhile criticism being as mainstream as possible. The show matters, and the more support it gets, the better.

Bear with the new hosts. Once they're grow into "couplehood", we can expect some worthwhile battles of wit between Lemire and Vishnevetsky. Ideally they can even get to fighting like an intelligent yet acerbic married couple. If it doesn't work out, well, we'll have to try to find a way to enjoy Ashton Kutcher movies.

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #15: Interpol - Antics

2011-01-31T11:37:00.003-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

When evaluating Interpol, a friend of mine once scoffed, "They made a great album then they made it two more times." This was before 2010's eponymous release. And his biting statement is pretty true. They are not an outfit striving for diversity. Their singer is limited. Their songs don't even think about the existence of other genres. When I read my list to see what we had left, I was surprised to see Interpol this high. But then I played the record again, and instantly remembered why I had them where I did. I shouldn't have doubted myself.

When "Next Exit" begins, it does so at a pace that says, "I'm not going out of my way for you here." Still, it's got a groove that pulls you along in its own plodding way. Anyone who was feeling impatient is will be pleased as we quickly get to "Evil." The first time I heard this song, I was totally blown away, and haven't ever lost that feeling. It is without a doubt one of the five catchiest songs of the decade, and the chief reason why the album makes the top 15. This is one of those songs that, as soon as it ends, you have the urge to play it over again. What starts off with a gripping but calm groove explodes at the one-minute mark where the intensity increases before the track keeps building from there. The peak doubles as my favorite non-word vocal of the decade, Paul Banks' "awww!" that comes 2:52 into the song. It probably doesn't mean a damn thing, but it just sounds so cool. The song is simply a big part of my life. I don't think I've had a party or road trip in the last six years that didn't include it somewhere.

We're in the top 15 now. One track simply isn't enough. "Narc" keeps the groove going and builds to its peak where Banks hollers "You should be in my space, you should be in my life!" Between the pounding "Not Even Jail" and blend of light guitars and heavy everything else on "C'mere," there are other worthy additions to the Interpol oeuvre. Again, never steering too far off the charted course.

It is worth nothing that the mid-00s saw a tremendous resurgence of Joy Division inspired, dark indie pop. You can pick your preferred branch between Editors, The Bravery, stellastarr*, The Killers, and The Rapture, just to name a few. But nobody did it with more panache or talent than these guys. Maybe it doesn't point to anything new, but putting this album on again reminded me how perfectly they crafted their driving intensity.

If Turn on the Bright Lights was about a night in Gotham, Antics is where we pick up the day after. In the end, this dark, monotonous music somehow rings beautifully, and it's that touch of additional brightness that makes this Interpol's best release. They are likely to be a band lost to their (retro) time. I don't think people will be clamoring for an Interpol reunion tour in 2020. But by doing this list, I reminded myself that this is an album worth returning to.

The audio stinks on this video, which is a shame. But play it anyway.

Previous Entries:
#16 - Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
#17 - Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens
#18 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
#19 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

Unyielding Commissioning Believes in Comebacks

2011-01-21T09:50:00.009-03:00

We haven't had an update from UC since may of 2009, and that one was titled "Unyielding Commissioning Apologizes for Being Away So Long." Living in Argentina, it is pretty hard to stay on top of some of the goings on like I used to. Bands rarely come here, and the movie releases keep getting pushed back later and later. Far more impactful has been a heavy amount of work from both my job and planning my upcoming wedding. Those and other factors have seriously cut down on my connections to life on the internet, which means I don't have links for you like I used to. That said, EdWord passed me along some info that requires comment, and is just the kind of thing this type of posting was designed for. And come to think of it, there's a lot more worth discovering, so UC has plenty of good stuff to share with you today.

Please, please, please, please - I once briefly debated my buddy Erik about whether reunion shows are worthwhile. The band in question was Archers of Loaf. Erik's take was that he'd already seen them and no thrown together reunion tour would be the same. Mine was that I'd never seen them, and I'd take a half-assed reunion tour over nothing. And I'm not saying it would even be half-assed, just that I'd be ecstatic with half an ass anyway. That conversation inspired pleading on this blog some three and a half years ago.

Well, perhaps the band did indeed read my comments. More likely they simply realized that it was high time to kiss and make up because Pitchfork is reporting that Archers of Loaf has reunited for at least one show. I have long claimed that I would travel back to the US just to see these guys perform. They sure as hell aren't coming to Buneos Aires. We can only hope that they had as good a time as the audience seemed to and will give us the pleasure of some more shows. And I bet that Erik goes, too, even if it may not live up to his fond memories of earlier performances. Fingers crossed for hope!

There's no secrets this year - after 2009 was a general disappointment in both film and music, 2010 came back with a lot of high-quality, innovative stuff for our listening and viewing pleasure. I had been planning to provide a comprehensive summary of all those year-end lists, but, well you've probably read the ones you want. Just in case, here are Roger Ebert's Top Feature Films, Top Foreign Films, Top Documentaries, and Top Animated Films.

Meanwhile, over at Via Chicago, Jon has been putting together his year-end lists and is doing a smashing job of it. Starting with an Intro and then continuing into his EPs and Reissues, he is merely getting warmed up. Part III has his Favorite Songs of the Year, and is highly recommended. He not only lists 100 tracks worth checking out, he links virtually all of them to youtube videos where you can quickly make your own estimation. We can assume the album list is on its way, but given how comprehensive his work has been thus far, let's cut Jon some slack and be patient. Besides, you have a lot of new music to listen to!

There's just one Hitch - Erik Lundegaard has been posting some comprehensive and insightful reviews of Alfred Hitchcock films. Probably not worth reading if you haven't seen the movies in question because of the spoilers. But surely you've seen some of these masterpieces, right? The list thus far:

No, not that AFI - Trey Hock of Scene Stealers has been counting down the AFI's top 100 movies of all time. He's about halfway done having recently delivered a top notch review of A Streetcar Named Desire. Trey has kept up a pretty amazing pace. I can't even seem to get through 50 albums yet he keeps churning through these movies (many of which he doesn't end up liking). From Streetcar you can access the previous 53 reviews and look for your favorites.

One Word Review: All the King's Men

2011-01-19T14:29:00.001-03:00

59: Leaden

Gettin' the Groove On, Deep

2011-01-11T17:40:00.005-03:00

There is a ton of really cool stuff going on with soul music these days. If you're like me, you've been waiting for this to happen for deacdes. Maybe soul can finally turn a corner. Yes, most of this music is technically backward looking. But to be great, soul doesn't require innovation. Hop on board before we call it a movement. Some great labels worth exploring:
Daptone Records
Stone's Throw Records
Groove Attack Records
Strut Records (More jazz/funk than soul in this case, but still worth a visit.)

For now, check the hell out of Charles Bradley. Oooooh oh ohhhhh...

One Word Review: Love's Brother

2011-01-06T12:56:00.002-03:00

53: Pat

One Word Review: The A-Team

2011-01-03T12:53:00.001-03:00

62: Kaboom

One Word Review: Mystic Pizza

2010-12-29T16:46:00.001-03:00

24: Cheesy

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #16: Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

2010-12-28T14:30:00.004-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Of all the albums I've "first blushed" here, this is the only one that ended up in the Top 50. Others were very close, but couldn't quite make the cut. When I did the full digestion, I said the album is "easily Bird's most complete," and that statement still rings true. My appreciation of this record has only deepened since it was released. There is no mediocre track on it.

After removing most of his collaborators in favor of percussionist extraordinaire Martin Dosh, Andrew Bird uses Armchair Apocrypha as a chance to evolve yet again. It's not quite as dramatic as the shift seen a few albums earlier when he left behind the rustic, gypsy-inspired folk in favor of rustic avant-garde indie folk, but there's a shift in tone. From the album's opener, "Fiery Crash," it's clear that he's gunning for atmosphere instead of highlighting again his earlier flair for solos and winking irony. I'm still into his previous records. That's not a dig - just an observation of his evolution. At the same time, once we get deeper into the record, he shows a level of enthusiasm that he hasn't displayed before or since. While in other releases, he seems to approach the peaks just to take a quick look at the view, on this one, he's not afraid to linger in the dynamism.

Also at the same time, Bird delves deeply into harmonies with only himself. Songs that would have previously needed to play in layered tones with the vocals of Nora O'Connor now live in triplicate overdubs on their own. Hence we continue with the dynamism. And the other aspect he has added is some open space. His earlier records skipped from song to song, with each one eager to make its point. But a song like "Cataracts" leaves the listener filling in the gaps on his own, making the peaks all the more significant.

I could go on and on here, but don't want to bore you. My favorite tracks have changed many times, a sign of the strength of the record. But the three that always seem to be floating near the top are "Armchairs," "Dark Matter," and "Spare-ohs." I highly recommend purchasing this record. I still sounds new to me almost four years after its release.

And because everyone has come to this site a million times looking for the definition of "imitosis," let me give it my best shot. First of all, let's look at the background. It is clear that Bird is making a play on words, combining three of them together: I, Imitation, and Mitosis. Why did I include I? Because he is covering his old song by that name. Hence the concept of imitation in the first place.

In the new version, the point of view of the song has changed completely. The original has very few lyrics, but they are in the first-person plural. Now we are in third-person singular, talking about Poor Professor Pension, who is busy studying why so many things in nature are set in opposition to one another. Yet the overall theme is the same. Every person on the planet is so busy trying to figure everything out, we never come to the conclusion that we are inherently "alone."

But where does mitosis come into it? Mitosis refers to cell division starting in the nucleus of a cell. Its result is two cells that may be very similar but not necessarily identical. And this phenomenon is crucial to how all living things grow. So one could rightfully say that Bird is taking the nucleus of his old song and creating a new, similar song as he grows his very oeuvre. Bird's lyrics in the song seem to indicate that mitosis doesn't necessarily mean these "copied" cells have any reason to get along with one another and therefore we remain "all basically alone." Given that Bird is known for becoming tired of his own music, it is safe to assume that Imitosis has completely replaced I in his on-stage repertoire, further indication of these "split cells" not hanging out with each other.

So, in sum, the definition of Imitosis, as I can best approximate it is as follows: a process by which one personal output is built directly upon a previous work by the same entity, thus rendering the previous work less integral to the creator's overall body of work while, at the same time, improving said body.

Please feel free to comment on how this can be improved...

Previous Entries:
#17 - Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens
#18 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
#19 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak

Merry Christmas from Fighting The Youth

2010-12-21T15:33:00.002-03:00

Some nostalgic Christmas cheer. Kinda.

A new song from The Futureheads released just for your holiday enjoyment.

The Daily Show Ten Years Ago

2010-12-21T11:24:00.002-03:00

Ten years ago this past Sunday:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Headlines - Transition Impossible

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #17: Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens

2010-12-16T19:40:00.002-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Well, I must admit I made a mistake. It's not the first one I've made in this process, but underestimating albums on this list is a very reconcilable problem. I just bump them up and get to them later. Overestimating, on the other hand, leaves you no outs. We're all the way up to #17, so I can't just grab some replacement album that didn't make it. And it's not like this album deserves the boot, either. Let me explain what happened.

There are a few albums that merit placement on this list based on one song alone, though the rest of the album can't be garbage. Hence Hard-Fi doesn't get in on the strength of "Cash Machine." When I put my overall list together, I was very torn between Jens Lekman's second and third releases, knowing I loved them both for various reasons. Well I should have committed right at the beginning. Between their best tracks is one amazing record and then another one that would be so-so. Individually, I must admit that Oh You're So Silent Jens should be slightly lower on our list. But we're still talking Top 30 for sure. I'm being too hard on myself. Enough with the apologies, let's get to the praise.

When I saw Jens Lekman perform he mentioned that he has a problem telling stores. When he recounts sad tales, they come out funny, and when he tries to tell a humorous anectode, it comes out sad. I don't know on which side of this quandary the album opener, "At the Department of Forgotten Songs" is supposed to reside. It's clearly meant to be sad, but so calm it's comforting. Either way, it's not exactly a way to burst out of the gates on a record. But our patience will pay off.

Things proceed peacefully until we get to "Pocketful of Money." This is the song that brought Jens to my attention. I can't remember where or when or how it was that I came across it. The song seems overly simple at first, but then, out of nowhere a brilliantly placed sample of Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson crashes in, and the song has our complete attention. Suddenly you are moving to the beat and what seemed like a light pop tune reveals a bedrock of real soul. The song exemplifies how one arrives at Lekman's music on the whole. At first, there's no real reason to be interested. But quite quickly, Jens wins you over completely. Listening to his records, there's no way you can't like this guy. Seeing him live will only cement your attention.

Technically this isn't an album. It's a collection of songs that Lekman had available to make an album-length release. But you wouldn't really know it. The tracks flow into one another and seem to have been recorded in the same session. Some are better than others, but they work together to occupy a unique space in music today. There's nobody else in the Top 50 that I could compare to Lekman. His style is his own, or at least he does it much better than anybody else.

I mentioned that sometimes one fantastic song is enough to consecrate an album, and that's absolutely the case here. "Black Cab" is one of those songs. The lyrics are inherently dejected, but instead of being goofy or funny, Jens has turned his misery in to pure sweetness. Like an adorable puppy that just needs a good home, you can't help but take the tune with you. It is perhaps the most perfectly crafted pop song I know. Check the video below and tell me you don't adore it. I know I'll be keeping it with me for the rest of my life. You know what? This song is so damn good that Jens deserves #17. Besides, the rest of the record is really solid. I rescind all previous apologies. Give these a spin and tell me I'm right...

Previous Entries:
#18 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
#19 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

The Alternative 90s: The AV Club's Retrospective: 1994

2010-12-13T15:44:00.003-03:00

Here we continue to react to the Steven Hyden's take on the Alternative 90s. Click over yonder to review Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Without a doubt, the biggest event in the Alternative Rock movement in 1994 was the suicide of Kurt Cobain. In the latest update of his retrospective, Hyden devotes the majority of his time to this event, starting off with a candid and self-deprecating explanation of how it went down for him. I hadn't realized it, but Cobain's demise certainly was a "where were you when" moment. We don't have so many of those our generation, and this one is easily more trivial than the Challenger explosion, Columbine High School, or 9/11. But I suppose I will always remember driving riding around in a girl's car on North Campus while my buddy Ken announced on the college radio station, "Kurt Cobian blew his brains to Brooklyn," before spinning "Rape Me." We turned up the volume and drove along. At that moment, Cobain's death clearly wasn't all that important to any of us. We weren't Nirvana fans. Beyond noting the significant newsworthiness of the event, we were unaffected. Or maybe it was Ken's fault for joking about it in the first place.

The only Nirvana album I've ever really cared about was Incesticide, which isn't an album. But it is easily the most interesting collection of songs they released. A recent review of their discography only confirmed this notion. Our flippant reaction perhaps wasn't warranted, but we were 18 years old and to us it was just another news item that had little bearing on our lives. All we knew was that Nirvana was about to see a spike in record sales. Sometimes, when you're in college, you can be surprising isolated from the rest of the world. Even Lewinskygate a few years later was not big news compared to things we were actually busy with. While this may have been an international event, to us, it was just one day's news, driving around.

Hyden took it far more personally, as did almost everybody else. He delivers an excellent piece of research, laying out all kinds of details and interpretation surrounding Cobain's tragic demise. Perhaps the most interesting (but also the most heavy-handed) is his interpretation of the band's famous Unplugged set as a self-thrown funeral for Cobain.

In light of Cobain’s suicide, MTV Unplugged In New York was commonly heard as the work of a man committed to the idea of being dead as soon as possible. I know I’m not the only one that hears Kurt Cobain performing his own burial rites whenever the record plays. It’s not just a matter of the music’s close proximity to Cobain’s death; the suicide simply brought what was already there into greater focus.

To be sure, his suicide was not a surprise at the time. Hence our lack of drama in hearing the news. And maybe Cobain planned the Unplugged performance that way, but only he really knows and he's not around to tell us. To me it's more of a Rorschach test. I see a guy in a lot of anguish, Hyden sees a guy who was deliberately tell us he was going to kill himself. Through song.

Hyden then steers the direction to Soundgarden's breakthrough album, "Superunknown." Had Chris Cornell died at the time, then I would have been a lot more affected. As they hit the big-time, I went through many of the same conflicts as I had with Smashing Pumpkins earlier, though with a few differences. At least with Smashing Pumpkins, the hit songs were good. Soundgarden's most successful tracks were also their worst. The first time I heard Black Hole Sun, I was overwhelmed by its banality. I couldn't believe this was the same band that had created Jesus Christ Pose on their previous record. That said, there were plenty of good songs on Superunknown, even if the band had backed away from the heaviness that had made their Badmotorfinger so successful (for me).

And with all this important news, there is no room for the other tragedy involving a Georgia band called Collective Soul. A band of mediocre talent and lesser songwriting was packaged as alternative and went platinum. Seriously, this was their hit single. It pointed alternative music in a new direction that soon became a tailspin from which the genre would never recover. At least Cobain wasn't around to see it.

In the end, Hyden's narrow take on the year leads him to make some conflicting conclusions:

Kurt Cobain was not a martyr, and I’m not going to dehumanize him by turning his life and death into a crushed velvet painting. But I’m also not going to let Nirvana be reduced to a load of hype signifying nothing. Yes, I was one of the mourners. Kurt Cobain's music made my life better, opening me up to new worlds that enriched my existence immensely. I’m extremely grateful that Nevermind came into my life when it did, because I was a lonely kid that really needed something to connect with. Just because I’m fortunate enough to no longer be 13 years old doesn’t mean I’ll ever set aside my gratitude for what Cobain once gave me, or my grief for where he ended up. I can only speak for myself...here; maybe you didn’t give a shit. But to me, you’re goddamn right Kurt Cobain fucking mattered.

In Nick Hornby's "About a Boy," he uses Cobain's impending suicide as a clumsy plot vehicle. It was wisely removed from the movie. I guess I feel similarly about Hyden's latest article. Of course he can't possibly have ignored Cobain's death. As I said, it was the biggest event that year. But in the end, did it really do anything to music? Nirvana would have had more albums, and so that's a loss. But the way things were moving, with the onslaught of more and more crappy, knockoff alternabands, what Nirvana stood for was doomed either way. Cobain could have been a dead martyr or a living one. He chose the way he had to. And we can have whatever opinion we want about it, but those opinions don't matter.

It's another solid output from Hyden, but one that I'm afraid doesn't move me very much. But his next post should be up tomorrow!

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #18: Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

2010-12-07T15:04:00.001-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Of course it starts off a capella. Anything else would simply be wrong. But it's the most rustic thing you've ever heard. Like a moment from the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack that didn't make the cut because it sounded a generation too early. That initial tease only lasts 20 seconds, and as we really get into that first track, the band patiently adds layers throughout its three minutes. At this point, they are simply a bird showing its plumage - a display of capabilities. If the rest of the songs were to continue this way, we would say "this is a group of extremely talented singers who harmonize as well as anyone in the history of music" and leave it at that. But by the time we get just one minute into "White Winter Hymnal" it's clear that we're here for something amazing.

Fleet Foxes certainly fit into the neo-folk movement that became a fixture of the indie circuit in the second half of the decade. Bands like Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and The Shins each put out their version of modern harmonized beauty, and though they came close, weren't quite compelling enough make the Top 50 list here. Fleet Foxes' take is not as revolutionary, and maybe it's because they stayed more true to their roots that they achieved so much in their debut self-titled album. Or maybe they're just that freaking talented.

"Ragged Wood" is perfectly named, a light, rambling piece of music that builds on what the first two tracks started. It may not be conceptually profound, but the sonic teamwork calmly soars above the slight guitar notes. "Tell me anything you want. Any old lie will do. Call me back to, back to you." It's the way they say it. Despite all the praise I've doled out, the second half of the record is even better. "He Doesn't Know Why" (video here) has all the potential energy of a building tilting ever closer to the ground but never quite collapsing.

"Your Protector" uses a driving rhythm and vocals peaking to set up the bombastic harmonies in the chorus: "You ruuuuuun with the devil." The record climaxes with the absolutely shimmering brilliance of "Blue Ridge Mountains," a song befitting the landscape it deals with. Listening to the record as a whole, I can't help be struck by two things. The first is just how incredibly together the band is, and everyone who saw them at 2008's Pitchfork Music Festival witnessed how well they can pull it off in concert. The second is that the band (and production team) clearly put in a ton of attention and effort in making this record. This is not garage rock. Each note seems cared for like a child.

I have no idea where the band will go from here. If they put out the same kind of record again, I will not be upset, but it seems hard to imagine they can outdo themselves while keeping the exact same style. All I know is that every time I play this album I find myself singing its songs out loud for about two weeks, especially in any place with a decent echo. I suppose it's not for everyone, but I wouldn't have thought it was for me, either. The music is too good not to adore it. But you can judge for yourself.

Previous Entries:
#19 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be

The Alternative 90s: The AV Club's Retrospective: 1993

2010-11-30T21:51:00.001-03:00

Here we continue to react to the Steven Hyden's take on the Alternative 90s. Click over yonder to review Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Hyden ventures away from Seattle in his review of 1993, focusing on the acts that made it big from his closest metropolis as a teenager and my hometown: Chicago.

My expectations for this segment were far too lofty. But that's understandable. Of all my musical passions in life, this "moment" was the most inextricable from my own existence. I graduated high school and found the profound liberation that is college life. Those events were inextricably linked with the development of my passion as a music fan. Plus, it certainly didn't hurt that 18-and-over shows were suddenly events available to me. It was the first real awakening of my life; the music couldn't have mattered more. And the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream was the album that it all centered around. It was the first record I truly connected with. I even believed with great certainty that Billy Corgan and I had nearly everything in common. Perish the thought...

But I had very little to do with the other two albums Hyden covers. Liz Phair was undoubtedly important, giving an indie voice to women that hadn't existed. If mainstream trends are founded on grassroots movements that comprise the initial foundation, then Phair opened the door for Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and every Lilith Fair. Hyden's take on the album is awfully cogent:

"I found Guyville titillating and unnerving, which is essentially how I felt at the time about every girl I had ever met. In my world, women had all of the power, which created a not-quite-healthy mix of worship and resentment of femininity that’s common to a lot of boys that age."

That's my soul up there, man. Or at least it definitely was in 1993.

He then gets into Urge Overkill, a band that held my interest for all of twelve minutes or so. The rock world didn't stick around a whole lot longer. This is all backdrop to tackle the concept of "selling out" - tremendously important in 1993. And Hyden provides great context here, quoting the gleefully dickish Steve Albini. Albini raised the torch of the true underground.

"To Albini, indie-ness was both a science and an evangelical religion; he could be persuasively pragmatic about how bands were better off personally and creatively treating music as a pastime rather than a job, and then land patently insulting roundhouse blows against anyone dumb, silly, or unlucky enough to disagree with his fiercely held views."

It never struck me that there were so many levels to the notion of selling out to the mainstream and being true underground. Without a doubt, I would have been declared a poseur by many. I must admit that in my life, I used people's taste in music to judge them. But this was never more true than in 1993. Let's put it into context. Despite the success of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, most people were still into some pretty terrible music and pop culture in general. Zubaz pants were only one year past their peak, for instance. Most of my high school class was into the Grateful Dead or classic rock. To be with the kids that gravitated toward something new was to refute the status quo.

It took me years and years to stop judging people based on their personal tastes. Today it is totally irrelevant to me, but perhaps at the time taste was a clearer indicator of character than anything. There was, for those brief couple of years, a difference between people who liked Pegboy and those who liked The Beatles. There was something reliable about each group. So while Albini may have been tilting at windmills, he at least did so with a worthy point.

Meanwhile, at the very same time, something was starting in alternative music that would never be stopped. That something was perfectly embodied by the Spin Doctors. A crappy band with a crappy name and crappy songs packaged to appeal to the Alternative generation. Perhaps Hyden is leaving them alone for now to lump them in with Candlebox and Collective Soul when we get to 1994. But the hijacking of the movement had already begun. I mention this now because it is central to the issue. If someone said they were a fan of "alternative music", yet hit the town wearing a Spin Doctors t-shirt, you could immediately tell that they weren't part of any scene.

Back to the band at hand - Smashing Pumpkins. As I said, at 18 this album was one of the most important things I'd ever owned. I went to two of their warm-up gigs at Metro, assuming the next time they came through Chicago it would be at the Aragon, then the UIC Pavilion, then Soldier Field. In a way, those were the last shows I saw as an impressionable youth. Just a couple months later, the band was taking the world by storm, and I had to play up the fact that I had the EPs, not just the albums. I was still trying to show how cool I was by talking up a band everybody already knew.

We all know what Billy Corgan became. And I was one of the last people to acknowledge it. Hyden sums up what happened to the band thusly:

"Like Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog’s masterpiece of megalomania, Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, Corgan kept the band together to satisfy his maniacal pursuit of endless power and riches. In Aguirre, Kinski ends up adrift on a lonely stretch of the Amazon with a raft full of corpses and wild monkeys; Corgan had better transportation, riding the stainless steel perfection of Siamese Dream’s impeccably conceived guitar-rock hymns straight to the promised land."

The point here is that he was selling out from day one. Whether Corgan was always a nutty egomaniacal asshole could probably be easily determined. But I don't care to make that determination. For me, 1993 will always be the year that I broke and it wouldn't have happened without this music. By the next year, the alternative scene ship had wrecked. At the very least, I had to start choosing friends on a more substantive basis. All part of growing up.

But let's make sure we end on a high note. 18-year-old me is somewhere in this mosh pit. See if you can find me. I'm the one going crazy...

Part 5 was posted today, which means I'm behind (as usual). Feel free to dig into that one here.

It will make you shake a turkey

2010-11-27T02:06:00.003-03:00

Overheard this track on EdWord's latest podcast. It was far too compelling not to share with the rest of you. Play it loud.

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #19: Band of Horses - Everything All The Time

2010-11-16T15:25:00.007-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

The album sets out floating on dreamy waves that have no real business on a rock record. Ben Bridwell's vocals are so high pitched they border on whining. But the track is really just there to set the scene. It's by contrasting with the opener that the record finds its groove. Hell, they couldn't even think of a good name, calling it "The First Song." Might as well have just used "Amuse-bouche." When "Wicked Gil" kicks in with its pulsing riffs, it sounds like Swervedriver by comparison.

Band of Horses was founded by Bridwell and Mat Brooke in Seattle when their previous group, Carissa's Wierd fell apart. I knew very little about that band, but must say I'm not sad to hear that they are no more. The obvious highlight on the record is the catchy single, "The Funeral." The song did so well on the indie circuit that the band had problems dealing with the success. Leveraging off the rampup of the first three tracks, "The Funeral" is meant to be ironically positive, and the music is downright triumphant. You can't ignore this song. It would have been fine if they had made that the record's centerpiece and left it at that. But every tune that follows brings its own importance. These are songs with some weight. Despite the ambiguous lyrics, they somehow matter. Well, maybe not "Weed Party" but it's fun enough that you can forgive its levity.

The ebbs and flows of the album pass quickly (it's only 36 minutes long) and we arrive at the end way before we're ready to be done listening. I have always been a sucker for harmonies, perhaps because I can sing along with my mediocre voice. In quiet moments, the vocals resemble echoes of one another. It's a unique sound that gets deep into my head every time I hear it. "St. Augustine" in particular will stay with me for days on end. Unfortunately after this release, Brooke left the band and even though the subsequent records are solid in their own ways, they haven't captured that subtle soul since. Everything All The Time remains both a testament to their collaboration and in heavy rotation on my stereo. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

Please enjoy some lo-fi videos...

The Funeral

I Go To the Barn Because I Like The

Monsters

Previous Entries:
#20 - The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes

The Alternative 90s: The AV Club's Retrospective: 1992

2010-11-16T09:54:00.001-03:00

Here we continue to react to the Steven Hyden's take on the Alternative 90s. We started with Part 1 here.

In covering 1992, Hyden focuses almost exclusively on Pearl Jam, using them to highlight the double-edged sword that is massive mainstream popularity. Hyden does excellent research here and has penned what is so far the best column in the series. The backstory on Pearl Jam is far more fascinating than I realized.

Honestly, the band never interested me that much. By the end of my freshman year of college, they were by far the most popular band in the world (of college freshman) to the point where there had to be a painstaking explanation prepared for every guy wearing a dirty white baseball cap that couldn't understand where I was coming from. And this is really the whole point of Hyden's latest. How could a band that seemingly had no desire to be universally liked end up being the most popular band of its era? And what the hell are they supposed to do once they find themselves in that situation?

But first the setup. Hyden talks about how they arrived:

"I hated that the chorus didn’t tell you what 'even flow' was supposed to be, and the line about thoughts arriving like butterflies sounded like a bad Natalie Merchant lyric. Still, the video for 'Even Flow' succeeded in doing for Pearl Jam what the 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' video had done for Def Leppard four summers earlier: It made you wish really hard that Pearl Jam would come somewhere near your town very soon."

And that sounds about right. All of Ten is basically a series of riffs lifted from one Jimi Hendrix song - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). That happens to be one of the greatest songs in the history of everything, so they certainly could have chosen worse. (Incidentally, hearing Even Flow can't help but remind me of Adam Sandler's caricature of Eddie Veder. That happen to you?)

There's no denying that Pearl Jam was the right place at the right time. No reasonable fan would consider them virtuosos in any respect. But to this day Eddie Vedder makes for a compelling frontman, the most accessible of the Alternative movement.

"As Vedder and his increasingly marginalized supporting cast distanced themselves from the record’s gauche chest-thumping by churning out progressively restrained, more 'mature,' and less expressive music, Ten was dusted off by other bands and recycled again and again. Today, Pearl Jam is a popular touring band and intermittently successful on the charts; Ten, meanwhile, is still all over modern-rock radio, though only a handful of the songs are actually by Pearl Jam."

The point is, it's nearly impossible to stay on top while doing something in earnest. I would add that it doesn't help if you're not a very talented band to begin with. As much as I am ragging on the band here, you have to give them credit. They could have gone the route that nearly every popular band from the 90s went. To "Jonas Brothers" it up. But they took another path.

"Pearl Jam isn’t the first veteran rock band to see a decrease in fans as it got older. But it’s the best example of a band deliberately expediting the process."

Hyden finishes by noting that with 20/20 hindsight we can easily identify that the band (and therefore the year 1992) represented a fulcrum for the direction of Alternative music.

"For three years, Vedder occupied a unique and important place in mainstream rock; that he allowed it to be taken over by people like Scott Stapp isn’t unforgivable, just unfortunate."

It's impossible to argue with that statement.

Part of me will forever associate Seattle with the early 90s grunge scene. My brother lived there for several years. I've visited twice. I've made many friends from that city. But even though it should have, my impression hasn't changed. Maybe because of the age I was and the way a person forms perspective. It's 2010, and I still view the Emerald City through flannel-colored glasses. That's not just unfair but ridiculous. And yet I'm sure that millions of people around the country think the same way.

Back to the topic at hand. Pearl Jam never meant very much to me, even as they were capturing all the hearts and minds surrounding me. Hence, I don't find myself caring that much about their story. In fact, I often forget they even exist. Futhermore, I forget that they were not only a part of the movement, but one of the two or three most important bands in it. But like I said, it's a fascinating story. This is a superb piece and you can tell Hyden is building to something even better. I can't wait for the next one. Good thing it comes out today.

One Word Review: Confessions of an American Bride

2010-11-15T12:02:00.001-03:00

8: Childish

The Daily Show Ten Years ago

2010-10-26T11:20:00.001-03:00

Been a while since we've done one of these, but since there's an election around the corner, let's reminisce a bit about, well, other problems we used to have...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Indecision 2000 - Undecided

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Rally to Restore Sanity

The Alternative 90s: The AV Club's Retrospective: 1991

2010-10-25T14:59:00.006-03:00

We kicked off by reaction to Part One earlier this week. Start there for background. Now we'll catch up with Part 2: 1991: What's so civil about war, anyway?.

Hyden devotes the majority of his 1991 column to the intense, public feud between Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose. It's an interesting place to move forward. Our collective memory doesn't recall a time when Hair Bands and Grunge Bands shared the same stage. We forget that Use Your Illusions I and II came out just a few months before Nevermind. For most people, these bands occupy times separated by years conceptually. Yet there was this tumultuous overlap. Hyden rightfully identifies the incongruity between reality and perception, and does some really solid research in providing key details. As Hyden points out, this was no mere battle of egos:

"Rose signified old-guard, cock-rock superstardom, and Cobain was never more deliberate in his desire to dismantle that institution than in his outspoken criticism of Guns N’ Roses."

That said, Hyden gives proper credit to GnR for transcending the other Hair Metal at the time (highlighting the Welcome to the Jungle video). There was a major difference between Guns n Roses and the rest of the Hair acts out there. They weren't singing "She's only seventeen" or about "Cherry Pie."

Hyden's main point is that there is a lot in more in common between these two iconic figures than people think. And he turns the column to the personal and how he interpreted all that was going on.

"In 'One In A Million,' Rose sings, 'It’s been such a long time since I knew right from wrong / It’s all a means to an end, I keep it movin’ along.' By the end of 1991, I chose Kurt Cobain over Axl Rose because I wanted someone who did know the difference between right and wrong."

For Hyden, this is the balancing point in his life as a music fan. And it was for many.

He touches on it briefly, but devotes so much time to the details that he misses what I believe is the interesting part about this moment in history. Nobody remembers that these were the two most popular American rock bands at the same time. And many people liked both. The stories he recants are crucial but don't really address the movement until that last line about knowing the difference. Not to go all Wesley Willis, but I saw Smashing Pumpkins open for Guns N Roses at the Rosemont Horizon in early 1992. Maybe such a bill didn't make any sense, but it happened. Some people booed and threw things during the Pumpkins set. Others appreciated the shredding taking place onstage. The booers would surely become enamored with Smashing Pumpkins two years later, and tell all their friends that they saw them when they were "nobody."

The thing is, both bands kicked ass on stage that night. And I didn't have to choose between them. In the moment it didn't feel like the end of anything. Only years later can we say that Grunge eliminated Hair Metal. I suppose that was Cobain's crusade and he was in tune with that goal. If that was a key objective for Cobain, he surely failed. Not because Axl's still here, but because of what became of Alternative Rock in the years to come (from Collective Soul to Matchbox 20 to Nickelback). In the end he didn't want Axl's throne, or really any more time in the spotlight. If this integrity issue was so important to him, then maybe it's for the best he didn't live past 1994. Then again, we only knew the glory days would be so short after the fact. But that's a topic yet to come.

Other comments:

Hyden says, "The dual release of the Use Your Illusion albums was an act of hubris so brazen in its arrogance and yet strangely admirable in its artistic stubbornness that nobody had been fucking crazy enough to try anything like it before, or attempt to copy it in the nearly two decades since." Perhaps it's not a perfect comparison because it's not like he's a huge star, but Tom Waits released both Blood Money and Alice on May 7, 2002.

I feel like Hyden missed an opportunity here. If this is really a retrospective look at the entire alternative movement, 1991 is the year where everything started to pivot. Obviously any movement takes years of gradual shifting to set up, but 1991 is the year everyone circles, and for good reason. Lollapalooza began that year. And all these are just some of the albums that were released:
Pearl Jam - Ten
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Fishbone - The Reality of My Surroundings
Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind
So he focused on a key story - a very important one, but I worry that we are losing the thread a bit. Still, another worthwhile read. Looking forward to 1992 which should be out tomorrow.

RIP Greg Giraldo

2010-10-20T15:27:00.001-03:00

A long time ago Comedy Central aired a half-hour stand-up special by Greg Giraldo. I'd never head of him, but his act absolutely killed me. I think I watched it about 37 times. I could recite the whole thing for you right now. Over the years his routine progressed, becoming angrier, more incisive and manic. Hypocrisy was his most frequent target, but no conventional wisdom was safe. I caught his act at Zanies in Chicago a few years back, and he was so torqued up that even unexpected laughter from the audience threw him off his game a bit. But you got the feeling that he enjoyed those moments even more.

Giraldo graduated from Harvard Law School, but gave up on that career to try his hand at comedy. It's obviously one of the most challenging professions to attempt, and even harder to find true success. In the end, stand up comedy is a matter of taste. There are people who think Andrew Dice Clay was the best ever, and they have a right to their opinion. There are people who find Dane Cook better than tolerable. And they can be right, too. If you think it's funny, you laugh. I can say that there was never a comedian who fit my specific tastes better than Giraldo. If a scientist went into a lab to create a one just for me, he'd have a hell of a time doing any better than Mr. and Mrs. Giraldo already did. I'm really going to miss whatever he would have had to say about the news and our culture as they unfold in the future. I don't think we'll find another quite like him...

The Alternative 90s. The AV Club's Restrospective: 1990

2010-10-19T12:08:00.013-03:00

In reviewing the Top 50 Albums of the 00's, even though I have clearly enjoyed the journey through the decade's best, I have found myself longing for a more prolific time. I turned 14 in 1989, the perfect age to receive the gift that was the ascension of Alternative Rock. My rock and roll formative years began right then. It was a tremendous time to care about music, and thanks to my own impulses and a series of friends who helped me connect to everything I was hearing, everything that happened during the entire decade had a profound effect on me. I wasn't a hipster savant who found the greatest unknown rawk discoveries way before anyone else. But I kind of felt like it anyway. Growing up just outside Chicago, we had unfettered access to some of the world's greatest record stores, random independent and college radio stations, and even some all-ages shows. In some ways, it was the first time I truly cared about something.

Over at the AV Club, Steven Hyden is reviewing the 1990s Grunge movement year by year. I happen to find this a totally worthy endeavor for the reasons above and many more. Much of what happened in those halcyon days has been lost because there was no internet to document them, or because nobody's made an iconic movie yet, or simply because we've all moved on.

What Hyden is doing is more important than it seems at first glance. If you're in your 30s, then I urge you to read the feature and find your own reaction. If you're younger, well, as Hyden says, I shouldn't say something like "you missed out!" But really, you did. And if you want to know why mainstream music sucks ass the way it does today, it's important to understand that it once sucked even more ass, and somehow that got fixed, but only for a couple of years before it rapidly eased its way back to sucking ass.

Because I have my own ideas and experience (and blog), I'm going to post my reaction to each of Hyden's ten segments. Up first, Part 1: 1990.

Hyden sets the table well. He gives his background, calling himself an "awkward adolescent from Appleton, Wisconsin." The context is important here. He doesn't completely explain quite how bad the music scene had been. He mentions some of the atrocities, but it's important to remember that by the end of 1989 we're only a year removed from New Kids on the Block. We were at the apex of Richard Marx, Bobby Brown, Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli. "Rock" music offered Poison, Great White, Mike and the Mechanics, White Lion, and a duet between Cher and Peter Cetera. Vanilla Ice was yet to come. Hyden chooses to play a bit loose with the timeline here as the majority of the column deals with the mainstream arrival of Nirvana's "Nevermind," something that didn't really start happening until 1992 (the album was released at the end of September in 1991). Just so we're clear about the context, here are the top 12 singles from 1990:
1. Hold On, Wilson Phillips
2. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
3. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
4. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe
5. Vogue, Madonna
6. Vision of Love, Mariah Carey
7. Another Day In Paradise, Phil Collins
8. Hold On, En Vogue
9. Cradle of Love, Billy Idol
10. Blaze of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
11. Do Me!, Bell Biv Devoe
12. How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, Michael Bolton

So yes, apart from Billy Idol's death rattle, those were dark days indeed, especially in Appleton, Wisconsin.

But given that we're here to celebrate the past, perhaps it doesn't make sense to dwell too much on the bleak state of pop music entering the decade. Hyden jumps forward because if you're going to talk about rock in the 90s, the discussion must begin with Nevermind. And he couldn't be more on-point with the key issues:

"Kurt Cobain turned himself into a radio star at a time when somebody like him becoming a radio star seemed unfathomable."

"These guys were not supposed to be here, on MTV, sandwiched between Jane Child and Lisa Stanfield videos at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday."

The truly amazing thing that happened in the 1990s is that for a brief period of time, the inmates ran the asylum. Or at least that's the way it seemed. Bands that had no business becoming rock stars became the biggest rock stars in the world. And like any revolution, it happened seemingly without warning. After controlling which bands made it big throughout the 80s, the industry was caught by surprise. This never happens in mainstream music. I hope that we get into the details in the entries regarding subsequent years.

Eventually, Hyden steers away from the musical implications and arrives at the social ones, saying:

"I honestly wonder if the rise of grunge and alternative rock in the early ’90s will be the last time that a musical movement has that kind of impact on youth culture."

That topic, only touched upon, leaves a lot of room for exploration. Did youth culture actually change in ways it wouldn't have otherwise? Was the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video the reason tattoos became mainstream? (I had always attributed this to Alan Iverson, but I now question that theory.) Did young Americans really start to think a different way? Is The Big Bang Theory in the here and now because of Nevermind? These questions deserve their own posting, and perhaps Hyden will go into more detail later. As someone who lived through it, it's impossible to answer. There's no "control sample" me.

To sum up, an excellent start to the series for Hyden, and I greatly look forward to the subsequent entries. 1991 is already up, and we'll take a look at it here as soon as possible.

Please share your thoughts. Where were you when your face first melted to something other than Hendrix or Hazel? And what do you think of Hyden's premises?

Some Sunday Rock

2010-09-05T05:37:00.000-03:00

Back up with some more "real" postings soon. But for now, some old-school Minny rawk is delivering the bounce in my step today. Play it LOUD!

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #20: The Lawrence arms - Oh! Calcutta!

2010-08-16T13:45:00.004-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

The formula is not overly complex. This is not ground-breaking music. When I first heard Chicago's The Lawrence Arms, I said, "Yep, this sounds good," and left it at that. But then the cravings took over. There is something inherently crack-like in the construction of these songs. I can't quite put my finger on it (if I could I would start my own band). After a lot of thinking, I arrived at my quandary. How can something that is obviously intended to be angry and shouty be so damn gleeful at the same time?

Each song leaps out of the starting blocks on fire and builds upon itself until it inevitably arrives at a series of triumphant crescendos. In sluggish moments, there is nothing better to yank me out of a funk. A quick spin of Oh! Calcutta! and I am ready for whatever the world throws at me the rest of the day. And the songs stick in my head for days and days. That's the crack-like thing. If I don't have access to the actual songs, I'm going to sing them to the great annoyance of those around me.

I really don't know what most of the lyrics are and I certainly don't pay any attention to what they may mean. I really don't even know what the theme is. "Count all your fingers tonighight!" makes sense enough for me. I could really pick any album by these guys (none are very different), but this one has the most energy and the one where they play most to their strengths - the aforementioned angry glee.

By the early 00s, the mainstream had already gobbled up the vanilla offerings of Blink 182 and Green Day, which essentially washed away any remaining edge left in the genre. Tweens that didn't follow those bands to bouncy, brainless pop-punk got lost in the Emo wilderness, swaying and braying to the tugging of heartstrings. So it is to their credit that The Lawrence Arms persevered in the face of such an overwhelming tidal shift. Then again, I can't imagine them shifting gears. This is what they do best. Oh! Calcutta! is the last album they've released, and probably the record in this Top 50 that points back to the 90s the most. The band is still around, having put out an EP last year. I eagerly await the next full-length, but thanks to the strength of this record, I can get my fix anytime I want.

These are short, so you get three today. Play 'em all. LOUD!

Previous Entries:
#21 - Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory

One Word Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

2010-08-09T10:50:00.002-03:00

61: Flickering

One Word Review: The Incredible Hulk

2010-08-06T10:48:00.001-03:00

44: Schizophrenic

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #21: Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

2010-08-04T11:12:00.005-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

I was burdened with horrendous pop music during my formative years. Popular music had swung all over the place in the 1980s, eventually settling in with two genres: Mullet-Metal and dance-beat R&B. The year I turned 14, the top four selling albums were Bobby Brown, New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, and Bon Jovi. And things were trending worse with MC Hammer and Mr. Big lurking around the corner. What's a boy to do when pop radio gives you nothing but absolute crap and the internet has yet to be invented? I went with the only feasible options: Classic Rock and Oldies. I've lauded Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder in this space before, but it's important to note that my adoration for real R&B was founded in those preteen days, as framed by Dick Biondi and Magic 104.3.

Contrary to what you may believe, pop music hasn't always been terrible, and I have always known it with those FM radio years serving as evidence. Since that time, I have been forever longing for an R&B singer who "gets it." If someone with pipes like R Kelly could only find the resolve to rediscover the roots of the genre, I knew I could be won back over in a New York minute. It's the reason I dug Ryan Shaw so much when he played Lollapalooza a few years go.

But the only place we tend to see even remote reverence for those pre-autotune days is American Idol (and let's not get into that subject). And then suddenly, along comes Amy Winehouse.

After hearing the first two tracks on her breakthrough album, Back to Black, I dismissed her as a Shirley Bassey wannabe. It took me several months to dig in farther, and I still regret the time lost. In that third song, "Me and Mr. Jones," with its bold language and scene-setting directness, we learn that Amy Winehouse doesn't merely have pipes, but reservoirs of soul we haven't heard in decades. And the more I learned the more I liked. Winehouse not only reveres the classic R&B records that meant so much to so many, she's trying to bring them back. Heck, she even covers Toots and the Maytals at her live shows.

This reverence is never more apparent than in the album's high point, "The Tears Dry on Their Own." It's certainly a new song, but is supported by the bedrock that is Marvin and Tami's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." I can't imagine anything that would make James Jamerson more proud. Sure, these are new tunes, but they're founded in classic themes. Amy's voice has it all, and the whole album has a heart that is so rare these days in R&B. So far the trend hasn't set in with anyone else, but if she puts out another hit record, perhaps more will get on the real retro bandwagon.

In sum, Amy, you had me at "fuckery."

Previous Entries:
#22 - Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother

One Word Review: White Noise

2010-08-04T10:46:00.001-03:00

28: Garbled

Fishbone @ Teatro Colegiales

2010-08-02T12:08:00.001-03:00

After two years of living in Argentina, I have made it to scant few concerts. There's a local scene, but it's hardly thriving these days. We're so far away, and the peso is worth so little that only the most popular of bands bother to make the trip. Rather than sit through The Killers or Coldplay, I've chosen to simply wait for better options. I couldn't have been more surprised when I saw that Fishbone was coming to town. I wasn't sure if I should be excited or concerned. Does touring the world mean that their popularity has finally dried up in the US? Seriously, Stryper is going to be here in August.

Would anyone here even know who the heck they are? And would they understand what to do? Sadly, I couldn't even get anyone to go with me to check 'em out. The last time I saw Fishbone was at Subterranean in Chicago under similar circumstances when they were trying out a new lineup. Norwood got drunk and the show was a complete disaster. But that didn't deter me at all. Were I to miss this show, I would consider my time here a failure, or at least consider myself a failure.

When the curtain went up, the band tore into "Unyielding Conditioning." My overwhelming first reaction was to note that Dirty Walt was back (and skinny as hell). The band has been through nothing but turmoil over its 25+ year history, and seeing Walt onstage at least helps regain some continuity. After the first song, they tried talking to the crowd. This did not work. Perhaps their accents were hard to understand. Three songs in, I was really worried that I would be the only person jumping around, and furthermore that the band would simply give up.

How foolish of me. Angelo Moore dove headlong into the audience and it changed the entire room. A real pit erupted and churned for the rest of the evening, and those who remained outside jumped up and down, singing along as best they could. Later this year, Angelo will turn 45 years old. Watching him perform, it seems impossible. He's easily the best frontman I've witnessed, bringing wild energy, comedy, and all manner of entertainment to each night's show. I can't help but believe that behind his often clownish exterior he takes himself extremely seriously. Even in a half-full smallish club in a country where nobody is buying their records, he's six times the entertainer Mick Jagger could ever hope to be. Of course, that stage dive would hardly be his last of the evening.

Furthermore, I swear his voice has more velvety soul than ever. Crooning on "Forever Moore," it's clear he really means every note. And aside from Dirty Walt, who seemed disinterested in the entire event, the rest of the band gave it their best, too. My only complaint was that I wanted to hear more songs, but when your catalogue features 8 superb albums, that's to be expected. No band can be all things to all people, but Fishbone is clearly all things to me. They play every kind of music I love, and always play it red hot.

I came away with the same mixed feelings I always do after seeing them... Awed: How lucky I am to have been here for this! Torqued up: I can't wait to see them again! Sad: Why is this band not bigger? They should be superstars!

But this time there was a new profundity - how this band has persevered. Their first record came out in 1985. They have nearly broken up countless times. Their namesake left the band. Their guitarist joined a cult. Their major label dropped them, leaving them close to broke. After that embarrassing display in Chicago, I was sure they were done. But here they are, still one of the best live bands in the world.

In the middle of "Alcoholic," the band riffed Sabbath's "Iron Man" as Moore and keyboardist Dre Gipson raced each other to the back of the main floor on the heads and hands of just enough Porteños to get them there. I couldn't think of a more fitting jam for them to appropriate. They are survivors. I will see them again, maybe even back here in Buenos Aires. As the curtain fell and the Argentines changed "Ole, ole ole ole, Feeshbooone, Feeshboooooone," I came away certain that nobody from the crowd will miss another opportunity if the band does us the favor of returning. Maybe I can even convince some of my friends to come next time. I know the experience would serve them well, and that the band will sound as young as ever.

Show setlist:
Unyielding Conditioning
Suffering
Cholly
Everyday Sunshine
A Selection
Ma and Pa
Date Rape
Give It Up
Bonin' in the Boneyard
Behind Closed Doors
I Wish I Had a Date
Forever Moore
Alcoholic
Skankin to the Beat
Lyin Ass Bitch
Party at Ground Zero

Simon Says The Kingpin
Let Dem Ho's Fight
Freddy's Dead
Servitude

PS - Fishbone is the subject of a new documentary currently touring the festival circuit. Link to the website here. Below you will find a brief taste...

One Word Review: Open Water

2010-08-02T10:43:00.001-03:00

54: Bleak

One Word Review: The Lives of Others

2010-07-23T10:42:00.001-03:00

81: Attentive

One Word Review: Daybreakers

2010-07-21T10:37:00.001-03:00

53: Unassertive

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #22: Mission of Burma - The Obliterati

2010-07-19T16:33:00.002-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Well this sure as hell never should have happened. Or at least we never expected it. First the backstory. We don't have time for the long version. Allmusic sums it up this way: "Of all the punk-inspired bands that came out of Boston in the early '80s, none were better than Mission of Burma." Then in 1983 Roger Miller developed a severe case of tinnitus from being in a band that played so fucking loud, and Mission of Burma was no more. But nearly twenty years later, by chance or luck or perhaps modern technology, they got the band back together.

For me Mission of Burma was always more of a legend than anything tangible. I knew the songs, but they were before my time. The news of the band reuniting sparked my interest, and after seeing them at the Double Door, I was in awe. I realized what I had been missing, only this time I was at least on point for their new material.

It's important to understand that this brand of intentional dissonance is not for everyone. I think I probably said something similar to that last time when presenting Don Caballero, but at least on that record, you can sense the jazz influence. Here you need to be prepared for a rugged, dirty approach to rawking until you feel your ears leaking blood. And even if you're ready, it's going to take a while to get the feel for where each song is going.

I could have easily chosen their comeback album, Onoffon, which obviously must score higher on the significance factor and features many winning tracks such (my personal favorite: "The Enthusiast"). But The Obliterati is even stronger top to bottom. There's not a dud on the record, and I find myself going back to it more often. Tracks like "13," "1001 Pleasant Dreams," and "Donna Sumeria" simply don't get old. And besides, any classic band can have a successful comeback record. But there are scant few who can actually build the reunion into something not only worthwhile, but lasting.

Youtube didn't have much for us this time around. But enjoy the album closer for now!

Previous Entries:
#23 - Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother

One Word Review: Crazy Heart

2010-07-19T10:35:00.000-03:00

62: Bland

A song from times past...

2010-06-29T19:25:00.004-03:00

OK, so I need to apologize for the lack of postings lately. I know that we're way behind on the Top 50 albums, and Brad and I haven't reviewed any movies in a while, and I'm not even pumping out One Word Reviews lately. Sometimes the real life has to take over and Fighting the Youth has to take a back seat. I promise that there will be more on the way. Just be patient.

In the meanwhile, some internet genius has put together two videos that were destined to find themselves embedded in this here blog. We haven't had a Schwarzenegger Sunday in quite a while, and there remain a few more of Arnold's hits to get to. But if you've read the reviews, you know that Conan the Barbarian and Total Recall are two of the greatest movies of all time. They are finally getting the Broadway treatment they so clearly merit. So without further intro, you may now enjoy:

"Crom!" from "Conan the Barbarian: The Musical"

"The Mountains of Mars" from "Total Recall: The Musical"

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #23: Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem

2010-06-14T14:52:00.003-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

When most people think of the best mathy, instrumental music from the 00s, the trendy pick is probably Battles. Their debut nearly made the cut, but the album wound up somewhere just outside the Top 50. Pittsburgh's Don Caballero has been around since the early 90s, pumping out seemingly erratic instrumental prog alternative all the while. If you read the critics, they say that the band was past their prime by the time they got to 2006's World Class Listening Problem. It had been six years since their previous record, and perhaps many had simply forgotten them. But this is the album that really stuck with me. I play it all the time. A week rarely passes where I don't use this disc for inspiration, whether I'm at work, writing, or riding the bus. It could be that they have better records, and maybe in time I will have the joy of discovering them. But at this point, this record is like crack for me.

The 00s weren't exactly a decade where more avant-garde music was embraced. Outside of the popularity of Radiohead and Tool, "pop sensibilities" pretty much reigned. Perhaps that's why we didn't hear much from Don Cab for so long. But now that we've moved into the 10s, it seems that people are warming up to math again. Listening to the previously referenced Mastodon record, especially the vocal-less version, it's not hard to assume that Don Caballero influenced them.

At first blush, the music is aggressive and overtly dissonant. It greets you like a distant, provocative cousin who just moved to your town. You're not quite sure you should even talk to the dude. But then you share a few beers with him, and you realize he's a bit strange, but absolutely awesome. You don't know that he's going to get along with your friends, but you are sure (and happy as hell) that he's in your life to stay.

Most of you will not like this. But I am totally hooked and am totally certain my admiration will continue for decades to come. Actually, it wouldn't hurt if you could have a couple two three beers first.

Previous Entries:
#24 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America

One Word Review: The Game

2010-06-14T10:03:00.002-03:00

61: Distrustful

One Word Review: The Rocker

2010-05-31T17:12:00.000-03:00

31: Tone-deaf

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #24: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink robots

2010-05-31T11:43:00.003-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

I originally had every belief that this album would wind up in the top 10. But in replaying the record, I came to realize that the top tracks are certainly superb, but we're left with some filler. But still, the Top 25 is nothing to sneeze at.

We open with "Fight Test", a sing-songy lullaby of a tune that if played by another band would be the perfect third single on an album. But with Wayne Coyne's thin vocals and all manner of goofy sound effects thrown into the mix, it's definitely their own, avoiding directness. And it does a fine job of setting the table. It's the dreamiest of songs and the introduction to a chaotically dreamy record.

As I said, on long-term listens, there is definitely something lacking from many of the songs. Much of the record makes for interesting background music, as oxymoronic as that may sound. The initial pull of an amusing song like "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" just doesn't have legs. But the album continues smoothly on its floaty way before arriving at the track that vaulted it so high on this list.

"Do You Realize?" has been featured in countless commercials and pretty much overplayed to death. But it hasn't tarnished this wonderful tune at all. It is so compellingly catchy that it both breaks the sleepy state of the album and builds on the foundation already created. Beginning with a banal but breathy "1...2...3...4...", it soars from there, while remaining somewhat distant. But at the 1:30 mark, the beat comes in, then the key changes, and you realize that somehow the song has snuck up on you as something anthemic. "You realize that life goes fast, it's hard to make the good things last." Well, that's just totally trite yet universal at the same time. And somehow this all fits together into the perfect pop song for the early 00s.

Obviously The Flaming Lips laid the groundwork for this on 1999's The Soft Bulletin, and on the high points of this record, they hit their pinnacle of meshing bizarre sounds with good-enough-for-romantic-comedy pop songs. For all my bad-mouthing the staying power of the songs on this record, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Background music it may be, but it meshes with your life any day of the week. And when "Do You Realize?" makes its entrance you're going to sing along whether you're paying attention or not.

Previous Entries:
#25 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

One Word Review: The Godfather: Part III

2010-05-28T11:10:00.002-03:00

73: Familiar

One Word Review: The Godfather: Part II

2010-05-26T11:10:00.002-03:00

93: Indulgent

A to B Back and Forth Review: Iron Man 2, Part II

2010-05-25T19:04:00.004-03:00

Yesterday, Kozy and I started with our analysis of Iron Man 2, posting Part I of our back and forth conversation. So yeah, read that first. Today we conclude with Part II.

ANDREW

OK, so you've given me a lot to chew on here. Let me take things point by point.

I really feel like they didn't give Rourke enough to work with here. Even his weapons are stupid. Why on earth would anyone use whips to fight an opponent who can fire missiles from a distance? And why on earth would Ironman ever let Rourke get close enough to him to cause any damage? Dammit, I'm digressing again into discussions of rationality in an entirely irrational movie. Regarding Rourke, they wasted an opportunity to have an all-time great villain and instead gave us someone who had only a single remotely memorable line: "I want my bird." That's really the only moment you can give The Ram? Weak.

How many of these hoodies you think they went through due to bird-related "accidents"?

Is Paltrow a hottie in this movie? Of course not! Paltrow has never been a hottie in any movie! She's in the long list of actresses that many women believe are beautiful, but no man has ever fantasized about. Others on the list include Linda Evans, Laura Dern, Lili Taylor, Barbara Streisand, and the leader of the gang, Drew Barrymore. She seems like a nice lady, though. But speaking of that irrationality thing (SPOILER ALERT), did you buy the movie-ending kiss? That's the most forced make-out session I've seen since Borat tried to kiss a stranger on the New York City subway. (END OF SPOILER) However, I must agree that Scarlett Johansson certainly impressed - this is perhaps the best she's looked on film. Obviously that's a pretty strong statement.

Not exactly Jessica Alba, is she?

But you didn't see her as big as you expected because these days IMAX theaters are generally not "real" IMAX. That is to say, the company is selling a false product. Check out Roger Ebert's comments on the matter, and you can easily see that you have been ripped off. The theaters from your youth were bigger than the one you just visited. And yes, the volume was simply too much. I'm growing half-deaf in my middle age, and Iron Man 2 and AC/DC didn't do me any favors.

So I must again pull myself out of my cavern of negativity and repeat that Downey is superb in this movie, and that there are enough gags to make it worthwhile. I don't know that I'll have an urge to watch it again. If I do, it will surely be under better volume control.

What you left out of your reply was your synopsis of the black guys. What did you think about the Terrence Howard replacement and what the hell was Samuel Jackson even doing in this picture?

BRAD

Hey Reed,

Your Paltrow analysis is totally spot on. Love the Drew Barrymore and Borat comparisons!

So, you are wondering what I thought of Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard, aka the star of the hit swim team movie, "Pride"? According to the IMDb, Howard declined reprising his Rhodey role due to a falling out with Marvel Studios. I interpret "falling out" as a metaphor for, "pay me money!" According to Cheadle, he tried to make the role of Rhodey his own. But that proved too difficult so he “eventually stole as much as possible from Howard's performance in the first film to bring him (i.e. Rhodey) to life." Cheadle had such a hard time creating this one dimensional character that he had to openly steal his performance from Howard? Well, that's not saying much about Cheadle's creative mojo, that's for sure!

Lastly, the IMDb goes on to give us this little nugget - that two actors worked together previously on a film I know you loathed, Crash. I thought they saved this "previously worked together" crap for the annual Oscar’s show? Anyhow. Cheadle? Howard? Really, it didn’t make much of a difference to me. Rhodey doesn't do anything in Iron Man 2, except during the house destroying and closing fight scenes. And in those he is in full body armor. For all I know it was Dave Chappelle in that suit.

And Sam Jackson? Unlike Rhodey, the Nick Fury character Jackson portrays is white, in the comics. In fact, Fury is so white he was previously portrayed by Baywatch babe and German recording sensation David Hasselhoff in the TV flop Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. So Jackson’s casting is solely due to the fact that he is a bad-ass actor. But Nick Fury’s casting? That is the better question? I know neither of us are hardcore comic fans, but I think Fury is a stretch even for casual fans. As best I can tell, Marvel Studios plans on using Jackson as a conduit, linking together their mega-hit films. So as they jettison into murkier territory (i.e. "in production" flicks Captain America, The Avengers) they have a bankable star to insert in coming attraction teasers. After the first Iron Man, Jackson signed a landmark nine picture deal to appear as Nick Fury. So while his appearance in Iron Man 2 made little sense from a plot perspective, it makes oodles of sense from a marketing slant.

Think the Hoff is miffed he was passed over for Jackson?

It has been a week now since I caught Iron Man 2 at the IMAX and I am already having trouble remembering much about it. Clearly we both enjoyed ourselves while watching this flick, which showcases a very funny Downey Jr., but longer-term, this isn’t a movie either of us will be catching again in the theatre.

Until next time.
Cheers, Kozy

A to B Back and Forth Review: Iron Man 2, Part I

2010-05-24T19:04:00.003-03:00

I'm teaming up with longtime friend, Kozy of April 31st to review films. We're calling the segment "A to B" because I'm Andrew and he's Brad. And he lives in Amsterdam, and I live in Buenos Aires. We generally won't get the new releases when the States do, but hopefully we can either help you reminisce or offer advice before you head out to the video store. So let's get to our eleventh review - Iron Man 2.

ANDREW

My main man Brad!

It's been a while since we've "gotten together" to review modern cinema, so it's high time we jumped back in the saddle. We hadn't yet started these reviews when the first Iron Man hit theaters (even overseas), but we have reviewed recent output by the film's two headlining stars, with Mickey Rourke's The Wrestler getting far superior marks to Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. So without further ado, let's dig in to Iron Man 2!

It's only fitting that in yet another of our reviews, the movie began in Russian with subtitles, challenging us yet again to practice our local languages. Though since it was just Rourke and his dad sadly muttering through vodka-enhanced grief, I suppose that it wasn't so hard to follow. But that's just the intro as the movie immediately transports us to the most exciting of settings - testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I couldn't help but thing of The Godfather, Part II and how the only reason it doesn't surpass the first chapter is because of the fascinatingly boring Senate hearings. This is where director Jon Favreau wants to begin in order to take things up a notch? Sure, Downey made things a bit interesting by the end, but I felt like we were already off on the wrong foot.

This is the theme to Garry's hearing; the theme to Garry's hearing. Gary thought he'd start the movie off with something boring.

It doesn't help that during the same scene we realize (after a few minutes of screen time) that Terrance Howard has been replaced by Don Cheadle. This proves to be a curious decision and Cheadle brings nothing to the role, only standing out by being boring. The story proceeds in a linear manner, adding characters who are each either 100% good guys or 100% bad guys and meanders its way to a climactic fight scene. Along the way, we get a series of action sequences that are hard to follow and possess few remotely new ideas. Aside from some decent moments at the Monaco Grand Prix, I found myself just waiting for all the flying and bullets and missiles and explosions to end.

The movie simply lacks the thrill of the first one. The Tony Stark character is no longer new, and the efforts to make him seem more fragile only serve to make the character less interesting. Those criticisms aside, there remains a lot to like about Iron Man 2. The jokes really work, even better than in the first film. Rourke makes a frightening villain, even if his motives, methods, and abilities are wholly ridiculous. I know. This is a popcorn movie and I shouldn't take it seriously. Believe me - I'm not. I wasn't hoping for The Godfather, Part II. I was hoping for a suped up Iron Man. The only problem here is that Favreau brought the corn, but we never got the pop. Still, I do like me some corn.

Not mere sprinkles, Downey Jr. does brings the levity by the dozen.

So let me know, did Iron Man 2 keep the peace for you?

BRAD

Hey, hey, hey Andrew!

Last night I saw Tony Stark, louder than live, catching Iron Man 2 at the Amsterdam IMAX theatre. I was excited to see my first IMAX movie since childhood. Really, I can’t believe how different IMAX is then I remember it. As a kid I remember the screen being enormous!!! Really, that’s about all I remember of it. A screen so huge I could not see all of it at the same time. This time around the screen seemed big certainly, but enormous? Certainly not. So right off the bat, I was greeted with a downer.

However, what the screen lacked in footage, the speakers made-up for in decibels. At times, it was so freaking loud I was longing for ear plugs. This also reminds me that at long last I finally caught She & Him last week at the Melkweg theatre. As an A2B favorite, and all around highly rated hottie, Zooey Deschanel delivered the goods -- those goods being looking hot and pouty simultaneously.

On the subject of hotties, Iron Man 2 has two offerings; one old and one new. Returning for the sequel is Gwyneth Paltrow, reprising her role as Virginia “Pepper” Potts. New to the action is Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. Paltrow has basically put her career on hold since marrying Coldstar crooner Chris Martin, appearing in only one small film since the last Iron Man film. At first glance she looked quite a bit older and more tired then I remembered. Perhaps she was just in character, as her Pepper Potts' main duty is to clean-up Tony Stark’s booze-fueled messes. Not helping Paltrow's cause was the new addition of Johansson, who frankly looks waaaay better in this movie then Paltrow. Fit and energetic, Woody Allen’s muse does a nice job advertising Marvel’s upcoming The Avenger’s flick (really her only purpose in the film as far as I could tell). What was your take on the ladies in this one Reed?

Ass-kicking hot

As is well established in comic adaptations these days, the bad guys have all the fun. This time around Mickey Rourke is great, playing the mad, drunken Russian physicist role. By the time we learn of Rourke’s motivation for wanting Stark dead it no longer matters, and we just accept that this is a movie with some good people and some bad people. As an aside, this topic of all good/bad characters reminds me of a fantastic film I saw last week, Green Zone. If you are interested in a flick with moral ambiguity, this is the one for you. It's the opposite of a comic book.

Anyways, wrapping up the Rourke talk, don’t you think that with his recent credits as Whiplash in this flick and The Ram in the Wrestler, he has really prepared himself for my proposed re-make of The Running Man? He would make the ultimate stalker!

But what would Ben Richards say upon killing Whiplash? Probably "When a problem comes along, you must whip it."

This is not a film of any consequence, and that’s OK. An hour into the movie I asked myself, “is there a plot yet?” I suppose in the end, the plot of Iron Man 2 is so simple that I just could not see it: Tony Stark must save himself from dying and the world from evil-doers.

As you state, this one is for the popcorn crowd and to that end it delivers the butter. Still, I want answers to my questions. What say you?

Come back tomorrow for Part II where we will take things up a notch as that's what you're supposed to do with sequels.

Previous A to Bs:
Sherlock Holmes
Avatar
500 Days of Summer
Inglorious Basterds
Public Enemies
Slumdog Millionaire
The Wrestler
Watchmen
Star Trek
Terminator 4: Salvation

One Word Review: The Godfather

2010-05-24T16:03:00.005-03:00

98: Irrefusable

One Word Review: Basic Instinct

2010-05-03T10:56:00.000-03:00

69: Brash

Urgent Movie News!!

2010-04-19T23:09:00.002-03:00

I mean, who's not excited now???

One Word Review: The Happening

2010-03-29T11:38:00.000-03:00

14: Shyamalamadingdong

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #25: Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

2010-03-25T17:03:00.001-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

When I was assigning the Top 50 at the start of this project, I felt really happy with the order. I had given it a ton of thought. But when I returned to the album to do my "research" (enjoying another listen), I realized I had to make an amendment. The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes is perhaps just not an album that sticks in your head when it's not on. But once you give it a spin, you have it stuck in your stereo for weeks before are ready to put it down. So perhaps it's fitting that this album arrived at #25, just barely getting into the top half of the list. I'll be honest, some of these entries have been a bit hard to get written. The rest should be loaded with nothing but high praise, and this record is no exception.

Tapes 'n Tapes really don't give a fuck. You can tell this because they called a song "Ten Gallon Ascots." But more than that, it's clear that they are not going to follow any convention laid out for them. While they get compared to Pavement and various other 90s bands that packed fuzz into their guitar work, they are have easily transcended any of those comparisons.

There's something unsettling in this album. A big part of that is Josh Grier's vocals. He consistently sounds like a teenager about to cry from some deep seated frustration. It's hardly welcoming. On top of that, the guitars and drums are not here to present a pretty melody. But the quirky rhythms in this album are so compelling, that all of that fuzzy weirdness settles in around them.

"Insistor" is a masterpiece, and would get this album into the Top 50 all on its own. Part spaghetti western, part Pixies homage and all energy all the time (even when Grier is whispering), it is one of my favorite songs of all time. I will never have enough Insistor in my life. I will listen to it again and again until the day I die. From there the album really pushes the listener, taking unexpected turns and winning on most of them.

The last track, "Jakov's Suite" is the dessert and coffee you didn't think you had room for, but gleefully stuff down your throat. Well, at the beginning, it's all coffee - a jittery, frenetic assemblage of wild riffing and light drumming. But then a minute and a half in, someone dumps a gigantic piece of black forest cake in front of you. You down it bite for bite, and when you're done, you're so damn full, someone else has to drive you home.

The band's second release, Walk It Off, was missing something. I can't say what exactly. Perhaps after the indie attention they gained with The Loon, they started to give too much of a fuck. Here's hoping they try to wild things up again in the 10s. Lord knows they're capable.

Previous Entries:
#26 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #26: Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak

2010-03-22T22:36:00.003-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Kings of Leon consists of three brothers and a cousin from Tennessee who were raised to play music with their evangelical father, but this hardly sounds like gospel. Whether their fuzzy rock and roll is meant as an act of rebellion is hard to tell, and in the end totally unimportant. What matters is that through all the disarray of this record, you feel like you stumbled into some kind of messed up party, but rather than feeling apprehensive, you're going to live it up. This is just a shit-kicking good time. And that's precisely the point.

I would comment that the lyrics are hardly inspiring, but that's more of an assumption than anything since most of what Caleb Followill's vocals range from unintelligible to cryptic. Somehow this void of meaning and male aggression appealed to indie hipsters and frat boys alike and led to the band's current overwhelming success. While I don't want to count myself in either of those groups, I must say that even though they came to this band for different reasons, they're both right. This is music to get wasted to, whether your cheap beer of choice is PBR or Natural Light.

Aha Shake Heartbreak. I can't think of a more aptly titled album. It sounds just like it sounds. Their first record, Youth & Young Manhood had the same feel, but the songs lacked the drunken punch featured here. The band had been working on their game and it showed. I realize that this undermines everything I just said, but Aha Shake Heartbreak is simply more on point.

A tour opening for U2 perhaps showed the band what they could be capable of. Their following records showed more and more polish. And that may say something about their craft. But I still believe this is where they were most in their wheelhouse. At this point they're still moonshine-drinking hillbillies, but it's well prepared moonshine.

Previous Entries:
#27 - Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #27: Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

2010-03-19T11:39:00.001-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

On their debut album, Hope Is Important, Scottish rockers Idlewild really hadn't figured out what they were doing yet. Their output was a rough attempt at grungy punk which really doesn't deserve more than one spin. So the polished evolution featured on their sophomore effort, "100 Broken Windows," was certainly a surprise.

Suddenly this was a band with talent. They could write songs, deploy catchy-as-hell riffs, and singer Roddy Woomble even discovered a capable croon. But I am not trying to say that this is a band simply getting their act together. These are shimmering pop songs buoyed by an incisive edge that few bands can muster without screeching. The thing is, often times you hear a catchy tune, you dig the hell out of it for a few weeks and then it fades away as quickly as it arrived. These gems simply don't quit.

The record begins innocently enough, with a mathy riff that pops from the strings of a guitar before Woomble displays his improved vocals. But once that chorus hits, you can't help singing along, agreeing that "All I need is a little discourage." From there, the band pumps out winner after winner. I could list them, but check out the Youtubes below and then go get the rest of the album.

The records that followed have their high points, but they are just a bit too slick. On 100 Broken Windows, the band found the perfect blend of their past and future. And I know I'm going to keep reliving that moment in their timeline for years to come.

Previous Entries:
#28 - Common - Be
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn

One Word Review: Along Came Polly

2010-03-19T08:21:00.002-03:00

34: Dopey

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #28: Common - Be

2010-03-12T09:48:00.008-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

That we've made it this far into the list and are only now getting to a Hip Hop record indicates pretty clearly what I thought of the decade's output in the genre. This isn't the only rap record to make the Top 50, but it is one of just two. Were this same analysis performed on the 80s or 90s, we would find the beats comprising a much bigger part of the mix. Alas, hip hop has really been on a stead decline, with few artists looking to break new ground these days. Call it a Jay-Z-ification if you will, but I just can't get with the "remix an old song by jacking up the bass and then throw some contrived, unintelligent lyrics over the top" thing.

But Chicago's Common had been toiling away in the underground for well over a decade, putting together songs with real weight and intelligence. That certainly didn't do his popularity any favors during the height of faux gangsta posturing. But he was able to build a strong core following and keep pushing his own limits.

The album starts off with a bass riff that would make James Jamerson proud and within a minute, we're deep in Curtis Mayfield territory. For me, that's enough to declare the record successful already. When Common's voice comes into the mix, it is with a heavy authority. This is no party album. My point is that he is totally in control of his instrument, bouncing his way through every track like he'd known them for years. The end result is a cogent treatment of the day buoyed by a fantastic groove.

Soon after the success of this record, Common turned to Gap commercials and crappy sci-fi sequels. So perhaps I shouldn't hold it in such high regard. It pretty much led to the end of his significance. The ironic thing is that listening to this record he sounds like a huge hypocrite. But I don't really give a damn. I can try to ignore those other things and remember how groovy these tracks sounded when I first heard them. The music's just that good.

Previous Entries:
#29 - The Futureheads - News and Tributes
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #29: The Futureheads - News and Tributes

2010-03-10T12:53:00.008-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

The Futureheads are English as can be, right down to their crooked teeth. So English in fact, that when they try to rawk hard, it all comes out a bit, well, fey. I bring this up not to insult them but because in a way, they remind me of the Beatles. All four members sing with pitch-perfect harmony. When they're clicking, their tunes far outreach the contemporaries.

Their eponymous debut had its moments, but it was telling that the standout track was a Kate Bush cover. On News and Tributes, we get a plethora of songs that meet with the band's potential. From the peppy to the morose, the tunes are more in touch with their own style, bringing a subtle energy that never leaves the record. It could be that they are simply so on point that they are able to surpass the expectations for a rock band.

Tracks like "Back to the Sea" blend the best doo wop has to offer with the energetic beat of new wave revival. This of course means they may have made this album specifically for me. But you can't listen to these songs without feeling the urge to join in. With all four singing at once, there's always a voice to cover any sharps or flats you may produce. And while that's all fine and fun, the bigger accomplishment is capturing that aforementioned energy. Without such tightly created songs, all the harmonies in the world wouldn't be so compelling.

I should note that despite the praise I am heaping on them here, they may have made some pretty big mistakes. As good as this album is, the US-only bonus tracks are even better.

Previous Entries:
#30 - The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer
#39 - Hot Water Music - Caution

Hey Rube!

2010-03-10T08:31:00.000-03:00

Freaking fantastic:

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #30: The Black Keys - Rubber Factory

2010-03-09T10:29:00.004-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

Music history is riddled with white folks stealing from black folks and making millions. One could look at this modern(ish) take on the dirtiest blues available and say the same thing. But to say that The Black Keys (a group comprised solely of guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney) is merely retreading ground already laid by others would be to miss the point. Taking the best elements from John Spencer Blues Explosion and bringing it all back down to earth, they have gone to great lengths to live up to their Akron, Ohio roots. The whole album sounds like it could indeed have been created within some kind of industrial factory.

The plodding opening track, "When the Lights Go Out," indicates that we are here for darkness. It is a murky, dirty groove with the simplest of beats. But then "10 A.M. Automatic" kicks in and quickly sets us right, bringing the needed energy to get through an entire album of bluesy riffs and rootsy crooning.

This is not music meant to inspire or antagonize. The whole point is the groove, hip enough to dance to, and soulful enough to drive to with the top down. I must admit that I did not expect to dig these guys. The whole prospect of "just two dudes" indicates that it should just be too damn minimalist for me. But I can't let this record go. When I have the urge to simply feel good, it's the perfect soundtrack. Well, once we get past that first tune of course.

Previous Entries:
#31 - Wolfmother - Wolfmother
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer
#39 - Hot Water Music - Caution
#40 - Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy

One Word Review: Nick of Time

2010-03-05T15:48:00.001-03:00

34: Unapt

One Word Review: The Getaway (1972)

2010-03-03T18:45:00.000-03:00

70: Feral

One Word Review: Sherlock Holmes

2010-03-01T16:42:00.001-03:00

57: Forgettable

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #31: Wolfmother - Wolfmother

2010-03-01T11:41:00.001-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

It seems so obvious now, but nobody thought of it before. Or at least if they did, they didn't execute it correctly. Just take equal parts Black Sabbath and The White Stripes, and what do you get? Simply one of the most successful hard rock albums of the decade.

This is some fun freaking rawk, hitting all the buttons we need. It's fast enough to bang your head, but slow enough to rattle your ribcage. The success of this record is evidence that we had been waiting for something like this to roll through town. That a trio can pile so much sound together is a credit to the album's production.

Of course, the goofy scream that begins the album is almost daring us to run away. Its utter stupidity is a signal that there will be things we must accept if we wish to continue. Make no mistake, the majority of the lyrics are horrendous. But then again, it's not like Ozzy Osbourne was ever mistaken for John Keats, and that has never reduced my adoration for Sabbath. There were many ways they could have approached this record, but the choice to forge brazenly ahead is the only one that would have worked. Good thing they made the right one, even if it may have seemed a bit silly. Seriously, just look at that album cover!

But it's all totally acceptable. The point is not to make great art here. The point is to rock your face off. And that's what they do. When I caught the band just before the peak of their rise at Lollapalooza 2006, they put on one of the most impressive performances of the weekend. So impressive that some big doofus behind me wouldn't stop hollering, "They stole the show!" as soon as it finished. Well, he was pretty much right.

In sum, I have zero complaints about this record, and have the urge to spin it frequently. Their follow-up, Cosmic Egg, left me totally uninterested, but with the debut I can be 17 in the 70s again whenever I want, banging my head until my shaggy locks get split ends.

Previous Entries:
#32 - Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer
#39 - Hot Water Music - Caution
#40 - Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy
#41 - Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike

A to B Back and Forth Review: Sherlock Holmes, Part II

2010-02-24T10:10:00.008-03:00

Yesterday, Kozy and I started with our analysis of Sherlock Holmes, posting Part I of our back and forth conversation. So yeah, read that first. Today we conclude with Part II.

ANDREW

My Dear Brad,

I´m going to assume that the promise of one Rachel McAdams was enough to keep you past that 15 minute threshold. Though I must say as much as I think she´s got a ton of potential as an actress and a hottie, she really drags this film down. It could be that Ritchie simply has no idea how to create a female character. His only previous attempt was Swept Away, and the 12 people who went to see it know how badly that turned out.

I´m glad you stayed so you can help me calibrate my opinion on this film. I must say that I agree with just about everything you write, yet I still enjoyed the film a bit more than you did. I guess I had the good fortune of accepting the "modernization" (or should I say abandonment?) of the Holmes legend. It definitely freed me up to just go with the flow. Had I known Ritchie was directing, I would have made this decision before I got in the car to head to the theater. He´s all about style over substance, and this film is no exception.

More like the Holmes we would have preferred.

Regarding Moriarty, yes I think they were clearly taking baby steps, seeing if what they were doing worked, and will then bring in a top star for the role. The movie´s already grossed over $200,000,000 domestic. This was just the setup. They did the same with Batman, waiting to include the baddies we know and love until the second film.

I am of two minds here - I wish I were a more knowledgeable Holmes scholar, so I could verify how far they deviated. At the same time, I am better off not knowing. Actually, I think it´s pretty clear that not knowing is winning. Funny that you mention House MD (or as it is called here in Argentina, "DOCTOR HOUSE!"). After leaving the theater, Mati informed me that House was in fact based on Sherlock Holmes. That makes me appreciate the show all the more, but also leaves me all the more flat about this movie.

In the end, I am hard-pressed to make any profound statements about a movie that is so blatantly shallow. Again, I liked the acting by both Downey and Law, but there is nothing else to which I can grab onto in this film. I´d say I was disappointed if it weren´t for the fact that I wasn´t exactly hopeful going in. Can you wrap it up with some elementary conclusions?

Un abrazo!
Dr. Drew

BRAD

Dear Dr. Drew,

I have a sex question and I am hoping you can help me. Every time I think about doing "it" I start to visualize Bea Arthur wearing nothing but a corset. How do I take it to the next level? Ooops! Sorry, this was an email I intended to send to Loveline.

Only in your dreams, Brad.

I meant, err, that I ever time I think about doing 'it’ I begin visualizing Rachael McAdams. Anyhoo. Sherlock Holmes. That’s what we were talking about! Yeah, Rachael McAdams. Our old friend from the Arcade Fire. That was awesome! And she was nice to look at as well. :-) But I must confess she has not been doing much for me lately. The Family Stone. The Time Traveler's Wife. Enough said. I totally agree with you that Guy Ritchie has no idea what to do with actresses and that surely played a role in her mediocrity in this film.

Only in everyone's dreams.

So Dr. Drew, can I answer your challenge and wrap it up with some elementary conclusions?

Sherlock Holmes is pretty clever
Watson is a patient man.
Rachael McAdams is a hottie.

And now some predictions:

Sherlock Holmes will be equally, if not even more clever in Sherlock Holmes II
When we see Moriarty next, he will appear with a celebrity face -- my vote is for Mr. Bean!
A2B will not review Sherlock Holmes II

I write to you on my way home from the Carnival celebration in Cologne. What a great time! German’s in colorful costumes, breaking all the rules. During this special weekend you can even cross the street when it says ‘do not walk’, without fear of penalty! At the Friday night Carnival celebration I enthusiastically spotted a small group of girls dressed as human feces. Apparently that is a hot costume for eligible 20-something ladies. To achieve this look, all four of them dressed in matching hot fudge colored shirts and pants and crowned themselves with plastic poo, complete with swarming flies.

Quoting Stan Marsh, "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with German people?" And why the hell is Brad describing this to me?

Those "scheiße" ladies reminded me of my Sherlock Holmes experience. At first glance I was intrigued, wanting to know more. But in the end, things got smelly and I was left with a bit of distaste.

Until next time my friend!
- Kozy

A to B Back and Forth Review: Sherlock Holmes, Part I

2010-02-23T10:40:00.008-03:00

I'm teaming up with longtime friend, Kozy of April 31st to review films. We're calling the segment "A to B" because I'm Andrew and he's Brad. And he lives in Amsterdam, and I live in Buenos Aires. We generally won't get the new releases when the States do, but hopefully we can either help you reminisce or offer advice before you head out to the video store. So let's get to our tenth review - Sherlock Holmes.

ANDREW

What up, Homes???

I assume we won't be debating preferences for clothing or music this time around since, well, the film takes place in the 1800s, well before the invention of the noise reducing headphone. But no matter, Guy Ritchie has done his thing and put a very modern take on the classic character of Sherlock Holmes. The film is littered with slow-motion action scenes and a helluva lot of bare-knuckled punching - not exactly what I expected from Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. I'll be honest. I was a bad reviewer and didn't even realize that Ritchie was at the helm on this film until the credits rolled. Suddenly it all made sense.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the character, but I did enjoy a couple of Doyle's books when I was a lad. Needless to say, this was a departure from my preconceived notions of the characters. Yet this modern approach was a winning one nonetheless. Downey and Jude Law give plenty of oomph to the two lead characters, and even though it seemed contrived, I still enjoyed the way Ritchie brought to life 1800s London. There was just enough filth and grime to satisfy reality, and keep the film from venturing too far into Hudson Hawk territory (though I must say there was plenty of flirtation with farce).

"Just be quiet and boring and will be the easiest paycheck you've earned, 'kay?"

There was basically no effort to explain to us who Holmes is. If you had never heard of Sherlock Holmes before, you would spend most of this movie wondering what the hell was going on. But given that everyone has their preconceived notions of the character, Ritchie did nothing to adjust those notions one way or another. This was a smart decision, as it lets the viewer add more depth to the character on her own.

On the other hand, it's clear that nobody put much effort into crafting a decent story. This is all the more glaring considering that Doyle wrote 60 stories about the character. First of all, there were moments where Ritchie was intentionally misleading us, not simply the characters on screen, such as Holmes' "trip" into the cult's practices. A great mystery doesn't need such tricks. Furthermore, a mystery should not simply consist of people running around from one place to another until things get resolved. You can have an action movie and a mystery at the same time. Also, the action scenes were nothing special. I'm OK with the idea of making an action movie out of this. Incidentally, I'm one of the few people who actually liked Hudson Hawk. So I'm not that hard to win over. But outside of the Quebecois gigantor, none of the action sequences did much for me.

Most obscure reference made in an A-to-B yet? Just wait until you see what Brad rolls out tomorrow...

All that said, I must say I enjoyed the movie. The acting was superb, and the polish carried it the rest of the way. That said, I can't really think of one thing that I'm going to remember about this film two weeks from now. It was fine for what it was, and didn't do anything to offend me. I just hope the sequel has a bit more care put into the details.

So, my good Dr. Watson (or are you Sherlock? - we should let the readers decide), what say you?

BRAD

My good man, Mr. Reed,

You have given a very fair review of the film. It is indeed a movie with positive qualities, but one that will not leave you asking questions weeks later. I suppose I can begin by revealing that I contemplated standing up and walking out of the theatre after just the first 15 minutes. That’s right, walking out. From the get-go there was something about this movie that just did not work for me. Days later it is still difficult to put my finger on what exactly that was. But I will try.

For beginners I was bored. I did have the benefit of knowing Guy Ritchie was sitting in the Director’s chair on this project. I liked that Ritchie brought a strong visual identity to the movie. However, for an action movie that was so dependent on CGI, I found the pacing downright plodding.

Secondly, as you aptly noted, there was basically no effort to explain to us who Holmes is. However, unlike you, I did not find this to be a wise decision. According to Wikipedia, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess and is renowned for his skillful use of astute observation, deductive reasoning and forensic skills to solve difficult cases. That description plays nearly identical to my understanding of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved character.

With that in mind, I spent almost the entire movie scratching my head and muttering, "is this really how Holmes would handle or approach this situation?" Of course many of the situations were so far removed from the pretext of the character the answer to that question was invariably "no." And this bothered me.

"Seriously, nobody's going to notice that we're butchering the legacy."

The Holmes portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. participates in bare-knuckled cage fight matches, narrowly escapes large scale bombings, and is so socially inept he gets a glass of red wine thrown in his face by Watson’s fiancée. Yet he is so suave he wins over the woman trying to ruin him. This was not a Holmes that deduced things through clever observation and reasoning, so really then, why even pretend the audience has gathered to watch him solve a mystery?

Equally strange was the behavior of Watson. I won’t bother to analyze his character in the same way, but I will say this. Watching Homes and Watson interact, I was reminded of another cranky Brit and his reluctant enabling partner. I am of course referring to Dr. Gregory House and Dr. James Wilson of the hit TV show House MD. I am serious, get these 4 guys together and you have the beginnings of a great support group.

Lastly, what was up with Moriarty? To begin with, Guy Ritchie chose again not to do anything to develop this character. I suppose he assumed everyone in the audience knew Moriarty. Secondly, his only purpose in this movie is to set-up the sequel. I find that extremely annoying. And lastly (but most importantly), why did Guy Ritchie not reveal the face of Moriarty? Most likely because he could secure an A-level star for the sequel, but not for throw away scenes in the original. But of course I do have another pet theory. Maybe Ritchie sat home one rainy Saturday morning with his lads watching cartoons and found inspiration. Maybe it’s just me, but the portrayal of Moriarty is shocking similar to the faceless and mysterious Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget fame.

Brad's on to you, Mister Ritchie.

So I was far more engaged writing this email then I was during my screening of Sherlock Holmes. What do you think of my criticisms? Have I given this flick to much thought when I should just go with the flow?

T. Ziens, Brad

Tune in tomorrow for Part II where things will take a turn for the gross. Just remember that I warned you.

Previous A to Bs:
Avatar
500 Days of Summer
Inglorious Basterds
Public Enemies
Slumdog Millionaire
The Wrestler
Watchmen
Star Trek
Terminator 4: Salvation

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #32: Juno - A Future Lived in Past Tense

2010-02-22T11:19:00.006-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

This album feels like a journey...No. Wait a sec. This album is a journey, one that takes a long time. It's not so clear where we're going there, but the getting there is all around us. The ebbs and flows are taken in broad, sweeping strokes. It's an album that is brimming with self-confidence, not really caring if you follow all of its points in detail. It knows you're coming along for the ride.

We begin with only an organ and weave our way through a five minute instrumental track which is clearly just there to set the table. A bright guitar riff then kicks off "Covered with Hair," a ramshackle piece of music that intentionally never finds its groove. Of course a groove is not the point. The point is guitars that fuzz with the best of them, drums that pound in seemingly every direction, and vocals that are shouted but not screamed.

We never really get on stable footing. Each song is in its own place, then the journey continues to the next one. The centerpiece is the over 10 minute "The French Letter", a song that takes its sweet time getting to the point. But, then again, that's kind of the point as well. Once it does kick in, its patience has paid off.

Very much of its time (early 2001), it is blatantly Post-Jesus and Mary Chain/Soundgarden, and sadly pre-nothing. Had Juno come along a bit sooner, these guys would have been Sunny Day Real Estate. (Please don't say, "Who?", kiddos.) This record could have easily been regarded as the one that marked the dead end of the alternative era, if only more people knew about it.

So how does it make my Top 50 these nine years later if it's dated? Again, this is all about my enjoyment level, and while this A Future Lived in Past Tense has really never been in consistent rotation for very long, it's one I find myself returning to every year. Listening to it is like watching one of your favorite old movies - something you enjoy just for yourself. You know all the twists and turns, but you just love watching them unfold again.

Apparently they had a new album come out in 2008, but there's scant information about it. File this band in the consistently bursting "too bad they didn't make it" drawer. But maybe one of you will get into them now. As they say on "When I was In," it's all a matter of reaching.

Live version

Previous Entries:
#33 - Bad Religion - The New America
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer
#39 - Hot Water Music - Caution
#40 - Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy
#41 - Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike
#42 - Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

Yes, the Terminator has officially died

2010-02-20T18:27:00.004-03:00

I don't want to sound arrogant here, but given my history as chronicler of the collective works of Schwarzenegger, I consider myself to be something of an expert on the Terminator series. Perhaps only a Zulu Expert, depending on who else is around. Yet my extensive reviews of The Terminator, Terminator 2, and the back-and-forth I had with Brad on Terminator 4: Salvation give me at least some street cred here.

After viewing the truly offensive Terminator 4, helmed by McG, I declared the franchise dead. That there was no way to rescue it. Once John Connor can face hand-to-hand combat with several terminators and survive with only (considerably ugly) scratches, the entire point of the franchise is out the window. Yet this was allowed to happen.

At this point, one of the franchise's original writers, William Wisher, is working on chapters 5 and 6 with the hope of rescuing the storyline. I contend that the only way this can work is to pretend #4 never happened (the same thing I've been trying to do ever since I walked out of the theater). Best of luck, William, but I'm not holding out much hope for ya.

James Cameron is surely arrogant, but at the same time a man polite to his peers, even those glaringly beneath him on the pecking order (to make no mention of the "talent order"). In the below video, he claims that the Terminator "soup's been pissed in," by various other people. I take this as validation of my stance.

I am still heartbroken by what unfolded in Terminator 4. I suppose that's better than actually broke, like the Halcyon Company currently is. But hey, you piss your bed, you have to lie in it. Or something like that.

Here's Cameron tacitly agreeing with me:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

(HT - Mati)

Top 50 Albums of the 00s - #33: Bad Religion - The New America

2010-02-15T11:36:00.008-03:00

Yep, we're counting down the top 50. Click here for overview and criteria.

The 90s had been kind of a lost decade for Bad Religion. In the wake of losing guitarist Brett Gurewitz, the punk outfit had trouble making their way through the Alternative Revolution. And with a Democrat in the White House politics didn't seem to be as easy to rail against. Reinvention seemed difficult for them, and each successive album offered a little less than the previous one.

The New America roars out of the gates with clanging percussion and a rippin guitar solo on the aptly titled "You've Got a Chance." It loudly and clearly announces that the band has progressed, and the album that follows loudly delivers on that promise. "New America," "1000 Memories," and "A Streetkid Named Desire" pump out a ton of energy. The whole first half of the record has a punchy attitude that almost makes you feel like dancing if you can believe that.

After a brief (but significant) misstep with the banal "My Computer," the last four tracks divert that energy to a more serious message. The songs and lyrics carry weight, pounding the listener with an intensity the band had never previously reached. Finally, "Don't Sell Me Short" speeds us to the album's exit, sending us off ready to take on the whole fucking world.

What we didn't know at the time, but is perfectly clear now, is that this was the last real salvo from Bad Religion. They came back with a halfway decent follow up, The Process of Belief, but that record had all the feel of this album's B-sides. The clearest problem was that drummer Bobby Schayer had to retire because of tendonitis. As much as the group depends on Graffin's witty lyrics and all the "oozin ahs" that are their signature sound, Schayer was the engine that drove the resurgence in the first place. So instead of a new era of one of punk's second wave stalwarts, the album serves as their death rattle (assuming they don't have another bounceback in them). But the good news is that the record still still invigorates and inspires, making what they accomplished here all the more remarkable.

Sorry for live videos. Youtube is less help for the early-decade albums.

Previous Entries:
#34 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
#35 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
#36 - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
#37 - Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn
#38 - The National - Boxer
#39 - Hot Water Music - Caution
#40 - Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy
#41 - Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike
#42 - Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
#43 - Ladyhawk - Ladyhawk

On a plane

2010-02-12T21:56:00.001-03:00

Eleven of them actually, but that´s a story for another blog. Just to tide you over, here is Yeasayer´s new single. Get into it.

One Word Review: Avatar

2010-02-03T10:49:00.002-03:00

85: Breathtaking

Oscar Nominations - Focus on the Foreigners

2010-02-02T23:31:00.009-03:00

Today the Oscar nominees were unveiled in Hollywood. My initial reaction was similar to most esteemed pundits: The Blindside?!?!? WTF?

Expanding the Best Picture nominees to 10 could potentially have profound consequences on which film is the eventual the winner. Films that otherwise would have no chance are now in the running. The final vote will be more "Heisman Trophy" style in which people rank their top favorites, giving the most points to their #1. This makes an already wide-open field more unpredictable. Then again, Oscar doesn't exactly have a great track record for identifying the best film - it's not like we have a clear idea on who's doing the voting anyway. So I am left intrigued about how that trophy winds up.

I of course can't help but focus my attention on the Best Foreign Language Film category. Argentina has achieved a nomination for the first time since 2002 when the same director, Juan José Campanella, saw El Hijo De La Novia lose out to No Man's Land. El Secreto De Sus Ojos has already become the most successful Argentine movie in the country's history. Mati named it the top movie of 2009, and I must say I agree with him. For all the fawning Brad and I did over Avatar during the last two days, Ojos has stayed with me in a way few films do. The only ones that come to mind over recent years are There Will be Blood and The Wrestler. It's a remarkable film, that I called "Layered." In relief these four months later, I am still finding deeper meaning. To sum up, I really hope it wins.

All that said, I have not seen any of the other nominees. Hell, I've hardly seen any of the movies nominated in any categories. We'll probably get a rush of the nominees and I will have to spend the coming weeks at the theater.

Today in reviewing the newly unveiled nominees, Roger Ebert rather flippantly predicted that "The White Ribbon" will be the winner. But Ebert states that he hasn't seen the other films (or at the very least hasn't reviewed them). I'm not trying to pick on Roger - he is correct that The White Ribbon is the assumptive favorite. It has garnered a ton of attention and won the Palme D'Or at Cannes. But in this category, assumptions can easily be faulty (nowadays). Best Foreign Language film is one of the few that requires voters to see all five nominees. This gives every film a fighting chance.

Let's start by reviewing some recent history:
2007 - Everyone assumes Pan's Labyrinth is going to walk away with the prize. Indeed, it did three times, but not in this category. Wins in Makeup, Cinematography, and Art Direction were supportive victories, but not enough to beat out The Lives of Others for the Foreign Language prize. Ebert gave no such predictions three years ago, but nobody would have blamed him for assuming Pan's Labyrinth would win. At this time, the IMDb rating reflects the hierarchy as well, with Lives of Others getting an 8.5, and Pan's Labyrinth just behind at 8.4.

2008 - The category is more wide open with no clear lead contender, and two critical favorites missing the cut. Mongol is receiving the most attention, but loses to The Counterfeiters. IMDb says Mongol 7.4 < The Counterfeiters 7.7

2009 - Waltz with Bashir, an innovative film blending live action with animation that looks back at an invasion of Lebannon is the odds-on favorite. A relatively unknown film from Japan, Okuribito ends up winning. Once again, IMDb agrees, 8.2 over 8.0.

So that brings us to this year. Recent history shows us that all eligible films truly have a shot. The IMDb ratings show three top contenders: A Prophet 8.0, The White Ribbon 8.2, El Secreto de Sus Ojos 8.6. Now, it's very early and these ratings will likely all go down over time. But in this category, por suerte, hype means nothing, and we must say there is no favorite. Let the countdown begin!

Trailer for A Prophet

Trailer for The White Ribbon

Trailer for El Secreto de Sus Ojos (sorry, no subtitled version yet!)