One Word Review: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

61: Extreme

Heard These Guys Yet? - Jan 09

We're mixing things up a bit with our recommendations this month. While we love raising the profile of newer bands that we've come to dig and think you would appreciate, because it's the start of a new year, we are going to take things in a new direction this month and highlight some older bands that you should have been checking out all along. So permit us our nostalgia and, as Dan Quayle would say, go past to the back.

Recommender: Biz
Band: Margo Guryan
Blurb: This is some really cool 60s psychedelic pop. Guryan's one full-length album, Take a Picture, was released without much promotion or distribution and got very little attention at the time, but it is now beginning to be recognized as a classic 60s album. Apparently Margo Guryan was more of a songwriter than a performer, and she didn't like being in front of an audience. Her singing style actually sounds more like a precursor to later "indie" singers, like Elliott Smith. A was a classical and Jazz musician, she got inspired by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, and the result was the 1968 release, Take a Picture. This album has great melodies over jazz-inspired arrangements, and the recordings sound great. In recent decades Margo has kept a low profile, mostly teaching music, although there has been new interest in her songs. Her album, along with a collection of demos, has been reissued on CD and itunes. She did resurface in 2007 to express some political dissent, or at least dark satire. "16 Words" quotes one of Dubya's most impeachable statements, and the song is catchy enough that is hard to forget what those 16 words are. The video is also surprisingly well done. If you're willing to take a trip down that rabbit hole, you can check it out here.
Reminds me of: Belle and Sebastian meet the sixties and lose the "twee"
File Under: I should really have tried to be clever and write the whole blurb in sixteen words.
But don't take my word for it: Margo Guryan at Myspace

Recommender: PMaz

Band: You Am I
Blurb:I came very close to passing over Australia's You Am I back around 2000. I had just picked up 25 CDs at the Mammoth Music Mart in Skokie, IL. Added to the pile on a friend's recommendation was You Am I's "Hi Fi Way." I didn't expect much from any of the CDs since they didn't cost but $2 a piece. I probably listened to one or two songs on most of them and quit. But I found myself returning over and over to a song called "Purple Sneakers" and being intrigued by the participation of The Posies' Jon Auer on another song. I figured if Auer was lending a hand, they must be good. Eight studio albums later, You Am I are still going strong with the recent release of a great new album called "Dilettantes". More subdued than their previous release "Convicts", the new album still has that loose, grungey sound most of time. From Wikipedia: They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances. Now if only they would make more more appearances in the U.S., we could all get out there and witness this spectacle. I am sure you would agree with me that You Am I deliver the goods.
Reminds me of: The Replacements, The Rolling Stones, Supergrass.
File Under: Keeping Cool Down Under
But don't take my word for it: You Am I at Myspace

Recommender: Jonas
Band: Say Hi (Formerly Say Hi To Your Mom)
Blurb: First off, not until researching recently did I find that the band I’m recommending, Say Hi To Your Mom renamed themselves last year to simply Say Hi. I’m not really sure what caused the change, but I like the old name better because it matched their lyrical style, which is verbose and quirky. Although quirky, the lyrics never cross over to silly, and are more often on the serious side. The music however, is always serious. On many songs there’s a very full sound of drowning guitars with keyboards and other instruments sprinkled in here and there, like Sugar. Other times they can really rock, but without taking themselves too seriously. I think much in the same way that Nada Surf can rock, but then catch you off guard with a leisurely heartfelt tune. Because each album does have some sincere tracks, it makes for a good and fulfilling mix. The vocals mix perfectly with the music. The singer’s voice is very distinctive, a little off key here and there, low and sounding like he just woke up. This, mixed with many of the minor keys of their songs give them a distant and mysterious feel, but never dark. This is definitely a band that deserves more exposure, press and a larger following. As for albums I would recommend starting out with Ferocious Mopes, then moving onto Impeccable Blahs and then Numbers & Mumbles. I’ve not heard The Wishes and the Glitch, the most recent album, but I will be looking out for a new CD in March, Oohs & Aahs on Barsuk Records.
Reminds me of: Take the wall of guitars from Sugar, mix with the indie-rocking of Nada Surf, then throw in a little bit of an Elliot Smith vibe.
File Under: Shaking Off the Shoegaze
But don't take my word for it: Say Hi at Myspace

Recommender: Reed
Band: 12 Rods
Blurb: I promise not to mention Elliot Smith in this synopsis. Ah, crap I just did! Anyway, my selection this month has nothing in common with him. I first heard about 12 Rods when a coworker put their song, "Part of 2", on a group compilation. From that point on, I couldn't get enough of this Minneapolis quartet. Though often labeled prog rock (and they were a bit mathy to be sure), they had a fire and dissonance normally reserved for crazier alternative acts. After becoming the first band signed to Virgin Records' V2 label, they put out Split Personalities, a record that just keeps coming at you. Critial fawning followed, but scant radio play. When they split with their frenetic drummer, they managed to replace him with an even better one (Dave King of The Bad Plus).
Their second album was a bit of a disaster, but its failing can be blamed on the careless production of Todd Rundgren (yeah, picking on him twice in one week). At that point, they were dropped from V2 and put out their third album themselves. A masterpiece that's alternately heavy and agile, the band was back to doing what they do best. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be and they called it quits soon after. Their albums may be impossible to track down at this point, but I highly recommend the search as #s 1 and 3 simply never tire for me. (Note, their website is down and kicks you over to their facebook page, but there are allusions to the future selling of records in that location. Rejoice!)
Reminds me of: Mr. Bungle crossed with the (electro) Magnetic Fields
File Under: Too Hot to Prog
But don't take my word for it: 12 Rods at Myspace (fan site)

Unyielding Commissioning Has a Bucket at the Ready

Oscar approaches - The Trib's Michael Phillips gives his Oscar rundown. You probably remember Phillips as the most frequent guest who filled in on At the Movies when Roger Ebert lost his voice due to illness. He's a very opinionated critic and made a good foil to Roeper's fluffy approach. Anyway, I dug his approach on this one.

Roll the credits already - Neatorama gives us the backstory on the six most famous Hollywood logos. Looking at them all lined up together, you have to admit that Warner Brothers is the coolest.

He bent his wookie - Mental Floss offers a Ralph Wiggum Test. I scored a 9/15. Really poor showing by me, and on five of those six misses, a little more thought would have gotten me to the right answer.

The new Village Voice? - The New York Times seems to keep getting more interested in non-mainstream music lately. First they had their infatuation with Andrew Bird's latest release, and now they have a pretty fluffy feature on the new album by Franz Ferdinand. The words are nothing earth-shattering, but embedded in the story, you can spin two songs from the album which are both friggin' fantastic, indicating that the album is a must-buy. (First Blush coming if I can get my hands on a copy here in Argentina).

Grodyyyy - Scene Stealers grosses us out with the Top 10 Unnerving Movie Scenes. I've only seen two of the movies listed and I'm pretty much OK with stopping there.

One Word Review: Old School

41: Dank

5-4-T: Overrated Gangster Movies

It sometimes seems that nothing can warm the heart of the moviegoing public more than a gangster with a conscience. A well-crafted story with this theme will almost always garner box office success, if not critical acclaim. In today's Five For Tuesday, we look at gangster films that have been overly-lauded. Some of these are actually good, just not deserving of the fawning attention they tend to receive. NOTE - some spoilers here.

5) The Sting
Though it starts off with a rather serious tone (what's more serious than a murder?), The Sting takes a steady descent into cheekiness as it progresses. Whatever tension and seriousness they try to build goes away when everything comes off as a big joke. That's not to say the joke isn't a good one, but is it 7 Oscars and 94th movie of all time good? Watch it once and that will be enough for you. Sure, it's fun, and Robert Shaw's performance as the cranky, buffoonish opposition is kind of a trip, but can you imagine Ocean's Eleven winning best picture?

4) Scarface/Carlito's Way/The Untouchables
Brian DePalma gets a triple-entry here for repeatedly trashing promising screenplays with his sledgehammer approach to filmmaking. Each of these films feature annoyingly superfluous slow-motion scenes and various other moments when DePalma announces his presence at the expense of the story. Between the baby carriage scene in the Untouchables (yes, I realize it's a Battleship Potemkin reference - doesn't mean it belongs in the movie), Tony Montana's bizarre freakout moments whenever another man is in the same room as his sister, and the ridiculous Joe Cocker moment in Carlito's Way, we can only lament that the movie studios didn't hire someone more competent.

3) The French Connection
There is that one really kick-ass car chase. And that alone makes this picture worth seeing. Unfortunately, that alone is the only reason to see this picture. Hackman has a few over the top sequences that somehow earned him the Oscar for Best Actor, and the movie also garnered Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. But aside from there not being much of a story, the majority of this film is just people walking around the city.

2) The Road to Perdition
I cannot accurately describe the contempt I had for this movie upon watching it. To be sure, it is great looking. The cinematography is amazing and deservedly won the Oscar. But aside from that, there is so much to hate about this movie. A story that is overtly violent for the sake of the violence, yet feels as though it was made up as the movie was filmed eventually leads to an absolutely preposterous climax. Basically, this film comes off as a ripoff of the Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing, but without the interesting characters, dialogue, story, and point. Yet it has a 7.8 on IMDb. The awful ending is made all the worse by the most astonishingly bad superfluous voiceover ever recorded. If you can stomach it, watch the finish here.

1) The Usual Suspects
Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to like about this movie, provided you don't mind the fact that none of it actually happened. That's right, the "surprise" ending is that everything you just spent two hours watching didn't exist. Yet, the IMDb voters have seen fit to name this non-story the 21st greatest movie of all time! Seriously, if you knew the film ended like this, you wouldn't have gone to see it, right? Basically, I found myself in agreement with Roger Ebert before I saw his review. And if that's not enough, how about: "Starring Stephen Baldwin."

First Blush: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

It doesn't seem all that long ago when we first blushed Bird's previous record, Armchair Apocrypha, giving it a solid thumbs up that only strengthened on further listens. Bird has received a lot of attention in the interim, most notably by writing blog pieces and being featured in the New York Times. I'm a much bigger fan of his now than I was then, and now that I have the new record in hand, I can't wait to give it a spin. So let's see how he dealt with all that attention. Here we go!

Track 1 - Oh No
The album kicks off with a light, airy feel, almost reminiscent of a 1950s Disney movie. Then Andrew casually begins his vocals. This is seriously reminding me of Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light." No, that's not really a good thing. It's catchy in a kind of sing-songy way, but that's really far beneath what Bird is capable of. But he generally starts albums slowly. Hopefully this is just the ramp-up, and we'll get into some more interesting stuff soon.

Track 2 - Masterswarm
Is that a harpsichord? (No, it's a guitar.) Just vocals with a little guitar in the background at the outset here, it feels like a more minimal Richard Buckner tune. Then it picks up with some hand-percussion and pizzicato violin. But the vocals remain front and center. This one feels like it could be the backing track on a PBS travel or cooking show. Still waiting for him to grab my attention.

Track 3 - Fitz and the Dizzyspells
Some more unique sounds, and then finally we hear something from Dosh's drum kit and some actual guitar strumming. "We were all fast asleep" - is he talking about the first two songs? This still feels kinda minimalist for Andrew Bird, but at least things are picking up a little. But the song sounds like it's from the 1960s and not remotely breaking any new ground.

Track 4 - Effigy
Pizzicato sounds Asian as this one begins with a lot of echo on the violin. One minute in, we get our first vocal harmonies. It's another overtly peaceful song, but maybe he's warming up.

Track 5 - Tenuousness
We're more in classic Bird territory here. The picked guitar pops and the vocals are half-sung, half-spoken as they swing like an open gate. It just kind of goes long, but so far this is the most dynamic track on the album.

Track 6 - Nomenclature
Some more bedtime music, Bird croons in a sleepy sort of way with scant percussion behind him. Then 1:45 in, he suddenly grasps on to a vocal note as the rest of the sounds crest behind it - just for a half-minute or so.

Track 7 - ouo
Is this the end of side A or the beginning of side B? Either way, it's 20 seconds long.

Track 8 - Not a Robot, But a Ghost
"I run the numbers through the floor. Here's how it goes I crack the codes, I crack the codes that end the war." The song is kind of "mathy" itself. So that sounds apt. If there's a unique single that can bring in some new fans, this is probably it. His vocals sound more earnest and there's a customized, driving beat running through the whole song. But then it breaks down with spacey strings and whistling before the beat comes back. So maybe not a real single, but he's definitely doing something new on this one.

Track 9 - Unfolding Fans
Just like the name says. OK, not really, but it's a transitional instrumental that sounds reminiscent of an orchestra tuning up.

Track 10 - Anonanimal
My head's bopping to this one. He's got a certain groove going. I have no idea what this word is supposed to mean (an unnamed animal?), but he's repeating it. The second half starts to feel like a mid-90s emo band (back before emo became emo), with really erratic rhythms. I'm digging this track a lot. The most interesting one so far.

Track 11 - Natural Disaster
Another one with a calm approach. He's talking about science or something. I dunno. He's really not grabbing me here, and this song sounds so basic that it's beneath him. Perhaps on future listens, I'll get the subtlety.

Track 12 - The Privateers
Oh, another one about Steve Forbes, right? "Don't sell me anything. Your one-time offer is so uncalled for, you call it piece of mind. 'Cause I see your house from here. Now all the leaves have fallen, dear." OK, not really about Steve Forbes. But kinda. The lyrics remain defiant, but the sound is more triumphant, building positively as the song goes along before it resolves in an odd, curious coda (which works, by the way).

Track 13 - Souverian
The longest track on the album starts slowly and small, as Bird approaches the lyrics as if he's telling a tale. At 4:00, it starts to finally crescendo, but then abruptly stops, pauses, and enters into an entirely new section. The new section is even slower. Over the last 30 seconds, it devolves into some experimental sounds before fading out.

Track 14 - On Ho
Multi-tracked strings take us out of the album, as if it's time to roll the end credits and send us on our way at peace.

Every other Andrew Bird album I own has taken some time to grow on me, no matter how much I liked it at first. That said, right now I'm not all that high on this one. It comes across as a bit self-indulgent. Maybe with headphones it would garner the intimacy that these songs surely require. Or perhaps it will just take some time. I can't fathom that there is a "Tables and Chairs," "Don't Be Scared," or "Dark Matters" on this album, and that's certainly a disappointment. Bird had been evolving in a certain direction over the course of his career. Maybe he ran out of room. Or perhaps with the heightened exposure, he's going for something else that's going to take me some time to really get. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's earned it. But at first blush, I don't find myself too psyched.

One Word Review: W.

67: Familiar

One Word Review: Four Christmases

37: Unclever

5-4-T: Thanks for Nothing, Georgie

In this week's Five For Tuesday, we present five songs inadvertently written with today in mind, the last day in which George W. Bush can willfully harm America or the rest of the world. His damage will last decades, but today, let's just be glad that sonovabitch is gone. If these songs come across as angry, well, that should be pretty self-explanatory, right? In sum, screw that prick.

Honorable mentions:
Go Away - Living Colour
Radio - Alkaline Trio
Ruiner - NIN
Thorn in My Side - Quicksand
Career of Evil - Blue Öyster Cult

5) Super Stupid - Funkadelic


4) Hit the Road, Jack - Ray Charles


3) The End Of Our Road - Gladys Knight & the Pips


2) Glad That It's Over - 12 Rods


1) You Can't Bring Me Down - Suicidal Tendencies

One Word Review: Twilight

55: Floaty