Everybody Was In The French Resistance …Now
Fixin’ the Charts, Volume 1 Cooking Vinyl Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos has been skirting the edge of joke-rock since Bang Bang Rock & Roll. His saving grace — the trait that’s taken him from potential novelty to heir apparent of Jonathan Richman — is his sincerity. No matter how well-worked the turn of phrase … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week One – Gigi
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to tonight’s winner. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them must … Continue reading
Wonderland lacks wonderment
FILM: Alice in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is many things: a journey through a surreal world full of memorable characters, a brilliantly playful introduction to the worlds of logic and mathematics and, with all its hookahs, mushrooms and body-and-mind-expanding potions, a kindred spirit of American counterculture since at least the heyday of … Continue reading
Concert review — Brasstronaut @ Broken City
A quick chat with Broken City’s exceedingly friendly bartender, Adam, reveals that Brasstronaut is short one guitar player and missed out on a full soundcheck — not necessarily a good sign for a band with two wind instruments to mic. Sure enough, the first song — “Lo Hi Hopes,” from the band’s debut full-length, Mt. … Continue reading
CD Review: Maintenant, by Gigi
(full review from ffwdweekly.com) Five years ago, Vancouver producer Colin Stewart got his hands on a pair of vintage reverb plates, the kind that gave ’50s girl-group pop its irresistibly warm feel, and asked his friend Nick Krgovich (P:Ano, No Kids) to provide songs that would do the equipment justice. Let’s not mince words — … Continue reading
On the open-source road: Interview with Melbourne’s Bankai
Melbourne electro artist Bankai’s music comes on like a cartoon freight train, chaotically careening around sharp corners and constantly threatening to derail itself. Between the stuttering, glitch-laden rhythms, video-game samples and vocals that are the aural equivalent of a Tex Avery cartoon, the man behind the evocatively titled Teen Slut Pimp Strut EP doesn’t seem … Continue reading
A heroic act of treason: The Most Dangerous Man in America — Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
FILM: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: The trickiest thing about documentaries is separating the story from the filmmaking. The Most Dangerous Man in America has a great subject in Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who leaked 7,000 pages of classified Pentagon documents that outline the history of the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam … Continue reading
Bonus post: A handful of 50-word CD reviews
All reviews based entirely on first impressions, and not to be construed as particularly informed: Brasstronaut – Mt. Chimera (Unfamiliar): A hell of an improvement from the Old World Lies EP, which was alright but not noteworthy. Elements of jazz, laid-back electronica, dixieland and indie rock, but all in an unabashedly pop framework. Think P:Ano … Continue reading
There ain’t no life on Shutter Island
FILM: Shutter Island: I won’t be able to talk about this movie without at least mildly spoiling the ending, so if that’s going to be a concern, best to stop right here. But it really shouldn’t be a concern, because… well, because the ending is kind of dumb. And the odds are, if you’ve seen … Continue reading
The Consumption 