9

FUCK YES.

Death to Los Campesinos!

Los Campesinos!, ladies and gentlemen. I get an Architecture in Helsinki vibe from them.

There's nothing wrong with liking some British Pop music.

Margot & The Nuclear So & So's

Here is a perfect example of why this band is awesometastic.

Moonwink - The Spinto Band

This band is so underrated it's not even funny.

Seriously found this band on accident, like most good bands are (see: Jukebox the Ghost, Margot and the Nuclear So & So's). Luckily, they are getting some exposure, but it's still not nearly enough. I happened upon them from their music video for the song Pumpkins & Paisley, and immediately bought the album.



In a word, the whole album is pure joy.

What other band can actually pull off the lyric 'la la la la la la la la' (actual lyrics from P&P) well? Honestly. The whole idea behind it is a kind of joyful outburst, and it's reflected in the entire album.

Let me tell you a story of Lemon Demon. Lemon Demon is a pet band by Neil Cicierega, best known for his efforts in Potter Puppet Pals. Anyways, he made a band called Lemon Demon that was essentially him singing rediculously silly songs on his Keytar and filling the listener with a kind of cathartic joy. The songs Word Disassociation and Ode to Crayola being my favourites (Cicierega also wrote the popular interweb song Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny)

The Spinto Band takes the genius and joy of Lemon Demon and brings it to a new level. They are able to make songs that sound both very adult and very appealing to the 5-year-old in each of us, channeling the good olde days when we used to adore the simple songs and melodies of children's music. Moonwink, on the other hand, gives us that feeling without feeling the embarassment of actually having to listen to a children's album (read: NO! by TMBG, or any of their countless Here Come the... albums). The aforementioned Pumpkins & Paisley is terrific, but overshadows some of the even better works like The Cat's Pajamas and Needlepoint.

Find this album, people. Tell your friends. Let good bands like this make it big so that, god forbid, there will be some good music on the radio. Spinto is darn close to making it mainstream, and I say more power to them.

Victoria - Jukebox the Ghost

Great fucking song by a great fucking band.

Food Quickie

DeKuyper Buttershots. Butterscotch schnapps.

Dangerously good.

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Razia's Shadow: A Musical

Found this album and band on accident. The band's name is Forgive Durden. They get minus pionts for a shitty band name throwback to a Palahniuk book, which they probably never read. They just saw the move and thought Pitt was badass enough to name a band after. ORIGINAL.

For the most part, their first music was the shit you heard when you enter a Hot Topic: the invisble overhead speakers vomiting up some concoction of whining and shouting, with a 'dash' of guitar. It was pretty horrid.

Then I found out they were making this album, Razia's Shadow: A Musical.

Isn't that name fucking intruiging? A Musical? Like what, they actually are making a musical, or is it just for the sake of naming it that?


Surprisingly, it's the former.


The entire album is a (somewhat) cohesive
story in the same fashion of a broadway musical. The main thing that got me is the Art, however...


Pictured at left is Doctor Dumaya, and up-right is Sangara.

All of the characters, apart from principles, are only in about one song each, but that's a good thing, it prevents them from getting too old on the listener. Further, each character is CAST as a different singer from another band, for instance, the 'antagonist' Pallis is Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco (and, mind you, this is the best he's ever sounded).

For the most part, I've been pretty negative on the album, but it is quite the contrary. The entire album is pretty much gold. The songs and melodies are well thought out (and well done! Doctor, Doctor and The Exit are grand, The Missing Piece is perfect, and The End And The Beginning somewhat nicely wraps things up).

The story could leave a little more, they just assume you understand any action (if at all) between songs, without what the Narrator (PERFECT VOICE FOR IT) says in a sort os slant-rhyme scheme, adding a bit of storybook to this clearly dark idea.

People have been criticizing it for being 'repetitive' (they go over a lot of the lyrics from Genesis over and over again, such as the 'Place your hand on mine/untie your mind') but I like it, for the sheer fact that the entire play is, more or less, cyclical. It shows the design O the Scientist and how meticulous he was when he created the world.

Give it a listen, pick it up. It's darn good.

I'll write more in this now that I have more to say.

Regarding McSweeney's

It is awesome.

mcsweeneys.net is pure, unadulterated hilarity.

I actually had a brainstorm and sent in a list. I hope they publish it...

Lists Of Bands I Should Check Out

Reading Questionable Content archives and want to listen to a few of the bands. This is for my own personal record of what I'm interested in and is, paradoxically, easier than writing it on paper. This list will change and have random addendums.

-Arcade Fire
-Mogwai
-Flaming Lips (More)
-Architecture in Helsinki
-Deerhood
-Magnetic Fields
-New Pornographers
-Belle & Sebastian

-This Will Destroy You

ALSO: If you're a college student, Rumpus is made of win and God. Free downloads of albums, so that you can enjoy it without buying it. The unfortunate part is that you can't put them onto iPods and you can't burn them to discs, but it's a good way to get acquainted with full songs from bands you haven't heard of without committing to purchasing an album, on the off-chance they'll be stanky.

Food Quickie

When making s'mores, instead of graham crackers and chocolate, use those small, striped round cookies. They're easier to make and taste delicious.

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Films v. Movies

When one goes to the cinema, there are two things they can go see: a film or a movie. Many people mistakenly refer to them as the same thing. Here is a clarification between them.

MOVIE: Made for entertainment purposes only. These are produced for the mass market, making sure that the companies can make quick bucks. A few characteristics of a movie are such:

-It is based off of another work (a book, a song, or even a film...more on this later)
-It is predictable (the two protagonists end up happily ever after and you're a dirty liar if you never saw it coming from a mile away)
-It is a sequel of a previous film/movie

FILM: A cinematic piece of ART, meant to portray a specific idea by the ARTIST. That is important and not enough emphasis can be placed upon it. More often than not, an independent film is the only thing nowadays that falls under this category, but this wasn't always the case (read: The Godfather, Star Wars, or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Please do not think that one of these categories presides over the other in quality, because that's plain not true. Some movies are very good (Sin City, for example) and some films can be clinkers (The Village). However, more often than not, films tend to have better quality than their counterparts.

And this is fine, it is. However, my main qualm behind this discussion is the sad fact that we, in the 21st century, are a movie-bound culture; most of the highest grossing films nowadays are either a) based off of novels, b) remakes, c) sequels, d) tripe or e) any combination of the aforementioned characteristics.

Remakes are the bane of the film industry. Yes, the original was great. Yes, it grossed a lot in the box office. No, you can't improve on a good thing. NO, YOU CANNOT IMPROVE ON A GOOD THING. Please God, do NOT try to. Why aren't you listening to me? Don't you remember that the last Hulk movie sucked ass? Just because you replace the main character with Edward Norton does not mean it'll be an improvement.

Sequels effectively kill all good things. For instance, Pirates was an excellent movie, it was clever and fun and intense and one of the more entertaining flicks a person could watch. HOWEVER, now they are beating it to death with franchises and an innumerable amount of crappy sequels spoonfeeding the audience only what they liked about the first movie and not covering any new ground. Further, the second and third iterations could very well not be called "number 2 and three". They had to be called "Number 2 Part One and Two", as they were, effectively, the exact same plotline.

In conclusion: film =/= movie. There is a difference...it's not a negative connotation, but it is imperative that there is a difference.

Food Quickie

Dark Chocolate.

I used to hate the stuff but now it's tastier than ever. Love it.

END TRANSMISSION.

'Once' Soundtrack

This album is pretty dern good in my opinion. Furthermore, so is the film, but I haven't experienced it more than once (LAWL SEE WHUT I DID THERE?) and I'm more acquainted with the soundtrack currently.


It's damn right these guys won the Oscar. They bleedin' deserved it. The song 'Falling Slowly' is just plain well-written and these two are fortunate enough to have the perfect voices for the song. And, honestly, that can be said about most of the songs on the album.

--'If You Want Me' : I won't lie, I love her voice. She sounds simply gentle and has a real Emelie Simon quality about it, and I like her music a lot anyway. Plus, the scene it went with was great and appropriate.

--'Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy' : Just plain funny. I like funny.

--'Fallen From the Sky' : This song is a nice change of pace from the rest of the album, what with the addition of the synth. It's quaint.

--'Say it to Me Now' : Can someone say 'pathos'? Because this is pretty much that in a nutshell. Good stuff.

--'Lies' : Very clearly the best effing song on the entire album, and I mean that. It's a simple, well-written song that repeats itself but it far from overstays its welcome. Her voice in the background is prevalent, but not overpowering and, oddly enough, neither is his. This is one of the greatest songs ever, and I would honestly buy this album if only for this song.

Overall, this album gets my seal of approval. It's quirky at times, it's comforting at others, it's independent as all get-out, and, as the crown jewel, the guy's Irish.

IRISH.

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD THAT'S AWESOME.

Oh, and see the film, too. It's not half bad.

People I Don't Need to Associate With

Here's a fun little mini-update idea I had called 'People I Don't Need to Associate With' or 'PIDN2AW' for short.

Todays contestant is:

-People who wear their sunglasses on their head backwards when they are not in regular use.

What, you think you're clever? You don't need to actually use them so you have them in the most wrong place possible to store them. What, do you actually have eyes on the back of your head, and are they so sensitive so sunlight that you have to put the sunglasses there, of all places? Do what normal people do and put the sunglasses on top of your fucking head like everyone else, or use some kind of a case.

Harold and Maude

Clearly one of the best movies ever from the usual standpoints involving equal parts humour and morbidity. This prize film is one of the least-known cult classics out there.

::ASIDE:: Please know what I mean by a cult classic. I do not mean a piece of culture that involves a fanatic following that know the work backwards and forwards and sidewards and skywards. I mean a film that, when addressed in a public situation, is not well-known enough for Jon Smith behind you to join in the conversation because they saw it once way back when. From this definition, the films The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Donnie Darko are cult classics, to which I say 'No, sir!' While I do acknowledge the fact that they are textbook examples of the 'cult' variety, they are not what I refer to when I say 'cult film'. They have embedded themselves so deeply into the mainstream culture that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can have an opinion on them.

While yes, Harold and Maude is known by a few people who saw it once, if it were happened upon in regular conversation Mr. Asshole Passerby would have a slim chance of knowing what you were talking about. There would be an even smaller chance that they would have enjoyed it on that viewing. I myself had never even heard about it until about four years ago when my aunt insisted this was a film for me. She was right.

The short synopsis of the film is: A rich, teenage boy named Harold is plagued by ennui and only finds enjoyment from attending funerals of strangers and faking his own death for his mother who, understandably, doesn't find it entertaining in the least. The other half of the titular duo is Maude, a 59-year old woman who lives life to its fullest as a free spirit, doing as she pleases and who also takes enjoyment in attending the funerals of absolute strangers. The two meet, and Maude takes Harold under her wing to teach him that life should, every day, be lived to its fullest. In the process, the two fall in love.

Yes.

A 16-year old boy falls in love with a 59-year old woman. Let that sink in for a second. And in the process, H&M makes itself one of the creepiest films that purposefully sets itself apart from others by completely disregarding modern film tropes. I wish not to spoil the ending, but it is extraordinarily powerful and perfectly fitting.

So why even discuss this film, when it makes a point to give you both the heebies and the jeebies? It is not merely because it is obscure or makes us laugh in the face of Pointless Life holding hands with Riotous Humour. But because it has such a great message of living life to its fullest. Many people find solace in mulling about humdrum lives and not taking chances, and it is the actions of these people the film is opposed to. H&M does what every good piece of art should do: make Man step out of his life and examine it himself so that he can point out the trivialities in it, and then act upon them.

I start with this film because it helps in my cause. I choose with my actions to make people step back and criticize life for what it really is. By deviating from the norm (going to funerals, falling in love with someone four times your age) it makes one understand what it is to be human and how one can be able to become a derivation of that: human, but a new kind of human.


*Not all film reviews and analysis will be like this, but this is an excellent example of it.

This Spot Intentionally Left Blank

Eventually this will be replaced with actual reviews of obscure Television, Film, Theatre, Music, et. al.