Definitely one of my favorite new artists this year, and even though Twin Shadow looks like a serial rapist, you mustn't fear this man. He makes beautiful, heartfelt yet danceable tunes that have a nostalgic sound reminiscent of The Cure, mixed in with some modern day hazy beach vibes.
Been totally hooked on Coma Cinema for weeks. I know absolutely nothing about this band besides the fact that I downloaded them on the interweb and am hopelessly in love with their sound. The only way I can describe it is that it sounds like the entire Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack transmogrified into one artist. Kinda gives me that awesome feeling that The Microphones and early Modest Mouse did when I first heard em. Plus the album is called "Stoned Alone", which should be reason enough to listen to this. There are two songs below (and a really good bonus track from Balam Acab that has nothing to do with this post) and you can download both his albums FOR FREE RIGHT HERE.
Damn, I haven't blogged in two whole fucking months! I'm sure that my 3 or 4 readers were upset for at least a week or so and then got on with their regular lives sans moi. Anyway, I'm back, and you should totally go watch this documentary from the early 90's called Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. In case you didn't know, Heidi Fleiss is a crazy ass druggie high class prostitute who by the age of 27 was running a large "elite" prostitution ring out of Hollywood. The best part about this doc is simply the characters that are interviewed. The Hollywood movie director who threatens to cut off people's arms and legs, the mysterious israeli ex-military guy who basically runs everything, and Ron Jeremy (who surprisingly had a lot of friends in very high places). Even the fucking BBC interviewer for this film is nuts, not to mention a total perv. You can stream it on Netflix at the link above.
Not sure why everyone has been blogging about Toro y Moi's song "leave everywhere" lately. Maybe it has to do with that old "monkey see, monkey do" mentality? I dunno. Anyway, the song below is my favorite song he's come out with for some time. Maybe ever. Enjoy:
Treasure - "Canada" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.
This is my favorite album so far of 2010. There have been a lot of good leaks so far this year, but nothing comes close to this one. So there you have it! Now you don't even have to read the Pitchfork review when it comes out a month from now. You're welcome!
It's a rare occassion when both the original and the remake of a film are both equally fucking good, and this just happens to be one of those cases. I remember when I first saw the original Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Kietel at about the age of 10 (props to my big brother for being an eternal bad influence!). It just happens to be way more graphic and disturbing than the new version with Nicholas Cage, and I remember feeling like I wasn't really sure what was going on, but whatever it was, it was very, very bad.
I wish I could visit whatever planet Ariel Pink is living on. I bet it's a really cool/weird place. At this point, Ariel Pink is kind of a legend. He was the first artist signed by Animal Collective to their old label Paw Tracks; he used to be in a sweet band called Holy Shit with fellow geniuses Christopher Owens (of Girls fame) and Matt Fishbeck, and he recently signed with 4AD and dropped the sublime single "round and round." Have a listen, and check out the weird vid too:
New Bone Thugs/Biggie dubstep remix of the classic "Notorious Thugs" joint? Hell mutha-fuckin' yea!!!
Mr. Untouchable tells the story of the rise and fall of Nicky Barnes, an arrogant and charismatic black leader and drug dealer who for decades was New York's most powerful and violent heroin dealer. His story has all kinds of unexpected twists and turns, he's incredibly funny and clever, and it amazes me that more people aren't familiar with this. This is so far going down as the movie I was most pleasantly surprised by this year, and you can stream it from Netflix right here.
If you like bands like Girls, Ganglians, and Thee Oh Sees, then you're guaranteed to like Sonny & the Sunsets. Actually, even if you don't like those bands, odds are you will still like this song. It's one of those songs that's impossible not to like. One of the guys is in Thee Oh Sees and another is from Fresh & Onlys. I would put money down that these guys are going to start blowing up really soon. By the way, the rest of the album is really good too. Check it out:
DOPE new track off Kavinsky's forthcoming EP Nightcall. Props to my nigga Joe for hooking this one up:
Really digging this new Foals jam. The last couple minutes are especially epic:
That's right, THE NEW CARIBOU ALBUM HAS BEEN LEAKED, and I stayed up very late last night listening to the entire damn thing two times all the way through in a hazy cloud of smoke to be able to tell you all about it. So, SPOILER ALERT, it's REALLY dancy, and although I predict Pitchfork and co. will give it RAVING reviews (when it's actually released almost 6 weeks from now) because it's such a gigantic leap from anything they've done before, and because they will classify it as something along the lines of "paving the way for a new musical direction" of indy artists, I'm pretty sure I like their old albums better. Not trying to be a debbie downer; on the contrary, I'm just tryina keep it real. With that said, there are some good songs, and I think the song I posted below is the clear standout (wait for the vocals to kick in):
No, I don't just listen to obscure "white boy" elitist indy music, and yes, I can get down on some hip hop. Sometimes, I may even drink 3 JOOSEs and make a Bone Thugs rap video, just for the fuck of it. Anywayz, here's a couple rap joints that my black ass has been blasting lately:
I mentioned Denver-based Weed Diamond below in my post about Ancient Crux, but these guys are putting out some pretty dope jamz too. This may be a stretch, but to me it almost sounds like some fuzzed-out, really old Modest Mouse. Anywayz, peep dis trak:
This song by Ancient Crux has been stuck in my head all day long. It's got that twangy Smith Westerns + Black Lips garage punk style mixed with a 1960's diner vibe, not to mention a very catchy guitar riff that seems to have ingrained itself in my brain for the time being. Click the play button below and you can pre-order their new split with Weed Diamond here.
I feel like it's getting harder and harder to describe music these days. If you asked me a year ago what "downtempo dubstep" is I would have probably just nodded my head (because I know everything) and swiftly changed the subject. I still don't know what downtempo dubstep is, or what genre this kind of music falls into, but either way, I like this. Similar to local SF scary Halloween band OoOoO and Salem, Balam Acab is making dark music sound good again. Listen to this track, and wait for the bass + melody to start:
Toronto duo Mathemagic is making really beautiful music. In the same vein as the fuzzy, warm, synthy beachpop sounds of Washed Out, Small Black, and Memoryhouse, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys start to get big in the near future. Check out the two tracks below and keep on the lookout for their upcoming 5 song EP. Recommend listening to the beach with a blanket and a fatty.
I first heard about the crazy good documentary Billy the Kid while reading Miranda July's blog (Yea, I read Miranda July's blog. WHAT!! YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT!!??). She had listed it as her favorite film of 2007, and it pretty much became mine too. It's about a kid in with an ineffable learning disability, dealing with the trials and tribulations of growing up in what some might call the "trailer trash" zones of Maine. It is pure movie magic, go see it.
Holy ball sack this movie is good. It's difficult to describe the plot to Terribly Happy while still doing it justice, but on the outside, it's about a Danish Marshall with a checkered past sent to patrol a small, seemingly safe village, who soon discovers its inhabitants have an extraordinarily twisted, dark and disturbing way of life. You could also say it's a psychological thriller about the universal human nature of corruption and secrecy. Or that if you took the plot to Hot Fuzz, mixed in some Coen Brothers and a little David Lynch, threw in some obscure Danish Westerns and a dash of Stephen King, mix them all up in a blender, and...argh! See, I knew I shouldn't have tried to describe the plot. Just go watch it, it's playing in select theaters now.
Don't know much about Restless People besides that they're another up and coming Brooklyn band and the guys from Tanlines (pretty much my favorite band these days) and Professor Murder are in it. Sounds kind of like some tropical Phil Collins shit. Check the song below:
Memory Cassette (aka Memory Tapes aka Weird Tapes) had a flurry of EPs that came out last year, and I really wasn't sold on them when I first heard them. They kept changing their band's name and had a bunch of EPs that had some of the same songs on them, which in and of itself was enough to derail my delicate attention span. But recently they started playing randomly on my itunes, and in this era of download-the-fuck-out-of-everything-and-ditch-it-if-doesn't-grab-you-immediately, I feel like I've discovered a lost, sunken treasure from wayyyyy back in June 2009. Maybe it's the cold weather-rainy days-being sick combination that is ideal for listening to this band, but I've been playing them like a broken record for weeks straight now. Check out these tunes, I think the first one is some kind of Stevie Nicks cover. Also, they're playing at bottom of the hill next Saturday, Feb 27.
No, this is not a film about that "tough guy" from Death Wish. It's about Britain's most famous prisoner Charles Bronson, real name Mickey Peterson. Originally sentenced to jail for 7 years for robbing like $40 from a post office, he's now been in prison for 34 years (30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement) for basically beating the shit out of everyone, sparking massive riots, and taking prison guards hostage. This movie is way more artsy and theatrical than you'd think, Tom Hardy is incredible, and some guy had it right when he said this is "a clockwork orange for the 21st century." Bronson is out on DVD now, highly recommended.
I've never been a big science fiction fan. I've always hated Star Trek, could care less about Battlestar Galactica, and secretly resented my Dad for being such an Isaac Asimov nerdbot throughout my childhood. With that said, I think Moon may be the best science fiction movie I've ever seen. It is a total mindfuck, and has made me a bit more open-minded towards the genre. PS if the Oscars weren't decided purely by politics, money, and people that still believe Hollywood blockbusters are the best movies, guys like Sam Rockwell and Tom Hardy (who I'll write a blog about soon) would be at the top of the list for best actor.
Somehow a lot of people still haven't heard of the Brooklyn based duo Small Black. I'm not really in the mood to try to describe what they sound like, but they're playing in San Francisco on March 28 with Washed Out and you better believe I already have my tickets for that.
I read on Pitchfork today that Google owned Blogger (AKA the site you're on right now) is shutting popular MP3 blogs that post songs for "violating terms of service," which basically just means they're cracking down on sites like this one. Luckily I have like no readers, so the chances of them ever shutting me down are less than zero! In your face Google!
The opening sequence in Anvil shows how in 1984 they toured with sweet metal-hair bands like Scorpions, White Snake, and Bon Jovi, and they were the one band of the group that's never quite been able to make it. They've been around forever and are still trying to make it (they just played a show at the Fillmore), and I think you should watch this radical and heartbreaking documentary about them. It's now available on DVD and Netflix.
I've never been incarcerated before (excluding that one time in the drunk tank), but this movie literally made me feel like I was living a real-life nightmare in a filthy, corrupt French penitentiary. The movie begins with the Arab protagonist being forced to murder a fellow Arab by some Corsican mobster inmates, or face of the consequences of being murdered himself. The plot takes off from there, and I'm not surprised the critic in the poster above says that it "takes its place among the greatest crime films ever made."
Considering this documentary is a twisted tale of incest, rape, and pedophilia, I feel kind of weird calling Capturing the Friedmans "one of my favorite films." But, well, it is! It's so damn good! I've never seen a movie where there was so much home footage being taken, even before anyone knew there was anything super fucked up going on. If you have a Netflix account, you can stream it directly right here.
Check out this catchy new jingle just released from Canadian music gurus Caribou. Way more dancy than any of their previous stuff, but if this is a taste of things to come on their unreleased new album, I think 2010 will be a big year for these mystical beasts.
Out of all the bands out there on this planet, Husky Rescue would rank in my top 5 list of "bands I'm shocked have not blown up yet." I just listened to their brand new album, and like their previous two full lengths, I end up inevitably sitting and wondering to myself why it seems like nobody has heard of them yet. That's usually when I remind myself that the majority of people that listen exclusively to mainstream music are MORONS to the nth degree. Don't believe me? Check out the latest Billboard 100. See what I mean?
Overtly racist stereotypes, glorified sexual promiscuity, heroin addicted orphans, superfluous violence, and gratuitous 70's "blaxploitation" cliches? YES PLEASE!! These are some of the many things that make this such a special film. 20% Bruce Lee, 20% Jean Claude Van Damm circa Bloodsport, and 100% gigantic black penis, Black Dynamite is one bad mutha fucka. Despite looking and feeling like a carbon copy of a 70's "black pimp flick," Black Dynamite came out in 2008, and succeeds remarkably at bringing back all the glory and realism of the original movies it mocks. Unfortunately, I think the movie loses steam about 2/3 through, but it's still definitely worth checking out. Currently playing at the Red Vic, and out on DVD in February 2010.
No, this blog is not about my life. It's a brilliant and HILARIOUS British documentary about a lazy, scruffy, unmotivated filmmaker who's been dumped by every girlfriend he's ever had. With hopes of understanding why he always gets dumped and how to improve his future relationships, he tracks down every one of his former lovers (dating all the way back to age 11) and attempts to interview them. Things soon become very personal (think embarrassing erectile dysfunction, painful dominatrix scene, etc) and very, very funny.
