Toro Y Moi – ‘You Hid’

Bye Bye Life

Tudor Cinema? Two Door Cinema Club (oh!)

Just to keep you guys all on your toes, I have something to add. There was a band I found a while back named Two Door Cinema Club. To my great dismay (I wanted to post on them immediately) they had next to no music to speak of, despite the fact they were touring. Apparently they did have an EP, but it was one of those tricky ones I never found.

They were able to find some traction with the French label Kitsune (Japanese for Fox, those kooky French), and got some air time on a couple of the label’s compilations. Also, their song ‘I Can Talk’ gained the interest of more than a couple of people, allowing for a handful of different remixes to pop up. Encouraged by the interest, these three college kids came out with their first LP last month under the previously mentioned label.

Now I feel it’s a great time to mention that these are just three guys from Northern Ireland, essentially our age. Their sound is very true to who they are. Every tune is pure and fun, which is also portrayed in their videos. Lyrically, you’re not going to get anything that’s going to shake stuff up, but even that makes it better than the stuff they have on the radio. These guys jam though. You listen to a sweet bass line and you can just imagine it’s creation was just him messing around with his mates in a basement.

So if you’ve taken a look at the videos there’s nothing too special about them. Just some really good editing and a bunch of guys having fun. It’s the kind of feeling that draws you in. Music made for the sake of fun. I’m personally excited to see what they come up with in the future. If you’re looking for their album, it hits stateside tomorrow. And I officially declare their music added to summer playlists.

Out~

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EDIT: wanted to jump in quick cause it just so happens I grabbed a remix by none other than The Twelves of TDCC’s ‘Something Good Can Work’ (above) a bit ago. It’s bumping with them summer-disco hooks, so save this one for the playlists too. And if you’re interested head over to yeahD for their post on The Twelves’ 09 material.

*to download click the down arrow on the right side of the soundcloud player

C Power and the sunshine

It’s just about May and the weather’s supreme. Artists have been banging out summer jams for months now in anticipation of this heat, though I suppose that’s been going on for a quite a while longer with all the chillwave surplus. Anyway, let’s get y’all in the mood with some hipdeehop, UK style. Rub it in fresh while it’s still oozin.

Chris Powers operates under the moniker C Powers. This guy is pretty unknown around the states as are many great acts these days, but the material is undeniably dope. Although from Atlanta originally, he’s now working and living in Clapton, London and South East. There he’s been living with his wife, looking for a job and scrapping up gigs. Most of the stuff he spins are samples or music that influences his sound, that is, 80s boogie and disco and early house. He’s got two free EPs – C POWERS and Indy Scarf – linked to from his myspace. Both have quality jams. In terms of new songs (the EPs are from last year), ‘Rich Wish’ and ‘Tea Each’ are his latest, the latter of which C Powers offers as a “sneak peek at what is developing into an album”. A sort of side project of his goes by Mane Mane, a duo involving another Atlanta-born producer aliased heRobust. This stuff’s got more of that glossy summer polish to it, layered all dreamy-like and fit for sun-induced stupor. He’s also got some fucking fantastic mixes available that I’d probably snag over anything else, but I won’t overload you with material (so go get it yourself). Grab these four gems while a full-length cooks steadily in the hot heat.

^^Rain Mane (ft. CHRom_Charlemane) – Mane Mane (Boys 2 Mane EP)

Wake(outstudio) – C Powers (Indy Scarf EP)

Rich Wish – C Powers

Tea Each – C Powers

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But shiiiit, I’m not done yet. C Powers is part of, like the French group Valerie, which I did a post on a while back, a collective called Peace Age. It involves some cool up and coming dudes to the likes of dANA, Twins, CHRom, Luke Perry, and Best Hits. They’ve got a sweet blog where they release most of their collabs for our favorite price. make hay

skinnycloudnew – Best Hits

The Hilariously Twisted Mind of Martin McDonagh

It starts with a one-handed man with a cigarette and a gunshot.  To be perfectly honest, to say that the play “A Behanding in Spokane” starts off with a figurative bang is somewhat of an overstatement.  While it does start with a gunshot, the play aims more for the subtlety of dialogue and human interactions.

The play marks playwright Martin McDonagh’s return to theater after spending the past few years focusing on films.  In 2006, McDonagh released his first film attempt, a short film called “Six Shooter.”  To watch the brilliant film in it’s entirety, go here.  It was well received and won an Oscar for Best Short Film.  It’s a great little piece about a man in morning of his wife and a few people that he meets on the train back home.  “Six Shooter” treads the thin line between dark and comedic and manages to avoid the pitfalls of both.  From the three products of McDonagh that I have seen all manage to do just that.  They’re all heavy in dialogue and contain very human characters.  Almost every time, the audience witnesses people that say horrific things show they’re good side and/or watch the “better” characters commit less than nice deeds.

Two years later, McDonagh followed up with the film In Bruges, which stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (who starred in “Six Shooter” as well) as two hit men who are hiding out in Bruges.  Ray (Farrell) is bored out of his mind in the city while Ken (Gleeson) is having the time of his life.  Hilarity ensues.  There’s actually a lot more depth and humanity to the movie and it was one of my favorite films of 2008.  The trailer only shows a little of the amazingness in the movie.  I guess that’s why it’s a trailer and not the movie itself.  I digress.

Getting back on topic: “A Behanding in Spokane” features an amazing cast that includes Christopher Walken (that dude who has a fever for more cowbell), Sam Rockwell (that other dude that’s been in all of those other movies), and Anthony Mackie (the black dude from The Hurt Locker).  It tells the story of  Carmichael (Walken), a man who brutally lost his hand as a young man and has since dedicated his life to getting it back.  Years and years of searching has led him to a small hotel room with what he believes to be the final lead to his own hand.  Wrapped up in the story become Toby (Mackie) and Marilyn (played by Zoe Kazan who is no stranger to Broadway; she already has two other shows in her belt at the young age of 26), a drug dealing couple who try to sell back Carmichael his hand.  Attracted by loud noise taking place in his hotel, the curious and rambling hotel clerk, Mervyn (Rockwell), pokes his head in and finds himself sucked into the situation as well.

At risk of giving away too much of the story, the play features a can of gasoline and a burning candle, a suitcase full of hands, and a racist and injury-prone mother.  Like I previously mentioned, it’s darkly comedic (a phrase you’ll here a lot with anything from Martin McDonagh) and strongly driven by the, at times, ranting dialogue of and strong performances by the four actors.  Walken controls the stage with his wonderfully odd line readings and a dangerous undercurrent in his actions.  While it is hard at times for his supporting actors to keep up with his eccentricity, they still hold their own.  To put it simply, the play’s fun.  As an audience member, all you have to do is go in, sit down, and enjoy.  It can be easy to overthink it because it’s Broadway, but it’s a Broadway play about a man that’s trying to find his long lost hand.  As a wise man once said: “Just enjoy.”

how to make music

How to Dress Well is making music well, simply put. It’s got members in, or at least from, both Köln, Denmark and Brooklyn, NY, and with that typa’ brew you know something’s gotta be right. I can’t tell yet whether it’s just the one guy (Tom with his collaborator Cokc Dokc) or a group including others, but the way they’ve (him, et al.) been belting out EPs these last couple months is impressive regardless. With the October release of his first EP The Eternal Love he’s since released 6 more, capping ‘em off with Can’t See My Own Face – The Eternal Love 2 just recently. If anything, it shows he can produce good music in a fraction of the time it takes most big artists and with minimal costs and even more minimal gains (cuz its free). EP by EP, HTDW is carving out a rep as the sort of Weezy of the ambient/R&B/experimental scene.

Each EP has it’s own feel, but they all come airy and sensual. His sound is heavy on vocals and vocal sampling, but he does it right (sorry, I just can’t jump on the Animal Collective bandwagon). Make sure to grab them all at his website, and if you’re feeling generous purchase ‘em for $5 each.

Anyway, mostly wanted to post on HTDW to show you a few sweet music vids of his. The first is “Decisions” (feat. Yüksel Arslan), a potent track with a heady, studder-step-like beat which by song’s end convinces you that it’s pace is the only pace at which life should persist (you’ll see what I mean). The video, shot and directed by Jamie Harley, compliments all that perfectly. The second video, done by Tom Krell, is kind of in line with the name of the project (with people getting dressed up and all), but more importantly it features the HTDW/Cokc Dokc ’11 Years On (demo)’, which has an awesome buildup towards the end using keyboard oscillation (I’m bullshitting). At any rate, check ‘em out.

Amores Juegos

Games is the coming together of Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford (Tigercity). The project’s a bit wrapped in obscurity, but the tracks certainly do the talking. Lopatin, aliased KGB Man, contributes an influence of spaced-out synths and galactic ambience while Ford brings a more funky, glistening pop-rock. The result is Italo-disco magic that shoots you straight back into suburban nostalgia and 80s-90s synthpop warmth. ‘Planet Party’ typifies all that retro charm. It’s a catchy dose of synthesized sorcery, you’ll see, and they do great work with the drum machine too. Even better though is their second track ‘Everything is Working’, a more intimate, heady cocktail of voice samples and synth/keyboard action. Their third and latest installment, ‘MIDI DRIFT’, is best envisioned through a description offered by the actual duo itself (via their tumblr), and it’s fucking great:

(Listen while you read)

This track began as a video concept in which joel and i are 90s high tech corporate dads, except our cubicles are party jam stations comprised of drum machines and synths and tactical flowcharts on how to make the best possible music ever. we meet by the water cooler and i give joel a folder that says PROGRAM A JAM on it and i point at my watch, like ‘get it done by 5 dude or my goose is cooked.’ later on joel bumps into a ~really~ fine girl in the hallway and her folders fly everywhere. she ends up taking the PROGRAM A JAM folder and he takes one that says TOP SECRET KGB STUFF on it. he takes it back to his desk and send me links to hot pics of said babe getting railed by the boss in the boiler room. we go to chilis at some point probably. the babe keeps getting hotter/more naked and is seen programming hot jams with a Jupiter 8 after-hours. We are wearing uncool jeans and corporate fleece pullovers and have salt & pepper beards. content at a job well done, we respectively drive off into the sunset in matching camrys.

Planet Party – Games

Everything is Working – Games

MIDI DRIFT – Games

Twin Sis you never had

Twin Sister is a five-piece band from Long Island, New York that’s bringing on a new front in the experimental pop scene. They recently completed their second EP to date, Color Your Life (insert artwork above), which they’ve made available for free on their website along with their first, Vampires with Dreaming Kids. Both consist of a buncha liquidized sound with bells and fem vocals; seems like it’d be good for a glazed over spring afternoon -that rare time when sun and rain cross paths in surreal harmony.

Another worthy grab is their International Dust mix, which features both Joe Meek (pictured above) and John K., who I’ll probably be posting on in a bit. It’s also got some Twin Sister interludes that blend in pretty nicely. And below check out the grainy, russet haze of a video teaser for Color Your Life.

International Dust mix – Twin Sister (highly recommended)

Honesty and Humanity in Heavy Music

This above is Keith Buckley.  He is currently the lead vocalist for the hardcore/southern rock band Every Time I Die.  The band is known for their fast guitar riffs, unorthodox shifting time signatures, and in-your-face screaming vocals.  They released their fifth album last fall called New Junk Aesthetic which was greeted with positive reviews and great fan reception.  Keith Buckley leads the band on stage and is known for his somewhat off-center sense of humor, insane vocals, and equally insane partying habits.  And what was Mr. Buckley before he developed this reputation?  An English teacher.  As a matter of fact, it is said that had music never had worked out, he would have gone back to teaching (thank you, Wikipedia).  While it’s not what one would expect from the vocalist of  a band that used to sell t-shirts that simply said “Bang Your Fucking Head” on the back, if you were to inspect theirs lyrics, you might not be so surprised.  Once you learn to interpret the yelling, you can get a sense of the poetic undertones of the music.  To give an example, here is the first music video from the latest album called “Wanderlust.”  I picked the video specifically for it’s lyrics and the subtitles.

So I never imagined that I would be posting about the heavier music that I listen to.  I understand that it’s an acquired taste and I guess that’s part of the reason why it’s so special.  Anyway, I’m not really posting about the band but instead about this video I recently found of Keith Buckley basically narrating a motorcycle road trip he did with some friends.  It has more depth than a normal narration but I still can’t quite call it poetry or spoken word.  More than anything else it’s just a stream of consciousness view into the way this guy sees the world.  What appealed to me more than anything else is its simplicity and humanity.  As Buckley weaves in and out of thought the listener gets glimpses of simple bits of true human nature that exist within everyone to a certain degree like insecurity and sincerity.  Whatever, I need to stop talking for this.  I think it talks for itself well enough.

EVOLVING

Erykah Badu, often considered the “Queen of Neo Soul“, is an American artist, producer and actress known for her jazz-infused blend of hip hop and R&B. Although adored for her flamboyant style and fashion sensibilities, here she strips bare in a one-take track shot for the new single ‘Window Seat’, which is featured in her upcoming album – her fifth, due out March 30th - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh). On her twitter she commented, “[S]hot guerilla style, no crew, one take, no closed set, no warning, two minutes, in downtown Dallas, then ran like hell… I was afraid. But I was ready.” Also an activist, Badu is condemning modern conformity in all its ugliness and the repression of true individuality. I’m diggin’ the 60s acid culture-inspired swirly hues toward the end…kinda ‘sposed to be her residual self-expression i think. Also like the idea of ‘evolving’ as a sort of unclothing. nude counterculture anybody? hit up this track and you won’t need one.

Honey – Erykah Badu

Fat Fun

RIP Nujabes

Got some bad news. The other day it was made official that Jun Seba (Nujabes), one of the greatest underground hip-hop producers ever, known for his jazzed up, nostalgic beats, was killed in a car accident in Tokyo on February 26th. He was only 36, and yet he had already produced four albums and two compilations, founded the independent label Hydeout Productions, owned the Shibuya record stores T Records and Guinness Records, and contributed material to the awesome Japanese anime Samurai Champloo – a 26-episode series set in Tokugawa-era Japan that’s largely influenced by modern hip hop culture. He’s also collaborated with guys like Shing02, Uyama Hiroto and Minmi and underground American acts CYNE, Five Deez and Substantial.

Jun Seba never got into the whole media side of things though, and that’s what made him great. He’s got some of the best stuff around and yet he kept to himself. Luckily, and cred to iggy spiegs for the  heads up, Hydeout says Nujabes has some new tracks he recently recorded that they’ll be releasing soon, so the guy still has some gems in store for us. While we wait, pop in these among other things. RIP

Counting Stars – Nujabes

Feather (ft. Cise Starr & Akin From Cyne) – Nujabes

Blessing it Remix Feat. Substantial and Pase Rock form Five Deez – Nujabes

Additional Content

Apologies for yet another long absence. Luckily, to give you your fix while we prepare new stuff, I came across some fresh releases from a few artists I’ve recently posted on.

Detroit-based Coyote Clean Up just did a split EP with FUR, the one-man project of Bryce Isbell (Denton, TX), titled Lackadaisical. Loving the cover art above, and the tunes don’t disappoint. It’s that same smooth, late-night lounge-house material only CCU and FUR could offer. By way of Waaga Records, pay-per-free and get it here. For sampling, try out these two..

Lackadaisical Luv XXX F U 2 (FUR RMX) – Coyote Clean Up

Clears Throat – FUR

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Texas reverb is certainly finding a pocket in the lo-fi scene, and I’m glad to have gotten my hands on another sweet Pure Ecstasy track, this one titled ‘Voices’. It’s the A-Side to the band’s upcoming Voices/Alexandria 7″, which is available for pre-order through Acephale Records.

Voices – Pure Ecstasy

And here’s part 2 and 3 of the Yours Truly video series with Pure Ecstasy featuring both ‘Alexandria’ and ‘Voices’ respectively. All three were shot at Aquarius Records in San Francisco. Check back to my last post on the group for part 1 and some other goodies you might’ve missed.

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Also out of Austin is girl-group SLEEP ∞ OVER, which has close ties to Pure Ecstasy and a split 7″ with them due out soon through Light Lodge. For now, they’ve released their second and third tracks to date. ‘Fog Juice’ is another instrumental with dark vibes and stretched-out echoes from bottomless pits, and just in today is it’s simmering counterpart, the hazy exclusive ‘Sun Spots’, which comes as part of the free Shake Some Action SXSW Sampler, a huge compilation of songs by artists that’ll be playing next weekend in Austin for 3 days in a row. Damn I wish I could be there.

Fog Juice – SLEEP ∞ OVER

Sun Spots – SLEEP ∞ OVER

Paying for New Time

In 2004, British writer and director, Sean Ellis, released the short film Cashback.  The film was received to much critical acclaim and was even nominated for Best Short Film by the Academy Awards.  Two years later, Ellis got all of the original cast back to make it into a full film.  Ellis even used the entire short in the full length version.  Even though the full length didn’t get as positive reviews as the original, I prefer it over the short.  There is a lot more insight into every character that there are only glimpses of in the short.

Hold on, I totally skipped the synopsis.  The movie is about an insomniac who decides to pass his time by working at a grocery store.  In order to make the boring seconds tick by faster his imagination takes over.  The film is starring Sean Biggerstaff.  Now, I don’t expect you to really know that name.  But he is the kid that plays Oliver Wood (Quidditch captain) in the first two Harry Potter movies.  He does a great  job.  He’s carries the movie very well, and has a great supporting cast to back him up the entire time.  That’s basically it without giving too much away.  It’s a small movie that’s a lot of fun and really smart.  Well written and well done for a first time director.

There are those out there that criticized it for its gratuitous nudity.  While there is a lot of nudity and very strong sexual under/overtones, it’s pretty tasteful and not just for show.  All of the nudity is a part of the story because it is about sex and sexual insecurities along with other things.

Now, I can’t find the full short anywhere, which is what I was hoping to do, so instead I’m gonna post the first part of it.  Caution: I can’t find the second part anywhere.  I hope you don’t mind a cliffhanger.

Grand Theft Caballo

You thought GTA was the pinnacle of full-blown murder and chaos, the epitome of what it means to be an outlaw and a criminal? Alright well maybe so, maybe GTA is the only game capable of sending a rocket into five police cars at once, of allowing you to make roadkill of countless sidewalk pedestrians with a fire truck or to ghost a ‘copter into the empire state building. I’ll give you that, but damn does this game look fantastic. It’s called Red Dead Redemption, and it’s open-world mania in the old wild west. It’s made by Rockstar, the same guys who brought you all the GTAs, so you’ll see the same incredible graphics and physics engine that they put into GTA IV, but with upgrades of course. You’re a recovering outlaw and you’ve got the choice to return to your evil depths or to rise among your fellow outlaws and foes as the towns’ top citizen dildo. Whatever the case, it’ll surely be amazing and come April 27th I’ll be duel-wielding revolvers, hijacking trains and lassoing the shit out of Mexicans.

Pura Pura Pura

Have to thank Friendship Bracelet – excellent blog I was shown by none other than my older sis megscans - in advance for these next few artists/tracks.

Pure Ecstasy is a trio out of Austin, Texas made up of frontman Nate Grace, Jesse Jenkins and Austin Youngblood. Lo-fi and dreamy, PE has two 7″s out there roaming about, both of which are highly recommended. The latest, ‘EASY’, which is still available via Light Lodge - an up and coming local label already home to some very worthy names – is one of the best tracks I’ve heard in a while. It’s got this indelible reverb that’s had blogs raving about the song since it’s release back in October of 2009 (I’m late I know). It’s got perfectly minimal drums and guitar that do great justice to the wonderful falsetto/scratchiness in the vocals. It’s stuff suitable for cement basements lined with too many wires and furniture for proper movement. It’ll remind you of times having heard some oh-so-succulent sounds from a nearby enclosure and only wishing you could be on the other side. Truly fantastic jam. The first 7″, Future Nostalgia (also in cassette with photo cover above), is much more subdued, featuring the two hits ‘DWLDWD’ (don’t want to live don’t want to die) and ‘You’re In It Now’. Both have that piercing guitar echo as well as the unfaltering reverb to really get you in the beach-going mood. Honestly I wish I was sending these tracks your way beneath the blinding rays of a hot summer day, though I guess their transportive elements’ll have to do for now. Below is a live recording done over the phone courtesy of the podcast ‘Phoning It In‘, and, well, it’s pretty excellent. As the host remarks, it sounds almost exactly like the tracks do in record form. Makes sense, yet it’s fucking glorious all the same.

Here’s the tracklist of the above podcast episode (If you’d like to download it, click the down arrow on the right side of the soundcloud player, otherwise I’ve included some mediafire downloads of the actual mp3s in the highlighted tracks below).

Tracklist: DWLDWD
Back Where I Began
Got No One
Baby (B-side of the EASY 7″)
You’re In It Now
EASY

More Goodies: Grab this sweet Pure Ecstasy cover of the popular Toots & and the Maytails song ‘Pressure Drop‘ <–click. And if you like the stuff you hear, go buy the 7″s and prepare for more to come (let’s hope for a full-length in the near future). In the meantime, enjoy this awesome vid by Yours Truly of them playing ‘EASY’ at Aquarius Records.

..There’s a connection here…

Having close ties to Pure Ecstasy is another rising Texan outfit called Silver Pines. Both Jesse and Austin from PE are members of the five-piece group, which also sports frontwoman Stefanie Franciotti, Adam Jones and Joe Jacobs (boy do they like their J’s down south). Silver Pines currently has one cassette and one LP released. Their Night Smoker CS is out of print, yet mp3s are still around, and their Forces LP is another one purchasable through Light Lodge (label to Silver Pines as well as Pure Ecstasy). I have yet to get a full listen on either, but what I’ve heard so far is great.

Two of their tracks I recently stumbled upon are ‘Glass Church’ from the CS and ‘Timefather’ from the LP. They’ve got this western, sun-dried sheen to ‘em. Full of repressed drum and high-hat, they give off this mellow, pent-up longing that’s reminiscent of the band Brightblack Morning Light (highly suggested). Listening to the latter got this image stuck in my head of passing through an old western town, one victim to intense humidity and penetrating sunlight. The streets are vacant, the doors are hung open, and the windows seem unsure of their purpose. You see a man – probably the sheriff, or maybe just a lone wolf roughing it through the day’s worst – and he reacts none as you move on by, not even attempting a glance. His mustache is sweating unnoticeably. A hat rests on his lap, dusted and discolored from inactivity. From the measly tips of his fingers dangles an empty cup, imposed on the scene with the same importance as if his fate was dangling there too, dependent upon the cup’s stability in his own worn, aged hand. It’s this sort of vicarious precariousness that rubs off on me when I listen to such music. Everything is dormant, dried up and hanging in the balance. ‘Glass Church’ especially has that kind of vibe. ‘Timefather’ is given more pace and progression and comes to a heavily distorted climax. All this is topped off by some nice female reverb. I dig it.

Don’t rush into these tracks. Let them sit there, let ‘em scorch.

Glass Church – Silver Pines

Timefather – Silver Pines

SLEEP ∞ OVER (Sleep Over Forever) is once again a Texas affair. Also featuring Silver Pines’ lead singer and synth-player Stefanie Franciotti (hence the inclusion of these three bands in one post), as well as Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown, SLEEP ∞ OVER has to my knowledge only one track released so far, and it’ll be due out in a 7″ split with Pure Ecstasy soon through Light Lodge. ‘Your World Is Night’ is eerily delectable. It’s got this nigh-creepy mix of church choir vocals and synth trills, but yet it hits you in a warm spot with that, again, damn reverb. jumponit

Your World Is Night – SLEEP ∞ OVER

Not To Be Confused With The John Mayer Trio

This one is not to pimp out The John Butler Trio.  He is far from needing it and if you don’t already know him, then you need to check him out.  And if that’s the case then this is a good place to start.  Ok, so maybe I’m pimping out The John Butler Trio a little bit.  To over-simplify it, he’s basically the Australian version of the Dave Mathews Band except without 20 band members.  Anyway, he’s awesome and this song is equally awesome.  I know it’s long but you should stick with it.  It’s actually not that challenging because it builds and gets better and better.  Apparently this is a song he used to play on streets and in subways.

Straight Outta Denmark

So I’m not going to pretend to have all this knowledge about the Danish film scene.  I don’t know anything about it, but this filmmaker compels me to learn as much as I can.  What I have learned is that Susanne Bier is one of the most influential directors to come from the country.  While it’s challenging figuring out what she did in Denmark during the nineties, in the past decade she has made four critically acclaimed films.  All of these films feature real characters that live in shades of gray and actually a realistic, as well as compelling, arc.  Honest and real characters are something that can be easy to forget in movies, especially those that rely on other gimmicks to draw in crowds like special effects or a chick with great boobs.  Susanne Bier also uses the Dogme style often which means that the films are naturally lit.  There aren’t any bright lights in the actor’s faces to make them look prettier.  It can make it look a little dark at times, but it creates a dark background instead of the Hollywood version of darkness.  She also solely uses hand held cameras, but not in any distracting way.  The camera doesn’t draw attention to itself and manages to create a more spontaneous and genuine feel.  It’s not like you’re watching it in a voyeuristic sense but that you’re there with the characters feeling every emotion with them.

The most recent movie of her’s that I saw that inspired me to post about her was her 2006 film, After the Wedding.  With the sole exception being Mads Mikkelsen who is known to most Americans as the bad guy from Casino Royale. The movie starts with his character, Jacob, helping out in India with feeding and teaching the impoverished children.  He is sent back to Denmark for the first time in over twenty years to try and get more money to keep his efforts going.  He meets with Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard) to get the money and Jorgen invites him to his daughter’s wedding.  At the wedding, Jacob runs into an old flame, Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who also happens to be Jorgen’s husband and the mother of the bride.  It all unravels from there.  After the Wedding grabs the audience within the first twenty minutes of the beginning.  All of the characters are complicated and have their own agenda.  Every single character could have bad intentions and the audience sees the best and worst of each of them.

Susanne Bier  also is responsible for the original Brothers (which was recently made with Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, and Natalie Portman), the 2002 film Open Hearts, and her American debut Things We Lost in the Fire which stars Halle Berry and Benicio del Toro.  Her next film, Hævnen, is due to come out in Denmark summer of this year.

Peyote Prenup

It’s been half a month and I miss you. I was compelled to post on this groggy afternoon by something really fresh that I’ve had on repeat over the past few days – much thanks to 20jazzfunkgreats for this precious grab.

Coyote Clean Up hails from Detroit, Michigan as a – depending on the credibility of it’s outlandish myspace description – 7 piece band (or maybe it’s only the one guy). Just released by it’s label Afternoons Modeling, Coyote Clean Up’s debut CD-R album, Double Trouble, is an absolute joyride. I’ll be quick to say it’s one of my favorite albums of 2009 and of perhaps the 00′s.

What’s gettin’ me saying this is the distinct indistinctness of the whole thing. Give it one listen and no one song’ll stick out as critical to the experience – they all are. Double Trouble is rather, a mood, a sort of trance invoked by the healthy infusion of trip-hop, folk, and house. Sounds pretty bumpin’, eh? It’s a 20-song, hazy release from the one-hit wonders that, to my mixed bewilderment and expectancy, always seem to fill up the mainstream with relative ease. Though I guess it’s better that way. I mean, something you know to be great is never more valuable and enjoyable than when it’s not topping all the charts and picking up all the radio buzz. It’s more personal.

So when I downloaded the album, my first thought was that it was going to be some off-shoot of tunes to the likes of Boards of Canada or Massive Attack. A little eery, maybe poorly layered, and probably not worth a full listen. Damn was I wrong, and, not to go overboard (no pun intended) with my adoration of this stuff, I think it’s better. Coyote Clean Up seems to be following in the direction of the new decade with that beachy essence of, for I-don’t-know-whose lack of a better word, ‘chillwave’, but they’ve brought on a new dimension to it. To give the chillwave riders an idea, CCU is like a coming together of  Washed Out and Real Estate, but with a heavier influence of house. Alright I guess that wasn’t a very good explanation, but more to the point, Double Trouble is fresh material and a must-hear. Heady beats and seamless riffs abound in every track, an impressive feat for a debut. But even more infectious are the vocals. They’re both soft and repetitive, a perfect blend for the tempoed, lazed delicacy imposed by each song. It’s like that in between stage of suburban commute. No matter where you came from or where you’re going, even if it’s simply a late-night drive, this album is that ethereal dose of car ride contemplation and quick transport at dusk.

Download Double Trouble at CCU’s label here for free, or sample it (via mediafire) below with some of my favorite tracks on the album that hopefully legitimate my enthusiasm for the Michigan-born group. Please don’t hesitate, it’s just a few clicks away and you’ll be rewarded with some excellent stuff. And watch the video too – despite your presumed dissent, I think it’s a completely necessary addition.

a-bomb paper tigers – Coyote Clean Up

dumbassthings – Coyote Clean Up

toes 2 the nose – Coyote Clean Up

dumber by the day/ I know dude – Coyote Clean Up

Tunes for Aquatic Animals to Fall Asleep to

Eric Whitacre has become a growing name in music.  He has become a large name in composing for both concert bands and for choirs.  Born in 1970, Whitacre was expelled from his high school band but went on to study music in the University of Nevada and eventually even went to Julliard.  A fan of straying from convention, his work is known for having changing and unusual rhythmic patterns and has even helped start a group called the BCM International who “strive to create high-quality literature for all concert and educational mediums. While diverse in background and stylistic approach, we share a desire to enrich the repertoire with music unbound by traditional thought or idiomatic cliché.”

The song “Seal Lullaby” was written when Dreamworks Studios (makers of such classics as the Shrek and Ice Age trilogies) hired Whitacre to compose as song for a poem with the same namesake by Rudyard Kipling.  The plan was for the movie to be about this poem and the song would be featured in it.  He wrote the song and waited to get word for the studio.  He waited until he finally called them to see what was going on.  They said they forgot to tell him that they instead decided to make Kung Fu Panda.  It sat on the shelf until some choirs got a hold of it.  So this is the result of an almost movie that could’ve been pretty cool.

Here is the poem on which the song is based by Rudyard Kipling:

Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, O’er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, there soft by the pillow.
Oh, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, no shark shall overtake thee
Asleep in the storm of slow-swinging seas.

Big thanks to JD for bringing this to my attention.

New Heights, Old Dreams

With Monday came the celebration of the world’s tallest building to date, and unsurprisingly, it’s in Dubai. Despite recent economic woes they were still able to muster the proper funds and interest that made the 2,717 foot, Babel-like structure possible. Of course, that means foreign investment, so the installment isn’t exactly a boost to the public, and, expectedly, it’ll be ridiculously exclusive/expensive. Interestingly enough, the skyscraping giant was originally named Burj Dubai, but at the last minute Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid, the ruler of Dubai, changed it to Burj Khalifa in honor of the president of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi, being rich in oil, has covered much of Dubai’s debt (a 10 billion dollar bailout last month) since the United Arab Emirates city-state fell into financial troubles. So it seems that Rashid made the switch in an effort to smooth over his creditors. Regardless, the construction is more than a bit reckless, and it shows  a culture-specific pride that ultimately transcends practicality. Though yet, maybe it is practical. Maybe something so overly ambitious and grandiose – a tower nearly twice the height of the Empire State Building – is exactly what will lift Dubai out of troubled water. Now of course there will be the capitalistic criticism, but the more publicity the better. After watching that firework show who doesn’t want to go see that thing? It’s just like the Beijing Olympics. The fantastical is what gets people interested.

Statistically speaking:

It has a view that spans nearly 60 miles, as seen above. And the rest I’ll just copy over from NY Times:

At a cost estimated at $1.5 billion, the Burj took five years to build, is over 160 floors high and has comfortably surpassed the previous record holder in Taipei.

With its mix of nightclubs, mosques, luxury suites and boardrooms, the Burj is an almost-perfect representation of Dubai’s own complexities and contradictions. It will have the world’s first Armani hotel; the world’s highest swimming pool, on the 76th floor; the highest observation deck, on the 124th floor; and the highest mosque, on the 158th floor.

More than 12,000 people will occupy its 6 million square feet, zooming up and down in the 54 elevators that can hit speeds of 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, an hour. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago.

At a time when several of Dubai’s newly built office towers stand empty, it is 90 percent sold, according to the building’s developer, Emaar Properties.

From Clubs to Living Rooms

Man, it’s been a while.  Anyway, I’ve been into this group for a while.  They’re an indie-folk trio called Common Rotation.  And when I say indie, I truly mean it.  After being fed up with touring from club to club and the politics that come with it, they did a living room tour which is exactly what it sounds like.  They went from house to house accepting donations instead of fees to pay for traveling.  You can watch a documentary on it at their website commonrotation.com as well as check out and download a bunch of their music.