Zombie Politics

It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

2008-03-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

ZOMBIE POLITICS IS DEAD, OR AT THE VERY LEAST HIBERNATING.

ALL FIVE OF YOU PLEASE VISIT ME @

THE DREW REVIEW @ FAIRFIELDWEEKLY.COM

With Every Heartbeat - Robyn @ Highline Ballroom 02.05.08

2008-02-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

AMAZING.

More later.

Monday's Links: 01/21/08

2008-01-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

* That amazing artwork is from the forthcoming, Guy-Manuel_de_Homem-Christo (the gold robot from Daft Punk)-produced Sebastien Tellier album, Sexuality. If you can't wait, here's more information (and a song sample). And the super hot video for the first single, "Sexual Sportswear" is here:

* Get ready for Rambo.

* Oscars tomorrow, Razzies today. You've got to love it, although it's kind of a bummer that Paul Verhoeven chose to release a genuine masterpiece this year instead of a laughably wonderful flop a la Showgirls.

* Speaking of Oscars, it looks like Johnny Greenwood's revolutionary There Will Be Blood score could be fucked over for the Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. If true, it could be totally devastating. We'll see tomorrow.

* Courtesy of Pitchfork, pop genius Jamie Lidell has a new album coming (YESSSSS), and Dizzee Rascal's amazing Maths + English is finally being released stateside (double YESSSSSSSSSS).

* Here's a great New York Times article on AMC's new series Breaking Bad, which premiered last night and was, to my estimation, pretty great. Vince Gilligan, author of a few totally amazing X-Files episodes, including the one with Luke Wilson as a vampire ("Bad Blood"), the one where Darin Morgan played a shape shifting loser ("Small Potatoes") and the one where those crazy people worshipped a giant worm (a.k.a. the grossest episode ever in life - "Roadrunners"). My hopes are high.

* Looks like everyone loves Cloverfield as much as me.

* Billboard confirms what I said last summer: that the new Franz Ferdinand album is going to be fucking incredible.

AAAAAAND THE QUOTE OF THE MOTHERFUCKIN' DAY IS:

"I thought Scarlett was good in it and I had a good time working with her. And Djimon [Hounsou] was fucking gorgeous in it, and brilliantly mean in it and cool. And Michael Bay blew up a lot of shit in it." - Ewan McGregor on The Island, via EW and NY Mag

Tuesday's Links: 01/15/08

2008-01-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

* Tom Cruise is certifiably batshit. Scientology is even scarier when it's coming out of his mouth in a rambling, uninterrupted monologue with the Limp Bizkit "Mission: Impossible" theme playing in the background.

* On a related note, Katie Holmes got asked some softball questions from Diane Sawyer. No quizzing was done as to whether or not Katie was impregnated by frozen L. Ron Hubbard sperm.

* The New York Times, New York Magazine, and New York Post all hate the new Little Mermaid Broadway musical. Not surprisingly, Jim Hill liked it. I refuse to believe it can be any worse than the wretched Tarzan musical, which has already been canned.

* Perez sez East Coast Coachella! (Man, that line was dumb.) [UPDATE: Confirmed, although without the "Coachella" brand.]

* iTunes starts "renting" movies.

* Mars Volta played a long, presumably boring show.

Monday's Links: 1/14/08

2008-01-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

* So-so screenwriter Roger Avary killed someone, which now ensures his place in Hollywood history as "the new Eric Red." At least now he's done something worse than Rules of Attraction.

* National Book Critics awards were finalized. I really want to read Sacred Games.

* Supposedly there'll be a new Coldplay album SOON-ISH (but not soon enough).

* Pitchfork streamed a track from the totally excellent new Kelley Polar album, Hold on While the Sky is Falling, although I'm not sure it's "an ambitious tangle of vocals, strings, and synths that conjures up Human League, the Free Design, and Reading Rainbow in equal parts" (fucking Pitchfork).

* Wild Cloverfield speculation continues, and the thing is out on Friday. Patience is a virtue.

* WMG is stupid (I remember when this was happening - I was very close to someone on the inside of this deal).

* The Brit Awards nominees were revealed.

* Here's an interesting article explaining that amazing Rambo poster.

* The trailer for George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead debuted online. It looks pretty fucking amazing, I must say (it's supposed to come out on February 15th).

* And here's the YouTube video I just... can't... stop... watching... (thanks Charles)

Please Don't Stop Rihanna

2008-01-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

Awwww, she loves Ed Banger too!

Via Asian Man Dan.

Excelsior!

2008-01-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

I got to write not ONE but TWO articles on comic books last week.

Mission: accomplished.

(Actually, mission accomplished would be WRITING A COMIC BOOK. But some dreams have to wait.)

Anyway, enjoy. Be sure to poke around the rest of the Weekly site, lots of good stuff (as always).

Goldfrapp Galore

2008-01-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

To paraphrase a line from the mediocre horror movie Hard Candy: “I fucking love Goldfrapp.”

Few things equal, for pure pop majesty, the beauty and sheer, unadulterated joy of 2005’s Supernature. (I remember the exuberance I felt at finding the album, on the first week it was released in the native UK, at a Tower Records in Chicago, Illinois. Nobody else cared and it would take another year for the masterpiece to – finally – be released in the United States.) That album was a whirligig dance. odyssey and it was pretty much flawless. The new album, February’s Seventh Tree, is like the satin lining to Supernature’s sequin-studded evening gown: smooth, elegant, and (like Supernature) is pretty much flawless.

It’s an early contender for the album of 2008. (It’s that kind of great.)

Here’s the stunning video for the stunning first single (email me nicely and I’ll send back the dope-ass Hercules & Love Affair remix):

Goldfrapp
Uploaded by Footballfckr

And here’s the great single sleeve:

The Zombie's Year in Pop 2007: MUSIC

2008-01-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

01 LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (EMI/DFA)
This album leaked in November of 2006, and still, with all that time and all those repeated listens, nothing in 2007 even came close to eclipsing it. James Murphy may very well be the savior of modern pop music. It positively shimmers. Murphy proves that you have to be smart to be a smart ass, and on this collection of songs he is both snarky (on “North American Scum”) and (especially with the final song “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”) sincere. It’s a fine line to walk, between art and pop, between intellectualism and dance-your-ass-off, but he does it with such assured brilliance that you can’t help but be in awe; this album is both the party and the reflective come down afterwards. In short: a towering achievement.

02 M.I.A., Kala (Interscope/XL)
It’s the least annoying “world album” ever made. Who cares about the politics? Sure, they’re there, but should only enrich the experience of listening to a really amazing pop records and if you don’t pick up on her nods to globalization and terrorism, you’re not missing out on anything. (Why bloggers choose to flex their degrees on inferring socio-political leanings is beyond me.) It’ll be a long wait for album three.

03 Private, My Secret Lover (Universal Denmark)
A late entry to the list but totally deserving: it’s one of the most compulsively listenable (and loveable) albums of the year and you know it almost instantly. (Sorry for the overdose of adverbs there, I’ll try to control myself.) Masterminded by Thomas Troelsen (who was also partially responsible for the girl group album of the year, Monrose’s amazing Strictly Physical), it sounds like a ‘80’s pop album engineered in the distant future. Here’s hoping for a domestic release.

04 Kanye West, Graduation (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Kanye whittled down the overstuffed musical opulence of Late Registration into a thirteen-song electro soul record and ended up making his best album to date. For some reason both his restraint (again: thirteen songs, only a handful of guests) and his pop savvy (Steely Dan and Can samples on a “rap” record that whooped 50 Cent) are routinely ignored.

05 Justice, † (Vice/Ed Banger)
Yes, it was the electronic album of the year, but only since I can’t count Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 as a “new album” (fuck).

06 Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad/The-Dream, Lovehate (Def Jam)
Everyone loves “Umbrella,” but no attention is paid to the fact that it came from a remarkably solid ALBUM. Good Girl Gone Bad is an uncanny, expertly produced collection of pop and R&B jams, while “Umbrella” co-writer The-Dream made a great album full of fake Prince songs (written and recorded in nine days, no less!) – with Rihanna singing on one track!

07 Midnight Juggernauts, Dystopia (Siberia/Inertia/Modular)
I could have put the Midnight Juggernauts’ debut album on my list for a lot of reasons but I think I’ll choose the fact that it sounds a lot like Queen’s Hot Space as a deciding factor.

08 Britney Spears, Blackout (Jive/Zomba)
Why Amy Winehouse can be a fucking mess in her personal life and release a mostly forgettable album of boring pop pastiches and Britney (admittedly, a fucking mess) can release a brilliant album that actually sounds like it was recorded in the year 2007 (or beyond) and totally be ignored is beyond me. Never should a distinction between artist and art been made more strongly.

09 Dizzee Rascal, Maths + English (XL Recordings)
An album so good it should have at least merited a PHYSICAL RELEASE IN THE UNITED STATES. Jesus Christ, there were a lot of bone-headed decisions in the record industry this year. Sadly, Dizzee’s third (and best) album was a casuality of these horrible judgment calls and got a fraction of the audience it should have.

10 Silverchair, Young Modern (Eleven/Atlantic/Independent)
Who would have thought the best pop rock opera since the original Bat Out of Hell would have been produced by a snotty Australian band best known for their role in the inception of the hideous grunge movement? (Not me.)

A GREAT ALBUM

2007-12-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

A full review soon.

Great new WALL-E Poster

2007-12-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Forthcoming Pixar genius.

I Interviewed Suzanne Vega (and asked her about Britney Spears)

2007-12-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's about it.

Read it here.

Giving Thanks

2007-12-02T10:14:00.001-08:00

We gave thanks in last week's issue of The Weekly. Here are mine. They are silly.

Harder, Better, Faster Stronger... at Coney Island

2007-10-26T22:08:00.001-07:00

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 07)
Uploaded by TinY-Prod

This is the music video by Olivier Gondry, made up of footage from 250 fans at the Coney Island Daft Punk show (you know, the one I was at). It's pretty dope. Looks a lot like the Beastie Boys' Awesome I Fuckin' Shot That! movie. No, you can't see me, but you can picture my orgasmic excitement at every light switch, song mashup, and robot jig. Picture it. Now. Good.

Mistresses of Suspense

2007-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Two great women authors wrote two great thrillers recently. So I reviewed them for the Weekly, which you can read here.

Phantoms: Justice @ Terminal 5 - 10.22.07

2007-10-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

I Am the King of the Internets

2007-10-26T21:50:00.001-07:00

Over the "Rainbows"

2007-10-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Radiohead released an album. Or something. I haven't really heard anything about it, and neither have you (probably). So I wrote about it for the Weekly, which makes my two cents even worthless. Still, you can read it yonder.

Cuz It's Louis Vuitton Don Night

2007-10-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Daft Punk DJ'd the Louis Vuitton Spring '08 Collection and it blew away everyone in the world. Or at least that's what I thought when I heard it: that I was the last man on earth, forced to travel the globe in search of a sexy survivor to repopulate the planet with while all the while fighting off vicious, mutated beasts. Just watch the video.

We All Have Our Own, Personal "Johnny Neumonic"s

2007-10-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

I loves me some William Gibson. So I reviewed his new novel for the Weekly. Read what I had to say here.

I Like "Pushing Daisies" A Whole Fucking Lot

2007-10-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

I also did a little preview/review of a bunch of fall TV shows, which boiled down to me saying that they were time-fillers until Lost graced us with its freak-out presence come February. (Pushing Daisies has totally stolen my heart, I must admit.) I love the picture of Ray Wise they used, too. Read it here.

Britney Album is Called "Blackout" and Comes Out in Late October (Whoops)

2007-10-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

I did my "Fall Music Preview" for the Weekly. The results can he read . They kept my blow job joke, so I'm happy. The unused subtitle for the article was "10 Albums We'll Actually Buy Legally (Maybe)." Read said blow job joke and other things here.

Some Excellent New Pop Videos

2007-10-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

Flip a Coin

2007-09-27T08:44:00.001-07:00

I weigh in on the whole 50 Cent/Kanye West brouhaha in this Week's Weekly.

My article is here, but sadly missing are some jokes. So I've printed my original version below, and made sure you know where the extra jokes are (they're in bold)!

The transparency behind the 50 Cent (nee Curtis Jackson)/Kanye West feud, both of them with high-profile albums that came out on September 11th, came to light when numbers were released for that week’s album sales. It served as the culmination of weeks, if not months, of an endless, carefully orchestrated hype storm, one that included the face-off on the cover of Rolling Stone, the showdown at the MTV Video Music Awards, the real-time sales comparisons on Amazon, and the big-ass claim that 50 Cent would retire from music if Kanye outsold him. It was exhausting.

The least publicized aspect of this old school rap-world pissing contest is that monolithic corporation Universal Music employs both artists. Um, okay. The boasting, the exaggerated name calling, the raucous fun that you could easily find yourself getting caught up in, is nullified. They’re both working for the same soulless machine, so either way your money is going to one place. Maybe it’d help to order a ring tone, too?

That was Universal’s thinking, anyway. When the staggering numbers were released (Kanye’s Graduation came in at first place with 957,000 copies sold, with 50 Cent’s Curtis in second with 631,000), it was noted that Universal occupied a whopping 50% of the total US market share.

This is not only amazing for the company, but for music in general – look at those numbers again – 957,000 physical copies of Graduation were sold and tracked by SoundScan. That’s a lot of fucking records. Especially since both albums leaked more than two weeks ago – on the same day! The numbers fly in the face of common music-industry logic. After all, I keep hearing that the physical album was dead; that people didn’t pay for music anymore; plus other carefully worded sound bites. This apparently isn’t the case for rap fans engaged in a corporately run dust-up (or fans of High School Musical, for that matter – that shit’s unstoppable!)

But what about the albums? With everyone worried about who sold what, did anyone stop to think about what they actually, sounded like?

The short answer is, the right man won.

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, or an album by its sleeve, but just looking at the outside of these records tells you what lies inside. 50 Cent’s Curtis features a stark picture of, looking agonized in a slick, black-and-white photo that could have been taken in prison. It is doubly offensive: grim and unoriginal. Kanye West’s Graduation, on the other hand, is a psychedelic delight. Takashi Murakami, an influential Japanese artist and designer, did the jacket illustration. The bear on the cover, a staple of Kanye’s, is wearing Nike Air McFlys. They’re the shoes Michael J. Fox wore in the “future” section of Back to the Future, Part II. What part of this isn’t awesome?

The dizzying, Day-Glo futurism of the sleeve permeates much of the musical innards of Graduation; it’s a pop masterpiece that stands as Kanye West’s most mature, accomplished album to date. Gone is the overwhelming sonic opulence of Last Registration. It’s been replaced by a gooey kind of electro fuzz. Sure, the soul samples are still there, as are some of the strings, but it’s been processed and refined into a more easily digestible (thirteen tracks, clocking in at less than an hour, with only a handful of guest vocalists), but no less fascinating (he samples Can!), pop music package. It’s almost unbelievably great.

Curtis, on the other hand, is the same old shit. A bunch of rickety, rattling beats by a host of big rap producers (Dr. Dre, Timbaland) adorned with lyrics about girls who know how to “work the pole.” I’m not sure what pole he’s referring to, but one thing is for sure: it’s an album full of songs that exotic dancers will be undressing to for years to come. I guess that’s something. It’s just not a great album, or even a particularly listenable one.

The battle’s done. The sales have been totaled and one evil corporation made lots and lots of money off of a trusting public. It’s the American dream. At least we got one great album out of it.

Gimme More

2007-09-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here's my newest article for the Fairfield Weekly, all about Britney. Fun!

Read.

Kanye West Just Got Geniusier

2007-09-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

Goddamn I love Kanye.

I’ve been a big fan of his previous two records, his production work, his amazing sense of style, but I’ve never been as consistently impressed and in awe of him as I am now.

Graduation is a modern masterpiece, a wacky, whirligig pop tour de force that easily belongs in the Top 5 of 2007 (yeah, “Everything I Am” is kind of dull but I’ve accepted its quaintness and moved on.org). I could go on and on about the record and I probably will, but later.

What’s so interesting, and has been expounded upon on many blogs read by many more people than mine, is his fascination with French dance music. Obviously the Daft Punk sample on “Stronger” is a pretty clear cut example of this, and to a certain extent the official “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” video (the one without the guys with beards) does much to reproduce Daft Punk’s desert storming show at Coachella last year.

But the video for “The Good Life…”

OH YES.

Directed by So_Me, who designs all of the record sleeves, tour tee-shirts, music videos and graphic designs for the Ed Banger record label (home to Justice, SebastiAn, etc.), well, it’s just SO FUCKING GOOD.

(Also – the song’s not too shabby either.)

What’s next – a Justice remix of “Flashing Lights?” Oh god, I can hardly imagine…

Drew

Resurrecting the Champ

2007-09-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

I previewed the new HBO series True Blood in this week's Weekly.

Sink your teeth in here!

Ronson Don't Need No Stinking Winehouse

2007-09-11T10:28:00.001-07:00

Here's the video for Mark Ronson's "Valerie" (which is really The Zuton's "Valerie," but we're not hear to get into the nitty-gritty).

If you'll recall, on the album, Amy Winehouse does the vocals, but since she's busy snorting things and stabbing people, he used a bunch fo stand-ins. It's kind of an iffy concept, but he pulls it off with the usual Ronson style - walking that fine line between charming kitsch and cloying insincerity and coming out (adorably) on top.

It also does a good job capturing the spirit of his amazing live Version show.

I was bummed to hear as part of his "house band" gig at the god awful VMAs on Sunday that he was going to do a version of "D.A.N.C.E." with Justice. Oh baby oh baby that would've been sweet.

It's Going to Be an Amazing Fall Movie Season

2007-09-06T17:33:00.001-07:00

The Shoes the Bear is Wearing on the "Graduation" Cover

2007-09-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

So the shoes that the bear is wearing on the amazing Takashi Murakami cover for Kanye West's amazing Graduation are the Air McFlys. They are supposedly a prototype shoe designed by Nike to resemble the shoes Michael J. Fox wore in the "future" portion of Back to the Future, Part II ("Power laces! Alright!"). It's not known if these are actually going to go into production (probably not), but it's still fucking cool and adds to the whole quasi-futuristic vibe of Graduation.

Images shamelessly stolen from Sneaker Hunt.

The Difficult Second Album...

2007-09-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

... Hard Fi just made one. It's even more overblown and pretentious as Sam's Town was last year.

And yes, that's the cover artwork. Seriously.

My article: Read me!

From this week's Weekly.

Yet Another Reason Why I Should Drop Out of School (As If I Needed One)

2007-09-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

From that amazing resource Facebook. Oy.

Bentley Little is the Most Underrated Author in America

2007-09-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here's why.

From this week's Weekly.

Me Write About Pop Music (Some More)

2007-08-23T09:09:00.001-07:00

Here.

From this week's Weekly.

Enjoy.

New "Jesse James" Trailer!

2007-08-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Roger Deakins in the house!

The Hives Are Coming Back With the Power Power

2007-08-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Hives have a new album coming out at the beginning of October called The Black and White Album, which is a pretty great thing to call an album. This is the album cover. I love it. I am very excited.

Summer 2008 Is Really Too Far Away (About a Year)

2007-08-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army could be better than The Dark Knight, but probably not. But it might be the more interesting film.

Maybe it'll be better than Iron Man.

Don't know about that, either.

Criterion Does Hitchcock (Again)

2007-08-16T09:59:00.001-07:00

Double-disc set baby, out in November, awww yeah.

Pyramid Power

2007-08-16T05:56:00.001-07:00

A week ago was probably the last time I'll ever see the adorable mandroids of Daft Punk and their amazing technicolor disco pyramid. Then again, they made an awful lot of money from this tour - maybe they aren't done with dramatizing the epic battle of man vs. machine vs. Kanye West juuuuuuuuuust yet...

The next tour will probably look something like this, anyway:

Links to the Past

2007-08-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Periodically I'm employed by the Fairfield County Weekly. They tend to publish things I write. These are links to two of those "things."

An article about the hippie-fest that is Gathering of the Vibes (in our very own Bridgeport, Connecticut), comparing it to the hipster-fest that is Lollapalooza, which I attended in Chicago (see blurry photos below). Here.

Also, I read Harry Potter and got all emotional about it (no homo). Here.

Hope you enjoy. And if you don't, just lie to me about them if we ever bump into each other on the street.

Decisions Decisions

2007-08-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a big night for outdoor concerts (which was especially frightening given the high possibility of rain) -- Mike was grooving to the Black Crowes show in Central Park, Jordan was shaking his rump at the McCarren pool Beastie Boys show and I was...

Kind of obvious, I guess. More later.

Criterion Befuddles Me Once More [UPDATED]

2007-08-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is from the Criterion newsletter. And I am so awful at their "hints" I thought I'd put it up to see if anyone understands it. Adrian?

UPDATE: Thanks to Film Ick (and a text message with Max), it looks like it's Ernst Lubitsch's The Love Parade.

On my must-do Criterion list: David Cronenberg's M. Butterfly (they've got a big-ass special edition of Crash in the works for later this year), David Fincher's The Game, and Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps (especially in light of the amazing new Monster Squad DVD). What about you guys? What are you dying to see Criterion do (or to have a DVD reissue of a laserdisc)?

Lollapalooza in Poorly Taken Photographs

2007-08-07T16:53:00.001-07:00

This is what it looks like when you don't have a photo pass.

Brief Lollapalooza Recap

2007-08-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Rapture: Amazing
Silverchair: Amazing
M.I.A.: Amazing
Amy Winehouse: Amazing
Snow Patrol: Amazing
The Black Keys: Amazing
LCD Soundsystem: Amazing
Spoon: Amazing
Daft Punk: AMAZING.

More to follow.

Still Trapped...

2007-08-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

... still genius. Why am I more excited about this than I am about Graduation? Okay, I'm not that excited, but it will be fudging hilarious.

A Brilliant Record

2007-07-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

This album is kind of like if Junior Senior stripped away the dance elements and decided to record an Undertones cover album. It's that much fun. It also contains the lyric "My cult status keeps me fucking your wife." And, really, what more could you ask for? It comes out on Tuesday. Highly recommended.

DVD Announcement of the Millennium

2007-07-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

I thought they had outdone themselves with the recent, awe-inspiring Ace in the Hole DVD but now Criterion's gone and announced a special edition of one of my all-time favorite movies, Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (y'all). Between this, the special edition of Coppola's grossly underrated Bram Stoker's Dracula, WB's new Kubrick set, the Pixar shorts collection and the upcoming Blade Runner special edition - this fall is going to be a very good (and very expensive) time to be a geek!

Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?

2007-07-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

I do.

Sometimes I Read Things

2007-07-18T18:12:00.001-07:00

Proof.

It's a Celebration Bitches

2007-07-12T00:02:00.000-07:00

My story appeared as the front page of this week's Fairfield County Weekly! Pretty exciting, no? It's about robots, which is always good.

You can read the story here.

Mark Ronson @ Highline Ballroom

2007-07-11T23:44:00.001-07:00

Here's a bunch of pictures from the Mark Ronson show tonight. Expect my review tomorrow.

Don't Act Like I Never Told Ya

2007-06-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

This video is amazing. Kanye is amazing. Daft Punk is amazing. And the album is probably, by all calculations, going to be amazing.

A Killer Remix

2007-06-26T17:55:00.001-07:00

A Rage Against the Machine classic, as re-worked by French disco master (and filmmaker) Mr. Oizo. Possibly the remix of the year, thus far. It's fucking batshit crazy, too.

And here it is for your pleasure!

Enjoy.

Is There a Third Option?

2007-06-26T14:27:00.001-07:00

Live Free or Die Hard (from hereon out I'll simply call it Die Hard 4.0 because conceptually and thematically that title works much, much better) is a truly awful mess of a movie. People keep asking me if there's any redeeming quality to the movie, and I confessed there were a couple of good shots during a few of the action sequences, but considering the severe lack of originality, I'm sure they appeared elsewhere before (one reminded me of that sweet over-the-motorcycle shot from Paycheck, and Paycheck was a pretty terrible movie). When you long for the glory days of Paycheck, you know the movie you're watching is dreadful.

Another good thing is that guy who played Han in Fast and the Furious: Toyko Drift was in it. I really like that guy (and I liked that movie even more - Sonny Chiba as the Yakuza godfather? BRILLIANT.)

All the flaws of Die Hard 4.0 can be traced back to a single fundamental truth: doing stuff on the computer is fucking boring. No amount of jazzy editing (trust me, there's tons) or artificial graphics (computer hacking in real life never has the same level of gee-whiz high speed hijinks it has in the movies, but mercifully the 'zooming through the internet' shots from the script have been abandoned) can make people typing on a keyboard interesting. Why they decided to build an entire movie around it, much less a Die Hard movie, is beyond me. It's almost as if Hackers, The Net, Antitrust, Firewall, and that Instant Message conversation in Closer, taught us nothing. It's just laughable. Could there be anything less threatening than “cyber terrorists?” Oh yes there could, and his name is Timothy Olyphant.

He's pretty much the worst villain ever, even worse than the naked yoga guy from Die Hard 2: Die Harder. I think you can actually feel him becoming a terrible actor as the movie trudges forward. And that's not to say Olyphant is terrible all the time, he's actually been quite good, in stuff like Go, Scream 2, and Dreamcatcher (guilty pleasure). But my god, he seems to redefine the term “wooden” with this one.

Other things that are groan-inducing about Die Hard 4.0:

Its seeming never-ending running time

The fact that the climax is ripped off from True Lies, with a little bit of Mission: Impossible 3 thrown in for good measure

Them slapping around Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I love

The awful dubbing that looks about as convincing as a TNT broadcast of Pulp Fiction (and everyone claimed they “shot it as a PG-13”)

Maggie Q as the femme fatale, proving once more that if you are Asian, you automatically know karate

The villains, who had different European accents but everyone understood everyone else and no backstory was given for any of them

Marco Beltrami's bland-as-fuck score ripping off cues from the first movie

Kevin Smith's cameo

Bruce Willis' creepily stalking his daughter

The ever-changing Bruce Willis head-scars

Timothy Olyphant's elaborate office space in the back of his big rig truck

and the best part ever...

That John McClane, who is not only an alcoholic (the third movie) but incredibly afraid of flying (the first two movies), pilots a helicopter like he downloaded the instructions into his brain a la The Matrix.

Len Wiseman has got to rest alongside Paul W.S. Anderson as one of the worst working directors in Hollywood. And I say working because, bafflingly, he keeps getting hired to do stuff. This is an ugly movie. Gone are any hint of the sheen he brought to the Underworld movies (which I also hate), with their deep, velveteen blacks and purples. This movie's color pallet is grey. That's it. Everything looks washed out, worn, and miserable. And that's how you'll feel, too, when you leave the theater.

Ugh.

Thank you, Fox, for continuing your trend of milking franchises long past their expiration date and putting them in the hands of talent-less hacks. This film will now proudly be placed alongside Alien vs. Predator, Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Elektra, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and, most recently, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Goddamn, these movies blow.

Actual Politics (Finally)

2007-06-24T16:11:00.001-07:00

Why does he look younger than me?

Criterion Finally Releasing Stuff Worth Buying

2007-06-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

After a long and boring year of Criterion releasing deluxe packages of long and boring movies, comes this, which is very, very good news.

Also, there's going to be some Jim Jarmusch movies coming out around the same time, which is also quite excellent (and also expensive).

Now if only they could get around to finally finishing that Game DVD they've been promising for years...

You Will Believe A Rat Can Cook

2007-06-15T06:14:00.001-07:00

Wow.

Ratatouille is just as mind-blowingly great as I’d been hoping it would be. When it was announced that Brad Bird would be taking over as writer-director (after the movie languished for more than three years with little progress – the original director quit Pixar after being replaced) my excitement for the project intensified greatly. Given the rather abysmal summer movie season thus far, Ratatouille shone as the great home for some summer fun in the theater. It has delivered in all those surprising, sweet, wonderful ways that we’ve come to expect from Pixar and (more specifically) Brad Bird.

The basic premise of the film is about a rat from the country who wants to be a chef and through a series of events is dramatically relocated to the sewers underneath his favorite restaurant. That’s about all I want to tell you, and about all that the teaser, trailer, 9-minute-internet-and-TiVo-preview tell you, and that’s because the movie takes some hilarious twists and turns and its subtext and storyline are much richer and engrossing. I wouldn’t want to ruin that for a minute.

I will say that the performances in this movie are the best I’ve ever seen in any animated film. Remy the rat (voiced wonderfully by standup comedian Patton Oswald) is perhaps the most impressive animated character ever brought to life on screen. And I’m not saying that because I was dazzled by the way he looked or moved during the movie, I’m saying that because I was utterly rooting for him, lost in just how much you care for the little guy with the big, big dreams.

At the end of the credits, there’s this logo that’s something to the effect of “100 % Motion Capture Free: No Short Cuts to Performances Here!” which was kind of a bold, upfront proclamation. A lot has been said in the animation community recently about just how “animated” animated movies are if they use performance capture (the technology of using actors’ performances to aid in the animation process. This has been used in recent films like Polar Express, Monster House, and most controversially Happy Feet, which won the Oscar over Cars, a movie that instead used actual character animation. I loved how in-your-face this was, even if it was tucked away at the end of the credits, especially because Disney just acquired Robert Zemeckis’ new performance capture studio, possibly for the long rumored John Carter of Mars project.

[See Conan demonstrate motion capture, hilariously, here.]

The film is prefaced by a unique teaser for Wall-E, Pixar’s animated movie from next summer which sounds just as intriguing and unique as Ratatouille: it’s about a garbage collecting robot on a desolate Earth in the far future who falls in love. Yup. Pretty weird. Pretty amazing. The teaser is just a brief introduction by the film’s director, Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) where he talks about the project before being shown some brief visuals and the film’s logo (with the chirpy, electronic “Wall-E voice” saying his name). This movie’s going to be a tough sell but once people realize how special it’s going to be, there shouldn’t be any problem. Then there’s “Lifted,” a hilarious but too-brief short about a kind of driving school for aliens, except it’s not cars their driving but people they’re abducting.

By the end of the movie if your heart isn’t filled with absolute joy, you probably should get checked out – you’re a robot. Brad Bird solidifies his place as one of the greatest living filmmakers with this film, staging action sequences with the wit and dexterity of Robert Zemeckis and using the camera as well as Alfonso Cuaron or David Fincher (much of the movie is seen from Remy’s height). The way he writes, the way he cuts, it just left me breathless and totally engaged. This movie lives up to every expectation I had and surpasses all of them. Ratatouille is a new classic – and you’ll savor every minute.

Franz Ferdinand @ Bowery Ballroom 06.13.07

2007-06-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that Franz Ferdinand is one of my favorite bands on the planet (that has guitars), so when I actually scored tickets last week to their exclusive Bowery Ballroom show I was beyond ecstatic (I was supra-static).

The show was last night and I must say, yet again, they totally brought it. And by "it" I mean very nice dress shirts (even though lead singer/author Alex Kapranos worried his red shirt clashed with his guitar - before pointing out his bandmate's even-more-ridiculous attire).

The last time I saw these well-groomed Scotsman they were at the cavernously huge Hammerstein Ballroom (on a double-bill with Death Cab for Cutie… yeah, I don’t get it either - how a huge dance party could turn into moping about your ex-girlfriend), so this was a real treat. At one point Alex Kapranos leaned out to the crowd and marveled that he could actually speak to us without the use of a microphone. He was kind of baffled (and handsome).

They played a bunch of new songs, all of which were absolutely, positively AMAZING. The new album is supposed to go in a more synth pop direction, and some of these new songs showcased that in full effect (y'all). One song had to have two people on the drums, which made it sound kind of like “Beware of the Dog” as remixed by Justice, and another one called “Turn It On” (I think) sounded like a male-fronted Dragonette. YEAH. It was that flavor of mind blowing (mint chocolate chunk). The only way I could get more excited about the new album is if Timbaland was involved somehow (he’s not).

In addition to the killer new tunes they rocked their stable of already-classics like “Michael,” “Do You Want To,” “Matinee,” etc. (I was kind of drunk) and closed the set with album #2 closer “The Outsiders.” Kapranos did his cock of the walk, Jaggeresque preening and the rest of the band just danced around, played their guitars or drums and looked really cool. The set was on the short side (but still long enough so I hate to take the late-ass train home) but they made the most of every moment. They are, without a doubt, totally awesome.

[For pictures that don't look like they were taken on a twelve year old cell phone camera, go to Brooklyn Vegan.]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

2007-06-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is my official review.

I Called It

2007-06-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last week my first article for the Fairfield Weekly independent newspaper was published. In it, I gave a rundown of my favorite summer records (this was before I had heard the wonderful new Dizzee Rascal album) and I talk about Justice's album (of course). You can read it here.

In the article I said that † would be a dance record to score Pitchfork indie cred. And today, what do I see on Pitchfork but the all important Best New Music tag! What am I, psychic? Or just insanely handsome? Or both? (Read Pitchfork's typically wordy and annoying review here.)

The bottom line remains: † is amazing.

Now THAT Is An Album Cover (Is it?)

2007-06-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

Lot going on there, huh?

Justice's BBC Essential Mix (It's Essential)

2007-06-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Justice did an amazing Essential Mix for the BBC over the weekend and here it is.

One of the best Essential Mixes I've ever heard. Really, really great (they played my favorite Mr. Oizo song, so how could I not love it?)

This mix did raise a few questions, though.

1.) When is the Midnight Juggernauts full length coming out? I can hardly wait!

2.) Ditto for the new Scenario Rock. Me wanty.

3.) Who knew the Buggles had another good song besides "Video Killed the Radio Star?"

4.) Has anyone else ever heard that Prince song? It was dynamite! [UPDATE: It's mislabeled on the track list. It's called "Housequake" from Sign O The Times and it's genius. Momentary lapse in logic/memory. Excuse me. Nothing to see here.]

5.) How great is Disco Stuart's "Sometimes?" SO GREAT!

6.) Are the Sebastian remix of The Fields' "If We Fail We Fail" and Mr. Oizo's remix of Jamelia's "Something About You" actually the same song?

7.) What's the deal with John from Cincinnati?

Hope you all enjoy. Track list below.

***

Earth Wind And Fire ‘In The Stone’
Janet Jackson ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately’
Prince ‘Earthquake’
Dmx Crew ‘Unknown’
Daft Punk :’Musique’
Busy P ‘Rainbow Man’
France Gall ‘Musique’
Justice ‘Valentine’
Alan Braxe ‘In Love With You’
M83 ‘Run Into Flowers (Jackson Remix)’
Les Rythmes Digitales ‘Sometimes’
I Robot ‘Spacer Frau (Boys Noize Remix)’
Hall And Oates ‘Private Eyes’
Chromeo ‘Tenderoni’
Tepr ‘Minuit Jacuzzi (Data Remix)
Chic ‘Everybody Dance’
Midnight Juggernauts ‘Shadows’
Goose ‘Bring It On’
The Proxy ‘Destroy’
Zongamin ‘Double Dostiev’
Zombie Nation ‘Tape Me’
Boule Noire ‘Super Lady’
Chemical Brothers ‘It Doesn’t Matter’
Tc Crew ‘Unknown’
Surkin ‘Unknown’
Dj Mehdi ‘Lucky Boy (Surkin Remix)’
Vamp ‘Outlander’
Fields ‘Unknown (Sebastian Remix)’
Feadz ‘Sekstyle’
Jamelia ‘Something About You (Mr Oizo Remix)’
Jesse Velez ‘Fire’
Justice ‘D.A.N.C.E’.(Live Version)
Surkin ‘Radio Fireworks’
Soundhack ‘Freakin’
Justice ‘Stress’
Zzt ‘Lower States’
Justice ‘Stress’
Scenario Rock ‘Both Gotta Move On’
Vanessa Paradis ‘Be My Baby’
The Ronettes ‘Be My Baby’
Breakbot ‘Happy Rabbit’
Jacques Dutronc ‘Les Cactus’
Justice ‘Dvno’
Kavinsky ‘Testarossa Autodrive’
LFO ‘Freak’
Mr Oizo ‘Lotus Suite Koln’
Autorepeat ‘Most Keys Are Auto Repeat’ (Soundhack)
Midnight Juggernauts ‘Into The Galaxy’
Buggles ‘Elstree’
Das Pop ‘Underground’
Gilbert O Sullivan ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’
Human League ‘Things That Dreams Are Made Of’
Savas Pascalidis ‘Defend It’
Rainbow Brothers ‘Unknown’
Chromeo ‘Ah Oui Comme Ca’
Leonard De Leonard ‘Leonizer’
Ian Pooley ‘Chord Memory –(Daft Punk Mix)’
Human League ‘Don’t You Want Me’
The Prodigy ‘Girls’
Klaxons ‘Gravity’s Rainbow (Soulwax Remix)’
Paraone ‘Liege’
Daniel Balavoine ‘Vivre Ou Survivre’
Miss Kittin ‘Requiem For A Hit (Gegm Remix)’
Mr Oizo ‘Stunt’
Handycap ‘Murphy’
The Rave ‘Mother’
Fancy ‘Inside Of You’
Syreeta Wright ‘Sweet As Candy’
Modest Mussorgsky ‘Night On A Bald Mountain’
Joni Mitchell ‘California’

New M.I.A. Pictures to Make Your Friday That Much More Awesome

2007-06-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

That is all.

How'd I Miss This?

2007-06-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

I feel like I watched the MTV Movies Awards nine times in a row on Sunday night but I never saw this performance which is, in a word, incredible. I was probably really drunk. Wait, no.

She's seven types of adorable, that Rihanna.

Warren Peace

2007-06-07T07:55:00.001-07:00

For some reason I haven’t talked about Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic book series, which have all been written (so far) by series mastermind/dark lord Joss Whedon. I’m not sure, why, exactly, because they are really amazing.

The last issue of the initial “Long Way Home” arc was pretty good, although my main complaint is with the art. Considering we’re supposed to recognize characters, some of whom have been gone from the show for years and years (the series finale aired more than four years ago), it’s imperative that there’s at least a passing resemblance between the actor and what’s portrayed on the page. Often time this falls flat, which leads to much confusion on the part of the reader (me) and a less thrilling, immersing experience.

Where the comic soars is in the writing (duh). There was a point in issue 2 when Andrew's giving a speech about Billy Dee Williams' bell-bottoms in Empire Strikes Back when I almost teared up with joy. It was just so good to see these characters again and hear them talk in such a familiar, unique way. Just outstanding.

The shows-topping moment in issue 4 is in its final pages, which mix the feminist themes of the show with an entirely new take on the mythology (including the origin of the Slayers). Quite shocking. In a way, this cliffhanger moment (which I'm not going to discuss - it hit the comic shops yesterday, for crying out loud!) was as paradigm-shifting (for the entire Buffy-verse) and important as the breathtaking, heartbreaking Lost finale, which is really saying something.

Also, bringing back a skinless Warren as a big bad/boyfriend for Amy was absolute genius.

After this there’ll be a one-off written by Joss in August followed by the “Faith in London” arc by Runaways and Y: The Last Man mastermind Brian K. Vaughn, followed by the undisclosed Tokyo-based arc by series writer “Ultimate” Drew Goddard.

Is there a more exciting title in comic book-dom right now? Didn’t think so.

Lucky Number Thirteen

2007-06-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Movie Review - Ocean's Thirteen

I loved it. I really did.

There will be critical backlash, I’m sure. They’ll call it self indulgent (a “trifle” is what something like The New Yorker is sure to dub it), but it’s pretty upfront about it’s silliness.

The movie’s color scheme is roughly that of a bag of Skittles (at one point a character shows up dressed like the casino), all bright greens and oranges, and that’s telling: Steven Soderbergh, whose made a very rich career out of exploring the artfulness of artifice, creates an irrepressibly fizzy crime world fantasia, with David Holmes’ magnificent electro-funk score making sure that we’re in full-on party mode.

This is a revenge heist, as one character puts it, and you can feel that Soderbergh and company are chomping at the bit for redemption, after the critically panned and lethargic Ocean’s Twelve (aka Ocean’s Eleven’s European Vacation). They’re back baby: lean, mean, funny, and above all else wildly, wildly fun (Al Pacino shouldn't even feel guilty about hamming it up here!)

Unlike most caper movies where the suspense comes from whether or not the villains are going to get away with the con, the Ocean’s movies, at their best, are built around the tension-filled question of how fucking cool are they going to look doing it? As it turns out, very.

Most Unnecessary DVD Reissue of All Time?

2007-06-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Maybe.

I saw a little bit of this movie on TV recently and was amazed at how violent it was. Also, there's a great montage where Arnold and lil' Alissa Milano feed a wild deer, then several minutes later he's slashing all these guys' throats and knifing people and stuff. Pretty fucking awesome. I should change the title of this post to Most Necessary DVD Reissue of All Time!

Dragonette Continues Getting Brillianter

2007-06-05T16:13:00.001-07:00

Okay, so that’s the sleeve for the new Dragonette single, “Take It Like a Man.” It’s one of the best songs on the album, sort of like every other song on the album and every song they perform live and all the clothes that they wear. (They are very amazing.) Even though their first single “I Get Around” is stupendous it failed to make a dent in the UK pop charts (which is sort of like a pop music Thunderdome – ask poor cute Rachel Stevens), stalling at some unbelievably low position. Still, they persevere! It’s the Canadian way! Or something!

There’s an Alan Braxe and Fred Falke remix on one of the versions of the single (I’m guessing 12” – vinyl is where great French dance remixes live) that almost brought me to tears. It’s that good. It may be their best remix since they turned Kelis’ “Bossy” into a gay club anthem.

In fact, I’d post the song right here if I knew how to do things like “post songs.” Sorry. If you want it, email me @ DTaylor246@aol.com.

Oh – and they’ve even made a great new video for “Take It Like a Man”, one that has Martina bringing sexy back while shamelessly ripping off Boogie Nights! How could you not love them, record-buying public?

Pre-order single

Pre-order album (DO IT!!!!)

Also, thanks to Popjustice for everything, like inspiring this post.

Concession Stand

2007-06-03T19:19:00.001-07:00

So, everyone loves Knocked Up. Everyone. Especially Max. He left me a nasty comment after my review and we talked last night. He called it the best American comedy since Wet Hot American Summer. I love me some Wet Hot American Summer and Max is a really smart dude. So I wanted to be completely honest and say that when I wrote the review I was really sick and in a horrible mood. In fact, over the weekend, I kept thinking of little bits of the movie (like the bouncer at the club) and chuckling to myself. It was far from awful, I just found it somewhat lacking. When I see it again, I’ll write a follow-up review. Still, I stand by what I said and want to articulate some of my biggest problems with it:

1.) It was too fucking long. Yes, so was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. But unlike Pirates, which had cool shit like rocks that turned into crabs and squid-men and a leather-faced Keith Richards and a giant whirlpool sea battle, Knocked Up just had dudes sitting around bitching about women or getting stoned. This is all well and good, but keep it under the 90-minute mark, please.

2.) The more I think about it, the more I really believe that Judd Apatow is West Coast Kevin Smith. They both lean on the crutch of pop culture references a little too often (although Kevin Smith’s usage is more masterful and subtle); both film their movies straightforwardly; and both are deeply obsessed with human sexuality, down to its more graphic intricateness. We’ll see how Apatow matures as a filmmaker, and if he makes anything even approaching the greatness of Dogma or the emotional power of Chasing Amy.

3.) Seth Rogan is a lousy lead. He’s fat and obnoxious and has an underbite. He’s a great second banana, and should stay there. In the second banana mobile, which is the sidecar for those old time-y motorcycles.

4.) Hostel: Part II is going to be amazing. Unrelated.

That’s it for now. I am willing to watch the movie again with an open mind but I doubt I’ll ever think it’s as good as Wet Hot American Summer, if only because of the irreverence and almost surreal quality of that film. It really went for it. Knocked Up, by comparison, just plays by the rules. Safe, sound, the kind of “vulgar comedy” your parents can enjoy. Snooze.

C'mon already!

2007-06-01T05:48:00.001-07:00

Do we really have to wait until August for M.I.A.'s KALA? Seriously?

Here's a look/listen at one of the new songs, "Bamboo Banger," from Radio 1's Big Weekend:

And new single "Boyz," which is just killer (from the same show):

It's going to be a long wait... until the eventual leak, that is.

Fuck the Glitz and Grammar

2007-05-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

The album is as amazing as its cover, which is to say - QUITE. Full review soon.

Boy, Girl, or Horribly Overlong, Mediocre Romantic Comedy? (Spoiler alert: It’s the latter.)

2007-05-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

Movie Review – Knocked Up

One thing I know is that Judd Apatow makes lots of people lots of money. I imagine one of those people is himself. I don’t know this for sure, because I have never spoken to him, nor do I have his phone number (so I can’t call him and ask). But according to IMDB (we’ll forget about how shockingly unreliable much of its information is for argument’s sake) has six movies, under various states of creative control, in production. That’s a lot of movies. He’s like a one man Steven Soderbergh. Oh wait.

I will admit, too, that he is a very talented man. He was responsible, at least partially, for bringing us Adam McKay’s Anchorman and Talladega Nights, both of which pushed absolutely bizarre, almost surreal comedy on an unsuspecting world in the guise of a Will Farrell comedy. (They are, in fact, much weirder and less benign.) But as a writer-director, I’m not so sure about this Judd Apatow guy, mainly because he’s kind of a lousy writer-director.

Take Knocked Up, his new movie as a writer-director that opens this very day in the year 2000 ought 7. It is a cute romantic-ish comedy with a lot of great performances and some nice things to say about how we treat each other (hence the ‘cuteness’). Still, as a movie, it falls short. First of all, it’s two hours and nine minutes. Somebody needs to listen to Woody Allen and John Waters when they talk about how comedies should be 90 minutes long, because it’s the god’s honest truth. This thing feels like it was nine months long, like it was filmed in real time, 24-style. Also, every possible subplot is explored, unnecessarily. I’m all for characterization, deepening the relationships, but we’re not talking about Zodiac here, there is no decades-long chase for an elusive serial killer. It’s a bawdy romantic comedy called Knocked Up. Porky’s didn’t pull that shit. Neither should this. Much of the movie exists as an incredibly long deleted scene (and this is with three editors under his belt).

Also, it’s completely lacking in style. The cinematography, once more, is atrocious (look at The 40 Year Old Virgin for a great example of German expressionist-style harsh shadows even though it’s set in an electronics store and was shot by Eastwood’s DP – what the fuck?) – the back alley behind a club at midnight looks exactly like the inside of a house during the day. It’s all over-lit and flat. And on the argument that comedies can’t have style, look no further than Edgar Wright’s movies – those are gorgeous.

Apatow has the same basic directing style as Kevin Smith, where he just kind of photographs people talking. Which is all well as good, if it weren’t so fucking boring (I'd argue that Smith is a better, or at least more truthful, writer, but both fall back on their 'endless pop culture references' laurels too often). Just because you come from a television background, like Apatow, doesn’t mean your movie has to look like an episode of King of Queens. (Look no further than J.J. Abrams and Mission: Impossible III.)

The critical response seems to tell me that I’m an asshole (that’d be Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%, with the more discerning Metacritic clocking it at 88% - compared to Hot Fuzz’s 89 and 81%), with closet gay bobble head doll A.O. Scott calling it an “instant classic” (earlier this year he said he wouldn’t “sit through” Planet Terror to get to Death Proof, the asshole). This is no instant classic. Although Judd Apatow sure would like you to think so. He’s got a machine to feed, afterall.

Amazingly Funny

2007-05-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up

I hope the movie is just as good. I would have seen it last night if I wasn't horribly, horribly sick.

Michael Consiglio Should Not Be Allowed to Monologue

2007-05-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what this is from or what this is for, but I'm just happy to further share Michael Consiglio and his ruggedly handsome genius with the world. Also, on a personal note, I'm watching Congo right now. Not sure why, really.

Dragonette @ Mercury Lounge - 5.17.07

2007-05-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Dragonette is a Canadian/English band that sound kind of like the Scissor Sisters, except with a savvier electro-pop-edge. There’s less of a wink in their sophisticated, sexy pop – if it’s at all possible, they are able to conjure up genuine sincerity. And their relationship songs, if a bit exaggerated, don’t seem like they’re happening on another planet. They are also quite brilliant.

Led by the devastatingly handsome husband-wife duo of Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz, I was positively overjoyed by last year’s self-titled five-song EP. I knew an album was coming this summer and knew I’d kick myself in the pants if I didn’t see them live, especially in an itty-bitty venue like Mercury Lounge (in the UK they’ve opened for Duran Duran, Basement Jaxx, and the Sugababes).

The first thing that shocked me was how hard they rocked. I was expecting at least one other band member to be obscured behind some towering pile of synthesizers and keyboards but there wasn’t even a keyboard on stage. There was some rudimentary processing going on through he PA system but that’s it. They were all noisy guitars and drums and great vocals!

Even though the room was about as crowded as a middle school dance and only a handful of them were dancing (myself included), they put on a really fucking great show. Martina is a disco diva in the making - all sex and swagger, wearing a backless, low cut top and flowing white Donna Summer pants. The rest of the band was equally done up (the British guitarist even put on a tie right before the show); they were all very cute.

They played a lot of the new album, and everything sounded really good. I got a hold of the album a few days later and can tell you the live show really reflects the album – gone are the minimalist beats and throbbing electronics from the EP, replaced (mostly) with a larger, more lush pop-rock sound (and not in the horrible, Killers’-second-album way). I'll get around to writing a short, pointless review sometime soon, but the long and short of it is that it's really, really great.

Highlights included current single “I Get Around” (which maintains much of the EP’s sleazy, low-tech sound), “Marvelous” (which had a great faux Middle Eastern back and forth between husband and wife), powerhouse “True Believer,” “Black Limousine” (Martina: “About men who spend all their money on women”) and “Competition” (Martina: “About the time I fucked your boyfriend”).

Love them, love her, loved the show, love the album.

Setlist

Jesus Doesn’t Love Me Anymore
Marvelous
I Get Around
True Believer
You Please Me
Black Limousine
Competition
Take It Like A Man

CANNOT WAIT

2007-05-21T08:05:00.001-07:00

Track By Motherfuckin’ Track: Rihanna’s New Album [Updated]

2007-05-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

The new Rihanna album leaked and it’s really fucking great. It makes the new Amerie album, for which there are maybe four or five good songs ("Crush" is a killer), look like a bad, but still adorable, dream. I'd argue it's as good as the new Sophie Ellis Bextor album... and that album is pretty goddamn stunning. The more you listen to it, the more you love it. Here’s my track-by-track review, with a format blatantly stolen from PopJustice’s review of the Timbaland album. Enjoy!

01 Umbrella
I consider this to be one of the best songs of the year, if not the single greatest pop accomplishment so far. If there are seven different parts of a song that can get stuck in your head, then it’s a success. Also, as we were walking around rainy NYC this weekend, we heard a gaggle of little black girls singing it. (GET IT??) And that was fucking awesome. The whole album couldn’t possibly be as good as this song, right? (Ballsy move having this be the first track – did Jay-Z sequence this thing?) Onwards…

02 Push Up On Me
In the current ‘Summer Music Preview’ (aka Overlong Commercial for Mostly-American, Big Album Releases), Entertainment Weekly talks about how she was inspired by ‘80’s pop’ for this album. This song is definite proof of that. The skittering little synthy sound is a testament to that, with the chorus being sung in an 80’s B-girl sort-of way. Also, it’s pretty sexual, which is fun for a pop record – being subversive is what pop’s all about (look no further than the brilliant new Maroon 5 album for a great example of that - just filthy!)
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

03 Don’t Stop the Music
On first listen you may think that Rihanna is just doing her dancehall thang again, but then that electro bounce comes in and then, oh baby, oh baby, that Michael Jackson sample comes in. It's subtle, but when it explodes, whew, stand back. Somebody's going to get hurt.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

04 Breaking Dishes
This song is INCREDIBLE. This might be because it’s actually incredible, or because it sounds an awful lot like a song Kelis would do (and I loves me some Kelis). Also, it’s about spousal abuse, except she’s the one breaking dishes over her man’s head – until the police come! Whew – she is a spark plug, huh?
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” Almost. Ask me again at the end of the summer.

05 Shut Up and Drive
Another stand out track. This is the comeback single Kelly Clarkson should have released, instead of whatever racket she’s brandying about on the radio. This one is also really sexy and subversive (huh, wonder what ‘smoother than a limo ride’ means…) It kind of reminds me what an American version of Nadiya’s super-awesome “Tous Ces Mots” would sound like (except probably not that good). Here’s a video for that Nadiya song, which I also love:

Oh, is it as good as “Umbrella?” No. But it's THIIIIIIS CLOSE.

06 Hate That I Love You
This is the song she does with Ne-Yo. It’s typical Ne-Yo bullshit. As much as I love “So Sick,” it doesn’t keep me from realizing that EVERYTHING NE-YO DOES SOUNDS EXACTLY THE SAME. This is no exception. Still, vocals from Rihanna does go a long way for making this song ‘listenable.’ On further listens, it has been upgraded to really, really good.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.
Is it as good as “So Sick?” Nope.

07 Say It
Not the greatest, but still very good.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

08 Sell Me Candy
Now we’re talking! This is probably one of the Timbaland songs, as far as I can tell. This is awesome because it’s a perfect summer song, because it’s got an utterly perverse subtext, and because the beat is a wicked, skittering beast that can probably take over the world, given adequate time and funding. (I’m not sure who is doing the backing vocals, but Mr. JT is supposed to make an appearance somewhere – boy, linear notes sure would be helpful!)
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

09 Lemme Get That
Another incredible song. Not sure who does the production on this, but it also feels like Mr. Mosley had a hand in it (the background “Oh!” screams of Timbaland). Again, the backing vocals could easily be Justin, but just as easily not be Justin. Fuck. Let’s focus on what we do know: that the beat is great, it plays up the dancehall elements of past Rihanna hits but is totally more pop, and it’s about using a man for his money, kind of like Dragonette’s “Black Limousine.”
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

10 Rehab
The best slow-jam on the album, the only way it could be better if it was an actual cover of the Amy Winehouse song (we’ll save that for Ronson’s next album of covers - except this time he’ll cover his own songs!) This is DEFINITELY a Timbaland joint. It’s quite good.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

11 Question Existing
LOVE IT. Pretty sexy.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

12 Good Girl Gone Bad
Yes – the question is finally answered – how did Rihanna go bad? Werewolf attack? Nazi recruitment? Well, actually, I’m not quite sure. Just that you shouldn’t be the reason a good girl goes bad. (That’s for us fellas.) This is a nice little pop song, nothing too challenging, but not epic enough to close out the album. Still great.
Is it as good as “Umbrella?” No.

See His Pug Nose Face - Ricky Gervais @ Theater @ MSG - May 19th, 2007

2007-05-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, we (me and the missus) made our way to the Theater at Madison Square Garden (a venue I hate, mostly because of a horrible experience seeing Beck there last year) to see RICKY FUCKING GERVAIS. I was beyond excited. I am a huuuuuuge Gervais fan. The Office, Extras, the podcast, his episode of The Simpsons (still on my TiVo)… It’s insane. I even saw Valiant because of him, and that’s an awful animated movie about messenger pigeons during World War I (yeah… it was thrilling).

Anyway…

I was thrilled. And it didn’t disappoint. First off, David Bowie came out to introduce him, which was amazing. The show was part of his Highline Festival, a loosely connected bunch of concerts and performances around New York City, but he didn’t show at the Arcade Fire show or any of the other events (as far as I know). Still, he was at the Gervais performance! What’s more is that he sang his song from the second season of Extras! Amazing! If you haven’t seen that episode yet, here’s his musical interlude:

It was so great. I’ve seen David Bowie twice in the past few months but this is the first time he’s ever sung. And even if it was a joke song, at least I can say – I have seen David Bowie sing. While wearing an outfit I can only describe as a ‘dueling tuxedo’. Draw!

Onto the main event – it was wonderful. Ricky Gervais is a comedy treasure. He really, really is. His delivery, his transitions, his stories – they’re all pure gold. Even though a majority of the material was made up of preexisting jokes from his popular “Animals” and “Politics” UK tours, well, it takes a real geek with a Region-Free DVD player and a couple of imported discs to have ever seen that… And no one like that would ever author such a high-brow blog like Zombie Politics… Um… Yeah, so the jokes weren’t all new, but that’s okay! (I suspect one of the reasons why this isn’t a strict translation of his current tour is because that one is called “Fame” and he’s not all that famous here… YET.)

The set was about an hour and a half, and there was very little of that time that I didn’t spend laughing. Even someone letting out a huge yawn from the audience gave Ricky an opportunity to riff on the rudeness of the man and the boringness of his performance. “You should’ve brought a book!” he cackled. Just great. This really did feel like a ‘special’ performance, even though he did a couple of warm-up shows earlier in the week.

Report Card

David Bowie's Introduction: A+

Ricky Gervais' performance: A+

The pasta we had afterwards: A+

Overall - an A+ night!

An Awful DVD Cover for an Amazing Movie

2007-05-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Zodiac fucking rules. This DVD cover? Not so much. It seems to be saying "Come see the movie with giant hovering heads! But please, beware of the fog!"

Thanks to the always-wonderful DavisDVD.

By the way, this movie comes out on July 24th, which will officially be a very expensive day for geeks. Not only is this coming out but so is Perfume: Story of a Murderer, The Host, Hot Fuzz, Tales from the Crypt Season 6 and (FINALLY) Monster Squad. When it rains, it pours (DVDs).

SHIT. THE THIRD.

2007-05-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

[Alternate title for this post: Shrek the Turd. Thank you.]

Movie Review - Shrek the Third

Shrek the Third is an annoying, unfunny, lazy mess of an animated motion picture. Quite frankly, the Ratatouille trailer (which ran beforehand) dwarfed all of Shrek 3, in terms of artistry, humor and wit, in a little under two minutes. The voice acting was truly atrocious, with Justin Timberlake showing none of the charm or talent he showcased earlier this year in the terrible Alpha Dog and the terribly underrated Black Snake Moan. Also, Cameron Diaz should give up acting of any kind, this has now been extended to voice acting. The paperwork is currently being filed.

One of the more annoying things about the movie is the way they treat the princesses. Now, I’m not going to go off on all that big of a tangent here, although I’d really, really like to. (The Disney Princess product line irks me something fierce. But that’s for another time, or perhaps the days when I’m muttering to myself in the corner, small slivers of drool dribbling out the side of my mouth.)

So, Shrek is all about turning the fairy tale conventions on their ear, right? So the princesses immediately lay down, waiting to be saved! Oh man – how unconventional! They’re really tweaking the system! Oh, wait, no, that’s horribly insulting and antifeminist. What’s more, when they finally do spring into action, one of the things they show are their bras being burned. Oooo, how ‘edgy’ (in a first-year-on-UPN kind of way)! What’s more is that bra burning is a historically incorrect occurrence. Feminism in the sixties paralleled the anti-war movement. There was a movement following the 1968 Miss America pageant to remove bras, although this was more metaphoric than literal. Anyway, there were some bras taken off. At the same time what was REALLY being burned? Draft cards! Burning draft cards + discarded bras in metal trashcan = bras on fire.

Hence, the term “bra burning.” (I’ll try to find some documentation on this instead of relying on my poorly worded remembrance.)

Anyway… The whole thing really pissed me off. Also offensive: the movie being so lame.

On the up side, we did see the new trailer for Transformers which was nice and noisy. That’s something. I guess.

Michael Consiglio Should Not Be Allowed on the Interweb

2007-05-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

So, as the president of the Michael Consiglio Fan Club and Salad Bar (I'm also a member), it is my duty to alert everyone to all things Consiglio-related. The newest thing is this, an Internet series with the kid from Arrested Development. You know the one. Yeah, him. It looks really, really great and Mike tells me he's in Episode 9, playing a singing waiter. Hopefully the waiter is French. Either way - I can't wait!!! Here's the (very funny) trailer for the series:

Other Recent Pop Records That Are Really Very Good

2007-05-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

These are all really wonderful albums that I love a lot and are current iPod fixtures. I think you'd enjoy them too.

Justice for All

2007-05-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

Record Review – Justice, †

As I mentioned earlier, I’m totally gay for Ed Banger Records, the bleeding-edge French dance label that is filled to the brim with insanely talented deejays, producers, and performers. And, in particular, I’m totally gay for Justice; the duo behind some of the best singles and remixes of the past couple of years (their Mystery Jets remix made you almost think the Mystery Jets were worth listening to). I’ve finally been able to hear their first full-length, †, and it is a total masterpiece. I mean that. It’s fucking unbelievable. And my previous gay-Justice-love did nothing to dull the impact of this thing.

First and foremost, this is more or less a straight up pop record. If you start your career remixing a song for Britney Spears and Madonna, then I think your place in the pop pantheon is pretty much assured. But the absolute pop music joy that spills out of this thing is infectious – handclaps, synths, guest vocalists, sing-alongs, the list goes on and on and on. It’s simultaneously cinematic and schoolyard. Opening track “Genesis” sets the mood, a booming introduction that, once the pomp and circumstance is over, bounces very, very hard. “D.A.N.C.E.,” with its insanely infectious and clever lyrics, is going to be the next “One More Time.” It’ll be played in the clubs, on the radio, etc. etc. – a transgressive dance-pop tune that grandmothers and grandsons will dance to together. And I mention Daft Punk because this is very much influenced by those outer space robots, and not the disco-era Discovery Daft Punk but the crunchy, meddlesome Human After All Daft Punk, all post-millennial chaos and messiness. What’s really amazing is that even when they’re making a lousy album, Daft Punk manages to shape the face of pop music.

The gloom and doom of Human After All can definitely be felt, but there’s an uplifting quality to the music that cannot be denied. (One paragraph up, I call it a pop record – still with me?) The thunderous storm clouds of “Let There Be Light” gives way to a futuristic, utopian glitter-field by song’s end; “New Jack” sounds like an old school beat box anthem; the Dario Argento movie-sampling “Phantom” may be sort of scary but that’s part of the joke, by “Phantom, Part II,” it’s become a spooky party jam – like 2010’s “Thriller;” “Valentine” is a charming, under-three-minute-trifle; and “Stress” is, literally, Fantasia on crack. Literally. Just wait. Just you fucking wait.

There’s two songs I want to talk about the most: “The Party,” which features vocals by fellow Ed Banger Uffie. Uffie is an incredibly young French girl who writes incredibly vulgar raps. This sounds like some cheeky gimmick, I know, but her rhymes and beats (provided by boyfriend/fellow Ed Banger Feadz) easily surpass Lady Sovereign in hummability and cleverness. On “The Party,” she gives her laid back verse against Three 6 Mafia samples (let’s all agree: amazing) and synths that wouldn’t sound out of place at Communicore in EPCOT Center, circa 1981. The song is EXCELLENT, a sure-fire mix tape/DJ session staple for the summer of 2007, and proof of the awesome power Justice could yield as a Richard X-style pop production force. Further proof: the next song, “DVNO,” featuring vocals by Mehdi Pinson, singer for other Ed Banger alums Scenario Rock. Justice did a fantastic remix of a Scenario Rock song and they’re returning the favor with some killer vocal work in a song that is unstoppable. My two main criteria for appreciating music is if it can make me either jump around or sing along, and when both can happen I’m transported to a blissful land of pure happiness (part of the reason I pledge allegiance to the Jaxx). “DVNO” is one of those songs. It’s so cool. I’m not sure what the song is about, except that DVNO is printed in capitol letters (in gold, no less). I’ll get back to you on that one. These two songs just exhibit such assurance and talent in the production department that the next Justice full length, which will undoubtedly be stock piled with vocals from people they’ve wooed or worked with, will be an even greater steam-powered juggernaut of pop awesomeness.

The album ends with a couple of the earlier, nastier singles, “Waters of Nazareth” and “One Minute to Midnight.” And while these are fairly gnarly electronic pretzels (slightly reworked from their original form, which the duo always insisted were “demos”), they are also a bit of a mood killer. The mix of the apocalyptic and jovial had such an even balance on the album up until this point; to throw it away for sheer defeatism is definitely the letdown I make it out to be. But still, the songs are nowhere near bad. They are, in fact, ingenious. And like everything else on the album, you don’t know whether to sit in amazement or shake your moneymaker.

We Have a Lot to Talk About

2007-05-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

To quote my friend, who called me from Colorado following the episode's conclusion: "holy shitballs."

That about sums it up. More later.

A Terrible Record

2007-05-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

Record Review – Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight

I mean it: awful. I had read earlier (in the unexceptional Rolling Stone spring music preview) that they were ditching their patented rap-rock sound in favor of more earthy rock textures, courtesy of chubby, bearded shut-in Rick Rubin. Considering their patented rap-rock sound was the only thing that made them even remotely interesting, this seemed like a horrible mistake. Especially since the equally horrible Rick Rubin was behind the transformation.

As far as overrated producers go, he’s the leader of the pack (vroom vroom). He has made one good song in the past, oh, five years, and that song was “99 Problems,” which could probably be contributed to ‘clever sampling’ over ‘dazzling production work.’ He had recorded almost an entire album’s worth of material with Justin Timberlake, only to have it scrapped in favor of Timbaland’s mesmerizing, jittery, futuristic beats (the sole survivor from the Rick Rubin sessions, the album’s last track, is easily the most forgettable thing on the record). You know why? Because he sucks. And he has no creative filter. Timbaland records a song for a B-lister like Omarion and the result is “Ice Box,” a slow jam that rivals “My Love.” Rick Rubin does the Dixie Chicks, Shakira, Weezer, Neil Fucking Diamond... and it’s all the same, worthless shit.

Like the second Bloc Party album, Minutes to Midnight’s chief offense is being really, really boring. Songs like “Shadow of the Day” and “Leave Out All the Rest” are painfully bland and for all their ‘weight’ leave you feeling NOTHING. It makes you wonder how these boys authored such rousing, fun songs like “Faint” (whose video, by Mark Romanek, is one of the best ever). Even the songs that could have promise as exciting enterprises quickly fizzle. “Bleed it Out” has a neat hand-clappy background but becomes repetitive and dull. The same for “In Pieces,” which has some exiting little beat-things going on in the background, goes nowhere, fast. Even the more rocky songs just sound like racket, and even the screaming (a Linkin Park touchstone) seems lackluster.

What’s especially disappointing is how much hope is riding on this album. It will no doubt do well, but the critical and commercial accolades will not be poured over them. They’ll wonder why they went so soft. And why they hired that chubby shut-in to do it.

Ed Banger Record Showcase @ Hiro Ballroom - March 29th, 2007

2007-05-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

[Again: sorry for it being so late! Blame our professional photographer!]

The night before the LCD show, there was a great Ed Banger Records showcase at Hiro Ballroom. The Presets, an Australian synth pop two-man-band on the same label as The Avalanches and Cut Copy, opened. They were surprisingly good, although Hiro’s sound system/acoustics aren’t all that great for vocals. When they dropped in a bit of Daft Punk’s “Da Funk” into their set, the crowd went wild. The audience was filled with Francophiles. For the rest of the night, any time anything even remotely Daft Punk-y was played (and it was played a lot – Ed Banger chief Busy “Motherfucking” P is the robots’ manager) – the crowd went even more berserk. (This was also two days before tickets went on sale for the Brooklyn Daft Punk show, too, so keep that in mind.)

As I was waiting in line, and talking to a young Jewish guy who was there for the free bar and ended up, totally shit-faced, dancing on stage later in the night, I wondered how they were going to fit all the artists in. DJ Mehdi, Sebastian, duo Justice, Busy P, and album cover designer So Me were all in attendance. How could they possibly all perform? Would the show end at noon the following Tuesday?

I got my answer when the curtain was raised and they all came out at the same time. It was really crazy and fun, they each contributed to each other’s “sets,” with Busy P more or less acting as ringleader, alternately antagonizing the audience (he claimed “San Francisco was much better”) and hyping them up.

It was a one of a kind show and really, really awesome. They are all embarrassingly talented (just having the audacity to play “Bohemian Like You” blew me away) and the Justice full length should be the album of the summer. I hope.

Also, the award for the most annoying guy on the dance floor goes to this overzealous Gay-sian:

Fuck you, dude.

LCD Soundsystem @ Bowery Ballroom - March 30th, 2007

2007-05-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

[Apologies for this post’s tardiness]

A few months ago LCD Soundsystem played a show at the Bowery Ballroom. It was, in fact, very good. James Murphy is an extremely talented mo-fucka (I’d say this to his face, including the mo-fucka part, even though I’m not even totally sure what that means). The set was really great, equal parts first and second album (the second album, Sound of Silver, still being the greatest pop record of the year so far) with the odd smattering of pre-album singles (I think he did “Yeah” – it was so long ago!) He has such an amazing voice, and really gave it his all. “New York I Love You…” really was a showstopper. A hilarious moment presented itself when the drummer blew out the kick drum and Murphy scaled the mountainous pile of equipment off stage to retrieve another one, remarking about how only his band would have an entire separate kick drum just for this occasion. Great stuff.

Unfortunately, he picked the absolutely worst opener he could – this insane art-rock-dance chick name Planningtorock, even though she should have been called Excellingatsuck. She stood on a chair, in an all-white outfit, while some weird ass images projected on a screen behind her. She sang along (poorly) to a prerecorded beatbox rhythm. It was excrutiating. The worst part is she must think she’s making some kind of statement, or thinks she’s Bjork, or something – self-delusion is always rather sad. Like how I think people read this blog.

Also, the crowd was fucking lame. They were moshing – like, seriously moshing. It was really stupid and unnecessary. It’s FUCKING DANCE MUSIC. Did people mosh to Donna Summer? No. They were too busy doing coke. I wish the same could be applied here.

Michael Consiglio Should Not Be Allowed On Television

2007-05-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Michael Consiglio, friend, colleague, creative partner and hetero-life-partner, did a bit of acting on a little show called Scrubs. (Yes, the sad truth: I just talk about television shows. He gets to act on them. The bastard.) I don’t know all that much about the show, except that it’s about some hotshot doctor named House that doesn’t play by the rules, especially when confronted with weird, mysterious illnesses.

Anyway, whatever the show is about – congratulations Mike!!!!

Alternate post title: Scrubs Will TOTALLY Change Your Life [Garden State Reference, a-thank you]

The Zombie's Year in Pop: TELEVISION

2007-01-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

01 Project Runway (Bravo)
There wasn’t a millisecond of television more highly engrossing than this season of Bravo’s “Project Runway.” By the time the finale aired, with our four fiercely competitive designers going head-to-head (Laura accusing Jeffrey of cheating? Please!), you couldn’t help but root for your favorite, berate your most hated, and bitchily pick apart each and every ensemble (this season made us all little Michael Kors - over-tanned and queeny). The genius of this season, too, was making Tim Gunn a remarkable kind of star. As mentor, critic, advisor, and father-figure, Tim guided the contestants through the hardships of the challenges, and won us over in the process.

02 Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi)
The boxing episode alone earns this spot, but this season seems to be even more dedicated to dealing with current realisms with a shocking bluntness (such as former Galactica members doing suicide bombings). Add in the newfound spirituality of Lucy Lawless’ Number Three, the continued operatic emotional maneuverings of the Galactica crew and Giaus’ slimy turn on the Cylon ship and you’ve got one hell of a show.

03 Lost (ABC)
Between the jaw-dropping season finale in May and the near flawlessness of the six-episode mini-arc this fall, “Lost” is back in a big fucking way. Again, the commitment seems to be bringing the characters back-stories to the forefront in ways that actually connect (emotionally), while deepening the mystery and spookiness of Dharma Island and all its multi-faceted weirdness.

04 Veronica Mars (CW)
Going to college is hard, especially if you’re a television series (see: “Buffy’s” troubled but underrated fourth season), but “Veronica Mars” handed it with (as always) grace and wit. This season has (thus far) seen Vernoica solve, and nearly become the victim of, an on-campus serial rapist while dealing with multiple sub-mysteries, including why her boyfriend Logan is such a slimeball sometimes. With the first mystery arc concluded and the second one set to be even bigger, things look good for Veronica & company, ratings willing.

05 The Office (NBC)
The series peaked this season when Steve Carrell delivered a speech in the form of “Prison Mike,” a character he had just created who was responsible, in his words, for “robbing… and kidnapping the President’s daughter.” The episode was written by the original series’ creators, Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant, and was followed by an extra-long Christmas episode of equal hilarity. Finally outside of the shadow of the original, it truly shines.

06 Kidnapped (NBC)
The most undeserving early cancellation, this whip-smart and super-fun noir (about a wealthy family’s kidnapped son) was quietly relegated to the NBC website for its remaining episodes. The only problem was, the website was so hard to navigate I have yet to figure out how to watch the final episodes. I remain on the edge of my seat.

07 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)
The most consistently brilliant drama on prime time television, equal parts sweet and sour, Aaron Sorkin always seems to keep things in check – if it’s becoming a little too behind-the-scenes heavy then he switches to a bizarre two-part episode that has a majority of the cast in rural Nevada. It’s this kind of flexibility, and an ace, all-star cast, that makes it so much fun.

08 24 (Fox)
The Jack Bauer Power Hour continues to steamroll ahead, with its best season yet (with the best villain, too).

09 Heroes (NBC)
Finally, “Heroes” seems to be on the more compelling path, one that’s a lot less hokey than the earlier episodes suggested (despite having some of the most awful actors on TV). Right now the problem seems to be that there are too many people with superpowers, although this may be explained later. Still, you’ve got to love brain-stealing super-villain Sylar.

10 Korgorth of Barbaria (Cartoon Network)
Even though only one episode has aired thus far, it was funnier, more violent, and more fun than anything aired yet on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup. The first season should air sometime next spring. Color me excited

The Zombie's Year in Pop: MUSIC

2006-12-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

I started writing things but then realized I was taking really fucking long. So I thought I’d just throw my list up so Max could have something to make fun of (that sonofabitch). Keep in mind that I tried to exclude boring music (or as I like to call it ‘jazz’). I may update it later (probably will, in fact).

Anyway... My List

BEST ALBUMS OF 2006

01 The Knife, Silent Shout
The Swedish brother-sister outfit made a spooky, bouncy electro-pop haunted mansion, one that gave reference to its forbearers (Joy Division, Depeche Mode, the Berlin song on the “Top Gun” soundtrack) while creating something wholly unique, new and unforgettable. Quite literally the most haunting album of the year.

02 Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds / Nelly Furtado, Loose
It was just too hard picking one Timbaland-produced pop mega-masterpiece, so I put them both on there. And if you don’t like it - Tough titty said the kitty, but the milk tastes good.

03 Kelis, Was Here
A crazy, kaleidoscopic (reference intended), overstuffed gem that rewards repeat listens and served as 2006’s oddest, most underappreciated pop masterwork (it didn’t even chart on Pitchfork’s Top 100 of the year). Even the B-sides and remixes were utter genius.

04 Hot Chip, The Warning
Leaving behind the remote detachment that threatened to undo their debut, Hot Chip took their sound into the wholly genuine realm of pop song craft and came up aces. “Over and Over” remjavascript:void(0)
Save as Draftains a highlight of the year.

05 Lily Allen, Alright Still
The singular brilliance of this album is how bubbly and fun the beats are and how raw and dirty (not to mention undeniably clever) the lyrics are. A perfect summertime album, all sea breeze blowing and windows rolled down.

06 Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
Even if they are full of shit, Clipse’s tales of drug dealing are funny, compelling, wonderful nuggest of urban wish fulfillment. Either way, the stark, sparse beats by the Neptunes match the dark lyrical brilliance. It was worth the wait.

07 The Rapture, Pieces of the People We Love
So the Rapture decided to make a fake Beach Boys album for full length number two, and while it doesn’t seem like it would work (too airy, not angsty enough), it does, spectacularly

08 Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor
Testament to “feel good rap” not meaning “total shit.” It didn’t blow up like I thought it would have (or should have), sadly.

09 Bertine Zetlitz, My Italian Greyhound
Another woefully underappreciated album, this time from a Norwegian singer whose consistency is matched only by her lack of album sales.

10 MSTRKRFT, The Looks
MSTRKRFT wasn’t really interested in reinventing the wheel, just in making it bounce. And bounce it did.

Q Magazine's Fucked Up Best of 2006 List

2006-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

There’s a lot that’s fucked up with Q Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Albums. Like, a lot. They panned two of my favorite albums this year (The Knife’s brilliant “Silent Shout” got like a star and a half and Robbie Williams’ “Rudebox” didn’t do much better), I’ve accepted that and am moving on… Slowly… But Q is known for it’s good, if sometimes too obvious, taste! This, this is just BAD. This could be because they rate one hundred albums and that’s a lot of albums. A top ten is really the best there is: no fat, have to make the tough choices, et cetera. I don’t even know if I listened to a hundred albums straight through this year (okay, I did), much less rank them on their merits. I mean, how much better is #85 than #86?

Still, this list is pretty ri-god-damn-diculous.

Take, for example, Justin Timberlake’s electro-funk masterpiece “Future Sex/ Love Sounds” being at #36 while the The Killers’ obnoxious faux-Springsteenery “Sam’s Town” wins a spot at #5. There’s a lot of these mind boggling juxtapositions.

Others:

Lily Allen at #57 / Jet (FUCKING JET) at #29

Hot Chip at #44 / The Kooks at #11

Ghostface at #76 / Kasabian (!) at #8

Keep in mind the fact that Grizzly Bear, Linda Sundblad, Lupe Fiasco, Basement Jaxx, Ratatat, Clipse, MSTRKRFT, The Rapture, Amy Winehouse, Booka Shade, Spank Rock, Linus Loves, All Saints, The Pipettes, Beck and Margaret Berger didn’t even chart. But you know what did? “Bat Out of Hell III” (#84).

It’s a sad day when I can assure myself I have better taste than Q Magazine, but that day has indeed come.

100) Matisayahu – Youth
99) The Concretes – In Colour
98) The Like – Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
97) Boy Kill Boy – Civilian
96) Broken Social Scene – s/t
95) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – s/t
94) Duke Special – Songs From The Deep Forrest
93) Iron Maiden – A Matter Of Life Death
92) Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River Release
91) David Kitt – Not Fade Away
90) Adrian Sherwood – Becoming A Cliché
89) CCS – Cansei De Ser Sexy
88) The Young Knives – Voice of Animals And Men
87) The Magic Numbers – Those The Brokes
86) Mogwai – Mr. Beast
85) Antony Hamilton – Ain't Nobdy Worryin'
84) Meatloaf – Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
83) Wolfmother – s/t
82) Regina Specktor – Begin To Hope
81) Tom Petty – Higway Companion
80) Vetiver – To Find More
79) Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – Chronicles of A Bohemian Teenager
78) Espers – Espers II
77) Burial – s/t
76) Ghostface Killah – Fishscale
75) Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye
74) Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
73) Willie Nelson - Songbird
72) Beyonce – B'Day
71) Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops
70) Primal Scream – Riot City Blues
69) The Sleepy Jackson – Personality (One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird)
68) The Vines – Vision Valley
67) Shakira – Oral Fixation Vol.2
66) Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine
65) Solomon Burke – Nashville
64) Plan B – Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words
63) Lostprophets – Liberation Transmission
62) Jamelia – Walk With Me
61) Sway – This Is My Demo
60) Joan As Police Woman – s/t
59) Sparklehorse – Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly of A Mountain
58) Badly Drawn Boy – Born In The Uk
57) Lily Allen – Alright, Still
56) Jack Johnson and Friends – Sing-A-Long and Lullabies
55) Nelly Furtatdo – Loose
54) Tom Waits – Orphans…
53) The Beatles – Love
52) Scritti Pollitti – White Bread Black Beer
51) Graham Coxon – Love Travels At illegal Speeds
50) The Twilight Singers – Powder Burns
49) John Legend – Once Again
48) Christiana Aguilera – Back To Basics
47) Morrissey – Ringleaders of TheTormentors
46) AFX – Chosen Lords
45) David Gilmour – On A Island
44) Hot Chip – The Warning
43) Lampchop –Damaged
42) The Zutons – Tired Of Hangin' Around
41) The Automatic – Not Accepted Anywhere
40) The Strokes – First Impressions Of Earth
39) TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain
38) Neil Young – Living With War
37) Cat Power – The Greatest
36) Justin Timberlake – Futuresex/L:ovesounds
35) Orson – Bright Idea
34) The Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics
33) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
32) My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
31) Paul Simon – Surprise
30) OutKast – Idlewild
29) Jet – Shine On
28) Elton John – The Captain and The Kid
27) Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
26) James Morrison – Undiscovered
25) Damien Rice – 9
24) Jarvis – That Jarvis Cocker Record
23) Pet Shop Boys – Fundamental
22) Johnny Cash – American V: A Hundred Highways
21) Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
20) Guillemots – Through The Window Pane
19) Neil Diamond – 12 Songs
18) Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
17) Thom Yorke – The Eraser
16) Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome: The Seger Sessions
15) Shack - … The Corner of Miles and Gil
14) The Feeling – Twelve Stops And Then Home
13) The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
12) Corrine Bailey Rae – s/t
11) The Kooks – Inside In/Inside Out
10) Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
09) Scissor Sisters – Ta-Dah
08) Kasabian – Empire
07) Bob Dylan – Modern Times
06) Keane – Under The Iron Sea
05) The Killers – Sam's Town
04) Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
03) Razorlight – s/t
02) Muse Black Holes and Revelations
01) Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Their list of Best Reissues is pretty fucked too. George Michael’s terribly unnecessary “TwentyFive” and Oasis' poorly sequenced "Stop the Clocks" charted but Rhino’s mind-blowing “One Kiss Leads to Another” girl group box set didn’t. Neither did the Sugababes singles collection, the Girls Aloud greatest hits, the reissue of DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing,” or the ABBA “Complete Recordings” velveteen box of unlimited happiness (I’d take the “Arrival: Deluxe Edition” at least).

10) Oasis – Stop The Clocks
09) The La's – BBC In Session
08) The Jam – All Mod Cons
07) George Michael – Twentyfive
06) Depeche Mode - Violator
05) Talking Heads – Remain In Light
04) Pulp – Different Class
03) Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
02) Queen - A Night At The Opera
01) The Clash - Singles

Leaked Shit

2006-11-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

A bunch of high profile albums leaked this weekend. Still, two of the year’s most anticipated (by me, at least) records, Clipse’s “Hell Hath No Fury” and Gwen’s “The Sweet Escape” remain, sadly, aloof. But I’m not here to talk about what DIDN’T permeate the ether but what DID. Lil’ reviews of two of those albums follow (I was going to review the new Deerhoof but it would have problem just been the words “fucking weird” over and over and over again). DISCLAIMER: The new All Saints album is better than anything mentioned in this column.

Jay Z, “Kingdom Come”

Y’all are now tuned into the motherfuckin’ greatest… Or at least how the lyric went three years ago. The question remains: after a high-profile exit and equally high-profile reentry, does Hova still have what it takes? The answer is yes, to at least a certain extent. The production duties have been doled out to all the big-time players, except for whoever did “Hollywood,” and the results are typically grandiose: big synths, expensive samples, the usual. Although I feel like he’s lost a lot of his edge, Rick Rubin’s “99 Problems” on “The Black Album” was a highlight. And the question remains: where the balls was Timbaland? The two of them make such beautiful music together. I mean, let’s look at the track record: “Big Pimpin’,” “Dirt of Your Shoulders,” “The Bounce.” Even on sub-par albums, they bring the fucking heat (like “What They Gonna Do” on “Blueprint 2”). Still, Timbo’s nowhere to be found. It’s a borderline tragedy. Luckily for us, Timbaland has a bangin’ new single out with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, his 2006 all stars, that serves as our first slice from his solo project.

Anyway…

I still think it’s a solid record, just not the Album of the Year we were hoping for (hell, it’s not even the Rap Album of the Year – that distinction’d go to Lupe Fiasco’s brilliant “Food & Liquor” with Pitbull’s “El Mariel” following closely behind).

The Dr. Dre productions more or less steal the show, with the contemplative “Lost Ones,” the controversial “Minority Report” and the club-bangin’ “Trouble” equally powerful (in different ways). The Neptunes song is alright, although those tinny beats are starting to wear thin, and Kanye West’s joint is nice enough but lacks the gee-whiz mastery of his song on The Game’s new album; the rest are stock, B-tier rap songs… UNTIL the Chris Martin song. He’s attempted entry to the hip hop game on numerous occasions, most notably his failed stabs at entry onto albums by Jamelia, Nelly Furtado, and The Streets (his record label vetoed his vocal involvement each time, even though he retained songwriting credit). Here, he’s finally able to do it. And he does it spectacularly. As an end to an album, “Beach Chair” beautiful; as a song on Jay Z’s much lauded comeback album, it’s genuinely awe-worthy. It’s also the most perfect song on a decidedly imperfect album.

Bloc Party, “A Weekend in the City”

People talk about the sophomore slump but how about the sophomore bore?

GOD DAMN THIS ALBUM IS DISAPPOINTING.

Things start off well enough, with swelling atmospherics, big-ass drums and robo-voices galore. But then, towards the end of the first half, you realize that you haven’t gotten a hook, chorus, or riff even remotely as catchy or memorable as anything off of “Silent Alarm.” Then you think about “Two Years Off,” the in-between single that now rests in the netherworld of the one-off, and how comparably catchy and hooky THAT was (and the remixes by The Streets and MSTRKRFT… So fucking good…) And at about this moment that you realize how vacant the first half has been, well, the second half seeps in and things become really slow and emotional and, yes, boring. A wide-screen ender, “SXRT,” does little to lift our spirits (and works in a kind of opposite way that “Beach Chair” did): instead it shows us what the album could have been but wasn’t. In my estimation, it’s a complete and utter failure.

I think one of the big reasons is that they switched producers. Instead of relying on the expert knob twiddling of Paul Epworth, who helped make the new Rapture album so magical, they turned to Jacknife Lee, who produced U2’s “Elevation” and can be held responsible for letting Bono say “1, 2, 3, 14” in Spanish. Typical of anyone even remotely associated with U2, the results are uninspired.

After citing influences like Isolee and Amerie’s “1 Thing” (both of which are way more exciting and haven’t informed anything on the album as far as I can tell), lead singer Kele Okereke told Pitchfork: I think Paul's a great guy, a great producer, but it probably wouldn't have done us any favors working with the same producer two albums in a row," Okereke said. "We're trying to work with different people, it gives you different aspects of your sound, which is really crucial."

No, no favors; just would have made an album you’d actually enjoy listening to. Which brings up my point: WHEN IN DOUBT, WORK WITH PAUL EPWORTH.

There have been some pretty great second albums of late (Scissor Sisters, Ratatat, The Magic Numbers) and these have been able to expand their original sound while staying true but also evolving. A good example of this, particularly in this genre, was Franz Ferdinand’s “You Could Have Had it So Much Better.” That’s a great fucking album. And not a lot changed from the first one. They were a little more beat-heavy (and Beatles-inspired) but fairly true to themselves, having fun - - and it was released within 18 months of the first one! Now that’s a fucking feat.

On a positive note, I really like the album art.

Where I WON'T Be This Weekend

2006-11-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

Vapors ("Lost" Recap)

2006-11-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Episode: "The Cost of Living"
Flashback: Eko
Original Airdate: 11.01.06

This week’s episode posted an interesting question: does the murder on Mystery Island carry with it certain moral applications? All signs point to yes: Boone was taken from us because Locke went too far into Crazytown (even though, posthumously, he admitted that the island needed a sacrifice, which oddly vindicated Locke), Libby and Ana Lucia were capped because of Michael’s corruption by the Others (although he got away – we assume – with little penalty) and in this week’s episode, Eko seems to have been killed because he was a huge bastard. (The one wild card in this line of thinking is the murder of Shannon, who was relatively innocent.)

In vividly portrayed flashbacks, we saw Eko, after the death of his brother, jumping right back into the evil doing. His attempt to sell pharmaceuticals that the locals badly needed (while violently offing a rival gang) is what set him apart. Unlike Sawyer, who we saw actually caring in last week’s episode, Eko seems to have been bad, through and through. And it’s this unredeemable mark that sets him apart from the other survivors (even though a majority of them are liars, cheats, thieves or murders). I always wondered what the litmus test would be for these characters – what was too much. It seems to be fucking over third world churchgoers. Do that, and you’ve got a date with the big black smoky column of death.

Which brings us to Smoky the Killer Cloud.

There have been numerous explanations for what the fuck this crazy guilt beast is, from Locke’s “eye of the island” routine to Rousseu’s pat “security system” line, without much convincing. I am still leaning towards something more magical (it’s just the way I roll) and while tonight’s episode didn’t give us any definitive answer, it did shed some light onto another of Mystery Island’s, well, mysteries.

I speak of course of the ‘visions.’ These have come in the form of deceased daddies (Jack’s father’s reappearance), mental patient comrades (Hurley’s buddy Dave) or power animals (Kate’s horse, Sawyer’s boar). The assumption was that these were either visions and didn’t exist at all, or that they were somehow ‘conjured’ forth by the island’s unlimited craziness. Tonight, Smoky entered in a third conceit and much more plausible one: the smoke can ‘see’ you and manifest people from your past in your physical reality. In that super-scary moment when Eko was pleading with his brother Yemi, and the beast asked “Is that who you think I am?” or whatever (my notes were a little dodgy this week) – everything snapped into focus.

We’ve never seen Smoky kill anyone else, or even pay as much attention to anyone as it did to Eko (it could be surmised that the other monster-related deaths could have been from Pinkerton the Giant Mutant Polar Bear from last week’s episode or some as-yet-unseen behemoth). Last season we saw it get all up in his grill and flash the faces of people he’d fucked over. This week we saw it manifest itself as not only Yemi, but the mutilated corpses of the rival gang in Africa.

Several people have complained about the abundance of weird freak-outs this season (so far), and I’d have to completely disagree. Not only is weirdness an inherent part of this series (if you haven’t realized that yet, it may be hopeless) but this week’s freak out was justifiable and snapped nicely into the plot (and subplots).

The downfall to Eko’s downfall is that we don’t get more of him. He was pretty fucking badass, after all. And I wanted to see him beat the bejeezus out of more of the Others. Also, it was never made entirely clear what he was doing in Australian and how he and his brother came to crash land on the same smoke monster and giant polar bear infested island. Something tells me that there aren’t going to be any Eko appearances in the future, considering the actor that plays him is supposed to be a HUGE ASSHOLE and no one in the production wants anything to do with him. Also: being shirtless and having that weird belly wasn’t doing anyone any favors. But I digress…

Oh, right.

So Locke returned to the Pearl Station, which is wear he lost his faith last season with the realization that their entire experience on the island could have been some grandiose psychological experiment. This is still entirely viable, although a lot less likely (I suspect something far more sinister and way more complicated). It’s interesting that he would go there, just a few feet away from where his faith was first tested (with Boone’s demise) to regain his mojo. He brought along Sayid and the newly precognitive Desmond but also, for some reason, Nikki and Paulo, our two new hot young castmembers (who are also completely worthless – they addressed that themselves). We now know that they’re dating. Anything else will have to wait until after the winter hiatus (I know how we are all desperately itching to learn the exciting backstory behind Nikki’s short shorts!)

The Pearl is also where they found the glass eye. Tonight it looks like they found its owner – a grizzled, scary dude who tampered with the Dharma camera just as our heroes were staring at the monitor (funny how that happened). Maybe he could see them? Who knows. My memory is straining to recall what ultimately happened within the Pearl, but nothing too extraordinary because they didn’t obtain any new information about the captives on the other side of the island (or on Mystery Alcatraz).

[Which reminds me – if Sayid is back, where the balls are Sun & Jin?]

Speaking of those pesky captives, Jack finally got to do some acting after being walled up in his little underwater terrarium for so long. He got to flirt with Sarah. He got to wear a culty little robe to Collen’s funeral. He got to go mano-y-mano with Head Other Ben Linus (in which he briefly described the process of ‘breaking him down,’ now no longer an option). He also got that interesting interlude with Sarah wherein she was signaling to him, INXS-style, that they wanted to overthrown the old regime of Othertown and that he could be instrumental in accomplishing that (by letting Evil Ben die on the operating table). Something tells me that Jack killing Ben would be too easy, and after Jack has trudged through his fair share of moral ambiguity, he may look to Ben’s surgery as salvation in some way.

We’ll probably find out in next week’s Nathan Fillion-starring, Kate-flashbacking episode “I Do.”

Then there’s the huge-ass motherfucking break (it’s so long that the marketing gods over at ABC have touted Tuesday’s episode as a ‘winter finale’ or something... classy).

When we get back, with February 7th’s “Not in Portland,” we’ll get treated to the first ever Other-centered flashback! The entire episode will be built around the defiant, adorable, Stephen King-loving Juliet. My prediction: it will rock balls. And could completely redefine what the show is (AGAIN). But typing in its airdate just now almost made me hurl. I can’t believe we’ll be away from Mystery Island for that long. But maybe “Daybreak” will be great.

Yeah, I don’t think so either.

The Knife @ Webster Hall 11.01.06

2006-11-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

If it’s one thing that can be said about Swedish brother-sister electro duo The Knife, it’s that they’re really fucking weird. It’s not even their music, which is admittedly odd but not outrageously so (one song [covered] was in a television commercial, after all). It more has to do with their whole aura; stuff like how they won’t be photographed without masks (lately they’ve been photographed with long, phallic wooden beaks). You know, stuff like that. So it was with a mixture of extreme, extreme excitement and extreme, extreme trepidation (I’ve got to admit that I was worried it would resemble some awful art school thesis project or maybe the Tobias Funke-approved Blue Man Group) that I made my way to Webster Hall last night.

Turns out that it was really, truly amazing. It was pretty darn weird, but not in an alienating, “uhhhhhh what the fuck is this?” way. To be honest, I think it was the best possible way they could have adapted their slinky, sinister electro-funk; hailed largely as an ‘audio-visual experience,’ it was just that.

The basic setup was a thin, invisible scrim at the front of the stage, with the duo somewhere in between wearing either face makeup or ski masks with parts of their face (eyes, nose, mouth, ears) exposed but covered with stuff that glowed in the crazy lights. It was arguably the darkest setup I’ve ever seen – you only saw what you wanted them to see. Even their equipment was darkened to the point of being shapeless masses either in front or beside the performers. Behind them was another sheet, although this one was more visible. Sometimes the moving images on both screens correlated, sometimes they were completely separate, always they were striking.

The brother, who handled most of the electronic wizardry (I’m assuming), had two long (glowing) sticks that he would smack around to affect their signature ‘electronic steel drum’ sound (at one point mimicking the bong-bong from the “Top Gun” song “Take My Breath Away”). The sister, who did most of the vocals, screamed, squelched, and sang, with the electronic modulation hard to detect. This led me to one conclusion: she was part robot.

A shout-out goes to the second lamest-assed crowd I’ve had the misfortune of being stuck with in recent memory (the first goes out to the folks at the Beck show at MSG – never forget). The line for this show was around the fucking block (literally), there were two Cardigans in the audience, and during the encore animated words jumped up and down on the screen behind them (a clear indication of what the AUDIENCE SHOULD BE DOING) but most were content to merely sway, nod, and play with their cell phones. A kid next to me was telling his friend how he saw Julian Casablancas riding his bike on Broadway. Did they not see that there was a crazy Scandinavian horror show laser light dance party going on in front of them? Clearly not.

Bastards.

The set was EXACTLY an hour long (those Swedes – you can set your watch by the length of their sets) and not a moment was wasted. Between the three-dimensional video heads that dotted the stage (sometimes they were monsters, sometimes mutants, sometimes skeletons) and the seemingly three-dimensional sound of the theater (it was like being in sense-surround-sound) and the leftover Halloween decorations, it was like being in a crazy futuristic haunted house that was also an EPCOT pavilion (The Horrors of Normality, maybe). Actually, I think someone once called the “Silent Shout” album ‘haunted house music.’ Maybe it was Pitchfork. Or possibly Max. Whatever. The show cemented the album’s standing as the year’s best record (something I’ve been saying since ten seconds after hearing it for the first time) and this was, most assuredly, one of the greatest shows I’ve seen all year. If I can’t have Daft Punk, this probably ranks a close second in the silly-brilliant possible-robot category. And that's saying A LOT.

Setlist:

"Pass This On"
"The Captain"
"We Share Our Mother’s Health"
"You Make Me Like Charity"
"Marble House"http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
"Forest Families"
"Kino"
"Heartbeats"
"Silent Shout"
"From Off To On"

Encore
"Like a Pen"

Photo courtesy of Chokedamp (our professional photographer forgot his camera).

Setlist courtesy of Stereogum, who also noted the “Take My Breath Away”-style bong-ing (nice).

The Twinning ("Lost" Recap)

2006-10-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Episode: "Every Man for Himself"
Flashback: Sawyer
Original Airdate: 10.25.06

Week after week I loudly (and blog-ly) proclaim my love for “Lost.” Then season, I’d reckon (if I was from the South… which I am…) that this is the best “Lost” has been since it’s season one heyday, when everything was so mysterious and you couldn’t help but be swept up in the magical, mystical world of Jack, Locke, Boone, Hurley and the rest of the Impossibly Attractive Plane Crash Victims. But still, week after week, critics and naysayers around me give it the see-saw hand, the sigh/huff brush-off and generally dismiss it. Part of this is because I’m talking to some idiots and the other part is that they desperately want to know what’s going on. I’m simply happy taking the voyage and try to tell them, it doesn’t matter. Still, they persist. Well, last night’s episode gave us an answer.

THERE’S ANOTHER FUCKING ISLAND.

Happy?

Good.

This was another great episode, a pulse quickening shell game with Other overlord Ben Linus fucking with our collective heads (and Sawyer’s singular heart). I was glad to see the Others act more evil this time (Ben, the revenge-minded Pickett) – they’ve been established as the badguys early on and no matter how many fantasyland communities they inhabit, they still hung Charlie and made a general nuisance of things. Since almost everything on (and, now, off) Mystery Island has the tinge of a giant psychological experiment, it’s no surprise that it was this tactic that ultimately domesticated the rambunctious Sawyer.

The whole “Escape from New York” ploy – that a tiny bomb was placed inside Sawyer’s heart – and the entertainment that followed (like the hilarious results of watching Kate get nekkid) was great, riveting drama – ratcheting things up a notch in the already dark and claustrophobic conditions. The things that unfolded AROUND this ploy (Jack being led, blind, in front of their cages and the death of Other Colleen) was just as riveting. As things are coming into focus – Jack is there to fix someone (Ben’s) spine and Sawyer and Kate are there to be fucked-with – the insidiousness isn’t diluted, but intensified. They can wear khakis and proclaim peace all they want, but video surveillance cameras and giant cages and underwater labs and making Jack stay with a corpse speak volumes about their true nature.

The Other’s are bad.

Happy?

Good.

On the other side of the island, there’s no sign of Locke or Eko (maybe because this episode was actually supposed to air last week, and last week’s vice versa) but there is Desmond, boldly displaying his newfound psychic abilities with his awesome lightening rod (Hurley’s “Is that… art?” was priceless). And then there’s New Castmember Paulo, who displayed the writers’ penchant for creating truly annoying Latin-American characters (the sting of Ana-Lucia has yet to wear off).

The flashbacks this week didn’t do a whole lot for me, except to show that Sawyer isn’t a complete retard (as we were shown previously he’s a pretty good conman but none too bright). So at some point, between conning lonely women out of their money and mistakenly murdering the wrong man (with a chat with Jack’s father thrown in for good measure) he was in prison. For a while. His sentence was commuted for revealing the location of some stolen governmental funds and in the process learned something shocking – he’s got a daughter! Or does he? Could this woman have conned him? Just like Linus did later in the episode with The Big Reveal? Who fucking knows. It’ll take some more flashbacks to truly tease that one out.

On the super-nerd side of things the only real mythological connection I garnered was Jack’s cartoon featured swans - The Hatch that so much of Season 2 revolved around was a Dharma station known as The Swan. So, there’s that. I guess.

The reveal of Dharma Alcatraz was slow going but became progressively apparent, as Ben mentioned something about “the sub” being back. Still, it was pretty shocking. It was the death blow to Sawyer’s blind hope of escaping, or at the very least escaping alive. It may also explain why Ben Linus was so hell-bent on getting Desmond’s sailboat. How they shuttle between the two islands (sub, a possible series of interconnected tunnels, which is where I believe The Hydra station is located) remains to be seen. There’s been talk that an upcoming episode of “Battlestar Galactica” will take place within the Cylon community. I expect, eventually, that “Lost” will show us what’s been going on solely from the Others side. And when that happens, I believe our minds will be blown. The matter-of-factness with which Linus revealed the island, and the just-as-casual way he closed the conversation (“Let’s get you back to your cage”) was equally creepy. It’s Desmond’s eerie serenity that makes him even scarier than the brawny Pickett; positively skin-crawling.

Which brings me to the fact that only two episodes remain until “Lost” goes on its extended, winter-long hiatus. That’s going to be really depressing. This season has really rocked the motherfucking house; it’s going to be a looooooooong few months. But the good news: the last episode of this batch will feature none other than Captain Tightpants himself, Nation Fillion (of “Serenity”/”Firefly” “fame” and the recent “movie” “Slither”). It’s a silver lining, at least.

Until next week…

Drew

WTF?

2006-10-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Really?

Multiple Monsters ("Lost" Recap)

2006-10-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Episode: "Further Instructions"
Flashback: Locke
Original Air Date: 10.18.06

Since I’m feeling a bit under the weather (and just choked down some foul-tasting cough suppressant – yummy) I’m going to make this “Lost” recap short and sweet (or, at the very least, shorter and sweeter). Going to try and condense it down to five awesome things to talk about.

1.) The Freak-Out
Locke, blasted away from the Hatch in Season 2’s blinding season finale blow-up, started the episode mute. What’s good about this is that we know now that the ‘medical miracle’ element of the hatch’s electromagnetic craziness didn’t dissipate like the heavenly white light. So, that means: Locke’s legs won’t give out, Rose won’t suddenly drop dead of cancer, and Sun won’t lose her lovechild. After coaxing Charlie, who started off the episode at his most annoying but ended up being pretty charming and funny, to help him with his sweat tent, things got totally freaky. This is the weirdest the show has been, visuals-wise, since Charlie’s Godly visions last year (which led to baby Aaron’s baptism). It was also totally fucking brilliant: The characters being reassigned as people in the airport, Boone as blood-spattered spirit guide (“I was the sacrifice the island demanded”), and the assessment of who needed to be saved, when. It was really weird in and of itself but also creepy for it’s implications, like Boone looking towards Charlie & Claire & Aaron and going “they’re good… for now.” It was totally bizarre in the best possible way and a good way to amp up the weird quotient.

2.) Multiple Monsters
One of my favorite things about this episode was the acknowledgement that Smokey the Cloud Monster isn’t the only thing menacing the islanders. The exchange between Charlie and Locke when Locke says “Sawyer shot a polar bear” leads to all kinds of speculation. Was the beast that Locke faced down in Season 1 this giant polar bear and not Smokey? (I do believe this polar bear was way more huge and monstrous than the one Sawyer took out in the pilot – and that it will be back.) Some of the best moments of the episode came from the polar bear, from Charlie’s assessment that “Polar bears are like the Einsteins of the bear community” to the skeletons littering the bear’s cave. It was great and scary and enriching, but it makes me hungry for EVEN MORE MONSTERS. I just can’t get enough.

3.) Locke the Hunter…
… or Locke the Sucker? He talked about the sweat lodge (this in his rustic flashbacks) being the place where you go to decide if you’re a hunter or a farmer. For most of the episode, as he befriended a new Padawan (to mirror Boone or Charlie), it appeared he had decided he was a farmer. He was in a place with a “real family,” seemed relatively happy with things, and was optimistic about himself and his place in a greater whole. Then his hitchhiking friend turns on him (a pattern emerging here, John?) and he reveals what the sweat lodge really said: he’s a hunter. This illuminates some things in the show – up until now we thought that his ‘tracking’ and ‘knifing’ and all that from season 1 came up since he had prepared so long and hard for his ‘walkabout.’ Turns out it happened much earlier (way before his crippling accident that left him wheelchair bound).

4.) Mythos (or What’s in a T-Shirt?)
Quickly: most of the Easter eggs in this episode came in the form of what was printed on people’s T-shirts. First off, there was the Geronimo Jackson T-shirt the narc was wearing (which was questioned by that creppy guy from “Twin Peaks” in Locke’s hippie commune). This isn’t the first time that Geronimo Jackson has been inserted into the show (it was in an episode called – what else? – “The Hunting Party” from last season) but its meaning has yet to be revealed (or even really hinted at). Only time will tell on this one. Also, one of the skeletons was wearing a Dharma T-shirt. Could this have been one of the Hatch-dwellers pre-Kelvin? Or was it just a Dharma person who was patrolling the area? Lastly, it should be noted that the tie-dyed shirt that Hurley gives Desmond seemed to relate to the hippie, earth-changing mentality of the Dharma Initiative. Make your own kind of music, indeed. [ALSO, the numbers appeared twice: once in the narc’s badge number and on Hurley’s computer during the freak-out hallucination.]

AND…

5.) The Former Hatch-Dwellers
Locke went mute and then went on a new vision quest, Desmond was naked (Hurley’s question: “So the hatch blew off your underwear?”), Eko was taken by a giant mutant polar bear (and left for dead – he’ll presumably gain consciousness in a future episode) and none of them have any real clue as to what happened when Desmond turned the magic key. Desmond suggested that something “imploded” but we really don’t know. All that we know is that Desmond has been left with certain abilities… Abilities that make him an even more exciting and interesting character in the canon. It doesn’t feel forced or silly, but new and unnerving. And the final moments between Hurley and Desmond were shockingly good.

The last thing I want to talk about is how slyly they introduced new characters. Locke shouted orders to two of the previous ‘red shirts’ (that’s a “Star Trek” reference, I’m going to fess up), addressing them as “Nikki” and “Paulo.” Two new cast members! Hurrah! Very slick, guys. Overall I thought this was a great episode, heavy on the action and scariness, with some very nice character moments and humor (you have to love naked Desmond). Not too big on enriching the mythology, but when it’s this much fun, who cares?

That’s it for me (for now).

Tah

D

Beck @ Theater @ MSG

2006-10-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last night Beck rocked ‘The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.’ I didn’t really know what this even meant before showing up to the event; turns out there’s a smaller theatre adjacent to the main terrordome (where a Rangers game was being held same night, which caused security guards to call out “Rangers to the right, Beck to the left…”) This being Madison Square Garden, it was still Really Fucking Huge (bigger than Nokia probably). Our seats, as it turned out, were downright HORRIBLE. And cost almost $200.

[Zombie Politics’ professional photographer didn’t bring their telephoto lens, so there’ll be no awful pictures today. Apologies to my one reader.]

The show itself was a mixed bag. The jaded hipster audience, down on the floor, was barely conscious throughout the whole show. When Baltimore booty bass rappers Spankrock opened with a wonderfully energetic set people just kind of swayed. There was NO REACTION from the floor. NONE. This was a band that Conspiracy Carl usually does STRETCHES for in preparation for all the dancing. As the Rapture song goes: “People don’t dance no more, they just stand there like this, they cross their arms and stare you down and drink and moan and diss.” TRUE DAT. Spankrock sang a hilariously filthy song called “Shake It Till My Dick Turns Racist.” No reaction whatsoever.

Who were these people?

When Beck took the stage things didn’t get much livelier. Backed by a talented band (and then that band backed by miniature puppet replicas of the band), Beck whizzed through the hits, focusing mostly on last year’s “Guero” and this month’s “The Information” but pausing momentarily for the odd “Sea Change” or “Odelay” track. Beck is a consummate performer, one of wit and unbridled talent. This is the third time I’ve seen him, the second time in two years, and he never ceases to impress. That said, this was my most disappointing experience with him to date, for the following reasons:

1.) He didn’t dance. What the fuck? He’s such a good dancer. And I distinctly remember last year’s show being heavy with the dance. Just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating I called Jordan right after and asked if he had. “Yeah, I remember him dancing,” was all Jordan would give me. Still, he’s got the moves. It was sad we didn’t see any (that said MC Spankrock got down like a motherfucker).

2.) The puppets. Yes, this is clever and funny and weird in an ‘Only Beck could get away with it’ kind of way, but it also kind of sucked. The main screen behind the band was broadcasting the puppets movements so those us in the ASS section of the theater (it actually says that on my ticket – section ASS, Row FU), who desperately needed a blown-up version of what was going on on stage, got puppets instead. Also, it was kind of a one note joke. But pretty meta.

3.) The crowd uniformly sucked. Drunk, stupid people everywhere. As we were leaving I saw these two guys get into a fight – one guy was a talker (he was bald, bespeckled and walked like a circus clown) and the other guy was a fighter (big, fat, belligerently intoxicated). The fighter grabbed the talker by the neck and while he was turning purple, another, completely unrelated drunk guy picked up the talker and tried to throw him over the banister. It was insanely stupid. UGH.

So, that’s it. This review is probably tempered by my soul-draining depression about the location and cost of our seats. He’s playing a charity acoustic thing on Sunday. Maybe I can go to that. Or not. One by one I’ll knock you out…

Basement Jaxx @ Webster Hall (Part II: The Legend Continues)

2006-10-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

So the Basement Jaxx played on Wednesday night. I’m still recovering. It’s Friday. They rocked the house so fucking hard that I’m fairly certain something caught on fire, and a baby or two was probably produced in my immediate vicinity (which is going to be a miracle considering how many mighty queers there were). I wish that I could bring those non-believers to one of these shows because I really do think seeing them live will unequivocally convert you to the House of Jaxx.

This is the third time I’ve seen them live (previously: Roseland in 2001 and at the Carling Brixton Academy in London in 2003) and each time the experience was equally different and thrilling.

The first time I saw them was (obviously) a revelation: I had no idea how they were going to convert sophomore album “Rooty’s” mixture of female vocals and hip-hop-ish beats. I expected, at the very least, a guest vocalist or two but most of the work done by the boys on synthesizers and whatnot. Well, my answer came to me when they started the show with “Romeo” and a large black woman with skin-tight acid wash jeans came out singing, the word ‘Jaxx’ written up her pant-leg in bleach. They then proceeded to wow me with each and every song, and each and every crazy-ass (itch?) guest performer. This is the show that featured feathered, flamenco showgirls and a female vocalist in a paten leather cat suit who came out and whipped Felix during “Get Me Off” (he beat her up back – don’t worry). The headline in Rolling Stone when they reviewed the show was ‘Basement Jaxx Kicks Ass.’

The second time, in England, was a whole ‘nother ballgame. I saw them in the big, beautiful Carling Brixton Academy (watch that awful sex movie “9 Songs” if you want to see it in full effect, y’all). I was surrounded by literally THOUSAND of my British peers and the show was fucking huge: giant screens that played choreographed images of tanks and crazy jungle animals, an even greater parade of guest vocalists and perfomers, and a DJ interlude where they combined 50 Cent’s “In Da Club,” The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” and Justin Timberlake into one brilliant package. It was quite amazing, as well. A track from my show even ended up on the second disc of their jaw-dropping “Singles” package (not released in the US – naturally).

Wednesday’s show continued on their path to excellence, even though it was done with half the Jaxx missing. Simon was no where to be found, leaving hyperactive Felix in control of the big, gay, neon-rimmed spaceship. Oh well. Even though his presence was missed (at the very least it explains the absence of the cool, acoustic-guitar version of “Rendezvous”), the show was, quite simply, the Greatest Thing Ever. It made me appreciate “Crazy Itch Radio,” their fourth album, that much more (it’s been growing on me since it leaked online in late summer), especially when you see a crowd react so positively to new songs like “Hey U” and “Take Me Back to Your House” (highlights, both of them). Through their madcap assortment of singers, dancers, rappers, and (at one point) monkey-men (or women), they brought their vision of musical insanity to life. It was irrepressible; a colorful explosion of slyly sexual, overwrought joy - laser beams and rainbows from here to eternity (and back). There’s nothing more wonderful than that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: ain’t no party like a Basement Jaxx party.

More, random pictures follow (thanks to the actual Zombie Politics photographer Kina!)