***January Thirty
First
Two
Thousand and Eleven***
We're starting this year off right, with automatic guns and wicker
chairs. Any man without both is not a real man.
A month late, but here are my... Top Fourteen
Movies of 2010
Why fourteen? Cause I couldn't think of a fifteenth one.
1. True Grit
- I'm willing to accept that
I may biased, but the Coens can do no wrong in my book. Hell, I
even liked "The Ladykillers".
2.
Valhalla Rising
- This is black metal in
film form. Just brutal.
3.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
- Finally, a comic book
movie that really tries to be like a comic book.
4. Exit
Through the Gift Shop
- Best documentary of the
year, assuming it actually is a documentary. We may never
know.
5. The Ghost Writer
- This felt like an instant
classic, like a well respected thriller from the seventies.
Nearly
perfect. Polanski might be
a rapist,
but goddamn he knows how to make a movie.
6. Winter's Bone
- Amazingly well acted
considering how much of the cast is just kids. I'd be lying if I
said it didn't remind me of home.
7. Restrepo
- Best documentary if "Exit
Through the Gift Shop" turns out to be a sham. It's amazing what
these soldiers are able
to
accomplish, and depressing what they are asked to do.
8. The Fighter
- A really good movie, but
the lasting impression is that of Christian Bale and his completely
mesmerizing portrayal
of a former
boxer turned crack addict. Melissa Leo is also fantastic,
but she always is.
9. Kick-Ass
- The title of this movie is
a perfect descriptor of it. And isn't it nice to see Nicholas
Cage in a decent flick for a change?
10. The Kids Are All Right
- Am I the only one who
really felt sorry for Mark Ruffalo's character? Anyways, well
acted, interesting film.
11. The Social Network
- I didn't really want to
see this movie, or really like this movie, but I saw it. And
liked it. Jesse Eisenberg really does a
top notch job
from start to finish.
12. The White Stripes Under
Great White Northern Lights
- They really did a
wonderful job taking what would otherwise be a tour film and making it
an actual movie that (I would
imagine)
even non-fans would enjoy.
13. The Wild and Wonderful
Whites of West Virginia
- This follow up to one of
the greatest films of all time, "The Dancin' Outlaw", is equal parts
depressing and hilarious.
14. Jackass 3D
- By far the best 3D movie
featuring a poo volcano to come out last year. Easily.
I was also going to include Zombieland, but it
came out in 2009. So did Bronson. And Hunger came out in
2008. So
let's just call these the best recent movies I've seen that didn't
actually come out this year.
A few random links what for the wasting of time and such.
There is a film called "Deadly Prey", and it features a man getting
beaten with his own severed arm. This fact alone
makes it probably the greatest movie ever made. The good folks
over at Everything Is
Terrible did this amazing three
minute edit of the flick for your enjoyment. And here's a direct
video link, as their website goes down more often than
Dante's girlfriend from "Clerks".
A website of Literal
New Yorker Captions, wherein some dude or dame recaptions New
Yorker cartoons literally. It's
the sort of thing that get's funnier and funnier the more you read
them.
http://www.themonkeysyouordered.com/
I'm a sucker for any sort of urban spelunking website, and here's
another one - The
Kingston Lounge. This one is
mostly set in and around New York City. On top of the interesting
photos, they really get into the history of the buildings
they explore.
Everyone loves comical athlete names, and here's another
list of hilarious baseball ones. We're not talking about
pedestrian choices like Dick Pole and Rusty Kuntz, these cats dug deep,
and include stats. for the love of god, there
was a man named Ugly Dickshot. And as great as that is, I find
myself really loving Chicken Wolf and thinking of
changing my name.
You ever find yourself thinking you don't own enough new music released
on 3 1/2 inch floppy disks or in tins accom-
panied by animal bones or on microcassettes inside of aroma therapy
candles? Well wait no longer, because Auris Apothecary is here to
meet all your ridiculous music packaging needs.
My first show of the new year, and it was a keeper. It would have
been a super-duper keeper if the opening band
Gentleman Jesse & His Men hadn't been snowed & and iced in back
in their hometown of Atlanta, but Obits is entree
enough for any rock meal. I got there right at the end of
Whatever Brains opening set, and it sounded good as always -
I always hear the Fall in them, but this time I picked up on a tinge of
"TV Party" era Black Flag party punk in there too.
One thing of note though - I like them live and I like the recordings
I've heard, but the two seem to never sound alike to
me. Maybe my ears are broken, but it's like two different
bands. I probably prefer the live version best, if pushed to
pick.
Kings was probably half to three-quarters full by the time Obits
took the stage. How this show isn't sold out but Girl
Talk sells out Disco Rodeo, I'll never understand. Insert grumpy
old man rant about kids these days. Anyways, Obits
were fucking fantastic. I was a HUGE Hot Snakes fan and got to
see them a few times living out in California (no idea
how much they played the east coast, they didn't seem to like to tour
much), but this was my first time seeing this new
Rick Froberg production. Obviously their sound is going to be
compared to the Hot Snakes, and understandably so.
But Obits aren't nearly as aggressive as the Snakes, and seem to harbor
a strong undercurrent of surf rock in their
sound. I suppose calling themselves Shadowy Snake Men on a
Shadowy Hot Planet was shot down in the preliminary
stages of band name choosing. The set seemed to be mostly new
songs and only a few from their only full-length
"I Blame You". This would obviously point towards them having a
new record out in the near future, which is clearly a
good thing. They seemed to really enjoy Kings, so hopefully there
will be more stops in the City of Oaks for us fans.
I've beat around the bush but my final thought on the matter - Light Pines really remind me of
Doves. This show
crystallized this thought into my brain, and I don't see it shaking any
time soon. I consider this a good thing, for the
record - those first two Doves records are quite good and listenable
even to this day, and I saw them live a few times -
always a great show.
It was kind of a crappy night out but there was still a big crowd at
Tir Na Nog for this free gig - was it because of Light
Pines, or was it because local pants kings Raleigh Denim were giving
away a couple pairs of their really nice (and
pricey) pants? It was probably both, cause last I checked
everyone loves both awesome music and free pants, or at
least everyone with any goddamn sense. And let it be stated that
I did not win any pants, but I'm not going to hold that
against Raleigh Denim, I hold it against all those other people that
showed up for the show. Plus they were all wearing
pants, so I'm not sure what they needed them for (I was, of course,
bottomless - as I always am at local shows, so the
pants would have been really handy).
Wasn't this supposed to be a show review? Did I mention Light
Pines were awesome, like they always are? I really
really REALLY wish they'd put out a damn record. I want to listen
to them all the time, not just at shows. Put out a re-
cord Light Pines, your pantsless fans need something to keep them warm
on these lonely winter nights.
Future Islands
with Lonnie Walker
Kings
11/19/2010
It had probably been a few months since I'd last seen Lonnie Walker. And going a
few months without seeing them is
a real feat. A nice problem to have, an awesome local band that
plays a lot locally. But I guess they had recently par-
taken in a tour of some sort (supporting the night's headliners, Future
Islands, or at least I think that's the case), and
good lord were they tight and together and really kicking ass on
stage. I constantly fluctuate on what/who these guys
remind me of, but I seem to come back to Modest Mouse more than
anyone. But the thing is, I only think this when I'm
watching them...when I sit around and write a review, the idea of
comparing them to Modest Mouse doesn't really make
much sense. Certainly Brian Corum doesn't sound anything vocally
like Isaac Brock, but something in their style of sing-
ing their delivery...I dunno, it's just a comparison I can't
shake.
I'd gone on and on and on to the old lady about how great Future Islands are live, had
convinced her to go with me
next time they were in town, and then she went and got sick and sent me
out alone. But any displeasure in electro-
rocking out solo is easily washed away with the presence of glow
sticks...and there were glow sticks everywhere. I
thought there were a lot of glow sticks last time, but it felt like
they had multiplied like rabbits. They were being thrown to
and fro, at the band, at the audience, folks making necklace and
bracelets out of them. I tucked a few in my hat like a
feather, cause that's how I roll.
The show sold out in advance, and packed to the gills with happy kids
(and a few old folks like myself) there to dance
and really enjoy themselves on this pleasantly cool fall night.
Like the last time I saw Future Islands, the attendants were
really living it up and having themselves a grand ol' time to the
music. As expected the band played pretty much both all
of their last two records, along with a couple of new tracks one would
hope will find their onto a recording in the near
future (hopefully very near future). Two things came to me during
their set...first, this is performance art as much as it is
live music. Band front man Sam stalks the stage like a caged
tiger forced to dance for his dinner, and I mean that in
the best way possible. He looks like he might pounce on an
audience member at any moment, and who knows what
will happen from there - a lick on the cheek or a bite to the neck,
either seems possible. Second, it finally dawned on
me what they sound like - Ian Curtis fronting New Order if he hadn't
killed himself (obviously we're assuming Joy Division
would have broken up anyways, and New Order formed as they did).
And I still say he sounds a little like the singer from
U.S. Maple, a comparison a fellow U.S. Maple fan agreed with.
But none of that nerdy pointless comparisons and hogwash really matters
- Future Islands put on one of best live shows
in the business. And we're lucky in that they perform here all
the time. So don't be stupid, go see them play. Assuming
you like to have fun.
"What are
you gonna do, hit him? No, that's a terrible idea, I'll tell you why:
it doesn't unbang your mom."
I was listening to the CD single of the Pixies song "Dig for Fire", and
it's so awesome I decided to post the whole
damn thing. 01 Dig For Fire 02 Velvety Instrumental Version 03 Winterlong 04 Santo
Elliott Smith - A
Fond Farewell. Elliott Smith writes pretty, depressing
songs. these are facts.
Bonus: Twilight.
A few Jeff Tweedy songs from
the Sunken Treasure DVD. I'm not sure the audio came out in any
form other than
bootleg, though I could be mistaken. ELT How to Fight Lonliness One by One
Not cover songs per se, but songs from Tweedy's other groups... Acuff-Rose (Uncle Tupelo song) Radio King (Golden Smog song) The Ruling Class (Loose Fur song)
Radar Bros. - Rock
Of The Lake. Can't think of anything witty to say
about Radar Bros, other than they can do
no wrong.
Bonus: This
Xmas Eve.
The Kingsbury Manx - Over
The Oeuvre. The most recent Kingsbury Manx record is
probably my favorite since
their debut. "These Three Things" is stuck in my head all the
time. Consider that a warning.
Bonus: These
Three Things.
Wolf Parade - Little
Golden Age. I didn't get overly excited for the newest
Wolf Parade record, but these two songs
stuck in my craw.
Bonus: Pobody's
Nerfect.
