Culture
Culture: Hero Module

WFMU was not the first freeform radio station, but it has expanded the freeform ethos like no other.

WFMU was not the first freeform radio station, but it has expanded the freeform ethos like no other. WFMU began on April 24, 1958 as a typical low-power campus station serving the now-defunct Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. A decade later, Upsala undergrad Vin Scelsa (later a New York FM fixture) introduced underground and psychedelic programming, and by the 1980s, station manager Ken Freedman and on-air fixtures like Irwin Chusid and Glen Jones were re-defining the eclectic, playlist-free approach into something unique and sometimes deeply bizarre. Today, WFMU broadcasts at 91.1 FM in northern New Jersey (and, as WMFU, at 90.1 in New York's Hudson Valley), but since the mid-1990s, wfmu.org (featuring live streams, podcasts and internet-only programming) has brought the station's innovative aesthetic to the world at large. Heavily influenced by past radio giants like Wolfman Jack and Jean Shepherd, as well as underground comics, indie cinema and weird cultural ephemera (showcased in the remarkable listener's guide/fanzine LCD in the 1980s and '90s and the popular online feature Beware of the Blog today), WFMU maintains a hip rock'n'roll spirit even while frequently broadcasting eclectic music from across the globe, stream-of-consciousness talk, and audio-verite experiments.

Tags: College Radio, DIY, Eclectic, Exotica, Freeform, Internet Radio, New Jersey, Obscure, Outsider Art, Radio, Underground, Weird,
Critical Works: The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU
Inspirations: Ernie Kovacs, Esquivel, Half Japanese, Jean Shepherd, Lord Buckley, Psychedelia, Punk, R. Crumb, The Fugs, Wolfman Jack
Connections: Border Radio, Daniel Johnston, Ghost World (book), Hal Hartley, High Fidelity, Jim Jarmusch, Matt Groening, Peter Bagge, Re/Search #14: Incredibly Strange Music, Volume 1, Rodd Keith, Songs In The Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music, The A-Bones
Collaboratiors: Drew Friedman, Irwin Chusid, Laura Cantrell, R. Stevie Moore, Yo La Tengo
Facts: Born/Formed: May 31, 1995; Location: East Orange, New Jersey, United States; WFMU

TV & Film
News

Digitize Yoda, must he?

Well, George Lucas just can't stop tweaking his Star Wars series. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the veteran filmmaker revealed that for the new 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (in theaters this Friday), he replaced scenes of a puppet Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) with a CGI version of the elderly Jedi mentor.

Lucas states that he originally intended Yoda to be digital for the 1999 film, but, despite numerous other characters being CGI, it just wasn't working out for getting the green little guy onto the screen, and he reverted to having the puppet instead. While this move does make the film more consistent with the two subsequent movies, where Yoda is 100% computer-generated, it does makes you wonder if Lucas will ever stop altering the six feature installments in the iconic sci-fi franchise. Of course, we all know he should've just edited out every instance of Jar Jar Binks, and Menace would be a vastly improved production.

Tags: action, adventure, auteur, CGI, Hollywood, prequel, puppets, re-release, science fiction,
Related Entries: Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, The Force is with Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ads

TV & Film
News

RIP Ben Gazzara.

Actor Ben Gazzara, a John Cassavetes mainstay, died Friday in New York City. Born Biagio Anthony Gazzara 81 years ago, he was the son of an Italian laborer, and this down to earth upbringing was reflected in his no-nonsense approach. A product of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, Gazzara had a successful stage career, including a starring role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Never as popular as he could have become had he followed the money instead of the roles, Gazzara achieved subdued fame as an unofficial member of Cassavetes' stock company, starring in 1970's Husbands, the psychological mobster film The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and the highly acclaimed Opening Night. His performance as a middle-class family man in Husbands dragged down into the abyss of hedonism by his two friends (played by Cassavetes and Peter Falk) pulsates with the kind of truth only he could have conjured and was a thrilling thing to see.

The third act of his career featured memorable character parts in The Big Lebowski and Summer of Sam, along with a string of films in Italy and work with directors as diverse as Peter Bogdanovich and Lars von Trier. Gazzara's controlled, taut demeanor suggested layers of depth beneath the surface of his actions and allowed him to excel at everything from light comedy to emotional dramas. His professionalism usually precluded overt scene stealing but the sheer force of his performances usually meant he rose above whatever material was presented to him. We'll miss him dearly.

Tags: acting, actor, Actors Studio, cinema, film, method, theater,
Related Entries: Peter Falk, Ethan Coen, Lars von Trier, Spike Lee premieres new joint at Sundance

TV & Film

Gothic gloom at its ghostly and frightening finest.

An atmospheric and effective horror film, The Woman in Black is based on the eerie novel by Susan Hill. Starring Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter screen role, the movie unabashedly embraces its dark, dreary aesthetic and Edwardian setting, resulting in a surprisingly suspenseful period chiller. Offered one last chance to hold on to his job as a lawyer, young widower Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) departs London for the remote coastal town of Crythin Gifford, where he must settle the affairs of the late residents of the secluded Eel Marsh House. Shunned by most of the locals, except for the wealthy Mr. Daily (Ciarán Hinds) and his unstable wife (Janet McTeer), Kipps slowly uncovers the tragedy of Eel Marsh and begins to see unsettling visions of a black-clad woman (Liz White), leading him directly into grave danger. Director James Watkins, who previously helmed the disturbing thriller Eden Lake, manages to sustain a remarkable level of tension throughout the film, thanks, in part, to wonderfully eerie locations and the solid performance of Radcliffe, who ventures through foreboding corridors in extended wordless stretches that feature an impressive accumulation of scares. With its dearth of over-the-top gore and CGI effects, The Woman in Black proudly carries on the tradition of England's legendary Hammer Films and portends well for the careers of both Watkins and Radcliffe.

Tags: based on a novel, death, drama, ghosts, gothic, grief, haunted house, horror, remake, supernatural, widower,
Inspirations: The Woman in Black, The Innocents, Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski, The Others, The Orphanage
Connections: The Woman in Black, Eden Lake, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Eclipse, Wake Wood
Recommendations: The Innkeepers, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Devil's Backbone, Let Me In
Facts: Released: February 03, 2012 (Hammer Films); MPAA: PG-13; Runtime: 95 minutes; Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Liz White; Screenwriter: Jane Goldman; Author: Susan Hill

Music

Taking pop minimalism to freaky new heights.

Few bands have explored the fringey edges of minimalism quite as fascinatingly as Prinzhorn Dance School. On their second album, the pseudonymous British duo of Tobin Prinz and Suzi Horn squeeze a hefty amount of pop surrealism out of the simplest of musical elements, the guitar and drum. On tracks like "Seed, Crop, Harvest" and "Happy in Bits," the twosome's sing-speak-shout vocals give way to the catchiest-dare it be said, poppiest-songs they have ever written. "I want you" resembles a love song, while "Usurper" is the kind of strident anti-pop statement- "We don't need you / We don't want you / Step aside!" -that might make Mark E. Smith crack a sardonic smile. At over 40 minutes, Clay Class wears a little thin in places, but the ingenuity on display, as well as the occasional bursts of pop smarts, make it an excellent adventure in listening.

Tags: art-rock, duo, experimental, male-female vocals, minimal, United Kingdom,
Inspirations: The Fall (music group), The Kills, Wire (band), Pylon
Connections: LCD Soundsystem, YACHT, Liquid Liquid, The Juan Maclean
Recommendations: W, Terrorbird, This Nation’s Saving Grace, Jewellery
Facts: Released: January 31, 2012 (DFA Records); Duration: 43:56

Books
News
Culture

Judging books by their covers.

Lovers of books - the objects themselves - as well as all things printed and published should head over to the American Institute of Graphic Arts' headquarters at 164 Fifth Avenue in NYC and check out their annual "50 Books/50 Covers" best-of design exhibition. Laid out on broad plinths of blank white paper or perched on shelves lining the walls, the selected works are available to pick up and flip through, making the experience more interactive than your average art exhibit. There's also an on-line component in which definitions of the term "Book" are bandied about and continually updated, mirroring the ways in which books and publishing in the age of e-books and e-publishing are constantly changing and feeding off each other.

The jury, selected from the design community and headed up by the multi-talented Chip Kidd, has chosen some breathtaking work from a broad array. There's fiction, non-fiction, an atlas of San Francisco, a book of the collected work of SVA's grad students presented as a box of chocolates - enough to satisfy bibliophiles, design mavens, and even the odd e-reader who's feeling a little nostalgic for that old familiar weight in her hands.

The exhibit ends February 23^rd, 2012.

Tags: 2010s, books, design, exhibition, graphic arts, New York,
Related Entries: Chip Kidd, PHARMA, McSweeney’s, Barney Bubbles

TV & Film
News

Deadites take heart--the new film is picking up steam.

Evil Dead diehards will be pleased as a cackling Candarian demon to hear that the remake of Sam Raimi's beloved 1981 horror film is continuing to take shape. When we talked to the revered star of the original trilogy, Bruce Campbell, last year, he alluded to the new production. Now it's been reported by Deadline that actress Jane Levy (Suburgatory) in talks to replace Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror) as Mia, the new movie's counterpart to Campbell's iconic Ash character.

Since Levy has considerably developed comedic chops, and renowned screenwriter Diablo Cody (Young Adult, Juno) has been working on the script, it seems likely that the film may stick closer to the dark humor of Evil Dead II, which will undoubtedly delight fans of the series. The movie, which is being helmed by Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez, is currently slated for release on April 12, 2013.

Tags: comedy, cult classic, dark humor, demons, fantasy, horror, remake, survival,
Related Entries: Bruce Campbell, Critical Questions: Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Evil Dead II

Music

Fun video, forgettable tune.

At 2:32 p.m. EST on Super Bowl Sunday, OK Go premiered their newest video, "Needing/Getting." This time out, the lads are driving through a homemade obstacle course of upturned pianos, electric guitars lashed to a chain-link fence, pots, pans and other noisemakers, all of which bash out the tune as singer-songwriter Damian Kulash wheels past them.

It's the latest in a surprisingly long series of conceptually brilliant videos originally born of necessity. The DIY homemade videos for "A Million Ways" (famously filmed in the backyard of Kulash's home) and "Here It Goes Again" were so clever and inventive that they made the band stars, something their former label Capitol Records had been unable to accomplish.

Unfortunately, as the videos have gotten ever more elaborate, Kulash's songwriting hasn't kept up the pace. The treadmill video for "Here We Go Again" was hilarious and technically impressive, but crucially, it was also a fantastic song. "Needing/Getting" is a fun Rube Goldberg device on wheels, but the song itself is tuneless and plodding. I've seen the video three times now but I could barely tell you what the song sounds like.

Tags: DIY, hype, indie, innovation, Music video, YouTube,
Related Entries: Sky Full of Holes, Tarot Classics, Together, Stuck on Nothing

TV & Film

Everyone's favorite cult hero opens up.

Bruce Campbell may not be a household name or a big box-office draw, but in the eyes of his many ardent fans, he's a reigning superstar. Until recently, Campbell was best known for his lead role in the beloved Evil Dead film trilogy and his frequent playful appearances on the fantasy shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, but he now entertains millions of viewers as a regular on the popular spy series Burn Notice. Between shooting the show in Miami and making seemingly endless public appearances, Campbell answered a few of our questions, to which we can only respond, "Groovy."

CM: You're currently on your fifth season of Burn Notice, and you recently starred in your character's own TV movie, Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe. How has the show changed your life?

BC: Not that much, actually. I was a working actor before Burn Notice, and I hope to work after. It's been a really great gig, though, and I hope to milk it as long as they'll let me.

How much of Sam Axe is based directly on your own personality, wardrobe included?

I wore Tommy Bahama before Burn Notice, so it was just a happy coincidence. I think with most actors on TV shows, the actors start out talking how the writers write. Over time, the writing tends to morph to cater to the strengths and weaknesses of the actor. Sam is me in many ways, minus the military part.

You've been involved in some pretty high-profile animated films (Cars 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) recently. What do you like about voice-over work?

It's fun, clean, and magical. I love watching the progression of going from an isolated recording booth in rural Oregon to the big screen all around the world.

You directed yourself playing yourself in My Name Is Bruce. How tricky was that?

I've actually done that a lot, between another feature I directed and a bunch of Hercules episodes, so it wasn't that strange. It is very challenging to do, however, since doing both jobs requires twice the amount of "homework."

Which of your old TV characters do you miss the most - Brisco County, Jr. (The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.), Autolycus (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess), or Jack Stiles (Jack of All Trades) - and why?

I'm sure it will be Sam Axe by the time we get cancelled, but I surely enjoyed playing each of those roles - including Ash from the Evil Dead films. Sam Axe has grown on me, so it will be sad to see the crusty old bastard go.

Any plans for you and Nathan Fillion to join forces as leads in a movie or show, and make every sci-fi/horror geek's head explode with sheer awesomeness?

Never say never, but since I have never worked with him, and have never met him, I wouldn't dare venture a guess.

Seems like Sam Raimi's got a little more free time these days. Are you two any closer to reuniting for another Evil Dead installment?

Are you kidding me? He's about to direct a $200 million prequel of The Wizard of Oz, so I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon. We do, however, have a great script for an Evil Dead remake, so stay tuned for that in the next year or two.

Tags: action, B movies, cult heroes, fantasy, horror, television series,
Related Entries: Bruce Campbell, Burn Notice, Evil Dead II, The Horror and the Humor: A Fine Selection of Creepy Comical Films

Culture

Radical Muralism

By the time The Museum of Modern art invited Diego Rivera to create a series of murals in New York, he was already a member of the Mexican Communist Party and had been invited by the Soviet Union to celebrate the October Revolution. So it was no surprise that the work MoMA commissioned would be political, or that he might focus on the American worker. Most of his production during this stay was continued evidence of his highly tuned rurality, but the New York-themed works are powerful schematics of the promise of industrialization, and its failures. Frozen Assets is a cross-section of capitalism, with warehoused workers sleeping in rows under an icy skyline, and bankers in vaults hidden deep within its foundations. That the central building in the mural is Rockefeller Center is noteworthy, as the site of the future run-in over Rivera's notorious commission. The show displays cartoons for the murals to provide technical insight into their creation, but should be given attention beyond that: they have a power all their own, and are stocked with new rhythms and a dynamic use of negative space often obscured under layers of lime and marble dust.

Tags: encaustic, fresco, Mexican communist party, murals, socialism, social realism, Soviet Union,
Inspirations: Eduardo Chicharro, Paul Cezanne, Karl Marx, Emiliano Zapata
Connections: Frida Kahlo, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, Leon Trotsky
Recommendations: Cradle Will Rock, The Frescoes of Diego Rivera, City Activities with Dance Hall, Onward to the Final Victory of Capitalism
Facts: Date: November 13, 2011 (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York City)

Music

Nostalgia for a nostalgic video.

One thing is obvious when viewing the video for "New Slang": at least one member of The Shins worked in a record store. Filmed in and around the band's original hometown of Albuquerque, the video includes clever restagings of the sleeves of a panoply of vintage '80s indie classics. Slint's Spiderland, The Replacements' Let It Be, Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, Husker Du's Zen Arcade, Squirrel Bait's self-titled debut and, in one '90s outlier, Cat Power's Moon Pix are all represented. The tribute to Sonic Youth's Sister gets the raised eyebrow award, with keyboardist Marty Crandall recreating the back-cover photo of the pantsless anonymous blonde girl.

It was in fact Crandall who worked in a record store: specifically, he was an employee at Bow Wow Records in Albuquerque's Nob Hill area. I lived in Nob Hill myself from my college graduation in 1995 until I married a girl from Boston in 2002, and Bow Wow was one of my main neighborhood hangouts. Indeed, Marty regularly sold me foot-tall stacks of psych and post-punk LPs for $20 or $30 when the owner was out of the store. (Bow Wow is no longer in business, but I hope not because of transactions like that.)

Though it didn't come out until the summer of 2001, when both The Shins and I were already making plans to leave the comfortable torpor of Albuquerque for opposite coasts, "New Slang" invariably brings me back to my Albuquerque years. Nights spent at gigs in the downtown bars, in squalid rehearsal spaces or run-down recording studios, watching and writing as my friends practiced, recorded and played their songs. Rushing to meet deadlines at the alt-weekly paper I worked for, or scrambling to pick up a little freelance work on the side. Endless conversations at the record store, the video store or the Frontier, a 24-hour diner that served the best green chile stew in the world and cinnamon rolls the size of your head.

And the whole time, the albums that The Shins and director Lance Bangs pay tribute to in this video were in the background. Even as we were discovering (or making) new music every day, those albums we'd first discovered in junior high and high school, our first entries into the indie-underground-whatever world we were living in, were always with us. And over a decade later, "New Slang" makes them feel as close to me now as they were then.

Tags: 1990s, Albuquerque, DIY, indie, Music video, nostalgia,
Related Entries: Broken Bells, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation

Music
News

Husband and wife duo cover Zombies classic.

While we're waiting for Tennis to release their third album Young and Old, out February 14 on Fat Possum Records, let's take a moment to enjoy the Denver duo's cover of the Zombies classic "Tell Her No." Husband and wife Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley released the tune as a free download last fall while they were working on the new album, produced by The Black Keys' Patrick Carney.

The Zombies' original 1965 single was the British group's second American hit, following the jazzy "She's Not There." The Burt Bacharach-inspired original is notable in part for a completely unintelligible line that lead singer Colin Blunstone delivers during the second chorus. Years later, Blunstone admitted that, having dozed off in the studio while waiting to lay down his lead vocal, he'd sung the tune while half-asleep, leading to a line of improvised gibberish. 

Tags: British Invasion, cover, Denver, download, duo, indie, single,
Related Entries: Cape Dory, He Gets Me High, El Camino, Yuck

Music
News

Nashville chamber-pop collective hits the road.

In advance of their highly anticipated (and excellent) new album Mr. M, Nashville chamber pop collective Lambchop have announced an extensive American tour in April and May. Unlike some previous outings that have featured a stripped-down lineup, singer-songwriter Kurt Wagner will be accompanied by a full band on this jaunt.

The tour will begin in the southern hippie enclave of Asheville, NC on April 13 and will continue for 24 dates across the entire United States, winding up in the band's hometown of Nashville on May 12.

Mr. M, Lambchop's 11th album, will be released on Merge Records on Tuesday, February 21. The album is dedicated to the late singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, a longtime friend of the band who committed suicide in December 2009. It's Lambchop's first release since 2008's OH (Ohio).

Tags: chamber pop, collective, Nashville, suicide, tour,
Related Entries: Bill Callahan, The High Llamas, Sparklehorse, R. Stevie Moore

News
Culture

Modernist villa restored.

A decades-long reclamation project has led to the restoration of Mies van der Rohe's Tugendhat villa, long thought lost to the elements, time, and political upheaval. Completed in the Czech city of Brno in 1930, the modernist home was claimed first by the Nazis, then by the liberating Soviet armies (who used it, unbelievably, as a stable) the glass-walled home had suffered nearly irreparable damage though bombardments, neglect, and ham-fisted renovations by both the Gestapo and the Czech Communist state when the renovation program began two years and $9 million ago.

A striking example of van der Rohe's signature minimalist style, the home features one-of-kind details like an onyx wall that changes color in different light as well as forward-thinking air-conditioning and security systems. Officials were able to recreate the interior thanks to an original bathtub found in a local home and an ebony wall that was in a Brno Law faculty. The building, which will be open to the public on March 6, has added historical significance as the place where officials signed the declaration splitting Czechoslovakia into two states in 1992.

Tags: architecture, Brno, Czech Republic, modernism, restoration, villa,
Related Entries: Eames: The Architect and the Painter, Bodegas Portia, Gehry-designed memorial controversy, Bernd and Hilla Becher

TV & Film
News

Lost co-creator sells post-apocalyptic TV pilot to NBC.

We're still sifting through the wreckage of last fall's freshman shows (is anyone even watching Terra Nova anymore?), but workaholic J.J. Abrams has already gotten a head start in the 2012 pilot season.

NBC announced today that they've picked up Revolution, an Abrams-created sci-fi/action series about a post-apocalyptic world where all forms of energy have mysteriously vanished. Beyond a vague description of the show being centered on a group of people searching to reconnect and survive in a suddenly primitive world, the only other information the notoriously secretive Abrams made available is that frequent collaborator Bryan Burk (Star Trek, Lost) is on-board as executive producer, and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke will write the pilot script.

It's an intriguing concept that blends the world-goes-dark ending of John Carpenter's campy Escape from L.A. with the survival-at-any-cost ethos of The Walking Dead, and should be able to rally Abrams' legions of fans. The year is already a busy one for the perennially overachieving director and producer--he's prepping his eagerly anticipated Star Trek sequel and serving as executive producer on no less than three current TV shows--so we're curious to see how he'll keep all the plates spinning. 

Tags: action, drama, fall 2012, NBC, post-apocalypse, science fiction,
Related Entries: J. J. Abrams, Super 8, Star Trek, The Walking Dead

Music
News

First-time remixer has the goods.

Hard on the heels of Lindstrom and Prins Thomas' reworking of Roxy Music's "Avalon" for a tribute 12-inch comes news that Lindstrom has bagged a first-time star remixer for his own new solo single: Todd Rundgren!

Rundgren's remix of Lindstrom's "Quiet Place To Live" recalls the cosmic prog-disco vibe of Rundgren's own '70s synthesizer experiments, both on his own and with the band Utopia. It sounds great, and makes us even more excited about Lindstrom's new album Six Cups of Rebel, out next week on Smalltown Supersound Records.

You can hear the remix exclusively at Rolling Stone right now.

Anyone unfamiliar with the prolific and mercurial Rundgren should check out both his 1972 double-LP classic Something/Anything? (including the singles "Hello It's Me" and "Couldn't I Just Tell You?") and the excellent 2010 biography A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren In The Studio by Paul Myers.

Tags: Dance, experimental, new releases, remix, single, vintage synthesizers,
Related Entries: Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas rework Roxy Music classic for anniversary 12-inch, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas II, Port Entropy, Field Music

Music
TV & Film
News

Music festival's younger sibling grows up.

Austin's venerable South by Southwest festival, which takes place March 9-18, has unveiled its cinematic offerings, and, actually, it's looking a bit more interesting and eclectic than other recent film fests (cough, Sundance, cough).

Among the promising movies on the roster are the reportedly blissfully bizarre horror film The Cabin in the Woods, directed and co-penned by former Lost scribe/producer Drew Goddard, assisted by some writer named Joss Whedon, as well as the lively Will Ferrell en Español comedy, Casa de mi Padre.

On the music-related cinematic front, there are naturally a number of interesting projects, including the culture-clash drama Los Chidos, the second feature from writer/director Omar Rodriguez Lopez, the mastermind behind the avant-garde rock act the Mars Volta and other sonic oddities. And, most intriguing of all for power-pop fans, the documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me will be screening as a work in progress, and promises to be a fascinating portrait of one of CM's all-time favorite bands.

Of course, the fest is also offering the world premiere of the oh-so-anticipated big-screen version of 21 Jump Street-and, sorry, we prefer our Jonah Hill in relatively subtle roles (see Cyrus, Moneyball)-so the celebration may be a little shy of flawless. Still, we'll give SXSW the benefit of the doubt.

For more information on SXSW, visit the official site.

Tags: 2012, Austin, comedy, drama, festival, film, horror, independent cinema, music, SXSW, Texas,
Related Entries: SxSW schedule released, 10 Critical Breakout Artists Of SXSW 2010, Everything Must Go, Big Star

Books
News

Book ’em.

In a time of closing bookstores and empty pockets, it's nice to see an emphasis on the printed book and the promotion of literacy. With the backing of many from the upper echelons of the publishing community, the team from World Book Night has selected thirty titles ranging from literary fiction and memoir to best-selling mysteries and fantasy fiction, to be put into the hands of 50,000 volunteers. On Monday night, April 23rd, 2012, those volunteers will set out to visit hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, churches, and community centers - places that due to a lack of funds might not have access to books - to give out an estimated one million books altogether. Publishers and printers are underwriting the whole thing and the authors involved have all agreed to waive their royalties for the effort.

World Book Night started in England in 2011 and expanded this year to include Ireland, Germany, and the USA. Aided by the efforts of libraries and bookstores, WBN is hoping to reinforce the value of books - and, by extension, bookstores and libraries - to communities and readers everywhere.  

Tags: books, charity, England, Germany, Ireland, libraries, volunteer,
Related Entries: The History of Love, Just Kids, Zeitoun

Music
News

Portland rockers make a stand.

Earlier this week, breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure made a decision to cut off their funding for Planned Parenthood's breast cancer prevention programs. The announcement caused an uproar among the group's supporters, many of whom had been previously unaware of the right-leaning political views of many of the foundation's leaders.

One result of the decision is that indie stars The Decemberists -- whose keyboard player Jenny Conlee has been publicly fighting breast cancer since early 2011 -- announced on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon that they are cutting all ties with Komen for the Cure. Instead, proceeds from the band's Team Jenny initiative, which has been selling t-shirts and buttons to raise breast cancer awareness, will be donated to Planned Parenthood's own Breast Health Emergency Fund.

The band's official statement reads in part: "Providing cancer screenings to low income women is integral to the prevention and defeat of breast cancer and it is unconscionable that Komen should politicize this very important issue by bowing to the fear campaign being waged against PP by the [R]ight."

Tags: alt-folk, breast cancer, controversy, health, indie, politics, Portland,
Related Entries: The Decemberists, The King Is Dead, The Hazards Of Love , Portlandia

Music
News

Sasquatch! lives!

The lineup for the 2012 Sasquatch! Festival (May 25- 28, in Georgia, Washington) was just announced, and it's exploding with Critical Mob favorites. Among the highlights are Beck, Bon Iver, Feist, M. Ward, The Roots, St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Spiritualized, Dum Dum Girls, Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs, Cass McCombs, Zola Jesus, Wild Flag, and even Portlandia to boot. Though we're sort of on the fence about what we've heard so far from Jack White as a solo artist, he'll be included amongst the headliners- perhaps this will be his make or break moment? Regardless, our heads are spinning!

The schedule has not been announced as of yet, but you can get tickets here on February 11th at 1pm. Also, do yourself a favor and check out the entire lineup here, because you really don't even know the half of it!

Tags: 2012, comedy, Festival, indie rock, Washington,
Related Entries: Cass McCombs, Smoke Ring For My Halo, M. Ward to release new album & tour, Spiritualized announce tour, new album

Music
TV & Film
News

The anti-backlash starts now!

The "We all hate Lana Del Rey!" bandwagon, which had been simmering almost since "Video Games" first appeared on YouTube, kicked into overdrive when the debutante singer gave a painfully awkward, stage-fright-wracked performance on Saturday Night Live last month. However, Del Rey went a long way toward quieting the haters last night on Late Night With David Letterman.

Del Rey performed the ubiquitous single "Video Games" in a stark re-arrangement of grand piano and subtle string quartet, a setting that better suited her whispery vocal style. The pitch issues that plagued her SNL performance were nowhere to be found: she sounded more like Julie London than Nico. It seemed to utterly charm Letterman, who was uncharacteristically effusive in his praise afterwards, even jokingly asking if she could come back tonight and Monday.

Of course, this doesn't help the fact that at least half of Del Rey's debut album Born To Die is dreadful. But it would be nice to see her unfairly besmirched reputation stage a comeback.

Tags: backlash, debut albums, hype, live performance, re-arrangements, television,
Related Entries: Born To Die, Lana Del Rey leaks fourth track, set to take over 2012, Frankie Rose and the Outs, Vivian Girls

Music
News

Happy 31st birthday, we guess!

The Human League took synth-pop to the mainstream with their third album, Dare, in 1981. On March 26, Virgin Records will be reissuing the album in a two-disc special edition. Perhaps they forgot last year, or maybe they wanted to celebrate the album's somewhat belated American success, which peaked when the single "Don't You Want Me" became a #1hit in April, 1982.

Unlike the last two-disc reissue, this version does not include the Love and Dancing album, a collection of instrumental dub versions masterminded by the late producer Martin Rushent and originally released under the name The League Unlimited Orchestra. Instead, this version includes all the UK singles the band released in 1982 and '83, later compiled in America as the Fascination! EP. 

Long overlooked in the wake of Dare's overwhelming international success, these tracks include the hit "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and a superior early version of "I Love You Too Much," later remade poorly on the band's disappointing 1984 album Hysteria. One, the Northern Soul-inspired "Mirror Man," is arguably the group's finest single.

Singers Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susan Sulley, who have been the sole constant members of The Human League since 1986, will tour the UK later this year in celebration of the band's 35th anniversary.

Tags: 1980s, dance, electronics, MTV, new wave, reissues, synth pop, United Kingdom,
Related Entries: Martin Rushent, Head First, Hands, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future

Music

Larger than life miserablism.

Early buzz on The Twilight Sad's third album claimed that with the departure of bassist Craig Orzel and a newfound fascination with minimal 1970s experimentalists, these former lovers of big, booming, '80s-style sounds had scaled back their epic tendencies. But it turns out that No One Can Ever Know is still pretty darn epic, and that's no bad thing. Even reduced to a trio, these Scots still make a mighty racket. It's just that this time, rather than their previous template fusing Simple Minds and My Bloody Valentine, none-more-Scottish singer James Alexander Graham, guitarist Andy MacFarlane and drummer Mark Devine now seem in thrall both to 1970s German minimalist synth pioneers and the doomy UK post-punks who counted the Teutonic likes of Kraftwerk and Cluster as key influences. (They particularly seem to own their share of old Factory Records 12"s.) The tracks are filled with ticking snares, single-note keyboard drones and sheets of heavily-processed guitar, all of which mixer Andrew Weatherall (Primal Scream, etc.) squeezes into a slightly-too-small sonic space underneath Graham's unapologetically heavily-accented vocals. As a result, even relatively skeletal tracks like the sparse ballad "Nil" feel like they're on the verge of explosion, and more widescreen tunes like the pulsating "Another Bed" achieve full sonic liftoff. Graham's relentlessly bleak lyrical worldview (even the poppiest songs have titles like "Don't Look At Me" and "Sick") might limit the album's appeal for some, but No One Can Ever Know makes miserablism sound larger than life.

Tags: Guitar Effects, Indie, Remixes, Scotland, Vintage synthesizers,
Inspirations: Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Sonic Youth, Neu!
Connections: Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Errors
Recommendations: Second Edition, Entertainment!, 154, Lodger
Facts: Released: February 07, 2012 (Fat Cat Records); Duration: 45:18; Mixer: Andrew Weatherall

TV & Film

An effective haunted-house chiller in the classic style.

Writer-director Ti West took a great leap forward with his previous feature, The House of the Devil, and while The Innkeepers doesn't quite match that film's dark wit, it is another unsettling horror movie with a sympathetic lead character. Sara Paxton doesn't deliver the kind of naturalistic performance that Jocelin Donahue did in House, but she has a goofy affability that grows on you, and she can freak out with the best of them. Paxton plays Claire, an employee at a rundown old New England inn, the Yankee Pedlar. (Amusingly enough, it was where West and his crew stayed while shooting House.) Together with her more experienced co-worker, Luke (Pat Healy), she is trying to find evidence of the hotel's resident ghost on the last weekend before it shuts down for good. A retired television actress, Lee (Kelly McGillis), now a spiritual healer, rents a room, and offers Claire some good advice: Stay out of the basement. West has mastered a style of wittily self-aware, but not campy, slow-building suspense. His camera smoothly creeps around the old inn, following Claire as she encounters the increasingly disturbing presence of its former occupants. West never tries to explain too much, but his film satisfies where it counts. It offers engaging characters and ratchets up the tension on the way to a genuinely frightening climax.

Tags: asthma, atmospheric, Connecticut, contemporary, ghost hunters, ghosts, haunted house, horror, hotel, suicide, website,
Inspirations: The Shining, Psycho, The Blair Witch Project, John Carpenter, Paranormal Activity
Connections: The House of the Devil, The Last House on the Left, Great World of Sound, Tiny Furniture, Witness, Some Racing, Some Stopping
Recommendations: Stake Land, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Devil's Backbone, Take Shelter, [REC], Drag Me to Hell
Facts: Released: February 03, 2012 (Magnet Releasing); MPAA: R; Runtime: 100 minutes; Cast: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, Lena Dunham; Producer: Larry Fessenden

TV & Film

More amusing ads that have almost nothing to do with cars.

Continuing its run of cheeky Star Wars-related commercials, the Volkswagen car company has released two new ads that will run on Super Bowl Sunday.

In the first, some musically inclined and minimally costumed canines bark out one of the original trilogy's signature themes to hilarious effect. (You'll notice that the dog dressed as an Ewok is just as useless as those creatures were in Return of the Jedi.)

In the second clip, a non-sci-fi section gives way to a playful riff on the famous cantina scene from the first movie, which is fun, but it can't top a singing canine Chewbacca and company.

Dogs, Darth Vader, American football, German engineering--it doesn't make much sense, but it sure is entertaining.  

Tags: 2012, Adventure, Advertising, Cars, Comedy, Dogs, Homage, Science Fiction, Super Bowl,
Related Entries: Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Music
News

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are touring in space.

It's been a while since we've heard from UK space rock veterans Spiritualized, but the time has finally come. They've just announced a massive North American tour for the month of May that will kick off in Minneapolis and end in Vancouver, BC; this follows some UK and European dates in March. The even better news is that their newest album Sweet Heart Sweet Light is slated for release in March as well through Fat Possum Records --  you can also check out the track listings for the album there.

In the meantime, enjoy this A&E Sessions video from 2005 here.

Tags: dreamy, Indie, long-awaited, North America, psychedelic, space rock, tour,
Related Entries: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Dandelion Gum, Radiant Door, Sonic Boom

Music
News

Olivia Skewed-ton John.

Just a few days ago, Sophia Knapp leaked her first single "Close to Me", from her debut album Into the Waves, slated for release via Drag City on February 28. Though Knapp has been compared to both Stevie Nicks and Françoise Hardy, we're incredulous that no one has seemed to notice the striking vocal and melodic similarities to Olivia Newton John. Or at least, a skewed Olivia Newton John. She's kind of the musical equivalent of what Mary Lynn Rajskub is to comedy: at once spacey and on point.

If you're in NYC, you should check out her record release show on February 29^th at Sway-admission is free!

Tags: 1970s, 1980s, 2010s, Disco, hazy, pop, rollerskating, spacey, vintage, vocalist,
Related Entries: Rapprocher, In Your Dreams, Tapestry, C'est Chic! (French Girl Singers of the 1960s)

Books
News

Who Revisits the Watchmen?

It's official: DC Comics will be publishing new comic books based on Watchmen, the critically-acclaimed mini-series that saw print during the mid-to-late 1980s, then again as a graphic novel. The publisher's summer slate includes seven limited series under the banner "Before Watchmen," set prior to the events of the original comic. These books will star Rorschach, Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, and the other superheroes of Watchmen, which was adapted into a 2009 film.

The original series was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, both of whom have long-distanced themselves from creating more Watchmen-related comics. Their reluctance largely explains why these prequel books took 25 years to materialize. Neither creator is attached to the new series, although Gibbons has lukewarmly endorsed them.

The talent involved with "Before Watchmen" includes high-profile comic book creators Brian Azzarello, who won the 2001 Eisner Award for 100 Bullets, and J. Michael Straczynski, a veteran scribe of movies as well as comics. If DC's intent is to build on one of the more compelling superhero mythologies ever published, they have the right people working behind-the-scenes on it: Azzarello's knack for grit should benefit his upcoming Rorschach and Comedian mini-series, while Straczynski has experience revitalizing older superhero concepts. "Before Watchmen" could be a big hit or a major disappointment, and given the property's high profile, there probably isn't a middle ground.   

Tags: comic books, Comics, DC Comics, graphic novels, prequels, superheroes,
Related Entries: DC Comics Gets New Logo, The Dark Knight, Kick-Ass, Comics icon Stan Lee going digital

Music
News
Culture

Colbert and Coldplay headline charity show

The latest incarnation of the famed Amnesty International charity event is set for March 4^th at Radio City Music Hall featuring Coldplay, Stephen Colbert, Reggie Watts, and Brit folk-rockers Mumford & Sons, among others. The shows made their debut in the 1970s, and are famous for their combination of legendary comedy sketches from Monty Python (John Cleese was an early organizer) and zeitgeisty musical performances from artists like Pete Townshend and Sting. The star-studded talent show also introduced many so-called alternative comedians to new audiences, including Billy Connolly.

The event commemorates Amnesty's 50^th Anniversary and past shows have been notable for their creative pairings of comedians in original sketches and surprising musical collaborations. The show will feature three hours of original material written specially for the extravangaza.

Tags: Amnesty International, ball, charity, comedy, comedy, music, New York, Radio City Music Hall,
Related Entries: Almost all of Monty Python reunite, Maurice Sendak gets crotchety on Colbert, Reggie Watts, Sigh No More

Music
News

A darker, more personal turn for Of Montreal.

Though the official release of Of Montreal's latest album, Paralytic Stalks, isn't until February 6th, the whole album is available to stream here. Frontman Kevin Barnes, along with engineer Drew Vandenberg (who's worked with Toro Y Moi and Deerhunter), produced the album all on their own.

The feel of Paralytic Stalks has an unmistakably Of Montreal stamp, although it's lacking some of the funk-ier Prince-like elements present in 2008's Skeletal Lamping. Barnes told NME that this album was largely inspired by experimental classical music and that lyrically, it's much more personal. In other words, nothing written from the perspective of Georgie Fruit or any of Barnes' other alter egos. The results go into much darker, more personal places, as touched on in 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?.

For a more detailed breakdown of each track, Barnes gave Spin an exclusive here.

Tags: 2010s, avant-garde, classical, confessional, experimental, pop,
Related Entries: Prince, Underneath the Pine, Freaking Out, Halcyon Digest

Music
TV & Film
News

Gossip Girl? Really?

For someone with such awesome musical taste -- in recent months, St. Vincent has covered UK post-punk icons The Pop Group on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and paid tribute to Elvis Costello's infamous Saturday Night Live incident on Conan -- Annie Clark sure does like schlocky TV and movies.

That's the easiest way to understand the fact that St. Vincent will appear on the special Valentine's Day-themed episode of Gossip Girl on Monday, February 13. Clark and her band will perform two songs from last year's CM fave Strange Mercy, "Cruel" and "Cheerleader."

This is Clark's second foray into unrealistic teen drama: St. Vincent and Bon Iver contributed the duet "Roslyn" to the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009.

Tags: guest appearance, indie, soap opera, television, The CW,
Related Entries: St. Vincent pays tribute to Elvis Costello, Strange Mercy, Actor, Bon Iver

Music

Spacey British pop with a shoegaze haze.

With their first single more than two years behind them, Trailer Trash Tracys have finally gotten around to releasing their debut album. But to be fair, it probably takes a fair amount of time to properly brew a record that sounds like vintage Jesus & Mary Chain jamming with Cocteau Twins at the bottom of the Grand Canyon while Opal watches warily from a nearby incline. Singer Suzanne Aztoria strikes the perfect balance between icily detached femme fatale and guileless, cooing thrush, as she hovers above tracks that sound absolutely huge despite (or more likely, because of) the sparseness of the arrangements. You may think you've heard heavy reverb before, but between the vocals and the twang-in-outer-space guitar lines, this British outfit makes Duane Eddy sound like a back-porch banjo picker. It's still early in the game for them, but if Trailer Trash Tracys can keep this up for another album or two past Ester, every piece of press they get might not necessarily continue to contain a mention of their annoyingly misleading moniker.

Tags: indie, reverb, shoegazer, spacey, United Kingdom,
Inspirations: Broadcast, Opal, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain
Connections: Dum Dum Girls, Frankie Rose and the Outs, Vivian Girls, Ultra Vivid Scene
Recommendations: Only In Dreams, Psychocandy, Happy Nightmare Baby, The Perfect Prescription
Facts: Released: February 07, 2012 (Double Six Records); Duration: 33:26

Music
News

Singer/songwriter gets animated.

Hard on the heels of last week's announcement that M. Ward is releasing his first solo album since 2009's Hold Time comes the animated video for the first single from A Wasteland Companion, "The First Time I Ran Away."

Ward's time with his She & Him bandmate, the perpetually adorable Zooey Deschanel, seems to be rubbing off on the once-dour singer songwriter: the video includes showers of pretty pink diamonds, anthropomorphic clouds and that cutest of all animals, the llama. It's a lovely song, too, with angelic stacked harmonies, a yearning melody and a tumbling, cyclical drum part.

A Wasteland Companion is due out April 10 on Merge Records.

Tags: alt-folk, animation, indie, music video, Portland, singer-songwriter,
Related Entries: M. Ward to release new album & tour, Monsters of Folk, She & Him, Volume Two, Bon Iver

TV & Film
News

There’s still money in the banana stand.

The rumors have been swirling since the day the series ended, but according to The Huffington Post, the full original cast of the beloved yet short-lived cult favorite Arrested Development have committed to a new season in early 2013-- 10 episodes to be aired exclusively on Netflix-- followed by a film.

Whereas rumors of the Bluths' return were wildly speculated-upon for years, Jason Bateman, who plays the harried Bluth vice-patriarch Michael, has confirmed via Twitter the news for which many a fan has been clamoring. In case Bateman's tweet wasn't enough to convince the cynics out there (and let's face it, most fans of the show probably are), writer Dean Lorey acknowledged that production has begun, saying "there are offices and parking spaces," hopefully ones big enough to fit a stair car.

The new content will be written by Lorey, Jim Vallely, and series creator Mitch Hurwitz, and will feature the entire original cast, including rumored former holdout Michael Cera. Had this project never come to fruition, the creators most certainly would have proclaimed they'd made a huge mistake.

Tags: beloved, black comedy, Bluth, comedy, cult, dysfunctional, family, inside jokes, meta, satire,
Related Entries: Arrested Development, Archer, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Office

Music
News
Culture

Conceptual proto-punk artist passes away.

Mike Kelley, esteemed conceptual artist and founder of proto-punk band Destroy All Monsters, was found dead of what is being reported as a suicide by long-time associate Helene Winer. Kelley's work, both in music and in visual art was known for its juxtapositions and line-blurring between high and low culture; he had an especially pronounced affinity for exploring the darker, more twisted side of humanity.

Aside from his own band, he collaborated with other musicians such as Iggy Pop and Sonic Youth, who featured his sculptural work on the cover of their 1992 album Dirty. Though we'll unfortunately never see the new installation he was preparing for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, his work will be included in the Whitney Biennial in New York next month.  

Tags: album covers, conceptual art, depression, New York, Punk rock, sculpture, suicide,
Related Entries: Sonic Youth, Jim Hodges, Robert Mapplethorpe, For Now

Books
Homepage Hero Module

Excuse me while I dance.

What am I getting myself into? That was the question cycling through my mind when I walked through the doors of the boarded-up storefront at 155 Freeman in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the new home for the artist hive/gallery space/online magazine, Triple Canopy. I was there for the revival of a tradition that used to take place in the old Paula Cooper Gallery in Soho: the annual reading of Gertrude Stein's mammoth text, The Making of Americans - all 925 pages of it. According to their brochure, Triple Canopy had lined up a healthy roster of "New York-based artists, writers, publishers, scholars and other collaborators," for the undertaking, and all of them had been given 15-minute slots in which to do their part in peeling Stein's massive literary onion down to its core. Scattered throughout the list were a number of luminaries: experimental fiction writer Joseph McElroy, the critic Richard Kostelanetz, poet and former presidential candidate Eileen Myles, fiction writer and essayist (and Triple Canopy board member) Lynne Tillman, recent NBCC-nominated translator Damion Searles, and near last in line but certainly not least, Zadie Smith. Surely, this was serious business.

The industrious staff of Triple Canopy began promptly at 7:30 without any fanfare or redundant intros about Stein's radical stance or her incontestable place in the canon of both avant garde literature and "Literature." They pretty much said Here we go - and off they went, reading from copies of the book that had been generously donated by its publisher, Dalkey Archive. More copies were available to the public for buying or simply picking up and reading along with.

So how was it? After repeated attempts throughout my life to get to grips with Free Jazz, I sheepishly came to the conclusion that it's got to be more fun to play than it is to listen to. And after a few hours of assiduously following along as a number of readers - some with painful-to-witness effort, some with remarkable ease - made their way through the thickets of Stein's prose, I came to the same conclusion. But - and this is important - the key thing that Gertrude Stein and Free Jazz have in common is the idea of Freedom. Not the nationalist, flag-waving kind, but radical, inconvenient, liberated, Creative Freedom.

When the right reader was at the microphone, the book took off and Stein's declarative, exhaustingly chatty, and surprisingly modern voice coursed through the packed house like a river overflowing its banks. Through her dismantled grammar, her "simple" vocabulary, her dizzying, cyclical thought processes about what it means to be a member of an American family in the imaginary towns of Bridgepoint and Gossols in the early twentieth century, Stein conveyed a universe of feelings and ideas and never sentimentalized any of it. It was even, at times, disarmingly funny.

However, it was equally rare when the energy of her writing extended to the audience. There were too many readers who stumbled, or lost their way in mid-sentence, or simply had no feeling for the prose. Not that I'm blaming anyone - this has to be some of the gnarliest material to read aloud ever - but the experience overall was about as thrilling as watching someone run a marathon on a treadmill. Personally, I think the drudgery of repetition - the aesthetic experience of it - was a part of what Stein was examining in The Making of Americans. But I also think it's an idea that works best as an idea rather than an experience. Boredom is a liability in art, not an asset. And to get back to funny, whenever a funny line was read, the audience popped into loud laughter, as if they'd been set free after holding their breath for an hour. There was a whiff of despair in the comic relief.

Back in the days when John Coltrane played with Thelonius Monk, Monk used to get up from his piano and dance around while Coltrane took his solos. He had no choice - the music moved him. Triple Canopy is to be applauded for bringing this daunting and arguably unreadable book out to the public, especially in this era of "tl/dr." But if they want to continue the tradition, I have three suggestions:

1. Don't.
2. If you do, read something else. Please.
3. And if you still insist, then try to find a place where there's room for dancing. Stein's prose deserves it and the audience might like it, too.

Tags: Brooklyn, Experimental Fiction, Modernism, Performance, Postmodernism,
Related Entries: Someday This Will Be Funny, Night Soul and Other Stories, Comedy in a Minor Key, Midnight in Paris

Music
TV & Film
News

Deadpan actress plays against type.

In a departure from her usual deadpan persona, Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza stars as a crazed funeral-ruiner in the music video for "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings", the first song by Father John Misty, the solo project of Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman.

Plaza's character in the video can best be described as Anne Hathaway's character in Rachel Getting Married meets Wednesday Addams: eating flower bouquets, making out with random old dudes, stripping, crying, bleeding, and possibly killing someone. It all makes sense then, that J. Tillman is a fan of the outrageously weird Tonetta, who would no doubt approve.

Also, the song itself is pretty good, with a bit of a Neil Young-style harder edge as compared to the warm and whimsical sounds of Fleet Foxes.

The video is viewable exclusively here.

Tags: Comedy, crazy, drama, funeral, indie rock, solo project, video, weird,
Related Entries: Helplessness Blues, Parks and Recreation, Tonetta, Rudd drops by Parks and Recreation

Books
News

Comics grand master to become a web star?

The Marvel Comics brand has never been stronger, so it's probably high time that the creator behind many of its most popular and enduring characters stood front and center at his own official web site.

February 7, 2012, marks the launching date of TheRealStanLee.com, courtesy of Stan Lee, who co-created superheroes such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, and The Hulk during the 1960s. More recently, he has served as an executive of POW! Entertainment, LLC, helping produce or write original films and reality television series. The new site will help market POW!'s current and future stable of properties. However, according to a video announcement by Lee regarding TheRealStanLee.com, it will also offer viewers a behind-the-scenes look at comic book conventions and industry events.

The tone of the three-minute promotional spot is pretty light-hearted, downright goofy when viewed side-by-side the trailers for the upcoming Spider-Man, The Avengers, and Batman movies. Only time will tell, but TheRealStanLee.com could be a much-needed antidote to how superheroes have been portrayed in mainstream culture as of late, which has been serious and painfully gloomy at times.

Tags: comic books, Comics, conventions, Marvel Comics, superheroes,
Related Entries: Peanuts is back, but without original creator, DC Comics Gets New Logo, X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass

TV & Film
News

Edgy comic moves to major network.

CBS, home of such um,"traditional" hit sitcoms as Two and a Half Men and 2 Broke Girls, has apparently decided to take a chance with a young upstart named Louis CK. The network has bought a pilot for a multi-camera sitcom on which CK would serve as a writer and executive producer, along with fellow Saturday Night Live and Letterman alum Spike Feresten. Feresten also wrote the infamous "Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld. The new series is about a group of twentysomethings struggling to make it in a tough economy. I'm already imagining the arguments with CBS execs over the volume of the laugh track.

Tags: CBS, multi-camera, pilot, producer, Sitcom, soup Nazi,
Related Entries: Louie, Best and Worst TV of 2011, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ready for Prime Time Players: Post-SNL Projects

Music
TV & Film
News

Björk talks apps and elves with Colbert.

Noted wearer of crazy clothes Björk stopped by The Colbert Report last night to perform "Cosmogony", off her latest album Biophilia, released as a series of interactive apps. In addition to showing off the pretty awesome-looking apps, Stephen Colbert discussed the scope of Björk's art ("Why art?") as well as the Icelandic belief in the existence of elves. Björk took it all on the chin, seeming to have a good sense of humor about herself and her homeland, even poking fun with Colbert at the very American preoccupation with ghosts. Being some sort of elf-ghost hybrid herself probably came in handy for sure in fielding those questions.

Tags: 2010s, electronic, Iceland, interactive app, Late night talk show, live performance, music,
Related Entries: Biophilia, Replica, Michel Gondry, RjDj

Music
TV & Film
News

The voice of peace, love and soul passes.

Smooth-voiced, effortlessly cool Don Cornelius, creator and host of the classic syndicated TV show Soul Train, was reportedly found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound early Wednesday morning at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. The Los Angeles Times and other sources report that his body was discovered around 4 a.m. Pacific time.

As a television news reporter in his native Chicago in the late '60s, Cornelius supplemented his income by hosting R&B-oriented dance parties around the city. Soul Train premiered in 1970 as a live weekday afternoon show on Chicago's WCIU before becoming a nationally-syndicated weekly show in October 1970.

Often (and unfairly) considered the African-American response to Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Soul Train quickly became a national sensation. Recurring segments like the Soul Train Line, in which the show's dancers got solo showcases for their moves, and sometimes-outlandish commercials for the show's sponsor, Afro-Sheen hair products, remain popular on YouTube to this day.

The rise of hip-hop, a form Cornelius openly disparaged, helped end the show's cultural dominance; Cornelius stopped hosting the show in 1993, although new episodes were produced until 2006.

Cornelius had reportedly been planning an autobiographical film about the rise of Soul Train prior to his death. He was 75.

Tags: 1970s, disco, R&B, soul, suicide, television,
Related Entries: R.I.P. Etta James, Stone Rollin', The Stepkids, Sly and the Family Stone

Music
News

Roxy Music enters the 2010s.

As part of the burgeoning Roxy Music 40th anniversary celebration, electronic duo Lindstrom and Prins Thomas have remixed the title track from the art-glam pioneers' 1982 swan song, Avalon. Turning the seductive original into a minimalist dancefloor pulse, this fairly radical reworking nonetheless maintains the song's sensual elegance.

Along with a new take on Roxy's disco-era hit single "Love Is The Drug" by hot remixer Todd Terje, "Avalon" will be released by UK specialist label The Vinyl Factory on February 9.

Tags: 12-inch singles, art rock, dance, electronic, Remixes,
Related Entries: Complete Roxy Music box set due this spring, Bryan Ferry, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas II, Kaputt

Music

Back from Broadway, Stew and Heidi clear the air.

In 1997, The Negro Problem broke onto L.A.'s then-flourishing indie-pop scene with the brilliant debut Post-Minstrel Syndrome. Mixing flowery '60s psychedelia (complete with a muscular but respectful recasting of Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park") with lyrics that unblinkingly examined themes of race, class and gender, it was the first proof that singer-songwriter Stew was a talent to watch. 15 years later, after having won a deserved Tony for their Broadway musical Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi Rodewald revive the Negro Problem name after an eight-year break. Creative partners since 1999's Joys and Concerns and a couple for most of that time, Stew and Rodewald split while workshopping Passing Strange; Making It, largely based on a 2010 mixed-media song cycle, is sort of a concept album about their breakup and subsequent decision to keep working together. But with a title punning on the twin concepts of sex and success, Making It is at least as much about the creative process as it is romance; that said, the romantic songs, particularly the clear-eyed "Curse" and the warmhearted, empathetic closer "Treat Right," are among Stew's best. The other songs are a typically pungent lot: the winningly sarcastic "Black Men Ski" tweaks perceptions about African-Americans' cultural interests, while "Speed" continues Stew's ongoing fascination with the nexus between drug use and artistic pursuits. Featuring a 10-person lineup including a full horn section, the arrangements are fuller than The Negro Problem's previous records, as befits Stew and Rodewald's widened creative pursuits.

Tags: breakup albums, Broadway, concept albums, cult heroes, indie, reunion albums,
Inspirations: Odessey and Oracle, Good Old Boys, The Smile Sessions, Forever Changes
Connections: Passing Strange, I'm With Stupid, What We Had, Sly and the Family Stone
Recommendations: Seasons of My Soul, Poet and the Dreamer, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle , Please Step Back
Facts: Released: January 24, 2012 (Tight Natural Productions); Duration: 50:12

Culture

Weegee's still famous.

Contained within nearly every frame of a Weegee photo are the stark contradictions that defined his public persona and give his images such weight: mechanical Chiaroscuro lighting provided by the unforgiving flashbulbs, illuminated scenes of intense grief alongside ironic detachment. Weegee himself (AKA Arthur Fellig) was a rumpled, striving immigrant who developed his public persona meticulously, projecting an image equal parts hard-boiled and bleeding heart. The man who seemed to take morbid delight in creating ironic juxtapositions around dead bodies (A movie marquee advertised ''Joy of Living'' as a backdrop to a corpse) also captured the common put-upon working-class New York residents with deeply felt empathy. In Weegee's world, slain gangsters are kicked while they're down, while neighborhood children-huddled together on tenement fire escapes-are portrayed as dirty angels. 'Their First Murder' is a startling work that is an example of the photographer's masterful use of the reaction shot to convey the range of emotions, as compassion and callousness stand elbow to elbow in the same frame. His photos graced the pages of greasy tabloids and hung on gallery walls, at home in both settings, a testament to a picture-perfect rendering of emotional depth and aesthetic composition that transcends genre, epoch, and medium.

Tags: Lower East Side, New York, photography, photojournalism, social documentary, tabloids, the Photo League,
Inspirations: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott, Brassai, Jacob Riis
Connections: PM (Tabloid), The Museum of Modern Art, Harrison Marks, The Photo League
Recommendations: Boardwalk Empire, Photographer Milton Rogovin deemed dangerous by FBI, Believing Is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography), Noir
Facts: Date: January 20, 2012 (International Center of Photography, New York City)

Culture

PlastiCity

In The Graduate, a young Dustin Hoffman is given a one-word piece of advice about his future: "Plastics." Petroleum might be an apt revision, now that petroleum products are everywhere, from dentures and shag rugs to drinking cups and lipstick. If an artist paints what he sees, that makes petroleum unavoidable for David Kennedy Cutler: his Brooklyn studio is situated over the site of the Greenpoint Oil Spill, the largest industrial oil spill on record. So Cutler's milieu is plastics and polymers, and it has been for some time. His current show at Derek Eller is a continuation of his meditation on urbanism, surfaces and decay, combining photo reproductions and smashed digitalia, trapped in resin, like insects in amber. The featured works might be the rainbow monoliths, as anthropomorphic relics with clear references to oil, although the monochromatic works in the back are stern obelisks that imply a grander scale. The show suffers from lack of breathing room, unless the work is designed for confrontation, but given the artist's corporeal practice, it functions more like an opening than a private conversation with the artist, stripping the work of its deeper impact.

Tags: art, industrial waste, oil, petroleum products, photoreproduction, plastic, plastic arts, pvc, resin, sculpture, vinyl,
Inspirations: Donald Judd, Robert Smithson, Matthew Barney, Dale Chihuly
Connections: Roland Barthes, Ruby Sky Stiler, Sarah E. Wood, Butt Johnson
Recommendations: Giant, There Will Be Blood, Oil!, My Path to Heaven. Are You Blind Bastard God?
Facts: Date: January 13, 2012 (Derek Eller Gallery, New York City)

Music
News

The Critical Mod hits NYC.

The Modfather himself Paul Weller has just announced that he'll play an exclusive 2-date gig at New York City's Best Buy Theater on May 18th and 19th. His latest album Sonik Kicks is slated for release on March 27th, and from what we've heard of it, packs as much punchy pop as you can imagine. As opposed to 2010's super-eclectic Wake Up The Nation, which we'd described as "one daft album."

Pre-sale tickets for the NYC shows are available now on Ticketmaster (password is Sonik), but they'll officially go on sale February 3rd at noon here. In the meantime, you can tide yourselves over with one infectious track from the new album which we'd tweeted about a couple of months back called "Around the Lake".

Tags: British, guitar, Mod, new wave, pop, punk, rock, solo album, soulful, tour,
Related Entries: Wake Up The Nation, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, It Was Easy

News
Culture

Zooming in on Van Gogh.

As unfortunate as it is, Vincent Van Gogh's work now occupies a place right in the center of middlebrow aesthetics-- you wouldn't think twice of seeing "Starry Night' on a mousepad, would you? Well, the Philadelphia Museum of Art (with help from the National Gallery of Canada) is trying to look at Van Gogh in a new light with Van Gogh Up Close, from February 1 to May 6.

This new exhibit will explore a collection of work in which Van Gogh had experimented with focus and perspective by reducing the depth of field dramatically to make his color and brushwork even more dazzlingly vivid, intricate, and intense. The curators of this exhibit highlight that although this so-called "close-up" work is mostly overlooked, it is absolutely essential in understanding why and how Van Gogh's work was and is actually so unique.

Tags: 1880s, 2010s, Canada, exhibit, Impressionism, old masters, painting, Paris, Philadelphia, still life,
Related Entries: de Kooning: A Retrospective, Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914, George Inness

TV & Film
News

Stranger Than Eternal Life?

Revered filmmaker Jim Jarmusch will apparently step away from his muted oddball realism for his upcoming feature, Only Lovers Left Alive, a romantic vampire film. A recent Hollywood Reporter article notes that the movie will include seasoned Jarmusch players Tilda Swinton and John Hurt, as well as rising actors Mia Wasikowska and Tom Hiddleston.

No word yet on a release date, but given Jarmusch's excellent darker turns in Dead Man and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, this is one we'll be watching out for.

Tags: Auteurs, Character Actors, Fantasy, Horror, Independent Cinema, Romance, Vampires,
Related Entries: Jim Jarmusch, Mystery Train, Let Me In, Let the Right One In

Music

Polarizing artist's flawed but essentially likeable debut.

Forget, for a moment, that this isn't her name and those aren't her lips. Ever since a nice middle-class boy from small-town Minnesota transformed himself into beat-folk urban hero Bob Dylan, "authenticity" has been meaningless in pop music. If anything, the primary flaw of Born To Die -- and no question, it's deeply flawed -- is not that Lana Del Rey assumed a pose, it's that she doesn't stick to it. The woozy, dreamy This Mortal Coil-meets-The Shangri-Las vibe of the album's best tracks is hugely appealing. At its best, Born To Die does for Julee Cruise's cult-fave 1989 collaboration with David Lynch, Floating Into The Night, what contemporaries like Best Coast did for late '80s indiepop singles: it's a brash update of a sound that deserves an audience beyond its existing cult. The problem is that the good-to-great songs are surrounded by filler tracks that have nothing to do with Del Ray's self-proclaimed "gangster Nancy Sinatra" vibe. In particular, "Off to the Races" and "National Anthem" sound like leftovers from her old career as Gwen Stefani wannabe Lizzie Grant. Some of the other underwritten tracks, including "Diet Mountain Dew" and "This Is What Makes us Girls," at least get the '60s-soundtrack-influenced atmosphere right. Del Rey might have been better served by teasing out a couple more singles on the level of "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" while putting together a full album's worth of quality material. With the backlash already well underway, this half-baked debut may derail her entirely.

Tags: backlash, debut albums, female singers, hype, indie, pop,
Inspirations: David Lynch, Nancy Sinatra, The Shangri-Las, The Primitives
Connections: Best Coast, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, John Barry
Recommendations: Frankie Rose and the Outs, Floating Into The Night, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Facts: Released: January 31, 2012 (Interscope Records); Duration: 49:26

News
Culture

The future has arrived – in 3d!

Okay the jet packs aren't here yet, but a different kind of sci-fi future has arrived. Using technology that has seemingly been around for a while, Thingiverse, is a website that demonstrates how digital designs can be turned into physical objects. Now that's a great leap forward. As Elton John once said "all this science, I don't understand," but the upshot is that people are using shared files to "print" things like toothbrush-holders, iPod charging stations and even a violin!

Obviously this new salvo in the copyright wars has some people elated and others very concerned, since laws don't cover material objects deemed useful. Is a toilet paper-holder more useful than a violin? That's just one of many questions this new development will inspire.

Tags: copyright, objects, physibiles, Pirate Bay, printing, thingiverse,
Related Entries: RjDj, Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects, Critical Culture of 2011