CATS ARE FUZZY
WHAT A REMARKABLE YEAR FOR FILMS. ZOMG YOU GUYZ SERIOUSLY. i can expound on these later in full, but for now, this much i found to be wonderful in this sort of order, though they are all beloved to me for different reasons:
films:
1 the spirit (frank miller/will eisner)
2 synechdoche, ny (charlie kaufman)
3 the fall (shot 2006, tarsem)
4 milk (gus van sant)
5 religulous (larry charles, bill maher)
6 mister lonely (harmony korine)
7 encounters at the end of the world (werner herzog)
8 frost/nixon (ron howard)
9 my winnipeg (guy maddin)
10 burn after reading (coen brothers)
JAMS:
1 max tundra - parallax error beheads you (domino uk)
Max Tundra is a pseudonym for this UK guy who's been making electronic music since I lived in Burge at UI in early 2001. His first album, "Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be," was named for himself. He actually stole his best friend's girlfriend, who we now found him to have left on Parallax opener Gun Chimes: "I split up with my girl todayher inconsistency made me go astray. I felt left out when she took drugs, I hope that I can survive without her hugs." The lyrics get quite absurd, but remain cute and playful but nonetheless confessional, which is strange; his first album was straight up µ-ziq/aphex style electrtonica, the second began his foray into bizarro pop, then he went away for six years while remixing Missy Elliot now this?! seriously genius, people! he is reinventing pop music and it's not being done with a mac or a pc but old fashioned circuits, nothing of this century. incredible, boundary-smashing album that is being made out to be far less accessible than it should be by the press. my personal favorite is the yes-like record-closing "until we die" in which max sings: "have you ever seen the holy mountain on ice? thirty tons of frogs and blood cascading like dice. […] and the clean-up operation wasn't nice!"
I must insist you go check this album out immediately or at least his *vurp* MySpace page! He's quite savvy, but seriously wonderful and sincere. The new record has really struck a chord with me.
2 The Shivers - Beaks To The Moon
Keith and Jo of the Shivers in NYC have been making music for a while, Keith long before that, but Beaks To The Moon is their most fully realized work to date. The newly recorded version of "I Wish I Was Never Born" makes it clear that it's an anti-war song. However, I'll always miss his lyric he had to remove to reach his current status, where he sells his own music on iTunes, plays at NYC bars and tours by night but by day is actually selling real estate. He said, as I remember: "I hate my mother for ever bringing me into this world. She never even wanted me, she wished I'd been a girl. And goddamn my father, thinking I'm a punching bag. When the bastard was in town he'd nothing better to do then to call his son a fag and what's a boy to do but go and die or fight someone else's war? I wish I was never born. I wish I was never born. It's alright if you don't want to talk about it on these sort of days, but it's the only way things are ever going to change. And I don't expect you to be an expert on these Saturdays, you know I've never felt so estranged. Something's wrong, inside me, cold and old, yet I'm still so angry. Don't want love, don't want no kids - something's wrong - but I don't know what it is! And I know it's insane, you can't quantify pain, we all suffer, from Paris Hilton, to Kurt Cobain. So let's have a toast, to those with the most, and shed a tear for all the queers. What's a boy to do to go and die?"
*ahem*
http://www.theshiversnyc.com
Sunday Feb 8 Vaudeville Mews 6 PM $6 with Derek Lambert and hopefully the Twelve Canons
3 Blank Dogs - On Both Sides (Troubleman)
This came way out of left-field this year. First took the internet by storm, then by tape by way of Fuck It and vinyl from TMU and CD from yet another label even still I think, though what made Mr. Blank Dog soar so high this year is by making almost all his music available for free on blogspot! Most of my friends compare his tunes to the Cure. He's a mysterious one-man band, but doesn't sound onimous or particuarly like an outsider, but can be joyful, mysterious, rocking, and blissfully lyrical. However, I think i've about had my full. I am eager to hear his new album in 2009, but this album and the Diana 12" are about all I need.
http://blankdogs.blogspot.com/
4 Vampire Hands - Me And You Cherry Red (Modern-Radio)
Best band in the Twin Cities. From their incredible live show to their incredibly well produced recordings, the Sparks-like falsetto vocals and psychedelic tinge of the rock unit Vampire Hands makes for an entertaining listen that is pretty rewarding. "No Fun" was my champagne jam of the summer. Best. Midwest. Band. Right. Now. You. Guys. Seriously.
http://www.myspace.com/vampirehands
5 Spiritualized® - Songs In A&E
J. Spaceman went away for a bit the past few years due to pneumonia. Wasn't looking good. Eh, his last record sucked, anyhow, right?
POW! J. Spaceman returns with this incredible concept record. Screw the harmonies, though. From "Sweet Talk" to the especially chilling "Death Take Your Fiddle" - this record turned me onto Spiritualized. "You Lie You Cheat" was even performed on Letterman! Remember how this guy defined psychedelic music for the masses in Spacemen 3? Transparent Radiation wasn't exactly accessible, but this is! I can't believe how much I loved this record.
6 Woods Family Creeps - S/T
Jeremy Earl from Fuck It Tapes and Meneguar's main outfit doing their outdoorsy thing, but definitely not 'woodsy' - *shudder* - worst term of 2008 guys! STFU. seriously.
anyhow, my man jarvis plays on this record, too, and it's their best batch of tunes yet. incredibly delicate pop tunes. wiry, even, but framed with wonderful harmonies and field recordings, delicate guitars without being too 'jeweled antlery' - this is more informed by sentridoh, amps for christ and things of that nature but of course with these guys the lyrics are incredible. loved it.
http://www.fuckittapes.com/
7 weather is happening - young country (nail in the coffin)
dan davis, casey from rickyfitts and joe ross from swing by seven sounded like a great idea, and sounded even better when they got giant cabs and amps.
jesus, this record is just massive. just simply huge. dan screams, but just like how his brother roared, it may as well be another instrument in a layered wall of sound for this album. it's pretty phenomenal. "get the fuck out" is my main jam, but it's all really solid.
http://www.myspace.com/weatherishappening
8 fire on fire - the orchard (young god records)
didn't immediately blow me away like caleb, collen's other recordings did or like micah's live show or album did earlier this year, but this record is really incredible, and it's wonderful to hear chriss sutherland sing again outside of his quite good solo album released on digitalis this year. anyhow, i just don't want it to become one big ol mess'o'maine to me! this album hasn't, but i've pulled the lyric sheet out and read along. it's chicken soup for the soul, and colleen kinsella's artwork is a huge part of that picture, and the closing "haystack" which is currently singing me off to sleep. what a band.
http://www.younggodrecords.com/
9 scott tuma - not for nobody (digitalis)
scott tuma was a founding member of souled american, earnest american folk outfit that wooden wand/james toth certainly worshiped at the altar of, and he was really the 'vanishing voice' to their 'wooden wand' i suppose you would say. it's not a great comparison, but he only sings once here, and though it's repeated in a sort of epilogue, it's a piercing, greyed-out whisper of a voice. it sounds like tiny icicles in an otherwise perfect, serene soundscape built for winter, in tight compact and dry, cold spaces where only sound can warm you!
http://www.myspace.com/scotttuma
10 alastair galbraith - orb (nextbestway)
i will always remember alastair for "stone" - the closing song on my favorite album of his. it's an incredibly lyrical track, one which is unlike his recent work, until now! orb is full of song fragments, which alastair is known for, but in this case he starts with a fuller version of something he used for his collaboration with alex neilson and richard youngs, which is hymn-like, really, as his music should be.
i want to see alastair perform in a church, because it seems to be the only suitable venue for someone who bares their soul naked for all to see with nothing but a guitar, some pedals and a frailed, aging voice that couldn't sound more human. or scottish, is it? i don't even know, but this is great ambient, creative and not entirely too noisy music. y'all iowa city noise-heads need to take notes on this one.
also loved:
windy & carl - songs for the broken hearted
grouper - songs for the broken hearted
gudrun gut - i put a record on
larkin grimm - parplar
secret abuse - new lp
pocahaunted - (some)things
no things - live in grinnell
alan and richard bishop live in iowa city
w-s burn and weird weeds live in iowa
starting to book shows again in ames and 2009 gonna do it in des moines!
also loved justin timberlake - mr. timberlake, kanye west - 808s and heartbreak, cassie - everything, the rub - brooklyn radio podcasts, dj eleven - i heart soul, ayres - drugs vol 1 and 2, justice - DANCE, santogold - the whole LP, seriously hot summer record.
probably a lot more, but that's what I know.
films:
1 the spirit (frank miller/will eisner)
2 synechdoche, ny (charlie kaufman)
3 the fall (shot 2006, tarsem)
4 milk (gus van sant)
5 religulous (larry charles, bill maher)
6 mister lonely (harmony korine)
7 encounters at the end of the world (werner herzog)
8 frost/nixon (ron howard)
9 my winnipeg (guy maddin)
10 burn after reading (coen brothers)
JAMS:
1 max tundra - parallax error beheads you (domino uk)
Max Tundra is a pseudonym for this UK guy who's been making electronic music since I lived in Burge at UI in early 2001. His first album, "Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be," was named for himself. He actually stole his best friend's girlfriend, who we now found him to have left on Parallax opener Gun Chimes: "I split up with my girl todayher inconsistency made me go astray. I felt left out when she took drugs, I hope that I can survive without her hugs." The lyrics get quite absurd, but remain cute and playful but nonetheless confessional, which is strange; his first album was straight up µ-ziq/aphex style electrtonica, the second began his foray into bizarro pop, then he went away for six years while remixing Missy Elliot now this?! seriously genius, people! he is reinventing pop music and it's not being done with a mac or a pc but old fashioned circuits, nothing of this century. incredible, boundary-smashing album that is being made out to be far less accessible than it should be by the press. my personal favorite is the yes-like record-closing "until we die" in which max sings: "have you ever seen the holy mountain on ice? thirty tons of frogs and blood cascading like dice. […] and the clean-up operation wasn't nice!"
I must insist you go check this album out immediately or at least his *vurp* MySpace page! He's quite savvy, but seriously wonderful and sincere. The new record has really struck a chord with me.
2 The Shivers - Beaks To The Moon
Keith and Jo of the Shivers in NYC have been making music for a while, Keith long before that, but Beaks To The Moon is their most fully realized work to date. The newly recorded version of "I Wish I Was Never Born" makes it clear that it's an anti-war song. However, I'll always miss his lyric he had to remove to reach his current status, where he sells his own music on iTunes, plays at NYC bars and tours by night but by day is actually selling real estate. He said, as I remember: "I hate my mother for ever bringing me into this world. She never even wanted me, she wished I'd been a girl. And goddamn my father, thinking I'm a punching bag. When the bastard was in town he'd nothing better to do then to call his son a fag and what's a boy to do but go and die or fight someone else's war? I wish I was never born. I wish I was never born. It's alright if you don't want to talk about it on these sort of days, but it's the only way things are ever going to change. And I don't expect you to be an expert on these Saturdays, you know I've never felt so estranged. Something's wrong, inside me, cold and old, yet I'm still so angry. Don't want love, don't want no kids - something's wrong - but I don't know what it is! And I know it's insane, you can't quantify pain, we all suffer, from Paris Hilton, to Kurt Cobain. So let's have a toast, to those with the most, and shed a tear for all the queers. What's a boy to do to go and die?"
*ahem*
http://www.theshiversnyc.com
Sunday Feb 8 Vaudeville Mews 6 PM $6 with Derek Lambert and hopefully the Twelve Canons
3 Blank Dogs - On Both Sides (Troubleman)
This came way out of left-field this year. First took the internet by storm, then by tape by way of Fuck It and vinyl from TMU and CD from yet another label even still I think, though what made Mr. Blank Dog soar so high this year is by making almost all his music available for free on blogspot! Most of my friends compare his tunes to the Cure. He's a mysterious one-man band, but doesn't sound onimous or particuarly like an outsider, but can be joyful, mysterious, rocking, and blissfully lyrical. However, I think i've about had my full. I am eager to hear his new album in 2009, but this album and the Diana 12" are about all I need.
http://blankdogs.blogspot.com/
4 Vampire Hands - Me And You Cherry Red (Modern-Radio)
Best band in the Twin Cities. From their incredible live show to their incredibly well produced recordings, the Sparks-like falsetto vocals and psychedelic tinge of the rock unit Vampire Hands makes for an entertaining listen that is pretty rewarding. "No Fun" was my champagne jam of the summer. Best. Midwest. Band. Right. Now. You. Guys. Seriously.
http://www.myspace.com/vampirehands
5 Spiritualized® - Songs In A&E
J. Spaceman went away for a bit the past few years due to pneumonia. Wasn't looking good. Eh, his last record sucked, anyhow, right?
POW! J. Spaceman returns with this incredible concept record. Screw the harmonies, though. From "Sweet Talk" to the especially chilling "Death Take Your Fiddle" - this record turned me onto Spiritualized. "You Lie You Cheat" was even performed on Letterman! Remember how this guy defined psychedelic music for the masses in Spacemen 3? Transparent Radiation wasn't exactly accessible, but this is! I can't believe how much I loved this record.
6 Woods Family Creeps - S/T
Jeremy Earl from Fuck It Tapes and Meneguar's main outfit doing their outdoorsy thing, but definitely not 'woodsy' - *shudder* - worst term of 2008 guys! STFU. seriously.
anyhow, my man jarvis plays on this record, too, and it's their best batch of tunes yet. incredibly delicate pop tunes. wiry, even, but framed with wonderful harmonies and field recordings, delicate guitars without being too 'jeweled antlery' - this is more informed by sentridoh, amps for christ and things of that nature but of course with these guys the lyrics are incredible. loved it.
http://www.fuckittapes.com/
7 weather is happening - young country (nail in the coffin)
dan davis, casey from rickyfitts and joe ross from swing by seven sounded like a great idea, and sounded even better when they got giant cabs and amps.
jesus, this record is just massive. just simply huge. dan screams, but just like how his brother roared, it may as well be another instrument in a layered wall of sound for this album. it's pretty phenomenal. "get the fuck out" is my main jam, but it's all really solid.
http://www.myspace.com/weatherishappening
8 fire on fire - the orchard (young god records)
didn't immediately blow me away like caleb, collen's other recordings did or like micah's live show or album did earlier this year, but this record is really incredible, and it's wonderful to hear chriss sutherland sing again outside of his quite good solo album released on digitalis this year. anyhow, i just don't want it to become one big ol mess'o'maine to me! this album hasn't, but i've pulled the lyric sheet out and read along. it's chicken soup for the soul, and colleen kinsella's artwork is a huge part of that picture, and the closing "haystack" which is currently singing me off to sleep. what a band.
http://www.younggodrecords.com/
9 scott tuma - not for nobody (digitalis)
scott tuma was a founding member of souled american, earnest american folk outfit that wooden wand/james toth certainly worshiped at the altar of, and he was really the 'vanishing voice' to their 'wooden wand' i suppose you would say. it's not a great comparison, but he only sings once here, and though it's repeated in a sort of epilogue, it's a piercing, greyed-out whisper of a voice. it sounds like tiny icicles in an otherwise perfect, serene soundscape built for winter, in tight compact and dry, cold spaces where only sound can warm you!
http://www.myspace.com/scotttuma
10 alastair galbraith - orb (nextbestway)
i will always remember alastair for "stone" - the closing song on my favorite album of his. it's an incredibly lyrical track, one which is unlike his recent work, until now! orb is full of song fragments, which alastair is known for, but in this case he starts with a fuller version of something he used for his collaboration with alex neilson and richard youngs, which is hymn-like, really, as his music should be.
i want to see alastair perform in a church, because it seems to be the only suitable venue for someone who bares their soul naked for all to see with nothing but a guitar, some pedals and a frailed, aging voice that couldn't sound more human. or scottish, is it? i don't even know, but this is great ambient, creative and not entirely too noisy music. y'all iowa city noise-heads need to take notes on this one.
also loved:
windy & carl - songs for the broken hearted
grouper - songs for the broken hearted
gudrun gut - i put a record on
larkin grimm - parplar
secret abuse - new lp
pocahaunted - (some)things
no things - live in grinnell
alan and richard bishop live in iowa city
w-s burn and weird weeds live in iowa
starting to book shows again in ames and 2009 gonna do it in des moines!
also loved justin timberlake - mr. timberlake, kanye west - 808s and heartbreak, cassie - everything, the rub - brooklyn radio podcasts, dj eleven - i heart soul, ayres - drugs vol 1 and 2, justice - DANCE, santogold - the whole LP, seriously hot summer record.
probably a lot more, but that's what I know.