bitter defeat

Jane's Addiction Throw a Free "3-D" Show in New York City

2011-07-26T20:25:00.002-04:00

Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro perform "Jane Says"

Jane's Addiction put on a free show at New York City's Terminal 5, a "3-D user-generated" concert that will show up on YouTube on August 4. I wrote a recap for Billboard.com; the setlist from the show is already online; and as always, you can see the full photo gallery over at Flickr.

Dave Navarro shreds

Perry Farrell drinks

Dave and Perry goof around

Kanye West Performs at The Museum of Modern Art

2011-05-10T20:20:00.000-04:00

Kanye West performs at New York City's Museum of Modern Art, May 10, 2001

Kanye West performed a 45-minute set of hits (featuring a cameo from Jay-Z) at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City last night, during the museum's annual Party in the Garden benefit. The New York Times Arts Beat blog has a full recap, and you can see the rest of the images at my Flickr set.

Kanye West performs at New York City's Museum of Modern Art, May 10, 2001

Hot Chip's Al Doyle

2011-04-04T11:21:00.003-04:00

Coachella Hot Chip, a photo by Jason Persse on Flickr.

Just posting a pic of Al Doyle as a tribute to his amazing work during the past week of LCD Soundsystem farewell shows. Of course, this would be a more fitting depiction if Al were shirtless.

SXSW 2011 in Photos

2011-03-29T16:36:00.000-04:00

Dax Riggs at Emo's, SXSW, March 16, 2011

South by Southwest 2011 was fun, hot, and extraordinarily tiring. You can read about it somewhere else, but here's a bunch of pretty pictures. To see the full batch, check out the Flickr set.

John Taylor of Duran Duran at Subb's Bar-B-Q, SXSW, March 16, 2011

Duran Duran at Subb's Bar-B-Q, SXSW, March 16, 2011

Keith Morris of OFF! at the East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 17, 2011

OFF! at the East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 17, 2011

Foster the People at Stubb's Bar-B-Q, SXSW, March 17, 2011

Screaming Females at Buffalo Billiards, SXSW, March 18, 2011

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Buffalo Billiards, SXSW, March 18, 2011

A Place to Bury Strangers, Buffalo Billiards, SXSW, March 18, 2011

Screaming Females at East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 19, 2011

Screaming Females and Ted Leo at East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 19, 2011

OFF! at East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 19, 2011

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) at East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 19, 2011

Thee Oh Sees at East Side Drive-In, SXSW, March 19, 2011

2010 in Concert Photos

2010-12-27T23:22:00.000-05:00

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells, Coachella, April 2010 (full set)

Thomas Mars of Phoenix, Coachella, April 2010 (full set)

Romy Madley Smith and Oliver Sim of The xx, Coachella, April 2010 (full set)

Matt Bellamy of Muse, Coachella, April 2010 (full set)

Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav at the Northside Festival, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, June 2010 (full set)

Britta Phillips performs with Galaxie 500, Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan, August 2010 (full set)

Doug E Fresh warms up for Gucci Mane, Williamsburg Waterfront, August 2010 (full set)

The Scientists at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, Kutsher's Resort, Monticello, NY, September 2010 (full set)

Matt Pike of Sleep at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, Kutsher's Resort, Monticello, NY, September 2010 (full set)

Damian Abraham of Fucked Up at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, Kutsher's Resort, Monticello, NY, September 2010 (full set)

Iggy Pop at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, Kutsher's Resort, Monticello, NY, September 2010 (full set)

Sunn0))) & Boris perform 'Altar' at All Tomorrow's Parties New York, Kutsher's Resort, Monticello, NY, September 2010 (full set)

Gary Numan at the 2010 CMJ Festival, Best Buy Theater, New York, October 2010 (full set)

Tamaryn at the Mexican Summer Records showcase, 2010 CMJ Festival, Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, October 2010 (full set)

Paul Banks of Interpol at the United Palace Theatre, New York, November 2010 (full set)

Polvo and Les Savy Fav at Northside Festival, Newtown Barge Park, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, June 27, 2010

2010-06-28T23:19:00.002-04:00

Another Northside Festival has come and gone. Polvo served up a hot plate of start-stop-quiet-loud rock with tons of complicated chord changes. It was a late-nineties indie explosion!

Several cans of Heineken later, the sun fell behind Manhattan and Les Savy Fav took the stage. Tim Harrington arrived wearing some kind of Yeti costume, which was quickly abandoned in favor of the world's tiniest pair of nevernude jean shorts. Several forays into the audience and about six gallons worth of sweat ensued.

Check out the full image set over a Flickr.

Band of Horses with Grizzly Bear and Karen Elson, Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn, June 20, 2010

2010-06-24T13:54:00.005-04:00

Band of Horses headlined a very not-free show at the Williamsburg Waterfront (which will ostensibly be the home of another slate of free summer shows at some point in the near future). You can check out the schedule of remaining paid shows over at (ironically enough) FREEwilliamsburg. The state police were out en masse to enforce the downright byzantine alcohol and crowd-control rules. It was all a bit like running through a maze, but your only reward at the end was a tiny cup of $6 beer.

Karen Elson (aka Mrs. Jack White) and her band—all dressed in matching peach-colored outfits—started the show with a nice set of easy, country-fried rock, which ended with a cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch."

Grizzly Bear followed up, looking noticeably more casual than usual, right down to Ed Droste's awesome board shorts. Their set proved once again that the quartet is so solid live it's almost boring. Almost.

Band of Horses took the stage just after sunset, running through a set that was mercifully light on their new material. Despite being on the tail-end of a three-month whirlwind tour, Ben Bridwell was his usual affable self, and the music sounded just fine on a hot Summer's Eve.

As always, you can check out the full set of images over at the Flickr page. And there's a more detailed recap (with some video) over at Brooklyn Vegan.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Play New York's Museum of Modern Art, May 25, 2010

2010-05-26T15:55:00.005-04:00

Karen O and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs at MoMA Two thirds of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played an acoustic set at my place of work last night as part of The Museum of Modern Art's annual Party in the Garden benefit. Along with a three-piece string section, Imaad Wasif played guitar and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Russell Simins took over for usual YYYs drummer Brian Chase, who, according to Karen O, was "in Australia playing jazz drums."

The band was introduced by a noticeably tipsy Hugh Jackman, who I'm guessing just happened to be the biggest celebrity in attendance:

Hugh Jackman and MoMA Director of Special Events Nicholas Apps introduce Yeah Yeah Yeahs
A picture of the full setlist is available over at Brooklyn Vegan. More pictures after the jump, and there are plenty more in the full Flickr set).

LISTMANIA 2009: The Top 15 Songs of 2009

2009-12-28T17:12:00.001-05:00

15. Daniel - Bat for Lashes
The talent for moody, arresting singles that gave the world "What's a Girl to Do" in 2008 clearly hasn't abandoned Natasha Khan. She can still work spooky magic with a drum machine.

14. Young Hearts Spark Fire - Japandroids
A bittersweet song about drinking your way through the anxieties of growing older. "I don't wanna worry about dying. I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls."

13. Standing on the Shore - Empire of the Sun
Riding the crest of Australia's current dance-pop wave (which also includes Midnight Juggernauts and Cut Copy), Empire of the Sun wields a sleek and breezy sound that seems custom-made for high-end marketing campaigns. (The band's "We Are the People" already soundtracks a recent Vizio ad.) But being slick isn't always a bad thing. Pour yourself a tequila sunrise and let the pre-party begin.

12. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray
Not to be confused with the 2008 Pussycat Dolls song of the same name, Fever Ray's first single is a slow-burn epic of mind-boggling Euro-art. The video, in which a refugee from the "Love Is a Battlefield" video makes a swimming pool boil, is something to behold.

11. Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
In 2009 YYYs made the big-room synth album no one knew they wanted to make, and "Zero" is the floor-filling A single, replete with prodigious use of the phrase "shake it."

10. My Girls - Animal Collective
"My Girls" is a perfect distillation of what I DO like about Animal Collective (a band with whom I have a very hit/miss relationship): heavy use of echo and lysergic processing effects, droll lyrics, and a rock-solid melody.

9. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z w/ Alicia Keys
Honestly, when Jigga calls himself "the new Sinatra," it's hard to argue with him.

8. French Navy - Camera Obscura
Sure, all their songs are about reading, moping, or wearing sweaters, but Camera Obscura's grasp of 1960s chamber pop is rivaled only by The Clientele. Horns, strings, and a classic wall-of-sound echo...enough said.

7. Sea within a Sea - The Horrors
The Horrors lay off on the Goth histrionics in favor of a Motorik beat snagged fresh from the first two Neu! albums, and the result is a sprawling epic that soars miles above the graveyard.

6. 21 Guns - Green Day
Despite its sub-Nickelback video and prominent inclusion in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, it's okay to like this song. It's got the marching beat, tight harmonies, and two-chord riffage that marks the best latter-day Green Day tracks. It also helps if you're 14 years old.

5. Lisztomania - Phoenix
An ultra-catchy French dance-pop confection named after a Ken Russel film about Franz Liszt and starring Roger Daltrey? Sure, why not?

4. You Need Satan More than He Needs You - Future of the Left
The song title pretty much sums it up.

3. Help I'm Alive - Metric
I never cease to be amazed my Metric's uncanny ability to meld mid-tempo guitar rock and 4/4 dance music. It's one of those combos that seems so damn offensive on the face of it, but they make it so much more than just respectable.

2. Cornerstone - Arctic Monkeys
A sentimental favorite if ever there was one. The thought of Josh Homme producing the sessions for this romantic tale of love lost and found never fails to bring a smile to my face. Alex Turner gives the song his vocal best, and he never plays the dramatic lyrics for a wink.

1. While You Wait for the Others - Grizzly Bear

Lollapalooza, Grant Park, Chicago, August 7-9, 2009

2009-08-12T23:24:00.011-04:00

Snoop Dogg
After three days of pouring rain, scorching heat, immense crowds, late-night after parties, and endless drinking, some exhaustion is to be expected. Another Lollapalooza has come and gone (followed by an extra two days in Chicago), and I must say I'm simultaneously saddened and relieved. Some of our festival coverage (along with images by yours truly) can also be found over at Spinner.com, including my Crystal Castles coverage, and Kim's coverage of Ida Maria and the Raveonettes.

Below are some choice shots, in no real order. (More images are up in the [still-in-process] Flickr gallery.)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Vampire Weekend

Of Montreal

Depeche Mode

Crystal Castles

All Points West Music Festival, Liberty Park, New Jersey, July 31-August 1, 2009

2009-08-03T15:58:00.012-04:00

To say that these photos represent the All Points West experience would be...misleading. That's because the All Points West experience involved being ankle-deep in mud. To be honest, the rain was so heavy on Friday that we left after seeing roughly 1.5 sets. Saturday was beautiful, although the festival grounds had been turned into brown soup. And Sunday? Well we skipped Sunday in order to see No Age, Dan Deacon, and Deerhunter play the Williamsburg Waterfront. That show, unfortunately, was canceled due to—you guessed it—rain. Luckily, they played an impromptu late-night set at a local bowling alley. I declined to lug my camera to that show, however, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

A shot also shows up in Kim's Arctic Monkeys recap at Spinner.com, and there are a few of mine in the Tour Tracker concert photo roundup as well. SEE THE FULL SET AT FLICKR

The National

Kool Keith

Arctic Monkeys

Gogol Bordello

Neko Case

My Bloody Valentine

Jarvis Cocker at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, July 30, 2009

2009-07-31T12:08:00.005-04:00

I was standing WAY too far from the stage for my poor little prime lens to do any good, but I still stole a few decent shots of a terrific show. As always, Jarvis was witty, theatrical, and crazy as a shithouse rat. (A "full" set is available over on Flickr.)

Siren Festival, July 18, 2009, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

2009-07-20T18:52:00.010-04:00

Yet another sunny, rockin' Village Voice Siren Festival has come and gone. This one was something special, though, as the fest is basically on borrowed time these days. In fact, last year was supposed to be the last year, but the economy and various city council disputes have slowed Coney Island development plans.

And it's a damn good thing, too. 2009 standouts were Future of the Left, Thee Oh Sees, and Japandroids, although there wasn't a disappointment in the lot this time around. And be sure to catch Kim's pre-show interview with the Raveonettes (featuring a photo by yours truly) over at Spinner.com.

Anyway, here's some pics (LOTS more images over at the Flickr page)...

Micachu and the Shapes

Japandroids

Thee Oh Sees

A Place to Bury Strangers

Future of the Left

The Raveonettes

Built to Spill

Art Brut at Mercury Lounge, June 4, 2009:"DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake"

2009-06-05T13:40:00.002-04:00

Art Brut put on yet another fantastic show at Mercury Lounge last night (the third in a five-night residency).

Get the full skinny over at Kirby Krackle.

The Best Live Shows of 2008Listmania Late Edition

2009-01-09T12:20:00.033-05:00

2008 is already a distant memory, but I had so many concert shots from this year lying around it seemed a shame not to do a quick roundup of the year in live music. Since it's hard to rank this kind of thing (especially when music festivals are involved), this year I'm sticking with chronology. Plus it's a great way to chart the gradual development of my photography skills (by which I mean "incremental camera upgrades"). [Also, check out some highlights from the year in outdoor concerts.]

The Best Live Shows of 2008

1. Dead Meadow
Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan, Jan. 16

[flickr set]

2. Vampire Weekend
Bowery Ballroom, Jan. 30

[flickr set]

3. Nada Surf
Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Feb. 7
Bowery Ballroom, Feb. 8

4. The Magnetic Fields
Town Hall, Manhattan, Feb. 23

5. No Age
Bowery Ballroom, May 6

6. Blood on the Wall
Mercury Lounge, Manhattan, May 17

7. Sasquatch Festival
Gorge Amphitheater, George, Washington, May 24–27
Highlights: M.I.A., The Hives, Fleet Foxes, The Flaming Lips UFO Show, Tegan & Sara, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

[flickr set]

8. The Breeders
Webster Hall, Manhattan, Jun. 10

[flickr set]

9. The Futureheads
Bowery Ballroom, June 17

10. The Vaselines
Southpaw, Brooklyn, Jul. 10

11. No Age
South Street Seaport, Manhattan, Jul. 11

12. Todd P Mid-Summer Outdoor Party
The Yard, Brooklyn, Jul. 12
Highlights: Crystal Antlers, Ponytail, Titus Andronicus

13. The Breeders/Matt & Kim
McCarren Pool, Brooklyn, Jul. 13

[flickr set]

14. Siren Festival 2008
Coney Island, Brooklyn, Jul. 19
Highlights: The Helio Sequence, Islands, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

15. Supergrass
Webster Hall, Jul. 30

16. King Khan & The Shrines, Black Lips, and Deerhunter
McCarren Pool, Aug. 3

17. All Points West Festival
Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, Aug. 8 & 9
Highlights: Radiohead, Metric, The Black Angels, CSS

18. The Walkmen
Bowery Ballroom, Aug. 19

19. Yo La Tengo w/ Titus Andronicus
McCarren Pool, Aug. 23

20. Deerhunter
Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, Sep. 9

[flickr set]

21. All Tomorrow's Parties NY
Kutsher's Country Club, Monticello, New York, Sep. 19–21
Highlights: Built to Spill, Shellac, Polvo, Les Savy Fav, Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine

[flickr set]

22. Jay Reatard
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Oct. 23
Bowery Ballroom, Oct. 24

23. Crystal Antlers
Bowery Ballroom, Oct. 25

24. Deerhunter
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Nov. 7

25. School of Seven Bells
Mercury Lounge, Dec. 15

[flickr set]

And, finally, the WORST live shows of the year were... The Dandy Warhols @ Terminal 5, Sep. 17; Pinback @ Bowery Ballroom, Sep. 28; and Longwave @ Bowery Ballroom, Oct. 24.

LISTMANIA!The 20 Best Albums of 2008

2008-12-31T13:17:00.037-05:00

(If you haven't already, be sure to check out the runners up and the best songs of 2008.)

2008 is over. Shall we raise some hosannahs to the sky? In all fairness, I shouldn't add to the chorus of bellyaching; economic collapse aside, I still have a job and my loved ones all seem to have their health. Besides, 2008 ended up being a pretty good year for music. The top end was especially loaded, with no less than three albums with legitimate claims to the top spot. Still, if the Highlander movies have taught us anything (and they have taught us so much), it's that there can be only one.

We've also learned that, just as 2006 was a great year to have "wolf" somewhere in your band's name (Wolfmother, Wolf Parade, etc.), 2008 was the year of "crystal," with fantastic albums from Crystal Castles, Crystal Antlers, and Crystal Stilts. And we've discovered that it was a terrific year to be Bradford Cox, who released not one, not two, but three albums (technically) that made the *bitter defeat* top 20. That's fairly impressive. Finally, we've learned that young, noisy bands playing in warehouses and backyards are still the most exciting game in town, from "elder statesmen" like Jay Reatard, Fucked Up, and No Age to up-and-comers like Ponytail, Vivian Girls, Crystal Antlers, Pissed Jeans, and Abe Vigoda.

We may be hanging on by a string, but thanks to all these young punks (and a certain President Elect), the future looks pretty bright.

The 20 Best Albums of 2008

20. Dr. Dog – Fate
Though Dr. Dog is frequently compared to The Band, it's usually in a negative context, as in "the Band lite." This was especially true of Fate, which was largely dismissed by critics as sounding too much like other stuff, namely The Beatles, The Zombies, The Beach Boys, etc. Here's the problem: this album doesn't actually sound like any of those bands. Sure, there are references aplenty to ragtime, hillbilly, music hall, Philly soul, 60s pop, and the like, but the resulting mishmash of old-timey sounds and 1960s studio effects is more evocative than derivative. So is Dr. Dog lost in the past? Most definitely. But that does nothing to diminish the quality of these trips down memory lane.

19. Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual
Molly Siegel, the diminutive lead singer of Baltimore noise-poppers Ponytail, uses her voice as an instrument, a weapon, and a rallying cry. She's yelping and OOOOH-ing as often (more, perhaps) as she is singing, and her vocal antics would be perfectly at home on the playground. Firmly in the tradition of Deerhoof (and with a sense of fun reminiscent of X-Ray Spex), Ponytail remind us that sophisticated music can always be fast and fun.

18. The Black Keys – Attack & Release
A drums-and-guitar duo chugging out fuzzy blues riffs, with production by...Danger Mouse? Strangely enough, it's a perfect fit. That extra little dash of R&B is the perfect garnish for this steaming plate of Zep.

17. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
I'll admit this is a 100% emotional pick, based on pure lighter-in-the-air enjoyment. Not as effortlessly charming as 2003's Pig Lib and more sedate than 2005's Face the Truth, Real Emotional Trash relies heavily on a single element of the Malkmus repertoire: sweet, sweet jams, my man. This is both a criticism (you won't see the album on many best-of lists) and glowing praise (Malkmus remains the king of indie groove). There isn't much new here, but it's hard to argue with stunning competence.

16. The Last Shadow Puppets – Age of the Understatement
When Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner announced a side project, it's hard to imagine anyone being prepared for Age of the Understatement. Heavily influenced by the orchestral pop of Lee Hazelwood and Scott Walker, The Last Shadow Puppets employ strings, horns, and lush arrangements that call to mind Sergio Leone and 1960s spy-movie soundtracks. It's hard to believe Turner is only 22. Maybe his dad helped him with his homework.

15. Crystal Stilts – Alight of Night
If Phil Spector produced an album by a depressed ghost, it would sound exactly like Crystal Stilts. Singer Brad Hargett's moody groan resembles Ian Curtis on horse tranquilizers, while the band's funereal echo-chamber stomp recall such Spector acolytes as The Raveonettes and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Haunting, dreamy, and minimal to the core, Crystal Stilts is a York Peppermint Pattie for your ears.

14. No Age – Nouns
On Nouns, No Age left behind some of their more hardcore leanings in favor of soundscapes and noise collages, but the result is far from alienating. Like Deerhunter, they tear out of the gate just often enough to keep things lively. In other words, "maturity" doesn't have to be all bad.

13. Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
"Prolific" would be something of an understatement. Between his work with Deerhunter and his own bedroom recordings as Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox released enough music in 2008 to make Robert Pollard look like J.D. Salinger. Sound collages, ambient interludes, acoustic strumming...you name it, it's in here. Cox's preoccupation with childhood and nostalgia finds perfect expression on an album of intimate, innocent moments.

12. The Dodos – Visiter
Two dudes shouldn't be able to make an album this spacious. Beautiful acoustic guitars, polyrythic drums, and enough primal yelping for three Big Country albums combine to make Visiter (their second full-length) one of the most exciting releases of the year.

11. Jay Reatard - Singles 06–07; Matador Singles 08
By virtue of having been released in one collection this year (and my not having heard most of them before), Jay Reatard's earlier singles count. And even if they hadn't, his slate of 2008 singles on Matador more than stand on their own. Manic, propulsive, and punk as fuck, Reatard's insanely catchy pop threatens to single-handedly destroy this country's hunger for antidepressants.

10. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe would be so damn proud of Vivian Girls, whose music is "less is more" incarnate. Like many of their contemporaries, the Brooklyn trio has embraced the Phil Spector echo-chamber aesthetic, but their seeming amateurism sets them apart in all the right ways. (Imagine the Shaggs, but with actual talent.) Brandishing simple two-part harmonies, three chords, and a kit with no kick drum, Vivian Girls make simplicity the ultimate virtue.

9. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Decry their preppy demeanor and Ivy League pedigree all you want, but there's no denying Vampire Weekend's talent. No one had a problem with over-educated honkies mining reggae, calypso, and African polyrythms when they were called Talking Heads (or the Feelies, for that matter), so save the hipster-bashing for the Stereogum comments section. Literate, incisive lyrics, melodies so catchy the CDC is on alert...in the end, what is there to discuss?

8. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Saturdays = Youth is a stunningly faithful rendition of the synth-driven atmospherics that characterized much of the 1980s' best film music—from Wang Chung's score for To Live and Die in L.A. to the Dream Academy's cover of "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off to the instrumental version of New Order's "Thieves Like Us" that propelled Pretty in Pink's iconic prom-dress-making scene. If nothing else, Anthony Gonzalez's album-length paean to smoking cigarettes in the graveyard listening to Cocteau Twins is the year's most compelling act of homage.

7. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
The best Grizzly Bear album of the year, even though only 33% of Grizzly Bear recorded it.

6. Crystal Antlers – Crystal Antlers EP
Crystal Antlers' debut is so volcanic, so fucking go for the throat, that a mere six song EP left most of this year's full-lengths shaking in the dust. Johnny Bell's throat-searing vocals rip through an acid-blurred landscape of apocalyptic art-rock. Plus their drummer goes shirtless and their percussionist is named Sexual Chocolate.

5. Portishead – Third
Trip-hop? What the hell is trip-hop?? After an absence of almost a decade, Portishead return with an album so densely atmospheric, so utterly heartbreaking, that it requires an entirely new genre. Is bleak-hop taken? Also, it is terrifying.

4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Shaggy beards, flannel, geetars, and real purty singin' make Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut the finest bit of rootsy Americana this side of Harry Smith. Bitter Defeat #1 song "White Winter Hymnal" is just the tip of the smoky mountain; every song transports listeners to a simpler time, when everyone smelled like B.O. and woodfires.

3. Pete & the Pirates – Little Death
It all started one night on New York Noise, the city's best (and only) cable-access indie-rock video show. The video for "Come on Feet," two and a half minutes of pure, unadulterated pop genius, kick-started my love affair with a little band from Reading, England, who have yet to release their debut album in the States. Pitchfork wrote an excellent 8/10 review, while the semi-pro assholes over at Vice magazine gave it a 0 out of 10, so it's safe to say that what little critical reception Little Death has gotten has been, well, mixed. Full disclosure: Up until 48 hours ago, this was my pick for #1. In fact, it is far and away my favorite album of 2008. But I decided at the last minute to vote with my head rather than my heart. (This is the "critical" equivalent of thinking with your brain rather than your penis.) Why, you might ask yourself, would a non-professional who's not getting paid for this not just choose his favorite album as the Best of the Year? Well, I guess it's because I'm trying to tell you, the readers (all three of you), what the BEST album was. Not objectively the best, but the best according to an admittedly loose set of aesthetic criteria that prevent me from recommending an admittedly light, catchy album as the year's finest artistic achievement. I mean, The Dark Night was my favorite movie of the year, but I would tell anyone who asked that Rachel Getting Married was (again, in my opinion) the best movie of 2008. In other words, I'm playing critic here...which is a somewhat nauseating affectation on a personal website with three readers. But what the hell. Suffice it to say that, "critical" defensiveness aside, Little Death is a fantastic album, a front-to-back pop gem full of infectious hooks and the kind of charming earnestness that only young bands can pull off (see Exhibit A, below). I love this album unreservedly, and I desperately hope Pete & the Pirates come to New York at some point in 2009.

2. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
You know you've got something special on your hands when your "bonus disc" could stand alone as one of the best albums of the year. The band's affection for motorik drums, shoegazing scrawl, and ambient textures hasn't dimmed much, but Microcastle also hews more closely than last year's Cryptograms to what could be termed the pop blueprint, and it's all the better for it. For a band as willfully experimental (not to mention prolific) as Deerhunter, "songs" can be the ultimate crucible—one man's "bad" ambient sound collage is another man's Music for Airports, but a bad song is marginally easier to identify, at least in terms of musicianship, lyrical content, melody, and the like. So it's nice to see that the band's move toward "accessibility" is also a massive step forward.

1. The Walkmen – You & Me
In light of everything I said above about critical assessments and their relationship to personal tastes, it's telling that this year's top two albums represent bands that have each taken the top spot in years past (Deerhunter last year and The Walkmen in 2004). So much for critical distance.

In terms of both style and temperament, You & Me, far and away the band's most intimate album to date, owes a heavy debt to Leonard Cohen. Whereas previous outings were marked by brash stand-offishness or Dylanesque opacity, You & Me feels sparse, world-weary, and confessional, a louche raconteur's tour of darkened bars and moonlight beaches. In fact, beaches—both literal and metaphorical—are a recurrent image throughout the album, whether as places for relaxing idylls or as lonely, isolated expanses. With titles like "Dónde Está la Playa," "On the Water," and "Red Moon," it's easy to imagine the album as a kind of travelogue, the melancholy soundtrack to a besotted, post-breakup solo vacation. Even the music has something of the tropical in it, with Mariachi horn sections and calypso rhythms welling up behind Paul Maroon's trademark ringing guitars. Yet despite the slight air of resignation, You & Me is no downer. It is, rather, the sound of being blissfully swept away, of drowning your cares beneath the waves and having a drink or ten with a roomful of downtrodden strangers.

LISTMANIA 2008The Best Albums of the Year: Honorable Mentions

2008-12-23T13:48:00.045-05:00

Only twenty candidates made the cut this year, but there were quite a few excellent albums lingering at the edge of the bubble...like Syracuse on the NCAA tourney selection special. Some simply weren't top-twenty material, while others I could only hear briefly or piece-by-piece via free downloads, but all are worth picking up if you have the means (or a Limewire account).

I would also like to mention a few albums I wanted to listen to, but never got to hear in their entirety: TV on the Radio - Dear Science; Guns & Roses - Chinese Democracy; Boris - Smile; Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak; Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull; Spiritualized - Songs in A & E; and Hot Chip - Made in the Dark.

(Don't forget to check out the 40 Best Songs of 2008!)

Here, in no real order, are the Listmania 2008 runners-up.

Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Grievances
Forget the Hold Steady—lord knows I wish I could—these Glen Rock, New Jersey, natives' ramshackle debut is indie rock's true answer to the Boss.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
A white acoustic folkie from Wisconsin who somehow manages to sound like the best TV on the Radio songs they never recorded. Must be heard to be believed.

The Dirtbombs – We have You Surrounded
Mick Collins's underrated Detroit psycho-soul outfit take their typical genre-hopping ways to new extremes. Check out an interview at The Sound of Young America.

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
The standard bearers of the hippie-ster movement may have committed the unpardonable sin of bringing colorful head-scarves back into vogue, but they also produced a legitimate neo-psych masterpiece. "Electric Feel" and "Time to Pretend" were two of the year's best singles.

Black Mountain – In the Future
Sabbath riffs? Check. Blue Cheer fuzz? Check. Extended jams? Check. Enjoy.

Fucked Up – Chemistry of Common Life
This is an album of super-awesome face-melting Canadian hardcore. Yeah, if you're not already running to the record store there's not much more I can do for you.

Abe Vigoda – Skeleton
Fractured "tropical punk" straight out of Chino, California. Bouncing, high-toned guitar gymnastics with so much echo it sounds like it was recorded in a high school bathroom.

Foals – Antidotes
And this year's Futureheads Award for the English band whose sound is most often referred to as "angular" goes to...Foals, a semi-incomprehensible quintet of Oxford lads with a penchant for chiming guitars and colorful sweatshirts.

Islands – Arm's Way
Never let it be said that Islands' Nick T. (formerly of indie stalwarts The Unicorns) is afraid of gilding the lily; the guy likes to throw a lot of instruments into his songs. And while this approach sometimes flirts with diminishing returns, the successes are truly epic.

Santogold – Santogold
Santogold's debut veers from dancehall to U.K. garage to 80s-style anthemic rock in a multi-culti mélange worthy of M.I.A. (to whom she is frequently, and favorably, compared). Santogold may be the year's best driving music.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? – You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Perched on the narrow line between the best and worst band names ever, DIOYY are this year's most lovable post-rave pranksters.

Evangelicals – The Evening Descends
Describing an album as "weird" is the height of laziness, even for the armchair critic. Nonetheless, The Evening Descends is weird. Not Trout Mask Replica weird, but definitely 1980s Danny Elfman weird. Every song seems to be about Halloween, skeletons, or scary movies, and the singing isn't so much "singing" as "a spider is crawling on my neck" moaning. It's fantastic.

Love Is All – A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night
Admittedly, after the energetic brilliance of Love Is All's debut, I found this album's same-y tempo disappointing. That said, an OK Love Is All album is still better than most of the stuff out there.

Metallica – Death Magnetic
Rick Rubin is the Flip this House of music: he takes on down-market fixer-uppers, hoses off all the unnecessary dross, and returns them to their former glory. First it was Johnny Cash, then it was Neil Diamond, and now it's the seemingly unredeemable 'Tally. In the wake of the trainwreck self-parody of their Some Kind of Monster period, it's fun to imagine Rubin's pitch: "So how do you guys feel about NOT being a bloated joke? I'm thinking we could cut the over-produced horseshit and maybe get back to, oh I don't know...maybe thrashing the shit out of some metal?" The resulting album is no Master of Puppets, but it's no Load either. That's a big step in the right direction, and it's nice to see this dog returning to some old tricks.

Why? – Alopecia
A hip-hop/indie rock album that sounds like an unholy cross between the Bloodhound Gang, They Might Be Giants, and MC 900 Ft. Jesus? Yeah, but it's actually good.

Up next...

The 20 Best Albums of 2008!

LISTMANIA 2008The 40 Best Songs of the Year, Part 2

2008-12-22T17:11:00.003-05:00

Fleet Foxes at Sasquatch!, May 24, 2008

Although time constraints have prevented me from providing any commentary thus far in the Listmania season, rest assured that the 2008 Album List will, in fact, contain actual written content. What can I say? As you all know, 2008 has been a total bitch. In the meantime, here are the top 20 songs of 2008.

Don't forget to check out nos. 40–21 first!

NOTE: All streaming audio has been removed due to bandwidth issues.

Songs 20–1

20. "Midnight Vignette" – Evangelicals

19. "L.E.S. Artistes" – Santogold

18. "Recent Bedroom" – Atlas Sound

17. "Where Do You Run To" – Vivian Girls

16. "Always Wanting More" – Jay Reatard

15. "We're Gonna Rise" – The Breeders

14. "Strange Times" – Black Keys

13. "No Future" – Titus Andronicus

12. "Daddy Needs a Drink" – Drive-By Truckers

11. "A Thousand Eyes" – Crystal Antlers

10. "Cold Son" – Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

9. "The Rip" – Portishead

8. "Knots" – Pete & The Pirates

7. "Nothing Ever Happened" – Deerhunter

6. "Electric Feel" – MGMT

5. "A Milli" – Lil Wayne

4. "Fools" – The Dodos

3. "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" – The Helio Sequence

2. "In the New Year" – The Walkmen

1. "White Winter Hymnal" – Fleet Foxes

LISTMANIA 2008The 40 Best Songs of the Year, Part 1

2008-12-19T18:09:00.005-05:00

Islands at Siren Fest, July 19, 2008

After a long holiday layoff, *bitter defeat* returns with the first installment in the 2008 edition of LISTMANIA. We begin with the 40 best songs of the year, a list that says far more about the author than it does about the actual musical landscape. Of course if you try to cover the actual musical landscape, you end up with something like Rolling Stone's mind-bendingly schizophrenic Top 50 Albums of 2008 list, which includes No Age, the Jonas Brothers, Jackson Browne, B.B. King, Metallica, and (SHOCKER!!) Bob Dylan. No single publication should attempt to simultaneously appeal to me, my mom, and my (imaginary) 11-year-old sister. Still, there is something to be said for balance, and I'll be the first to admit that I failed once again to really delve into hip-hop and "urban" music this year. Lil Wayne aside (and let's be honest here... Lil Wayne is this year's Hip-Hop Artist that White Indie-Rock Fans Like), my tastes ran to white, blogger-approved, guitar-driven indie music.

Admissions of White Liberal Guilt aside, there remains the usual raft of disclaimers, qualifications, and guidelines that go into any respectable year-end list. To begin with, for the sake of variety I decided to limit entries to one per artist. In addition, although most of these songs were, in fact, released as singles, that is in no way a requirement; album tracks are just fine. Additionally, a couple of tthese may technically have been released as singles in 2007, but if I first heard the song in 2008 and it was included on an album released in 2008, then it bloody well counts. Conversely, if the song was on an album released in 2007, but was released as a single in 2008...then give me a fucking break. In other words, no Radiohead songs came out this year, so Radiohead has no place on any 2008 best-of lists.

Since this intro was so damned long-winded, I'll also forgo lengthy commentary on songs 40 through 21.

NOTE: All streaming audio has been removed due to bandwidth issues.

40. "Salute Your Solution" – The Raconteurs

39. "Fatalist Palmistry" – Why?

38. "Shut Up and Let Me Go" – The Ting Tings

37. "Ready for the Floor" – Hot Chip

36. "The End of the Line" – Metallica
Great song, but we all know how these petulant dickheads get about the whole "sharing music" thing.
35. "Oxford Comma" – Vampire Weekend

34. "Elvis" – These New Puritans

33. "Death to Los Campesinos!" – Los Campesinos!

32. "Son the Father" – Fucked Up

31. "We Own the Sky" – M83

30. "Teen Creeps" – No Age

29. "Last Choice" – Love Is All

28. "Waving Flags" – British Sea Power

27. "The Arm" – Islands

26. "We Are Rockstars" – Does It Offend You, Yeah?

25. "Air War" – Crystal Castles

24. "Up All Night" – The Young Knives

23. "Standing Next to Me" – The Last Shadow Puppets

22. "Balloons" – Foals

21. "The Ark" – Dr. Dog

School of Seven Bells at Mercury Lounge, December 15, 2008

2008-12-16T13:41:00.003-05:00

My ears are still ringing like a television tube after last night's excellent School of Seven Bells show at Mercury Lounge. It's amazing how much noise you can make without bass or drums. Plenty more shots in the Flickr gallery.

Rock Alter Egos

2008-11-18T11:46:00.005-05:00

al•ter e•go
noun
a person's secondary or alternative personality.
• an intimate and trusted friend.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: Latin, ‘other self.’

I have a feature on rock and pop alter egos up over at Spinner. Check it out.

2008-10-31T12:14:00.000-04:00

31 20-Something Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Horror Movie Halloween Countdown, Day 29

2008-10-29T14:28:00.007-04:00

"Did you ever see that movie where the body is walking around carrying its own head, and then the head goes down on that babe?" -- Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham in American Beauty

With that line from 1999's Oscar winner for Best Picture, Re-Animator went from beloved cult film to dorm-room sensation overnight. (And as a result, "I want to borrow your copy of Re-Animator" became code for "I want to buy some pot.") It even surpassed The Big Lebowski on EW.com's The Cult 25 list.

Released in October 1985, Re-Animator bridged the gap between the Frankenstein/mad scientist genre and zombie movies. It also solidified the cult-horror transition from the bleak nihilism of the post-Watergate years (The Last House on the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and so forth) to the self-referential sardonicism of the Reagan years and beyond, from Evil Dead 2 to Feast.

The plot is simple: an unbalanced genius has discovered a "reagent" (which looks suspiciously like the stuff inside a Glow Stick) that brings dead tissue back to life. Unfortunately, everyone that gets reanimated appears stuck on a sliding scale between primal anger and diabolical evil, and West's continuing experiments gradually unleash a cavalcade of very pissed-off zombies in various states of articulacy (and decay). It all starts when he brings back his roommate Dan's cat, Rufus, in what may be the film's best sequence. Dan, who is ostensibly the film's "hero," had already discovered his former pet stiff as a board in West's mini-fridge, whereupon West made up an oh-so-plausible story about "the poor thing" getting its head stuck in a jar. Cut to the following night, as Dan finds West in the basement doing battle with an extremely agitated, formerly deceased kitty. They finally manage to re-kill old Rufus by throwing the poor little bastard against a cinderblock wall, but our boy Herbert is just getting started: he then re-reanimates the cat, by way of demonstration ("Don't expect it to tango, it has a broken back"). The entire sequence (which comes, mind you, about 15 minutes into the movie) is a fitting preamble for what's to come: a perfect mix of gore, scares, and pitch-black gallows humor. It also tells you all you need to know about Herbert West: the good doctor is batshit insane.

When West's nemesis, Dr. Hill, attempts to steal the secrets of reanimation, West has no choice but to dispatch him by first clobbering and then decapitating him with the blade of a shovel. Face it, you would do the same in his position. Naturally, West gives the head a shot of Glow Stick filling, but he fails to anticipate Dr. Hill's ability to command his own headless body. Dr. Hill then proceeds, head in hand, to unleash an army of crazed zombies—and to kidnap and, yes, orally molest Dan's hapless girlfriend Megan (whose father, the dean of the medical school, has already been turned into a lobotomized zombie). In terms of "innocent bystander" abuse, the film is essentially a toss-up between Megan and Rufus the cat.

Needless to say, Re-Animator is roughly ninety minutes of unadulterated fun, replete with 24 gallons of blood, naked zombie fights, cat murder, dead cat murder, dead cat re-murder, zombie lobotomies (I know, seems redundant), beheading by shovel, and, of course, decapitated cunnilingus. In other words, it's good, clean family fun for Halloween.

31 20-Something Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Horror Movie Halloween Countdown, Day 22

2008-10-22T13:58:00.006-04:00

When is a sequel not a sequel? Is Troll 2 a sequel, even though they just slapped the title on after the fact (and the word "troll" is never uttered in the film)? Probably not. Okay, but what if the original film's director, art supervisor, and producers are all on board, and yet the "sequel" has absolutely no narrative connection whatsoever to its ostensible progenitor? Enter the strange case of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Original director John Carpenter returned (as producer and composer), as did the original co-writer (Debra Hill, now producer), art director (Tommy Lee Wallace, now director), and executive producer (Halloween godfather Moustapha Akkad). But they seem to have forgotten someone rather important: Michael Myers. And I don't mean like how Jason Vorhees isn't technically the killer in Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th VI: A New Beginning. No, I mean there is nary a mention of Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, or the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois, throughout the entire film. Aside from a brief scene from the original Halloween being shown on a TV at one point, there is no acknowledgment of the previous films in the series.

Cynical cash-in? Well, yes and no. At the time, the filmmakers planned to leave Michael Myers dead (he did get blown to smithereens at the end of Halloween II, after all) and relaunch the franchise as a kind of horror anthology series, with a new but wholly unique Halloween film coming out every year. But while that's a great idea, it would have made a lot more sense had the first sequel not been a continuation of the original movie. So one can't help but conclude that the filmmakers were either hopelessly naive about audience expectations, or that this horror anthology idea was really just a rationalization for an obvious cash-in opportunity. In any case, the public was less than pleased by the apparent switcheroo, and Halloween III managed only a very modest profit. (Say what you will about horror movies, they're usually a smart investment; even the flops tend to recoup their ultra-modest budgets.)

Well that's all fascinating, you might say, but what about the movie? As it turns out, Halloween III: Season of the Witch stands on its own as a halfway decent early-80s horror film, and it's sufficiently season-appropriate as to make fantastic October viewing.

The always reliable Tom Atkins (of Night of the Creeps and Carpenter's The Fog) stars as alcoholic adulterer Dr. Dan Challis, who joins a young woman in investigating the bizarre death of her Halloween-mask-making father. Their search takes them to the aggressively Hibernian hamlet of Santa Mira, California, (also the name of the fictional town at the center of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and its financial linchpin, Silver Shamrock Novelties. Silver Shamrock happens to have the most popular line of Halloween masks on the market, and they are tied into a big nationwide Halloween-night "horrorthon" and "big giveaway" that all the kids just have to tune into.

Why kids are falling over themselves to hear the most mind-meltingly insidious, irritatingly repetitive theme music in history is never really established, but it does play into the film's sly critique of holiday consumerism. As it happens, Silver Shamrock's president, Conal Cochran, is behind some very sinister doings. In an attempt to bring the festival of Samhain back to its Celtic roots (and, really, because he's just an impishly evil fucker), Conal and his minions have brought an entire monolith from Stonehenge to Santa Mira. Conveniently, Cochran tells us this during his Big Speech, which packs roughly thirty minutes' worth of explication into about two minutes of screen time. (Oh did I mention that his minions are actually superhumanly strong androids filled with an orange-ish goo somewhere between strained carrots and uncooked pumpkin pie filling?) Anyway, each Silver Shamrock mask contains a computer chip with a tiny sliver of Stonehenge embedded in it, and when the big "Happy Happy Halloween" broadcast signal is activated, all the kiddies at home with their masks on will have their heads melted and bugs and snakes will essentially pop out of their brains. It looks something like this:
That Conal Cochran is quite the trickster, but his business acumen is shoddy at best. Melting consumers' faces off is a horrible way to encourage repeat customers. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it's pretty great.

Obviously the Halloween III experiment was considered a failure by critics, audiences, and the filmmakers at the time (the film's reputation has improved considerably with time), and Michael Myers shambled back onto the screen in 1988's aptly titled Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Although it's hard to defend the filmmakers' logic at the time, it's equally difficult to imagine that the world needed another six Michael Myers films more than it needed a quirky horror anthology.

31 20-Something Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Horror Movie Halloween Countdown, Day 17

2008-10-17T16:25:00.007-04:00

When it comes to getting things done on a schedule, you give me an inch and I'll take a nap. I've already gone from diligent worker bee to the stoned, C-level college student who's constantly making up stories about demagnetized floppy disks and broken printers and increasingly elaborate family tragedies in order to get a two-day extension on that big ten-page "Metaphysical versus Epistemological Interpretations of Hume's Critique of Causation" paper. (Did I seriously date myself with the floppy disc reference?) Suffice it to say, it's October 17 and my thirty-one-film Halloween countdown has covered exactly ten films...and that's including the present entry.

Pathetic.

Although the very notion of having a "favorite" something is always problematic, for any self-styled critic or overly committed cultural consumer there is the added pressure of having so-called "respectable" tastes and opinions. Although the very notion of "canon" should be anathema to the truly enlightened critical mind, there is nonetheless an understanding that you are supposed to "appreciate" (or at least have an opinion about), say, Fellini or Warhol or any number of other artists who can be referred to solely by their surname. This is especially the case with directors, despite the relative disrepute of auteur theory these days. I bring all this up because I would love to claim that my favorite director is Billy Wilder or Akira Kurosawa or Sam Fuller. I would be happy to say something mature and noncommittal (and undeniably pretentious) like, "The very notion of having a favorite director is limiting and ridiculous."

But my favorite director is John Carpenter. Specifically, John Carpenter from 1974 (the year Dark Star came out and, coincidentally, the year of my birth) through the 1988 release of They Live. Since the 1992 release of Memoirs of an Invisible Man (which also arguably ended Chevy Chase's "good" years), Carpenter has been on an extended cold streak, the highlight of which is probably the so/so (and completely batshit insane) In the Mouth of Madness.

Perhaps the most poorly regarded film of Carpenter's fertile period is the 1987 oddity Prince of Darkness, which happened to be released right when my dedication to horror movies was at its most fervid. Despite its spotty reputation, it remains one of my all-time faves; a bizarre, genuinely affecting victory of atmosphere over narrative.

Basically, a priest (a completely over-the-top Donald Pleasance) discovers the activities of a secret Catholic sect called The Brotherhood of Sleep, who have been charged over the centuries with guarding a big cylinder filled with swirling green goo; a sinister-looking lava lamp on steroids. Realizing that All Is Not Well, the priest enlists the help of a theoretical physicist and his crack team of graduate students to figure out What In The Hell Is Going On. This team includes the film's ostensible hero, a PhD candidate and amateur prestidigitator played by Jameson Parker (of Simon & Simon fame). The film's real hero, however, is Jameson Parker's Totally Awesome Mustache:
In a nutshell, the team's investigation leads to the following revelations (so to speak): Jesus was an extraterrestrial; the cylinder is an elaborate, rapidly decaying prison for the son of the Devil; Satan himself is a kind of antimatter to God's matter; psychically speaking, the homeless are roughly on par with cockroaches and worms; you can send tachyon transmissions back in time to talk to people in their dreams; and Jameson Parker's Totally Awesome Mustache may not be powerful enough to save us all from oblivion. As you can see, despite the film's tenuous grasp of particle physics, calling Prince of Darkness a thinking man's horror movie is something of an understatement.

Like David Lynch's Dune, another unfairly maligned favorite of mine, Prince of Darkness was written off as uneven, dialogue-heavy, and "hard to follow." And, as is the case with Dune, these criticisms are spot-on. However, Prince of Darkness is also unremittingly creepy in a doomed, Lovecraftian way—it's the kind of vibe that few filmmakers aspire to anymore. Carpenter is an unparalleled master of atmospherics, using sparse, haunting music and wide open, almost sterile framing to produce an eerie feeling that borders on a kind of existential dread. Just consider the frozen wastes of The Thing or the abandoned suburban afternoons in Halloween. Isolation is the real enemy in these films (small wonder that Carpenter constantly returns to the "siege scenario" in his films), and in Prince of Darkness that isolation is simultaneously physical (the scientists are all trapped in a run-down urban church), emotional (the main characters are pointedly unable to articulate their romantic feelings for one another), and spiritual (Jesus was an alien and Good and Evil are reduced to subatomic abstraction). And really, what's scarier than facing unstoppable monsters all by your lonesome?

Prince of Darkness is best watched in the dark (otherwise it would be called Prince of Sufficient Lighting), with one or two friends. This is especially important afterwards as a) the film rewards a good post-viewing discussion; and b) you won't be able to go anywhere near a mirror by yourself for the next twelve hours or so. (It's not as bad as Candyman in this respect, but still...)

31 20-Something Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Horror Movie Halloween Countdown, Day 15

2008-10-15T14:52:00.006-04:00

Okay, okay. So it turns out that thirty-one movie posts in thirty one days was a classic case of biting off more than one can chew. Especially when you throw a five-day weekend into the mix. It seems counter-intuitive, but booze-soaked vacations in tropical locations are not conducive to blogging. Who knew?? Anyway, let's get back to the spookin'...

Last night Kim and I turned off all the lights and I popped in The Tingler. Uh, let me rephrase that...

Last night Kim and I turned off the lights and I put in a DVD of William Castle's 1959 schlock-horror masterpiece, The Tingler. Vincent Price stars as Dr. Warren Chapin, a moderately creepy pathologist who takes time from his busy autopsy schedule to conduct research into the physiological manifestations of fear. His "experiments" (which include shooting himself up with massive doses of LSD) lead to the ever-so-plausible discovery of a parasitic creature that grows along the base of the spine during moments of terror, a creature that disappears when its host inevitably lets out a scream. After a hapless deaf-mute woman is frightened to death, the good doctor is able to remove one of the creatures, which promptly starts creeping around in a crowded movie theater.

And at this point the genius of William Castle shines through: "Amazing NEW TERROR Device Makes You A Living Participant in the FLESH-CRAWLING ACTION! PERCEPTO!" Ever the master of schlocky marketing gimmicks, Castle invented Percepto, which was essentially just a vibrating buzzer contraption installed in select theater seats. So, once the Tingler is released in the theater on screen, the buzzers go off and mayhem ensues. Castle even went so far as to hire "nurses" to wait in the lobby, lest all that terror should prove too much for some poor patron. The film also includes a brilliant scene in which a sink and a bathtub fill with bright red blood... even though the film was in black and white; the sequence was shot in color, and everything, including the actress' face, was painted in black and white.

Of course, The Tingler loses much of its charm in your living room, but it's still worth watching for the hilarious creature effects and some genuinely nasty dialogue between Warren and his cheating wife (check out the B-Movie review for sound clips, etc.). Besides, a film that so deeply influenced John Waters has to be good, right?

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day Eight

2008-10-08T13:32:00.005-04:00

Today we leave the 1980s behind and take a look at a nasty little gem from 1968 called Witchfinder General, which stars Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins, the titular professional witch hunter. Set in the mid-1640s, amid the turmoil of the first English Civil War, the film splits time between Hopkins—who travels from town to town ferreting out "witches," torturing people for fun, and collecting fees for his troubles—and a young pro-Parliament soldier whose betrothed has been raped by Hopkins's brutal assistant.

Unlike the other films we'll discuss this month, Witchfinder General isn't a horror film, strictly speaking. There are no actual witches, most of the action takes place in broad daylight, and the torture scenes, while unpleasant, are largely historically accurate. At its core, the film is about the depravity of its title character, and the horrible toll his callous abuse of power takes on the innocents around him. But the very presence of Vincent Price, along with the fact that it was produced by Tigon British Film Productions, qualifies it at least as a "thriller." And speaking of Price, Matthew Hopkins is one of his finest creations—a creature of pure self-serving malevolence—and it's a remarkably subtle performance by Price standards. Perhaps adding to the its horrific mystique, director and co-writer Michael Reeves was found dead at the age of 25 after an accidental barbiturate overdose just months after the film's release.

Witchfinder General was released by American International Pictures in the U.S., but the title was changed to The Conqueror Worm. Although there is little more than a passing reference to Edgar Allen Poe's poem in the film, AIP was hoping to cash in on Roger Corman's successful string of Poe adaptations starring Vincent Price (such as The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and The Raven (1963)).

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day Seven

2008-10-07T13:35:00.006-04:00

A brief explanation of the split in America's cinematic zombie mythology:

After the 1968 release of Night of the Living Dead, a dispute between co-writers John A. Russo and George A. Romero resulted in Russo retaining the rights to the "Living Dead" portion of the title. Romero, who directed the original film, went on to complete his trilogy with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead (he later expanded the series with Land of the Dead and last year's terrible Diary of the Dead). Romero's Dead films continued with essentially the same "rules" set forth in the original film: there is no explanation for the sudden reawakening of the dead, the zombies crave human flesh, and if you destroy the brain you kill (or, re-kill) the zombie.

Meanwhile, John Russo doesn't seem to have done much of anything until around 1984, when he tapped Dan O'Bannon to write the script for Return of the Living Dead, based on Russo's own novel of the same name. When Tobe Hooper (director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist) dropped out of the project in order to direct Lifeforce (we'll get to Lifeforce later this month), O'Bannon (who wrote the screenplay for Lifeforce, along with Dark Star, Alien, and Total Recall) agreed to try his hand at directing. Confused yet? The situation gets even more confusing when you consider the proliferation of unauthorized sequels to Dawn of the Dead in Italy, but that's a story for another time.

Anyway, Return of the Living Dead came out in 1985, bringing with it a mordant sense of humor, an amazing punk-rock soundtrack featuring TSOL, the Flesh Eaters, and the Cramps, and an entirely new set of rules for the undead.

As you can see from the trailer, the whole "destroy the brain" thing doesn't work anymore, which means, in technical terms, that everyone is royally screwed. The zombies can also run and talk... although they mostly just repeat the word "brains." As you can also tell from the trailer, the movie is ruthlessly funny, employing the "deadpan" humor that also characterized so many mid-80s cult-horror classics.

For any fan of the horror-comedy genre (think Re-Animator, Dead Alive, Evil Dead 2, etc.) or for anyone looking for a great 1980s punk/new wave fix, I cannot recommend this film enough.

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Days Five and Six

2008-10-06T16:14:00.011-04:00

Troll 2 (1990) is among the most celebrated bad movies of the last twenty years—a film whose technique, acting, and plot are so mind-bogglingly inept that no one knows quite how to read it. Is it the nadir of direct-to-video exploitation filmmaking? An avant-garde camp masterpiece? A loveable slice of outsider art? As Scott Tobias points out in his incredible New Cult Canon piece, a lot depends on whether or not the filmmakers are in on the joke, but no consensus exists on that central question.

Rather than regurgitate the plot, I'll simply refer you to Mr. Tobias's article, the Wikipedia entry, and the trailer for the upcoming Troll 2 documentary, Best Worst Movie. I'll just sum up by saying, "You can't piss on hospitality."

On the other end of the sequel spectrum, we have Don Coscarelli's cult favorite Phantasm II (1988). I had planned a lengthy entry, but I was unable to watch the film again because, as I was surprised and saddened to learn, the film has never had a domestic release on DVD.

Based on what I can remember, Phantasm II is essentially a remake of the original, with the addition of a psychic blond chick and more bloody action from the series' trademark killer silver orbs:

In a nutshell, a tall scary guy called (imaginatively) the Tall Man runs a mortuary in which he turns dead bodies into hooded dwarf slaves. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Some good guys attempt to thwart his evil plans. Shotguns and killer balls and Druid dwarfs... needless to say its a favorite among both horror fans and stoners. Anyway, if you still own a VCR, it's an essential Halloween treat.

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day Four

2008-10-03T17:12:00.005-04:00

Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers (2002) opens as a hapless group of British soldiers on maneuvers in the Scottish wilderness discover the ravaged remains of another squad. Terrorized by an unseen enemy, they soon find themselves trapped in a small cottage where, conveniently, a local zoologist informs them that they are being hunted by werewolves. It's your basic siege movie, in the mold of Assault on Precinct 13 or, more appropriately, Evil Dead 2, with a healthy dose of Aliens thrown in for the fun of it. Marshall, who directed 2005's criminally underrated The Descent, wears his influences proudly on his sleeve (as he did with this year's Escape from New York homage, Doomsday).

A modest hit in Europe, Dog Soldiers went straight to DVD in the States, which is a shame given the film's superior werewolf effects. Still, if you keep the room dark enough, it's great fun to watch at home. There's no subtext to speak of, and it's not what you'd call innovative fare, but the film does boast a witty script and a cast of rock-solid English and Scottish actors (including Kevin McKidd, from Trainspotting and HBO's Rome). All in all, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better direct-to-DVD horror film for a night of pumpkin carving.

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day Three

2008-10-03T13:38:00.003-04:00

Day three, and we're still hangin' in the 1980s. One of the more bizarre major-studio releases of the decade, Wolfen (1981) stars Albert Finney and Gregory Hines as a New York City detective/pathologist pair investigating a series of murders that appear to have been perpetrated by some kind of animal. Not to give too much away, it turns out that a mysterious race of ancient, super-intelligent wolves who live in the abandoned wastelands of the South Bronx are killing businessmen who are planning an urban reclamation project in the wolves' neighborhood. Yeah. Oh and a bunch of Native American construction workers (including Edward James Olmos) who hang out atop skyscrapers and might be shapeshifters are also involved somehow.

The trailer doesn't do the film's knotty plot and literate screenplay justice (and according to Roger Ebert's original review, this is intentional). But it does allow you to see the cool in-camera digital effect they used to indicate the wolves' POV. I've heard conflicting stories about this, but my understanding is that this was among the first films ever to use computer-generated visual effects. In addition, the film was largely shot among actual abandoned neighborhoods in the South Bronx, and the borough's level of sheer devastation has to be seen to be believed. In fact, the creepiest thing about Wolfen is its depiction of the eerily abandoned nocturnal New York of the early 1980s. Here's a representative clip (in German)...

1981 was a banner year for wolf movies, with The Howling and An American Werewolf in London rounding out what has proved to be a classic threesome, but Wolfen remains the least-known of the bunch. That's a shame, and I strongly urge you to redress this oversight as soon as you can. Tune in tomorrow, as the wolf genre storms into the twenty-first century.

31 Days of Horror:The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day Two

2008-10-02T12:06:00.003-04:00

Today's selection is simultaneously a great B-horror movie and an unabashed love letter to the genre itself. Released in 1986 to mixed reviews and little fanfare, Night of the Creeps has gone on to enjoy a dedicated cult following. (In fact, Kim and I caught a midnight screening at the Sunshine just last weekend.) The film's reputation is easy to understand: it's a goofy, tongue-in-cheek aliens-and-zombies movie that's chock full of in-jokes, references to classic horror and sci-fi, and even some stunt casting (including the venerable Dick Miller in a small role).

The plot, itself an homage to Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space, is relatively simple: A cannister of experimental alien brain slugs crashes to Earth and the slimy little bastards start infecting the brains of both living and dead hosts. A pair of dorky college freshmen and a semi-suicidal detective (the always awesome Tom Atkins) stumble into the middle of it all, and lots of zombie mayhem, head-exloding, teen wisecracking, and slug-burning ensues. It's also another wonderful relic of the 1980s, chock full of preppy blond bad guys, terrible sweaters, neon, and period music by Stan Ridgway, Jane Wiedlin, and others. Hell, the hero is played by the dude who played Rusty in National Lampoon's European Vacation.

Put simply, it's amazing. Unfortunately, Night of the Creeps remains unavailable on DVD, so the only way to experience it is to buy a VHS copy on eBay. Or you could just live vicariously through the movie's MySpace page.

31 Days of Horror: The Movie-a-Day Halloween Countdown, Day One

2008-10-01T12:05:00.011-04:00

October is the favorite month of the year around these parts, primarily because of Halloween, the greatest holiday of all. And so, in keeping with the *bitter defeat* tradition of Halloween observance (not to mention pathological listmaking), this year we present one lesser-known horror movie for each day of the month. These creepy little gems are the ideal way to while away those chilly October nights. Just curl up on the couch, crank up the video machine, and pour yourself a nice goblet of goat's blood. So let's get this ghouls 'n' goblins party started, shall we?

We begin with the appropriately titled Trick or Treat, a 1986 teensploitation horror flick directed by beloved character actor Charles Martin Smith. (Smith—whose only other notable directing credit is 1997's flying-dog classic Air Bud—is a solid member of the "hey it's that guy" fraternity of character actors with instant face recognition and zero name recognition.)

Somewhat less beloved character actor Marc Price (best known as Erwin "Skippy" Handelman on TV's Family Ties) stars as nerdy metalhead outcast Eddie Weinbauer. Eddie, already distraught about constant bullying at school, is nearly shattered by the apparent burning death of his hero, Satanic glam-metal star Sammi Curr. Taking pity on the poor nerd, local disc jockey Nuke (played by none other than Gene Simmons) gives Eddie the only extant acetate pressing of Curr's final recording. Unfortunately, it turns out that Curr's immolation occurred during a Satanic ritual, and as soon as Eddie plays the record backwards—because, hey, that's what kids these days do with that Devil's music—Curr literally explodes from the speakers with really bad facial burns and lots of creepy demonic powers. Many authority figures (including a PMRC-type preacher played by Ozzy Osbourne) and good-looking popular kids get their comeuppance at the hands of Eddie and his resurrected role model, yadda yadda yadda... Skippy fights Sammi, Skippy gets the girl, the end.

Reverend Ozzzy
Despite its goofy premise, Trick or Treat boasts a few decent sequences, most of which involve Sammi Curr's apparent ability to travel via audio and video signals. Yet despite being tied to some decidedly dated subject matter (hair metal, the PMRC, vinyl, and the Sony Walkman, to name a few) the film resonates today because Eddie's character just screams "Columbine." The idea of a nerdy, metal-obsessed, army-jacket-clad loner taking violent revenge on the "normal" kids who torment him at school carries a hell of a lot more cultural baggage today than it did in 1986. If that isn't enough to send you running to your Netflix queue, then maybe this scene will convince you...

Guitar-solo demonic rape still not enough for you? Well how about a smokin' soundtrack by metal middle-weights Fastway? Put it all together and you've got an 80s curio with kickass music, Ozzy and Gene Simmons, and disturbing echoes of one of the worst tragedies of the last decade. You can't lose!

ATP New York 2008Kutsher's Resort, Sept. 19-21

2008-09-24T10:12:00.015-04:00

Les Savy Fav
Rather than a lengthy regurgitation of my life-altering weekend at All Tomorrow's Parties New York 2008, I'll simply point you to my day-one recap over at Spinner, followed by Kim's coverage of the Holy Noise Triumvirate: Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr., and My Bloody Valentine. (Also, the Pitchfork review is fairly exhaustive, and totally nails the My Bloody Valentine set. And the New York Times article even includes an interview with Kevin Shields himself.)

Anyway, here's some pics. (Many more at my Flickr gallery)

Bardo Pond
Meat Puppets
Tortoise
Polvo
Les Savy Fav

Lilys
Mercury Rev
Yo La Tengo
The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Deerhunter @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, 9/9/08

2008-09-11T16:54:00.005-04:00

Caught the always-excellent Deerhunter at a cheesy club called Le Poisson Rouge (which, according to lead singer Bradford Cox, translates as "The Red Pussy"). The sound wasn't fantastic, but the band seemed in good spirits. I took the opportunity to get excessively artsy-fartsy with the camera. (Visit the full gallery)

Achewood: Better Late than Never

2008-09-09T17:01:00.002-04:00

I am ashamed to admit that I am only now getting around to reading Achewood, which is generally considered to be the only worthwhile webcomic in existence. So far, I'm inclined to agree. (Read all about it)

Yo La Tengo @ McCarren Park Pool, 8/24/08

2008-08-25T17:03:00.005-04:00

Lo La Tengo, Titus Andronicus, and Ebony Bones played the final JellyNYC Pool Party on Sunday. I'm more than a little depressed, as these free live shows have been part of my weekly summer routine for two years now. But now we must wave goodbye to free music and dodgeball so that a bunch of snot-nosed little brats can splash around and pee in three feet of lukewarm water. Anyway, I wrote a roundup and posted a photo gallery over at Spinner.

God Bless the U.S.A.

2008-08-22T13:16:00.000-04:00

This is why I'm proud to be an American.

All Points West Music Festival @ Liberty Park, New Jersey, August 9, 2008

2008-08-13T11:21:00.010-04:00

Nicole Atkins(I've got more Nicole Atkins pics and a show recap up over at Spinner.com.)
Metric

Animal Collective

The Black Angels

All Points West Music Festival @ Liberty Park, New Jersey, August 8, 2008

2008-08-13T11:14:00.006-04:00

Grizzly Bear
CSS
Girl Talk

Underworld

Black Lips w/ Deerhunter and King Khan & The Shrines @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, 8/

2008-08-13T10:22:00.012-04:00

King Khan & The Shrines

Deerhunter

Black Lips

MGMT w/ Black Moth Super Rainbow @ McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, 7/27/08

2008-08-13T10:01:00.011-04:00

Black Moth Super Rainbow

MGMT

The Movie Autobiography, Part 3: 1994–2007

2008-07-30T11:13:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay, but my day job just keeps trying to get in the way of my life.

Today is the final installment of the Movie Autobiography project begun last week.

Let's do this...

1994
Then and Now: Pulp Fiction
Talk about a galvanizing moment. Pulp Fiction is one of the few cinematic experiences I remember from top to bottom: where I saw it, who I went with, what scenes had an immediate impact, etc. In fact 1994 was the year that my sensibility truly returned to the underground, thanks in no small part to Berkeley's now-defunct UC Theater, which ran a mind-shattering rep schedule (not to mention a Hong Kong cinema double feature every Thursday night). It was also the year I started winning free tickets on KALX's Film Close-Ups, where I would eventually become a co-host and reviewer. (Craziness: Greg Scharpen, the show's current host, was a reviewer when I started on the show, way back in 1996!) One last thing: Pulp Fiction dominated this year, which is too bad for Tim Burton's Ed Wood, which would have been my favorite in just about any other.

1995
Then: TIE, Se7en and Heat
Now: Dead Man
Obviously I was not immune to Hollywood's charms, even during my indie reawakening. Other films that had a big impact: Kids, City of Lost Children, and Ghost in the Shell, which remains my favorite anime.

1996
Then: Trainspotting
Now: Fargo
That's not to say that my admiration for Trainspotting has dulled any. It's just that Fargo is the very definition of a film that grows more rewarding every time you see it. I also walked out on a movie in 1996, one of only three times this has happened. It was the absolutely abysmal The Trigger Effect, starring Kyle MacLaclan, Elizabeth Shue, and Dermot Mulroney. (The other two are The War of the Roses, wich everyone else seems to like, and Moulin Rouge!, which made me want to punch Baz Luhrman in the neck.)

1997
Then: Grosse Point Blank
Now: Lost Highway
John Cusack's hitman rom-com barely edged Kevin Smith's hopelessly overwrought Chasing Amy back in the day. I shant waste time here defending my Kevin Smith habit (and no, I will not defend Jersey Girl, mainly because I've never seen it). David Lynch's snake-eating-its-own-tail mindfuck Lost Highway is another classic that gets more interesting with every watch.

1998
Then and Now: The Big Lebowski
Although this was an easy one, a lot of really interesting movies came out in '98. (I never realized it before, but BOTH of Kim's favorite movies, Rushmore and Shakespeare in Love, came out in the same year.) And let's face it, the first fifteen minutes of Saving Private Ryan are the most exhilarating since the opening of Pulp Fiction.

1999
Then: American Beauty
Now: TIE, Sleepy Hollow and Fight Club
Yeah, I drank the Kool-Aid on the overwritten Oscar winner. I have subsequently realized that if you're gonna go with slickness, go with fun slickness.

2000
Then: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Now: O Brother Where Art Thou
A big year for kinda middle-awesome movies (Almost Famous, American Psycho, High Fidelity, Gladiator, Memento, Snatch, Shadow of the Vampire, etc.). Where in the hell did all the horror movies go?

2001
Then and Now: The Royal Tenenbaums
Again, not even close. Shout-outs to Gosford Park, Donnie Darko, Mulholland Drive, and Wet Hot American Summer.

2002
Then and Now: 24 Hour Party People
Runners-up were 28 Days Later and Super Troopers.

2003
Then and Now: Kill Bill Vol.1
Very close runner-up was X2: X-Men United (which was the best superhero movie ever until two weeks ago). 2003 was, without a doubt, the worst year in movies I have encountered.

2004
Then and Now: TIE, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Shaun of the Dead, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Hey, YOU try choosing between those!

2005
Then: Batman Begins
Now: The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Again, Brokeback Mountain may have been the best movie of the year, but I'm not sure how many more times I can watch the damn thing. Honorable mention to Serenity and The Devil's Rejects.

2006
Then and Now: Children of Men
With respect to The Departed and Pan's Labyrinth.

2007
Then and Now: TIE There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men
Couldn't decide last year, can't decide now.

Whew! That's it. A life in movies. I feel a) old, and b) more than a little embarrassed by my pedestrian tastes.

The Movie Autobiography, Part 2: 1984–1993

2008-07-24T11:53:00.003-04:00

On the heels of yesterday's post, which covered the years 1974 through 1983, we continue the latest in a long line of pointless pop-culture lists: Pick a Movie for Every Year of Your Life.

1984
Then: Ghostbusters
Now: Repo Man
Hey, I honestly wish I could claim some cool favorite like Paris, Texas, but I'm trying to be totally honest here.

1985
Then: Back to the Future
Now: TIE, Ran and Real Genius
Hell, I even tried to dress like Marty McFly. As for the tie, Ran is one of the few foreign films I never get tired of watching. It's just friggin' amazing. However, Real Genius may hold the record as the film I've watched the most times. I just couldn't choose. Also, Re-Animator came out in '85.

1986
Then: Aliens
Now: Blue Velvet
Howard the Duck notwithstanding, 1986 was an unbelievable year in film. Just remarkable. Sentimental favorites like Big Trouble in Little China and Ferris Bueller's Day Off stand alongside genuine classics like Manhunter, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Fly, and Sid and Nancy. This was also the year I made the crucial transition from shitting myself every time a horror-movie commercial came on TV to being completely obsessed with horror movies.

1987
Then: Summer School
Now: Evil Dead 2
And yet, despite 1987 being quite possibly the best year in American horror films since the 1930s, my favorite movie was a Mark Harmon/Kirstie Alley vehicle. In my defense, Chainsaw and Dave's whole schtick was that they were into horror movies. So I was basically watching a film about myself. (Seriously, look at this horror lineup: Hellraiser, Near dark, The Lost Boys, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, Prince of Darkness, Predator... man, what a year!) Oh I do have a "regular" pick for this year as well: Wings of Desire.

1988
Then: A Fish Called Wanda
Now: Die Hard
So apparently I've gotten dumber in the last twenty years. Other possible favorites were Dead Ringers, The Last Temptation of Christ, and They Live. My god... I am seriously one of the people I've spent my entire life hating. Die Hard????

1989
Then: TIE, Heathers and Pet Sematary
Now: Crimes and Misdemeanors
So back then I was clearly going through my safe suburban version of an "edgy teen" phase (although, for reasons I cannot begin to explain, I was also a big fan of Steel Magnolias). Apparently I am now a big Woody Allen fanatic. Who knew?

1990
Then: TIE, Edward Scissorhands and Pump Up the Volume
Now: TIE, Goodfellas and Miller's Crossing
Talk about symmetry. In high school, my favorite movies were about high-school outcasts. Now I go in for gritty gangster movies.

1991
Then: The Doors
Now: The Silence of the Lambs
What a weak year for movies! Oliver Stone's ridiculously overblown Jim Morrison biopic was ideal viewing for a classic rock-obsessed sixteen-year-old. But now? Other possibilities were either semi-ironic (Point Break) or deeply cult (Dead Again).

1992
Then: Singles
Now: Glengarry Glen Ross
Another weak year. My senior-year obsession with all things Seattle naturally included Cameron Crowe's grunge rom-com (not to mention the soundtrack). The contemporary pick came down to Reservoir Dogs and Hard Boiled canceling each other out by virtue of their similarity.

1993
Then: True Romance
Now: Dazed and Confused
Given its basic subject matter, it's astounding how great Dazed and Confused is (though apparently True Romance screenwriterQuentin Tarantino agrees).

Tune in next week for the concluding entry, 1994–2007.

The Movie Autobiography:Pick a Film for Each Year of Your LifePart 1: The First Decade

2008-07-23T12:53:00.004-04:00

In the fine *bitter defeat* tradition of stealing/copying any and all ideas/content from the AV Club, I'm following up the Album Autobiography with the Movie Autobiography ("inspired" by this and this, respectively).

Once again, such an undertaking raises such logistical questions as "How could you have a favorite movie when you were an infant?," "Are you listing your favorites or 'the best' of each year?," and "Why should anyone give a shit about your opinion?" Luckily, I have answers to all three questions: a) You couldn't; b) I'll get to that; and c) They shouldn't.

First, the ground rules: For each year, I have simply chosen my favorite film, rather than what I consider the "best" or "most important" film. In those cases where my choice at the time differs from my current favorite (either because I saw my current favorite later or because I am no longer, say, eleven years old), I will provide both. For years when I was too young to have an opinion, I'll list whatever I liked as a kid, where applicable.

Now it should be noted that I hold a graduate degree in film history, theory, and criticism, so my current-day favorites should be foreign and boring, with lots of midgets and dream sequences and allegory and criticism of commodity culture. I will be shocked if this turns out to be the case. For someone with "training" in the "aesthetics" of "the cinema," I have astoundingly "pedestrian" tastes. In other words, I tend to prefer "awesome" over "important." Please don't mistake this for false modesty on the one hand, or self-congratulation for "keeping it real" on the other. No, it's simply sad when a person drops tens of thousands of dollars into someone else's pocket just so they can use bigger words to explain why Ghostbusters rules.

The Movie Autobiography, Part 1: 1974–1983

1974
Then and now: Young Frankenstein
See? I told you my choices would be unimpressive. Sure, I love The Godfather, Part II, but I don't love it as much as Young Frankenstein (or other 1974 standouts like Blazing Saddles (What a HUGE year for Mel Brooks!), The Longest Yard, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Zardoz, Dark Star, or my runner-up, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

1975
Then and now: Jaws
I'm not sure "favorite" is the right word for how I felt about Jaws as a child. It's more like "the reason I feared any non-man-made body of water until I was six years old." Still, it seems that no one was releasing children's movies in the mid-1970s, so it's the only thing I remember seeing as a kid. (other notables are Monty Python and the Holy Grail and my runner up, Three Days of the Condor.)

1976
Then: The Bad News Bears
Now: Carrie
Carrie barely edged out The Marathon Man for my current choice. (And remember what I said about no foreign films? Seems like there aren't any in the Wikipedia lists anyway, so it's a non-issue.) Yes, I realize that Taxi Driver came out in 1976. I honestly think Taxi Driver is overrated.

1977
Then: Star Wars
Now: Annie Hall
Finally, a year with some conflicts! Not for my "younger self" pick, which was a no-brainer, but it killed me to have Dario Argento's Suspiria come up second. (And I guess there are foreign films after all. Another personal favorite: Slap Shot, the greatest sports movie ever made.

1978
Then: TIE, Superman: The Movie and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Now: Halloween
Even as a child I knew Superman just wasn't that good. I mean, it shared my heart with a movie in which The Beatles are replaced by The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, co-starring Steve Martin, Alice Cooper, and George Burns! As for my current pick, let's just say it was a big year for horror, with George Romero's Dawn of the Dead in the runner-up spot.

1979
Then: The Muppet Movie
Now: Manhattan
What a great year to be a kid! The Muppets were up against The Black Hole, Breaking Away, Meatballs, and Moonraker. This must have been the year my dad started taking me to movies, because I was crazy about all of those. Oh and Woody Allen wins again, edging out Alien and Apocalypse Now.

1980
Then and now: The Empire Strikes Back
Sorry to Raging Bull and The Shining, but this year was in the bag.

1981
Then and now: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Another runaway winner. This was also a big year for me as a kid, with the big three of semi-racy sword-and-sorcery movies: Clash of the Titans, Dragonslayer, and Excalibur...all of which my dad took me to see in the theater. What was he thinking?? A spacial shout-out to John Landis's An American Werewolf in London.

1982
Then: TIE, TRON, Conan the Barbarian, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Now: The Thing
You think that tie is a cop-out? Well I just couldn't answer with any confidence. I remember each of those films (not to mention The Dark Crystal and The Secret of NIMH) having a massive effect on me. (Also, my dad got in SO MUCH trouble for taking me to see Conan.) Also, Blade Runner was a very respectable runner-up, but The Thing is one of my top five films of all time.

1983
Then: Never Say Never Again
Now: Videodrome
It's very hard to believe that a fanboy like me could pick anything over Return of the Jedi, but for some reason I was quite taken by Sean Connery's controversial late-career return to James Bond. From an "adult" standpoint, 1983 was a shite year for movies. If it wasn't for Videodrome, I would have been choosing between Terms of Endearment and Trading Places.

Go to Part 2, 1984–1993

Siren Festival 2008 at Coney Island!

2008-07-21T15:15:00.003-04:00

The Helio Sequence

What may have been the very last Coney Island Siren Festival took place this past Saturday, on the hottest day of New York's blistering heatwave. I'll have more to show/tell soon, but in the meantime you can see some snaps at Spinner (first 8 shots are mine). Oh, and some girl wrote the coverage.

**UPDATE**
Here's some more shots...

Times New Viking

Ra Ra Riot

Islands

The Helio Sequence

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Broken Social Scene

SUPERHUGE Concert Weekend, Day 3:The Breeders w/ Matt & Kim and The Whip @ McCarren Pool, July 13

2008-07-15T16:03:00.013-04:00

The Deal sisters played a free show at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, along with The Whip and Matt & Kim (who brought an entire marching band on stage).

The Whip

Matt & Kim

The Breeders

SUPERHUGE Concert Weekend, Day 2:Todd P's Mid-Summer Outdoor Concert @ The Yard, July 12

2008-07-15T14:54:00.016-04:00

Crystal Antlers
Todd P's Mid-Summer Outdoor Party @ The Yard, Brooklyn, July 12

Knyfe Hyts
Abe Vigoda

Crystal Antlers
Vivian Girls

Ponytail

Chinese Stars

Titus Andronicus

SUPERHUGE Concert Weekend, Day 1: No Age w/ Telepathe @ South Street Seaport, July 11

2008-07-15T14:39:00.009-04:00

No Age
You know when you've seen too many bands in one weekend? When you wake up Monday morning with 700 photos.

Friday, July 11
No Age w/ Telepathe and Abe Vigoda @ South Street Seaport

We arrived too late to catch Abe Vigoda (not a big deal since we saw them the following day). Also had a shitty spot for pics.

Telepathe

No Age

Globalization Cuts Both Ways: Budweiser Purchased by the Belgians

2008-07-14T17:46:00.004-04:00

The King of Beers is no longer an American institution. Belgian beverage conglomerate InBev SA is finalizing the purchase of Anheiser-Busch Brewing Company.

In related news, "Apple Pie" has been purchased by the sultanate of Bahrain, and "Mom" is now a subsidiary of Toshiba.

The Album Autobiography:Part 3, 1995–2007

2008-07-09T11:08:00.002-04:00

The closer this little project comes to the present, the less my choices diverge. Not exactly a revelation, but it's nice to see that I can still be proud of the music I listened to in high school. I mean, sure, I thought Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" was a pretty good song at the time, but I also purchased everything The Smiths ever committed to disc and I wore out my cassette of Bad Religion's Suffer. So I can hold my head high, while writing off my enthusiasm for EMF and Jesus Jones as youthful folly.

The home stretch...

1995
Then: The Cardigans - Life
Now: Pulp - Different Class
Pavement gets stiffed again: Wowee Zowee comes in a tough second. 1995 was the year I rediscovered vinyl. It was also the year I stopped buying pot and started spending all of my money at Amoeba records in Berkeley. (And dropping the strict chronology for a moment, my actual favorite albums that year were Superchunk's Foolish and The Cramps' Bad Music for Bad People...neither of which was released in 1995.)

1996
Then and Now: Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Weezer's Pinkerton was a close second that year... I was in a solidly "twee as fuck" punk-meets-indie-pop phase. Oh wait. Still am.

1997
Then: TIE: Pavement - Brighten the Corners; Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out
Now: Radiohead - OK Computer
Duh. (Special shout-outs to Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One and Mogwai's Young Team.)

1998
Then and Now: Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Apologies to the Beasties' Hello Nasty.

1999
Then: Blur - 13
Now: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

2000
Then: Outkast - Stankonia
Now: Radiohead - Kid A
A new century, a boring choice. What can I say...Radiohead, she makes-a good records!

2001
Then: Fischerspooner - #1
Now: The Strokes - Is This It
What can I say? I was "working" as a music journalist and I totally drank the Kool-Aid on the whole Electroclash thing.

2002
Then and Now: Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
Not even their shitty last album can spoil me on the majesty of their debut.

2003
Then: The White Stripes - Elephant
Now: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
And it hurt me to have to leave out The Shins' Chutes Too Narrow.

2004
Then: The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
Now: The Arcade Fire - Funeral

2005
Then and Now: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

2006
Then and Now: Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

2007
Then: Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Now: Radiohead - In Rainbows
In Rainbows pulled the ultimate "grower."

So there you have it. Thirty-three years of music. One life, feebly encapsulated.

The Album Autobiography:Part 2, 1985–1994

2008-07-08T13:40:00.006-04:00

We now enter the second decade of An Album for Each Year of Your Life. By the age of ten I had completely severed my own taste in music from that of my parents (although my father's Pink Floyd obsession did stick with me). As a result, I was wholly at the mercy of the marketplace: MTV still showed videos at this point, so I had cobbled together a totally confused cultural identity that was equal parts breakdancer, hair metal fan, and New Waver. In other words, I was a ten year old with a television set.

1985
Then: Wham! - Make It Big
Now: INXS - Listen Like Thieves
Well 1985 is a little embarrassing on both ends, if only because of my utter rock snobbery. Granted, my other childhood choices were Phil Collins and Tears for Fears, so I was never going to look like a super-cool 10-year-old. But INXS? Really? I had to be completely honest with myself here and admit that while The Cure, The Replacements, The Smiths, or Jesus and Mary Chain would make me sound a lot cooler, Listen Like Thieves is still my favorite of the lot, back to front. Besides, Meat Is Murder is definitely my least favorite Smiths album.

1986
Then: Janet Jackson - Control
Now: The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Who knew 1986 was such a powerhouse year for childhood albums? Graceland, Invisible Touch, Run DMC's Raising Hell, and Peter Gabriel's So all ruled my 12-year-old life.

1987
Then and Now: U2 - The Joshua Tree
At the time, INXS's Kick was pretty hot shit as well, but the rooftop video for "Where the Streets Have No Name" was the tiebreaker. These days I consider U2 a little melodramatic, but I can't argue with the album's impact (or its continued appeal).

1988
Then: Living Colour - Vivid
Now: Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Welcome to high school! Truth be told, I was mostly listening to "classic rock" at this point in my life. As for the "Now" category...this was the toughest call so far, with Daydream Nation, Straight Outta Compton, and Surfer Rosa all vying for the top spot.

1989
Then: B-52s - Cosmic Thing
Now: Pixies - Doolittle
Doolittle would have taken then and now honors, but I didn't get into the Pixies until 1990.

1990
Then and Now: Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
Nothing about choosing this album as my current favorite from 1990 feels right. I'm beginning to suspect that a lot of indie releases were left off the Wikipedia list of 1990 albums. That, or I'm just not as different from my high school self as I thought.

1991
Then and Now: Nirvana - Nevermind
It's something of a cliché now, but looking through the list of 1991 albums, it truly was the year music stopped sucking. Tribe released The Low End Theory and a rapper named 2Pac released his first album. Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, and Pearl Jam debuted. And two little masterpieces called Nevermind and Loveless came out. Jesus.

1992
Then: Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Now: REM - Automatic for the People
High school graduation! These two albums could have gone either way, really... they're apples and oranges. Does the fact that it's getting harder to separate Then from Now mean your tastes are largely determined in your teens?

1993
Then: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Now: Breeders - Last Splash
Okay, this probably has more to do with how these respective bands have aged than it does with these two albums, but... nothing wrong with that. And yes, I admit In Utero just wasn't poppy enough for me.

1994
Then: Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
Now: Blur - Parklife
Honesty is overrated. While there's nothing wrong with either of these picks, every fiber of my ego was screaming for Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Continue to Part 3 (1995–2007)

The Album Autobiography: Pick an Album for Each Year of Your LifePart 1: The First Decade

2008-07-07T13:30:00.006-04:00

Steve Hyden over at the A.V. Club Blog presented a challenge (that he found via Idolator) that no compulsive list-maker could hope to resist. Especially one whose post-vacation malaise has made doing actual work all but impossible.

The concept is relatively simple: choose one album from each year that you've been alive. Within that framework, however, some questions arise almost immediately: Are you simply choosing what you currently consider the best album from that year? The "most important" album from that year? The one you liked the best during the actual year in question? Rather than sticking to a rigid set of rules, I've decided to cut the baby in half, essentially presenting two lists at once. For each year I've chosen the album I currently consider the overall champ, along with the album I would have chosen at the time. For the years in which infancy and toddlerhood would make the choice impossible, I'm going with the albums that resonated most clearly in my early childhood. In other words, those that my parents probably played the most around the house. (It should be noted that the two most important albums of my childhood, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles' Abbey Road, were released before I was born.)

And so, with the benefit of hindsight, I give you...

THE ALBUM AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Decade 1

1974
Then: Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Now: Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
I could really have given this one to Joni in both categories, but I used the option to pull in another great album (which itself just barely edged Gram Parson's Grievous Angel).

1975
Then: Fleetwod Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Now: Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
So after the relative ease of 1974, I realize how effing impossible this is gonna be. In the "Then" category, only Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here got stiffed. BUT, 1975 was a ridiculous year for music: Born to Run, Blood on the Tracks, Natty Dread, Tom Waits's Nighthawks at the Diner, Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, Black Sabbath's Sabotage, and Gil Scott-Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised all came out that year. Am I gonna have to keep naming all the runners-up? I'll try to control myself, but I had to give you a taste of just how difficult this is gonna be.

1976
Then: The Eagles - Hotel California
Now: The CBGB trifecta: the self-titled debuts of Blondie, The Ramones, and The Modern Lovers
The Eagles barely edged ELO's A New World Record, which is odd because my dad hated The Eagles. Proof that not even our parents can counteract cultural ubiquity.

1977
Then: TIE: Fleetwood Mac - Rumors; Steely Dan - Aja
Now: Iggy Pop - The Idiot/Lust for Life
Okay, there's a lot of cheating going on already, but this year represents the essential split between my mom (Fleetwood Mac) and my dad (Steely Dan), and I couldn't hope to ever pry these records apart from one another. As for the Iggy records, I own a French vinyl pressing that contains both full albums, so I honestly consider them as one work. ("The Year Punk Broke" was also tough, with debut albums from Wire, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Television, and Talking Heads.)

1978
Then: Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits (1974–1978)
Now: Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Finally, a weak year in both categories.

1979
Then: Pink Floyd - The Wall
Now: The Clash - London Calling
A pair of massive (if unoriginal) candidates mark the end of the 1970s... and the end of my Chicago childhood. California, here I come...

1980
Then: Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Now: X - Los Angeles
A weak album year, even in retrospect. I suppose I was listening to the radio in the car all the time, since we had moved to southern California. So albums don't seem to have as much resonance as singles like "Another One Bites the Dust," "Funkytown," "Rock With You," and Christopher Cross's "Sailing."

1981
Then: Journey - Escape
Now: X - Wild Gift
Although I am a massive X fan, this still blows me away. As Steve Hyden noted in his list, 1981 was a barren graveyard. With MTV newly ascendant (we got it right away in L.A.) and the transition from "classic rock" and punk to "new wave" and hardcore in full bloom, there just weren't many brilliant albums to chose from. As for my younger self, I was transfixed by radio and MTV as well, and was surprised to see that even on albums I recognize from the time (including the Journey album above, the Go-Gos' Beauty and the Beat, and others), I really only know the big singles. This is also when my taste had become totally independent of my mother's, who would have chosen Juice Newton's Juice and Dan Fogelberg's The Innocent Age.

1982
Then: Men at Work - Business as Usual
Now: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
Yes, I liked Business as Usual just a little more than Thriller. As for my choice of Bruuuuuuce... well that was surprising given the great hardcore stuff out at the time (Black Flag, Bad Brains, etc.), but Nebraska just slays me every time I hear it.

1983
Then: Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Now: REM - Murmur
By the age of nine, I was utterly torn between wimpy dance music (Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, etc.) and wimpy metal (Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot). My mom, in the meantime, was addicted to Elton John's Too Low for Zero.

1984
Then and Now: Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
It was close on both ends, with childhood favorites like "Weird Al" Yankovic's In 3-D and Duran Duran's Arena and such current classics as The Smith's self-titled debut and The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime all taking a backseat to the Purple One's greatest masterpiece.

Continue to the second decade (1985–1994).

Zombie Maid!!!

2008-07-02T09:57:00.003-04:00

Watch a higher-quality version HERE.

Day Job Awesomeness Part Deux:The Big Sleep and Home Delivery

2008-06-26T11:26:00.003-04:00

First we have Sigur Rós playing in the lobby, and now The Big Sleep's "You Can't Touch the Untouchable" soundtracks one of our installation videos. I almost like working here today! The full context is available at the exhibition Web site for Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling, but here's the video itself...

(Video by my good friend David Hart, who is off getting married right now. Congratulations, David!)

Sigur Rós @ The Museum of Modern Art, June 17, 2008

2008-06-18T12:36:00.008-04:00

Iceland's finest purveyors of soaring etherea, Sigur Rós, came to my day job last night. Surprisingly enough, not even the music-killing acoustics of the five-story-high atrium was able to ruin their set... the show sounded pretty good (if a tad quiet). I had a fairly shitty vantage point for pictures, but I do like how Rodin's Monument to Balzac looks like it's a member of the band...

Brooklyn Vegan has an extensive selection of pics as well.

R.I.P. Stan Winston (1946–2008)

2008-06-17T10:56:00.009-04:00

Makeup and visual effects visionary Stan Winston died yesterday after a battle with multiple myeloma. He was 62 years old.

The best way to explain Winston's impact on the cinematic landscape is to list just a few of his most notable projects...

The Thing, The Terminator, Aliens (Academy Award), Predator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (two Academy Awards), Pumpkinhead, Edward Scissorhands, Jurassic Park (Academy Award), A.I., Constantine, Iron Man, and of course, the Mr. Roboto mask from Styx's Kilroy Was Here album and tour.

On a personal note, well, it's hard to overstate Winston's impact on my childhood. I spent all of junior high school (and much of high school) planning to be a special makeup effects artist when I "grew up"... a goal mostly inspired by Winston, Rick Baker, and Tom Savini. The Thing remains, in my eyes, one of the finest cinematic achievements of the last fifty years, and much of the credit goes to Winston's astounding creature effects. And beyond these fanboy proclamations of admiration, there is the undeniable fact of his influence on how movies look today. Just take a gander...

NYC Popfest 2008... Well, Sort Of

2008-06-16T17:17:00.007-04:00

Despite managing to miss 50% of the events that comprised this years NYC Popfest—too tired and sore to make it to Love Is All's set at Cake Shop on Thursday; to late to make Tullycraft's show at Piano's on Friday—it was still a fun event to try to be a part of. Saturday's Ladybug Transistor set at Music Hall of Williamsburg was an adorable treat, despite the fact that massive thunderstorms apparently scared many twee nerds away from the show. And the Popfest Recovery BBQ & Farewell Show at Union Pool was fun. Granted, the sunshine was so nice we couldn't bring ourselves to go inside and watch the bands. Okay, so the bottom line is that my indie-pop street cred (library cred?) took a massive beating over the weekend. Bad fan! Baaaaad twee nerd!

Anyway, despite my apparent shortcomings as an indie-popper, I still managed to get some good shots of Ladybug Transistor...

The Breeders at Webster Hall June 10, 2008

2008-06-11T13:02:00.010-04:00

Well the new camera has arrived, and as it turns out... well, it seems the problem may not have been the old point-and-shoot after all. Rumor has it there are lenses and other tricks that will conceal my rank-amateur abilities. Let's hope so.

The show was fantastic, culminating in a rousing "Happy Birthday" serenade to the Deal twins (who were both in high spirits throughout the evening). Along the way, the band trotted out several favorites from Pod, including their cover of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun." An incomplete setlist (missing "Safari" and the second encore of "Fortunately Gone") and more pics are available over at Brooklyn Vegan. **UPDATE** Kim wrote a post on the show over at Spinner.com, and there is apparently a gallery by yours truly going up in that post as well. In the meantime...

White Rabbits at Music Hall of Williamsburg, June 7, 2008

2008-06-09T15:14:00.002-04:00

Behold, the only decent shot I got at this weekend's excellent White Rabbits show...

I am very excited to be getting a new camera.

TWO-HIT WONDERS AND MORE SASQUATCH PICS

2008-06-02T18:04:00.012-04:00

Head on over to Spinner.com to read my latest feature, Two-Hit Wonders. (Okay, I only wrote like fifteen out of twenty or something like that... close enough.)

And here's some more Sasquatch pics. I'm still ironing out a place to post a bigger chunk, so keep your pants on.

SASQUATCH! 2008

2008-05-29T17:50:00.012-04:00

A full post will be up shortly, but in the meantime you can see some of my shots in the Spinner.com Sasquatch gallery (beneath Kim's Rogue Wave interview) and below...

BUILT TO SPILL
FLEET FOXES
THE HIVES
M.I.A.
Rainn "Dwight Schrute" Wilson
TEGAN & SARA
WHITE RABBITS

"I'd like the Eagles of Death Metal breakfast, please."

2008-05-21T10:43:00.001-04:00

Replying to the phrase "Welcome to Denny's, can I take your order?" just got a lot more...hip?

Behold, the Denny's Rock Star Menus initiative!

Yes, Denny's has adopted Taking Back Sunday, The All-American Rejects, Eagles of Death Metal and Plain White T's, asking the bands to develop specialty menu selections. First up, the Plain White T's Groupie Special, which includes three cups of coffee, a side of bacon, a new toothbrush, and a fresh pair of stockings.

Extending Album Art = Awesome

2008-05-19T11:25:00.005-04:00

(From b3ta, via Crimes Against Music)
I'm a strong supporter of open-contribution blog projects, be they friggin' adorable, like Stuff on My Cat (When did Stuff on My Cat devolve into people just sending in cute pictures of cats without any stuff on them??); suicide-watch-inducing, like PostSecret; or hip/hilarious, like Sleeveface.

In the spirit of the latter, b3ta has issued the Extending Album Art challenge. As you can see from the examples above... yeah, it's fairly awesome.

Thanks to Robbb for the tip, and Ben for the link!

Screw Clapton... Prince Is God

2008-04-28T12:04:00.002-04:00

This year we decided to skip Coachella in favor of Sasquatch... and All Points West... and All Tomorrows Parties New York. (Man, I think I might have a problem.)

Anyway, while I still don't regret skipping a festival that gave headlining spots to Jack Johnson and Roger Waters's solo version of The Wall, the last-minute addition of Prince kinda bummed me out.

Then I heard about this...

(Via Pitchfork)

So in the wake of last year's Superbowl, has anyone noticed that Prince, like, totally rules again? If that second guitar solo didn't give you chills, your soul is broken.

Us and Them... Over and Over Again

2008-03-25T18:10:00.003-04:00

There's a nearly infinite list of platitudes beginning with the words "There are two kinds of people in the world." A Google search of this exact phrase generates roughly 46,000 results, although about 60% of those involve Robert Benchly's astoundingly unfunny "There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't." In addition to being mildly retarded even by nineteenth-century standards of wit, Benchly's Law of Distinction is such a facile observation that it's doubtlessly been "coined" independently by thousands of people who have never so much as heard of Robert Benchly. It's like a comedian who claims he was the first to wonder what the deal is with airline peanuts; even in the unlikely event that it's true, it's not worth taking credit for.

Despite the obvious logical problems (the excluded middle principal, the false dilemma), most "two kinds of people" observations are patently false for practical reasons. You're either a Beatles person or a Stones person (or Beatles/Elvis)? Really? Dog person or cat person? Even if you forced people to pick a favorite in these situations, you're ignoring those who hate pets. Or Amazon tribesmen who don't know what the fuck a Beatle is. You're only going to get it right if you claim that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who are identical to me, and everyone else. I suppose you could also claim that there are approximately 6.70 billion kinds of people (as of March 2008), and they correspond to Earth's population in a 1:1 ratio, but you'd have to meet them all to define your types.

The real purpose of the phrase is to establish an adversarial, "us vs. them" relationship. Flaccid one-liners aside, the speaker is usually on one side of an imaginary divide. You can love both the Beatles and the Stones, but some people are dedicated to one being superior, and that is somehow tied up in the existence of a diametric. The either/or thing is exclusionary... it's fightin' words. That's why Chuck Klosterman's claim in his essay "33" that "there is no relationship that isn't a Lakers-Celtics relationship" gets so much play in the sporting press. Because the Lakers-Celtics dynamic is so clearly based on an exclusionary relationship, people will convince themselves of its universality. It's funny because it's true! But Klosterman's point (and most other successful "two kinds of people" arguments share this quality) isn't that you either love the Lakers or you love the Celtics. That wouldn't be a terribly compelling read. His point is that a certain worldview is shared by the Lakers (or cat or Beatles or beer) person, one that is simultaneously opposed to and dependent upon its "opposite" number. And the people who buy into this argument do so because they have already bought into it. Everyone else just stops reading because the whole "debate" strikes them as pointless, which, ultimately, it is.

Which is why, platitudes, sad witticisms, and logical fallacies aside, it is true that there are two kinds of people in the world, Captain Kirk people and Captain Picard people.

Interestingly, the notion of Kirk and Picard as an either/or proposition is even more widespread (on the Interwebs, anyway) than the tired old "there are two kinds of people" idea. A Google search of the phrase "Kirk vs. Picard" yielded an impressive 64,000 results. By my (totally untestable) estimation, that comes out to millions of words worth of nerd vitriol. There was an official Kirk vs. Picard contest that allowed fans to submit projects supporting their fictional captain of choice. There are countless lists detailing Kirk's superiority, and just as many lists going the other way. This is decidedly not a rejoinder in that ongoing debate. (It's a stupid debate for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that both men had the same job, the same mission, and the same employer... and they even worked together once and seem to hit it off quite well.) The beauty of the "two kinds of people" argument is that it does not require that either side desire the subjugation of the other. The Celtics and Lakers are supposed to try and beat the shit out of each other. Lakers people and Celtics people, on the other hand, should be able to coexist peacefully (as long as there isn't a game on TV).

The same is true of Kirk people and Picard people. The two men are archetypes, and choosing between them is both unnecessary and fruitless; depending on where you fall on the nature/nurture debate, it's possible that we're all one or the other from birth anyway. You know the stereotypes: The Kirk person is passionate, loyal, lusty, brash, and quick to action. The Picard person is refined, noble, dedicated to reason and negotiation. The Kirk person likes sex, beer, and shirtless fighting. The Picard person likes romantic poetry, wine, and fencing. Kirk is fiery, Picard is sensitive. Put in the most flattering terms, Ernest Hemingway is a Kirk, while Noam Chomsky is a Picard. In less-than-flattering terms, Matthew McConaughey is a Kirk and James Lipton is a Picard.

Kirk people: prone to shirtlessness
Hell, if you were to just read down that list of characteristics, chances are I described half the marriages you can think of. (Chances are Kirk is the guy in, like, 90% of them, but that's another essay.) The supposed "opposition" of Picard and Kirk really breaks down to differences in approach and temperament, and only those who identify with one or the other in the first place feel the need to choose.

It will always be true that there are two kinds of people in the world, Captain Kirk people and Captain Picard people. Luckily, there's room enough in the universe for all of us.

Secret Squares: The Triumphant Return

2008-03-10T12:16:00.003-04:00

Don't want to duplicate posts, so head over to the Secret Squares site for full details...

Come Hungry. Leave Happy.

2008-03-06T16:57:00.008-05:00

I love (or, more accurately, used to love) the International House of Pancakes. It's way before my time, but this unbelievably bizarre 1969 commercial has brought those old feelings rushing back...

"Of course it says pancakes on the outside, but there's a lot more on the inside." Evidently "a lot more" includes a deranged, acid-damaged chipmunk.

During my "extensive research" for this "piece," I discovered that IHoP is currently celebrating its fiftieth year. The flapjack flagship, if you will, opened in Toluca Lake, California, in 1958. (Sadly, there isn't a single IHoP in Toluca Lake these days.) Impressively, the chain was already adding locations a mere two years later, and by 1963 "International Industries" had reached conglomerate status, acquiring several other brands (including Orange Julius and something called The Original House of Pies).

The classic lineup: blueberry, boysenberry, butter pecan, and strawberry

And yet, despite my very happy IHoP memories from the early 1980s, it seems the chain's descent into mass-market pablum began with two pivotal shifts in the 1970s: In 1973 the company officially embraced the "IHOP" acronym in its marketing materials; and in 1979 they built their last A-frame building.

Remember when you couldn't order the Rooty Tooty Fresh & Fruity breakfast without everyone thinking you were a great big HOMO?(Here's another example of America's Fresh&Fuityphobia.)

I haven't had an IHoP pancake in years because a) I haven't been on a road trip with my dad since I was a teenager; b) you can't really get decent chain food in Manhattan; and c) the franchise has gradually become just another strip-mall symbol of America's slackening jaw and thickening waistline... after all, last year IHoP purchased Applebees. It's hard to consider something a special treat when it's traded on the Nasdaq (IHP) and the iconic building has been replaced by thousands of shitty looking blue monstrosities. According to Wikipedia, "As of September 30, 2007, the chain had 1,328 restaurants in 49 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, and Mexico." Hell, these days they use "International House of Pancakes" as a "secondary name."

Anyway, the company's official timeline, along with the Wikipedia entry, make for fascinating -- if ultimately depressing -- reading. I did use the restaurant locater to find my nearest IHoP: just a block from the Hoyt/Schermerhorn subway stop in Brooklyn. I won't be eating pancakes in that neighborhood anytime soon, so I'll have to wait until the next road trip.

At least now they have cool celebrity spokespeople...

The Big Sleep at Mercury Lounge, 2/21/08

2008-02-25T16:15:00.006-05:00

You read that right. The Big Sleep at Mercury Lounge...again. Sound was a little muddy, but we had a nice time. And I took artsy-fartsy pictures.

I'll post the full set on Flickr is the site ever gets fixed. In the meantime, I also took somemuddy sounding, not-so-tasty (once I compressed it for YouTube, that is) video...

Artisanal Cocaine: For Those Who Demand the Very Best

2008-02-20T21:50:00.002-05:00

My good friend Josh at Dilettante Films has finally hit the big time. (And if you look closely, you'll even see fellow Secret Square Tye in the background at the video's end.)

Band of Horses at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 2/14/08

2008-02-19T12:17:00.009-05:00

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Gee, this site used to consist of more than incessant (and sub-par) concert photos."

You are not wrong. *Bitter Defeat* has been something of a one-trick pony over the past month. I have no compelling excuse (although I have several not-very-compelling excuses). I can only promise to try harder to focus on my own meandering fancies and the detritus of popular culture.

And now back to the middling photos and half-assed concert reviews...

Despite slightly muddy sound and the fucking travesty that is the "beer ticket," Brooklyn Masonic Temple is a very cool venue. It was like seeing a show in a high school gymnasium circa 1961, minus the taffeta and cats-eye glasses. The band played an energetic set (especially during the show's latter half), culminating in a fantastic (and totally unexpected) cover of Chicago's "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," sung by keyboardist Ryan Monroe. Monroe has upped BoH's "bar band" quotient by roughly three hundred percent, and a Doobie Brothers cover is always just around the corner. (He always makes me think of Jeff Healey, the Double Deuce's blind slide guitar player in Road House.)

It was a nice down-home Valentine's Day for the whole family, with more beards, flannel, and trucker hats than you could shake a stick at. In other words, it was a typical night in Brooklyn.

(Full image set at Flickr)

Nada Surf at Music Hall of Williamsburg (2/7/08) and Bowery Ballroom (2/8/08)

2008-02-11T13:31:00.002-05:00

Two nights of seamless power-pop with New York's very own Nada Surf! Despite their reputation among the general public as a 1990s Alternative Nation one-hit wonder thanks to 1996's "Popular" (MP3), Nada Surf has amassed a large and die-hard indie-rock following. And although their latest album, Lucky (which came out last Tuesday) is good-not-great, they put on one hell of a live show. Highlights on both nights included "Blonde on Blonde," "Happy Kid," "Always Love," new track "Ice on the Wing" (MP3), and a show-stopping version of "Killian's Red" (MP3).

Unfortunately when I took out my camera to grab some shots of the Williamsburg show, I realized the battery was still at home charging. As for the Bowery show the following night, it was one of the darkest, reddest shows I've seen in a long time. Which means my pictures pretty much suck. (Check out the "entire" set at Flickr. ~~Hopefully Redboy will post his shots soon.~~ **UPDATE: Redboy's pix are up.)

The show culminated in the most well-behaved stage invasion of all time...

And here's some (surprise, surprise) dark, red-lit video of "Blonde on Blonde"...

Finally, some bad news and some good news:

First, the bad news. Criminally underrated American cinema icon Roy Scheider passed away yesterday at the age of 75. Best known for playing a cop (or a spy) in almost every cool movie of the 1970s (including Klute, The French Connection, The 7-Ups, Jaws, The Marathon Man, and Sorcerer), Scheider continued to do great work well into the 1990s, from All That Jazz, Blue Thunder, and 2010 to gritty neo-noir projects like 52 Pick-Up and Romeo Is Bleeding. In a weird way, it's akin to losing a really cool older brother.

We'll all miss you, Chief Brody.

Now for the good news. As reported at Gothamist, Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool, possibly the city's the best overall summer music venue, will apparently be around for one more concert season. Maybe I'll learn to use my camera before then.

Vampire Weekend @ Bowery Ballroom January 30, 2008

2008-01-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

Indie-blog flavor of the month Vampire Weekend brought their Talking Heads-meets-The Feelies vibe to a packed Bowery Ballroom last night, baiting New Yorkers with pro-Patriots rhetoric, and then re-winning hearts with cheerfully low-cal beat-pop. I haven't quite figured out how I feel about these guys. They're incredibly tight live, but there's something slight about their music. It's as if they aren't quite sure how seriously to take themselves. Given the fact that 80% of their lyrics are about college, youth may be a factor.

[Additional photos at Flickr]
Rock-crit considerations aside, the band sounded terrific and a good time was had by all. Here's some tropical guitar action caught on video...

(Also... Shots from the previous night's show on Pitchfork, and a Vampire Weekend Guest List to boot.)

One bit of unrelated ephemera: Check out Sleeveface immediately.

God Bless the USA

2008-01-28T16:14:00.000-05:00

It is a proud time to be an American. After tonight's State of the Union address (Baby GeeDubya's last), we are sure to be prouder still.

America, the land of plenty, where all who dwell enjoy freedom of choice amid an embarrassment of riches. (We are free, for example, to wantonly mix metaphors.) The choices facing American moviegoers this weekend, however, may explain why the terrorists hate our freedom (to paraphrase David Cross). On the one hand we had Rambo, an unholy cross between classic batshit vanity project and populist kill-lots-of-brown-people brutality-fest. On the other, Meet the Spartans, an equally unappetizing mishmash of (what I presume to be) already-dated pop-culture references, strung together with fart jokes, juvenile homophobia, and countless variations on the collision of projectile and crotch. One thing's for sure: that's a uniquely American set of choices.

And so, being an American, I chose. Unfortunately, I did not choose "c) None of the above," even though I knew this to be the correct answer. Instead, I chose to see what happens when a 61-year-old pumps himself full of elephant growth hormone in order to mumble incoherently and blow shit up for 90 minutes. What happens is one's I.Q. drops precipitously. I am doubtlessly stupider today than I was yesterday. Much more stupider. In addition, I never want to stop showering. If it were possible to remove my brain and wash it, I would. Never has man's inhumanity to man been so gleefully sprayed across the silver screen. No amount of ironic distance could hold back the tide of objectionable material; a thick, clotted wave of rape, decapitation, limb removal, baby tossing, flamethrowing, and blatant machete misuse. There isn't enough "meta" in the collected works of Roland Barthes to separate one's consciousness from Rambo's infectious bloodlust and all-consuming stupidity.

And also, like a good American, I had a wonderful time. Sure, I could break my arm patting myself on the back because we laughed our way through the film and felt tired and dirty and guilty and violated afterwards. But you know what? Rambo still got our $11.25. Tongues in cheeks or not, we still had a blast watching human bodies get turned into piles of raspberry jelly.

And so tonight, when Good Ol' Boy #1 gets up and dangles that pretty $600 check in my slack-jawed face, I'll probably just giggle, drool, and fantasize about all the violent games I can play on that brand new XBox 360 I'm gonna buy.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Friday Quickie

2008-01-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

I have no idea whether this video is legit, but I can't resist because Kim's description was so priceless:

"A bird poops in a loser's mouth"

Dead Meadow @ Bowery Ballroom, 1/16/08

2008-01-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

Matador's finest psych/metal/groove-meisters, Dead Meadow, played a smashing set at Bowery Ballroom this past Wednesday in support of their upcoming album, Old Growth (which streets on February 5). Minds, they were blown. More distortion pedals that you could shake a stick at. Flannel; moustaches; sweet, sweet grooves: the airbrushed-van-and-skull-bong vibe was in full effect. Needless to say, the venue smelled like a Rastafarian wedding.

In the spirit of true heaviness, the band employed not one but two--count 'em two--Orange Music Electronic Company stacks.

The Orange stack brings the heavy (as evidenced by the name of their Thunderverb amplifier head), and its presence on stage is always cause for celebration. (Check out the FULL PHOTO SET at Flickr.) (Redboy got some [depressingly superior] shots as well.)

In totally unrelated news, the full Coachella lineup has been announced. No My Bloody Valentine. No Radiohead. Yes Jack Johnson. Yes Slightly Stoopid. Yes Roger Waters doing Dark Side of the Moon without the other members of Pink Floyd. Most pathetic festival lineup of all time? If not, it's certainly on the short list.

The Big Sleep @ Mercury Lounge, New Year's Eve

2008-01-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

Truly a New Year's Rockin' Eve at downtown Manhattan's Mercury Lounge. The Big Sleep played a scorching set of old favorites, tracks from their new album, and, naturally, a 100% instrumental Led Zeppelin medley. Faces were rocked off. Ears were injured. A truly wonderful way to ring in 2008.

As you can probably tell, I was also breaking in a brand new camera. Needless to say I had not yet spent any quality time with the instruction manual when these shots were taken.

While my mastery of the photographic arts remains a work in progress, I was able to shoot a brief snippet of decent video:

Onward and upward with the arts! Happy New Year!

LISTMANIA! 2007THE 25 BEST ALBUMS OF 2007PART II: THE TOP 10

2007-12-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

**If you missed albums 25–11, you may want to catch up first. Or not. Free country.**

BITTER DEFEAT'S 25 BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, PART TWO

10. Tegan and Sara – The Con

Applying the term "power pop" to The Con seems ridiculous at first, mainly because the drums don't kick in until 1:20 into the album's second song. But from then on the hooks just keep coming. Even more polished and accessible (in the best sense) than 2004's excellent So Jealous, The Con also takes on a darker, more world-weary tone; check out the doleful piano in "Back in Your Head" and "Soil, Soil" and you'll see what I mean.

9. Kevin Drew – Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew Spirit If...

As the title suggests, this is basically a new Broken Social Scene album, only with more beautiful Kevin Drew songs and fewer instrumental freakouts. So how you feel about this album relative to the rest of the band's output will probably be determined by how you feel about the previous sentence.

8. Panda Bear – Person Pitch

"Sounds like..." sentences are always an iffy proposition (and tend to alienate half the people reading anyway), but Panda Bear prove especially tricky to nail down. That said, it sounds like The Mamas & The Papas dropped a bunch of acid and recorded an album in an airplane hanger on Mars. Consisting solely of Noah Lennox (of Animal Collective), Panda Bear marries weird atmospherics and Wall-of-Sound echo effects to produce the most ethereal pop album of the year. Despite that last sentence, this is not the thinking man's Enya.

7. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin

Relocating to South Carolina had an obvious impact on these guys: opening track "Is There a Ghost" notwithstanding, BoH have largely eschewed the massive waves of guitars from last year's debut album in favor of love songs and more straightforward southern-fried rock. I'll admit I miss the dreamier aspects this time around, but it's hard to complain about something this fun. "The General Specific" and "Marry Song" in particular bear the imprint of rootsier influences, from The Band right through the Rolling Stones' "country honk" phase. If any 2007 album could be embodied by a twelve-pack of Bud cans, this was it.

6. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

I was late to the party on the debut album, and this one took me a while as well. The reasons this time around are twofold: First, The Arcade Fire make "grower" music of the highest order; second (and this would undoubtedly be hotly debated by the band's internerd devotees), Neon Bible opens with its weakest tracks. "Black Mirror" is the worst song on the album, and the whole enterprise never really hits a stride until the double-whammy of "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" and the brilliant "Ocean of Noise." That said, when things finally get rolling the band more than lives up to the ridiculous expectations set by Funeral and the re-released self-titled EP. (And speaking of the EP, Neon Bible's reworked version of "No Cars Go" is utterly inferior to its predecessor.)

5. White Rabbits – Fort Nightly

Preppy, slightly aloof boys with boarding-school looks and a penchant for ringing guitars, bombastic percussion, and antique barroom piano. Yeah, I would have guessed The Walkmen as well. Although comparisons between the two are somewhat apt, White Rabbits have a more varied rhythmic approach, employing the occasional 4-4 beat along with elements of sea shanties, mariachi, ska, and music hall. Along with the fantastic one-two punch of Greg Roberts and Stephen Patterson on vocals, the genre-hopping lends the proceedings a sense of fun, snotty menace reminiscent of early Madness and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

4. Radiohead – In Rainbows

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Radiohead are brilliant. This album really does get more amazing with each listen. Amnesiac notwithstanding, they are clearly the greatest working band on Earth.

3. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

On their sixth studio album, Britt Daniel and Jim Eno owe very special thanks to... black people! From the blue-eyed Motown of "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" to the slinky funk of "Don't You Evah," Spoon help put the lie to Sasha Frere-Jones's "controversial" horseshit about there being no soul left in indie rock. Spoon's trajectory over the course of six albums has been astonishing, and it seems that they outdo themselves every year.

2. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

Not bad for the band that placed at the very top of the 2005 album list. What Sound of Silver gives up in sheer danceability, it more than makes up for in heart; "All My Freinds," "Someone Great," and "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" inject genuine human feeling into a genre that's usually stuck in one gear. Also... cowbells.

1. Deerhunter – Cryptograms

Suffused with meandering aural soundscapes and shimmering lakes of tremolo and reverb, Cryptograms channels Brian Eno by way of the more dissonant sides of Suicide, Neu!, and My Bloody Valentine. The album is essentially a series of ethereal sound experiments punctuated by three or four "proper songs," which give the effect of gleaming spires rising out of a swirling mist. Only, you know...way less pretentious. This was the closest race in years for best album, so Deerhunter took the prize by virtue of their relative novelty and the strength of their equally amazing Fluorescent Grey EP, which also came out this year.

Some final points about the 2007 album lists:

It should be noted that some albums for which I had high expectations (Ghostface Killah's The Big Doe Rehab and Wu Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams, for example) came out too late for consideration. And there were many albums I really wanted to get my hands on, but simply couldn't (Grizzly Bear's Friend EP, Deerhoof's Friend Opportunity, Andrew Bird's Airmchair Apocrypha, 1900s' Cold and Kind, etc.). Finally, some honorable mentions for other good-to-great albums that didn't make the cut (in no order whatsoever):

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Is Is (EP); OM – Pilgrimage; White Stripes – Icky Thump; Various Artists – After Dark (Italians Do It Better compilation); Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank; Battles – Mirrored; Rogue Wave – Asleep at Heaven's Gate; Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare; Fields – Everything Last Winter; Art Brut – It's a Bit Complicated.

Hope you enjoyed Listmania! 2007, and may you pick up and enjoy as much of this music as possible. (For a disgustingly exhaustive run-down of 2007 best-of lists, be sure to visit Largehearted Boy.) Happy New Year!