Bobby Ubangi looked death in the eye for months. He was supposed to die in a timetable of six…he lasted nine. Somewhere in there, he recorded his last full length. It’s a cunning work, especially considering the circumstances. Even though death was forming for Ubangi, he never let its imminent approach eat away what he wanted to get done. That’s admirable and inspirational. After eleven straight dirty lo-fi gems, including my favorite “Another Girl Like You,” there’s “Sinking,” an introspective of what’s nearing. Here are the words:
Sinking.
Everybody knows that I’ve been sinking.
Everybody knows that I’ve been sinking.
Nobody can turn me down.
Sinking.
Everybody knows what I’ve been thinking.
Everybody knows what I’ve been thinking.
Everything’s been bringing me down.
Standing out and S.O.S is my last sign of distress.
Maybe there’s somebody near who can save me from this mess.
Sinking.
Everybody knows that I’ve been sinking.
Everybody knows that I’ve been sinking.
Everybody’s watching me drown.
Everybody’s watching me drown.
Everybody’s watching me drown.
This by no means is an official indication of popularity…that’s something that can only roughly be estimated. This looks at number of last.fm listeners around the world.
– Radiohead: 2,872,982
– Bob Dylan: 1,511,558
– Pixies: 1,336,206
– Arctic Monkeys: 1,717,157
– Editors: 1,062,559
– Sonic Youth: 1,000,586
– Spoon: 924,767
– Morrissey: 746,011
– Animal Collective: 725,900
– Hot Hot Heat: 714,748
– Elvis Costello: 633,258
– Built to Spill: 538,664
– Dinosaur Jr: 459,611
– The Walkmen: 451,744
– Head Automatica: 299,834
– Deerhunter: 299,689
– Psychedelic Furs: 295,214
– Paul Weller: 294,751
– Louis XIV: 273,512
– The Rifles: 239,431
– Meat Puppets: 224,973
– The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: 215,931
– Sunset Rubdown: 206,829
– Girls: 202,386
– Black Lips: 190,777
– No Age: 152,179
– Mission of Burma: 152,216
– High Places: 117,942
– Handsome Furs: 102,755
– Wavves: 102,375
– Cymbals Eat Guitars: 94,518
– Real Estate: 81,680
– Jay Reatard: 80,453
– Here We Go Magic: 70,184
– The Feelies: 63,382
– The Warlocks: 63,041
– Harlem: 53,371
– Trevor Hall: 47,675
– Kurt Vile: 44,522
– King Khan and the Shrines: 42,623
– Dum Dum Girls: 42,483
– Strange Boys: 30,882
– King Khan & BBQ Show: 29,590
– The War on Drugs: 19,583
– Mark Sultan: 11,798
– Nobunny: 6,413
– Hunx and His Punx: 5,185
– Box Elders: 4,334
– TV Smith: 4,106
– Uninhabitable Mansions: 3,334
– The Dig: 2,561
– Faces on Film: 1,080
– The Big Big Bucks: 598
– The Maine Coons: 67
1. “Is This It?” A+ 2. “The Modern Age” – A+ 3. “Soma” – A 4. “Barely Legal” – A+
5. “Someday” – A+
6. “Alone, Together” – A+
7. “Last Nite” – A+ 8. “Hard to Explain” – A++
9. “When It Started” – A+ / “New York City Cops” – A+
10. “Trying To Your Luck” – A+
11. “Take It Or Leave It” – A+
Comments: The best of the bunch of so-called revivalists that spawned in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, The Strokes weren’t really revivalists at all. What were they reviving? These guys weren’t punks, either. This album is vintage pop-rock gold. Pop-rock gold that completely triumphs the dumb, uninspiring, and utterly boring, pop-rock of bands of today like…The Script. Despite widespread media coverage of this record and The Strokes legacy in general, it’s a shame they’ve never really crossed over into mainstream pop radio’s heart. Just a few years ago I was informed of this band, so I’m not going to try to pretend these guys were a favorite when I was eleven. I’d heard odds and ends off this album…most amazing to me, initially, were “Someday” and “The Modern Age”…but this was my first time listening to in its entirety. There’s hardly any bands that have produced a better start-to-finish(er). The little bursts of distortion and Casablancas’ distinctive voice are awesome moments on so many of these tunes. Even the songs that I’ve heard only a few times vs. hundreds of times for the others are immediately likable.
1. “My Name Is Jonas” – A 2. “No One Else” – A 3. “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here” – A 4. “Buddy Holly” – A++
5. “Undone (The Sweater Song)” – A+
6. “Surf Wax America” – A 7. “Say It Ain’t So” – A+ 8. “In The Garage” – A 9. “Holiday” – A 10. “Only In Dreams” – A-
Comments: Before a bunch of shitty bands entered the “alternative rock” or “power-pop” fray, there was Weezer. Before Weezer was Pixies and Pavement…their distinct musical styles come through on a lot of these songs. The thing about Blue Weezer is that Blue Weezer is pure mid-tempo heavy fun. Do debuts get better than this in terms of quantity/quality of hooks? “Buddy Holly,” maybe because I’ve known it for years and years, is just pure pop genius. From start to finish, it’s a listening experience that’s really one of a kind. “Undone” follows a groundbreaking “talk-verse-chorus-talk-verse-chorus” format that makes it extremely hard not to like. Also, the ending’s awesome. “Say It Ain’t So” is one of those songs that doesn’t really hit you until the chorus hits. And then it’s all fine and dandy from there. I’ve realized I’ve only brought up the hit singles in this little comment space, but every song on here is a winner.
Everyday now and then the Bitchdork Media machine comes out with a worthwhile feature. That’s the case today with their POV Concert Series. The Walkmen perform four songs off their new great record Lisbon in some vacant studio. The thing that makes this awesome is that you get to see the band from six points of view…hence the title. So if you want a rough (or pretty good) idea of how to drum like Matt Barrick does on “Angela Surf City,” you can go to the POV (#4) that mainly focuses in on him.
Full Title: Toy Story 3 Director: Lee Unkrich Year: 2010 Running Time: 103 minutes Comments:
Being a huge fan of the Toy Story saga, I highly anticipated this third installment like so many other young people that grew up with the first two films. Looking back and to this day, the original Toy Story (1995) is one of the few “kids,” CGI films that I enjoyed. I don’t know what it is, maybe because it was the first of its kind or perhaps because I was so young when I saw it in theaters. I don’t know, but I have always held a place for it in my heart. Up until a few weeks ago, I actually had not seen it in nearly ten years and yet I still knew most of the lines! Then, of course, it was followed by Toy Story 2 (1999), which I also saw in theaters and liked. On the other hand, it was ok in comparison to its predescessor and lacked that inital, special touch. So, going into this new movie, I had big expectations and hoped it would be at least as good as the sophomore effort, but probably not on par with the original film. Fortunately, my expectations were satisfied and then some! Which, by the way, is a rare feat; I often walk away feeling disapointed, to different degrees. Ok, now about this “feature presentation.” In Toy Story 3 the owner of the toys, the young boy Andy is becoming a man as he heads off to college, having long abandoned his action figures and playmates alike. As he cleans out this old “junk” he comes across his old heroes, Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), he decides to take Woody with him, but leaves Buzz with the other toys. His mother mistakes a bag filled with the toys (intended for the attic) for a trash bag. Feeling unwanted, they escape and crawl into a box that is to be sent to the Sunnyside Daycare, believing they will be appreciated and loved by new children. Woody follows the others, trying to convince them otherwise. SORTA SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! Upon their arrival at the Daycare they are greeted by another toy, Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty), whom on the surface appears to be a warm, welcoming host, but beneath he is a cruel, sadistic, monster. As it turns out, he runs Sunnyside as a prison and the toys become his inmates. Now, it is up to Woody and the gang to defeat the evil Lotso and return to their beloved owner, Andy. I must say Lotso is a great villain, one of the best I have seen in a while and perhaps the best I have ever seen in a children’s movie. He is truly filled with hatred and bitterness beyond repair. Which causes the viewer in some ways to simultaneously fear and pity him. Well maybe not fear… fear for the characters, ok just a little bit of fear. Ahh, being scared by a teddy bear (with a cane at that!), a new low for me. In any case, there is certainly a dark and often emotional tone to the film that is executed near perfectly. It’s darker than the previous two TS, but not murky enough to frighten kids and push them away, and there’s plenty of humor/fun for the whole family to enjoy. Sometimes the jokes are a bit too Pixar for my taste, such as the exchanges between Ken and Barbie, which make me smirk, but are not exactly the strengths of an otherwise unique film. The story culiminates in a fantastic and beautifully chaotic climax, which with no hyberbole, I can safely say keeps you on the edge of your seat and feeling earnestly concerned for the well being of the characters. Overall, this is a great film and perhaps the best all summer, but it is not without its flaws. It drags toward the end, such as the scene between Andy and Bonnie, which could benefit from some trimming. Also, I know this is a kids movie lol, but seriously, Andy would not care as much about these toys! For example, his reaction at the beginning was very genuine; he didn’t really care about them. Him tagging Woody along because he means something to him, I can somewhat buy, but claiming that all of them mean something to him is a stretch, for me at least. As I said, it drags, but all in all, the ending works well. So, is it better than the first film? No, but few are. With that being said, Toy Story 3 does what very few films can: make an honorable and wonderful trilogy. In this instance, it is even more notable because in most trilogies, the third feature is the weakest, clearly this is not the case. I might not love this film as much as the first, but it is undeniably well crafted and will most likely be revered in years to come.
Grade: A-, initially after viewing this I was feeling between a B+ and A- (which some folks thought was too harsh lol), but through the process of film analysis, I eventually leaned toward its well deserved A-.
