Comments: Sometimes robotic electronic noises can be annoying. That’s the case on the first song. It’s a stark contrast from the upbeat positively spun “Ambling Alp,” which is undeniably an instant classic, albeit a little cheesy. “Stick up for yourself, son” really Yeasayer, really? Whatever man. I really dig the pseudo neo-soul that begins “And those thunder clouds…” It reminds me of OutKast. I’m a bit unfazed with the next tune. There are some sweets licks and catchy sequences, but it starts out a bit slow. “I Remember” has a good beat. “ONE” is wanna-be Peter Bjorn and John Living Thing (meets Julian Casablancas) material, except a bit more psychedelic and outer worldly. I don’t hate it. What’s up with the Justin Timberlake-esque stuff on “Love Me Girl.” It’s got the title and chops to fit on a JT collection. It takes guts to name a song after a great song by Phoenix (Rome). Especially when your version is many times worse than the original.
Since, Santa was nice enough to give me plenty of albums this year, as always, I will be reviewing them and let me assure you, we have some classics on the way.
” I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This was and still is the harsh truth. At this site, there are other thought provoking quotes from King, mostly in his final years, when he turned radical; unfortunately( but purposely) much of this of this wisdom is anonymous in the mainstream media. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_king_jr.html
This looks like it could be the next classic teen flick; it’s based on a novel by C.D. Payne, which is already a classic from what I hear. Check out both, I know I will.
1. “Pope John Paul” – A+ 2. “In the Valley” – A+ 3. “I Really Like You” – A
4. “Frantic” – A+ 5. “Wrong Choice” – A+ 6. “Mildly Decorated” – A+ 7. “Photocorners” – A+ 8. “The Only Appalachian” – A
9. “Ooh You Shocked Me” – A 10. “E Man Sorrow” – A+
11. “Rod Stewart” – A++
12. “Breakfast Cake” – A+
13. “Lion Eats The Wildebeest” – A+
Comments: Talk about a fun album! Lovely Feathers are overflowing with energy and power-pop charisma. It’s sort of synth-pop meets straight up garage-pop. A fun combination! Although it looks like I am worshiping this album or what have you, I am not. It’s damn good, though. If I was doing a normal review for this, it’d probably end up as a best album of the year candidate, not to mention one of the best albums of the decade. There is nothing epic about this one. What you hear is what you get. Fast, quirky, pseudo-dance numbers. “Rod Stewart” sort of exemplifies the spirit of this album. Heavy and catchy. Unfortunately, haters might decline to take this album seriously. That’s unfortunate for them, because sometimes sappy is much needed in music. Most of the tracks on here are multi-layered. So inevitably some parts are catchier and better than others. But I tell you that the catchy parts are really really really catchy.
Band: The Libertines Release: 2004 Label: Rough Trade
1. “Can’t Stand Me Now” – A+
2. “Last Post on the Bugle” – B+ 3. “Don’t Be Shy” – B 4. “The Man Who Would Be King” – A- 5. “Music When The Lights Go Out” – A-
6. “Narcissist” – A
7. “The Ha Ha Wall” – B
8. “Albeit Macht Frei” – B+ 9. “Campaign of Hate” – B- 10. “What Katie Did Next” – A 11. “Tomblands” – A 12. “The Saga” – B 13. “Read to Ruin” – A
14. “What Became of the Likely Lads” – A+
Comments: Our band could be your life. For a short period of time, this band was my life. Well, not quite, but I regarded them as my favorite of all time. “Can’t Stand Me Now” was quite the anthem for me, with just enough post-punk and garage pizazz. Sidenote: I’d love to see this band live and it just might be possible. At least a few credible sources have it that the ‘Tines will fully re-unite for the first time in six years in 2010. This record isn’t the band’s best because, principally, it lacks flow and direction. There are some real gems to be found, but a good chunk of these tunes aren’t really memorable. For Pete’s sake (pun intended), Grace/Wastelands kicks this album’s ass. Speaking of album closers and such, “What Became” is among my favorites. It’s arguably the best song on here.
Comments: As the good man Matt alluded to a few posts back , this is truly a beautiful record. It does have tear-jerking attributes as well as uplifting pump-your-fists kind of moments. There isn’t much to critique, though I’d opine that some tracks definitely have more of an epic factor than others. Take “Crown of Love,” for instance. I don’t know whether to feel happy or sad. It’s like one of those feelings you get when you feel like you are going to pull through, yet you still feel a shitload of remorse. I guess that’s the best quality of this album: you can connect with it in a plethora of ways. I’m not good at interpreting songs from a lyrical point of view (at least the first time around), so I can’t comment too much on what’s actually going on during these ditties. It’s something amazing, though. Don’t know about your thoughts, but the transition from “Crown” to “Wake Up” is fucking incredible. You know the little old school jitter-and-jive on “Wake Up” gets me every time. It’s so random, yet so fitting. I’m going to wager “Haiti” to be my favorite song on here. It’s just about perfect. Not quite there, but just about. Ask your average AF fan, and they’ll probably say “Rebellion” is their flava-fave and it’s damn great, don’t get me wrong. In fact, it’s probably the most epic song of all time. Or something like that.
Let me start off this review by saying: OOOOHHHHH MMMMYYYYY GGGGGOOOOODDDDDD!!!!!!!! I can’t describe how PERFECT this film is. I can’t even describe the plot that does it justice. Here is the plot as told by Netflix: “Late one night, a lost soul named Ink snatches 8-year-old Emma (Quinn Hunchar) into the world of dreams. There, he hopes to use her soul to join the ranks of the evil Incubi. In the real world, Emma lies comatose, to the despair of her father, John (Chris Kelly). But the Incubi’s benevolent opposites — the Storytellers — rally to help Emma, motivating John to wage war for his daughter. Jessica Duffy co-stars in this dark fable.” After I finished this movie, I couldn’t breathe. It’s one of those. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The Storyteller characters will warm your hearts. The Incubi will give you nightmares (its kinda their job). Director Jamin Winans has given a gift to the cinema world. I dare you to watch this film and not want to watch it as soon as you finish it.
Overall Grade: A++++++++++++++++++++++++. Words cannot describe this film. I’ll let the film do it itself.
Here is the trailer.
This Christmas with all the movies opening, I decided to go against the what’s expected of me going to see Sherlock Holmes and instead going to see Nine. And might I say I’m glad I did. Nine is a movie-musical based the 1983 Broadway musical “8 1/2.” Nine tells the story of Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) as he struggles to pen his latest film “Italia.” Meanwhile, his personal life is in shambles, in particular all the women in his life. These women are his wife (a phenomenal Marion Cotillard), his mistress (an equally as phenomenal Penelope Cruz), his assistant (Dame Judi Dench), his mother (Sophia Loren), a journalist (Kate Hudson), a whore from his childhood (Fergie) and his leading actress (Nicole Kidman). This super woman ensemble is perfect to a T. Most of the songs are heart felt looks into the character. I was on the verge of tears during “My Husband Makes Movies” which is sung by an aforementioned phenomenal Marion Cotillard. Rob Marshall, who directed the Oscar-winning Chicago, does the musical numbers like Chicago with his music video like editing. I personally loved it. It made it look really polished. My only real problem with it is that they added a song that was not in the original musical, “Cinema Italiano.” I like the song but it kind of goes against the theme of the rest of the music which is kind of Jazzy like. But overall a very good film worth the price of admission.
