Roman Polanski

This Roman Polanski thing is bizarre. I don't know all of the legal in and outs of the case, but it seems to be pretty clear that the judge at the original trial had a serious vendetta/wanted his 15 minutes.

I usually don't write about film here, but I think Polanski's first feature Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water) merits discussion on a music blog for a couple of reasons. The most obvious is the atmospheric Jazz soundtrack. The Swedish tenor sax virtuoso Bernt Rosengren features very prominently in the experience of watching this film. His evocative solo performances underline the eerie feeling of isolation that the three boaters encounter.

The second reason is Polanski's incredible formal discipline shooting on the boat. The artful shots of the characters laying on deck and the constant interplay between the horizantal and vertical lines of the boat and the horizon prefigures the formal ideas in a lot of modern music videos.

Here is a clip from the film, featuring Rosengren's music and the incredibly hot Jolanta Umecka making her first appearance in that bikini...

You can see the entire film in much better quality for free (although only in the US and Canada) thanks to The Auteurs here

Higher than the Stars: New Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Same chord progressions. Same low-key delivery. Different result, I think.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have released an EP called Higher Than the Stars EP. The title track drips of the similar indie cute-ness as their debut album. Thematically, they retread the teen love theme, but with a little twist. It is the synths that signal a new direction for the band. I'm still interested...

Buy the 12" from Insound

mp3 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Higher than the Stars.

Track Review: Summertime by Girls

In this post I want to cover a track that hasn't been popping up too much in other reviews: "Summertime." All the tracks on the record are good, but I seriously got in a fetal position on the floor, turned up my speakers and let this song blow me away last night.

The track is a Girls standard in that it starts with a simple rhythm guitar and a great pop bassline. Owens enters, his voice fragile and expressive, lending depth to the deceptively simple lyrics. The song seems to be about a couple enjoying a perfect summer day. But like all of the songs, there is pathos hidden here. The "you" Owens is singing to/about is never rendered, conspicuously absent. The song is really about loneliness and memories, in the past tense ("get high like I used to do").

After the first verse, the guitars and synths explode into a shimmering riff, we enter the "feeling" of that lost summer day. Suddenly, the synths stop, and we are left with a solitary strumming of a rhythm guitar, as the musician once again becomes conscious off his loneliness. Owens' wonderful chorus returns and the song ends with a lone guitar chord. When you think about it, the song's structure is anything but traditional pop. There are verses and choruses, but in between the two halves comes a huge instrumental break. Songs like "Summertime" makes Album one of the best pop records of the last couple of years, and confirm its status as a real work of art.

mp3 girls Summertime (via HearYa)

Live performance from FADER TV

Review: "Album" by Girls

Last night around 6, I got a package full of goodies from insound: the "Lust for Life Single," a poster, and of course, "Album," which I previewed in late August (mp3s still available at that post). Now that the record is here, it's time for a proper review.

First, the vinyl copy from True Panther sounds excellent. The album was recorded in bedrooms across San Francisco using lots of analog equipment, which gives the record a really warm personable sound. The two singles, "Lust for Life" and "Hellhole Ratrace" are highlights and serve as a good starting point to discuss the band's convergence of influences.

"Lust for Life," which opens the album, basically lists a set of wishes on top of a bright rhythm guitar and bassline. It is an uptempo pop song in the Big Star mode. "Hellhole Ratrace" (one of the top 500 songs of the decade according to one famous website) builds slowly through repetition, reaching a level of psychedelic intensity during the final repetitions of the hook.

There are other forces at play here. The shitgaze/nofi aesthetic (which I like!) is there, most notably on "Big Bad Mean Motherfucker"- a Beach Boys song dragged through the 2009 fuzz machine. However, unlike some of the other bands that make up this movement, it never feels like Girls (Christopher Owens and Chet White) are lowering production value to cover a lack of ideas. Rather, they lend a real spirit of virtuosity to the DIY aesthetic, constantly finding new ways to add to melodies. The effect is an album that infuses well-written songs innovative and melodies with the amateur's sense of enthusiasm and participation. The songs, mostly about love, sound as if they could be written by anyone, but in fact, are well-crafted works of art.

The aesthetic that I have been trying to explain, is also what makes the band's home-made videos so successful. Here is "Hellhole Ratrace" - a beautiful story of a night out.

Video: "Laura" from Pitchfork: TV

Girls will be performing at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Nov. 2 and the Bowery Ballroom on Nov. 6th

The Drums- Summertime! EP

I am writing this post for 2 reasons: 1) I like the Drums and 2)All reviews of this album have missed the point.

Every reviewer has started their review by pointing out a bit of irony, namely the Drums have released their tidy 5 song EP entitled Summertime! in the Fall. The tone of these reviews would have a reader believe that there exist strict temporal limitation on listening to delightful, uptempo pop music. This is nonsense. Can we no longer read Dickens because the grubby, industrial London no longer exists? Thankfully art transcends those annoying spatial and temporal limitations that Newtonian physicists and music critics would have you believe are all-determining.

Enjoy the Drums!!

mp3 The Drums Let's Go Surfing (via Pitchfork)

Wait, are the waves still good in the fall? No? Fuck it, then I'm not going to listen to this.

Buy Summertime! at Insound

Spike Jonze retrospective + No Age show @ MOMA

The hoopla surrounding "Where the Wild Things Are" has resulted in a couple of interesting events around town. While I am on the fence about the movie, I have long been a fan of Spike Jonze's prior work in music and especially skate videos.

The Museum of Modern Art has invited noted skate photographer/videographer Patick O'dell to curate one of its PopRally events, as part of its retrospective on the work of Spike Jonze (crazy, I know). Said event will take place on Thursday, October 15 from 7:30-11:00 p.m. at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 and The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby (11 W 53rd street, NYC). O'dell has put together a selection of influential skate videos from the late 80s/early 90s and will discuss them with a panel that includes Jonze himself. To top off the evening, No Age will perform a set at the end of it all.

Here is a complete list of events associated with the retrospective.
Interview from Vice

mp3 No Age Here Should Be My Home (seems like it would work nicely in a skate video)

Here is a clip of what is widely regarded as the best skate video of all time: Blind's "Video Days," directed by Spike Jonze. The selection is of the legendary Mark Gonzalez, who remains the referent for stylish street skating. Check all the awesome San Francisco spots, many of which are no longer skate-able.
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams."



buy Video Days on DVD from Amazon

Imagine pt. 3 by The Smith Westerns

The Smith Westerns have a new song up on their myspace called Imagine pt. 3

So let's get this out of the way:
mp3 Smith Westerns Imagine pt. 3

Imagine pt. 3 is the Smith Westerns at their most intellgible, which isn't saying much (good thing!). The song is a jangly, piano driven number with huge hooks announced by bombastic tympani crescendos. Another arrow in the quiver of one of 09's most pleasant surprises.

pitchfork interview
buy debut LP at Insound