Assemblog: June 1, 2012

Holy Motors, 2012

New on Popshifter this week: a review of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life and the highly anticipated Prometheus. There are also fifteen (!) new articles from our May/June issue, True Patriot Love.

If you’ve ever talked to me seriously about music for more than five minutes, then you know about my longstanding adoration of Redd Kross. So you can imagine how stoked I am that they FINALLY have a new album coming out August 7 via Merge Records. Check out the fantastic first single and title track, “Researching The Blues” here.

Here’s a typically hilarious interview with Redd Kross brothers/founders Steven and Jeff McDonald, conducted during their recent, highly acclaimed tour in Australia.

Watch Redd Kross and other great gigs on Moshcam.

Here’s some intriguing and exciting news: not only are there more Lana Del Rey pseudonyms out there, there is more music! As if this article didn’t make it obvious already, I am in the pro-LDR camp. And that was before I even heard Born To Die or saw the SNL performance (the former is terrific, the latter was not even remotely as horrible as the world made it out to be). According to Stereogum, Ms. Del Rey has another album out under the name May Jailer, called Sirens. There are a bunch of tracks up on YouTube and while they sound nothing like the lushly produced songs on Born To Die, they are worth hearing. It’s just acoustic guitar and Lana’s lovely voice, a style which you’ve likely already heard featured in some of the live YouTube videos from when she was performing as Lizzy Grant. (By the way, the YouTube user DanndyGarbage has even more LDR on the page, including live performances, older songs, and unreleased tracks from Born To Die.)

I seriously do not understand the hatred for this woman. Anyone who claims that she’s some prefab celebutante with not a shred of talent or originality is just willfully ignorant. I feel sad for those who would rather promote petty, sexist negativity than embrace her wonderful music.

While we’re on the topic of popular music, Dusted Magazine proves once again why their music writing is top notch. In a review of True, the new album from Violens, writer Andrew Beckerman distills and deconstructs why I hate most of what’s on Billboard’s Hot 100 but why some popular music is just unavoidably enjoyable.

I just heard about “Typical Sagittarius,” a song from the Electric Six Zodiac sessions that didn’t make it onto the album. Written by Dick Valentine and Smorgasbord, the only bad thing about it is only getting to hear it now. You can listen to it here. They’re calling it a “demo,” but E6 demos are usually better than the most polished turds from other bands, so take that for what you will.

Switching gears into movie talk: Remake purists have been wailing and gnashing their teeth over the remake of Maniac, which premiered at Cannes. I feel bad for Elijah Wood, who will likely forever be known as “That Guy Who Played Frodo.” Don’t get me wrong, I adore the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, but those who doubt that he can also play “creepy as fuck” must not have watched Sin City. I haven’t seen the original Maniac but I’m interested in seeing this new version (and yes, the original, too). Bloody Disgusting has the disturbing trailer.

Another film that’s got a lot of folks talking is Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, which also premiered at Cannes. /Film has good things to say about it, but is more subdued than Pajiba, who in typically overwrought fashion, makes you want to immediately hop a plane to Paris in the vain hope of catching a screening. When I read a phrase like “gloriously, unapologetically batshit-crazy,” I think of Jodorowsky and that makes me very excited about seeing Holy Motors. The trailer comes across as somewhat confusing and elusive, but that doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm one bit. (H/T to The Playlist for the trailer.)

Before I sign off, I’d like to mention the Editorial in our newest issue which talks about some of the exciting changes taking place on Popshifter. You can read it here.

—Less Lee Moore, Managing Editor