// Category Archive for: Current Faves

Music Review: Patrick Cowely, School Daze

By Less Lee Moore

As a big disco fan, I’m ashamed to admit that Sylvester is not a name I mention when discussing my favorite tunes of the genre. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Do You Wanna Funk” are two of Sylvester’s biggest hits and besides being fantastic tracks, have another thing in common. They were both composed and produced by Patrick Cowely.

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DVD Review: Passion

By Less Lee Moore

Oh, Brian De Palma. You broke my heart but I keep coming back. First, it was Mission To Mars, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen (and this from a diehard MST3K fan). Then it was the dreadful adaptation of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia. Still, I was excited about Passion. Noomi Rapace and Rachel Adams in an erotic thriller with lesbian undertones? Who could resist? Not me.

The critics weren’t kind at Passion‘s TIFF premiere in 2012. But Noomi Rapace! Rachel McAdams! Erotic thriller! Plus a score from the great Pino Donaggio. My desire to see the film did not wane.

Well, I’ve now seen Passion. And I have a lot of thoughts, and most of them good. It’s vintage De Palma, that is for certain: heightened emotion masking flatness of emotion, weird artificiality bleeding through lush production design, over-the-top music, exquisite framing, and outlandish narrative. I haven’t seen Alain Corneau’s 2011 inspiration Crime d’amour, so I can’t speak to it, but I now understand why so many hated Passion. It’s not a straightforward movie; it’s a straight-up giallo. Forget Hitchcock. It’s all Italian. There’s even a police investigation, a hallmark of the genre.

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DVD Review: I Am ZoZo

By Brad Henderson

The name ZoZo probably won’t ring a bell with normal folk, but if you know me, you should know I’m not normal. I’ve always been fascinated with stories about ZoZo and loved to read people’s testimonies of their encounters with this so-called demon. If you are clueless about who or what ZoZo is, you can find everything you need to know about him online. There is a small community that believes this is real and many have encountered this demon of sorts through the well-known Ouija board.

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Blu-Ray Review: Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection, Volume 2

By Brad Henderson

Many people either don’t know the name Fernando Di Leo or have never seen any of his films. Aside from filmmakers and cinephiles, his name doesn’t come up too often, but I’m here to change that. Raro Film has recently released a second volume of their Fernando Di Leo Italian Crime Collection. Aside from being a balls-out release, the transfers are outstanding.

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Blu-Ray Review: Jug Face

By Brad Henderson

Every so often we get a horror film that is completely original and stands out from the rest. Jug Face is a film unlike anything you will see this year (or even the upcoming years) in the horror genre.

The Pit Wants What It Wants.

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Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall gets a lot of—admittedly deserved—attention. But what of his constant cohorts? Segall's latest project, Fuzz, includes two of them and it's killer. Fuzz is comprised of Roland Cosio (drummer for Epsilons) on bass and Charles Moothart on guitar (The Moonhearts and live guitarist for Segall) and what's this? Ty Segall on drums and vocals. Aw yeah.

Right away you can tell that Fuzz's self-titled release owes a lot to the past when it credits Chris Woodhouse with “Recording, Mixing & Wizardry” and includes lyrics like “Still we ride the burning ship/ride the ship cause we can't quit.” Not to mention the mind bending cover art. True to form, “Earthen Gate” opens with staccato dissonance and sounds straight outta the stoner '70s before it speeds up into quasi-metal territory, with flashes of Pink Floyd pre-The Wall. The album is not a parody, though, and that lack of self-consciousness makes it eerily timeless.

“Sleigh Ride” (of the aforementioned burning ship lyrics) is so captivating musically that the lyrics are almost secondary. The slow, mesmerizing “What's In My Head” includes a chills-inducing vocal performance from Segall, drawing the word “saw” out into four delicious syllables, and a thrilling guitar coda. Segall's banshee shriek permeates the heavy but tight “Hazemaze” and just when you think it's over, it comes storming back with an awesome guitar/bass melody propelling it forward.

“Loose Sutures” is the showcase showdown of the album. Dig the multi-tracked harmonies on the word “run.” Then marvel as a guitar solo introduces an extended jam, a bowed guitar bit, alternating bass and drum solos, and then yet another jam. It's kind of astonishingly good. You can only get away with this if you can play really well, and these dudes can.

“Preacher” presents a pounding sonic assault and a downright threatening guitar sound. Mootheart takes lead vocal duties on “Raise,” with a bluesy beat, harmonies from Segall, and some interesting lyrics (“He raised the sun up high/and left us all to live or die/he lets the babies die and mothers cry/what's his side?”).

Live performance of “One”

The instrumental “One” feels cinematic in scope, a constant building of tension, only relieved with intermittent periods of epic drumming and chord changes, ending with an amazing flourish.

It's hard to believe all this goodness is contained within only 37 minutes. And yes, Segall's as good of a drummer as he is a guitarist and singer. Don't miss out on Fuzz.

Fuzz was released by In The Red on October 1.

The post Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz appeared first on Popshifter.

Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall gets a lot of—admittedly deserved—attention. But what of his constant cohorts? Segall’s latest project, Fuzz, includes two of them and it’s killer. Fuzz is comprised of Roland Cosio (drummer for Epsilons) on bass and Charles Moothart on guitar (The Moonhearts and live guitarist for Segall) and what’s this? Ty Segall on drums and vocals. Aw yeah.

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Movie Review: Short Term 12

By Less Lee Moore

Short Term 12 opens and closes with a group of counselors relaxing outside the at-risk youth foster care facility where they work. Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.) shares a humorous story while Grace (Brie Larson), one of the female counselors, seems skeptical of Mason’s ability to convey the story accurately and without embellishments. They are soon interrupted by Sammy, a resident trying to run away as fast as he can. These bookends hold a lot of emotional wreckage between them, but also indicate that despite all the suffering, life can and does go on and in some cases, does get better.

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Music Review: Sleepies, More Humans EP

By Less Lee Moore

Brooklyn’s Sleepies are back with a new EP and it’s a good one. Though not as sonically varied as last year’s full-length Weird Wild World album (review), it does establish a definitive sound for the band, giving us even more to look forward to with their next release.

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Blu-Ray Review: Byzantium

By Less Lee Moore

I think it’s safe to say that Neil Jordan has a fondness for vampires. Byzantium is his second film about them, and although I haven’t seen Interview with the Vampire in a long time, I feel confident in stating that Byzantium, while dealing with similar themes, is superlative in every way.

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