Chris Difford, Cashmere If You Can

Published on June 14th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Kai Shuart

chris difford cashmere

This outing from the former Squeeze member finds him in a very reflective mode .The opening song, “1975,” could be taken as a collection of incidents from various periods of the protagonist’s life. This feeling of a walk down Memory Lane is bolstered by the second song, “Back in the Day,” whose protagonist recounts a misspent youth of getting into trouble and hanging with a rough crowd, not sparing unflattering details such as mugging the elderly and accidentally urinating in bed.
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Elysian Fields, Last Night On Earth

Published on June 14th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By J Howell

elysian fields last night on earth

Jennifer Charles made me a fan the first time I heard “Mr. Cardiac,” a song she sang on the first Firewater record, Get Off The Cross, We Need The Wood For The Fire.

Charles’ breathy, sultry singing paired with Tod Ashley’s brilliant, incisive lyrics was one of many high points on that record, and I had to hear more. A couple of years later, I found an EP of her band, Elysian Fields, a collaboration with Oren Bloedow and a revolving cast of Downtown New York luminaries, including Marc Ribot.
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Love, Death, And Tragedy: L.A. Noire

Published on June 8th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Game Reviews, Gaming, Reviews |

By Paul Casey

la noire THUMB
Click for larger image.

L.A. Noire, released by Rockstar Games on May 17, carries on the grand tradition of the adventure game but does so within an impeccably crafted, open-world vision of 1940s Los Angeles. Its narrative is linear; it does not branch off, resulting in those malformations of character seen in Fable or Fallout. Simplistic questions of morality are not used as a choice between different powers and abilities. Overall, L.A. Noire is an experience unique to its medium and sets a new standard in both writing and performance.

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Sea Of Bees, Songs For The Ravens

Published on June 7th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By J Howell

sea of bees songs for the ravens

I became instantly curious about Julie Baenziger’s Sea of Bees a couple of months ago, after seeing a half-page ad for Songs For The Ravens in every audio geek’s bimonthly bible, Tape Op magazine. Being an almost-obsessive Sparklehorse fan, I knew any band compared to Sparklehorse would quickly make the top of my must-check-out list. After reading a bit about Sea of Bees and checking out a YouTube clip of “Skinnybone,” I had to hear more.

As it turns out, there’s more of a connection between Tape Op and Sea of Bees than an ad.
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Flogging Molly, Speed Of Darkness

Published on May 31st, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Magda Underdown-DuBois

speed of darkness cover

Speed of Darkness, the fifth album by Flogging Molly comes in low, Perfect Circle-style, for a full 30 seconds and then crashes into one’s ears like a comet of sound.

Full of working contradiction, the band is a proud member of the new Celtic rock music generation along with The Pogues or The Secret Commonwealth. From their own record label Borstal Beat, Speed of Darkness is a self-professed concept album in an age of MP3s and singles, with the pounding rhythm of punk, but the articulated lyrical message of traditional Irish music.
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A Sci-Fi Fairy Tale: Hanna

Published on May 30th, 2011 in: Action Movies, Climb Onto The Nearest Star, Current Faves, Feminism, Issues, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction |

By Lisa Anderson

One of the best movies of the year has already arrived, without much fanfare. If you’ve gone to see a movie rated PG-13 or higher in the past few months, then you’ve seen the trailer for Hanna, where the thrumming score by the Chemical Brothers provides the background for a teenage girl’s acts of derring-do. What you can’t tell from the trailer is that Hanna is one of the most innovative science fiction movies to come along in a while.
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Tindersticks, Claire Denis Film Scores 1996 – 2009

Published on May 24th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews, Soundtracks and Scores |

By Michelle Patterson

tindersticks box set cover

How I judge whether or not a soundtrack feels organic to its cinematic equal is whether or not it can stand on its own. This does not determine whether or not it is good—the apparent strength of the music isn’t a question—but if it can genuinely remind me of the film when I am listening to it in the quiet of my own bedroom or on the chaotic bus to work.

The clearest role of the soundtracks as experienced in the TindersticksClaire Denis Film Scores box set is as passive listener. This music stands on its own, without its marriage to the visuals; better yet, it imports another sense of value when associated with an entirely new set of identifiers, all depending on the situation of the listener.
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Iggy Pop, Roadkill Rising . . . The Bootleg Collection: 1977 – 2009

Published on May 17th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Less Lee Moore

roadkill-rising-header-graphic

Who is the target audience for Roadkill Rising, Shout! Factory‘s four-disc “official” Iggy Pop bootleg collection? Fans get excited about concert albums; diehards and lifers hoard bootlegs like those suffering from OCD. Certainly the latter will be thrilled by the improved quality of these remastered bootlegs.

However, trying to determine if Roadkill Rising will appeal to non-Iggy Pop fans is an exercise in futility. I can’t imagine not being a fan of Iggy Pop so I am incapable of thinking like one.

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Creepy Video For Newest Erland & The Carnival Single, “Springtime”

Published on May 12th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Video |

By Less Lee Moore

Reading the press release on Erland & The Carnival‘s latest video made me squirm: “Much like the terrifying conclusion of the film Creepshow, we find our hero, Erland Cooper, buried and overcome by roaches.”

Full disclosure: I am mortally terrified of roaches. Thankfully the ones in this video are the less grotesque “Palmetto bugs” and not the standard horrifying, flying cockroaches that are the state bird of Louisiana.

The song is wonderful and the video is perfectly creepy, especially for those of use who appreciate morbid delights. Enjoy . . . and check out Erland & The Carnival’s excellent Nightingale album (reviewed on Popshifter here) if you haven’t already.

Booker T & The MGs, McLemore Avenue

Published on May 10th, 2011 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Matt Keeley

booker t mgs cover

Look, you’re busy, I know that. If you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, just read the next sentence, and you’ll know the truth:

McLemore Avenue by Booker T & The MGs is a fucking amazing album.
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