Floating Action, Desert Etiquette

By Less Lee Moore

Although the name Floating Action is derived from a vintage Gretsch drum pedal, it’s perfect metaphor for multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Seth Kauffman’s latest release. Desert Etiquette‘s ten twangy, trebly tunes are like sugar crystals floating on a stream of golden honey, dewdrops sparkling in the sunrise of a chilly spring morning, or the embers flaring from a campfire in the clearing of the dark, snowy forest. Everything is as natural and comfortable as being outdoors.
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Cthulhupalooza II: Son of Cthulhupalooza

By Less Lee Moore

If you’re in Vancouver, BC on February 18, you must check out Cthulhupalooza II: Son of Cthulhupalooza!

Celebrate your enthusiasm for forbidden tomes, ancient space gods and eldritch cake by joining us on Feb 18. Prizes for the Miskatonic Middleschool Bake Sale competition are provided by our generous sponsors, entrants should contact us to register at info@secondlevelwizards.com and for rules and regulations. Roaring ’20s period costume welcome. It’s tentacular!
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The Hall Of Mirrorers

The search for originality and creativity seems like an undending, inexorable voyage down a wormhole.

The Lady From Shanghai, 1947

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Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide To Punks On Film

By Less Lee Moore

Any marginalized subculture bristles at being misinterpreted on film. Then again, the punk subculture is by now so fragmented and unrecognizable, one hesitates to even attempt to define it, much less depict it on the screen.

Yet best friends Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly spent five years documenting each and every appearance of punks on film. They were inspired to undertake this monumental task after re-watching Penelope Spheeris’s quasi documentary Suburbia and then shortly thereafter, seeing Joysticks, a video arcade comedy from 1983, for the first time.
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The Big, Bad World Of The Good Wife

By Less Lee Moore

Alicia and Peter Florrick

At first, preview spots for CBS’s The Good Wife looked less than promising: another press conference, about another cuckolded wife of a politician. Even the casting of dashing Chris Noth and long-absent-from-TV Juliana Marguiles didn’t appeal to me.

Then there was the name of the show itself: The Good Wife. It just seemed . . . stuffy.

I started catching bits and pieces of the show by accident. Despite my misgivings, it was actually intriguing, on par with the best episodes of Law & Order (Rest In Peace). Then one night I was flipping channels and there was Alan Cumming as conniving political campaign manager Eli Gold, bitching out and out-bitching some snarky-looking teenage girl. Suddenly, I was hooked.

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Sometimes Undead Is Better: The Walking Dead

By Less Lee Moore

Although I’ve never read The Walking Dead comic series, I have been intrigued ever since Popshifter covered it in a past Halloween issue. When news of the AMC series popped up, I was relieved that it was receiving the episodic TV treatment; it seemed far too complex for a 90-minute movie. Interesting then, that the premiere episode was about that long, and far more engaging than much of the new breed of undead that has infected pop culture.

Rick, Lori, and Carl

As a diehard horror fan, my affections are frequently misunderstood or misinterpreted as some kind of prurient interest in the sick and depraved. Like all good additions to the horror canon, however, The Walking Dead isn’t just about zombies, the undead, or as the show itself refers to them, “Walkers.” Its social commentary is less heavy-handed than the recent spate of Romero zombie creations, but far more relevant. In fact, The Walking Dead has succeeded where four (or five) seasons of LOST failed: deftly mixing interpersonal drama with a touch of the supernatural, to raise provocative questions about our society.
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Foetus, Hide

By Less Lee Moore

“Don’t ask me any questions you don’t want the answer to.”
—From “You’re Trying To Break Me”

At the risk of beginning a Foetus review with reference to another, I will do just that. If Sparks, the uncategorizable band composed (mostly) of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, can be said to make music that is practically theatrical, then Foetus, also known as JG Thirlwell, makes music that is downright cinematical.

And you know those annoying people who claim to despise movies that make them think? Those people will never appreciate JG Thirlwell. Sometimes it feels exhausting trying to figure out all his references and nods and motifs, especially when he keeps his true self so close to the chest. But for those of us who love listening to his music over and over—digging and pondering, delving deeper and deeper into it—the payoff is outstanding.
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Whatever This Is, It’s Free: Ruby Coast’s New Album Download

By Less Lee Moore

If you haven’t yet heard Ruby Coast, now is your chance! I caught them last November (at the Meligrove Band‘s Shimmering Lights release party) and their live set is exuberant indeed.

Their new album Whatever This Is, is now available as a free download on their Bandcamp site.

Check out their tour dates while you’re at it. They play at The Brass Taps in Guelph on March 3 so you’ve got plenty of time to memorize the lyrics before the show.

You can follow Ruby Coast on Facebook to keep up with all the latest news.

Shaking With Anticipation: PJ Harvey Album Now Available To Pre-Order From iTunes

By Less Lee Moore

Although PJ Harvey‘s long-awaited new album, Let England Shake, won’t be out until February 15, the iTunes pre-order has begun.

The pre-order features an instant download of “Written On The Forehead” plus an exclusive track, “The Big Guns Called Me Back Again.”

PJ Harvey will also be playing Coachella on Sunday April 17.

Check out the video for the first single, “The Words That Maketh Murder.”

Getting Up Early In The Morning With James Vincent McMorrow

By Less Lee Moore

Early in the Morning, the debut album from singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow, was self-released in Ireland in 2010 and hailed as “one of the first truly great albums of the decade” by The Dubliner. The album will be available for the first time in the US on January 25 from Vagrant.

But you don’t have to wait to hear it. My Old Kentucky Blog is streaming the album in its entirety.

You can also download “If I Had a Boat,” the album’s first single.

Introducing James Vincent McMorrow (EPK) from Vagrant Records on Vimeo.