Having heard Coconut Records‘ tuneful sophomore album, Davy, I can report that you’re still better off listening to the Thrills (or, um, the Beatles)– nevertheless, the album brings us “Microphone,” and must be duly commended. This time around, I can listen to the Coconuts without envisioning the songs coming out of Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore has ruined him to me forever as anything other than the guy who saved Latin), which makes all of them much better but especially “Microphone,” a glorious three minutes of quirky retro-pop, the kind of of-the-moment song that’ll deservedly get sandwiched in this spring’s lovelorn mix tapes and maybe even soundtrack a few bespectacled make-out sessions. Sing it loud, fellas.
Proving himself to be as prolific an author as he is a songwriter, Ryan Adams has announced yet another book: Hello Sunshine, due at a TBA-time from Akashic Books, who are also releasing his Infinity Blues in April. Sunshine will collect short fiction and verse and has a bunch of fun jacket quotes on the Akashic site: “Ryan Adams, one of America’s most consistently interesting singer/songwriters, has written a passionate, arresting, and entertaining book of verse. Fans are going to love it, and newcomers will be pleased and startled by his intensity and originality,” says Stephen King. (Stephen’s a fan.) Ryan himself calls it “my best work yet,” which may or may not cannibalize sales for the still-unreleased Infinity Blues given that dude hasn’t even released it yet. Not that that’s ever stopped him before or anything.
(Pre-order Ryan’s literature from Akashic Books – Hello Sunshine info is supposed to be up May 15)
Above: Watchmen as a Saturday morning cartoon. Amazing. [Via YANP]
I did see Watchmen, and I can tell you this, spoiler-free: It’s a very good movie. Not a great one. While it’s certainly a step or three above 300 as far as the unintentional comedy factor goes, there are some major tonal issues — the cartoonish sheen of the whole film is visually impressive but doesn’t jive well with the story’s themes of gritty realism and impotent, flawed heroes, and a number of the action scenes could’ve used both less gratuitous gore and less gratuitous slo-mo. That said, superhero movie-loving me was pretty impressed throughout, and Zack Synder did about a good as job as possible in squeezing the graphic novel’s 12-part storyline into a relatively smooth, linear film. Flashbacks abound, but they arrive organically and shouldn’t be too hard for non-geeks to follow. Watchmen fans should thoroughly enjoy seeing the book come to life, warts and all, and as for everybody else, well — it may be too complicated for some, though Roger Ebert (who seems to be a newcomer) gave it a shining endorsement. Hold onto yr hats and blue penises, folks. (A final caveat: The ’60s-era protest music would be a powerful, affecting soundtrack if the movie was set, y’know, in the ’60s. Some decade-appropriate Joy Division or Bowie here and there would’ve worked better, but you can’t win ‘em all.)
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Deeper Into Moviesis a Yo La Tengo song and, in this case, a film review column. Click below for more.
It’s been a bad couple of decades for shoegaze, perhaps because My Bloody Valentine nailed the genre to the wall in 1991 but more likely since most bands have seemed fearful to leave the House that Shields Built — and abandoned. Asobi Seksu‘s 2006 album, Citrus, was a fine enough addition to the genre, but tracks such as the pitch-shifting “Pink Cloud Tracing Paper” didn’t exactly break new ground for glide guitar. Hush puts a better foot forward, a foot in a different direction. The fat of the band’s usual guitar layer cake is off the table, leaving singer Yuki Chikudate’s sugared croon to take center stage. She’s never sounded sweeter, and neither have her bandmates, who churn out still-gooey ’80s-leaning pop on tracks such as “Gliss” and the wide-smiling “Transparence.” The lyrics are intelligible; the hooks cut deep; the guitars chime and reverberate instead of chug and belch; and Asobi Seksu, for one, sounds ready to get out of the house.
Nobody can predict the future — much less the jamz of tomorrow. But we can make some pretty good guesses. After the jump, five under-the-radar acts that will make waves (but definitely not Wavvves) in ’09. Read the rest of this entry »
Upcoming Film Scores, a blog I’ve never heard of, seems to have broken the news that French house icons Daft Punk will be scoring 2011 film Tron 2 — a match made in heaven if I’ve ever heard one. UFS claims to have confirmed the news with Disney, so let’s cross our robot fingers, huh? As far as I know, the score will be the first new music for the duo since 2007′s foundation-shaking Alive 2007. Update: Billboard confirms, and calls the film Tr2n. Oy.
Le Switch brought their folksy LA pop to Silver Lake’s Where last Friday for the opening of Exposure, a photo show for three local scene mainstays. They were as at home on the venue floor as they are on, say, the Echo stage, and the songs no less catchy for their cramped production. Next to the Henry Clay People, Le Switch are LA’s most fun band; in our often dour scene, that has to count for something. More photos after the jump and a couple shots of bucket-headed openers Manhattan Murder Mystery as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Having heard Coconut Records‘ tuneful sophomore album, Davy, I can report that you’re still better off listening to the Thrills (or, um, the Beatles)– nevertheless, the album brings us “Microphone,” and must be duly commended. This time around, I can listen to the Coconuts without envisioning the songs coming out of Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore has ruined him to me forever as anything other than the guy who saved Latin), which makes all of them much better but especially “Microphone,” a glorious three minutes of quirky retro-pop, the kind of of-the-moment song that’ll deservedly get sandwiched in this spring’s lovelorn mix tapes and maybe even soundtrack a few bespectacled make-out sessions. Sing it loud, fellas.
This week’s edition brought to you by the happiest dog ever (at left), photographed by me on my way to Melrose last night.
Proving himself to be as prolific an author as he is a songwriter, 
