The Weekly Awesome! #8
Trailer Notes
Mad genius Micheal Gondry, he of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has finally got a new movie coming out and it looks typically trippy with the visuals and heart-tugging with the love story. The overwhelming fwainchness of the movie (Gondry's a Frenchman, dontcha know) may turn some people off, but that'd be their loss. We know this movie's going to rock the free world:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/warner_independent_pictures/thescienceofsleep/
Love all the stop-motion work. Love the giant, rideable stuffed-animal. Good stuff. Weird... but good.
Songs of our Week
1. "Stupid Memory" by Sondre Lerche
If you're feeling a bit over Ben Folds... and after the queasy, sold-out-to-the-man tunes he recorded for the soundtrack to the kid's movie Over The Hedge, you have every right to be... I suggest a brisk trip to Norway for your indie flavored, male singer/songwriter needs. Sondre Lerche is the halfway point between Rufus Wainwright and Jason Mraz, taking the near-theatrical songcraft of the former and the pop accessibility of the later, while crisply sidestepping their mawkishness and self-conscious hipster pandering, respectively. This song in particular, a bouncy little number about one's own memory conspiring against them by bringing up an old flame, efficiently displays what the man's all about; unfussy (even clever) lyrics, tight musicianship and catchy hooks. So basically Ben Folds ten years ago.
2. "One Man Guy" by Rufus Wainwright
Lest you think I'm hating on Rufus with the above comments... Not for everyone, him, but surely for those who like some Broadway sensebilities with their piano-based pop ballads. If you're looking for a good starting point to his ouevre, skip the heavily-lauded "Want One" and "Want Two" albums and start with his sophmore effort, "Poses." It's overtly confessional songs of love, loss and being "drunk and wearing flip-flops on 5th Avenue" will resonate with everyone in one way or another. This song, about Wainwright's insistance that his lover is his only only, regardless of his departure, is particularly heartbreaking.
3. "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains of Wayne
The worst thing that ever happened to this affable Jersey band was having a huge hit with the radio-friendly, "Stacey's Mom." Good song, if ridiculously overplayed, but not the best representation of what the band's all about. Capable of surprising depth while wallowing in their own particular brand of nostaligia-rock, a lot of their songs will find instant places on the soundtrack of your life if given the chance. "Valley Winter Song," besides being the best Simon & Garfunkle song they never wrote, captures the snowy East Coast in a way that makes you want to buy a quaint house in New England and live there forever.
4. "Punks in the Beerlight" by Silver Jews
A favorite of record store clerks everywhere, Silver Jews (really just one guy, Dan Berman) has a way of writing about drugs, drinking, pain and loss that make them sound like a heroic rite of passage rather than anything remotely unpleasent. His early stuff can be a bit hard to wade through due to lousy recording conditions and Berman's own voice, which isn't the most ear-pleasing one out there, but anything off of his recent studio album "Tanglewood Numbers" is worth seeking out. This song is easily his most accessible and it makes the shitty punk clubs in the East Village seem like the perfect spot to have your honeymoon.
5. "Mexico" by Cake
College radio staples (meaning they're weird enough to feel like you're branching out, without being weird enough to actually qualify as branching out), these guy's have put out consistantly solid albums for much of the last two decades, despite the fact that all their songs sound somewhat the same. John McCrea's distinctive voice has the intractible range of a bullet fired point blank into a wall, so I wouldn't recommend listening to them in large chunks, but a song or two thrown on a mix CD is always welcome. This song, about some south of the border lovin', is one of their best. Side note: I've taken in a lot of concerts in my day and Cake's November show in NYC last year rates as one of the top 5 worst I've ever seen. Late to the stage, McCrea drunk, between song ramblings, lazy and uninterested musicianship... an altogether unpleasent experiance that serves as a lesson learned about sticking soley to their studio output.
Mad genius Micheal Gondry, he of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has finally got a new movie coming out and it looks typically trippy with the visuals and heart-tugging with the love story. The overwhelming fwainchness of the movie (Gondry's a Frenchman, dontcha know) may turn some people off, but that'd be their loss. We know this movie's going to rock the free world:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/warner_independent_pictures/thescienceofsleep/
Love all the stop-motion work. Love the giant, rideable stuffed-animal. Good stuff. Weird... but good.
Songs of our Week
1. "Stupid Memory" by Sondre Lerche
If you're feeling a bit over Ben Folds... and after the queasy, sold-out-to-the-man tunes he recorded for the soundtrack to the kid's movie Over The Hedge, you have every right to be... I suggest a brisk trip to Norway for your indie flavored, male singer/songwriter needs. Sondre Lerche is the halfway point between Rufus Wainwright and Jason Mraz, taking the near-theatrical songcraft of the former and the pop accessibility of the later, while crisply sidestepping their mawkishness and self-conscious hipster pandering, respectively. This song in particular, a bouncy little number about one's own memory conspiring against them by bringing up an old flame, efficiently displays what the man's all about; unfussy (even clever) lyrics, tight musicianship and catchy hooks. So basically Ben Folds ten years ago.
2. "One Man Guy" by Rufus Wainwright
Lest you think I'm hating on Rufus with the above comments... Not for everyone, him, but surely for those who like some Broadway sensebilities with their piano-based pop ballads. If you're looking for a good starting point to his ouevre, skip the heavily-lauded "Want One" and "Want Two" albums and start with his sophmore effort, "Poses." It's overtly confessional songs of love, loss and being "drunk and wearing flip-flops on 5th Avenue" will resonate with everyone in one way or another. This song, about Wainwright's insistance that his lover is his only only, regardless of his departure, is particularly heartbreaking.
3. "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains of Wayne
The worst thing that ever happened to this affable Jersey band was having a huge hit with the radio-friendly, "Stacey's Mom." Good song, if ridiculously overplayed, but not the best representation of what the band's all about. Capable of surprising depth while wallowing in their own particular brand of nostaligia-rock, a lot of their songs will find instant places on the soundtrack of your life if given the chance. "Valley Winter Song," besides being the best Simon & Garfunkle song they never wrote, captures the snowy East Coast in a way that makes you want to buy a quaint house in New England and live there forever.
4. "Punks in the Beerlight" by Silver Jews
A favorite of record store clerks everywhere, Silver Jews (really just one guy, Dan Berman) has a way of writing about drugs, drinking, pain and loss that make them sound like a heroic rite of passage rather than anything remotely unpleasent. His early stuff can be a bit hard to wade through due to lousy recording conditions and Berman's own voice, which isn't the most ear-pleasing one out there, but anything off of his recent studio album "Tanglewood Numbers" is worth seeking out. This song is easily his most accessible and it makes the shitty punk clubs in the East Village seem like the perfect spot to have your honeymoon.
5. "Mexico" by Cake
College radio staples (meaning they're weird enough to feel like you're branching out, without being weird enough to actually qualify as branching out), these guy's have put out consistantly solid albums for much of the last two decades, despite the fact that all their songs sound somewhat the same. John McCrea's distinctive voice has the intractible range of a bullet fired point blank into a wall, so I wouldn't recommend listening to them in large chunks, but a song or two thrown on a mix CD is always welcome. This song, about some south of the border lovin', is one of their best. Side note: I've taken in a lot of concerts in my day and Cake's November show in NYC last year rates as one of the top 5 worst I've ever seen. Late to the stage, McCrea drunk, between song ramblings, lazy and uninterested musicianship... an altogether unpleasent experiance that serves as a lesson learned about sticking soley to their studio output.
posted by Clinton at 9:27 AM
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