Shit Just Got Real

The mayhem has begun, Lost season 4 is upon us. This is at the same time amazing and terrible news for I feel myself being sucked in already. The season premiere tonight was great and watching it for the first time on an HD television set was pretty fantastic.

I must apologize to friends and family, to anyone that looks forward with any sort of interest into anything that I do. The apologies will come in advance of a period of time when all of my creative efforts will undoubtedly suffer a massive debt while most of my brain is being used to focus on this new season. I apologize because it's just TV. I apologize because it's going to start getting beautiful outside. I apologize because I can't stop watching it once I've begun. This is something that I have brought upon myself through a healthy process of binge-watching past season DVDs, so I have no excuse.

My name is Kyle, and I am addicted to Lost.

image courtesy of lostcrazy.net

Music Monday: Women to Love

The first true Music Monday in a while... just barely. This week's short list is dedicated to that sliver of female talent that I would very easily dedicate my life to, if they'd have me. As a general rule, I tend to stray away from female oriented music acts. Don't ask me why, it's a complete double standard and I know it, there's just no stopping it. With that said, I don't think that females are incapable of any sort of clever songwriting or outright rocking, in fact I think quite the opposite, as this list will express. More over, these women not only have amazing voices, but dammit they're attractive to boot.

Music Monday: Women to Love

1. Heartless Bastards - All This Time -- Erika Wennerstrom. What a voice. Sultry, bluesy, thick, sexy. This woman's got a set of pipes on her, and she can play the guitar. I'd say she's the blues/rock equivalent to Feist (who'll show up later on) -- that ain't a bad thing. Another bit of awesomeness... she's in a band called Heartless Bastards. That's a serious name. I saw them open for somebody months ago, maybe back in the Spring of '07. They were good enough to forget it was who they opened for. This is off the album All This Time.

2. Mareva Galanter - C'est Bon -- off the album Ukuyéyé. I found Mareva Galanter by accident one day while searching Myspace for some new, random music, and I couldn't be happier with the find. As it turns out she was Miss France in '99. I don't know what that means with regards to whether or not she's written these songs or if she's just a good looking front. Her stuff is definitely Sugar Pop, but it's catchy as all hell. The rest of the album's got maybe four or five more songs worth of great French pop music, some of it's a bit odd in it's electro-fetish, but on the whole it's pretty hard not to fall for Galanter's sweet voice and perky attitude. I will warn you, this track has a whistled hook that is way too catchy for your own good, so if you're not ready to be whistling the same tune for the rest of the week, then I apologize in advance. She's a cutie.

3. Charlotte Gainsbourg - AF607105 -- off 5:55. I've gone into how much my artsy friends and I love Charlotte Gainsbourg. She's not conventionally beautiful, she's just sexy in that sort of French way. A soft voice, poetic personality, and having AIR in your corner definitely help out when shooting for male companionship (at least as far as this male is concerned). Not enough can be said about the collaborative work between AIR and Gainsbourg on this album, so you should probably just go out and grab it.

4. Feist - It's Cool To Love Your Family -- off the rare first album, Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down). I found this album by accident on the pretty awesome blog aggregating site, The Hype Machine. Feist is not only an amazingly attractive lady, she can strum a guitar pretty damn well. Back when Let It Die first came out, I saw her on Conan and fell in love with everything about her right away. A week later she played an in store performance at Dallas' Good Records. I met my friend Anton and Pat there, where we proceeded to have our hearts broken by Ms. Feist's, well, heart-breaking music. After she played we walked up to meet her, we all towered at least a foot over the small Canadian, but nevertheless, Anton did a bang up job embarrassing me as I barely got a word out in between my swooning. Pathetic really, but it was a swoon not wasted, for I'd say Feist is swoon-worthy. Glad she's garnered as much acclaim and success as she has.

5. Shout Out Louds - Blue Headlights -- off of Our Ill Wills. I wrote a review of this cd a while back. Shout Out Louds are a Swedish band that for one reason or another just really haven't taken off here in the States, which is a shame, because they are worthy of a big following. Sure they do play some toothachingly sweet pop music, but that's what Swedes do man, they create toothachingly sweet pop music. Look it up, it's true. The album was produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn and John, and what a job he did. The vocalist here is keyboardist Bebban Stenborg, a blond waif that usually sits behind the front row of guitars with one hand on the keys and one hand shaking a tambourine. When she does hop out there at center stage you're hoping she's looking in your direction as she sings with such ease a melody fit for rainbows. She also proves the Swedes aren't just known for their odd, gummi fish.

6. Midnight Movies - Strange Design -- off of their self titled, first album. Again, I have expressed my love for front woman Gena Olivier and her drum playing, and her keyboarding, and her deep vocals. I saw Midnight Movies last Friday (opened for Rogue Wave, barely) and it was pretty great. It was also amazingly awkward, because I was on a quasi-date with this girl and I couldn't help but express my love for Olivier. The girl (who will go unnamed) stood next to me as Olivier moved from front and center to the back on the drums. I proceeded to say, "Oh my god, that's my kind of woman." to which date-girl said, "what?" to which I said, "If you want to know the way into my heart, you'll have to know how to play at least three instruments, drums probably being one of them." Date-girl, who looks nothing like Olivier, turned to me, and with an almost desperate look said, "I can play the recorder."

I looked at her as the silence took hold for a good ten seconds. The recorder doesn't suffice. Plain and simple. Without a reply, I turned my attention back to the stage as Olivier and company busted into the psychedelic jam of this song, and afterwards I dropped date-girl off at her car. It remains to be seen if it'll work out between us.

That does it for Women to Love. They are women I love, hopefully they'll make at least some sort of impact on you. See you when I see you.

Unapologetically Sorry

For twoday, I'd like to snare a beef snort borey...

On A Sunny Afternoon In the South of France by Pyle Bother

“A slab of your leanest 12oz., please.”

The Butcher’s eyes took their time in registering my face, something I’d eventually get used to in the next week or so when there would actually be something of substance to stare at. Some discoloration was sure to be expected, maybe a slight deformation in the long term, but now in its early stage nothing too out of the ordinary, visually speaking. There was a touch of tenderness about the socket though, and a little swelling, a fact that had resulted in effectively putting me in my current location. As much as I despise old wives' tales the prospect of immediate soothing was all to pleasing, and once the Butcher felt satisfied with what he saw and turned to chop, I was allowed to wince to myself as I took a seat near the window. I began to figure. I figured there would be other opportunities. I figured there would be other women. I figured there would be other Tuesdays. I figured the cost of my steak. I figured I had the cash. I figured I would soon lose the meaning of the word figured, but then I figured I didn’t really care so much, as I don’t really use the word figure, or any of its variations, regularly enough to really miss it for the amount of time it will gone from my memory. I figured how many times you’d actually have to use a word before it’s meaning is lost. Then I figured 13.

“One 12oz. Sirloin, anything else?” The Butcher’s voice crackled like a chest cold through the bland meat market.
“No, sir.”
“12 Euro.”

The change in my pocket was two cents short, but I don’t think he cared. He’d read enough of my Life Story by now to know that “Two Cents Short” was only Chapter Three. Sensing the amounting pity, I unwrapped the Butcher’s handy work, slapped the beef over my left eye and headed for the door.
Standing in the warm sun, squinting my uncovered eye, I began to wonder. I wondered what benefit placing a section of dead cow on my bruising face did. I wondered how long it would take to swell shut. I wondered if maybe I should have ducked. I wondered “what now?” I wondered… I stopped wondering. I wanted to keep that word around for a while, it seemed useful, so I started to wander.

.The Bend.

Best Of's: The Belated Edition

I now realize that the whole Best Of craze is probably over, seeing as we're nearing the end of what is the second week in this foul year of our Lord 2008, but I figure, why not. Two weeks after everyone else's list means that you're not quite ready for it. So here's a hastily put together list for you to read with haste...

In No Particular Order (except for the first one, because I absolutely love Alamo Race Track now)

Albums of 2007 (I wrote reviews for some of these - see the highlights)
Alamo Race Track - Black Cat John Brown
Radiohead - In Rainbows
White Rabbits - Fort Nightly
Feist - The Reminder
Antelope - Reflector
Air - Pocket Symphony
The Beatles - Love (oh I know, but I'm a huge sucker for the Beatles)
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
Dappled Cities - Granddance
Dr. Dog - We All Belong
Ferraby Lionheart - Catch The Brass Ring
Gonzalas - Solo Piano (technically this came out in 2005, but its taken up so much of '07 for me, it gets a spot on the list)
Jennifer Gentle - The Midnight Room
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
Pete & The Pirates - Demos (not technically supposed to have this, but it is really stinking good)
Prints - Prints
Silverchair - Young Modern
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Thrills - Teenager
White Denim - Let's Talk About It EP
Zykos - Keep It Light EP

Films of 2007 (if not great works of art, then films I simply got a kick out of) (also some of these might have been released in '06 but not gotten to a theater near me until '07)
No Country For Old Men - Is this a no-brainer at this point?
Paris, Je'Taime
28 Weeks Later
3:10 To Yuma
Darjeeling Limited
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Grindhouse
Hot Fuzz
I'm Not There
Juno
The Lookout
King of Kong
Ocean's Thirteen
Rescue Dawn
Shoot 'Em Up
Superbad
TMNT (gotta love ninja turtles)

and finally... Best TV of 2007 (a tentative list)
I don't watch much TV, but these shows I saw were excellent
Mad Men
Lost
How I Met Your Mother
Chuck
Californication
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Flight of the Conchords

So there you are, as comprehensive a list as I can give. If you want a more detailed description of what I personally thought of any of these, let me know. I love to wax poetic on the state of our popular art forms. Hope your 2007 was just as eventful, media-wise.

Arriving with Magnitude

The weekend, the weekend. It was a hectic one, and one that hopefully will be one of the last hectic one's for a while (must be that excess New Years buzz or something). It's amazing I have gotten anything done recently, what with all the friends in town, the parties to go to, the movies to see. Alas, though, in between watching the oddly-bearded Conan and relating every relationship I've had to a shower, I found the time to waste looking up shared birthdays. Really, I was just perusing the fair 'net the other day and stumbled upon wikipedia's birthday lists. Found some interesting stuff on there. I am proud to say that I share a birthday with the following people...

John Wayne (1907) actor
Miles Davis (1926) musician/man-god
Peter Cushing (1913) actor
Levon Helm (1940) vocal/drummer for The Band
Luca Toni (1977) striker for Bayern Munich/Italy nation team

These were the more respectable names, there were others I really could care less for - Stevie Nicks, Helena Bonham Carter, Lenny Kravitz, Hank Williams, Jr.

I also found a list of tragedies that occurred on my birthday...

The actual day of my birth in 1983, a strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, which triggered a tsunami that killed at least 104 people, and injured thousands... wow.

Whatever your Karmic beliefs may be, I feel that there is some sort of connection one has to an event of this nature. The day I was born an earthquake struck Japan. Sorry about that Japan, I apologize.

I just find these types of lists interesting. Check it out for yourself, head over to Wikipedia and type in your birthday, they've got lists galore for your particular day.

The Thrilling! The Suspenseful! The Thrillingly Suspenseful!!

Oh my, what fun it has been, and what a long time as well, to sit here with no Music Mondays. A lot has occurred in between postings of Musical Instruction. Christmas, New Years and even two days after new years. There are big things being planned here in my neck of the woods, and everything is really just an overall happy situation. I don't know why, but I reckon that's a good thing... ain't it?

Even the cinema is fun again. For a few months there is was really sucking, but I suppose every year from Summer to Fall there's a good span where nothing good comes out, and for cinephiles like myself and a few of my friends, this is a very depressing time. But alas, it is winter, and film is prevalent, and everything is really just an overall happy situation (broken record?). This leads me to the newest Music Monday, the first of the year.

Preface: A man who doesn't love film is a man I don't wish to be friends with. This week's installment has everything to do with film. For as I sat in my favorite theater in town watching the latest masterwork from the Coen Bros I happened again upon the trailer for There Will Be Blood. Now despite having the coolest looking title cards for any film I've seen in the past ten years, and despite boasting a lead such as Daniel Day Lewis, and despite being written and directed by a true artiste, and finally despite being adapted from an Upton Sinclair novel.. the film has the immeasurable luck of being scored by one of the most innovative musicians of the past two decades. I am of course speaking about Radiohead's resident genius, Jonny Greenwood. Now I've been a fan of Greenwood's work in Radiohead for quite some time, and when I found his first foray into film soundtracking a few years ago (scoring for the oddball doc Bodysong) I jumped on it like something that jumps on something very quickly. It was just as odd and strange as I had hoped, and provided a soundtrack for a semester of college where reality was being questioned every other day, if not every other hour. So it goes without saying that I was uber-excited to pick up this latest score. More on that in a bit...

The point here is thus - I was again amazed, and at the same time very happy. Mr. Greenwood seems to have done his homework. In my mind he has taken all the best parts of classic film score work and mutated them into one tense, thrilling masterwork. So let's get started and I'll show you the wonders of where he might have come from...


Music Monday: The Thrilling (oh yes, it is now a direct download link, so none of that pesky download page)

1. Bernard Herrmann - Overture -- From the film North By Northwest. My personal favorite Hitchcock film, showcasing why Cary Grant is one man every man wishes to be, is provided a score by THE composer for great thrillers. Herrmann's catalogue includes everything from Sci-Fi classics to Romance films to Thrillers. He was Hitchcock's go to guy (Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds), Gave Truffaut his Fahrenheit 451 tracks, supplied Jason and the Argonauts with tunes as well as Sinbad, Gulliver and Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Quite an amazing career and right up there with Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone. He is our jumping off point this week.

2. Antoine Duhamel - Little Marital Concert -- From the film Bed and Board. I don't want to take away from Mr. Duhamel, he is great in his work with Francois Truffaut, much the way H&H were on most films, but it must be said that when Truffaut wanted Herrmann and couldn't get him, Duhamel gave him the next best thing -- an imitation. That is not to say his compositions aren't original at all, they are. They also sound terribly close to that signature Herrmann sound. Then again though, not a bad guy to be compared to, eh? On a side note, Bed and Board is the third film in the series of Antoine Doinel films by Truffaut (starting with The 400 Blows). You must watch all of them.

3. Bernard Herrmann - The Elevator/The U.N./Information Desk -- again, from North By Northwest. If you're sensing a pattern here, you're not mistaken. Each of these Herrmann tracks feels as though they've influenced another. Not much more need be said.

4. Jonny Greenwood - Future Markets -- from the film There Will Be Blood. I have not seen the film, but this track has already given me a feeling for what I will think of it. You may say that owning a film soundtrack before you see the movie is potentially dangerous for that moment you do actually sit down to watch it, but I will beg to differ in this case, based on this track alone. Greenwood supplies here what is sure to be a taught, thrilling score to go along with the story of a Texas oil man, hellbent on crude domination. I can only imagine the images to go along with this eerie track.

5. Michael Giacchino - World's Worst Landscaping -- from Season 2 of Lost. For those that don't know Mr. Giacchino's work, you're really missing out. He's scored such great recent films as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, all of Lost and Alias. His work on Lost has really pushed the show above and beyond. His soundtracks are moody and fitting to the odd environment of a mysterious island with fantastical secrets. The work he has done withing the past two seasons especially have shown his love for Herrmann. This track showcases most of what you'll find with him, suspenseful humor. Not afraid to scare you, put you on the edge of your seat, or make you giggle.

6. Bernard Herrmann - Kidnapped/The Door/Cheers -- This last track from our inspirational source for the week is again from North By Northwest, well because I think that's one of his best works, and it shows everything he was capable of. Tension, action and romance. Look for anything and everything from this man... especially his fantasy film work (Mysterious Island, the Sinbad films, Jason and the Argonauts, and Journey to the Center of the Earth -- for a start).

7. Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood -- the title track from the film. I'm pretty sure this is what sold me to buy the album from the trailer. It is absolutely fantastic in its oddball eeriness. It is such a moody piece that I almost scare myself when listening to it at night. If you're a fan of putting on a film score and pretending like you're in a film... this is one to start with (what? you're telling me you don't?). This track proves that Mr. Greenwood is a veritable composer and that I want him to score the first film I am a part of. Or maybe just my life. Jonny, can we be friends?

This does it for The Thrilling. Hope you all find it very enjoyable. Listen to it while you're driving, performing any sort of errand. Maybe while you're in your local grocery store. I don't doubt you'll be looking over your shoulder every two seconds. That feeling might be your grocer plotting to set you up for a crime you didn't commit.