A few quick thoughts on the 2009 albums I don't have enough to say about to warrant more full-featured write-ups:
It's Blitz - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Sample)
It's a little more electronic and dance-oriented than the band's previous albums but, other than that, this is basically more of the same. That isn't bad, though; Karen O still has a powerful vocal prescience (though she's more restrained by the heavy focus on rhythm here), Nick Zinner still turns out nicely jagged guitar riff with seeming ease and the band still knows how to crank out the hooks. It has basically the same problems as their other records, too (the singles overshadowing the album tracks, throwaway lyrics) but that comes with this territory. Nothing more or less than another set of Yeah Yeah Yeahs tunes, It's Blitz won't likely win the band any new fans but it will keep their base satisfied and sometimes it's okay for a band to do that, particularly when their established formula works as well as it does here.
Hold Time - M. Ward (Sample)
The only evidence that this is M. Ward's first album after his participation in the highly successful She & Him project (with acclaimed indie actress Zooey Deschenel) is that the production is a touch more polished than his others (oh, and Deschenel turns up to do backup vocals on "Never Had Nobody Like You"); a few more string-sweetened passages , a fairly good Luncinda Williams cameo and a more generalized sonic clarity. That said, it provides everything Ward's fans have come to expect: cabaret piano-ballads (the title track), country tunes ("Rave On"), spindly folk ("For Beginners") and melodic guitar-rock ("Never Had Nobody Like You"), all delivered with Ward's light-brush vocal tones and impeccable lyrical guitar work. Sometimes the production can overwhelm the songs ("Jailbird" is severely underwritten), but, really, Ward's hit a successful streak of records since he decided to start singing and this is no exception.
Life On Earth - Tiny Vipers (Sample)
Three words: female Mark Kozelek. If that doesn't sell you, I don't know what to say.
Hymn To The Immortal Wind - Mono (Sample)
Basically, every new Mono record sounds like the previous one with one new thing added. In this case, they bring in sweeping string arrangements to compliment the already-powerful emotional force of their carefully composed instrumental post-rock. Sometimes the strings take the songs from "emotive" to "cheesy" but, most of the time, they work wonders. Mono's one of those bands that people tend to either "get" or not; if you "got" them before, rest assured you still will here.
Sounds of the Universe - Depeche Mode (Sample)
It's no Violator but, then again, what is? A step up from the band's previous album Playing the Angel (which I thought relied far too heavily on overly-watery and cheap-sounding synth tones), this record hearkens back to the more rock-influenced Depeche records of the early 90's; in my book, that's a good thing. The songwriting is, of course, not as consistent (and there's nothing of the caliber of "Enjoy The Silence" on here) but it's still fairly sturdy. Highlights include the bent funk of "In Chains", the vintage Nintendo-sounding "Fragile Tension" and the sweeping industrial grind of "Come Back".
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
THE MORE I SEE, THE LESS I SCREAM
- Summer TV recommendations:
Hung: funny as hell, surprisingly poignant when it wants to be, mostly great acting, well-defined characters. And, really, this has the best premise (and the best posters) for a show, basically ever. The only bad thing is that it comes on right after, ugh, True Blood, so, you may have to see an unfortunate ending scene of it in order to watch Hung; it's not too great of a price, in my opinion.
Hell's Kitchen: really, it's got Gordon Ramsey, that's the only reason to watch this. If he isn't there, this becomes Top Chef, which sucks. This is totally a guilty pleasure for me, no doubt about it, but, what can I say? I like a tough-but-fair hardass yelling at people and throwing plates when they screw up.
Mad Men (when it comes on in August): the first two seasons rocked, I don't expect this one will be any different. I am mildly concerned about the writers' claims that this season will be more fast-paced, as the story is almost irrelevant to my enjoyment of Mad Men: it's all about the characters, the social commentary and the gorgeous production design. Still, the promo image they've released greatly increases my anticipation.
- Back onto the music tip:
Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers (Sample)
Right off the bat: I will likely come off very gushing in this write-up, I don't feel it's unjustified, but, I'll warn you beforehand. That said, this is, in my opinion, the best album of 2009 so far and it'll take something else truly amazing to unseat it as my top record before the years end. I've already played it through top-to-bottom more times than I can count and I still don't think I'm anywhere close to being tired of it.
I've talked about the Manics on this blog previously and copious amounts of words have been devoted to the band's history, so, I won't reiterate that here. Check out the band's Wikipedia page if you'd like the full story. Very briefly, and the context of this album, though: Guitarist/lyricist Richie Edwards disappeared in 1995 and has never been seen since, he was finally classified legally dead this year and, as such, his remaining bandmates decided to pay a tribute to him; all the lyrics contained on Journal For Plague Lovers come from a folder of various poems and ideas that Edwards gave to the band a few weeks before he disappeared. Some of the words contained therein were made into the songs on the band's first album as a trio (1996's Everything Must Go) and the words here represent the rest of them (or, at least, the rest that were usable for these purposes, band bassist Nicky Wire was stated that "some of them are little haikus, just four lines").
Now, this idea could go really bad, really fast in two main ways: Firstly, it could come off as very exploitative of Edward's memory and legacy, a cheap marketing to garner attention from those who may have otherwise dismissed the Manics in recent years. The album does carry a faint whiff of this, but, the band seems fairly aware of this potential pit fall in interviews done on the promotional circuit for the record and they were, of course, careful to get approval from Richie's surviving relatives before going ahead with the project. But, even if they weren't aware, the Manics have never really been capable of being anything other than 100% sincere at all times and they've always kept a 25% cut of their profits sitting around for Edwards should he ever return, so, I'm willing to say that the use of his words comes more out of love and respect for their lost bandmate than as an attempt to grab ears.
However, if the lyrics weren't any good this would still be a misfire from the get-go. Therein lies the second big problem with the idea: what if the words that weren't used yet are simply the rancid table scraps that never deserved to see the light of a recording studio anyways? Richie wasn't always on, the way a lot of people like to believe he was. He was certainly one of the more astute and clever lyricists of his time, and his affinity for packing his songs full of historical and literary references remains admirable and unique within the rock cannon. However, he also had a tendency to speak in grand pronouncements, that sometimes contradicted themselves, and to artificially pump up the melodrama in his words for effect. He's still certainly miles ahead of 99% of rock lyricists (who, for some reason, still can't seem to reach beyond "I'm sad because this chick broke up with me" and "I want this chick so bad") but the comparisons he's often afforded (Sexton, Plath, etc.) aren't really warranted. With all that said, however, this is a sturdy set of words: mostly less bleak than the towering monument of nihilism that was 1994's The Holy Bible (though that says more about just how bleak The Holy Bible is than anything else), it still probes a lot of interesting ideas and concepts, mostly about the falsehoods and insecurities of modern society, rarely heard on rock recordings. There is a slight problem that comes from the band's approach, though. Namely, some of the songs consist of only one verse and a chorus which are repeated twice. It isn't that big of a deal but it does prove somewhat distracting at times. There are also a couple clunkers and groaners here and there (the chorus of "Me & Stephen Hawking" is particularly eye-rolling) but they're far outnumbered by the genuinely intriguing ideas (the brilliant martyrdom deconstruction of "Doors Closing Slowly"), intentionally horrifying character portraits (the love-as-masochism of "She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach") and tangled word-salads (I'm still trying to pull apart "This Joke Sport Severs") that Richie, with slight posthumous editing from Nicky Wire, presents here. Even when the words don't work in totality for a song, there's always at least an ear-grabbing phrase or two in there ("Marlon, J.D.'"'s opening of "he stood like a statue/as he was beaten across the face", for example).
Of course, all the great lyrics in the world wouldn't mean very much if the band didn't bring it musically; this is a rock record, after all, not a poetry collection. Now, the band recorded (most of) this one with legendary studio rat Steve Albini but it's not quite as raw a recording as that would suggest (probably because they had someone else mix it later). It still does come across with his standard dry drum sound, scracthy guitar attack and overall "live" feel, despite occasional embellishments like the swooping string section on "This Joke Sport Severs" and the light piano twinkles on "Facing Page: Top Left". Unlike the racked post-punk/industrial/hard rock nightmares conjured up on The Holy Bible, Journal For Plague Lovers sticks relatively close to the arty, but hard-hitting, arena rock formula that the band has traveled in since Everything Must Go, albeit a rawer and more emotional form thereof. This is a good thing; that formula is a quite sound one, with its focus on memorable hooks and guitar riffs, but for the last couple of albums the band seems to have been kinda rudderless and lacking in passion. Journal welds these two crucial points of the great Manics songs (the professionally-constructed songcraft and the raw, bark-at-the-moon passion) together for a truly brilliant set.
One of the more curious things about the record, though, is its (in relative terms for the fairly sonically static group) willingness to stretch that sound out, not in deeply radical ways, mind you, but, it's still there and, for the most part, it works. The two-stepping funk rhythm underlying "Marlon, J.D.", the contradictory cheery refrain on "Jackie Collins Existential Question Time", the gut-punch bass on "Peeled Apples" and the slowed-down chorus of "Me & Stephen Hawking" are certainly departures but the main fact of the band's growing sonic maturity is evidenced by the slower tracks here. If they had been included on The Holy Bible, such songs as "Facing Page: Top Left" and "Doors Closing Slowly" likely would've been musically rendered as sharp blasts of punk-ish energy, but, here they are a shimmering acoustic ballad and a twisted funeral march, respectively. I'm not saying one manner is necessarily better but the variety showcased is certainly cause for celebration (and for people who'd complain, you still have full-tilt rage like "All Is Vanity" and "Pretension/Repulsion" to mull over). It's this sonic variety that allows the record to work in a multitude of settings, at least for me; I've listened to this at the gym, while typing, and while just lying in bed listening and it works equally well in different ways for each context. In addition, James Dean Bradfield's voice is as good as ever and he's still coming up with clever ways to digest post-punk jitteriness into bludgeoning hard-rock riffs and the Sean Moore/Nicky Wire rhythm section proves as rock-solid and dependable as ever.
If the album does have one flaw, it's Wire's lead vocal turn on the closer "William's Last Words"; he's very, very shaky as a singer and the song doesn't do a whole lot to justify it being the record's longest song. That said, since the lyrics to it read like a suicide note from Richie (and Bradfield was apparently, and understandably, too shaken-up to sing it), I'll give the band that one little over-indulgence.
One could level the complaint that this album is simply The Holy Bible's little brother, but, in all honesty, that's what I wanted out of it: Another chance to hear a great band be driven on to create genius music by an at-times-brilliant lyricist. In fact, that approach towards songwriting can also be termed as a throwback to an earlier era where one person wrote the words, another wrote the music and another sang it. Well, in that case, I'll propose this: Richie James Edwards is the Cole Porter to the Manics' Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra, think about it.
Hung: funny as hell, surprisingly poignant when it wants to be, mostly great acting, well-defined characters. And, really, this has the best premise (and the best posters) for a show, basically ever. The only bad thing is that it comes on right after, ugh, True Blood, so, you may have to see an unfortunate ending scene of it in order to watch Hung; it's not too great of a price, in my opinion.
Hell's Kitchen: really, it's got Gordon Ramsey, that's the only reason to watch this. If he isn't there, this becomes Top Chef, which sucks. This is totally a guilty pleasure for me, no doubt about it, but, what can I say? I like a tough-but-fair hardass yelling at people and throwing plates when they screw up.
Mad Men (when it comes on in August): the first two seasons rocked, I don't expect this one will be any different. I am mildly concerned about the writers' claims that this season will be more fast-paced, as the story is almost irrelevant to my enjoyment of Mad Men: it's all about the characters, the social commentary and the gorgeous production design. Still, the promo image they've released greatly increases my anticipation.
- Back onto the music tip:
Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers (Sample)
Right off the bat: I will likely come off very gushing in this write-up, I don't feel it's unjustified, but, I'll warn you beforehand. That said, this is, in my opinion, the best album of 2009 so far and it'll take something else truly amazing to unseat it as my top record before the years end. I've already played it through top-to-bottom more times than I can count and I still don't think I'm anywhere close to being tired of it.
I've talked about the Manics on this blog previously and copious amounts of words have been devoted to the band's history, so, I won't reiterate that here. Check out the band's Wikipedia page if you'd like the full story. Very briefly, and the context of this album, though: Guitarist/lyricist Richie Edwards disappeared in 1995 and has never been seen since, he was finally classified legally dead this year and, as such, his remaining bandmates decided to pay a tribute to him; all the lyrics contained on Journal For Plague Lovers come from a folder of various poems and ideas that Edwards gave to the band a few weeks before he disappeared. Some of the words contained therein were made into the songs on the band's first album as a trio (1996's Everything Must Go) and the words here represent the rest of them (or, at least, the rest that were usable for these purposes, band bassist Nicky Wire was stated that "some of them are little haikus, just four lines").
Now, this idea could go really bad, really fast in two main ways: Firstly, it could come off as very exploitative of Edward's memory and legacy, a cheap marketing to garner attention from those who may have otherwise dismissed the Manics in recent years. The album does carry a faint whiff of this, but, the band seems fairly aware of this potential pit fall in interviews done on the promotional circuit for the record and they were, of course, careful to get approval from Richie's surviving relatives before going ahead with the project. But, even if they weren't aware, the Manics have never really been capable of being anything other than 100% sincere at all times and they've always kept a 25% cut of their profits sitting around for Edwards should he ever return, so, I'm willing to say that the use of his words comes more out of love and respect for their lost bandmate than as an attempt to grab ears.
However, if the lyrics weren't any good this would still be a misfire from the get-go. Therein lies the second big problem with the idea: what if the words that weren't used yet are simply the rancid table scraps that never deserved to see the light of a recording studio anyways? Richie wasn't always on, the way a lot of people like to believe he was. He was certainly one of the more astute and clever lyricists of his time, and his affinity for packing his songs full of historical and literary references remains admirable and unique within the rock cannon. However, he also had a tendency to speak in grand pronouncements, that sometimes contradicted themselves, and to artificially pump up the melodrama in his words for effect. He's still certainly miles ahead of 99% of rock lyricists (who, for some reason, still can't seem to reach beyond "I'm sad because this chick broke up with me" and "I want this chick so bad") but the comparisons he's often afforded (Sexton, Plath, etc.) aren't really warranted. With all that said, however, this is a sturdy set of words: mostly less bleak than the towering monument of nihilism that was 1994's The Holy Bible (though that says more about just how bleak The Holy Bible is than anything else), it still probes a lot of interesting ideas and concepts, mostly about the falsehoods and insecurities of modern society, rarely heard on rock recordings. There is a slight problem that comes from the band's approach, though. Namely, some of the songs consist of only one verse and a chorus which are repeated twice. It isn't that big of a deal but it does prove somewhat distracting at times. There are also a couple clunkers and groaners here and there (the chorus of "Me & Stephen Hawking" is particularly eye-rolling) but they're far outnumbered by the genuinely intriguing ideas (the brilliant martyrdom deconstruction of "Doors Closing Slowly"), intentionally horrifying character portraits (the love-as-masochism of "She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach") and tangled word-salads (I'm still trying to pull apart "This Joke Sport Severs") that Richie, with slight posthumous editing from Nicky Wire, presents here. Even when the words don't work in totality for a song, there's always at least an ear-grabbing phrase or two in there ("Marlon, J.D.'"'s opening of "he stood like a statue/as he was beaten across the face", for example).
Of course, all the great lyrics in the world wouldn't mean very much if the band didn't bring it musically; this is a rock record, after all, not a poetry collection. Now, the band recorded (most of) this one with legendary studio rat Steve Albini but it's not quite as raw a recording as that would suggest (probably because they had someone else mix it later). It still does come across with his standard dry drum sound, scracthy guitar attack and overall "live" feel, despite occasional embellishments like the swooping string section on "This Joke Sport Severs" and the light piano twinkles on "Facing Page: Top Left". Unlike the racked post-punk/industrial/hard rock nightmares conjured up on The Holy Bible, Journal For Plague Lovers sticks relatively close to the arty, but hard-hitting, arena rock formula that the band has traveled in since Everything Must Go, albeit a rawer and more emotional form thereof. This is a good thing; that formula is a quite sound one, with its focus on memorable hooks and guitar riffs, but for the last couple of albums the band seems to have been kinda rudderless and lacking in passion. Journal welds these two crucial points of the great Manics songs (the professionally-constructed songcraft and the raw, bark-at-the-moon passion) together for a truly brilliant set.
One of the more curious things about the record, though, is its (in relative terms for the fairly sonically static group) willingness to stretch that sound out, not in deeply radical ways, mind you, but, it's still there and, for the most part, it works. The two-stepping funk rhythm underlying "Marlon, J.D.", the contradictory cheery refrain on "Jackie Collins Existential Question Time", the gut-punch bass on "Peeled Apples" and the slowed-down chorus of "Me & Stephen Hawking" are certainly departures but the main fact of the band's growing sonic maturity is evidenced by the slower tracks here. If they had been included on The Holy Bible, such songs as "Facing Page: Top Left" and "Doors Closing Slowly" likely would've been musically rendered as sharp blasts of punk-ish energy, but, here they are a shimmering acoustic ballad and a twisted funeral march, respectively. I'm not saying one manner is necessarily better but the variety showcased is certainly cause for celebration (and for people who'd complain, you still have full-tilt rage like "All Is Vanity" and "Pretension/Repulsion" to mull over). It's this sonic variety that allows the record to work in a multitude of settings, at least for me; I've listened to this at the gym, while typing, and while just lying in bed listening and it works equally well in different ways for each context. In addition, James Dean Bradfield's voice is as good as ever and he's still coming up with clever ways to digest post-punk jitteriness into bludgeoning hard-rock riffs and the Sean Moore/Nicky Wire rhythm section proves as rock-solid and dependable as ever.
If the album does have one flaw, it's Wire's lead vocal turn on the closer "William's Last Words"; he's very, very shaky as a singer and the song doesn't do a whole lot to justify it being the record's longest song. That said, since the lyrics to it read like a suicide note from Richie (and Bradfield was apparently, and understandably, too shaken-up to sing it), I'll give the band that one little over-indulgence.
One could level the complaint that this album is simply The Holy Bible's little brother, but, in all honesty, that's what I wanted out of it: Another chance to hear a great band be driven on to create genius music by an at-times-brilliant lyricist. In fact, that approach towards songwriting can also be termed as a throwback to an earlier era where one person wrote the words, another wrote the music and another sang it. Well, in that case, I'll propose this: Richie James Edwards is the Cole Porter to the Manics' Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra, think about it.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
WOULDN'T YOU LOVE SOMEBODY TO LOVE
- Continuing on the "albums from 2009 that I've listened to" tip:
Pink Strat - Bahamas (Sample)
This one comes to me courtesy of a friend who recommended I check it out, and, for the most part, I'm glad she did. Bahamas sort of fits into this earlier strain of indie music, characterized by such practitioners as Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, that's kind of gone out of vogue in recent years. Namely, the four-track-in-the-basement acoustic stuff characterized by lovelorn lyrics, invitingly unprofessional vocals, simple, lilting melodies and basic, no-frills production.
Right off the top, I do have to say that I don't think Bahamas is as good as something like Sebadoh (for a couple of reasons I'll get into later) but, that's a pretty high bar and, mostly, I enjoyed this record. Afie Jurvanen, the dude behind this whole project, and who's past work has apparently included backing up Feist, has a very interesting voice; it's often in sensitive-indie-guy mumble mode, but, even there he's got a bit more of a country twang to himself than someone like, say, Mark Kozelek, and when he let's his voice get a bit more open-toned, he shows that he's a lot more versatile than your typical bedroom folkie. As you would expect, the songs here are mostly very basic guitar-and-voice things, but, much like his inspirations, Jurvanen wants to play with that form via the production embellishments; for the most part, this works. The running-all-over-the-place slide guitar on "Lonely Loves" is an interesting musical wild card, "Hockey Teeth" and "Southern Drawl" are basically straight-up full-band country songs, albeit not with "country" vocals and the jazzy finger-snaps on album closer "Whole Wide World" add to what might otherwise be a more archetypal composition. Often, he'll bring in an electric guitar to play melodic counterpoint to his acoustic (as on "Till The Morning") and that's a trick I'll almost never get tired of, when it's done well. In addition, I think that all the songs here are very well-written within their chosen idiom, all have memorable melodies and stick-in-your-brain choruses; I'm less into this kind of material than a lot of people but I'll always give props when it's done right.
However, my main issue with the record is that I don't think it ever steps outside the realm of being a very good sensitive-indie-four-track-basement album. The lyrics didn't do all that much for me, outside of a few clever phrases, as I think that the sentiments of alternate puppy-love and wistful melancholy have been done better elsewhere (and, to be frank, they've kinda been done to death). It also sort of feels like four-track folk for the digital age in that the record has a very clean mix, with all the instruments clearly defined from one another and Jurvanen's voice nice and up-front. You might say "how could that be a bad thing?", but the thing is that past albums like this often had very gauzy production where instruments would leak into one another and the vocals wouldn't be clearly audible. Though I'm certain that sound came out more of a lack of money and studio time than anything else, it did create sort of a wonderful aesthetic for this type of music; it may have been way more slap-dash but it also created more of a weird intimacy between performer and listener, the ultra lo-fi production adding to the authenticity of the music. That said, I don't at all doubt Jurvanen's sincerity in this pursuit and I'm not saying that the record is overly glossy or anything (it's positively spartan compared to any radio-rock), but, when you're making music that tends to pride itself on a kind of emotional honesty it's probably better to allow that to come through in the music itself more (it also has the fortunate side-effect of covering up some of your less well-written lyrics). Also, as much as some of his willingness to play around sonically is successful, some of it isn't: "Already Yours" would be a lot better without the off-time drum thump in the background and the piano on "What's Worse" feels out of place.
With all that said, I would still recommend this album, especially if this sort of music is already your bag; and, really, this dude's Canadian and made a song called "Hockey Teeth", how can I hate that?
(Note: The sample I've included is not exactly reflective of the music on the record but it was the only video of them I could find that wasn't completely crap quality)
Pink Strat - Bahamas (Sample)
This one comes to me courtesy of a friend who recommended I check it out, and, for the most part, I'm glad she did. Bahamas sort of fits into this earlier strain of indie music, characterized by such practitioners as Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, that's kind of gone out of vogue in recent years. Namely, the four-track-in-the-basement acoustic stuff characterized by lovelorn lyrics, invitingly unprofessional vocals, simple, lilting melodies and basic, no-frills production.
Right off the top, I do have to say that I don't think Bahamas is as good as something like Sebadoh (for a couple of reasons I'll get into later) but, that's a pretty high bar and, mostly, I enjoyed this record. Afie Jurvanen, the dude behind this whole project, and who's past work has apparently included backing up Feist, has a very interesting voice; it's often in sensitive-indie-guy mumble mode, but, even there he's got a bit more of a country twang to himself than someone like, say, Mark Kozelek, and when he let's his voice get a bit more open-toned, he shows that he's a lot more versatile than your typical bedroom folkie. As you would expect, the songs here are mostly very basic guitar-and-voice things, but, much like his inspirations, Jurvanen wants to play with that form via the production embellishments; for the most part, this works. The running-all-over-the-place slide guitar on "Lonely Loves" is an interesting musical wild card, "Hockey Teeth" and "Southern Drawl" are basically straight-up full-band country songs, albeit not with "country" vocals and the jazzy finger-snaps on album closer "Whole Wide World" add to what might otherwise be a more archetypal composition. Often, he'll bring in an electric guitar to play melodic counterpoint to his acoustic (as on "Till The Morning") and that's a trick I'll almost never get tired of, when it's done well. In addition, I think that all the songs here are very well-written within their chosen idiom, all have memorable melodies and stick-in-your-brain choruses; I'm less into this kind of material than a lot of people but I'll always give props when it's done right.
However, my main issue with the record is that I don't think it ever steps outside the realm of being a very good sensitive-indie-four-track-basement album. The lyrics didn't do all that much for me, outside of a few clever phrases, as I think that the sentiments of alternate puppy-love and wistful melancholy have been done better elsewhere (and, to be frank, they've kinda been done to death). It also sort of feels like four-track folk for the digital age in that the record has a very clean mix, with all the instruments clearly defined from one another and Jurvanen's voice nice and up-front. You might say "how could that be a bad thing?", but the thing is that past albums like this often had very gauzy production where instruments would leak into one another and the vocals wouldn't be clearly audible. Though I'm certain that sound came out more of a lack of money and studio time than anything else, it did create sort of a wonderful aesthetic for this type of music; it may have been way more slap-dash but it also created more of a weird intimacy between performer and listener, the ultra lo-fi production adding to the authenticity of the music. That said, I don't at all doubt Jurvanen's sincerity in this pursuit and I'm not saying that the record is overly glossy or anything (it's positively spartan compared to any radio-rock), but, when you're making music that tends to pride itself on a kind of emotional honesty it's probably better to allow that to come through in the music itself more (it also has the fortunate side-effect of covering up some of your less well-written lyrics). Also, as much as some of his willingness to play around sonically is successful, some of it isn't: "Already Yours" would be a lot better without the off-time drum thump in the background and the piano on "What's Worse" feels out of place.
With all that said, I would still recommend this album, especially if this sort of music is already your bag; and, really, this dude's Canadian and made a song called "Hockey Teeth", how can I hate that?
(Note: The sample I've included is not exactly reflective of the music on the record but it was the only video of them I could find that wasn't completely crap quality)
Saturday, July 25, 2009
I MET YOU AT THE BLOOD BANK, WE WERE LOOKING AT THE BAGS
- Quick message before I get into the music stuff: On the week of November 25, a war will be fought, between good and evil, light and dark. I am, of course, speaking of the fact that New Moon and Ninja Assassin are being released within the same week. If you value good cinema, you will dissuade everyone you know from seeing New Moon and towards seeing Ninja Assassin. The only language that Hollywood understands is money, and if we can send a message to them that we need more movies like Ninja Assassin and less movies like New Moon, it's gonna be with our wallets. This is not a simple little game, possibly the entire fate of an industry is on the line, you know what you need to do.
Blood Bank - Bon Iver (Sample)
This is only a four-song EP, not a proper album, but it is our first chance to hear Bon Iver working as an actual band, rather than a Justin Vernon pseudonym. What are the differences? Well, the songs here certainly have a much more full-bodied sound than For Emma, Forever Ago, incorporating muted percussion, twinkling pianos and fuzzy country-twang electric guitars into the basic acoustic-and-voice constructions of the songs. "Beach Baby" even has a vague Carribian inflection provided by a wavering pedal steel. Crucially, though, these feel like logical extensions of the sound Vernon already established, not "evolution" for its own sake, as all the songs here fit the same vibe that For Emma had, even if they are mostly warmer. Vernon also doesn't push his voice into a higher register as much here, settling for more of an inviting mumble. Lyrically, it's about the same vague melancholy images that intrigue but don't really add up to much, with the exception of the title track, which is a cute story-song about a romance between two blood donors; I'd like to see Vernon pursue this avenue of lyrics more, he does it well.
Now, all I've just said only applies to the first three tracks on the EP. The closer, "Woods", is a strange experiment: consisting of nothing more than several overlapping auto-tuned vocal tracks by Vernon, it starts of rather shaky but eventually develops into a an actual Bon Iver song, albeit one that's reached by some off-kilter means. It's an interesting diversion, but I don't think I'd want much more than one song like it. Fortunately, the rest of the EP seems to indicate that Vernon wants to evolve this musical project by much less radical, but no less effective, means.
Further Complications - Jarvis Cocker (Sample)
On paper, Further Complications looks like one of the worst ideas ever conceived; taking Jarvis, mostly known for dryly-witty, heavily-produced Britpop, and teaming him with producer/weirdo Steve Albini, who is still holding strong to his basic, no-fuss, no-overdubs credo, seems like it would sap the elegance from Jarvis and the raw power from Albini's production. Surprisingly, then, this album is actually very good, albeit quite different from Jarvis' solo debut and his work with Pulp.
The only sounds here that really feel like the Jarvis we know are little details like the backup vocal "ahhs" on the title track, the juke-joint saxophone on "Homewrecker", the handclaps on "Angela". Otherwise, Albini hasn't modified his signature production style at all: the drums and bass are very dry, the guitars scratch and growl all over the place, Jarvis' voice isn't cleanly separated from the music; it's just a very "live" sounding record, overall. In a lot of ways, these songs feel like standard Jarvis or Pulp songs, cut down to their bare essentials (usually a hammering blues-punk riff, a blunted rhythmic stomp and a set of cleverly mean lyrics), though they do tend to have a more herky-jerky Stooges-ish quality to them. Some, like "Angela", do descend perilously close to standard-issue bar-band boogie but even there, the lyrics are still clever and he even pokes fun at the cliche in "Caucasian Blues". Cocker's voice, too, has more spit-and-grit to it, like he's singing through gnashed teeth half the time, indulging in full-throated shouts another bit and semi-parodically crooning the rest of the album. Even the slower tracks, like "Leftovers" and "Hold Still", are rubbed-raw, both sonically and lyrically. Reports indicate that this is a "breakup album" but it doesn't feel like the standard blue-toned melancholic affair that term implies. Certainly, one can read the obvious into the title and chorus of "Homewrecker" and "Hold Still"'s plaint that "kittens are cute/but a full-grown cat can be cuter" befits a near-40 divorcee.
Perhaps it's because Cocker is too clever to descend into standard "woe is me" whining, but he seems far more critical of himself than anyone else on this record, "I Never Said I Was Deep" ("but I am profoundly shallow") being the peak of this. With a goofily swooning chorus and a slight twinkle in the guitars, it would seem to be the album's lightest moment but then Cocker gets to lacerating himself: "If you want someone to talk to/ you're wasting your time", "you're going over my head", "my morality is shabby/ my behavior unacceptable". And then there's the money line, probably one of the funniest and most wince-inducing you'll ever hear: "I'm not looking for a relationship, just a willing receptacle". The rest of the album is also gnarled with barbs like that which I'll allow be a surprise should you choose to listen.
If one song here is a misstep, it's the wordless motorik of "Pilchard" (which, in Jarvis' own words, he "never got around to writing") but, still, that's a minor complaint. It's a winner of a record that might prove, with it's no-frills production, proudly loud rock and stinging lyrics, to be a worthy successor to Elvis Costello's This Year's Model, one of my absolute favourite records.
The only sounds here that really feel like the Jarvis we know are little details like the backup vocal "ahhs" on the title track, the juke-joint saxophone on "Homewrecker", the handclaps on "Angela". Otherwise, Albini hasn't modified his signature production style at all: the drums and bass are very dry, the guitars scratch and growl all over the place, Jarvis' voice isn't cleanly separated from the music; it's just a very "live" sounding record, overall. In a lot of ways, these songs feel like standard Jarvis or Pulp songs, cut down to their bare essentials (usually a hammering blues-punk riff, a blunted rhythmic stomp and a set of cleverly mean lyrics), though they do tend to have a more herky-jerky Stooges-ish quality to them. Some, like "Angela", do descend perilously close to standard-issue bar-band boogie but even there, the lyrics are still clever and he even pokes fun at the cliche in "Caucasian Blues". Cocker's voice, too, has more spit-and-grit to it, like he's singing through gnashed teeth half the time, indulging in full-throated shouts another bit and semi-parodically crooning the rest of the album. Even the slower tracks, like "Leftovers" and "Hold Still", are rubbed-raw, both sonically and lyrically. Reports indicate that this is a "breakup album" but it doesn't feel like the standard blue-toned melancholic affair that term implies. Certainly, one can read the obvious into the title and chorus of "Homewrecker" and "Hold Still"'s plaint that "kittens are cute/but a full-grown cat can be cuter" befits a near-40 divorcee.
Perhaps it's because Cocker is too clever to descend into standard "woe is me" whining, but he seems far more critical of himself than anyone else on this record, "I Never Said I Was Deep" ("but I am profoundly shallow") being the peak of this. With a goofily swooning chorus and a slight twinkle in the guitars, it would seem to be the album's lightest moment but then Cocker gets to lacerating himself: "If you want someone to talk to/ you're wasting your time", "you're going over my head", "my morality is shabby/ my behavior unacceptable". And then there's the money line, probably one of the funniest and most wince-inducing you'll ever hear: "I'm not looking for a relationship, just a willing receptacle". The rest of the album is also gnarled with barbs like that which I'll allow be a surprise should you choose to listen.
If one song here is a misstep, it's the wordless motorik of "Pilchard" (which, in Jarvis' own words, he "never got around to writing") but, still, that's a minor complaint. It's a winner of a record that might prove, with it's no-frills production, proudly loud rock and stinging lyrics, to be a worthy successor to Elvis Costello's This Year's Model, one of my absolute favourite records.
Hometowns - The Rural Alberta Advantage (Sample)
It's often hard to associate a band with a specific country or geographic area, especially with the vast majority of musical artists striving to have universal appeal and, thus, bleaching-out local colour from their lyrics and music. It's refreshing, then, to see a band be as forward about where they come from as the Rural Alberta Advantage; it's right there in their name!
That aside, though, Hometowns succeeds primarily for two reasons: The first is its semi-intangible capturing of place within music. The lyrics are peppered with references to the "Rockies" and the "great lakes", open fields and night skies dominate the imagery, "Frank, AB" is a tribute to that town's mining industry, but it's something less concrete than that. The music, even though the band incorporates many different instruments, always maintains a crucial sense of open space; it sounds like the small towns they're singing about. The thing that keeps the lyrical preoccupations from simply being town-pride cheese is that one always gets the sense that the band is looking back on happier times after having moved on to another place, especially with "Don't Haunt This Place"'s desolate description of a "west side apartment". In this way, the album's title makes sense as the whole record seems to reflect the sort of wistful longing for one's home that comes after moving on from it, usually with moving away for education. With its purposeful focus on particular places, characters and concepts, Hometowns could be a sort of Canadian answer to Springsteen's Jersey-centric early albums, particularly Born to Run.
The second reason the record works so well is the Advantage's incredible musical dexterity. The opening song alone is able to work in twinkling glockenspiel, swirling synths, mournful cello and rough-cut percussion without ever sounding lost or arbitrary. "Rush Apart" and "Edmonton" show that the band are well-versed in country, the horn-heavy and death-haunted "Luciana" feels a like a lost Neutral Milk Hotel song, the choppy post-punk riff on "Drain The Blood" is a bit anomalous but still works well. One thing that does remain the same throughout all of the songs is the masterful percussion work, never showy, always propelling and tasteful.
If I could muster a complaint it would be that Nils Edenloff's nasal voice takes a bit of getting used to but once you're settled to it, it feels like just the right sort of voice (kind of sloppy, not technically precise) to voice these sentiments. Oh, and reports indicate that the band are a lot more energetic live. I may be able to confirm/deny this in late August (Virgin Music Fest in Barrie, fingers crossed), but I can't say for now.
And, really, when a band covers this much stylistic ground and comes up with a ballad as beautiful as album closer "In The Summertime", I'm willing to forgive a slight down-tick in energy.
Friday, July 24, 2009
I'M IN LOVE WITH THE QUEEN OF THE SUPERMARKET
- Two quick thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:
1) It's okay, just like all the rest of the movies are okay. Book purists will cry foul over the changes made (and, to be fair, the added fight scene is pretty garbage), but, really, it's impossible to truly do any written work justice on film. Judging it as just a film on its own, it's middle-of-the-road good: the direction is surprisingly dark-toned, the acting is mostly competent with a few outstanding points, the action is good, the special effects are convincing. It's a film that really does nothing particularly special either way, thus, I'm perfectly happy to have seen it once but I doubt I'll ever watch it again.
2) Not nearly enough Alan Rickman
- So, 2009 is over halfway over and I've listened to a lot of albums that have come out this year (31 to be exact), but, in looking over my posts I realized I've only talked three of those albums. I need to correct this state of affairs, so, I will be starting a series of posts about the albums I've listened to and my thoughts on them.
Firstly, I'll give a quick look back at the ones I've already talked about and see if I still feel the same way:
No Line On The Horizon - U2 (Original Review)
My opinion has changed the least on this one, everything I said in the original review still applies except for the fact that "Stand-Up Comedy" has kind of grown on me as an endearingly goofy novelty. It's certainly not a good song, but it's kind of fun to hear U2 stab blindly at a funk tune, they're trying really hard but they just can't nail it. Otherwise, I still think the slow tracks work best, that the two closing songs are formless and that the songwriting isn't their best. Still looking forward to Songs of Ascent.
Working On A Dream - Bruce Springsteen (Original Review)
I initially pegged this album as being overly chipper and as I listen to it more, I'm thinking that may be slightly inaccurate. It's certainly more upbeat than the fiery, angered Magic but it has these undertones of melancholy that become more apparent with repeated listening. The heroic gunslinger of "Outlaw Pete" meets a tragic end, the love songs are more about pushing away doubts and fears to accept another than a naive romanticism (e.g. "I've lost all the other bets I've made"). Even "Queen of the Supermarket", which I had pegged as a "grandly silly ode", begins to reveal another dimension when you realize that its central crush is unlikely to ever be resolved as the narrator simply "drifts away" every night after buying his groceries and the strings that perk up when "I'm in love with the queen of the supermarket" is sung aren't humming like angels, they're sighing, almost weeping. The only songs that remain completely positive are the good-but-slight birthday song "Surprise, Surprise" and the anti-defeatist title track (and maybe throw in "Good Eye" as I can't tell what the heck the lyrics are on it anyways). My general stance on the album remains (the lyrics are lazy at points, the melodies can drift too far, some of the songs come off as failed experiments) but, like most Springsteen records, it did reveal new dimensions with more spins.
Together Through Life - Bob Dylan (Original Review)
Dylan's voice sounds even more ragged, after comparission with his other more recent albums, than I had initially thought. But, these songs have grown on me a good bit, their relaxed grooves seem less taxing and more smooth and some of lyrics have begun to reveal a classic Dylan wit (albeit a tempered one). It's still a notch below Modern Times (which, in itself, is a notch below Love and Theft) but I'm on a more even keel. Maybe the change in the weather helps, what with the album's sunny, Tex-Mex textures? Who knows. At any rate, I'll never hate an album that contains the line "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver and reading James Joyce".
I'll start in with the album reviews proper tomorrow, starting with these:
Blood Bank by Bon Iver
Further Complications by Jarvis Cocker
Hometowns by The Rural Alberta Advantage
1) It's okay, just like all the rest of the movies are okay. Book purists will cry foul over the changes made (and, to be fair, the added fight scene is pretty garbage), but, really, it's impossible to truly do any written work justice on film. Judging it as just a film on its own, it's middle-of-the-road good: the direction is surprisingly dark-toned, the acting is mostly competent with a few outstanding points, the action is good, the special effects are convincing. It's a film that really does nothing particularly special either way, thus, I'm perfectly happy to have seen it once but I doubt I'll ever watch it again.
2) Not nearly enough Alan Rickman
- So, 2009 is over halfway over and I've listened to a lot of albums that have come out this year (31 to be exact), but, in looking over my posts I realized I've only talked three of those albums. I need to correct this state of affairs, so, I will be starting a series of posts about the albums I've listened to and my thoughts on them.
Firstly, I'll give a quick look back at the ones I've already talked about and see if I still feel the same way:
No Line On The Horizon - U2 (Original Review)
My opinion has changed the least on this one, everything I said in the original review still applies except for the fact that "Stand-Up Comedy" has kind of grown on me as an endearingly goofy novelty. It's certainly not a good song, but it's kind of fun to hear U2 stab blindly at a funk tune, they're trying really hard but they just can't nail it. Otherwise, I still think the slow tracks work best, that the two closing songs are formless and that the songwriting isn't their best. Still looking forward to Songs of Ascent.
Working On A Dream - Bruce Springsteen (Original Review)
I initially pegged this album as being overly chipper and as I listen to it more, I'm thinking that may be slightly inaccurate. It's certainly more upbeat than the fiery, angered Magic but it has these undertones of melancholy that become more apparent with repeated listening. The heroic gunslinger of "Outlaw Pete" meets a tragic end, the love songs are more about pushing away doubts and fears to accept another than a naive romanticism (e.g. "I've lost all the other bets I've made"). Even "Queen of the Supermarket", which I had pegged as a "grandly silly ode", begins to reveal another dimension when you realize that its central crush is unlikely to ever be resolved as the narrator simply "drifts away" every night after buying his groceries and the strings that perk up when "I'm in love with the queen of the supermarket" is sung aren't humming like angels, they're sighing, almost weeping. The only songs that remain completely positive are the good-but-slight birthday song "Surprise, Surprise" and the anti-defeatist title track (and maybe throw in "Good Eye" as I can't tell what the heck the lyrics are on it anyways). My general stance on the album remains (the lyrics are lazy at points, the melodies can drift too far, some of the songs come off as failed experiments) but, like most Springsteen records, it did reveal new dimensions with more spins.
Together Through Life - Bob Dylan (Original Review)
Dylan's voice sounds even more ragged, after comparission with his other more recent albums, than I had initially thought. But, these songs have grown on me a good bit, their relaxed grooves seem less taxing and more smooth and some of lyrics have begun to reveal a classic Dylan wit (albeit a tempered one). It's still a notch below Modern Times (which, in itself, is a notch below Love and Theft) but I'm on a more even keel. Maybe the change in the weather helps, what with the album's sunny, Tex-Mex textures? Who knows. At any rate, I'll never hate an album that contains the line "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver and reading James Joyce".
I'll start in with the album reviews proper tomorrow, starting with these:
Blood Bank by Bon Iver
Further Complications by Jarvis Cocker
Hometowns by The Rural Alberta Advantage
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I SAID "OH, NO SIR, I MUST SAY YOU'RE WRONG"
- I got a 120 gig Zune over the time I wasn't writing (don't judge me, it was cheap), so, I don't have an "other songs" folder anymore. Therefore, this will be my last post of this type; it was over before it even began:
Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
You might know this song if you're a House fan as it was featured on one of that show's episodes. It's kind of an odd-context for a song like this but, in a weird way, it makes sense. For Emma, Forever Ago, which "Re: Stacks" closes, was one of my favourite albums of last year, for the way it both evoked the lonely winter spent in a Wisconsin cabin by its maker and the way it tempered that atmosphere with warm-but-spare instrumentation and the high fragility of Justin Vernon's voice. This is the warmest moment on the record, trading the black-hole reverb of some of the darker songs for a close-miked approach, and the most traditionally melodic but the idiosyncrasies remain in the vocals and the lyrics which suggest lovelorn indie-guy without going towards it full bore; they're a little more obscure and poetic than that, with their references to gambling and a "black crow" holding the narrator's keys. Ultimately, it's that tension between the sappier elements and the more intriguing ones that holds the song together, much like House's balance between its standard medical elements and its unique ones.
A Looking-In View - Alice In Chains
Dirt = Awesome
This = Not, for reasons mostly unrelated to the new singer.
It sounds tired and bored and it goes on far longer that it has any right to. The only things that work here are the bridge (which gets a nice headbang feel going) and the vocal harmonies (which are classic Alice In Chains). Otherwise, this is like "Rain When I Die" except bad, and "Rain When I Die" had problems to begin with.
Goodbye Horses - Q Lazarus
Mostly known as the song from THE SCENE in Silence of the Lambs, I still think this song deserves a little better. It's a sharp, punchy little Gothic new-wave number, with struttingly fey vocals that perfectly compliment the pillowy instrumentation. Everything is swept up into this shaowy area that's cloudy rather than swampy: the guitar pings feel more like keyboards, when the keyboards do enter, they're these wormy squiggles that disappear as quickly as they came, the bass isn't really there unless you listen for it, the lyrics are memorable as far as their melodic phrasing but they're pretty much meaningless. About the only thing that emerges from that shadow is the stiff-shoe drumbeat, ticking with metronomic precision. All the elements add up to something brilliant, both appealing and sinister.
Ten Million Slaves - Otis Taylor
I'll admit that I first heard this song in the trailer for Public Enemies and sought it out from there, and, thus, it may forever be associated with images of 30's gangsters to me, but, even so, this is a tough, mean, hard tune. The lack of drums might seem like a hindrance but, really, this is minimum-as-maximum at its finest; by removing everything but that pounding bass beat, the gritty guitar-and-banjo combo riff and Taylor's deep-throated bluesman vocals, this song is the best it could possibly be, anything else would be extraneous. I'm willing to bet this was probably adapted from an old Negro spiritual tune as the melody has that kind of gospel/soul quality to it. It's kind of a collusion of different ideas, in that way, as the banjo gives a country/bluesgrass twang to the proceedings, the guitar injects a bit of rock flavour and Taylor's singing keeps it firmly in the blues arena. The lyrics (relating to hiding in a "fallout shelter") speak to a kind of deep-rooted paranoid-but-tough complex, which the music reinforces with aplomb.
Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
You might know this song if you're a House fan as it was featured on one of that show's episodes. It's kind of an odd-context for a song like this but, in a weird way, it makes sense. For Emma, Forever Ago, which "Re: Stacks" closes, was one of my favourite albums of last year, for the way it both evoked the lonely winter spent in a Wisconsin cabin by its maker and the way it tempered that atmosphere with warm-but-spare instrumentation and the high fragility of Justin Vernon's voice. This is the warmest moment on the record, trading the black-hole reverb of some of the darker songs for a close-miked approach, and the most traditionally melodic but the idiosyncrasies remain in the vocals and the lyrics which suggest lovelorn indie-guy without going towards it full bore; they're a little more obscure and poetic than that, with their references to gambling and a "black crow" holding the narrator's keys. Ultimately, it's that tension between the sappier elements and the more intriguing ones that holds the song together, much like House's balance between its standard medical elements and its unique ones.
A Looking-In View - Alice In Chains
Dirt = Awesome
This = Not, for reasons mostly unrelated to the new singer.
It sounds tired and bored and it goes on far longer that it has any right to. The only things that work here are the bridge (which gets a nice headbang feel going) and the vocal harmonies (which are classic Alice In Chains). Otherwise, this is like "Rain When I Die" except bad, and "Rain When I Die" had problems to begin with.
Goodbye Horses - Q Lazarus
Mostly known as the song from THE SCENE in Silence of the Lambs, I still think this song deserves a little better. It's a sharp, punchy little Gothic new-wave number, with struttingly fey vocals that perfectly compliment the pillowy instrumentation. Everything is swept up into this shaowy area that's cloudy rather than swampy: the guitar pings feel more like keyboards, when the keyboards do enter, they're these wormy squiggles that disappear as quickly as they came, the bass isn't really there unless you listen for it, the lyrics are memorable as far as their melodic phrasing but they're pretty much meaningless. About the only thing that emerges from that shadow is the stiff-shoe drumbeat, ticking with metronomic precision. All the elements add up to something brilliant, both appealing and sinister.
Ten Million Slaves - Otis Taylor
I'll admit that I first heard this song in the trailer for Public Enemies and sought it out from there, and, thus, it may forever be associated with images of 30's gangsters to me, but, even so, this is a tough, mean, hard tune. The lack of drums might seem like a hindrance but, really, this is minimum-as-maximum at its finest; by removing everything but that pounding bass beat, the gritty guitar-and-banjo combo riff and Taylor's deep-throated bluesman vocals, this song is the best it could possibly be, anything else would be extraneous. I'm willing to bet this was probably adapted from an old Negro spiritual tune as the melody has that kind of gospel/soul quality to it. It's kind of a collusion of different ideas, in that way, as the banjo gives a country/bluesgrass twang to the proceedings, the guitar injects a bit of rock flavour and Taylor's singing keeps it firmly in the blues arena. The lyrics (relating to hiding in a "fallout shelter") speak to a kind of deep-rooted paranoid-but-tough complex, which the music reinforces with aplomb.
SOME THINK A FANCY FUNERAL WILL BE WORTH EVERY CENT
- Sorry about not blogging for almost a month, some stuff came up and then I got too lazy to write anything, but, I'm back!
- Public Enemies is pretty much what you would expect it to be: a standard Micheal Mann crime film but set in the 30's. This is a very good thing, in my opinion, as Mann is one of my favourite directors and has an ability to consistently bring a mature, artistic (but not "artsy") sensibility to this kind of material. He isn't that much interested in glorifying gangster (or crime-fighter) cliche or using standard action-film tropes. He opts for steadily paced cuts where most directors would create overly frenetic chaos, he lets his characters talk in conversation and monologue rather than shouts and one-liners, he lets his action sequences (which are often spectacular) breath with slower-paced character scenes to heighten the impact of both. In short, he's great and always brings a certain eye to his work that I personally find exhilarating.
In terms of Public Enemies specifically, the thing he brings most is two-fold: a minute attention to period style and detail and an interest in de-mystification. Mann often likes to base his films on true events (The Insider and Ali being two examples), perhaps because he feels his directorial style, which has, for his last few films, tended towards hand-held and gritty, suits them well and it certainly works here. The ease with which he orchestrates the big bank-robbing scenes and a thrilling forest shoot-out are a wonder to behold, especially with the glowing costume and set work. What's more, their complete comprehensibility feels like a tall glass of refreshing water after the choppy-cut nightmare of Transformers. In addition, Mann doesn't want to make any of the characters into caricatures; John Dillinger isn't seen as an avenging folk-hero or a no-good villain, simply a guy who liked the fast-life and got to it through crime because it was the only way he could. Melvin Purvis, as well, is seen as just a flawed a character, not a foil for Dillinger or a righteous arbiter of justice.
So, yes, the movie succeeds on the action front but it's the fact that Mann is unafraid to be a little slow elsewhere that makes it work even better. Scenes take a while to build, characters make their plans and scheme with candor, the relationships between characters are allowed to tangle and grow without cut-and-dry endings. It's almost like he's smuggling a human-drama into his gangster picture. And with the excellent actors he's drafted to help him (Johnny Depp superbly works a combination of charm and danger as Dillinger, Christian Bale proves to us he isn't content to simply do "the voice" in every movie he's in from now on as Purvis), it's no wonder that it works as well as it does.
Now, the film isn't perfect, some scenes do drag a bit, there are some redundant moments in the middle, the ending drags on a little long and at points Mann's camera work is a little too muddy and pseudo-documentary. However, it is a relief to have a wide-release film in the summer that isn't a mindless explosion fest or a simple counter-active to them. It indulges in action and blockbuster filmmaking tropes while maintaining a truly artistic flair, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Mann.
- Public Enemies is pretty much what you would expect it to be: a standard Micheal Mann crime film but set in the 30's. This is a very good thing, in my opinion, as Mann is one of my favourite directors and has an ability to consistently bring a mature, artistic (but not "artsy") sensibility to this kind of material. He isn't that much interested in glorifying gangster (or crime-fighter) cliche or using standard action-film tropes. He opts for steadily paced cuts where most directors would create overly frenetic chaos, he lets his characters talk in conversation and monologue rather than shouts and one-liners, he lets his action sequences (which are often spectacular) breath with slower-paced character scenes to heighten the impact of both. In short, he's great and always brings a certain eye to his work that I personally find exhilarating.
In terms of Public Enemies specifically, the thing he brings most is two-fold: a minute attention to period style and detail and an interest in de-mystification. Mann often likes to base his films on true events (The Insider and Ali being two examples), perhaps because he feels his directorial style, which has, for his last few films, tended towards hand-held and gritty, suits them well and it certainly works here. The ease with which he orchestrates the big bank-robbing scenes and a thrilling forest shoot-out are a wonder to behold, especially with the glowing costume and set work. What's more, their complete comprehensibility feels like a tall glass of refreshing water after the choppy-cut nightmare of Transformers. In addition, Mann doesn't want to make any of the characters into caricatures; John Dillinger isn't seen as an avenging folk-hero or a no-good villain, simply a guy who liked the fast-life and got to it through crime because it was the only way he could. Melvin Purvis, as well, is seen as just a flawed a character, not a foil for Dillinger or a righteous arbiter of justice.
So, yes, the movie succeeds on the action front but it's the fact that Mann is unafraid to be a little slow elsewhere that makes it work even better. Scenes take a while to build, characters make their plans and scheme with candor, the relationships between characters are allowed to tangle and grow without cut-and-dry endings. It's almost like he's smuggling a human-drama into his gangster picture. And with the excellent actors he's drafted to help him (Johnny Depp superbly works a combination of charm and danger as Dillinger, Christian Bale proves to us he isn't content to simply do "the voice" in every movie he's in from now on as Purvis), it's no wonder that it works as well as it does.
Now, the film isn't perfect, some scenes do drag a bit, there are some redundant moments in the middle, the ending drags on a little long and at points Mann's camera work is a little too muddy and pseudo-documentary. However, it is a relief to have a wide-release film in the summer that isn't a mindless explosion fest or a simple counter-active to them. It indulges in action and blockbuster filmmaking tropes while maintaining a truly artistic flair, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Mann.
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