I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE IN CHAINS

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".

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.

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)

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

HI, BILLY MAYS HERE

A TRUE AMERICAN HERO

R.I.P.

Billy Mays
(1958 - 2009)

YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH, YOU'VE GOT THE POWER

- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is like a Wendy's Baconator in movie form: it's way too big, has zero nutritional value, is processed to hell and makes you feel bloated and sick after consuming it. It's the only movie that's ever actually given me a headache and I suppose that's some sort of accomplishment, but, still. I'm also kind of shocked that THE BAY was able to get away with this level of racial stereotyping and objectification in a mainstream, big budget movie. Here's hoping that the much better, and less morally offensive, Star Trek emerges as the summer's biggest earner.

I'm not going to go through why exactly the movie is terrible because I'd be typing all day, so, I'll suffice to say it's all garbage with the following exceptions:

- John Tututuro, who brought his usual zaniness.
- Tyrese Gibson, thankfully allowed to just be himself rather than the WACKY BLACK MAN.
- The opening action sequence.
- In fact, the action in general was better than the first just because it was more comprehensible.

That's it, avoid if possible.

I AM STRONGER THAN MENSA, MILLER AND MAILER

- I have a Twitter now, if you'd like to stalk me for whatever reason.

- Up is a really great movie that you should definitely see if you haven't already but I don't have the energy to type about what makes it so good for very long. Suffice to say: it's funny, it's heart-warming, it's surprisingly emotional at times and the animation looks fantastic.

- To continue with the series of posts I started yesterday:

Get Bizzy - Lil Wayne feat. Gudda Gudda

Unlike a good amount of Wayne's material, I can't mount any sort of logical defense as to why I like this. He jacks one of the worst recent rap hit beats (V.I.C.'s "Get Silly"), slobbers all over it in an auto-tuned drool, loses the freakin' beat a couple of times and then hands it over to no-name Gudda for a godawful guest verse. I guess the reason I have it is that it makes me laugh; the boasts and threats here are so "WTF, mate?" that you can't help but laugh. I mean, insulting people because they take Tylenol,and as the first line, no less? Saying you look like there's "red barf" on your neck, and as a boast? I don't know what drugs Wayne was on when he recorded this, but they must have been freakin' awesome. It's not a good song by any stretch of the imagination (not even on a technical rapping level, as Wayne sometimes is) but it is a strangely fascinating one.

Faster - Manic Street Preachers

Probably the best pure piece of song off of one of my favourite albums (the Manics' The Holy Bible); "Faster" functions on two distinct, but equally important, levels. On the surface, it's a hammering piece of strident hard rock goodness, accentuated by the sneaky glam hook in the chorus. The guitar riff is instantly memorable, the rhythm section keeps a deceptively simple, muscular pace and James Dean Bradfield's vocals have such a popped-vein intensity, he could be singing about cupcakes and it would still register as the most emotionally wrenching topic ever. But, the thing is, the words he's singing are equally as interesting as the band's delivery. Of course, if you are at all familiar with the Manics, you know the sad story of guitarist/lyricist Richey Edwards and his disappearance after the recording of The Holy Bible, so, I won't continue to beat that dead horse here. But, I will say that, if one removed the music and cut out the second chorus repeat, I believe that the lyrics could stand on their own as free verse. An exquisite jumble of slogans ("Self-disgust is self-obessesion"), self-aware angst ("I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing") and flat-out nihilism ("Man kills everything"), it paints a fascinating, if disturbing, picture of its writer. And, yeah, okay, it probably gains a few automatic points from me for name-dropping Sylvia Plath (and right after Norman Mailer, no less!) in the chorus, but, still. The kind of cryptic lyricism on display here is throughout the whole of The Holy Bible but this is the one song where the music doesn't feel subservient to it (and give Bradfield a lot of credit for hemming Edwards' words into something of a coherent melody). It's a great album all around, though. And see if you agree with me about those lyrics.

Have You Forgotten - Red House Painters

A complete 180 from the Manics intense, cryptic and LOUD nihilism is this song by premiere sensitive-indie-dude Mark Kozelek which is likely the definition of open-heart sincerity; it's pretty much the most soft-spoken and charming love song you'll ever here. The words scan like the kind of thing a high school guy would write for the girl he's had a crush on since they were in elementary school (right down to the out-of-place curse words) and Kozelek sings it with such an earnest, untaught ease it's easy to overlook the occasionally clunky lines (he rhymes "nice" with "nice" at one point, natch). Of course, it's emotional cat-nip for the kinds of guys who feel this way themselves (no comment on whether that applies to me) and the girls who wish most guys were "more sensitive", but sometimes we all need this sort of music. It's as comfortable as a fluffy pair of slippers and as calming as a cup of tea or a summer wind. And thank god it hasn't been co-opted (yet), as one of the official "songs to learn on acoustic to pick up chicks".

GOT MY FIRST REAL SIX-STRING

So, on my MP3 player I have a bunch of albums and a folder of podcasts but I also have a folder called "Other" which contains a bunch of random songs that I don't have the full album of. The contents of this folder change pretty frequently so, in what I will try to remember to make a recurring feature, I'm going to go through the folder and talk about some of the songs and why I like them. This time, I'll discuss all of them but in future installments I'll only cover the new stuff:

Cold Days From The Birdhouse - The Twilight Sad

One of the more unfortunately named bands of the past decade, but no less great for it. Their album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, was one of my favourites of the year it came out but this song, the opening track has an appeal all its own. The way the Twilight Sad combine these seemingly disparate elements (folky slide guitars and accordions, shoegaze guitar swirls, U2-esque hammy choruses and staunchly Scottish vocals) is inspiring and I love the way the song goes from bubbling whisper to strident scream in its four-minute run time. It isn't in a rush, it takes its time going where it needs to and it's all the better for it.

Feel Good Drag - Anberlin

This is one of those songs where you kind of have to ignore the lyrics; which are a jumble of emo narcissism and off-hand sexism with one kind-of clever line ("Everyone in this town is seeing somebody else"). Focus instead on that chunky, heaving guitar riff that makes this whole thing work. It carries this through those lyrics, the overly shiny production and the singer's melodramatic delivery. The bridge is also kind of wonky, but it leans hard on the immortal "quiet verse, loud chorus" formula which will, when done well, never get old for me.

Hot Revolver - Lil Wayne

Already dedicated an entire post to talking about how great this song is.

Ironic - Alanis Morissette

Yeah, yeah, none of those lyrics are truly "ironic" (rain on your wedding day just sucks, for example) but that isn't why this is good. It's essentially a grunge song given a layer of high-pop gloss and while that may sound like the worst idea ever, Alanis cuts through that shininess with that defiantly untrained voice of hers and makes it all great. I also particularly love those little wordless vocal runs at the song's beginning.

You Learn - Alanis Morissette

Once again, the words are kinda iffy; depending on what sort of mood you're in they can seem genuinely inspiring or like motivational speaker crap. But some things here aren't so malleable; that hip-hop-ish drumbeat, the heavy bass groove, Alanis' endearing vocal ticks and the ghostly back vocals are always there.

Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party

The yelping vocals might put a few people off, but this one of those songs that I think almost anyone could get into. The choppy dual-guitar attack, the nervy rhythm section, the gigantic chorus, the abundance of hooks; Bloc Party could have made a million more albums just like Silent Alarm and I would've bought every single one but, unfortunately, they didn't. They went off, discovered electronic music and made one decent album and one terrible one. Oh well, we'll always have a record full of their nervy post-punk-meets-arena-rock anthems. Best part: the moment the second verse kicks in with "I can't eat, I can't sleep" and the second guitar coming in.

Summer Of '69 - Bryan Adams

I propose that this be the new Canadian national anthem: it's made by a Canadian, pretty much everyone knows all the words to it and it's infinitely catchier than "O Canada". Moreover, this thing just explodes with energy and life; yeah, the lyrics are dopey, working in every teenage cliche, but they're also kind of endearing for that dopiness. And that thick guitar riff, Adam's husky vocals and basically every part of the song being a hook should erase that anyways. Whenever this comes on the radio, I crank it up; it's one of those songs.

Boys Of Summer - Don Henley

I fucking hate the Eagles and this is the only song even vaguely associated with them that you'll ever hear me say a positive word about. The sound is, in a lot of ways, the embodiment of 80's cheese, but that's kind of intentional to create a disparity with the nostalgic lyrics. And the song really does sound like summer, too: full of empty space and possibility but also sort of foreboding. Henley's vocals do get a bit whiny on the chorus, but I can forgive that. Bonus points for the really good video. Avoid the pop-punk cover by the Ataris at all costs, as it replaces all that masterful empty space and varied instrumentation with a grinding guitar attack that does the song no favours.

D.O.A (Death Of Auto-Tune) - Jay-Z

Has Jay-Z become hip-hop's grumpy old man? Maybe, as he's dissing the most popular technique in current rap, calling out Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy and making Frank Sinatra references all on the same track. He gets in some good digs, although I think the message is wasted effort, and drops some really good lines ("This ain't a number one record/this is practically assault with a deadly weapon") but the real star here is No I.D's beat. Combining stomping drums with wailing funk guitar and saxophone honks, he's given Jay the perfect base for his rant. And, it might just be me, but I think this is the type of beat (lots of live instruments, rock-influenced) that Jay-Z sounds the best on (think "99 Problems", "Threat", "Pray" or "Success").

When You Were Mine - Prince

Probably my all-time favourite Prince song, and not just for the way the lyrics tie sexual freakiness in with genuine emotion. The herky-jerky new wave rhythm remains oddly funky, the chipping guitars, while paper-thin, are a nice addition, the keyboard that comes in for the chorus just ups the catchiness. It's particularly impressive when you consider that prince himself played all the instruments and did all the vocals (including the masterful backups) on this thing. Best part: When the song drops to just the guitar and Prince's voice after the instrumental bridge. (Sorry about the crappy quality live video, it was all I could find. It's a pretty good performance, though.)

A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

I'm not huge on soul music (though, strangely I love when rap songs work in soul samples) but this song is really something special. A million people have written a million times about how good this song is, so, I'll share a personal anecdote. The first time I heard this song was over a crappy portable radio that was half-tuned to the station, in shitty ear bud headphones, while walking knee-deep in a river. It was awesome.

Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins

I think that Top Gun is kind of sucky but it has one of the more amazing soundtracks of its era, full of cheesy 80's goodness, of which "Danger Zone" is the pinnacle. It's basically the perfect "pump you up" song, great for workouts and such; I listen to it every morning to get ready for the day.

Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep

This song hits a lot of big, obvious buttons for. The strummy guitar, the big hand claps, the poetically meaningless lyrics, the softly delivered lead vocals, the massed backups; it's like it it was made specifically for me. Also, they're Canadian group, and they opened for Pearl Jam! I wish all of their songs (most of which are not folky at all) were like this, they might be my favourite band of all time then.

NOBODY ON THE ROAD, NOBODY ON THE BEACH

- The Hangover is a fun little comedy; it's nothing too big or spectacular but it keeps up its brisk energy through all of its, fairly short, running time. If you've seen the commercials, you basically know what to expect, it's a film about a wild night in Vegas and the morning after, with everything that entails, but, for the most part, the film stayed away from gross-out gags and kept firmly in the realm of absurdity, buddy banter, or slapstick. This is a good thing because the film doesn't use its R rating as an excuse to pile on nudity or potty humour, not to say that that sort of thing isn't in there but it's used sparingly and intelligently. The film also has an excellent, if B-list, cast who know how to give this thing a deft comedic touch; whether that means Bradley Cooper's smarmy jerkiness, Ed Helmes' henpecked shtick (by the way, his bitchy, overbearing girlfriend was funny but points out the problem that most of these movies have in handling female characters) or Zach Galifrankis' off-the-wall absurdity. It's probably the best of Todd Phillips' movies, though I haven't seen Old School in a while, and I think he's one of the guys who gets how to do stupid comedy correctly, so, that's a meaningful, if slight, compliment.

- I'm planning to re-watch all of Lost up to this point over the show's hiatus to see if I can "pick up" anything that I may have missed the first time around. If I do notice anything I think is critically important, though I doubt will, I'll be sure to post it.

- This is really a thing that need no further mentioning but, man, that New Moon trailer is awful.

- Terminator Salvation is good but it's sort-of overly grim, there's no chance for even a bit of humour to poke in through the dark, post-apocalyptic, world (which, to be fair, is pretty immaculately constructed). That's kind of disappointing because I think that the first two Terminator films, let's try to forget about the third, were some of the most successful action pictures in terms of integrating comic relief into their fabric. Also, Christian Bale is still doing that friggin' Batman-voice, I seriously hope that that's not going to be his "thing" from now on because he's a really good actor who I'd hate to see get stuck in one-note performances (though, the trailers I've seen for Public Enemies do assuage my fears a great deal). Sam Worthington is a real discovery, though; he's consistently great in this thing, even when forced to spout some pretty absurd dialogue. The other actors didn't really hit me one way or the other, expect that I thought Moon Bloodgood was a little weak, Common always sounded like he was about to break into a rap, Helena Bonham Carter was in there for roughly five seconds and Anton Yelchin's American accent is weird. Good action throughout, with great special effects and effective camerawork. I would be happy to revisit this world for the inevitable sequels, though I wish that those films won't be so self-serious. Even still, for a guy who's only other credits are some football movie and the Charlie's Angels films, McG did a good job here, and if you're in the mood for some action, and you've already seen Star Trek, I'd recommend checking this out.

HOLD UP, LET ME FIX MY HAT

- Lil Wayne's "Hot Revolver" might just be my favourite pop single of 2009, if it continues to be as dull a year for those things as it has so far; at any rate, it's the best one so far. Why, exactly, is a bit hard to say but it comes down this: I really didn't think the guy could pull it off, and he did. When I first heard Wayne was making a "rock album" (which is now looking ever more elusive and nebulous), my first thought was "uh, why?" followed by "it'll probably be awful". And "Prom Queen", the album's first single, seemed to confirm my trepidation: "Prom Queen" is a horrifying car-wreck of a song; a pile-up of Wanye's auto-tuned gurgle, some of the most over-processed mall-rock guitar skronk I've ever heard, a hammering rhythm that plays to none of the guy's strengths as a vocalist, an abysmal attempt at a chorus, some really bad attempted-emo howls and a lyrical conceit that's both over-used (a girl turned you down and then later regretted it? You don't say!) and entirely removed from what Wayne is comfortable with (mostly making typical hip-hop sex/drugs/money talk interesting and funny via clever metaphors/jokes). It would be unlistenable if not for that fact that it's kind of fascinating in its way and speaks to the fact that Wayne, while I don't doubt his sincerity in wanting to make rock music, has a very warped and vague understanding of what he's trying to do. About the only thing I do like about "Prom Queen" is the music video, which gives us the image of nerd Lil Wayne, which is hilarious.

If "Prom Queen" fails because it can't reconcile what it wants to be (a rock song) with who its performer is (a rapper with a shaky understanding of rock, who can't sing that well), "Hot Revolver" succeeds precisely because it does reconcile those things. It does this by taking rap elements and rock elements and stitching them together in an interesting, and, more importantly, sonically tasty, way.

First, the rap stuff: the chorus isn't sung by Wayne, but rather by song producer Dre (not to be confused with Dr. Dre). This is very good because I really don't think Wayne's voice is made for hooks that aren't simple chants/repeated phrases; he's got too oddball of a vocal timbre to do that, but he's perfectly fine in the verses here, bobbing and weaving with the beat (more on that in a sec) in way that reminds you he's a rapper but isn't exactly rapping. The other thing about Dre chorus is how, in typical hip-hop fashion, it provides contrast. When a chorus in a rap song is sung by a person other than the rapper, it's usually because the chorus is a counter-point or a complimentary element, in lyrical terms, to what the rapper is rapping about. Usually, this means that the chorus is taken by a R&B guy or gal to more explicitly express whatever feeling that the rapper is talking about. But, here, its use is very interesting and plays into the lyrical conceit of the song in a more inventive way (the lyrics are something I'll talk about in detail later). The use of auto-tune also keeps this "rap", in a certain manner, as Wayne clearly, and justifiably, doesn't feel enough confidence to sing without it as a rock singer, even one who doesn't have a conventionally good voice, would. Thankfully, though, unlike "Prom Queen", he doesn't overdo the auto-tune to the point where he sounds like a robot , it just provides a slight trailing effect on his voice. In fact, at one point, Wayne does drop the effect entirely; for the second verse, the song dissolves into a a quick drum machine-lead portion, where he raps a quick bit before the guitars come back in and he goes into a semi-croon. It's a neat trick that shows his range in a way that doesn't draw attention to itself. There's some other little elements (e.g. the fact that Wayne's first words on the song are the quick "young moolah, baby" sonic signature he's been saying on every song in the past while, the use of the term "shorty") that remind us of the rap-roots, as well. Finally, the lyrics, which are the pivot point for the rap and rock elements, are pretty standard issue rap braggadocio, at first glance. Summary, Wayne's on tour and a fucks a girl who tries to make it more serious but he just wants a fuck-buddy. Sort of horrible, but nothing too out of the ordinary, right?

Well, here's where things gets interesting: where a rap song would stop there, because this is "rock", it doesn't (let's not get into why that is, exactly, because it could be an entire series of blog posts by itself). In the third verse, Wayne calls his lady friend and she won't pick up, so, he goes to her house only to find that she ended up "cheating" on him, leaving him hurt and angry. And that Dre chorus I mentioned earlier? It's kind of like Wayne's buddy going "dude, this girl's nice and really likes you, what the hell are you doing here? She's not gonna want to be with you at all if you keep being a dick like this". It's kind of boldly self-effacing and that's really cool because it cuts though the macho bullshit that's present in a lot of mainstream rap while not sacrificing swagger or a sense of fun. And Wayne, while not aloud due to format to be quite as zany with his lyrics, does get a little of his trademark zing in there (he calls his mode of transportation a "spaceship", for example).

Sonically, too, this thing just kicks. The beat is a bass-heavy bit of stiffed-legged new-wave-y rock, with little synth swirls puttering around at times and galloping guitar-crunch coming in for the chorus. Importantly, unlike the loudly pounding "Prom Queen", "Hot Revolver" knows how use both sonic space and dynamics for pop effect; the chorus wouldn't be half as catchy as it is if those guitars were there in the entire song.

In short, "Hot Revolver" deserves a much bigger audience than what it's got and I really can't see why it only peaked at #33 on the Billboard charts. Maybe it's excess ill will from "Prom Queen" or something but, still. This could cross Wayne over into even more markets, if promoted properly; it's catchy, brash and fun without being offensive (in fact, there's no cursing in the song other than two barely audible "ass"s and a "damn") and it's danceable without being just club fodder.

If Wayne can stick to material like this and stay away from more "Prom Queen"s then I'm really gonna love Rebirth. Strangely enough, the only other song to come off the album is "Fix My Hat" which is a pretty standard "Lil Wayne spazzing out" song that doesn't have a whole lot to do with rock (in fact, it has an 80's hip-hop feel with its basic, 808-heavy beat) but is still pretty good stuff. I don't claim to understand how that man works but he's capable of great things from time-to-time, so, let's hope he'll bring it all together here.

ONCE I THOUGHT I KNEW, EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW, ABOUT YOU

- I don't have a whole lot to say about the movie of Angels & Demons except that it's a decent, semi-grown up summer thriller that's a lot better than the Da Vinci Code movie. Basically, it captures the book very well (despite a few minor additions and omissions), for better or worse. This means that all the pros (the fun, connect-the-dots plotting, the enjoyably twisty narrative, the genuine suspense, the good pacing) and all the cons (the barely-there characters, the illogical situations, the hackneyed attempts at social commentary, the flat self-seriousness) from the book are present. Though, in the movie's favour, you don't have to deal with Dan Brown's clunky prose style while watching it. Tom Hanks (with a much, much better haircut and a thankful lack of double chin) is a good fit for Langdon, even if his academic asshole routine gets grating at a certain point, and Ewan McGregor is nicely hammy as the interim pope. All of the other actors really make no impression one way or the other, staying out of the way of the plot; that's a good thing. Ron Howard's direction is his usual clean-but-sterile craftsmanship (he does do a lot of spin-the-camera-around-the-actors shots, though, for some reason) but that's not really a negative; flashy direction wouldn't benefit here (see the sequences in Da Vinci which attempted to illustrate Langdon's claustrophobia for proof). It is a bit long (and there's some besides-the-point padding in the middle) but not so much so that I was actively annoyed. All in all, it's worth seeing once but I wouldn't (and didn't) pay full price for a ticket.

- I'll keep my thoughts on Relapse, the new Eminem album, to point form, as it doesn't deserve much more:

- Production, mostly by Dr. Dre, is fine but leans really hard on those cold-steel percussion figures and chunky synth runs that he's been dealing in since "In Da Club" hit it big. It works on "Old Time's Sake", possibly because that song features Dre, but nowhere else. The big departures from this formula do work: "Bagpipes From Baghdad" is mediocre but through no fault of its snake-charmer beat, "Underground" has a clumsy rhythm but a moody ambiance and "Deja Vu" has a dusty guitar-and-drums musical makeup that feels very 90's New York rap.

- Em sounds really tired and bored, for the most part. There's no joy to his voice; when he makes the jokes that should be gleefully offensive pranksterism, they sound like he's just going through the motions because people expect it of him.

- Evidence of this; there are two songs on here where the whole joke is "I am a rapist" and neither are remotely funny or even really offensive in a way other than, "man, that sucks".

- However, when he does get fired up, he proves that he can still rap. "Insane" hearkens back to his Slim Shady LP days, in both rapping and lyrics, "Deja Vu" (the best song on the album) is a brilliantly self-effacing account of his troubles in the past four years, "3 A.M." is a lame horrorcore throwback that's redeemed only though delivery and "Must Be The Ganja" grinds a tired lyrical concept but Em, surprisingly, makes it work.

- The skits are, predictably, awful.

- "Beautiful" samples a goddamn Queen + Paul Rodgers track; that's all I have to say about that.

- Overall, better than Encore but nowhere near as good as it needs to be to get me to truly care about Eminem again

I'll post later in the week about the new Green Day album, the 24 and Lost season finales and Terminator Salvation. But, for now, in order, here's my thoughts: Pretty good, weird/confusing in a bad way, weird/confusing in a good way and overly grim but still well-done.

STOLE A THOUSAND BEGGAR'S CHANGE

- I feared the worst with Star Trek when it was announced that it was being directed by J. J. Abrams and being written by the guys who wrote the, completely godawful, 2007 Transformers film. And when I saw the first trailer, it seemed to confirm a lot of my fears: too-big special effects, unnecessary sex appeal, stony serious-mindedness, broad comic relief of the annoying variety. My thoughts going into the theatre were basically "well, it can't be as bad as Transformers and it has Simon Pegg in it". Make no mistake, I was really looking forward to this film but only really because it was an updated Star Trek (I'm not what you'd call a Trekkie, but I like the original series pretty well and thought it could do with a new coat of paint) and not due to a true liking of any of the creative talent involved. For my money, the best thing Abrams ever did with his life was being vaguely involved with Lost as none of his other things, whether TV (I didn't care for Alias, Fringe is okay) or film (Cloverfield is gimmicky, MI:3 is a decent action movie greatly improved by Philip Seymour Hoffman) have really impressed me. Also, I don't really care what else screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have written because they wrote Transformers and I still want to kill them for that.

However, against all those odds, they pulled this one off. It's got enough of a hip sensibility to not seem dated but the thing I love the most is how the movie doesn't ignore the essential optimism at the heart of the Trek world in favour of post-modern deconstructionism. It would be very easy to make this movie "dark" and "edgy" (a sort of Dark Knight take on Trek) and call it at that but, thankfully, the writers don't do that. They do add bigger, more SFX-heavy action sequences (the best of which is a thrilling space-skydive set piece, which includes a redshirt, natch), some romantic tension between Uhura and Spock and a more general light-hearted approach to the material (technobabble is kept to a minimum). The only real issues with the film are a weak villian and that the middle section is a bit slow. Also, no Shatner cameo, but Nimoy has a pretty big part, so, it's forgivable. In fact, with it's general good-heartedness, as opposed to the oppressive darkness of the recent Batman films, and lack of prejudice (especially surprising coming from the scribes of Transformers, which may be the most racially-backwards mainstream film of the past decade) Star Trek might be the first blockbuster for the Obama-era and it'll be interesting to see if this becomes the biggest earner of the summer because of that. Its we're-in-this-together spirit and sense of maybe-this-will-all-work-out embodies a new hope, in the same way that Dark Knight's moral chaos and breakdown of order was a wail from Bush's tail-end.

More importantly than that, though, it's well-acted, well-directed (albeit with a bit too much use of close-ups during action scenes, probably learned from working of TV shows), has excellent special effects (especially coming after Wolverine's cheap green-screened look) and respects the earlier Trek (particularly in terms of character personas/quirks) works without being slavishly beholden to them. It's something that you can love whether you're a Trekkie or someone with no idea of the story beyond the multitude of parodies. It's a big, fun, sloppy space adventure with loads of humour and, even if the actual plot is a little weak, it sets the franchise up for many further adventures with this crew, which I, for one, would be happy to take.

WE ARE THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT

- I would talk about Star Trek here but I don't think that I have enough to say about it to warrant an entire post to itself (general summary: it's great), so, I'll wait until after the Lost season finale airs on Wednesday and talk about both of those things in one post. I've decided to make this post about something I promised to cover a while ago: My other favourite album of 2008, besides 808's & Heartbreak, namely, The Gaslight Anthem's The '59 Sound:


In a certain way, it's odd that 808's and '59 could be my two favourite albums of last year because, both thematically and sonically, they couldn't be more diametrically opposed. 808's is all depressive, paranoid truths, delivered with appropriately alien and synthetic musical backdrop; it's harsh at points but altogether necessary and, despite its frigidness, it finds pockets of warmth within heartache that make it all, ultimately, life-affirming. The '59 Sound, by contrast, feels like a musical postcard from a time that, if it ever existed at all, is long gone and, as such, it's all warm, mushy nostalgia and heart-on-sleeve working class sentiments backed up by fittingly scrappy, but never mean or overly aggressive, guitar rock.

The obvious start point for The Gaslight Anthem is Bruce Springsteen (more specifically, the Springsteen of Born To Run and prior, before the cynicism set in and he was creating grand lyrical mosaics out of everyday life) and, certainly, it checks out (hell, "Meet Me By The River's Edge" includes the lyric "no surrender/my Bobby Jean") but there seems to be a slowly developing genre of bands like this and I couldn't be happier. I haven't heard it termed yet but all these groups share a general aesthetic: Soulful, grown-man vocals, alternately twinkling or clacking guitars, working class subject matter, at least two of the band members looking like auto mechanics, punkish energy/enthusiasm, an affinity for cleaned-up 50's nostalgia, slight nods to old-school country (these bands are the first people you call in when putting together a Johnny Cash tribute record) and lead singer having a penchant for hair grease and sleeve tattoos. Examples of this "movement": The Loved Ones, Bad Religion (sometimes), Social Distortion (at their least emo), The Lawrence Arms, This Charming Man, Against Me!' (at their least shout-y) and Polar Bear Club.

The Gaslight Anthem, while certainly not the first band to do this sort of thing, are, in my mind, the best at it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they're the band who has most fully stripped away the harshness and meanness of their punk rock roots, while not abandoning the energy. If one were to term The '59 Sound as a "punk " record, it would be more in the Ramones sense (stripped-down, speedy musicality with an appreciation for pre-Beatles rock & roll) than in the Sex Pistols sense (outright rage/nihilism, with confrontational singing and lyrics) but even that isn't really accurate; it's far too cleanly produced (but, thankfully, retains grit and energy) and has a bit greater tonal range. Secondly, they're the band with the most naked heartland-rock fixation. Not just Springsteen, but Dylan and Petty (who gets a chorus name check in "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues") too. The guitar sounds, often interlocking in patterns which alternately jangle brightly or clatter like those beat-up car engines they love to sing about, are the biggest give away in that regard but check out the rock-solid, but deceptively complex, rhythm section and the clever use of non-rock sounds (the cabaret stand-up bass on "Film Noir", the clanging church bells on the title track, the brief scat-singing (!) interlude on "Great Expectations") for further evidence.


There's also the issue of those lyrics, which are my third factor putting the band above their competition. If you're not like me, and don't have a sort of unreasonable nostalgia for an era you've never lived in, you probably won't go quite as ga-ga over the band's shameless appropriation of 50's motifs as I did. But, for me, this is mana from heaven: They sing about sleeping on beaches and using pay phones, one chorus references "high-top sneakers", "sailor tattoos" and an "old '55", another contains a wish about looking "like Elvis", they speak in grand declarations like "I'll love you forever/if I ever love at all", they reference Audrey Hepburn and Marylin Monroe, the phrase "twist the night away" is used with no irony, they think Ferris Wheels and carnivals are the coolest things ever. I could go on and on but you get the idea. To be fair, the band does, on occasion, try to bring a bit of edge to this fuzzy-dice nostalgia trip (there's a semi-hardcore punk backup shout on "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and "High Lonesome" contains a line about "the powder on the bar") but those ultimately feel sort of hollow, perhaps the last fleeting vestige of traditional punk being molted away. Of course, none of this would mean anything if the band didn't believe it; if they were winking or being ironic. But, as far as I can tell, they seem to be 100% serious about this stuff, which is pretty commendable. In an era where being whiny/angry is almost a guarantee of success (whether in standard radio-rock or more MTV-friendly emo), it's great to hear a band with this much zest and enthusiasm (even if they have to reach back nearly 60 years to find it). Heck, even the ex-girlfriend ballad "Here's Looking At You, Kid" and the dead friend-tribute title track are delivered with faint smiles of fondness than agonized cries of pain and are much better for it.

Of course, even if you aren't convinced by the words here, these songs are impeccably written and performed and should convince by themselves. Ebbing and flowing at just the right points, tracks like "Film Noir" and "Old White Lincoln" have both breezy calms and swirling storms. "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and album-closer "The Backseat" are the most closely-allied with basic punk and, thus, have a tinge more aggression but still drip with warm romance. Slower numbers like the blues-tinged "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and the sparkling "Here's Looking At You, Kid" show the band's range. For me, the record's biggest stunner is "Casanova, Baby!" a rockabilly-ish, night-on-the-town number with great guitar work (dig that bridge!) and the album's best set of words ("every slow, mad song/is a night I'd like to spend with you"? Genuis, to these ears).

In the end, The '59 Sound is very much a regressive album; it doesn't try to advance any sort of music at all, it's almost stubbornly stuck in the past lyrically. But that's cool because the band has written a great set of tunes which live up to their influences and because the lyrical sentiments, as overly sentimental as they might be, are fun to get lost in. This album creates a world of beat-up classic cars, beaches at sunset, hotly anticipated county fairs, dancehalls filled with the sounds of 50's rock, charming, swooning boys in leather jackets and the beautiful, sundress-wearing girls who love them. It's a world where there's nothing that can't be fixed by a good, long drive or a dance with your sweetheart, where the only violence is when your friend knocks you out for making a pass at his girl (but you're still best buds after the ambulance arrives), where you can wash way all your problems with a dip in the river and where the daily grind of your job just gets you more ready for a late night of cruising and dancing. It's a world that's pretty damned far in the past, if it ever even existed at all, but wouldn't it be nice if our world was a bit more like it?

HERE COMES THAT FEAR AGAIN

- Lost last night was, for the most part, one of those piece-mover sort of episodes where it's more about getting everything ready for the big blowout next time than giving pay-off in and of itself. That said, I didn't mind so much with this one both because it's the pre-season finale episode (which always tends to be like this) and because it was snappily paced with enough brain-melters (what does Alpert mean by that "watched them all die" comment?) and little asides (Sawyer talking to Juliet about how to make money, Hurley admitting to Chang that he's from the future) to make it not be a slog. The episode's other highlight (other than a wet 77-era Ellie) was certainly Locke's final statement, which opens a big new can of narrative worms. A friend who I was talking with today floated the theory that Jacob is actually Jack, which would both make sense (Jack is in the past and could potentially become a hero/leader to the Others by detonating that bomb) and provide a juicy new twist to the Jack/Locke rivalry. At any rate, the episode got me pumped for the season finale next week, which was its job.

- I have a really tough time articulating my feelings about X-Men Origins: Wolverine; overall, I'd say it was okay but that's sort of misleading because it's an average: The movie ping-pongs from really good to groan-worthy, often from scene-to-scene. The real problem, as I see it, is that while the directors/actors/writers of this thing know how to make convincing action scenes and decent comic book intrigue, they completely fail at capturing any sort of emotional resonance. That wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing if the movie didn't dwell on "heavy" scenes and kept moving from one set-piece to another (for a good example of this, see the newest Die Hard movie which also can't summon up a father-daughter moment of any draw but tries so infrequently that it doesn't matter). But, thing is, it doesn't move on, it keeps hammering dramatic flat notes. Wolverine's (not really) dead girlfriend is only mildly annoying, and sorta necessary to the film's plot, but by the time they introduce a young Cyclops tortured by his powers and Silverfox's imprisoned sister, I was throwing up my hands. It's sort of a shame that so many cheeseball elements (the "NOOOOOOOO!!!" scream over a dead loved one, the showdown at a nuclear reactor) thrown in here because there are some parts which I enjoyed. The early scenes where Logan is with Team X are fun and provide the best action in the movie, there's a pretty damn good boxing match between The Blob and Wolverine and I'll admit that I nerded out for Gambit (who was underused, though Taylor Kitsch's performance seemed a bit unsure of where to go with the character). There were also bits of comic relief, usually one-liners, that worked (but only sort of point out how overly serious the movie is otherwise; if this is the trend that The Dark Knight is starting, then I may have to reconsider how much I like that movie) and Ryan Reynolds (who works his smug asshole shtick to good effect as Wade Wilson/Deadpool) and Liev Schriber (who sneers convincingly as Sabretooth) deserve gold stars for their efforts. Also, as much flack as Hugh Jackman gets for being very much a "star" (as opposed to an "actor"), I think that he owns Wolverine as a character and this movie did nothing to dissuade me thinking that (though he could have kept his shirt on more). There were some bad choices in terms of casting too, though. I dunno if it was an intentional decision to have two of the people on Team X be from Lost but it was really distracting and Will.i.am's performance was just as bad as you would expect. In terms of action, I am very glad that, for the most part, the film didn't fall victim to fast-cut, jerky-cam syndrome (the bit where Deadpool walks into the drug lord's office spinning his swords is particularly great, mostly because it's done with a minimum of cuts) but a lot of the CGI looked real cheap (the final battle atop the reactor, especially). In the end, it's better than the last X-Men movie (not that that's saying a whole lot) but I feel like it's one of those things that I'll be entirely comfortable never seeing again. It had enough action to get me through and the promise of Gambit and Deadpool-related spinoffs is almost enough to convince me of Wolverine's worth by itself. But, considering that last summer movie season started off with the compulsively re-watchable Iron Man and that the best movie in this series (X2) is a movie I've seen probably 20 times, at least, that's kinda disappointing. Here's hoping that my other two big anticipations for this summer (Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek) don't leave me quite so cold.

THIS TOWN IS A PRISON, WITH ITS FOUR WALLS CLOSING IN

- This week's Lost was some pretty serious business (in contrast to the relative silliness of the last episode) and it was also probably my favourite episode of Season 5 so far. Really, it's pretty simple: they added lots of background to flesh out a character who's already one of the more interesting members of the cast, they provided some new information (Widmore is Faraday's dad!), they ended with a big cliffhanger that makes you immediately anxious for next week and, most importantly, everything moved at a very snappy pace. In fact, Season 5 just might be the fastest-paced season in the show's history; it's practically warp-speed compared to Seasons 2 & 3, anyway. As much as Lost does sometimes need the side-stories or slower-paced character episodes, it's great to see lots of action and forward momentum as we're heading towards the season finale. And, yeah, that twist at the end was a pretty big shocker.

- Together Through Life is a good Bob Dylan album but it's nowhere near as good as his last few ones. I think that the fact that he co-wrote a lot of the lyrics with Roger Avary has had somewhat of a tone-down effect; there's not nearly as much clever wordplay here and there's a lot of (to be fair, deliberate) use of lyrical love cliches. Not that it's innately a problem to have Dylan make an album of love or break-up songs (and I do dig that the kind of love talked about here is of a distinctly adult variety, rather than the teenage yearning/lust present in most popular music) but I wish there was a bit more of his signature wit at work here. The best song on here is "Forgetful Heart", which brims with an old-school Dylan cynicism but also a bluesman woundedness, and has a smokey, deliberate groove. The addition of accordion to the musical arrangements adds a nice Latin flavour to some of the tunes but it also points to a big problem with later-day Dylan records in general and this one in specific. Namely he won't let the songs change musical shape over time, and that's a real problem when the songs are as long as they are here. "This Dream Of You", for example, rides the exact same violin-led vamp for all of its six-minute run time and it gets a little tiresome. Sometimes, that's a positive, though, as in "Shake Shake Mama" which grinds its rudimentary blues riffs to hypnotic effect (it's also the album's shortest song, which may have something to do with its relative quality). However, the album sounds tired to the point of somnambulance at times; the cumulative effect of these sleepy, whiskey-drenched love songs becoming simply boring rather than calming. The problem, as I see it, is that Dylan doesn't have a unifying thought for this record (well, other than "love" but that's so broad and done to death, it hardly counts). Time Out of Mind, his best album past the 60's, had a dark mortality as its underlying message and all the forms that takes (anger, resignation bitterness, etc.) but Together just sort of drifts without an anchor. You can really tell that it was cut quickly, in a burst of inspiration. Not to say its bad, though. The musicianship is generally excellent and the accordion and additional guitar (courtesy of the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell) often provide lots of musical spark. And, again, there are very good songs here ("Beyond Here Lies Nothing" and the aforementioned "Forgetful Heart" chief among them) and it's actually better to take the album in bits and pieces rather than as a long form work because its overall slowness isn't as much of a factor that way. So, overall, it's good but a bit disappointing, coming from someone as usually awesome as Dylan, especially given his "recent" hot streak. Also, even though every reviewer had mentioned this, I really feel the need to note that "My Wife's Hometown" is just "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" with different (and, to be fair, much better and funnier) lyrics. It's fine that 'ol Bob Wants to pay tribute to the blues greats but I don't think that ripping their songs off wholesale and not giving them credit is the right way to do it, just saying.